I was lucky enough to see two advanced screenings this
week!  Below are my thoughts on the movie
Changeling and Role Models:

Changeling

Doesn’t the title and the poster make it look like a sci-fi horror movie?  It doesn’t help that Angelina Jolie looks like she a creature from another planet in the movie (see below).

Her plan:  to suck your identity out of you with those lips

Okay, so the movie is actually a sad drama taking place during the early 1900s in California.  A woman loses her son, only to have her son found by the police a few months later.  Only, it’s not her son (hence the title)!  What follows are a few storylines involving police corruption, a serial killer, and abducted kids.

The movie is around 2 and a half hour long, with the first half being pretty boring.  They set up the bad guys and good guys early on, but I think they made the bad guys a little bit TOO manacing. The movie starts picking up when all the storylines converge.  You really start feeling and rooting for Angelina’s character, and the ending was satisfying. 

Going in, I was not expecting to enjoy this.  In the end, I thought it was very well acted and intriguing.  Just wish they could have sped up the first part of the movie, but if you want to see a good drama this isn’t a bad one to check out.  Really though, I doubt most college kids and younger would be eager to see this haha.  A high 3 out of 5.

Role Models

On the flip side, I bet most college kids would rather see this movie.  It made sense that when I went to see this, the row right behind me was filled with fraternity guys that snuck in cans of beer.  They were really horny too, apparently.  They kept talking about which one of them could score a threesome and were trying to hit on girls that were sitting near them. 

Sean William Scott‘s character would probably have made a good “role model” (haha get it?) to those guys.  His character is like a slightly more grown up version of Stiffler…but still rauchy and horny as hell.  He takes care of this black kid, a crazy mofo that loves boobies and loves to cuss, as well as the occasional racist comment.  These two were definitely the funniest people in the movie.

The other actors were good too.  Jane Lynch (the SmartTech manager from The 40-Year-Old Virgin) is almost just as over the top and crazy.  After seeing this movie, you’ll probably look at the next corndog you see a bit differently haha.  McLovin, Paul Rudd, and Ken Jeong (Asian doctor from Knocked Up) were alright as well, but the three actors I’ve mentioned before steal the show.

The storyline could be stronger and the character development and romance felt forced, but the movie will make you laugh throughout if you like a lot of dirty sex jokes and innuendos galore.  I absolutely loved the epic ending! 

Without giving too much away, it ends with a very fun, tremendously geeky “battle” involving live action role-players. 

Oh yea, you’re gonna see a lot of this.

A Hilarious movie that was actually better than what the previews might make you think.  4 out of 5.

So apparently, I’ll be a Xanga member for 2008 days by the
end of the week.  Wow, can’t believe I’ve
been on here for that long.  I tried
reading some of my older posts, but I can’t do it without cringing a little inside.  I was such a whiny baby haha.  Glad to see that I’ve improved from that
(although I still enjoy the occasional whining  )

BTW, does anyone know what you can do with Xanga credits
besides buying those Minis?  I have 579
right now.  It would be really nice if I can
exchange them for a prize or something.  A position in
USTA maybe ?  Ahh, it was worth a shot.

Fate:  Guess what?  Yet another position has opened up for you at the place you dream of working!  Lucky for you, you actually worked with the person that’s leaving so you have some connections right from the get go!  You’re also lucky to have your tennis club background, because the position would also require a lot of tennis on campus time that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.  You got a lot going for you!
Me:  Fantastic…
Fate:  Good news!  You got a second interview with them!  It is now only between you and one other person, just like the last time you applied.  You’re very lucky to have so many good contacts and references!
Me:  Awesome…
Fate:  That interview went pretty well!  They thought they could make a decision within a week, but apparently it’s a really tough decision on their part thanks in part to how you performed.  I know you’re nervous, but stay optimistic alright? 
Me:  Uh huh….
Fate:  Okay, they’ve made their decision!  Ready to hear the news?
Me:  Mhmm…
Fate:  Well okay, let start with bad news.  Unfortunately, you didn’t get it.  You once again fell just short of the grand prize.  You were close though right?  Second place isn’t so bad!
Me: 
Fate:  But hey, there’s a silver lining!  LUCKY for you, one of the employee just got promoted and his spot will open up by the end of this year!  You can go through the whole process all over again, except hopefully this time you can take it one step further.  Aren’t you excited?!
Me:  Yay….
Fate:  Wonderful!  I mess with you, er, I mean I’ll get back to you in a month or so.  Until then, good luck!

I guess luck can only take me so far.

Ahh, I knew something wasn’t right after I pressed “enter”!

Now if you would please excuse me, I’m gonna wallow in my sorrow for a bit.

Well sorta.  On Thursday night, the power in our house suddenly went away, for the most part.  I was still able to turn on some lights, but they would be very dim.  The kitchen was mostly out of power, so I haven’t been able to eat anything at home for the past couple of days.  Strangely, the only room that had full power was our living room.  It would probably be kinda funny if you saw the scene; the whole house is dark except for one room, where my brother and I are playing Wii haha.

Another side effect of the semi blackout was our wireless router not working, so I’ve been going to Arundel Mills bookstore to snag their wireless.  I’m here right now actually.  Hopefully when I get back home BGE has fixed the problem.

Soo…I heard back from the VA office this morning.  I didn’t get the offer .  I’m not as sad as I thought I would be.  I wasn’t really expecting to get that position anyways.  Now it comes down to the PA position, which I think I have a more than decent chance of getting, but I’m not feeling the most optimistic about it right now.  We’ll see what happens.  *crosses fingers*

Yesterday, I hung out with a few old friends and we went to watch Saw V.  I also watched a DVD of Dance of the Dead at home, since not having electricity in 90% of the house really limits what you can do.  Quick reviews:

Saw V

Pretty much what you expect from a Saw movie.  Decent acting, fun traps, a few twists, and gore is all there.  The movie does a lot of backstory this time around, which explained some things but was the slowest part of the movie.  The plot that involved the current people being put through Jigsaw’s game also seemed very tacked on.  Not a bad Saw movie, but definitely not one of the best in the Saw movies.  If you were a fan I’m sure you’ll like it enough.  If you’re not this won’t change your mind.  I give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Dance of the Dead

I decided to rent this after seeing a good review of it on Aint It Cool News.  Like In Bruges, I was pleasantly surprised by this.  From the DVD cover, it looks like one of those lame straight-to-DVD horror movies.  I didn’t realized that the movie was more like a horror-comedy, like Shaun of the Dead but with American humor instead of British humor.  It was pretty funny and I thought the acting was better than I expected.  For such a low budget film, it really didn’t look like it for the most part.  One of my favorite lines:  “But I don’t know how to shoot a machete!” – cheerleader.  Hmm, that’s probably funnier said in the movie.  Overall, a pretty fun movie that knows that it’s dumb but runs with it.  A 3.5 out of 5 .

I know, I watch too many movies .  They’re good ways to distact me from my job worries.

I’m still waiting on the responses from both places I applied for.  They both said they would get back to me by Tuesday or Wednesday, but it’s now Thursday and I still haven’t heard back.  I’m starting to worry.  Hopefully the reason for the delay is that they’re still checking my references or something.  I don’t mind waiting just a bit longer, but if I end up finding out I didn’t get the offers and they made me suffer the long wait for nothing…oh man, I’m gonna go crazy!  Ahhh hurry up please!

I was w/ my little brother for most of the day today.  He was having a root canal treatment at a dental office in Towson, so I had to drive him 40 minutes there and 40 minutes back.  That wasn’t the frustrating part though.  The part that irked both my brother and I was when we finally got back home.  We were about to sit down and relax, eat some lunch or something, when we get a call from the dental office.  Apparently, the dentist still needed to do an additional check-up to make sure that root canal treatment went well, so we had to go all the way back!  I really wish they could have mentioned that little fact before we left the first time.  We even asked several time to make sure if we were good and the dentist said yes, we’re free to go.  So I had to drive us there and back a second time, which also meant I had to pay those toll booths again! 

Needless to say, both my brother and I aren’t in the best moods

So yea, it’s been quite a dumb couple of days.  Yesterday I didn’t do much  because I was waiting for the phone calls that I never received.  To make the day pass by, I watched two movies that I rented from blockbuster online but been putting off.  Quick reviews:

My Blueberry Nights

I rented it because it reminds me of my trip to Hong Kong last winter break.  Because the movie was directed by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai, they were advertising and showing this movie like crazy all over the place.  I finally sat down to watch it and I gotta say it was kinda boring.  The story really dragged throughout the movie and it didn’t help that the film would constantly go into unnecessary slow-mos, which made it all jerky like the dvd was skipping or something.  I actually liked Norah Jones in this and was impressed that this was her first acting role.  I also never realized how pretty she was until I watched this film.  If you’re a girl, you’ll probably like seeing Jude Law in this.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t quite recommend this movie to you, unless you want something showing in the background while you’re doing something else.  2 out of 5 sounds about right.

In Bruges

Thankfully, this movie was a lot better.  The movie plays like a dark comedy.  I was surprise by how funny this movie was.  There are some absolutely hilarious scenes throughout the movie, usually involving Colin Farrell‘s character (who is a hitman in this movie).  There’s also a really funny dwarf actor who had some pretty comical scenes with Colin Farrell.  I would say 50% of the time I was laughing at something Colin Farrell was doing (whether it be karate-chopping the dwarf or blinding a would-be robber with a gun filled with blanks) and the other 50% of the time I was laughing at Colin Farrell’s eyebrows.  Geez, I would have sworn they were CGI or something because they were so animated and constantly changing shape (see below).  I give this a 4 out of 5.

He would give Sylar a run for his money in the crazy eyebrows department

Ok that’s all for now.  Hopefully the next time I write an entry I will have a better idea of my job status.  I need money!

*My first real political thoughts entry, so if you’re not interested just ignore this .  Just felt like writing my thoughts down.*

When I woke up this morning, I turned on the tv out of habit as part of my waking up ritual.  Before I had the chance to turn the channel, the tv was on nbc showing Meet The Press, with Colin Powell as the guest.  I was about to turn it to VH1 to watch Best Week Ever, but for some reason I was very interested in what Powell had to say.  After about 10 straight minutes of explaining his choice, he said that he would vote for Barack Obama for several reason.

Now in case you don’t know, I was never a really political person until this election.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and I’m starting to realize how much I’m really affected by who’s in charge.  Anyways, what Colin Powell had to say inspired me to to write something down here because everything that he said in those 10 minutes pretty much summarizes all my thoughts and fears in this election.

I actually liked both McCain and Obama since the beginning and thought that both would be a good president.  In previous years, I’ve seen McCain on late night shows and he is definitely a funny, likable, and capable man.  Just a couple months ago, I wouldn’t have been too disappointed if McCain won.  However, I would have still preferred Obama because I feel he meets the need of the middle class more and that his views are generally my views.

Powell pretty much hit it on the nose when he gave the two points that made him question McCain’s judgment.  Obviously, choosing Sarah Palin as vice president was very questionable and I’m truly not sure if she has what it takes to be president.  People joke about McCain’s age, but it should seriously be considered.  If he were to be unable to fulfill his commitments as president, can I really see Palin doing it?  I really can’t.  On the other side, Joe Biden does seem fully qualified, so that one major plus for Obama.

I also really, really, really don’t like the direction of McCain’s campaign as of late.  Like Powell referred to, his campaigns have been extremely negative towards Obama, especially over issues that aren’t really directly related to the main issues.  I’m so tired of hearing about Ayers and how McCain is trying to connect Obama and him together all the time.  Is such an easy fear tactic and it should just end.  I really admire the way Obama have held himself over the past month despite all of this.

When election day comes, it will be really interesting to see how people vote.  If McCain somehow wins, I hope it’s because people truely believe in him and not because of certain factors related to Obama.  I really hope race will not be an issue and I do believe that the new generation is quite above that, but I do wonder about the older generations.  If race somehow plays a huge factor, I’m going to be extremely disappointed.

Oh yes, and for anyone that’s still confused; Barack Obama is NOT Muslim or Arab, and is in fact a life long Christian.  Colin Powell hit the nose again on this point.  “The really right answer is what if he is?”  Is there something inherently wrong with that? 

Okay, I’m done for now.  As a reward for reading this (or if you decide to just skip all the above and come down here, which is fine haha), here’s a funny roast video with Barack Obama at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner:

I had my final interview today with USTA Middle States.  I think the interview went better than the first one.  However, I admit that I was really nervous for the first few minutes because I wasn’t expecting to be interviewed by four people this time!  I think I gave better answers as the interview went on though.  I just hope they get the impression that I really want this position and that it would mean quite a lot to me.  Once again, it’s down to me and one other person, and I’m a bit nervous that the same results from last time will happen again.  Hopefully this time around luck will be on my side.  I will find out the verdict within a week.

*Fingers crossed*

In the mean time, I have yet another interview this Friday, but this time at the USTA Virginia office and it’s for a management of competitive tennis position.  Not sure yet what I would do if I were to find out I got the position in PA while still in the interviewing process for this VA position.  To be honest, I’m trying to not think about it until I actually hear the final “yes!” from USTA.  When I do, then I can deal with the “problem” of having to choose with job to persue.  I’ve learn my lesson from the first time around and I would defintely like to avoid that totally crushed feeling I had then.  Urgh.

Come on Lady Luck.  Help this poor smuck out won’t ya?

What a long weekend.  I spent my time between 8am-6pm each day at the College Park tennis courts for this year’s Maryland Invitationals.  The MD club president had asked me to help run the tournament since he was probably gonna be busy playing, so I oblige.  Besides, it’s this type of stuff I want to do if I ever worked for USTA, so it was a fun experience. 

Glad to see my old tennis club playing at a tournament again, although this weekend was not a good one for UMBC haha.  Oh well, it happens.  Some random pictures from this weekend (click to enlarge ):

I was so happy to see so many old faces from CP (like Jimmy and Hiroko above).  I also finally got to see Catherine’s accapella group again after not having gone in over a year (which, btw, put on an amazing show).  For some reason I could never find someone to go with me, so thanks for coming with me Darrell!  Hanging out at CP with so many old friends brought back so many memories of when I used to be at CP all the time, to the point where I would call it my second home.  I have to say, it was a very nostalgic weekend.

Anyways, I got some good news this morning; I’m being called back for a second interview with USTA next week!  Hopefully I won’t be as nervous this time around.  Thanks you to those who wished me luck last time; it apparently worked!   Feel free to wish me even more luck this time around :-

Went to PA for a job interview yesterday.  Didn’t bomb it, but also didn’t nail it.  I got a little bit more worried about my chances when I found out a good amount of people are applying for this job as well.  The interviewer will contact me sometime next week to let me know if I make it to the final 3 choices.  If so, I got a second interview to go to.  Wish they would just give it to me right now haha.  Oh if life was so easy.  In the mean time, I’m hoping to get an interview for another position in VA.  I really hope I come out of this with at least one job offer.  It sure will perk up my life!

Btw, who watched the VP debates last night?  Biden really impressed me
because he actually sounds like he knows what he’s talking about,
unlike Palin.  I’ll admit she did better than I expected.  However, I
still can’t believe she actually said “I might not answer the question
in the way that answers the question.”  I’m surprise more people
haven’t commented on that lame response.

This weekend I’ll be helping to run the Maryland Invitationals tournament in College Park.  Weather looks nice for both days, so should be fun.  I’ll take some pictures and post it up next time.  I’m also expecting to hang out with a couple of old friends, so I hope to see them this weekend.