Movie Review "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

One of the reasons that The Lord of the Rings movies were so good was the creators had incredible good fortune in making everything look and feel like the contents from Tolkien's books. Didn't matter whether it was the cast, the costumes, the creatures, the cities, or whatever. I'd say they had at least a 90% success rate. These Hobbit movies are not swinging quite as high. Just look at the main dwarves and you see that they are getting somewhere between 60% to 75% correctly. That is probably a pretty good estimate of how well they are doing overall with everything in these. That doesn't make these bad or anything. I mean, even on their misses they are still getting pretty close and I'd give them points for creativity. Aside from a shameful, beardless dwarf, their biggest swing and a miss is with Beorn, but he is just a minor character (a pretty cool one, but not very important) so you can't dock them too many points for that. Really going into all of this, it was the dragon Smaug that sat atop the golden pile of "they better get this one right". Unfortunately, I'm not sure I would call this Smaug a home run, but he is at least a solid double or triple that brings in some RBIs. Of course if you want to start an argument with a nerd just ask them whether the Smaug portrayed was more wyvern or dragon and sit back in a comfortable chair cause you'll be there longer than you expect or maybe want. Though I'm sure I have no comment on that because I didn't google looking for discussions on that topic earlier today or anything like that.

Movie Review "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"

Imagine you went to a restaurant for dinner and the waiter brings you an appetizer and follows this with about half of your entree. When you ask where the rest of your food is he informs you that you will need to come back on a later date and then he will give you the rest of your dinner and dessert. No matter how good that appetizer and the portion of your entree are I don't think you can rightly call that a good dining experience. Yet, this is precisely the trouble Hollywood has when making so many trilogies or series of movies. If you can't put together a whole story into one movie then maybe you'd be better off on TV where season finales and cliffhangers are welcomed and wanted. I understand that this can be tricky, especially when you walk into a movie knowing that more movies in the series will follow, but it is still incumbent upon you to make a complete meal that makes you want to come back for more rather than tease you with only tapas, no matter how fancy or exquisite they are. If your source material was written that way, well, then it was written (or perhaps just published) poorly. This movie is good, better than the first (as long as you can swallow the crazy dystopian pill they ask you to take), but just when they finally start hunger gaming you realize you are getting the bad waiter and service that you had when you went to see the sequels from The Pirates of the Caribbean or The Matrix and not the good waiter from Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings.

Thanksgiving in Zion, not in the general or figurative sense, but literally in Zion

Despite growing up in Utah, I took little advantage of everything that was in my own backyard. Stuff like this:

 

Now that I live elsewhere, I finally managed to spend a little more time in Zion National Park. We were there for Thanksgiving. We hiked around.

But we still managed to dine and give thanks.

And then I was able to give thanks that the Utes did not finish dead last in their division. Even got to go see us clinch "not last place" against Colorado.

All in all, a very fine Thanksgiving.

That time Thor went to the movies

And so there came the day whereupon Thor, the Odinson, left Asgard and traveled to the land of Midgard to go to the movies.

Upon his arrival, the God of Thunder was met with applause less than worthy of his name, but fair maidens left the arms of their suitors to be seen and have their images captured with Thor and this was most pleasing to the great Thunderer. The movie was quite gratifying to the Lord of Asgard, but much to his enjoyment has been witnessing how tales of this journey to Midgard now spread across the realm of cyberspace. All ready it has been deemed the favorite of 58 mortals, 18 or which saw it fit to "retweet" it, surely on the wings of great Odin's ravens. Amongst these was found the very producers of the movie that Thor ventured forth to see! Even past adventures of the Mighty Thor spread by virtue of this and this where it has received 382 notes. Thor doesn't know what exactly this means, but each note causes a rich laughter previously unknown to the mortals of Midgard to bellow forth from the favored son of Odin. It has been relayed to Thor that every mortal of Midgard may expect 15 minutes of fame, but the immortal Avenger scoffs at this for certainly there is no end to his glory here, nor in the halls of Valhalla.

Movie Review "Thor: The Dark World"

There is an old idiom that says something along the lines of "You can't really know a man until you walk a mile in his shoes". Its just an expression, but I've totally done just that. Ok, I didn't wear another man's shoes, but I did wear his cape and put on a blonde wig and carried around a hammer and spoke with a lot of "thee" and "thou" and "verily" so I'd say I basically went a mile in his shoes. You know what? The saying is completely true. This has given me a new appreciation and understanding of this man, even if he happens to be a fictional man. It even retroactively made me like his first movie more and more each time I see it. It has had such an effect that Thor could have been painting fences or searching for a lost golf ball in this movie and I probably would have liked it. So imagine how much I must have liked it since instead of that stuff this movie featured him hitting monsters with his hammer, flying around, spaceships, guys taking down those spaceships with swords, Natalie Portman, and the list just goes on and on. Seriously, if you ever want to like a movie more, try dressing up like someone in that movie. It sure did the trick for me.

Grrrrowr awrrr-awr-awr grooorr!!!

It's not wise to upset a Wookie...even on Halloween.

Frankly, I think we're all a little surprised that it has taken me this many Halloweens to get some Star Wars going on, but Chewbacca was a great place to start. Turns out I am quite the spitting image of the ol' walking carpet.

And who doesn't want to snuggle up next to the fuzzball?

Best part? That there bathrobe isn't limited to being worn just on Halloween! Seems like a perfect fit for any middle aged bachelor. Can't wait to answer the door, late on Saturday mornings, with this baby on. You gotta let the Wookie win!

Some serious (and copious) thoughts on science and PhDs

Today is the anniversary of the completion of my PhD. It was 3 years ago that I defended my dissertation and more or less was approved to graduate. My life is wildly different now that I have a PhD and, as I near the completion of my postdoctoral fellowship, I often reflect on whether or not getting a PhD is a good idea. My experience is limited to the biosciences so I can only speak to that though I imagine much of this is similar to other fields as well.

An understanding of the current state of a career in science is needed to better appreciate whether or not a PhD is a good idea. In its purest form, science is the pursuit of knowledge with the idea that with increased understanding comes societal or individual improvement in some way or another. While this is a noble idea, make no mistake, like any other business, science is driven by production. This makes science subject to most, if not all the same trends that I believe is evident in any sort of capitalistic venture. Namely, to maximize profit while minimizing cost. While science used to be the pursuit of only the more affluent gentlemen of society, it is now available to all that are interested and able to demonstrate some level of interest and proficiency, but one thing remains: science is still expensive. Scientists rely on various grants or other funds for their work and livelihood. The trick is that money is not rewarded simply for a good idea, but also by research needs and the demonstrated ability to get results. As competition for limited funding increases, the need for more and more relevant accomplishments builds. To meet this need we have seen science during the last couple of decades subscribe to the "bigger is better" philosophy. Larger institutions, larger labs, larger collaborations, and most importantly a larger workforce. Currently, one of the primary ways to increase the workforce is by increasing the number of PhD students, which are a source of relatively cheap labor. This has become both a means of obtaining grant support and completing the stated objectives of the grant. Obviously, as the number of PhD students increases then, in time, the number of people with PhDs looking for jobs also increases. Unfortunately the number of permanent jobs for those with PhDs has not grown at the same rate and so the postdoctoral training position was born, a holding pattern of sort that offers temporary employment in the hopes that a better career option will be available at a later time. This is also a position that is almost completely supported through grants. Additionally, while we definitely see an increase in quantity of training for both graduate students and postdocs, we do not necessarily see a similar increase in the quality of training or of scientists once they have completed their PhDs. Several people may think to simply bypass this path and skip over to a job in bio-industry where the big bucks are, but savvy industry is beginning to learn that postdocs can do what more heavily salaried employees do, but much more cheaply and so the postdoc route is becoming ever more common whether you are on an academic path or not. In fact completing multiple postdoctoral positions is something that is becoming much more normal. Considering that most schools aim for their PhDs to be completed in 5 to 6 years and an average postdoc takes around 3 years that means that most scientists will not land a more permanent career position until they are well into their 30s. Of course, advancing beyond the training stage is by no means crossing the finish line, but it is a step up, one that will likely require the vast majority of your time being spent on reading, writing, and reviewing papers and grants so as to secure more funding not only for yourself, but trainees of your own and thus, the cycle continues. Hopefully you can see, that in many ways a career in science is more akin to a pyramid scheme than its noble intentions would have you think. That is, science enrolls more participants than it is able to support and reward. Once upon a time that may have been a slightly humorous exaggeration, but it is increasingly becoming more and more of an appropriate comparison. This is not to say that one cannot succeed in science, you certainly can! Many exceptionally gifted and/or hardworking individuals have managed to navigate these paths in an efficient and timely manner, but most would probably agree that the days of the standard 40 hour work week ended a long time ago for those looking to advance quickly and succeed in science. More and more institutions are starting to see how this current paradigm is not sustainable, but their efforts to rectify these issues are only beginning and it will still be some time before solutions, like additional or alternative career options for PhDs, are not only found, but put into place. The scientific process continues to be a satisfying and rewarding one, but it is filled, far more now than ever, with increasingly stressful and temporary positions. In the current economic climate this might not necessarily be very different from any other business or career, but it certainly does require a much longer commitment to schooling and other training without, perhaps, the expected reciprocity.

That is a fairly accurate, but admittedly slightly cynical, outlook on careers in research science today. Despite some of these realities and frustrations, science is still pretty cool. Maybe not as cool as it looks in the movies or TV, but cool enough that you might just be considering going and getting a science PhD. After a lot of thought, I believe there are 3 acceptable reasons to get a PhD. Here they are, listed in order of how ideal they are:

Reason 1 - You are keenly, even enthusiastically, interested in the science

This is not to be confused with an appreciation or even an aptitude for science. No, this is a legitimate excitement for science, as in, when you don't have to be thinking about anything, you find yourself thinking about science. You know, pondering the secrets of life, the universe and everything. A classmate of mine once observed that he had reached the point that when he came home at night he could read the newspaper, a magazine, a piece of literature, or the most recent science journals and derive the same satisfaction and enjoyment from all of them. If you have reached this point where you eat, drink, and sleep science like this, then congratulations! You have the best possible characteristic or trait for getting a PhD and pursuing a career in science.

Reason 2 - There is a job or position you know that you want, but it requires a PhD

This is rather practical and straightforward. You know you want to be a professor or maybe some sort of professional researcher in industry. Perhaps some government jobs. Point is, you have your eyes fixed on something and you are confident that it is what you want to do, but it will require a PhD. Then by all means, get a PhD and hope that when you complete it, that job is still what you want and it is available.

Reason 3 - You have no idea what else to do

Maybe you got a college degree that is not exactly the most employable. Or maybe you have gone as far as you can in your current career and are looking for a way to advance further. A PhD is not necessarily the only solution to this problem, but it is a solution. Some of the benefits here are that a PhD should take you a long time, providing you with plenty of time to think and consider your future and, at least with science/research oriented PhDs, they will pay you to do this! Not much, mind you, but still, you shouldn't go any further into debt with this. A couple negatives are that upon completion of your PhD, there is no guarantee you will have any better idea of what to do with your life, but you will have spent several years developing what very likely will be narrow and specific skills that may leave you limited in terms of your career options.

There may be other reasons to get a PhD, but I imagine they likely would fit into 1 of these 3 categories or they simply are not a very good reason to get a PhD (family pressure, bragging rights, proving yourself, etc.). As stated, some of these are better or more worthwhile reasons to get a PhD than others and keep in mind that if you decide to get a PhD you will find yourself surrounded by a combination of people that fall into one of these groups. Maybe you do not identify with Reason 1, but you will undoubtedly find yourself coming into contact with those that do fit into Reason 1 and they will almost certainly make you question your decision to get a PhD on a regular basis. Don't worry though, no matter what category you fit into, you will find that completing your PhD is entirely possible and if you endure the process you will obtain that fancy piece of paper and all the honors, rights and privileges pertaining thereto. However, I suspect that the satisfaction you find in a career in science afterwards may be heavily influenced by the reason you pursued a PhD. Using the skills I have learned during my career in science I have put together these boxplots that represents the likely amount of overall satisfaction in science that those belonging to each category are likely to find. Keep in mind that this is all completely made up data, not based on any actual quantitative results, but it looks pretty official and it helps me make the point I am shooting for. In that regard, it is not too entirely different from figures you might find in an actual science publication. Like I said, it employs a lot of skills that I have learned as scientist (not just graphing ones). Note that all groups exhibit a wide range of overall satisfaction in science, but their means group more closely to certain scores.

I should point out that I have many, many friends and colleagues that have very fulfilling and happy lives in science, even with these challenges. If you still want to pursue a PhD and science career then I congratulate you on knowing what you want and I wish you all the best success in your future. Seriously, that is rather significant! If you are maybe not so sure, especially after reading this, but are still predominantly serious about science (or maybe you find yourself all ready in a PhD program and not quite sure what you are doing there) then I would consider the following options:

• Study science in college, but move on to something else as far as graduate school is concerned (medical, law, business school, etc.)  I know, I know, we like to poke fun at these people as if they were sell outs or something. And plus, PreMeds were just the worst, but honestly these are very good options to consider. In many cases they will require less time spent in school or training, there is a much more established and clearly defined career path, and usually a higher earning potential. Or you could just get a degree in engineering of some sort. Plenty of science there, but higher odds of being employed with only a Bachelor's degree.

• Explore various options that may be available via Master's degrees  In science it is easy to adopt a "PhD or bust" sort of attitude, but in actuality there are some very fine career options that only require a Master's Degree. You may also consider other interests that may or may not require additional certifications.

• Focus on your statistical and programming skills  I cannot stress this one enough! Statistics and computer programming are perhaps the most important skills anyone can have in today's world. They are incredibly valuable in any career in science, but they also very versatile and open the door to virtually any other sort of business or career. If you have these skills, even if science doesn't work out, you will still be a reasonably valuable candidate for other careers.

• Hope for an incredible stroke of good luck or maybe find yourself a sugar-mama or daddy  It is always nice to dream and hey, maybe she/he will be cute too!

I do not mean to be entirely discouraging of a career in science. You actually may be reading this and thinking that I must have terrible regrets about going into science and getting my PhD. Not exactly. In fact, some of the greatest experiences I have had are the result of me pursuing and getting a PhD. Most significantly are the friendships that this path has brought into my life. It is also pretty amazing that I have done some of the things I have done and someone actually paid me to do them! I simply am still trying to find where exactly I fit in science. It is taking longer than I might have hoped, but that is only my individual experience. Of course that has definitely shaped the perspectives shared here more than anything, but I have tried to allow the observations I have made of other scientists, discussions with them, and current articles regarding these topics (this guy is doing a nice job writing quite a bit about this subject) to also influence the thoughts I have shared here. It is important to note that all careers, in science or otherwise, are full of their own rewards and fulfillment, but they all also bring with them their own challenges, frustrations, and obstacles. In fact several of these same concerns exist in other careers. A PhD in and of itself is definitely not a bad thing, but it also isn't a ticket to automatic employment, stability and success. 

I know this has been a deviation, and a lengthy one at that, from Jerkolas' usual thoughts, but I hope it has been informative, interesting, and maybe even helpful in some way. At the crossroads I am approaching these topics are very much on my mind and I wanted to express them. All the best of luck in whatever endeavors you find yourself, whether they be science related or not.

Movie Review "Gravity"

If you could pick someone to share a life and death situation with, who would you pick? Obviously, you would pick Batman, but Batman is a loner and is also not real so you can't pick Batman. All things considered, I think you could do a lot worse than George Clooney. Now I freely admit that I am a bit biased, what with George and I being birthday brothers, but still, he sounds like a solid choice. He just seems so affable and charming. Does he actually know anything about survival? I have no idea, and frankly, not sure I'm really all that worried about it. Thats just how suave and debonair that dude is. Who do you definitely not pick? Some scientist guy who's gonna come in and tell you that space stations are actually hundreds of miles apart and nearly impossible to travel between or that real space jet packs are not nearly as cool as the one seen here. No way you want to spend your last moments with that guy. Maybe you are less likely to survive with George Clooney, but its gotta be as pleasant of an experience as it could be with him compared to some know-it-all scientist with his "facts". Plus, either way, you're either that guy who perished or prevailed alongside George Clooney and both of those outcomes are pretty nice. 

And you have my bow

Without a doubt, one of the best Disney movies ever made is Robin Hood. Coincidentally, one of the first PG-13 movies I begged my parents to let me watch was Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. At this point you might expect me to say that I also loved Robin Hood: Men in Tights, but no, I did not. And I never even bothered seeing that new Robin Hood movie with Gladiator in it, but getting back to things I do like, I do remember liking Legolas the most when I first read The Lord of the Rings (this is before the movies turned him, and every elf, into an effeminate, do no wrong, Vulcan).  Obviously the common theme here is bows and arrows. With my apparent youthful fondness for fictional characters that were handy with the bow and arrow, you might expect that I would have had some experience with archery as a younger person, but aside from some boy scout trips, my exposure to archery was pretty limited to statistic examples that used archery targets to explain the difference between accuracy and precision. Until now. 

And why not now? Archery is bigger than ever! Last year, movies had a minor love affair with archers. Most famously, there was Hawkeye in last summer's The Avengers. Sure, he was probably the most forgettable character in the movie, but he sure made a bow and arrow look at least a little effective against an invading alien force. Nowhere near as effective as being a rampaging rage monster, but those trick arrows were neat. And who could forget that redhead girl in that Pixar movie that everyone forgets? Pretty sure she was all headstrong and proved it with a bow in hand. There was also Hunger Games girl who was what, like a mediocre to good bow hunter? I can't even remember if she ever fired off an arrow except to establish that "hey this girl is good with arrows and stuff". Point is, just like joining the Navy was in vogue following Top Gun (I, of course, am referring to any time, anyone, anywhere, watches Top Gun, not just back to 1986 when Top Gun came out), bows and arrows have never been hotter. So how'd I do my first time out? First I had to figure out this whole "stand awkwardly and hold your arm in a totally unnatural way" thing.

But once I got the hang of that (I never got the hang of that), I actually did pretty ok.

Turns out I am pretty precise, but not very accurate. Probably because of a screwy sight. Yep, that, not my total lack of experience, was probably the problem. Of course keep in mind that we were only 10 yards away. All things considered, I may be more deadly with the bow than a firearm...as long as you are only 10 yards away...not moving...and you give me all the time in the world. Not quite ready for the great bear hunt, but getting there.

Just kidding, I could never kill a bear, unless it was a mercy kill because he was sick and dying and he came to me because we had a long established relationship of trust and friendship or maybe if it was some sort of honorable fight to the death that the tradition of our ancestors demanded. Either way, I probably wouldn't be using a bow, though I am a touch more prepared to do so now. Might even try this again. Its high time this old bachelor gets some obscure hobbies and skills!

 

That one thing

Once I had a roommate that was studying computer science, but what he really loved was flying. He was working on getting his pilot's license and he loved to fly. He would take off, literally, whenever he could. He knew that no matter what was going on, if he could just get up in the air, he would enjoy it. He loved it. I was happy for him. Happy that he had that one thing that would always make him happy. Truth be told, I was also a bit envious as I struggled to think of something I did that made me happy like that. What was my one thing? Well, I am still working on that in some ways, but I can tell ya this, I love when Utah beats BYU!

Its not always pretty or even impressive, but it always does the trick. In good times or bad. I love it. How can it not make things better when it gives you gems like this:

How long would I have had to endlessly watch that to actually surprise any of you? Cause I've been watching it awhile now and I am not getting anywhere near tired of it. It has reached "the Hulk punches stuff out of the sky" levels of guaranteed to put a smile on my face. This year's win was made all the sweeter since we will not be playing that team down south again till 2016. That means last night's win gives us 3 years of bragging rights! Of course this also means that for the next few years I won't have a Utah victory over BYU to give me that little boost. Don't worry, I am sure something else will come along, but if it doesn't I can always boot up that image and countless others. In the mean time, I will enjoy this and happily wear some red, knowing that, not only does it make me more attractive, but it also makes me a winner! I encourage you all to do the same.

Genetics has failed

In 1953, Watson and Crick published their "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" paper and ushered in the modern age of molecular biology and genetics.

As momentous as this was, scientists didn't really know what to do with this discovery. They busied themselves by trying to better understand DNA and, in order to pay for all this, scientists convinced the government that they would cure diseases with this DNA stuff and the government believed them. This kept the scientists busy for a long time, but it wasn't until November of 1990 that the true potential of DNA was realized when an MD who decided he didn't want to MD anymore wrote a book that changed science forever.

Suddenly science had a clear and appreciable goal: to clone a dinosaur, specifically a Tyrannosaurus rex. This not only captivated scientists and the public, but inspired a whole new generation of scientists (including yours truly) to join the ranks and march towards the realized dream of a futuristic amusement park where dinosaurs are brought to life through advanced cloning techniques. Obviously genetics would be the tool of choice for this endeavor. Geneticists began to make "maps" of DNA and became incredibly adept at producing large, impressive figures full of data that ultimately don't mean much, but sure look nice.  They also continued to dabble in the search for cures and treatments to disease in order to pay the bills, but really most of this work was done with an eye towards the dino-prize.Unfortunately, science, being the cruel mistress that she is, threw geneticists a curve ball this year. It began last October with the discovery that DNA has a shorter than hoped for half-life, making the recovery of 65 million year old dino-DNA all but impossible. As if that wasn't enough of a blow below the belt, this week science released that they had tested the exact scientific plan from Jurassic Park and tried to get DNA from insects encased in amber or even precursors to amber resins that are only 10,000 or so years old.

Turns it out that they couldn't even reliably detect the insect's DNA let alone any other organism's DNA that the bug might be carrying, unless you wanted bacterial contaminants which of course no one has ever wanted. And just like that, the dreams of modern biology have been dashed. There are other slim possibilities to seeing a living dinosaur that I previously postulated , but genetics has essentially failed. I would place my bets on some sort of "time travel" solution, but that leaves it in the hands of physicists and mathematicians. That is until mad science becomes a legitimate vocation or maybe one really far out there dude who is tripping on some crazy, good acid will come up with an idea. Shoot, if Homer Simpson could do it, maybe we have a chance. So what about all these geneticists? What are we, and really I mean me, suppose to do now? I guess we can fall back on what we busied ourselves with for so long, namely, hoping to cure diseases and making fancy figures. It may not be as satisfying as cloning pet T. rexes, that you almost certainly could ride to work, but its good honest work. At least thats what they keep telling me.

 

Steamboat Springs

For some time my Mom has been trying to get us all together for a vacation. Because of distance and babies and such this is a bit tricky, but after some searching she found a spot for us in the ski resort town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I left sunny San Diego and first arrived in also sunny (and hot and dry) Salt Lake where I met the new family dog, Argos.

Everyone actually calls him Gus, but I think Argos is what my Dad actually named him. He's a good dog. Like me he is desperate for attention and thinks he is a lot older than he actually is. Ok, so that last part is only definitely true of me and only maybe true for him as we don't really know his real age, but there's no doubt he's an old soul. My brother and his family met us in Salt Lake and then we all headed to Steamboat to meet up with my other brother and his family. Most of the time was spent looking after and entertaining my nephews and nieces. I think I was a pretty good uncle. We did lots of stuff. We went hiking (walking in the mountains) with them.

Took 'em down an alpine slide that is not anywhere near "throw your kids off the slide" fast like they were when I was a smaller boy.

I taught them about the fine art of photobombing.

And I also showed them how to get the very most out of any playground.

It wasn't all outdoors fun though. Back home we had a foosball table and being the good uncle that I am,  I didn't do them any favors by taking it easy on them.

Of course, there were always plenty of books to read to them. My favorite was "Star Wars 1-2-3". An uncle can't help but feel a little proud when he is able to teach his nephews and nieces to correctly identify all the bounty hunters in Star Wars.

Above all else, we left them with Grandma and Grandpa as much as possible.

My littlest niece also completed her first birthday while we were together. We threw a little party for her that she was clearly thrilled by. You could tell because of all the tears she shed and cries she made. She perked right up once she found the choicest of balloons and got lots of sweets on her fingers.

All in all, it was great to be all together. I suppose this was the very first Nicholas family reunion, at least for this iteration of the Nicholas family.

Then it was back to Salt Lake for me where I had a little time to go up in the mountains to Cecret Lake. I know thats not how you spell secret, but it is how you spell Cecret Lake. I doesn't make any sense, but it is pretty.

Its always nice to get home and its real nice to see that my nephews and nieces are actually starting to know who I am. Not sure how frequently we will all be able to do this sort of thing, but you know I'm free whenever.

Movie Review "The Wolverine"

How old is too old to be in a relationship with someone younger? As an older single fella, I have had some opportunities to ask myself this and maybe have some experience with it. The general rule of thumb is that you take your age, divide it by 2 and then add 7 to it and that is the lower limit age that you may acceptably date. I have no idea where this formula comes from, but I can only assume some of our top mathematicians were at least consulted. So the question is, what if you were essentially immortal like the hero of our movie here? Then what? I mean, I think Wolverine is at least 200 years old. Does that mean he can only go out with 107 year old women? He probably isn't going to find many of those, let alone any who are healthy enough for a fling with him, what with all the ninjas and everything that seem to constantly attack him. Does it matter that despite his old age, he looks like a much younger guy? Maybe your physical appearance of age is what the formula should be applied to instead of your actual age. As problematic as that might be, it appears to be what Wolverine is doing here as he is pairing up with a 20 something year old and you know what, I don't blame him. Not one bit. Being the only immortal dude around is potentially enough of a drag without having your entire dating population dead or dying off. You know what else? Its possible that Wolverine is just aging much more slowly so it might be incumbent upon him to date much younger so that when she is older he might finally be a little gray in the head too. That way he avoids the Highlander problem. Either way, this Wolverine guy seems to have plenty of problems all ready so I am not gonna fault him. No, but rather as I guy who has had to at least partially face this dilemma as well, I think I will just welcome him as kindred spirit.

Movie Review "World War Z"

I have never gone to a zombie movie before. Generally they are too gory for me. Plus, they seem to appeal to some rather unsavory parts of human nature. Still, I am no dummy when it comes to zombies. I mean there was that time when the zombies were invading my dreams. Most of the time, I find it difficult to imagine a zombie outbreak being something we would have much difficulty in containing. I mean these suckers are usually quite slow, vulnerable to almost any form of weaponry, and you have to actually be bitten to become infected. In other words the disease has exploitable weaknesses and preventative measures. Well I guess people agreed with me or otherwise grew tired of these standard zombie rules because here the zombies are super fast (to the point of near superhuman abilities), sort of smart, and infections take only 10 seconds post bite to set in. Even with these new rules I initially still had a hard time buying that we would have let this thing get so far out of hand as we see it has become in the beginning of this movie, but by the time the movie ended, I was on board. These zombies would be a tough nut to crack. I still wouldn't count us out though. You gotta wonder how you would fare in such a scenario. Some friends think I would be one of the guys who would sacrifice himself so others could get away, even those dirtbag guys who don't deserve it. I think that might be one of the best compliments I have ever received.

Another trip to the outside of Comic Con

A year ago I went to the San Diego Comic Con without actually attending the Comic Con. That is, I wandered around outside the convention center and soaked it all in. Thanks to a friend that was here visiting, I had a really great time. I tried my luck again this year. They didn't have any batmobiles on display this time, but whats just as good as all the batmobiles? If you answered a life-sized lego sculpture of the Dark Knight then boy were you in luck:

Ok, so not as cool as even a single batmobile, but I mean that certainly took someone a long time to make and no doubt whoever made it was just living it up now, probably with a cosplay girl on each arm as he watched lines of people take pictures of his work...since there was almost nothing else on display. Batman not enough for ya? Well they also had all these lego dwarves and wizard:

We crossed the street and found a Mad Max face painting booth, Walking Dead zombies, and one Silver Samurai robot. You know they say that you'd be surprised how small many of your favorite actors are when you meet them in real life and apparently that is even true of Silver Samurai robots:

Of course the real treat of Comic Con is the hundreds of people just reveling in the costumes they have made. To get attention in your costume there are generally 3 strategies. First, you can have an incredible attention to detail and willingness to spend, spend, spend on materials. Second, you can be very creative, innovative, or imaginative in portraying your favorite character. Third, you can be an attractive girl. For maximum attention getting, try combining the 3 strategies. Anyway, I couldn't help but notice the many Thor cosplayers as we share a mutual affinity for the Odinson. There was this dude:

But I think I like these ones more:

I didn't run into any celebrities or appear on any youtube videos with Mr. Whedon this year, but I did race in viking boats in a parking lot swimming pool:

Can finally cross that off my list. For the record, my canoe upbringing proved pivotal in claiming victory on the seas that day, I can tell you. 

Yes, Comic Con pulls out all the stops! Not quite as many as they did last year, but still, it was a nice afternoon. Maybe one day I will actually attend the real thing. Until then I will continue to mooch off of everything I can find outside.

Movie Review "Pacific Rim"

I read that this movie was the result of the director listening to his inner 12 year old self and making his dream movie. I gotta say, this has got to be one of the best approaches to making movies and other directors should take note, even though I suspect that even Christopher Nolan's 12 year old self was also a bit serious, gritty, and mostly joyless. Its clear that old, giant monster movies played an important role in the director's early upbringing, but what is a little more subtle is the soft spot he obviously has for a little film called Top Gun. Seriously, its there, especially early on. You've got your Maverick, Goose, Iceman, and even Viper in here, but it tends to fade as the movie progresses. While its good that most of the focus was on the giant robots and giant monsters punching each other, after all thats the bread and butter here, I do wish he had maybe embraced those Top Gun tropes just a little more. I mean, I think the world is ready for what would certainly have resulted in this generation's beach volleyball scene. Imagine a giant robot pulling out that infamous Slider stance (as found at 0:39 in the linked video). Thats about the only thing that could have made this movie better. As for the movie my inner 12 year old self would make? Well, thats probably the same movie my current self would make: a buddy action/adventure starring Batman and Optimus Prime as vigilantes caught in the middle of an intergalactic rebellion against an evil empire that has employed an army of Predators to hunt them down. Go ahead. Lie to me. Tell me you don't want to watch that movie.

Open wide for some soccer!

When I was younger, my appreciation for soccer could pretty much be summed up with this:

Then I went to Argentina and my soccer spirit was born. While I would love to see the Albicelestes in person some day, I couldn't rightly pass up a chance to see my own nation's team. The USA men's team came to town to play Guatemala in a friendly the day after the 4th of July. Nothing quite as American like some soccer to continue celebrating our fine nation! As you can see it was enough of a draw to fill half of the lower bowl of Qualcomm stadium.

This was the first time I saw any of our national teams in person. Truly it brings out the patriots! When I was younger I was taught that we should never use the American flag as a costume. Obviously I grew up in an era when soccer was extremely unpopular in the states. Now that we care just a little bit about soccer we have thrown such traditions and respect right out the window. Soccer will do that.

It was a pretty slow first half. In fact Guatemala looked rather spry and appeared to be attacking far more. Nevertheless the USA punched one in before the whistle. Totally different story in the second half when America remembered it could run. Things started off with a penalty kick from Landon Donovan (his 50th international goal).

And then the ol' USA just piled it on, making quite the statement with a massive 6-0 win against the Central American powerhouse that is Guatemala. In all honesty soccer is a game where even when you are holding back, scoring opportunities may present themselves and are hard to pass up. Actually who am I kidding?  We definitely could have let off the throttle more than we did, but friendlies are certainly the time to take the gloves off and just embarrass your opponent, right? Besides, you never know when you might have Guatemala on the ropes again. They didn't add any stoppage time to the second half. I don't think the Guatemalans even stuck around for handshakes and jersey exchanges (at least the goalie didn't, he booked it right out of there), but the USA players were nice enough to salute the over 20,000 person crowd!

It was a fun evening. When going to a soccer game you just hope to see a goal and we saw 6 of 'em! As un-American as soccer is, you just can't help but get caught up in a U-S-A chant every 5 minutes, be it in the stadium or anywhere near the stadium, before or after the match. You spot someone else in the red, white, and blue and it just comes out. Our nation's name is great that way. Just lends itself to chanting so easily. Little things like that help make us the most patriotic nation out there. Oh, and USA should always rock the "Where's Waldo" jerseys. Those babies are way better than their regular jerseys. USA! USA! USA!