Because I'm So Enraged

I decided to do a repeat blog post about the movie I saw today. If you follow my Tumblr (which I'm guessing most of you don't), I just posted this and I did in fact just copy and paste it from there. You've been warned:

Save Your Money And See Something Else Besides Contagion

No seriously, guys. I even had a coupon, and I’m a little sad I wasted it on that. I mean I love me some Matt Damon, but he just could not save this dreadful movie.

What I want to know is how in the heck did it get a rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes?

I mean yes, it has so many famous faces:

• as mentioned, Matt Damon
• Gwyneth Paltrow
• Laurence Fishburne
• Jude Law
• Kate Winslet
• Marion Cottillard
• Heck Demetri Martin was in it

Not to mention tons of other people that you’ll recognize as that dude/chick in that one movie but you can’t remember their actual names (like the old dude with glasses from Ocean’s 11 aka Elliot Gould).

But seriously, when you get too much talent on one screen, it gets to be a bit overwhelming and disconjointed if they are in various story lines UNLESS the director/writer is VERY good and keeps you going through them all and intertwines them. I mean clearly all these people are intertwined because of this virus that is spreading like wildfire, but other than that…

The problem was is that I didn’t care enough about any one of the characters to hope they didn’t get sick and die. The only one that came close was Kate Winslet’s character and *SPOILER ALERT* she doesn’t make it. And you know why I cared? Cause she seemed like the only character that was actively trying to do something to help others and didn’t care about her own health in the meantime (the other peeps… not so much).

I will say though, the movie makes you SUPER aware of everything you touch and what everyone else touches. I wanted to come out of there avoiding anything and spraying hand sanitizer on every hand rail, but then at the same time, I almost wanted to cough on everything I saw and everyone. Because you know, no one in the movie seemed to care that they were spreading a deadly disease to their passersby. I mean for reals one dude was ON HIS WAY TO WORK and he looked like he was about to keel over right then when Kate Winslet called him and stopped him, forced him off, get this, THE BUS, where he proceeded to touch all the railings, and cough on everyone, get out and then cough on everyone at the bus stop and pass out (after Kate Winslet expressly tells him not to touch anything or anyone).

He was on his way to work.

I like can’t stress this enough because it boggles my mind. If I’m even aching or coughing pretty bad I don’t go in because umm I don’t want to work while I feel like crap or even sort of feel crappy (or go to work in general). And this guy looked like death frozen over and he was riding a bus to work?! He be crazy yo.

Anyway, aside from making anyone with OCD freak out even more than they already do, or making someone start becoming OCD, this movie was so not worth it. I’m thinking I should have just seen The Lion King in 3D instead… At least I would have known what to expect from that one.

I Don't Want To Speak Too Soon...

But... I'm sort of, kind of, slightly regretting my decision to leave my old single's branch for this new one.

All this summer leading up to me leaving the branch (for those that don't know it's a church congregation of single adults from ages 18 to 31, can also be called a ward), I felt like it was time for me to leave and move on. I was moving to an apartment and a new town and I figured that with that I'd just start going to a new single's ward that was closer to my apartment. I was sad to be leaving the people I'd been going to church with for 2 almost 3 years now, but I figured I'd still see them at activities and stuff because I'm only 15/20 minutes away. I was excited to meet new people and get a change of pace etc.

Well, now that I've been in the new ward for 2 weeks (hence why I didn't want to speak too soon), I really miss the branch. Not that this new ward is like psycho, although the past two Sundays have had some strange occurrences, but at least with the branch I knew what to expect and the strange occurrences that happened were entertaining. Ok, here's what happened in the new ward so far:

Last Sunday the first speaker decided she was teaching a lesson instead of giving a sacrament meeting talk, complete with passing out candy and making this poor dude do the equivalent of 90 pushups in his Sunday clothes at the front of the chapel. Then the 2nd person decided to talk the REST of the sacrament meeting, but we still sang all 4 verses of the rest hymn and then the 3rd speaker spoke. Normally this part of church ends at 2. We didn't get out until 2:20. Sunday School was okay although I had to go to the "special" new people class, which was fine, and then the relief society lesson was a little weird too. Not to mention the ridiculously forced conversation (not on my part) I had with a guy during the potluck afterwards (I was like, seriously dude, I'm not into you, I'm trying to meet people cause I'm new, if you don't want to talk to me, just say so. AND THEN, after I decided to talk to other people and let him be since it was like pulling teeth getting him to answer my questions, he stops me on my way out to tell me that it was a pleasure meeting me and then shook my hand. What?!)

Today wasn't quite as odd although pretty sure one of the speakers there (a high councilman I think) said that it was the duty of women to learn sewing and cooking etc. I say pretty sure because I wasn't exactly paying attention before then, but then I heard that and was wondering what the heck he was talking about. Even the guy next to me said, "Umm did he just say sewing was a gospel principle?" Yeah, no clue.

A friend of mine from the branch came with me to church today and she said something that made me realize that I did miss the branch: The branch has its weirdos and its crazy people, but they're our weirdos.

It's true. I think the thing about this new ward is that I don't know who the weird people are and I don't know who anyone is in general (aside from the few I know from the past). At least in the branch I knew who the crazy people were and who my friends were. Granted, I'm sure I'll learn with this new ward eventually, but right now, I really miss the crazy antics of the branch and my friends, and having people to talk to during church. Hopefully I'll get some people like that in the ward soon. I need some friends in the ward.

School is a Vacuum Cleaner: It Sucks Up My Life

Y'all, I'm sorry for not posting sooner. This week has just been crazy and I've been going non-stop and haven't felt like I could just stop and breathe, let alone sit down and type out all the blog posts I want to do. And sadly... I don't think that feeling is going to go away any time soon. At least not till the semester is over. Sounds like it's time for the promised semester overview:

First Class of the Week
So on Wednesday nights I have what is officially called "Approaches to Emergent Media and Communications" but what is really just a research class. Which REALLY means that it's going to be super boring and a TON of work. I have a homework assignment that I have to turn in every week and we have 3 exams and a final and then we have the final research paper. I thought grad school was all about discussion and the occasional paper/assignment/final project? I can already tell this class will be a pain in the butt. PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!

Luckily, however, most of the people in the class are my friends so we can complain about the class together afterwards. Like how the professor spent 20 minutes and went OVER class time (which means I didn't get out of class till 10pm) about plagiarism, complete with examples and comparisons. It's grad school, if someone has plagiarized something, kick them the heck out of the program and school; they are complete idiots and SHOULD know better. I get that this is a problem and might need to be addressed, but, you don't have to spend 20 minutes talking about how people shouldn't do it and showing what it means to plagiarize. Alls you gots to say is, "Don't plagiarize in any way, shape, or form. If you're confused by what this means or have questions, come see me after class and I will gladly explain." That's it. It's a freakin' Master's level class, no need to treat us like we're in high school. But... I digress.

Second Class of the Week
Then on Thursday I have to leave work early (yup... which means I get to make up the time on Fridays that I normally wouldn't work. I'm quite upset by this fact) to go to my "Literature, Science, and Culture" class, which is all about game theory, itself and found in the literature we're reading. The first meeting of this class I missed (cause I was in Utah), so I met with the professor in his office when I got back. When I first met him, I realized he was an adorable old British man who apparently likes to wear super thick turtleneck sweaters and shorts (yeah that's what he was wearing) in his office. I talked to him about the class and I introduced myself and what not and then he laid this piece of knowledge on me (after he asked if I'd read The Lord of the Rings after me saying I like reading and have an English degree):

"I met Tolkien when I was at Oxford. He looks like Gandalf, just a miniature version of him."

I was too dumbfounded to ask him anything else (like what does he mean by he looks like Gandalf? the description of him in the book? Sir Ian McKellen himself or as he's dressed up as the character in the movie? Did you also meet C.S. Lewis???) so I didn't. The class so far has been filled with a lot of discussion that goes off on tangents and that sometimes appears to be over my head. Not to mention I can tell that a few of my classmates are going to be super annoying. This class just requires a lot of reading, and as far as grades it's based on participation and weekly reading quizzes (and I'm pretty sure I totally bombed my first one) with an OPTIONAL term paper and that's it. No final, no midterm, no required paper. This is both good and bad for obvious reasons. Let's hope I'll get in the groove of this class and not tune out what he's actually saying because I'm lulled by his British accent. Let's hope.

Third Class of the Week
Then later on that evening on Thursday nights, I have "Emerging Media Studio" which is essentially a film class with a little extra things EMAC related. I think this class is the one I'll have the most fun in and will probably learn the most. I'm not that great at filming, so I'm looking forward to learning more about it and geting some more hands on projects as opposed to just learning about it in generalities. We have an assignment (video or otherwise) every week, and then we'll have a final project at the end. So far though, the assignments have been fun and/or easy to complete. For example, the class's focus is on online identities, so the professor asked us to create a fake personality on any platform we choose and about anything we want. SO, if y'all are looking for a little extra entertainment in your life, feel free to check out my alter ego Betty Sue who lives in a trailer park in Oklahoma, loves country music, huntin', and NASCAR, and tweets some pretty funny pictures.

Bonus Class of the Week
AND THEN because I'm an idiot and like to torture myself, I'm auditing an Independent Study class that meets on Friday nights (not every Friday night just most of them) on Fashion and Media that would be really awesome if only I could invest more time and effort into it and could be getting credit for it. I warned my professor I probably wouldn't be able to contribute much, which she said she was cool with, but I'm hoping I can at least do one of the projects: make some kind of wearable computing/tech fashion thing. We'll see how it goes.

In Conclusion
And that my friends is my semester. Basically I'm going to be spending most of my time running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but other than that, don't mind me. Blogging is my release, so don't think I won't update at all, but just know that it might not be as frequent as I'd like it to be.

FOTW: Sherlock Edition

So after putting it off FOREVER, I finally had time to sit down and watch Sherlock (and the fact that it was streaming on Netflix helped a lot). It is only 3 episodes (but the new season should be coming out soon!!!) but they are awesome. It is of course about Sherlock Holmes, but it's a modern day version where Watson is an army doctor recently returned from Afghanistan suffering post-traumatic stress and Sherlock is a consulting detective who mainly only communicates through text message. Not only are the actors superb, but the design, costumes, and graphics are so unique and awesome and makes the show so enjoyable to watch both for the humor and the mystery.

Ok... so now that I've thoroughly convinced you to watch this show if you haven't already, let's get back to the actors:


One of my faves Martin Freeman plays Watson (first set of pictures in slideshow). Most of you probably know his previous work, but most notably he plays Tim in the British Office (British counterpart to Jim in the American version) and is Arthur Dent in The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He's appeared in other things like Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz, and he will be playing Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming The Hobbit movies! He is definitely not like a super sexy gorgeous man, but he is cute and the characters he plays are so endearing (so I mean clearly that's how he is in real life of course). And, any man who says, "Why does everyone have to pretend to be stupid and not know long words?" is after my own heart and I will love him forever.

Then as Sherlock we have someone whose name I just love to say: Benedict Cumberbatch. I mean come on, just his name alone is awesome. Not to mention that he is a VERY good Sherlock and actor in general. So good, in fact, that after seeing Sherlock (and falling in love with him and his character), I didn't realize I had seen him in another movie. I was explaining to a friend about my new found love, and she reminded me that he actually plays a super creepy pervert dude in Atonement. After remembering that that was indeed him, I was devastated! I mean clearly he played that character well enough for me to second guess me liking him, which after I got over my initial shock, made me like him as an actor even more. He's been in The Other Boleyn Girl, Amazing Grace (which I've been told is very good and I should watch it) and even played Stephen Hawking in Hawking. He's also going to be in the new Hobbit movies as the voice of Smaug/Necromancer! Interesting fact: He apparently taught English in a Tibetan monastery. Cool right?

I'm way excited for the new season of Sherlock to come out and obviously for The Hobbit to come out as well! These two actors work very well together and play an excellent Watson/Sherlock pair.

Although my heart will always belong to RDJ whose Sherlock Holmes sequel comes out in December, I think Benedict Cumberbatch might be one of my favorite Sherlocks.