It has been one whole year since my first post to thebradlands, December 15th, 2005. I would like to thank my mom and dad, for bringing me into this world. Also my producer/ providor/ spellchecker/ factchecker Warren Myers. Of course I’d like to thank Jillian who has stuck with me through thick and thin and has helped me with my Spanish. And lastly all my fans who have made it fun for me to write knowing that you care enough to check by and read. Blogging has been a great way to vent my excitement in lots of different areas. Hopefully reading has energized you, and thebradlands has been an instrument to get you excited about life.

Jillian and I watched the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer the other day and enjoyed it very much. Its the true story of a 7 year old boy, Josh Waitzkin, who discovers he has a gift for chess. The movie follows him through his first year of playing.

Two things are going on in the movie. His father, though very loving, is also very competitive, and takes his sons success to be his own, constantly pushing his son to achieve a higher level. The turning point in this plot is when his father takes all of Josh’s trophies off the mantel in the living room and gives them to Josh to keep in his room, telling him “here, these are yours.” The other plot line is that Josh is kind hearted and dislikes that other kids fear him. His teachers are telling him that to win he needs to be cocky and overbearing. However he refuses to change, and in the end finds a way to win anyway.

As usual, for me the coolest part was reading about the real Josh Waitzkin. Sometimes movies vary greatly from what really happened, however since the movie is based on a book written by Josh’s dad, it follows what really happened perfectly. The actor even looks just like the real Josh did at that age. Josh is in his 20s now and is still a dominent chess player.

So the movie also got me interested in learning how to play chess. I learned when I was a little kid and know all the rules, but I have never been able to understand the strategy very well. However after reading around a little bit I am beginning to see why the game is so esteemed, and beginning to grasp what it takes to win. I like that I can go on yahoo games anytime and try out new strategies with real people. I am still such a baby though, in learning how to play the game.

Wednesday night I went over to my families house and Ian and I watched the movie Monster House. For some reason the movie wasn’t that big a hit when it came out in theatres a little while back, but we really enjoyed it. It has a very creative, very original story, and had well developed characters (including Jon Heder). The coolest thing about it though is the breakthrough which it made in computer animation.

Up till now computer animated films have been about anything but people. Toys, bugs, cars, fish, monsters, etc. One of the big reasons for this is that facial expressions and body movements are extremely hard to draw from scratch on a computer. There are so many subtleties that we subcontiously look for in a face and in the way our bodies move. When movies came out like final fantasy or some of the others that tried to computer animate people, they felt flat and unnatural. The one exception being “The Incredibles” which is a great movie, but those people still come off looking a little unnatural, as they should, since they are superheros.

So anyway in the past there has been this problem, and in Monster house the directors overcame that by using dots. The actors in the film wore suits covered with dots, and they each had dots glued all over their faces. The actors then acted out every scene and the movements of the dots where sucked into the computers and formed a virtual actor whose movements and facial expressions perfectly matched the actors. The virtual actor was then placed in a virtual set, and virtual movie cameras filmed the movie in that virtual set. The outcome is a computer animated movie where the actors movements and facial expressions are perfectly human. On top of that, the camera movement in every scene is just like the camera movement that you see when you watch a non animated movie.

If you are feeling post halloween let down and would like just a little more, then rent Monster House. You will probably enjoy the movie, and you will definately enjoy the special features once the movie is over.

Well so far the movie isnt getting the best reviews. Here is one where it gets one and a half stars, by a viewer who is analyzing it strictly from a cinematic standpoint. He declairs he is not Christian and doesn’t have an issue with the anti Christian sentiment, and yet he still yawned and snickered throughout the movie. This encourages me to pray for its failure and for the message to be sent to Hollywood that this type of anti-Christian movie doesn’t pay off.

Other articles of interest are ones leading the headlines of google news concerning all the ways that the movie is wrong.

To see it or not to see it, that’s the question. This article suggests don’t go see it during the first week of release or you will be encouraging hollywood. For movies like that i have heard it suggested that you buy a ticket to another movie and then sneak into Da Vinci Code. Reminds me of when I was a teen ager.

This guy thinks that all the bad press will lead to a big opening for the movie. Hope he is wrong. Of course he is writing from LA.

Here is a link to Google’s movie reviews. Currently the consesus can be summed up in one word: meh!

Tom Hanks hair makes him look like Jim Belushi:

How the Red Sox are rocking It this season despite much adversity.

‘Canes are looking to sweep the Devils. Sweeeet.

Google has a kinda cool new tool called trends that lets you compare searches.

I watched Mission Impossible III the other night and enjoyed it very much. Great action, great twists, definately holds your attention. Jillian enjoyed it too which is the ultimate test for a movie.

I used two bits of technology before heading out to the movie. Google movies is always very useful for finding out when anything is playing. Also I really enjoy the services of movietickets.com. With movietickets.com I can buy the tickets while Jillian is getting ready to go (takes about 3 minutes) and when You arive at the theatre its amazing. There is a kioske and all you do is slide the credit card into it that you paid for the tickets with and without pushing any buttons or anything like that it spits out your tickets and you walk away. Definately a must for any movie that might sell out (MI3 on opening night) and is pretty nice even if its not. Costs a dollar extra per ticket but that is worth it for me.

Wolfpack basketball finally has a new headcoach. I am withholding judgement on Sydney Lowe till he actually coaches a few games, but I am excited that they got someone from one of State’s champtionship teams. Its also great to hear that he is building a great staff. Shows that he isn’t trying to take on the world alone. Also I am excited that I have a clear team to pull for in the NBA playoffs. Go Pistons!

I learned something about Key West that I never knew before.

I wouldn’t mind being there right now:

Ok this is so weird… I dont really have words to describe it. You will just have to check it out yourself and maybe you can fill me in on what its all about. www.theneverything.com

The new movie “End of the spear” is the story of Jim Elliot and his ministry to the Mincayani tribe in South America. All I have read about it are secular reviews and they were all bad. One review of the movie told the story and then the reviewer added his own little commentary at the end that he is upset that Elliot would interfere with the tribe, and that their violance could have been attributed to other things like white people interfering. Typical multiculteralism. So my question is has anyone heard anything good or bad about it, and would anyone be interested in going to see it? Thanks!

my personal take after seeing it on Wednesday night: What a great movie. True to the original. Filled with action and excitement, love and emotion, big spiders and scary zombies.

Ok first thing, this movie isn’t for little kids or the faint of heart. I think when people went to the movie they were expecting it to be ok for kids, so there ended up being like three crying kids when I watched and the boy sitting next to me decided he needed to sit on his dads lap for some parts. Oh my goodness, Liz would die.

Second thing, it is so great that Jackson stayed true to some of the movies great lines. “Don’t be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel.” and “Oh, no. It wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.” I got pretty excited over the chrome steel line because back in the day when James and Ian and I watched the original, we rewound and replayed that line half a dozen times because we thought it was funny.

Third, the action is something. You can definately see Peter Jackson’s background in horror movies. Some of the action is stomach turning, some is over the top, but it all works perfectly. A couple scenes you roll your eyes and some scenes the CG is weak, but these scenes make the movie just that much more true to the original. Everything combined the action is really great. There were more then a couple times when everyone in the theatre was clapping.

Finally, all the characters were perfectly cast and were very well developed. There was great chemistry and lines and altogether they fulfilled all expectations. Jillian enjoyed it and I would say its a great date movie. The love stories are a great ballance for the action. Something to look out for, that I read but didn’t catch the first time I watched it: Peter Jackson is one of the bi-plane gunners in the end of the movie. If you have seen the movie already you should check out this article for more on that and some other interesting trivia.

Grade: A