Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Deals to meals

Ok, so my sister Jen sent me an email telling me that I needed to refer her to the blog "Deals to Meal" so she could win a Bosch mixer...well.
I looked at the site and they seem to have some pretty good ideas for those trying to build and use their food storage (in the West Coast region).
If anyone is interested here is the site: http://www.dealstomeals.com/index.cfm

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Cool Place to go for free give aways!!

There is a site called Dandy giveaway ( http://dandygiveaway.blogspot.com/) were you can enter to win all sorts of really cute stuff. Right now you can win some reallly pretty ear rings . And there are many easy ways to enter. Just go to the site and they will tell you how.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

My thoughts on Avatar

So, last night I went  to see Avatar in 3D.

 Ryan wasn't all that excited to go see it and didn't want to pay for a babysitter, so I asked around to see if any of my friends wanted to got with me. One friend said that the graphics seem like they might be cool, but they weren't that interested in the plot. So, I went by myself. It's not a big deal. I've learned that I kind of like going to movies by myself...but, I digress.
I can't really remember the last time I went to a 3D movie, but I'm sure I was reallllly young and it was something Muppet related. So, I was expecting cheesy graphics and stupid people trying to touch things that weren't really there. Boy was I wrong.

(I think I may have to use/ compare it to some of James Cameron's other work...sorry) The beginning lolled you into thinking it was going to be something like "Alien". You have Sigourney Weaver as a ticked off Scientist. And then after about 15-20 minutes of boredom...BAM! The movie really starts to open up and you get sucked in.
I don't know if this was on purpose or not but the actor they got to play Jake Sulley isn't really all that likable as a human. But, as you see in the trailer, after he enters into the natives world, he starts to grow on you. Or I guess I could say, his Avatar grows on you. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe they did do that on purpose because let's face it, those who play World of War craft, don't alway look or behave, in certain ways, much like their Avatars...or so I'm told. Oh, speaking of casting choices...if you are a fan of "bones" you will find the actor they cast as one of the main Scientists to be very amusing...

Anyway,as the movie progresses it opens up a whole new world of beauty and adventure....this is were the graphics came in to play. Like in Titanic (I know, some people are rolling there eyes, but you have to admit that for 1996 the graphics were amazing!) your breath is taken away by the detail. The closest thing I can compare it to (with out giving too much away) is maybe what Technicolor would be like on acid. You go from a normal military laboratory set in the jungle into a Rave with a Rain Forest theme,  lit only with black lights and everyone is a blue 10 foot tall cat-like alien. They immerse you so much into this world that when they switch back to the normal world, it feels like it's the alien world.

As for the the actual story line, which I've see people say is filled with propaganda...they're not wrong. But I personally don't think it's bad. If I had to compare it anything, I'd say it reminded me of Dances with Wolves..i.e. White guy starts off as a spy in a Native culture. He is meant to understand them so he can negotiate with them to get something big. He then realizes his sides agenda is evil and misguided and then literally "goes native" (pardon the the pun) to protect those he now loves and admires. It's nothing new. But in this case, it doesn't get old. Moral of the story, Land stealing is bad and just because a culture looks primitive to your own that doesn't mean you have the right to take it over and do what you want.

If I had to sum it up in one word. The movie was Beautiful! When the movie ended, I didn't want to leave. I wanted to see more. I didn't care that I had already sat for 2 hour and 40 minutes. And I want to see it again and again. Next time though, I'm going to have to splurge and get a large drink. I went in thinking that as a 3D movie it would be like a giant roller coaster or like a virtual ride at Disney land. It ended up more like I had been in a car and I was trying to read a map, but I think that was just because my eyes weren't used to the glasses. I ended up seated closer to the side of the screen, so that might have been a factor. Next time I'm going to try to sit more in the center seats. I would also suggest for those with a small bladder, make sure you take care of everything BEFORE the movie starts. Not only is it annoying in a normal movie, but it's even more frustrating having the illusion messed up by someones random head walking by (twice). Because the theater was packed I won't go into "Susan's Movie Etiquette" but if you know you can't sit through the whole thing...sit closer to the doors or wait for it to come out on DVD, that's all I'm sayin'.

Ok, so, that's my review. I could probably say a lot more, but I don't want to give too much away. So I'll just end with what I said before....BEAUTIFUL.