Movie Catch-Up

It’s really more that I’m too lazy to write full reviews of these, even though they're far and above the last couple I did write full ones for, but they all certainly deserve mention (and I know I barely wrote a word on X3, but in the end there was so little of the movie I really cared about…it didn’t suck, but it also didn’t really beg for any further thought). So it goes...

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

In the end, I guess nothing I can really say will make you NEED to see this, essentially a film of the presentation Al Gore has been making across the nation about global warming, but just know that it totally convinced me it’s an issue that NEEDS to be addressed immediately, and there are no real politics in there, besides the occasional Bush joke (but of all the people deserving to make Bush jokes, Gore should be the guy who gets to). It’s more frightening than a lotta horror movies out there, and Gore should get a lot of credit for the amount of research he’s done into a topic nobody cares about. And believe it or not, Al Gore is an entertaining, engaging speaker. If he’d been this good, he might have won the election. Oh wait…

See it if you care about the future of the planet.

THE PROPOSITION

It’s bleak as hell, dirty as sin, but the best badass movie I’ve seen since OLDBOY. The essential storyline is set in Australia in the 1880s and revolves around a police captain (Ray Winstone, who next year will kick medieval ass as Beowulf…yeah, THAT Beowulf) who offers a criminal (Guy Pearce, the guy from Memento) and his younger brother a pardon if he goes and kills his older brother (Danny Huston), a man with a far darker past. Every member of the cast is fantastic, especially Guy Pearce, who once again solidifies his status as the man. Easily the best Western I’ve ever seen, though I haven’t seen many (I do like Tombstone though), and it relies on themes of family and loyalty in the midst of criminals that I’m completely a sucker for. It is extraordinarily violent though, if that’s a concern, but if you’ve seen The Passion you can take it. Beautifully shot, completely gripping but with a really epic feel for its hour-forty-five running time.

A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION

I honestly can’t believe it, but right now this is my favorite movie of the year. If you want to get into the technicalities of filmmaking, sure, United 93 is superior, but I’ll almost always lean towards the feel-good movie, and that is this. The story, such as it is, revolves around the backstage activity of the final broadcast of Garrison Keillor’s famous radio program, but is done in such a way as the recreate the feeling of listening to the show. If you don’t like the show, you’ll hate the movie, but the rest of you will fall in love with it. Saying such actors as Meryl Steep, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Virginia Madsen, and John C. Reilly are fantastic in it is one thing, but when even I fall for Lindsay Lohan, that’s saying something. And Kevin Kline is surprisingly hilarious as Guy Noir, though a completely different version of the character than Keillor plays it on the show. Oh, and it’s directed by Robert Altman, who even at 81 and now with an Honorary Oscar under his belt proves he’s still got what it takes, more so even than almost every other director out there.

I absolutely love this movie, and cannot recommend it highly enough.

So that's the catch-up. Still have to see The Break-Up, Cars, and starting Friday...Nacho Libre.

"But what do you actually... do?"

Sounds like there have been a few rumors about my job that I've failed to clear up. For example, Mike thought I was making about 14 times Oregon's minimum wage (all right, because I told him that, but come on, man), and others think I'm just sitting in a cubicle for eight hours a day surfing Wikipedia. Skylar asked me the other day if I really earned the money I was making, and it only occurred to me a few days ago why I'm earning anything at all--the stuff I do occasionally frees up the time of people who are making far more than I am. In other words, no.

I started writing down a few examples of what I do last week in my gridded, pocket-size moleskine I got back at school. (In a stunning display of boredom and ingratitude I actually decorated it with copper conducting tape that was lying around. It looks pretty cool now.) But if I've learned anything from working so far that isn't related to physics or personal hygiene, it's that I have to have a stake in everything I do if I want to ensure quality work. That's why the list is composed of two parts: the way I would describe it on a resume, and the way an objective onlooker (or my now-defunct and thus hypothetical conscience) would describe it. As follows:

Me: "Researching novel sources for Focused Ion Beam systems."
Conscience: "Watching smart people operate a device you did not help them build."

Me: "Construction of high-frequency oscillating magnetic field source."
Conscience: "Using a hacksaw and electrical tape on a component from Radio Shack."

Me: "Advanced metal deposition for substrate bonding."
Conscience: "Soldering. Failing. Soldering again."

Me: "Testing electromagnetic interference effects on focused ion and electron columns."
Conscience: "Moving Radio Shack component around expensive machinery. Recklessly."

Me: "High-energy fabrication of vacuum probes with sub-micron tip diameter."
Conscience: "Putting glass stick in hole. Pressing button."

Me: "Conductive carbon deposition for discharging of ion-beam target."
Conscience: "Putting glass stick in hole. Pressing two buttons."

Me: "Utilization of focused ion beam system for destructive-sputter machining."
Conscience: "Click. Click. Click. Drag. Play games on cell phone for 10 min; repeat."

Me: "Working toward a mutually beneficial internship involving both learning and service to the corporation."
Conscience: "You're pretty much a dick. I'm out of here."

I also keep a tally page near the end. So far I have worked 14 days, destroyed 3 amplifiers (which may or may not have been my fault!), injured myself twice, beaten 3 cell phone games, and eaten in the cafeteria once. (One time too many.)

I did, however, end up at the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet-related_injury the other day ("Small children run the risk of drowning if they fall headfirst into the toilet"). It was one of those moments that really hits you--one of those "What am I doing with my life" moments that makes you want to throw everything away and join the Peace Corps, or take a two-hour lunch break that involves Washington Square Mall. And by you I mean me. (The guy said he didn't need me until 1:00... well, the economy needs me all the time.)

Anyway, I hope that answers your questions. Meanwhile, don't scorn me. I'm sure I'm just being groomed for the really difficult technical problems that they'll set me to. Next week.

Postscript: Please, feel free to call my office phone at any time. If I'm there I can pretend to have a real work-related conversation with you and boy will my coworkers be impressed. Except the guy in the next cubicle down from me, who appears to harbor some ill will toward me. Maybe it's just that famous engineering social side.

SATURDAY AT 12!!! Pool Party!!! Free Pizza!!! *

Yeah so SAturday for sure! Call me if you can make it!!


I am moving the weekend of the 16th and you are all invited to come and celebrate!! After I find out my exact schedule I will know even more specific times but until then keep that weekend free as much as possible!! Because who doesn't love three pools to swim in and free pizza and pop!?!?

*Fun and free food only upon using muscles to help move big boxes, furniture, etc.

Starlight Parade

final count: 22 and 1/2

Well, hell just froze over

Actually, I finally got a cell phone. IM me or e-mail me at adrianna.stanley@mu.edu to get the number.

Yeeee-haaaa!