Double Vision

Well, in keeping with the 'random' part of this blog I thought I'd share this way cool optical illusion I stumbled across. When you look at it up close you should see Albert Einstein. But if you go across the room and look at it you should see Marilyn Monroe. How cool is that! And apparently it's more than cool. Check out this article to see how scientists use images like this to study how our brains process light. It's pretty interesting.

Star Trek Review

I know this is old news for the majority of you… but I just saw the new Star Trek movie and I thought I would share my thoughts. Before I start getting all analytical and stuff let me just say: Awesome! I’m sorry, I don’t like to shamelessly praise movies but every so often there comes a movie where one just can’t help it. I loved it. Here’s why:

This movie literally had everything the movie-goer could ask for.  High energy action, just the right amount of comedy, some genuinely touching moments, and pretty people! Speaking of pretty people… the casting was absolutely brilliant. They managed to find the perfect person to play every role! Some particular favorites were Simon Pegg as Scotty (Love him!) Zachary Quinto as Spock (He was great in Heroes he was great in this.) And Eric Bana as Nero. (Didn’t even realize it was him until the end.) Oh, and of course Leonard Nemoy was also cast spot on. ;) While we’re on the subject of pretty people I need to give a head nod to the make-up crew of this film. Everything from prosthetics, to cuts, shaving eyebrows, to painting bodies green. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Oscar nominee for those folks. They helped us believe that these were the younger versions of all the characters we know and love in the original Star Trek.

Now, while I am by no means a qualified ‘Treky’ I do know a little about the original and from what I could tell die hard Star Trek fans should thrilled about the care taken to protect the integrity of the franchise. Everything from the costumes, the sets, the design of the starships, the history, even the dialogue just ‘fits’ into the original. My only qualm on this issue is that Scotty never said “We need more power!”  But he did say “That’s all she’s got!” though, so I’m fairly satisfied…

Well, I guess I never got to the “all analytical” part of this review. But I think that’s because while you’re watching Star Trek you just don’t care about that kind of stuff. The movie is just so much fun.  If you’re one of the few people left who haven’t seen it yet… you should. And see it in the theatres. It’s just not gonna be as good if you RedBox it.

 

I give it an A

Renaissance Faire and Inverted: Two Great Thinsg at the Same Place!

Hey, it's Saturday, it's Memorial Day Weekend, you need something fun to do in St. George! Some of you may have heard about the Renaissance Faire that is going on out at the Washington County Fairgrounds this weekend. Well, my acapella group 'Inverted' performed there yesterday and it was actually a lot of fun. I had to work immediately following our set so I didn't have too much time to walk around. But from what I could see it looks like a pretty sweet set up. Very similar to the Dickens Festival. There are games, shops, dressed up characters wandering about, lots of activites for the kids, contests, and of course live entertainment several times throughout the day.
If you get a chance I recomend heading out there today to support this great event. If you happen to head over there around 6:30 make sure to stop by the King Arthur Stage to listen to 'Inverted.' We do abot an hours worth of acapella songs, several of which are original arrangements... but it's not your mom's acapella. (Not that there is anything wrong with your moms acapella.) We sing songs like: I'm Yours by Jason Mraz, Used to Love You by John Legend, Smooth Operator by Sade, and a bunch of other cool stuff. Anyway, it's a great way to spend a Saturday night, whether you're on a date, or spending time with the family. While you're there you might want to check out the Big Dinner Feaste as well. Check out Roger Dunbars blog for more info on that. Hope to see you there!

Angels and Demons

I saw Angels and Demons last night, and I have to say I loved it. I've never read the book, but I thought that the story telling by Ron Howard was phenomenal, and the Acting by Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Stelin Skarsgard, and really the whole cast was suburb. Dan Browns writing is so great at grabbing audiences, and keeping them on the edge of their seats. Angels andDemons had me guessing the whole way through.

I've heard that some book fan's are a little upset about some inconsistencies, and even some major characters being completely left out. To them I say: so what? My wife has read the book and she explained some of the major differences (ie: the description of the bad guy, the wheelchair guy, the love story etc...) and to be completely honest with you if any of those things had been left in the movie it would've been too much. Dan Brown's storys are so complex already that anymore relationships, or plot twists, would've been overwheliming, and too hard to follow for the average movie-goer. I give kudos to Ron Howard and the writers for simplifying and only keeping what was needed to tell the story.

Without giving away too much of the story allow me to tell you some of my favorite things:
1- Tom Hanks. He has always been one of my favorite actors, and I think he can do anything. He nails this younger version (even thoughTom is now older) of Robert Langdon. Without going overboard he subtly makes us believe that this character is actually 'that good'. When he finds the clues we don't say "oh that was convienient..." we say "this guy is awesome!"
2- I have to say that Ewan McGregor was perfectly cast! I can't think of anyone better to play the role of the Camerlengo. His performance was excellent.
3- I think that Catholics will be very pleased with the way thier church was portrayed overall. I know that there was a lot of fuss over The Divinci Code, but I feel that both Ron Howard and Dan Brown were very delicate in the way they handled religion in this movie. This is a fictional movie, I hope people remember that.
4- The ending was great. But then again the whole movie was great. You laughed, cried, cringed, gasped, cheered, and in the end you were completely satisfied. It was $7.50 well spent if you ask me.

I give it an A-

Stand By Me ... You've Gotta See This

So I stumbled across this video today... I don't know if I'm just in a super sensitive mood today or what... but it made me cry. In a good way. I don't have much time to write a whole blog about it. just check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM You can see more videos (and I recommend it) here.