Prometheus (2012)

Sometimes you go to the movies when you’re bored or if you really have no other creative first date ideas, but other times you go because you really want to watch the movie. Before Prometheus the last time I went just to watch the movie was in 2009 for the revamped Star Trek, being a life long Trekkie I just had to see what J. J. Abrams the producer of Lost could bring to the legendary franchise. This time around I went because I wanted to see Sir Ridley Scott go back to his roots.

Many of you know Ridley Scott as the director of Gladiator or Kingdom of Heaven but before he made movies about legendary Roman figures or the crusades he made a little film in 1979 called Alien. This was and remains to this day one of the greatest Sci Fi Horror films of all time and set him on the way to making some really great films. Yet after Alien he never touched the Sci Fi Horror genre again, till now. Prometheus is a chance for a new generation to witness one of the great film makers of our time show us just why he deserved a knighthood.

Prometheus is the real deal, not something like Avatar which anyone could tell was just a Pocahontas meets the Smurfs rip off.  With a cast that includes the talents of Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender and a really good story line it really is a Ridley Scott film. One of the really cool things about the movie is its name.

Prometheus was one of the ancient greek titans it was believed that he created man out of clay and that he stole fire from the gods and gifted it to man. The gods were very displeased with him for this and chained him to the side of a cliff where a huge vulture would eat his liver out by day and it would grow back at night for the next days feast. The crew on board the Prometheus are searching for the creators of man who they believe to be aliens yet what they find is not what they were expecting.

The story line can at times be confusing because you are essentially taken on the journey with the crew and learning things as you go along. So most of the time when they’re confused so are you but at the same time when they have an epiphany it feels like you did as well. Is the movie scary ? Not really, its a bit gross at times but no one said aliens are supposed to be clean.

The ending of the movie is very special and I don’t mean that it has anything to really do with the events of the film but it is more like a gift from Sir Ridley Scott to his long time followers. While most people at the end of the movie would be saying to themselves what was that last tiny bit and what does it have to do with the movie? A true follower of his films will have a small smile on their face and say, “nice one!”

Overall it’s not as good as Alien which will always be looked upon as the benchmark but it is a wonderful piece of work. So I give it 8 out of 10 stars. If you’re looking for a much more spoiler like review with more explanations of the alien universe click here for one of my fellow bloggers review of the film.

So does this mean I have the job? (Me thinking to myself)

I recenty had an interview and really consider myself good at interviews. Not to toot my own horn but I can definitely pretend to speak intelligently about a subject I have no idea about at length, or in other words “I can talk a lot of bull!” So I must be good at interviews, right? So how do you decide when an interview has gone well or not, usually at the end of it if you’re given a warm handshake and a compliment followed by a “we’ll be in contact shortly” you can say it went well. However if the interview ended with both of you scrambling for the fire extinguisher, well not as good. Here is a small guide for a succesful interview –

– Don’t get caught trying to pick up the receptionist before the interview

Ikea Job Interview lol

– Lie

– Don’t get caught lying

– Say Yes to everything

– Don’t be yourself

– Don’t have the name Ralph or look like a Ralph

I do not personally endorse any of this material and will not be held responsible for damages to anyone stupid enough to listen to some or all of it.

Well I followed the steps perfectly minus the first one but nobody’s perfect.Yet the problem with this interview was that it ended so vaguely ( like a blackhole vague). The interviewer ended by talking to me about the next step and how I should come in and get a feel for the place meet the people and have a look at their books. Rather unnatural, so I was thinking to myself is he asking me to come in for a 3rd interview ( I had already been in once before) or did he just give me the job, or is leaning towards doing so?

Now any person with an ounce of common sense should know you must not ask the interviewer “SO DID I GET THE JOB” at the end of the interview. But this ending was such a cliffhanger I was so tempted to do so, it was like at the end of a soap opera episode, you have all these unanswered questions. Who’s baby is it? Why did you kill him? What’s in the note? So did I get the job?

Job Seeking Caveman Style

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if I did, yah that would be the rational and adult thing to do. Or I could show up at the office on Monday suited up and barking orders like I’m the new manager and see if anyone trys to stop me, if they don’t the jobs a given. I consider the second option a more caveman stlye to job hunting, kinda like knocking a girl on her head with a club and dragging her back to your cave. Just go out there and take that job. I look at what I have written just now and feel I must be going NUTS!! So I’ll stop writing now.

A night with the Duchess of Cambridge (In My Dreams)

Me Dreaming

Dreams are a wonderful thing, but what the hell are they? According to Wikipedia a dream is, “a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep.” Ok, but why do they happen, what do they mean and why can’t I seem to remember them when I wake up? Also why do I care? Oh wait that’s easy.

Last night I had a vivid and extremely realistic dream about me and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. Now I know what you’re thinking, “PSYCHO”, but hold on just a moment. I don’t care about her one bit, I know nothing about her and I don’t even find her attractive, so why then is she in my dream!

Kate Middleton the Duchess of Cambridge

So from what I could recall the dream went something like this, I seem to be at a formal dinner with the royal couple and a bunch of other royal follies and sitting between Kate and William, don’t ask why just believe it! Me and Kate seem to be getting along well to Williams dismay, we talk about how awesome I am and her Issey Miyake outfit and then without any warning she goes in for the lip lock, AWESOME!!! But wait her hubby isn’t exactly happy, I look at his angry face and squeal like a mouse, “Sorry bro.” Unfortunately this is where my recollection ends. Maybe Prince William throws me in some tower or something, but I like to think he realizes that I could offer her a much better life and steps graciously aside.

So me being me I go onto a dream website to see what my dream really means. I browse through the common dream types, cheating & sex dreams, homosexual dreams, terrifying dreams etc. To my dismay I discover there is no section for Kate Middleton, bummmer. So far I’m not doing well in my search for answers I’m clearly not Sherlock Holmes, time to call in the big guns.

I call a psychic network hoping some of their highly trained, super gifted and cat loving psychics can help me out. A lady named madam Suzette picked up and immediately just from the sound of my voice she could tell I was a guy, AMAZING! So now that I have confirmed I’m dealing with an actual psychic I tell her about my dream.

Madam Suzette (or any other average psychic)

She tells me it’s most probably dream telepathy, that Kate has somehow got to know about me and is projecting herself into my dreams cause she wants me real bad. I feel this is an extremely rational explanation given I do have a blog and people in England read it and one of these might be Kate. I thank madam Suzette for her time and put down the phone, the call had cost me about $40 so I’m just glad it was money well spent and I have an answer to my question.

So Kate darling, baby if you’re reading this I just want you to know that it’s never going to happen babe. It’s not you, it’s me I would just be holding you back, you can do so much better than me you need to open your wings and fly like a butterfly. Will isn’t all that bad sure he’s loosing his hair day by day and he isn’t half as awesome as I am but he’s ok, I hear he’s a prince of something or the other. Have a nice life, yours in awesomeness Keith.

The Ramen Girl (2008)

The title says it all so I should probably stop writing now, but I’m not going to. This isn’t a movie that was ever on my must watch list, I just happened to see it while browsing Netflix on a lazy day and thought I’d give it a shot.

I’m a bit of a food lover so the idea you could make a whole movie centered around Ramen ( A japanese noodle dish) did intrigue me a tiny bit. I guess the most educational thing I learned from this movie was that there exists a ramen museum in Yokohama, which just sounds crazy but yes if I’m ever in Yokohama I plan on checking it out. Before I write more about the movie you might as well have a gander at the trailer.

This is the first movie I have watched which stars the late Brittany Murphy who died tragically in 2009. She plays the films protagonist Abby, who as you could probably tell from the trailer does not seem to be having the best of times. The best way to describe Abby is to say she’s just precious, although we see her drink and smoke she seems to be something out of a children’s book my guess is she was modeled after Heidi, the swiss fictional character. She is inquisitive, loving, fiercely determined and very child like.

The movie is not extremely special and doesn’t do much more than offer a brief period of entertainment but you could sense the writers were trying to go a lot deeper. They explore japanese culture especially the japanese obsession with perfection. I once saw a BBC video on japanese children’s lunch boxes and saw mothers spend hours making the perfect lunch boxes for their kids every morning only for it to be devoured in 15 minutes.

There is also a brief moment where we see Japanese superiority on show, when one of the characters explains he was teased as a child for having Korean grandparents. Some of you may not know this but the need for purity is very important in japanese blood lines, the country shut the whole world out for several years just to preserve this and still to this day some of the citizens look down on foreigners.

This movie really is a struggle to rate, it’s a bit of everything and so does not perform exemplary in any particular category, maybe the producers were looking for mass appeal. Also the ending is a little bitter-sweet which is rather uncommon. She succeeds in some of her goals while fails in others, this is very much like real life. However nobody watches a movie to see real life, I’ve already got enough of that to deal with. So I’m going to give it 6.5 stars. In retrospect the movie seems to be a less awesome version of the Karate Kid 4 which stars Hilary Swank. To anyone who’s interested in watching this movie, make sure you do it with a good bowl of ramen!

The funs over now get a job (Dad)

This is probably a tale most recent college graduates are familiar with, and for those who aren’t go find another blog to read. You spend 4 years in college or university, you work hard, play hard and think you’re going exactly where you want to go and then comes graduation. Some may find this to be the happiest moment of their young lives, these are people with cushy jobs lined up or lots of family money, ie not me! The rest of us have a bitter-sweet feeling because we know the rat race of life is about to begin.

So you call or email all the people you know or worked with over the summer hoping they’ll be your best bet, but all you hear is the economy is really bad right now, we’ll keep you in mind if anything opens up and the worst of all congratulations on graduating that’s a real accomplishment! So you move on to the head hunters and the online applications which is really just a try to make yourself look better than the other guy on print contest. You try to decide whether winning a hot dog eating contest in high school is worth putting on your resume, hey it took a lot of training to be this good at eating hot dogs.

Then you wait and wait and wait a bit more till you get the call.  The phone rings and your heart races, you start to imagine it’s your dream job fairy on the other end of the line with a magical key to all that is awesome. You schedule the interview and SUIT UP! Then during the interview you learn that they want you to sell printers, and not to guys they know but to cold call innocent grannies while their at home and bug them into buying their life changing printer. The pay is good so you consider it for a second then realize you’re worth more than this and you’re not a corporate sell out, but your ever decreasing bank account says differently.

At this point all hope is lost, there really is no Santa Claus. But then you hear the phone ring one more time and think to yourself this had better not be some guy trying to sell me a printer, and then the sun comes out it’s your dream job fairy named Richard and he wants you to come for an interview on Tuesday which is tomorrow so see if you are the right guy to join his Real Estate Investment Trust. You tell him you’ll be in there like swimwear, and hope the quirky remark doesn’t lose you the job.

The moral of this story to all my friends who have also recently graduated college is that there is always something better on the horizon. Patience really is a virtue when it comes to finding work, the companies who really take care of their employees take time to select the right employees so be patient. I have an interview with Richard tommorow and although I hope I land the job you can be assured that I won’t lose heart if I don’t, optimism is essential when facing challenges and it’s something we all need or else we’ll be stuck in a sinking cauldron of sadness that we made ourselves.

The Sleeping Dictionary (2003)

I recently watched this movie on Netflix and found it quite entertaining, it’s not anything that you will remember vividly years from now like Titanic or The Bridge On the River Kwai but it’s a great watch if you’re in the mood. The film is extremely long and its story all too familiar but its cast makes up for this very well. It stars somewhat underrated actor Hugh Dancy playing the role of British overseer John Truscot and the gorgeous Jessica Alba playing Selima the beautiful linguist. They compliment each other very well and you really get to see just how good they are acting in such unconventional roles.

When I heard about Selima being a “sleeping dictionary’ the first thing I did was google if this still went on in Sarawak and if I could sign up for lessons. I’m sure there are very few men who could resist the chance to learn a language in this most unusual way.

I really enjoyed the first half of the movie, unlike the second half it was more playful with the couple getting to know each other, I particularly enjoyed the scene where Truscot tells Selima in his culture he must wait to be married before sleeping with a woman. To which Selima replies, “but then without practice you will be bad at sex and your wife will be unhappy.” Try as he might abstinence eventually goes flying out the window and he has to explain to her how his culture has suddenly changed, that’s my boy!

The second half of the film deals with secrets being uncovered and there are quite a few of them. These secrets add an extremely touching feel to the movie which sometimes feels lost because everyone in the film must seemingly choose between duty and happiness. It shows human beings have many faces the face they wear when nobody else is looking and the face they must put on in public, the two hardly ever match and they tear at each other constantly.

I would rate the movie at 7.5 stars it is playful and touching yet at the same time serious and dramatic. The plot although has been done before yet has a small twist which is always nice. You can watch the movie on Netflix and Youtube, if you do please tell me what you thought of it.

If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong (Abraham Lincoln)

I have and will always be a realist, I  know slavery still exists in the modern era and not just in far off places in the world but maybe even down the street from where you live. Don’t believe me? Think about the thousands of girls that are smuggled into the United States each year to work as sex slaves in brothels. Or take the example of when I was in Sri Lanka, I met a girl who was sold into slavery by her aunt. Slavery exists and it’s still rife.

I was browsing CNN and found this video about slavery in Mauritania, up to  20% of the population exists as slaves. Slavery is as open and normal as going to church is in the western world. Slave masters beat, rape and murder their slaves with no consequence.

When I think about slavery I realize just how complicated it is. It is not merely being owned by someone, it is a state of mind. Say your grandfather was a slave and your father and then you, it would seem normal, there would be in your mind no problem with the situation. It’s like if you saw your father beat your mother as a child, it would seem less out of the ordinary if your husband beat you as well than to someone who had never experienced it.

So if one looks at it the goal in slavery is to make them actually believe that they are slaves and not people, just like for a long time in history ordinary people thought their monarchs were chosen by god and so didn’t challenge the iron fist of their rule. Yet just like in any basket of apples there are the few bad apples “Bad Slaves” the ones who resist and who decide to find help, the problem is, is there anyone out there willing to help. In all honesty not as much help is out there for them as you would think, but the help that is there can come from even the most unlikeliest source, take a young man who was given his first slave when he was seven and at sixteen set him free and now is working to help slaves in Mauritania.

The goal in sharing this video is just to educate. For some this might be an eye-opening experience for others it’s old news. This is not some Kony thing that really was a waste of time asking you to buy T-shirts without thinking. Slavery is complicated especially in Mauritania. We in the western world really shouldn’t judge them based on our values remember for a long time slavery was okay for us as well. If it’s part of their culture do we really have the right to stop it, are western liberal values appropriate to be used around the world, is our idea of human rights more important than their culture. These are hard questions so don’t just say this is wrong, share a video and go about your life.