North Carolina Is Stupid

Review: The Avengers

After years of anticipation, build-up, and waiting Marvel's big budget, collaboration mega movie has finally hit the scenes.  This was a large risk on Marvel's part as there has never been such a movie that combined main heroes from other movies into a cooperative team film such as this.  Sure, it's easy to do in the comics, but basing a movie off of this idea?  It's hard enough getting solo movies based on super heroes to do well, but then to worry about how to get them all involved in the same plot line, make sure not to have one character overshadow the others or steal the entire show, giving screen time to all and bringing everything together in a cohesive fashion?  That is incredibly hard, yet Marvel studios made it work somehow.

Yes, the Avengers was GREAT.  It is easily the best superhero movie I've seen in a long time.  Best of any of the Marvel movies and may very well be close to THE best superhero movie.  The only thing that is in the same league as this would be the Dark Knight, but for different reasons.  The Avengers is the ideal summer blockbuster.  Fight scenes, big explosions, action all around, simplistic plot that makes it easy to follow, and tons of humor.  It's not as dark as the Dark Knight or as serious/grim, but still appeals to me.  This was the type of movie you think about going to see with friends on a summer night eating a bucket of popcorn and soda, joyfully laughing and cheering at the screen.  The wait and anticipation of seeing this flick made it even better and worthwhile.  It does not disappoint at all.

Like I said, the plot is simple.  You basically know it all from just the trailers.  Loki, the villain from Thor, is set as the main villain here and he wants to take over the Earth by unleashing an army and the Avengers must stop him.  The characters were all pretty great, save for Hawkeye and Black Widow.  They were really just regular humans with weapons training and skills, so seeing them stand next to a demi-god, colossal monster, super soldier, and machine suited armor man is kind of silly.  "Greetings from Valhalla, mortal woman.  I am Thor, God of Thunder, and possessor of the god forged hammer, Mjolnir, capable of destroying mountains.  I am here to assist in vanquishing my brother, the god Loki, and his other worldly army of space demons." "Nice to meet you.  I'm Black Widow, your teammate.  I have this cute little gun.  I can also kick the aliens if need be.  My primary power is wearing form fitting black suits."

None of the other characters really stood out as a main character, which is great.  In a team based movie you don't want to just be following one of the people, you want everyone involved.  The Hulk, however, easily stole the show in some of his scenes.  Hulk had, hands down, the best action scene in the movie and when you see it you will understand why.  Mark Ruffalo, the latest actor to portray Bruce Banner/Hulk, easily is the best Hulk actor.  This version of the Hulk himself is also the best.  Of the four main heroes Captain America was probably the 'weakest' of the four, being just a suped up human, but it doesn't stop him from still being effective in fights and even acting as team leader.  Iron Man and Thor were also just good for what they were doing.  Super hero fights scenes between each other were super fun. 




The one caveat I might have before watching this movie is that you should probably have already seen the other Marvel movies that proceeded it in order to have a better understanding of who the characters are and how they fit in to the story [Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America].  It may not be strictly necessary but it would behoove you to know somethings like the fact that Captain America is from the 1930s-1940s time period and was frozen and revived in the 21st century.  Otherwise, you might just miss some of the jokes or question why he doesn't understand electronics.  Actually, it's probably not even necessary to watch Incredible Hulk as he has the weakest plot connection to the whole story, it seems, so just knowing he was a scientist who wanted to be left in solitude because he turned into a dangerous raging monster when angry is enough.

Losing track here on my thoughts because I'm hungry, but all that really needs to be said is that this movie is great and you should definitely see it in theaters.  It's really good, especially if you're into super hero movies.  Huge success in my eyes and has apparently been breaking all sorts of records worldwide.  I highly recommend it.

ALERT:
After the credits there are TWO scenes.  The first sets it up for a possible sequel (which apparently has already been confirmed to be in the works since yesterday), and then after more credits there is another scene that is for pure amusement.  Check them out!

iPhone Video Aid

Alright, this post is just to help someone who needed assistance with iphone video and PC upload.

Here we go!

First step - Make sure the iphone with the video is plugged into the PC using the iphone-to-PC USB cable.  See?


Alright, and then the next steps are just follow the videos.  It may be easier to see some of the things if you maximize the youtube videos here since my video recording program records the entire girth of my mega laptop.

Part 1 - From iPhone to PC


Part 2 - From PC to Youtube


And that is it.  Simple, deska?  Oh, and if anyone was curious they could see that featured uploaded video here (with sound!).

Weekend Hijinx

I should really just stop claiming that I will post more regularly. It never happens. I've been away again for so long that I totally didn't realize that blogspot edited the look and feel of it's site. I'm in a strange land.

So last weekend was quite an eventful one for me. Started off be heading up to New Jersey for a kendo tournament and visited the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater. It's like little Japan. The food, the items, the ton of utterly pointless Hello Kitty merchandise, the food, the books, the toys and services, and the food....it was as close to feeling like being in a store in Japan could get. Everything was cash only, so that was a bit of a drag, but it was like being a kid in a toy store who wanted to just buy up everything. Wish we had someplace like that nearby us.

The next day we spent nearly 11 hours at the GSK 1st annual kendo tournament. For whatever reason I felt like shit all morning and I honestly don't know why. Didn't have an appetite and just felt off. Lost my match and the whole time I was fighting I just didn't feel like myself, like I was living in a different body and could see my arms going in slow motion. I was even told I looked off by fellow dojoers, that I was going way slower than normal and didn't look like I had the same normal fervor like in practice. Needless to say I lost the match. I also was tossed into the composite team bag and paired up with some random other people who did not have teams. Something about that hurts my pride, knowing that I wasn't considered strong enough to play on my own dojos team. I know it's not something that should be said, but it's just not a good feeling sometimes to continually get placed further and further down on teams because no one has faith in my skills to help out. Yes, it is not about winning but just doing your best but I would like to win sometimes, too, and have people look at me and think that I can do it. It's entirely my own fault, though. I have absolutely nothing to show for it given my tournament rankings. Out of maybe the last 10 tournaments I've been in there has only ever been 1 where I got past the 1st round in shodan/nidan. It's to be expected that I won't be ranked high among the others because I don't actually have a reason to. I feel like I should, but at the same time I know I shouldn't and understand why. That's what sucks about being the prideful and jealous type, because I can clearly see that I have shortcomings and it just burns. Grrr. That's a bit of a rant, but it's what I was thinking.

Had a really good lunch there, though. The bento that was had ordered was actually Korean, so I ended up with some great daeji bulgolgi. And they gave it to us in great amounts including separate containers of rice, soup, and noodles in addition to the food in the bento (the meat, vegetables, egg things, potsticker, etc). This lunch really gave me some renewed energy and I could feel it going into our team match. Our first opponent was Team AEUSKF, pretty much the team that organization sends into nationals, so we all got destroyed. But it felt like a better match for me. I fought a tougher opponent (6th-dan) and still lost but I felt like I had gotten my groove back somewhat.

After the tournament we spent the night swimming in hotel, drinking, eating, and galavanting. Our own mini-kendo after party.

The next day was Taje and I's trip to NYC, another place I have never been to and only heard about in legends. Went back to the Mitsuwa Marketplace and took the shuttle from there. We then spent some time looking walking around taking in the sites, headed to the Empire State building. There are many things to see in NYC and the way I continually looked around and stared and gawked made it very apparent that I was a tourist. I just have never been next to structures so large in my life before living my entire adult life in Virginia and never caring for travel.

When we got to the ESB we headed up to the roof level on the 86th floor. From there you could walk around the roof and see everything. The whole city, neighboring states, the river, just everything for miles from our vantage point. Really nice stuff, and so many people/tourist there as well.

After doing that we walked around some more and took the subway to Times Square. It's surreal being someplace you've only ever seen in movies/television. I guess it gave me a sense of "Oh, hey, this place actually does exist". Quite a lot of characters, people, fashions, flashy lights and sounds.

After looking around some we then hauled a cab and got a ride to our next destination, New World Theater, to catch a showing of Avenue Q. Let me just say that everyone should try to watch this musical. It's like Seasame Street for adults. There are gays, there are sluts, racism, sex acts and so much more. With puppets. And the songs were also very catchy. Very enjoyable event.

We then left, feeling satisfied and joyful having watched that and hunted down some food. Taje got herself some of that famous NY style pizza and took it with her for later. I, however, had a craving much earlier on in the day for something I saw and have never had before and that was Whitecastle burgers. Sure, I've had the frozen ones from the groceries, but never the actual ones from a real Whitecastle. And it was a treat indeed. Jalapeno cheese with extra onions sliders, onion rings and a drink? They were like small little packets of goodness. Went into a food coma and made our way back to the shuttle and to the marketplace. Taje started the drive back home and I took over the last 2 hours and we finally got home around midnight. I had just enough energy to unpack some stuff to recharge phones and check some internet things and then went promptly to sleep. Very good weekend all around. Now it will be quite awhile before I go out on the weekend on some long distance trip. Maybe the next "big" trip will be up to Annapolis in June for the BA tournament, but other than that I'm going to be enjoying the local stuff and resting it up.

The Birds

I'm thinking maybe instead of updating whenever it would be easier for me to just keep to a scheduled timeframe of updates. Maybe once or twice a week, always on the same days. Otherwise I just get into the mindset that I can update some other time or whenever suits me best.

So the last time I updated was March 21? That was a bit ago. Since then I've been to the Cleveland kendo tournament and another tournament up in Pennsylvania. Taje's been driving more. After the tournament in PA we actually spent the next day in Philadelphia and did some touring (and she drove back home from for the majority of the trip). At the end of the month I'll be at a different tournament in NJ and then we'll be hanging out in NYC. Side note, whole family has also moved down to Florida so now it's just us up here.

Here's a video of bird feeding to keep your media thirst quenched!


Nothing interesting has been going on work related, but I haven't really expected anything to be. My security clearance is still taking it's sweet goddamn time to clear, despite the fact that it shouldn't have taken more than 6 months since I really have no background that needs to be checked. It feels like it's been a year now since the whole process started. It definitely has been over a year since I passed Secuirty+ so I only have less than 2 valid years left of being able to claim I'm certified before having to relearn everything plus new junk. My Network+ studying came to a screeching halt and I'll need to pick that up again sometime.

I am one week soda free and clean. For some reason I haven't been having the yearns for caffeine like other times, but I expect soon to be hitting that withdrawal stage that has made me feel terrible in the past. Let's see how long I last, and how long I'll be able to keep my current "get fit" attitude. Bad track record, I know, but maybe this time it'll be different.

New Goodies

I recently came into some new items that have really got me excited at owning. The first thing is my vanity license plates. There are very few things I would bother to put on my car as I'm very particular about the message I'm trying to say. Religious, school, 'funny message' window or bumper stickers are just not my thing. Something about the idea of tacking on a piece of plastic to the outside to let the world know what you're thinking always seemed kind of hooky to me. I can't really explain it, which is odd, because on the flip side I see nothing wrong with a vanity custom license plate. Maybe something about that message being officially registered with the state and being part of a legal document makes it more real and worthy to me. Mine expresses who I am, what I do.



If you don't happen to know Japanese it just means "a kendo practitioner". I think it's great and I was glad it was available. People who do kendo or know Japanese will get it, it looks cool to have it, and it also gives off a mysterious air around me for those who don't know because it sounds neat yet it's not obvious.

The other little trinket I got myself was a new computer. The other one I had continually would crap out on me, the HD was on it's last legs, and it would overheat despite having an incredibly weak GPU. Never again will I buy a cheap refurbished Gateway computer. No, this time I went the typical consumer way and went back to my roots and bought a Dell. I've always had a thing for Dell computers and their design, and with the customized one I purchased I should be good for a long ass time.

Here's some of the basic specs for those curious.

Dell XPS 8300
Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor (3.4GHz with 8MB Cache)
12 GB DDR3 RAM
AMD Radeon 6870 video card
2 TB SATA Harddrive

Also did a performance test and got some really great result. The one thing it's lacking was in HD transfer speed, but the ONLY way to really get it above 6.0 is to involve SSD harddrives. SATA just won't cut it, but I am in no need to worry about it and don't feel like shelling out more money for anything else additional I won't need.


So I've spent most of last night configuring the baby. It's really looking and running smooth so far. I'm hoping it'll be like my last Dell and just last me throughout the years.

Pepsi Cherry

Ok, so the Rutgers kendo tournament sucked for me. One and done. Not really anything worth posting about. Cleveland will be different.

March 1st it begins. Look for a change!

"You still doing that kindoo fighting thing?"

Kendo still continues for me. It is a never ending process that keeps going even when I'm not practicing it. Just thinking about it is a form of training. Currently this is the normally busy time of the year for us as we've got Rutgers and Cleveland tournaments as well as prep for testing. We also will be hosting a visiting 8th-dan (one that isn't Kato-sensei) come mid-Feb, which will be a nice treat for us. Kato-sensei will be visiting us sometime soon, too, which is always a treat. If I'm not mistaken DC will also be host for the AUSKF board meeting later in December. Important stuff for us, similar to hosting last year's AUSKF camp.

My mind has been mainly focused on getting ready for testing. I'll be testing for 2nd-dan at the Cleveland tournament at the end of March. Will I pass? I think/hope so. There are always doubts in my mind. I continually worry about how my opponent will be during the match. Will they treat it like a proper testing bout and show off the quality of their kendo strikes and form, or will they act like a total asshat and treat the match like a tournament, flailing about with utter disregard to how they look in order to strike a target? It's hard to stay in proper form when up against the latter type.

But that is just an excuse! In actuality you shina (testing) fighting should look and be exactly the same as your shiai (tournament) fighting; nice and elegant, precise movements and forms. That's the ideal thought, at least. Not everyone is capable of doing that or is even aware. I was, like a lot of people currently are, under the impression that they were two very distinct things and you only use one form for testing and one for tournaments. That's not how it should be, but at the same time that's how it kinda is and how people treat it.

In the end none of that matters. I've just got to concentrate on what it is that I need to pass. Good, solid men/kote-men is what I'm being told. Back straight with good footwork and leg movement and timing. Be aware of my hitting distance and feeling out the opponent with my sword. Avoid do strikes (they are more likely to get me in trouble) and blocking or any advanced waza. Basically, I need to show the good foundation of the basics. Anything non-basic will be to my disadvantage. Sounds simple, but I'm already seeing my foundation hasn't been built very solidly (thanks VT!) so it's a continually work-in-progress.

Now that we have an 8th-dan sensei as part of our school there has just been more pressure on us it seems to pass exams. The sensei hate to see their students go in for an exam and fail because in a way it's a representation of them and the school. "Kendoka #203 didn't pass? Oh, he must not have a good teacher, or they must not be showing them proper technique. Don't they have an 8th-dan in their school?". Maybe I could have taken the 2nd-dan test earlier, right away when I was eligible awhile ago last year or the year before if we didn't have a megaboss 8th dan, but it just seems like times have somewhat changed. I understand it, though, because no one wants to see their people fail and you want to make sure they are ready. Well, technically I was given the go ahead to test at Rutgers in February but I was also told if I was going to Cleveland then I should test there with the others since it's only a month away. One more month won't hurt anything. I won't be changing shiai divisions, I'll be testing with other dojo members, and it'll give me an entire additional month to more finely hone what skills I have. So come March/April I will be testing for ni-dan and hopefully have a new rank!

This whole post was actually just going to be me linking a picture I just threw together and it somehow turned into kendo testing thoughts. Anyway, the picture that kinda inspired this post was an old image of me standing side by side with images of this kendo figurine I bought just because I thought it looked somewhat like me. The figure is in a glass case at home but it's been lying on it's side. I've got to remember to set it right side up again.

House of Wax

So...all my resolutions so far have been broken/not kept up. Sitting here digesting a nice Vanilla Coke and feeling that the broken resolution was absolutely worth it. Hell, I never really liked the idea that resolutions had to start at the first of the year anyway. It's the same logic in thinking that the year 2000 somehow has some sort of magical meaning of significance to it over another year like 2003 because it's a nice, big round number that's divisible by 10. I'll get back on track, though. I guess. Also lost pretty bad at a friend's poker game last weekend. Took last place out of 8 without ever winning a hand, and the worst part about that is that when you're out that early you still have to watch all the other hands while thinking "I would play it like this...".

But all that aside! Taje and I, on MLK day, went to Madame Tussauds' wax museum in DC. It was a pretty nice experience seeing all the life like celebrities and politicians and such. Everything was done in such detail and perfection, especially the figures of those people still living (thanks to modern technology). The care they gave to designing these was such that every sculptures hair was INDIVIDUALLY placed in their hair, dyed, and done up. Here's a sampling of some of the photos we took:











If you want to see all the pictures here's a link to the entire album. Some of these I really enjoyed taking and looking at. ALBUM HERE!

So, yes, it was really an enjoyable outing for us. The one thing that kept going through my mind, while looking at all these real-life figures, was that while sitting next to one they would suddenly grab me and say "Boo!" a la Osbourne.

Do You Have It?

SWAGGER


Saw this at the store and couldn't help but think, "Who is this intended for?". This product is the exact same kind of thing you'd see in a parody video of items meant to be sold to douchebags, for douchebags, by douchebags. There are guys out there right now with overly gelled haired, sunglasses, and popped collars looking specifically for this deodorant because no other one out there will quite give them that 'beer kegging, frat boy' scent.