Archive for April, 2006

Added my bike to Craig’s List

Published
by
Austen
on April 21, 2006
in Life
. 1 Comment

Craig’s List is a site for people to find jobs, homes, bikes, paintings, jobs again, and much more. I just added my bike to Craig’s List. Why not do ebay? Because ebay requires shipping. Craig’s List, though, is centered by city and area so basically, someone will look for a bike in Manhattan, and see I’m from the Upper West Side which is right near them. So then they just email me, set up a time to pick up the bike, and take it, and give me $50. So if anyone lives near me and wants a bike that fits a 8 to 12 year old, just click here.

The Da Vinci Code

Published
by
Austen
on April 20, 2006
in Books and Life
. 0 Comments

I’m about halfway through the book, which I decided to start reading this spring vacation. It’s very, very good - kind of like a Harry Potter for adults. It’s interesting, historical, and a real page-turner.

No one tell me the end yet, I already learned a bit to much while watching a TV program about Da Vinci, which mentioned some of the book. Anyway, I SHOULD be reading Anne Frank’s diary. Yeah, whatever. Then I have to write a paper on it. I mean, it’s a pretty good book - but it’s just not my………. genre.

Still, the Da Vinci Code movie is coming out May 19th (a year after the 3rd star wars movie) and I can’t wait to see it, since I’m reading the book right now. Great timing, huh? It stars Tom Hanks (isn’t he getting old? And is hair is… ew!)

Movie Review: Crash - 5/5

Published
by
Austen
on April 18, 2006
in Reviews
. 1 Comment

Crash won the Academy Award for best film this year, surprising most people who were rooting for Brokeback Mountain. I had not seen Crash, so obviously it was on my (and our family’s) Netflix list. Finally, it has come and we all sat down to watch the film this past Sunday night.

The movie takes place in LA, definitely showing the darker side of that city. It takes place over a 36 hour period following multiple people’s lives, and how they interconnect in to each other - or “Crash” into each other. The main confict in the movie is racial ties. Everyone in this movie is confronted with racism, and are racists themselves. There are Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Koreans, Mexicans (only joking, for those who have seen the movie) and much more. The movie is essentially a drama, but is so engaging, realistic, and it just adresses so many problems of our world today.

I loved this movie. It’s dramatic, sad, even funny at times (but you wonder why you’re laughing, and feel guilty). I don’t want to give away the story if you haven’t already seen it, but the way the director interlocks (I hope that that’s the right word) these people’s lives in a short period, the tensions that happen, it’s amazing. The acting is great, realistic and really touches you. In the end (of course) certain character(s) die, adding to the effect of this movie.

The soundtrack is interesting, it’s not your average type, but mostly a women singing softly, strings, and sad, mounrnful music. This music throughout the majority of the movie is OK, but nothing compared to the beautiful music played during the dramatic parts, which you’ll have to hear to believe.

I HIGHLY recomend that anyone who is looking for a good movie, and a good reason to ponder the ways of the world see this movie. Be aware that it is rated R, and rightly so. Adult Situations may seem simple, but these situations are NOT for kids (whoopsies!).

[rating:5]

More Florida 2006 and Vance’s Birthday

Published
by
Austen
on April 17, 2006
in Life, Netsua.com and Photos
. 1 Comment

I’ve added about 15 more pictures to the Florida 2006 set taken from my own camerathat incude some pictures from the house, and a bit more.

And I’ve also added a few pictures from Vance’s Birthday party (3 weeks late - it’s a fad in our family) to it’s own set. There are only a few, all of them of Vance and Lulu with an ugly flash (except for Alex sleeping.) Still, they’re not bad pictures.

Movie Review: The Ring - 3.5/5

Published
by
Austen
on April 17, 2006
in Reviews
. 1 Comment

I saw this movie a few weeks ago after spotting it on TV, which I instantly recorded with the powers of DVR. This scary thriller is beyond other horror films. The basic storyline is this: You watch a video that apparently has a lot of random images - a women brushing her hair, a light house, a basement, and someone jumping off a cliff, etc. - and at the end of the video you see “the ring” (in poster at left) and then you get the phone call “You’re gonna die in 7 days” a eerie, whispery voice says, and hangs up.

This happens to one such girl, who’s Aunt, after the girl’s death goes to watch the tape and investigate it, it’s orgins, and goes on a mystery frenzy to find out about the tape with the clues given in the video. Then her son watches it, along with her ex-husband which raises the stakes even higher.

The movie all has a darkened feel - probably because the actual images seem to have more shadows than most movies,and it’s filmed with that “old technology” kind of green tint that makes things look old and used. The movie is fairly scary featuring many loud drum sounds and then a scary image like a young girl with the hair all over her face. (It’s scarier in the movie, you’ll see.) I really liked this movie because it brought you along with a mystery that didn’t make any sense, but soon started to. Not to give anything away, but a main character DOES in fact die in 7 days (the others don’t) and it’s a totally awesome scene.

Finally, the soundtrack is perfect, not action-adventure music, but instead a quiet background music playing throughout much of the movie. There are a few themes that play throughout, and the song the girl is singing quietly before she dies (again, you’ll see) that just gets stuck in your head. Overall, a good horror film, but horror isn’t my favorite genre. So…

[rating:3.5]

Broken Stove Movie

Published
by
Austen
on April 16, 2006
in Filmmaking and Life
. 0 Comments

It’s a typical Friday night (except that it’s during spring vacation) and Dad’s in the kitchen cooking dinner when suddenly a loud noise is heard, but unlike usual there is no curse following it, no screaming. Worried, me and my mom run to the kitchen. The entire stove is… well, just see for yourself:

Watch it here (There are some problems with the video embeding)

The Department of Education

Published
by
Austen
on April 15, 2006
in Life
. 2 Comments

It’s long been known that children aren’t allowed to bring cell phones to school because the Department of Education doesn’t allow cell phones, iPods or ANY electronics in any public schools. First off, this is stupid. Cell phones are, first of all, a device that has saved thousands of lives, and second of all, bought by parents for their kids SO THAT IF THEY’RE IN TROUBLE THEY CAN CALL….. lets see; where are kids our age most of the day? At school! So what’s the point of having a cell phone if you can’t even have it for the majority of the day???????!!!!!!!!! Now our school has a policy, don’t let us see it, and we won’t say anything. We’re allowed to have them, but they should be off.

And other electronics, like iPods: School isn’t the only thing we do all day. So they’re saying that we can’t bring electronics to school? What if you’re going over to a friend’s house after school to practice for the talent show, and need the ipod to get the music from??? We can’t have an iPod in our backpacks to use LATER??? As long as they don’t see it in our school.

But now it’s just getting worse because the Department of Education is doing “random security checks” for guns and other weapons at random schools. Our school might be “randomly chosen.” No problems there. It’s just if they find a cell phone (or any electronic for that matter in our backpacks or something, they’ll take them and one of our parents has to come to the school just to pick it up!

Adults bring cell phones to work - they can do whatever they want. They can bring an iPod to listen to on the way there and on the way back - and while they’re there for that matter. But NOOOO kids can’t. We’re just little zombies to be controlled. Go to school, learn, go home, do homework, go to bed. We can’t do anything else - bring any electronics to school, we can’t do anything!!!

Spider-Man Game

Published
by
Austen
on April 12, 2006
in Life
. 0 Comments

I recently found an awesome game demo on Download.com. It’s for a spider-man game made in 2001 before the movie came out. It doesn’t follow the movie storyline, but the original comic’s. The graphics are pretty good for being 6 years old, and the gameplay is great. You can swing around new york city and fight and just plain be spider-man. The demo is (of course free) and I just ordered the full version on CD from Amazon. Due to come in a week or two. Can’t wait to play more of the game.