The Year in Review Meme

I skipped this awesome activity last year. Again, credit to John. However, I didn't cheat like he did, heh. Rules are the same as last time: first sentence of first post of the month for each month of 2009. A bit of comment follows each sentence, but it is hidden text and you'll have to highlight it to see it.

January
As Hong Kong stepped into the new year peacefully, more injustice took place in the Mainland. (What else is new? Another civil rights activist was just sentenced to 11 years just last week.)

February
HSBC... again. (The "World's Bank" strikes again with high fees and low benefits. Banks very often forget that besides being a business, they are a service to the people.)

March
The stuff we buy just keeps getting worse. (Definitely holds true. Lower prices mean cheaper and shittier products. We ultimately lose as landfills pile up faster.)

April
Resident Evil 5's issue of race has ballooned to internet wide proportions. (I think these stories are overblown. Video games get enough negative press as is.)

May
A couple months ago, there was a case of bickering between the so called "Kong Boys" and "Kong Girls". (Ultimately, video games and pocketbooks suffered.)

June
WRC and NASCAR too? Gran Turismo is again looking to be the all-in-one racing game. (Another post about games? Daaayum! A nerd is me.)

July
Recently picked up a new TV series called The Unit. (Thinking back I didn't really enjoy the whole "life on base" dynamic. The Unit is still awesome though.)

August
Why why why why why am I not surprised. (That prostitutes are more trustworthy than politicians in China. Corruption, yo.)

September
I am for the most part a Firefox user when it comes to web browsing. (Ain't that the truth.)

October
This is so much better than the original. (Pomplamoose rocks!)

November
It has been a long while since I posted. (But the point is, Belichick is still our coach.)

December
Was down with the sickness last weekend. (A long two weeks with me being sick, then my girlfriend.)

Sick Day Movies

Was down with the sickness last weekend. Ended up watching four movies. Some new some old.

A Night at the Roxbury ** (out of 4 stars)

Old SNL humor from a decade ago. It was kind of funny ten years ago, but it seems to have lost whatever charm it once had. On the up side, it made my girlfriend laugh, so it was worth renting.

Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen **

The story and the action was pretty much exactly what I expected. Nothing new and nothing exciting. The only aspect of TF2 I liked was the "robo martial arts". The Transformer hand to hand combat was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, the "messy" designs of the Transformer robots made it difficult to watch. There were a ton of military equipment references in TF2, which might make it interesting for modern weapon buffs. Other than that, it was pretty ho hum.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra *

I didn't find any redeeming qualities in this movie. Perhaps the bits I did possibly enjoy are the nostalgia and nods to the old cartoon series. The action is over the top, but not creative or exciting. All the CGI looks obviously fake. The plot makes no sense, but that is to be expected. The characters are not memorable, and the constant flashbacks to tell the history of the characters is not done smoothly and became quite annoying. However, the absolute worst aspect of this action flick is the writing. The cringe inducing dialog is very cheesy and I don't think they did it on purpose. I will most definitely not watch the sequel to The Rise of Cobra.

The Game ****

This David Fincher gem from the late 90s starring Micheal Douglas is still good today. Douglas does a great job at portraying an asshole millionaire, then a whiny millionaire, then a helpless millionaire, then finally an ex-millionaire hellbent on revenge. He probably channeled some of his Falling Down rage for the last 15 minutes of the film. The story, soundtrack, and visuals are just the right amount of creepy. You'll see San Francisco in a light like never before. Just plain awesome storytelling.