Gibby's Zone

Review: The Hurt Locker

2010-01-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

The Hurt Locker, was directed by Kathryn Bigelow. She did a damn good job. This movie is a great movie. I normally do not go for the Iraq war type movies but I say this is a must see. She does a fantastic job directing and the actors really become their roles. The cimina photography is done perfectly and often fits the mood of the shots. What a fantastic movie.

Basicly the movie is about a bomb disarming squad in Iraq. Their job is to disarm road side bombs, car bombs, and what have you. To say its a dangerous job is like saying jumping on a hornets nest is a bad idea. The movie is not only about disarming bombs, you go into the lives of the soldiers. You get to see what happens as they serve and get closer and closer till they get to go back home. You see how crazy war can be. You see it all. This movie is fantastic and I could tell you more but I don't want to, you should go rent this movie right now. Sit down and be absorbed by the film.

Review: Boardland

2010-01-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

Boardland was released as one of the 8 Films to Die For at Horrorfest 2007. It is kind of based on a true story about a cult in Mexico that performed human sacrifice. This movie could of been really good, a Hostel styled murder fest would of been great. At to some degree it was that but it was a few murder scenes short.

The movie follows the story of 3 american tourists who deiced to go to Mexico so their virgin friend, Phil who is played by Rider Strong, could get laid. They are all into drugs, drinking, and Mexican women. Which as any horror movie fan knows means certain death. Ed, played by Brian Presley, is the kind and caring person who has "grown up" compared to his friend Henry, played by Jake Muxworthy. Henry is the asshole, hot tempered, drug dealing, bad boy of the movie. Anyways they get to Mexico, Rider Strong is going to have sex with a prostitute but it turns
out she has a baby so he chickens out. Meanwhile
Ed has fallen for a Mexican bar tender and the gang goes out with her and her cousin to a caravel. Of course they all take some mushrooms before the event. Rider wins a giant stuffed teddy bear, which is very impressive because I can not do that sober, and he wants to give it to
the baby of the the prostitute. And on his way he is picked up by
the cult.....

There is also another story of the cop who lost his partner to this cult in Mexico city, and he wants revenge but its rather stupid so I did not include it in my review. Though the best murder

scene is in that story line.
The problem with this movie was that it tried way to hard to be cool. It was to focused on the story, and should of been more on the cult and murder scenes. Don't get me wrong there are some cool moments in this movie. And some good kills but for the most part they fall short. SPOILER WARNING! Rider Strong gets his head cut off but we don't get to see that. He also has his head shaven with a knifing leading him bloody but we don't get to see that. It's things like this that make this movie not worth while. END OF SPOILER! In the end this movie is so sub-par and just middle of the road that I really don't recommended it. If you do want to see it, having something else to do or people to talk to. As for a Horrorfest movie it was pretty good, but that's like saying "Hey, that Nazi was a good guy."

It is Indeed Always Sunny in Philadelphia

2010-01-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

This is easily one of the best shows on television. The humor is crude, dirty, random, crazy and down right hilarious. The show is set up in a classic format,where there is one set of friends and each episode has a different story. There are some overarching story elements, such as Charlie Kelly's love interest, but they take more of a back burner approach to the story of each episode. One of the best things about the show is that is on FX which allows them to get away with more adult hummor then shows on networks like NBC or ABC.

My favorite character is by far Charlie. Charlie is not the smartest of the group, in fact he is illiterate, and he also is quick to come up with some of the worst ideas ever but that is what makes him so great. The others are all great in their own way like how Frank Reynolds played by Danny DeVito always has "a guy". You need cat eyes Frank knows someone. You want to run a sweat shop Frank knows someone. The other members of the gang are also great. There is Dennis Reynolds who thinks he is Adonis. Mac who thinks he is the best at everything, and does try he best to be so, is the competitive one. Sweet Dee is the one that gang rags on for basically existing. She is the twin sister of Dennis. Each member of the gang brings something different to the table.

The main cast really makes the show work. They bring life to their roles so much so that I don't refer to Danny DeVito by his name but refer to him as Frank now. Not only is the show well written but the actors bring to the stage and often improv great moments of the show.

If you haven't seen it you should. Go out and rent the DVDs and prepare to laugh till the wee hours of the morning.

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.

2010-01-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

Ever feel that you found the perfect person for you, that he or she is the one. Only to for the other people to not to feel that way at all. Well that is pretty much the very basic plot of 500 Days of Summer. The story is very well done and the director did a very nice job. The actors really took their roles and brought life into them. All around a great movie. While this is not your typical story of love in the movies it does show that even the bad relationships are step stones in life.

Score: 9/10

Hunting? We ain't huntin' him, he's huntin' us!

2010-01-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

When watching any Rambo movie you have to know what your getting into to; an all out action blockbuster type movie. The basic plot of First Blood, is hick-cops arrest Rambo for Vagrancy (not having an income). The abuse him and start to trigger some flash backs from his time in Vietnam. He triggers, escapes the police station and goes into the woods. Then people die, get stabbed, get shot and beaten down. The movie is in two words: Bad Ass. Great movie, and I would recommended it to anyone who has not seen it.

Score: 7.5/10

I'm with Coco!

2010-01-13T11:23:00.000-08:00

I am very mad at NBC. Moving Jay Leno to 11:35 is beyond stupid. First off he is not funny! Google"Jay Leno is" and let the auto complete give you what he truly is. Moving The Tonight Show to 12:05 is one of the stupidest ideas I have heard from a network in a long time. I mean as Conan said, then it would be The Tomorrow Show. Wake up NBC. We all hate LENO!

Wanted A Better Movie

2010-01-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Sometimes movies are just not worth your time. This is one of those times. This movie was so bad. Wanted's basic "story" is that certain people can speed up their heart rate to slow the world down, and alter physics. After about 1000 years of reading who to kill from a textile cloth, the fates decide its time to wipe out their own. But when Morgen Freeman find his own name in the code he sells out, and starts making up his own targets. The movie ends in the way its starts with more magic physics that really don't even make sense in the world of the movie. This movie sure does try to entire with lackluster car chases, bullet to bullet gun battles, and over 1000 exploding rats. Yet it still falls. The story is awful, and the high budget cast pretty much knows they are in a shitty movie. This movies is a black hole, its pulls further and further down as the minutes tick by. Do not waste your time on this movie.

Score: 0 / 10

I Hate 3D

2010-01-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

3d has been around for a long, long time. I mean a real long time. Over the years it has grown and gotten better, but you still need to wear something or look through something to create the 3d effect from the two projections. I got Lasik for a reason, I DO NOT want to have to put on glasses. Not only that but almost everyone I have talked to about the subject gets headaches from watching 3d films. So whats the point?

I guess its kind of cool to have things come out at you, but often the images get kind of weird and just don't look right. While the subtle flowing blobs specks, etc. look kind of cool, I still thing its not worth it. Right now we are in another 3d age, where people are pushing it as the next big thing. TV companies are trying to build their TVs around it, and Sony is trying to make the next Playstation use it. I really hope this wave of 3d slows down, and waits till we dont have to wear glasses and headaches are a thing of the past. As of right now they are just making things cost more money and its simply not worth the cost. While I enjoyed Avatar, I don't think it gained anything from being in 3d.

As of right now 3d is too gimmicky and being use for things that really dont need it. Hopefully things will slow down again till we make another improvement to 3d in general. But, I sense a 3d Star Wars coming our way in the next 5 years at this rate. Lets also have the remake of Jaws in 3d, or hell just remake Jaws 3-d. Maybe we can have the next Michael Bay movie have 3d explosions.

Blogging in Sweden

2010-01-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I had to blog in Sweden. I was not quite sure to write about at first but I guess the pace/culture/type of world we are in now is a good enough topic.

I guess one of the best ways to describe Sweden is how we got here. We flew on FinAir, which is a airline from Finland (duh.), but when we got on the plane you could tell how different America really is. Not only on the plane were we given blankets and a pillow right off the bat but we also got a small bottle of water. It was also pretty cold, which was nice. Then shortly after takeoff, which was exactly on time by the way, it was time for dinner. The food was free and they gave us free wine. The entertainment system on the plane was really cool. You got to pick which movies you wanted to watch, or play games, or listen to music, or watch TV. There was both quality and quantity. There we movies like Die Hard 4, The Time Travelers Wife, Wanted, etc., as for TV they had Arrested Development, and others but enough said on that. To sum it up, we felt welcomed and the flight was really easy. Then we land in Finland, on our way to our next flight was passed though customs which took about 5 min total time. I found that weird and was talking to Lauren how odd it was for us to pass through customs now in a different country. Turns on Finland and Sweden are part of the European Union which means once you pass though Customs in one country you are cleared for the others.

The people in Sweden are really nice and not nearly as face passed as America. Also they are not fat. I have not seen one fat Swedish person yet. Its very weird. I feel odd when I don't see a 300 pound plus man going into the golden arches to buy his weight in food. Burger King and Mcdonalds are here in force, with different menus. Here is a link to the Swedish Mcdonalds website, but good luck trying to read it. They also have their own fast food here called MAC. We are going back into the city tomorrow so maybe I will eat one of the strange burgers at Mcdonalds or eat something at MAC.

This blog post is starting to go off on many different parts of the trip so far, partly because I am writing it at different times and also because that is how my mind works. Anyways, on the 4th we went into a tower in Stockholm and I got some great photos of the city. It was pretty cool but also very cold. That statement is a good way to describe Sweden, pretty cool but very cold. Its not that cold, its about the same temperature as PA but there is wind and only a few hours of sunlight.

Only two more full days here in Sweden till we start the trip back how to the USA. We fly to Finland and have a 2 hour layover then we fly from Finland at 2:45pm and land in NYC at 3:45pm. It is kind of funny how that works out.

Team Fortress 2

2009-12-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

So I recently got back into Team fortress 2. Now the demoman has a sword. I cut off 13 heads with out dieing.

Movie, Books, and Fan Rage, Oh My!

2009-12-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

A lot of people enjoy good movies. Fewer people like good books. Sometimes good books because good movies, but more often good books become bad movies. This is because of artistic interpetaion or some bullshit other phrase that basically means "We screwed up."

The first thing that needs to change is when people change plot lines, or major charters from books then the name of the movie/TV serious should change as well. This would fix 95% of the problems with books to movie issues. Why? Well because then someone else could come along and make the book into a movie, instead of making some parts of the book into a movie while missing major plot points. For example of not how to do things, I turn to True Blood. I have both read all the books and watched the first season. The problem with the TV adaption is that they change some major things from the book. While that is all find and good for people who have never read the books it not ok for the people who have read the books because they (the people who have read the books) expect certain things when the TV and Book have the same name. To fix this I would call the TV Serious something different with "based on the True Blood, or The Sookie Stackhouse series." That way it can have it own life but still be connected to the book.

I think that another problem is that books create a world that is each readers head. A book readers need to understand that will differ from one person to the next. That is why some things change in the book to movie creation process. Also they are not making it for you, they are trying to make it for everyone to enjoy so they are going to change things. And some things in books do not translate well to film, so they have to be changed. When going to the movies as a fan of the book you must try to separate the book from the movie. And try to see them as similar but different entities.

Cheese

2009-12-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

I love cheese. Cheese, I think is one of the best foods on earth. Well at least cheese from cows, while I like goat cheese I am not as much as a fan.

Wikipedia defines cheese as: "Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of fermented milk-based food products."

Which makes it not sound too good. I mean anything that fermented automatically sounds kinda of gross.

Now Cheese.com defines cheese as: "Cheese is nutritious food made mostly from the milk of cows but also other mammals, including sheep, goats, buffalo, reindeer, camels and yaks. Around 4000 years ago people have started to breed animals and process their milk."

I did not know cheese was made from reindeer, camels or yaks. I really want some reindeer cheese for Christmas one year.

Anyways, I love cheese. It's a magical food. Its good on meats, breads, vegetables, grains, crackers, eggs, with fruits, with wine, with beer, and by its self. Every time we go to Weggemans I love getting my free cheese sample. I love most kinds of cheeses, but not all. Feta, and blue cheese for example are not my favorites.

Some of my favorites are smoked cheeses, Cheddar cheeses, Monterrey Jack cheeses, and a new favorite is the buttery Brie. I am always up for trying different cheeses. The only problem with cheese is that it is very expensive.

I think some of the best ways to enjoy cheese are the simple ways. Cheese on bread, cheese on crackers, or just straight up cheese. In closing on this very strange trip into the Gibby Zone, cheese is great, cheese IS GREAT!!!!!!

How Not To Keep Your Dog In Your Yard

2009-12-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

This is a simple guide how not to keep your Jack Russel in your yard. For the purpose of this guide I will refer to the dog as a her.

It all begins when you first bring your cute dog home. You decide you do not want to create her so you put her in your kitchen with baby gates. When your cute little dog climbs your baby gates that is a warning sign. When she jumps them completely not only should you began crating but you should only take a note that you dog has boundary issues.

When you dog is lucky enough to have a backyard of her own make sure you get a good fence. What is a good fence you may ask. Well short of a 10 foot high brick wall your not really going to have a good fence. Anyways when considering a fence with a Jack Russel you there are 3 things you need to know. If it looks like she wont be able to squeeze through the fence she will be able to, even if you go around your entire fence with chicken wire she will climb it and squeeze though. If there is even a small opening from the ground to your fence she will squeeze through. Finaily even if your fence is a 10 foot brick wall she will find a way out, she could tunnel, jump onto something near the fence than over, race though the door as you open it to get your mail, eat through your fence, etc. There is a simple math equation to help anyone with a Jack Russel, who has a backyard.

Jack Russel + Backyard = One Free Jack Russel
One Free Jack Russel + Angry Owners = Invisible Fence
Invisible Fence + Jack Russel = One Very Unhappy and Hopefully Contained Jack Russel

So save yourself the heartache if you are planing to let your Jack Russel run in the back yard and get an invisible fence. In the end that might not even be enough.

My School is Sooooo Safe

2009-11-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here are two emails from my school.

This one was sent on Nov. 24th.

"A male Lehigh student was robbed at approximately 1:30 a.m. last night, in
the area around Filmore Street and Hillside Avenue. The student was
approached by multiple individuals, and one was armed with a knife. The
student was not injured.

The complaint on the incident was immediately sent to the Bethlehem Police
Department, but Lehigh University Police Department officers conducting
expanded patrols in the off-campus area were able to quickly apprehend one
suspect, who was in possession of the stolen items. The suspect was turned
over to the Bethlehem Police Department, which is continuing to investigate
the matter. The LUPD is cooperating with that investigation.

It is important that you continue to be vigilant in regard to your safety
and to take basic precautions, such as walking in well-lit areas and
walking in groups, if possible. Regardless of where you live, secure all
doors and windows and keep your residence locked at all times.

Additionally, make sure to remember to utilize the Safety Escort Service
by calling 610-758-1111, or use the Take a Ride Around Campus Safely
(TRACS) service when traveling on campus at night.

Chief Ed Shupp
Lehigh University Police Department"

And today (Nov. 25th)

"At about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 24th, a male Lehigh student was
robbed at gunpoint in the area of Fifth and Filmore streets. The victim was
not injured, but the two male perpetrators did take money from his wallet.
The student described the suspects as follows:

- The man wielding the weapon was about 19 to 20 years of age, Hispanic,
approximately 5' 8", of medium build, with dark hair and a beard. He was
wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, with the hood up.

- The second suspect was about 17 years of age, Hispanic, about 5' 9", of
medium build, and had no facial hair. He was wearing a gray hooded
sweatshirt.

Anyone with information should contact the Bethlehem Police Department,
which is conducting the investigation, at 610-865-7187, or the Lehigh
University Police Department at 610-758-4200. The LUPD is assisting in the
investigation.

It is important that you continue to be vigilant in regard to your safety
and to take basic precautions, such as walking in well-lit areas and
walking in groups, if possible. Regardless of where you live, secure all
doors and windows and keep your residence locked at all times.

Additionally, make sure to remember to utilize the Safety Escort Service by
calling 610-758-1111, or use the Take a Ride Around Campus Safely (TRACS)
service when traveling on campus at night.

Chief Ed Shupp
Lehigh University Police Department"

Ramblings

2009-11-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what I am going to write write now but I am going to write for the sake of writing. This might get weird, and it this will be your only warning. Oh and I have chosen to write a story.

Alex was walking through the forest on a cold autumn night. He knew the woods well, because he walked them often at night. He knew every tree, rock and branch, but what he did not recognize was the other person in the forest with him. He heard someone walking about 50 feet back but he did not turn to see his stalker. He could feel eyes burning a hole in the back of his but hid did not dare to turn around, because he knew if he did it would be over. Number one rule of playing the prey, never show them your face. So he walked along, to a spot he knew well. A spot in his mind he knew would be the perfect place to end this little game.
As his favorite clearing came into view a small smile drew across his face. He knew what was going to happen. What ever was following him, who ever it was, it was going to lose. As his enter the clearing he did an artificial fall. He heard the foot steps speed up into a inhumanly fast run. He reached for his sword and quickly rolled over, and on to his feet to meet his attacker head on.......

Ok so I did my part, how about you write some of the rest.

Death, Life, and What Not

2009-10-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

Everyone dies. It is a hard fact of life. Death is a very interesting thing, people always think about life after death. Sometimes is Heaven, other times its zombies. Religions all over the world looks a death in a variety of ways, and so do many people. I have two main ideas for what happens when we die.

Idea One:
Dead is dead and that is all it is. There is no afterlife and there is no being reborn. Its a pretty sad outlook for after death but it makes the most logical sense to me.

Idea Two:
When we die our essence, or spirit, or what have you, becomes energy and flows back into our planet. In many ways these is similar to the idea of reincarnation. This energy can get stuck in certain areas (ghosts, and other super-natural events) or it can spread out into everything equally (I guess this would be like a heaven type of state). It can also pure into one being or animal (the pure idea of reincarnation). While this idea makes little sense, I like to believe it sometimes.

What are your ideas of life after death? They can match up to your religion beliefs or they can be your own? I would really like to know because I think people have many great ideas of what happens to us when we die. We all will find out someday (hopefully a long, long, long time from now).

PC/Windows vs MAC

2009-10-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

First of all any personal computer is a PC, so its Windows vs Mac. Windows 7 has been released, which makes Windows and Macs on a whole new battle ground. First off Windows 7 is fast, pretty, and all everything that vista should of been. Many people ask what is better? What do you like more? And there has been many debates, fights, aurgments, nerd wars and epic struggles in the battle of Apple vs Microsoft. In the end they are both great OS. When people ask me which one is better I will say windows because of what I use computers for. You have to ask yourself what is your computer going to be for? So here we go, Windows vs Macs.

Cost:
Macs have a high start up costs. Windows you can build a 5,000 computer but you can also build really good cheap computers. On cost alone windows can be run on a cheaper system. Winner: Windows.

OS user interface:
Both are now great. What will the future hold is hard to tell. Its really personal preference. Tie.

Viruses:
Their are more windows computers than anything else so when people make viruses they tend to be for windows computers. Macs are not as popular as PCs so they are safer in that department. Of course Macs are selling now and selling well we will see what will happen in the future with virus. Winner: Macs.

Customization:
Hands down windows computers, you dont build a mac pc you buy it. Windows PCs with the proper know how can be opened and upgraded at anytime. Winner: Windows.

Work PCs:
I think Macs make better work PCs in the sound, video, and art area. The software seems to run better on Macs and most people in that field know and use macs alot. Winner: Macs.

Video Games:
This is where I pick windows because most games do not support Macs. Winner: Windows.

Computer's Appearance:
Macs computers are small, pretty and take up less space then comparable windows based pcs. Hands down winner: Macs.

In the end is all about what are you going to use the computer for and how much do you want to spend. Making a good gaming windows based PC will cost a lot but so will any powerful Mac. For me I like windows because I can build the PC up and change it at will and also I play video games and that is the major factor. Both are great for different and simular reasons. This Windows/Mac war will never stop fighting and lets all hope as consumers that they keep trying to out do each other.

Grades and Their Insanity

2009-10-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

Did you get an As? Bs? Cs? Ds? Fs? Did it matter to you what grades you got? Where you happy every time you got a B or where you pissed off that it was not an A+. Grades are what the academic world use to let students know how well they are doing but they are very flawed.

The main issue with grades is that there are only important in one world, the world of academia. You need good grades to get into college and you need good grades to get into graduate school but you don't need good grades to get most degrees which are the things that you need to get a job. So your GPA of 4.0 or 2.8, does not matter to any given employer as long as your have a degree.

The other main issue with grades is that they really do not reflect how well you are doing. I mean sometimes you get a teacher who grades to the letter, but more often then not you get a teacher who does not give a damn and gives everyone As (in graduate school at least). When teachers do care and give grades depending on the amount of understanding of the given material, it can get hard to tell whats an A understanding and whats a B understanding.

In closing, grades are relatively pointless. I think we should move too a system of pass or fail, you understand or you don't. I often get As and sometimes Bs and would rather just see an P with comments like you really "understand the topic" or an F "you did not understand the topic, you misunderstand x,y,z. Please see me with questions if you have any" Grades cause to much stress for most people I think and it simply is not worth it.

Gay Marriage

2009-10-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

Gay people exist. Ok now that you know that, you should know that people don’t want to change their sexual orientation. In fact people can not change it and trying to do so can cause harm according to the APA (link). So by now you know that gay people are not going away, and this issue of gay marriage will not go away until it is legal.

Why are people even fighting for gays not to have the right of marriage? How does it affect you? Last time I checked I don't have to get married in a church. I am married and it had no church involvement. I thought it was church and state are separate. While I do think churches should do gay marriages that is besides the point of this argument. On a federal level they should be able to be married just l was able to. That way they can have the same rights as a straight married couple.

People who think they are being nice by offering civil unions are not. Its not the same, marriages are protected by tons of laws that civil unions are not. Remember that separate is not equal!

PS. Feel free to debate me.

Time To Blog Again

2009-10-12T20:02:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Gibby Zone. Twitter has made me want to blog again so, I have decided to reenter the world of blogging. The purpose of my blog is to share, debate, and talk about issues that I think are important. I will also sometimes just post my random thoughts, but never life updates that is Lauren’s department. I am going to try to update at least once a week but more than likely it will be two times a month.