woke up this morning...

...no really, i did. at 6:30am no less. why did i wake up so early? like last year (when i was somewhat baited with promises of IHOP pancakes), a small group of us made our way to the Ann Arbor Triathlon (which is of course in Pinckney...yeah, i don't understand it either) to watch my crazy roommate damon do his thing. once again, it was quite interesting and those of us observing felt quite out of shape (albeit much more sane than those competing), but overall the experience was a fun one, and damon appreciated all of us being there.

that's why i woke up this morning, but there was something else on the agenda, something that a small group of my friends had been expecting, anticipating, and theorizing about for weeks. it was going to be the end of an era in a way. queue up that song by A3...if you don't know what i'm talking about yet, you MAY have been living under a rock for the past few weeks.


the time had come to end the relationship with a certain family in new jersey. creator david chase was bringing The Sopranos to a close. things had come a long way since 1999, and most fans of the series, including our small group that got together every sunday evening (double, gwen, myself), were sad to know things were coming to an end.

it's one of those things where you anticipate it for quite some time, wondering what it's going to be like, what are you going to do, how is one going to react...and then before you know it, the moment has come and gone and you realize you don't really feel that much differently than you did before. or maybe you do, and it will just hit you later.

trite, you may say, it's just a tv show and who really wants to invest so much interest in the stories of a mob boss and their criminal life? if that's what the show really factors down to for you, then you really weren't paying much attention. that and there is a timeframe to consider...my old roommate jeremy (who i've known since 7th grade) once told me about the show way back around 2000, and i dismissed it as it just didn't sound interesting. movies were my thing, why i would i want to pay any attention to a mob-based tv series?

then my first field season came up here at UofM. i spent several consecutive weeks in muskegon michigan, only to come home for brief periods during the summer (not home to Ohio, but back to my one-bedroom apartment in Ann Arbor). i was bored out of my mind during those times. those of you who know me know that i'm not one for sitting around by myself that often, and it will eventually drive me crazy. at the time, i had little choice, i didn't know many people here in Ann Arbor, and most of my other friends were either out of town or too far away to visit. i should have been doing more research (especially in retrospect), but i can't function properly when i'm that bored or stir-crazy (which will eventually be my undoing, i'm certain of this).
anyway, i left my quaint spicetree apartment and visited the nearby blockbuster...i couldnt find anything i wanted to watch in the movies section (often a dilemma for me) and so i wandered by the tv section and saw some season 1 discs of The Sopranos. i remembered that jeremy said i should check the show out, and figured i had nothing better to do, so why not...i rented the first two discs of the first season, which was about 8 episodes. i should also note that jeremy and i shared virtually identical interests in movies, pop culture, etc etc over the many years leading up to grad school, so i don't know why i was so hesitant to listen to him in the first place.

i got back to my empty apartment and popped in disc 1.

now, it's no secret i don't like birds. ok i like some birds, but why some mob guy was so fascinated with ducks kind of escaped me. and therapy? i was not interested in watching an hour-long program of said mob guy sitting in a chair talking to an overly-quiet psychiatrist about panic attacks. but then came the stories with what he had to do over the course of his day...he left out the exact details when talking to the shrink, but we got to see them on screen. we met his nephew christopher (one of my favorite characters) and you're thrown into this anti-hero's world. slowly over the course of that first episode i became interested in what was going on with this guy's family. i watched episode 2, then 3, before i knew it, i was ready for the next disc. i was hooked.

i rented all the other discs i could, and when i couldn't get a particular disc of episodes, i ended up renting the godfather movies (they were of course heavily referenced, and i'd only seen bits and pieces over the course of my life so far). i ended up watching all the godfather movies over the course of 24 hours.

i should have been doing more research, but i was sucked in. i had sporadic field work trips to go on, and i even brought some of the discs along with me for one of them, and watched episodes during my downtime (you know, instead of sleeping).
i also became REALLY hungry for italian food whenever i watched the show...still happens to this day. unfortunately i could only make spaghetti, but that worked for me. sometimes (now this dates pretty far back in the city of ann arbor) i'd travel across town to fazolis to get some ziti just to eat it while watching the show. i wasn't greasing my hair back or pretending to be paulie walnuts, but the show had become a part of life...and kept me entertained during my first (and in several ways worst) year of grad school.

HBO of course has a crazy schedule, and so later seasons of the show were (seemingly) randomly on over the next several years. who i lived with, was friends with, and dated all changed over those many years, but tony and the family kept trudging along...even though they lost a few members along the way, new ones were added on, and some of the annoying ones always stuck around. and i kept getting this pavlov-esque craving for italian food.

fast foward many years to the present. we don't really see the ducks anymore, the feds and the family get along a bit better, meadow is still hot, AJ is still a moron, and most of the family doesn't quite have their grammar and literary references at 95% accuracy. but it's time to go. double and i had been equally anticipating and thinking about this finale for a while now, and it's honestly been a shocking last several episodes, but we knew chase wouldn't tidy things up in a neat box to send us off. he's been regularly quoted as saying he doesn't want to follow the rules of normal tv, and that this show is supposed to be somewhat like real life...and real life doesn't often tie up all the loose ends.

i won't say anything to spoil the end for anyone who eventually wants to see it, but i'll say that i was satisfied with how things "ended". a lot has changed since that month of june in the hot summer of 2001; people have come and gone, moved on, stuck around...a lot has changed. with this major story coming to a close, maybe another one will begin...OR maybe it's time to get more of that research done...


addendum:
if you are interested in what the New York Times had to say about the final episode, and need more background information, check out:
"One Last Family Gathering: You Eat, You Talk, It's Over"

<"//><

music:

"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey (featured in The Sopranos finale)

"Before It's Too Late" - Goo Goo Dolls (Transformers motion picture soundtrack)

pic:

as if an entry could be made without bringing up Transformers. the first song released from the soundtrack is "Before It's Too Late (Sam & Mikaela's theme)" by the Goo Goo Dolls, and well worth checking out.

"a history of virulence"

so once again i am running behind on keeping up-to-date with events in the life of 'the fish guy'...i've come to grips that i can't always be back-logging (back-blogging? sorry) in order to report on each and every crazy event that's take place, so i'll just move forward in a somewhat randomized pattern as best i can. try to keep up. or not. or have a tabasco-flavored dill pickle, they're great.

every once in a while, for whatever reason, i get into one of those pseudo-nostalgic moods and like to look back on events past. this is somewhat easier for me to do than others since i tend to document past events photographically to an almost obsessive extent. therefore, i don't need to only travel to the past in my mind, but also have the visual aids to transport me and confirm (or contradict) various events with how i remember them (and with all those scientific names and useless movie trivia in there, that mind is already a crowded place).

the world of photographs has changed quite a bit, even in these past several years. most of the world has made the transition from film to digital media (although the versatility of slides cannot be denied, even my stalwart bio-photography prof from undergrad has moved on to the e-film era). photos are taken more frequently and with greater ease than ever before, and with several arenas available for display (facebook is one of the largest photo-hosting sites in the world).
my dad was always into photography and also into documenting important (or even not so important...or so we thought) events, so perhaps it's somewhat hereditary. anyone that knows me well knows that i just about always have my camera with me, or was always up for capturing a given moment (or wrinkle?) in time through the aperture of a lens. this does not look to change anytime soon, and although in the past couple years the majority of my photos have existed as electronic files on my computers, external hard drives, memory cards, CDs, and iPod (enough redundancies for preservation in there?), this was not always the case...

so as i said, i was feeling nostalgic for whatever reason, and my mind wandered to a box i've kept at The Tank, which has not been opened (for better or worse) for over two years. i went through the excavation process and came up with a cardboard box labeled 'Photo Wall - SRD'. i blew off the dust and opened up the box, inside it was a massive stack of photographs (yup, produced on old-school film from SLRs, point-and-shoots, and disposables), my own brief history of -photographic- time. i hopped into my DeLorean, cranked it up to 88mph and was on my way...


now, everyone has their photo albums, perhaps random stacks of photographs, whatever; i wanted to do something different. i didn't want an album that only got pulled out when a few close friends or guests came over and inquired, i wanted something on a larger level of production (which has generally always tended to be the case with me). i didn't put my 'recent history' photos into an album, i wanted them on display for anyone and everyone who entered my old apartment to see...so i created 'the photo wall'. this wasn't just a random collage, it was a multi-faceted mural which eventually spanned an entire room at my old place in Spicetree apartments (my first home in Ann Arbor for grad school). and this wasn't even tucked away in a closet in my bedroom, it was in a major section of the living room...everyone who visited saw it (or was subjected to it), and sometimes i even had to compete with it for my guests' attention. never got any bad remarks, but just about always got interesting questions, comments, and an almost tangible fascination (or concern?) with the phenomenon. it was my own timeline (not necessarily in order, but in a pattern that only i really understood) on display.

just about anything was included, family photos, high school photos (cross country, track, band, homecoming, prom, me and my friends being stupid), college photos, fish photos, the old family dog, kermit the frog, dinosaurs, items i cooked (really!), trips to foreign countries...it was all up there. most of the people who regularly visited, or i regularly talked to, interacted with, etc were on that wall. who knows how much larger it would have grown had i stayed there for longer...
...but alas, the day came when it was time to move on to bigger things, or at least bigger (and more aquatic) places. so when it came time to move on to The Tank, the photo wall had to be taken down and packed away. interestingly, this box of photos is one of the few things i have unpacked from the boxes in storage in our garage at The Tank, yet it wasn't opened until just the other night. The Tank is a different place from my old apartment, and the layout itself is not conducive to such a production. I figured why put the whole wall up in my room if only a few people would ever see it, and i KNOW i would get distracted by it up here anyway. not putting it up around fish tanks is a lesson i learned the hard way when i had to clean off salt stains and water marks from the actions of unruly fishes at my old place, so putting it up anywhere else at The Tank would also be hazardous. ...so the wall stayed in stacked (and somewhat ordered) format in a box in my room.

so after blowing of the dust, i took a look inside. the pictures were generally as i remembered them, but some of those photos had been almost forgotten, many faces i hadn't seen in ages, some i'll probably never see again. some i threatened to scan (ah, technology) and post because of their pseudo-incriminating nature (rachel & sarah better tread lightly...and a lot of the rest of you too! just kidding. kind of). but regardless, it was like reviewing 20 years of my life in a matter of an hour, almost a dizzying experience. i revisited everything from The Great Barrier Reef to the events/places/people that made me change my focus from med school to fish ecology (not necessarily an easy feat).


one thing, however, was for certain, and systemic in my photographic history...apparently i (and pretty much my entire family) have always put myself into social situations and settings. now, i know most people take pictures when they are with groups of people or at least with other people, and i'm no different in that general sense; but beyond that, where others may have some down time from such gatherings, i continued to pursue them and found myself constantly in them. i reviewed and revisited gatherings i'd arrange in our tiny dorm rooms at ONU, massive new year's parties at my parents' place (they were there, and cooked Indian food for all the guests as well), class photos that i would arrange...and of course, me with the fishes (who said all groups had to be composed of humans?)
this doesn't look to change anytime in the near future, and i hope it does not. it's definitely caused me problems in the past, that's for sure, but the benefits have far outweighed the detriments, and i wouldn't want it any other way. heck, it's that systemic social addiction that only lets me make these entries (or get any work done for that matter, but thats a different story) at the late hours of the night...when everyone else is asleep and the world is generally quiet. and not up for hanging out. one grandpa was a teacher/principal of a large school, the other a pastor, my dad is a pastor too...perhaps i can blame genetics/heredity once again, haha. either way, it has been with me even when i was very young (constantly being around youth group kids and others) and has persisted to this day, but it's a psychology i can live with. although i can't say it's helped me get a lot of work done (there, i said it)!


i looked through the last of the photos and put them back in the box. i had removed 3 photos out of hundreds. the three being somewhat unified in their relevance, a photo of the class that swayed (shocked?) me into the world of fish ecology, a decal of a particular ganoid-clad prehistoric fish, and a picture of a sign from a class trip to shedd aquarium (the sign reads: "Future Home of Grass Pickerel"...the scientific name of the grass pickerel is E.americanus in case you aren't a fish nerd). i realized i may have to spend a day (or 3) scanning many of them into my computer just so i have them on the many drives...just in case. i gotta be honest, if there is a fire and i can only save a few material possessions, Norton, that photo box, and (maybe) a flash drive with my data/thesis would be the items i come out with!

right now new photos are displayed on something of an electronic wall, and arguably to a larger audience than the old kodak-paper postings, but i kind of miss the original photo wall. i know the era of The Tank will someday come to an end; who knows, maybe at the next venue, those photos will be back up covering the greater portion of bare walls. <"//><

music:

"Amber" - 311

"Umbrella" - Rihanna

random pic:

part of our crew from "Taste of Ann Arbor" (6.3.2007, L-R: Double, Gwen, Summer, Andrea, Me) we periodically had to take shelter in the entry-ways of various shops along main street since it rained most of the day...of course i didn't have my umbrella, but luckily some others in the group did. still got somewhat soaked. twice.

"Calypso"

as i'm writing this, i'm listening to an iTunes playlist composed of a combination of the scores to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl & At World's End. i've always been a big fan of movie soundtracks (kinda fits well with the whole movie addiction theme), but in recent years have fallen away from all the scores i used to follow/purchase...perhaps because i realized that as i got older, instrumental music really puts me to sleep (and with my acute ADD, anything but complete silence usually distracts me from work as well). it's not that i don't enjoy it, because i enjoy scores more than a lot of other music, it's just that i mainly listen to music either while driving or right before going to sleep...the former of which is not an opportune time to be listening to REM-inducing audio.

nevertheless, every now and then a moving score breaks the mold and brings me back to what got me into music in the first place...an addiction to unique instrumentation and memorable themes...and every now and then the sounds that bring back the feel of the movie to which they're connected. as skeptical as i was about this third pirates movie (or second half of the sequel), i must say i was quite impressed and once again moved to purchase a movie score. that was followed up shortly by that of the original, and who knows if dead man's chest is next on the list. i would highly recommend the soundtrack to the original, or at least preview the tracks as it's hard to argue that they are quite catchy and really bring back the feel of the movie (regardless of whether you liked the movie, one must admit is an exciting action flick).

anyway, all soundtrack commercials aside, i'll move on to commercials for movies. we saw 'at worlds end' on friday and i was of course skeptical going into it...mainly because the second movie really didnt make much sense. it seemed like mind-numbing action...and those of you that have known me for a while know that it takes quite a bit of action (generally pointless action) for me to get tired of it. the whole fighting in the wheel scene just seemed long at the time (i only saw it once before seeing the 3rd movie), and i couldn't really follow why everyone was after each other and various inanimate objects (well, the heart was still beating, so maybe they weren't all inanimate). the kraken was sweet though.

anyway, i'll give any major blockbuster a chance, it's in my nature. in fact, you shouldnt be worried so much about the movies that YOU think look so bad you wouldnt see them, you should be worried about the movies that I think look so bad that I wouldnt see them. then you know it's a real piece of work. work = garbage, POS, waste of time, big ten burrito, penguins.

we saw the third movie, they tied up the majority of loose ends, and it was much more coherent (in spite of what the critics say. and when it comes to event pics, the critics are generally morons. except with their good reviews of the spider-man movies...well, the first two, the debate over the third is a whole other story, but i'm a venom fan so shut up).

i'm not gonna lie, i'm a big fan of jack sparrow if only because he's always concerned with 'why is the rum gone?' and the closing line of the movie set into motion events that had repercussions for days afterwards. sarah knows this, i kind of explained that line to her. either way, the whole cast did a good job with a pretty complex plot, spanning a story of nearly 3 hours. the battle scenes are amazing though, and well worth the ticket price alone.

after all of this, i was inspired to dig up my copy of the original...i watched it last night and it really does have a lot of details and themes that prevail throughout the trilogy that just a passing single viewing of the movie will not let you appreciate when you see the final chapter (run-on anyone? like i care). i of course, had to follow this up with a reviewing of the second movie this evening...i also appreciated this one much more, and was able to make sense of the plot much better, having seen the third. who knows, maybe a repeat of the third (which i've been known to do in the summer blockbuster season, but not yet this year) is due for tomorrow. aside from all that, some rum may be in the future, but we all knew that regardless of our knowledge of the black pearl, sea turtles, or davey jones' locker.


i was under some debate with the title of this entry...between 'calypso' and 'maelstrom'...but since calypso caused the maelstrom in At World's End, one basically connects with the other...but of course i had to explain that to you (for those who haven't seen the movie). that and i may have used 'maelstrom' as a title of an entry way back in the day when i updated every day...

we've had a lot of good weather in A2 as of the past week or two (waaaay out of my temp preference -which is 70-75F-, but if all weather were based on my preference, michigan would be welcoming global warming), sunny days, comfortable nights...reasonable summer weather. then of course, comes the weekend...storms on the horizon, constant rain, wind, craziness...a night/day difference from the past several weeks. this was only for about two days mind you...seemingly here and then gone within the blink of an eye.

some SPH 2006 friends revisit A2 (L-R: julia, me, sheri, AJ, seema)

now, i'm not saying any particular group of people could possibly be responsible for this sudden change of weather from sunny to storm...but i will say that this weekend several members of the 2006 SPH crowd were back in town...for just a brief period of time, particularly one evening outing.
it was something of a flashback to last year (funny that charleys was actually closed for all of 2007 but recently opened and we all flocked back), tankmates, former students, the youngest david, some new faces; we had a decent group there to catch up on the year past (when many of us -not me of course- were spread throughout the state or the country). everyone got capsule reviews of what was going on in each other's lives, a couple new stories told, but mostly entertaining old ones revisited, and perhaps even some ongoing debates continued (we all know Team BOWFIN is way cooler than Team Capyba, and that fish are cooler than baseball). nevertheless entertaining.
now let's think back to the last line in the third installment of those swashbuckling stories...did i think i was captain jack sparrow? captain morgan? captain solo? a combination which created a maelstrom of beverages, actions, entertainment, that are somewhat remembered? perhaps, but we do know that i react somewhat violently to jimmy john's bread when it's brought into a panchero's restaurant. this we know for sure. we also may have added more lore to the legendary david's (physical, not necessarily mental) tolerance for one jack sparrow's poison of choice...because things could have easily ended as "dead man's fish"...who knows?

the namesake of Team BOWFIN
did i mention i've now seen 'the namesake' three times?

at the very least it was an entertaining night with old friends and some new stories, on the order of the SPH Pub Crawl, The Euchre Tourney at The Tank, and the Dominick's Chronicles of 2006...oh dominick's, it's been so long since we've crossed paths...and i freaking live in A2...oh wait, we have the storms to blame for that this time around!!!

in close, this probably made about as much sense as how one travels via boat to davey jones' locker and back, but this is for my entertainment, not necessarily yours. it's mainly here to waste your time.

the recent pirates movie just reminded me of how i tend to get wrapped up in movies sometimes...especially ones that i like for whatever reason. i'm not going to swordfight anyone anytime soon or anything (wait, double, are you up for it?) but my mind wanders off to the particular film's world whenever i hear that music or something that reminds me of it...one of the main reasons i enjoy the scores, they make sure i have only one foot grounded in reality and the other somewhere lost in imagination...because if this were not the case i really would go insane. and we all know that's a short trip for me!
<"//><

ps- let's hope that i don't get too distracted by upcoming movies this summer...there aren't a lot of pirates running around, but there are a TON of cars (and other assorted vehicles)...so come 7.4.7...Transformers is going to be a hard movie to break away from...

pps-- did anyone really think i'd make it an entire entry without mentioning Transformers again???

music:

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl" - Klaus Badelt

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" - Hans Zimmer

random pic:

i got andrea to pose with the -now giant- alligator gar in the fish room (shortly before we went to see The Namesake -the aforementioned 3rd time for me- ). monster gars and multiple movies...who says i do things in excess?

blown away...

i promise i will update with an actual substantial entry in the near future, but i just had to share another video...this is the theatrical trailer for the upcoming Transformers movie (7.4.7)...the latest one, and shows a lot more than the previous trailers. i was absolutely blown away...seriously, even got chills at the sound of Optimus Prime transforming (listen closely, it's just like the cartoons!!!) check it out. i gotta admit, i think i've been more excited about this movie than Spider-man (any of them) <"//><

watch...

"in sickness and in..."

...well, i guess that's about it these days. i've been sick lately, and so coupling that with the usual inordinate amounts of work that need to be done, here i am again making an entry. funny how its really only under duress that these entries are being made as of late.

about being sick, i just don't seem to get those couple days of a cold or stomach bug that most normal people seem to go through. it's pretty much always feast or famine, on an annual basis or a case by case basis. there are years where i hardly ever get sick, and secretly scoff at those that do (at least when it's people that exercise all the time and explain how healthy it keeps them...and then they end up getting sick more often than i do. and i run. maybe once. a year.) and then there are those rare years like this one where i've been sick (what seems like) a half a dozen times already. and when i do actually get sick, it seems to last a minimum of one week. who knows what is up...thank goodness i didnt end up becoming a doctor, because repeated exposure to all those variants on pathogens would have probably killed me a couple years ago. ...as would the lack of sleep.

anyway, moving right along...a lot has happened since the last entry, i wish i could update like the good old days of last year, but that just doesn't seem possible. either i'm busier or lazier, but quite possibly both.

so a few things that have taken place (with sub-headings! exciting!) :

"the anti-blog"
-double D told me the other day "you are NOT a blogger". i thought this was quite humorous (and probably true) since this year is drastically different from last year in that area. another friend of mine threatened to take me off her bookmarks page...maybe that's the whole reason i'm even updating at all...because we all know my sister is just competing at the same level these days. it was ok that double said this, mainly because i (similarly to damon) do not like the word 'blog' or 'blogger' it sounds like a large fictional creature made of oatmeal...or perhaps some sort of shapeshifting character from harry potter.

"K'Vort Class"
-sometime back in late march i was leaving parasitology lab (listening to my iPod and therefore asleep to the rest of the world) when i saw liza a little ways in front of me and flagging me down. i stopped and we chatted for a bit and then both headed towards the dana building.
as we were making our way towards the chem building, we saw a bunch of people crowded around a tree by the bike racks. curious as to what was going on, we joined the group and found that everyone was staring at a large red-tailed hawk sitting on the ground just a few feet from the crowd! it was a VERY large bird up close, and quite the sight to behold.

i of course did NOT have my camera with me that day and was quite annoyed with myself. as i was fumbling with the settings on my phone (liza had already made fun of me for not having my camera) we saw the bird dip its head down and start picking at something...it had killed one of the University squirrels!!! those squirrels are the size of small dinosaurs, so this was probably no easy feat...well, maybe it was since those stupid squirrels are about as domesticated as squirrels will ever get.

either way, we all sat there in shock and awe as the bird started picking apart its kill. the rest of the world was dead to me as i tried to get as close as i could and snap some pics & video with my crappy RAZR camera. at one point liza mused, "some things never change."

we watched the bird for a little while longer and then progressed to the dana building. we chatted for a bit then parted ways...and then i went to the commons, found a bunch of people i knew (including some student gov. people i didnt) and rallied a whole new group of people to come check out the bird with the kill on the diag. definitely was an interesting day.


"Tank VI: The Undiscovered Lungfish"
-no, that wasn't the actual tagline of Tank VI, but props to anyone that gets the reference. that being said, Tank VI took place on 3.31-4.1.2007. in what has been a standing pattern of the Parties at The Tank, the next in the series was even bigger than it's predecessors. Tank VI had it's share of the usual suspects, lots of new faces & characters, plenty of crazy subplots, epic flip-cup competitions (Team BOWFIN returned to domination), fish tours at various degrees of sobriety, a lungfish feeding/massacre (depending on how you looked at it), and of course 10 gallons of Tank Water. overall, definitely a big success, and there are plenty of photos to document the event. i must say that the lungfish feeding was a big hit for everyone...well, except for the small convict cichlid...that was fed to the lungfish.
i think i finally got to bed around 5am...or 7am. good times for sure. onward and upward to Tank VII...we'll see if that one actually takes place in 007.

"The Namesake"
-see The Namesake. that's about all i can say. i plan on seeing it again, and then maybe one more time. and then i'll buy it when it comes out on dvd. this movie makes my top 10...possibly top 5 but i'm holding out until i see it at least once more. oh yeah, the book which the movie was based on was the first i read since 'where the red fern grows' back in 4th grade. the new foray into reading was awakened by seeing the trailer for the movie way back last year. see the movie, you won't be disappointed. oh yeah, if you're indian you may find it even more interesting/amusing/meaningful. i bought the soundtrack the next day.

"Transformers or Spider-man 3"
-which will be the bigger blockbuster this summer? i have no idea, but i can guarantee i'll see both of these movies at least 3 times each. i've been waiting for a transformers movie for ages!!! wait, didnt i already write about this?
venom will make a brief appearance in spider-man 3. FINALLY another good summer of movies.

"Planet Earth"
-if you haven't heard about the new 11-part mini-series on the discovery channel you've been seriously out of the loop. the photography is truly stunning, and it's been ages since i've seen a nature show (series) that consistently brings up animals that i have never even heard of before. this production took 5 years to shoot and they went to hundreds of locations all over the planet. it's like The Trials of Life: The Next Generation...sigourney weaver (narrator) is no david attenborough, but she does a good job. next week (sunday starting at 8pm) is 'fresh water' and 'jungles'...you can bet i'll have some high expectations for those. i must admit though, they spent a couple episodes with segments on penguins...this was somewhat annoying except for the fact that in the second episode they had seals eating them. nice.

ok well i think that's it for now. i gotta finish this glass of orange juice, take some nyquil and hopefully pass out. peace out kids <"//><

music:

"Shipping Up to Boston" - Dropkick Murphys ('The Departed' soundtrack)

"Falling" - Nitin Sawhney feat. Matt Hales from Aqualung ('The Namesake' soundtrack)

such great heights...

work has clearly piled up to an almost unimaginably unmanageable level or i wouldn't be here making an entry once again. parasitology outlines & quizzes to grade, proposals to review, papers to read, presentations to prepare, papers to read, fishes to feed...

i saw a trailer for an upcoming disney movie where some crazy lady had a caffeine patch, i've since thought that that would be a great idea and something into which i'd definitely invest and test myself. it should be noted that the lady in the trailer for the movie looked a little whacky, but i think that was moreso because she was a CGI cartoon than the actual effects of the caffeine patch.

speaking of trailers, if you haven't seen the latest one for the upcoming Transformers movie, you're seriously missing out. although it doesn't come out until 7.4.7, i have seriously been anticipating this movie since about 1986. between that and spider-man 3 this summer is going to be sweet. oh, and also potential trips to mexico, africa, and Cuba...but those are all on the backburner.



i think it's interesting how there are some songs out there that, no matter how often you hear them, you can listen to over and over and over again and not get annoyed. as one who often gets so easily annoyed by a relatively incompetent lungfish, that's saying a lot. ok bad analogy, how about someone who may seriously lose their mind every time they are operating a motor vehicle? that's not my fault though...we live in Michigan which is the epicenter of the world for bad drivers. understatement, but i digress.
there is that relatively recent UPS commercial where "such great heights" is playing in the background and i swear i can listen to that song about a thousand times and not get bored with it. i have no idea why, it just works that way. ok so maybe not a thousand times, because i just checked my iTunes and it said it's only been played 62 times. but that doesn't count listening to it on an iPod or in the car. maybe its the calming pseudo-techno at the beginning, or the fact that it's death cab's lead singer (singing for postal service) and it took me a while to figure that out and completely felt like an idiot when i did. whatever, but i think that song has a similar effect on other people i know too.
along those lines i recently started making a couple CDs of my favorite bollywood tunes, and if you have paid any attention to the metamorphosis that started in november of 2005 (and really took off this past summer) you'd know that is a heck of a lot of bollywood to sort through. included on this list are many popular hits from recent movies, krrish, salaam-e-ishq, main hoon na, dhoom 2, don, etc etc. unfortunately bollywood songs are really long so it's hard to fit many onto one disc. oh well. oh yeah, "kajra re" is also one of the tops...if you haven't seen the video for the song i highly recommend it.

i also highly recommend checking out the new tandoori doritos commercials on UTube. you will not be disappointed.



ok i think that's all for now. good luck coming up with some of those songs of your own that you can listen to over and over and over. as for me, i think i need to make a new playlist, i'm getting bored <:><

music:

"To Victory" - Tyler Bates, '300' soundtrack