Last week I went to a conference in Pasadena, California for a project that I am working on. I was flying into the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, picking up a car, and driving to my hotel. Being unfamiliar with the area, I of course turn to Google Maps. This was despite the unreliability in Ireland (I let it slide since it was a foreign country) and the issue of telling me the county tax building here was several miles down the freeway from where it really is. Well Google Maps, I am done with you.

Check out Exhibit A:

First notice the line marked with a "1." This is where Google told me to turn left on I-5. This would have taken me to Sacramento, and later Seattle. Already a bit leery of Google's reliability, and because the road sign said "Pasadena - right," I turned right.

Now notice the area marked with a "2." I arrived in Pasadena last Monday night, the night of the NCAA men's basketball championship, with about 10 minutes to play in the second half. "Yay!" my brain said to my self, "You can catch the end of the game!" Well, Mario Chalmers hit the tying 3 while I was parked on the side of the road trying to figure out where to go from my Hertz map. You see, even though I typed "Pasadena" into the search box, I was given an address in Alhambra. The address was some dude's house in a residential neighborhood. I finally made it to the hotel more than an hour later than I expected. Below you can see where the hotel really is. Point A is Bob Hope Airport. Point B is Joe Schmoe's house in Alhambra. Point C is my hotel. And it really is in Pasadena! Fancy that.

To be fair, Google does state that the maps are "for planning," (see highlighted box in Exhibit A) but I had actually used them quite often for maps with no problems. Now, I'm done.

I heard a bit of buzz around this movie when it was released in the States, so I decided to give it a try. The movie begins with a man in a medical facility being forced to pour mass quantities of toxic chemicals down the drain, which leads out to the Han river in Seoul. Several years later, we meet the Park family. The father and his grown son work in a small shop near a recreational area by the river. When the son, who the family sees as lazy and unsuccessful, is serving snacks to customers, he suddenly sees a giant monster come out of the river and start attacking people. He snaps into action and tries to help, but when the monster goes after his teenage daughter, his efforts are in vain. The family mourns her loss, but soon receives a phone call from her - she's alive and trapped somewhere in the sewer system. It's up to the family to figure out where she is and fight the monster, which isn't easy since the government has quarantined all of them and set up blockades around the river.

I had no idea what I was going to see when I rented The Host. I didn't expect it to be humorous in the least. When it first began, there was a little bit of humor, but a lot of action, too, so I settled in for a good action flick. But when the family started mourning the lost little girl and they're falling all over the floor while they wail, I realized I was in for a lot more humor than I expected. It ends up being a careful balance of action, humor, and drama, which works incredibly well.

I really liked the creativity used with the story, the monster, and several camera effects. Only ten minutes in, I was already noting that this wasn't just a cliche action or comedy flick. When I try to explain it to others, I say it's like the action and seriousness of a monster movie with the humor of Kung Fu Hustle, only not as exaggerated. Haha. I know that's hard to imagine. The family each have different personal attributes that make them stronger as they move toward the end of the movie. They all come together to fight for their cause, and all in ways I didn't always see coming.

The movie definitely ends on a note that I didn't expect, but appreciated. I'm definitely glad I decided to give it a try. It's weird, funny, creative, gruesome, and exciting, and that combo makes for a great little movie.

Crystal Castles

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

The Complete Far Side 1980-1994 (2 vol set) by Gary Larson, Steve Martin

There Will Be Blood (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

Twin Peaks - The Definitive Gold Box Edition (The Complete Series)

Everybody's Dead by Brian Lynch, Dave Crosland

The Office - Season Three

It's that time again, folks. Summer movie season is right around the corner. While there are a few sequels and remakes on the horizon, I have to say this summer is looking a bit more solid than last year. It's hard to decide my vote but the eternal wide-eyed 9 year old inside of me is going to have to go with Doctor Jones. Speaking of being 9, how awesome a year was 1989? Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade alone made it great. In addition to comic book flicks and your standard action fare, there are some good comedies coming as well. Heck, this weekend we have Tina Fey's Baby Mama and the Apatow clan's Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Later in the summer we have Pineapple Express and Ben Stiller's Tropical Thunder. Then there are the big juggernauts, Iron Man and The Dark Knight, as well as the dark horse, Hellboy 2. I'm excited for all them, but like I said, Indy still has my heart. I've already got the one sheet to prove it. Feel free to chime in with your choice if I didn't put it on the list.

Edit: Holy crap, I must be tired this morning if I actually put "Mosted" in the title. That's pretty freaking bad.

Keep the BBS for Alumni

If you're a Biola alumni, as I know some of you readers are, I highly encourage you to sign this petition to keep BUBBS, our long running bulletin board system, available to alumni. Apparently Biola is switching to a new bulletin board system and they have decided not to grant alumni access to it. This is surprising, as one of the benefits of membership in the alumni association is access to the bulletin board system and a Biola email account. The alumni association has yet to inform us that we will no longer be receiving this benefit.

I don't use BUBBS nearly as much as I used to, but I still use it to keep in contact with some of my fellow alumni and to see what's going on on some of the discussion boards. If it wasn't for BUBBS I probably never would have made some of the friends that I have today. It's a great community and it would be a sad thing to lose. Hat tip to Jeri for keeping us all in the loop.

It's all the talk around the university BBS these days - they're switching to a new system, and alumni won't have access.

Personally, I think it's a bad business move because alienating alumni = no donations.

But beyond that, the community would suffer. If you think that alumni should have access to the new BBS system, sign the petition here.