neurological dryer lint

snakes on a plane

snakes was better than i could have hoped. those shaking their heads at the ridiculousness of the premise are sadly missing the point - this film is pure entertainment for entertainment's sake. you have movies that are carbon-copy, find-and-replace versions of previous scripts (see anchorman 2: talladega nights). that kind of studio stupidity offends me. but snakes does not attempt to pass itself off as original or serious - it rolls around in its silliness like a dog.

it is honest about itself, and i absolutely adore that.

sam jackson was flawless. the rest of the cast was pretty dead-on too, although julianna margulies trying to look like she's not bored or annoyed just doesn't work, especially during her "crying, mourning the dead" scene. you simply won't be able to get through without laughing like a madman for at least a full third of the movie. the plot is paper-thin - even referring to itself in-movie as "insane" once... but the snake-attack scenes, one-dimensional side characters and delightfully tacky quotes are plenty to gorge on.

it is delicious absurdity, and i'd see it again in a heartbeat.

metroid prime: hunters

based on the lame demo included with my first DS, i figured i wouldn't enjoy this title very much, however the mostly positive reviews led me to a used copy on friday.

my biggest gripe is the cramp-inducing control scheme - especially without any thumb nub to use, which the original DS had and the lite does not. now i'm relegated to the stylus with my right hand, controlling my aim, and the control pad on the left for movement and the left shoulder button for firing. maybe if i were a toddler my hands would be small enough to make this setup work.

that said, they seem to have packed about 50% of the size of a metroid prime title into the single player mode. being a fan of the two gamecube releases, i'm impressed at the depth of story, detail, and level design they bothered to throw into what i expected to be tacked-on to the multiplayer side. i'm still too awkward on the controls to put up even a mediocre fight online. maybe after i beat the single player.

it does give me a lot more hope for the Wii release metroid prime 3: corruption. hunters' touch control is essentially a beta-test for the point-and-shoot control scheme that corruption will use. here, watch a video.

speaking of the Wii. so renee has me convinced that a more significant motivator will get me to build a habit of going to the gym. so if i can make it up three times a week for four straight weeks, i'm allowed to pick it up on release day. she has an unbending, iron willpower, so maybe she's right and this will develop my own sense of self-discipline, which i believe is made of balsa wood and duct tape.