I’m the kind of person that needs to listen to music in order to study or work or to live better in general. So I thought it would be a good idea to share my playlists. I love music so there is a little of everything.
Summer School
During this semester (summer 09) I’ve been using this playlist to study and write papers for my financial analysis and marketing research classes. I like these songs because they are very relaxing and they don’t disturb my studies, with them I actually read for longer periods of time.
Work
Well this playlist for work might seem awkward to some, but these songs give me the feeling, the energy to work. I must say that a lot of these songs where introduced to me by someone else, I don’t think I would have heard them otherwise.
I’m currently working on a winter playlist so if anyone has a great tune to share let me know, I would like to hear.
The summer movie season is finally here! There are a number of potentially awesome movies coming out like Terminator Salvation, Transformers, Public Enemies, Harry Potter, Star Trek and more. This weekend I was lucky enough to attend a screening for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, a week before its release, at AMC Theaters Sunset Place. Before I continue I would like to point out that this is my first exposure to the Star Trek franchise I haven’t seen any of the TV shows or movies, however I do recognize the U.S.S. Enterprise but that’s about all I know about Star Trek.
The film opens with a big sequence that sets up the story and the tone for the rest of the movie and it also kick starts the introduction of our main characters. In fact most of the characters are introduced by the half hour point where the movie suddenly shifts gears and takes us inside the U.S.S. Enterprise.
I feel that Abrams’ and his team did a great job casting all the characters, again I do not know anything about Star Trek, but the actors sure knew how to act. But I have to single out our two main characters James T. Kirk and Spock. Both characters back stories where well written and well acted on screen.
I specially liked how Zachary Quinto’s Spock portrays the conflict he is dealing with for being half human and half vulcan. There are scenes in which I really felt the pain and anger Spock was experiencing, yet he seemed calmed and logical as well. I found the portrayal very interesting and I think that Spock is a good opposite for Kirk’s character.
Kirk is played by Chris Pine, who I’ve never heard of before this movie, and he does an incredible job. I liked Kirk’s arrogance, wittiness and overall badassery. One can feel that Kirk knows he is the best of all of them and he sure demonstrates he is.
Not only did I find the cast good but the film’s cinematography is also outstanding, I loved the realistic feel the film had. Quite the opposite of the latest Star War movies where everything seems “too clean” and CGIish. The film goes by fast for a two hour long movie, an indicator that the film as a whole is entertaining and that there are no scenes that feel out of place or dull.
One of the things that I found really interesting is the way the movie kind of acknowledges the Star Trek that most people know and yet this movie clearly lets us know that this is a reboot to the franchise.
However there are some flaws. First and foremost the romantic scenes between two characters, which I thought where OK at first but where kind of annoying and over the top as the film went on. The second flaw is something I thought could have been better and that is the antagonist, captain Nero. Nero’s character does have a good story but Nero himself has little screen time and he didn’t really feel that threatening. Maybe with some more screen time Nero would have come across as more of a villain than he did.
I think that this movie will be a success worldwide and it will probably be the best if not one of the best movies this summer. I personally hope Terminator Salvation is as good if not better than this movie, but that might be tough, we will find out in a couple of weeks. Star Trek is definitely worth the price of admission and I think that it deserves a solid 4 out of 5 star rating.
One of my goals for this year, has actually been on my to-do list for the last 2 years, is to go back to a weight below 200 lbs. At the start of each new year, since graduating from college, I’ve made it my goal to shred some pounds, I start diets and going to the gym only to find myself at the end of the year in square one: overweight. This year I did start a “diet” which really means that I’m eating healthier and smaller portions, but I didn’t plan any specific exercise routine per se. I did know that I wanted to reach my goal by October, a goal that I share with a co-worker who told me all about his diet and about an exercise program he wanted to try out. The exercise program is called P90X.
I went online to try to get some info on this P90X thing and all I could find was infomercial crap and some youtube videos of people’s transformations using the program. I said to myself “heck, got nothing to lose” and got the P90X Extreme Home Fitness with Tony Horton - DVD set @ Amazon. I have to admit I was very skeptical about the P90X program, but to my surprise it is really intense.
So far I’ve been on the program for 30 days and I feel very good both mentally and physically. My actual weight has not gone down dramatically (~7 lbs) but I attribute this to my decision of not following the program’s dietary strategy. I do know that the diet plan will help me shred more weight that the just the exercise routines, but it is really difficult for me to adhere to the plan. Anyhow I must say that I still have to master all the routines, ab-ripper, plyometrics and core synergistics are IMO a bitch, the rest of the routines I can manage well. From all the routines that come on the DVD set (12 routines in all) my favorite ones are: Kempo-X, Yoga-X and Cardio-X.
I have to say that I’m very happy with the program and there seems to be a lot of community support on the internet. For instance when I started tweeting about my P90X experience, other fellow users replied back offering help and support. I have to say though, some of them where actually “spamming”, but others where real people, interested in only helping. I’ll try to make posts when I reach days 60 and 90 to document my progress. I really want to reach my goal this year, lets see if P90X can help me reach it, as Tony Horton would say bring it! I know I’m up for it.
