My name is Matt Westover and I am a 20 year old college student. I was born in the Bay Area, CA where I lived until shortly after my eighth birthday. At this time my family moved out to Utah, where we currently live. I am an only child but that, I feel, has worked out rather well for me. When my family and I first moved out here to Utah, it was just my Mom, Grandparents and myself. Now my aunt and cousin live with us along with 4 dogs and a cat. It makes for a rather eventful house.
I attended a small private school from grades 6-12. I ended up spending most of my time in High School taking graphic art classes, focusing mainly on using Adobe Illustrator and Maya (a 3D program). This resulted in a short animated movie that I worked on with 2 other students in my 3D course. This spanned that last two years of high school for myself. Through out high school I worked as a summer intern at the Waterford Institute doing graphic art for their educational programs.
Following my much awaited graduation from high school, I started attending Westminster College, located in Salt Lake City. I originally started out doing a Pre-Med route. I had decided to totally ignore all the graphic art training I received in High School for something else. However the pre-med track was not for me and I have switched to a Psychology Major.
When I am not flying around in my totally awesome MINI Cooper, I spend a lot of time reading and doing art on my computer. I do have a slight obsession with the Re-Imagined Battlestar Galactica series. I am a certified Apple fanboy and would most likely buy a box of rocks if they slapped the Apple logo on it because it would be better than any box of rocks Microsoft could put out. I love watching movies which is good because it is like the only possible thing to do in Utah. I hate the snow. A lot.
Many would call me cynical, but I call it being a realist. I really don’t see what the big deal is either way. I am always right. Even when I am wrong. Just remember that and you will do fine. Also I am impossibly awesome. True Story.
I disagree with your comment about the Na’vi being glorified Smurfs. They are more like giant blue human-kittens. They have tails; do Smurfs have tails? I think not.
This movie plays to the zeitgeist of our generation: a critique of the military-industrial complex with environmentalist/conservationlist themes as portrayed by svelte, fit, blue aliens. That said, I found the neural connection to be interesting and intriguing.
Although I agree that “Avatar” is not the greatest movie of all time, I liked it a lot. I have never seen “Titanic,” so I cannot comment on your rating of it. However, the fact that you hold “Transformers” and “Transformers 2″ so highly causes me to question the compatibility of our tastes and your review of this movie.
Hey, the Transformers movies were AWESOME. They have their flaws yes but they were entertaining, had giant transforming cars and Megan Fox. Avatar had smurfette or as you put it “blue human-kitten” Zoe Saldana. Also i mean seriously how have you not seen Titanic. Or the Transformers movies for that matter. How do you escape seeing major movies like that. But seriously don’t watch Titanic.
I escaped seeing the “Transformer” and “Terminator” movies because I am not a male 18-34 years old. I have not seen “Titanic” because it came out when I was eight years old; by the time I was of age to appreciate it, I was repelled by reminiscing on the fact that sixteen year-old girls spent a significant portion of their time and money by seeing it a dozen times in theaters.
I prefer to engage my movie-watching time with more worthwhile films. I enjoy international films like “Princess Mononoke,” “Om Shanti Om,” “Millenium Actress,” and “Jeux D’Enfants.” That said, I have spent a considerable amount of time recently watching “The Princess and the Frog” and “Sherlock Holmes.”
Out of your second paragraph… I have heard of the “Princess and the Frog” and seen “Sherlock Holmes”. Seriously. That is it. Also you need to amend the ages you have listed to like “12-10000″ year old male. Because lets be honest. There is no age boundary for those things once you hit puberty.
I think there’s a limit on how many crashes, explosions, and implosions you can handle. Past the age of 35 or so, I hope that the excess of firework-like incendiaries does not make up for the lack of plot.
… I doubt it. Besides it isnt just the “firework-like incendiaries” that make these movies good and enjoyable. And there is plot in those movies. Well some of the time. I will be honest, I am not quite sure what it was in Transformers 2. I think it involved some sort of end of the world-esqe problem that had to be fixed. My brain shuts down within about 30 seconds of the lights dimming whenever I see that movie.
Your image depicts how my brain feels.
I am a little disturbed that so many disciplines have been created, and productions such as a the soundtrack of Battlestar Galactica can come under academic scrutiny. Is nothing left for plebeian entertainment? For example, an academe’s deconstruction of “black metal” in the New York Times last month:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/arts/music/15metal.html
I add my two cents: sometimes, it is enjoyable not to understand, particularly when it comes to artistic works. Understanding does not connote appreciation, and sometimes in the deconstruction of a book, music, etc., some of the appreciation is lost. For what sense that makes, anyway.
Anyway, I’m glad you’re not a music theorist.
I got about two paragraphs into that article before my brain said “STOP”. I am glad I am not a musical theorist as well. My main point was that it was just a bloody good soundtrack for each of the seasons.
Indeed, I was just commenting
And for the sake of posting more things on links, I think this is neat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc
That is too hardcore for my tired midnight brain to handle. I love it when people mix up things like this slap some autotune in and make a trippy song. Awesomesauce.
“In the beginning of space and time when my life started when I college did” I had to read a selection from Darwin. Paired with it was a reading from Joan Roughgarden. She is a feminist theorist who used to be a man, and in an overly long book she argued that Darwin’s theories were sexist and outdated. We discussed it in class and came to the consensus that “duh,” of course we was sexist because he was writing in the 19th-century and the idea of a transgender surgery was out of the question.
Needless to say, in my opinion it constituted the hollowness of the liberal arts education.
You do a LOT of weird stuff at school you know that?
Indeed, cuil theory is quite amazing. And now it’s in poster form!
http://cuiltheory.wikidot.com/
POSTER!!! OMG AWESOME!
Ouch that sucks dude. but mmmmm Galactica. I wish there was more of it. but it’s gone now
Have you turned into a kitten recently, Matt?
It was just so AWESOME I had to use it
May I remind you, Matt, that not everyone has your taste in movies?
Based on their titles, I will probably not see either of those two movies.
May I point out the clear sarcastic tone I was attempting to use here? I doubt this will be the high of cinema by a long shot, however I do believe they will be very entertaining terrible action movies. Hence the I want to see them bit. Also you should atleast watch the trailers. It is very obvious that these are the campy action movies that have nothing resembling a thoughtful plot. They are just good fun.
I feel I cannot say much; last night I saw the majority of the “Sex and the City” movie. It was incomprehensible to me. But the fashion was at least entertaining.
I agree with all the points re: plot. It was a remix of a long list of tired cliches, complete with angry-looking, scarred bad guys, a valiant ex-Marine good guy, and a predictable romance.
I still think it was worth seeing, though, for the CG. That was nuts. Especially in imax 3d.
Isn’t it funny how New Year’s goals and resolutions don’t work out? And congratulations on getting a second interview, and I am very hopeful you will get the job!
Yeah, I did get it. I just haven’t come and put a new blog entry in. I go to orientation Friday afternoon.