Why can't movies be good anymore? Do we need dancing emo spidey? Since when did Venom make people jazz pianists? Too many villains. We don't care. Melodrama. Blah. Venom sucked.
Lame-o.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Transformers
Stef and I watched Michael Bay's Transformers last night for the first time. We wanted so badly to like this movie, but no matter what kind of positive spin we put on it, we couldn't. One-liners, while entertaining, are not a substitute for dialogue. The special effects were good, but that was about it.
With some time to reflect on the movie, I've softened my stance on the movie. We didn't hate it by any means. Everyone we know talked about how great it was, so we had gone in with high expectations. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it on a big screen, so we didn't get to appreciate the visuals as much as we could have. It was kind of cool that the same voice actor that voiced Optimus Prime in the cartoon was hired for the movie. However, since we were just using our home theater system, the audio didn't have the same effect that theater sound would have had. The transformers' voices seemed oddly detached from the bodies.
I was able to predict some scenes quite easily, such as who would be the first to die on Air Force One (a black secret service agent). Each race was pretty stereotypically represented. Even the black transformer (Jazz, who is a Porsche, not a Pontiac) was the only one to die. Perhaps I am being too critical. After all, this is Michael Bay we're talking about here. Maybe I shouldn't have waited until the DVD release to watch it. I mean, I expected robots to blow up other robots--and got that--but for some reason allowed myself to dislike the script and dialogue. Is it too much to ask to have believable characters in an Summer action movie? Probably.
With some time to reflect on the movie, I've softened my stance on the movie. We didn't hate it by any means. Everyone we know talked about how great it was, so we had gone in with high expectations. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it on a big screen, so we didn't get to appreciate the visuals as much as we could have. It was kind of cool that the same voice actor that voiced Optimus Prime in the cartoon was hired for the movie. However, since we were just using our home theater system, the audio didn't have the same effect that theater sound would have had. The transformers' voices seemed oddly detached from the bodies.
I was able to predict some scenes quite easily, such as who would be the first to die on Air Force One (a black secret service agent). Each race was pretty stereotypically represented. Even the black transformer (Jazz, who is a Porsche, not a Pontiac) was the only one to die. Perhaps I am being too critical. After all, this is Michael Bay we're talking about here. Maybe I shouldn't have waited until the DVD release to watch it. I mean, I expected robots to blow up other robots--and got that--but for some reason allowed myself to dislike the script and dialogue. Is it too much to ask to have believable characters in an Summer action movie? Probably.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
JET Statement of Purpose
For the JET Program, I have to write a 2-page statement of purpose detailing my motivation for attending the program, my qualifications, and how the program will help me. I spent a good chunk of time writing this, but my make slight revisions.
--
Arriving in Guatemala on a two-year church mission, I immediately noticed how different everything was. My first breath after stepping off the plane filled my lungs with warm, humid air. Upon exiting the airport, voices came from everywhere, obviously directed at me but not completely understood. Guatemalans love to peddle their wares to tourists, and apparently they wanted me to buy something. Kindly declining, I took my luggage and hoisted it onto the roof of an old van, which I then boarded. The ride to our home was an adventure, complete with near-death experiences, broken conversation with the driver, and torrential rain. The experience was an eye-opening introduction to a culture that was completely different than the one I was used to. The next two years were full of similarly enlightening moments.
I set a number of personal goals upon entering the mission, one of which was to remove cultural barriers in communication. To accomplish this, I studied social interactions between friends, family, and business professionals, and did everything I could to make my own interactions as natural as possible. In the process, I learned that each person had different experiences and interests, and that communication strategies that worked with one person might not work with another. I received a great sense of accomplishment as I built lasting relationships and communicated effectively with people from a foreign nation. That satisfaction has given me the desire to help others do the same, through teaching.
The desire to communicate effectively with speakers of a foreign language is a passion that has led me to study linguistics, as well as other languages. Growing up, I had a neighbor who often spoke highly of his time spent in Japan. As a result, I hoped to serve my church mission there. Unlike the JET Program, the church did not allow us to make requests as to where we would be placed, and I was sent to Guatemala. My time in Guatemala was life-changing and highly enjoyable, but the desire to experience Japan never ceased.
One of the requirements of the linguistics program at Brigham Young University is the study of a non-Indo-European language. Of all those available, Japanese was by far my top choice. As I learned more about the language and culture of Japan in my classes, the more I wanted to experience it. The JET Program is a wonderful way for me to work towards my ultimate career goal of teaching Spanish and Japanese to speakers of English. Teaching English to speakers of Japanese will help me understand many of the challenges of teaching a foreign language, while helping Japanese children to become familiar with traditional American life and speech. Living in Japan will give me the chance to learn the nuances of culture and language in Japan.
I have had many experiences that will help with my position as an Assistant Language Teacher. As a missionary, my main task was to find people to whom my companions and I could teach a series of religious lessons. Each morning, we allotted time to discuss the specific needs of the people we were teaching, including ways that we could tailor the lessons based on their age and level of education. We constantly studied ways to improve our teaching, and were required to be flexible. Occasionally, we would offer English classes at night, where we taught people of all ages basic sentence structure and pronunciation. I have also spent over two years teaching religious Sunday school lessons to young adults, always encouraging class participation. Furthermore, I have experience training and coaching. A few years ago, I coached a basketball team of young teenagers, helping them along with encouragement and instruction. I have worked exceptionally hard as a banker, consistently achieving top honors for sales and service, and training many others in my branch to be able to do the same.
As an ALT, I will work equally hard to help the people I teach break through cultural barriers by designing lessons to meet the students' needs, giving praise and encouragement, and constantly striving to improve my teaching methods.
--
Arriving in Guatemala on a two-year church mission, I immediately noticed how different everything was. My first breath after stepping off the plane filled my lungs with warm, humid air. Upon exiting the airport, voices came from everywhere, obviously directed at me but not completely understood. Guatemalans love to peddle their wares to tourists, and apparently they wanted me to buy something. Kindly declining, I took my luggage and hoisted it onto the roof of an old van, which I then boarded. The ride to our home was an adventure, complete with near-death experiences, broken conversation with the driver, and torrential rain. The experience was an eye-opening introduction to a culture that was completely different than the one I was used to. The next two years were full of similarly enlightening moments.
I set a number of personal goals upon entering the mission, one of which was to remove cultural barriers in communication. To accomplish this, I studied social interactions between friends, family, and business professionals, and did everything I could to make my own interactions as natural as possible. In the process, I learned that each person had different experiences and interests, and that communication strategies that worked with one person might not work with another. I received a great sense of accomplishment as I built lasting relationships and communicated effectively with people from a foreign nation. That satisfaction has given me the desire to help others do the same, through teaching.
The desire to communicate effectively with speakers of a foreign language is a passion that has led me to study linguistics, as well as other languages. Growing up, I had a neighbor who often spoke highly of his time spent in Japan. As a result, I hoped to serve my church mission there. Unlike the JET Program, the church did not allow us to make requests as to where we would be placed, and I was sent to Guatemala. My time in Guatemala was life-changing and highly enjoyable, but the desire to experience Japan never ceased.
One of the requirements of the linguistics program at Brigham Young University is the study of a non-Indo-European language. Of all those available, Japanese was by far my top choice. As I learned more about the language and culture of Japan in my classes, the more I wanted to experience it. The JET Program is a wonderful way for me to work towards my ultimate career goal of teaching Spanish and Japanese to speakers of English. Teaching English to speakers of Japanese will help me understand many of the challenges of teaching a foreign language, while helping Japanese children to become familiar with traditional American life and speech. Living in Japan will give me the chance to learn the nuances of culture and language in Japan.
I have had many experiences that will help with my position as an Assistant Language Teacher. As a missionary, my main task was to find people to whom my companions and I could teach a series of religious lessons. Each morning, we allotted time to discuss the specific needs of the people we were teaching, including ways that we could tailor the lessons based on their age and level of education. We constantly studied ways to improve our teaching, and were required to be flexible. Occasionally, we would offer English classes at night, where we taught people of all ages basic sentence structure and pronunciation. I have also spent over two years teaching religious Sunday school lessons to young adults, always encouraging class participation. Furthermore, I have experience training and coaching. A few years ago, I coached a basketball team of young teenagers, helping them along with encouragement and instruction. I have worked exceptionally hard as a banker, consistently achieving top honors for sales and service, and training many others in my branch to be able to do the same.
As an ALT, I will work equally hard to help the people I teach break through cultural barriers by designing lessons to meet the students' needs, giving praise and encouragement, and constantly striving to improve my teaching methods.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Does this work?
I updated my computer with service pack 2, and got a little carried away with Firefox add-ons. This one supposedly will publish to this blog.
Fall
The leaves are falling and the air is cool and crisp outside, so it was a perfect day to go on a walk with Stef and Kelsey. I had a feeling that we should take our camera with us on the walk. We're glad we did, as we got a bunch of great pictures of Kelsey. The first few pictures of the slideshow are from last week.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
JET Application
I am applying for the JET Programme, a government program that sends people to Japan to teach English for a year. In the application, they ask for all of my transcripts, including community college. I'm left with a dilemma: do I fail to include my horrible grades at ARC, or do I turn them in like an honest person and have it hurt my application? My BYU grades are good enough, and hopefully they'll realize that I had a life changing experience in Guatemala and learned how to stay motivated. I do fear, however, that they'll see how horribly I did at AR and reject my application. People don't always give you a chance to prove that you're better than the data might show. I've requested my grades from ARC, but I am very afraid of what they will be.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
La frita casita
We had our last softball game tonight. It wasn't supposed to be the last one, but naturally, we lost. I've been playing for the Hogi Yogi softball team in the Orem recreational league of the American Softball Association. I've had some good moments this year, including tagging quite a few guys out at home, getting a lot of good hits and crushing a bomb of a homer to center field. Tonight was not exactly a showcase of my abilities. I went 0-3 with two ground outs to third and a popout. Our team lost 8-6 to our most bitter rivals, La Casita, therefore ending our season and giving us third place in the league. We had a good team, but the fielders tonight just couldn't hang on to any of the fly balls hit their way. We got screwed by the ump, who admittedly made a bad call on a play at first that should've ended the inning. Instead, the next batter hit a 3-run home run. That's more than the difference in the score. We didn't get along well with La Casita, mainly because they wanted to fight over just about anything that happened, claiming that we were trying to mess with them. If only they knew that we really didn't care about them enough to try to mess with them.
We had a work meeting tonight, too. They got Arby's. Bleh.
We had a work meeting tonight, too. They got Arby's. Bleh.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Je voudrais un croissant
Stef and I got to drop Kelsey off with the neighbors to go watch a movie. Out of all the great movies that were playing at the dollar theater, we chose Ratatouille. We got to the theater expecting a huge line, but were pleasantly surprised to see two or three people waiting outside. After buying our tickets, we went inside to buy some snacks. A bunch of people, mostly young parents with their kids, were waiting for the theater door to open. When we got in, we realized how many kids there were, including babies. We definitely could've brought Kelsey with us. At one point, a girl rolled down the aisle next to us as though she was rolling down a grassy hill. The movie itself was great. Pixar movies have the ability to entertain kids while still keeping things interesting for adults. The soft, ambient colors perfectly set the tone of the movie, which was mostly subtle. It was really nice to get out with Stef.
Oh yeah, these guys rock.
Oh yeah, these guys rock.
Monday, October 8, 2007
I blog
Actually, I don't blog. Maybe I should; it'd give me something to do during downtime at work. We have a space up for pictures of Kelsey at http://jessenstef.spaces.live.com/.
I have nothing to do now that the real baseball season is over. Yeah, the playoffs are going on, but the A's didn't make it. Nothing else matters. There's always next year. And at least the the Angels Angels of Anaheim got swept.
Scott's a movie star now. He went over to Korea to find acting work and make a name for himself. Apparently, he starred in an independent suspense/horror movie called The Ceremony. I hope that when he gets famous he still remembers that Axel is better than Skate.
I have nothing to do now that the real baseball season is over. Yeah, the playoffs are going on, but the A's didn't make it. Nothing else matters. There's always next year. And at least the the Angels Angels of Anaheim got swept.
Scott's a movie star now. He went over to Korea to find acting work and make a name for himself. Apparently, he starred in an independent suspense/horror movie called The Ceremony. I hope that when he gets famous he still remembers that Axel is better than Skate.
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