End Of Watch

I love movies. I watch movies more than I watch TV, and even when the TV is on, I’m usually on one of the movie channels. I love seeing new movies in theaters, but lately I’ve been too busy to keep up with what’s been released recently. Quite frankly, I couldn’t even name three or four titles in theaters right now.

When I first saw a preview for End of Watch and saw Jake Gyllenhaal on a late night talk show promoting the film, I had no desire to see it. If you haven’t seen the preview for the movie, check it out here:

So maybe it’s the fact the movie is about cops. Maybe it’s the fact that it deals with drug cartels and gangs in South Central. Maybe it’s the fact that I thought the humor was going to be forced or out of place in an action movie. Whatever the case may be, I just didn’t see myself spending money to see this movie. It just didn’t seem like my kind of movie.

I met up with a friend from work tonight, however, and we decided to see what was playing at the theater. The lineup was pretty sad. I either didn’t recognize some of the titles, or I just didn’t want to see them at all. I mean, when it’s between Finding Nemo 3D, Trouble With the Curve, The House at the End of the Street, and The Possession, options look a little grim. But my friend suggested End of Watch, so I just rolled with it. On a side note, this is the first time I’ve gone to a theater since the July 20th shooting in my hometown. Just kind of a weird afterthought to me.

On another side note, I love movie previews. I did see a trailer for the new Silent Hill: Revelation movie coming out soon, and I’m stoked.

When the movie started, I didn’t realize the whole thing would be in a documentary format, which makes the first-person point of view a little different than most films. I was a little skeptical when some of the gang members started talking; as weird as it sounds, they were talking a little too “hood” for me. I just want to know if they really sound like that or if it was as forced as it seemed to me. Whatever the case, the whole film, even from the gang’s vantage point, is seen through a first-person camera lens.

The humor wasn’t as faked as I thought it would be. The entire movie is full of quips between the two main characters, police partners Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, and it really serves to strengthen the bond and sense of brotherhood between both the two cops, and the rest of their police force. I was almost immediately sucked in.

To me, the humor also served to exemplify the severity of the situations that follow. The two cops get interesting calls, and though I believe most were unrelated, they were astounding. It’s hard to believe that stuff like that actually happens, but the sad truth is that the events could, and probably do, take place in real life. I commend officers who can deal with the situations presented.

And then shit gets real. Shit gets real, very fast. I sat on the edge of my seat for about the last quarter of the movie, mouth likely agape, but who knows? I wasn’t paying attention to my facial expression. At least, until I started to feel myself tear up.

It is very rare that I find a movie that can actually make me cry. Like legitimately tears-down-the-cheeks, sniffly-nose cry. This movie came closer than any movie has in a long, long time. And that impresses me.
The only bad thing about this blog is I don’t want to say too much for fear of giving something away. Instead, I urge people to go see it, even if it’s not your particular cup of tea. It may shock you. I feel like this movie was extremely well-made, and highly recommend it to anyone. I might even go see it again, but I know this time around, I probably will legit cry.

http://movieline.com/2012/05/03/end-of-watch-trailer-everyone-wants-to-kill-jake-gyllenhaal-and-michael-pea/


Seen any good movies lately? Seen any that make you cry everytime?

Nerd moment #248: A Little Out of Character While Being In Character

It started with a simple conversation over a Chinese buffet dinner a few months ago. And ended with this:



Oh yeah. That conversation went there.

A couple of my friends are pretty big Anime and video game fans, and while I’ve seen a few Animes, I barely know any of the ones they talk about. I’m not that big of a fan. However, I’m all about video games. So while eating dinner with the two of them one evening a few months back, they were discussing a convention that Colorado has every year dedicated to both Anime fans and gamers alike. It’s called NDK, and one of my friends goes every year. I just so happened to be there while he was trying to convince my other friend that he needed to go with him this year, and let’s just say I ended up in the crossfire.

Now, I’ve never been to NDK, Wasabicon, Comicon, or any other crazy conventions that come to town, though I’ve always wanted to go to Comicon. I love comics, I love video games, and I love costumes, but I just never seemed to combine them. Until now.

After convincing me that I should go and try it out with them, we decided that I had to go big and dress up for NDK. It’s not required, but that’s half the fun. People dedicate mass amounts of time and money towards making a costume to resemble their favorite character, and I’ve never made a costume before, so I figured it was time to go for it. After much deliberation, I settled on Yuna from the game Final Fantasy X-2 (even though Final Fantasy X was a much better game…).

It’s so difficult to go solely based off screenshots and pictures in order to determine detail in someone’s costume. That, plus I’ve never even attempted anything like this before, plus I had no sewing machine. So I set off, with help from one of the aforementioned friends and enlisting my mom (much better seamstress than I), we slowly but surely HAND-SEWED something that actually wasn’t half bad compared to the character.



It was so interesting to see everyone dressed up and displaying all their hard work and effort. Like I said before, I’ve never done anything like this, the costume or the convention, and while it’s up in the air whether I’ll do it again, I commend those who find a lot of happiness and passion in it. I was basically in it purely just to dress up, but I respect those who wait all year for the convention to come to town so they can see the latest in Anime, games, and meet others with the same interests. I just loved watching all types of people roaming around the hotel, and I gotta say, I loved the attention I got for my costumre, too. All kinds of people kept coming up to my friend (dressed as an amazing Link from the Legend of Zelda games) and I, asking to take a picture or asking for hugs. Definitely an interesting experience.

Here’s some of the awesome people I got to meet and take pictures of:



Hello Kitty Samurai. No, it doesn’t make sense. No, you really don’t ask questions at these events.



My friend (on the right) and another of the many Links running around NDK.



Ru-fi-oooooooooooooo!!!!



Most of the Final Fantasy characters.



Sailor Moon characters.



Tidus and I. For those who don’t know, Tidus is the main character in Final Fantasy X, and my character is the main one in X-2. Boy meets girl, girl has to die in order to save world, boy tries to save girl, boy is actually from 1000 years in the past so boy must return home in the end, girl seeks out boy in the second game.



My buddy Link facing a Beer Knight. His armor is made entirely of Dos Equis cans. ‘Nuff said.



Chain “Link” fence. Get it?

And for no reason, here's a Storm Trooper on vacation.

Overall, the experience was interesting, to say the least. I’m actually really glad I went and took the time to make a costume for it. And while there were so many more people and pictures and whatnot, my blog can only handle so much nerd right now. It might be ready to explode.

Have you ever been to Comicon or any convention like it? Have you ever dressed up as an animated character? What have you done recently that was a little out of character for you?

Taste of Colorado

I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life, and I had yet to experience the Taste of Colorado. So I got to check it out this past weekend with my mom and two family friends, and it was pretty much worth the trip downtown.
They had some of the Denver streets blocked off for the festival, and there were rows and rows of different vendors selling food and drinks and all kinds of cool crafts and clothing. And people. By God there were so many people.



This picture was taken one rare moment when I wasn’t surrounded by people from every angle and could actually take full steps. But it was a beautiful day and the people-watching was prime.

And if you’ve ever been to downtown Denver, you know exactly the kind of prime people-watching I’m talking about. There’s people of every variety imaginable with every type of odd hairstyle or dress or talent being showcased.



This guy looked like a copper cowboy statue until people walked up and gave him money. That was the only time he would move or change position. When I walked by, it actually took me a couple seconds to realize that it was a real person, not a real statue.

My mission at the Taste of Colorado was to try some interesting food. I had high expectations for the types of cool things the booths might have. Unfortunately, I was informed that this was one of the worst years for the festival, having been downsized since last year and lacking as much variety. They had the basics; pizza, fries, etc., etc., but they did have some more ethnic-type foods, such as gyros and some Mexican dishes. I was determined to find something that I couldn’t necessarily find anywhere else; I didn’t come to the Taste of Colorado to end up eating CiCi’s pizza, who did have a booth set up there. I did walk past a booth with fried alligator on the menu, but I just wasn’t feeling that brave. I ended up eating some vegetable pakora from a booth set up by a restaurant called India’s, and I definitely want to eat at that restaurant at some point after trying it. I was admittedly a little disappointed by the food selection, but it was good nonetheless.

The highlight of my day was when we walked past the Colorado Lottery tent. We got sucked into spending $10 on scratch tickets so that we could spin a prize wheel and win more scratch tickets. Or at least, that’s how it started.



How it ended was us four sitting on the curb for a half hour, scratching more tickets and using the winnings to buy more scratch tickets and spinning the prize wheel again and again. We finally had to cut ourselves off and cut our losses. We did win some of the money back, but it ended up going towards more scratch tickets. We were addicted.

Overall, it was nice to just head downtown for the day and watch all the crazy people and performances. The vendors had some interesting crafts, one booth inspiring me to make my own tank top (blog post on that later) and one booth offering samples of sexually-named chocolate honey mixtures. Nothing like trying a little “Original Sin” while your mom samples “Chocolate Slut” right next to you.

I highly recommend checking out the festival if you haven’t already. I’ll definitely go back next year and see what kind of crazy stuff they have. Still have high expectations for the food though….it is called the Taste of Colorado for a reason.