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The Secret World of Arrietty [Review]

February 25, 2012 in Movies, Personal, Reviews with 0 Comments

As you all might know from Twitter, Britt and I decided that we wanted to go see the new Studio Ghibli movie, The Secret World of Arrietty. Of course at first we automatically assumed that the movie was going to be great because almost all of Studio Ghibli’s movies are amazing. Upon arriving at the theater, it was really packed as you would expect it to be on a Friday night.

The movie is based around this teenage girl named Arrietty and she is apart of a little family called the Clocks. She is around four inches tall and they call themselves “borrowers”. At first, this was a really weird concept and I’ve seen it in other movies before, but Miyazaki perfected it. This girl is very curious about the world around her and what it has to offer, but hasn’t had the chance to actually get out and see what there is for her.

Later on in the movie she convinces her dad to bring her on her first “borrowing” because she has yet gone on one, but now that she is growing up, her time has come to learn how to survive on her own as her father states. Her father then takes her out on her first borrowing. They are set with the task of getting tissue paper and a cube of sugar. Eventually all goes wrong and she ends up seeing the little boy laying in his bed and that made her really frightened.

In the process of her being really scared, she ends up knocking the little sugar cube onto the floor and alarming the boy that he is within the room. From there Arrietty and her father end up leaving the room and heading back home. Of course, they try and keep the secret from the mom because if they mentioned anything about her being seen or anything she would freak out.

Later on in the story the little boy ends up placing the sugar cube outside of where they live with a note stating “You forgot something”. This made Arrietty very scared, because she didn’t know the intent of this little boy. Later on she gets the courage to go and face him and tell him to leave her family alone because she doesn’t want them to get hurt. Once she faces the little boy, they end up making conversation with each other. He then wants to see what she looks like, but suddenly a crow comes flying at Arrietty trying to harm her. The boy Shawn, then grabs her away from the crow and saves her life.

Arrietty is already scared out of her mind and doesn’t want anything worse to happen so she ends up escaping, leaving Shawn alone. This then leads Arrietty to think that not all humans are evil and will hurt you, which she finds true later down the plot.

To make a long story short, Arrietty and Shawn end up becoming friends and help each other out. We find out that Shawn has a heart condition and that he is going to die, but Arrietty’s fight for what is right and her courage has helped Shawn out immensly with his fight to stay strong. We don’t know if Shawn ends up passing away or not, but the movie ends with a really happy ending and leaves you thinking about what’s next.

Personally I thought this movie was really well laid out and thought through. That’s one thing that Studio Ghibli movies are known for. The other thing that I love about their movies is that they all have a deep meaning, more than just meets the eye when watching it. Even if you’re not a fan of anime, which a lot aren’t, I would honestly give Studio Ghibli movies a try. This movie in particular was really good. I would give it a watch!

Image Credit [source]

Adventure Suites

February 8, 2012 in Personal, Reviews with 1 Comment

As you may know, Britt and I went to Adventure Suites for our little “vacation”. Honestly, we just wanted to get away from everyone/everything and not have to deal with stuff for a while. When she first told me that she was going to do this for our anniversary, I was kind of hesitant, but excited at the same time.

The whole reason why I was hesitant about this was because of how much money she told me it was going to cost her to book the room. When it comes down to it though, it wasn’t too bad for the great time we had. The staff was excellent, even though they were doing construction the next day when we woke up and we had to listen to them banging their hammers and such.

Brittany ended up booking the room called “Champagne Mist”, which cost her around $170 for a night. The room was small, but it was cozy at the same time and made you feel right at home as soon as you walked in. The room also had a Jacuzzi in it, which was completely awesome! In the picture you can see that they even went as far as rolling the towels up into two swans kissing each other which formed a heart shape. It was just plain out cool.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting this place to be this professional when it came to stuff such as this, but they really went that distance to please you and gave you what you wanted. They even had a ginormous movie selection. I don’t have a picture of it, but it was HUGE! When I mean huge, I mean over 2,000 selections to choose from. If you could think of a movie, they had it, even older titles!

What made the stay even more awesome was the view that we had out of our back window. It was just simply stunning. You looked out the window and there was an amazing view of the mountains. The other great thing was the fact that you took a step outside and you could smell the fresh mountain air, there isn’t anything better than that.

Overall it was a really fun time and completely enjoyable. We will be heading back there for Britt’s birthday in July. Can’t wait to stay another night in a different room this time. We were thinking about something that was a little more expensive to stay in, but I think it will totally be worth the money for the great time we will have!

Dell XPS X8300

February 4, 2012 in Games, Personal, Photography, Reviews with 0 Comments

I decided that I was finally going to get a new computer with my income tax money. I ended up throwing the idea of buying a computer from iBuyPower for the fact that I just didn’t want to wait that long to actually receive my system. I know, it’s kind of stupid and you all are probably thinking “Why the hell would you settle for something that isn’t as good just because of the wait?”, but that’s not the case at all. I took all matters in perspective and ended up finding the computer that I’ve wanted at BestBuy.

I ended up purchasing the Dell XPS X8300. This computer is one hell of a computer for off the shelf and it has some specs that compete with most computers from iBuyPower. The only thing that isn’t to great about it, is the fact that it has a AMD Radeon 6540 in it for a graphics card. Now this isn’t the BEST, but it does do what I need it to do for now. On the plus side the graphics card is not integrated, so I don’t have to worry about not being able to replace it with something that is way better and more up-to-date.

Before even thinking about buying the system, I had to take a look at what was in this and what was behind it backing it up. I’ve heard many years ago when these systems first came out on the market, that they were just amazing for just off the shelf computers. My system specs are as follows:

Graphics: AMD Radeon 540
Processor: Intel Core i5-2320 CPU @ 3.00 GHZ
Ram: 6GB
System: 64 Bit
Hardrive: 1TB

Personally, I don’t think that is too shabby for getting this at BestBuy. The bonus to getting this system is that it has extra RAM slots I can put more RAM in and it even have expandable bays that I can put other hardrive/CD drives into. Even thought the i5 isn’t all that new, it is still pretty damn good when it comes to gaming.

This is a random shot I took of my computer when I was just fooling around with my camera. You can semi see in the picture that there are air vents down at the bottom for better ventilation. There is also vents on the left side of the computer tower for the same reason. From what I’ve seen with this computer running for days on end downloading things, that it doesn’t get hot one bit. I’ve even played a system heavy game for a while and it didn’t heat up at all.

Currently the game that I’ve gotten into is RIFT. I didn’t know if I would like it that much because a lot of people were just stating that it was is “a WoW ripoff”, but this statement is totally incorrect. Yes, it does take the basic elements of World of Warcraft, but it takes those and vamps them up ten times as much. Just the whole feel of the game is amazing and what it is based around makes it that much better. The game overall is just really awesome and I will have to write a review about it soon. For now, if you’re looking for a new MMORPG to play, check it out. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

iOS Lag Issue

January 18, 2012 in iPhone, Personal, Reviews with 0 Comments

Ever since I purchased my iPhone and installed the iOS update 5.0.1 shortly after, I’ve noticed some lag. This was really surprising to me due to the fact that when I first bought the phone it had zero lag at all – pretty much null. The other thing is, is the fact that everyone stated that the iPhone was always pretty much lag free and was the best phone they have ever used in their life.

I ended up finding the problem to what was happening that was making the phone lag once iOS 5.0.1 was installed. Come to find out it was a really obvious and simple issue. The issue was iCloud, at least for myself. I never really have given it a thought that all this syncing of data would be slowing my phone down tremendously.

I then took the step of turning off some features that I find pretty useless that we’re never put to use in my behalf. Those features were the document and data storage along with the bookmark storage. Once these were turned off I have about zero lag with the keyboard when texting a message to someone and zero lag when typing something into Safari.

I think this is a sort of “bug” that is evident to apple and I’m sure they will be trying to fix it next iOS update that is launched, at least let’s hope and keep out fingers crossed.

Take the test. Does turning off some of the iCloud features help your phone free up? Or is it still acting it’s same sluggish self? Let me know what you think!

We bought a Zoo [Review]

January 6, 2012 in Reviews with 0 Comments

I mentioned in a previous post that Britt and I were going to the movies and we didn’t know what we were going to end up seeing. The one that we ended up picking was “We bought a Zoo”. Right from the start you are probably thinking, “That sounds like a little kid’s movie”. I’m here to tell you that statement is false. Yes, it can be appropriate for people of young ages, but it definitely takes a more “mature” audience to understand what is going on within the film itself. It starts off with this man and his two kids are looking for a new home to escape their past. Come to find out their past was pretty harsh. Not only did this father lose the women he loved, but the kids lost their mother. This immediately draws you in to what is happening.

Later on down the story line, the father finds this house that is completely beat up and run-down looking, which he proceeds to tell the real-a-state agents that he wants this house. The real-a-state agent states that it has it’s problems and that he really doesn’t want it, but the father is still consistent and his answers. Finally, the real-a-state agents gives in and tells him that this place is a zoo and that whoever buys the property has to commit to the zoo as well.

From this point the father is shocked and doesn’t really know what to say. The real-a-state agents gives him a tour of the zoo to show him the weight of this purchase. In the meantime while this is happening, the father observes his daughter’s reaction to all of this. From what I gathered from the movie she was really excited about the house/zoo and gave her a new hope. Of course, this instantly made up the father’s mind and he bought the property.

The next day he is at his house and ends up telling his fourteen year old son about his purchase. This obviously didn’t thrill his son one bit, due to the fact that all his friends are where they live now and he wouldn’t be able to see them, which I don’t blame him for that fact. Long story short, they end up moving to this zoo and creating a life and a new “adventure” for them. He ends up running out of case to keep the place up and running, then come to find out, his wife left him a chunk sum of $87,000 or something along those lines, which keeps the zoo up and running.

In the end the father falls in love and the kids are pretty much happy as they could be. The awesome thing about this movie is that it’s based on a true story, which makes it just that much better. Both Brittany and I really enjoy ourselves watching this movie. I mean, there were even times she was getting choked up about things, which she doesn’t do often. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a touching film. Although the movie does have a lot of drama in it, it is what makes it what the film is.

I give the film a 4/5 stars.