Some students in the Life Skills Program went on an outing to downtown Clayton. After catching an early bus, we proceeded down to the bocce ball courts. Our teacher, Teri taught us how to play bocce. It was fun rolling the balls down the courts trying to hit a smaller ball called a pallino. The object of the game is to have the ball come as close to the pallino as possible and the team with the closest ball gets a point. The students followed up playing bocce ball by heading on over to Ed's Mudville Grille for a bite to eat. The waiters and waitresses were very accommodating for such a large group of students. Since it was way too crowded to eat inside, we ate out on the deck enjoying the cool fresh air. It was far better than staying in the classroom and watch chair fitness videos & campus jobs.
Recently, Nintendo announced that it was going to be discontinuing their most sought after retro console, the NES Classic. They will instead focus on selling their newer console, the Switch. Here are several reasons why they are doing this: 1. Limited Supply The lack of foresight caused Nintendo to ship a limited amount of Classics available to meet customer demand. As a result, thousands of scalpers were able to get one and resell them for as much as five times the retail value. 2. Licensing Fees
Not all of their games on there were made by Nintendo. Many other third party developers such as Capcom, Konami & Taito had to license out their titles out to them costing Nintendo money. Eventually Nintendo will resell their games on the Switch's app store and can recoup the money back. 3. Name Recognition Nintendo figured a way to keep people tided over until the Switch came out. That was by releasing a retro console at a low price. Nintendo never had faith in the Classic and was treated like an appetizer at a fancy restaurant. They never planned to ship more out despite flying off retail store shelves. 4. Console Modification Since it was made cheaply to keep costs down, many gamers were able to add more games on it. They then resold it for three times the cost. This angered Nintendo very much as gamers bragged about it on social media. Personally, I think Nintendo's reputation is tarnished with consumers and it goes to show how dumb they are by not making more. They either didn't anticipate demand or kept the supply low to drive prices up. Send a message to their CEO, Reggie Fils and stop buying their products. It's just downright shady.
Every spring and fall semester, the classes at Life Skills change. Some are added while others are dropped. One of the best things about being in a new class is that it challenges me to do my very best. Here are my top 3 favorite classes this semester. 1. Dance Music (Teri) In this class, Teri shows us various dance styles. We watch clips from the Just Dance video game series. While some students don't participate, I like listening to the music anyways. I have more fun than going to the rec center dances that play the same music over and over again. 2. YMCA (Teri)
Going to the Y on Fridays is important to stay in shape and keep blood circulating through the body. I like getting out of the classroom each week and get some exercise with my classmates. 3. Go Green/ Recycling (Nira) On Thursday afternoons, we walk around campus collecting bottles and cans then separating them. Then once we have several bags full, we go to the recycling plant and redeem them for money. That money gets used to buy supplies for our school. I like being in this class alot because I want to help reduce waste and learn about conservation.
Cast: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham,
Ludacris, Tyrese, Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood
Spoilers Ahead (proceed with caution)
Eight movies in sixteen years seems quite impressive for a franchise that started
as a movie about illegal street racing. It shows no signs of slowing down. In fact
the stunts seem to get bigger than the previous installment.
Vin Diesel returns in his role as famed street racer Dom Toretto. This time we find him living the quiet life down in Cuba with wife Letty (Rodriguez). That comes to a screeching halt when he meets Cipher (Theron), a mystery woman with dirt on Dom's past. She blackmails him into doing her dirty work that includes causing property damage and injuring people.
Special Agt. Hobbs (Johnson) is coaching his daughters soccer team when he
gets the call to assemble his team. The only people that know Dom the best are
his friends. Kurt Russell helps them as Mr. Nobody, a secret govt ops
agent who uses spy tech to track Dom down. Scott Eastwood fills the
pretty boy quota as his trainee. Roman (Tyrese) and hacker Tej (Ludacris)
play off each other well trading insults back and forth.
Also joining the team is criminal Deckard Shaw (Statham) who's got an
axe to grind with Cipher because she coerced his brother Owen to do her
bidding. Her team steals the surveillance system (God's Eye) and uses it to her advantage to keep tabs on Dom. The fate of a nuclear war lies in the hands of Hobbs team & they must stop her before it's too late.
The franchise stresses the importance of family and Fast 7 felt like a heart-
felt goodbye letter to Paul Walker, Dom's metaphorical brother. This time around it felt like empty, soulless cash grab that should've ended. Universal will keep milking this series until it stops making them money.
The plot becomes your usual action fare with big, loud explosions and
crashes that would make Michael Bay jealous. Jason Statham's character was the bad guy in the previous and now treated like a member of Dom's crew. This movie completely forgets everything that was established in the previous films.
Although these movies seem to become a major franchise with more
sequels lined up, the plots are becoming dumber and dumber. It has become a parody of itself with it's over the top action scenes. It's just a matter of time until this franchise runs out of steam.
Cast: John Goodman, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson,
John C. Reilly. Toby Kebbel
The summer blockbuster season gets off to an early start in this feature from WB and Legendary Pictures. It also pays homage to classic monster movies of the 1950's & 60's.
It's the early 70's and during the Vietnam War, a group of scientists studying MUTOs (Massively Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) send some researchers to a remote island hidden deep in the South Pacific. There, they come across a gigantic ape the size of a building that inhabits the island.
Leading the expedition is Gov. agent Bill Randa (John Goodman).To help him are a Ber Grylls type adventurer James Conrad (Hiddleston), a cute photographer girl, Mason (Larson) and strict colonel Preston Packard (L. Jackson).
When the army begins to drop napalms, Kong is awakened and starts attacking the military copter. Col Packard makes it his personal mission to hunt down and kill Kong after witnessing this. The survivors band together and try to get off island when they meet a wacky Navy pilot (Reilly) whose been stranded there for almost 30 years. His quips during the film make for a good comic relief.
The cinematography is amazing and the panoramic shots are incredible along with
some great closeups. The CGI used during the monster battles looks fantastic. While
it plays out like an average monster film, the story is nothing to write home about.
The film focuses more on King Kong fighting the monsters that inhabit his island than the characters who aren't fleshed out as one hoped. They're just fodder to move the story along.
All in all, it's a fun popcorn movie that doesn't take itself seriously. You can turn off your brain for awhile and enjoy it for it is. While it may not win any major awards. it's serviceable in it's own right in the WB/ Kaiju universe.
Cast: Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne
Being on a spaceship thousands of miles from home can get lonely. Just ask Jim (Chris Pratt), a guy who's been awakened from suspended animation early into the 120 year journey. Searching the ship for others, he finds no one around. To keep himself company, he makes use of the ships facilities like dining at a fancy restaurant to socializing with the robot bartender (Sheen). The bar scene was reminiscent of Stanley Kubrik's The Shining.
Soon he realizes he needs human companionship. So he opens the pod of a beautiful young write named Aurora (Lawrence). They spend the rest of the film trying to find out why his pod was opened early.
This movie felt like a soap opera rather than a space opera. The pacing of the film and story were very slow. I got to about halfway before turning it off. It is one of the few movies that I haven't been able to finish and that's saying alot. I'd rather have been put in one of the pods just to see how it ends.
While the trailer looked promising, Pratt and Lawrence share zero chemistry. In
a nutshell, he's boring and she's helpless. This film doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. Is it an action? a drama ? a comedy ? Either way it doesn't really matter as the script should've been put back in the pods. It makes for a dull, tiresome scifi flick. It's not the worst scifi movie but worst with a big budget.
Spring Break is a time to relax, a time to unwind from the daily grind of everyday life. While sleeping in is one of the best things about it, here are some things I did during my week off from school: 1). Went out shopping to Target & dined at Fuddruckers with my ladyfriend 2). Spent the day with my best friend at Sun Valley Mall and checked the new store, FYE 3). Helped mom with housework by mowing the lawn, watered my plant, and returned my bags of cans at the recycling place for cash. 4). Went out for lunch at Jack's in Pleasant Hill. 5). Go out to the movies with my Dad
