So, "survived" field week here at Fort Sham. The worst part about it was no showers (but we still got all sweaty and nasty at 6am doing PT, nevermind that it's over 100 degrees here so we're getting pretty disgusting during the day anyway :p) The training itself wasn't too bad though; easy for the most part, although I did more infantry-type stuff than medical stuff, much to my disappointment. Not hard or physically demanding infantry stuff (although we did get a surprise 4-mile ruck to the FOB on Monday :p), but worthless nonetheless (mind you, the majority of BOLC 3 is worthless for a future MEDEVAC pilot, but nobody here needs practice manning a guard tower or sitting all day in a security perimeter. Honestly.)
General pointlessness of the field exercise aside, at least we had quotes from Inglourious Basterds to tide us over. That movie is by far the best I've seen all Summer, even topping Hangover. I didn't know going into it that it was supposed to be at least partially funny, and that was a great surprise. I also wasn't expecting it to have a decent plot (I've seen a lot of movies this summer with horrible - or no - plots, so I was expecting the usual), so that was also a nice surprise. Yeah, I know, it was a completely unrealistic plot, but any idiot knows that Hitler wasn't shot to death in a movie theater, so the rest can be forgiven, in my opinion. There were some inconsistencies, but nothing that made me dislike the movie in any way. So long as you don't mind some blood and gore and beating people to death with baseball bats, I'd recommend this movie to pretty much anyone.
That said, went to Six Flags yesterday. Favorite rollercoasters: Superman (all four of us got Superman capes and wore them every time we went on the ride - geeky, I know, but fun) and Poltergeist (0 to 60mph in 3.8 seconds, hell YES!). No real "least favorite" coasters, although the Rattler certainly lived up to its name (but what did I expect from a massive wooden rollercoaster? And I only smashed my head into Jay's shoulder about three times, so it's ok...)
Next weekend: Naperville, IL, for the Ashley Whippet disc dog competition with my mom and brothers! Whoo! We also realized this weekend that we have no more 5-day weeks left here at BOLC 3 - two 4-days and a 3-day! AND I finally got my orders to flight school, so I can head straight to AL when I'm done here and move into my apartment! Good news all around :)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Transformers 2, Harry Potter, and what the hell else did I watch this summer?
Whoo! Another post that's NOT Army-related! (Yeah, you're about to get spammed with movie posts, lol).
Transformers 2: I... was not impressed by this movie. The plot sucked (which I expected the instant I saw the previews: "Sam, there is much we haven't told you." Ok, that's the sign they were just scrambling to make a sequel). The CG was good, as per usual, but that's pretty much all I liked. I wasn't really even impressed by the few fight scenes :-/ And the twin Autobots were just annoying. As was the bot-in-a-box, as I've decided to call it. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. The scene I liked the most: When the corporate asshole is conned into pulling the ripcord and gets sucked out of the plane. Brilliant.
Harry Potter: Another disappointment. The book was my least favorite of the series anyway, and the movie was a letdown even from that. It evoked no emotion in me whatsoever. I actually almost laughed when Dumbledore died, because it was so horribly anticlimatic.
Public Enemies: Ok, a lot of people complained about this movie because it had a bad plot, too many plots, etc etc. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. No real reason why... just enjoyed the casting, enjoyed the shootouts, enjoyed the period it was written in. And Johnny Depp :p
Hangover: saw this at Benning, and it was funny as hell. Way more penis-shots in it than I really wanted to see (wouldn't have been bad if they were hot, but... they weren't, so it was a little un-cool). Hilarious enough that I'll probably buy it eventually.
GI Joe: Oh god, what can I say about this incredibly shitty movie? The CG was good? My expectations were so low anyway that it wasn't too much of a letdown? I just... don't even want to talk about it. The theater we went to was awesome though! It's this place called the Alamo Drafthouse, which serves dinner with your movie. And alcohol. The service was a little slow, but Jay says that's pretty unusual for them, so we probably just caught a bad day.
The Hurt Locker: I... am surprised that some people really like this movie. Sooo many of the fans are like "yeah, it's inconsistent, but that's the point, that he does what he isn't supposed to!" Um... yeah, maybe that's the point, but it still should fall within some bounds of realism. First sign that the movie was going to suck completely: it was set in 2004, and everyone was wearing ACUs, which weren't fielded until 2005. A test run was done with one of the BCTs in late 2004, but definitely not *everyone* would have been wearing the damned things. Then you have the EOD Humvee driving by itself everywhere. Um, no. That doesn't happen, even if someone is playing cowboy out there. Then you have EOD clearing the area instead of the Infantry. The Infantry would have already cleared the area before EOD showed up... so there wouldn't even be an opportunity for that to happen. Shootout in the middle of the desert? Those EOD guys won't outshoot the contractors. Guaranteed. And once again, that Humvee is flying solo out there in the middle of nowhere. By the way, where did that scene even fit into the (admittedly spotty) plot? EOD team clearing the neighborhood in their 3-man team, which then split up so each guy was going solo? Sorry, but even if the Tech was playing cowboy there, his teammates would certainly not have followed him into such an idiotic situation. He probably would have been tackled to the ground and stopped. Leaving the post with the vendor, and being allowed back in by saying he was at a whorehouse? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'd have been in some serious shit. Pretty positive you can't just walk back into a FOB and have the gate guard forget about it without anyone in the chain of command hearing about the incident. Way too many people watching for that to fly. There was so much more... but I'll settle for saying that the song the Tech was listening to when he first arrived, Fear (is Big Business) by Ministry, kicks ass (even if it is incredibly anti-government).
We're probably going to go see Inglorious Bastards when it comes out, and go to Six Flags next weekend. Fun stuff :p
Transformers 2: I... was not impressed by this movie. The plot sucked (which I expected the instant I saw the previews: "Sam, there is much we haven't told you." Ok, that's the sign they were just scrambling to make a sequel). The CG was good, as per usual, but that's pretty much all I liked. I wasn't really even impressed by the few fight scenes :-/ And the twin Autobots were just annoying. As was the bot-in-a-box, as I've decided to call it. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. The scene I liked the most: When the corporate asshole is conned into pulling the ripcord and gets sucked out of the plane. Brilliant.
Harry Potter: Another disappointment. The book was my least favorite of the series anyway, and the movie was a letdown even from that. It evoked no emotion in me whatsoever. I actually almost laughed when Dumbledore died, because it was so horribly anticlimatic.
Public Enemies: Ok, a lot of people complained about this movie because it had a bad plot, too many plots, etc etc. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. No real reason why... just enjoyed the casting, enjoyed the shootouts, enjoyed the period it was written in. And Johnny Depp :p
Hangover: saw this at Benning, and it was funny as hell. Way more penis-shots in it than I really wanted to see (wouldn't have been bad if they were hot, but... they weren't, so it was a little un-cool). Hilarious enough that I'll probably buy it eventually.
GI Joe: Oh god, what can I say about this incredibly shitty movie? The CG was good? My expectations were so low anyway that it wasn't too much of a letdown? I just... don't even want to talk about it. The theater we went to was awesome though! It's this place called the Alamo Drafthouse, which serves dinner with your movie. And alcohol. The service was a little slow, but Jay says that's pretty unusual for them, so we probably just caught a bad day.
The Hurt Locker: I... am surprised that some people really like this movie. Sooo many of the fans are like "yeah, it's inconsistent, but that's the point, that he does what he isn't supposed to!" Um... yeah, maybe that's the point, but it still should fall within some bounds of realism. First sign that the movie was going to suck completely: it was set in 2004, and everyone was wearing ACUs, which weren't fielded until 2005. A test run was done with one of the BCTs in late 2004, but definitely not *everyone* would have been wearing the damned things. Then you have the EOD Humvee driving by itself everywhere. Um, no. That doesn't happen, even if someone is playing cowboy out there. Then you have EOD clearing the area instead of the Infantry. The Infantry would have already cleared the area before EOD showed up... so there wouldn't even be an opportunity for that to happen. Shootout in the middle of the desert? Those EOD guys won't outshoot the contractors. Guaranteed. And once again, that Humvee is flying solo out there in the middle of nowhere. By the way, where did that scene even fit into the (admittedly spotty) plot? EOD team clearing the neighborhood in their 3-man team, which then split up so each guy was going solo? Sorry, but even if the Tech was playing cowboy there, his teammates would certainly not have followed him into such an idiotic situation. He probably would have been tackled to the ground and stopped. Leaving the post with the vendor, and being allowed back in by saying he was at a whorehouse? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'd have been in some serious shit. Pretty positive you can't just walk back into a FOB and have the gate guard forget about it without anyone in the chain of command hearing about the incident. Way too many people watching for that to fly. There was so much more... but I'll settle for saying that the song the Tech was listening to when he first arrived, Fear (is Big Business) by Ministry, kicks ass (even if it is incredibly anti-government).
We're probably going to go see Inglorious Bastards when it comes out, and go to Six Flags next weekend. Fun stuff :p
Mayhem
Sooo, went to a concert this past Friday. What concert, you ask? The Rockstar Mayhem Festival. Yeah, I'm one of those "sick freaks" who rocks out to Marilyn Manson.
It was fun as hell.
Didn't pay much attention to the opening bands. It was too hot outside to stay out for a full set, and most of them were "screamers" anyway. The headliners started inside around 1900, kicking off with Bullet for my Valentine. They were ok... the sound setup was crap though, so you could hardly hear what they were saying. The guitars sounded great though :p
Killswitch Engage was next up, and I was fairly impressed. I'm not sure if I've ever really listened to them before, but I probably will now that I've heard them in concert.
Slayer was... meh. I actually slept through most of their set :p No offense to them, really... It was just Friday, which meant PT, which meant I'd been up since 0430 and I was really fucking tired by the time 2130 rolled around :p Jay told me that if I heard any part of the set, I heard the whole hour and a half anyway... hard beats and a lot of screaming. He was surprised I could actually sleep through it, lol.
Then... there was Marilyn Manson. It was... not what I expected. A lot more theatrical than what I thought it would be :p Cue the outfit changes. Cue the 2 or 3 stage hands running around like crazy clearing the stage off, picking up the mic when he purposely knocked it over (made me laugh once I realized he was doing it on purpose), bringing him about 50 friggin' water bottles (he would take a mouthful, spit it out all over everyone and everything standing in front of him, and throw the rest of the water into the crowd... this also made me laugh). The set was far too short, and I wish I could have heard more of his older work (he did a decent mix, but since the set was so short there just weren't many older songs). He didn't play Tainted Love or The New Shit, so I was a little disappointed. Sweet Dreams was ok. Better seats would probably have made the entire concert better, but hey... I bought the tickets the week before the concert, lol. I'm lucky there were tickets available at all, really.
All in all, well worth the money spent. I've now seen most of my favorite bands in concert: Manson, Disturbed, Korn, Linkin Park. I'd like to see Apocalyptica, Shinedown, and Seether. The Cat Empire would be fun too, but I'm not sure if they ever tour in the US :p (I'd go in a heartbeat if they did though). Stick two or more of the aforementioned bands in one concert at the same time, and I could die happy.
Metallica is playing September 28th here... if I get screwed and don't start flight school until Feb, I might still be here, in which case I'll probably go to that one too :p
It was fun as hell.
Didn't pay much attention to the opening bands. It was too hot outside to stay out for a full set, and most of them were "screamers" anyway. The headliners started inside around 1900, kicking off with Bullet for my Valentine. They were ok... the sound setup was crap though, so you could hardly hear what they were saying. The guitars sounded great though :p
Killswitch Engage was next up, and I was fairly impressed. I'm not sure if I've ever really listened to them before, but I probably will now that I've heard them in concert.
Slayer was... meh. I actually slept through most of their set :p No offense to them, really... It was just Friday, which meant PT, which meant I'd been up since 0430 and I was really fucking tired by the time 2130 rolled around :p Jay told me that if I heard any part of the set, I heard the whole hour and a half anyway... hard beats and a lot of screaming. He was surprised I could actually sleep through it, lol.
Then... there was Marilyn Manson. It was... not what I expected. A lot more theatrical than what I thought it would be :p Cue the outfit changes. Cue the 2 or 3 stage hands running around like crazy clearing the stage off, picking up the mic when he purposely knocked it over (made me laugh once I realized he was doing it on purpose), bringing him about 50 friggin' water bottles (he would take a mouthful, spit it out all over everyone and everything standing in front of him, and throw the rest of the water into the crowd... this also made me laugh). The set was far too short, and I wish I could have heard more of his older work (he did a decent mix, but since the set was so short there just weren't many older songs). He didn't play Tainted Love or The New Shit, so I was a little disappointed. Sweet Dreams was ok. Better seats would probably have made the entire concert better, but hey... I bought the tickets the week before the concert, lol. I'm lucky there were tickets available at all, really.
All in all, well worth the money spent. I've now seen most of my favorite bands in concert: Manson, Disturbed, Korn, Linkin Park. I'd like to see Apocalyptica, Shinedown, and Seether. The Cat Empire would be fun too, but I'm not sure if they ever tour in the US :p (I'd go in a heartbeat if they did though). Stick two or more of the aforementioned bands in one concert at the same time, and I could die happy.
Metallica is playing September 28th here... if I get screwed and don't start flight school until Feb, I might still be here, in which case I'll probably go to that one too :p
BOLC III - Fort Sham Houston
Enter week... 3? 4? We started on a Weds, so I really don't know what week of training it is :p
Anyway, here I am. BOLC III is everything I could have wanted :p I think the latest we've been released is 1730... and we were released at 11 this past Friday. Hell. Yes.
Training consists of a lot of powerpoint classes. Exams consist of multiple choice questions, in which they tell us every single slide that's going to be tested the day before. Homework? So far we've just done 7-10 min a powerpoint presentation, although we do have a homework book (yes, I'm seriously, a freakin' homework book! hahaha) that I assume we'll eventually use.
What have we been doing with the rest of our time? Watching movies, going to sea world, going to concerts (that'll be a separate post :p), hanging out with Jay's friend Mark, who is a former drill-instructor-now-"platoon-leader" who has about 2 months left in the Army and is absolutely hating his life right now. Seriously, this poor guy's life sucks worse and worse every time we talk to him.
Aand... that's pretty much it. Still waiting on my orders for flight school (but our branch manager is working on it, so hopefully will have some soon). Also trying to un-fuck my personnel records, since I'm still listed as being in the Inactive Ready Reserves when I *should* be listed as Active Duty. Once I un-fuck that I can hopefully finally finish my Tuition Assistance application and pay the school before they put holds on my student account, charge me late fees, and unregister me from classes. That's right, I stupidly signed up to take Grad classes online. No, I don't know what's wrong with me. The week classes start? I'll be out in the field. In the 100+ degree weather. Doing PT and Combatives. With no showers. -_- It'll be the one part of Ft Sam that sucks...
Anyway, here I am. BOLC III is everything I could have wanted :p I think the latest we've been released is 1730... and we were released at 11 this past Friday. Hell. Yes.
Training consists of a lot of powerpoint classes. Exams consist of multiple choice questions, in which they tell us every single slide that's going to be tested the day before. Homework? So far we've just done 7-10 min a powerpoint presentation, although we do have a homework book (yes, I'm seriously, a freakin' homework book! hahaha) that I assume we'll eventually use.
What have we been doing with the rest of our time? Watching movies, going to sea world, going to concerts (that'll be a separate post :p), hanging out with Jay's friend Mark, who is a former drill-instructor-now-"platoon-leader" who has about 2 months left in the Army and is absolutely hating his life right now. Seriously, this poor guy's life sucks worse and worse every time we talk to him.
Aand... that's pretty much it. Still waiting on my orders for flight school (but our branch manager is working on it, so hopefully will have some soon). Also trying to un-fuck my personnel records, since I'm still listed as being in the Inactive Ready Reserves when I *should* be listed as Active Duty. Once I un-fuck that I can hopefully finally finish my Tuition Assistance application and pay the school before they put holds on my student account, charge me late fees, and unregister me from classes. That's right, I stupidly signed up to take Grad classes online. No, I don't know what's wrong with me. The week classes start? I'll be out in the field. In the 100+ degree weather. Doing PT and Combatives. With no showers. -_- It'll be the one part of Ft Sam that sucks...
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