Review: Avatar

So I’m a little late since Avatar won best picture, but I thought I would give my 2 cents on the matter.

Firstly I was a not so interested in the movie from the previews I saw. Who are these blue people? Are they like hobbits or wizards? I kept hearing about the movie and finally had the opportunity to catch a mid Saturday afternoon showing in 3D. I am sure you all know that Regal sells discount tickets and many campanies buy these “super saver” ticket vouchers. I happen to get them from Costco. These particular ones are not restricted as some prevent you from using them the first 2 weeks and cost a little more. Of course matinees are less so I ended up paying $7 for two tickets on top if the $16 at Costo. In short, it really is not a good value if you use the vouchers to see a 3D movie in the afternoon! Tickets cost $13.50 at night and I think $11.50 for a 3D matinee. I did not save any money with the 3D upcharge added in. So, no food or beverage. I usually save enough to get a drink 🙂

The movie basically has 3 groups of individuals. First you have these really tall blue colored locals. Next you have the scientists that are trying to study and interact with them. Finally you have the “muscle” of the operation. The military forces.

Avatars are basically grown to connect mentally and controlled physically by a specific scientist. When one of the humans is killed shortly before the mission, the investors, not wanting to waste the resources expended to make a now useless avatar, hire his twin brother to go on the mission. Being paralysed from the waist down, the ex military brother does not seem to be the best suited for the job, but manages nonetheless.

After getting connected to his avatar he is able to effectively use his legs and enjoys his new body. He is welcomed into the inner circle and begins to learn the culture. I don’t know if the locals know he is really human controlled, but they start to trust him.

The military commander notices this and capitalizes by asking him to do military reconissance for him.

The goal of the comporation is to harvest natural resources to sell on earth. The scientists are trying to peacefully relocate the locals who seen to live directly above the largest concentration of the resource by persuading them to move.

The military are there in the event the scientists fail, to force them to move and kill them if resistant. The leader if the science team notices he is reporting to the military wing and moves there operation to a remote location to prevent the communication between.

The “princess” falls into love with him and he lives by the rules of their culture and goes through their rights of passage to become a man. One very interesting thing about the locals is that they physically connect with the horses, dragons, and trees through what looks like long braided hair. This in a way is the same type of connection the humans have with their avatar and they become one with the animal.

The military wing realizes that he is eventually against them when he is unsuccessful getting them to move despite admitting he is not really one of them and telling the intentions of the corporation. The locals are going to fight for their home. During the ensuing battle, their tree home is destroyed. The people live with nature and don’t profit or damage it in any way. The destruction was a sad time for all.

They are able to defeat the military wing with help from some local sympathizers. The program is ended and as they pack up, the main character that is paralysed and in live with a local, decides to stay on the planet. With no way to continue controlling the avatar, he turns to local spiritual leaders to effectively transfer the lifeforce from his human body to his avatar.

In the end his soul is transferred and he becomes one of them. Not sure there will be a sequel, but after the amazing success of the movie, which now threatens “Titanic,” there will surely be more of this movie style in the near future. I heard it cost 500 million to make and current has made over 1.5 billion!

The movie was close to 3 hours long, but unlike “Titanic” where I checkedy watch every 10 minutes to see if it was over, never looked. As far as the 3D…. Did not bother my eyes and was really good. If only it was at an IMAX in 3D, that would really be superb!!

For a sci fi or fantasy fan, this is a must go. If you disliked the smurfs, then skip these tall blue people and rent it for $1 at your local video rental machine or queue it up on Netflix. Just kidding. The cinematography was great, even if the story line itself was about deception and military might.

What are your thoughts on the movie?

U. S. Capital Visitor Center

Our friends from upstate NY wanted to visit the Capitol, but we did not get passes for a tour, so we decided to check out the new visitor center. We huffed it around the back side of the U. S. Capitol and entered through the new underground entrance. You can tell over $400 million was spent, and the exhibits were great. While not allowed to take photos for some reason, the exhibits were very well done. While lacking an interactive quality, the use of LCD screens to highlight milestones in legislation, the model of capital hill development and Capital Complex was really cool. From farmland, to grassless land, the transformation was remarkable. We unfortunately got ejected before we had time to explore the entire exhibit, so be sure to give atleast an hour and come before 3 pm if you want to catch a tour. It is best to get a reserved ticket, and last tour leaves at 3:20 so come early.

Old Ebbitt Grill

When first discovering this local and tourist destination spot, I had a great experience. They have the largest chicken wings I have had in DC and very reasonable pricing.

Second visit, the food was over salted and I have not been back in close to a year.

The third visit tonight was with some out of town friends. They own the bed and breakfast we stay at when visiting the family upstate NY. They were on the way back from visiting their youngest son in Florida and stopped by to check out the inn where my partner works. A day of sightseeing in DC is not complete without a visit to the grill, so we headed back tonight.

The wings were great as remembered, the salads were enormous, entrees superb, and desserts tasty. Everyone was happily stuffed and comments on the historical decor were plenty.

My confidence in the quality of food has been restored and I will certainly not wait as long to visit again. 🙂

WordPress blog app

So at dinner tonight a friend told me that there was an iPhone app for wordpress blogs. I thought it was great, but then realized that I host my blog and don’t use wordpress.com.

I downloaded the app when I got home and was pleasantly surprised at the configuration screen when I was prompted for blog address :). I entered in my web address along with password and viola, I am writing this on my iPhone now!!!

In the past I had tried to login from my iPhone, but safari had crashed on load of the management page. I tried to configure “posting via email,” but my web host apparently blocked the necessary ports and I was nit successful. So, be ready for more posts :). Now all I need is for tmobile to get the iPhone so I can get a data plan and post anywhere!

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