a few things
I figure I'll try to make an actual post before starting another 30 day survey or something. So here'll be some random updates/thoughts:
This weekend, we had a barbecue for Father's Day. It was me, Angie, my parents, Angie's parents, and my 3 brothers (Howie, Harold, Hugh). People said they'd get to my place between 1 and 2, so naturally the first group of people (Angie's parents) didn't come until almost 2. I think my peeps got there well after 2. But the barbecue went pretty well. We used a second grill (Angie's parents') once more people arrived. Its good to have the parents together since they seem to have a good time talking to each other so they don't have to annoy their children. Angie had a large role in the grilling when I was trying to start the second grill. The food was good, although no one ate much of the tuna salad (Angie made), macroni salad (Howie brought), or other snacks that Harold and Hugh brought. The dogs seemed to have a good time running around, eating, and barking at Howie. So overall it was pretty good, I think.
Severals weeks (or possibly months) ago, we finally got around to watching "Infernal Affairs". "Infernal Affairs" was the Hong Kong film starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung which "The Departed" was based on. I watched and enjoyed "The Departed", but forgot much of it. So we watched "Infernal Affairs" then re-watched "The Departed" this weekend.
I have to say that even though I really enjoyed "The Departed" when I first saw it, I think "Infernal Affairs" is better. Besides being first and the original, I think it has a theme of "endless suffering" which was much stronger. I believe the original Cantonese title refers to a stage of Hell of endless suffering. So in the film, that theme seems to be stronger. Also, the "bad cop" character has a much more developed idea of trying to turn good. In "The Departed", I didn't get the idea that the "bad character" was actually trying to turn good; just save himself at various times. I also like the ending of "Infernal Affairs" better.
But with that said, both movies were excellent. "The Departed" is surprisingly faithful to "Infernal Affairs" and they both come off as extremely stylish. I'm a fan of Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon so the casting was great. I'm normally a fan of Mark Walberg, but I didn't really like his character too much (he seemed too pointly aggressive and kind of unnecessary) and Jack Nicolas was a bit too crazy seeming. But that's not to say that "The Departed" wasn't good.
Last Friday, there was a department picnic. It was quite fun. The picnic was at noon, but I left a little early to help the PPC setup. When I got there, the majority of things were already setup. I helped cover a few tables then I cut the massive hoagies when they arrived. People arrived around noon and we ate. The food was pretty good: hoagies, chicken fingers, mozerella sticks, jalapino poppers, mangos, watermelon, pineapples, catalope, and some patries/cookies/brownies.
After eating, I played some volleyball. I probably haven't played volleyball since I was in school so that was pretty okay. It was funny to see the various forms of trash talking, especially from people you didn't expect. I played volleyball until it started to pour then got more food. After the rain stopped, we did a wacky relay race. The winning team randomly selected a person and they won an Apple TV, which I have no clue what it is, but sounds significant. Then it rained again so I played some chess but lost. At least I didn't make a really dumb mistake; I think the person I was playing was just significantly better. After the rain stopped, I kicked around a soccer ball with some other people until the picnic was wrapping up. I helped move stuff to cars and headed out to the volunteer activity.
I was supposed to follow someone (along with other people), but he was quite lost (and driving very slowly) so I just continued on my own way when he made a random U-Turn. Anyway, it was some sort of American Lung Association 5K Walk. We were mainly there as administrative/technical support. There were some people signing people in and I was in charge of the silent auction, but I'm not sure we really did that much... besides eat their food, which was good.
And it was very good that the Heat (mainly LeBron James) didn't just lost, but LeBron James is now heavily questioned and the butt of jokes.
This weekend, we had a barbecue for Father's Day. It was me, Angie, my parents, Angie's parents, and my 3 brothers (Howie, Harold, Hugh). People said they'd get to my place between 1 and 2, so naturally the first group of people (Angie's parents) didn't come until almost 2. I think my peeps got there well after 2. But the barbecue went pretty well. We used a second grill (Angie's parents') once more people arrived. Its good to have the parents together since they seem to have a good time talking to each other so they don't have to annoy their children. Angie had a large role in the grilling when I was trying to start the second grill. The food was good, although no one ate much of the tuna salad (Angie made), macroni salad (Howie brought), or other snacks that Harold and Hugh brought. The dogs seemed to have a good time running around, eating, and barking at Howie. So overall it was pretty good, I think.
Severals weeks (or possibly months) ago, we finally got around to watching "Infernal Affairs". "Infernal Affairs" was the Hong Kong film starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung which "The Departed" was based on. I watched and enjoyed "The Departed", but forgot much of it. So we watched "Infernal Affairs" then re-watched "The Departed" this weekend.
I have to say that even though I really enjoyed "The Departed" when I first saw it, I think "Infernal Affairs" is better. Besides being first and the original, I think it has a theme of "endless suffering" which was much stronger. I believe the original Cantonese title refers to a stage of Hell of endless suffering. So in the film, that theme seems to be stronger. Also, the "bad cop" character has a much more developed idea of trying to turn good. In "The Departed", I didn't get the idea that the "bad character" was actually trying to turn good; just save himself at various times. I also like the ending of "Infernal Affairs" better.
But with that said, both movies were excellent. "The Departed" is surprisingly faithful to "Infernal Affairs" and they both come off as extremely stylish. I'm a fan of Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon so the casting was great. I'm normally a fan of Mark Walberg, but I didn't really like his character too much (he seemed too pointly aggressive and kind of unnecessary) and Jack Nicolas was a bit too crazy seeming. But that's not to say that "The Departed" wasn't good.
Last Friday, there was a department picnic. It was quite fun. The picnic was at noon, but I left a little early to help the PPC setup. When I got there, the majority of things were already setup. I helped cover a few tables then I cut the massive hoagies when they arrived. People arrived around noon and we ate. The food was pretty good: hoagies, chicken fingers, mozerella sticks, jalapino poppers, mangos, watermelon, pineapples, catalope, and some patries/cookies/brownies.
After eating, I played some volleyball. I probably haven't played volleyball since I was in school so that was pretty okay. It was funny to see the various forms of trash talking, especially from people you didn't expect. I played volleyball until it started to pour then got more food. After the rain stopped, we did a wacky relay race. The winning team randomly selected a person and they won an Apple TV, which I have no clue what it is, but sounds significant. Then it rained again so I played some chess but lost. At least I didn't make a really dumb mistake; I think the person I was playing was just significantly better. After the rain stopped, I kicked around a soccer ball with some other people until the picnic was wrapping up. I helped move stuff to cars and headed out to the volunteer activity.
I was supposed to follow someone (along with other people), but he was quite lost (and driving very slowly) so I just continued on my own way when he made a random U-Turn. Anyway, it was some sort of American Lung Association 5K Walk. We were mainly there as administrative/technical support. There were some people signing people in and I was in charge of the silent auction, but I'm not sure we really did that much... besides eat their food, which was good.
And it was very good that the Heat (mainly LeBron James) didn't just lost, but LeBron James is now heavily questioned and the butt of jokes.