China Stories! - Friendly Neighborhood Street Vendor

Street vendors are everywhere in China! Well, everywhere that tourists are likely to go; I can't vouch for the rest. This is a picture of one of the guys that would hang around our hotel in Beijing:


He sold lots of things, including hats just like his! You can get just about anything!

kthxbai - Toy Story 3

When I first heard that there was going to be a Toy Story 3, I was dubious. I worried that Disney was leaning on Pixar and that the story would be typical Disney. It was a delightful surprise to see the beauty that is Toy Story 3. The film brings the audience through the whole spectrum of emotion, from belly laughter to heartfelt tears.

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 have a special place in my heart, and I am pleased to say that Toy Story 3 has joined them there. All of my misgivings were blown away and I believe that this final chapter of the story of Andy's toys is the best of them all.

Toy Story 3 rating: buy it!

China Stories! - Traffic horror

A few people have heard me say that words cannot describe the traffic in China. It's true. These are a couple pictures from an intersection in Beijing where our bus driver turned into the oncoming lane. Exciting times.

See those two cars coming toward us? Well, size matters in China. They had to back up to give us space to cut into the correct lane of traffic, which would have been easier if the lane had been treated as the single lane it was rather than two lanes. This is the view on the side of the bus:


Remember, this is one lane! It wasn't just this intersection--this is fairly typical of traffic in China, as far as we could tell. It will be some time before I complain about Utah drivers.

Komodo Dragon Spit

Available for a limited time only. This is a video that I made for my microbiology class.

My latest project

kthxbai - Avatar

A good friend of mine told me that if this review isn’t funny, he’ll have to kill me. I see no point in putting a great deal of effort into something if I’m just going to be killed for it either way. So, here goes:

This movie is very pretty. The CG effects were masterfully done and the music is stunning. The story left much to be desired.

Imagine someone gave you a present, and it was the most spectacularly packaged and wrapped present you had ever seen. If the wrapping is that great, the present itself must be magnificent! Well, it’s one of those old alphabet blocks.

At least you got cool wrapping paper.

Avatar rating: Borrow it.

kthxbai - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Flint Lockwood could never get anything right--until the day he made it rain cheeseburgers.

Ridiculous? Yes. Hilarious? Very yes.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs rating: Buy it!