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Showing posts from March, 2014

Matt VS. Non-Stop

Liam Neeson has had career arc, starring in films such as as Schindler's List, Star Wars, and Taken. His latest film Non-Stop is a high flying thriller that banks off of his popularity from the Taken films. Neeson stars as Bill Marks, an alcoholic Air Marshall on a trans-Atlantic flight who receives cryptic messages from someone on board claiming that someone will die every twenty minutes. As the deaths mount, he is forced to turn to desperate measures which then leads the majority of the flight to believe that he is the one hijacking the plane. The movie's release is further complicated by real world events like the disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370 This contributed to the film being a bit more chilling than it in normal circumstances. Julianne Moore is also a major character in the film and recent Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o also has a role. While I predicted a fair amount of the plot twists, I felt that a major one at the end really set the film

To Mayonnaise

have never been nor will ever be a fan of mayonnaise. I dislike its look. I dislike its smell. I dislike its taste. I dislike how it sounds when  it is spread over a piece of bread. Whether it is Heinz, Hellman, ShopRite, or Walmart brand, I loathe it all the same. Hell I'd even dislike Miracle Whip. I dislike that it ruins perfectly good sandwiches with its taint. I dislike it to its goopy, runny, drippy spreadable core. Nutrition Facts Mayonnaise Mayonnaise, light Mayonnaise Amount Per   1 packet (10 g) 1 tbsp (13.8 g) 100 grams 1 cup (220 g) 1 tbsp (13.8 g) Calories   94 % Daily Value* Total Fat   10 g 15% Saturated fat  1.6 g 8% Polyunsaturated fat  6 g Monounsaturated fat  2.3 g Trans fat  0 g Cholesterol   6 mg 2% Sodium   88 mg 3% Potassium   3 mg 0% Total Carbohydrate   0.1 g 0% Dietary fiber  0 g 0% Sugar  0.2 g Protein   0.1 g 0% Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C

Matt Vs. The Last Airbender

M Night Shamaylan's live action adaptation of the hit Nickelodeon show Avatar the Last Airbender was released in 2010 to poor commercial and critical reception. Being a fan of the show, I saw The Last Airbender in theaters and held a reasonable level of expectations. I did not expect to be blown away by any means and for the first 30 seconds i was thrilled. It was simply the intro to the show done in live action. However after that, the whole film fell apart.  The film follows the story of a young monk Aang who must master all four elements (air, water, fire, earth) and stop the warmongering Fire Nation from taking over the world. He is the Avatar which is a person who can control four elements in a world where everyone else can master only one. The plot roughly  follows a stripped down version of the first season of the show where he is freed from a hundred year slumber in an iceberg by siblings Katara and Sokka  and is being chased by Zuko, the son of the Fir

Matt Vs. The Nintendo 64 Controller

T he Nintendo 64 was a revolutionary console that not only brought the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario franchises into the 3rd  dimension and had titles along with Sony's Playstation that helped lay the groundwork for modern console gaming. Two of the innovations were the N64 controller's analog stick and its Z trigger that was located on the back of the controller. These changes allowed a greater degree control in 3-D games  than a simple directional pad could provide and remained an mainstay in game controllers ever since. Additionally, the C-buttons allowed for control of the game's camera which is key when playing through the levels of Banjo-Kazooie or Majora's Mask. I got a Nintendo 64 in the late 1990s and it served as my go- to system for several years until I traded it in to purchase a Nintendo GameCube. Between Nintendo's own titles and a few great licensed games there was a great variety of classic games that provided hours of entertainment. When

Matt Vs. The SAT

I have never been a fan of standardized testing especially to the extent that it was stressed during the 2nd half of my K-12 education.  I still remember they days of choosing the analogies and writing picture prompts. Even though the SAT and to the lesser extent the GRE are the most important tests, in my experience, my 8th grade proficiency was stressed the most. My middle school certainly taught to the test while my high school was more lenient in that regard. I believe my high school education was better served because it lacked that singular focus. When I was in high school I took the SAT three times, once sophomore year and twice junior year (2006). The first two times the  SAT was in its original 1600 point scale however the test was changed in late 2006 to reflect a 2400 scale with the addition of a writing portion. Back then there was hype about the new SAT and how everything had changed with new guides, new PSATs and new SAT classes. It was simply an educational circus. Ou