The title of this post doesn't really hold any significance. I've been dieting for three or four weeks now. For the first week, I didn't have a bathroom scale. But now I do and I weigh myself every week, only once. I don't really know the rules of weighing myself. Is one day of the week better than another? Is evening better than the morning? I don't know. But I try to keep it consistent. And I make sure it's only once a week.
Today I took my third reading, so let's consider this week 3 (though I don't feel like changing the title). My first success was eating much less. It only took a few days of rationing for my body to get used to less food. I rarely get that fierce hunger that I used to get before eating. And I don't really get the urge to snack after dinner like I used to. It also helps that I am out of the house all day and not sitting around with nothing else to do. I've melded breakfast and lunch into one meal, and it's usually just a scrambled egg or a cup of yogurt. Unfortunately, I'm very particular about my yogurt, so it's an egg more often than not.
I've been drinking a ton of water. Like half a gallon a day. It has replaced most of the fluids I consume daily. I was already pretty good about what I drink; no sodas or energy drinks. But I would usually drink one or two full glasses of chocolate milk and a glass of orange juice. So I've been cutting back on that.
I should also mention that I biked back and forth to work this morning. I should try to do that every morning (pending reasonable weather). Then again, every summer I make the same promise to myself, and every summer, once the mornings start heating up, getting to work drenched in sweat at sunrise loses its appeal. Last week, I went for a run around the block with my dog. He's basically a gazelle, so my jogging pace is just a comfortable trot for him. But he kept me moving about as effectively as grabbing the handles on a treadmill, so that helped. Maybe I'll trade off biking and running in the future.
I find that at least once a week I end up eating more than I really should. It's not intentional; on average, I eat out or with friends once a week, and I am pressured to eat something I really shouldn't. And I hate leaving food on the plate at a restaurant. The other day I had a fajita. Shame on me.
I've also been experimenting a bit with vegetarianism. I guess that sounds silly. Basically I challenged myself to go without meat for a few days. Turns out it's not that hard. I'm definitely not becoming a vegetarian any time soon, but it felt good to eat only fresh fruit and veggies for a period. The hard part is finding a balance. I'm simply not hungry enough to eat what I should. I bought fruit to eat in the evenings instead of snacks, but like I said, I don't even get the urge.
In my original post I said that my only goal was improvement. Well, I'm making progress. It seems slow, but it's there. And it's starting to show. It's definitely the progress I need to keep going. I do have a real goal set now, but I don't want to type it because then I'll be anxious about it. We'll see how things go.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
Prognosis: Negative
It's really disappointing when you have high expectations for a movie, and then that movie doesn't deliver. In the last five summers or so, only twice did I leave the theater thinking I had just seen something brilliant. And that was after The Dark Knight and Skyfall, which, as I pointed out in an earlier post, are essentially the same movie.
Ever since then, I go into a big nerdy action fest, expecting greatness, only to be let down. The Dark Knight Rises was way too convoluted and had a bunch of useless characters and plot jumps that were inexcusable, all detracting from the most interesting character, Bane. The Avengers was pretty spectacular, if not for the completely pointless aliens who blindly shot at stuff until something punched them. Oh, and then they all conveniently dropped dead once the mother ship was destroyed. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was such a mess, I...I just can't get into that right now.
Last night I saw Iron Man 3, and of course, everyone was saying how it's the best of the trilogy and it tops The Avengers and what not. But all I saw was a step-for-step action movie, filled with plot holes and shallow characters. My friends and I walked out of the theater saying "well, I guess that was good." It seemed like everyone else in the theater felt the same way; most people left before the post-credits scene, which is odd when you figure this was a premiere showing, so the people in the audience are probably big fans anticipating that final cliffhanger.
Well, if I'm going to review this bitch, I guess I should get started. My main complaint is that it wasn't what I expected. Literally. There is a point in the movie, about halfway through, where the entire plot changes, and you have to decide either to stick with it or completely lose interest. I don't want to give away what that point is, but you'll absolutely know it when it happens.
Then you have these bad guys, who have undergone some sort of medical procedure in which their DNA has been enhanced. We see that the positive effect is bodily regeneration and perfection. The creator, Aldrich Killina, cures his own handicap; other people who are missing arms and legs and what not -- soldiers, children with birth defects, etc. -- can grow their limbs back. It's definitely a world-changing serum, or at least the beginnings of one. Except the side effect is that those who undergo the procedure have some sort of ability to heat their bodies to extreme temperatures, which, for some reason, gives Killian super strength, super speed, and the ability to, well, breathe fire. The true nature of this serum, how it works, and how it factors into the plot or the larger universe, is never really fleshed out. As with the alien invasion in The Avengers, it should definitely have effects that continue to ripple through this shared universe, but...it doesn't.
Which brings me to my next point. Tony Stark has PTSD after his near-death experience in The Avengers. To cope with this, he has been building Iron Man, I guess in preparation for the next attack. But here, I have to say, the trailers put more emphasis on his inner turmoil than the movie did. He had a couple of panic attacks that really didn't affect his plot or his character, beyond being a reason for him to build neat suits, which, in turn, only exist for the epic finale. Seriously, after the finale, Tony just blows them up because...he's cured...I guess.
One of the worst things to happen to movies with sequels is that the villains all have the same motive and the same strategy over and over again. In the original Spider-Man trilogy, it always came down to villains luring Spider-Man into a trap by using Mary Jane as a decoy. With Iron Man, each villain has a grudge against Tony and tries to use their technological expertise to overcome his. Obadiah Stane thinks he should run Stark Industries, so he funds some terrorists, puts Pepper in danger, and tries to kill Tony; Justin Hammer wants to eliminate the superior competition in weapons manufacturing, so he hires Ivan Vanko (pretty much a terrorist), puts Pepper in danger, and tries to kill Tony. Well, I don't want to give anything away, but the villain in Iron Man 3 has, for all intents and purposes, the same idea. I realize 'kill the bad guy, save the girl, and live happily ever after' is the go-to scenario, but come on. At least in The Dark Knight, Nolan just said 'fuck it, let's kill off the love interest.'
Now, I am a sucker for Marvel movies, especially the Avengers mega-franchise. But as a complete nerd for these movies, I just wasn't satisfied. The Mandarin is hinted at in the first two movies, but the average viewer most likely didn't notice. In this installment we learn that the Mandarin has in fact had it in for Tony since before the events of the first movie. And therefore it probably would have been smart and clever to reference those hints from the earlier films, just so people can go back and be like "holy shit, they were planning this all along. Awesome!" But instead they don't mention any of that. We get one flashback, and that is supposed to justify the actions of two central antagonists. Also, there were a ton of theories about where this movie would leave us, in terms of The Avengers 2. Would they introduce any new characters (fans theorized about The Wasp or Ant-Man)? Would Tony end up in outer space, perhaps leading into the Guardians of the Galaxy movie? The answers to these questions is simply no. The post-credits scene features Bruce Banner (which is irritating, because it forces you to wonder where he -- and S.H.I.E.L.D. and Cap -- are the entire time terrorists are blowing up Americans) but it isn't very exciting.
In a way, that plot shift in the middle of the movie that I mentioned earlier is kind of a 'fuck you' to the hardcore fans. I chalk up my complaints to crappy writing. We are told that Tony has inner demons, but he just deals with them the same way he deals with everything else: witty sarcasm. He and Pepper are never in mortal danger, and his PTSD never affects his ability to kill bad guys and save the day.
Overall, the movie is action-packed and humorous, but for people like me, expecting an amazing entrance into The Avengers: Phase II, don't get your hopes up.
Ever since then, I go into a big nerdy action fest, expecting greatness, only to be let down. The Dark Knight Rises was way too convoluted and had a bunch of useless characters and plot jumps that were inexcusable, all detracting from the most interesting character, Bane. The Avengers was pretty spectacular, if not for the completely pointless aliens who blindly shot at stuff until something punched them. Oh, and then they all conveniently dropped dead once the mother ship was destroyed. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was such a mess, I...I just can't get into that right now.
Last night I saw Iron Man 3, and of course, everyone was saying how it's the best of the trilogy and it tops The Avengers and what not. But all I saw was a step-for-step action movie, filled with plot holes and shallow characters. My friends and I walked out of the theater saying "well, I guess that was good." It seemed like everyone else in the theater felt the same way; most people left before the post-credits scene, which is odd when you figure this was a premiere showing, so the people in the audience are probably big fans anticipating that final cliffhanger.
Well, if I'm going to review this bitch, I guess I should get started. My main complaint is that it wasn't what I expected. Literally. There is a point in the movie, about halfway through, where the entire plot changes, and you have to decide either to stick with it or completely lose interest. I don't want to give away what that point is, but you'll absolutely know it when it happens.
Then you have these bad guys, who have undergone some sort of medical procedure in which their DNA has been enhanced. We see that the positive effect is bodily regeneration and perfection. The creator, Aldrich Killina, cures his own handicap; other people who are missing arms and legs and what not -- soldiers, children with birth defects, etc. -- can grow their limbs back. It's definitely a world-changing serum, or at least the beginnings of one. Except the side effect is that those who undergo the procedure have some sort of ability to heat their bodies to extreme temperatures, which, for some reason, gives Killian super strength, super speed, and the ability to, well, breathe fire. The true nature of this serum, how it works, and how it factors into the plot or the larger universe, is never really fleshed out. As with the alien invasion in The Avengers, it should definitely have effects that continue to ripple through this shared universe, but...it doesn't.
Which brings me to my next point. Tony Stark has PTSD after his near-death experience in The Avengers. To cope with this, he has been building Iron Man, I guess in preparation for the next attack. But here, I have to say, the trailers put more emphasis on his inner turmoil than the movie did. He had a couple of panic attacks that really didn't affect his plot or his character, beyond being a reason for him to build neat suits, which, in turn, only exist for the epic finale. Seriously, after the finale, Tony just blows them up because...he's cured...I guess.
One of the worst things to happen to movies with sequels is that the villains all have the same motive and the same strategy over and over again. In the original Spider-Man trilogy, it always came down to villains luring Spider-Man into a trap by using Mary Jane as a decoy. With Iron Man, each villain has a grudge against Tony and tries to use their technological expertise to overcome his. Obadiah Stane thinks he should run Stark Industries, so he funds some terrorists, puts Pepper in danger, and tries to kill Tony; Justin Hammer wants to eliminate the superior competition in weapons manufacturing, so he hires Ivan Vanko (pretty much a terrorist), puts Pepper in danger, and tries to kill Tony. Well, I don't want to give anything away, but the villain in Iron Man 3 has, for all intents and purposes, the same idea. I realize 'kill the bad guy, save the girl, and live happily ever after' is the go-to scenario, but come on. At least in The Dark Knight, Nolan just said 'fuck it, let's kill off the love interest.'
Now, I am a sucker for Marvel movies, especially the Avengers mega-franchise. But as a complete nerd for these movies, I just wasn't satisfied. The Mandarin is hinted at in the first two movies, but the average viewer most likely didn't notice. In this installment we learn that the Mandarin has in fact had it in for Tony since before the events of the first movie. And therefore it probably would have been smart and clever to reference those hints from the earlier films, just so people can go back and be like "holy shit, they were planning this all along. Awesome!" But instead they don't mention any of that. We get one flashback, and that is supposed to justify the actions of two central antagonists. Also, there were a ton of theories about where this movie would leave us, in terms of The Avengers 2. Would they introduce any new characters (fans theorized about The Wasp or Ant-Man)? Would Tony end up in outer space, perhaps leading into the Guardians of the Galaxy movie? The answers to these questions is simply no. The post-credits scene features Bruce Banner (which is irritating, because it forces you to wonder where he -- and S.H.I.E.L.D. and Cap -- are the entire time terrorists are blowing up Americans) but it isn't very exciting.
In a way, that plot shift in the middle of the movie that I mentioned earlier is kind of a 'fuck you' to the hardcore fans. I chalk up my complaints to crappy writing. We are told that Tony has inner demons, but he just deals with them the same way he deals with everything else: witty sarcasm. He and Pepper are never in mortal danger, and his PTSD never affects his ability to kill bad guys and save the day.
Overall, the movie is action-packed and humorous, but for people like me, expecting an amazing entrance into The Avengers: Phase II, don't get your hopes up.
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