Instead, this post is my about why the rating system in the US is broken (thanks to the MPAA). I'll be honest - I think the rating system is pretty horrible. I realize there needs to be some type of rating system, but this system just doesn't work. Before I go on I need to state that as a member of the LDS church we are counseled not to watch R-rated movies (I couldn't find a link to this on the LDS.org site however). I've still seen my share of them in my lifetime but I'll usually get a guilty feeling afterwards (I didn't after watching The King's Speech though). That's probably one of the main reasons why the rating system bothers me so much.
Honestly though, there are some PG-13 movies that are far worse than R-rated films. Let's look at the King's Speech. The film received it's R-rating due to two scenes in which Colin Firth spills out the F-word about 6 times in a row the first time and then 6 times in a row the second time. There are some other swear words throughout (mainly in the same scenes as these F-words). That's it. Don't believe me - read the guide over at IMDB (this is where I typically look for what's in a film). I know the rule - 2 f-words max to earn the PG-13 rating. To be frank though, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. While I'm not a parent yet, here are two PG-13 films that I wouldn't want my kids watching, without me, over The King's Speech.
Titanic
I went to this film when I was probably about 13 years old. I didn't know much about the film, but since it was PG-13 I was "allowed" (both by my parent's rules and by MPAA standards). As a 13-year old growing up in the LDS church, I had been highly exposed to swearing throughout school. But I don't know if I'll ever forget the scene where Jack is sketching Kate posing nude. I was more than shocked at this scene in a PG-13 film. Also I'm not clear why this use of nudity in an "artful" sense warrants a PG-13 rating but swearing in an "artful" sense does not (the swearing in the King's Speech is definitely artful and not overused by any means).
The Dark Knight
I really liked this movie but my wife stopped watching after she saw the scene where the Joker impales a character with a pencil in the eye. While I'm glad this film got a PG-13 rating (I didn't have to feel guilty about watching it) I'll admit that it is very dark and intense. There were definitely people that felt it should have been rated R. How often do you or your kids see violence like that depicted in this film at school or work? I'm betting for most of us it's very rarely.
My recommendations
As a parent or just a moviegoer in general, don't rely on the ratings system if you're concerned about content. The MPAA is far from perfect. Look at what is contained in the film. I typically look at IMDB, but while preparing this post, found this site which I may start to use: Kids in mind. Unsurprisingly, Titanic and the Dark Knight are both rated worse overall than The King's Speech.
As for the rating system, I think that we need to move to something similar to that of what Kids in mind is doing. Splitting a rating out and putting it on a 1-10 scale for three different categories - Violence, Language, and Sex & Nudity. From there, taking some kind of combination of those three values to determine an age limit on the film. Until then of course, we'll be left scratching our heads as to why we don't see some of the best films made because they are rated R while we sit through some very degrading cinema because someone thought it didn't meet the R-rating standard. However, go enjoy a great film in The King's Speech if you've been holding out because of the rating (the reedited version of course).
On another note, let's get rid of heavy swearing all together in movies. Whenever they translate movies into Russian they always translate the heavy swear words into very mild words in Russian. What's the obsession with swearing in American cinema?
Synopsis: Nelson Mandela, in his first term as the South African President, initiates a unique venture to unite the apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
What I thought: Great performances, great soundtrack, and very inspirational. Not sure what else to say. It's pretty amazing what Mandella was able to accomplish through the use of the rugby team in his own country.
Synopsis: The toys are mistakenly delivered to a day-care center instead of the attic right before Andy leaves for college, and it's up to Woody to convince the other toys that they weren't abandoned and to return home.
What I thought: This movie is funny and touching all at the same time. Maybe not the kids favorite animated film from 2010, but for anyone who grew up having seen the first two films in this series can't help but be touched by the poignant story of Andy and his toys.
Synopsis: A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age.
What I thought: I saw this movie early last year when it was getting a lot of hype coming up for the Academy Awards. I wasn't sure what to expect, but Carrey Mulligan gives a superb performance in the lead role and the relationship between the two characters is very believable. A disturbing but touching film about youth and love.
Synopsis: In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date: Inception.
What I thought: I'm still not sure if I know what is real or not in this dream world, and we may never know. Big summer blockbuster that really threw people for a whirl, especially the crazy hotel/hallway fight scene. Reminded me of The Matrix in the sense that it questions the reality that we actually live in. Nolan is easly one of my favorite directors after this film, the Batman series, and Memento.
Synopsis: A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
What I thought: I had never heard many songs by Cash prior to watching this film (of course I knew the classic Ring of Fire) but afterwards I quickly added several of his songs to my music library. Besides the music, the acting was superb (they sang all of the songs themselves) and I was blown away by the performance that Witherspoon gives here (totally earned the Oscar that she won for the performance). I didn't realize Cash was such a bad boy, but this is a must see film about his life. If you're asking why I just saw this 5 years after it came out, it's because I was in Russia when it was released.
Posted by
JTENMAN
at
7:41 AM |
Sunday, August 22, 2010
It was a crazy day on Saturday. Fun but crazy. About 10 years ago, I first went on a hike up the back side of Timpanogas mountain that led me to the top of the mountain (I was with my brother and Mom). A few weeks back, I remembered how much I enjoyed that hike and decided it would be fun to do it again.
Saturday morning I met up with my brother and sister at 7 and headed to the trail head. It took us about an hour to get there, and when we did there were car loads of people. The first time I hiked the trail must have been a weekday because the parking lot was full and there were tons of cars on the street. We parked probably a good 1/2 mile from the trail head.
Once we got started (about 8) up the trail, we encountered several groups which were coming down already. We found out that most of them had walked up in the dark in order to watch the sunset (after finishing the hike, I was pretty impressed). The first part of the trail is pretty easy and mostly straight. You pass several cool waterfalls from runoff up the mountain and are in the trees for the most part.
BJ helping Elisa out
BJ and Elisa ahead of me
One of the several waterfalls we passed
After about 2.5 hours, we had gone probably about 2.5 miles. We needed to move at a quicker pace if we were going to make it to the top as my brother needed to be home by 4 and the full trail is 7.5 miles long. Our sister wanted us to go ahead so that we could make it to the top and we did (mistake #1). We took off at a pretty good pace and then at one point we accidentally got off the trail and went up a pretty steep rocky area. It really killed my brother's legs and he couldn't keep up the pace as well.
A view of what we were about to climb from the fork
"Flower Garden" - also right at the fork
Despite the tired legs, we kept on going and came to a trail fork that led to either the top of the mountain or over to a lake (we spent a large portion of time later on at this fork). We headed up the top of the mountain and while in the process, my brother got a pretty bad cramp in his leg. I really wanted to make it to the top and so I left him behind and made it to a place called "The Saddle." Basically this is close to the top and the area where you can see out over Utah lake and the cities there close by, as well as back the way that you had climbed up. It was about 11:45 at this point, and I really wanted to make it to the top, but I could see my brother moving up slowly but surely. I decided to wait for him to see what he wanted to do (mistake #2).
At "The Saddle"
My brother made it up at about 12:00 and he did want to go further up the mountain (mistake #3). He called his wife and got out of his previous engagement to watch his little one, and then we took off. It was really windy up there, so it was a good thing that we both had jackets because we put them on. We headed up what we both would agree was the steepest and hardest part of the hike. There was one are that is called "The Staircase" and you realize why as you climb it. It's a rock face that you are climbing up along the rocks and it's pretty steep. It took us about an hour to get to the top despite it only being about 1/2 mile (due to a combination of the steep climb and leg cramps). The top was some site.
"The Staircase"
A view from the summit
Once we were done, my brother really wanted to go down to the glacier rather than back the way we came and I agreed (mistake #4). We headed down a trail the opposite of the way we had come up and walked for another 1/2 mile. No one else was headed down this trail but some others followed about 10 minutes behind us. It wasn't near as long or bad as it was mostly downhill. We did take a wrong turn at one point and we came to a drop off that was about 15 feet down. The rock face had some places for holding and we both shimmied down it somehow, but it was certainly the time when my heart was beating the fastest of the entire hike. We walked a bit further and came to the glacier. It was pretty rocky on the snow but fortunately, there was predefined path where other's had slid down the mountain. My brother had brought some garbage bags for sliding down and we had a little joy ride down.
Sliding down the glacier
We finally made it to the bottom where there is a lake that is runoff from the glacier, and we took a few minutes to take our jackets off, put some more sunscreen on, and just get ready for the down hike. We took off and headed back around to go where the fork in the road was at. About 1/2 way back to the fork in the road (about 2:30 pm) my brother decided he wanted to check if his wife had called. I decided I'd check my cell phone as well (blessing #1). It turns out my sister had made it to "The Saddle" and didn't know where we were. She had called my parents and they in turned called us not 5 minutes earlier than when we checked our phones (she didn't bring her cell phone so she didn't know our numbers). We called the number she had left back and told her to meet us at the fork in the road (mistake #4 - we both typically assume that everyone orients themselves the way that we do).
"Emerald Lake" at the bottom of the glacier
We made it back to the fork in about 10 minutes, but we knew our sister probably had a good 20-30 minutes ahead of her from when we had talked to her so we just sat down to relax. BJ and I sat at the fork watching the trail up above for our sister for some time. We could see people coming down and we kept thinking that was her. After about an hour we really started to get worried, because she really should have been there at that point (it was pretty steep up there so we thought maybe she had been taking her time to come down). We decided that I would head back up the mountain (not too quickly because surely she would be down soon) while my brother waited at the fork). I was moving along and got to one point where the uphill really starts heavily and at that point I was freaked out. I had no idea where my sister was and I couldn't think where she could be. Fortunately, my legs weren't tired or hurting at all because of my running routine (blessing #2) and so I was able to fly up the mountain pretty quickly for a second time (probably half the time it had taken us before) in order to get to "The Saddle."
Basic idea of the path we had taken around
A video of the trail we took
Waiting for Elisa
Of course she wasn't there and I thought maybe she had gone down the back way and was looping around to where we had been. I was still freaking out at this point though, but luckily I had cell phone reception and was able to get hold of my parents and found out that my sister had headed down the wrong trail that looked easier to get down (I assume she was following others) that led back to where the lake was at. She had got a bit scared when she didn't recognize the trail she was on and that there were far less people on the trail. Luckily, a couple coming by had a cell phone and she was able to call and tell us where she was (blessing #3). She was headed down the trail to the Provo canyon side of the trail. We decided to head down the mountain back to the car and then drive around and meet her at the other trail head. It was about 4:30 when I got this information of where she was and I was up at "The Saddle" still.
I flew down the mountain at a probably unsafe speed considering how steep the cliffs were and got back to the fork, my brother had probably been there a good 2 hours just waiting at this point so his legs were well rested and he was ready to go. We flew down the mountain. From that fork in the road, it took us 1.5 hours to get down to the bottom of the trail. We passed a ton of people on our way down and a couple of people wanted to make sure we had found our sister as we passed them (we had asked several people if they had seen her). We stopped and filled up our water bottles since my brother was practically out and I had a half of a bottle left. We then made the long trek back to the car (if you've forgotten we had to park a good half a mile from the trail head due to the number of people being there).
A look from the car to where we had hiked to
We got to the car and drove to the other trail head. Our sister only ended up waiting for us about 10 minutes despite the fact that she was probably an hour ahead of us going down the mountain. It was almost 7 at that point and we had to drive from Provo canyon back to Salt Lake and on to Bountiful. I was home by 8:30, only 4.5 hours later than originally planned. My wife wasn't too mad, but I don't think my brother got off as easily :).
Things I learned from the hike: - Bring plenty of water. I had enough but both my brother and sister needed more. They both had those camelpaks and they found out that those don't hold as much water as they thought and you don't know how much water is actually left in them. - Bring your cell phone regardless of whether or not you think you'll have coverage. We had coverage in the oddest places. My sister didn't have her phone... - Make sure you make it clear where you are meeting up if you split up. The problem wasn't that we split up, it was that we didn't clearly state where we needed to meet up after splitting up (none of us knew that well though as it has been some time since we were there). - Enjoy nature. I already knew this though. That's the whole reason I went in the first place.
It was a fun hike, and I had a good time, but I think next time I'll do it alone on a Saturday when there are lots of people and I don't have to leave anyone behind. Either that or do it with people that don't have any time constraints because it is quite a hike, much harder than I ever remembered it. We are all glad to be home and safe today in spite of our sun burns.
Posted by
JTENMAN
at
7:43 AM |
Sunday, June 13, 2010
I don't know the best way to explain this plugin, so watch the video that I created that shows the plugin in action. The link that I use in the screencast is below.
Posted by
JTENMAN
at
9:08 PM |
Friday, April 23, 2010
I know you might think that all I do is read (which I do a lot of), but it isn't all that I do. I tend to watch 2 or more movies a week as well. I don't usually just sit down and watch a movie, rather I will turn on a movie while I am cleaning or preparing a meal. Since I've stopped updating my movie blog (not enough time or interest), I wanted to share a few of the best films I've watched over the past several weeks in no particular order.
Forever Strong
Released: 2008 IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840322/ Short Synposis: A rugby player is put up in a juvenile detention center. There he plays for the Highland Rugby team and ultimately plays against his father in the National Championships.
My Thoughts: I heard about this film when it first came out but never got to see it. I typically enjoy sports films and this was no exception. I think that it helped that this film covered the Highland rugby team, which I knew a lot about since they were a region rival when I was in high school. Nonetheless, an inspirational film and a film that you should definitely watch.
An Education
Released: 2009 IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1174732/ Short Synposis: A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age.
My Thoughts: This is one of those films that didn't get a lot of hype even though it was up for picture of the year at the Oscars. I didn't know a lot about this film when I watched it, but it was one of the better films that I've seen in awhile. The film isn't too long and keeps a good pace and is very well acted. Big fan of Carey Mulligan in this film (I can see why she was nominated for best actress).
The Island
Released: 2005 IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/ Short Synposis: A man goes on the run after he discovers that he is actually a "harvested being", and is being kept along with others in a utopian facility.
My Thoughts: This film was probably pretty popular/hyped up when it came out, but since it was right in the middle of the time when I was on my mission, I'd never heard of it. The film is directed by the same director that did Transformers (Michael Bay). The film focuses on a Utopian society and the way to get to "the island." The film picks up in action during the second half of the film, but overall an excellent film.
If you are looking for a date movie, I would recommend any of these movies. While all of them would be suitable for children, I don't think that they would find them too interesting. If you have a question about another movie, it is highly possible that I've seen it. Also, if you have any movie recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
Review of Drupalcon is coming soon.
**********UPDATE*********** If you are looking for entertaining films about history, then I have two recommendations: The Young Victoria and The Other Boylen Girl. The Other Boylen Girl is pretty depressing whereas The Young Victoria is pretty inspirational. Both films are good in their own respects.
Posted by
JTENMAN
at
2:02 PM |
Sunday, July 5, 2009
I know it's been over a month since we've been home and I have meant to post this video for some time now. Anya took this video on the way home from Russia on the train from Penza to Moscow. We had the two top beds in the train and it was hot in the train. You can't really hear what I am saying (unless you turn your sound way way up and listen carefully) so I have transcribed it below.
Yo. What's up? (video of the train) What are you taking a video of? You just wanted to take a video of that man down there sleeping without his shirt on. It's really hot...I'm dying...I'm sleeping in my sweat.
Posted by
JTENMAN
at
11:44 PM |
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Like any foreign country, Russia has its own unique cuisine. Russian food seems to be a secret to a lot of people. The Russian diet is nothing special with lots of vegetables being consumed. Most people eat a lot of potatoes and macaroni. Most meals will contain one of the two. The one food that is at practically every meal, if not every meal, is bread. If you don't eat any bread then people think you're sick because bread is a must. I am not sure why but people ask me every time "Why aren't you eating any bread?" (Что хлеб не едите?). Following your meal, usually tea is served. I find it odd, but that is because we didn't do either of these things when I was growing up. Anyways, here are some of the common/unique foods of Russia.
Black Bread - The number one food of Russia (I think). Bread is served at basically every meal. Bread is made fresh daily and available at any store. Russian bread is much tastier then any of the bread sold in American stores.
Dried Fish - Fish is a common food for most Russians. A lot of times fish is boiled and put into soup. The other common way that fish is eaten is dried (as seen in this picture). The fish is dried with all of its scales and bones still in place and when you buy it, you remove the scales and eat the dried meat right off the bone. I've never tried it but I hear it is really tasty...
Piroshki - A pastry of sorts. It is like a bread or a roll with either potatoes, meat, or cabbage inside (they put other things inside as well but these are the 3 most common). My favorite is with potatoes but the others are pretty good as well. After putting the filling inside, the bread is either baked or fried. Fried are definitely my favorite.
Borsht - one of the most famous Russian soups. Borsht contains potatoes, meat (any type), cabbage, carrots, and beets which gives it the red color. Tastes best with sour cream. Soup in general is very common and made by some variant of boiling together meat and potatoes and some other vegetables.
Shashliki - Like a shishkabob. It is meat roasted over hot coals. These things are very tasty and found at small street vendors or when going on a picnic.
Pelmeni - Russian dumpling. A noodle type outer layer filled with beef and pork typically (sometimes with chicken). Usually these dumplings are boiled and eaten with mayonnaise or kethup. Russians do not fry them, but I think they are tastier that way.
Salad - A typical Russian salad does not contain any lettuce. You won't find a head of lettuce in Russia (you can find leaves of lettuce) so when you see the word salad anywhere you can know that you aren't getting a typical American salad. Usual salads are a mixture of rice or diced potatoes with other diced vegetables such as carrots, peppers, peas, etc. and some kind of meat all mixed together with mayonnaise or sour cream. Some can be really tasty and some can be not so great. The other common salad is sliced up tomatoes and cucumbers with onions and mixed together with mayo, sour cream, or oil (yes, vegetable oil).
Pastry - Like the bread, the pastries are fresh too. Usually the pastries are filled with a fruit jam or condensed milk. Condensed milk is used in a lot of things and is very tasty (and super fattening as well).
Blini - Russian pancakes or crepes. These are typically eaten with some type of filling inside. The above picture is a blin filled with cabbage and eggs. Other common fillings are jam, condensed milk, and fruit.
A standard Russian meal. As soon as we flew in, this was the first thing that we ate. Macaroni with fried chicken with mayonnaise for the topping. Mayonnaise and ketchup are used very often and rarely do Russians make a tomato sauce for macaroni, rather just use one of the two or both.
Sharuma - Russian fast food (kind of). This is a common food made in several cities throughout Russia. The best sharuma I have ever eaten were in Saratov with beef, tomatoes, and cucumbers but these ones are pretty good as well.
Posted by
JTENMAN
at
5:24 PM |
Thursday, March 5, 2009
I know it has been several weeks since I have written, but things have finally settled down. We got into the new home without too many problems and we had a lot of help. We are loving the new place, and I think that the thing I love the most is all of the space! It is so open and there is so much room. I guess the worst part is how much of it gets underused. One of the main reasons I haven't written for so long is because I haven't taken pictures. I finally got to it, and so here they are:
Also, here are a couple of videos that I did of the house:
Let me know what you think! As soon as we get the couches then I think we are going to start having people over. We are super excited and are super grateful.
Major nerd that puts my skills to use for The American Academy using Drupal. I earned a degree in Computer Science at the University of Utah in December 2008.
Married to a beautiful Russian and I read like there's no tomorrow.
