I've been quite the Xanga slacker lately.  My apologies, dear readers.  Part of it is probably from the wave of fear of having chunks of my life online that overcame me a while ago, part of it is just being busier in general. :)  Wedding planning is crazy, and I recently got a new position at work.  Not a promotion really, just a lateral move (which is good for me right now!).  One of the other marketing coordinators is leaving the company, and since my own boss just resigned, it made sense for me to move into that open marketing coordinator position.  So this week will be us trying to ensure a smooth transition once the other coordinator leaves. :)  Plus I will eventually have to move out of my office and into a cube. :(  I was spoiled for two years, oh well...

Last week, I and the family (and 2 significant others) went to Cancun!  Well, Riviera Maya, which is further south along the coast and has more resorts/timeshares.  We stayed at a beautiful resort with some family friends who had a timeshare and got us a good deal for a 2-br suite, AND we got upgraded from a normal hotel-type place to a nicer building because my parents agreed to listen to a 90-minute spiel on why they should buy a timeshare (which they didn't, even though it was a good deal, but my family doesn't need one).  Pictures to come, but yes, that is also where I have been.

Today's my first day back at work, and people are thankfully leaving me alone, since my boss just left and I was out all last week.  I think things will kick into higher, busier gear soon enough though.

We're getting married in less than a year!

So because I work for one of 20th Century Fox's sister companies, Cindy and I saw X3 last night (it opens nationwide this Friday).  Let me preface my "review" by letting you know that I tend to like most movies -- I think the only one I've had a viscerally negative reaction to was Adam Sandler's Punch Drunk Love (ohmygosh SO BAD).  Secondly, I am not an X-Men fangirl, and even though I watched the animated series, I don't even remember much of the details from that.  So those two mindsets color how I saw X3.

As my entry title says, I liked it. :)  It was a good movie, and it got me in the mood for fun, fluffy summer movies all over again.  I thought the action and effects were competent enough.  As for the story...you all have probably heard the basic plot by now...a "cure" for the mutant x-gene has been developed, and the thought of suppressing their mutant powers divides mutants and makes them question if they need to be "cured."   This plot was fine by me; I doubt that everything in the movie happened in the comics,but as far as stories go, it held my attention and made me want to know what happened next.

There could have been some very interesting political/personal/psychological conflicts in the to-be-cured-or-not-to-be-cured decision, but unfortunately, the script doesn't delve far enough into those "human interest" parts for the viewer to be as emotionally invested.  Most story lines evoke your emotion, but only on the shallowest level ("Oh no, poor ___"; "Aww, I feel bad for ___")...there were multiple points in the story which should have/could have hit me much more, but instead I felt like I was watching mere spectacle without the emotional resonance.  I think the score was also a bit over-the-top, in that it tried to make up for the visual lackings and bombastically wring emotion out of the viewer.  You'll understand what I'm saying when you hear it...there's one scene that's just pitifully grand strings and all that jazz.  The music in that scene did make me emotional, but the script there was trying too hard and ended up being cheesy.

One more minus is the lack of character development.  I'm sure the fanboys out there have also heard about this already.  I didn't know most of the new bad mutants, except for Juggernaut, but they were all dressed in black leather and spikes and made me roll my eyes every time I saw them, they were so cliched.  As for the good mutants, they looked fine but I wanted to know much more about them.  Rogue, Iceman, Colossus, Kitty, Angel...they're good candidates for story lines, rather than just the "ooh, look at him do that!" screen time.  I do think Kitty's power is very cool though. :)  I just wanted to see more than just mutants suiting up and performing in battle.

Lastly, Jean Grey as Phoenix looks like crap.  Not like bad makeup crap, but just "eww."  When she goes power ballistic, her face gets all veiny like it's going to explode and her skin turns ashen-gray.  It looks ugly...I guess it hints at the power within, but still...ugly.  [ETA: I do remember the cartoon gave the Dark Phoenix saga extensive treatment, though I don't remember details, so I felt slightly cheated by the lack of "saga" here.]

To sum it up, I agree with another critic who said that this movie is good enough, but the first two were just too good and raised everyone's hopes sky-high.  But I enjoyed it, and I think casual action film fans will also have fun with it this summer.  Don't go in expecting the world is all I'm saying. ;)  But don't let me get you depressed either -- it's just a movie!

 <-- I also got a copy of this poster. It's pretty cool b/c it's oversized and in-your-face. :)

Vote for Cornell in Doonesbury! http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html

It's rather sad...Cornell is at the bottom of the list of 3 schools (where a character, Alex, should go to school next year), led by MIT and RIT.