Soul Cake

Happy New Year!

The title is a song by Sting.

The vacation is basically over. I'm back in Ann Arbor... It was a good vacation, though. Christmas and New Year's were both nice. I got to see Ross, Ben, and Lyne while home. And I got the new Harry Potter movie.

Beki is in Idaho. Joslyn has been everywhere (Japan, Australia, Seattle) recently. Jake is in Spain. It makes me want to get out of here. So I decided to look for the cheapest way to get to Tunis, Tunisia. After all, it would be nice to finally meet Nidhal's parents in person. Per person, the trip was $1342 (not including food and activities) and it involved seven cities: Ann Arbor, Windsor, Toronto, Reykjavik, Paris, Rome, and Tunis. AND Nidhal has a friend in Paris, so this trip also includes about two weeks in Paris. Not bad, not bad. This price is $300 cheaper per person than flying to Tunis from the US (Chicago to Tunis with a layover in Paris). Now we just need to find some jobs so that we can pay for it.

I like watching movies, and while at home, I got to see six new movies. It sounds like nothing, but being able to rent a movie for $2.50 is amazing. Blockbuster is about $5.00 per movie for a week, but we usually do not need it for an entire week. One night would suffice. Anyway, we rented Public Enemies, Ingorious Basterds, The Proposal, My Sister's Keeper, and Angels and Demons. Also, Lyne loaned us Twilight.

To begin, My Sister's Keeper was awful. I had read the book, which was fairly good, so I expected the movie to also be fairly good. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The biggest issue for me was that the movie changed the ending, which was the most memorable point of the book. Also, they almost completely ignored the lawyer, an important and interesting character in the book. Without comparing the movie to the book, it was still bad. Nothing interesting happened, and it was basically just a story about a girl with cancer. There was no other aspect to it. Boring.

Angels and Demons, also based on a book, was much better. It has been a while since I read the book, but I was aware that some things were omitted in the movie. This time, however, the omissions did not disable the story. All in all, it was not a bad movie.

Public Enemies wasn't bad, but it also wasn't really my preferred type of movie. Not boring, but just so-so.

At the suggestion of Lyne, we rented The Proposal. For us, it was especially interesting because of the USCIS involvement (we also have had some experience with these people). It was funny and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Inglorious Basterds was also good, but it had less to do with the "basterds" than I expected. It was almost two movies combined into one. The two movie plots only crossed at the very end, and even then, it wasn't significant. But I liked it.

Finally, we have Twilight. I didn't know what to expect with this movie. I had refused to rent it and I was only going to watch it if I could find it for free. Thanks to Lyne, I was able to see it. The story seems interesting. I was intrigued enough to want to know what happens next. (Sorry, Lyne. I looked up the plot to the next three books on the internet). I liked Carlisle. The story of the Cullens was intriguing, and I would have liked to learn more. I also liked the connection with the Native Americans and their legends. But I did not like Bella. Not at all. She was emotionless and annoying and weird. She could have been replaced by a rock and nothing more would be lacking. Also, some parts of the plot did not click. After Bella met Edward, it just flowed weirdly. In the end, the story was interesting, but I felt the movie was lacking.

I just ordered two of my seven books for this semester. $60 wasted. I already have one book from last semester, one book from the library, and one book bought ($54). So I guess there are just two more, but these, I'm sure, will be at least another $60. And we need to get Nidhal's books. I wish I would win the lottery.