I’ve had a lot of down time after work and on weekends over the summer, and have spent a lot of it watching movies, reading, and getting out on the town. I’m sure I have forgotten about some things but this is as comprehensive as I can remember. I’ll try to avoid any serious spoilers.

Let’s start with movies. In no particular order:

  • The Incredible Hulk - I had low expectations (other than Edward Norton), but this turned out to be pretty good. They didn’t focus on the back story as much which I think was a good thing.

  • Wall-e - Most.Adorable.Movie.Ever. I love Pixar movies but I still think this one takes the cake. When I saw the trailer I thought it looked dumb but I could hardly control my giggles during much of it.

  • Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Vinayak and I had an argument about how good this movie would be. Vinayak loses (sorry Vinayak). I really enjoyed it; definitely way better than the first one.

  • Requiem for a Dream - A lot of people told me I shouldn’t watch this movie or I would be super depressed afterwards. It was definitely a bit of a downer, but I wasn’t particularly upset. I thought many of the scenes were kind of ridiculous, but really enjoyed the cinematography.

  • Wanted - I read the graphic novel (which is nothing like the movie), and didn’t have particularly high expectations. The movie was ridiculous, and if you had any hope for it, you probably hated it because it was pretty silly.

  • Equilibrium - To get us pumped up for The Dark Knight, we decided to watch a bunch of Christian Bale movies. I had seen a few of the scenes from the movie. It had similar crazy-action moments to Wanted or the Matrix, but I thought it actually had a reasonably decent plot.

  • Batman Begins - Had already seen this one, but it was part of our Christian Bale stunt. Still enjoyable the second time around.

  • The Dark Knight - We waited 3 hours to see this at midnight Thursday Night/Friday Morning. Totally worth it. Heath Ledger was impeccable. I loved his performance, and the rest of the cast also did a terrific job. Definitely intend to see this again at some point.

  • Pink Floyd The Wall - Believe it or not, I had never seen this movie before. It was pretty crazy and took me until the end to figure out what was going on. Even then I was a bit confused.

  • Persepolis - Second time seeing this one as well. Enjoyable in a sort of dark way, Persepolis is one of those movies that puts you in the shoes of something that you otherwise might not understand.

So that’s a lot of movies. Now books:

  • Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez- I finished this early on in the summer. It took me a long time to get through with term and all, but I wound up enjoying it. Despite being different from the books I tend to enjoy, I thought it was a worth while read. Didn’t really like the ending all that much, though. I would like to see the movie at some point, but have not gotten around to it yet.

  • Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely - I started this on the train to New York before my trip to the Caribbean; I finished it 3 days later. Loved it. The book felt highly relevant and had a lot of room for introspection.

  • Wanted by Mark Millar - Crazy. Adrenaline filled ridiculousness. No wonder the movie was nothing like this.

  • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - Stereotypical cyberpunk. I started the book and there were a few things about it that I thought were completely nuts and over the top. People had hyped the book a lot so I didn’t really know what to expect. Overall, it turned out to be fun, and Raven really is a total bad ass.

  • Neuromancer by William Gibson - Haven’t finished this one yet. Just started it a few days ago; it’s been hard to get through (I don’t really know what’s going on…) but I’m trying to persevere, for now at least.

Other outings:

  • Laser Dark Side of the Moon - The Museum of Science Planetarium has Laser Light Shows. A few of us decided to to one a few Saturdays ago. Holy crap. It was totally incredible. Definitely planning on going to another one some time.

  • ArtBeat 2008 - Freezepop played this year! They played a fun set and even gave everyone lots of freezepops. Very tasty. We also saw Rota Temporis and Akrobatik. I took a few pictures.

  • New England Sand Sculpting Festival - The Sand Sculpting Festival happened at Revere Beach again this year. This year the center piece had a bunch of comic book characters including the Hulk and Batman. I took pictures of most of the competing pieces. Sarah Hopp and I decided it would be a terrific idea to submerge ourselves in the freezing cold water, which didn’t work out so hot. Unfortunately it started to storm when we had only been there for a little while, so we came back to hall early.

  • New England Aquarium - We went because I wanted to see the Sharks and Rays exhibit, the advertisements for which are all over Boston. Also Sharks3D. The aquarium turned out to be small and underwhelming compared to Monterey (I’m spoiled now, I think), but we saw a gigantic sea turtle get fed a head of lettuce and pet some sharks and rays. The IMAX 3D show was unlike any 3D film I had seen before (no more red and blue glasses). It made my head spin but was also pretty neat.

And I think that’s it. Things to look forward to:

  • Six Flags, July 27th

  • NYC trip, August 1-3

  • REX planning (for EC and Dorm Con)

  • The rest of the summer :)