Metacritic

I discovered metacritic last week and its definitely one of my favorite websites out there. Unlike any other website for reviewing the arts, metacritic lists the reviews from esteemed writers and well-known publications on a variety of new releases from music, books, TV shows, and movies.

The site is intuitive and easy to navigate. Metacritic takes the essential quotes of each critic's review to create a short summary. If I'm in a rush, I can read the excerpts and come up with my own consensus of the reviews. If one of the excerpts seem particularly intriguing, then I can click on the hyperlink and read the entire article from the publication's website.

Metacritic has a personal score system called metascore. This is useful, if I'm considering seeing a movie and don’t want to learn too much about the plot. I can skim down the line at the numeric scores and see the averaged out grade the movie received.

Metacritic also has a top ten list of favorite picks from retail stores like amazon (based on consumer popularity) to local weeklies across the nation.

Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida - Archive June 26, 2007

The weather is a steady 80 degrees. I am left with unpleasant itchy welts from the insects looming around the swamps of the Everglades. Fortunately, there are no prehistoric bugs in these parts.

Instead of bugs, we have predaceous barracudas. I observed them from a distance while snorkeling in the morning. They're frightened of humans and captivating to watch. These fish spend all day preying on smaller schools of fish.

The omnivorous parrotfishes gently tried to taste me using their colorful beaks. This is done in the same fashion as a curious baby uses its mouth to discover its surroundings. The water was fairly clear and I could see a new explorable world just below my toes. This is largest coral reef in the Americas, and the third largest in the world.

I rested on the beach and wrote briefly, then drove down an extension bridge linking one island of the Keys to the next. While driving, I saw a sign for a Turtle Hospital. I took a hard right into the parking lot and meandered in. I was greeted by a young girl working the front desk. I asked her if there were any volunteer positions at the hospital. She told me there were many openings and always looking for additional help.


The turtle hospital gave an impressive tour (open to the public) of the facility. The first portion of the tour was aimed at teaching about conservation and methods to prevent problems from pollution to disease in sea turtles. The other half of the tour showed us the aftermath of our neglect.

A turtle the size of a small lap dog rested on an operating board waking up from surgery. The poor turtle had a tube shoved down its throat. His face was sickly and doped out. The tour guide explained that the veterinarians must keep these turtles alert because they are conscious breathers, which means they have to think to breath. To wake the sea turtles, the vets would rub their fins until their eyes opened. This also makes the turtles believe that they're swimming in the ocean causing their fins to move like built in oars.

After surgery the turtles are taken outside to special rehabilitation tanks. Most of these creatures looked like they were on a steady path to recovery gracefully floating in six feet rubber bins. While others were barely alive. The turtles had many different problems ranging from swallowing fishing hooks to being hit by boats.

If the turtles heal properly they are moved into a 100,000 gallon ocean water filled pool. Some of the severely injured turtles have to stay in this pool for the remainder of their lives and most sea turtles live at least 80 years.



Information about the Turtle Hospital and Volunteer Opportunities: http://www.turtlehospital.org

No Longer My Governator

In 2003, Californians ousted then Democrat Governor Gray Davis in a recall and replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. This occurred during the middle of my Fall quarter at UCLA. Shortly after Governor Schwarzenegger was sworn in, my tuition for the courses I was enrolled in, went up considerably. A bill was sent out to every student on campus informing us of the additional amount that was now due. California is currently one of the most Democratic states in the nation (as seen in the most recent Presidential election with Obama winning over McCain 54-37%) to vote a Republican into position then meant there was a crisis at hand.

Some said Davis was behind a mountain of corruption, while others thought of the problems as merely a mole hill of negligence. One thing was for sure, Davis backed up a lot of budget cuts at the universities and colleges across California. The outcome of his dismissal meant students were in deeper financial debt.

Former student, Mohammad Kashmiri, of the UC school system, called foul to this act brought on by the new Governor arguing that the cost of tuition cannot be changed in the middle of a quarter. He brought this complaint to the Superior Court of San Fransisco, won the suit, and I received a large check in the mail today.

E-mail the Class Administrator at ucfees@rustconsulting.com

During the time of the recall six women accused Governor Schwarzenegger of making sexual advances. Here's a video you may want to watch. Disturbing, yes, also revealing:
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Sundance Celebrates 25 Years

Moving Day

Spent the morning at the RMV registering the car and myself in Massachusetts.
In the afternoon, I got a u-hual and moved my belongings to the new apartment. I officially move in tomorrow.

Moving-Day Tips from The Onion:


Moving-Day Tips
Moving can be a major hassle, but with proper planning, it doesn't have to be. Here are some tips to make your next move as smooth as possible:

* To avoid breakage, glass items should be melted down, then re-blown after moving into your new home.
* Six weeks before moving day, fill one small box with books, seal it tightly, and write "books" on top in permanent marker. Then do nothing more until the day before your move.
* If using friends to help move, show your gratitude by buying them a pizza. Don't mention that a professional mover would have cost about 300 times more than a pizza.
* It is heartless and cruel to leave a pet at the humane society because of a move. Smother it in the bathtub and bag it up for trash day.
* Throw smoke grenades into every room of your new home to flush out any possible Viet Cong.
* Get a jump on things by cancelling electricity and water service several weeks before moving.
* Move to Portland. It's a really cool city. They've got all these awesome parks downtown.
* Waiting until the truck is pulling away to say goodbye to neighbors will make moving day a very moving day, indeed.
* Instead of writing "Fragile" on boxes containing breakables, place a copy of Yes' Fragile on top.
* Boxes are an unnecessary expense. Place all possessions in the truck and fill to top with packing peanuts.
* Don't get too excited when you see a U-Haul truck that says "Moves Only $19.99" on the side. These signs are only intended as a joke.
* After relocating to your new home, remember that you are legally obligated to go door-to-door informing your new neighbors that you are a convicted sex offender.
* Rushing the previous tenants out of the apartment you're moving into is a great way to score free toiletries.
* For the love of God, don't ever move.

Half Moon Bay...

looks like Tatooween.