Want to visit scenic Carly's Dorm Room in Ashland, Oregon? I knew you would. So here you go. Though, these were taken a week or two ago, which means things have changed. I've unpacked a bit more, and now there's a desktop on my... desk. Other than that, though, these are an accurate representation of my life.


1 : I'm still working on that 'unpacking' thing. I mostly just leave my clean clothes in the suitcase, wear them, wash them, THEN stick them in the closet. It's a formulaic process, and so far it's worked for me.

2 : My bathrobe. It's cute and warm.

3 : Those are jeans that I was either going to wear that day, or forgot to put in one of the designated 'clean' or 'dirty' areas. They are still on the floor, if you're wondering.

4 : I don't use these drawers. And I complain about storage space. Go figure.


1 : Look at all those neatly hanging clothes. See, I'm not living out of my suitcase. Not entirely, anyway. And yes. I am the evil twin.

2 : Up the top of the cabinet, if you can't spot it on your own. Those are my awesome hats. Two fedoras and two things I like to call 'Eponine' hats. And my Indiana Jones hat. Badass. There is also a Pirates of the Caribbean sword and a lightsaber up there. I'm not kidding.

3 : Lightsaber. See, I told you.

4 : Indiana Jones hat, for specific reference. I'm awesome.

5 : This is my 'shit I don't really need' cubby. In there are a couple of shirts I stole from when I worked at the food court, a rainbow head scarf, cling wrap, green scarf, gloves and a 'homeless hat', a bag I bought in town when I was on my first visit here back in High School (aw, good times), and a tennis ball I stole from the theatre.

6 : Orange bath towel. I always know where my towel is. I'm one hoopy frood.

7 : Hey, that's my arm!

8 : The 'other cabinet' has all my bathroom essentials, my first aid kit, and some other less desirable things I didn't think it would be appropriate to record on film. No one wants to see someone elses toiletries.


1 : My gaming area. The best part of my room, I think. That's my Wii. It's a beloved little thing, and I do my best to take care of it. Why is it tilted away from the TV? I accidentally kicked it while taking the picture. Yeah. I do my best.

2 : I bought Pokemon Mystery Dungeon this term for 17 bucks. Not a bad deal, even if it means I can no longer afford food or booze.

3 : My DVD player. And when I say 'mine' I mean the one I took from my parents because it played DVDs and VHS tapes. I love VHS tapes, and I can get them pretty easily from DJ's Video up the street. I have one sitting on the top of the TV right now. One Night Stand. Robert Downey Jr, man. On top of that is the boxes for The Good German and Repo! The Genetic Opera. Good times.

4 : My Wii games. Not an extensive collection, by any means. They are Wii Sports, Iron Man, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Pokemon: Revolution, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility. The open one by the Wii is Animal Crossing: City Folk. I don't get WiFi up here, though, so it's... limited. Still fun though.

5 : I was watching Ninja Warrior on G4. My TV is often set on the same channels. In the morning I'll be on Cartoon Network, since I usually go to sleep watching Adult Swim. I also watch Comedy Central, g4, Bravo, The Discovery Channel, TNT, USA, Spike, TBS and AMC a lot. Mostly whatever channel has the most interesting movie playing at the time. And Bravo for Top Chef. Awww yeah.

6 : This is my 'tech bag'. Everything relating to my computer, lap top, dvd collection, Wii and anything else electronic can be found in here. So don't steal it. Dayyum.


1 : My microwave. It came dented. But I have blown it up once. I put something that didn't look like foil in it, only to learn that it was, in fact, foil. It caught fire and I was lucky that the smoke alarm didn't go off. I would have had a tough time explaining that one. Or not, really. I just did. Hm. It's got a dial instead of a number pad, for those of us too lazy to be exact. I just turn it in the general direction of the required minutes for cookage.

2 : Food. Most of it is gone now. Keebler double stuff cookies are a must. Pop Tarts. For some odd reason my mom also packed me peanut butter. No bread or crackers or... anything I might be able to use it on. But that's okay, I have a spoon and a strong like of peanut butter. I make it work.

3 : Sticky notes. I keep them within arm's length when I'm on the bed because I'm often struck with things I 'need to remember' just before going to bed. So I write them down and stick them on the wall.

4 : The charging station. Here I plug in my phone and my DS every night. Can't let those babies die. Plus, my phone also works as my alarm when it's plugged in.

5 : Mini-fridge. It only kind of works, and makes some odd noises in the middle of the night, because it's an ass hole and knows when I'm trying to get to sleep. I mostly keep water and booze in there. The essentials. Right now, however, I have a jar of pickles in there. Another gift from mom.

6 : Popcorn. This is a movie lovers dorm room, what did you expect?

7 : Plastic bag corner. I feel bad if I throw them out, so I save them until I can go somewhere to recycle them. Or throw them out on the last day of the term. You know. Whatever.

8 : Hard to see, but that's my Wii-Mote. I like it close, for easy gaming in the middle of the night. Priorities.


1 : That's Bulbasaur. My twin got him for me, and he comes with my to my dorm every term. He's a keeper.

2 : These blinds never open. Ever.

3 : My candy jar is depressingly empty. I stole it from my friend Erin. I'm starting to think I'm a thief.

4 : Candy that has escaped the jar! No, it's not here any more. It suffered the consequences of its escape attempt.

5 : Mom sent me a package. It was a USB connector for my Ethernet, since the one on my laptop was dead. Yeah. I only just got this stupid pile of shit back from getting it fixed, too. They replaced the motherboard and the harddrive. Surprise! We gave you one with a dead ethernut hub! Enjoy. And the USB thing didn't work anyway. Blue screened my computer a ton, because my computer is shitty. Now I'm on this desktop. Suck it, computer.

6 : Literal package the USB Connector was sent in. Yeah, I've since thrown that out.

7 : Plastic bowls. For food stuffs.

8 : Paper towels. Doesn't make you frood if you know where they are, but they are handy to keep around. Particularly if you're a messy person. As I am.

9 : A blurred video game strategy. I guess I caught it in the act of trying to liberate itself from my desk. It's for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, if you were curious.

10 : The contents of my pockets, when they're not in my pockets. My wallet, flash drive, movie tickets, notes and blank paper (just in case I'm struck with genius), my handy mechanical pencil, and some change.

11 : A pull out drawer that's supposed to be for keyboards, but I use it as extra storage. Those are nail clippers and a hair tie. I don't know where they went, though. Right now I have my digital camera and my TV remote in there.


1 : My bed. I sleep here. When it's not covered in other stuff, of course.

2 : My flannel. I think I got this one back in... tenth grade, maybe? One of my friends gave it to me when we were in a classroom with a teacher neither of us were actually taking classes with. We liked going there because he gave us pomegranates and challenged us to online game matches. I defeated him a couple of times. Good times. Any way, I wear it with my PJs during the winter, because it gets crazy cold here.

3 : Shitty lap top. The tiger sticker is from Guitar Hero III. I didn't put any others on there, because it'll just be a waste of stickers when the thing inevitably breaks.

4 : My pillows. They support my head when I'm sleeping.

5 : TV remote. Currently in the keyboard shelf, not on my bed.

6 : School backpack. Ha. It's probably empty.

7 : PJs. You can't tell, but there are kitties on them. A different friend gave them to me in high school, for Secret Santa. And if you were wondering, my pj shirt also came from high school. It's this extra large shirt the Improv used to wear to shows and comps. The Dramafia. It has a fake tux on the front and 'Dramafia' on the back.

8 : Chair. I keep it next to my bed when I have a working lap top, to work as a table. Since the lap top is shit, and I have a desk top and like to sit down when I'm using it, it's returned to my desk.


1 : That's the carpet. Pretty, isn't it?

2 : This is my 'school corner', located under my bed so I don't think about it and forget my books on the days that I need them. The one on top there is the AP Style Back. God help you if you're a journalism student here and you forget to reference that thing every time you write.

3 : Papers lovingly categorized by class and importance, and not just thrown in a pile. The book on top is from my Film Genres class. I actually read that one.

4 : Fuzzy socks! They keep mah feetz warm.

5 : My purse. No. I don't use it very often. Not surprised? Yeah. I'm surprised I even own it. You know what's inside it? A flash light. I don't know why.


1 : My storage corner. Those are extra sheets on top of the box I brought most of my stuff in.

2 : Water. I drink a lot of water. There used to be two, but... I drank all of the first one.

3 : Chef Boyardee and cup noodles. I'm pretty much set, nutritionally.

Taken Review and Rental Queue 4

Taken Review: B+

Liam Neeson steals the show in this action oriented crime thriller. Of course, there isn’t much for him to steal, considering most of his co-stars spend most of the movie safe off screen while he goes out and handles the dirty work. Which is completely fine by me. It does make talking about performances a bit difficult, however. Maggie Grace plays his seventeen year old daughter, who goes off to Paris with her friend and is subsequently kidnapped, and she does her part respectably. Lots of screaming, fear, and teenage angst. Famke Janssen spends a few minutes playing her mother, though, really, there isn’t a lot of time spent with the character. She’s a mom, remarried and irritated by her former husband’s choices. Nothing ground breaking there.

Did I mention Liam Neeson? The sole reason any one needs to see this film is to watch him beat up and/or kill every bad guy that comes into his line of vision. He is at his best, and that’s saying a lot considering this is the same man that played one of the greatest Jedi Masters to ever teach a Padawan the way of the force, Qui-Gon Jinn as well as a particularly awesome Batman villain in Batman Begins. So I had high hopes for the action going in, and the film did not disappoint. Liam Neeson is a one-man wrecking crew, specializing in the demolition of human lives and private property in foreign countries.

In all fairness, he did warn the bad guys that he was going to come after him. They really should have listened.

The writing is not spectacular, as far as the dialogue is concerned. The story is familiar, if you’ve seen movies like Trade or… just about any film involving a kidnapped love one. There are some particularly painful moments of awkward line delivery, even from Neeson. One scene jumps to mind, when he’s on the phone with his daughter and delivers some classic ‘plot development’ lines. “What? You want to meet for lunch tomorrow, alone? Sounds good!” The positive side of it is that once the kidnapping happens the dialogue is limited to the high octane thrill ride, leaving no room for uncomfortable conversation or half hearted attempts at character building.

And that’s a good thing.

The sheer speed of this movie is mind blowing. It redefines ‘pacing’ as ‘hold on to your seats and try not to blink’. It is a full-throttle adventure, and it never lets you lose interest. There is no time to be bored, save in the first twenty minutes or so as the scene is being set. Once Neeson gets his guns and gets to work all the audience can do is buckle up and hope not to be hit by any stray bullets or sprays of blood. It’s more than entertaining, because it knows exactly who it’s playing to. This is one of those movies that knows just what its audience wants, and delivers a nearly perfect mix of those demands.

Some of the camera shots do force the action down your throat, unfortunately. There is an epic chase scene through a construction site and, while still very cool, the violently shaking camera almost detracts from the drama and intensity of the moment. It makes it so difficult to know who is tumbling down a ditch, and which car we’re supposed to be following. Yes, that’s a choice by the director, but it doesn’t seem like a particularly needed one. The scene would have worked just as well with a serious of straight cuts sans wobbling.

The movie does ask you to believe a number of far fetched things. Like, for example, the unwavering badassness that is Liam Neeson. In the business it’s called ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ and it is utilized very well here. For the sake of the story it seems perfectly acceptable that one man can (literally) shoot his way into an entire covert organization that has probably been doing kidnappings like this for years, and that no one else has been able to get close to. He can cause car wrecks, leap from bridges, and run for days without tiring, because that’s how well trained he is. Why question it?

Taken is fun. It’s interesting. There are some moments of weak writing and dumb conversation. It’s not believable one hundred percent of the time. It won’t ever win any awards. But it’s good. Very good. So go see it already.




Rental Queue 4:

Love, Actually
A total chick flick, Love Actually is one of the sweetest movies around. Excellent acting from a truly remarkable cast makes this a great romance movie. Good for a night in, a pick me up, or a jaunt through good ol’ England, it’s one of my favorite movies. The recommendation comes from Liam Neeson’s performance here, which is very subtle but painfully honest. He plays a recently widowed father of a young boy who is struggling with his own crisis of love. He and Emma Thompson share some good scenes, but of course the rest of the movie going on around them is also a great watch.

Les Miserables
No, this one isn’t the musical. It’s an adaptation of the book, with Liam Neeson playing the bread-stealing, jail-escaping, child-adopting Jean Valjean. Of course, it’s not a straight rendition, so fans of the canon might be a bit disappointed in the changes here. I, however, find the story to be perfect for the cast. The copper that chases Valjean over the years is played by Geoffrey Rush, and is one of his finest performances. Just after a certain swashbuckling, mutineer of a pirate, anyway. Uma Thurman and Claire Danes also lend their familiar faces and talents to this flick, making it that much more of a must-see.

Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace:
Yeah. Star Wars. Are you surprised? Once again, Liam Neeson offers a great performance in a fairly unlikely role. Here he plays Qui Gon Jinn, Master to the young (and strikingly handsome) Obi-Wan Kenobi. It is difficult not to fall in love with Qui Gon, which is why Neeson was the perfect casting choice. His every scene makes this iteration of the franchise bearable, even after young Anakin Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks come into the picture. Plus, the fight at the end between Qui Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul is amazing.

Trade
With a story similar to that of Taken, it was hard for me not to think about this film while writing my review. Taken has more action and moves a lot faster than Trade, but the similarities remain. The plots both focus on children being abducted and forced in to prostitution rings. Trade just swings it out into a broader scope, a man’s journey to find his daughter becoming a battle to save others from the same fate. Kevin Kline is really subdued in this part, but his strong performance serves him well and depicts a new character for the versatile actor.

Blown Away
A bit of a random tie in here. In my Film Genres class we recently watched High Noon, in which a young Lloyd Bridges costars. Just before that I had been working my way through some Jeff Bridges films, and I remembered that this father/son duo have been in a couple of movies together. Blown Away is an action flick about explosions and running around. There’s more to it than that, but the plot is fairly simple and, really, the most important parts are the bombs. Tommy Lee Jones, the bad guy, and Jeff Bridges, the good guy, both play with Irish accents, and Lloyd Bridges plays Jeff’s mentor. It’s almost sweet to watch, if you weren’t worried about the both of them blowing up every moment.