Day Break

Last night (Saturday) my friends Donna and Tom came over and we ate some really good Vietnamese carry-out food (spring rolls, barbecued shrimp), drank wine followed by coffee and Carolans, and watched a French movie. The movie was titled "Poupées Rousses" (Russian Dolls) and was the sequel to "L'Auberge Espagnole."

The great thing about many European movies is that they concentrate on believable characters and avoid both the trite and melodramatic. The film's characters carry it, and any good story centers around its protagonist(s). The film had a rich cast of excellent actors who carried off its premise with aplomb.

Meanwhile, I also enjoyed the first episode of Daybreak last Wednesday evening. The story is a lot like Groundhog Day, but is very dark and sinister. I will be quite fascinated to follow it through to the end, which I hope won't be too contrived. That's the only problem with a program with such an artificial premise: it can only end in a few ways, and the payoff will be diminished if the ending is too unbelievable or cliché. A few of the ways Daybreak can end:
· It was all a dream.
· It was all an hallucination.
· The protagonist is dead.
· The protagonist is a character in a movie/TV show/video game and doesn't know it.
· The protagonist is bouncing among alternate, parallel universes.

If the writers can avoid the worn-out clichés mentioned above, then the payoff could be really good. I'm looking forward to following this story through.

Meanwhile, last Thursday night I gave my final presentation for the Presentation Skills class. To complete the project, I reworked my old talk on MT and Localization, to be more of a basic intro to MT. It went well, and Bonni only took off 5 points for "slow pacing." I could have argued with her about it, but one must choose one's battles wisely. Besides, Bonni rocks and I always respect her opinions.

Tonight the Chargers play Denver at 5:00, and my parents will be coming over after Mass for dinner and a movie. Tomorrow, it's back to work for moi!