you have to believe me when i say this originally wasn't on my list of movies to see this summer. the first tomb raider left enough of a bad taste in my mouth that i wasn't looking forward to seeing its sequel. bu then i started hearing that this one is better than the first one, which honestly wouldn't be that hard to do considering how bad the first movie was. i figured, since i'm going into the movie with such low expectations anyway, surely it can be better, not worse.

after having seen the movie i can say that yes, this sequel is better, but not enough to make it a good film and maybe you'd be better off not seeing it if you want some advice from me.

before the movie even started, we were bombarded with no less than 7 trailers: cabin fever, scary movie 3, master and commander, the rundown, the fighting temptations, marci x, and dickie roberts. out of all those movies, i know cabin fever will be good (i read it harkens back to the glory days of horror movies, with plenty of gore, gratuitous nudity, and bad music), although it's not something you can see from watching the trailer. master and commander might also be interesting, with the latest hot trend being pirates, a movie about imperial sailing might not be too bad.

when we first see lara croft, she's sporting a black bikini, riding a skijet. this must be the year of the black bikini, because demi moore wore one in charlie's angels 2. minutes later, she changed into her silver skin tight scuba outfit, as featured prominently in the movie poster. from there we soon learn that lara must use this amber orb, which is actually a map, to find the location of pandora's box, before this evil biological weapons dealer can get his hands on it. apparently pandora's box, besides containing unspeakable insight into things unknown, also houses deadly diseases which can be used to wipe out civilization as we know it. hey, at least she doesn't distort the fabric of space-time like in the first movie, like, come on, nobody can do that! finding weapons of mass destruction inside of a mythical box though, that's something i can get behind.

why is archaeology regarded as such a sexy movie profession? when was the last time you met a hot archaeologist? i'm sure they exist, the rules of probability says they do, but movie characters like indiana jones and lara croft make antique hunting something quite special. i wonder if there will suddenly be a surge of applications to top archaeology schools around the world.

here's something fun to do if you're unfortunate enough to watch this movie: count the number of times panasonic products make it onto the big screen. it's very obvious that the movie producers have signed a product placement deal with said electronic company.

just some more random notes, no real spoilers:

• those terracotta warriors look so fake! the real ones each one is different. if you look carefully in the movie, you'll see repeating heads. plus, if they were really priceless, why would the evil chinese collector guy smash them up during his fight with lara croft?
• lara croft rides a neon dragon! that scene was cool.
• if the orb can reveal the secret location of pandora's box, why doesn't lara croft just smash up the orb, so nobody could ever find the box?
• alex, who lived and worked in hong kong, told me geographical stuff about the city that only a native would know, like, "the building they're jumping off from isn't the same building they were just in." i'm sure hong kong moviegoers will appreciate these inaccuracies.

what can i say? see it if you must, but it's not really that good. did i mention i almost feel asleep a few times? and normally i love action movies! if you saw the first movie, it's pretty much more of the same. i've already forgotten most of the movie, so there's no lingering side effects if you do see it. but why take that chance?

hate to do this, but content forthcoming... if you were planning on seeing this movie, i strongly advise you to seek an alternate selection, this is not a very good film. although better than the original, the first one was so bad that anything would've been an improvement. i predict it's going to make a lot of money opening week though, but then it'll diminish in profitability rather quickly as word of mouth spread the news as to how unsatisfying this movie is. i was kind of embarassed to tell people i was seeing this movie, but now that i know it's not very good, i'm doubly embarassed.

i woke up to do some minor photoshop edits and html coding for brooke aka oz. it took 3 hours, working in absolute silence, which was starting to get too stark for me. it was already 1pm by the time i finished and quickly heated up a pocket pot pie to eat.

rob house dropped by unexpectedly while i was finishing my lunch. i noticed his bicycle leaned up against the stairs leading up to my place. his hair was getting long, i made some comment about it, he said he wanted to cut it, i told him it was perfect for styling, he said he doesn't use any hair care products, i asked if he used a combination shampoo/conditioner, he said he doesn't know. we watched the end of minority report, we disagreed on the merit of this movie. i didn't like it while rob thought it was interesting. he showed me this image online, which i thought was really freaky.

i took the motorcycle to the fresh pond cinema to meet alex to go see the tomb raider sequel. he was late, i waited out on the steps for him, writing in my journal, my black motorcycle helmet cooking on the ground besides my feet. when he finally showed up we went inside and got tickets. there was only one other couple in the screening room when we got there, but eventually it filled up to a few dozen.

when i came back home it was already close to dinner time. i talked with my neighbor doug before coming into the house, our conversation coming to a natural end when a bug flew directly into his eye. instead of making something new for dinner (cooking for myself is a waste of effort i now realize, i rather cook for other people), i went with an old standby, the spicy parsley clam sauce linguine. it's a good recipe that i still have to read from the cookbook despite it being a rather easy dish to make. it's perfect for a beginner cook because it uses a lot of different cooking skills, from chopping vegetables, to simmering out a sauce, to boiling the noodles, then finally tossing everything together. besides, the final product is quite appealing visually. i also made a brown cow (coffee & vanilla ice cream mixed with root beer) as a dessert.

after dinner, alex unexpectedly dropped by to return my visitor's parking permit. he stayed briefly, checked his e-mail, before leaving. soon afterwards andrew came back home after a week up in vermont on a work assignment, returning my housekeys which he accidently took with him on monday morning. he got changed for a night time run and then went out (which reminds me, i didn't run today despite it being friday, i'll have to do it tomorrow morning then).

eliza jones came by to finally pick up her running shoes (the ones she was supposed to come and pick up last night, but never got around to it). while negotiating the details of tonight's little impromptu get-together, i accidently called her "renata" - woops. i went with her to find someplace to eat, since she was still dinnerless. we decided on davis square as the venue. in the car, she asked if i'd be interested in going to a bar. it was obvious what her intentions were, to get me drunk, or at least have that satisfaction of watching me, a serious non-drinker, drink. however, this was not to be the case, as we decided to go to anna's tacqueria. while eliza got a burrito, i just had an appetizer of chips and salsa. we talked about how we say certain people's name in their entirety, about digital cameras (eliza might buy one), and not taking any photos of her eating. we stayed until 11pm, when they were putting the empty chairs on the tables and turning off the lights. all along the streets were crowds of people outside bars, perhaps to smoke, i wasn't paying too much attention. eliza gave me a ride home, i invited her to come in ("i have two beers with your name on it," i informed her), but she excused herself on the notion that she has to get some early sleep on a friday night.

harry belafonte - jump in the line (shake señora)