Lost In Translation, 2003.

Aged actor Bob Harris (Bill Murray) finds himself in Tokyo to do a commercial and promote a whiskey. While Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) travels along with her busy photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi) hoping for an adventure in the isle nation. Unfortunately for the two tourists, their vacations aren't turning out as they had originally hoped. Both Bob and Charlotte are depressed, tired, homesick, and isolated for not being around loved ones. The two strangers suddenly meet by chance in the hotel bar where they're staying in. The two exchange what they're going through, and realize that they have much in common. An unlikely friendship begins to spawn, as Bob and Charlotte begin to spend every day together living the high life in Tokyo and having outrageous encounters with its citizens.

Lost In Translation was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film walked away with one for Best Original Screenplay.

Lost In Translation is one of the most unique films I've ever seen. It's not a comedy, romance, or even a drama. It's a movie that leaves you warm hearted, yet empty and sad at the same. I think it ultimately represents finding peace and happiness in the most unlikely place. That how even the shortest friendships can have an impact on someone who has given up hope in life.

With summer being as it is, I was sure it was going to wind down and join many other summers that suffered from a similar pattern.

But this past weekend me and my family travelled to Chicago to help my older sister move into her new apartment. She's planning on being a high school teacher there, and right now she just got done with her training and now finally has found the time to settle in. The place was actually nice, it was in a downtown area of Chicago just outside the heart of the city with tons restaurants and stores to look at and visit.

Moving all her crap up three stories in eighty degree weather however was different story, seriously I was never that tired and burnt out until that day. Thank God her place had air conditioning.

Besides that it was nice to see her again, and I hope it all works out for her over there. I wish I could've gotten to see more of Chicago, but I suppose there will always be another time to go there again.

In other words, I've been having a long boring summer. Seriously, I can't be the only one going through this. :P

I did pick up some new games to combat my boredom though.

I got this after hearing it had a great campaign, and since I'm not into multiplayer I figured I'd try it out. So far Crysis 2 is not only visual stunning, but it's a great tactical shooter with a huge open world environment to use to your advantage, customizing your weapons on the spot during a firefight, and built in camouflage and heat sensor vision are great for stealth fights.

Finally got this after holding out and waiting for a price drop. I'll give Sega credit, after years of trial and error, they finally hit the nail on the head with Sonic Colors. Great looking levels combined with fast paced and steady platforming game play makes Sonic Colors the best 3D Sonic game in years.

Graduated from high school today. Besides sitting in the hot weather wearing a black robe and hat for two hours, things went pretty well, now I can finally throw the burden of going to high school off my shoulders. Went to a graduation party later, had a good time, and now I'm just relaxing being thankful that this day is finally over.

Not only that but I got some new CDs as a graduation gift.

Today's my birthday, I'm 19 now. I know I should feel older and wiser, but that has yet to happen to me.:P It was a pretty subtle birthday, went out for dinner with my family and had cake when we got home. Got a few new games too just for the occasion.

Now only that but I'm graduating tomorrow. I know I should be excited, but I really don't care. I guess this shows a lot about my outlook on life. :P

Picked this up today, and have been playing it non-stop ever since. It was definitely worth the wait.

Portal 2 is a bigger, and better game than its predecessor. With new puzzles, new environments, and new ways of solving these obstacles, it stands out as one of the biggest brain busters in terms of gaming. Everything else in the game such as graphics, sound, controls, and the game's dark humor are fantastic too.

There's really not much else to say about Portal 2 other than it's truly an amazing game. If you liked the first Portal, then you have to get this.

It's been eleven years, but Scream is back and better than ever. Honestly out of all the horror franchises, I never suspected of this one making a come back. I'm glad Wes Craven came back and decided to do this otherwise it would've been bad.

For the cast, the original trio Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette return and deliver great performances, along with new faces that also did a great job too. The overall film itself is witty, suspenseful, and as always completely unpredictable.

If there's one thing I like Scream for, is that it points out all the cliches in horror movies. For this latest installment, the film pointed out that all modern horror cliches have inadvertently replaced the old ones. The fact that there's no creativity in the horror genre anymore, that every horror movie that comes out is a lackluster re-make, a senseless gore fest with no substance, or just a plain old bad sequel.

The film also delivered an underlying message, that to me really got right. The film pointed out how people are obsessed with social networking sites and cell phones, and how self exploitation can be a way of living your life. Because honestly, all these to me are what's wrong with our generation, and it's the reason why no one takes us seriously.

Overall, Scream 4 is a good movie that in the end shows that old-school horror is still the best. 8)

I recently beat Resident Evil 4, a game I've owned for several years but was quick to give up on whenever I got stuck. After playing through it, it's truly one of the best games I've ever played, and perhaps if I had been more patient, it probably wouldn't have taken me this long to beat it. As a result, I became interested in Resident Evil 5, and today it arrived in the mail.

So far it's been a good game. The graphics, animation, and sound are all fantastic. The inventory menu has been completely changed, making it much more convenient to use the direction pad to select weapons and items than it is to pause the game every few seconds.

But despite having the same game play as Resident Evil 4, it feels a bit more slow, and "clunky" if you know what I mean. The A.I. partner can help out in tough situations, but it's reaction timing is kind of slow, it's really annoying that it uses its pistol throughout the game despite that you've given it better weapons.

Aside from the flaws it's still a good game, and now I'm considering checking out the classic Resident Evil games.

Movie: Spirited Away, 2001.

Plot: A young girl named Chihiro and her family are moving to a new house to start a new life. Unlike her parents, Chihiro isn't excited about the move, and would rather have stayed in her old home. After taking a wrong turn, the family discovers what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. The family decides to explore the park, Chihiro is once again not enthusiastic, but reluctantly joins her parents. Once there, Chihiro wanders away to explore by herself, but can't help but feel that the park isn't abandoned. She returns to her parents only to discover that her parents have been transformed into animals. Shocked and terrified, Chihiro runs away and begins to witness strange beings appear and her surroundings completely change before her eyes. Chihiro then meets a young boy named Haku, and informs her that she has accidentally wandered into a realm where spirits come to relax, and the reason her parents have been transformed is because they ate the food that rightfully belonged to the spirits. She soon realizes that if she wants to stay alive, help her parents and go back to the normal world, she will have to take a job at the local bath house which is the primary business of the realm. Chihiro summons the courage and boldness she never know she had, and agrees to do the job and becomes more determined than ever to do what's right for herself, and for her family.

On any normal day, I would usually turn my back on a movie like this. But recently I've been trying to expand my interests in films, music and games. After hearing many great things about this film, including that it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film, I decided to be more open minded and check it out.

After watching it, I can say that Spirited Away is one of the most remarkable films I've ever seen in terms of both animation and fantasy. The story and characters are all unforgettable, and I can say with full confidence that it's now one of my all-time favorite movies.

I actually wasn't interested in Mirror's Edge when it was first released. Mostly because I didn't know much about it, but from what I heard, it was one of those mixed reaction type games.

After playing both Battlefield: Bad Company games, I realized that Mirror's Edge was made by the same developer that did those games, which was DICE. I loved the Bad Company games, so I figured I'd try this out and see if I liked it or not.

All I can say so far is that Mirror's Edge is one of the most innovative games I have ever played. Its fast paced game play combined with fantastic visual and sound design, and character animations makes this one of the most beautiful games out there.

The only flaw is that there's a lot of trial and error in every stage, but once you get used to game play and level design then it becomes a little bit better to play.

Overall, it's a really great game, and I'm glad I didn't ignore it for too long.