"Lady in the Water" Review

Great movie, though many people will tell you otherwise. I think a lot of people were going into it thinking it was 1) a horror/thriller or 2) have the trademark Shamalan twist at the end. It was neither of these. If you go in with a blank slate (which means stop reading here, if you haven't seen the movie) and with the idea hearing a good story, I think you'll enjoy it.

Warning - spoiler below

I read one review that said it was too much of a bed time story. Well, it is a bed time story. It is originally a bed time story he told his kids, which made its way into a childrens book. Most movies either draw you into a total fantasy world, or they are in the 'real' world. I think this movie does a good job of bringing the two together.

The movie is just a good story. Shyamalan is also a master of subtleties. On of my favorite parts of the move is the types of characters that help Story. Unassimilated immigrants (the spanish and asian families), the angry old man, the crazy cat lady, a dejected former doctor, a child with too much imagnation - in some form or another, they are all the people who are not neccessarily the conventional 'heroes'. But here, it is the ordinary, the disinherited, who do something important for the world. They are the ones important for humanity.

He goes about telling the story of the rescue of Story in a fascinating way. I guess you could say his trademarke "twist" is there. Halfway through the movie, Shyamalan leads you to believe you've figured it out - Cleveland has found all the pieces to helping Story, but they all turn out to be wrong. In the end, the clues are there, but he overpowered them with the wrong clues to mislead the viewer.

I personally enjoyed the fairy tale-ness of the movie, but call me a sucker for legends and stories that harken back to the days when science and logical thought did not kill a good story.

Ok, so maybe I should change all the "you's" throughout this to "I's". I'm sure there are enough people who will challenge me on any of the above. So I will acquiese and call it 'opinion'. But it's all opinion anyway.

The Trick to Getting a Date (compliments of a dear friend)

1. Go over seas.
That one's easy. I'll be leaving for the great country of Bahrain somewhere between August 16 -19, and I will be over there till at least June 2007. The school I will be at, Sanabil Private School, pays for my airfare back to the states for the summer. Sweet candy cracker!

2. Contract a disease.
Ok, so this one probably won't be as fun, but sometimes sacrifices need to be made. It may be a tough one, too. Bahrain is a fairly modern and western country, and while the Center for Disease Control lists several diseases and subsequent precautionary measures for travelers to take, the actual danger is pretty low.

So I'll have to work extra hard on this step.

3. Come back to the states and wait for the women to flock to me.
Since I'm gone for about 10 months, I'll need to time this one just right. But I've observed that when one is sick, the individual will be asked on dates and given phone numbers left and right.

As my father once said, "Once you are out of college, it becomes much harder to find a wife." (and as my former roomate countered - "So once I've left college I'm home free?") Now that I have graduated from Northwestern College, I need all the help I can get.

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But I guess my focus on finding a wife can wait. For now I am working on curriculum development, attempting to figure out international finances, and waiting for my plane tickets and work visa to arrive. But I'll talk about that another time. For now, I'll let you digest the three steps to getting a date.

Bahrain? Huh?

Unsure of where Bahrain is? Here's a map. In the larger portion, the dark dot in the center is Bahrain. I wasn't kidding when I said it was small. Its just off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf. Kuwait and Iraq are northwest and Iran is directly to the north.

The whole country is 25 miles north to south, and 15 miles wide at its widest.

During the summer (April - October), temperatures hover around 100-120 degrees, with 90 percent humidity. During the winters, things cool off, getting down to 60 degrees, highs in the 80's. There are no in between seasons, such as fall or spring. Its just hot or scalding.