Avatar

I was going to do a longer review of Avatar, explaining my thoughts and feelings regarding it, but then I stumbled upon this online youtube review and it sums up my feelings even better than I ever could. Be fore warned, this review is in 2 parts, and totals about 20 minutes. It is NSFW, but is really funny, really well put together, and hits all the points I was going to make. Thanks guy for allowing me not to have to write to much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJarz7BYnHA&feature=channel

To sum up, Avatar was an OK movie. Yes, the new 3D and motion capture technology is great, and their CGI was pretty awesome. But so what. If you have to spend that much money to make your movie look that good, is it worth it? Do you have to rely on computers to create visually interesting set pieces? No. James Cameron set out to prove that he could revolutionize movies, and he supposedly did it. But in the long run, it's just going to make movies more expensive to make, which means studios will charge the theaters more to show them, which will in turn raise ticket prices to go to the movies even higher than their already astronomical rates. And when/if they don't recoup all their expenses during a theatrical run, the movie studios will in turn jack up DVD prices so they can try and squeeze every last dime out of the public. Is this what we want. To spend even MORE money on the movies just so we can see some blue people run around in space fern gully?

I love big, spectacular special effects and summer block busters. And I would have probably enjoyed Avatar even more if I could shrug off the bigger ramifications of a movie like this. But I couldn't. I also couldn't ignore that all the characters were so very basic that I didn't care what happened. Every plot point was so telegraphed that it carried no weight when it happened. And for a movie that was hoping, and ultimately succeeding in garnering Oscar buzz, this is a bad way to go about it. I read recently that Cameron and the producers were disappointed that none of their actors recieved Oscar nominations. Instead they will have to feast up on all the technical awards, as well as long shots for Director and Best Picture. Boo Hoo!

Anyone with any rational thought in their minds regarding movies and the award process would not even consider nominating any of these actors for an award for Best anything. This is not to mean to say that the film was poorly acted. The people did a fine job with what they were given. But what they were given just wasn't award worthy characters.

To finally sum up in what has turned out to be a much longer piece than I originally intended. Yes, Avatar looked cool. Too cool at times, as I got disoriented and annoyed with all the 3D shit they would pile up all at once. Yes, it was technologically ground breaking. No, it wasn't necessarily, and I don't want to see the larger ramifications of this kind of film becoming the standard.

Return of the Mack

It sickens me to look back on the blog here and see that my last post was in October. Not that the 2 people that read this on occasion have probably noticed, but I have been seriously lacking in the blog department. I'm gonna try and and pick up the pace.

I didn't complete my goal for the year of seeing 132 movies. I didn't even come close. In fact I saw fewer movies in 2009 than in any other year that I've kept track. Now to be fair, that's only been 3 years, but still. In a year that I was attempting to bypass my previous best, I came up well short. The final total for the year was 87. That's 45 short of my goal, and a little bit heartbreaking for me. This year I am not going with any set number of movies or hours. Simply, I'm going to watch movies and TV shows that I am interested in and that *hopefully* bring me enjoyment. I will keep track, and if the mood strikes me and I have something exciting to say perchance blog about it. Maybe this mindset will produce better results.

Much in the vain of the 2008 movie wrap up post, I'm going to do the same for my 2009 results. While 87 movies was well short of my personal goal, that does average out to more than 1 a week, which is far better than most I imagine. What will follow will be my top 5 and bottom 5 of the year. This will be limited to movies that I viewed for the first time ever in 2009, but does not mean they were made in 2009.

STATS:

87 movies watched
14 in the theater
2 repeat viewings in theaters (The Hangover, and Inglorious Basterds)
13 repeat viewings all together
74 new movies (to me)

Top 5 (in no particular order)

1. The Wrestler - Best movie I saw all year. Hands down. I still weep openly when I watch the ending. Of course I only watch that movie by myself, so no one can see my tears.
2. Drag Me To Hell
3. The Hangover
4. Watchmen
5. Inglorious Basterds

Almost made the cut: Zombieland, Up, Darkon, Trick R' Treat

Bottom 5 (in no particular order)

1. Miss March
2. Club Dread
3. Rachel Getting Married
4. The Brothers Solomon
5. Revolver

All of these I should have liked on paper, but simply couldn't connect with. Either they weren't funny enough, tried to hard, or just were just plain bad.

2010 has started off a bit slow. I've seen 4 movies, 2 in the theater and 2 at home. Though those stats are a little inflated as I saw 2 yesterday.

That's all for tonight. I'm gonna have a few more posts this week, but am pacing myself a tiny bit. One post for sure will be my thoughts/review of Avatar. I know James Cameron has been waiting to hear what I have to think of his latest work.

Movies are fun. Enjoy them.

ADD

When I was attending Ivy Tech full time my last 2 semesters, there weren't many other students that were carting their laptops with them to class and using them. Maybe it was the over abundance of computer labs at Ivy Tech, and the ease of access to all classes, as they are encapsulated in one building. Maybe it was just easier to take hand written notes or no notes at all. Most people, my self included, spent as little time at the actual building as possible. And presumably like me, everyone just went home and did their work on their computers from the comforts of their own home.

That is not true at IU. In my first full semester at IU, it's seemingly commonplace for everyone to have a laptop, and for everyone to use them during class. I'd say about 40 percent of the people in my classes use laptops during lectures. The only class that I don't see anyone using one is my English class, and I think that's just because it's more of a casual atmosphere where we just sit around and talk about the readings. No real lecture time.

Now I bring all this up to set up 2 separate stories that confound my brain.

In my Soc class, there is a guy who sits close enough to me to see his laptop during class. This class is a standard lecture class with about 80 students, and there are lots of notes to be taken. Most people just use the old tried and true method of pen and paper, while some are using their computers to type out a word document. Not this guy though. He has a specialized note taking program. This program formats the page to look just like a standard college rule notebook. It has the margin lines and lines across to write on just like a spiral notebook. And the font. OH the font. It looks just like someone's writing it down with a pen. Not some snazzy blocked up symmetrical font, but slightly askew print. So, presuming his Macbook Pro only cost him about 1300, he gets to type out all his notes to make them look like he wrote them down on paper. If he had just written them down on paper, he could have done so for about $4.26. But he doesn't have to do the "I gotta shake my hand cause it hurts so much from writing so much so quickly" move that is so common with the rest of us.

This second scenario is even more baffling to me. In one of my other classes, this same guy always sits in front of me. As soon as his butt hits the chair he has his laptop whipped out and fired up. He always instantly fires up facebook and starts checking his chat bar for who he can chat with during class. He then also starts looking at pictures and random creeping. Once that has lost it's intrest, he starts looking at his own set of pictures, usually the same set featuring him and some random girl posing all kissy face and whatnot out at some bar. At first I thought he was just some sad dude that just got dumped and was reliving his days gone by with his ex. I don't know anymore though. This has gone on for 5 weeks now.

But that isn't the end of this guys laptop ADD. He also types out whatever goes on the power point. He's not listening, just typing out whatever goes up on the board. In between typing these notes and creeping on FB, yesterday he was also watching some NHL highlights from the 1990's. With no sound on. The highlights were spaced in between interviews that he could not hear. Unless he's a lip reader, he picked the wrong set of hockey highlights to be watching. Now when it was time to "take notes" on a new slide, he would begrudgingly pause his hockey highlights, switch over to his notes by popping out his widgets that show all open windows, select his notes, and then switch back. He was visibly annoyed by this as he clearly only wanted to be watching his silent hockey movie. Eventually he got the bright idea that he could just shrink his notes down to about half the size of his screen, and then move the youtube video box to the other side, so he could have uninterrupted viewing and note taking at the same time. Such ingenuity and brain power displayed gives me hope for this young man's future. If only he can find a career where he can somehow manage upwards of 10 windows on his laptop screen, frantically switching back and forth between them trying against all hope to hold his ADD at bay and keep his mind occupied at all times on anything BUT his schoolwork, he'll be set for life.

I'm not saying I'm the most attentive student in the world. I get sleepy and yawn sometimes. I fidget, though mostly due to the fact that almost every classroom at IU is retrofitted with some of the most godawful and uncomfortable seating. But I try to pay attention. I take notes when I feel they will help me. Partially out of respect for my teachers. Either they will recognize that I'm trying to engage in the class and not just show up to get attendance credit and this will hopefully work in my favor down the line, or I am just trying to get my money's worth out of the experience. Why pay, or have someone else pay, for all these classes if your just gonna creep on FB and chat with your friends online. You can do that for free, from just about anywhere in the world. You don't have to pay 800 bucks a class or whatever it breaks down to at IU to slump down in a chair, act completely disinterested in what's going on around you, and relive that night at Upstairs where you totally felt up that hot blonde with big tits and then threw up over the balcony.

ZOMG!!!!

I'm back. I'm sure no one cares. Here are things you should see/not see based on what I've watched since my last update.

SEE
In Bruge
Star Trek
The Hangover
Drag Me to Hell
Inglorious Basterds
Observe and Report

MISS
Harry Potter 6
Revolver
City of Ember
Autopsy

There's a very small chance that I'm going to make my goal. It's in the single digits for sure. I'd need 72 more in the next 4.5 months, which would more than double my output for the first 8.5. It's not impossible, but improbable.

On to something new and different.

About a month ago my friend Rob came over to check out the new house while he was in town from Cali. We spent a good hour or so catching up on the deck, laughing and joking much like we have done for much of our relationship. Rob then busted out with a request that I simply just couldn't refuse. He and his fiance Ash are set to be wed next May, and asked me to preside over their nuptials. We had talked briefly about this about a year ago when Rob first announced his engagement to me and their very preliminary plans. Neither of them wanted a big church wedding, but something more along their tastes. I had suggested just having one of their friends get ordained online and take care of it that way. Fast forward one year later and it was coming true.

Yesterday I was looking through a blog that I frequent and happened across a link to http://www.dudeism.com/index.html For those uninitiated, this is a "religion" based on the teachings and practices of "The Dude" from the Big Lebowski. After Rob checked with the county clerks office, I quickly was ordained today and am one step closer to fulfilling my duties for my two friends. Mark it, Dude!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

It's been a while since I last watched a movie and felt that I had to blog about it right away. And typically if I dive right into writing about something that quickly it is either a sign that I absolutely loved it or it was absolute dog shit. Well, I sure didn't love it.

Now when I watch a movie I like to read up on it. Typically I check my movie websites at least once a day that have pre-production notes about movies that I want to see, or pictures. Eventually once the movie comes out there are the reviews from critics that I respect, as well as the general populous reaction on a film. Granted I don't always enjoy the same thing the masses do, but it's a good starting off point. Now about a month ago, right before April Fool's Day, word spread around the internet of a leaked DVD quality print of the movie circulating the tubes well in advance of the movie actually coming out. I've heard that if you wanted to download a movie on the internet you typically have to wait until the DVD is a few weeks away from being released before a good quality print is leaked on the internet. So it seemed like a big deal to those that wanted to see the film early that such a good print was out already. Some believed that it was some kind of promotional April Fools Joke and that it wouldn't turn out to be real. Those ideas were false as many of the critics I follow began writing about how the work print that was released was real and that they didn't want anyone writing to them about the movie or sending them copies. Internet piracy is serious business and they wanted nothing to do with it.

I give you this long preamble, dear readers, as a bit of precursor to the excitement that people had over this movie. There were numerous reports of Fox, the studio releasing the film, giving reports that the print released was far from the finished product with scenes still missing. There was the subsequent threat of finding who leaked it and prosecuting. Reports of the FBI coming into help the investigation. Rewrites, Reshoots, and massively changed plot lines were all talked about in efforts to dissuade people from illegally downloading and watching the movie before it came out. Many speculated that the movie would suffer greatly at the box office because of this leak. Well, it still opened to an 85 million weekend, so I don't think they are hurting that much.

I am not one of those people that get so worked up over comic book movies that I feel cheated and wronged if even the slightest continuity from the books is changed for a movie. I just like movies. If they can stay close to the source material than that's awesome. But if some stuff gets reworked a bit to tell a better story than I'm fine with it. But one thing that I don't like is watching movies that have such gaping holes and problems in them that they are rendered unenjoyable. Granted I have seen and enjoyed many nonsensical movies in my time. But the difference is that when I watch a bad horror movie or cheesy sci-fi film I know going in that it's going to suck. Then I can enjoy it that much more. But Wolverine I was watching under the pretense that it would be good. Enjoyable. Fun. Kick Ass. Much like the first two X-men movies. I knew the directors and writers were different, but c'mon. You got the basic wolverine stuff down, so you just play with it and make it awesome right? OH NO.

First of all, they tried to cram in every cameo and special appearance of all the "cool" mutants that didn't make the cut (pun intended) in the previous Xmen movies. And by trying to introduce like 8 new characters in a movie that in it's title tells you that only one dude is getting the most screen time, and it ain't any of newbies, than you know your in for a disaster. Most of them only get about two scenes a piece. Some die off screen and only get mentioned again. Others just kind of hang out in the background. Which would work fine if you didn't cast all these stars and give them speaking roles. If you want to just put in a random shot of someone in the background for the fanboys, then do it. But don't play up the previews like you get all this action out of these other characters, and then only use them about 4 minutes each in the whole fucking movie.

But all that is just griping at some incidental scenes in the movie. Overall it's just limp and boring. There are random jumps in time and location. There is very little explaining why anything is going on. There seems to be an attempt to make Wolverine a caring loving man who get's wronged when his lady friend is killed, but who gives a shit. They do such a bad job at telling that story that I felt nothing about these characters. So when the lady meets her end, it was more of a feeling of satisfaction. Satisfaction in hoping that something cool would happen instead of another 20 minutes of them playing kissy face in Canada in between scenes of Hugh Jackman cutting down trees.

It's like the makers of the film forgot how to make a summer action movie. All the fights are lame and boring. All the mutants either die quickly or have regeneration powers so fighting just seems lame since you know they will heal up and continue to live no matter what. And since it's a prequal to the other X-Men movies, you know Wolverine, Sabertooth, and Striker all live. There is no drama to any of their scenes.

But my biggest gripe with this movie, and any movie for that matter, is the giant fucking plot holes that they open up. I'm all about suspending logic when watching movies. If I'm watching a movie and they set up some kind of rule about what's going on in that universe and they stick to it, I can follow with them reguardless of how ludicris those rules are. But the thing I can't stand is when you establish a rule, and then realize towards the end that you've painted your way into a corner you can't get out of. So instead of going back and fixing it, you just make some shit up. Which leads me to the ending, which put the shit topping on an already dung filled sundae.

SPOILER ALERT

So if you know anything about Wolverine at all, you know his bones are covered in Adamantium. Which is supposedly the hardest metal in history and can't be broken. They go over this in the movie as well in case your a newb who don't know shit. They then inject Wolverines body with the adamantium which then coats his bones so that he's indestructible. Couple this with his super healing powers and he's pretty formidable. So when he goes ape shit against the baddies who made him they decide they have to kill him. Everything is cool up to this point.

One of the very first scenes following him getting his shiny new metal bones is him playing with his new claws that can cut through anything. And he kinda rubs his claws together and they clang apart and make sparks, indicating that they can't cut themselves. They do this a couple of different times, just to make sure your getting the idea that his bones can't be broken.

OK, everyone following along at this point? They set up their logic point. They demonstrated it. It follows the normal progression of believability so far.

Then the wheels fall the fuck off. The baddies decide the only way to kill Wolverine is to shoot him with bullets made of Adamantium. They mention this about half way through the movie, being sure to include shots of the gun and bullets so that when it comes back later we can all go "OH YEAH, I REMEMBER"

So when the ending comes up they cut to a differnt shot of the baddie getting the gun out and saying that the bullets won't kill him, but it will erase his memories. Because his brain will heal itself after it get's shot, but the memories stored on that old tissue will be gone as it's filled in with new tissue. It's a pretty shitty conclusion, but I guess you could work with it.

OH YEAH, except for the fact they made sure to show you Wolverine getting all his bones covered in adamantium. Including his skull. Which holds his brain. So when he would get shot, if you went with all the rules they set up earlier, the bullet would hit his skull first and then bounce away. It would not in fact go into his brain and make him an amnesiac. But never mind that. We only have 10 minutes left in the movie. Shoot him in the head. Shoot him 3 times. It'll work. What's this now, oh he's a dumbfuck who can't even remember his name since he got shot. Awesome. Print it. It's a wrap.

I'm sure this movie will make money. It appeals to children who will beg, borrow, steal, mame, and do everything else under the sun to convince whoever they can to give them money to go see this movie. Hell, the opening weekend shows that to be true. I'm sure once all the numbers get crunched that this movie will make a profit. And if it makes even one red cent, than the movie studios will continue to make shitty products.

Goings on

Things around here have been a very odd mixture of extremes lately. As the semester winds down for both Ad and I we have the odd pressure of finishing up everything on time with the de-motivation that a coming break in routines brings.

I have my application into IU and they are just waiting to get my official transcripts. I meet the entrance criteria so it's virtually in the bag. This will mark an important milestone for me as I have been struggling and striving to get to IU for what seems like an eternity. Summer school remains an option, but more than likely I will take the summer off schooling and start at IU in the fall. I hope to take 15-18 hours and try and get finished ASAP.

We are going to meet with the bank next Friday to being the process of buying a house. We hope to get pre-approved then and have a figure to work with. Then we will begin looking with more focus at buying out first house. Our lease ends at our rental in the middle of August and it can't come quicker if you ask me. We are pretty ready to get out of the heart of the city where our neighbors are right on top of us and the street noise is loud and bothersome. Hopefully we can find a place and close towards the end of June. This will allow us to have little to no overlap in payment of rent/mortgage. Assuming all goes well we will have the unenviable task of moving. Though spread out over a few weeks hopefully.

The thought of actually buying a house seems pretty frightening and liberating all at the same time. I am sick of paying rent for a place instead of working to own it. I seemingly can fix most small problems that arise around a house, or if not I know people who can. But owning a house also signifies some progression of life. One more step to people looking at you as a "responsible adult" I realize that most 27 year old's are defiantly to that point in their lives and more power to them. But that just ain't me. But it's time. Critics be damned.

With that thought of pending greater responsibility comes the added new ideas of fiscal responsibility. I have defiantly noticed a slow down in my retail spending habits. Though I pretty much equate this equally to a growing sense of responsibility and also catching up to the market. I have bought pretty much all the back issued stuff that I want. So until new stuff comes out or stuff that hasn't been released gets a street date, I've caught up with the market.

I also have just realized that there are certain things I don't need to do. I don't go out to the bars drinking. The bar scene was never my thing and if I want to drink I'll happily buy whatever I want cheaper at a store and drink with company that I enjoy rather than overpaying at a bar and leaving the company up to random chance.

I typically spend most Saturday nights at home with my mom. She comes over and sleeps because she works back to back shifts at the hospital on the weekends. By staying here she saves herself driving and can sleep in longer. And it's fun to hang out with her. Growing up in formative years with only one parent I think you either develop a strong relationship with that remaining parent or you drift away. Joan and I defiantly grew closer. And hanging out with her that one night a week is important to the both of us I think. Realistically there won't be those opportunities forever, and I would like to think that once the time comes I will look back on those nights spent with her instead of going out were time very well spent. Just in the short term those times will come to a close as Joan is set to retire at the end of May.

Having insurance for the first time since High School has allowed me the privilege and honor of not being scoffed or laughed at when calling a doctor to check me out. I knew my blood pressure was high and needed to get it checked out/modified with medications. I made an appointment with a doc here in town as a new patient, but unfortunately his first available appointment was in the middle of July. And this was about a month ago. Around the same time I came down with some kind of cold bug and needed to go to the doctor for that as well. I ended up going to prompt care and getting some antibiotics and cough medicine for my cold. While there they also put in a call to my new would-be doc and managed to get me in to see him a week later.

For me going to see a doctor is a very real struggle for my brain. I know the risks and problems associated with being overweight and that I obviously needed some kind of medication for my BP or I would probably explode one day out of the blue. But with doctors come needles. And needles are my long time enemy. Growing up when it was time to get a shot or worse yet blood drawn, my anxiety would skyrocket to sights that are typically reserved for those on incredibly good drugs or people with documented mental disorders. I did some very basic research online and found that there are very real cases of people that refuse to seek out medical treatment because of their fear of needles, even to the point of risking or actually doing real and permanent damage to themselves by not going to the doctor.

So when the doc told me that I would need to get a blood sample drawn so that they could test for stuff that i hadn't had done in like 14 years I wasn't surprised but I wasn't thrilled by the idea either. He said I could go in whenever I wanted before my next appointment, so I of course waited till the very last day to do so. I slept fitfully the night before and when I did sleep my dreams were about being in the hospital, or getting a shot or my blood drawn. I went as soon as I could just to get it over with. While waiting in the waiting room I was joined by about 4 elderly people who were also waiting to get their blood drawn for whatever reason. They were just chatting quietly or reading some magazine and didn't seem to have a care in the world. On the other hand I'm sitting all by myself in a corner of the room trying not look nervous. Which of course makes me look even more nervous. I could feel my face being even more flushed than it's already accustomed to being. I alternated drumming my fingers on my legs sporadically to jiggling both legs as if I was suffering from the non-existent "restless leg syndrome"

I was about fourth in line. One by one the elderly were called in to face the horror that awaited me. I mentally took note of how long it took the first person to come in and out so I could have a deadline clock in my mind. Unfortunately it only took the first guy one minute before he was smiling and whistling his ass out the front door. While a normal person would view this as good news, that they were going to get out of there quickly, I of course was filled with even more panic and dread. There wasn't much time. I was surely going to befall some great and painful tragedy in only 4 minutes time. Not even time for a last meal or snack, as I had to be fasting to get the damn test drawn. This was a seriously unfortunate feeling.

As my name was called I followed the nurse back to the lair of doom. One giant chair with tons of vials and needles laid out next to it. All looking ominous. At the time I was flustered and bothered by how methodical and unthinking the tech was as she prepped me for what certainly would be one of the worst experiences of the year. I tried to make idol chit-chat with her in hopes of delaying the inevitable. She engaged me a bit, all the while readying the demon metal for insertion into my temple of a body. Without blinking an eye she said "Ok, here we go." She didn't even give me time to puss out and cry off. And before I could even start recoiling in horror, she pressed the cotton on my arm and said "All done. I saw you out there working yourself all up in a bother over that?" I could only chuckle and breath a sigh of relief and thank her for not maiming me in the name of science.

Following I was flooded with a rush of endorphins. I wasn't dead. It didn't hurt. I was worrying over nothing. I was floating on cloud nine the rest of the day. I showed Joan where she stuck me and we couldn't even tell.

Even before the test, I attempted to mentally prepare. I knew then as I was reminded of during the actual test that it doesn't hurt. The modern needle is designed to do it's job quickly, effectively, and as pain free as possible. I would tell myself over and over that it's no big deal, that they probably process 100's of samples a day at this tiny clinic. They are pro's that are paid to not fuck it up. But it didn't help. There was still a giant disconnect in my brain between what I knew to be reality and what I interpreted that reality to be. Even when it was all over and I could relax, I couldn't pinpoint why I have this fear. It's like I have some ill-formed conspiracy theory about needles. Even though I know the facts, I know they've been skewed and manipulated by some secret organization waiting to spring the trap on me. It's so illogical and misconceived.

The tests came back all fine. I was surprised to hear that my cholesterol was within normal ranges and that there were only some slight abnormalities with the rest of the tests. I assumed that I was going to have to start taking a bunch of new meds, but the doc only suggested taking a few vitamin supplements to correct the balances.

This whole needle thing got me thinking about how even though a person can see the logical side of an issue, it doesn't matter. Their minds either don't want to see those things, or they aren't equipped to handle those truths. In my case I knew needles and doctor tests were important and easy to do, but the fear and anxiety were greater than the understanding of those facts. People evolve and change their thinking about stuff all the time. But there has to be some kind of personal awareness and functionality so that even if I can't rid myself of those irrational fears, I can recognize that it's something to work on.

The reality's are that by going to the doc I have the baselines. I had the tests done. I got the meds. And it's not so bad. I live a good and happy life for me. I enjoy spending time with my family which wasn't always the case. I enjoy spending time with my wife. Which was always the case. The plans are set and in motion. I don't give two fucks that my plan/history isn't the normal case. Kudos to all those that did/do. I hope your happy with it. That's the goal. Be happy with what you are doing. And if you know me at all, you know that that's me all over.

Honey Puzzle

Ok, I know that this blog is usually about movies.  But I need some advice from the internet.

I recently obtained a paint can full of desert honey.  Now, I'm not at liberty to say how I got this honey, but I have it.  If you have recently shopped for desert honey, you know it is expensive. So I don't want to waste it by drinking it in one shot.  So basically I am open to suggestions for what to do with it.  So far, I am thinking of making mead but that seems like a lot of work.  Also, I thought of breaking it up into smaller jars but that seems like it could be a mess. So any ideas would be appreciated.

Alan