X-Men 3: The Last Stand

Today I watched X-Men 3: The Last Stand. It is definitely worth going to see.

In preparation for today's movie-going adventure I finally broke down and bought the X2: X-Men United DVD to add to my X-Men: the Movie DVD, and watched both last night. I say 'broke down' because when I first watched X2 I walked out of the theatre not very impressed. Overall I liked the movie, but not enough to want to spend my money on a DVD. I don't remember all my reasons, now, but I do remember two things: 1) being a big fan of Logan/Wolverine, I thought he was deserving of even more screen time, and 2) I really disliked Famke Janssen in the role of Jean Grey. On watching the movie last night, I decided I was wrong, or my opinion had changed--Logan had plenty of things to do in the movie. Regarding the latter, my opinion didn't change. I think it's the combination of Famke Janssen's acting/portrayal of Jean, her looking too old to play the part, and the lack of chemistry between her and Hugh Jackman, in my opinion. Personally, the only way I could buy into Logan and Jean's mutual attraction is because in high school I read all the X-Men comics where the comic-verse Logan-Jean-Scott triangle had been plenty explored.

Okay, back to X3--minor spoilers may follow--I really liked this movie, and rate it better than X2, and if not its equal, then at least close in enjoyment to the original X-Men movie. I thought the introduction to new mutants (new in the movie-verse, not comic-verse) was timed right, i.e., didn't waste too much time on the introductions. Logan had plenty of screen time, and I thought the action sequences were all enjoyable. Famke Janssen's acting was better in X3, I thought. I also liked *gasp* James Marsden/Scott Summers (I can't believe I just said that!) in the relatively few (another plus!) scenes Cyclops had. I thought interactions among the characters was good, in particular a brief but satisfying Logan-Marie scene, and there were plenty of cameos and inside jokes interspersed throughout.

The best thing about X3, in my opinion, is how many parts of it ran counter to my expectations. There were several points in the movie where I thought, "okay, that will never happen in this movie", especially in a franchise like the X-Men. Only to find out later that I was wrong. Well, mostly wrong ;o) I should say that that these counter-to-my-expectations points don't detract from the movie--they weren't there just for the sake of shocking/surprising the audience--but actually make it more realistic and hence more believable.

This movie wasn't perfect--being filled with a lot of action, that left less time for character development. I thought some of the special effects were obvious, but not obtrusively so. I was disappointed that Jubilation Lee didn't have a bigger part, and Kitty Pride didn't have much interaction with Logan. I wasn't expecting the same degree of interaction as portrayed in the comics, but I'd been hoping for at least some dialogue/conversation between them.

Anywhoo, enough babbling. Go watch it yourselves ;o) I'll end with a suggestion--stay and watch it until the very end of the credits....

--4.5 out of 5 stars--

Einszett

I'd requested and received some free samples of Metallic Polish Wax and Glanz Wax from Einszett earlier and today was the day I decided to compare it to the Blackfire stuff I've been using recently. The R32 had been polished with Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish followed by four coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. This morning I washed and dried the car, and on the passenger side of my hood I first applied the Metallic Polish Wax, followed by the Glanz Wax. Unlike the acrylics I'd used before, Glanz Wax is a synthetic wax so it can not be layered. Adding another layer would merely remove and replace the previous coat. Anywhoo, the Einszett stuff was the easist to apply out of all the waxes/sealants I've tried, and personally I couldn't tell the difference between the left and right side of the hood. I found it a little difficult to accept the fact that in this case four coats of Blackfire equaled one coat of Glanz Wax.

Here's one of the pictures I took, but for the rest, further details and impressions you can click here. The pictures aren't the best :o( but it does look much better in person, and I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two. Now I wonder what I'm supposed to do with practically new bottles of Blackfire products....

TSBs for the 2004 Volkswagen Golf R32

If you're ever thinking about buying a car, I recommend taking a look at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website. You can search for any technical service bulletins (TSBs) for individual makes and models. The free search gives you a list of any TSBs, but there is a charge for additional details.

Right now there are four TSBs reported for the 2004 Volkswagen Golf R32. Two of them involve the electrical system, and the other two with engine cooling components. Luckily I haven't run across any of these issues personally (knock-on-wood). Still, I think it's useful information to keep in mind in case anything does come up.

Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash

One of the perks I was looking forward to when I moved earlier this year was the free car washing area available for tenants. In addition to being able to wash my car more often, I happily envisioned being able to rinse the salt, dust, or pollen off my R32 as the mood suited me, without having to do a full wash. Much to my disappointment I was visually reminded of the annoying existence of hard water. I'd forgotten this little tid bit because for the past 2-3 years I'd been forced to use DIY places, i.e. Flagship. Hand wash, only, please!

Preventing spots is easy enough, all I needed to do is hand dry the car. This is no biggie. I hand dry the R32 whenever it's washed. This didn't solve the problem when I wanted just a rinse, though. Fortuitously, I saw a fellow tennant using Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash, something I'd seen in stores but never taken a close look at. For those that haven't seen the ads, this system is simply a device, with a soap reservoir and hard-water filter, that screws on to the end of a hose and is supposed to make hand drying unnecessary and spot-free. Anywhoo, I promptly went out and bought this thing simply for the filter--I'd read some things that made me extremely reluctant to use the provided soap. I downloaded the official manual and FAQ if you'd like more detail.

Anywhoo, the filter certainly worked--no more spots! The drawback, though, was that the water pressure when using the filter is fairly minuscule. It took me some time to rinse off the R32. But wouldn't you know, I bought this thing four months ago and have only used the darn thing once. A day or so after I picked it up the hose broke in half so it's impossible to screw on a nozzle.

Billet aluminum dash vents

Today I installed some billet aluminum dash vents I purchased yesterday at the R32 GTG. The stock vent covers pull straight out, and the new ones go right in. I'd write more but these were so easy to replace there isn't very much to say. These billet vent covers are sold by EIP Tuning for $99.95 per pair--though I bought them at a discounted price. Here's a picture of how they look from the outside; I thought these vent covers might look better than the stock black, given that my R is reflex silver.


You can click here for even more pictures.

Haldex conundrum

According to the R32 maintenance schedule I downloaded from VWoA, the Haldex oil and filter should be changed every 40k miles. This would be fine, except that Volkswagen Driver magazine, in March 2004, published an article in which they asked the technical department at Haldex Traction AB Instrumentgatan, Landskrona, Sweden, when and how to service the Haldex system on Golf 4Motion. The tech department rep advised to change the Haldex oil every 20k, and the filter every 40k. You can read the article for the DIY and part nos, or you can click here, or you can even click on the picture ;o)

I had my 20k service done a couple months ago at Pro-Imports. I debated asking them to change the Haldex oil, but ended up deciding not to; I think I'll probably request a change at 30k.

Stargazer's Garage: People are funny sometimes

Check out this post for a funny--and depressing--story about a quest to buy some floor mats.
Stargazer's Garage: People are funny sometimes