ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Instead of another Artemis post like I planned, I'm posting about the ALS ice bucket challenge.  I think this was a really neat way to raise awareness for a disease that many people don't know about. 
ALS is a nuero-muscular disease that slowly destroys the body's neurons, eventually making it impossible for the brain to control a person's muscles.  Victims become paralyzed and the disease will eventually cause death.  ALS.org estimates that as many as 300,000 Americans may be affected by the disease at a given time.
I can't imagine what it must be like to slowly, day by day, become more and more trapped in your own body.  So as I said, I think this is a really neat way to raise awareness and money in hopes that someday soon scientists will be able to create a cure for ALS.

The Guardians of the Galaxy- Movie Review

When I first heard about this movie, I thought I might want to see it.  Then I saw the trailer and decided that I'd just wait until it came on TV and watch it for free.  But, I did end up going to see it yesterday.    

It was better than the trailer made it out to be.  It was different than most of the other Marvel movies; a little less serious and more funny (and with more language/crude humor).        

The heroes were different than most super heroes too, which was interesting.  I kind of like that Peter Quill isn't the typical hero who always knows exactly what he's doing and has everything under control.  He was an interesting character- with a penchant for 80's music as is seen throughout.   The group dynamic of the guardians was interesting and fun to watch.

Overall the story was good, though I think Gamora could have been written better.  Some of her earlier lines just didn't work for me.  Actually, there were a couple of places where something didn’t quite ring right with the dialogue, but that may not bother everyone.  I wasn't too sure about Rocket going in, but I did enjoy him.  He was funny and had a lot of attitude packed into such a small body. I also thought Drax was pretty interesting.

The end was, in my opinion, done well.  I particularly like the last part of the battle, and the final scene made me smile. 

As a side note, I liked the way the alien worlds looked. The movie gave us a neat hint as to how this mixed human/alien culture is set up.  It felt like a real society, not just a sci-fi backdrop. 

So, it was a pretty good movie.  Not my favorite super hero movie, but not the worst I've ever seen either.