Moving to.a random city with literally just a suitcase. Was Zi insane? Probably but at least she came here with a job and someone hooked her up with a place to stay. A communal home and since she was new in the city she felt that that was perfect. She needed friends in case the whole brothers thing fell through. She really hoped it didn’t but she had to deal with many disappointments in life. One of the essentials for a single woman and something she could not bring herself was a few things to pleasure herself with. She found a place online that was highly recommended and what Zi found fascinating that outside this place can only be found in whispers now she was here so much information was at her fingertips. So she managed to use the public transport system to get to Radom. She was also amazed how gorgeous the city looked as she travelled through it. Somewhere like this existed in secret and she was now a part of it. She walked into the store and looked around a bit before approaching one of the clerks. “Hi, what do you recommend for Clitoral stimulation? Or what has been recommended?” she asked. Zi noted how pretty the clerk was and stuff like this did not cause her to get to embarrassed when she has frequent conversations with her patients about their sex life and promoting a healthy sex life.

Until recently Zi had not been too aware of the supernatural world. She had sometimes sense a hunger towards her with certain people. She had no idea that these people were actually vampires. That revelation literally only came recently when she just moved to Maladh a city in which her hunt for her half siblings brought her too. Werewolves were also a thing and witches too. So now she was going to have patients who though look human aren’t exactly human? there was a lot of studying that was going to have to happen. It didn’t quite scare her. Reason being was she could always sense other people’s emotions and was able to move things with her mind. She knew herself that she was different so she guessed she was not the only one. Hence the need to seek out her brothers. 

Zi did not think finding her eldest half-brother would be so easily. She had a photo, one she managed to cling on to from her childhood. Her elder brothers were in it. A Her mother put her up for adoption. Due to her good looks as a young child she was adopted and brought up in a rich household. An international adoption. The family were not very nice but they paid her way through school and university. As soon as she could she cut herself off from them. She took up the name on her actual birth certificate she found. Zi then decided to find her half brothers. When she arrived in Maladh there were posters of Kang Lin. One of the names on the back of photo. The resemblance was close enough as well. So she booked an appointment with him under the guise that she was going to talk about promotion of sexual health in the city. An important subject but it can wait. As she was shown in she admired him for a moment completely speechless. Her hopes that this man could be related to her, to have a connection a proper connection. 

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Mr Lin,” she greeted finally after a moment. A bunch of nerves. “What I have to talk about is important and well might be a bit shocking,” she told him. “But uhm first do you have twin younger brothers?” even if it seemed like a perfect match she wanted to check before she divulges her life story to a stranger. Not even a week in Maladh she did not want to embarrass herself in front of one of the mayors. 

To say Zi was a little overwhelmed by the fact there are now not only one species of client she was going to look after there was going to be plenty. She was curious how exactly STD’s would affect the different species. Are they more prone to others than some? It was a bit in the air to her. There was also the little fact she was clueless to how this city worked as well she knew exactly nobody. The only three people she might have a connection with in this city she hasn’t actually met. So right now it was work colleagues. Working in the sexual health clinic was so far much of the same as she was used to. As much as she wanted t make friends with her colleagues she kind of liked to keep things professional considering what they look at day to day. “You seem friendly,” she commented and sat across. “Hi, I just moved here a week ago, I’m Zi,” she introduced herself. 

Returns, in its theatrical rerelease and Tomb on Hulu, which it's about to leave. I saw the first film, when it was rereleased two years ago and, earlier this year, the 1932 original.

But, now, I come in with the hot take: I…loved all four. But, let's focus on the sequels. Both, I feel, managed to capture the fun, humor, heart, and sense of adventure of the first film (the original is a very different beast; it's more a drama than an adventure movie).

First of all, let's get it out of the way, the recast. It happened. Let's move on. Honestly, the London scenes did NOTHING to endear me to Maria Bello's Evie (and see below), whereas THE REST OF THE FILM DID. And, learning about her martial arts background and how she jumped on the chance to be in the movie, just for the action alone, helped EVEN MORE.

Don't get me wrong — I'm glad Rachel Weisz is coming back, as much as anyone else, but let's not knock Bello, okay?

But, I think my criticisms of Returns, while fewer, are bigger than those I have of Tomb.

As much as I love the original movie (except Frank and his supposed "romance" with Helen), my big issues with Return involve its attempts to, essentially, remake said film (a film its predecessor is ALREADY a remake of), all while bending over backwards to include the things the first film subverted:

Suddenly, Evie (who was mistaken for Anck-su-Namun's reincarnation in the first film, due to Imhotep stealing eyes that had a very strong prescription) is now the reincarnation of Princess Nefertiri (essentially a decomposite character of 1932's Anck-es-en-Amon).

Oh, by the way, Anck-su-Namun had a reincarnation of her own, this whole time.

And, while this is not a "remake of 1932" thing, Rick's a Medjai, now? He's apparently had a tattoo, this whole time? It's giving the Amulet of Valencia, but okay…

And, then there's the character derailment of Anck-su-Namun at the end, which I guess is supposed to adapt the end of 1932. I'm blaming the curse the Pharaoh's priests put on Imhotep (and probably Anck-su-Namun, too).

Also, minor one, but Alex was apparently born a year before his parents even met.

Meanwhile, my criticisms of Tomb are nitpicks:

Isabella Leong should've narrated the prologue, like how Oded Fehr narrated the first two movies'.

I wish Wilson had been somebody we knew. His betrayal meant NOTHING!

Back to the O'Connells, how long did it take for them to get to Shanghai?

Speaking of, all the London scenes could have all been cut, except for the scene where the O'Connells are commissioned to return then Eye to Shanghai. They don't do much with the book subplot, anyway.

The filter they put on Jet Li's voice was VERY distracting.

Evie's parka and sunglasses really stand out, compared to the rest of the party's.

I REALLY could've done without that gun-measuring contest.

Why does Yuan raise the army IN ENGLISH!? It was established, at the beginning of the movie, that she read the original spell in Sanskrit.

I don't know; I feel like Lin should've a) gotten to have more of an exchange with her father than "they see each other, before he turns to dust" and b) taken part in slaying Qin Shi Huang.

The Peru card at the end was unnecessary. They did not need to explain the joke.

And, now for some stuff I LOVED about Tomb that many may overlook!

Ming Gou and Zi Yuan are very much a parallel to Imhotep and Anck-su-Namun. This movie even recognizes the king as the real villain!

Rick's death parallels Evie's in Returns.

Michelle Yeoh vs Jet Li. That is all.

Alex and Lin are cute together. She's even the film's equivalent to Ardeth Bey!

Also, Alex is very Indiana Jones-coded.

You know what the first two movies don't have? A heroic army of the undead fighting the villain's army.

Choi and Yang are great human villains with more interesting motivations than Baltus Hafez. Yeah, I said it (honestly, Ardeth's ex Lock-Nah was the most interesting member of the anti-Medjai).

YETI!!!!

Lunar New Year car chase

I love how Rick just…has all these pilot friends.

ZI LIN is a HOMOSEXUAL SEXUAL HEALTH NURSE that works with NEUTRAL and some say SHE looks awfully like ANGELA BABY. The DEMON-HUMAN is 32 years old and have been said to be PRAGMATIC & CONFIDENT and FORGETFUL & SHARP. Let’s see what they bring to Maladh…

Now that the semester has ended and I have had time to review this project, here are some of my criticisms on STUDENT VISA: The Photo Project. 

What I did not do

I do not feel I did an adequate job conveying in each entry the hours upon hours spent conversing and befriending each of the participants. While I was able to get to know the students, an outsider reading through each entry of the project, I do not feel would get that same feeling of truly understanding and immersing themselves in the participant's story.

What Could Have Been Done

Looking back on the semester and this project, I came up with a few aspects I plan to do differently on future projects. The biggest thing I would change is to most likely not do an 'on-going' project. With an ongoing project, I cannot really be sure how it will end. how much information or data I will be able to collect, if participants will drop-out, whether or not a participant will respond to messages, etc. An issue I ran into quite often while conducting this project was conflicting schedules. During this project I had a full-time job and was actively applying to medical school and the students were.. full-time students! This meant meeting with the students, for the most part, on weekends. While my weekends were free, the students either had to study, wanted to travel, or just wanted to hang out with their friends and enjoy their short time in the US! Additionally there was an utter lack of responding to my messages and commitment to the project on the part of some students. I ultimately attributed this to the fact that this project was 'just for fun' and as a hobby for me and it was not for a school project or a major publication. These factors resulted in a mess...well, not completely. Instead, I would do all of the interviews and data collection and have the project completed prior to actually presenting the information. And in actuality, I am pretty sure I have never seen a project conducted or presented in the manner that I did so I am not entirely sure where I got this idea from or why I thought it could work flawlessly. My thinking at the time, and an aspect that I thoroughly enjoyed, was that I was releasing the entries in real-time, as they happened in each student's journey. But, in retrospect, it may not have been for the best.

Moving Forward