Sunday, March 04, 2007
Where do I begin? Before I tell some stories from my hectic last 2 1/2 weeks, I have a story I forgot to tell from my trip out west in January. I had a really early flight. The airport shuttle came early. There was no line whatsoever to check-in my luggage and nobody (and I literally mean nobody) was in line in front of me to go through security. The security guy was waiting for me so I hurried and actually set my boarding pass in through the xray machine, which is a no-no. But since he wasn't busy, he retrieved it for me and there was no issue.
So of course, the terminal past security wasn't very busy. There wasn't even a line at the Burger King and there always seems to be a long line there in the morning. It was so early and so not busy, the airport workers were goofing off. Now the workers, who are the ones who work behind the scenes and not the ones that talk to customers, had one of their fellow employees taped to a office chair with duct tape and were rolling him around the terminal. The terminal has slanted areas, so when he hit one of those, he went for a ride. Everybody was laughing, especially the guy in the chair, so it wasn't a torture thing.
Okay, now the last time I wrote was after midnight on valentines day. The day before a storm hit and the roads had snow on them. Now, the reason I was comfortable getting a rear-wheeled-drive car was because I could walk to work when the weather was bad. So, of course, the weather gets bad on the only day I have to drive in the morning. That's right, I decided to schedule a dentist appointment on valentines day so I can get all the pain in one shot. Luckily, the Mustang went really well in the snow.
I got my pics developed from the hockey game I went to. Here are some:
The guy later to be traded to the Pens:
The only time a Coyote beat a Penguin:
The final score:
The only thing on the ice better than Sidney Crosby:
On the subject of my yearly goals, I added a few movies and a few novels. I finished the novels "The Memory of Running" and "Bridge to Terabithia". So I'm already up to three books this year and I'm already over half way through the Rodney Dangerfield autobiography. So pretty soon, I should be one book away from completing the novels part of my goals. I almost didn't count "Bridge to Terabithia". It only took me less than three hours to read. For a Young Adult novel, it was really good. "The Memory of Running" was original and pretty good. I wouldn't put it in the same class as "Catcher in the Rye", but it was a worthwhile read.
Movie-wise, here are my recent watches and reviews:
#23) National Treasure: I knew I'd get to this movie eventually this year. It's constantly played on the Encore movie channel. In fact, once I stopped watching it in the middle to go run errands outside the apartment. That evening I came back and turned the tv on and the movie was on at about the same place. They were running it for atleast the second time that day.
Anyway, when it came out, I called the movie the American Da Vinci Code. Now I call it what the Da Vinci Code movie should have been. It's fun. It's entertaining. If I find it playing on cable, I often keep it on. So I've watched it alot. I didn't see this in the theatre, but I wish I had. Definitely would have been worth the price of admission.
#24) Ghost Rider: I had high expectations for this movie. It looked great in the commercials. It didn't quite live up to those expectations, but it still was really good. The skull effects started feeling cheesy after a while and the plot got overly complicated, but it still was better than most comic book movies that come out. I rank it a pay-full-price ratings.
#25) Bridge to Terabithia: Bill had me read the novel so we could go see the movie together when I was home last weekend. I recommend reading the novel before seeing the movie. As I stated above, the book is a quick read, and the movie does it justice. I had small issues with a couple points. I wish it would have showed how important the races were at the beginning of the movie. And it seemed to downplay the distance that grew between the two main characters before the museum trip. But still it did a good job of translating the novel. It is worth the full price of admission at the theatre. Whatever you do, don't use the advertising for the movie to decide whether or not to go. The people who designed the ad campaign should never be allowed in the advertising industry ever again. Before I read the book, the only information I knew about the movie was from the commercials and, because of them, I thought the movie was Lords-of-the-Rings-like.
#26) War of the Worlds:
This movie is not as good as I would hope from Steven Spielberg. The last Spielberg/Cruise movie, Minority Report, was great. They went sci-fi again and it was just ordinary. It was okay. Nothing made me go "wow". And I know that the ending was the same as the book, but having the movie just end like that was disappointing. I waited to see it on cable and that's the rating I'm giving it. It's worth your time, but I wouldn't pay for it.
So of course, the terminal past security wasn't very busy. There wasn't even a line at the Burger King and there always seems to be a long line there in the morning. It was so early and so not busy, the airport workers were goofing off. Now the workers, who are the ones who work behind the scenes and not the ones that talk to customers, had one of their fellow employees taped to a office chair with duct tape and were rolling him around the terminal. The terminal has slanted areas, so when he hit one of those, he went for a ride. Everybody was laughing, especially the guy in the chair, so it wasn't a torture thing.
Okay, now the last time I wrote was after midnight on valentines day. The day before a storm hit and the roads had snow on them. Now, the reason I was comfortable getting a rear-wheeled-drive car was because I could walk to work when the weather was bad. So, of course, the weather gets bad on the only day I have to drive in the morning. That's right, I decided to schedule a dentist appointment on valentines day so I can get all the pain in one shot. Luckily, the Mustang went really well in the snow.
I got my pics developed from the hockey game I went to. Here are some:
The guy later to be traded to the Pens:
The only time a Coyote beat a Penguin:
The final score:
The only thing on the ice better than Sidney Crosby:
On the subject of my yearly goals, I added a few movies and a few novels. I finished the novels "The Memory of Running" and "Bridge to Terabithia". So I'm already up to three books this year and I'm already over half way through the Rodney Dangerfield autobiography. So pretty soon, I should be one book away from completing the novels part of my goals. I almost didn't count "Bridge to Terabithia". It only took me less than three hours to read. For a Young Adult novel, it was really good. "The Memory of Running" was original and pretty good. I wouldn't put it in the same class as "Catcher in the Rye", but it was a worthwhile read.
Movie-wise, here are my recent watches and reviews:
#23) National Treasure: I knew I'd get to this movie eventually this year. It's constantly played on the Encore movie channel. In fact, once I stopped watching it in the middle to go run errands outside the apartment. That evening I came back and turned the tv on and the movie was on at about the same place. They were running it for atleast the second time that day.
Anyway, when it came out, I called the movie the American Da Vinci Code. Now I call it what the Da Vinci Code movie should have been. It's fun. It's entertaining. If I find it playing on cable, I often keep it on. So I've watched it alot. I didn't see this in the theatre, but I wish I had. Definitely would have been worth the price of admission.
#24) Ghost Rider: I had high expectations for this movie. It looked great in the commercials. It didn't quite live up to those expectations, but it still was really good. The skull effects started feeling cheesy after a while and the plot got overly complicated, but it still was better than most comic book movies that come out. I rank it a pay-full-price ratings.
#25) Bridge to Terabithia: Bill had me read the novel so we could go see the movie together when I was home last weekend. I recommend reading the novel before seeing the movie. As I stated above, the book is a quick read, and the movie does it justice. I had small issues with a couple points. I wish it would have showed how important the races were at the beginning of the movie. And it seemed to downplay the distance that grew between the two main characters before the museum trip. But still it did a good job of translating the novel. It is worth the full price of admission at the theatre. Whatever you do, don't use the advertising for the movie to decide whether or not to go. The people who designed the ad campaign should never be allowed in the advertising industry ever again. Before I read the book, the only information I knew about the movie was from the commercials and, because of them, I thought the movie was Lords-of-the-Rings-like.
#26) War of the Worlds:
This movie is not as good as I would hope from Steven Spielberg. The last Spielberg/Cruise movie, Minority Report, was great. They went sci-fi again and it was just ordinary. It was okay. Nothing made me go "wow". And I know that the ending was the same as the book, but having the movie just end like that was disappointing. I waited to see it on cable and that's the rating I'm giving it. It's worth your time, but I wouldn't pay for it.
Labels: 2007, goals, hockey, movies, novels, pictures, vacation
Thursday, January 11, 2007
I got the movie Idiocracy from Netflix. I'll talk more about it later. I decided to watch it first and then take care of business I needed to do, like pay bills online and write emails. Of course, I log in after the movie and I first balance my checkbook based on my online account. Then, I hit the "Pay Bills" link on my online checking account and discovered my internet connection has gone done. I swear if I didn't think that DSL had just as many bugs and glitches as cable internet, I'd switch.
Anyway, I watched two more movies, bringing my yearly total up to five. Note that I've added a section on the side to my movie count. I don't plan on keeping every movie I see on it, just the most recent five or ten.
Movie #4 was Waiting... It is a very funny movie set in a TGIFriday-style restaurant. It is a gross-out comedy, so don't watch it if you have a weak stomach. However, this movie is to waiters/waitresses/bartenders what Office Space is to us cubicle dwellers, a fact I've confirmed with waitresses/bartenders I know. My ranking is definitely pay full price in theatres, possibly even see it twice.
Speaking of Office Space, movie #5 was Idiocracy. It's written and directed by Mike Judge, the guy who wrote and directed Office Space. This fact and the fact that it is a movie about stupidity by the guy who created Beavis and Butthead might raise expectations on this movie. The fact that it got a short theatrical release in only six markets might lower them. The movie's premise is that two "average" people, an army private and a prostitute, are chosen to take part in an experiment where they are to be put into a state of hibernation for one year. Of course stuff happens and they end up sleeping undiscovered for 500 years. In the mean time, smart people were too busy to breed and the stupid people multiplied like rabbits. Natural selection worked against the human race and everybody got stupid. The two "average" people awake to discover themselves the smartest people on the planet. This isn't a great movie, but it deserved a more extensive theatrical release. It's still alot better than other movies that played in theatres. It's definitely worth a rental. I rank it as worth seeing in theatres at matinee price.
One last note, I finished my first novel of the year, The annual Alex Cross novel from James Patterson. This one, titled simply "Cross", is on par with the previous books, which is really good. It's less complex as earlier ones and reads faster. If you like earlier Alex Cross novels, get this one. If you haven't read previous ones, start off with the first one, "Along Came a Spider", or the second one, "Kiss the Girls".
Anyway, I watched two more movies, bringing my yearly total up to five. Note that I've added a section on the side to my movie count. I don't plan on keeping every movie I see on it, just the most recent five or ten.
Movie #4 was Waiting... It is a very funny movie set in a TGIFriday-style restaurant. It is a gross-out comedy, so don't watch it if you have a weak stomach. However, this movie is to waiters/waitresses/bartenders what Office Space is to us cubicle dwellers, a fact I've confirmed with waitresses/bartenders I know. My ranking is definitely pay full price in theatres, possibly even see it twice.
Speaking of Office Space, movie #5 was Idiocracy. It's written and directed by Mike Judge, the guy who wrote and directed Office Space. This fact and the fact that it is a movie about stupidity by the guy who created Beavis and Butthead might raise expectations on this movie. The fact that it got a short theatrical release in only six markets might lower them. The movie's premise is that two "average" people, an army private and a prostitute, are chosen to take part in an experiment where they are to be put into a state of hibernation for one year. Of course stuff happens and they end up sleeping undiscovered for 500 years. In the mean time, smart people were too busy to breed and the stupid people multiplied like rabbits. Natural selection worked against the human race and everybody got stupid. The two "average" people awake to discover themselves the smartest people on the planet. This isn't a great movie, but it deserved a more extensive theatrical release. It's still alot better than other movies that played in theatres. It's definitely worth a rental. I rank it as worth seeing in theatres at matinee price.
One last note, I finished my first novel of the year, The annual Alex Cross novel from James Patterson. This one, titled simply "Cross", is on par with the previous books, which is really good. It's less complex as earlier ones and reads faster. If you like earlier Alex Cross novels, get this one. If you haven't read previous ones, start off with the first one, "Along Came a Spider", or the second one, "Kiss the Girls".
Labels: 2007, goals, movies, novels
