"Some nights, just pretzels and beer, but I'm here..."

Okay, maybe not beer. (Nor pretzels, they make me thirsty.)

This week has sucked.

I mean. They sent me home from work early on Monday. They sent me home from work. (And actually, even then, they only asked me if I wanted to go. YES. PLEASE.)

No, on a serious note, they did send me home. I practically imploded on Monday. I came down with an awful cold and on top of that suddenly Phyllis' death just overwhelmed my system. Tuesday was pretty much the same. I spent most of Wednesday feeling on the mend, but exhausted. Today was pretty miserable.

But you sounded so chipper at the beginning of this post....

GUILD WARS.

Guild Wars 2 has salvaged this week. It is so much fun.

Seriously, pure fun. This is the first game where I haven't felt overwhelmed or like I'm not able to help or like I have to reach such and such level or area, etc. I have just enjoyed it. So I'm running around as a Sylvari Elementalist and I'm shooting electricity and fire at things and finding pretty vista points, and fulfilling quests and having a ball. It seems to be really balanced and very newbie friendly. So I have gotten through my days this week by thinking "In a few hours, I get to play Guild Wars...."

So for everyone that pitched in to buy the game for me, you have my sincere enjoyment of it as well as my thanks for brightening up my awful, no good, very bad week. :)

Also brightening my week was getting to see Holly & Sam at the movies! I would say they put up with me stumbling around and almost falling over, but now that I think about it, that's probably not much different than normal. :)

And while we're speaking of the Dark Knight Rises, this HISHE bonus is hysterical: (Spoilers.)



"I'm startin' to think this guy doesn't have our best interests in mind here!"

So anyway, I'm still here. I still plan on blogging. I'm just working to find my way back into it.

Summer Movies: Avengers

"So Nick Fury is like 'We need a team of the most brightly colored bullseyes we can find!'"
- Bum Reviews, TGWG (Um, beware some language, if you go looking for it.)  

So. This was my first review of Avengers:

OHMYGOSHAVENGERS.

That was it. And honestly, that still pretty much sums it up.

If you don't see this movies in theatres, you're missing out. This is one of the few movies I will tell you go spend your money. Give them your money. (I almost mistyped there and wrote "monkey." I doubt they want your monkey. I doubt you have a monkey.) Seriously, they have done so well with everything and all the movies leading up to this and all the build up, that you should go give them your money and support this. And because it's just that good. Sure, they've already made a billion dollars. But folks, in this case, there's a reason why.

Also you should go see it in theatres because you will be sad if you rent it first. This movie is huge. This movie needs to be experienced on the big screen. (I have now seen it in both 2D and 3D and I can assure you you're not missing out on anything without the 3D action.)

I can't rave about this movie enough. The characters, the action sequences, the dialogue, the story, everything. It is the ultimate superhero movie. Just go see it. I plan to go see it at least one more time in theaters, even if its at the dollar movie, just to get one more experience on the big screen. But if you're going, you should call me because I'll go anyway.

I've had a lot of people ask me if this is family friendly. You're going to run into some language, but other than that, I don't think you'll have any problems - especially with older kids. With younger kids - while there are a lot of very very funny moments that will be right up their alley - there's also a lot of seriousness too and it may not hold their attention as well at the first. I think that just entirely depends on your kid. Outside of one scene where a very sharp object gets implanted on someone's face, there's no action or fighting that's gory. (And really, it reads worse than it actually appears onscreen. No blood or anything shown.) It's very much clean fighting.

This is a great movie. I can't say anything else about it. If we haven't talked about it yet, you should mention your thoughts in the comments because I would love to read them. (Beware: Potential spoilers in the comments.)

Next up: Hunger Games.

Promise me you won't do anything crazy.

"....I promise you I won't do anything, baby."

For awhile now I've been looking for a (new to me) band that had a great sound, had a lot of drive to it, was lots of fun to listen to while still maintaining some meat to it and be musically interesting. Since that's a pretty tall order, I haven't had too much luck finding one that just hit the spot in a couple years now. Really, FIF was pretty perfect. And while they are back to making music again it's still not going to be out for awhile plus I still wanted something fresh and new.

I had actually heard about House of Heroes for several years now and had noticed that the only things I heard were incredibly positive. Buuut I was stupid and assumed no band could really be that good and never paid attention. Then Reese mentioned how good they were which piqued my interest again and suddenly Will is sending me "If" and "Baby's A Red" to listen to.






They were stuck in my head for days.


Not only are they just incredibly catchy, but I loved their lyrics and the funky beats they pulled in.

Then there was "Code Name: Raven" which is still one of my favorites for the way they managed to make it sound so epic and work out that great bridge section. (I'm a sucker for epic. 80's rock ballads for the win.)






And it continued their World War II theme on the album "The End is Not the End" which was brilliant. (I'm also a sucker for themed albums. Musicals for the win.)


But I have this really bad habit of not listening to other songs by bands I like until I get bored with the ones I've latched onto. When I first got Phantom of the Opera in high school I listened to the first act for months and one day suddenly realized I had never listened to the second.

I had no idea how it ended.

Then I listened to the second act for months before remembering how awesome the first was. And finally I put the two together.

So finally tonight I started playing around listening to other House of Heroes songs. I re-listened to "In the Valley of the Dying Sun" which is beautiful, was fascinated by the opening of "Independence Day for a Petty Thief," bounced around to "Love is For the Middle Class" and then found.... "God Save the Foolish Kings."





I'm not sure why I really attached to this song tonight, but it really sold me out on House of Heroes. It's just so FUN. I really love the second verse where they launch back into "Midnight at school, behind the bleachers..." with that great use of claps & background vocals.

Again, epic sounding. Lots of drive. 


Maybe I've finally found that band to fill in that void. 

Why yes, I do think I need to pick up these albums....


"God save us, the foolish kings...."

The Spring Trip to Houston

Okay, so this time I have an actual reason for not posting for awhile. I was not here.

I was in HOUSTON!

The landscape: Not the same as it was before.

Due to the drought for all of last year, I never realized that there could be anything but dry grass from here to Texas. However that is simply not true. With all the wonderful rain we've been receiving the drive from Southern Oklahoma to Houston is simply gorgeous. Thousands of wildflowers along the banks of the road in all sorts of colors. Long, tall grasses. Huge, leafy trees. And on the drive down this wispy fog all throughout the Arbuckle Mountains in the early morning hours. So incredibly pretty. So many times I wanted pictures.

Hit that ball, what a game...

In order to travel with Will to his job at the Astros Stadium, I had to pick up the pace on 45 to make it to Houston by 3:30. (I was close: 3:40. But we still made it to the Stadium, thanks to Will who navigated me through all the chaotic traffic and suddenly clogged highways.)

Therefore I made it to my very first (professional) baseball game! The Houston Astros vs. the Atlanta Braves. Which I thought was pretty funny, since as a kid I loved the Braves. Or at least, as much as I ever loved a sports team as a kid. All that pretty much means is that I loved them one particular year they went to the World Series and my dad and I had this huge game about who would win. And he wanted the other team and I picked the Braves (they lost.)  So that's it.  Anyway, I was still amused I got to see the Braves. (Although, yes, in real life their fans seem to be pretty annoying.)

Root. Root. Root. This is the Astros slogan for the year. They take this very seriously, as you can see all over this pic.

The Astros lost, but I did get to hear the home run cannon go off, and I did enjoy the extreme classic/nostalgia feeling that seems to come over you while wandering through a ballpark and the first few innings of the game. Plus, the evening was perfect. Seriously, I kept looking up, seeing cityscape, and realizing I had forgotten I was outside. Absolutely beautiful, perfect for a game.

All I could hear was bits & pieces of "What a Game" from Ragtime.

The Boys

I had a lot of great chances to play with the kiddos, especially Robbie.  Who is four and can build things like this out of K'Nex:

Robbie's Robot. No instructions here, folks. Just his thoughts and K'nex prowess. Man, I wish had a picture when he had wings on it.

 

At one point Robbie actually convinced me to try and build an airplane for him out of K'nex from the instruction manual.

Oh, guys. Me with K'nex. Can you already see the utter failure?

But I was pretty pleased with how I had finally managed to get over halfway done and looking pretty good when he slid down beside me and stated "Um.... this part is upside down."
Which prompted me to ask the dumbest question I could have possibly asked at that moment.
"Are you sure, Robbie?"
"Yes. This is upside down." And before I could blubber out something about "being sure before we changed it" he had taken it from my hands, made quick eight snaps and handed it back to me before running off on his way. He had fixed it.  (For you curious, the plane eventually did get finished with Robbie's help.) 

Death to Dust Man

I really, really love The Mega's album featuring music from Mega Man 2. But I've never touched a Mega Man game and I was wondering what they were like and Will said we could play through them together.
Um.
That sounded great until I realized how hard some of the levels were to jump into for the first three games, and I pretty much just handed off the controller to him (once with one hit point left and no lives at the boss gate.)  I did however play more of Mega Man 4, right up until Dust Man who stressed me out so much I couldn't even watch him beat the level.
And then time ran out and no more Mega Man.
But I did get to meet Rush!

The Zooooooo!
And we went to the Zoo!

Robbie & Will spying on the...gorillas? Was it gorillas?

The Houston Zoo has a lot of cool animals, many different ones from OKC which was a nice change.  My favorite part was actually at the very end where we came across red pandas running around in their exhibit, being incredibly cute. While OKC does have one, she's usually sleeping or hidden. To see them so active was lovely. (No pictures there because they were in a dark tunnel behind glass.)

Also, there were otters, sprawled on top of each other, sleeping on their backs. Also very cute.

The giraffes were feeling up close & personal. Love the tongue sticking out.

Again, great weather, great company, great Zoo. 

Bouncing (on heads) here and there and everywhere....
Tarvis!
One evening (I can no longer remember what happened what day) I was able to run over to Travis' to catch up with him which was nice. And then I watched Will & Travis play Super Mario Wii which was hysterical. Seriously, bouncing off each others heads, falling into pits, crashing around in bubble form... there's a reason I love to watch people play video games.

The Return of the Confetti Eggs
If for any bizarre reason I wasn't sure before, I've now decided I absolutely love confetti eggs.

Shamelessly stealing these pics from Will.

Kim sweetly thought of and bought some confetti eggs for us to play with, but unfortunately the timing never quite worked out! So the day I left we managed to sneak them in after church.

Isaac seemed less concerned. Pic also stolen.

I tried to smash one on Robbie's head - instantly was afraid I was going to hurt him more than expected - and began breaking them open instead which worked just as well. But don't worry, he took great pleasure in busting them over mine, so there was definitely egg-head-smashing going on. :)

Stolen! Stolen!

I love the confetti! I don't know why. (Though maybe it harkins back to the days of the Fantasticks when I had great joy in playing with it after every performance to Philip's dismay.) I think it's all the colors. It makes everything look so cheery & bright. It's great stuff.  Next year I need to buy several packs and stock up!

One more since confetti pictures rock. Don't worry, we cleaned up the mess.

Thanks again, Kim! :)

Seven and a half hours to home.
It was a total blessing that I didn't hit any major traffic on the drive home since I left later than I originally intended. I guess Saturday night suddenly everything caught up with me and I was worn out by Sunday morning. So after the confetti eggs, I tried to lay down (and failed at sleeping.) But a fantastic lunch from Kim was enough and I was quite awake the rest of the drive home. After sailing five minutes through construction that caused me two hours of grief last spring, I was thrilled.

All in all....
It was an absolutely lovely trip. Friends, kiddos, a Zoo, games...how can you go wrong? It was perfect.

"This is why we don't attack people with guns."

Tonight I was keeping Brad company when he offered me the chance to play Arkham City for the first time. Yay!

Also: Ahahaha! Oh dear. 

Listen, I'm just terrible at these games. I grew up on all the Nintendo sidescrollers. I never played Final Fantasy or, well, anything else. I did play Link to the Past. That's the only one I can currently think of where you actually go out and explore. Oh, and SMRPG. But Players Guides were my best friends. So the first time someone tried to teach me Kingdom Hearts it was a disaster. I didn't make it OFF THE BEACH. Y'know, that intro section?

"You have to find eggs. Where would eggs be?"
"I have no idea! I'm on a beach!"
"....how about a tree?"
"...."

That's pretty much how it goes most of the time. It's kind of sad.

This is my method for these types of games: Wander around. Eventually something will trigger the new scenario.

And it's not that I don't like those games! You just have to be very patient with me. Which Brad is. And so, even medicated, we sat there and he would calmly say "Sherri, didn't you just come from that direction?" And I would affirm that and he would reply "Then that's probably not the direction you should be going."

Also, I was learning the controls. So when I would go to "silent takedown" someone, I would actually leap up and attack them causing gunfire to come from everywhere. Batman died. A lot. Because I did that exact same button confusion. A lot. AT THE SAME FIGHT. It was awesome.

(I did, for the record, eventually manage to get past it, but it certainly wasn't because I completed any silent takedowns there.)

That being said, it's a really, really incredible game. (Even if you're lost and just grappling from platform to platform for awhile for fun.) The design elements are perfect, the storyline looks like an absolutely fantastic setup, and I feel like once I got used to the controller the controls would be a lot more intuitive. And gliding?! Gliding is the best.

Hm...maybe if I got an X Box....

Quick Catchup

I'm trying to blog and watch LOST at the same time, and it's just not working.


So Tuesday night I made a trip up to Kansas to see my Newberry family! Yay! I was able to see all the family and hang out playing cards with them. It was a fast trip up & back, but it was lovely and fun and there was also Dairy Queen involved.


This week we were able to get in some birds of paradise at a great price, which is a little unusual for us. And then when our plants arrived, he accidentally broke one of the tops off of a dracena and gave it to us to use in an arrangement. I was actually really pleased with the way it turned out. 

I haven't solved my desk conundrum yet, but I believe I will be moving it out tomorrow so that I can see what room I will have opened up. Plus, now that I've decided it needs to go, it's sort of driving me crazy that it's still here.


Slowly but surely, the cold is beginning to drift in. Mrrr.


Will found this link today and it's pretty spectacular:
"Killer Sharks Invade Golf Course"

"...The sharks, which are between 8ft and 10ft long, have proved quite a hit at corporate events and their fins have even been spotted during wedding ceremonies held on the course."

Bwahaha! Now THAT'S a ceremony. 

And it goes like this.

So this past Thursday night Regina & I trekked up to the OKC Zoo Amphitheater for the Train & Maroon 5 concert. Originally there were five of us, but Brad, Holly & Sam weren't able to make it for varying reasons. :/ Sad day. Although the concert wasn't until 7:00, we headed up there right after I got off work. Since we walked into the venue right on the dot I was really glad we left when we did.

I've only been to three other concerts at the Zoo Amp, but that's enough to know with the thousands of people in the first-come-first-served outdoor venue you're never going to be able to push your way down to the front that late, and especially not be able to see even if you do. I've spent the other three concerts way off to the side or far in the back. But somehow, we made it closer than I've ever been before and had a fantastic viewing point AND managed not to block anyone else's view. Seriously. It was awesome. I was so excited. 

This concert was so FUN. Giddy. Giddy is a good word for it, because Regina & I were pretty ridiculously giddy the whole time. Partially because they were both bands we were really anticipating, but also because of how nice the crowds were and our clear line of sight to the stage. (Okay, okay, and because both bands have front men with these gorgeous tenor voices.)

Regina's Pic of Train.

Train was up first, opening with the the sounds of a train revving up (I was so stupidly happy, I didn't even get that reference until AFTER THEIR SET, ahaha. We'll blame it on the happiness. And not the obliviousness.) and launching into "Parachute." Which I thought was a strange opening song, but I was still glad to hear it. And after that I have no idea of what order the songs came in. They teased with bits and pieces of "Soul Sister" throughout the concert and finally concluded with it. They did come out for a short encore where they finally played "Drops of Jupiter" and finished out with "This Ain't Goodbye."
Also - and this works really well with all their music homages on Francisco - they did a set of cover songs for about twenty minutes as well. That included a mashup between "Heart of Glass" and "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" that was brilliant and ended with the entirety of "Dream On" that was pretty fantastic.
(Other songs included: Save Me San Francisco, She's On Fire, Meet Virgina(!), Calling All Angels, If It's Love, Words, Marry Me.)

Maroon 5 threw the gates open from the get go opening with none other than "Moves Like Jagger" and that energy maintained itself throughout the rest of the show by the crowd as well as the band. They were great, with such high energy, excellent instrumentals and very entertaining to watch even though I only knew about three songs. They, of course, also came out for an encore and concluded their whole set with (I have to admit) a beautiful rendition of "She Will Be Loved." I guess enough time has passed now that I apparently am no longer sick of the song. It just had waaay too much airtime when it first came out.
(Other songs included: Stutter, Misery, How, Wake Up Call, Hands All Over, Harder to Breathe, She Said Goodbye, Sunday Morning, Without You, Never Gonna Leave This Bed aaand a lot of others.)

And, as Regina pointed out, the bands were great compliments to each other in concert. Train was a much more relaxed band onstage - not necessarily peppy or trying to overblow their songs, but just enjoying being there and focusing on interacting a lot with the crowd. Maroon 5, on the other hand, were the showmen who talked very little, paced their show very well and blasted through a ton of songs and great instrumentals.  So we enjoyed the different tempos of the two together.

Yeah, it was great. Due to city ordinances, the concert had to end by 10:30 and they landed on that number exactly, but each band still had about an hour and fifteen minutes to play. So still lots of time with both. I'm excited to hear Train's in the middle of working on their next album, and I really hope its as strong as the last one was.

Good times, good times.

I have these amazing friends.

Alright, blogger,  first post in the new interface! Let's see how this goes. 

This Labor Day weekend consisted of an AWESOME trip to the OKC Zoo with AMAZING friends. (Worthy of the caps.) We're talking weather in the 70's, people. It was wonderful.

This, of course, added to the fun:

I think this was greedy giraffe.

I got to feed the giraffes again! Thanks to Eric, who had cash.

How much do my friends love me?  I mean, seriously, that's twice now someone's paid for me to feed giraffes.  Because they knew it would make my day (and it did).

I even got a "I fed the giraffes at the Zoo" button.

You guys rock.

Though I promise I'll bring my own money next time! I just didn't know OKC had this yet.

I'll probably post more about the Zoo later. But I'm going to bed early tonight and YOU CAN'T STOP ME. Bwahahaha.

(Okay, fine, if I can't sleep, I'll detail it out tonight. Rar.)

Roadtrip #3: Back to Houston!

This is why I went missing for a few days. :)

The Accident
Unfortunately, the Friday before I was supposed to head down to Houston my driver's sideview mirror was destroyed. All I really saw was the truck in front of me kick up a very long pipe and that pipe flying through the air. At the last second I threw my arm up to cover my face because it was headed straight for the windshield. But instead of a crash I heard a thud and to my joy glanced up to find absolutely no damage to my windshield.

And then I tried to change lanes with my sideview mirror.

Also, alas, the hood was scratched so deeply it had hit the metal and was eventually going to rust away. So suddenly my car was going into the shop and I had to find a replacement if I was still to go - barring I could still go with insurance/rental issues - but my insurance company was really awesome and I was thrilled. So the plan was still in place.

(I realize I'm really, really lucky that nothing worse happened, so this fix was not.a.big.deal. Sideview mirror? Doable.)

The Rental & Eight Hours, Going Once
I've never rented a car before. So when the lady asked me whether I would like a mid-size or full-size sedan, and explained that my Altima would essentially be a full-size and that I would probably get one, I decided to go with what I knew. However, in the back of my head there was this constant nagging doubt that I should've gone with the mid-size.

When the driver came to pick me up in a Mercury Sable, I suddenly felt all those doubts rise to the surface. It was an older model, so the thought of gas mileage alone scared me, and it certainly wasn't something I wanted to drive in Houston traffic. (I learned to drive in my grandfather's Buick, and I've just never been a fan of driving that size of car. I have trouble judging distances anyway - and once nearly backed into the fence early on - so I don't need any extra length added.)

Finally though, after being told that this was all they had, a nice lady popped up in the back and said there was a mid-size Ford Focus if I was interested.

Yes. Yes, please.

All that to say: go with your instincts.

The car was great and I managed to slide through all the big cities without traffic, so the drive down was perfect. I was really nervous about taking an unfamiliar car all that way, so I was really grateful this turned out so well. God is good.

Everything is all taken care of now, though, and my car is back in my possession looking great. If you ever need a body shop in the area, I have one to recommend.

Houston!
Yay! Houston!

Wednesday night Will had an unsuspecting Travis & Dave come over and I think everyone enjoyed hanging out the rest of the night.

And then on Thursday, poor Will got sick! Pretty sick, actually. :( Poor guy. (For those concerned, he seems to be doing fine now.) We did spend a lot of time catching up on various Nostalgic Critic episodes (who, by the way, is hysterical but very R-rated and language heavy, so be aware.) Also, I had the chance to see a taped rendition of his Pinocchio that I had been itching to watch and was glad to finally have the opportunity.

On Friday morning Kim graciously dropped Robbie & I off at the Zoo (where the OKC Zoo membership provides 1/2 off prices!) Although we did see lots of animals, I think if I totaled it up we spent about three of the five hours there in the children's zoo alone which was pretty funny. Robbie ran around in circles on the playground. Considering it was over 100, that's some pretty intense stamina! And he wasn't quite ready to go at the end either, but it was getting hot and late and he had to be getting tired, so we rode the carousel and headed home.

As for Issac, he is cuter than ever and has this grin that you can't help but return.

Travis and I actually got to catch up at Barry's Pizzeria which was nice and Kim & I were able to watch the latest Pride & Prejudice movie which I also enjoyed. Having never read or watched any of the movies, I went in without any idea of what it was really about and it was really funny.

Also, in the midst of all this, I did manage to finish reading Hunger Games, which I really enjoyed. For some reason, I kept fighting the first person point of view for the first part of the book, but was over it by the end and really enjoyed the bits that became more stream of conscious. And the story was great. Fast read, great story. Now I'm (probably) going to launch into Game of Thrones 2.

McKinney & Eight Hours, Going Twice
On the way back I arrived in McKinney at the perfect time for dinner with Philip & Kelly at Paoli's! Yum. World Market. Good time with more friends.

And then back on the road. A different route this time - up 1-77 to avoid the awful construction I ran into on 35 last time- buuut, 1-77 scared me a bit when I realized just how desolate it was. While I did like that it went straight into Shawnee, I didn't like that there were essentially no streetlights anywhere. And, although I knew it going in, no towns. So that meant no gas stations or ones in tiny towns that close way too early. That's potentially nervewracking.
So it's back to 35 for me.

And also bedtime for me.

But since I left Houston with this song stuck in my head, I now leave it with you:



It's a monkey!!

Only because its so true.

I am so sleepy. And going to bed. We had an awesome evening celebrating Holly's birthday at Red Robin. Several of us hadn't seen in each in a few weeks so it was HYSTERICAL.

I actually should post quotes from that. Sadly, I would probably get them wrong. Which would be a shame.

But that makes me think of this: tonight Eric pulled up a video clip that had me in hysterics with this line and I have to share it.

"I watched an anime once - dude pulled a gun at the start of the episode, fired it at the end and everything in between was angst! I wouldn't mind, but he MISSED."
- The Escapist

(Don't misinterpret- I love anime.)

Happy birthday to my beautiful friend, Holly! Thank you for always being the sweet sister that brightens my day and makes me smile. I love you dearly and hope you had a most wonderful day.

Summer Movies: Captain & Cowboys

No movie spoilers anywhere in this post.

I actually posted several days ago about my final thoughts on the first season of LOST. But blogger decided to eat that post and I was miffed enough that I haven't rewritten it. Mrr.

Instead, since I just returned from Cowboys & Aliens, you're getting a different review. This was the closing movie of the summer for me - sure, there may be others I see, but this was the last big summer blockbuster I was looking forward to in a season that was full of them.

But wait, I skipped Cap! We have to rewind.

First off, can we just say that both these movies had an awesome looking poster?





I mean, really. Those are awesome.

Okay, here we go.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Solid. That's the best word for this movie. This was a very solid movie.

It's very good - I wouldn't change a thing - and I really enjoyed it. Somehow, though, it still felt slightly...formulaic. Like Marvel has figured out the best way to make a comic book movie and just did their thing. Or maybe it's simply we've watched so many superhero movies now that you already know the pattern - the hero has to start out weak, gain his powers, learn to use them, grow into them, and become his fully fledged self. That's just how it goes.

I don't know. It just didn't feel quite as fresh as some of the others, somehow.

That being said - again, I wouldn't change a thing. The ending was beautiful, there were some really lovely bits of humor, the acting was totally top notch (Chris Evans as Rogers is fantastic) and the storyline was great. The 40's feel to the movie was brilliant. Go see this movie. I'm just saying - for some reason- it just didn't feel quite as, well, fresh as the others.

I liked it, it's just not my favorite.

And the after-the-credits scene in this one? Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

Cowboys & Aliens
(I have no comparison to the comic book with this movie. Until a few days ago when Brad told me it was originally a comic book, I had no idea. So this is strictly movie based alone.)

Ha. Oh, this movie. This movie drew many different responses from us and they're all totally understandable.

This is what I wanted: I wanted to watch Daniel Craig beat up some aliens. That's all I wanted out of this movie. If Harrison Ford beat up some as well, even better. Enough of a plot to carry the movie, some great western scenes and cowboys taking out the aliens. That's it.

So, for the most part, I enjoyed it.

Truthfully, I don't have much interest in alien premises - I'll wave aside most movies that include them - the idea of "are we alone" is interesting, but that's about it. It's kind of like zombies for me - I'm not that interested in zombies. Sure, there are a few movies I won't mind seeing that include them, but I'm certainly not going out looking for them. There's just no desire there. But I wanted to see this one because it seemed like such a fun mashup. Cowboys versus aliens? Yes, please.

First off, this movie has some beautiful scenic shots and an even more perfect soundtrack. I loved the music for this movie. (Apparently the music was composed by the guy who did Narnia's soundtrack, which was also amazing. Good memory, Holly!)
Secondly, you're going to see western cliches. Its stylized that way.
Thirdly....sigh. There is a point in the movie - about halfway in - that may make or break it for you. I was sooo disappointed for about twenty minutes and ready to give up on it, when it went back to the original alien/cowboy showdown and I was content again. But at that point, blah. Blah blah blah.
Not to mention we were all sick of the trailer. Eric & I made the same joke at two separate times - at least in going to see the actual movie, we wouldn't have to sit through the trailer for it.

If you came out of this movie hating it, I wouldn't even have to ask you why. I would already understand. You may be better off renting it or finding it at a local dollar theatre. As for me, this was my summer action flick. Had it continued down the path I thought it was going to push, I would've been done with it. But it did right itself for me after that twenty minutes.

So the biggest factor on your enjoyment level all depends on what you're going in for.

Tbat's the last of my summer blockbusters! What a great year. We do still have an incredibly promising next season: 2012 brings about both The Avengers and Dark Knight Rises. Those two movies alone carry the whole waiting period.

Summer Movies: Goodbye Harry.

There are major spoilers ALL OVER this post. I assume by this point most people reading this have read the books. Also, there's movie spoilers as well, so tread lightly if you don't want to know.

I came into the series a little over its halfway point. Book 5 had just come out the summer before and Holly had finally convinced me to give them a try. And so began "Mr. & Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive..."

It feels so strange to look at that sentence knowing where it eventually ends up.

I was not sold on the first book. I thought the end was crazy and creepy and great, but I wasn't sold. But I read Chamber of Secrets anyway, and then what really hooked me was Book 3 - Prisoner of Azkaban.
It was not only a great read, but it also brought along Sirius Black. Who I ended up loving dearly.

And then Goblet of Fire was amazing and wonderfully wild. I couldn't imagine being a reader having to wait years in between the two books - I couldn't imagine the return of Voldemort without being able to immediately pick up the next one. I read through 4 & 5 voraciously.

But then I reached the end of Book 5.
I remember mentally watching Sirius Black fall through the veil as I scanned the pages. Devastation. I had just proclaimed to Holly how Sirius had become my favorite, even throughout the solemness of Book 5. It was actually really late when I reached that point - probably 2:30 in the morning - and I remember running the few steps down to her door, seeing the light still on and busting in demanding answers. She merely sent me back to reading. Sob. Sirius. This could not be.
This continued the unfortunate recurrence of all my favorite characters dying. That spell has since been broken - also by Harry Potter - but I still get leery.

(Later, I would find a shirt online that I bought and still enjoy: In Sirius Denial. True.)

Then it was my first wait. And began the heavy theorizing with friends. And curiosity. The checking of Mugglenet daily waiting on news of the next book.

I'll be honest - I don't actually remember how I bought book 6. I just remember when the cover was first revealed and Holly & I discussing what it could possibly be. Besides the Birdbath of Doom.

My favorite memory of Book 6 is actually how I finished reading it. Holly & I were at our apartment and she had finished it a few hours beforehand. I was sucked into the final few chapters and had read all night. The sunrise was just beginning to peek out, so I went for some fresh air. And happened to be sitting by the pool in the morning light while reading the chapter about Dumbledore & Harry get attacked by the creatures in the water at the cave.
I don't recommend reading that chapter by a body of water.

Book 6 was okay. It was not my favorite, but we felt like it was necessary. We figured it had to be a slower book to make way for the finale. We waited.
And waited.
And obsessed. And theorized.
And waited.
And checked her website.
And waited.

And was at the midnight release party at the local Waldenbooks with Holly & Brad, in line, having ordered our copies weeks before. This was it. Although there were still a few movies to come out at this point, the wait would essentially be over. One way or another we would know how it was going to end after all our discussion.

I have to be honest: I was pretty bitterly disappointed.

In truth, I would like to go back and reread the series again. I feel like now that I know where its going and without the years of waiting and wondering and questioning, that I would probably like it a lot better. I just expected so much more than chapter after chapter of walking through the woods. There were some great elements - my favorites include the entire scene at Godrics Hollow where Harry finds his parents graves, in the forest where his family walks him to his death, Neville having his moment, etc. It just wasn't what I expected at the time.

All that being said, I loved the seventh movie(s). Really. Sure, I can nitpick it, but don't misinterpret that as disliking it. I felt like they handled the final battle really well- for the most part, you got to actually see all the action instead of being forced to watch fast cut sequences of battle. The moment in the cemetery and the moment in the forest with his family are both incredibly lovely.

This is one of the few occurrences where I will tell you I feel like the movie served the story better than the book. But again - I haven't read it since that first time and I know I do need to go back and reread it. I know several people who love the last book. I'm totally willing to give it another chance without all the hype.

There are two things I really missed. One, I wish they would have left Neville's moment alone. Sure, he does eventually kill Nagini. But by stretching it out and not giving it to him at the moment where he's just had his throwdown with Voldemort I felt kind of took away from it. He was equally my favorite character throughout the books alongside Sirius (and Luna slighly underneath them) and I was so thrilled to see that moment in Book 7.
And for a brief moment in the movie I thought they were actually going to give that moment to one of the others and I was going to be ticked.
The other thing is actually not one of my favorite moments in the book, but I know it is to a lot of the fandom and I feel they did it a disservice. Molly's "Not my daughter" went by so quickly that I didn't even realize Bellatrix was fighting Ginny until Molly flipped around. They should have given that moment some more weight. It simply went by too quickly.

Outside of those two things, the only thing I really missed was one tiny detail from the final battle. And that was Trelawney throwing her crystal balls in the fray. I know it wouldn't have fit the feel of the film, but that was my favorite part of the final battle in the book. :)

One of my favorite moments of the movie, however, (outside of those just mentioned) had to be when the professors were beginning to lay down the defenses for the school. I just loved the visuals. I loved watching the professors getting to do their thing. I loved seeing them work together. And I loved McGonagall's "I've always wanted to do that spell!" :)
(Also, riding the dragon out of Gringotts was pretty cool.)

But I was not a fan of the epilogue. Again. Both in book and movie, I'm just not a fan of that. I've invested myself into your world and attached myself to your characters for seven books...for what? A four page epilogue? That's all I get about how all this ends? (I don't actually remember if it was only four pages. It felt like only four pages.)

After downing the seventh book so much I feel I need to add a disclaimer: I still love Harry Potter. When the dust settles from this final film, and whenever I'm caught up on books, I do want to go back and rediscover its magic and all the beautiful world and characters. Its still one of my favorites. I just felt like it went way too far off track from how it had been set up at the time.

And truth be told, I'm glad to see the final film. I know it means its over, but that's okay. It feels like the end of something special, something a lot of people worldwide enjoyed as one and now its come to a rest.

So farewell Harry Potter. I'm glad I met you at your height. I'm glad I joined the fray. I'm really grateful for all those long nights up talking with friends about how you might end or who might make it even if that means you drove me crazy some of the time. I wouldn't have traded it.

And thanks J.K Rowling for letting Neville live. Because by that point I was really beginning to develop a complex.

Lots of love.

The Bond Experiment #3 & 4: Goldfinger & Thunderball

First off: Brad has fixed my computer. He's a genius. I'm much happier and very grateful.

And hey! We got some movie watching done!
(For your reference, Sean Connery is still our James Bond.)

Goldfinger was first up. I've been most excited about this one since it's usually referred to as the quintessential Bond movie. It seems to be the one that really furthered the franchise. I finally heard the theme song that people have sung to me every time its mentioned ("Oh yeah! That's the one with 'Gooooldfiiiinger....'") and have been introduced to Pussy Galore & Oddjob. Who is indeed, very odd. I mean. Who actually stays with an atomic bomb after its been initiated? Apparently, this guy.

Distinct lessening of the James Bond theme in this movie, mostly replaced with the title theme. Both were nicely used.

Also, is this the beginning of ejector seats in cars? I was curious. I should look that up.

But I was disappointed. He does not actually turn people into gold with his finger. Sigh.

So this was amusing.
One of the reasons we started this project is because all but the first three movies were on Netflix instant play. The ease of access was a major perk. We even double checked a few weeks ago. So tonight when we went to pull up Thunderball, and um, you guessed it... suddenly they're rotated off instant play. Ha! I mean, come on. So we considered for a few minutes. I suggested I could get a membership at the one local rental place in town if they had the movies. After a few minutes of disappointed searching, we finally discovered them off to the side and voila! We're back in progress.

I actually can't remember the theme to the fourth one and I just watched it. So I see why Goldfinger was so catchy. Nonetheless, I think I liked Thunderball better. Mostly because it includes a lot of underwater sequences (underwater fist fighting! yes!). There are sharks.
Also, essentially two groups charge each other in battle. Under. Water.

Thunderball is about one fight sequence too long, but other than that I really enjoyed it. (Bond Girl: Domino.)

General Note: I also really like the interactions between Bond & Q & Money Penny. Those are some fun relationships.

Next on the list: You Only Live Twice which Brad warned me is strange. Hm.

Top 5:
1. Thunderball
2. Goldfinger
3. From Russia, With Love
4. Dr. No

Hey look! We're almost to a full top five!

(I keep trying to decide on whether 2 & 3 should be switched. They may be in the future, but I think I liked Goldfinger better overall.)

Summer Movies: X-Men First Class

I'll be the first to admit I know very little about the X-Men. While I'm beginning to enjoy the deep history X-Men provides - as well as their rich slate of characters - I'm still at the phase where I'm putting characters, timelines and stories into place. There's so much to untangle. And mostly the only energy I put into discovering it is piecing it together from friends conversations.

That being said though, I was really looking forward to this movie (and very sad I had to opt out of the midnight showing). I have no idea if I ever saw X1. I don't really remember it. X2 I enjoyed quite a bit (of course, it had Nightcrawler) and X3 confused the life out of me.
(From what I gather, X3 did that to most people anyway.)

So speaking as someone who really doesn't know anything:
I loved First Class! It was so well done. The acting was fantastic, I was intrigued the whole way through and loved watching these well-known characters come to life from the start. (And I loved James Mcavoy as Xavier. He was my favorite, with Beast as a close second.) I felt they managed to give enough time to each character so you could invest in them - and not just have name after name thrown at you. Which is what I felt the first three were missing to an extent.

What a great battle scene. The opening scene was fantastic. The closing scenes were fantastic. Heartbreaking.

And while we're on the topic of summer movies, have you looked at this years lineup?

Let's start at the beginning. Movies I want(ed) to see.
Thor
Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides
X Men: First Class
Green Lantern
Harry Potter 7: Part 2
Cowboys & Aliens
Captain America: The First Avenger

And thaaaaat's just the summer.

And then there's some sprinkled in there that I wouldn't mind seeing, but not necessarily sold on either. And I may have missed some.

And, of course, James Bond.

The Bond Experiment #2: From Russia, With Love

Last night after church we headed out to Gary & Tina's for our second round of Bond entertainment. (And, of course, to see Sarah who is their sweet Great Pyrenees/ yellow lab mix.)

One of my very favorite dogs. Ever.

We're still in the Sean Connery stage, this time with the second film of the series: From Russia, With Love. (Which always strikes me as a strange title.)

Nonetheless! While I enjoyed Dr. No, this one was much more cohesive. Everything was there to drive along the plot, which was nice. The head of Spectre has now made his debut with his white cat, as has Q. And there was only one main Bond girl this time, which helped it not feel quite so fragmented.

Also, I really liked the whole segment on the Orient Express. How can you not love a mystery on a train?

So let's keep a Top 5 running list, shall we?

1. From Russia, With Love
2. Dr. No

Maybe I should wait until we get at least five films? Hm...

The Bond Experiment #1: Bond. James Bond.

Tonight I saw my first James Bond movie.

It started a few weeks ago when Brad was discussing how he'd like to watch the "best of the best" of a certain genre to potentially discover the "all time best" in that specific subject. "Like James Bond," he said "I'd like to watch all the James Bond movies in order and see which one is the best." ("Oh!" I said "Like Godzilla movies!" but he hasn't quite got on board with that one yet.)

I also explained that I had never watched a James Bond movie. Which, really, is a shame considering how entrenched they are in our pop culture.

So tonight we began our expedition with the beginning: Dr. No.

Brief thoughts:

First off, can I say how incredibly epic the James Bond theme is? I had heard it before, but obviously never in conjunction with the movies and its so perfect. No wonder its become such an icon.

It's really amusing to watch a 60's movie now, especially since I haven't watched many before. Everything from the wildly bouncing openings credits to the red vinyl doors to not always quite catching what the actors are saying (and by the way, still looking pretty awesome on blu-ray.)

And I really liked suave Sean Connery.

Brad warned me this movie begins a tradition of Bond villains missing body parts. Something about biting through steel? I'm looking forward to it. 21 more films to go!

Whaddya waaant?

I love Etsy. And I should probably be concerned how much time I can waste browsing through the shops. Nonetheless, I love Etsy.

Etsy is a website where people can create shops to sell their homemade items. The best part is that it ranges everywhere from jewelry to woodcarving to paper cutting to glassware to clothing to...etc, etc. The prices are usually fair, the creativity outstanding, the quality usually high and the possibilities seem endless. Often people will also offer custom services. And while I'm not always the best at going first to the small shop community, I love that I can support everyday people through their work rather than buying from a big business.

And I love that in the midst of all these beautiful objects, there's also a vast amount of quirky.

Like this:


(From spookcityarts etsy shop)

Yes, my friends. That is Godzilla and the Phantom of the Opera in the same photo. Love.

And then this really made me laugh:



I was even more amused to realize my name was already written in as the sample:


Ha, I can assure you I felt this way this very morning! Rar! (From kitschville)

I can't let today go by without wishing my big brother Will a very happy birthday! What would we do without you? I've watched you over and over again embody the very characteristics of love: the ability to always protect, always trust, always hope and always persevere. And you give fantastic hugs. May the rest of your week be awesome and your Godzilla movies be free of wonky trombones and scary fish masks. :)

When the storms roll in.

Storm season has finally arrived in the state. Its true that we need the rain (and still do) but I've genuinely missed hearing the claps of thunder that are common throughout our spring season. I love storm season. But I also have a healthy respect for it and I know it does no good to be foolish. Things always seem to happen the one time you don't plan for them.

Last night the Plumbs & Pucketts were having their Easter gathering. I was already planning on running a few errands before heading their way, so I was in town longer than I would have originally been. As an unexpected storm began to blow its way in, Regina & I dashed to gather all the leaves she'd raked before the rain destroyed all her hard work and I hurried to the house to grab my Easter dessert.

When I ran into the house I asked grandma if there were any chances of tornadoes.
Sure, she said, we're under a watch.
Hm.

I know Tornado Watch does not equal There Is A Tornado, but the air felt different and I was skeptical.

Then I think you should come with me to the Plumbs.
Oh honey, I'll be fine, I'll just get in the closet.
....

No coercing would get her to come with me, and knowing she would never let me stay, I formed a backup plan. I knew the Nickerson family was coming into town for dinner and there would be some extra helping hands nearby.

I know this sounds extreme, but if the weather gets bad, please make sure my grandma gets to safety.

This is the beautiful thing about my friends and loved ones in the area: I have so many people I could call for backup in situations like this and they would be more than gracious. I have no doubt she would be completely protected with any of them.

I was driving towards the interstate ramp when the sirens suddenly went off. I could tell we were in no immediate threat, but the priority was still to get back home. As I was doubling back and trying to call someone, anyone, who would have an eye on the weather all the signals were jammed and I could get through to no one.

So as I rounded the corner to my street there in my driveway was my pastor getting out of his car. He had already arrived to take my grandma to safety, just in case. My knight in his now drenched blue long sleeved shirt.

It wasn't that I was surprised to him - I had already tried to call him and let him know I was on my way. But the sheer kindness of it all still warmed my soul. This is a great example of the beautiful friends & family I'm fortunate enough to have. These are the kinds of things they do. They're amazing.

The storms passed and I was able to make it out for Easter fun. I've really missed my kids (I love those sweet faces) and I was so happy for the chance to see everyone. But currently the reminder of how much love I'm surrounded by is even sweeter. Thanks, guys, for being awesome. And to Gary for being my superhero.

March is wrapping up.

For Regina's birthday we celebrated in Bricktown by eating at Zios, capping it off with Marble Slab & watching Suckerpunch. For the record, I had never had Marble Slab. It was delicious - not quite Coldstone, but delicious. Rainbow Galax*E. I just can't turn down cake batter ice cream (as long as its not blue.)

Suckerpunch was curious. I wouldn't go see it again, but it held my interest. The first twenty minutes were really beautifully shot, and the soundtrack is outstanding. While admittedly my expectations were sunk pretty low, it was better than I thought it'd be.

It's 38ish degrees outside. Why, March? Why?

There's not much more entertaining than watching the cast of my church trying to catch a squirrel. My favorite part was Carolyn telling Harold he better not get bitten because she didn't have time to take him to get a rabies shot.

On Friday some salesmen-in-training will apparently be coming to our shop to study how a flower shop operates, so they can better understand the inner workings? Our representative recommended us? I think this whole thing is really strange, especially when you consider all the hundreds of other shops in the state, but okay. Sure, we do a lot of business. But, uh. I'm still skeptical about this whole thing. It just sounds weird.

A few weeks ago iTunes stopped working on my computer. I have now completely - completely- uninstalled anything to do with realplayer, quicktime, iTunes, iPod, apple, etc. and reinstalled it. Nothing. iTunes has encountered a problem. Any thoughts?

I'm looking forward to the Medieval Faire this weekend. Hurrah!

I've spent the evening watching clips from Disney movies of the 90's. They make me smile.

Sandwiches. Everyone likes 'em. Sandwiches.

My watch beeped twice today at 4:58. And then again once at 5:00. I find this very confusing. Is it taking after the watch in Stranger than Fiction? Well, if I start hearing voices...hm, never mind. :)

Roadtrip #2: HOUSTON!

"So have you heard about Cameron Mackintosh's latest musical? It's about these people who raise a pig and the rest of the town eats Spam."

How could you not miss misguided conversations like this? ;)

After three years of not making it down to Houston, I finally had the chance and had planned on flying. But I never bought the tickets. And something kept nagging at me. I had never really considered driving, simply because I usually flew. But I wasn't satisfied with the idea of flying. Until one morning in church when I was still mulling over the issue (I know, I know) and the lightbulb went off. What if I drove? But eight hours in a car? At these gas prices?

But Denton was almost halfway in between and if I didn't have to drive all eight hours in one go both ways, I was content. So Philip & Kelly graciously put me up again for another night and made it much easier. The drive though wasn't bad at all. I've never (that I can recall) been on a solitary roadtrip and it was pretty fantastic. Just driving to music? Or riding in silence? Perfect. Besides, no one needs to hear my rendition of Juggernaut after being in the car nine hours. Behind a van that won't go at stop signs.

This was such a great trip! I loved spending so much time with them. They're such a great family and Will is, of course, my very cool big brother so it was incredibly refreshing to hang out with all of them again and soak up his awesome hugs. We drove around the loop, watched the FIF documentary, had cheesebread, saw their cool library.... Ha, and we even got to go to Kroger. :)

While I was in Houston Kim began recommending books to me, and one in particular caught my eye that she had already checked out from the library: How I Killed Pluto & Why it Had it Coming. Written, as stated, by the guy who got Pluto kicked out of planet status (Michael Brown.) It's well worth the read if you have any interest in the topic, because it's not only very insightful on how astronomers and the international space community work, but it's also written well and pretty funny. Also, we almost had 100+ planets. There was so much going on at that time that we had no idea of!
As I was finishing up that one, Will highly recommended Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I managed to read the first half while I was there (and it is really beautiful) and he kindly lent the book to me to finish. Game of Thrones, my ever backup, will be on hold for awhile because this one has caught my attention more and takes precedence. Even if I haven't returned to it yet. (Still, after GoT I still plan to return to finally finishing Good Omens.)

Also, one night Dave & I had the opportunity to babysit the kiddos! Hm. Mind you, this was the very first time I have ever babysat. I mean, I've watched kids a lot, but not babies. Mostly because they terrify me. But I really wanted to help, and Kim's a great teacher, so we went with it. And, a few hiccups withstanding, everything went fine. They were lovely. I was really happy to spend time with both of them.
And to give you an idea of how sweet Isaac is: babies that small I am ambivalent about. About six months and up, I'm better. But when they can't even hold their head up, there's just too much that can go wrong. So I keep my distance and usually go play with the older kids. But I have to admit that by about the third time Isaac fell asleep against me I was pretty smitten.

Robbie is also a total doll. We played with trains, trucks, in the sandbox, had pillow fights, watched the fish movie, sharks, read books, tickled... You can't beat that. (Okay, so he was bolted past me when I first arrived and hid in the kitchen. But thankfully that was over with pretty quick. :) )

I was able to bust through Texas on the way back - I made it to Denton in a little over four hours, had dinner with Philip & Kelly, and was flying until I hit a screeching halt right. across. the. border. Seriously, maybe six miles into the border. Construction. Ridiculous traffic. As we inched our way along I glanced out of my window at a lady with her foot sticking out of the window while driving. Then a man with a basketball started dribbling up and down the highway and then made a return route doing tricks on the side of the road. And then a laptop caught my eye out of a rear windshield with a phone number on it in huge font. The laptop was then taken down and when it popped back up it read "SO BORED. SOMEONE PLEASE CALL US."
Later I saw the girl in the passenger seat of that car pump her fists as someone had apparently called her. It was pretty funny.
But I made it from Houston on one tank of gas and with that in mind and a new route through the Thackerville construction, I'm ready to go again. :)

"Mis Sherri, Mis Sherri, why did you fill the bathtub so high?! Why did you fill the bathtub so high?!"

"Are you a pillow?"
"No. I'm a Robbie. (beat) Trust me."