Movie Monday: Underworld:Awakening

Last week, on kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision, Christopher and I went out to see the fourth movie in the "Underworld" series. This one was "Underworld: Awakening" (which, of course, you probably already guessed if you read the title of this post).

The "Underworld" series is a dark vampire versus werewolf series (no one glitters in the sun, or runs around with a bare chest for the teenagers to drool over), where the lead vampire (a deadly, yet beautiful, woman) falls for a human who - in the first movie - is bitten by both a vampire and a werewolf (well, they're called "lycan" in this), and becomes kind of a hybrid.

In this latest installment, she awakens from 12 years of captivity to find that the man/hybrid/guy that she loved is gone, and that they have had a daughter (which she didn't know about), and a conspiracy has been using them to try to find a "cure" for the vampire and lycan scourge. Or, maybe, to create new hybrids...

And... well... mayhem and shooting and biting and gore and special effects ensue.

Here's the twist, though. This was the first movie in the franchise to have been filmed in 3D. And, if you've been paying attention, you know that I'm not really a fan of 3D. In action movies, it tends to result in things being thrown at the camera, or gore splattering the camera, or motion sequences that make you want to hurl at the camera. But aside from one scene at the very beginning when the camera was rotating (and so was my stomach) they did pretty well with it.

And, consequently, I kind of rather enjoyed the movie. The 3D actually did enhance what was going on - adding depth to the scenes, instead of causing me to sit back and think "wow. They really worked hard on that." It was a nice change of pace for the 3D market.

Overall score: A-. It really was what it promised to be, but they keep alluding to the lover/hybrid guy, but we don't ever actually see him. And, well, I have to admit that he was one of my favorite things about the first movie. So, bring him back and I'll give it an A.

Perspective on Productivity

Most Saturdays, I'd be really excited to go to the grocery store, run multiple other errands, bake some cookies (and clean up the kitchen), watch a movie from Netflix, walk the dog (twice) and try to comb out some of her tangles, and even get some correspondence done. All before 7pm.

Today, however, even though that's actually more than what was on my to-do list, I feel like I've kind of wasted the day.

You see, I've been up for about 5 hours longer than usual. Yep. I got up at about 4am so that I could take Christopher to the airport, and just didn't feel right going back to bed when I got home (after stopping at the grocery store). So I watched some TV and stalked his flight online to make sure it took off and landed on time.

He actually called after he'd gotten settled in, and I thought that - since I'd heard from him - I'd run the extra errands and then come home and nap. But the cold weather woke me up, so I just came in and watched that movie and hung out with the pup.

This evening, I did the baking and the correspondence. And it's not even 8pm.

The worst part of this, of course, is that you can pretty well bet that I'll get a second wind at about 9 and then be up until midnight. And, no, I don't plan to do any more of this weekend's to-dos before I go to bed. I figure that, by tomorrow, my perspective will be mostly back in line with today's productivity. And I don't want to set my expectations for tomorrow too high.

Friday Food: In a Pickle

Lunch, today, was a basic club sandwich ordered in from Jimmy John's. I had no intention of ordering in, but I was running late this morning while getting ready for work, and then... well... the weather decided to turn frigid overnight, so I didn't really want to go out.

Plus, there's the fact that ordering in from Jimmy John's - even with a tip for the delivery guy - is usually less expensive than going to any of the cafes/delis/restaurants in the area for lunch.

Even so, I always feel a little odd ordering in.

I used to kind of laugh at the people who always bought lunch instead of bringing it in. I marveled at how they had enough money to do it. If I hadn't packed lunch I'd walk to the market a couple of blocks away and get myself something. Or, once, I actually got a sandwich from the vending machine in the building so that I could save some cash.

Today, though, I was just in one of those strange situations that kind of made it hard to do any of my usual things. I didn't have time to make lunch at home. The market is closed - possibly under foreclosure. And the vending machine... well... I don't like to play that kind of Russian roulette more often than I need to. Which is why I went online and ordered my "Club Lulu" from Jimmy John's.

And, because I didn't want to have to deal with the delivery guy having to give me change - but didn't want to give an almost $4 tip on a $6 sandwich, I ordered a pickle to go with it. (Did you know that you can get their pickles delivered whole, halved, or quartered? Who thinks of these things?)

It showed up fast (though possibly not as "freaky-fast" as in the ads), and was quite tasty. Plus I never had to leave the office and go outside into the nasty cold winter weather that is apparently waiting outside.

Gotta admit, that makes being in a pickle much easier.

Why I Like Ellen (and will start shopping at JCPenney more)

I've liked Ellen DeGeneres for a long time.

I liked her old stand-up comedy routines. I liked her sitcoms. I like her talkshow (although I don't see it very often since it's in the middle of the day). I think her CoverGirl ads are fun. And I kind of love that she's married to Portia de Rossi.

I fully admit that I hadn't really given any thought to the fact that JCPenney had hired her as their new spokesperson. And then the Million Moms people decided to mount an attack on JCP and Ellen, saying that she was a horrible rolemodel, and - basically - an abomination unto the Lord.

Now, let's look at this.

Ellen's comedy has been touted for being some of the nicest around - no swearing, no mean-ness, just funny.

Ellen's charities are all about helping others, helping animals, and, basically, helping anyone or anything in need - without judgment.

Ellen's family life includes a mother who has stood by her daughter through more adversity than most, and a wife with whom - if you watch the interviews - she shares an absolutely immense love.

If you want to see - and hear - exactly what Ellen had to say about the current kerfuffle (and you really should), check out the clip from her show, here.

I watched it, and I can see why a group of bigoted, horrible people supposedly worrying about morals and family wouldn't want to have her as the spokesperson for a company.

After all, who'd want such a giving, loving, caring, funny, gracious, truthful, supportive, and generous person to be a rolemodel?

Oh. Right. I would.

Movie Monday: Two Tales of Expectations Versus Reality

I believe that I've mentioned, before, that I usually enjoy movies more when I go into them with no expectations.

I really wish I had done that in the past week.

Instead, however, I rented "The Change-Up" from Netflix, hoping for a grown-up, male-bonding, oddly-sexy version of "Freaky Friday" (the one with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris). What I got, instead, was an immature, overly-testosteroned, swearing-filled version of "Freaky Friday" (the one with Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis). I mean, the lead characters were played by Jason Bateman (really funny, sardonic, ironic... usually) and Ryan Reynolds (comically ingratiating, sexy, shirtless... usually). That should have been a good combo. But it was really really bad. I mean... really bad. Like D- bad.

To balance that out, I went to see the 3-D re-release of "Beauty and the Beast" in the theater last week. I honestly can't remember seeing it in its entirety since it first came out. And I was excited to see what they could do with the 3-D effects. When I was getting my popcorn, the guy behind the counter sounded not-too-thrilled by the 3-D of it, except for the ballroom scene - which I guess makes sense, since that was one of the first scenes in a major movie that was done with computer animation (for the background). And he was kind of right. Aside from a couple of scenes where the ambiance was enhanced by the 3-D, it really didn't do much for the movie.

Here's the thing, though. Maybe it's like this in the original, and I just haven't seen it in forever so I've forgotten, but there were a few scenes where the animation just seemed "off." Scenes where Belle's whole face kind of changed shape - and the same thing happened to the Beast a few times. I don't remember that in the original, though, so I kind of wonder if it was caused by the folks working on the 3-D-ifying of it.

And, even though I had the entire theater to myself (Really. I was the only person in a theater that probably seats over 300 people.), I'm not sure I really enjoyed it. I mean, I even got to sing along when I wanted, and laugh and cheer whenever I wanted without bothering anyone. And parts of it were phenomenal even after all this time - and after seeing it on the screen, and on multiple live theater stages - and I still got teary in all the right places. Not enough to give it an A, but enough to give it a solid B - simply because I'm not sure about those weird facial changes that really kind of threw me out of the "reality" of the movie.

Or, maybe, it's just that they through me out of my expectations of the movie.

Out of Practice

It is weekends like this that make me realize how out of practice I am for weekends like this.

Because of how much travelling Christopher has (and to a lesser extent I have) been doing - and that he's going to be doing - this was our only "available for scheduling" weekend in about 5 weeks. Since we had people we wanted to see, this meant that we scheduled a whole lot of events between Friday and today.

There was a time when this wouldn't have fazed me, and I'd have gone from one end of the weekend to the other without any problems. Unfortunately, the muscles that used to propel me through don't get that much exercise these days.

These days, I tend to think of a "busy weekend" as one where I have to run errands on Saturday, and the newpaper takes more than an hour to get through on Sunday. Which could explain why, after a wine and cheese night, an art show, a belated birthday dinner for Christopher (at a restaurant with 17 other people), a brunch, and a family dinner also for Christopher's birthday, I barely made it through the SuperBowl.

It also explains why I haven't blogged for the past couple of days. And why I'm about to head for bed even though it's not even 10 o'clock, yet.

Can't wait to head for work tomorrow and get some rest... and lots and lots of caffeine.

Fog

One of the things that Christopher and I both talk about liking during this frigid time of year is the amazing clear skies that come along with the bone-chilling temperatures.

January in Minnesota is known for being snowy, cold, and blindingly bright.

This year, though, with the weirdly warm weather, and almost no snow, we've also landed ourselves in (so far) two days of massive dense fog.

The kind of fog that makes it hard to see the tops of the buildings in downtown Minneapolis from my building in the warehouse district.

The kind of fog that, overnight, can freeze on roads and make the morning commute SUCK.

The kind of fog that makes the world kind of murky - even at high noon - and turns twilight into some kind of strange dank misty blech. (And, yes, with the perpetual twilight I do, in fact, find myself humming strains from "A Little Night Music.")

I fully admit that it's been nice to be able to walk the pup without having to be in major winter gear every day. She doesn't have to wear her coat, and I don't have to wear my hat. It's nice.

But I'd really prefer putting her coat on and bundling up if it meant that I could actually see the sun a little. Heck. I'd even take a few cold snowy days in exchange for some days of chilly sunshine to re-energize my solar-powered batteries a little.

As it is, I just keep finding myself ending up in... well... a fog.