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8.11.2008

the other side of the storm

We watched our last four movies this weekend... A Might Heart on Thursday, August Rush on Friday, Oldboy on Saturday, and 30 Days of Night on Sunday. I'll review at the end. We had a date with Ro & Pat at Teikoku on Saturday night... ate amazingly delicious food (rock shrimp tempora, kobe beef, duck breast, sushi!) in great company. We also got to see their new car, the babymobile. It's nice. Afterwards, Trav & I stopped at the Dairy Queen for some ice cream treats and officially put ourselves into food comas. So good though. I walked both days, Sunday in a rainstorm (more on that below), and we stopped by the Home Depot for more back bedroom supplies.

The storm... well, Sunday I met with Ro to go walking like normal. We made it about 4/5 of the way through when the storm hit, and with it waves and buckets and sheets of rain. We still had that last mile to go, just to get to the parking lot, so we were drenched. Not just wet, but soaked to the bone... it looked like we had gone swimming in our clothes. We decided to forgo the second loop and call it a day (not a hard choice!). The drivers seat in my car was still wet enough this morning that I had a wet butt to get on the train, so pleasant. In any case, I headed home, peeled off my clothes, took a nice warm shower, and then ate some Chinese food that Trav had picked up for us. Wonton soup and Sesame chicken... yummo. The rest of the day was more of the same weather-wise. Multiple storms rolled through the area... every time you thought it was done you would hear another rumble of thunder in the distance and then more of these huge things would come through:

Thunder, lightning, and at one point (for about an 90minutes)... no power! We played Scrabble by the fading light of the door, and I actually won for the first time in a long time.

We also got this in the end:

A double rainbow!

It's hard to make out (make the picture bigger), but one of the rainbows was a complete one... we could see the full arch from top to bottom. Here's the top:


It was a nice way to end the weekend and the storms. Once the power came back on we watched some X-files, then headed up early.

This weekend was a little rough in terms of the room remodel. I'm feeling overwhelmed and like we bit of more then we can chew. I know we can do this, but its a matter of finding the right balance between what we want to do (tear it all the hell out, wall and ceiling) and what we really can do ourselves, between cost and quality, between doing the big stuff and not being stuck working on this room until the new year! I know we'll find the balance, its just frustrating and overwhelming at the moment. I snuck away to bed for 30 minutes or so Sunday, to just lay there and feel frustrated about it. My boy was so sweet though... he baked up a package of apple cinnamon muffins, and brought me one with a bit of butter and a mug of hot chocolate (with marshmallows, of course). He definitely knows how to make me feel better.

Also, he picked up my big birthday present... a WiiFit!! He's been trying to get one for months, so I'm excited. I'll try to get some pictures of us playing one of these nights, but guest bedroom comes first.

Today he has his next PT appointment, so it will be my turn to cook. And since the high temp today is only supposed to be 74*, something rich and filling is in order. I'm thinking of my Cinnamon-Bacon Carbonara with Sausages on the side and either spinach or peas. It's been a bit since I've made that one so I'm excited. After that, we'll be working on the back bedroom... hopefully with a more upbeat outcome then this weekend! :-) Reviews below, but otherwise, back to work for me. Hope your Mondays go quickly.


Ps. Anyone watching the Olympics? I've seen a few events, but for the most part they are on too late for me. But here are some gorgeous pictures from the opening ceremonies.


::BEGIN SPOILERS::
A Might Heart
Now you know I love me some Angelina, and I thought she was great in this movie as always, but the movie itself was not my fav. Obviously the subject matter, being about a real and very unpleasant event, does not make for a happy-go-lucky watch... but I thought the whole thing just felt very frantic, and was a bit confusing. I lost track of names, there were whole scenes done in Urdu... which while I don't mind languages besides English in movies (which when done right can really add something), having whole scenes with no subtitles can make it hard to concentrate on the movie. I know Trav was losing interest at that point. For documentation purposes, recording what happened with Daniel Pearl was kidnapped, held captive, and then beheaded, this movie served its purpose. But I didn't get much more out of it, which was disappointing.

August Rush
Now after AMH, this movie was such a 180! Even Trav really enjoyed it (which was nice considering this is a bit of a romantic story, chick flick type movie)... especially the music. The music in this movie is wonderful! I really like Lyla and Louis, and the actors who played them, but the stars of this movie were really Freddie Highmore, who played Evan Taylor aka: 'August Rush', he was great, and a diabolical, very real, Wizard played by Robin Williams. This story is a bit cutesy at times... it is about an orphan who uses his music to find his birth parents... but like I said before, the music redeems it 100x. I would see this again.

Oldboy
I don't even know what to say about this one. Its a remake of a very old movie, which we got because it was on a top 10 scariest movies list. It was weird! Very weird! Its follows a Japanese business man who is kidnapped and held for 15 years, then escapes and attempts to get revenge on those who imprisoned him. But the storyline is very winding and convoluted. The rationale for the kidnapping, when its given is far fetched and a bit ridiculous... for me, to the point that it goes beyond "so scary because look at how random violence can be" to "this is completely absurd and so ridiculous to the point of disbelief." And in the end Trav and I could only look at each other and go, "huh?!" If you happen to catch this movie and are a fan of horror/scary/gory movies, watch... but don't go out of your way to pick it up.

30 Days of Night
Trav and I are huge vampire flick fans... and this one had some scary looking previews. The premise was good (vampires descend on an Alaskan town during its month without sun), but the delivery could have been better. I liked it, but didn't love it. It had some scary parts, some feel it in your stomach suspense, but the ending was lacking. Great, the main character sacrificed himself for the woman he loved. But what exactly were the vampires planning to do? They just kind of ran off at the last minute. If you enjoy vampire movies, then you'll probably enjoy this... but don't go into this looking for another Underworld. This one is more about scary makeup, jump out at you surprise, and lots of fake blood then about a good story line.
::END SPOILERS::

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