RANDOM MUSINGS

Okay, this movie was GOOD. I don’t know that it was one that I would be able to watch over and over again, but it was surprisingly good. I don’t know why I say surprisingly. I guess because this was one I wouldn’t normally have gone to see, and often when movies have plots based on missed opportunities and coincidences, I get easily frustrated. This one was fast-paced enough that it kept it moving enough to prevent frustration. I actually liked Gerard Butler better in this than 300! And I am always a sucker for anything that includes tons of English/Scottish/Irish accents.

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Mine was good….super busy. Friday going out, Saturday baseball and going out to Serena’s bachelorette party, Sunday shopping and a movie. The only problem with being so busy is that the time goes by too quickly! I can’t believe it is already almost time to be at the office. BOOO. I managed to get a TINY bit of sun on Saturday playing baseball. But it is practically already faded back to white! I went to see “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” which was a GREAT movie. Even though everyone knows the story of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, I was still on the edge of my seat watching it. Awesome. Cate Blanchett rocks that role of Elizabeth I.

 

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I almost forgot about this, but I recently saw The Kingdom…the FBI movie with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. LOVE her! Anyway…this was a GREAT movie. I really got into it. It did not try too hard, and the action was well-paced. The beginning gives the viewer background on Saudi Arabia and the oil situation, but it does so in a very dramatic way with images, sounds, voice-overs, etc, that makes it seem more like a story than a boring history lesson. Then you get right into the heart of the movie with the explosion happening. The rest of the movie is an investigation of that explosion. There were a couple of chances for the director to make the movie even longer…which would have made it way too long and created some super slow parts. Thankfully this was avoided. The action was good, yet seemed realistic. I would not even mind seeing this one again. With subtitles. Since I am deaf and all!! Ha. Of course, I was the nerd that had on an ALIAS t-shirt on the day I was going to see a movie with Jennifer Garner. Haha. Oh well! The point is…go see this! It is well worth it!

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113

I have become spoiled about going to the movies lately. Which also means I have a new addiction. I am loving Alamo Drafthouse. I am almost to the point that I won’t go to the movies unless it is showing there. In the past few weeks I have had 3 different movie experiences: Drafthouse, regular AMC, and 3D iMAX.

The 3D experience was pretty good….just becuase it was iMAX. Hard to not enjoy a screen that large. HA. And the crowd did pretty well. No one really left. I figure if you pay the extra three dollars to see it in that theater you are going to stay for the whole damn thing. It also helped that it was a Monday afternoon. Most people are at work.

I had not been to a “regular” movie in a while. Needless to say it was not as enjoyable. It was freakin noisy, and this one family kept leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back. Just annoying. I don’t understand why people would pay for the ticket, and then not stay and watch! Bathroom breaks are one thing…but this went way beyond that. Cristina kindly reminded me that people do sneak into movies sometimes, so they may not have paid the ticket price for that movie. Whatever. They could still respect the patrons that DID pay for it and were trying to watch the movie!!

Which brings us to my fave…Alamo Drafthouse. I swear…just the people eating popcorn in the regular theater were ten times louder than the people eating regular food/meals at Alamo Drafthouse. I took the fam to Alamo on Sunday, and they seemed to enjoy themselves. It is definitely different. I have not been disappointed by any of my food choices, either. The only thing that gets on my nerves is the price of sodas…a large soda is almost $4! But you don’t get refills on the small ones. Oh well. I usually get water or beer anyway!! HA.

Movies I saw this weekend: Bourne Ultimatum for the second time and Rush Hour 3. I could not believe I was going to see Rush Hour 3, but it turned out to be pretty damn funny. It was smart of them to not try to stretch it out and make it over two hours. It was only about an hour and a half…perfect amount of time.

Hope everyone is having a better week than Blanca!!!!

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113

I don’t really have any complaints about the latest movies I have seen. That may be a first. Of course, it helps that I am only seeing movies in the theater at the moment, which tend to be only ones I REALLY want to see and that I REALLY think are going to be worth the ticket price. My Netflix queue is only full of Buffy. HA. I said it. I am on a mission to get through the entire series. I am at the very end of season 5 now. It helps that I am watching it on dvd and not having to wait week-by-week for a new episode.

Anyway…movies.

The Bourne Ultimatum - Jenny and I saw it this past weekend. I really wish I had watched Supremacy again before we went, as I did not realize it literally continued from the last time you see him limping through the snow in Russia. I was thoroughly impressed with this one. Not the standard let-down when you see the third installment of a trilogy. The action was fast and woven into the plot very well. It also wrapped up the story quite nicely. I still need to go home and watch the first two again. Just to remind myself of the small details I am not remembering. I know Matt Damon keeps saying he won’t do another one, but I am holding on to a tiny sliver of hope that he changes his mind! Jenny is also a bit spastic to watch movies with. Haha. She REALLY gets into it. There was gasping, hand waving, etc happening in the seat next to me. It was hilarious.

Harry Potter - As if this one was not going to be good, right?? All the Harry Potter movies are high quality and very entertaining. I really liked this one much better than Goblet of Fire. That one veered a little too much away from the book in a couple of key areas for me to like it that much. I just kept thinking about the ways that it was different, as opposed to just watching and enjoying. Order of the Phoenix delivered, though. The main action scene at the end was very well done. It helps that I saw it in iMAX 3D, I am sure. The best thing about these movies is that you can watch them without reading the books. Marilyn even enjoyed it…although she has not even seen all the movies, so I am not sure she REALLY knew what was going on. Haha.

I do have pictures from the company boat/cruise/Kemah thing this weekend. I am just being lazy about posting them! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113

Vacations are great. Even mini-vacations. Marilyn and I went to San Marcus to shop like crazy people last week. It was a blast. We even went to that Wonder World cave thing in San Marcus…it is small, but super cute. Obviously it does not compare to Carlsbad or Natural Bridge or something, but it was cute enough to warrant the ticket price! They even have a little petting zoo area with baby deer and peacocks. It was precious. We also saw Ocean’s Thirteen…which is completely better than Ocean’s Twelve. Saturday we went into Austin and spent the day with Summer, Daniel and Cary. That was completely festive. And I parallel parked!! Summer and Cristina may be the only ones that understand how big of a deal that is! I did not even have to back in and out multiple times…FIRST try. Whoo-hoo! I bet it never happens again. Usually when we used to go out downtown I would have to get out and let someone else park if we were parking on the street. Hilarious. We had lunch at a cute little hamburger place that was yummy. And then we had sno-cones!! Summer and Daniel found a REAL sno-cone stand. Not one of those Hawaiian Shaved Ice wanna-be places. Haha. And they didn’t charge for cream. Which was strange. I have never seen that before. They were super good. I can’t wait to get back to Austin to have another one. Marilyn and I got up early Sunday to make it back for Father’s Day grilling at Bobbie and Herman’s house. That was fun. Good family day!!
All in all…pretty good time off. I didn’t even mind getting up and going to work this morning.

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Originally uploaded by Jilly2113.

Good times, good times. I believe the week of celebrating my birthday is finally over. Sunday to Sunday is a pretty lengthy amount of time to celebrate. Lots of friends, drinks, meals, and shopping. Oh yeah, and in-between there I helped Summer a bit with the State of the County event. Not that she needed it! And I got to take my birthday holiday on a Friday. That is always good. Anyway…the point is that photos are up from Saturday girl’s night out. It was plenty festive! Although my feet are still killing me! I even got to see some girlies yesterday I have not seen in a LONG time. Breakfast with Steph and Erin seems to always fall on a Sunday after I have gone out Saturday night. I still am not sure how I got up and out of bed to actually go!

Ooh…I saw two awesome movies last week that I would highly recommend. I watched The Departed and then I saw Breach in the theater. The Departed was a little more shocking at times, but Breach was a great story all the way through. Held your attention even though you KNEW how it was going to end. Of course, the Departed was one of the Scorsese gangster movies, so you pretty much are assured it would be good. Casino is still one of my all-time favorites. Even though I have not managed to own it on dvd yet. I still bust it out on VHS. Ha. Yes, I still have a VCR.

Anyway….hope everyone had a good weekend!!