Weekend

Well I am pleased and surprised to see Randy here! For those not in the know, Randy is a college friend of mine that lives in Japan now and teaches English. I visited him a few years ago, and we still write back and forth and send packages. It’s nice to actually write a letter sometimes instead of doing everything by email. Here’s a pic of us at Vicky’s wedding in 2000.

I guess that’s right before he left for Japan. He lives on the southern island of Kyushu and it’s pretty rural. When I visited him, we basically stayed on that island and went around to a lot of the pottery towns. I have a fascination with pottery and love the pieces that are unique in their shapes or patterns. Anyways, with that trip, and my other international travels, I have come to the sad realization that I am a spoiled American. I don’t think I can live anywhere other than America. I like my TV (and not having to pay tax on it like in England). I like my big washer and dryer. I like going to Target and getting all my shopping done at one place. It’s interesting going to other countries, and I do appreciate the diversity of cultures, but I’m just too Americanized. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that – I’m proud to be an American – it’s just something I’ve discovered about myself.

Back on topic – this weekend was BUSY. The roofers were supposed to come on Tuesday, but instead came on Saturday. I didn’t know they were going to do that, so I was at the New Volunteer Orientation at the shelter (19 new cat volunteers! Woo Hoo!) and they called me saying ‘hey, we’re in your driveway, we’re going to get started’. I rushed home after orientation and they were there ALL DAY. The cool thing is they let me climb their ladder and walk around on my roof to see what they were doing and the condition of the rest of the roof. That was pretty nifty. And, while I was up there with the boss, I asked him if he could get my saw so I could cut a couple of small branches that were rubbing on the roof – and he cut them for me for no charge. Very nice. (though sometimes it’s annoying for men to do things like that for me when I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself, but oh well, I let it go) He said my roof should last another four years or so. Usually people in Austin wait for a bad hailstorm and then get a new roof through the insurance company. One thing I did learn is that my roof was put on with staples instead of nails – which is bad. The staples don’t hold the shingles down as well as nails do. I’ll have to remember that for my next roof.

On Sunday I saw Underworld 2 with Gil as a thank-you for doing all that electrical work in my kitchen a few weeks ago. I really liked the first Underworld and I own the DVD. I was excited about the sequel and had stayed unspoiled so I didn’t even know what the plot was. The movie was ok/good. The sequel starts just minutes after the first one ended, which I liked. They had a lot of the same people come back and did some interesting flashbacks with characters that had died in the first one. I thought the plot was good, the special effects were a tad over the top (not too much though) and Scott Speedman was still hot. I will say one point that really pissed me off was there was a pretty long sex scene between Scott Speedman and Kate Beckingsale. I HATE it when they put sex scenes in action movies. Yes, I know they are continuing the love story between the two characters and pandering to the male audience but there’s this clever gimmick called ‘fade to black.’ I don’t have to see every back arch and every thrust. Give me the general idea that ‘hey we’re going to have sex now to cement our relationship!’, show a little skin, and then go on to something else. Let them wake up naked and continue the plot. It was just so LONG. That’s one of the reasons I love the Alien movies, the Mummy movies, Indiana Jones, Chronicles of Riddick, etc is that you can have a good plot, you can even have a relationship (The Mummy and The Mummy Returns) without all the stupid sex scenes that bog down the pacing. There was also an unfortunate camera angle that made Kate Beckingsales thighs look HUGE. If I was her I would have punched out the director. She’s in great shape and I think she’s got a great body, but man, that was a bad, bad angle.
After the movie I snuck in and saw The Matador and Walk the Line. I have a ‘movie hop’ philosophy – buy concessions since that’s where the theater makes most of its money, and don’t movie hop to a movie you were going to go see anyways. I would have just gotten The Matador and Walk the Line off of Netflix so they aren't really losing money from me– no way would I spend $6 for those. Anyways – Walk the Line was good. I’m not sure if it really deserves all the nominations and awards it’s getting, but it was entertaining and the pacing and acting was good. Now then …..The Matador. Holy Cow. This has got to be one of my favorite movies so far this year. I didn’t really have any expectations of the movie. I knew the general plot was Pierce Brosnan was a hit-man who was losing his edge. But wow, his performance really blew me away. That was definitely the performance of his life. Greg Kinnear was really good too, which surprised me cause I usually don’t care for him. Such a good movie! The audience was really into it too. Go see it!