blog.circusgeek

a personal blog with nerdy bits thrown in

Category: Movies

  • Mash Tun, and a quick recap

    Met my good friend JB at the Mash Tun tonight after work. It’d been a bit since we last caught up, and had a good time hanging out, and I greatly enjoyed sipping on the cream ale the Tun is still pouring. I asked the server (nice fella named Tim) whether he knew if they were planning to keep that particular beer going (as it’s my favorite beer they’ve ever brewed) and he said he wasn’t sure, and didn’t suspect so. It’s the Tun’s habit to perpetually brew new things, and several times since they’ve started pouring their own brews have I found one I like that hasn’t returned. I hope that’s not the case with the cream ale. If you’re into fine (and not stupidly hoppy) ales, I suggest going and having a pint before it vanishes into beer history. (Beeristory? Bistory? whatever)

    Quick recap of the past, oh, several days: Saturday Kelly and I spent the evening with some friends for dinner and had a great time. Sunday we got outside and did some yard work, including me climbing on the roof of my shed to trim dead / dying branches from my ailing (and non-fruit producing) apricot tree. Still sore from that day. Monday my Comcast-provided DVR died on me, fortunately, just after finishing last week’s LOST. I have to go swap it tomorrow morning (before LOST tomorrow night, because it’s all about LOST, you know). Watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which was good (pretty much as good as the first one, so if you liked that one, you’ll probably enjoy it). Work’s been very busy, but less so than a couple weeks back. Taking next Monday and Tuesday off (yup, the day of and after St. Patrick’s day, so I can really do it up and recover without worry). Whew! And now you’re all caught up.

  • Long week, good weekend, Legend

    Since last weekend’s adventures, I had another long and fairly stressful work week. The weekend was pretty fun though, despite two things: 1) a possible resurgence of some sort of virus (sinus pressure, a sore throat and a cough, dammit), and 2) a friend coming into town on Friday (I say friend, though he’s a total bastard and I hate him, but not really, I just like to pretend I hate him). Started off by going to Mash Tun for some dinner and drinks Friday night along with Snooks and L. Saturday we all met up at Kennedy School in the early afternoon for some drinks, and then went to Delta Cafe (blogged before here) for dinner. I both love and loathe the Delta… the food is really good, but the greasy smell gets woven into both your clothes and your very being. It can be a bit overpowering. The last time I was there I had made the mistake of bringing my wool coat in, and the next morning on the bus I realized that I was ‘that stinky guy’, all because of the greasy scent. This time I wore clothes I could burn later. 🙂

    Intersection near Kennedy SchoolToday the nice weather returned. I spent most of my day relaxing indoors, playing a bit of Call of Duty 4, and watching shows recorded on the DVR. Kelly went to a friends baby shower, and after she got home I drug her to Kennedy School to see I Am Legend at the theater. We’d arrived with just enough time to sit in the Cypress Room for a beer before heading to the theater. The movie was pretty good, and I enjoyed it quite a bit despite the, at times, poor CGI (some of it was pretty bad, though overall I was able to get past a lot of it and it didn’t distract me). The representation of a vacant and dead city (with nature taking back what’s ‘hers’ with grass coming through the streets, deer running free, etc), and the main character’s almost super-human ability to avoid insanity in the face of near total solitude was well done. Overall I though it was pretty good, and well worth seeing on the ‘big screen’ for a few dollars, with some beer and popcorn.

  • You see it?

    So a few weeks ago when the news of Heath Leger’s death hit the interwebs, and the news of whatever oddness between he, the maid, and Mary-Kate Olsen surfaced, ABC News.com posted a photo of Heath and MK side by side. I saw the photo and immediately thought of how creepy MK looked, and how similar to someone else, though I couldn’t place it.

    I saved the photo and then waited for my brain to turn over. Finally it hit me… in the photo she looked like Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.

    Sally vs. Mary-Kate

    C’mon, you see it right? CRRREEEEEEEPYYYYY

    PS: I feel sick right now, might be coming down with a flu, so perhaps the above isn’t as funny as I think. Going to hop my bus home now, and then go to bed…

  • A Good Saturday

    Last night Kelly and I had a night in. She made turkey lasagna and garlic bread, and we watched Sunshine, which I liked quite a bit.

    Kelly had class today, so I slept in a bit, waking up at around 8:30am (yup, that’s sleeping in for me now, urgh). After spending a little bit of time on the computer nerding out, and discovering the band Born Ruffians (kind of an indie / folk / rock sound) and noticing how perfect their sound was for the weather outside (50 degrees and sunny) I decided to get out of the house. We had to take our car into the dealership for some under-warranty maintenance, so I scheduled a 2pm appointment, and then went down to the Bishops on Alberta for a haircut. I had an hour wait, so I walked around the neighborhood a bit. Loads of people out, which happens every day like this in the winter, people crawl out of their forced hibernation and squint their eyes at that bright orb in the sky, then wander around smiling and happy. I admit I was in good spirits too just to be out it the not freezing, not raining, not dark and cloudy weather with nothing to do for an hour.

    After my haircut, I went across the street to Mash Tun for a glass of beer and some soup (the beer was their new Concordia Cream Ale which was really really good) before going out to the dealership. What was supposed to be an hour thing only took about 25 minutes and I was back on the road.

    Now I’m sitting on my porch enjoying the not-freezing weather and sipping on a beer. Tonight Kelly and I meet Mr & Mrs Ghost Dog at Concordia Ale House for some food and more beer. Hooray!

  • The Golden Compass

    Following my previous post, Kelly and I just saw The Golden Compass at Kennedy School. Well, Kelly had already seen it, but wanted to see it again with me since I’d just finished reading the book.

    I enjoyed the film, despite how different it was from the book. There were some things that did bother me; first, the switcheroo they did with Bolvanger and Iorek’s big fight, and second, the fact that they didn’t finish the film with the cliffhanger ending the book had. I suspect they changed things with the assumption that they would reveal those events in the sequel. In fact, I suspect they altered the order of events knowing they weren’t going to wrap things up the same way the book did, and the Bolvanger fight made for a more climactic ending. The film was, however, true enough to the book that even though the order of events (and some of the story) had been altered, it wasn’t disruptive. The casting choices, sets, costumes, and visual style all fit what I saw in my head while reading the book. If anything I was surprised rather than annoyed at the differences.

    In the end, I enjoyed The Golden Compass, and I hope the last two books get made. It was no Lord of the Rings, but it was good, and better than 99% of what’s pumped out of Hollywood year after year.

    After the movie we suck around Kennedy School for another hour or so, had another beer and some pizza and discussed the movie before heading back home.

  • Weekend Update

    Good weekend so far (now that it’s almost over). Kelly made it back Friday, about mid-morning. We met up at Rose & Thistle after I got off work and had a couple pints and caught up on each other’s week. Afterward we left and buzzed up to Moon & Sixpence, Kelly wanted a particular beer (Hale’s Cream Ale) which I swore they had, but was mistaken. We stayed anyway, and I was glad we did… they now have (and it may be a regular beer, apparently) Old Speckled Hen! It’s a beer I have whenever I go to Horse Brass, and I had loads of it on our last trip to London. Had a couple pints of it and some food before we went home. Kelly was exhausted as she didn’t sleep well while at her sister’s place.

    Saturday we went out to my folks place for a belated birthday dinner for my kid bro (Happy Birthday C!). We both ate WAY too much, but it was all good. Got home early (around 9:30) and decided to stay in. We both ended up dozing off in the living room watching Psych off of our DVR.

    Slept until 10am today, surfed the web for a bit and then played a few hours of Call of Duty 4. Now I’m at Kennedy School (Kelly just met me here after working out) and we’re going to go see The Golden Compass at the theater here (can’t beat a $3.00 movie, and beer, and pizza). I just finished reading the book last week, so the timing of it coming to Kennedy School couldn’t be better. Might write something about it afterwards.

  • Cloverfield

    Today Kelly and I went to see Cloverfield. It was good, though be sure to bring motion-sickness pills. And maybe ibuprofen. I think I will enjoy watching it again on a smaller screen, but even with the constant shaking camera, it was a good movie.

    Today I also watched this interesting History Channel show “Life After People‘, which followed nature’s resurgence if, hypothetically, every human vanished tomorrow. The CG wasn’t movie quality, but it was still pretty cool.

  • Alameda Brewhouse & Little Miss Sunshine

    Tonight Kelly and I decided to go out for dinner. We’d looked up a bunch of restaurants near our house, thinking we were going to try Amalfi’s finally, but as we drove by the Alameda Brewhouse (site seems to be down at the moment) and noticed how pleasantly empty it looked we decided to stop in for a beer. We got sat down in a booth, got pints of their delicious, chocolaty Black Bear Double Stout on nitro, and after looking through the menu decided to stay. The previous times I’d been there it had been so full (it’s a very family friendly brewpub, which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just not what I tend to gravitate towards) that it had turned me off from going there completely. Love their beers, but just not the atmosphere. Tonight was very different though, and it was nice to spend a bit of time there. The service was great, the beer was great, sadly my choice of meal wasn’t fantastic. I’d gotten this chicken kabob greek salad and it was pretty bland. I left wishing I’d gotten a burger, or nachos, or onion rings… all of which passed me by while I sat there chewing on my relatively flavorless low-cal meal. Mocking me.

    We got home and decided to pop in one of our Netflix movies, Little Miss Sunshine. Pretty good movie, though it had the same awkward and quiet tone that Napoleon Dynamite had. Some really funny moments, some really touching moments, and some really sad moments. Probably worth seeing, unless you hated Napoleon Dynamite.

  • Middle Earth at Kennedy School

    Gondor warrior and an Elven maidenToday is Kennedy School‘s annual J.R.R. Tolkien Birthday Celebration, and I met my friend Snooks in the Cypress Room bar around noon so we could sit with our laptops, sip on beer, and do some work. I managed to get a few hours in before a combination of low battery power and low brain power (probably due to the beer) forced me to call it a work day.

    GandalfThis was the second time I’ve been at Kennedy School during the Tolkien celebration, and it’s definitely a family affair, with “hobbits” in the hallways making balloon animals for the kiddies, a few people dressed in costume wandering around, the Willamette Radio Workshop performing segments from the Rings books in the gymnasium, and the theater running all 3 Lord of the Rings films. They also serve some food specials for the day: My Precious Onion Rings, Return of the King Burger (which sounded really good), Shire Stew, Middle Earth Pizza, and the Cracks of Doom Molten Lava Cake.

    I only managed to snap a few photos, however, the two I’m posting are of the more impressive costumes (note, the appropriately jolly Gandalf, with his glass of wine in hand). Last year there was a really good Ring Wraith, sadly I didn’t manage to spot him this time around.

    After leaving Kennedy School, Snooks & L, and Kelly & I went to Concordia Ale House for some dinner and a couple more beers. I had the fantastic Irish Cheese Steak sandwich, and a Hales Cream Stout. Mmmm.

  • Good and Bad Movie Review

    Watched a couple movies this weekend, as Kelly and I had some Netflix starting to pile.

    The first was Shoot ‘Em Up, which was, well, very disappointing. I understand what the film was going for; a cheesy, over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek action flick with silly one-liner’s and lots of gun fighting and car chases. Shoot ‘Em Up had all that, however it failed to pull it off. Clive Owen‘s delivery of the one-liner’s just didn’t work (I imagine the film would have been much better had Bruce Campbell been cast as the lead character), and I groaned out loud more than once at how stupid the film was.

    The other movie we watched was Cinderella Man, the story of Great Depression-era boxer James J. Braddock directed by Ron Howard. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. The story, sets, costumes, and acting were all good, and it was just enough to practically erase Shoot ‘Em Up from my brain. Almost.