There was a good three-hour window in which I was totally going to make one of these gingerbread houses. Because they are totally awesome! And then I came to my senses.
Maybe next year.
Month: November 2015
Postcard from Minneapolis
If you turn your head to the side, you can take in the proper orientation of this postcard, sent to me by Sara who was chilling out with a cat on her lap after a particularly hectic week.
Three sentence movie reviews: Bachelorette
Boy howdy, did I hate this movie. The “friends” were terrible–they make the Heathers from Heathers look like the best friends you would ever want. There wasn’t nearly enough Rebel Wilson and though I was intrigued enough by Lizzy Caplan to see what else she’d been in, this was mostly a waste of my time.
Cost: free from library.*
Where watched: at home.
*I grabbed this movie because it was written and directed by Leslye Headland, who directed Sleeping With Other People and the remake of About Last Night, both of which I enjoyed. I hated this enough to watch the DVD extras and found out that Headland was happy to have created such complex female characters and I will agree with her. Her characters were complex in a way that I mostly couldn’t relate to (Caplan’s character was the exception) and thus made me want to run far, far away.
I like unlikeable female characters, (see: Young Adult, Adventureland, The Runaways) but there has to be something about them that hooks me. These ladies did not.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2012/bachelorette.html
(Also this poster does not properly sum up the movie.)
A new look
I’ve grown a bit tired of my blog format. I find especially the font is annoying and hard to read. So it’s time to change it up.
Before:
And after:
Eventually I will get around to separating things into pages so everything isn’t in one long stream, but that will be a future project. In the meantime, enjoy the readable font.
Three sentence movie reviews: Battle Royale
Thanks to The Next Picture Show Podcast, I watched this incredibly brutal story with a plot similar to the Hunger Games books written by Susan Collins. It was a much more violent movie than I usually watch*, but I appreciated the realistic range of feelings expressed by the teenagers. That said, I’m happy to have watched it, and don’t plan on watching it ever again.
*I needed a palate cleanser after finishing it, but alas it was past my bedtime.
Cost: $3.00 from Videorama
Where watched: at home.
poster from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266308/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Three sentence movie reviews: Love, Rosie
I found myself wondering, as I watched the final installment of the Hunger Games franchise, what else that cute Sam Claflin had been in. This was my answer and it was a satisfying piece of predictable fluff. It turns out I had attempted to read the book at some point, but had wandered off before I got very far.
Cost: I’m embarrassed to say that I found this on some free internet site and watched it there. It involved folding two sheets of paper to block out the ads.
Where watched: On my computer, while making the rolls for Thanksgiving dinner.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/love_rosie.html
(The first two posters listed are actually quite good in a cheeky poster sense. But the above is how I’ve always seen it packaged.
Postcard from Minnesota
Sara is checking in via post by sending me one of the giveaway cards she picked up at the National Council for Teachers of English Convention. Her convention experience was much better than my Wordstock debacle. And she also picked up a ton of postcards. I sense that more might be in my future.
Three sentence movie reviews: Spotlight
This movie has vaulted to the top of my Incredible-You-Must-See-It movie list* as it contains a story that won’t stop–but never goes overboard–and incredible acting and also LIBRARIANS!** I found the story to be upsetting in that way that means it happened in real life, and no one did anything.*** The “upsetting” means a bunch of people aren’t going to see it, but that’s a shame because this is the kind of movie that won’t leave you in the best way possible.
Cost: free due to birthday gift card from brother
Where watched: Regal Fox Tower
*You know this list lives in my head, right? It doesn’t really exist in written form.
**The librarians aren’t really part of the plot, but it’s really cool to see pre-digital newspaper research. It almost makes up for the sad feeling one gets when one thinks of what was to come for the newspapers.
***I mean really, the levels of complacency in this film are gasp-inducing.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/spotlight.html
Hanging around downtown
The holiday tree (which I believe is it’s official name) is getting its branches attached. I think they supplement with branches from other trees, judging by Douglas Firs I’ve seen in the wild. (aka the neighborhoods of Portland)
Somewhere on this post is a picture of a big hole. After a period of recession-era shutdown, that big hole has now become a very sparkly new building.
Said sparkly new building towers over Director Park (picture it on the far right of the picture below). Perhaps its height will make the covered area in the park look a better scale. By the way, the roof of the covered area is being repaired as its instillation was faulty.
Our iconic “Allow Me” statue has been outfitted for the holidays.
Three Sentence Movie Review: Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part II
If you’ve seen the first three, you might as well finish off the quadrilogy, right? It provided everything one could ask for* and in a manner that keeps with the book. I was not blown away, but did enjoy myself.**
Cost: $9.00
Where watched: McMenamin’s Baghdad Theater with Matt.
*I mean, within reason. I could ask for Phillip Seymour Hoffman to not overdose, so he could do his final scene in this movie and not be replaced by Woody Harrelson reading a letter from him. But I know I’m not going to get that.
** I was also glad that we happened to have the last book sitting in the back of Matt’s car so that we could compare and contrast the book/movie ending.
(Also, I always pictured Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Haymitch, not Plutarch.)
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/hunger_games_mockingjay__part_two.html