Just thought I’d say howdy before I’m preoccupied the next week or so with Jackie D coming to visit. It’s gonna be EPIC!!! Like Vegas… but in San Francisco. Too bad C-Real can’t be here to share… but she got her visit about a year ago. I can’t believe I haven’t seen Jackie D since Vegas nearly 18 months ago. WTF? How are we still buddies like this? We were roommates over two years ago… for like six weeks… then she left for Philly… then we met up for a week in Vegas… and that’s it. Yeah, we text & whatever… but it’s like we’re friends from back in the day or something. Weird, right? Anyway, this week is gonna rock… but here’s the last week first… with a few movie reviews…
First movie up was one I forgot to mention last time, “A Dangerous Method” starring Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortenson & Keira Knightley. This movie is from the director of some of Viggo’s best other work including “History of Violence” & “Eastern Promises” but is a tale about the birth of psychoanalysis, the two men who headed its introduction into modern curriculum Carl Jung (Fassbender) & Sigmund Freud (Mortensen), and a Russian patient (Knightley) who influenced both of their findings. Set in early 20th century Vienna (God, I have to go visit that place) and going over the span of many years, it deals with how these two incredibly intelligent men had very differing principles in the idea of psychoanalysis & how these idea (and men) often conflicted in a scientific sense… and Keira Knightley goes from bat sh*t crazy to another key cog in the process… and bangs Carl Jung… a lot… despite being married to a wealthy women with children. Yeah, it’s not a great romantic comedy or anything… but hey, most real history isn’t. The movie was very interesting… albeit not totally enthralling at times. Keira Knightley actually acts a bit… which you know, doesn’t usually have to happen in her movie choices. The two lead actors also do decent jobs but… yeah, not my real cup of tea. Intriguing though. Feel free to give it a gander. Check out the preview & you’ll pretty much know what you’re getting into. Decide from there.
Next up was “War Horse” starring a horse… and the only other actors I really recognized were Tom Hiddleston (Loki from “Thor”) and Benedict Cumberbatch (aka Khan from new Star Trek), both very briefly. Steven Spielberg directs this movie about a teenage English boy & his horse… and then the World War breaks out & the father gives the army the horse… the boy is distraught… and then the rest of the movie is pretty much about the horse & how it goes from owner to owner… from an English general… to the Germans… to a French farm… back to the English infantry… and so on for about two hours. Now, Dizzy & I wanted to watch this movie. She because she LOVES horses… and I because I typically enjoy Spielberg movies, especially war ones like “Saving Private Ryan.” The thing about this movie is… from the horse lover perspective (and historical) there are MANY, MANY flaws. That being said, I can forgive a lot of those. I mean… Django. For me, the main problem was… they basically tried to tell a movie that, for all intensive purposes, was a kids film about the eternal love of a boy & his horse and how (spoiler alert) they come back together against all odds as long as they never gave up on one another. Fun fact: Both of them had given up on one another… because one was a horse… and the other was a teenager who then enlisted into the army… and even in this movie they coincidentally got back together in a pretty unrealistic way. Anyway, kids movie on that premise… but set in the gritty environment of wartime… including sets of trench warfare & ambush fighting. For all intensive purposes, it was a beautifully shot movie & well crafted for what it was… but maybe I just couldn’t let everything go with regards to the unrealistic premise when it was so based in reality. Call me a heartless fool if you will… but yeah, I didn’t particularly care for this movie. Sorry Steven. You know I’d prefer to show love to fellow $teve’s.Saturday, Dizzy & went to San Jose to attend the BIG WOW Comic Convention… however, when we got to town & saw the convention center, there was a line around the block just to get in & it was already around 1 PM when we got there. Poor planning on our part maybe… but since we were in town, we decided to check out the Technology Museum just a few blocks away… and it was pretty awesome. They have some great exhibits regarding the development of computers, the science behind them, different methods of harnessing energy & how it all works, space exploration, underwater exploration, inventors, genetics, robotics& all sorts of other things. It’s definitely set up more as a children’s museum obviously but still very interesting for adults as well. Here are some pictures from the museum and downtown area…
While at the museum, we decided to watch “Star Trek Into Darkness” in IMAX (Dizzy didn’t see it on Wednesday like I did). That night after some dinner, we drove back to Dizzy’s and watched “Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan” since I had never seen it. I know… shocking!!! I’ve seen enough clips & parodies to feel like I had seen it… but yeah, I haven’t seen a LOT of Star Trek shows in my life. The movie itself was pretty entertaining… Ricardo Montelban was a pretty decent villain as he usually is (“Naked Gun”) and while watching… I totally realized a lot more of the tie-ins with new one “Star Trek Into Darkness” including Kirk’s love interest Carole Marcus (who is played in the new one by Alice Eve) so I guess I now know where those little glances are leading to… and it’s apparently a blonde curly haired son a foot taller than either his father or mother if “Wrath of Khan” is any indication. Oh… and you haven’t seen “Wrath of Khan” yet then you probably never intended to… but it’s pretty good as far as Star Trek movies go. Go ahead and check it out… if not just for the lines you’ve already heard like “Revenge is a dish best served cold” or “From Hell’s heart I stab at thee” or the legendary “KHHAAAAAAAN!!!”Monday after work, I spent the night cleaning & fixing my bathroom sink… it was just clogged, but I didn’t want to break anything… and drain-o and such didn’t work at first, so then I had to get some gloves so as not to burn my skin (according to the bottle). That night was pretty lame… but Tuesday night was a little soirée with my coworkers to wish my boss a fond farewell as he moves to the Los Angeles office. The party was held in a manager’s home in Pacific Heights and… she must be making a lot more than I do. It was VERY nice… and she did a wonderful spread & was an excellent host. Throughout the evening we just chatted about this & that, how “Caddyshack” may be overrated as a movie but it’s basically the male equivalent of “Dirty Dancing” to the ladies, ex-boyfriend stories, ex-coworker stories, favorite places to eat, tips for my boss going to LA to find decent food, and as the wine flowed we all got more & more hilarious. A great time was had by all. Definitely one of the best parties that I’ve had with my coworkers even though it was basically just us sitting & drinking. I’m actually gonna miss the Boss Man… especially since the rumor is that the new Boss Man might be my old Boss man from Tahoe… but that’s just a rumor, so we’ll see.
So yeah… Saturday morning is when Jackie D flies into town on her magic carpet & we’ve already got plans for brunch at the Magic Flute & a nice trip out to Wine Country… and then she’ll have plenty of time to check out the city again or hang with Dizzy while I’m at work… but a great FOUR DAY WEEKEND is coming up so I’m really excited about that. Have a great weekend everybody!!!
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