Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,
So Friday night, I went out for drinks with Jackie D who is in town on business… but also moving back to the Bay Area in a month or so… which is AWESOME… though I do fear for my liver a little bit… but it’s all good. We started by going to Tres Tequila Lounge & Mexican Kitchen (actual name) and ordering some Mezcal cocktails (mine had bacon) and shared some enchiladas & tacos… but then we went a few doors down to a place called Saison, which was even a little more upscale ($18+ cocktails) but provided a nice atmosphere & our bartender Chase took care of us… like for the next five hours. During drinks we caught up on happenings & just had a good time… and of course the next day I felt the effects in the morning… but it wasn’t too bad… and well worth it. Well… maybe not the bar tab… but still, good times.
Sunday was the Super Bowl!!! Don’t worry… those are probably the only exclamation points you’ll see about it. As you know… the Seahawks basically dominated the Broncos like they were led by Elway in the late 80’s… but Jackie D & I watched the game at Golden Gate Taproom, enjoyed a few beers, and let’s just say that we both went home with somebody else that night… I went with Dizzy of course so don’t even get that rumor started. Basically between the Friday night debauchery & Sunday’s, Dizzy & I did some beer things that I’ll elaborate more on in another post on the Terrible Lizard Brewing site (bottled our mead & bourbon barrel porter… and transferred the winter warmer to secondary carboy). So how about some movies that I saw?
Thursday night, I watched “The Bourne Legacy” starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton & the great Stacy Keach (without his moustache). This is the 4th in the Bourne series & the first without Academy Award winner Matt Damon… but it’s also directed by the writer of the original trilogy… so yeah, maybe a few more steady cam shots than Doug Liman? It sure seemed that way. Anyway, the plot is that because of the original trilogy & Jason Bourne (Damon) exposing all the government secrets about these super soldiers… now the people in charge are in full “disavowalment” mode & killing off these super soldiers to get rid of the evidence. One of them (Renner) narrowly escapes a drone missile aimed at him… but now has to find some medicine provided by the government that not only helped to give him his increased strength, but keeps him from dying a gruesome death (fail safe). As he tries to avoid detection, he goes to the manufacturer & meets up with a doctor (Weisz) who he’s met repeatedly for checkups on the drugs that he was taking as part of a “clinical trial”. Well, they’re trying to disavowal her too, even though she has no real idea that she was a part of this “super soldier” program… so they’re on the run… like all over the world. It’s a Bourne movie, so you’re going to get a lot of fast action in exotic locations, a lot of guys in suits half the world away giving orders while sipping cognac & talking about how they’re going to cover their own ass… but yeah, if you liked the first three movies then you’re probably going to like this one too.
My personal favorite little thing about this movie though was Edward Norton’s character, a guy who’s basically in charge or tracking down the super soldiers& director of the super-secret agency. It’s a subtle thing… but basically any time that somebody was giving a bunch of exposition that everybody should already know from the first three movies (but has to be repeated because… apparently people started with this one?), I feel like it’s his character’s responsibility to always immediately respond with “I already know that...” or “Everybody already knows this, it’s all over the news, what we need is blah blah blah…” just an immediate response to try to keep the pace back up & focused on what HE’S trying to do instead of trying to catch the audience up. I laughed out loud a few times because I feel like there should be a lot more little things like that in movies. “Well you know, ever since that Michael Myers was in that asylum as a boy he’s been…” “We all know the origin story sir, which way did you say he went?” It’s basically the exact opposite of most James Bond movies… sigh… except the newer ones. “I have to find (blank) to avenge my former lover of one night.” “James… you do realize that… you’re basically a slut, right? Do you even remember how many women with ridiculous names that you’ve banged over your career of 50 years? Is this REALLY why you want to find (blank) or do you just want to pop a few caps in a bad guy’s ass? Because that’s basically your job… so it’s okay to just say that. Put down that sifter of cognac, for Christ’s sake, it’s 8 AM!” “It’s Happy Hour in Macau! (glug)” Yeah… just a little thing I liked. Try not to notice it now when/if you watch it. I feel like the Fast & Furious series could use some of this… but then too much flashback would make it seem even stupider, right?
Sunday night, Dizzy & I watched “Insidious: Chapter 2” starring Patrick Wilson, Lin Shaye & Rose Byrne. This is the sequel to “Insidious” from two years ago that I LOVED & actually made Dizzy watch about a week earlier… so it worked out well. The first was fresh in our mind. A quick rundown of the first movie… is that a family with two young boys moves into a new house… and after a rash of weird activity, one of the boys goes into a mysterious coma for a few months. The weirdness continues & intensifies, so the mother (Byrne) & the father’s (Wilson) mother recruit the help of a medium (Shaye) to get to the bottom of the craziness… and maybe help save their son. Well, they find that perhaps a demon has possessed the boy… because the boy had a special gift that allowed him to travel into “The Further” when he was in a dream state… which is basically like crossing into the land of the dead, where you see ghosts & bad things. Well, the demon wants to take over the boy’s body in the real world so that he can kill & hurt others… so they must act quickly or risk losing their son forever. Spoiler alert: His ability to travel to “The Further” is genetic… so it’s his father that must go in after him. Further spoiler alert: He finds them… but there’s a twist at the end of the first movie… and I really don’t want to spoil it. I just recommend that you check it out. Sigh… okay, I kinda hafta spoil it to continue with the plot for the second… but still check them both out. Okay, so the father comes back & the boy is safe… but the medium dies mysteriously right after. Even after the family moves again, there are still crazy things happening… and now the father is acting really weird too. Is it the Father? Or somebody else in his body? And now… without the medium, how do they find out? Okay, so I really like these movies for a few reasons… first, they’re PG-13. They’re intense… but not overly gory or anything. Also, the camera angles and use of perspective are nice & creepy… the stories are out there, but not TOO out there like a lot of slasher flicks. It’s just a great scary movie experience. Go check them out!
Monday was my job’s Work Outing and this year… it was a little different. The whole team went out to Cavallo Point Resort in Sausalito (just across the GG Bridge from where I live) but I had never really been to Sausalito before… and the location of this resort was just amazing. It’s right on the water so that you can see the entire city of San Francisco across the bay (about 3 miles away?), the Golden Gate Bridge is about half a mile away on the right, it’s in a national park and a nice mix of older, traditional buildings from a former fort (Fort Baker) and some newer accommodations up on the hillside with beautiful views as well. Here are a few pictures that I took…
Artwork inside...
Lunch...
Chapel...
Newer buildings...
The city from the other side... this was from the freeway above...
You can see the resort on this side of the bay at the bottom...
During the day, we had our business meetings… but then in the afternoon, we went out to Muir Beach for a Team Building exercise… to make sand castles. Now, there was a “roaring Lion” theme… so enjoy these little shots of our works. See if you can guess which one is mine…
After about 40 minutes... at sunset... we judged...
Chewbacca?
This was the winner... it was not mine though...
still was a LOT of fun!!!
After the activity, we went to dinner at Barrel House, exchanged white elephant gifts & had a great time with our coworkers, some who work remotely all across the nation so it’s good to see them & catch up too. It was a fantastic day!!! Even better, we also got to spend the night at the resort too, so we got to enjoy the atmosphere (though it was a LOT like my place in the Presidio with regards to fresh air, beautiful views, etc). Great way to start the year with the job!!!
My "white elephant" gift... I like him...
The best night shots that I could get on my phone...
Well, that’ll do it for this entry… join us over at the Terrible Lizard Brewery for some other fun updates from the past week. On the note… starting this weekend… is SF BEER WEEK!!! And boy do we have some plans!!! Have a great day everybody!!!
Next stop was Muir Beach Overlook... but not the beach. I wasn't going to go tanning or swimming or anything... at least not on purpose.
After that, I made the trek out to Point Reyes to see the famous lighthouse & Drake's Bay. The lighthouse was a LOT smaller than I thought, but the little walk to it wasn't bad at all. The walk back up the stairs was a little tougher... but luckily, I've been working out, so this equivalent of a 30-story building was no problem.
Then I found a Czechloslavakian restaurant in Inverness called Vladamir's & had some rabbit... but I'm thinking the schnitzel next time. The rabbit didn't have a whole lot of meat to it. Luckily I chased it down with an authentic Pilsner (authentic because the original Pilsner... was made in Pilzn, Czechloslavakia... hence the Pilzn...er, just FYI) and was on my way.
