Seattle for the Weekend

I am here in Seattle for the Northwest Association of Mothers of Twins Club (NWAMOTC) Convention.  See my mom is a member beings that my sister (Leah) and I are identical twins. In any case my asked us to come along this year and so we did, she has a bunch of meetings she has to attend leaving us to do whatever, but it should be lots of fun.

The hotel we are staying at is the Hotel Deca and it was recently renovated in the art deco style and the first thing that happened was that I caught a ghost in the hotel lobby.

(this was actually just my sister the waif walking in front of my camera as I tried to take a picture of this cool chair)

Anyway the hotel is amazing I will try to upload more photos tomorrow. I just love art deco style.

The Darkest Hour

So I watched the movie The Darkest Hour last night. My review does have a little bit of a spoiler in it, but it does not actually ruin the movie, the film did that all on its own.

Synopsis: This sci-fi action thriller tracks the adventures of a group of young Americans touring Moscow who get caught up in an alien invasion. Despite the unfamiliarity of their surroundings, the yanks quickly team up with the Russians to fight back.

What a piece o’ crap. You will find that it is not often that I dislike a movie but in this case I make an exception because it was terrible. The story was barely there. I cannot even speak to the acting because I thought the story was ridiculous. I did not like the main actor Emile Hirsch, this was the first and only thing I have seen him in but he needs to stop.

The use of deus ex machina was absurd and way to in your face. Like there was this part where the group was about 20 yards away from rescue when suddenly the boat they are on is capsized and they are tossed into the river. And the next thing you know that stupid twat of a girl, played by Olivia Thirlby, is like half a mile inland, just so they can all go and get themselves into yet another dangerous situation.

I will say that the special effects for the aliens were pretty cool but it was a small spark of happiness in what was over all a dismal affair. And by far my favorite character in the entire film was Sergei’s cat.

International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day

Today is International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. The author Jo Walton started the day in response to another author, Howard V. Hendrix, bashing Science Fiction and Fantasy authors who post their work free online. The purpose of the day is to encourage authors to do just that. It is scheduled to coincide with St. Georges Day, which is a celebration of Saint George who was a soldier in the Roman army and he refused a direct order to prosecute and kill Christians. For this he was beheaded. The day is celebrated by giving a book to your sweetheart.

So, Happy International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day to all. And I think screw St. Valentine’s Day we should all be celebrating St. Gearge’s Day. I do so love a good book.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Pixel-Stained_Technopeasant_Day

Yes I get my information from wikipedia, I am sorry I am a lazy researcher.

Movies

I guess I will try to write a movie review today. So a little info here, I like to watch horror movies; my favorite genre of movie to watch is Science Fiction but horror places a close second. A friend of mine at work recommended this movie Hard Candy to me so I borrowed it from her. And wow.

So the movie stars Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson. I guess I should give a little bit of a synopsis here, since I am not very good a summarizing this is what the back of the movie says.  A smart, charming teenage girl, Hayley (Ellen Page) probably shouldn’t be going to a local coffee shop to meet Jeff (Patrick Wilson), a 30-something fashion photographer she met on the internet. But before she knows it, she’s mixing drinks at Jeff’s place and stripping for an impromptu photo shoot. It’s Jeff’s lucky night. But Hayley isn’t as innocent as she looks, and the night takes a turn when she begins to impose a hard-hitting investigation on Jeff in an attempt to reveal his possibly scandalous past.

This movie was bizarre. I cannot really even describe the movie except for by what I just wrote and those are not even my words and I cannot even really be sure if I liked the movie or not. It definitely was thrilling I would say. My DVD player stalled out during the scene when she was tazing him in the shower. . . I was like “what the. . . “ I mean suspension of disbelief accomplished. And I really like Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson both, they were really good. It was just really weird I do not know how I feel about this movie, I am confused. The ending just really freaks me out still. I think I liked it, I just do not know for sure.

Stieg Larsson

I was just thinking about books. I just finished the Stieg Larsson trilogy. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest.  They were very good. I actually watched the original Swedish movies first before I knew that they were books. The only reason I knew of them was because Netflix recommended the movies to me and I really liked them so I decided to read the books.

The first and second in the trilogy were excellent, they were fast paced and engrossing, I read through those two pretty fast (fast for me anyway, like I said I may be the slowest reader ever even though I love to read and do it quite a bit). Then the third one really slowed down and it was harder for me to read. I think that may have been because it was really heavily centered in the procedural side of law enforcement, it read more like a cop drama than an espionage-thriller (like the first two) which I do not really appreciate but still I did enjoy reading it. 

The Hunger Games

I was just thinking about movies. Mentioning The Hunger Games yesterday made me think about how much I like to watch movies. So I went with a friend from work to go see The Hunger Games. I will admit that I was really psyched to see this movie. A lot of it was that my brother was spreading a lot of hype about it to me and in general the plot is interesting.  I know I said yesterday that it was not really my thing but who can say no to a dystopian future.

Anyway it was fantastic. Except now I am in a bit of a moral conundrum about it. Now I am no critic but I thought it was amazing, the acting was great, the action was thrilling and I at least got really invested in a lot of the characters. I cried. And even the little love story that was going on between Katniss and Peeta did not make me want to vomit. And I love Josh Hutcherson. Then I start thinking about the story, I mean the movie is about taking children and forcing them to fight each other till death for peoples entertainment. In all honesty it makes me sick, like I have nightmares about it, and in that respect it was horrible.

So in the end I really liked the movie, a lot, but I feel bad about that.

I Love Books

I was just thinking about books. It is a bit strange what got me thinking about this topic was that I just recently went to see the movie The Hunger Games. I guess it may not be that strange, it was a book that was made into a movie after all. Anyway that was not the point. It just got me thinking about the kind of books I like to read, which for me are horror and Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

So the main reason I went to see The Hunger Games is that my brother is way into the whole dystopian future thing, which it is good, do not get me wrong I enjoy that genre as well, The Hunger Games was fantastic, it is just not my fav. I myself prefer an apocalyptic future. I only mean to say that the dystopian future thing gives me nightmares, feel like that is actually plausible, like it might actually happen, it is not like we have not done similar in the past (slaves in the gladiator ring or feeding Christians to lions);  where as an apocalyptic zombie plague, I am not as worried about.

Alright so I am getting a little off topic here. Books. So I do not remember, during grade school say, being a very avid reader. I mean I read because it was assigned or they would make you sit in the library for an hour for class, I would read then but I do not remember it being a major activity in my life.

So when I was twelve my family and I were at a Barnes & Noble and I happened to pick up a copy of The Stand by Stephen King and that was it for me. That was what got me hooked on reading. Give me an apocalyptic future any day of the week I absolutely love them.  I am not sure that it was the most appropriate book for a twelve year old to read but I was engrossed from page one. And now I just love to read I read as fast and as many books as I can (which is not saying much I could possibly be the slowest reader on the planet) but anyway I was hooked. Needless to say Stephen King is one of my favorite authors, although (and feel a bit bad saying this) I absolutely despise his dark tower series, I feel a little bit like a traitor to the cause or something.

Anyway I guess all I am trying to say is that I love books.