I need to get this out up front: I hated this movie.
I. Hated. This. Movie.
Why? It was a crap movie.
It was boring.
It was boring because the story was dull and derivative and just more of the same-old same old.
And I was pissed off that I had to sit through nearly three frigging hours of it to find out why: the director and the screenwriter were the same person.
"In our world, man does not suffer shame for asking directions."
One of my most memorable Christmases occured many years ago when I ended a relationship on Christmas Eve day: we had been seeing each other for over a year and I was terribly fond of the fellow, but I could no longer pretend that his excessive drinking didn’t bother me. Since he didn’t think he drank too much (or too often), I ended it.
Because he was a generally good person, his overarching concern on that Christmas Eve day was that I not spend the next day on my own. He offered to not mention our breakup to his family so that I might join them for Christmas dinner, instead of our planned dinner-à-tête. I declined.
He couldn’t believe someone would want to be alone on Christmas. And he was doubly disbelieving that someone like me—a single woman, living alone in a foreign country that celebrated that holiday in a big and meaningful way (Ireland)—wouldn’t be unbearably lonely on that particular day.
How could I tell him that not only couldn’t I wait to be free of this unhappy, untruthful encumbrance, I was positively thrilled to have the day to myself?
Saw “2012” last night. I was in the mood for a block buster, the kind you just watch, not engage with intellectually.
Aw man, this is gonna be worse than the Y2k thing, isn't it?
I, the woman, suggested this film as our Date Nite movie. He, the man, agreed, possibly because he wanted to watch it also but probably because he likes going to things I pick out (because there’s a greater certainty that his woman will be happy with the activity when she has chosen it herself).
I wanted to see “2012” for two reasons: the special effects, and my old cutie-pie John Cusack.
If you have a hard time envisioning what an environmentally-based end-of-the-world scenario would look like, this movie goes a long way to presenting one. This version of the (almost) end wrecks destruction in populated areas, in unpopulated areas, in wilderness, in cities, on the mountains, at the shore. The visuals are stunning. And then it gets I’m-still-10-years-old scary, as in a “Wow, if the science were real and could do what it did in the movie, that is what might happen.”
I once attended, somewhat unwillingly, the national tour of The Rockettes: Christmas Edition or whatever it was called, when it played in Boston. I went because it was a female family thing (mothers who were sisters and the daughters of those mothers) and was billed as a nice afternoon out in Boston that included lunch.
I will not go into the entertainment other than to say that it was not my cup of tea (which is why I was reluctant to go—I already knew it was not my cup of tea), but it clearly thrilled the other members of my entourage and, I believe, the entire rest of the audience. It was, okay. Sparkly, but okay.
And then they brought out the camel.
(more…)
The Secret of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC has opened at the MFA. You should go see it.
These Egyptians might not’ve had a 401(k), but they were very very confident that their version of “retirement” would be a glorious one.
Talk about a transformational experience!
Let’s say you were living in Egypt about 4,000 years ago, and were one of that culture’s Masters of the Universe.
You got the bling, baby, and lots of it; you got many many many people working for you, making your life (but not theirs) really comfortable; you want for not one single thing.
And then, in spite of all the wishing and, thinging, to the contrary, you and your lovely wife die.
How do you let the, um, folks of the nether world know who you are and where to put you, as it were, once you get to your post-mortem place?
Are we there yet?
(All images courtesy of Wan Chi Lau)
Harry Potter: The Exhibition opens at the Museum of Science in Boston on Sunday, October 25 at 9am, and you should get in line right now for it. The exhibition is as close to being in the movies as you can get without needing an Equity card.
We were invited to the Preview Reception last night, and it was awesome. Ten thousand square feet of Harry’s world, with props and costumes from the films, set up in different stations. It’s designed so that you feel like you are at Hogwarts; everybody is represented and all the movies are referenced (those chess pieces from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone are HUGE).
They have Harry and Ron’s room.
They have Death Eaters.
They have Kreatur and Oliver Wood’s Quidditch robe (honestly, am I the only one who thought that Oliver Wood was way cuter than Cedric Diggory?).
They have tons (22 tractor trailers) of stuff. And when you are in the exhibit you are in Harry Potter’s world. Ever wanted to get up close and personal to the candy display at Honeydukes? How do Harry’s and Valdemort’s wands compare? Wouldn’t you just like to look into Dobby’s big-eyed face and thank him for his loyalty to Harry? Is a dementor really that scary? (I can answer that: Yes. Yes it is.)
And let me just say, Gilderoy Lockhart had excellent taste in clothing, and you can see a set of his entire works, including everyone’s favorite, Magical Me.
They have Dolores Umbridge’s pinky pinky pink office, complete with that nasty quill Harry was made to use when he had his “I must not tell lies” detention.
There are many things to see and do. Pull up your own mandrake root. Try your hand at getting the quaffle through the quiditch hoops (sans broom, I’m afraid).
The final setting is Hogwart’s Great Hall, set up for the Yule Ball, complete with floating candles, Triwizard Tournament Cup, and chocolate desserts. And if you ever wanted to feel sorry, and I mean totally and utterly sorry, for Ron Weasley, just take a look at the actual robe he wore for the Ball, displayed next to Harry’s very handsome dress robes. Hermoine’s lilac evening gown is even more lovely in person.
The gift shop is like a mini Diagon Alley; you can pick out your very own wand at Olivander’s, choose some writing paper at Flourish & Blots, and even pick out a robe (or t-shirt) at Madam Malkin’s.
The audio tracks that you can listen to are great. I highly recommend picking up a device on the way in. It took us an hour to get through it, because we listened to every single bit. I think some kids took longer–I mean, who wouldn’t want to sit in Hagrid’s chair?
The exhibit will be in Boson until February 1, 2010. Combined museum and exhibition tickets are $26/Adults, $24/60+, $23/3-11, and $5/MOS.
If you or your little ones are fans of Harry Potter, it is so, so worth it.
You can read RainyDayMagazine’s review here.
I went to my first opera, i Puritani by Bellini, when I was about 30.
I went to the hairdresser for a wash and blow-dry at lunch, and left work early wearing my new lace top (bought at the original Filene’s Basement for $11). I purchased my ticket at the box office window of the Emerson Theater, and was delighted with my third row seat.
The guy next to me unwrapped a chocolate bar and proceeded to eat it after the lights went down and the opera started (“I didn’t get to eat anything before I got here,” he told his date—which wasn’t me).
Went to see the encore transmission of the Nation Theater‘s live broadcast of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well at the Coolidge Corner, and well, it didn’t (end well, geddit?).
Well, it Ended, so all is Well now...
I was so put off by, everything, that I left at intermission.
We sleep on a futon.
[foo-ton, fyoo-]
a thin mattress, usually filled with layers of cotton batting and encased in cotton fabric,
placed on a floor for sleeping, esp. in traditional Japanese interiors, and folded and stored during the day.
The futon rests atop two tatami mats (laid side-by-side), very low to the floor.
Yes yes, all very Zen, I know. How Asian, how serene, how…incredibly unsupportive for my back.
[fiz-iks]
the science that deals with matter, energy, motion, and force.
