More or Less Than Meets The Eye
After lunch, Skye, Todd, Chris and I took a little field trip down to the Kwik-E-Mart here in Dallas. As a part of the Simpsons movie tie-in, a 7-11 store in dallas, and a few others around the country were changed into a Springfield convenience store. Since 7-11 started in Dallas, it's only natural one would be here.
As it was July 4th, many other people decided to come gawk at the store as well, causing a full parking lot and a long line to get an official Squishee drink, or some Buzz cola. They were already sold out of Krusty O's cereal. All in all it was fun seeing the signs that were replacing the usual 7-11 signs, like "Special Offer, Buy 3 for the Price of 3!" They had several character stand ups as well, so everyone was taking pictures. Skye mentioned that everything was being sold, and se saw people even buying the hot dogs on the rotisserie.
There are more pictures HERE. Chris' photos (which are better) can be found HERE
Chris and I watched the Nathan's Hot-Dog Eating championship on TV. I kind of wish I hadn't. *burf*
Otherwise, to round out our day, we went to see Transformers. I'm out of the age bracket for the toys and I didn't watch the cartoons (though sadly, I did watch Thundercats, snarf, snarf). This was mostly Chris' movie to be excited about. I know a few days ago I was saying I wasn't really interested in seeing it, but when it started getting decent reviews, my interest piqued.
It got lots of other people interested, too. One theater we tried was sold out for several showings.
Well, the humans are on way too much, and there's some roles that Chris and I wondered if they could be eliminated altogether. There's also a few plot holes that are big enough to drive Optimus Prime through, but when they shut up and really get to FIGHTING, and the explosions go off, then you know why you like this movie. So what if it doesn't make sense. The robots fighting are AMAZING, and the effects, and matching the action to the surrounding real-life areas of Los Angeles are fantastic. I'm sure the action sequences couldn't have been done even 5 years ago.
Character development? Who cares.
It's a bit of a surprising reaction from me, because I can nitpick really well, and when I get on a roll, I really can't let go and enjoy the movie, but there it is.
Yes, i know, I should be writing about Independence Day and how I'm not thrilled with the direction of the country and all, but you know, I can do that anyday. In the long run, I'm not connected to power, I'm not wealthy and I can't change much on my own when it comes to governmental abuses, and stupidity and power games at the expense of the public and those in other countries.
All I can do is raise my voice from time to time, and to get out there and vote, for thankfully in this country they still allow us those rights. As a government made of and for it's people, we should demand better than we have right now, but it will take time. It takes vigilance, and it takes not giving up on the long vision when short term things go awry. We can recover from this disastrous administration, but we need to be thoughtful of what we do next so we don't end up in the same crap with just a different face.
Still, here we are today with good friends, a few bits of entertainment and diversion, stuff that makes life good. All in all, it's not bad living in North America, you know?