Ultra-Master-King-Killer...killer...Combo Post
There are several things that I wanted to write about, but I've actually been busy at work lately. So I'll try to handle several of them and such.
Monday, Angie and I went to court as witnesses for a civil case. Its the first time that I've been to court and in a case. The case involved a neighbor (who we like) suing another neighbor (who we don't like) due to massive and serious injuries that occurred during a dog attack on another dog.
Legal Proceedings
One day, while walking Lady, one of our neighbors (the plaintiff in the case) stopped me and asked if we ever had dealings with another neighbor (the defendant). I told him that a few years ago, their dog got out of the house and our dog had a scuffle with it. It wasn't a big deal (although I left out how the defendant's daughter blamed us for the incident). The plaintiff then stated that his dog was brutally attacked and just got out of the hospital (his body was bandaged up). The plaintiff also stated that the defendant claimed that our dog traumatized his dog as a puppy. So he was blaming us for their dog's aggression, which was pretty annoying since before then, the defendant seemed okay (we mainly were against his daughter).
So through various walkings, we stopped at talked to the plaintiff more and discovered that they were suing for the cost of medical bills (about $7k). And since we had a previous encounter with the defendant's dog, Angie volunteered to give a statement about the incident. When the plaintiff asked Angie to be a witness instead, she agreed and I agreed to go with her. As the day approached, I practiced my statement and went over the facts. We also read the statements of the parties. The defendant and his witness had statements which looked like they were written by children. They were so bad that it was hard to not laugh while reading them.
So on Monday, Angie and I both took off work and went to the courthouse. We met the defendant and one of their other witnesses in the parking lot and went with them to the courthouse where we waited until the designated time. Then at 9, a clerk told us about general don't and invited a large group into the courtroom. I was surprised that courts are very organized. It was like 20 or more cases that were all designated for 9 AM with no sort of order. But luckily, the plaintiffs subpoenaed a police officer, so our case was pushed to the front so the cop could get back to work. And when our case was called and about to start, it was delayed because the defendant's witness wasn't around (she left for parking allegedly). So we sat around for probably another hour before the judge finished with various lawyer-y meetings and restarted our case. The defendant's witness eventually showed up in the middle.
The plaintiff told their story. Then so the cop could get back to work, the cop gave his account of the aftermath (since he didn't see the incident). The defendant seemed to have conflicts with the cop's story. Then Angie gave her account of our previous encounter with the dog, also stressing how the defendant's daughter seemed unconcerned about dog's escaping the house. The defendant's defense was "I can't remember since it was almost five years ago" as if five years ago makes it irrelevant. Angie did a good job. And since I would have just confirmed what Angie said, the judge skipped me. The plaintiff also had another neighbor who was pretty irrelevant. They also had a representative from the Animal Hospital, but the dog's injuries weren't in question so she was skipped.
Then the defendant had his turn. He gave a similar account of the story, but stated that the small Yorkies dug a hole under the fence and started to attack the much larger pitbull (who wasn't barking the whole time). Additionally, he said he had it leashed and was present the whole time (which the cop stated he said something else at the time). There was probably other things, but basically his story didn't mess with anyone else's, including the cop. I also think he overly tried to change his story to make himself seem super overly not at fault. It was pretty unbelievable. His witness actually gave a more similar account of events to the plaintiff than the defendant.
So after rushed closing statements (the judge seemed tired of it and said something like "I've heard more than enough of this case"), the judge gave his verdict. I thought it'd be very quick and proper, like a quick "I rule in favor of x" and that's it. But it was very theatrical. He slowly went over the facts and both stories (I couldn't tell how he'd rule yet), then said it comes down to credibility and the defendant had absolutely none. Then he got all fiery and stated how the defendant gave an unbelievable story and how it borders on fraud and really went off on him, which was really satisfying. So the judge ruled for the plaintiff and we (my side at least) were all happy. I was kind of worried since the plaintiffs had a much stronger case but were terrible in the legal proceedings. Many of their points weren't relevant and one of them kept interrupting. It was pretty bad. The defendant had a really weak case, but he was much better at the proceedings, which makes me assume this isn't the first time he's been brought to court, especially with their families attitude towards responsibility.
So it was an interesting experience. The whole court experience was much less organized and professional than I imagined. There was even an old lawyer who seemed to have no idea what was going on. He'd ask the clerk if the judge would accept his suggestion. "Would it be worth me waiting?" "Its just a yes/no question" and then he'd start talking in the middle of calls or second calls or something. It was very odd.
And after chatting with the rest of the witnesses (mainly the girl from the animal hospital) for a little, Angie and I left without taking the plaintiffs' offer for drinks. They're okay, but we're not about overly hanging out with people. Oh, and even though our case was first due to have the cop, we left around 11 or 12. So I can't imagine having to be the last person.
Anyway, we went home to change then went to see Ant-Man, after dropping Lady off at Angie's parents. Overall, I thought Ant-Man was okay, just okay. It was pretty light-hearted and foolish, although pretty cliche. Its kind of like a lesser Dark World.
Ant-Man
So I wasn't very excited about Ant-Man due to having no real strong feelings or knowledge of him. It was a while before I realized (Angie told me) that Henry Pym wasn't even the main character. I thought Paul Rudd did an okay job. The story is fairly simple and standard. Redemption of criminal who has a daughter or something like that. Michael Douglass was okay as Henry Pym, although it probably would have been more interesting if they addressed his wife-beating versus just making a standard misunderstood dad hero person. Evangeline Lily was a generic tough girl love interest. And the other characters aren't too interesting.
Like it was entertaining at times, but nothing overly interesting. Honestly, the most interesting part to me was the pre-Civil War end scene. But I also think I wasn't feeling great while watching it so maybe that affected me too.
A funny thing is that night, Angie and I went to bed around 9 PM since we both were so tired and/or not feeling super great. It worked well since I slept until 6 the next morning and felt better, but it was funny to get ready for bed when it was kind of light outside still.
Another thing of note is that our kitchen is effectively done. We still need to pass our final electrical inspection, but since we failed it on Tuesday and the electrician claims that he address the issues, it should be okay? And there's minor touch-ups such as painting and molding that they'll also finish with. But the actual kitchen is pretty much done. So that's great! Not only does it look nice, but we'll have much more room (probably 75% more counterspace and cabinet space).
Before
After
I finished Anne Rice's The Queen of the Damned today. Its the third part of her Vampire Chronicle and a book that Angie speaks very highly of, although I unfortunately don't have as positive of an opinion of.
The Queen of the Damned
So the book picks up slightly before the end of The vampire Lestat where toolbag Lestat is having his concert where Anne Rice knows very little about music/the music industry. So the book describes events which lead up to Lestat's concert through the eyes of various other characters. I think some of these lead up events are fairly interesting while others are incredibly dull and boring. For example, Jesse's description of her life and joining a secret organization and all that entails is pretty interesting. But Daniel and Armand talking about how much they love each other is pretty dull. Pandora and Azim were much more interesting than stupid Baby Jenkins.
Anyway, Akasha, the Queen of the Damned and first vampire, awakens because she really loves Lestat (???) and goes around killing most vampires. Her and Lestat eventually join up because for some reason, everyone loves Lestat (probably because Anne Rice loves him for some reason so everyone in her stories do too). And Akasha reveals her masterplan where she'll bring peace on Earth by killing 90% of males because a world of females will somehow be super peaceful and a paradise. And to make it worse, no one can argue that this won't work; everyone's arguments center about if its just and such. Hello? Akasha, who was described as incredibly cruel is female. So I never knew that Anne Rice was a super crazy feminist, but she definitely shows how crazy she is. None of the characters that were opposing this plan could even mention that women aren't some sort of super peaceful race of super humans.
Anyway, this story is interposed by a history of the creation of the first vampires called the "Story of the Twins", who are two witches. For a while, its a chapter about "The Story of the Twins", which is okay, then a really boring Lestat chapter. So the pacing was bad to me, but I guess if you somehow are a Lestat fan, then it probably works better.
So Lestat finally convinces Akasha to meet up with the remaining vampires and they have an argument before the long lost twin arrives. And there is a super fast, anti-climatic battle where Mekare seems to win pretty easily. Then the book goes on for another segment about Lestat and how sad he is, but how he can't follow rules and how's he's so bad and the "devil himself". And on top of all of this, there is bad poetry (by the author's husband) introducing each part of the book.
So while I am a pretty big fan of vampires and their mythology, I'm not a big fan of The Queen of the Damned. There is the mythology of pre-Egyptian rulers and witches, but I felt that the revelations were not paced greatly. Its almost like the "Story of the Twins" was heavily spoiled by previous chapters AND its really long and slow. Add in the excessive and stupid sexism and wannabe intellectual philosophy discussion and pretentious poetry (nepotism too).
Honestly, its not as terrible as I probably make it sound, but it does seem like a missed opportunity. Akasha could have a better plan since apparently she's been planning for thousands of years. The most interesting characters (Pandora and Gabrielle come to mind) seem to have very little "screen time". But I assume if they were given screen time (or more POV chapters), they'd just think about how much they love Lestat. So overall, I wasn't a huge fan of The Queen of the Damned and I don't think I can read anymore Lestat focused novels.
So yeah, that probably became more of a rant than anything. And I don't want to be overly negative and let out another rant on Daredevil. So I'll try to be brief and say that I don't know why its so popular. People seemed to almost universally love Daredevil and I didn't think it was very good at all. And I'll stop before another rant and end this post.
Monday, Angie and I went to court as witnesses for a civil case. Its the first time that I've been to court and in a case. The case involved a neighbor (who we like) suing another neighbor (who we don't like) due to massive and serious injuries that occurred during a dog attack on another dog.
Legal Proceedings
One day, while walking Lady, one of our neighbors (the plaintiff in the case) stopped me and asked if we ever had dealings with another neighbor (the defendant). I told him that a few years ago, their dog got out of the house and our dog had a scuffle with it. It wasn't a big deal (although I left out how the defendant's daughter blamed us for the incident). The plaintiff then stated that his dog was brutally attacked and just got out of the hospital (his body was bandaged up). The plaintiff also stated that the defendant claimed that our dog traumatized his dog as a puppy. So he was blaming us for their dog's aggression, which was pretty annoying since before then, the defendant seemed okay (we mainly were against his daughter).
So through various walkings, we stopped at talked to the plaintiff more and discovered that they were suing for the cost of medical bills (about $7k). And since we had a previous encounter with the defendant's dog, Angie volunteered to give a statement about the incident. When the plaintiff asked Angie to be a witness instead, she agreed and I agreed to go with her. As the day approached, I practiced my statement and went over the facts. We also read the statements of the parties. The defendant and his witness had statements which looked like they were written by children. They were so bad that it was hard to not laugh while reading them.
So on Monday, Angie and I both took off work and went to the courthouse. We met the defendant and one of their other witnesses in the parking lot and went with them to the courthouse where we waited until the designated time. Then at 9, a clerk told us about general don't and invited a large group into the courtroom. I was surprised that courts are very organized. It was like 20 or more cases that were all designated for 9 AM with no sort of order. But luckily, the plaintiffs subpoenaed a police officer, so our case was pushed to the front so the cop could get back to work. And when our case was called and about to start, it was delayed because the defendant's witness wasn't around (she left for parking allegedly). So we sat around for probably another hour before the judge finished with various lawyer-y meetings and restarted our case. The defendant's witness eventually showed up in the middle.
The plaintiff told their story. Then so the cop could get back to work, the cop gave his account of the aftermath (since he didn't see the incident). The defendant seemed to have conflicts with the cop's story. Then Angie gave her account of our previous encounter with the dog, also stressing how the defendant's daughter seemed unconcerned about dog's escaping the house. The defendant's defense was "I can't remember since it was almost five years ago" as if five years ago makes it irrelevant. Angie did a good job. And since I would have just confirmed what Angie said, the judge skipped me. The plaintiff also had another neighbor who was pretty irrelevant. They also had a representative from the Animal Hospital, but the dog's injuries weren't in question so she was skipped.
Then the defendant had his turn. He gave a similar account of the story, but stated that the small Yorkies dug a hole under the fence and started to attack the much larger pitbull (who wasn't barking the whole time). Additionally, he said he had it leashed and was present the whole time (which the cop stated he said something else at the time). There was probably other things, but basically his story didn't mess with anyone else's, including the cop. I also think he overly tried to change his story to make himself seem super overly not at fault. It was pretty unbelievable. His witness actually gave a more similar account of events to the plaintiff than the defendant.
So after rushed closing statements (the judge seemed tired of it and said something like "I've heard more than enough of this case"), the judge gave his verdict. I thought it'd be very quick and proper, like a quick "I rule in favor of x" and that's it. But it was very theatrical. He slowly went over the facts and both stories (I couldn't tell how he'd rule yet), then said it comes down to credibility and the defendant had absolutely none. Then he got all fiery and stated how the defendant gave an unbelievable story and how it borders on fraud and really went off on him, which was really satisfying. So the judge ruled for the plaintiff and we (my side at least) were all happy. I was kind of worried since the plaintiffs had a much stronger case but were terrible in the legal proceedings. Many of their points weren't relevant and one of them kept interrupting. It was pretty bad. The defendant had a really weak case, but he was much better at the proceedings, which makes me assume this isn't the first time he's been brought to court, especially with their families attitude towards responsibility.
So it was an interesting experience. The whole court experience was much less organized and professional than I imagined. There was even an old lawyer who seemed to have no idea what was going on. He'd ask the clerk if the judge would accept his suggestion. "Would it be worth me waiting?" "Its just a yes/no question" and then he'd start talking in the middle of calls or second calls or something. It was very odd.
And after chatting with the rest of the witnesses (mainly the girl from the animal hospital) for a little, Angie and I left without taking the plaintiffs' offer for drinks. They're okay, but we're not about overly hanging out with people. Oh, and even though our case was first due to have the cop, we left around 11 or 12. So I can't imagine having to be the last person.
Anyway, we went home to change then went to see Ant-Man, after dropping Lady off at Angie's parents. Overall, I thought Ant-Man was okay, just okay. It was pretty light-hearted and foolish, although pretty cliche. Its kind of like a lesser Dark World.
Ant-Man
So I wasn't very excited about Ant-Man due to having no real strong feelings or knowledge of him. It was a while before I realized (Angie told me) that Henry Pym wasn't even the main character. I thought Paul Rudd did an okay job. The story is fairly simple and standard. Redemption of criminal who has a daughter or something like that. Michael Douglass was okay as Henry Pym, although it probably would have been more interesting if they addressed his wife-beating versus just making a standard misunderstood dad hero person. Evangeline Lily was a generic tough girl love interest. And the other characters aren't too interesting.
Like it was entertaining at times, but nothing overly interesting. Honestly, the most interesting part to me was the pre-Civil War end scene. But I also think I wasn't feeling great while watching it so maybe that affected me too.
A funny thing is that night, Angie and I went to bed around 9 PM since we both were so tired and/or not feeling super great. It worked well since I slept until 6 the next morning and felt better, but it was funny to get ready for bed when it was kind of light outside still.
Another thing of note is that our kitchen is effectively done. We still need to pass our final electrical inspection, but since we failed it on Tuesday and the electrician claims that he address the issues, it should be okay? And there's minor touch-ups such as painting and molding that they'll also finish with. But the actual kitchen is pretty much done. So that's great! Not only does it look nice, but we'll have much more room (probably 75% more counterspace and cabinet space).
Before
After
I finished Anne Rice's The Queen of the Damned today. Its the third part of her Vampire Chronicle and a book that Angie speaks very highly of, although I unfortunately don't have as positive of an opinion of.
The Queen of the Damned
So the book picks up slightly before the end of The vampire Lestat where toolbag Lestat is having his concert where Anne Rice knows very little about music/the music industry. So the book describes events which lead up to Lestat's concert through the eyes of various other characters. I think some of these lead up events are fairly interesting while others are incredibly dull and boring. For example, Jesse's description of her life and joining a secret organization and all that entails is pretty interesting. But Daniel and Armand talking about how much they love each other is pretty dull. Pandora and Azim were much more interesting than stupid Baby Jenkins.
Anyway, Akasha, the Queen of the Damned and first vampire, awakens because she really loves Lestat (???) and goes around killing most vampires. Her and Lestat eventually join up because for some reason, everyone loves Lestat (probably because Anne Rice loves him for some reason so everyone in her stories do too). And Akasha reveals her masterplan where she'll bring peace on Earth by killing 90% of males because a world of females will somehow be super peaceful and a paradise. And to make it worse, no one can argue that this won't work; everyone's arguments center about if its just and such. Hello? Akasha, who was described as incredibly cruel is female. So I never knew that Anne Rice was a super crazy feminist, but she definitely shows how crazy she is. None of the characters that were opposing this plan could even mention that women aren't some sort of super peaceful race of super humans.
Anyway, this story is interposed by a history of the creation of the first vampires called the "Story of the Twins", who are two witches. For a while, its a chapter about "The Story of the Twins", which is okay, then a really boring Lestat chapter. So the pacing was bad to me, but I guess if you somehow are a Lestat fan, then it probably works better.
So Lestat finally convinces Akasha to meet up with the remaining vampires and they have an argument before the long lost twin arrives. And there is a super fast, anti-climatic battle where Mekare seems to win pretty easily. Then the book goes on for another segment about Lestat and how sad he is, but how he can't follow rules and how's he's so bad and the "devil himself". And on top of all of this, there is bad poetry (by the author's husband) introducing each part of the book.
So while I am a pretty big fan of vampires and their mythology, I'm not a big fan of The Queen of the Damned. There is the mythology of pre-Egyptian rulers and witches, but I felt that the revelations were not paced greatly. Its almost like the "Story of the Twins" was heavily spoiled by previous chapters AND its really long and slow. Add in the excessive and stupid sexism and wannabe intellectual philosophy discussion and pretentious poetry (nepotism too).
Honestly, its not as terrible as I probably make it sound, but it does seem like a missed opportunity. Akasha could have a better plan since apparently she's been planning for thousands of years. The most interesting characters (Pandora and Gabrielle come to mind) seem to have very little "screen time". But I assume if they were given screen time (or more POV chapters), they'd just think about how much they love Lestat. So overall, I wasn't a huge fan of The Queen of the Damned and I don't think I can read anymore Lestat focused novels.
So yeah, that probably became more of a rant than anything. And I don't want to be overly negative and let out another rant on Daredevil. So I'll try to be brief and say that I don't know why its so popular. People seemed to almost universally love Daredevil and I didn't think it was very good at all. And I'll stop before another rant and end this post.