A review, another review, and what the hell?
This weekend was surprisingly sedate. The weather was beautiful though and I did manage to get outside a tiny bit. I attended a wine and cheese party that was pleasant. I also saw the film Serenity.
I liked the film alright, but I did not feel that it was the brilliant masterpiece that some of the reviews have named it. There was too much focus on characters I didn't care for (i.e. River & Simon), and not enough focus on the characters I really liked ( i.e. Inara, Shepherd, Wash & Zoe). The whole genocide plot was somewhat interesting but I felt that it was introduced too late in the game. Perhaps the viewer should have been informed about it at the beginning of the film. As it was, it seemed rather abrupt, kind of like: Dude! A whole planet died because of the idiotic Alliance! And they created the Reavers at the same time! Let's let the whole galaxy know so that we can be heroes instead of outlaws! It won't be easy and lots of us will be killed! Yay we did it and most of us lived! I didn't feel as much sympathy for the planet as I should have because everything happened so abruptly afterward, and there was so much build-up before hand that had nothing to do with it. At least, that's what it seemed like to me. Then of course, I have to mention the character deaths. I thought it was a real waste to kill off the Shepherd without revealing his past. A waste for the viewer and for any potential sequels. Of course such a wasteful death was a huge impact on Mal, but the others seemed to have little care that he was dead. And that seemed out of character for the characters I remembered from Firefly. And his death was also too quickly overshadowed by the planetary devastation on Miranda. Then of course I have to mention the death of Wash, which was handled somewhat better. The impact of his death on Zoe was clear. And I loved the dinosaurs at the end. My only real complaint was that it seemed kind of like a cop-out for Joss Whedon, because it was basically the exact same death that Anya suffered in the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Sayer. It seemed a little soon to recycle that plot point, even if it was on a different show. Oh, and also, I didn't like how Mr. Universe's death got more screen time and attention than Wash's did. (Somebody else on LJ wrote that but I can't remember who... whoever it was, I second that opinion!)
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film, just not as much as I wanted too and assumed I would from the reviews that I had read. (although my sister Ellen did warn me) As always, Joss Whedon's dialogue was fantastic, and I also appreciated all of the movie's humor. I would definitely be interested in any sequel, because there is still so much unresolved that I want to know about and I really do like the majority of the characters.
Before the weekend officially started, I had a very busy Thursday. I attended a reception for being a top fundraiser for Light the Night, because you guys rock! And then I was given a free ticket to the Martin Sexton/Nickel Creek show. I'm not sure how to classify Martin Sexton. Kinda folkie, kinda country with a splash of rap and reggae thrown in. Oh, and some yodeling. Different. I wouldn't buy a cd, but he was a fun entertainer to see. Then I got to see Nickel Creek! Yay! There's something about the Fall that always makes me want to listen to Bluegrass, so it was great to see one of my favorite Bluegrass bands. For free. From row E, center. They were amazing. If you're not familiar with the band, it's a brother a sister and their childhood neighbor. The sister plays fiddle, the brother guitar, and the neighbor plays mandolin. The neighbor, Chris, is HOT. The three of them are all in their twenties. They also have an older man that plays the bass. Anyhow, they put on a fantastic show! My favorite moment was when they did a cover of Britney Spear's song "Toxic," with Chris singing the vocals. HI-FREAKING-LARIOUS!!! It actually kind of made me like the song. At least, their version of the song. There was also great banter between the songs as they all made fun of each other. Oh! They also sang a funny song making fun of short people, which had the entire audience cackling. Unfortunately, I had to be somewhere else by 11pm, so I only got to see them play for about an hour and a half. they ended up playing for another hour after I left. But I still left feeling like I'd seen a great show, and I shall willingly BUY a ticket the next time that they come through town. If you would like to know more about them, you can visit their website and hear excerpts of their entire new album here. I recommend the song "Anthony."
That brings me pretty much up-to-date. Oh! Except that I forgot to tell you guys about this... Also during my very busy Thursday, I received a voicemail from my oncologist's office. It was a very weird and cryptic message stating that my chemo for this week and the two following that were canceled because something was going on with the manufacturer of the chemo drug that I take. And that the drug was not available anywhere in the country! The message went on to say that the drug would not be available again until early December, so I should enjoy a month long chemo break! Umm... yikes! I did get ahold of my nurse the next day to say, "What the fuck?" and apparently only 3 companies in the US manufactured it and one decided to quit. However they didn't notify the other companies of this ahead of time, and since it is a very very common drug, it'll be a month before the other two manufacturers can catch up on the back-log. Luckily, my doctor thinks a break this long is ok for me. I'm trying to find out if I can do my scans now while I wait, because I was supposed to get them in December anyhow. For those new to reading my blog, these upcoming scans will help my doctor determine whether or not I will contine doing maintenance chemo. I'm rather frightened of the concept of stopping chemo altogether, but my doctor is not. He's clearly braver than I. So basically, I'm kind of going to be panicking for the next month or so. Please bear with me.
I hope that everyone is all warm and dry right now. Have a lovely evening. I'm considering going to see Mirrormask this evening after work should anyone want to join me.
I liked the film alright, but I did not feel that it was the brilliant masterpiece that some of the reviews have named it. There was too much focus on characters I didn't care for (i.e. River & Simon), and not enough focus on the characters I really liked ( i.e. Inara, Shepherd, Wash & Zoe). The whole genocide plot was somewhat interesting but I felt that it was introduced too late in the game. Perhaps the viewer should have been informed about it at the beginning of the film. As it was, it seemed rather abrupt, kind of like: Dude! A whole planet died because of the idiotic Alliance! And they created the Reavers at the same time! Let's let the whole galaxy know so that we can be heroes instead of outlaws! It won't be easy and lots of us will be killed! Yay we did it and most of us lived! I didn't feel as much sympathy for the planet as I should have because everything happened so abruptly afterward, and there was so much build-up before hand that had nothing to do with it. At least, that's what it seemed like to me. Then of course, I have to mention the character deaths. I thought it was a real waste to kill off the Shepherd without revealing his past. A waste for the viewer and for any potential sequels. Of course such a wasteful death was a huge impact on Mal, but the others seemed to have little care that he was dead. And that seemed out of character for the characters I remembered from Firefly. And his death was also too quickly overshadowed by the planetary devastation on Miranda. Then of course I have to mention the death of Wash, which was handled somewhat better. The impact of his death on Zoe was clear. And I loved the dinosaurs at the end. My only real complaint was that it seemed kind of like a cop-out for Joss Whedon, because it was basically the exact same death that Anya suffered in the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Sayer. It seemed a little soon to recycle that plot point, even if it was on a different show. Oh, and also, I didn't like how Mr. Universe's death got more screen time and attention than Wash's did. (Somebody else on LJ wrote that but I can't remember who... whoever it was, I second that opinion!)
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film, just not as much as I wanted too and assumed I would from the reviews that I had read. (although my sister Ellen did warn me) As always, Joss Whedon's dialogue was fantastic, and I also appreciated all of the movie's humor. I would definitely be interested in any sequel, because there is still so much unresolved that I want to know about and I really do like the majority of the characters.
Before the weekend officially started, I had a very busy Thursday. I attended a reception for being a top fundraiser for Light the Night, because you guys rock! And then I was given a free ticket to the Martin Sexton/Nickel Creek show. I'm not sure how to classify Martin Sexton. Kinda folkie, kinda country with a splash of rap and reggae thrown in. Oh, and some yodeling. Different. I wouldn't buy a cd, but he was a fun entertainer to see. Then I got to see Nickel Creek! Yay! There's something about the Fall that always makes me want to listen to Bluegrass, so it was great to see one of my favorite Bluegrass bands. For free. From row E, center. They were amazing. If you're not familiar with the band, it's a brother a sister and their childhood neighbor. The sister plays fiddle, the brother guitar, and the neighbor plays mandolin. The neighbor, Chris, is HOT. The three of them are all in their twenties. They also have an older man that plays the bass. Anyhow, they put on a fantastic show! My favorite moment was when they did a cover of Britney Spear's song "Toxic," with Chris singing the vocals. HI-FREAKING-LARIOUS!!! It actually kind of made me like the song. At least, their version of the song. There was also great banter between the songs as they all made fun of each other. Oh! They also sang a funny song making fun of short people, which had the entire audience cackling. Unfortunately, I had to be somewhere else by 11pm, so I only got to see them play for about an hour and a half. they ended up playing for another hour after I left. But I still left feeling like I'd seen a great show, and I shall willingly BUY a ticket the next time that they come through town. If you would like to know more about them, you can visit their website and hear excerpts of their entire new album here. I recommend the song "Anthony."
That brings me pretty much up-to-date. Oh! Except that I forgot to tell you guys about this... Also during my very busy Thursday, I received a voicemail from my oncologist's office. It was a very weird and cryptic message stating that my chemo for this week and the two following that were canceled because something was going on with the manufacturer of the chemo drug that I take. And that the drug was not available anywhere in the country! The message went on to say that the drug would not be available again until early December, so I should enjoy a month long chemo break! Umm... yikes! I did get ahold of my nurse the next day to say, "What the fuck?" and apparently only 3 companies in the US manufactured it and one decided to quit. However they didn't notify the other companies of this ahead of time, and since it is a very very common drug, it'll be a month before the other two manufacturers can catch up on the back-log. Luckily, my doctor thinks a break this long is ok for me. I'm trying to find out if I can do my scans now while I wait, because I was supposed to get them in December anyhow. For those new to reading my blog, these upcoming scans will help my doctor determine whether or not I will contine doing maintenance chemo. I'm rather frightened of the concept of stopping chemo altogether, but my doctor is not. He's clearly braver than I. So basically, I'm kind of going to be panicking for the next month or so. Please bear with me.
I hope that everyone is all warm and dry right now. Have a lovely evening. I'm considering going to see Mirrormask this evening after work should anyone want to join me.