Christmas Vacation
Ian's studio has closed for the last two weeks of the year, and so he's on unpaid vacation for 10 days. The past two days therefore have been enormously slothful. We played Champions Online together all weekend, and not a whole lot else. I just don't have Ian's stamina for leisure, and I have to get up and do something productive every so often or I go brain dead. Nobody likes not having a brain. We anticipate more of the same for the next two weeks, just playing video games, watching movies, maybe occasionally going out to eat to the movie theatre, but that's IT! Nice and relaxing with no obligations.
Ian has long since bailed on watching "Dollhouse" as really we agree that it started out enormously insipid and uninteresting. Pretty much as soon as its cancellation was announced, the show kicked into high gear trying to tell its story before it goes off the air. Why couldn't it have started with this ferocity? Last Friday night's episodes moved the over-arcing story into a direction I sure didn't anticipate, and I enjoy where it's going. Pretty much this show could've skipped the entire first season and I don't think I'd have missed it. My only regret is that this show ever got this entertaining at all. If it couldn't start out really neat therefore to attract viewers and preserve itself for continuation, then I wish it had stayed boring so I wouldn't miss it when it's gone. Nevertheless, Joss Wheadon, you will not fool me again! I know everyone is going to die. In episode 1, I called Sierra as the first to die. I'm now thinking Victor, Paul, Topher's nameless assistant, and maybe Sierra as well.
We went to see "Avatar" last night, although not much excited about it based on the previews. Since James Cameron has only ever let me down on "The Abyss," the appeal of which I still don't get, I hoped sincerely that the story would be good once I got there. Ian and I heard nothing but excited praise for this movie, so that improved its chances. Our Guildhall chum Matt really summed it up best -- you've never seen anything like "Avatar" visually. Unique and breathtaking, I'm so happy I saw it in the theatre (if Ian and I did opt to skip 3D since it doesn't play nicely with us wearing glasses)! The CG in this is just seamless to my eyes, and so beautiful! I think Cameron made a clever choice to choose an alien environment so as to avoid the uncanny valley that makes humans done slightly wrong really mess with your sense of reality. Matt further went on to say that we have seen the story before many times, and certainly done better, and I agree with him. The story was interesting and good, however, and that's what I wanted. So many movies seem to make the mistake of making computer graphics so good that you get immersed in their illusion only to be bored silly by finding nothing of worth in that world. "Avatar" didn't leave me feeling like that; I still cared about the characters and wondered what would happen. I think I'd like to take my mom to see this since she doesn't go out to the movie theatre too often, and this will really knock her socks off.
My singular objection to the movie is that I did not care for the James Horner score. Although all composers tend to reuse the same themes again and again, Horner has this particular blare of horns that he uses more often than I'd like. We hear in repeated in, "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" from "Wrath of Khan." It's a strong component of "Bishop's Countdown" in "Aliens," (arguably my favorite piece of movie music ever), and in "Titanic" it signals some new component of the emergency of the ship sinking. We hear those horns again throughout "Avatar," and I'm a little bit over them. Further, one particularly dramatic battle scene has this really jolly-sounding horn section behind it that couldn't but remind me of some baroque classic piece. It was noticeably jarring and seemingly out of place to me in the scene. Ian and I are big on sitting through end credits of movies, and the pop love song at the end about "all the colors of love" about made me want to stuff a drinking straw in my eye. My objections to the soundtrack were slim and truly unique amidst a lengthy list of other comments I could make about the movie, all positive.
I recommend you go see it, too -- go get a babysitter, make it a date night. This is one you'll definitely want to see on the big screen. DVD really won't do it justice later.
I'm planning to leave the house today, which is really comparatively exciting news! Just a few errands to run to the drug store, library, maybe Pet-S-mart. Otherwise it's more of the same sloth, and I liiiiike it!
Happy Holidays everyone,
Trace
Ian has long since bailed on watching "Dollhouse" as really we agree that it started out enormously insipid and uninteresting. Pretty much as soon as its cancellation was announced, the show kicked into high gear trying to tell its story before it goes off the air. Why couldn't it have started with this ferocity? Last Friday night's episodes moved the over-arcing story into a direction I sure didn't anticipate, and I enjoy where it's going. Pretty much this show could've skipped the entire first season and I don't think I'd have missed it. My only regret is that this show ever got this entertaining at all. If it couldn't start out really neat therefore to attract viewers and preserve itself for continuation, then I wish it had stayed boring so I wouldn't miss it when it's gone. Nevertheless, Joss Wheadon, you will not fool me again! I know everyone is going to die. In episode 1, I called Sierra as the first to die. I'm now thinking Victor, Paul, Topher's nameless assistant, and maybe Sierra as well.
We went to see "Avatar" last night, although not much excited about it based on the previews. Since James Cameron has only ever let me down on "The Abyss," the appeal of which I still don't get, I hoped sincerely that the story would be good once I got there. Ian and I heard nothing but excited praise for this movie, so that improved its chances. Our Guildhall chum Matt really summed it up best -- you've never seen anything like "Avatar" visually. Unique and breathtaking, I'm so happy I saw it in the theatre (if Ian and I did opt to skip 3D since it doesn't play nicely with us wearing glasses)! The CG in this is just seamless to my eyes, and so beautiful! I think Cameron made a clever choice to choose an alien environment so as to avoid the uncanny valley that makes humans done slightly wrong really mess with your sense of reality. Matt further went on to say that we have seen the story before many times, and certainly done better, and I agree with him. The story was interesting and good, however, and that's what I wanted. So many movies seem to make the mistake of making computer graphics so good that you get immersed in their illusion only to be bored silly by finding nothing of worth in that world. "Avatar" didn't leave me feeling like that; I still cared about the characters and wondered what would happen. I think I'd like to take my mom to see this since she doesn't go out to the movie theatre too often, and this will really knock her socks off.
My singular objection to the movie is that I did not care for the James Horner score. Although all composers tend to reuse the same themes again and again, Horner has this particular blare of horns that he uses more often than I'd like. We hear in repeated in, "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" from "Wrath of Khan." It's a strong component of "Bishop's Countdown" in "Aliens," (arguably my favorite piece of movie music ever), and in "Titanic" it signals some new component of the emergency of the ship sinking. We hear those horns again throughout "Avatar," and I'm a little bit over them. Further, one particularly dramatic battle scene has this really jolly-sounding horn section behind it that couldn't but remind me of some baroque classic piece. It was noticeably jarring and seemingly out of place to me in the scene. Ian and I are big on sitting through end credits of movies, and the pop love song at the end about "all the colors of love" about made me want to stuff a drinking straw in my eye. My objections to the soundtrack were slim and truly unique amidst a lengthy list of other comments I could make about the movie, all positive.
I recommend you go see it, too -- go get a babysitter, make it a date night. This is one you'll definitely want to see on the big screen. DVD really won't do it justice later.
I'm planning to leave the house today, which is really comparatively exciting news! Just a few errands to run to the drug store, library, maybe Pet-S-mart. Otherwise it's more of the same sloth, and I liiiiike it!
Happy Holidays everyone,
Trace