Take a Cup Of Kindness
Currently Reading: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Currently Watching: Fringe: Season 4
I read 51 books this past year. Go me!
I walked/ran 920 documented miles last year. Short of my goal of 1000, but if I would have had my Nike+ shoes and app with me at work and on our trips to the amusement parks, I would have been well over that. Not that it did a thing towards boosting my metabolism or shedding any pounds, but what can you do?
Welcome to 2013! Light knows it has to be better than last year, right? 2012 was one of the more shit years in recent memory, quite frankly. At least in terms of the world at large. Nothing terrible happened in my own small corner of the world, but there was really nothing to write home about either. When I started to really think about it, I was like, "Well... the Olympics were pretty good."
Anyways, I hope everyone on my f-list had a very happy Christmas and are looking forward to what will hopefully be a brighter New Year! I've sent personal e-mails and/or cards to most of you, but to anyone I missed for lack of an address or regular correspondence outside of Social Media, I've been thinking of you too. Here's to all the best. As for me, I got everything I wanted - in that I did indeed get my Playstation 3 - the one and only thing on my shortlist of I Want To Go To There this year - and then some! Seriously, I have the most amazing friends and family. Thanks to people loving me enough to know exactly what I would like to have best - without me telling them in more than one instance - my Wish List on Amazon.com has become pleasantly brief! I got Ponies! And Assassin's Creeds! Two TV series on my Must Watch list! And perhaps my favorite small gift - A Firefly Car Logo. I'll have to take a picture of it because now it really looks like I'm driving a Jeep Firefly rather than a Jeep Liberty. Super cool.
Most surprising - and most touching - was the gift of a Scrapbook of the Western Adventure trip my Mother, Amy and myself took ten years ago this Summer. Mom has been saying for all these years that she was going to put all of our pictures and memorabilia together into a Scrapbook we could all enjoy - otherwise it would just sit and gather dust in various attics forever. It really emphasized for me how very important this journal I've been diligently keeping for the past ten years really is in the grand scheme of our lives. She printed out all of my entries from the trip and included them in the journal. She said I wrote with such humorous detail that it was like being on the road again and it helped her remember so many little things she would have forgotten otherwise. Not to mention it helped her put everything in the right order all these years later! I don't update as often as I should anymore, but I do try because these memories of our trip would mostly be lost if I hadn't recorded them as they were happening and that is precious. She did a beautiful job and now it has a place of honor on our Coffee Table where others can see what an amazing trip we had. And just in time too since we are just a few months away from embarking on our next great adventure - The British Isles. The plane tickets are booked and payed for - by hook or by crook, we are definitely going May 16th - June 3rd. I'm so excited!
Thus far, I lurve my PS3. Honestly, I really had grown quite tired of the shenanigans inherent in the Wii. I've been playing the NintendoDS for several months now and loving it for the simple pleasure of good old fashioned platform gaming without any trickedy tricks or flailing about. Give me some good old fashioned button combos and ass-kicking. The DS is a brilliant little hand held, but the PS3 takes me back to my roots. The first game I'm playing on it is indeed the very first game that made me covet the system years ago - Heavenly Sword. It's a brief game and it's starting to show its age now in terms of load times and the like, but it's absolutely gorgeous and a lot of fun to play. And I get to be a woman! A proper heroine! What I like best so far though? It's not so ludicrously hard that I have to throw the controller across the room in a fit of rage because I've just failed at something for the umpteenth time - without any real improvement. I'm looking at you Okami and Super Mario Galaxy 2. I may fail a challenge here and there, but the next time through I noticeably improve and before long I have it beat with full marks. THAT'S rewarding gaming.
The run up to the Holidays is such a busy time at the store that I always just crash at the end of my days until about... now. Thus, I've missed commenting on some pretty significant films I've seen recently. I don't want to take up a whole lot of space, so I will keep it short:
The Hobbit: God, I'm so happy to be back in Middle Earth with these characters I adore, but... and it pains me to say this as an ardent fan of the original trilogy - this movie could have easily been an hour shorter and would have been a much better film for it. I'm not a fan of the original book and I felt this was a vast improvement over how boring that it - IMHO, of course - but this goes way too far in the other direction. At least one Orc fight should have been cut entirely and I could have sent my Christmas Cards and filed my 2013 tax return in the time it took for those Rock Giants to do whatever it was they were doing. That said, I thought Martin Freeman was born to play John Watson, but it could be that he was actually meant to be the very embodiment of Bilbo Baggins instead. Ian McKellan was, as always, perfection. I loved all the stuff from the appendixes such as the White Council and the Necromancer - all things that tie it neatly to Lord of the Rings in a way that Tolkien always wished he could have done in retrospect. But, I will never be a fan of dwarves and Thorin is no Aragorn Son of Arathorn. I still give it a solid B+ and look forward to parts 2 and 3. Even if the whole story easily could have been told in two.
Les Miserables: If feels like I've been waiting for this movie my entire life. And I nearly have done. I first discovered the Musical when I was in Middle School - no more than 12 years old at the time. I fell in love with it instantly and I've been a mega-fan ever since. I own every recording and DVD, could sing the libretto verbatim (and do the voices) I've seen it live three times, I've read the unabridged novel and consider the whole affair a touchstone in my life. There have been many times that it was a light in the dark. I suppose then that it was inevitable that the movie would be a disappointment. And it was, I'm afraid. It just didn't have the spirit of it's Stage Counterpart and several key roles were severally miscast. Most notably Javert. Russell Crowe could neither sing or act worth a damn in this film. I like Act 2 better than Act 1 and I feel like they just slopped through the Students of the ABC storyline without ever letting their cause ring true - mostly due to slashing the role of Enjolras down to a bit part. It wasn't a bad movie. I just know and love the stage show so well... Indeed, if you were unfamiliar with the stage version, it would probably be wonderful. Anne Hathaway is everything they say she is as Fantine and I had to stifle tears several times during the film. Fun fact - when 60+ people in close quarters are all trying to hide the fact that they are weeping, it makes sort of a muted, soft continuous rustling sound. It's just... I was sure I would want to see it again in theaters. Now, I'll wait till the Blu-Ray is in the Bargain Bin out of sheer loyalty to the franchise. C+
The Dark Knight Rises: Christ, I'm glad I didn't waste my money to see this in theaters. I'm flummoxed to understand the glowing reviews this got. I loved the first two movies in the trilogy, but this was a boring, sloppy, disjointed mess. Seriously disappointing. D- Mostly I was exactly like this:
Finally, why do people have to be so ornery? I was checking someone out at the store tonight, just a regular guy, early 40s with a wife. He nods at my Downton Abbey display and is all, "So, Downton Abbey... do you watch it?" and I'm all, "I do. Isn't it amazing how popular it is?" and he leans in and says, "HUGE SPOILER ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL" that I won't post here so as not to be the same kind of douche nozzle he is. I mean, who does that?! The odds that I would have seen the 2012 Christmas Special as an American are slim to nothing. Of course, it's a Pirate's Life for Me, so I did see it, days ago, but still. WTF?! If I hadn't seen it, I would have been hellaciously upset. What gets into people?!
So as not to end this entry/start the New Year on a sour note, here is a much more encouraging thought from Gandalf the Grey:
"Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay... small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? That's because I am afraid and it gives me courage."
-Gandalf (The Hobbit)
Currently Watching: Fringe: Season 4
I read 51 books this past year. Go me!
I walked/ran 920 documented miles last year. Short of my goal of 1000, but if I would have had my Nike+ shoes and app with me at work and on our trips to the amusement parks, I would have been well over that. Not that it did a thing towards boosting my metabolism or shedding any pounds, but what can you do?
Welcome to 2013! Light knows it has to be better than last year, right? 2012 was one of the more shit years in recent memory, quite frankly. At least in terms of the world at large. Nothing terrible happened in my own small corner of the world, but there was really nothing to write home about either. When I started to really think about it, I was like, "Well... the Olympics were pretty good."
Anyways, I hope everyone on my f-list had a very happy Christmas and are looking forward to what will hopefully be a brighter New Year! I've sent personal e-mails and/or cards to most of you, but to anyone I missed for lack of an address or regular correspondence outside of Social Media, I've been thinking of you too. Here's to all the best. As for me, I got everything I wanted - in that I did indeed get my Playstation 3 - the one and only thing on my shortlist of I Want To Go To There this year - and then some! Seriously, I have the most amazing friends and family. Thanks to people loving me enough to know exactly what I would like to have best - without me telling them in more than one instance - my Wish List on Amazon.com has become pleasantly brief! I got Ponies! And Assassin's Creeds! Two TV series on my Must Watch list! And perhaps my favorite small gift - A Firefly Car Logo. I'll have to take a picture of it because now it really looks like I'm driving a Jeep Firefly rather than a Jeep Liberty. Super cool.
Most surprising - and most touching - was the gift of a Scrapbook of the Western Adventure trip my Mother, Amy and myself took ten years ago this Summer. Mom has been saying for all these years that she was going to put all of our pictures and memorabilia together into a Scrapbook we could all enjoy - otherwise it would just sit and gather dust in various attics forever. It really emphasized for me how very important this journal I've been diligently keeping for the past ten years really is in the grand scheme of our lives. She printed out all of my entries from the trip and included them in the journal. She said I wrote with such humorous detail that it was like being on the road again and it helped her remember so many little things she would have forgotten otherwise. Not to mention it helped her put everything in the right order all these years later! I don't update as often as I should anymore, but I do try because these memories of our trip would mostly be lost if I hadn't recorded them as they were happening and that is precious. She did a beautiful job and now it has a place of honor on our Coffee Table where others can see what an amazing trip we had. And just in time too since we are just a few months away from embarking on our next great adventure - The British Isles. The plane tickets are booked and payed for - by hook or by crook, we are definitely going May 16th - June 3rd. I'm so excited!
Thus far, I lurve my PS3. Honestly, I really had grown quite tired of the shenanigans inherent in the Wii. I've been playing the NintendoDS for several months now and loving it for the simple pleasure of good old fashioned platform gaming without any trickedy tricks or flailing about. Give me some good old fashioned button combos and ass-kicking. The DS is a brilliant little hand held, but the PS3 takes me back to my roots. The first game I'm playing on it is indeed the very first game that made me covet the system years ago - Heavenly Sword. It's a brief game and it's starting to show its age now in terms of load times and the like, but it's absolutely gorgeous and a lot of fun to play. And I get to be a woman! A proper heroine! What I like best so far though? It's not so ludicrously hard that I have to throw the controller across the room in a fit of rage because I've just failed at something for the umpteenth time - without any real improvement. I'm looking at you Okami and Super Mario Galaxy 2. I may fail a challenge here and there, but the next time through I noticeably improve and before long I have it beat with full marks. THAT'S rewarding gaming.
The run up to the Holidays is such a busy time at the store that I always just crash at the end of my days until about... now. Thus, I've missed commenting on some pretty significant films I've seen recently. I don't want to take up a whole lot of space, so I will keep it short:
The Hobbit: God, I'm so happy to be back in Middle Earth with these characters I adore, but... and it pains me to say this as an ardent fan of the original trilogy - this movie could have easily been an hour shorter and would have been a much better film for it. I'm not a fan of the original book and I felt this was a vast improvement over how boring that it - IMHO, of course - but this goes way too far in the other direction. At least one Orc fight should have been cut entirely and I could have sent my Christmas Cards and filed my 2013 tax return in the time it took for those Rock Giants to do whatever it was they were doing. That said, I thought Martin Freeman was born to play John Watson, but it could be that he was actually meant to be the very embodiment of Bilbo Baggins instead. Ian McKellan was, as always, perfection. I loved all the stuff from the appendixes such as the White Council and the Necromancer - all things that tie it neatly to Lord of the Rings in a way that Tolkien always wished he could have done in retrospect. But, I will never be a fan of dwarves and Thorin is no Aragorn Son of Arathorn. I still give it a solid B+ and look forward to parts 2 and 3. Even if the whole story easily could have been told in two.
Les Miserables: If feels like I've been waiting for this movie my entire life. And I nearly have done. I first discovered the Musical when I was in Middle School - no more than 12 years old at the time. I fell in love with it instantly and I've been a mega-fan ever since. I own every recording and DVD, could sing the libretto verbatim (and do the voices) I've seen it live three times, I've read the unabridged novel and consider the whole affair a touchstone in my life. There have been many times that it was a light in the dark. I suppose then that it was inevitable that the movie would be a disappointment. And it was, I'm afraid. It just didn't have the spirit of it's Stage Counterpart and several key roles were severally miscast. Most notably Javert. Russell Crowe could neither sing or act worth a damn in this film. I like Act 2 better than Act 1 and I feel like they just slopped through the Students of the ABC storyline without ever letting their cause ring true - mostly due to slashing the role of Enjolras down to a bit part. It wasn't a bad movie. I just know and love the stage show so well... Indeed, if you were unfamiliar with the stage version, it would probably be wonderful. Anne Hathaway is everything they say she is as Fantine and I had to stifle tears several times during the film. Fun fact - when 60+ people in close quarters are all trying to hide the fact that they are weeping, it makes sort of a muted, soft continuous rustling sound. It's just... I was sure I would want to see it again in theaters. Now, I'll wait till the Blu-Ray is in the Bargain Bin out of sheer loyalty to the franchise. C+
The Dark Knight Rises: Christ, I'm glad I didn't waste my money to see this in theaters. I'm flummoxed to understand the glowing reviews this got. I loved the first two movies in the trilogy, but this was a boring, sloppy, disjointed mess. Seriously disappointing. D- Mostly I was exactly like this:
Finally, why do people have to be so ornery? I was checking someone out at the store tonight, just a regular guy, early 40s with a wife. He nods at my Downton Abbey display and is all, "So, Downton Abbey... do you watch it?" and I'm all, "I do. Isn't it amazing how popular it is?" and he leans in and says, "HUGE SPOILER ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL" that I won't post here so as not to be the same kind of douche nozzle he is. I mean, who does that?! The odds that I would have seen the 2012 Christmas Special as an American are slim to nothing. Of course, it's a Pirate's Life for Me, so I did see it, days ago, but still. WTF?! If I hadn't seen it, I would have been hellaciously upset. What gets into people?!
So as not to end this entry/start the New Year on a sour note, here is a much more encouraging thought from Gandalf the Grey:
"Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay... small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? That's because I am afraid and it gives me courage."
-Gandalf (The Hobbit)