Monday, May 29, 2006
Riddle Me This...
How is it that I can lay out in the sun for 45 minutes and barely get any color - just a touch of red that fades in a day - but I wash my car in the very same yard - only out for about 20 minutes - and my back is burnt and hurting? Bizarre, I say.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
DaVinci Code Broken
Very rarely will I go see a movie for full price. It's just...WRONG! Both financially and morally, it gives me pause to pay someone my hard-earned money for the privilege of sitting in THEIR seats to watch a movie. However, I do recognize that there are quite a few movies where part of the film is the experience of seeing it in the surround sound, coming at you off the screen, or where I feel it would enhance the movie to see it in a darkened theater to set the ambiance by forcing me to take two hours out of my busy life to focus on something.
The DaVinci Code was one of my rare exceptions. I read the book a few years back and loved it. I've been waiting on the movie to come out sice before the casting was complete, and I knew I would go see it as soon as I could. Opening weekend, I was dancing my tootsies off, getting some great lindyleads and awesome blues moments in there, but no moments for moviegoing. So last night, I decided to mix up my hockey karma and go see a movie instead of going to a sports bar.
In short, I can sum it up in three words - too damn long! - but it was well done and I feel like it deserves a little more explanation. The DaVinci Code has been an anomaly in my opinion: a work of fiction that makes you think that still manages to grab the attention of a nation where thought is too often discarded. A novel that truly is novel. A book embraced by the faithful and the secular alike, for different reasons but to the same end. The creation of a shared culture in a time when culture is splintering into microcosms.
It proved to be an anomaly on the big screen as well. Most of the time, the book is better than the movie because the adaptation leaves out what the reader would find to be key points or gets details wrong, or excises entire chunks of story in order to stay within the time allotted by Hollywood. The DaVinci Code is better as a book for all the opposite reasons. It stays very true to the story line. In fact, nothing is cut out because so much is necessary for that story to make sense and have the impact. That makes the movie drag at times. It's quite thought provoking...but at times plods along. I applaud the visuals in the movie - a nice bit of foreshadowing in technique with the power point presentation behind Langdon at the very beginning. Ron Howard did well illustrating memory and history and keeping you in the moment at the same time. However, it just didn't translate as well onto the big screen. I didn't feel the urgency of the chase that was there in the book. I've often called Dan Brown an author for the MTV Generation - writing appealing pieces that also cater to the shorter attention spans of today's multitaskers. Believe it or not, I felt it slowed down on the big screen.
Final opinion: Glad I saw it, not likely to buy the DVD, VERY glad we won or I'd be upset I wasted the time and money and didn't get out of the theater until 1 am!
What did you think?
The DaVinci Code was one of my rare exceptions. I read the book a few years back and loved it. I've been waiting on the movie to come out sice before the casting was complete, and I knew I would go see it as soon as I could. Opening weekend, I was dancing my tootsies off, getting some great lindyleads and awesome blues moments in there, but no moments for moviegoing. So last night, I decided to mix up my hockey karma and go see a movie instead of going to a sports bar.
In short, I can sum it up in three words - too damn long! - but it was well done and I feel like it deserves a little more explanation. The DaVinci Code has been an anomaly in my opinion: a work of fiction that makes you think that still manages to grab the attention of a nation where thought is too often discarded. A novel that truly is novel. A book embraced by the faithful and the secular alike, for different reasons but to the same end. The creation of a shared culture in a time when culture is splintering into microcosms.
It proved to be an anomaly on the big screen as well. Most of the time, the book is better than the movie because the adaptation leaves out what the reader would find to be key points or gets details wrong, or excises entire chunks of story in order to stay within the time allotted by Hollywood. The DaVinci Code is better as a book for all the opposite reasons. It stays very true to the story line. In fact, nothing is cut out because so much is necessary for that story to make sense and have the impact. That makes the movie drag at times. It's quite thought provoking...but at times plods along. I applaud the visuals in the movie - a nice bit of foreshadowing in technique with the power point presentation behind Langdon at the very beginning. Ron Howard did well illustrating memory and history and keeping you in the moment at the same time. However, it just didn't translate as well onto the big screen. I didn't feel the urgency of the chase that was there in the book. I've often called Dan Brown an author for the MTV Generation - writing appealing pieces that also cater to the shorter attention spans of today's multitaskers. Believe it or not, I felt it slowed down on the big screen.
Final opinion: Glad I saw it, not likely to buy the DVD, VERY glad we won or I'd be upset I wasted the time and money and didn't get out of the theater until 1 am!
What did you think?
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Pure Exhaustion
I have spent the last three months helping organize a dance event. Four days and nights and overnights of activities (mostly physical in nature), housing for all the guests, setup, tear down, the works. It was a small weekend as far as these things go, which is good, because the committee was TINY in comparison to some of the other events.
The event was this weekend, and I am STILL exhausted. As I told my boss yesterday, I think I got 12 hours of sleep TOTAL from Thursday night until I went to bed Monday. I'm still recovering. And tonight there are more playoff games to watch. I missed last night's cause I hit the hay so early.
Brain, tired. Body, exhausted. A good weekend of kicking up my heels? Priceless :)
The event was this weekend, and I am STILL exhausted. As I told my boss yesterday, I think I got 12 hours of sleep TOTAL from Thursday night until I went to bed Monday. I'm still recovering. And tonight there are more playoff games to watch. I missed last night's cause I hit the hay so early.
Brain, tired. Body, exhausted. A good weekend of kicking up my heels? Priceless :)
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Ping me
A nifty little exercise that I found on Wordnerd's blog invites folks to take an assigned letter and list ten things about themselves that begin with that letter and why they are significant. She assigned me the letter "P"...so here goes, in no particular order, thought pattern, or importance:
Packed: The best word to describe my schedule of late!
Prioritize: Something I have to do to get through the day...and let me say, I lament the things that fall to the bottom of the list!
Pet Lover: Okay, it's two words, but the first starts with a P! I'm a fan of nearly anything with four legs and fur, and right now my life is all the emptier without an animal in it at all.
Pierced: No, this isn't as exotic as it sounds. The only additional holes in my body are in my ears, but I'm an avid earring collector! I *love* earrings, and they don't have to be expensive or flashy, just unique. I even have my "International collection" - it includes earrings from Japan, China, England, France, Mexico, Canada, and (my favorites) Namibia!
Piqued: As in, my curiousity. It doesn't take much for me to become intrigued and want to dig up more on some tidbit I hear or read.
Press: I'm both an avid consumer and creator of media!
Picky: I prefer discriminating, but I didn't get "D". I know what I want and I go after it, and when I don't know what I want, at least I know what I don't want and won't accept that either. But at least I know it and try not to be a pain about it.
Perfectionist: I am my own worst critic. 'Nuff said.
Papasan: My favorite place to curl up with a book or some crocheting on a rainy day like this...
and
Photographer: I'm far from professional, but I love to click away with my little Olympus digital. I've even framed a few and hung them on my walls...not bad for a picky perfectionist, eh? I've had a camera ever since I can remember, and when I was a kid, I truly think two of my parents' largest expenses on me (aside from the standards) were books and developing film!
So there ya go - ten "P" words that give you a slice of who I am.
Edited to add: "P" is also for Playoffs. We survive to play another day. Well fought, Flash. I do tip my hat to you for a helluva series!
Packed: The best word to describe my schedule of late!
Prioritize: Something I have to do to get through the day...and let me say, I lament the things that fall to the bottom of the list!
Pet Lover: Okay, it's two words, but the first starts with a P! I'm a fan of nearly anything with four legs and fur, and right now my life is all the emptier without an animal in it at all.
Pierced: No, this isn't as exotic as it sounds. The only additional holes in my body are in my ears, but I'm an avid earring collector! I *love* earrings, and they don't have to be expensive or flashy, just unique. I even have my "International collection" - it includes earrings from Japan, China, England, France, Mexico, Canada, and (my favorites) Namibia!
Piqued: As in, my curiousity. It doesn't take much for me to become intrigued and want to dig up more on some tidbit I hear or read.
Press: I'm both an avid consumer and creator of media!
Picky: I prefer discriminating, but I didn't get "D". I know what I want and I go after it, and when I don't know what I want, at least I know what I don't want and won't accept that either. But at least I know it and try not to be a pain about it.
Perfectionist: I am my own worst critic. 'Nuff said.
Papasan: My favorite place to curl up with a book or some crocheting on a rainy day like this...
and
Photographer: I'm far from professional, but I love to click away with my little Olympus digital. I've even framed a few and hung them on my walls...not bad for a picky perfectionist, eh? I've had a camera ever since I can remember, and when I was a kid, I truly think two of my parents' largest expenses on me (aside from the standards) were books and developing film!
So there ya go - ten "P" words that give you a slice of who I am.
Edited to add: "P" is also for Playoffs. We survive to play another day. Well fought, Flash. I do tip my hat to you for a helluva series!
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