My intention was to see the new Transformers movie yesterday. This did not happen as the theater was ridiculously busy so we went and had cappuchino/Heath Blizzards at Dairy Queen and watched one hell of a rain storm instead. I will let all my loyal readers know which is better when I actually see the movie. Maybe tonight, maybe not.
Peace!
FYI - The blizzards kicked ass. The storm was freaking wicked too. The movie BETTER be good.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
What's in a movie? Depends where you watch it.
As anyone who ever reads this blog knows, this time of year is very busy for me, lots of really good movies pop up and getting to all those movies is sometimes difficult. What this usually leads to is picking and choosing what I'm willing to spend my money on and drive to the theatre to see. It can be a dilemma.
Solution? Well last weekend it was the local drive in. We've seen movies there before and I have always enjoyed the experience. It's relaxed, comfortable, fairly inexpensive, and since our drive in has a digital projector and first run movies, usually a pretty good deal. What was playing you ask? Land of the Lost and Night At the Museum 2.
To start, I was really interested in Land of the Lost. The TV show was a little before my time as a child(barely) but I had caught reruns and always thought it was pretty cool. Also, Will Ferrell is amazing. And Danny McBride is quickly becoming one of my favorites on the comedy movie scene. Other than that, the previews looked funny, and the fear that they only showed the funny parts was actually fairly low. Noting that the drive in was showing it in conjunction with something else that I wanted to see was a bonus. The first Night At the Museum movie was cute, fun, and funny, the previews for the sequel led me to believe I would be in for more of the same.
So, we loaded up the car with our anti-gravity lounge chairs, the small cooler with some technically prohibited substances(alcohol is frowned upon at the Boulevard Drive-In) a fresh pizza and some blankets, and headed out with Kenda's sister and her partner in tow. We arrived and set up a mini-camp with our chairs, some tables, food, beverage, got our speakers set and waited.
Now, there are downsides to the drive in. They don't allow fire in any form, which means no grilling(something that would make the experience just that much better). You are outside so there are bugs. Ones that want to eat you. It can get cold after dark, even if it was 900 degrees when you got there, by the end of the first movie it will be 20 degrees below zero. There is a set of train tracks that run beside the theatre, which leads to trains going by DURING the movie. trains are loud. And drive in speakers are notoriously flaky. Sometimes you get too much sounds, sometimes no sound, sometimes static.
But there are also serious upsides. 2 movies for one price. Having the ability to talk to the person next to you without pissing everyone off. Drinking beer surreptitiously. Eating whatever you brought with you. Lounge chairs! To be honest, these outweigh the others handily.
And the movies? Look, Land of the Lost is not going to win an Oscar, or any sort of award at all really. But it was clever, funny, and entertaining. It was exactly what I hoped it would be and while watching it I was comfortable and happy. Would I feel the same way if I had seen it in the theatre? No. I would if I had rented it, probably. Ditto for Night At the Museum 2. Both fun, happy movies. Excellent drive in movies. But, the meat of review is this, both of those movies as individual viewers at 10 dollars a piece in a building where a bag of popcorn costs 19 dollars and there are occasionally smells you can not identify, where beer is completely verboten and pizza just doesn't happen... well, let's just say I would not have been as pleased.
Now, there are theatres where you CAN get all these things, even a table and a REAL, restaurant style meal, but they tend to charge a premium for these services and I reserve those types of places for very special movies. Watchmen maybe.
As always, see them for yourself, don't take my word for it, I'm just a guy who likes movies, and watching them.
Solution? Well last weekend it was the local drive in. We've seen movies there before and I have always enjoyed the experience. It's relaxed, comfortable, fairly inexpensive, and since our drive in has a digital projector and first run movies, usually a pretty good deal. What was playing you ask? Land of the Lost and Night At the Museum 2.
To start, I was really interested in Land of the Lost. The TV show was a little before my time as a child(barely) but I had caught reruns and always thought it was pretty cool. Also, Will Ferrell is amazing. And Danny McBride is quickly becoming one of my favorites on the comedy movie scene. Other than that, the previews looked funny, and the fear that they only showed the funny parts was actually fairly low. Noting that the drive in was showing it in conjunction with something else that I wanted to see was a bonus. The first Night At the Museum movie was cute, fun, and funny, the previews for the sequel led me to believe I would be in for more of the same.
So, we loaded up the car with our anti-gravity lounge chairs, the small cooler with some technically prohibited substances(alcohol is frowned upon at the Boulevard Drive-In) a fresh pizza and some blankets, and headed out with Kenda's sister and her partner in tow. We arrived and set up a mini-camp with our chairs, some tables, food, beverage, got our speakers set and waited.
Now, there are downsides to the drive in. They don't allow fire in any form, which means no grilling(something that would make the experience just that much better). You are outside so there are bugs. Ones that want to eat you. It can get cold after dark, even if it was 900 degrees when you got there, by the end of the first movie it will be 20 degrees below zero. There is a set of train tracks that run beside the theatre, which leads to trains going by DURING the movie. trains are loud. And drive in speakers are notoriously flaky. Sometimes you get too much sounds, sometimes no sound, sometimes static.
But there are also serious upsides. 2 movies for one price. Having the ability to talk to the person next to you without pissing everyone off. Drinking beer surreptitiously. Eating whatever you brought with you. Lounge chairs! To be honest, these outweigh the others handily.
And the movies? Look, Land of the Lost is not going to win an Oscar, or any sort of award at all really. But it was clever, funny, and entertaining. It was exactly what I hoped it would be and while watching it I was comfortable and happy. Would I feel the same way if I had seen it in the theatre? No. I would if I had rented it, probably. Ditto for Night At the Museum 2. Both fun, happy movies. Excellent drive in movies. But, the meat of review is this, both of those movies as individual viewers at 10 dollars a piece in a building where a bag of popcorn costs 19 dollars and there are occasionally smells you can not identify, where beer is completely verboten and pizza just doesn't happen... well, let's just say I would not have been as pleased.
Now, there are theatres where you CAN get all these things, even a table and a REAL, restaurant style meal, but they tend to charge a premium for these services and I reserve those types of places for very special movies. Watchmen maybe.
As always, see them for yourself, don't take my word for it, I'm just a guy who likes movies, and watching them.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The Greatest Terminator Movie...
Don't let this title fool you. The tag line to that statement is "since Terminator 2". And really, ask yourself this question. How good was T3? Sucky right? Terminator Salvation is a slightly less sucky movie, but really only slightly.
To the crux of the matter... Christian Bale is a wonderful actor, he delivers lines well(when you can understand his Batman growl voice). He emotes well, he portrays anger incredibly effectively. And he has really embraced the idea of playing heavy duty action characters. That said, if they had written him some good dialog this may have been a worthy Bale performance, however, yeah, they DIDN'T.
Anton Yelchin, you magnificent little bastard! I've known since the first moment
I saw this kid in something that he was going to be an amazing actor, and he is. Really a top notch talent, and they casted him so well. He was awesome in Star Trek, he's very good in Salvation, but the same thing applies here as with Bale.
Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright(no spoilers, see the movie for yourself), was excellent as well. I actually cared about his character, mostly, despite the dialog.
As for the other support cast in this film, Moon Bloodgood is very pretty, ditto Bryce Dallas Howard, but being pointless negates being pretty very damn fast in any film and this one is no exception. I couldn't have cared less about either woman's character.
Common was actually really good in his role, but it was very small. and Helena Bonham Carter was her requisite creepy/scary/wonderful.
In short, the casting was pretty good, if only casting counted for more!
The special effects? They were fine. The movie had it's required amounts of bangs and booms and shots fired and people flung and leaping jumping-ness. But it felt really stiff to me, like they knew they had to have those things so they shoved them in.
Really, were it fell apart for me was scripting. They could have told this story as a flash forward in half an episode of Sarah Conner Chronicles and probably done a better job. The "plot" was small, predictable, and peppered with meaningless action sequences that appeared to be cut in to keep the boring plot from putting the audience to sleep.
I understand that the plan exists to produce a director's cut DVD with 40 additional minutes of footage and some other extras, and maybe this will be a much better version of the film, maybe they left too much on the proverbial cutting room floor. Who knows? Do you?
OK, one last thing, in the movies "defense" I DID see it at the drive in. The sound was horrid, but I was comfortable, well fed and really ready to love this film, unfortunately I didn't. So far the summer blockbusters are not keeping up their end of the bargain! Except for you Star Trek, you are amazing. I'm sorry I nodded off during my second viewing of you at the same drive in. but it WAS after 11, and I AM old. And Wolverine? Remember how I said you weren't that good? You were more fun than Salvation. Yes, I just said that.
Hopefully I don't make anyone who was fired up for this film decide not to see it. Go, see the movie, disagree with me, it's fine. Or, save the money, go see Trek again and wait for the DVD release. You're choice!
To the crux of the matter... Christian Bale is a wonderful actor, he delivers lines well(when you can understand his Batman growl voice). He emotes well, he portrays anger incredibly effectively. And he has really embraced the idea of playing heavy duty action characters. That said, if they had written him some good dialog this may have been a worthy Bale performance, however, yeah, they DIDN'T.
Anton Yelchin, you magnificent little bastard! I've known since the first moment
I saw this kid in something that he was going to be an amazing actor, and he is. Really a top notch talent, and they casted him so well. He was awesome in Star Trek, he's very good in Salvation, but the same thing applies here as with Bale.
Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright(no spoilers, see the movie for yourself), was excellent as well. I actually cared about his character, mostly, despite the dialog.
As for the other support cast in this film, Moon Bloodgood is very pretty, ditto Bryce Dallas Howard, but being pointless negates being pretty very damn fast in any film and this one is no exception. I couldn't have cared less about either woman's character.
Common was actually really good in his role, but it was very small. and Helena Bonham Carter was her requisite creepy/scary/wonderful.
In short, the casting was pretty good, if only casting counted for more!
The special effects? They were fine. The movie had it's required amounts of bangs and booms and shots fired and people flung and leaping jumping-ness. But it felt really stiff to me, like they knew they had to have those things so they shoved them in.
Really, were it fell apart for me was scripting. They could have told this story as a flash forward in half an episode of Sarah Conner Chronicles and probably done a better job. The "plot" was small, predictable, and peppered with meaningless action sequences that appeared to be cut in to keep the boring plot from putting the audience to sleep.
I understand that the plan exists to produce a director's cut DVD with 40 additional minutes of footage and some other extras, and maybe this will be a much better version of the film, maybe they left too much on the proverbial cutting room floor. Who knows? Do you?
OK, one last thing, in the movies "defense" I DID see it at the drive in. The sound was horrid, but I was comfortable, well fed and really ready to love this film, unfortunately I didn't. So far the summer blockbusters are not keeping up their end of the bargain! Except for you Star Trek, you are amazing. I'm sorry I nodded off during my second viewing of you at the same drive in. but it WAS after 11, and I AM old. And Wolverine? Remember how I said you weren't that good? You were more fun than Salvation. Yes, I just said that.
Hopefully I don't make anyone who was fired up for this film decide not to see it. Go, see the movie, disagree with me, it's fine. Or, save the money, go see Trek again and wait for the DVD release. You're choice!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
One Hundred more things
I just received and read the last 4 issues of 100 Bullets, one of my favorite comic series of all time.
100 Bullets is a crime noir, mystery, intrigue, spy, global domination organization, convoluted story about the Trust, a shadowy organization that controls the world and their "muscle" for lack of a better word, the Minutemen. I would assume that Vertigo has plans to put together a comprehensive book or group of books, but until that happens you can easily find most graphic novels at you local comic shop or even your local library. Start at the very beginning, because as they say in Austria, it's a very good place to start.
I'm happy and sad at that same time, happy to have been along for the ride so excellently penned by Brian Azarello and sad that the ride is over.
The only advice I can give? Read it.
100 Bullets is a crime noir, mystery, intrigue, spy, global domination organization, convoluted story about the Trust, a shadowy organization that controls the world and their "muscle" for lack of a better word, the Minutemen. I would assume that Vertigo has plans to put together a comprehensive book or group of books, but until that happens you can easily find most graphic novels at you local comic shop or even your local library. Start at the very beginning, because as they say in Austria, it's a very good place to start.
I'm happy and sad at that same time, happy to have been along for the ride so excellently penned by Brian Azarello and sad that the ride is over.
The only advice I can give? Read it.
KHAN!!!!
Oh wait... His name is Nero.
NERO!!!!!
Ok, all jokes aside, I went and saw the new Star Trek movie Thursday night. What can I say about this?
Terminator: Salvation, Transformers 2, G.I. Joe, Angels and Demons, any other summer blockbuster movie: I am putting you all on notice. Bring your A game because Star Trek will kick your ass otherwise.
Trek was damn near perfect. I say this as a casual trekkie, I have always enjoyed the shows, but not to the exclusion of all else, that being said, I think I know enough about the universe in which the movie takes place. There may be some die hard fans who are disappointed, but if so, I'm not sure what they would complain about.
Casting was amazing. Chris Pine possesses most of the swagger that Shatner gave Kirk in the early series and subsequent films. Karl Urban pulled off a dead-pan Bones that was one of the highlights of the movie. Zachary Quinto... I was worried, but dammit he was amazing! Eric Bana was scary and mean and violent. Simon Pegg as Scotty was hillarious comic relief. John Cho as Sulu was a perfect fit. Anton Yelchin as Chekov was inspired. Zoe Saldana as Uhura was great. Little touches in the script were just perfectly executed and so extremely well done.
I don't honestly know how this movie could have been improved other than to have it continue. Having said that I have a warning to JJ Abrams. If you decide to make a sequel to this movie you BETTER do a damn good job. You have achieved perfection, don't F it up!
I won't spoil anything for those of you who have not yet seen this movie. I will say this. If you have the option of seeing Star Trek or any other movie ever made with the possible exceptions of Spider-Man 2 and/or Sin City, see Star Trek. Without a doubt in my mind this one will rule the summer for me.
NERO!!!!!
Ok, all jokes aside, I went and saw the new Star Trek movie Thursday night. What can I say about this?
Terminator: Salvation, Transformers 2, G.I. Joe, Angels and Demons, any other summer blockbuster movie: I am putting you all on notice. Bring your A game because Star Trek will kick your ass otherwise.
Trek was damn near perfect. I say this as a casual trekkie, I have always enjoyed the shows, but not to the exclusion of all else, that being said, I think I know enough about the universe in which the movie takes place. There may be some die hard fans who are disappointed, but if so, I'm not sure what they would complain about.
Casting was amazing. Chris Pine possesses most of the swagger that Shatner gave Kirk in the early series and subsequent films. Karl Urban pulled off a dead-pan Bones that was one of the highlights of the movie. Zachary Quinto... I was worried, but dammit he was amazing! Eric Bana was scary and mean and violent. Simon Pegg as Scotty was hillarious comic relief. John Cho as Sulu was a perfect fit. Anton Yelchin as Chekov was inspired. Zoe Saldana as Uhura was great. Little touches in the script were just perfectly executed and so extremely well done.
I don't honestly know how this movie could have been improved other than to have it continue. Having said that I have a warning to JJ Abrams. If you decide to make a sequel to this movie you BETTER do a damn good job. You have achieved perfection, don't F it up!
I won't spoil anything for those of you who have not yet seen this movie. I will say this. If you have the option of seeing Star Trek or any other movie ever made with the possible exceptions of Spider-Man 2 and/or Sin City, see Star Trek. Without a doubt in my mind this one will rule the summer for me.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wolverines!!!
Yeah. Red Dawn was an awesome movie! But you know what wasn't awesome?
Wolverine Origins.
OK, before everyone gets all freaked out I have a few things to say.
I liked the movie for what it was, which is to say all actiony and slash/stabby with the claws and the growls and stuff. And as far as translating the Wolverine/Sabertooth relationship it did a fair job. But maybe I'm just too much of a comic nerd, or I'm hyper critical, or something. But the writers of this script made choices that I just can't figure out. I know that Wolverine is a convoluted character with piles and piles of used up and dead story lines that make up his back story. That's really the beauty of the character, he's an enigma. Up until the time that Marvel decided to allow the publication of his Origin nothing was known about his past, not even his real name. The Origins book was a work of art. It gave Wolverine a rich and detailed history that explained some of his motivations and personality quirks. Unfortunately the decision was made to not use that story line for the film.
I'm not going to try and not spoil anything but there are a few things that I must say.
1. The blob. Umm. I was really unhappy with the character development here. In the comics, the Blob is a blob from the very beginning.
2. Will.I.Am. Yeah. I'm sure he's a great musician, and he wasn't "horrible" but I didn't like his character and I'm not sure who he was supposed to represent in the comic world. Also, he's a little stiff.
3. Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds is an awesome choice for "The Merc with the Mouth". The translation from comic to film is sometimes difficult, but I think they butchered it here. It was not good.
4. Sabertooth. Actually a bright spot in this movie. Lieb Schriver is awesome. Evil, mean, sadistic, violent. I loved him!
5. Weapon X. In general it's not so poorly done. They changed a few things, which I suppose make sense for the changes they made in the story to begin with, you know, the unnecessary ones that they didn't need to change? Yeah.
6. Gambit. The special effects are awesome. The fight scenes kick ass. Casting was OK. His Cajun accent did not exist, but I overlook that. All in all, not bad.
7. Silverfox. I seem to recall that in the comic there is a lot of ambiguity as to whether her and Wolverine were actually involved or if it was an implanted memory. There is no such ambiguity here. There were a couple of lines from this particular character that were super cheesy and horribly written.
8. "Emma Frost". As near as recall is a mutant telepath first and her diamond skin is a secondary mutation. Damn I hated to see this. They jacked this one up horribly.
9. Cyclops, whoops sorry, Scott Summers. Who apparently now grew up an only child in LA. And was kidnapped. I have to think that they could have achieved what they wanted to achieve without using Scott Summers to do it.
The movie in general was OK. Like I said earlier it's not bad, it's just not right. It's not enough. They rushed it, or shorted it in some way. This could have been awesome. Instead, it was OK.
That's my uneducated in the art of movie making opinion, could I have directed a better movie? No. Could I have portrayed a better Deadpool? No. Could I have adapted a better script? Maybe.
Wolverine Origins.
OK, before everyone gets all freaked out I have a few things to say.
I liked the movie for what it was, which is to say all actiony and slash/stabby with the claws and the growls and stuff. And as far as translating the Wolverine/Sabertooth relationship it did a fair job. But maybe I'm just too much of a comic nerd, or I'm hyper critical, or something. But the writers of this script made choices that I just can't figure out. I know that Wolverine is a convoluted character with piles and piles of used up and dead story lines that make up his back story. That's really the beauty of the character, he's an enigma. Up until the time that Marvel decided to allow the publication of his Origin nothing was known about his past, not even his real name. The Origins book was a work of art. It gave Wolverine a rich and detailed history that explained some of his motivations and personality quirks. Unfortunately the decision was made to not use that story line for the film.
I'm not going to try and not spoil anything but there are a few things that I must say.
1. The blob. Umm. I was really unhappy with the character development here. In the comics, the Blob is a blob from the very beginning.
2. Will.I.Am. Yeah. I'm sure he's a great musician, and he wasn't "horrible" but I didn't like his character and I'm not sure who he was supposed to represent in the comic world. Also, he's a little stiff.
3. Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds is an awesome choice for "The Merc with the Mouth". The translation from comic to film is sometimes difficult, but I think they butchered it here. It was not good.
4. Sabertooth. Actually a bright spot in this movie. Lieb Schriver is awesome. Evil, mean, sadistic, violent. I loved him!
5. Weapon X. In general it's not so poorly done. They changed a few things, which I suppose make sense for the changes they made in the story to begin with, you know, the unnecessary ones that they didn't need to change? Yeah.
6. Gambit. The special effects are awesome. The fight scenes kick ass. Casting was OK. His Cajun accent did not exist, but I overlook that. All in all, not bad.
7. Silverfox. I seem to recall that in the comic there is a lot of ambiguity as to whether her and Wolverine were actually involved or if it was an implanted memory. There is no such ambiguity here. There were a couple of lines from this particular character that were super cheesy and horribly written.
8. "Emma Frost". As near as recall is a mutant telepath first and her diamond skin is a secondary mutation. Damn I hated to see this. They jacked this one up horribly.
9. Cyclops, whoops sorry, Scott Summers. Who apparently now grew up an only child in LA. And was kidnapped. I have to think that they could have achieved what they wanted to achieve without using Scott Summers to do it.
The movie in general was OK. Like I said earlier it's not bad, it's just not right. It's not enough. They rushed it, or shorted it in some way. This could have been awesome. Instead, it was OK.
That's my uneducated in the art of movie making opinion, could I have directed a better movie? No. Could I have portrayed a better Deadpool? No. Could I have adapted a better script? Maybe.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Post, the new!
Like the title? Sounds vaguely french huh? No? Go to hell, it's totally frenchish.
So, what's up? Not a whole lot. That's not true. There is a lot going on, so much that i'm not even sure where to start with it all.
Kenda and I are officially getting married in September. Her birthday is the 19th, mine is the 21st, the logical date is the 20th. This just happens to be a Sunday this year. In deference to having our friends and family be there and still be able to work the following Monday we have settled on the following method.
Our reception will begin at around 9pm Saturday night. We are requesting that in lieu of a gift people bring a side dish(yes, it's a potluck wedding). Meat will be provided, however the format has not yet been decided. The party will progress until midnight, at which time the actual nuptials will take place. This should provide anyone who doesn't want to actually watch the "ceremony" the out to just leave. Ingenious solution no? We get a party with our friends, and get to keep our wedding date the way we want it.
Having said all that, we have 90 bajillion things to do between now and then. Complete remodel of our yard, which is where the reception/wedding will be held. We will be installing pathways of gravel with "floating" wooden platforms along the driveway and to the back yard, planting grass, building a dog run/kennel to keep the dogs off the new plants, plant new plants and trees, build a new shed(this is a maybe at this point because of), build a deck to cover our existing patio, put in a paver patio on the side of the house, etc. etc. So. Yeah. Lot's to do! And yes, I am SURE I am forgetting to include other things(like painting the house), that either escape me at the moment or I have completely forgotten about.
We currently have a good idea where to start, we just need some good weather and for a few things to fall into place.
Like my back! I started acupuncture and chiropractic treatments 2 weeks ago. My alternative was surgery, which I really don't want to resort too since I don't think my problem warrants it. The first treatment was acupuncture only, just needles in my back. I must admit I was skeptical as to what the effect would be, and boy was I surprised! A lot of my pain simply went away over the course of the week, my range of motion increased, I could finally stretch for the first time in months! It was amazing! By the time my second treatment came around I was having some residual tightness in my back and left leg. 8 more needles and a chiropractic adjustment later and I am again feeling better than I was before. Still sore, still stiff. By the end of any given day I am sore, but I need to find out what stretches are more beneficial than others, if there are natural things I can do to reduce muscle cramps, which are just rampant lately, and work on my over all fitness. It's weird to think that I can start doing something to prevent hurting my back again rather than thinking solely about how bad my back hurts. Oh, and since the 1st treatment, I have not taken a single vicodin!
So. Other than those two things, it's been pretty much, work, weekend, work, weekend. Repeat ad naseum.
But hey, life is getting so much better every day I really can't complain. May is going to be fun, what with the debut of 3 movies I really want to see, Wolverine Origins, which I can't ever seem to say correctly and keeps coming out as Wolverine Oranges. And the Star Trek movie! I can not wait! And then there will be Terminator Salvation, which while I'm on the subject, Sarah Conner Chronicles finally redeemed itself for the season. Salvation looks awesome. Transformers? Meh. G.I. Joe... Meh. We'll see. Maybe a good preview will push me in one direction or another.
Better get off, time for lunch!
So, what's up? Not a whole lot. That's not true. There is a lot going on, so much that i'm not even sure where to start with it all.
Kenda and I are officially getting married in September. Her birthday is the 19th, mine is the 21st, the logical date is the 20th. This just happens to be a Sunday this year. In deference to having our friends and family be there and still be able to work the following Monday we have settled on the following method.
Our reception will begin at around 9pm Saturday night. We are requesting that in lieu of a gift people bring a side dish(yes, it's a potluck wedding). Meat will be provided, however the format has not yet been decided. The party will progress until midnight, at which time the actual nuptials will take place. This should provide anyone who doesn't want to actually watch the "ceremony" the out to just leave. Ingenious solution no? We get a party with our friends, and get to keep our wedding date the way we want it.
Having said all that, we have 90 bajillion things to do between now and then. Complete remodel of our yard, which is where the reception/wedding will be held. We will be installing pathways of gravel with "floating" wooden platforms along the driveway and to the back yard, planting grass, building a dog run/kennel to keep the dogs off the new plants, plant new plants and trees, build a new shed(this is a maybe at this point because of), build a deck to cover our existing patio, put in a paver patio on the side of the house, etc. etc. So. Yeah. Lot's to do! And yes, I am SURE I am forgetting to include other things(like painting the house), that either escape me at the moment or I have completely forgotten about.
We currently have a good idea where to start, we just need some good weather and for a few things to fall into place.
Like my back! I started acupuncture and chiropractic treatments 2 weeks ago. My alternative was surgery, which I really don't want to resort too since I don't think my problem warrants it. The first treatment was acupuncture only, just needles in my back. I must admit I was skeptical as to what the effect would be, and boy was I surprised! A lot of my pain simply went away over the course of the week, my range of motion increased, I could finally stretch for the first time in months! It was amazing! By the time my second treatment came around I was having some residual tightness in my back and left leg. 8 more needles and a chiropractic adjustment later and I am again feeling better than I was before. Still sore, still stiff. By the end of any given day I am sore, but I need to find out what stretches are more beneficial than others, if there are natural things I can do to reduce muscle cramps, which are just rampant lately, and work on my over all fitness. It's weird to think that I can start doing something to prevent hurting my back again rather than thinking solely about how bad my back hurts. Oh, and since the 1st treatment, I have not taken a single vicodin!
So. Other than those two things, it's been pretty much, work, weekend, work, weekend. Repeat ad naseum.
But hey, life is getting so much better every day I really can't complain. May is going to be fun, what with the debut of 3 movies I really want to see, Wolverine Origins, which I can't ever seem to say correctly and keeps coming out as Wolverine Oranges. And the Star Trek movie! I can not wait! And then there will be Terminator Salvation, which while I'm on the subject, Sarah Conner Chronicles finally redeemed itself for the season. Salvation looks awesome. Transformers? Meh. G.I. Joe... Meh. We'll see. Maybe a good preview will push me in one direction or another.
Better get off, time for lunch!
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