*Bust A Groove
So I went to see Transformers 2 today with my friend Joshua. I'd already seen the movie with my brother on opening night, but I wanted to get the full IMAX experience. And it was pretty freakin awesome!
I love this movie and I'll tell you why. I'm a sucker for special effects, so this is definitely my kind of movie right off the bat. And although I'm not the biggest fan of Megan Fox or the glaringly obvious sex appeal they push with her, Shia LeBeouf as her counterpart is a combination I just can't turn down. Not only is he nearly perfect eyecandy with his deep green eyes and metro style offset with a casual accent--like he'd wear a three-piece suit with a pair of Chuck Taylors--but he's funny and has the right amount of ruggedness to be a super sexy action hero (he does his own stunts). What's not to love?
With that in mind, I set out to watch the second installment of robot aliens fighting both for and against human life on Planet Dirt...I was not disappointed. The special effects delivered were just as impressive, if not more so, than the first movie. The transformations between robot and car were so involved, I'm in awe of the CGI crew. The script was fast-paced and quick-witted...well at least among the humans. There were even some emotional scenes to tug on the heart strings.
All around, I give this movie a one and a half thumbs up. The only drawback was that there was a little too much reliance on language to support the badass mentality and appearance. There was a little too much reliance on references to balls for the humor. And I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes during Megan Fox's intro scene where they pan over to reveal her sprawled over a motorcycle in microscopic cutoff jean shorts.
Side note: I do have much more respect for our leading lady after seeing a recent episode of Jimmy Kimmell Live where she announced that Michael Bay, the director, now holds two world records because of this movie. One for the biggest explosion on set ever. And the other for the biggest explosion on set ever with the actors present. Jimmy asked her if her life was ever in danger and she responded by saying (and I'm paraphrasing here) that they told her and Shia, "We cannot ensure your safety. Just run and don't fall down." She's a real, live badass people!
As far as my IMAX experience, when they were using the full screen (which was only when the whole shot was CG) it was amazing. Joshua and I were the first ones in line--we arrived an hour early--so we got the best seats. Center back row, in case you were wondering. The picture encompassed most of my field of vision, drawing me into a whole other world. Even though it wasn't in IMAX 3D, some of the scenes seemed more three-dimensional simply because of the sheer size. It felt like the action was more real and that I was more a part of it. Again, though, there was a slight drawback in that not all of the shots used the whole screen, so sometimes it would switch back and forth between a widescreen version and a whole screen version. Even within the same scene. Once I noticed, it became a little distracting.
All in all, I without a doubt recommend both the movie and the IMAX version. Go drool over Shia--or Megan, whichever you prefer--and be amazed as they fight alongside Optimus and his army of Autobots against the Decepticons for the sake of the planet and the survival of the human race.
"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing." -Optimus Prime
"I just had a full-blown mental meltdown in the middle of my class!" -Sam Witwicky
"What you are about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother." -Agent Simmons
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sailing Takes Me Away
*Christopher Cross
So I learned how to sail about two months ago. Nothing fancy; just a Sunfish. The smallest sailboat there is. My sister and I saw an ad for lessons on one of the days I was forcing her to take the 3-mile trek around Lake Johnson. This was before I realized that I had somehow lost my jacket (including my cell phone that was in the pocket) somewhere along the trail and had to do the loop all over again only to find that someone had turned it in to the office not 50 feet from where I had first discovered my misfortune.
Anyway, Laurie and I signed up for these sailing lessons through Raleigh Parks and Rec. It was pretty much a private lesson, seeing as how there were only four people in the class. We learned how to tie knots and come about from a 70-something firecracker named Margaret, who taught us weeks of information in two 3-hour classes and threatened to spank us if we got it wrong. She was awesome!
Unfortunately, our lessons were cut short both days by opposing weather issues. The first day there was a storm coming. We had the boats out for maybe 10 minutes maneuvering through gust of wind and instant direction changes. Three days later (during our second class) there was no wind at all. We had to paddle back to the shore. But one day's trash is another day's treasure. Margaret said we could come another day when the weather was right and use them for free. "Don't tell them I said an hour," she said. "You might want to be out there all afternoon."
So life happens and yesterday, my birthday, we decided to use our free-day-cuz-Margaret-said. We filled out the necessary paperwork, left an ID and the deposit, and figured we were on our way. Arriving on the "beach", which is just a plot of sand on the edge of the man-made lake, we discovered the full extent of the knowledge that had escaped us since our brief lessons nearly two months ago. Of course there was an employee supervising to ensure our safety, but I think he was getting a kick out of how incompetent we were.
We fumbled through raising the sail and pushing it off shore into the water, climbing in and trying to catch some wind. Mr. Lake Johnson just stood there watching. Offering no help. Because we didn't ask, or because we were entertaining him, I don't know. We'll just give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was letting us do it ourselves for the sake of our pride. After several attempts to paddle out, catch wind and steer, I realized that I hadn't put the rudder down, and that the dagger board was scraping the sand. I got out, fixed the issues, and for good measure, pushed the boat out into deeper waters.
At this point, you're probably thinking: After all that work, Stace, surely you had an amusing time on the high seas. Amusing, yes. Productive, no. Much like our second day of lessons, there was barely any wind. It would pick up and take us skirting across the lake, clicking as we broke through the tiny ripples on the surface, and then suddenly not exist. The wind literally taken from our sail, leaving the sheet too loose and the boom (the horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail) swinging from side to side. On a larger boat, the boom swinging wouldn't be as hazardous as it was on the Sunfish. This boat is about 3 1/2 feet wide. We were ducking for our lives.
An hour and a half, peppered with moments of speed where I declared for the passengers of a peddle boat halfway across "We're sailors!", brought us to the most exciting event of the excursion. We had determined to head for shore and pick up lunch, as it was hot dog day at Snoopy's around the corner from my house. With the wind dead, Laurie was paddling like a maniac while I steered us toward the beach. Out. of. nowhere! this gust of wind fills the sail. Because I wasn't expecting it, I was holding the sheet too close, causing this gust to give a LOT of power. So much so that we nearly capsized. When I say nearly, I don't mean that we tipped a little and righted ourselves with ease. I mean Laurie's toukas was in the water and we were both leaning as hard as we could to the Starboard side for several seconds. My confidence was momentarily shot, a string of not-so-sweet words pouring out before we landed back flat.
"Your seat is going to be wet on the ride home," she said. "Feel my pants." They were soaked from riding the waves. It was a really close call...ok the truth is, I'm being a little dramatic. But I think it's well deserved considering Laurie was still suffering from an ear infection she got last week and the water at Lake Johnson is so murky, you can't even see two inches deep.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, we made it back to shore, waded through the various forms of debris floating in the shallows, and docked the boat. The good news is that we let the sail down more efficiently than we had put it up. All in all, I enjoyed my day on the boat and am considering myself ready to take passengers...one at a time of course. Any takers?
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." -The Wind in the Willows
So I learned how to sail about two months ago. Nothing fancy; just a Sunfish. The smallest sailboat there is. My sister and I saw an ad for lessons on one of the days I was forcing her to take the 3-mile trek around Lake Johnson. This was before I realized that I had somehow lost my jacket (including my cell phone that was in the pocket) somewhere along the trail and had to do the loop all over again only to find that someone had turned it in to the office not 50 feet from where I had first discovered my misfortune.
Anyway, Laurie and I signed up for these sailing lessons through Raleigh Parks and Rec. It was pretty much a private lesson, seeing as how there were only four people in the class. We learned how to tie knots and come about from a 70-something firecracker named Margaret, who taught us weeks of information in two 3-hour classes and threatened to spank us if we got it wrong. She was awesome!Unfortunately, our lessons were cut short both days by opposing weather issues. The first day there was a storm coming. We had the boats out for maybe 10 minutes maneuvering through gust of wind and instant direction changes. Three days later (during our second class) there was no wind at all. We had to paddle back to the shore. But one day's trash is another day's treasure. Margaret said we could come another day when the weather was right and use them for free. "Don't tell them I said an hour," she said. "You might want to be out there all afternoon."
So life happens and yesterday, my birthday, we decided to use our free-day-cuz-Margaret-said. We filled out the necessary paperwork, left an ID and the deposit, and figured we were on our way. Arriving on the "beach", which is just a plot of sand on the edge of the man-made lake, we discovered the full extent of the knowledge that had escaped us since our brief lessons nearly two months ago. Of course there was an employee supervising to ensure our safety, but I think he was getting a kick out of how incompetent we were.
We fumbled through raising the sail and pushing it off shore into the water, climbing in and trying to catch some wind. Mr. Lake Johnson just stood there watching. Offering no help. Because we didn't ask, or because we were entertaining him, I don't know. We'll just give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was letting us do it ourselves for the sake of our pride. After several attempts to paddle out, catch wind and steer, I realized that I hadn't put the rudder down, and that the dagger board was scraping the sand. I got out, fixed the issues, and for good measure, pushed the boat out into deeper waters.
At this point, you're probably thinking: After all that work, Stace, surely you had an amusing time on the high seas. Amusing, yes. Productive, no. Much like our second day of lessons, there was barely any wind. It would pick up and take us skirting across the lake, clicking as we broke through the tiny ripples on the surface, and then suddenly not exist. The wind literally taken from our sail, leaving the sheet too loose and the boom (the horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail) swinging from side to side. On a larger boat, the boom swinging wouldn't be as hazardous as it was on the Sunfish. This boat is about 3 1/2 feet wide. We were ducking for our lives.
An hour and a half, peppered with moments of speed where I declared for the passengers of a peddle boat halfway across "We're sailors!", brought us to the most exciting event of the excursion. We had determined to head for shore and pick up lunch, as it was hot dog day at Snoopy's around the corner from my house. With the wind dead, Laurie was paddling like a maniac while I steered us toward the beach. Out. of. nowhere! this gust of wind fills the sail. Because I wasn't expecting it, I was holding the sheet too close, causing this gust to give a LOT of power. So much so that we nearly capsized. When I say nearly, I don't mean that we tipped a little and righted ourselves with ease. I mean Laurie's toukas was in the water and we were both leaning as hard as we could to the Starboard side for several seconds. My confidence was momentarily shot, a string of not-so-sweet words pouring out before we landed back flat.
"Your seat is going to be wet on the ride home," she said. "Feel my pants." They were soaked from riding the waves. It was a really close call...ok the truth is, I'm being a little dramatic. But I think it's well deserved considering Laurie was still suffering from an ear infection she got last week and the water at Lake Johnson is so murky, you can't even see two inches deep.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, we made it back to shore, waded through the various forms of debris floating in the shallows, and docked the boat. The good news is that we let the sail down more efficiently than we had put it up. All in all, I enjoyed my day on the boat and am considering myself ready to take passengers...one at a time of course. Any takers?
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." -The Wind in the Willows
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Take Me On a Trip I'd Like to Go Someday: Key West
*Estelle
So I'm in Key West. This morning I flew into Ft. Lauderdale from Raleigh. Why, you ask, would you fly into an airport on the mainland when your destination is the southernmost Key? Well my flight was only $169 on JetBlue, that's why. Plus, it's only supposed to be a 3 1/2 hour drive. And I wasn't supposed to be alone so the added expense of a rental car wasn't supposed to counteract the cheap ticket.
However, for reasons I'll leave unmentioned here, I found myself renting the car and making the trek singlehandedly. "Don't worry," my dad said. "Driving through the Keys is one of the best parts." Slightly bummed that I would have no one to talk to, but confident in my dad's traveling expertise, I faced the journey with excitement.
Renting the car was a daunting task. I've never done it, much less on my own. But I made it without looking too incompetent. Although, I got suckered into buying the insurance, which made my expenses the same as a ticket straight into the airplane hanger that Key West calls an international airport. All in all, though, I'm glad I have it. Who knows what could happen on this trip among these crazy Keys drivers? And speaking of...NEWS FLASH TO MY DAD: driving through the Keys was an excruciating experience for me. Not only did I take US1 the whole way instead of the Florida Turnpike (adding what my friend's boyfriend estimates to be an hour and a half to my ride), but everyone in the Keys prefers to drive 10mph under the speed limit. W-T-F?
If there's one thing I have no patience for, it's other--particularly slow--drivers. (If there's 3 things I have no patience for, I have to add computers and children.) The road rage exuding from me for the 5 1/2 hours of solitary confinement was so strong it left me exhausted. I could be found at varying intervals with both hands tightly gripping the steering wheel shaking back and forth in a motion resembling an attempt to remove it from my dash. Not my finest moments.
Although it did little to calm my nerves on the drive, once I arrived at my destination, the view raptured my attention. How is it possible for a place to be so beautiful? The water so clear and blue. I can actually see through it to the bottom! That's something you'll never find in North Carolina.
Anyway, I arrived around 8. Just in time to get a much needed drink at a bar on the water for sunset and play catch up with my long lost college roommate. Later we went to her job and had fish sandwiches. I cannot tell you how much I miss fresh seafood living in the piedmont. Of course it was delish, and my mouth is watering again just thinking about it.
I came back to Shannon's awesome house (tiled floors, granite countertops, outdoor kitchen, and pool with waterfalls) in lieu of closing down the bars (at 4am!), blaming my day of traveling as the culprit of my fatigue. In truth, I'm neither a night owl nor a party animal; a fact Shannon already knows, and her friends will come to learn in my stay here. So I'm off to bed for some much needed sleep. Tomorrow is tourist day!
"If you're lucky enough to be on the island, you're lucky enough." -unknown
So I'm in Key West. This morning I flew into Ft. Lauderdale from Raleigh. Why, you ask, would you fly into an airport on the mainland when your destination is the southernmost Key? Well my flight was only $169 on JetBlue, that's why. Plus, it's only supposed to be a 3 1/2 hour drive. And I wasn't supposed to be alone so the added expense of a rental car wasn't supposed to counteract the cheap ticket.
However, for reasons I'll leave unmentioned here, I found myself renting the car and making the trek singlehandedly. "Don't worry," my dad said. "Driving through the Keys is one of the best parts." Slightly bummed that I would have no one to talk to, but confident in my dad's traveling expertise, I faced the journey with excitement.
Renting the car was a daunting task. I've never done it, much less on my own. But I made it without looking too incompetent. Although, I got suckered into buying the insurance, which made my expenses the same as a ticket straight into the airplane hanger that Key West calls an international airport. All in all, though, I'm glad I have it. Who knows what could happen on this trip among these crazy Keys drivers? And speaking of...NEWS FLASH TO MY DAD: driving through the Keys was an excruciating experience for me. Not only did I take US1 the whole way instead of the Florida Turnpike (adding what my friend's boyfriend estimates to be an hour and a half to my ride), but everyone in the Keys prefers to drive 10mph under the speed limit. W-T-F?
If there's one thing I have no patience for, it's other--particularly slow--drivers. (If there's 3 things I have no patience for, I have to add computers and children.) The road rage exuding from me for the 5 1/2 hours of solitary confinement was so strong it left me exhausted. I could be found at varying intervals with both hands tightly gripping the steering wheel shaking back and forth in a motion resembling an attempt to remove it from my dash. Not my finest moments.
Although it did little to calm my nerves on the drive, once I arrived at my destination, the view raptured my attention. How is it possible for a place to be so beautiful? The water so clear and blue. I can actually see through it to the bottom! That's something you'll never find in North Carolina.
Anyway, I arrived around 8. Just in time to get a much needed drink at a bar on the water for sunset and play catch up with my long lost college roommate. Later we went to her job and had fish sandwiches. I cannot tell you how much I miss fresh seafood living in the piedmont. Of course it was delish, and my mouth is watering again just thinking about it.
I came back to Shannon's awesome house (tiled floors, granite countertops, outdoor kitchen, and pool with waterfalls) in lieu of closing down the bars (at 4am!), blaming my day of traveling as the culprit of my fatigue. In truth, I'm neither a night owl nor a party animal; a fact Shannon already knows, and her friends will come to learn in my stay here. So I'm off to bed for some much needed sleep. Tomorrow is tourist day!
"If you're lucky enough to be on the island, you're lucky enough." -unknown
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