The rest of the pictures from Becca and I’s trip to the Sculpture Garden.
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Hard to believe that when I was in Minneapolis this Saturday, all of those flowers would have been long gone and covered in snow.
Minnesota Vacation Pics Volume 2
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Minnesota Vacation Pics Volume 1
Here are a few pictures from trip to the Twin Cities a few weeks ago. These are almost all from a trip to the Sculpture Garden with Becca.
More pictures to come…
RWPE #45 – Diagonal Rule
This week there is a submission from somebody I have never met. I think that is an exciting development. Here are the submissions for DIAGONAL RULE:
Mike Vest of Waxen Media
Shannon Bardole of Little White Lye Soap
Christopher D. Bennett
Julie Johnson of The Joy Is In The Journey
Karen Bittner
I stuck a quarter in the Random Theme Generator and pulled the handle. Before it gave me a theme for this week, it reminded me that there are only 7 themes left. As I was ruminating on this, the Random Theme Generator spit out the theme for this week:
Spiritual
Vest and I have decided to continue on with this project for another year. I put a call out for people to submit ideas for themes for next year. Nothing was submitted. Here is you last chance.
Vest and I are meeting soon (like today) to finalize the list of themes for next year. If you have a theme you want to see on next year’s list, you can leave it in the comments section of this journal entry and it will be considered for inclusion. But you are almost out of time.
Movie Review: Megamind
Movie – Megamind
Director: Tom McGrath (Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa)
Screenwriter: Alan Schoolcraft & Brent Simon; Both their first film as a writer.
Starring: Will Ferrell (Anchorman, Stepbrothers, Talladega Nights), Brad Pitt (Se7en, Fight Club, Babel), Tina Fey (Mean Girls, Date Night, 30 Rock), David Cross (Mr. Show, Run Ronnie Run, Arrested Development) and Jonah Hill (Super Bad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek)
Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa
Companion – Nader Parsaei
Food – Chinese Homestyle Cooking
Intellectual Honesty
I love David Cross. He and Daniel Tosh are kind of 1A and 1B for my favorite comedian. I would watch David Cross do about anything. That includes be in Scary Movie 2. Mr. Show is still the greatest show ever. Arrested Development is one of the Top 10 shows of all-time as well. I also love Tina Fey. Not enough to watch 30 Rock, but I think that is because I’m sick of people telling me I should watch it. Also, I can’t stand Alec Baldwin. However, if David Cross was in it, that would surely trump my hatred of Alec Baldwin and I would start watching.
Baggage
I don’t particularly enjoy Will Ferrell in starring roles. Anchorman is entertaining. I enjoy Elf. But Talladega Nights is simply wretched, despite the fact that Amy Adams is in it. You all know how I feel about Amy Adams. I would rather watch anything with Will Ferrell than watch Jonah Hill. I can’t figure out why he still gets work.
Synopsis from IMDB
After super-villain Megamind (Ferrell) kills his good-guy nemesis, Metro Man (Pitt), he becomes bored since there is no one left to fight. He creates a new foe, Titan (Hill), who, instead of using his powers for good, sets out to destroy the world, positioning Megamind to save the day for the first time in his life.
Review
Will Ferrell is actually fairly decent in this film. Tina Fey is great. David Cross is brilliant, of course. Brad Pitt is barely in it, but is great. Jonah Hill sucks it up beyond belief. That is particularly hard to believe considering this is an animated film.
I don’t know if there is particularly much to say about this film. It is decently written. The animation is good, but probably not all that special. Especially compared to the work Pixar does. The characters are likable. The ending is satisfying.
The best part of the movie is Megamind’s interactions with Minion. I also enjoyed the references to Superman. I’m not a comic book guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoyed the references to the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie.
In essence this is an enjoyable kids movie that has enough going on to entertain adults as well. I enjoyed the movie, but I will have forgotten it exists in about 3 years.
Rating
3.0/5 Caramels
Buy on DVD
Not likely. But I would definitely watch it again.
2010 Ranking
3rd Best Animated Film I’ve seen this year. How to Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 are both much better.
Bonus Information
I had to endure an ad for some Glenn Beck thing before the movie started. I remember when that guy wasn’t a complete psycho doucher. That feels so long ago. Some people think I’m liberal because I believe decent Health Care is a right and not a privilege. Other people believe that I am conservative because I hate poor people. (The 2nd part is a riff on a Daniel Tosh joke.) The truth is that I’m not an ideologue at all. I favor common sense and solving problems. Neither political dogma has a monopoly on the right answers. I don’t hate Glenn Beck because he is conservative. I hate Glenn Beck because he never tells the truth. You are entitled to your opinion, but you aren’t entitled to your own facts. The point is, seeing him on the movie screen made my movie experience at least 15% less enjoyable.
Up Next
Conviction, Unstoppable, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Morning Glory. I would still like to go see Waiting for Superman and Fair Game while they are still in Des Moines. 127 Hours comes to Des Moines next week as well. I will DEFINITELY be making a trip to Des Moines to see 127 Hours! Good thing I have lots of free time Thanksgiving week.
Personal Photo Project of the Week #42
IMAGE LOST
7 of 6
When it comes to framing and matting pictures I am a horrible procrastinator. So when Jill invited me to Evie’s final baby shower so that “Derrick and Rob would have somebody to talk to”, it provided me with a deadline.
I needed that deadline because although I had planned this project since shortly after Derrick told me that Jen was pregnant by telling me that they were canceling our trip to Kansas City to see the Cyclones play the Wildcats and I found this window sitting in my basement just begging to be used for such a project, I sometimes sit on things.
After all, I needed a gift for the baby shower. Otherwise, what would justify my eating of all the delicious free food? My natural charisma only takes me so far.
I got Teresa to cut the pictures since she has a steady hand and let’s face it, attention-to-detail isn’t exactly in my toolbox. Even though I’ve tried to purchase it at the local Sears on more than one occasion.
The baby shower was on a Sunday. We put it together on a Friday night. I snapped this picture and emailed it to Jill on the Saturday morning before I left to start the tailgating adventure before the final Iowa State-Nebraska game.
Since I didn’t get home from that game until after midnight and I woke up early for Church the next day and left for the baby shower shortly after I got out of my Methodist Men Board Meeting, what you see above is the only picture I have of the culmination of what was an 8 month project from beginning to end.
Probably the longest photo project of my career.
Slice of Life Vol. 23
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Some Vacation Pictures
Here are some pictures from my vacation. In particular, they day I spent with Mom.
More pictures to come…
Movie Review: RED
Movie – RED
Director: Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Flightplan)
Screenwriters: Jon Hoeber (Whiteout) and Erich Hoeber (Whiteout)
Starring: Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense, Die Hard, Pulp Fiction), Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds, The West Wing, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons, Being John Malcovich, Secretariat), Helen Mirren (The Queen, Excalibur, Calendar Girls) and Morgan Freeman (Glory, Driving Miss Daisy, Seven)
Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa
Companion – Nader Parsaei
Food – Mongolian Buffet
Intellectual Honesty
I love Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren. They are great in everything they are in and make everything they are in better. I don’t necessarily love Mary-Louise Parker, but since the show Weeds has been thrust upon me several times by several different people, I genuinely like her as well. I also favor Bruce Willis, but recognize that he has made just as many bad movies as good movies.
Baggage
As a general rule I don’t like comic book movies. I’m sure some comic book guy living in his parent’s basement is uttering the term “graphic novel” right now. Government conspiracy movies often do very little for me as well.
Synopsis from IMDB
Based on the cult D.C. Comics graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, RED is an action-comedy starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren.
Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) used to be the CIAs top agents but the secrets they know just made them the Agencys top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.
Review
I have numerous complaints about this movie. It is hard to pick out my top complaint, but it might be the fact that the trailer reveals all the funny lines and all of the best action sequences. There are no good surprises in the movie. There needs to be a technical name for a movie where all of the good parts are in the trailer. Until I figure out if there is a name for it, I’m going to call it Trailer Revelation Disease. This movie suffers from TRD.
There are positives to the movie. The main characters are genuinely likable. The movie is well acted. There are some decent action sequences. There is definitely chemistry amongst the actors. That is kind of where it ends.
The main problem with RED is that it is poorly written.
There is sequence after sequence that doesn’t seem to make sense. Or dialogue that makes you scratch your head.
For example, Richard Dreyfuss shows up as the bad guy. He gives a long speech about how he is the bad guy.
Another frustrating aspect is that Morgan Freeman is supposed to be 80 years old and suffering from Stage 4 Liver Cancer. Morgan Freeman does not look anything like somebody that is suffering from cancer. Let alone Stage 4.
The film dwells on setting up things, but doesn’t give you much of a payoff for what you are expecting. For example, John Malkovich’s character makes a big deal about carrying around a stuffed pig, but when he actually opens up the pig to reveal what is inside of it isn’t anything special and it is barely used.
Another failing of the movie is with the character that is in charge of pursuing and terminating Bruce Willis’ character. By the end of the movie you are supposed to see him as an honest and likable character. Devoted to his children. However the scene that introduces this character to the audience shows him murdering a guy while talking to his wife on the phone. Not endearing. Not likable. His character doesn’t exactly go on a journey where he is “changed” either.
At the end of the day, RED is decent enough entertainment, but this cast deserved a much better written script. Something where at the end of every scene you weren’t left wondering “why did they do that”?
Rating
2.0/5 Caramels
Buy on DVD
Not a chance, but I won’t mock people if I see this is their DVD collection.
2010 Ranking
This isn’t a Top 10 or Bottom 10 movie.
Bonus Information
Still pumped up for The Fighter and True Grit. Cautiously optimistic about Unstoppable. Intrigued by The Dilemma.
Up Next
Megamind, Conviction and Unstoppable
RWPE #44 – Hands
There were a fair amount of submissions for last week’s theme HANDS. Here are the submissions:
Christopher D. Bennett
Angie DeWaard
Julie Johnson
Mike Vest
Shannon Bardole
The Random Generator has been fired up and it has spit out an interesting theme for this week.
Diagonal Rule
This is a somewhat technical theme, so let me quote from Picture-Thoughts:
The Diagonal Rule states that a photograph looks more dynamic if the objects fall or follow a diagonal line. The diagonal line doesn’t have to be an actual line and it doesn’t have to be a straight one. It could be the edges of a river, the top of a forest, or even an imaginary line connecting the different objects in the scene.
There is more of a technical definition that involves math, but for our purposes, I think just have the subject follow a diagonal line is more than enough to think about.
It is a good theme, so I hope that there are plenty of submissions for next week.
Slice of Life Vol. 22
