If all the cylons are as hot as that smokin’ #6, then I’m rooting for the cylons!! (direct quote)
Quote of the Night and perhaps THE CENTURY!
Said by my Dad, to my Mom, in the midst of reporting to her about how AWESOME Battlestar Galactica is (he’s halfway through season 1, disc 1 (the mini-series), he had to hang up to get back to it but called me midway through to rave), which he just started as I sent him all the discs as an early Birthday present:
Carolyn is the one kid in a million who actually paid off.
Hello, I WIN. 😉 And yay, Dad is loving BSG too. Someone else to share the obsession. Yay!
In Concert: The Long Blondes
per my drunken Flickr review:
Kicked Ass.
Openers sucked.
Venue was empty.
Crowd was weird.
Band Rocked.
Highly recommended that you see them live. Some songs almost a combination of Berlin (swoon) and early Madonna. Really great. Would love to see them again with a bigger crowd.
In Concert: Rogue Wave
I think the reason I didn’t write this show up earlier was it was so similar to the one I went to in October, except I wasn’t as tired that night so I had more fun. This time, my feet hurt and I was cranky and I left early even though RK probably would have happily stayed longer. But don’t fret, Rogue Wave, it was me, not you. You were great.
Really intimate show, started with an acoustic set in the middle of the audience and since it was Schuba’s, the “middle of the audience” was no more than 10 feet away from anyone. A bit fuzzy once they got on stage. Didn’t realize how much better the Double Door’s sound system is (that was where the October show was) but I guess now I know.
In Concert: Meg Hutchinson and Girlyman
We bought the tickets because AW is a huge fan of Girlyman; finding out that Meg Hutchinson was the opener was an added bonus!
Meg Hutchinson: Gorgeous set. Just her and a guitar. Mostly stuff from her new album which has such great lyrics, I really can’t get enough of it. Lovely. On the folky side of pop. LOVE.
Girlyman: Three very unique voices, used quite well together. Reminds me of early Indigo Girls with their harmonies although AW was a little snippy about me having that viewpoint. They seem to switch back and forth between joke-y and serious (in a BNL kind of way), but the vocals/mike were mixed way too low(quiet) for the soprano, they need to amp her up a bit (a big bit). Despite that, really enjoyable, fun show.
Big Screen: Redbelt
A David Mamet script PLUS Jujitsu? Come on now, people, you can’t go wrong with that one. Really compelling interesting story. Really cool fights (woot).
A lot of good performances here (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen (unexpected), Alicia Braga), including one from Emily Mortimer (whose character undergoes one of the biggest transitions), and a really great one from Max Martini (yum), whom you may recognize from The Unit.
I’ll tell you what. He, Dean Winters and Tahmoh Penikett need to do some kind of brothers/mafia/cops movie together. Ah, that would be wonderful.
Big Screen: Iron Man
A full Family Reaction even featuring the extremely rare MomReaction!! (No, we did not see it together.)
DadReaction: Eye popping effects, but with a lot of character. And not so effect heavy that you lose the humor as in some action movies. Downey is really great here. He’s a stronger character as an actor and so much more entertaining than, say, Spiderman. Christian Bale brought a lot of grimness to Batman but Downey is very funny, lively and self deprecating. Really uses his wise ass attitude so well here, and it makes the idea of a superhero movie so much cooler. His and Paltrow’s characters attraction feels very real, even though it’s an under the table sort and they dance around it. Jeff Bridges was good too.
MomReaction: There’s a really topical social edge to this movie about collateral damage and what you do to the world, what weapons do to the world. They don’t hide behind the story: War is bad. Guns are bad.
GirlReaction: Fanfuckingtastic. Everything you could want in an action movie AND MORE. Lovedlovedloved it.
Mystery: One False Move, by Harlan Coben
Burning through mysteries in the offhours while reading this month’s challenge book.
The next in the Myron Bolitar series (after these). Still enjoying these, but not quite as much thanks to throwaway paragraphs with pedantic tones like this one:
“Win waited by Myron’s car. He was bent slightly at the waist, practicing his golf swing. He did not have a club or a ball, of course. Remember blasting rock music and jumping on your bed and playing air guitar? Golfers do the same thing. They hear some internal sounds of nature, step on imaginary first tees, and swing air clubs. Air woods usually. Sometimes, when they want more control, they take air irons out of the air bags. And like teens with air guitars, golfers like to watch themselves in mirrors…”
Seriously? Do tell. Who is the audience for that? Or, better yet, who does the writer think his audience is that he needs to write that? You can, indeed, take dumbing down a bit too far.
Dear Harlan Coben,
There aren’t that many Myron Bolitar books after this one. So I’m sure I’ll keep reading them up until the end. Because I like Myron. And I love Win, despite the fact that he’s a raving psychopath. (He makes Joe Pike look well adjusted.) But seriously? You can do better than that.
Sincerely,
who would’ve thought golf could be made more boring than it actually is,
Duff
Fantasy: Dragon Blood, by Patricia Briggs
Burning through fantasy in the offhours while reading this month’s challenge book.
The follow-up to Dragon Bones. Equally rewarding, if not more so for getting to spend more time with these characters.
She’s currently my favorite fantasy writer and I cannot recommend these (and the Mercy Thompson books) enough.
Fantasy: Dragon Bones, by Patricia Briggs
Burning through fantasy in the offhours while reading this month’s challenge book.
I’ve recommended her modern day fantasy to you before. Now I can highly recommend her more traditionally set (you know that whole medieval-type, middle age-sort of world that so much fantasy is set in; similar to the worlds of Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, among others) fantasy as well.
LOVED this book. Absolutely loved. In love with Ward, with Oreg, completely sucked in by the myth and the magic. Beautiful. Some kinda icky torture (physical and psychological), that just makes you care even more deeply about these characters. Wow.