The Baghdad Theater was a great place to watch this movie. A big theater with lots of audience reaction, makes an eagerly anticipated movie that much sweeter.
What did I think? I’ve got a review here.
Plus, this movie got me to thinking about just how many superhero movies the two of us had watched in the course of our relationship. And then I wrote a blog post which can be found here.
I don’t really mind spiders setting up shop in our house. (Though I don’t love the little black speckles that appear where they do set up shop.) I often wonder what they find to eat when inside. There are a few bugs, but not really that many.
This spider completely lucked out. And this caterpillar did not.
There was a long, grisly process of sucking the juices. You can see that juices were spilled. As the spider ate, it’s body got rounder and rounder.
It was very gross and also fascinating. Reporting from the future, I can tell you that soon after this large meal, an egg sac appeared. As of June, it’s still there. I keep meaning to put it outside before the baby spiders emerge. We shall see if I do.
Today while waiting for the train, I watched this gentleman use a blanket to sweep the detritus from the trees onto the sidewalk. It wasn’t the most efficient way to clear the sidewalk, but it was pretty inventive for someone who didn’t have a broom, and it also looked like a good meditative practice.
You can see the difference. To the left of the couple, the sidewalk is covered with the green stuff from the tree.
Thanks, sir, for making the downtown Portland sidewalks look nicer.
I am not even kidding when I say the promo pen people always light up my day. We used to get them every so often in the mail at the Emerson School. I had one version for years that said “The Erson School” on it. Because nothing makes you want to buy a promo pen than a misspelling. Even my fancy new workplace is not immune to the promo pen offer.
And now Keen Eye LLC has joined their ranks. I will treasure this pen until—well, until I lose it. And I will never, ever order any promo pen, ever.
This sign has been affixed to a locker near the one I use in the Campus Rec Center for months. I have spent many mornings staring at it as I transition from my swimming gear to my work gear.
I can see that it was hastily written by a Campus Rec employee, probably a female. I can see that this person had no idea the note would be posted for so long because little care was made in writing.
The sign gets the job done. There is an alert to the problem, there is a directive, and there is an apology. It’s scrawled on a PSU notepad and hung (again hastily, with tape.)
And then, there’s that signature. What is going on with that signature? It’s written in a different pen, and in a different handwriting. It was clearly there before the note was put up because the tape covers the S and part of the M in “Smith.”
Who is Smith? My current theories are that two employees were joking around as they made the sign, hence the “Love” or that the Love, Smith was written before the note itself was.
Someday, that locker will be fixed and the note will be gone. It will take me a few weeks to notice its absence. And then I will move on with my life, never knowing the story behind the note.
This is what the short-lived podcast Mystery Show was good for.
I just had a slight birdwalk and discovered that Starlee Kine (who made Mystery Show) now has a Patreon page where for $5.00 per month you will get access to a podcast she will create. Interesting.
It’s probably best to watch Roger Mitchell’s My Cousin Rachel with a companion as there is much to discuss afterward and you might find yourself stuck with your own back and forth as to what you think the situation was. The indomitable Rachel Weisz plays the titular Rachel, and Sam Clafin* is the man who is not so sure about his cousin’s motives. Daphne Du Maurier knew how to write a shifting story, and there is much to puzzle out, plus usual historical drama perks of costumes, and furniture and life with servants.
Cost: free from Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home
*With English accent, because I know that some people are fans of that
So many things have been done to support me having a better sleep experience. Today’s thing: a room darkening shade.
Here we have the blurry before picture. The curtains didn’t really do much to block the light and this is especially a problem in June and July because the sun starts to come up before 4:30 am.
Here is the blurry “after” picture. It’s still quite light outside, but that room-darkening shad is blocking that light!
Here’s hoping it will help improve the sleep patterns.
I think the one-two punch of David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! is Asher Angel’s depiction of an abandoned kid searching for his mother plus Zachary Levi’s grown-man youthful exuberance. Add in Jack Dylan Grazer as the guy who’s super excited to suddenly be friends with a superhero and you have a sweet-natured comedy with more than the usual amount of feels.* While some plot points fall apart upon reflection, it’s an enjoyable and does not feel overly long 132 minutes.
Cost: $8.00
Where watched: St. Johns Twin Cinema with Matt (who rarely watches films from the DCEU, but who also enjoyed it.)
*Which is not to say that some Red Shirts (a.k.a. minor characters) don’t die in some ways that might be overly gruesome and/or scary to the under 13 set.
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson has crafted a nice duel portrait of (1)female friendship and (2)the end of a relationship, and there are things to like about Someone Great.* But it doesn’t really have a lot going for it, and it pretty easily slid into that category of movie I recommend for people to watch when they have the flu. There were way too many flashback—all more or less framed in the same way—and I think the forgettable title name** sets the stage for the forgettable nature of the movie.***
Skip. Unless perhaps you have the flu?
Cost: Netflix monthly charge ($8.99)
Where watched: at home
*The easy friendship between Gina Rodriguez, DeWanda Wise, and Brittany Snow, the montage of getting ready to go out, the zany last day scenario.
**True story: I made all the visuals for this post using the name Someone Like You, which is a 2001 Ashley Judd comedy that I found forgettable, but which is based on a book called Animal Husbandry which is a MUCH better title and which I quite liked.
**It’s another one of those movies called “romantic comedies” but which is not actually a romantic comedy, but a comedic female friendship movie. Ibiza (also a Netflix film) was similar, except it did have some romance. This was all breakup, no romance. I’m all for comedic female friendship movies. But don’t call them romantic comedies.
I’d not seen Blake Edwards’s The Great Race since I was a child; it was interesting to see the scenes I remembered in context* and I was happy that this managed to have aged almost 55 years and yet is nearly totally free of cringe-worthy moments.** It’s also hilarious (Jack Lemmon is the main carrier of this torch) and though its nearly three-hour run time means it does eventually drag, it has an overture and intermission included in those 160 minutes.*** Overall, it’s a fun intergenerational film, especially if your generations tilt toward the advanced ages, though kids would probably like parts of it too.
Cost: free via White Elephant Gift Exchange
Where watched: at home with the mothers and aunts
*Tony Curtis’ teeth and eyes sparkling in a “dream boat” way and the best pie fight in the history of cinema were the most prominent, but some of the landscapes felt very familiar, too.
**It’s not overtly racist (though that Indian-chase scene is a bit iffy), Natalie Wood playing a suffragette means that it doesn’t come off as terribly sexist (though I’m sure some of the suffragette stuff was “funnier” in the original) and though there’s a drunken crown price who veers dangerously close to a “light in the loafers” stereotype, most of his behavior can be chalked up to alcohol consumption and not same-sex proclivities.
***Unlike, say, a certain seminal superhero movie released in April, 2019.
