Busy busy weekend!
Jan. 4th, 2010 09:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamflowerThere's been a lot I've wanted to post about but I barely had a chance to catch my breath this weekend!
Saturday, we took a drive up to Grove, OK, to where we purchased a campground membership; the DH was to meet someone there to pick up a piece of art he had bought, and we wanted to look the area over. We ended up exploring some of the several antique/flea market type shops. I ended up buying 11 books-- really good craft and cookbooks-- for only $15.61! We also picked up some collectible Hot Wheels as a surprise for our son, and a couple of other more useful items. We didn't get home until late Sat. night.
Sunday was the first Sunday-of-the-month potluck, and I made two dishes from this year's Braum's recipe pamphlet: Bacon Garlic Bread and Mom's Cheesy Veggie Casserole, except in the latter, I substituted mozzarella for the cheddar cheese, and left off the french fried onions. I'm in charge of the potlucks, so I didn't get home till after 1. Just had time to change clothes and relax a bit, and then when our son got home from work at 2:30, we all three went into Stillwater. We had a couple of errands to run, then we went to supper at a local steakhouse buffet. After that we went to see "Avatar". (cut for spoilers)
This was my first time to see a 3-D movie, and I have to say, I was impressed. It was a little distracting at first. But I soon got used to the effect. The special effects in general were spectacular. I thought the 3-D effects were most effective int the "small things", such as little floating spores or tiny buzzing insects, that truly seemed to come right off the screen.
It was, of course, wildly violent and very loud. I did like the sound track a lot-- that's something that can make or break a movie for me.
As for the story, it was very derivative of most every sci-fi and fantasy cliche we are familiar with-- yet not unpleasantly so. The storyline had that "comfortable old shoe" feel, yet was unique enough with the fascinating world we explored to hold my interest. I have to confess, at points I lost my suspension of disbelief as I amused myself catching the places where the filmmakers were obviously referring to other movies. (PJ did the same in LOTR, but so skillfully that I never noticed in my first theatrical viewing; James Cameron was not as skillful.) The entire sequence near the end of the film where the good guys battle the bad guys reminded me *so much* of the battle on the moon of Endor in SW:RotJ, that I turned to my son and said, "Now all we need is for Jake to fight the Colonel and then find out that the Colonel is really his father..." (LOL! My son told me after that except for the "father" part, I'd nailed it.) And the part with Netiri reminded me a little of Eowyn and the W-k. While the plot and the romance of the whole thing was basically "Dances with Wolves". As I said, amusing and entertaining-- definitely worth the ticket price-- but not a classic. Still, I think it will deserve to win a lot of technical awards, especially for character design. (My son said of Netiri: "I couldn't believe that a ten-foot-tall blue person could be hot!")
The stand-out minor character for me was Trudy, who played the tough girl with a heart of gold beautifully.
I wouldn't mind *reading* some fic of this movie, especially if it concentrated on the culture of the Na'avi and the world of Pandora before the evil humans came along. It wouldn't inspire me to write any though.
Anyway, it was a fun weekend, but exhausting. It was nearly midnight before we got home. And I have to go to work today!
*sigh*
I hope everyone else had a great weekend!
Saturday, we took a drive up to Grove, OK, to where we purchased a campground membership; the DH was to meet someone there to pick up a piece of art he had bought, and we wanted to look the area over. We ended up exploring some of the several antique/flea market type shops. I ended up buying 11 books-- really good craft and cookbooks-- for only $15.61! We also picked up some collectible Hot Wheels as a surprise for our son, and a couple of other more useful items. We didn't get home until late Sat. night.
Sunday was the first Sunday-of-the-month potluck, and I made two dishes from this year's Braum's recipe pamphlet: Bacon Garlic Bread and Mom's Cheesy Veggie Casserole, except in the latter, I substituted mozzarella for the cheddar cheese, and left off the french fried onions. I'm in charge of the potlucks, so I didn't get home till after 1. Just had time to change clothes and relax a bit, and then when our son got home from work at 2:30, we all three went into Stillwater. We had a couple of errands to run, then we went to supper at a local steakhouse buffet. After that we went to see "Avatar". (cut for spoilers)
This was my first time to see a 3-D movie, and I have to say, I was impressed. It was a little distracting at first. But I soon got used to the effect. The special effects in general were spectacular. I thought the 3-D effects were most effective int the "small things", such as little floating spores or tiny buzzing insects, that truly seemed to come right off the screen.
It was, of course, wildly violent and very loud. I did like the sound track a lot-- that's something that can make or break a movie for me.
As for the story, it was very derivative of most every sci-fi and fantasy cliche we are familiar with-- yet not unpleasantly so. The storyline had that "comfortable old shoe" feel, yet was unique enough with the fascinating world we explored to hold my interest. I have to confess, at points I lost my suspension of disbelief as I amused myself catching the places where the filmmakers were obviously referring to other movies. (PJ did the same in LOTR, but so skillfully that I never noticed in my first theatrical viewing; James Cameron was not as skillful.) The entire sequence near the end of the film where the good guys battle the bad guys reminded me *so much* of the battle on the moon of Endor in SW:RotJ, that I turned to my son and said, "Now all we need is for Jake to fight the Colonel and then find out that the Colonel is really his father..." (LOL! My son told me after that except for the "father" part, I'd nailed it.) And the part with Netiri reminded me a little of Eowyn and the W-k. While the plot and the romance of the whole thing was basically "Dances with Wolves". As I said, amusing and entertaining-- definitely worth the ticket price-- but not a classic. Still, I think it will deserve to win a lot of technical awards, especially for character design. (My son said of Netiri: "I couldn't believe that a ten-foot-tall blue person could be hot!")
The stand-out minor character for me was Trudy, who played the tough girl with a heart of gold beautifully.
I wouldn't mind *reading* some fic of this movie, especially if it concentrated on the culture of the Na'avi and the world of Pandora before the evil humans came along. It wouldn't inspire me to write any though.
Anyway, it was a fun weekend, but exhausting. It was nearly midnight before we got home. And I have to go to work today!
*sigh*
I hope everyone else had a great weekend!
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 03:45 pm (UTC)I loved the CGI and I enjoyed the flying dragons or whatever they were. I thought it was very good. The plants were so beautiful! I want some of those for my yard so I can see coming home at night without turning on the porch light. hehehe
no subject
Date: 2010-01-06 01:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-06 01:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 06:03 pm (UTC)*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2010-01-06 01:47 pm (UTC)(((hugs back)))
no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 10:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-06 01:50 pm (UTC)I was "take it or leave it" on Avatar; given my druthers, I'd have picked Sherlock Holmes-- but the DH and the son wanted to see it, and I *was* curious about it. I'm glad I did, it was worth it to see the cool 3-D, which I've never seen before.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-05 08:22 am (UTC)I haven't seen Avatar and probably won't be able to watch it. Here in Austria they only show the 3D version which I can't see so there is no point.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-06 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-15 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-15 04:36 am (UTC)Ah! But it's delicious! (And it *looks* pretty too! One of the ladies at church was going to put it on the dessert table, and was surprised when I told her it was bread!)