Three day weekend ftw!
May. 23rd, 2009 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntiemeeshSo far today:
* Had coffee and a scone at 61c Cafe. Mm, yummy cinnamon scone.
* Got my hair trimmed. I decided at the last minute not to redo the color though. It hasn't faded out all the way yet, there are no roots showing, and I'd rather spend the money on other things.
* Made an appointment for next time - July 4th. I'm on a holiday roll here. Got my hair colored Easter weekend, had my six week trim today, Memorial Day weekend, and now the next six week trim will fall on Independence Day.
* Went to a second viewing of Star Trek. Either my ears were clearer or the sound was better today because I was actually able to understand nearly all the dialog. This helped the movie make a little more sense, not to mention getting more of the self-referencial in-jokes. Last week, D asked me what my favorite scene was and I absolutely couldn't say, having come out of the theater with the movie an absolute jumble of non-stop insanity in my head. I'm still not sure I have one favorite scene, but there are a few that I particularly liked. 1) Spock telling the Vulcan high council to go fuck themselves with just the slightest inflection on his normal 'live long and prosper.' 2) Uhura clearly having Spock wrapped around her little finger, insisting that she be on the Enterprise. I was surprised by that pairing, to be honest, but then last weekend I watched a couple of early season one TOS episodes, and went 'ah, now I see.' Uhura and Spock in the original series may or may not at some point have gone at it, but the seeds were definitely there. Enough to easily justify the pairing here, in a universe that is tilted slightly left of normal. 3) The moment when they all realize they're lives are an AU. It must be a surreal feeling, to know that the life you have is not the one you're supposed to have, that someone somewhere mucked about with the timeline and now you're a slightly different you than you should have been. It's enough to give you a wicked headache for three days before deciding that you should just never, ever think about it again. 4) The scene on the bridge after Kirk and Sulu destroyed the mining thing. Kirk is sitting in the captain's chair while Spock plans what to do next. Spock turns, sees him, mutters 'out of the chair' and continues on, uninterrupted, while Kirk jumps up like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I like this Kirk a lot. Really, a lot.
The casting was nearly perfect, I thought. Chris Pine managed to capture Kirk superbly, without bringing more than hints of Shatner. Zachary Quinto makes a scary, scary Spock, but he is still undeniably Spock. Simon Pegg's Scotty is hilarious. Oddly enough, I was least pleased with McCoy. I think this has to do with the writing more than the casting, though. Karl Urban did a fantastic job of capturing the sound and look of McCoy, but the lines felt forced. The whole 'I'm a doctor, not a physicist' line and others like it just felt off, unconvincing. Everything else was good, though.
I loved how they maintained the iconic imagery of the original show (flip open communicators, for instance, and the boxy, clunky shuttles) while preventing any hint of datedness to the feel. I suppose part of it is that the scenery didn't wobble every time someone walked across the set. The movie provides a depth of detail and a larger view of things than the original was capable of. I particularly loved the Iowa scenes, with the wide open vistas and the futuristic city always just a hint of an outline in a hazy distance. Especially contrasted to the early scenes on Vulcan where we pretty much only see the extremely built up city with only brief glimpses of the rugged mountain setting. Very nice situational build-up to the contrast in personalities in Kirk and Spock.
* Browsed through Barnes & Noble in the hope of seeing some good titles for Book Club. Alas, no such luck. Still, I picked up a book by Jack McDevitt, called Deepsix. I've never heard of this guy before, but the first few pages seem to get off to a decent start, so I'll see where it goes.
* Had lunch at Panera (if a meal eaten at three in the afternoon can technically be called lunch).
* Totally bailed on the grocery store but I did stop at Rite Aid for bread, milk, Quaker Oats and catfood.
Tonight is game three of the Pens-Hurricanes series. I'm attempting to be emotionally prepared for the possibility of a 'Canes win, since it's their first home game of the series, they're down by two and they're going to be desperate for the win. But I'll still be disappointed and pissed if the Pens lose. That's just the way it is.
In the meantime, I think I'll watch a few more of the old Star Trek eps on hulu.
Edited due to an inability to keep two thoughts in line for more than thirty seconds at a time.
* Had coffee and a scone at 61c Cafe. Mm, yummy cinnamon scone.
* Got my hair trimmed. I decided at the last minute not to redo the color though. It hasn't faded out all the way yet, there are no roots showing, and I'd rather spend the money on other things.
* Made an appointment for next time - July 4th. I'm on a holiday roll here. Got my hair colored Easter weekend, had my six week trim today, Memorial Day weekend, and now the next six week trim will fall on Independence Day.
* Went to a second viewing of Star Trek. Either my ears were clearer or the sound was better today because I was actually able to understand nearly all the dialog. This helped the movie make a little more sense, not to mention getting more of the self-referencial in-jokes. Last week, D asked me what my favorite scene was and I absolutely couldn't say, having come out of the theater with the movie an absolute jumble of non-stop insanity in my head. I'm still not sure I have one favorite scene, but there are a few that I particularly liked. 1) Spock telling the Vulcan high council to go fuck themselves with just the slightest inflection on his normal 'live long and prosper.' 2) Uhura clearly having Spock wrapped around her little finger, insisting that she be on the Enterprise. I was surprised by that pairing, to be honest, but then last weekend I watched a couple of early season one TOS episodes, and went 'ah, now I see.' Uhura and Spock in the original series may or may not at some point have gone at it, but the seeds were definitely there. Enough to easily justify the pairing here, in a universe that is tilted slightly left of normal. 3) The moment when they all realize they're lives are an AU. It must be a surreal feeling, to know that the life you have is not the one you're supposed to have, that someone somewhere mucked about with the timeline and now you're a slightly different you than you should have been. It's enough to give you a wicked headache for three days before deciding that you should just never, ever think about it again. 4) The scene on the bridge after Kirk and Sulu destroyed the mining thing. Kirk is sitting in the captain's chair while Spock plans what to do next. Spock turns, sees him, mutters 'out of the chair' and continues on, uninterrupted, while Kirk jumps up like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I like this Kirk a lot. Really, a lot.
The casting was nearly perfect, I thought. Chris Pine managed to capture Kirk superbly, without bringing more than hints of Shatner. Zachary Quinto makes a scary, scary Spock, but he is still undeniably Spock. Simon Pegg's Scotty is hilarious. Oddly enough, I was least pleased with McCoy. I think this has to do with the writing more than the casting, though. Karl Urban did a fantastic job of capturing the sound and look of McCoy, but the lines felt forced. The whole 'I'm a doctor, not a physicist' line and others like it just felt off, unconvincing. Everything else was good, though.
I loved how they maintained the iconic imagery of the original show (flip open communicators, for instance, and the boxy, clunky shuttles) while preventing any hint of datedness to the feel. I suppose part of it is that the scenery didn't wobble every time someone walked across the set. The movie provides a depth of detail and a larger view of things than the original was capable of. I particularly loved the Iowa scenes, with the wide open vistas and the futuristic city always just a hint of an outline in a hazy distance. Especially contrasted to the early scenes on Vulcan where we pretty much only see the extremely built up city with only brief glimpses of the rugged mountain setting. Very nice situational build-up to the contrast in personalities in Kirk and Spock.
* Browsed through Barnes & Noble in the hope of seeing some good titles for Book Club. Alas, no such luck. Still, I picked up a book by Jack McDevitt, called Deepsix. I've never heard of this guy before, but the first few pages seem to get off to a decent start, so I'll see where it goes.
* Had lunch at Panera (if a meal eaten at three in the afternoon can technically be called lunch).
* Totally bailed on the grocery store but I did stop at Rite Aid for bread, milk, Quaker Oats and catfood.
Tonight is game three of the Pens-Hurricanes series. I'm attempting to be emotionally prepared for the possibility of a 'Canes win, since it's their first home game of the series, they're down by two and they're going to be desperate for the win. But I'll still be disappointed and pissed if the Pens lose. That's just the way it is.
In the meantime, I think I'll watch a few more of the old Star Trek eps on hulu.
Edited due to an inability to keep two thoughts in line for more than thirty seconds at a time.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-23 11:10 pm (UTC)Nicely described! I need to see it again, too.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 01:10 am (UTC)I found myself unexpectedly loving the movie more the second time. This may be what pushes me from liking Star Trek okay, to totally fanning it. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 12:56 am (UTC)I thought the AU concept was just a really clever way to reboot the franchise.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 04:15 pm (UTC)I'm with you on the new version of McCoy - nope!
no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 04:23 pm (UTC)I agree with you absolutely. I watched an early season one episode yesterday, in which the crew was infected with some virus that lowered their inhibitions. Once affected, Kirk started whining and moaning about how he could never afford to look at any of the women on board, because the ship demanded all his focus. Basically comparing the Enterprise to a jealous lover. He loves her and resents her, but would never leave her.