Photos from a holiday weekend well spent. Only sour notes: it was over too soon and my flight was delayed last night.
Home for the Holiday
Tag Archives: movies
Weekend Double Feature
My original weekend plan – a 10k race in Asheville and spending time with good friends – was rudely altered by foul weather. Rather than sulk under grey skies, I made the most of the time with some much needed R&R, including two movies: Winter’s Bone and Gangster Squad. Read on for my reviews:
Available on Netflix, Winter’s Bone starring Jennifer Lawrence, affectionately known as JLaw, hunts for her missing father in order to save her family. You may remember JLaw from Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook. The movie is excellent, dark and confrontational, about people whose lives are ruled by the decisions of others. You are also witness to the strength and love of a young person who has matured out of necessity and endures struggles most of us will never face. I was also struck by the similarity of the pretense of Winter’s Bone to Hunger Games: a young girl grown up too quickly, forced by tragedy to care for young sibling(s) and a “sick” mother, and willing to risk anything to protect her family. Watch this.
With surprising comedic moments, Gangster Squad proved better than I anticipated. However, there is not much new to report about a war between two tribes: the corrupt wealthy vs the loyal servicemen. We have all seen it, heard it, or read it before. In this particular installment, it does help that Ryan Gosling is easy on the eyes. I do wish that Robert Duvall had played the cowboy; I imagine him like he was in Lonesome Dove. There are other movies up for Oscars that I would recommend first, but if you are looking to be entertained, this will certainly do the trick.
Happy Watching!
Welcome (again) 2013
Yes, I know it is a little late to be welcoming the New Year, but to be fair, there are still people I am wishing a Happy New Year for the first time. I think this is socially acceptable until February.
So far 2013 has been a great year. I celebrated my birthday more times than I ever have in the past, including with my parents before returning to Clemson, in downtown Clemson day of, at a surprise party the week later, and at lunch with my co-workers the week after that. Let’s keep the party going!
I’ve taken my pseudo-resolution to “dance more” seriously. Thus far, I have made two trips to the Blind Horse Saloon to learn and practice my line dancing – yee haw! (To the right is a very poor picture of the blind horse.) I also have been practicing my moves with my xbox kinect. Let me tell you, it takes a special kind of confidence (or lack of self-consciousness) to try to keep up with the game.
I have seen two movies since returning to Clemson: Zero Dark Thirty and Waiting for Superman. Zero Dark Thirty was good, but for me, Argo was better. The suspense I felt during Argo even though I knew what was going to happen was palpable, and never quite reached that level during ZDT.
Waiting for Superman was at once disheartening and inspiring. You cannot watch that movie and walk away feeling like every child in America is getting a fair chance at education. We need change.
My guilty pleasure has been re-watching season one of Gossip Girl. They were all so young! It’s funny to see how similar the characters behaved then and in later episodes. You don’t pick up on it the first time through because you are just meeting them, but it is wholly evident when watching a second time. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
There was a weekend adventure through Great Smoky Mountain National Park (before it flooded) and a weekend non-adventure in the dungeon lab of Lehotsky. The views at Great Smoky Mountain were far superior. This upcoming weekend should provide good fodder for blogging. I also hope to have some exciting job news to announce soon. There’s the short long of it. It’s good to be blogging again.
