so if you are in safety harbor, florida. you might wanna check out this tree.
1.31.2008
1.23.2008
dali.1
um, so, to put it lightly, i'm now a new dali fan. if you're in the tampa area and you have a chance to get to st. petersburg. . . even if you think, 'eh, who can look at dripping clocks for that long?'. . . .
no no no, so much more than dripping clocks. get thee to the salvador dali museum. i'm now all about locating the animation short that he did with disney.
dad's morning
its christmas time, only there is no snow to shovel in florida. so dad sat in front of an open door with a cup of coffee watching deer approach.
the set up
ok, seriously. we got the idea from this: http://xkcd.com/249/
(go there now :)
and this: http://xkcd.com/chesscoaster/
(ok, go there too)
we wanted to attempt it. and we knew from being in disneyland, that they take a picture on space mountain. we even knew approximately where and when. we formulated plans, where to procure chess pieces and glue. do we do a whole set?- eh, too many pieces, maybe just the two kings fighting it out. maybe we can make the whole thing from paper? that would fold seriously flat and wouldn't be difficult to carry around all day.
then we opted for something similar. dan would string playing cards together and it would look like a floating card trick. i could easily set up a cats cradle with some shoe laces. so we made a quick stop at walgreens before driving to disneyworld.
we planned to take turns for the camera, taking the ride a couple of times, even planning a dry run to figure out where the camera was etc.
this is the only picture that exists. and i didn't even get a shot of him holding it up. it looked good.
space mountain in florida is sadly different from california. no red hot chili peppers, no flashing crazy lights, no double seats, and no picture. dan held the cards and i held a 'pondering' look nearly the entire ride. . . err. dammit.
florida also doesn't have the holiday 'nightmare before christmas' haunted house.
guess we'll have to make due. . . in the happiest place in the world. . .
for the record, it would've looked really cool.
epcot
dan had never been to epcot. we were little kids when we were here together last. i had been back about ten years ago with some friends from college. and then there was dan's and my trip to disneyland just this past spring. it was important to get to epcot first, since he had never seen it. it turned out to be just a little disappointing. the lines were unbelievable when we rolled in. we didn't start plowing through rides till after 10pm in the magic kingdom.
our first attempt resulted in a two and a half hour line wait to get on some space ride. there were all the signs to make sure you were in good health and what not, but i kept thinking, 'it's disney, how bad could it be?'
well, after 2.5 hours waiting, we had a three minute ride that both dan and i nearly felt faint on. the g forces were impressive.
we walked around a bit, but then headed to find less crowded territory in another park after we ate at epcot.
mgm.3
for all the problems that people have with disney, man, do they know how to do it up. there are no details left out. this is in the mgm park, in the avenue of america's. sponsored by sylvania (duh) all the buildings were immensely covered with lights, and there was a light show nearly every 15 minutes. and from the street view, even the interior of the window canopies were lit, since it would be visible in the reflection in the glass from the street. unreal.
mgm.4
while grabbing lunch in 'france' at epcot, we think we caught a scam in action. i don't think i've seen dan so outwardly angry in a long time. this woman, with a kid, a husband, and an elderly woman in a wheelchair was attempting to pay for their lunches. her card was declined. suddenly she had a problem with a mayo packet that she stepped on and squirted on her shorts. well don't you know she was now going to lose a day in the park because she needed to go all the way back to her hotel to change all because someone didn't clean up after themselves, and that was the restaurant's fault.
blah blah blah
err, we were held up in line for an extra thirty minutes, we only wanted to pay for our food and eat. after we got through and were eating outside, dan waited for the woman to come through. in his words, when i asked if she had emerged yet, 'have i been thrown out of the park for assaulting someone yet?'- as i predicted, we never saw her.
disneyworld.1
it got a whole lot easier to get on rides after 10pm hit. i guess a number of people cleared out and all the line times plummeted. . . dan and i got to ride the haunted house three times.
we didn't know that later that evening we would be stranded nearly a mile from where we parked because the parking shuttles no longer ran. not the news anyone is looking for after a long day in the sun on your feet.
park.lites.1
why am i such a SUCKER for these light up holiday walk through parks? even the cheesy ones, it's like a moth to a flame!
and of course you know i was walking around pointing out all the lamps that were out, and where someone forgot to plug a set is, and where the rope light had been severed, and how the two prongs sticking out of the rope light could be a real menace to someone who didn't know not to touch it. . . though i smirk a little at knowing that i'm not responsible.
park.lites.2
careful dan, don't get too close. . . there might be big caterpillars and beetles to go along with that giant flower.
1.17.2008
i love being organized
more over, i love having the necessity to be organized. can’t exactly say it’s been the most important thing in my world these past few months, but the break has been kind of nice too. my organizational need jump started a bit today, not over anything truly important like getting a job or anything like that. . . *puhshaw*. . . nonetheless, it kicked in.
i was reading comfortably when my shopping list kept reappearing in my head to the point of imagining how top heavy the assortment of items would be inside that tiny basket. i decided to get up and write the list down, at which point all my other lists and tasks started revealing themselves- like a loud and unnecessarily needy group of students crowding outside a teacher’s office. the teacher meeting the onslaught after having tried to sneak back into her office (after office hours) to retrieve her forgotten lunch box only to be caught spending another several hours trying to pan through the mess, ‘yes, i think it’s terrible that you’re roommate lets their blaring alarm clock run while you are trying to sleep,’ ‘wow, your parents vacationing in italy won’t be able to make your performance, that’s upsetting,’ . . . internally thinking, ‘what does this have to do with today’s lesson?,’ and ‘isn’t there a school counselor who would be better at fielding this issue?’
as expected, i’ve now lost half my shopping list to the depths of my brain, but i have my blog out and running, there are several web browsers spinning, i’m ripping music from a friend and collecting music that i plan to give in return, my book is open beside me, there’s music in the background. . . my list of people i need to ‘get back to’ is getting lengthy. . . still have to clean up from breakfast, make the bed, get dressed etc. . . but i’ve gone for a nice walk, gotten through my core exercises, and showered. . . but even with the current ‘to do’ list i might not get out to do the shopping. . .
guess i should get back to it then. have a good one!
i was reading comfortably when my shopping list kept reappearing in my head to the point of imagining how top heavy the assortment of items would be inside that tiny basket. i decided to get up and write the list down, at which point all my other lists and tasks started revealing themselves- like a loud and unnecessarily needy group of students crowding outside a teacher’s office. the teacher meeting the onslaught after having tried to sneak back into her office (after office hours) to retrieve her forgotten lunch box only to be caught spending another several hours trying to pan through the mess, ‘yes, i think it’s terrible that you’re roommate lets their blaring alarm clock run while you are trying to sleep,’ ‘wow, your parents vacationing in italy won’t be able to make your performance, that’s upsetting,’ . . . internally thinking, ‘what does this have to do with today’s lesson?,’ and ‘isn’t there a school counselor who would be better at fielding this issue?’
as expected, i’ve now lost half my shopping list to the depths of my brain, but i have my blog out and running, there are several web browsers spinning, i’m ripping music from a friend and collecting music that i plan to give in return, my book is open beside me, there’s music in the background. . . my list of people i need to ‘get back to’ is getting lengthy. . . still have to clean up from breakfast, make the bed, get dressed etc. . . but i’ve gone for a nice walk, gotten through my core exercises, and showered. . . but even with the current ‘to do’ list i might not get out to do the shopping. . .
guess i should get back to it then. have a good one!
1.16.2008
1.11.2008
about a chair?
i’ve been really wanting to see juno. i can’t remember who i was with or where for sure, but when i saw the trailer i knew i’d want to see that one and not wait for video. also, i’d been wanting to see sweeney todd since before it came out. i thought it would be the holiday pick of the family while we were together. after seeing it, perhaps it was best that we didn’t make it as a group. i think it may have been a little too violent for the faint of hearts.
anyway, i decided to see both of them last night. just had a need to get out and get washed into someone else’s story. juno first, then sweeney. juno just seemed like it would be incredibly charming, witting, and rather quirky. it was all those things, and a little more. i did hear someone complain that they didn’t laugh throughout the whole thing. . . well, it wasn’t really supposed to be hilarious, i don’t think. just a good story with both funny and sad moments. and as the character and narrator says, it all began with a chair, and then ended with a chair. (but i won’t give away what it means.)
then there was sweeney todd. i’ve heard the music (not to a great extent, but heard it) and i’m pretty sure i read the play for a class. . . but i’d never seen a live performance. one of my friends said he was a little disappointed because there was a song cut and that helena bonham carter doesn’t live up to angela lansbury. . . what?! the movie doesn’t live up to the book or a previous version?!. . . NO, say it isn’t so?! anyway, what i do know of the live version is that many theatre technicians abhor seeing it poke up on a season schedule. the name invokes anxiety over budget crunches, mechanical prowess, or the rental fee for procuring that damn chair. a barber chair that will flip back and spit a person out through a trap in the floor. it’s a bit of a mechanical difficulty when working with small budgets which so many theatres do.
it was bloodier than i expected. probably better that my aunt felt like staying at home. . . don’t know if she would’ve made it through the first throat slashing let alone the last few. i do think i was expecting a little more baz luhrmann for some bizarre reason. i knew it was tim burton, and saw that very clearly,-even wanted to see it more because it was tim burton. . . but i wanted it to flow as well as a baz luhrmann, or a julie taymor musical. . . and it didn’t. maybe it works better on stage when there are more things to look at, other than johnny depp striking a pretty pose (as nice as that is to look at). for all the prettyness, and striking shots, i might have liked it better as sweeney proclaimed, ‘at last, my arm is complete.’ while holding out his barber knife caught in a shaft of eerie light from his loft window, if there was the terrible, dreary, dismal view of the victorian world around him that he threatened- as an audience would see on stage. granted, in the same sequence he does rifle through the streets presenting himself as an invisible threat. . . but it doesn’t hold quite the same power.
eh, if you are wondering, it is worth seeing. . . it is bloody. . . and, if you are like me. . . you may find the trailer for mama mia, the movie as the actual terror for your evening.
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