No Better Time...

To talk about the Fourth of July then in November...right?

I was talking to the BFF yesterday about how I couldn't believe we were well into November when I feel like it was JUST summer vacation. Seriously, I don't know where the time went. It seems like we jumped from swimming and kayaking to peppermint lattes and ignoring Christmas carols by way of a few colored leaves.

Yesterday, we went to see About Time. I LOVED it. The movie is about an endearing British family where the men can travel back in time for do-overs. (Perhaps one of the reasons I loved it is that I've always wished for powers like that!) The main character falls in love with Rachel McAdams and they have cute babies. There is more to it but I wouldn't want to spoil anything. It was hilarious and sweet and heartbreaking and thought provoking.

The main take away from the movie is to enjoy the "normal" days in life because ultimately, those days are what make up most of your life. And I loved the idea that the key to happiness is just to change your perspective about difficult things and make the best out of every situation. The idea that the meaning of life is simply about spending time with people who love you seems so easy.

In stark contrast, I am currently reading Inferno by Dan Brown. I'm not thrilled with it, but as I'm 250 pages in, I feel like I must plow ahead. The premise of the book (as far as I can tell) is that an individual or organization is plotting to destroy half of the world's population in order to keep the human race from going extinct.

My mind is torn between wanting to find joy in ordinary things and trying to come to terms that the world is collapsing all around us. ← A bit dramatic maybe?

So back to the 4th of July...I did so many mundane yet fun things this summer and aside from photos published to Instagram or worse, pictures merely filling my phone's memory, I haven't really acknowledged or written about my adventures. Since the days are getting shorter and darker and colder, I thought it would be fun to relive my summer vacation.

Won't you join me?

Movies in the Park

Way back when, I used to do things and blog about them. It was a way to document the times that I decided not to be a hermit and joined the real world. As of late, I do things and don't blog about them. But tonight I had one of those movie nights. Nothing epic or life changing, just a night that in the movie of my life would have made it past the cutting room floor. Naturally I came home and wrote in my diary blogged about it.

With just one week left before school starts, I am trying to hoard my lazy days. I really wasn't inclined to put on pants today but today's lunch date turned into a dinner date in the big city.

M and I drove into Boston to meet up with some of her friends for dinner and a movie. We drove in circles around the Common until we found a place to park deep in the financial district. Every now and then things looked familiar from my earlier travels and adventures in Boston. We ate delicious burgers and I made conversation with new people...always a frightening task but I survived!

After dinner we walked over to the waterfront to watch The King's Speech outside in the park. The grass was wet and my ass got soaked through the beach towel we brought but it was such a cool thing to watch a movie on a giant blow up tv on Long Wharf in Boston.

It has finally cooled off here and tonight called for the first sweatshirt since March/April. Fall is just around the corner!

#Hoodies FTW

   

Dear Rose,

You didn't have to let go. See below:

XOXO,
Amy

File under: #Next time cuddle.


    

I'll Never Let Go

In part two of my two part series...Titantic 3D.

The most exciting part of seeing Titanic on the big screen is not so much the 3D but the nostalgia for my late teenage years. When the movie was first in theaters, I saw it four times. Yes...four. It was just as epic as I remembered it being. Although this time I watched it with grown up eyes.

Thoughts:

• I can't believe how opulent the ship was.
• The Titanic was such a microcosm of the disparity between classes.
• Leonardo DiCaprio was so young.
• I forgot all about the first 20 minutes where they go underwater and find the safe in the wreckage.
• How historically accurate is the movie?
• Do ships hit icebergs a lot?
• What would have happened if they hit the iceberg head on?
• Would Rose really have survived by floating on that door?
• I'm too old to sit for 3 hours in a movie theater seat.

The part that gets me every time is when the musicians begin to play Nearer My God to Thee.

I've watched so many History channel specials on the Titanic in the past few weeks. The more I learn about the distaster the more fascinated I am with the whole thing. But I get caught up in the fact that so many people died...and that so many bodies were never recovered. It's crazy to see video of the Titanic laying at the bottom of the ocean because it looks so small.

Also, I can't believe that it took until 1985 to located the wreckage! I would have thought someone would have found it before then.

Oh, Titanic...you intrigue me.

      

Just Call me Roger...

Ebert that is.

I ended up seeing The Hunger Games twice on opening weekend with two different groups of people. One group really liked the movie, the other hated it. I still can't decide what I think.

The movie was so hyped that I knew on some level I would be disappointed because there is no way it could or would compare to the book.

The pros:

• It was a good film adaptation. The movie hit on the major plot points and didn't change anything that was sacred to the book.
• I liked seeing The Capital and the people that lived there brought to life. Upon my first reading of the book, I didn't really picture the people looking that strange.
• While Haymitch wasn't anywhere as miserable as I thought he should have been, I liked the relationship he had with Katniss and Effie especially.
• Elizabeth Banks as Effie was great.

The cons:

• I thought the actor who played Peeta was so flat and uninteresting.
• There was no characted development particularly when it came to Katniss and Peeta's relationship.
• I don't think the movie really got across the point that The Hunger Games was not just a reality show for people who lived in The Capitol (Captial?) but that it was put in place as a punishment for the Districts. I guess I pictured forced public viewings rather than Mom and Prim watching at home.

But here is the BIG THING.

I was SO distrated by the cinematography! I thought it was so weird that the camera kept focusing in on random things like a curl of hair or a ring. I guess it was supposed to be arty but I hated it. Also, I know they had to skate through the battle scenes to give the movie a PG-13 rating but it felt like the movie was supposed to be 3 hours long and they hit fast forward to fit it in 2.5 hours. It was so fast my eyes couldn't focus on anything and I felt like I wasn't actually watching it. (Picture someone standing right in front of you waving something really fast in your face and trying to figure out what it was.) The way they filmed the movie was so shaky it was too Blair Witch for me.