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The tale of seeing Pan's Labyrinth would not be complete without the tale surrounding the journey to see it. I had worked the night before and it started snowing at about 4 am. The roads were pretty miserable coming home, and after sleeping a mere 4 hours I looked outside to see near white-out conditions. My phone call to Ryan was in the form of a challenge: "Are we still on, or are you afraid of a little snow?" He wasn't, we were, and that's why I love him so.
Frightening, nerve-wracking weather. "You're just going to have to give me the ticket, officer, because if I stop at this light I'm not convinced I'll be able to move again" weather. The roads were covered with a foot of accumulated snow with barely-discernible tracks from previous motorists to follow. Apparently if the city isn't expecting a storm, it takes about 24 hours to mobilize plows (and being Sunday didn't help much either). We cursed at stupid SUVs in unison. We devised back-up plans should we become stuck. It was the kind of fun that can only be had in a shared life-threatening situation.
You would think that people who loved movies enough to brave these conditions could resist the urge to whip out their cell phone and check their messages mid-movie, and be better suited to tolerate a 2-hour running time without dancing in the seats. You would be wrong.
Anyway, without further ado I give you ( ::Pan's Labyrinth:: )
All in all, it's an excellent, well-executed film. Like I said, just not the one I thought I was paying to see. It was kind of like buying a Frappucino only to discover that the bottom half of it is bitter black coffee. I will still probably buy the DVD. 4 out of 5
As measure of the movie, I was far more impressed by the trailer before it for 300:
300 trailer, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Is it the scantily clad, perfectly toned men leaping about with swords? Is it the digital colorization making every frame look like a piece of Frank Frazetta art? Is it the mega-dramatic slow motion? I'm not sure. I just know you had me at "Just Like You Imagined" (the moment the music gets truly exciting).
~*~
Like I mentioned, I worked this weekend. We had a pretty full house, including a family with so many cats that they filled C ward and had to be put in A ward with the dogs (so yes, dogs and cats were sleeping together. It was anarchy). They had a smattering of dogs too, including 2 rottweilers, Thor and Prada. They growled menacingly at first, but as soon as they realized that I am She-Who-Opens-The-Door-To-Pee, and even more importantly, She-Who-Serves-The-Food, well, that put a quick end to their rumblings. And let me tell you, nothing puts a swagger in your step after a break-in than heading out to the yard flanked by two rottweilers (although it was a little disconcerting when these same dogs literally wrapped themselves around my legs and started snapping at each other. Tery says it's a sign of possessiveness over me. Flattering, but next time they can just send flowers).
They have a third, Ursa, an ancient old girl whose back legs have stopped working and who has to be hauled about with a sling. It was therefore completely beyond my comprehension why, when I returned Saturday night, someone had moved her into the kennel behind the door, where the angle is damn near impossible to navigate with a healthy dog. This is what I mean when I complain about seemingly smart people with a degree in animal medicine who lack a shred of common sense about everything else.
I also discovered a breed that could be just as annoying as beagles: huskies, the younger the worse. We had a husky youth who had just been neutered who cried and cried all night long. Unfortunately, after yelling at him all morning to shut the fuck up, I had to give no less than 5 medicines to this poor cat who, as luck would have it, was directly over his kennel:
"Enya" - as far from the Orinoco Flow as you can possibly get
Frightening, nerve-wracking weather. "You're just going to have to give me the ticket, officer, because if I stop at this light I'm not convinced I'll be able to move again" weather. The roads were covered with a foot of accumulated snow with barely-discernible tracks from previous motorists to follow. Apparently if the city isn't expecting a storm, it takes about 24 hours to mobilize plows (and being Sunday didn't help much either). We cursed at stupid SUVs in unison. We devised back-up plans should we become stuck. It was the kind of fun that can only be had in a shared life-threatening situation.
You would think that people who loved movies enough to brave these conditions could resist the urge to whip out their cell phone and check their messages mid-movie, and be better suited to tolerate a 2-hour running time without dancing in the seats. You would be wrong.
Anyway, without further ado I give you ( ::Pan's Labyrinth:: )
All in all, it's an excellent, well-executed film. Like I said, just not the one I thought I was paying to see. It was kind of like buying a Frappucino only to discover that the bottom half of it is bitter black coffee. I will still probably buy the DVD. 4 out of 5
As measure of the movie, I was far more impressed by the trailer before it for 300:
300 trailer, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Is it the scantily clad, perfectly toned men leaping about with swords? Is it the digital colorization making every frame look like a piece of Frank Frazetta art? Is it the mega-dramatic slow motion? I'm not sure. I just know you had me at "Just Like You Imagined" (the moment the music gets truly exciting).
~*~
Like I mentioned, I worked this weekend. We had a pretty full house, including a family with so many cats that they filled C ward and had to be put in A ward with the dogs (so yes, dogs and cats were sleeping together. It was anarchy). They had a smattering of dogs too, including 2 rottweilers, Thor and Prada. They growled menacingly at first, but as soon as they realized that I am She-Who-Opens-The-Door-To-Pee, and even more importantly, She-Who-Serves-The-Food, well, that put a quick end to their rumblings. And let me tell you, nothing puts a swagger in your step after a break-in than heading out to the yard flanked by two rottweilers (although it was a little disconcerting when these same dogs literally wrapped themselves around my legs and started snapping at each other. Tery says it's a sign of possessiveness over me. Flattering, but next time they can just send flowers).
They have a third, Ursa, an ancient old girl whose back legs have stopped working and who has to be hauled about with a sling. It was therefore completely beyond my comprehension why, when I returned Saturday night, someone had moved her into the kennel behind the door, where the angle is damn near impossible to navigate with a healthy dog. This is what I mean when I complain about seemingly smart people with a degree in animal medicine who lack a shred of common sense about everything else.
I also discovered a breed that could be just as annoying as beagles: huskies, the younger the worse. We had a husky youth who had just been neutered who cried and cried all night long. Unfortunately, after yelling at him all morning to shut the fuck up, I had to give no less than 5 medicines to this poor cat who, as luck would have it, was directly over his kennel:
"Enya" - as far from the Orinoco Flow as you can possibly get
