I think I may have IMAX-ed too soon
It is the wee hours of Christmas, so first let me start off by wishing everyone a Happy Christmas. Since I almost certainly won't get around to updating again later, due mainly to family events and sleep, I figure this is the best time to spread my Christmas cheer, which is a mixture of many delightful, and some disturbing, things.
I not too long ago got done wrapping the gifts I bought, save the ones for my roommates, since I won't be back to Kalamazoo until Tuesday anyway. I am continuing a tradition I started no later than last year by wrapping each different person's gifts in different wrapping paper. This year with the addition of Benjamin I had 7 people to wrap for, and thankfully we have a supply of paper to allow me to wrap all of them in different paper. Truth be told, since the stores didn't have what I really wanted to get my mom (shows me for finishing my shopping on Christmas Eve), the only people who have more than one present from me are Lily, Kevin and my dad. It seems kind of silly, but it's something I like to do. I also like to not use the same kind of bow twice, and again, I was very nicely obliged by our bow reserves.
I also had the honor this evening, around 2, to decorate our tree. I know, it sounds really odd that we would not have any decorations on our tree so late in the holiday game. But this is the way things worked out, and since my mom and I went out to a movie tonight (more on that later) she was too tired to finish wrapping for the children, let alone put on ornaments and lights. So we have a nice string of green lights (the colored ones didn't work, and thank goodness I checked that out first) and an assortment of ornaments that I picked out of the bag and hung before I felt it was decorated enough and when it became boring.
While I was out tonight I DVR-ed a bunch of South Park Christmas episodes and watched them as I decorated and wrapped. And now I am watching what is surely to be my only real chance for a full viewing during 24 hours of A Christmas Story. I really don't know that I have gotten a chance to see the movie all the way through, even though I have seen all of the movie at some point. It has always been during this merriest of traditions, highlighting the best Christmas movie ever. Sure, there are those who will say that It's a Wonderful Life is better, or something like that, but I tell you this: I have never seen It's a Wonderful Life, I don't have any desire to see It's a Wonderful Life, and even if I did, and had seen it, it wouldn't hold a candle to this movie. It's not like they air It's a Wonderful Life for 24 hours, right? Do they air any other movie for 24 hours? Nope! Not a single one! That alone is evidence that this is the best one. That and the fact that it is just so totally random and wonderful and features a boy's desire for a BB gun. What could be better than that? Besides, he has to dress up in pink bunny pajamas at one point. I wish I had pink bunny pajamas.
Anyway, after working the night of the 23rd and finishing my shopping, arriving home around noon yesterday I decided to call Jim, to wish him a Merry Christmas (even though it was only Christmas Eve, I was aware of that, thank you very much). After that, I got the idea to call a bunch of other people in my phone list, and I ended up calling 16 people. Half of them I actually talked to (some at great length, like Jim, but most notably my roommate-to-be Jon with whom I spoke for over 36 minutes, but I haven't seen him in a while and it was a good chat, so I'm not complaining in the least), the others I left messages. It ended up lasting me until 3, when I intended to go to bed by 1 at the latest. It kept feeding itself. I would call a few people, get to talk to someone for a while, and then I'd be excited from the conversation and want to call more people. But I'm glad I called as many as I did, because it was really nice to spread some holiday cheer, plus it was actually a good thing to deprive myself of some sleep so I can sleep a bit before we open presents and I go to church and everything. I'm going to need it since I have to work tonight. Yes, that's right, tonight, Christmas night. It's going to be quite a hoot, too. With any luck we'll get to straighten. And if you couldn't tell, that is said with the highest degree of sarcasm. I hate straightening with such a passion that I do all that I can to avoid doing it if I can.
Anyway, why don't I talk about the movie, since it is actually because of it that this entry has its title. My mom and I had plans, since this was going to be a night I was in town and not working, to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This was finally going to be her first viewing, and my second. Well, yesterday when I checked the listings on Friday, they had a 9:30 showing at the IMAX theater, which we both assumed also meant they would have on Saturday. Not so (although they are going to have that same showing tonight, on Christmas). By the time we found out, close to 7 last night, and only because I got up to go to the bathroom and my Spider sense was tingling so I checked the listings again, it was too late to do much, except there was a showing at 10:30 at the Woodland Cinemark, one of 2 new theaters the Grand Rapids area has seen open in the last 2 months. We have a very saturated market. I wonder if we'll see ticket prices come down. (Okay, I know it's a pipe dream, but it's worth a try.) This showing was pretty late, but by then, since there weren't any, and I mean any, other showings that night, and since we probably wouldn't have any other chance, we went and had a good time.
Allow me to digress on the movie for a little bit. Back when I saw it for the first time, at a midnight showing the day it came out (as I've seen all of the Harry Potter films), I reserved my judgment of what I thought until I saw it the second time, which I figured would be shortly thereafter. I was wrong (obviously). So seeing it again made me realize why even though I hadn't voiced it why I liked the movie as much as I did, even though it ventured a bit from the novel. As much as I love the series, I realize there are some things that JK Rowling just hasn't thought to put in her books because they are books, and when you add the visual element, you have to compensate and add some window dressing, so the fact that there is a school band to add music, or the fact that the boys would stay up late and joke around and stuff, this is fine with me, even if it isn't in the books. Goblet of Fire is still at this point my favorite of the books, and I still don't know why. Maybe it was because of the fact that I started reading the series after it came out and thus had it as the last book to contemplate before Order of the Phoenix came out. I do admit that I have only read Half-Blood Prince twice so far, so who knows what may happen once I have read it more, and certainly, book 7 may rise to the occasion and become my favorite, but I really doubt it.
Anyway, this viewing reminded me of one of the greatest elements of the movie series, that of the music. Okay, so John Williams stepped aside. I don't care. This movie had a lot of fun music, and come Monday I am going to own that soundtrack (I already know I am not getting it for Christmas, but didn't have the heart to buy it today once I found it because the stores didn't have what I wanted to get for my mom, so I decided to wait for now). I think what really does it for me is the song "Magic Works." I have sat through the credits twice now, and it plays at the end, and I love it to death. I felt the same thing this time as I did the last time: I feel held back by society in expressing my feelings, especially crying. Oddly enough, I am actually quite the sap, and am moved to tears a lot, but I hold them back almost every time because I am around people and don't feel comfortable shedding tears. It sucks, and I know I shouldn't let it get to me, but it happens nonetheless. I want to get the soundtrack so I can cry to that song in the safety and comfort of my own room or car or wherever. (I'm planning on listening to it for the first time on my way back to Kalamazoo on Tuesday, so there will probably be tears running down my cheeks by the end of my drive.)
The last couple of days has helped me to realize something that is not really important but still is not a surprise: I am probably the biggest Harry Potter fan I know. I'm not saying I'm the biggest one in the world. At the very least, that honor probably falls with one of the people at the Harry Potter Lexicon, but maybe not even them. No, what I am saying is, I have seen all the movies at midnight the day they have come out, I have bought the DVDs on the day they came out. Ever since I started reading the books, I have gotten the new ones the day they came out (which counts even when I was in Japan, since I had a copy delivered to my house the day it came out, but more notably, being halfway around the world and being on a mission trip couldn't keep me from giving in and buying a copy over there to read). I insist on reading each book the same number of times, which is why I must read Half-Blood Prince 4 more times before I am going to read the series through again (which I really want to do, especially books 4 and 5, since they have been playing on my mind a lot lately). Of course, a new Star Wars book series just had to come out, and I am reading that right now. Otherwise I probably would be through Book 6 at least one more time again like I figured would happen over Christmas break.
Anyway, there's really only one more thing to write in this really long entry, and that's to say that on the way home my mom hit a deer. Well, barely, really, but we did catch the tail end of it, literally. There is no apparent damage to the car, and we turned around and didn't see the deer at all, so hopefully she wasn't hurt much or at all, and at least she wasn't killed.
Well, it's getting late, I want to send some Christmas emails to some people, and hopefully get some sleep in before getting up for church. And then there are presents. But I know in my heart what I really want this year, and I think it's already started happening. I want to get closer to God this year. I've been slipping away lately, and I think I may have gotten a nice little gift to help things along. I tried my radio at random today (it hadn't been working) and it came on, so I got to listen to WAY-FM, and it was awesome. Music really is one of my greatest loves. Getting to rock out for Jesus is one of the best things I know, and getting it for Christmas was the best gift since Jesus. Happy Christmas everyone. Sorry this was so long.
No I'm not.
I not too long ago got done wrapping the gifts I bought, save the ones for my roommates, since I won't be back to Kalamazoo until Tuesday anyway. I am continuing a tradition I started no later than last year by wrapping each different person's gifts in different wrapping paper. This year with the addition of Benjamin I had 7 people to wrap for, and thankfully we have a supply of paper to allow me to wrap all of them in different paper. Truth be told, since the stores didn't have what I really wanted to get my mom (shows me for finishing my shopping on Christmas Eve), the only people who have more than one present from me are Lily, Kevin and my dad. It seems kind of silly, but it's something I like to do. I also like to not use the same kind of bow twice, and again, I was very nicely obliged by our bow reserves.
I also had the honor this evening, around 2, to decorate our tree. I know, it sounds really odd that we would not have any decorations on our tree so late in the holiday game. But this is the way things worked out, and since my mom and I went out to a movie tonight (more on that later) she was too tired to finish wrapping for the children, let alone put on ornaments and lights. So we have a nice string of green lights (the colored ones didn't work, and thank goodness I checked that out first) and an assortment of ornaments that I picked out of the bag and hung before I felt it was decorated enough and when it became boring.
While I was out tonight I DVR-ed a bunch of South Park Christmas episodes and watched them as I decorated and wrapped. And now I am watching what is surely to be my only real chance for a full viewing during 24 hours of A Christmas Story. I really don't know that I have gotten a chance to see the movie all the way through, even though I have seen all of the movie at some point. It has always been during this merriest of traditions, highlighting the best Christmas movie ever. Sure, there are those who will say that It's a Wonderful Life is better, or something like that, but I tell you this: I have never seen It's a Wonderful Life, I don't have any desire to see It's a Wonderful Life, and even if I did, and had seen it, it wouldn't hold a candle to this movie. It's not like they air It's a Wonderful Life for 24 hours, right? Do they air any other movie for 24 hours? Nope! Not a single one! That alone is evidence that this is the best one. That and the fact that it is just so totally random and wonderful and features a boy's desire for a BB gun. What could be better than that? Besides, he has to dress up in pink bunny pajamas at one point. I wish I had pink bunny pajamas.
Anyway, after working the night of the 23rd and finishing my shopping, arriving home around noon yesterday I decided to call Jim, to wish him a Merry Christmas (even though it was only Christmas Eve, I was aware of that, thank you very much). After that, I got the idea to call a bunch of other people in my phone list, and I ended up calling 16 people. Half of them I actually talked to (some at great length, like Jim, but most notably my roommate-to-be Jon with whom I spoke for over 36 minutes, but I haven't seen him in a while and it was a good chat, so I'm not complaining in the least), the others I left messages. It ended up lasting me until 3, when I intended to go to bed by 1 at the latest. It kept feeding itself. I would call a few people, get to talk to someone for a while, and then I'd be excited from the conversation and want to call more people. But I'm glad I called as many as I did, because it was really nice to spread some holiday cheer, plus it was actually a good thing to deprive myself of some sleep so I can sleep a bit before we open presents and I go to church and everything. I'm going to need it since I have to work tonight. Yes, that's right, tonight, Christmas night. It's going to be quite a hoot, too. With any luck we'll get to straighten. And if you couldn't tell, that is said with the highest degree of sarcasm. I hate straightening with such a passion that I do all that I can to avoid doing it if I can.
Anyway, why don't I talk about the movie, since it is actually because of it that this entry has its title. My mom and I had plans, since this was going to be a night I was in town and not working, to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This was finally going to be her first viewing, and my second. Well, yesterday when I checked the listings on Friday, they had a 9:30 showing at the IMAX theater, which we both assumed also meant they would have on Saturday. Not so (although they are going to have that same showing tonight, on Christmas). By the time we found out, close to 7 last night, and only because I got up to go to the bathroom and my Spider sense was tingling so I checked the listings again, it was too late to do much, except there was a showing at 10:30 at the Woodland Cinemark, one of 2 new theaters the Grand Rapids area has seen open in the last 2 months. We have a very saturated market. I wonder if we'll see ticket prices come down. (Okay, I know it's a pipe dream, but it's worth a try.) This showing was pretty late, but by then, since there weren't any, and I mean any, other showings that night, and since we probably wouldn't have any other chance, we went and had a good time.
Allow me to digress on the movie for a little bit. Back when I saw it for the first time, at a midnight showing the day it came out (as I've seen all of the Harry Potter films), I reserved my judgment of what I thought until I saw it the second time, which I figured would be shortly thereafter. I was wrong (obviously). So seeing it again made me realize why even though I hadn't voiced it why I liked the movie as much as I did, even though it ventured a bit from the novel. As much as I love the series, I realize there are some things that JK Rowling just hasn't thought to put in her books because they are books, and when you add the visual element, you have to compensate and add some window dressing, so the fact that there is a school band to add music, or the fact that the boys would stay up late and joke around and stuff, this is fine with me, even if it isn't in the books. Goblet of Fire is still at this point my favorite of the books, and I still don't know why. Maybe it was because of the fact that I started reading the series after it came out and thus had it as the last book to contemplate before Order of the Phoenix came out. I do admit that I have only read Half-Blood Prince twice so far, so who knows what may happen once I have read it more, and certainly, book 7 may rise to the occasion and become my favorite, but I really doubt it.
Anyway, this viewing reminded me of one of the greatest elements of the movie series, that of the music. Okay, so John Williams stepped aside. I don't care. This movie had a lot of fun music, and come Monday I am going to own that soundtrack (I already know I am not getting it for Christmas, but didn't have the heart to buy it today once I found it because the stores didn't have what I wanted to get for my mom, so I decided to wait for now). I think what really does it for me is the song "Magic Works." I have sat through the credits twice now, and it plays at the end, and I love it to death. I felt the same thing this time as I did the last time: I feel held back by society in expressing my feelings, especially crying. Oddly enough, I am actually quite the sap, and am moved to tears a lot, but I hold them back almost every time because I am around people and don't feel comfortable shedding tears. It sucks, and I know I shouldn't let it get to me, but it happens nonetheless. I want to get the soundtrack so I can cry to that song in the safety and comfort of my own room or car or wherever. (I'm planning on listening to it for the first time on my way back to Kalamazoo on Tuesday, so there will probably be tears running down my cheeks by the end of my drive.)
The last couple of days has helped me to realize something that is not really important but still is not a surprise: I am probably the biggest Harry Potter fan I know. I'm not saying I'm the biggest one in the world. At the very least, that honor probably falls with one of the people at the Harry Potter Lexicon, but maybe not even them. No, what I am saying is, I have seen all the movies at midnight the day they have come out, I have bought the DVDs on the day they came out. Ever since I started reading the books, I have gotten the new ones the day they came out (which counts even when I was in Japan, since I had a copy delivered to my house the day it came out, but more notably, being halfway around the world and being on a mission trip couldn't keep me from giving in and buying a copy over there to read). I insist on reading each book the same number of times, which is why I must read Half-Blood Prince 4 more times before I am going to read the series through again (which I really want to do, especially books 4 and 5, since they have been playing on my mind a lot lately). Of course, a new Star Wars book series just had to come out, and I am reading that right now. Otherwise I probably would be through Book 6 at least one more time again like I figured would happen over Christmas break.
Anyway, there's really only one more thing to write in this really long entry, and that's to say that on the way home my mom hit a deer. Well, barely, really, but we did catch the tail end of it, literally. There is no apparent damage to the car, and we turned around and didn't see the deer at all, so hopefully she wasn't hurt much or at all, and at least she wasn't killed.
Well, it's getting late, I want to send some Christmas emails to some people, and hopefully get some sleep in before getting up for church. And then there are presents. But I know in my heart what I really want this year, and I think it's already started happening. I want to get closer to God this year. I've been slipping away lately, and I think I may have gotten a nice little gift to help things along. I tried my radio at random today (it hadn't been working) and it came on, so I got to listen to WAY-FM, and it was awesome. Music really is one of my greatest loves. Getting to rock out for Jesus is one of the best things I know, and getting it for Christmas was the best gift since Jesus. Happy Christmas everyone. Sorry this was so long.
No I'm not.
posted by Bob. @ 04:32
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