The drive-in movie

We went to the drive-in on Saturday night-- it was a double feature of The Incredible Hulk and Get Smart, and it was so cool. I'd already seen Get Smart in cinemas, but it was still good.

Hulk was amazing. People have been raving about it, so I expected it to disappoint... but it didn't. I should probably rent Ang Lee's version at some time, though it got bad reviews. I don't think that Erik Bana could be as good a Hulk as Edward Norton. The thing about Norton is that he has a very gentle demeanor; Bruce Banner is such a believable mild-mannered professor sort that the contrast between Banner and Hulk is really impressive. The story really wouldn't work otherwise.

And radioactive Brazilian soda pop? How could a movie with that be bad?

The drive-in was a great place to geek-out. My brother, Charlie, and I argued as to whether Hellboy II counts as a comic book movie (I say it does), and then there was a trailer for The Dark Night. My mom began lamenting something about Viggo Mortensen-- I finally realized that she meant Aaron Eckhart, and that she thought Eckhart had taken over from the late Heath Ledger (*sob*).

Mom: It's that cleft in his chin. It's too distinctive.
Me: Huh?
Mom: He doesn't have it when he's the Joker.
Me: *confusion*
Mom: Only when he's not the Joker.
Me: But the Joker is always the Joker. Aaron Eckhart is Harvey Dent.... Two-Face? He's, like, the mayor? And then half of his face is burned and he becomes Two-Face? And after that he chooses whether he sides with the good guys or the bad guys by flipping a coin? You know? (*on screen, a quick flash of oil spilling across the ground towards a man lying there*) See! Just there! You missed it.
Mom: Uh... how do you even know this?

There were only trailers before the first feature (Hulk), and then there was an intermission. My mom and Charlie got out of the car, but I stayed there-- they played old commercials from when the drive-ins first got started. ("Sprite, with the refreshing taste of limon! That's lime and lemon.... From the Coca Cola company, of course!") Apparently popcorn really is nutritious.

When the intermission first started, I immediately had to talk about the movie. I'm like that. One of the best things about being at a drive-in movie was that I could also talk during the movie, and only Mom and Charlie could hear me, what with our sitting in the back of our car with the hatch up. I don't like to annoy strangers, but my family is used to me. And the fact that I have opinions about everything.

Me: Can you believe that? I was not expecting that!
Mom: They always give you a twenty minute break between movies.
Me: No, not that. The guy. At the very end? Stark? That was Iron Man!
Mom: Who?

I won't spoil any more of the cameo for you.

I tried to convince them that we should go to Iron Man later that Sunday (the movies ended at about 2:00 AM). No one wanted to go, though. Mom pointed out how expensive movies are, and Charlie just likes to sit at home all day on his computer. I'll try to get some friends together to go see it later this week, because I bet Iron Man won't be in theatres much longer.

The archaic entertainment

My mom, brother, and I are talking about going to a drive-in movie tomorrow night. I've never been to one-- there aren't really any drive-in theatres around; we're going up to Bremerton.

I'm not quite sure what to expect, what with my expectations coming from old movies in which the characters watched movies. There aren't any drive-in movie theatres nearby because they became as obsolete as the VCR (still working, but the new model is shinier), but I just read tonight (while finding a theatre) that they are coming back in vogue. It's weird how things come in and out of fashion, and how they can suddenly become cool, just because the right people (or enough people) like them.

I've always worn used clothes-- most of the clothes that I wear today are hand-me-downs from my mom that are slightly too big or else something that I bought at Goodwill. And then, suddenly... I wasn't wearing old clothes: I was being vintage. Value Village is cool. There are famous people now who don't want to wear new clothes that look retro; they want to wear clothes that look like new clothes that look retro, only they are actually old clothes that weren't too worn out to sell again.

People are awesome. Our species may be the only one to produce genocidal maniacs, but still...

Awesome.

The hammock days

When I was a kid and summer break first started, it seemed endless. What would I do for the whole month of July? The whole month of August? This summer is compartmentalized into weeks, and there aren't really that many of them. There are also no new Harry Potter books. This may sound impossibly geeky, but I sort of measured the summer around the new book-- the (many year) countdown until it was released, the release party that my friends and I got dressed up for, the marathon all-night read, the rest of the summer debating the series online. I miss the Shipping Wars.


I found this picture in my online collection. It's of my friend Caro and me; we've been friends since... well, since before this picture was taken. We appear to be on a camping trip. Are we in the Cascades, maybe? I honestly have no idea. Caro is the adorable one, while I'm the one who looks a bit like a vampire. Caro, for the record, was one of the friends who would get just as rigged up in a homemade Hogwarts uniform as I did.

I'm taking some classes at a local college, instead of finishing the ones that I missed when I was sick. Tomorrow's only my third day, but it's pretty interesting so far. Pre-Cal (or Math&141, because that's way less confusing) is my favorite class so far, and I am not a "math person." Funny.

There's not really that much to report right now. Hopefully I'll have an audition or two coming up soon. Remember, "Hell hath no fury like the vast robot armies of a woman scorned." (Yeah, I put that in because someone on Futurama just said it; it has no relation to the rest of the paragraph.)