The Days Before Halloween: Photo Album

My sister came to visit this weekend. Along with celebrating her birthday, we also went to see Rocky Horror at the Union.

And thus, the photo-album.

Most of the pictures I took at the pre-show turned out really blurry. No matter, however. Just being there, dancing the Time Warp and getting showered in flying toast and rice is enough. It is, after all, nothing without the audience participation. 

Our costumes for the 'Ville:

Such a great weekend. I need more weekends like it. They're good for the soul. 

Home Again

My weekends at home are much too short, and I have noticed each visit seems to get shorter and shorter.

Anyway.

Fall is my favorite season. There is a small maple tree in the yard, and one of the best things about fall is watching its leaves turn from green to yellow and orange to a rich red-orange. I missed the turning this year; most of the leaves have fallen from the branches, and the red-orange on most of the remaining leaves has faded to a gorgeous burnt orange color.

I missed homecoming for the first time in years this year, and I can't decide whether I'm upset or not. At the moment, it's an ache that I can't really put my finger on. I love homecoming; it was and will forever be part of my favorite memories of growing up in my hometown.

Heidi's birthday is this coming week, so my family and I have been having a sort of mini-celebration for her. She's been home since last Monday for her fall break. After the having survived this horrible week, I wish I'd been able to have my fall break at the same time.

As is the tradition for being home, we've watched a Harry Potter movie (two this time around, both Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix on Heidi's request as she is the Birthday Girl). Heidi and I went to see the Footloose remake last night at the Astro 3, and despite the fact that there was a country remake of the title song during the last scene of the movie, we were both pleased and genuinely entertained. It was very good, and I'd definitely see it again.

After the movie, Heidi and I went cruising to talk and listen to music. Conversation is a beautiful thing, and those I have with Heidi are some of my most treasured.

I'm not looking forward to having to return to the Little Apple tomorrow; not that I hate it, because I don't. I just need more time here. I haven't been home much since the beginning of the year. In the last 24 hours alone, I've felt more calm, laughed more genuinely, and had more of a focus on life than I've had in ages. Thanksgiving break cannot come soon enough.

Pretty Lights and High Tech Gadgets

Alisha, Emma, and I went to see Tron: Legacy earlier this evening. It had been my idea, and Alisha had gone along with it only because I had suggested it. Emma is into "shiny" things and such, so she went to be visually entertained. I'm a movie trailer kind of person, so I was interested in it because the trailer was good. Plus, the admission charge was only $1, and we figured it would be worth the dollar if it was good, and if it was bad...well, it did only cost a dollar.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. I figured it was likely to be one of those films that are only made because they distract your eyes so you can think about other things. There probably wouldn't be much of a plot, but I was okay with that. It looked pretty, so that would hopefully make up for the possible lack of intellectual value.

But what we discovered as soon as Sam Flynn reaches the Grid was that it had a little more meat to it than just a recycled storyline and things exploding. There was an interesting--albeit subtle--play between this perfect-universe gone rotten and the utopian idea that existed long before it in the mind of the original Flynn. Granted, it wasn't the most original idea, but it carried it out fairly well in comparison to our expectations.

Flynn and Clu's relationship reminded me strongly of "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", save for the fact that Flynn didn't realize the implications of creating a half of himself when he did so--that this other side of him would misconstrue the truth of the mission. My favorite part of the movie is the last chunk before the credits, starting with Sam and Flynn's discussion of how much the world has changed since Flynn's disappearance. So much about the human condition was stated in the dialogue without the characters outlining it word for word. The question of whether this perfection is easily attainable in the way we intend it to be or not is one of the strongest aspects of this movie, and I have high praise for Disney for this very reason.

Michael Sheen and the 80s vibes were also pretty awesome. (And that's never a bad thing.)

It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it certainly gets points for being what it was.