Inception (by Women)

As usual, my idea for this comic is a mixed bag. On the one hand, I was looking for an excuse to talk about my family vacation. On the other, I saw Inception last week and it's been bouncing around in my head ever since. And rather then start with Inception and forget to reference my summer vacation (which is definitely worth mentioning), I'll do the smart thing and start talking about my family's trip to Sesame Place.

We ended up going through their website and booking one of their package trips. We had 3 nights at the Radisson and 2 days at the park. It worked out pretty well. We drove up after Lilly's nap on a Sunday. Got checked in. Got some dinner. And took a swim in the indoor pool before turning in early. The next day we had breakfast with Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby, and had an awesome day playing in the water attractions at the park. The next day we took in the dry attractions and the shows between some heavy rain. All in all it was a nice trip. Both kids had a blast, and Jill and I enjoyed it enough that we'll probably try to go back when the kids are a little older. For those interested in pictures, you can find them here.

Next, there was the mind-trip that was Inception. I've used both the words, brilliant and masterpiece to describe this film to friends, and I include them here because I believe the movie to be worthy of both. The tricky part about Inception is that it's a movie that it is difficult to talk about without spoiling something of the plot, so take that as a warning before you read further. That being said, Inception is NOT a twist movie, so don't go in trying to out-think it. It will likely take away from your overall enjoyment of the film. This is not a puzzle for you to solve, but it will pluck your brain in other ways.

After seeing the film I have read some pretty interesting articles about the film, and been part of some interesting debates about how much of the film is in reality, and how much is a dream. One of the most compelling discussions being from the point of view that the entire movie is a dream. That even the parts that we are supposed to believe are in reality are actually a part of Cobb's mind. There are plenty of clues in the film for someone to support this argument, and I think I align myself with that camp. That being said, I think that the most interesting thing the film does is to present you with a story where, even though you know the emotional payoffs may not be occurring in "reality" it makes them no less real. The movie reaches a point where you stop worrying about what's a dream and what isn't and just start feeling for the characters that are walking through this dream world looking to heal their fractured psyches and souls. Watching the movie with that in mind, I find that the final act is quite satisfying.

I also feel I could watch the movie about 5 times in close succession, and still find it absolutely fascinating. I can't wait to see what Nolan does next, both with Batman and Beyond.

In Your End, Oh!

First off, let me say that this is paraphrased from a post that I did on HCRealms that I didn't realize until after the fact was steeped with innuendo. And if you know the character/HeroClix I'm talking about, it makes it even funnier. For those that are unaware (and if you are, you came here by accident, or you're my Mom), the character I'm talking about in the comic is Megan Fox's character in the new Jonah Hex movie that comes out next weekend.

The character of Lilah is a prostitute and the corresponding HeroClix that comes out in August is based on a figure from one of the earliest sets called the "Con Artist." Now HeroClix is a game that's aimed at a demographic where parents wouldn't like to see a figure named "Prostitute" but that's basically what the Con Artists looked like, and that's what some Clixers call them.

Anyway, if you didn't catch the innuendo the first time around, go back and re-read the comic with all that in mind. It's much funnier when you look at it completely wrong. Anyway, all that being said, I'm really looking forward to the Jonah Hex movie, although I doubt I'll catch it in a first-run theater. Much like Wolverine last year, I'll probably wait for it to hit the cheap seats and go with one of my guy friends.

Graduation! Now With Wings!

You know how any time you have a big event that requires you to order some sort of special clothing, like a gown for Graduation, your parents (or a spouse) inevitably tell you once it comes in, that you should try it on and make sure it fits? Well that happened MONTHS AGO when Jill’s robe for her graduation showed up. However, between having a second child, and just the chaos of keeping up with the first, getting around to trying on the gown never really happened.

So the night before the ceremony, Jill slides on the gown, and can’t figure out where her hands are supposed to go. Needless to say, this is mere hours before we’re getting into the car to go, so if there is a problem, there’s really not anything we can do about it. Fortunately for us, we discovered the slits in the sleeves before anything drastic (like ripping stitches out) had happened. However, the comedy of what could have been nearly was EXACTLY what happened.

So even though Jill earned her Masters Degree in August, she got to go through the traditional pomp and circumstance of graduation last weekend. And much to her pleasure, both girls did a fairly good job of sitting through the ceremony, and Lilly actually beamed with pride as Mom walked across the stage to be honored as a graduate of the college.

Congratulations, dear! You went through a lot of hard work to earn your Masters and to do it while teaching full time, being a mom, and generally keeping the house in good working order is no small task.

And since this is going up on Memorial Day, I’d like to also say a quick Thank You to all the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces, and to their families that support them.

When I Think About You, I Touch myTouch

Edit: Made some edits to the comic to correct a spelling mistake, and to make it more clear that Lilly is in the back seat. And although she didn't actually work out that I was spelling out a word as complex as parenting, she did work out that I was spelling Annie (of Annie's Playground) when Jill and I were trying to have a coded conversation in the car about not having time to stop there. Let's just say that conversation could have gone more smoothly.

That said, the original idea for this strip came from the fact that we finally dumped Verizon Wireless, and their horrible customer service, and recently switched to T-Mobile, where my wonderful wife allowed me to get a myTouch smartphone. But more on that later. First I want to cover why we switched. 1) T-Mobile's rates are just a smidgen cheaper, and that was part of the make or break on whether I could get a smartphone, and 2) Verizon Wireless now has this asinine rule that says, you HAVE TO get a $10 data plan whether you want it or not on ANY of their phones regardless of whether you intend to use it or not. And when you ask their reps about it, the best they can do is give you some snide answer about how everyone else is doing it. Well, guess what! T-Mobile isn't. Not only that, but they were super helpful in listening to what we needed/wanted and did they're best to show us what we could get for what we wanted to pay.

Now that my Verizon venting is out of the way, on to what I think about the myTouch. The short answer is I LOVE THIS PHONE! The longer answer has a lot to do with the Android operating system in general. I love how fluidly it syncs with my Gmail account. It makes things like updating the contacts and the Calendar a breeze, and even a little fun. I love the apps store. I really wish I just had a couple of days to download and play with stuff. I've already linked up my Photobucket and Facebook accounts, and I've been enjoying actually using Facebook again. It's much easier to post thoughts when I can do it from my phone when inspiration hits. And I love that I can show my Photobucket pictures off without them actually residing on my phone. I really can't believe I waited so long to get one. Of course now I'm hooked, and that's ultimately what the phone companies want anyway. Oh well!

Too Young for Senior Moments?

Before anyone asks, yes this is one of those conversations that actually happened.I don't know if it's age or exhaustion catching up with me, but I've been mighty forgetful as of late. One evening when I was picking the girls up from daycare, I forgot to grab the carrier when I passed it in the entry way. Fortunately, it was actually there and I didn't have to run home or something to get it. Although, I do think it's funny that the comic sort of implies that I had to run home or something.

If this were the only indecent, it wouldn't be such a big deal. However, one day shortly after this, I almost put the carrier back in my car when I was leaving in the morning. That wouldn't have been such a big deal except for the fact that Jill was the one picking the girls up in the evening.

And then there was this Thursday. Now with the warmer weather in the evenings, I'm having to carry a lot more things home that would normally either be on Lilly or Willow's carrier. However, instead, things like coats are taking up space in bags, which means I have more smaller things to carry, like lunchboxes and coolers. Well, on Thursday Willow's cooler got left behind and I didn't realize it until I got home. The big problem here was that I picked up the girls because traffic on our side of town was a disaster. So once I dropped the girls off, I had to fight my way back to daycare, pick up the cooler, and fight my way home again. The trip in all took twice as long as it should have (which was pretty good considering the circumstances).

Although losing an hour out of my already busy evening has me hoping that this spell of forgetfulness will pass soon.

Sweating Bullets

I think my brain went into pop-culture overload with this particular comic. I’ve had the chance to see both Alice in Wonderland and Shutter Island this week. I really enjoyed and wanted to do reviews for both, and as such, I tried to come up with a comic that could tie those elements together, and somehow I landed on doing it by playing off of a current Old Spice Body Wash commercial that playing right now, and is completely hilarious! The title, like others before it, is a bit of a throwback, although I’m interested to see if anyone catches what I’m referencing with it. Consider it a mystery to be solved, which leads into my reviews nicely.

This past weekend Jill and I took Lilly to see Alice in Wonderland. It’s actually somewhat odd that they called it Alice in Wonderland, since that would imply to most that it was a live-action version of the book or at the very least the Disney movie of the same name. Granted the trailer makes it clear that were going to see an older Alice returning to Wonderland, part of me still expected to see some of the same scenarios. In some cases we do, but for the most part we get the characters doing other things. It’s almost more similar to American McGee's Alice but not nearly as dark. That being said, there were some interesting decisions made for a movie that was more or less aimed at families. The moat around the Queen of Hearts castle being the one thing that sticks out most in my mind as “not exactly kid friendly, but yet done in a way that they didn’t necessarily get it.” There are points in the movie where it does seem a bit rushed, and almost feels as if there are pieces missing, but ultimately, I don’t think I would have wanted it to be much longer. The ending also seemed off to me. I understand what they were going for, but I really felt with the chemistry that we see between Alice and the Mad Hatter, that the two characters should have still been together at the end of the film, whether that meant that she stayed in Wonderland, or he somehow escaped into the real world. As a whole the movie was an entertaining adventure in the realm of Labyrinth or something from the Narnia franchise.

Now for crazy of a different flavor, Chris and I got a chance to see Shutter Island on Tuesday. The interesting thing about this movie is that it ended up being almost exactly what I expected before going in, but it did such a wonderful job of trying to convince me that I was wrong the entire film. The real genius of this film is that it shifts seamlessly between reality and perceived reality to the point that you question which reality is the correct one. That said, it also does a fairly good job at telegraphing which the correct one is, but it constantly gives you just enough doubt that the entire film you’re trying to rectify the two.  I don’t recommend seeing this film while tired, because it is mentally fatiguing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m saying that in a good way. There are a lot of cuts in the film that are jarring in the subtlety of what shifts from one shot to the next. Some changes are obvious while others seem like they could be mistakes in editing, but seem so frequent and intentional that I refuse to believe that they’re just continuity gaffs. If you’re watching as a keen eyed observer, these subtleties make for a dizzying viewing experience, and really help to put you into the mindset of the main character. I highly recommend this film.

I think that covers everything I wanted to touch on this week. I’m looking forward to see if anyone submits a guess on the title of this week’s comic. If no one gets it by the next comic, I’ll let you know then.

Hungry Like The Wolf

 

This is going up a couple of weeks late, but it's my first real movie review, and I want to do more stuff like this for the blog, so I'm posting it anyway.

For Valentine's Day, Jill and I decided that we wanted to catch the "counter programming" film for the weekend and opted to go see The Wolfman. There were a hundred reasons that we should have liked this film. There was an excellent cast, and it's based on the classic Universal Monster film of the same name. However, the story/script seem like they were rushed into production half finished, and the director made some questionable decisions with the film.

For those of you that aren't up on the story, Benicio Del Toro's character is a tragic figure who the audience is supposed to sympathize with. However, the scenes of the wolf unleashed are so brutal, it's hard to feel too much sympathy for the man that just brutalized 2 dozen people.

The biggest issue I had with the film is that it seemed to be lacking a clear identity. The film begins like a murder mystery similar to Tim Burton's re-imagining of Sleepy Hollow. But then half way through the film, the movie shows it's hand, and shifts gears more into an action/horror film. By the end it decided to go for the obvious tragic ending with a predictable twist. However, once we got there, I was less concerned about whether or not there would be a sequel and more concerned with why Universal would release this in the hopes to reignite it's Classic Monster franchises.

That being said, I didn't hate the movie, I just didn't particularly like it either. I really wanted this movie to be good, and I would have excepted it had the story at least felt finished. However, this movie was so rough in so many places that I can't say much good about it.