We spent the weekend in Milton Keynes with the ever-charming Bart and Tony. So much went on that one blog entry simply won't do. So, we'll fill you in bit by bit, with photos to come.
First, two observations.
1. A grown man, wearing slightly scruffy hiking gear, boasting a full beard and listening intently to a walking tour devoted to the ancient walls of a Saxon tower ought not, I think, to have painted his big toenails iridescent purple.
2. In Milton Keynes, the mall contains a lovely bookstore, replete with books I wanted to buy (though not at 8 million dollars, or whatever they cost), but marred by a single flaw: a section next to Biography entitled "Painful Lives." Not very appealing.
In other news, Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer fails to impress. On Friday night, Tony and Charles joined Tony's brother Mick for some snowboarding. In Milton Keynes, this can be achieved indoors. The mall area in Milton Keynes includes a huge dome which holds a man-made snowy mountain. And, this being England, not only can you ski indoors, you can buy a beer!!
Meanwhile, Bart and I went upstairs to the movie theatre. Bart bought "deluxe" tickets, which offer the exciting option of...buying a beer for your movie!! Beer!! Unfortunately, the movie in question was FFROTSS. Or whatever they call it. So while we enjoyed the basic story and continue to like the idea, the beer wasn't enough to fill in the gaps. Also, I'd like to know who spit in the Cheerios of the makeup and hair people. Jessica Alba is a beautiful woman, and Ioan Gruffud is hot. In this movie, though, they wear makeup thick enough for a victim of the smallpox, and Alba's hair looks like astroturf. Poor Gruffud has to endure a flattop that would make Vanilla Ice cringe.
So. How can I enjoy a movie where the hotties aren't hot, and the effects are sometimes silly? Shame on them. The Silver Surfer was cool, I'll give them that.
Afterwards, we all returned to Casa Gamber-Kelly to get some doggie love and watch TV. This weekend was the Glastonbury Festival, so I got to watch a whole bunch of bands I've never heard of. One was great, two sucked, and Bjork was weird. The usual, in other words.
More tomorrow, with photos. I have to go paint my big toes now.
2 comments:
And how much do you wanna bet, that the bands that you thought sucked at Glastonbury are some of my favorites? Had no idea that it was broadcasted! I have always wanted to go, but did you see the mud?
Will and I gardened. And we also so a benefit for Fort Reno (where local bands play for free in the summer by the Wilson School in Tenleytown). At the Black Cat, local bands mixed and matched members to go cover bands. The band that civered David Bowie was fantastic. Abbatite for Destruction was hilarious: melding ABBA tunes with Guns'n'Roses. It actually works!
Ricky and I enjoyed FFROTSS - though that might be because it was considerably better than the first movie, which sucked ass big time, so our expectations were not high. But I'll agree with you on the hair and make-up. Jessica Alba is beautiful, but her make-up was atrocious during most of the movie (what's with the heavy black eyeliner?), and she does not look good as a blond. When Hollywood has probably literally thousands of blond actresses who would look good in a skin-tight spandex costume, why did they choose a brunette for their leading lady? I don't think it was for her superior acting skills, either (though she seems like a nice and reasonably intelligent person, at least from what I see of her on the talk shows)... Of course, even the best actress (Natalie Portman in Star Wars, anyone?) can be turned into a wooden idiot by a terrible script.
While you're in England, though, I recommend checking out a Hindi movie. They're more popular there than a lot of American or English movies, according to Ricky. We saw a great one Friday night, called Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (which roughly translates to "Dance, Baby, Dance!"). It's sort of like the surrealism of Moulin Rouge meets the romantic comedy of When Harry Met Sally - very fun and funky, with great costumes and music!
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