Brave: An Okie's Review

I've had a bad past two days...none of them related to my age milestone.  Today, we went to see Brave in order to provide me with over 90 minutes of non-negative brooding. It completely succeeded on that front.  Overall, I think Brave fell short a bit.  Now...I am not a movie critic, but keep in mind that my blog title does purport that I can comment on anything so I am standing by that claim.

Maybe I am spoiled.  I think Disney provides me with the best level of anthropomorphic entertainment anywhere around.  The horse in Tangled?  Brilliant!  The chameleon in that movie as well...equally brilliant (I've seen that movie most recently so it is my best current example).  So, when one of the characters Merida turns to when she needs to escape her constrained world is a horse, I expected some humanism in the horse.  And when her mother turns into a bear, I also expect a bit more than what the movie delivered.  I will grant that there were times when Pixar did a great job and recreating the mother and her mannerisms in the bear, but overall...it fell short for me.  And then when Merida's brothers also turned into little bears...well...they looked like Children of the Corn freaky children with large heads and no emotions whatsoever to make me think they were human trapped in a bear body.

So...here is my synopsis.  It is a good movie.  Pixar rarely fails.  What I think I am finding is that either Pixar knocks it out of the park or they fall short in that they don't seem to embrace many of the same features that brings pure Disney animation to life.  As Paige said over a post-movie beer, "I think what I would tell someone asking me about the movie I would tell them that it will probably make you want to call your mother."

Still...it did the trick as far as giving me a much needed break...and sometimes that is all one really wants from a movie.

I agree!

I'm not usually a big fan of Rio Ferdinand, mainly because he plays for Manchester United.  Maybe that is a bit shallow of me, but when it comes to football and my loyalties...well ManU is at the bottom of my list.  Still, I have to give Rio props for his comments as far as the poor line-up choices that Roy made for the England v Italy match.  The only thing missing from his commentary is the fact that Roy put all his money on Rooney and that failed miserably.  And what was worse is that he was never taken off the pitch.

I had told Paige earlier in the day that I didn't want Germany to play Italy in the semifinal and now you know why.  Germany went home, Italy went through...and England is sitting at home as always.

Dogs 101

That's right...on occasion we will watch this show, especially when one of the breeds on point are the whippets.  One of the hey-I-think-you-should-know-about-this tidbits about whippets is that they are not so good with cats.  Well, I would like to say that all three of our whippets are quite kind when it comes to the cats.  In fact, it is usually the cats doling out the beat down.  Three whippets, two cats...uneasy harmony.  It can be done.

The V Word

I do feel that one of my responsibilities as a blogger with no point of view is to send my few and far between readers to a post that I could never manage myself.  If there was ever a blog post that I felt the world needed to see it is this one, which was brought about by the shocking use of the word vagina in a political setting.

Thank you Margaret and Helen.  I think I almost snorted while reading your blog post.

Crisps Ahoy!

I was in Memphis recently for an internal auditor training class.  The instructor travels around the globe to teach this class.  At one point she was talking about Asia.  This is what I heard, “If anyone is ever in Singapore I’d like to place an order for a bag of Walkers blah, blah, blah.”  Okay, so she actually said something more specific than that, but the flavor she mentioned sounded so off the wall I thought her utterly crazy.

Fast forward a few weeks.  Picture me and Paige sitting at the bar at Boyd’s Jig and Reel, our favorite Scottish pub.  I know, it might be hard to conjure such an image…keep trying, it'll come to you.  They have this board next to the bar filled with potato chips.  As I stared at them while sipping my Highland Gaelic Ale it clicked…the bags were Walkers.  I read some of the flavors.  Steak and Onion?  Are you serious?  Brits must be desperate!  And if you really want to see the level of craziness when it come to these snacks have a look here.  

It took another few weeks before we got up the nerve to try the Prawn Cocktail flavor.  Holy cow…tasty!  Moral of this story…you never do know when you will run across something new that will alter your perception of potato chips!  

This Evening's Conversation: 062212

Paige and I have some entertaining conversations.  It is a matter of fact.  While watching the qualifications for the men's 10,000 meter this is the conversation that ensued: (me) I think if you are about to get lapped by the guy who is going to win the qualifications for the Olympics then you should at least move to the outside to let him have the inside lane; (Paige) maybe there are rules about that and they can't move out of the lane they are in; (me) no, there is a set amount of time in any event that you have to stay in your lane...for sprints, you are always in your lane...for longer distances you stay in your lane and then you can break so there are no longer any lane rules...dude getting lapped should have stepped aside.  For a 10,000 meter run there are never any lane rules.

See...I told you...I can comment on anything.  I know my few readers are now already insanely intrigued.

Who Knew?

Okay...so I didn't expect to have two post on my first night, but I did try to warn you that I will comment on just about anything.  Here I sit waiting for Paige to come home from dog-sitting and I found that there isn't a lot on TV on a Friday evening.  What is on right now is the US Track and Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, OR.  Did you all know that they will run track meets in the pouring rain?  I didn't.  Somehow it seems not to be the best of circumstances.  Then again, they will run horse races in the rain and those poor horses and jockeys are running in the mud.  Who knows how many goggles a jockey has to go through during conditions like that.  That's right...you heard me...jockeys wear any number of layers of goggles to help them deal with the dirt getting kicked up into the face as they go along the track.  I only learned that of late and only because Paige's mom is a horse person.  Anyway...at least runners don't have mud in the face.

Welcome to my world...

Hello Okie’s Blog Followers!

My partner, Paige, and I are big fans of “So You Think You Can Dance.”  We are both on the same page when it comes to the name of the show because it tends to make one think of either “America’s Got Talent” or “Dancing with the Stars.”  Thing is, this show is actually all about a mass of insanely talented dancers all hoping for a shot at fame.  Even during the qualifications there are no dancers who make us cringe.  It is simply a matter of one dancer being better than the other and we appreciate the honesty of the show.

All that said, this first post of mine is about the music.  During one of the dances, there was this amazing cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way.”  That song is one of my favorites so I was intrigued.  I tracked it down eventually and found it was done by the singer Lissie.  I promptly went to iTunes and was able to find it.  Of course, I bought it.  From there I found her cover of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.”  Oh my goodness.  I could listen to that song many, many times a day.  The music, her voice…they both hit me at a level that I am never able to explain.  There are simply times when I come across something that makes me wish I had the artistic talent it takes to make that form of art come to be.

So…here you have it…my first blog post.  What I am telling you is to look her up.  See what you think of this cover work of hers.  If you like it, keep checking in on me…I might have more for you.  If you don’t, well…keep coming back.  I might just have something for you in the future that you would never expect.