Into the West

This is pretty damn good. Tonantzin Carmelo as Thunder Heart Woman is beautiful, the story is great, Will Patton is great as always as Mr. Fletcher, Josh Brolin as Jedediah Smith is great, they even throw in Gary Busey, Skeet Ulrich, Alan Tudyk, lots of familiar faces. Coming from a European-Native American mix (not that you can tell in me, but my brother and my dad both show traces of it) and always dreaming of a way to right the old wrongs, the show touches my heart in ways I can't describe. Similar to how I felt when I watched Dances with Wolves, Last of the Dogmen, Squanto, Smoke Signals.... I want to be there. As good as I can be in the modern sense, I've always wanted to be alive back then. Don't know if I have an old soul, or just dissatisfaction with modern man, whatever... movies, books (Helen Hunt Jackson's work and others), always trigger this emotion. But, yeah, like the story. Spielberg's name might've gotten it done, but I'd've watched it anyway.

Song of the moment - OutKast's I Love the Way (You Move)

Weekend

This weekend....

Well, started out good. Went to the Farmers' Market in downtown Jax. Had lunch there - shrimp & chicken kabobs w/ rice pilaf and corn-on-the-cob. Was good. Just wish I had had my camera with me - had left it at home accidentally. Still, a good day.

Rained, so didn't do the walking on Fri like I've started. Did buy some new walking shoes - old ones were too small and killing my feet. Didn't go to '80s night as I didn't want to try a new club by myself.

Saturday beat Civ3 again - yes, it's a three-year old game but I still like it without the expansion packs - on my way to beating it with every civ. The Aztecs went for a domination win. First time I did that since I bought it so long ago. Also racked up a few levels for my alts in World of Warcraft. (I was staying inside because every time I got ready to do something, it rained. And I'd slept through most of the day, having performed my Friday night ritual of staying up til dawn, regardless of what I do.)

Sunday woke up late - is there anything better to do on the weekends when there's just time to kill? - and then went to the beach as it had stopped raining. Have some new pics up. To see my photos I have so far - at least the ones I want to share - go here. Had fun, picked up a couple of more shells. There was an older man beach-sailing. Lots of little kids out. Pretty way to end the day.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Well, this movie was fun to watch. The actors are beautiful, the action is great. But.... what HAPPENED?!? I mean it... the ending is not an ending. It's a joke. There's an entire part of the movie missing. It's like Doug Liman (the great director of the Bourne Identity) just cut the film off at the middle. There's no resolution at all to the third act - just a 'happy ending' which Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie's character) says only happens when stories aren't finished. Is this some kind of in-joke at the fans' expense? Is this supposed to be a modern-day fairy tale, where the couple go to counseling, discuss (or don't discuss) their problems, then an outside event thrusts them together and the problems are happily resolved or pushed aside/made irrelevant?

*sigh*

As if I expected Shakespeare or a Merchant Ivory production. But still.... unfinished it is, and unsatisfied it left me.

Song of the moment - AC/DC's Back in Black

My car - Mustang Sara 

Long time no see....

A return from the dead, I guess.

Haven't updated this blog in months. But, that will change.

Stories upcoming - love found and lost, parts of a story I'm writing, tales of high adventure.

Today was a good day at work - got some things accomplished. Didn't get everything I needed to, though, so I look forward to nailing down some more things next week.

Things I have done since my last post -

• Found what could have been the love of my life, and may very well be, only to have her complete a U-turn in her life and go back to Sicily and get married. I'm somewhat of a romantic and passionate person, I discovered, and that can be too much of a good thing, apparently.


• Redesigned webpages for the library - the home page being one (http://jpl.coj.net/welcome.html) and others scattered here and there throughout the site. Meeting next week to go over some of my ideas.


• Rediscovered a friend that I hadn't forgotten, but just hadn't talked with in quite a while.


• Developed a social life away from work, but it's always a work in progress.


• Bought a new car and have fallen in love with it. (Don't most American men?) Love driving just to feel the car. (Okay, not THAT in love with it.)


• Had crawfish for the first time in two years.


• There's always other things...

Favourite song of the moment: Tito Tarantula's After Dark from the From Dusk 'til Dawn soundtrack - the song Salma Hayek dances to.

Most recently watched (and loved) movie: Hotel Rwanda

Books - Orson Scott Card's Ender series, Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, Arthur Herman's To Rule the Waves.

And btw, I'm still a Republican. I just hate the way my party has gone.