The Weekly Weekend Update
Ha, you thought I’d forgotten about my usual weekend activities update? Well, I promise not to bore you. Here’s the summary version.
Friday evening was just spent relaxing after a 3-day working week that felt like a full 5 days. After watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean last weekend, Paul and I watched the sequel Dead Man’s Chest on Friday evening in preparation for the third movie, released at the end of the May. We wanted to be familiar with the carry-on storyline… particularly since I micro-slept while watching Dead Man at the cinema.
Saturday was spent entirely at Gateway. We were very lucky to get the last 2 seats for the IMAX early show of Spider-Man 3 – my review here, if you haven’t seen it. So, if you want to see the film at IMAX, book! I have never seen the place so busy, and the staff wasn’t coping particularly well with the deluge of people.
Anyway, the one huge advantage of IMAX is the beauty of its design – you can actually sit on the front row, towards the side, and not develop neck and eye strain, as you can in a conventional cinema.
After the film, Paul and I did some shopping. We picked up some DVDs on sale at Musica, I made my first year-end European trip purchase – a tourist guide – and Paul bought a new Home Theatre System to replace the one stolen during his family’s burglary ordeal. I’ve been scouting about lately for older, interesting video games. After finding the PS2 game Bully (AKA Canis Canem Edit) for a best buy price this weekend I picked up No Under 18 crime puzzle-adventure game Still Life for the PC.
Of course, I’ve still got to carry on with Jade Empire, but I actually haven’t touched video games (apart from checking out Windows Vista’s built-in options) for 2 weeks now.
Anyway, on Saturday evening we joined Paul’s parents and family friends at the Barnyard Theatre for Tonight’s the Night. The show, a tribute to the world’s greatest male vocalists is fine, but pretty dull otherwise. Once again it’s musical theatre that seems intent purely on pandering to the nostalgia of 50-something South Africans. No surprise the show is sponsored by soft and cuddly, eat-your-Bokomo-to-keep-regular East Coast Radio.
I suppose my biggest gripe with the show was that it was largely just people singing and playing instruments. When I go to a ‘tribute’ show I want to see the performers dressed up and attempting to vocally impersonate the star. In Tonight’s the Night they made an effort for Roy Orbison and a few others, but if you’re impersonating Robbie Williams, you have to have biceps and not look like an elongated, shaggy hobbit.
Anyway, the Celtic Rock show planned for the Christmas 2007 period sounds good – U2, the Corrs, Chris De Burgh, maybe even Cranberries if we’re lucky.
Glorious, sunny Sunday was spent inside, working on my freelance reviews and columns. At least I got to sit in my PJs all day. In the later afternoon through into the evening, Paul and I rounded off the weekend by watching some of the new DVDs we’d bought – including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Shaun of the Dead (again), which my sister and her boyfriend hadn’t seen.
Friday evening was just spent relaxing after a 3-day working week that felt like a full 5 days. After watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean last weekend, Paul and I watched the sequel Dead Man’s Chest on Friday evening in preparation for the third movie, released at the end of the May. We wanted to be familiar with the carry-on storyline… particularly since I micro-slept while watching Dead Man at the cinema.
Saturday was spent entirely at Gateway. We were very lucky to get the last 2 seats for the IMAX early show of Spider-Man 3 – my review here, if you haven’t seen it. So, if you want to see the film at IMAX, book! I have never seen the place so busy, and the staff wasn’t coping particularly well with the deluge of people.
Anyway, the one huge advantage of IMAX is the beauty of its design – you can actually sit on the front row, towards the side, and not develop neck and eye strain, as you can in a conventional cinema.
After the film, Paul and I did some shopping. We picked up some DVDs on sale at Musica, I made my first year-end European trip purchase – a tourist guide – and Paul bought a new Home Theatre System to replace the one stolen during his family’s burglary ordeal. I’ve been scouting about lately for older, interesting video games. After finding the PS2 game Bully (AKA Canis Canem Edit) for a best buy price this weekend I picked up No Under 18 crime puzzle-adventure game Still Life for the PC.
Of course, I’ve still got to carry on with Jade Empire, but I actually haven’t touched video games (apart from checking out Windows Vista’s built-in options) for 2 weeks now.
Anyway, on Saturday evening we joined Paul’s parents and family friends at the Barnyard Theatre for Tonight’s the Night. The show, a tribute to the world’s greatest male vocalists is fine, but pretty dull otherwise. Once again it’s musical theatre that seems intent purely on pandering to the nostalgia of 50-something South Africans. No surprise the show is sponsored by soft and cuddly, eat-your-Bokomo-to-keep-regular East Coast Radio.
I suppose my biggest gripe with the show was that it was largely just people singing and playing instruments. When I go to a ‘tribute’ show I want to see the performers dressed up and attempting to vocally impersonate the star. In Tonight’s the Night they made an effort for Roy Orbison and a few others, but if you’re impersonating Robbie Williams, you have to have biceps and not look like an elongated, shaggy hobbit.
Anyway, the Celtic Rock show planned for the Christmas 2007 period sounds good – U2, the Corrs, Chris De Burgh, maybe even Cranberries if we’re lucky.
Glorious, sunny Sunday was spent inside, working on my freelance reviews and columns. At least I got to sit in my PJs all day. In the later afternoon through into the evening, Paul and I rounded off the weekend by watching some of the new DVDs we’d bought – including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Shaun of the Dead (again), which my sister and her boyfriend hadn’t seen.
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