Weekend walkabout
In terms of noteworthy activities for this weekend, I kicked off Friday evening by winning prize money and a restaurant voucher during one of our office club's Friday afternoon events. Clearly I have been working on a Baby Care account too long (3+ years now!) because I managed to correctly match 18 out of 24 baby photos to the staff members who submitted them.
Afterwards, I joined friends for dinner and Terminator Salvation. My full review will appear here this week but the short version is - don't waste your time on this turkey! It's riddled with cliches, missed opportunities and has a distinctly distasteful Matrix 2 vibe to it (And man, I hated The Matrix Reloaded). I'm done with the Terminator franchise. And I need to break my habit now of watching mediocre films just to see how bad they are.
On Saturday I did some baking (chocolate cupcakes with butter icing) and in the evening played our weekly Dungeons & Dragons game. Actually it ended up being a round-up session, the last we'll be playing for 5 weeks until the bf gets back from his overseas work trip. Loot-wise it was a very profitable session. After months of running around with the same equipment, my paladin has upgraded all around with enhanced fire-resistant armor, a new greatsword (called, in fact, The Swords of Ages) which blasts out lightning and sonic damage, a periapt of wisdom to enhance my spellcasting, and a custom item known for now as the "Helm of looking like a Holy Badass" to make me even more charismatic. Basically Herkon is being positioned as an appealing alternative to the power hungry queen who currently commands the Empire's armies - and intends marching them into another plane to their bloody deaths. A little mutiny may be in order.
On Sunday I was up before 6am to head down to Durban for the East Coast Radio / Discovery Big Walk. Never again. In trying to make the event more high profile, it's got too overblown and ungainly for its own good (you can now walk/run 4 different distances). Last year we had a lovely stroll along the beachfront from Suncoast Casino. This year the route was further away from the sea, taking the runners through the dodgy ice rink area and past assorted car dealerships. There was litter to dodge, toothless drunks, construction rubble and the regular waft of raw sewage. There was no atmosphere whatsoever, and even the main East Coast Radio DJs - who last year were entertaining walkers on the route, and playing music - were AWOL. Instead we were "amused" by morons like Travis from the morning show whose childish idea of humour was to repeat the word "Fart" into the microphone multiple times. Twit.
So, yeah, no more Big Walks for me. Especially since registration for the dud event meant queuing for 2 AND A HALF HOURS at Gateway to collect goodie bags that contained... wait for it... a T-shirt, juice bottle, an IMAX ticket and an UShaka voucher that expires in 5 days. Whoo, how exciting!
The rest of the cold, cloudy Sunday was spent sleeping, reading and just generally vegging. I watched another 2 episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season 1, impressed that such a pivotal series role goes to a female character who is allowed to be buff and unconventionally attractive. Yay for the sci-fi genre.
Finally I wrapped up the weekend with adventure romcom Fool's Gold, which, like its title suggests, is populated by multiple idiot characters. Plus it was surprisingly boring and overlong for a film that centres on treasure hunting in a tropical paradise. Very much a missed opportunity. But if you're fond of the sight of a shirtless Matthew McConaughey, this is the movie for you. Just don't make his shirtlessness a drinking game though because you will end up in hospital with alcohol poisoning.
Afterwards, I joined friends for dinner and Terminator Salvation. My full review will appear here this week but the short version is - don't waste your time on this turkey! It's riddled with cliches, missed opportunities and has a distinctly distasteful Matrix 2 vibe to it (And man, I hated The Matrix Reloaded). I'm done with the Terminator franchise. And I need to break my habit now of watching mediocre films just to see how bad they are.
On Saturday I did some baking (chocolate cupcakes with butter icing) and in the evening played our weekly Dungeons & Dragons game. Actually it ended up being a round-up session, the last we'll be playing for 5 weeks until the bf gets back from his overseas work trip. Loot-wise it was a very profitable session. After months of running around with the same equipment, my paladin has upgraded all around with enhanced fire-resistant armor, a new greatsword (called, in fact, The Swords of Ages) which blasts out lightning and sonic damage, a periapt of wisdom to enhance my spellcasting, and a custom item known for now as the "Helm of looking like a Holy Badass" to make me even more charismatic. Basically Herkon is being positioned as an appealing alternative to the power hungry queen who currently commands the Empire's armies - and intends marching them into another plane to their bloody deaths. A little mutiny may be in order.
On Sunday I was up before 6am to head down to Durban for the East Coast Radio / Discovery Big Walk. Never again. In trying to make the event more high profile, it's got too overblown and ungainly for its own good (you can now walk/run 4 different distances). Last year we had a lovely stroll along the beachfront from Suncoast Casino. This year the route was further away from the sea, taking the runners through the dodgy ice rink area and past assorted car dealerships. There was litter to dodge, toothless drunks, construction rubble and the regular waft of raw sewage. There was no atmosphere whatsoever, and even the main East Coast Radio DJs - who last year were entertaining walkers on the route, and playing music - were AWOL. Instead we were "amused" by morons like Travis from the morning show whose childish idea of humour was to repeat the word "Fart" into the microphone multiple times. Twit.
So, yeah, no more Big Walks for me. Especially since registration for the dud event meant queuing for 2 AND A HALF HOURS at Gateway to collect goodie bags that contained... wait for it... a T-shirt, juice bottle, an IMAX ticket and an UShaka voucher that expires in 5 days. Whoo, how exciting!
The rest of the cold, cloudy Sunday was spent sleeping, reading and just generally vegging. I watched another 2 episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season 1, impressed that such a pivotal series role goes to a female character who is allowed to be buff and unconventionally attractive. Yay for the sci-fi genre.
Finally I wrapped up the weekend with adventure romcom Fool's Gold, which, like its title suggests, is populated by multiple idiot characters. Plus it was surprisingly boring and overlong for a film that centres on treasure hunting in a tropical paradise. Very much a missed opportunity. But if you're fond of the sight of a shirtless Matthew McConaughey, this is the movie for you. Just don't make his shirtlessness a drinking game though because you will end up in hospital with alcohol poisoning.
Comments
Soo...what you are saying is that you need to stop watching movies you have already built up massive negative preconceptions about based on mass opinion?
In Terminator Salvation's case I was not. And I'm getting a bit sick now of blowing money on crap just to have an opinion.
For the record if you're implying I just go with public opinion in regards to movies, you're wrong. I think there's enough evidence of that on this blog.
Like I said, I'm not governed by any opinion; just my own tastes. Personally I prefer to watch movies that hover around 50% on Rotten Tomatoes because that means they clearly mix positives with the negatives. When the world hates something or unquestionably loves something it's problematic.
Anyway, if people have a problem with my reviews and my opinions, then they should write their own ones.
I even went into both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (moreso on the first, though) with expectations that they wouldn't measure up, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Still, nothing could prepare me for Wolverine. Ugh.
So, going in with lowered expectations, especially when it comes to summer blockbusters and more cash-grab reboots should be the accepted method for viewing these pieces of tripe.
Based on your opinion of Wolverine being nearly the same as mine, I think I'll skip Terminator.
I had low expectations when I went to see Terminator 3 and actually quite enjoyed it for what it was. I couldn't say the same for T4.