The Three That Just Didn't Quite Get It - Part Three

The next three movies are really hard to place. So, I've put them in a numerical order, but I think they really shift around when you analyze the different pros and cons. The list grows...


11. The Incredible Hulk


10. Hancock


09. Wanted


08. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Ok, this movie wasn't great, I think we can all admit that. But it had some major things going for it: Nostalgia, this movie does an excellent job of bringing us back into the exciting world of Indy. And not just from the movies, but the opening scene totally made me think of the Disney ride. I could swear they used some of the same sound effects from the ride in the jeep chase sequence. Shia LaBeouf, what can I say...this guy turns me on. I loved the whole greaser/jock diner scene. And I absolutely loved the motorcycle getaway, so funny (and I know it was ridiculous, but it was fun!). So the ending blew chunks, made no sense whatsoever (what was the point in even going there?!?)...but I love how the series progressed through history to the time of the cold war/area 51, etc.. I just wish they had done a better job with the whole alien theme then what they went with (thanks a lot George Lucas!).


07. The Chronic (WHAT!) cles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I don't know how I can fairly critique this movie. After reading the book so thoroughly this year for Sunday School, I don't think I could help but be let down by the movie. Everything I loved about the book was not in the movie (k, that's a huge generalization). And I understand why it wasn't in the movie: the bits I liked just aren't adventuresome enough to make it to the big screen. And Peter's behaviour wasn't consistent with the book, that drove me nuts. Plus Susan and Caspian, that really got me going, at one point I threw my pen in utter disgust (why was I holding a pen?!?). And really, was it just me or was Aslan's role way too insignificant?

But thinking back now, if I hadn't read the book I would probably have loved the movie. It was a fun experience and did contain some of the incredible truths C.S. Lewis was trying to get across. I thought it was much better than the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as far as storytelling, special affects, and character development. So yeah, really cheesed they changed it so much, but I still think it was a worthy movie. And I also think the Susan/Caspian plot line was acceptable after all...


06. Get Smart

Hilarious!!! This movie was soo funny, and so well done. It reminded me so much of the tv series, and in fact I have to get my hands on that DVD set! I loved the tv series as a kid, and now I miss it. One thing most reviewers are saying is the difference between the movie and the tv show is the dialogue. The movie relies more on physical gags whereas the tv show relied more on the clever dialogue. I think I agree, not to say the gags weren't funny, it's just I think I would have preferred more witty dialogue. So that's my only critique of the movie, I love Steve Carell and the chemistry with Anne Hathaway. All around an excellent movie!

Next Post: The Two I Didn't Expect To Impress - Part Four

It Could Have Been More - Part Two

My next few posts I'll be discussing my thoughts on the summer movies I've seen thus far. I started by talking about the worst, and will now move up the scale till we get to my favorite movie of this summer.


11. The Incredible Hulk (the above would have made a better movie)


10. Hancock

This was a fun movie, I did enjoy watching it. But for me it just was lacking something, somewhere. I don't think Will Smith was right for this role. He will always been the nice guy in my mind, I can never see him play a badass. And the story was kinda cool, the action was fun, it had some good moments. But overall, the whole history of him and you know didn't really make sense, not sure they needed to get into it. So yeah, fun movie, but I think they could have done more with the concept.


09. Wanted

Wanted...another really fun movie, but sooo ridiculous. So why did it place higher than Hancock?? Because it wasn't trying to take itself seriously, it was ridiculous and proud of it. I love movies like this (Transporter 1 & 2 come to mind). You don't have to think much or nitpick, you just strap yourself into your seat and enjoy the ride!!! But I do prefer movies that make you think and have some sort of redeeming qualities, so this isn't in the top 5, but it was still a very very fun experience!

A Great Summer of Movies - Part One

Since May 16th I have seen 11 movies in the theatre. Now, I do watch a lot of movies, but this is quite a bit for me (especially at $12 a pop). But you want to know something incredible?!? Most times I go to the movies I usually see one really bad movie out of three. But so far this summer, of all eleven movies I've seen, I would classify only one of those as bad! And that is...


The Incredible Hulk.

Not surprising to me, I knew I shouldn't have seen it. There is nothing new, original, funny, or exciting about this movie. The acting is flat, the special effects are over the top, and there are no reasons given to care about any of these characters. Now I want to go back and watch "The Hulk", because after seeing this I think that might actually be a decent movie.

Stay tuned in the next few days to see which ten movies I really liked...

Concerning Dido

This is Dido...she is an English BRIT Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated singer and songwriter. Now, you may be thinking, "Woah, Dan, with a whole post dedicated to her, you must be a fan!" Truth is, I only know one song and I don't particularly like it. So why am I writing about her???


I was listening to the Ricky Gervais show while driving today (pretty common thing for me to do) when they started talking about Dido. Now, I've heard this episode before, and I'm still just as much perplexed by it.


Steve Merchant mentioned Dido was single now and he always thought maybe she was the type of girl he could score. You see, Steve himself is not the most attractive man (as he'll be the first to admit) and he thinks Dido is in the looks category that just might go for him.


These are some of the things he and Ricky said about Dido:
- She's quite ordinary
- She's kind of like a bit of a receptionist
- She probably sang once at karaoke and a bloke from a record label signed her up
- When you look at her you think she should be doing photocopying or filing.
- She has a very suburban look


Now, I don't see any of that myself. I think she's very attractive, and I kinda thought North Americans felt the same way. But both of these guys were in such agreement that she is "ordinary" looking. Do all British men think that way about her? And would do we think of her over here?


I know I sometimes have strange taste in women, but this one baffles me...

You gotta love her name though - Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong.

The Day is Finally Here...

Eight years ago I decided to return to post-secondary education, despite the fact that I had no money saved whatsoever from four years of working. So unfortunately, I had no choice but to take out a loan...and you know what my friends???


I completely paid it off yesterday!!!!!!! I am finally free from the government's control over my life (well, in part...)!!!

My plan was to pay it off in 2 years, but it ended up taking me 2 and a half (oh well). But now I can finally say, I am debt free!!!


let's see how long that lasts...

Not Much - Day Twenty & Twenty-One

Got up and everyone had left the house already. I packed up my stuff and did some quick emailing. I went upstairs and had some breakfast. The Mom came home (or wait, was she home the whole time?!?). We chatted for a bit and then I was on my way. There were lots of things I could do in Auckland, but to be perfectly honest with you, I just wanted to go home. I was done with all the touristy things and didn't really want to walk around and see anything. I did check out a nearby beach, but that lasted 2 minutes.

I pretty much drove around and killed time. I went to the mall. Did my usual thing and bought loads of candy I can't buy here. Considered seeing National Treasure 2, but didn't think I had time. It was quite the internal struggle! Decided not to so that I could clean out the car and pack all my stuff properly. Turned out to be a brilliant choice...took me forever to organize everything (I did see the movie the other day though, and LOVED IT!). Dropped off my only friend from NZ at the car rental place...and away I went.

The plane trip home was sweet...can't really remember it. Who did I even sit beside? Watched Stardust, that was a good movie. Changed planes in San Francisco. That was a pain. We had to leave our area and go through the whole security rigamarole once again. As we're getting off the plane the guy was rushing us, "You've got to get through security quickly cause your plane will be boarding soon!!!!" So I can see the people who flew with me standing in the security line freaking out cause there's masses of people and it's taking forever. So we get through and what do you know? Our plane is delayed...what a shocker!!! It was actually delayed for quite awhile. Shane was picking me up from the airport cause he's amazing like that and I think he had to wait there over an hour for me...what a trooper!!!!

And that was that - the trip was probably a week longer than I would have liked and there were a couple of challenging questions raised in my mind, but you will have to wait for that blog post later!

The End.

Could this be it?!??!

Hmm, now that I look at it again the colours aren't exact. The bottom leaf is sorta purple, but the top left leaf is too pink...and then there's the middle one that is almost peach...maybe though???

Although, I have a feeling it's an inside joke that someone made up when there was like, I don't know, 5 days until they were together or something...

The Contagious Laugh - Day Nineteen

I woke up bright and early and drove back into town to catch my tour bus to Cape Reinga! I was pretty pumped about it. The bus picked me up and I soon realized this bus driver was also quite the character. He was always cracking jokes and telling us about the area, but the funniest thing about him was his laugh. Even if his joke was stupid he'd laugh right after and that would just get me laughing! It was great.


So the bus ride is about, hmm, 1.5 hours to the cape? I can't remember actually. We stopped at a number of places on the way. This picture is the east coast of NZ.


This was another stop along the way. Also the east coast, but the sand on this beach was so fine. It was like walking on flour. This stop was so beautiful.


After the sweet sandy beach stop, we had lunch at a picnic site. Now, there were three tours I could choose from and this was the cheapest, the reason being the lunch was not as exquisite as the other two. Didn't matter to me, I'll eat anything. Except, this lunch was absolutely unbelievably pathetic!!! I couldn't even fathom it would be this skimpy. It was basically cookies, chips and juice. There wasn't even any meat at all! Guess I got what I paid for.


Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so nice when we got to the Cape. This picture is the west coast of NZ. It was so difficult taking this picture, because it just wouldn't capture how golden the beach looked. This is the best I could get, but it's pretty pale compared to the real thing.


Here's the lighthouse right at the tip.




The neat thing about this area is the Tasman Sea comes up from the west and collides with the Pacific Ocean on the east, causing a tidal race. It was pretty neat to see, too bad once again the weather wasn't better.


One of the sweet things about these bus tours is the return trip is all done on the beach! Ninety Mile Beach it's called, and to get there he had to drive through these little rivers pretty much and he couldn't slow down or he'd sink in. But before we got to the beach we stopped at some sand dunes. And the bus driver whipped out all these sleds and away we go.


I wish I had thought of this when we went to Oregon, it was so much fun! The only sucky thing was the climb was pretty steep, and I didn't quite have my strength back. But I'm proud to say everyone else was wiping out all around me and I just flew straight down without any problems.


Did I mention it was pouring rain also? Good combination: Sand and Rain.


On the drive down the beach you could see in the mist a famous rock formation out in the sea with a huge hole in it you can boat through. There are many stories of people trying to drive along this beach and not realizing the tide was coming in. You're pretty much hooped if that happens.


This store is near the end of the journey. There's these giant trees that people dug out of the mud or something (I should probably have written this in Jan rather than 5 months later!). Anyways, these trees are worth quite a bit, and this store is filled with things made from them. This is an actual staircase carved in a tree that takes you to the second level of the store.


When I saw this couch I thought Conor would be drooling...a couch made from one piece of wood!!! Can you guess how much it costs? Click on the picture to find out.


This gives you a sense of how big the couch is. I'm 6 feet tall remember. It was so tough getting this picture taken. I was by myself of course, so I asked this guy to do it, but he was clueless how to run a camera. The first picture has me pointing at what button to push, and this one I was sitting there forever before he took the thing, so my smile is totally fading, haha.


I asked the bus driver if he would let me interview him on video, cause he had so many jokes, but he refused! So instead I did a quick recording on the bus so you could at least hear his laugh.

From there I drove back down to Auckland to stay with my Aunt Mary's sister for the final night. It was a little tricky finding the place cause it was pretty late, but when I did I wasn't 100% sure I was at the right place. I knocked and this girl answered, but she didn't even turn the outside light on so we're standing there in the dark. So I said, "Hi, are you so and so?" To which she replied, "No." Okaaay, "Umm, is so and so here?" To which she replied, "No." Okaaaaaaaaayy, "Umm, I think I might be at the wrong house." After much struggling and awkward pausing I finally learn she is boarding at the house and was supposed to let me in until the family came home. Thanks for that!

So she let me in and we had some awkward conversation until the family got there...then we ended up talking for awhile. It was neat hearing their stories, but I'll write more about that for the next day.

They set up a bed for me downstairs and I was out like a light - End of Day Nineteen.

Vancouver Amazing Race 2008

Once again, the menno youth groups got together for the annual Amazing Race through Vancouver. This year I helped coordinate it, so I don't have all the wonderful team stories like I did last year, but I do have some pictures! Enjoy...

Teams had to make a totem pole for the camera:





















When you put me in charge of a team, we come in 5th place. When you place Shane in charge...1st PLACE!!! I was so shocked when they were the first ones to come around the corner at the end! Way to go guys!!!!


#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8


#9


#10


#11

Forgive me if I put your team in the wrong place!

Can't wait for next year...good job everyone!