Books and Movies

Yet another day in Florida. They all just kind of blur together, but I don't really mind. Not when I can attempt to poorly play my sweet new Ukulele which can kind of sort of hold its tuning.

On this day three things of note occurred. Thing the first, it started to rain. Now this wouldn't be a problem if not for the fact that we had a tent drying out in the back yard. Another coat of sealer was required. The can says “most sealers require two applications. This one only requires one! This one is a liar. Still, it was really inexpensive, and thus using the whole can was not a problem. It also meant we could, without feelings of guilt, toss the can away.

The rain did work to prove that the tent was mostly secure. Now all we'll need is another opportunity to camp out, and this will all have been for a good purpose. But the heat – it's not getting any colder as we near August. I know, that surprised me too. You'd think the closer to August, and the farther south you go, the colder it would become. Apparently that's only if you go really far south. This above the equator stuff just doesn't cut it. Ironically, here the further south you go the hotter it becomes. Figures.

The tent was broken down quickly and laid over some chairs in an attempt to let it dry out a little, and not remain such a god awful eye sore, while we were out in Orlando over the next four days.

When the tent was down, of course, the rain stopped. That's how these things work.

Next up, over to Wal-Mart to return the defective UNO. We walked in with the receipt, the mismatched deck, then grabbed a good deck and got them switched. It seems to me as if we could have just grabbed a good deck, made a bad deck, and walked away with a free deck of cards, showing the receipt. It reminds me of the days when people would go to Chapters, grab a big book from the back of the store and “return it.” Free money.

In the mall we swung by the movie theatre. I'd heard from far too many sources that Inception was a great movie, and that it needed to be seen. Who was I to argue with such a waterfall of voices? But the next showing wasn't for hours yet. We would return. Probably. Well, maybe. It depends on how lazy we would become.

On the way out of the mall Old Navy may have been hit up – it seems that were one to have a teacher ID or a student ID they could save 25%. Of course Kath had forgot her student ID (having just completed her Masters at UofT) and as for myself? I've been kicking myself on and off this whole year for not thinking to bring my teacher ID, or buy a fake student ID on Khosan Road in Bangkok.

Dinner – watched a few episodes of The Community, and then back to the mall. Inception would be viewed. That it was starting six minutes after we got there was perfect.

It was a pretty good movie. My only regret? That it's so hard to be shocked. I feel like every convention has been exploited. The audience was gasping at some scenes, and I was wondering how they failed to see them coming? By the end of the first ten minutes, the whole movie should be obvious. There are also obvious signs the whole way leading you to understand how it will end (which should be obvious very early on – or from trailers, if you're one of those with access to such things.) But – that doesn't mean it wasn't a delight. I just wish I could watch it with the virgin eyes of those around me who were somehow shocked by the ending (never mind the children hadn't aged, and that they were dressed the same as an earlier memory.)

It felt like The Matrix. For so many people it blew them away. For me? It just reminded me of Dark City and Thirteenth Floor. The last movie to really shock me was Memento – which I had the luxury of watching in a theatre as a random, “hey I've never heard of this, let's check it out,” pick. Had I waited a week or so longer, it would have all been spoiled by the media that was loving it at the time.

There was also a time travel movie, where these guys build a time machine in a storage locker? I can't quite recall how it all played out – but I remember it was confusing. I can't recall of that meant it was good, like Memento or just boring, like the Waking Life.

I do look forward to reading the Internet's take on Inception though, and getting a detailed break down of all the “rules” for dreaming. Recommended on account of being pretty fantastic, and all sorts of pretty.

Plus, arctic soldier are always great. They remind me of GI JOE.

When the movie ended, rather than going to sleep like we should have – six aye em is not getting any further away, and that's when we have to be on the road tomorrow to get to Orlando – we stayed up and finished watching The Community. It's a pretty funny tv show, provided you're ok with character motivation changing every episode, and a lot of things not really making all that much sense. Good silly fun. I'm down.

Around one we set the alarm and went to sleep. Five. That's a lot of hours to sleep anyway, right?

It used to be...