Yes, I saw the new X-Men movie (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) on the first day it opened. For you fans of comic books and haven’t seen the movie yet, I suggest looking at this as one of Marvel alternate universes. If you’re looking for comic book continuity, you won’t find it. The names have been kept the same, but the characters may be different.

That being said, I really enjoyed this movie (see other movie reviews for disclaimers on my liking this type of movie). And I have more than a few reasons

1) Character setup — In a very short time you were able to ‘know’ the characters involved. The back story was handled quickly and gave enough information for the rest of the film. I’m sure that most of this is because we were introduced to this character and the class of characters in the earlier X-Men films, but this is how all comic book movies should be done. Make sure the audience knows the driving force behind the character, and then get to the guts of the movie. People go to these movies to see the action and character interaction, without that, the comic book movies fall short.

2) For a comic book setting, the actions were believable. Yes, if we had those powers, those things could be done. I didn’t see much that was unbelievable from the aspect of what ‘powers’ the characters were given by the script writers.

3) Action sequences were very good, and well placed. The general rule was relax, action, relax and then more action. This kept the movie flowing. The action sequences fit in with the story line developed in those time of relaxing. Also there was a lot of humor in the show. Very important to have that in a comic book movie, in my view.

Spoilers—- Stop reading now if you haven’t seen the movie and might want to ————–

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This movie was a set before the other X-Men movies, and my biggest complaint is that some of the things that should have been kept consistent between the shows. While I liked the actor that portrayed Saber Tooth, he did not match the menacing form of Taylor Mane in the first X-Men movie. I think they could have used some makeup to get a better match. I also had a problem with Cyclops being captured. From conversation in the first X-Men Movie, Xavier found him soon after he had his optic blasts. He would not have been in a normal school, he would have been is Xavier’s institute. Nitpicking here, but I would have assumed some continuity between the movies. I don’t think I would have minded as much, but they did go through a lot of trouble to get Logan his leather jacket, and signature look. I’m sure if I see this show again, I will find more.

Another nitpick and I’m sure it was done to keep the PG-13 rating, but there was never any blood on weapons or blades used to stab people. Even with advanced healing, this gave the movie a strange look. I know a comic book, but I found it a bit strange.

I did find the way that Weapon X was able convince Logan to get the Adamantium fused was very good story telling. I was not shocked when his wife/girlfriend was killed, but I was shocked to find out it was all a setup and she was working for the project. Yes, in the movie Stryker was a very sick individual. I think even worse in this movie than in X2. A very sick, twisted mind. Other X-movies indicated that Xavier and Magneto knew about the Weapon X program, but it didn’t seem lie it in this movie (another continuity problem?) .

Other characters. Well I have a lot more to say on this, so for another time

There’s been a lot of buzz around here about a few new restaurants that are to be opening soon in our county.  One is a replacement for a restaurant that closed due to the tough economic times.  The old place had good food, but their prices were kind of high for the area, and their service was always very  slow – perhaps two reasons that led to their demise?  I don’t know much about their replacement, except that it’s to be called ‘Union Street Grille’ and will open in May sometime.  Hmm, grille.  Does that mean burgers and the like?

Next we will have a Sonic drive-in.  For those of you who aren’t familiar, Sonic is a fast food place, with burgers, french fries, chicken sandwiches and the like, but they also have outdoor booths where you can sit in your car and eat after your food is delivered to you.  I try not to eat too much fast food, but I do enjoy Sonic from time to time, and they have excellent slushies, ocean water, and especially flavored iced tea – YUM!  And Sonic has a Happy Hour from 2-4 when their drinks are half-price, so I’ll be there…

The other new restaurant in the area is a place called ‘4 Seasons’ and it’s about 20 minutes away.  They have (among other things) Greek food – my favorite!  Not a full spread, but enough to make me happy!  Their gyros are great (awesome tzatziki sauce), and they even have homemade hollandaise sauce for eggs benedict.  I think I’ve already rambled on in a few blog posts how important it is for good eggs benedict to have homemade hollandaise.  My husband and I have searched many states for good hollandaise sauce, and many places will say their sauce is homemade even if it isn’t.  I guess to a lot of people, “homemade” means that they’ve mixed the powder into the water.  But not to us – you can really taste the (ew) difference if there is powder involved.  The other night, we ate at 4 Seasons, and I made a comment – now we just have to ask them when they’re getting Saganaki (one of my favorite Greek dishes – it involves goat or sheep cheese, whiskey, fire, and yelling OPA!  Good stuff).  So my husband asked the waitress about it, and that’s when we found out that they HAVE it!  Of course – we find out when we’re way too full to even consider trying it, and on the eve of one of the busiest weekends we’ve had in a long time.  We will be up there to try it soon – no doubt!  Before that lovely piece of news, we thought the nearest Saganaki was Toledo or South Bend, Indiana!

Anyway, 3 new restaurants opening up within miles of my house is a big deal for us – especially for one to have THREE of our favorite dishes!  We eat out a lot, partly because the prices are reasonable in our area, partly because we’re very busy people and I’m not home a lot to cook, and partly because it’s really difficult to cook with 8 extra little feet in the kitchen to trip over!  Maybe some day I’ll have the time and the patience to cook more often, but until then, new restaurants opening in our area to give us more variety is a cause for celebration!  EUREKA!

Happy Mother’s Day to all those who serve as mothers whether it be in the traditional sense or less than traditional.  I am lucky to have had two extraordinary women to look up to and admire who have always been there for me no matter where I was or what trouble I have been in.  One, my fabulous mother whom I would not trade for all the tea in China.  The other one that I was blessed to “adopt” as the second mother I so wish everyone had (God rest her soul)… someone I could talk to and share private things with.

My mom is one of the most giving women on the planet.  She has three jobs: beautician, bus driver (morning, pre-school, and afternoon routes), and bookkeeper for volleyball, basketball, and softball.  The sports statistician position I think she does more for the escape from the everyday but she still gets paid for it.  She also is the best person to have raised her four children, husband (he is still being raised), and niece who had been tossed around from 3 foster families before ending up with us when she was in the second grade.  So many memories, I cannot pick a single one.

On the other hand, one instance sticks out clearly in my mind concerning Emily.  Following one of the performances of Joseph nine years ago, the two ladies and I went to McDonald’s.  We ordered and went to our table.  However, the orders were far from correct.  Emily went right back up to the counter and in her special way explained the situation.  By the time she was done, we had not only gotten our orders refilled correctly but a refund on top of it.  I sometimes wonder if the poor guy behind the counter had been employed there long.  No one wanted to be on Ma2’s bad side.

So… thank you to all mothers everywhere.  I’m sure that there is not a harder yet more rewarding job anywhere.

Well, I guess I haven’t really been that far away but it sometimes seems that way. I’ve done nothing as energetic as pulling carpet and painting. I haven’t tried out for any musicals (never will). I’ve just been dealing with daughters. Daughter getting married, daughter in her senior year, just being a dad.

I did take some time off to be with friends. A little help here (have truck will haul part 3 😉 ), a little help there (moral support during tryouts), and that was that.

I really didn’t have much to say or blog about. Except for two movies I was able to see. I may do some full write-ups later. Full of spoiler alerts.

First bridal shower for 3rd daughter seemed to go off without a hitch. I dropped off some food, and the youngest daughter, and then made my self scarce for a few hours. I was going to spend some time with my son-in-law, but since he had to work, I spent the afternoon with my father-in-law. S’s parents are good people, and they’ve kept me as part of their family. Another one of those ‘family we choose’ situations. Sometimes we get lucky.

Where have I been all week, you ask?  Ok, maybe you didn’t ask (actually Mare Mare asked in her blog, but ironically, that was after I had started this post!), so I’m going to tell you anyway.  My husband and I have embarked on our first major self-done home improvement project!  We are now almost finished, and I think it’s safe to say that it went well!

We had a spare room on the first floor that we made into a craft room.  We put a bunch of arts and crafts in there for the kids, along with a big table.  They used it a lot, almost every day, but they would never clean up after themselves.  So, it became a storage room; which really means a place to toss junk and clutter.  Complicating the problem was the fact that our elderly dog was having accidents in there, so it smelled so bad no one even wanted to go in there.  So we ripped out the carpet, got on our hands and knees to pull out the nails the carpet left behind, scrubbed the floor, primed it and painted it.  Viola!  No more stench!  It was a lot of hard work, but it was fun, and now we have a brand new room for our family!  What to do with the new room?  We began with the idea that it was going to be a playroom for the kids, but then we realized that they don’t really need a play room – all their toys fit in their bedrooms or in the living room.  Plus, after all that work, we kind of want the room to ourselves.

So now the idea is to reward ourselves by repo-ing the room (we did save ourselves over $700 by avoiding the carpet installation!), and we’re thinking we’re going to make it a theater room.  We got some theater chairs last week on clearance from  our Kmart going out of business, and my husband is going to see about getting a projector and screen.  I think we’ll also have room for a table and our storage bins so the kids can still have their place for crafts and homework.  And, the room has a huge closet – so the plan is to move our famous game closet over to that room since our game collecting addiction has outgrown its current home.  All this means more work ahead, of course, but nothing can be as bad as crawling around on our hands and knees on the cruddy old floor – everything from here on out is the fun part!  Before and after:

The last two days saw the first weekend of auditions for Fountain City Festival’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I can’t say how much I adore this show.  I have tried out for one production, was cast in another, and look forward to being in another.  I went to try out this morning with my 14 year-old niece.  I guess I should have helped her by letting her listen to the music since the vocal portion of the audition consisted of singing selections from the show.  Before going into the audition room, the auditioners had the opportunity to watch a streaming video of choreography to one of the songs.  EVERYONE had to learn the dance, youth choir included.  I, of course, perfectly learned the steps.

I went into the room and was greeted by the director (whom I have worked with before… very fun), two assistants, and the accompanist.  I was asked to perform one song and then perform another selection.  Felt good and thank goodness I did not use up all my energy from the choreography which was video taped allowing the directors the opportunity to once again view my fabulous (uh, hunh) footwork.

I see one drawback.  I learned that Friday’s audition had about 10 high school age auditioners (and one extremely talented 30-something).  When I arrived at the locale with Shelby, there were 4 others (two adult performers whom I have had the pleasure of working with before and two young gentlemen).  Needless to say,  this show REQUIRES a much larger cast of energetic performers of all ages.  Hopefully, more people show up next weekend.  Perhaps a few of my fellow tangenteers could make the short (or not so short) trek to dazzle audiences.

Friday night saw the return of Alex Rodriguez to third base for the New York Yankees following his recovery from hip surgery.  Depending upon how the Bombers do by seasons end, this game may be seen as the one in which the team turned around… after losing a deplorable 5 games in a row (their longest losing streak in two years).  Even the unremarkable pitching of C.C. Sabathia was on par as he pitched  a 9 inning shutout and winning 4-0.

I’m not going to dwell on the past scandals of A-Rod.  Not his admitted substance use that has come to light, nor the more bizarre report of pitch tipping.  The first pitch he saw Friday night with no spring training was a perfect 98MPH fastball delivered by Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie.  The bat connected and travelled over the left centerfield fence of Camden Yards scoring three runs.  Although, he went 1-4, a message was clearly sent.  Hopefully, his return will brighten the field that is (as seemingly usual) plagued by injury.

BEWARE OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS (but I will try to avoid them)

I must say that the wait was well worth it.  I will say that the plot was typical J.J. Abrams.  Anyone who watched Alias or watches Lost knows that his plots can be convoluted at best.  That being said, everything that made the past series was present in the film but non-Trekkers should also enjoy it… provided that sci-fi is to their liking.

The how and why of the destinies (I don’t think the word is out of place, at all) of the two lead characters are laid out.  The brash, looking before he leaps and darn the consequences of Kirk was dramatically portrayed by Chris Pine.  The balance of the mixture of Vulcan/humanity of Spock was brilliant.  I almost thought that Zachary Quinto was a young Leonard Nimoy.  In fact, I thought the 7 ensemble characters of the Enterprise command were each portrayed quite well.  Dr. McCoy’s first impression of Spock is hilarious… and how did he get the nickname of “Bones”?  I still have a hard time seeing Chekhov on the bridge this early.  Maybe as a member of the crew in some smaller capacity, but it just seemed strange.  There is another relationship on board that I’m not quite sure fits.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away.  However, the villain sets out on a mission of vengance that could have catastrophic effects upon the universe.  Isn’t that the way all of these seem to follow?  Final verdict:  While the plot is somewhat out there, the characters fit like a glove and made the movie quite fun.   It was better than Star Trek V… so it was far from the worst.

Tonight at 7, I will be in an area multiplex watching the first summer blockbuster of the season (did not get to Wolverine).  I have watched interviews with cast members on a few of the gab fests.  Surprisingly, little has been divulged concerning the plot of Star Trek which is a VERY good thing.  The only cast member (aside from Mr. Nimoy of course) I really recognize (by name) is Eric Bana.  Bana will be playing the villain Nero.  The only cinematic of his I have had the pleasure(?) of spending too much for a two hour + movie was the original dud of the big screen Hulk.  At least if Trek fails, it will be hard to blame him because he is one of the lucky individuals who got to sit in the chair and endure hours of prosthetic application.   I think it would be neat to play a character at least once (probably no more) in which I had to sit through three hours of having my face totally transformed.  So… Live Long and Prosper, Beam Me Up, Scotty (never said by Shatner’s Kirk), Warp Factor 9.99.  I don’t know if I am more excited to see this movie or if I was more excited to see Indiana Jones’ return last year.  Not nearly as long to wait for the return of the Enterprise.

I can’t stay mad at all y’all (that’s how a Southerner says it, right?)  so here’s some sub news.  Monday and Tuesday I was in near-city district again, and will be back there again tomorrow.  3rd grade was the name of the game Monday, and one of the first things I noticed was the teacher’s computer, or rather what was taped on (click pics for larger size):

How awesome- the teacher is a Christian and not afraid to show it! 🙂 . Once class started, I found she had a good group of kids making it a much easier time than 3rd grade last week.  I also got two breaks in addition to lunch- art in the AM and PE in the PM.  Besides the monitor dressing, probably the most memorable part of this job was the huge spelling packet we had to grade- without a key!  Seriously, this packet was about a dozen pages, front and back, for around 24 pages of work.  Using some time in the morning and some time in the afternoon, we were able to get through maybe half of it.  It took longer than it should have because I had to think about the answers before I said them.  It’s 3rd grade work, but that doesn’t mean the answers come instantly.  I have corrected work without a key before, but usually it’s math and usually just me grading papers, not the whole class.  At least in those situations I made a “key” by grading one studen’t paper then using it (at least the correct answers) as the key for the rest.

Tuesday I subbed for art in the open middle school and was pleasantly surprised to find I only had five classes.  There was a second art teacher who taught two classes before going to the elementary school next door.  Actually, she had a sub too, but you get the picture.  All periods were pretty easy.  The 6th-grade just got a video.  We watched one of the HBO Artist Special movies.  I picked the Rembrandt one.  These movies, or at least this one, really don’t talk much about the artists’ work, but instead take the artist and his setting, and make it into a historical fiction story utilizing a boy or girl somehow to make it more appealing to kids.  7th and 8th grade were in the middle of projects so they just continued to work on them.  I actually ran into the daughter of my church’s camp and one-time youth director- I guess I know what town his family lives in now. 🙂

Today- just a half-day in PE.  I had the option of changing it to a full day in kindergarten, but I really didn’t want to drive all the way there (one of the further schools in near-city district) and, well, you know me and younger grades, especially when “ELL” shows up in the job description. 😉 . For PE we just played scooter tag, which was just a sharks and minnows tag game on scooters, where two at a time are taggers and anyone they tag have to sit down but may tag others as they pass.  The gym becomes quite the minefield for survivors after awhile.  It was fun.  I had planned on getting gas for the mower after work and doing a quick job on the lawn, but probably because of the scheduled walkathon at the school (okay, not really) it started to downpour just as school finished.  Since rain is scheduled for the next several days I guess I will have to wait a while longer.  Oh, well.