Woohoo, I’m actually getting week 2 done here! Maybe this new feature will stick around. So, let’s see… what have I been chewing on this week? Well, not literally chewing, but you know what I mean. Here we go!
Music
Let’s start with music, since I don’t think I even mentioned that one last week. Honestly, last week I wasn’t really feeling too into music, so I hadn’t been listening to a lot of it. I had been listening to a lot of podcasts instead. Some friends of mine back in Indy started one, last year, I think it was. I had checked it out once when they first started it and didn’t get into it too much, but I’ve started listening to it again and am enjoying it. They are geeks like me, which is cool, and they always have great recommendations of stuff to check out. Plus, they really just talk about life and everything going on. There’s no specific topic/purpose to their podcast other than to talk about what they’ve been doing and what’s on their mind, and I like that. Seems fun to me. Check out their podcast, “Chris and Crys Take Over The World”.
Intense by Armin van Buuren
This is an album that came out not too long ago that I’ve been listening to a lot this week. Like, over and over again type of a lot. I absolutely love Armin van Buuren. He was my gateway drug into EDM (electronic dance music, for the uninformed) and I’ve been hooked on his stuff ever since. It started with his album Imagine, then Mirage, and now his newest studio album, Intense. He has a lot of other mixes and even a podcast and radio show on DI.fm, and I love all of it. Just some great epic trance, and this newest album is no exception.
Movies
We made it to the movie theater this week! We actually almost went to see this movie a week or two ago when I had free sneak preview passes to it. And that was the day I decided that I’m done with sneak preview passes altogether. Ricky went with me, and as you have to nowadays, we showed up two hours early. (If you have never been to a movie sneak preview, they always give out way more passes than the theater holds, so you have to show up super early to even get a decent seat.) They were also taking people’s cell phones before you go into the theater. They do this so people can’t record the movie, which seems silly to me. Most normal people have cell phones with video cameras on them now. It’s just how it is. And most normal people are not going to use those cell phones to record the movie. The people that would do that, will just find another way to do it. So don’t inconvenience us normal people to try to stop those that are just going to keep doing it anyway. End of rant. So we paid to see the movie, got to keep our cell phones, and didn’t have to wait in line for two hours, which worked out much better.
So the movie itself… was okay. It was good entertainment, but not too much more. You definitely have to suspend disbelief for some of it. And honestly, I have to admit, I’m a little surprised that this movie was allowed to be made. Some of the things in it, the way the White House was taken over (that’s not a spoiler, I mean the movie is called White House Down), stuff like that – you wouldn’t think that would be good for some people to see. I mean, what if people get ideas in their heads? I hope not. But really, we talk about how video games are too violent for kids and cause shootings or whatnot, but then they allow movies like this to be made? I mean, it mirrors reality to an extent. I don’t think the black president and his wife in the movie were just a coincidence, you know? But overall, I liked the movie. Nothing too mentally stimulating, but it was good entertainment, like I said.
Ricky has been wanting to see this for a while, and I had already watched it once and enjoyed it, so we watched it again at home this weekend. It’s just a fun movie. I like both Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, and they are a riot to watch together in this movie. It’s an interesting story and a great comedy with good actors. Check it out if you get a chance.
Television
I don’t really have much to report as far as TV this week. I mentioned Big Love last week, and I am still hooked on it. It’s such a fascinating story to me. It makes me wonder, though… I mean, I know polygamist families do exist. But are any of them actually like the main family depicted in this show? Because while they have their problems at times (most of them actually being from outside the family or from extended family), they overall seem to work well together and honestly don’t seem to be too dysfunctional, in my opinion. We think it’s a crazy notion, but maybe it really does work for some families.
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret / Arrested Development
I linked these together because Ricky and I have been watching both of them some lately. We started watching Todd Margaret on Netflix, and because it has some of the same actors, I told him he needed to start Arrested Development (he started it once but didn’t get into it). We seem to be at an impasse, though, because he likes Todd Margaret better, and I prefer Arrested Development. Oh well, he’ll run out of Todd Margaret episodes soon, so maybe then he’ll get into Arrested Development more.
Books
Well, I am still stuck on Neil Gaiman. I don’t really have anything new on the book front, but I did finish Stardust. As I mentioned last week, I’ve been listening to it in the car, and I finally finished it. Great book, and it’s awesome to hear Neil reading it, and kind of funny how he did some of the voices. But I loved it. It’s just a great, beautiful tale. It’s almost like a long version of a fairy tale, so if you like fairy tales, you should definitely go check it out.
I’ve also been still working my way through the Sandman series. I got my hard copies of the books, and while I’ve still been reading them on my iPad, I love having them. His stuff just has a magical quality to it to me, and I know I’m probably not the only one that thinks that. I have the box set of the books sitting on my desk right now, and I like seeing them there when I’m sitting at my desk working. I know, I’m weird. Sue me.
I have some more movies, books, and TV shows lined up to check out this week, including catching up some more on Doctor Who (I was stuck in Season 3 for a long time, and just finished it), a couple other Neil Gaiman books that I have on my Kindle (Coraline and the Graveyard Book), and some movies I have ready to watch (Pitch Perfect, Mama, and Dark Skies) so hopefully I can get to some of them before we head to Vegas on Friday for Ricky’s 30th birthday weekend, because I know I won’t get anything done there. But it should be fun. Check back again next week for more to come!
Life is a series of experiences. Some of mine include walking along the Great Wall of China, drinking craft beer in Belgium, playing poker in Vegas, reading novels at home, or just relaxing with my husband and lovable dog. This website is your invitation to join me as I take on the planet one experience at a time and blog about it for your enjoyment!
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