Pitch Perfect!

Every so often, I have one of those days that really just doesn't start on the right foot. It's not so much like the old coinage "waking up on the wrong side of the bed" as it is the entire bed collapsed, flipped over, and dumped me into the toilet. Sounds weird, but if I had to guess, I'd say we've all been there at least once.

Well, good news is, I didn't have one of those mornings today.
Bad news is, poor Ali did... sorta.
Ali got in a fender bender on her way in [thankfully she's okay]; her poor car is another story, but she's okay. I totally understand the frustration behind starting your day off that way, so it made me feel less guilty about having a decent morning when we decided we'd meet up after work to go see Pitch Perfect.

See, Ali's boyfriend is a manager at The Lincoln in downtown Belleville. He met up with us for a moment at Panera St. Louis Bread Co. [excuuuuse me] before we made a stop for gelato [hi, Bulent!] and settled in for our final stop at the theater.

I didn't really know what to expect from this movie, but it was..... hilarious. It could've had a lot do with the fact that Ali is absolutely excellent company [toooooo.funny], because by the time we left, we were both nursing side-pangs from laughing through the entire film.

**SPOILER ALERT**


You all know I'm a sucker for vocal competition, harmonies & arrangements. That, and stupid movies like this have always been a ridiculous vice of mine. To top it off, I think Anna Kendrick is the cutest little thing with a stellar voice, and Rebel Wilson is... well, she's Rebel Wilson and you can't help but laugh at her unabashed candor on film.

I said all that to say that I'm glad to have been a part of the upswinging part of Ali's day - hopefully the car situation is resolved soon and everything gets back into working hours.

If I see this movie again within the next couple weeks, well.... yeah. (:

xo | cmd

The Hunger Games

It's not very often that I find myself getting into whatever current literatary phenom is trending among the tweens, teens, and even young adult crowds. Aside from the Bible [the original timeless classic], I find myself more prone to re-reading even a library-rented copy of The Little Women before I'd even think to crack open anything related to Harry Potter or Twilight. No offense intended to the wizard and vampire junkies out there; hey, if this is your thing, then you are fully entitled to it regardless of what anyone says.


not too bad, i must admit!

I'm talking now about Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, which is debuting onscreen with the help of director/producer Gary Ross. Apparently, this particular trilogy is the material of choice right now [for school cirriculum, too, I learned], and was expected to render record-breaking sales in terms of the movie premier. We've been watching the previews  for the past couple of weeks, and I finally became intrigued enough to do some Googling. I found enough information on the premise of the story, the base layout for this current movie, and the cast of familiar faces we would see during the big screen debut. I hadn't actually committed myself to wanting to go see it, but at work yesterday, Meagan brought it up, which spurred some more conversation. From what I'd heard so far, this was supposed to be pretty good. She texted me mid morning and asked if I'd like to accompany her and Rob to see it; I figured why not?

lincoln theater | belleville, il
1930's | 2011

I didn't hate it!

I rendezvoused with the Greers for a late afternoon showing at the historic Lincoln Theater downtown Belleville. I'd not been to this place before, but I'm so glad I went! You wouldn't believe there were three theaters in this place just by looking at it from the outside, but it does, and plenty of character to boot! Adorable place, even when it is crawling with teenagers in the middle of a Saturday :)

So regarding The Hunger Games: I won't call make this a spoiler alert per se, but I will say that it was much better than I'd expected. Cinematically, I thought the characters had been cast with excellent reflection of the actor's individual persona, and it flowed well - even I, someone who clearly hasn't read the books or done any intensive homework on the plot, could follow along almost seamlessly. Sure, there were some details lost in the book-to-film translation, I'm sure, but it still all seemed relevent and fluid to me.

The rest of today was spent cleaning up, doing some laundry, and catching up on a few creative endeavors that have been lying dormant for a few weeks now. Once those are finished, I'll share with the class, too.

Two more days until Joe's home - what a nice switch back to normality that will be!

xo | cmd