Just placed my order for the Gentle Giant club member holiday gift! Yes….I am a member…duh?! I hope get a low number!
Although…I do think Vader should be wearing a scarf or something festive. A dove? That doesn’t scream holidays to me. Screams Prince. But whatever…
So…does this mean I can start getting ready for Christmas now? :)
P.S The dove and Threepio’s head are interchangeable. If THAT doesn’t scream creepy in some way…well…
Guy at post office just told me that he thought I was a little kid when I walked in. Hmmmmm….
1. Because I look SO young? (I vote for this one!)
2. Because you are like a foot taller than me giant man and this is your way of saying the rest of us are Lilliputians?
3. Because I am wearing a lot of pink today? (was asked earlier if could possibly wear more pink today. My answer was yes. I could. Is that a dare? And For The Record I’m wearing a pink top with pink ballet flats and a plaid headband that has some pink in it and THAT’S THE ONLY PINK sheesh. You’d think I was dressed like I was going to a Mary Kay convention.)
4. Some other unknown reason????
LOVED IT!!!!
Bought the tickets a couple days ago using my free Fandango codes from Groupon. Yay! Picked a Saturday afternoon show because husband had a couple out of town meetings on Friday and wasn’t going to be back until Saturday AM. He is going out of town again but said flight wasn’t until Saturday night so we chose the 1:40pm showing. While I very much wanted to see it Friday, I would wait the half a day. It wasn’t a Star Wars or Indy film after all. :)
Husband called me around 10am today saying he just got on the road about an hour ago. Huh? You said you were leaving “early”. I should have asked whose definition of early we were using. Grrr. Oh…and that he checked his flight and it was actually leaving at 4:55 and not after 7pm like he thought (that’s the arrival time.) Doh! So he had to drive 3+ hours (always bad traffic on weekends so definitely a lot of +), pack for a week trip and then we would drive to the movies, watch a 2 hour movie after 20 minutes of previews and get him to SFO in time to check bags. Uh…sure…OK.
He did hit a lot of traffic. And got home after 12:30pm. And still had to pack. And we left the house in his truck at 1:04pm. With an empty gas tank. But we needed to take his truck since his surf case wouldn’t fit in my Rover. And hit traffic on Highway 1 because well…it’s the weekend. Tourists.
He says on the way “well, worst thing is I miss my flight and have to pay the $100 change fee for the next one. No big deal. I promised you this movie” Huh? No big deal? Did the aliens from this movie abduct my husband??? Pretty sure yes…yes they did. Got to the theater at 1:39. I raced in while he parked. I scored us great seats though! Also – got to see the Mission Impossible trailer again. CANNOT wait to see that!!
I deliberately wasn’t reading any reviews of C&A because a) critics are generally stupid and b) I didn’t want any opinions or parts of the movie in my head while I watched it. So if you are like me – STOP READING.
The movie started and I would like to state for the record that I was NOT the only one who kind of quietly but still out loud said “YAY!” when Harrison Ford’s name came on the screen :) #geek #stalker
It was non-stop from the moment it started. Everyone in it is fantastic. The action was fun and the effects never took over the movie. And a big thank you to Jon Favreau for deliberately not filming it in 3D (he talked about that at Comic Con last year.) I’m sure some effects would have been cool in 3D and all but his decision to go with an old Western movie feel definitely made a difference in the tone/feel (for the better) of the movie.
There are a couple scenes where you jump. So maybe not so great for little kids? Depends on them I guess. Personally, the Harry Potter commercials with Voldemort look scarier to me! In one scene, our entire row jumped! And then we all giggled at ourselves for it right after. Hehehe.
Harrison Ford has some great lines. He plays a pretty grumpy guy and he made me giggle a lot with his grumpiness. Kinda reminded me of my old boss actually. Seemingly grumpy with a soft (ish) gooey center. A couple lines were definitely Han or Indy lines :) I truly love Harrison Ford. How is he 69??? Oh, and Daniel Craig is totally awesome too! Although I think he had like 10 lines. He was more facial and action type acting. And Olivia Wilde (who is beyond beautiful.) And Sam Rockwell. And all of the other actors. But…well…no one is Harrison Ford, not even James Bond. ;)
There are a few scenes that are obvious winks at Return of the Jedi. And one BIG wink and smirk to Indiana Jones. That…or I’m a goober who reads too much Star Wars and Indy into everything :) But I don’t think so. Well, I do think I read Star Wars and Indy into a lot of life, but that’s because they are SO awesome. And so applicable!
Oh! – the aliens want our gold. Me too! This also explains the gold bricks promotion at Comic Con. But seriously…I want the gold too.
And there is a dog in the movie. So really – this makes the movie pretty darn near perfect. A husky would have made it perfect. But then we would all wonder what the heck a husky was going in New Mexico. So, that’s OK :)
If you want a super fun popcorn movie that makes you smile – GO! If you only like art house crap…err…I mean indie films to make you think or ponder your emotions you should stick with Netflix tonight. Although…it may be too late since you might have stopped reading by now because I told you to earlier :)
USS Midway 7.11, a set on Flickr.
Finally toured the USS Midway on this trip to San Diego. Very, very cool. And the jets are AWESOME!! Theme from Top Gun was playing on my head the whole time :)
Took the huskies to the beach this morning on their walk. We came across this:
This is the kinda stuff that makes me believe Singaporian justice isn’t such a bad idea. The people that leave their trash like this, whether on the beach, in parks, in lakes, on the side of the road, wherever, are people who have little or no sense of personal responsibility. And if they are doing this, there are far worse and stupid things they are doing.
They are scum-sucking maggots who will only continue to behave like this (or worse.) People who probably offer no real benefit to society, and more likely, are a drain on it. People who will probably breed and spawn little scum-sucking maggots who will go on to also be of little use or benefit to society.
So yes – a good caning would, at the very least, make me feel better about it.
California Wolf Center 7.11, a set on Flickr.
Awesome wolf pics from my visit last week!
SDCC 2011, a set on Flickr.
My pics from SDCC :)
“Daniel Craig is my wookiee bitch now” AWESOME! LOL!!!!
Spread it all out and looked at everything tonight :)
Purchased:
Funko SDCC Exclusive flocked Chewbacca – ran to get this when doors opened Thursday AM. Was sold out when I went by again on Saturday! Also got the flocked Gizmo on impulse :) This Chewie is something I saw on my tour at ILM and wasn’t allowed to talk about!
Kotobukiya Wonder Woman statue
Kotobukiya Star Wars Mace Windu (purple) chopsticks (I eat a lot of sushi at home so fully justified)
Kotobukiya Star Wars Han in Carbonite ice cube molds
Mimobot Han Solo with Carbonite case 16gb USB drive
Mimobot SDCC exclusive Bossk 8gb USB drive #106/500
Gentle Giant SDCC Exlusive Ralph McQuarrie concept Hoth Stormtrooper (IS Stormy’s full name so had to do it!) They are shipping to me so don’t know #
Sideshow “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope – Limited Edition” hardcover book by Morgan Spurlock #3849/5000
SDCC exclusive JLA tumblers (2)
Soft Kitty (Big Bank Theory) t-shirt
and my favorite:
Han and Chewie pic personally autographed to me by Chewbacca…err Peter Mayhew :)
Freebies (panels or on floor):
Cowboys and Aliens gold brick that was hunted and found (no premier tickets tho :( )
The Hunger Games poster (got this for a friend who loves this series)
SDCC 2011 bags with JLA, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Shark Week on them
SDCC Souvenir programs (2) with JLA cover art
Breaking Dawn “Save The Date” magnet
Breaking Dawn trading cards (including Edward – Squeee!)
Ringer chair (perfect for line sitting!)
Game of Thrones backpack w/book, t-shirt (House Baratheon), mousepad, screen protector, bookmark)
Metal water bottles from Fright Night party – say Holy Water (hehehe)
Fright Night fangs
Fright Night 3-D glasses with hard case (for all my home 3D viewing)
Oh! And the little Chewbacca plush that some guy randomly walked up to me on the floor and gave me for free because “I looked like I liked Chewbacca.” :)
And then I bought on eBay:
Gentle Giant Squirrel Pool (only 500 made – not sure of my number yet)
The fact that I bought this on eBay pisses me off a bit but I wanted it. And I waited for about 40 minutes in line but then it sold out before I got to the counter. This pisses me off because most of the sellers of this item on eBay had more than one to sell (some had 3 or 4.) They (Gentle Giant and all large vendors) should limit the SDCC exclusives to 1 per customer. Pisses me off royally that some scalpers don’t even go to Comic Con for the show, but just to buy the exclusives and get the freebies to sell all of them on eBay. Jerks.
I looked for the eBay seller that only indicated he had 1 for sale. He might have more to sell, but at least it wasn’t obvious. And at least he accepted my Best Offer and I didn’t pay as much as the buyers before me (although probably more than the people who buy any in a week or 2 I would guess.) I am still keeping an eye out on eBay for the official t-shirt with the JLA art in size small.
And then I bought a cool Wolf Sanctuary sweatshirt when I was up there on Sunday. And I buy ornaments from vacation places I go to so bought a Christmas ornament at the USS Midway store. So a consumer long weekend all the way around. Although in fairness to me, I bought much less than most Comic Con trips!
I need more shelves….
Comic Con Day 4! Oh wait…I didn’t go. I was sad when I left the hotel. Kinda like when football season is over. Mopey-face.
When I first saw the schedule for this year’s SDCC I saw that, as usual, there wasn’t much on Sunday in terms of panels that I cared about. I would have loved to see the SyFy Merlin panel but if there was a day to take off, this was it. Normally Sunday is my “floor day” after using the other days for mostly panels. Of course, I also used to go to Preview Night for floor time before it became a frackin’ nightmare to try and get a pass. #dontgetmestarted
So instead of staying around SDCC, I made a reservation at the California Wolf Sanctuary. I have been donating to this organization for a number of years but have never actually visited. So since the Monday tours were all booked, I booked a tour for Sunday. Had to be there at 9:30 and they are about 1.5 hours away so it was another early morning of getting ready, packing, checking out and sitting. But instead of in line or in panels, it was in a car.
Got up there on time. And wow. I can not think of enough good things to say about this experience. Was pure awesome sauce. The tour was for about 30 people-ish? A short in-room presentation about the history of wolves, hunting and their endangered status and where the packs are now that have been re-introduced. The guide was much, much more politically correct than I would have been. Basically – humans suck. We almost obliterated this species because man didn’t want first tier predators around. I hate most humans. Oh…and humans still hunt them. And still want them obliterated. And spend a lot of lobby money to get them off the endangered species list so they can hunt them. Even after there is scientific proof that with the wolves back in the eco system, all of nature actually thrives. But hunters don’t want to hear that. Yeah…humans generally suck.
Another thing we learned: a grey wolf has 1500 lbs (psi i believe is the measurement) of bite pressure. A pit bull or German Shepherd has 700. So…that wolf is ripping your arm out of your socket when they lose wookiee-style!
OH! And there was actually a species of direwolves back in the day! And they were HUGE! So they are not just a fantasy creature made up by George R. Martin in the Game of Thrones. Team Direwolf!!!
Anyway – after that short in room presentation, we went out to the Alaskan Grey Wolf area. But none were out. Sleepy time in the hot weather I guess. So they took us over to the Mexican wolf area. This sanctuary is a big part of the Federal project to re-introduce Mexican wolves to the wild. So they have some that are not part of the tour so that they don’t get used to humans. But they have 3 that will probably not be re-introduced to the wild and that are on occasion shown on tour.
They are 3 girls. So pretty. Because of their coloring and their smaller size (compared to the Alaskan Grey wolf) they are sometimes mistaken for coyotes. They really just look like brown Storms!
They were walking around a lot, marking the fence (which they do my rubbing on it or chewing at it), or rolling around in the dirt. So husky like! The guide was telling us a story about how because they might still be reintroduced , they don’t get the same food as the Alaskan wolves. They get more kibble than meat unless it’s meat they would hunt in the wild such as deer or rabbit. Someone asked about squirrel. He said the wolves generally don’t eat the ground squirrels or crows but they will catch them and play with them to “get their squeaker out” and then they are done with them. O.M.G. – HOW HUSKY-LIKE!!!
He said one of the other females is older and has medical (renal) issues. So she is on a very low-protein diet. But apparently she gets sick of the kibble so she takes it and spreads it out so the crows come and try and eat it and then grabs one and eats it! What a smart buddy ☺
He had funny stories about the wolves and we got some good pics. I wished I had a good camera and not just my iPhone. But oh well. Then we saw that the Alaskan wolves come out so we got to go back to see them. Wow – the first male we saw is HUGE. Huge like Angelus looks like a baby compared to him. (Angelus strongly disagrees with this comparison.) In this area they had 2 females and 2 males. They had other fenced off sections with other packs, a mom and pups, another female who kept getting into fights to try and be alpha. But they were not on tour.
We hung out and waited for the Alaskans and then the 2 females came out. They feed them raw chickens and turkey (but like the kind you get at the store, not feathered or anything), and other stuff I won’t go into because while I understand the Circle of Life, I never like seeing it.
We got to see 1 of the females really close and she was pretty funny – she would stretch for us, yawn, try and catch flies. She seemed very bored by us all ☺ The male went over and found a shady spot and stretched and then laid down like Angelus does when he is done with me and wants to lie down and not be bothered.
We got to hang out for a long time watching them, taking pictures, asking questions. The guide was great. Never felt rushed at all. And it really became clear that wolves are just feral huskies ;)
Oh! And they have the bumper sticker that I saw a long time ago and want so badly! “Little Red Riding Hood Lied” It was stuck to something and not for sale (it was made by Defenders of Wildlife years ago and they told me it was sold out and they never remade them.) I am SO getting back to my project of making this for me ☺
Basically, this tour strengthened my resolve to keep sending my donations to them and this cause. For years and years and years I have only donated to animal /wildlife causes. Mostly to Defenders of Wildlife, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and here. My only human donation in forever was for 9/11. I will continue this and increase it. The damage humans have done and continue to do to this planet and its animal life is disgusting.
Without the ecosystem they help maintain and keep in good health, all of the starving children in Africa, landmine victims in Bosnia, the fight for gay marriage, the fight against gay marriage, human tsunami/earthquake/volcano victims in Haiti/Japan/Chili/Indonesia/Philippines/wherever and the many walks, runs, trots and bracelets to find cures for every disease under the sun, moon and stars will mean nothing in the end unless you want a gray, sterile Blade Runner world. Not to say I won’t donate elsewhere too, but it will always 100% to animals. Period.
If you have a chance to ever visit, I strongly recommend it. Private tours book up well in advance (that’s my next trip!!!) and winter tours book up early too because many people like to see the wolves in the snow (it snows up there a few times a winter.)
We drove back through the town of Julian which is an old gold mining town. Very cute. Saw 2 coyotes and 1 wild turkey on the drive back! Stopped at a vista in the National Forest (you drive through it) and you look out over a canyon named Storm! Canyon (ok, I added that exclamation point!) Stormy wants to know why he wasn’t there too!
Then got back into civilization and saw Captain America which was GREAT. Plus got trailers for John Carter (of Mars) staring Taylor Kitsch (who looks delicious in it) and the new Mission Impossible movie which looks AWESOME! Oh – and if you have not seen Captain America yet but plan to – stay till the credits are OVER. I have friends who didn’t – doh! Avengers Assemble…in July 2012!!! So even though I didn’t spend anytime at Comic Con today, I kept the Con spirit alive by geeking out anyway on both wolves and superheroes.
☺
