Ty’s Weblog

I took Xander to see Clone Wars today.  We both had a great time.  I’d heard a lot of bad things about the movie, but we both enjoyed it.  It’s possible that the fact that I’d heard bad reviews lowered my expectations enough that I was happy with what I saw, I don’t know.  More importantly though, Xander had a great time, and I had a great time seeing him have a great time.  I’m really enjoying how much he is enjoying Star Wars these days.

We took the kids to see Cars this morning. We went to the 10:30am show. We all enjoyed the movie a lot! It was great. Xander and Mira both did a great job, even though the movie was about 2 hours long.

The movie was great! The racing scenes were amazing. The rest of the movie was great too, but for different reasons. There is a lot of humor in it for adults that the kids won’t really get, in addition to the stuff everyone will laugh at. We spent a lot of time laughing.

After the movie we went to Arby’s for lunch. We all had a great morning.

Kate and I got to see Serenity tonight. It was amazing. I’m so sorry that show didn’t get to play out the way he had planned. The movie did a great job of giving a sense of closure to everything. We are looking forward to the DVD coming out so we can watch it over a few times to catch things we missed.

I’ve got to admit, I was impressed.

I got to see Revenge of the Sith at 10am this morning. Juniper Networks treated my department at work to a showing this morning. I went in with low expectations.

For Episode I, I had very high hopes, and I was very disapointed. It seemed like a special effect fest, with a plot wrapped around it.

Still, my hopes for Episode II had still been pretty high. I figured that Lucas would do a better job this time. It was better than Episode I, but I was still disapointed. I never even saw it in the theather, I was it of DVD after it came out.

So Episode III rolled around today, and I wouldn’t even have gone to the theather to see it either, if Juniper hadn’t been taking us. I’m so glad they did! It was an awesome movie worthy of the name Star Wars. The special effects (for the most part) didn’t look like special effects. I never felt like I was looking at a CGI of a ship or a clone trooper or really anything. Ok, the whatever it was that Obi-Wan rides is kinda weak, but other than that the special effects were dead on. And they were in service to the plot, instead of in place of it. Oh, and the plot. The plot was excellent. Anakin’s fall from grace is handled very well and fits nicely into the story as a whole.

It was a great movie, and it brings a nice closure to the story as a whole. The six movies together now have really become the story of Anakin Skywalker.

There isn’t going to be a B5 movie at this point after all. Pretty sad, and I’m sorry it’s not going to happen. It would have been nice to have something on at the movies I might think was worth watching.

At least we are still going to the get Firefly movie.

This morning, Xander and I got up and headed out to The National Air & Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center to watch the IMAX NASCAR movie. Xander did a wonderful job being patient while we waited in line to get into the museum (we got there about 10 minutes before it opened) and again while we waited in line to buy tickets.

Then we headed down to the theater. I’d tried to prepare Xander for what it was going to be like. I explained to him how the screen was going to be very big and it was going to be very loud. We walked in and he saw the screen and he said, “What’s that?”

Daddy: That’s the screen

Xander: That’s a huge screen!

He did a wonderful job sitting while we waited for the movie to start. He’s only 4 years old, so he had to sit very far forward to keep his seat down, so he ended up sitting on my lap once the movie got started. He also spent much of the movie with his hands over his ears because it was so loud, but he was clearly having a great time. I hardly watched the movie myself this time, I spent so much of the time looking down and watching his face. He had a wonderful time and loved the movie. He said his favorite part was when the cars would go by and go “Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!”

After the movie was over, we exited the theater and they had a “hands on” activity for the kids. Xander took a little bit of time to color himself a nice picture of a car. Then he went to claim his “prize.” He got lucky and won a full sized movie poster which now hangs proudly in his room..

After that we spent some time looking around the museum. Xander thought the SR-71 Blackbird was wonderful. “Daddy, that’s a big plane!”

There was also a indoor kite flying demonstration that Xander enjoyed watching very much.

Around Noon, we headed out and met up with Mommy and Mira for lunch at McDonald’s. After that we went for desert at Cold Stone Creamery, which was yummy as always.

Then it was home for about a hour and a half of quite time for everyone. Then we got Xander and Mira back up and we all finished watching Nextel Cup qualifying which we’d TiVoed yesterday.

Then Xander and I went outside to run around some since it was such a beautiful day. After about 10 minutes Xander decided he wanted to do some chalk drawing so we started doing that. Soon after that Mommy and Mira joined us outside as well. We all had a great time.

It really has been a full, rich day.

I went to see the IMAX NASCAR movie tonight. You’ll noticed I’ve dropped the 3D. Apparently the 3D is for some theaters, and ours isn’t one of them.

Oh well, no great loss there. The movie was great! I won’t go into too many details on it, but it was beautiful and the sound was amazing too! The screen was 6 stories tall. Racing on a screen that size is amazing.

It was a good documentary. I’m gonna try to take Xander to see it this weekend.

Got my ticket to the IMAX NASCAR 3D movie today. Working where I do has its advantages. I’ve got a free ticket to a preview showing Thursday night. Free in that parking is $12, but it’ll be worth it.

I’ll be feeling it out for taking Xander to see it this weekend.

I saw the third Lord of the Rings movie today. It was excellent, as expected. The only problem I had with it was that the ending was a bit drawn out. The rest of the movie was excellent though. The battles were amazing. Once again, things were very close to the book, but there are a number of changes, some of which I like, some of which I don’t.

I found this on Slashdot.

Things not to do while watching The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

I’m off to see it tomorrow morning, as a work function no less. I love my job.

A Teaser trailer for Spider-Man 2 is out.

Jack Elam had died. He starred in one of my favorite movies, Support Your Local Sheriff. I know that’s not the kind of role he was most famous for, but it’s how I’ll always remember him.

The Matrix Trilogy website has put up images of the movie posters for Revolutions.

TheOneRing.net has a trailer up for LOTR: The Return of the King. Filerush also has a BitTorrent set up for it (or at least did, it’s worth checking out to see if it’s back). They have a direct download version there also. GameTab also has a BitTorrent up for it.

There is also a LowRes version if you don’t have the bandwidth or patience for the larger one.

A new Matrix Revolutions theatrical trailer is out. FileRush has a BitTorrent up for it.