My rainy day craft box

I'm someone who doesn't get to see a lot of movies, or who only sees them years after whatever fuss there was about them dies down. It seems like we've watched a lot of movies in the days since we've gotten settled in, and it's a mix of new and old.

Paranormal Activity 3 - Saw this one in the theatre yesterday. It's hard to discuss without getting spoilery. I can say that so far my fears have been averted and the sequels show no sign of declining in quality. However this sequel, while scarier throughout than either of its predecessors, is both intriguing and frustrating as it seems to directly contradict information revealed in previous installments. However, this may be explainable since the ending reveals that certain individuals' perception of events in their past may be heavily influenced by outside sources... This series is doing a good job of expanding the mystery of its universe while still delivering satisfying movies. Can't wait to see what they'll do next.

Tin Man - Started watching this on my own one afternoon. Haven't finished it but I intend to. It's a made-for-SyFy Channel remake of the Wizard of Oz that pulls heavily from a variety of fantasy and sci-fi genres. Better than any SyFy original has any right to be. There's some very hammy acting and some special effects that aren't very special. But Zooey Deschanel plays the protagonist and takes her job seriously and is more than strong enough as an actress to hold the whole thing together. I look forward to finishing it.

Trick r' Treat - Basically an anthology of four different horror stories that take place across one Halloween night in a town where the holiday's dark magical origins are said to still hold great power. It's actually a very funny yet very gory horror comedy that's very well-written. It got screwed out of a theatrical run despite being produced by Bryan Singer who brought on two of his heavy-hitting X-Men alums (Anna Paquin, Brian Cox.) And that's a damn shame because it's one of the few truly fun horror movies I've ever seen. It somehow manages to not take itself seriously while taking itself dead seriously at the same time. Give it a try if you don't mind anachronic story telling and buckets of gore. My only gripe is that it needed more Tamoh Penniket.

Daybreakers - I remember when this movie came out the trailers made it look like a cheap Blade ripoff. It's actually pretty good. In the near future a virus has transformed most of the world's human population into vampires who have in turned farmed normal humans to the brink of extinction. Vampires deprived of human blood quickly devolve into an insane, animalistic state and society is collapsing as increasingly violent measures are needed to control the growing feral vampire population. Ethan Hawke plays a scientist conflicted over his vampire nature and the ethos of the blood farming corporation he works for. One night he crosses paths with a group of human fugitives and that's where things get really interesting.
Daybreakers does a very decent amount of world building in two hours. The ending clearly sets up for a sequel and you can tell they're itching to build on what they've created even more but given how poorly the film did that will probably never happen. It's a shame too. The film is actually a maddening blend of action movie cliches and truly interesting plot twists and surprise revelations. It's not great film making, but it's pretty good film making. It's no secret that the vampire genre is pretty overextended right now and somebody made a really sincere effort to keep it exciting with this movie. It's not Twilight but it's not trying to be cooler than Twilight either. It is, however, a good look at a bleak hell on earth scenario with vampires. Richard Matheson would be proud.

While on the set of The Selected: Final Hour this weekend I got to overhear the following exchange. We were filming inside a huge old three-story house, the spacious attic of which inspired someone to mention something about Anne Frank. I don't remember exactly what because the instant Anne Frank's name was mentioned someone else yelled very loudly:

"SHE WAS CATHOLIC!"

*Stunned silence from the first two conversationalists, eventually broken by a tentative "What?"*

"SHE WAS CATHOLIC! ANNE FRANK WAS A CATHOLIC!"

First Conversationalist: "I really don't think that Anne Frank was Cath-"

"YEAH, SHE BECAME A CATHOLIC! THAT'S WHY SHE QUIT WRITING THE VAMPIRE NOVELS! ANNE FRANK QUIT WRITING THE VAMPIRE NOVELS BECAUSE SHE BECAME A CATHOLIC!"

Collective facepalm from the entire room.

Anne Frank was a girl who couldn't come out of an attic. Anne Rice writes about vampires who can't stop coming out of the closet. If you know nothing else about 20th century Western literature, know this.

We saw Twilight last night. It wasn't terrible. Honestly I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Although I did find the pacing to be a bit slow. And the superspeed vampire running special effects weren't very special; very much of a Hercules/Xena quality. Oh, and the scenes of the evil vampires killing their victims were, well, they weren't... they always cut away well before any violence took place. Didn't sell me on how the bad guys operated very well, so the confrontation at the end sort of came out of nowhere and relied heavily on exposition. But I am keeping in mind that it's a movie marketed to teenaged girls so massive gore and violence are right out. Also keep in mind that I'm from a generation that grew up watching Kiefer Sutherland flay punk rockers' skulls so my expectations for a vampire attack will always be skewed.

But if you don't mind all that, Twilight was actually a pretty good movie. Haven't read the book so I don't have any comparisons there. But yep, enjoyable film. And blue. Why was everything blue?

I need to stop reading macro communities over my wife's shoulder.

I finally got our potted plant garden potted today. We now have a vinca vine, an oregano, a mint, and a candy corn plant the blossoms of which really do look like candy corn as promised. My mom also gave us a potted tomato plant. I rarely eat tomatoes, but Mel likes them and they're fun to try and keep alive. I had been putting of planting the garden, but I really had a surprising amount of fun and by the end was actively wishing I had more plants. I haven't really done anything with horticultural since I was a child helping my dad in the garden. I didn't like it then. I am pleasantly surprised to find that I like it now.

I received an advertisement today via Careerbuilder saying that my old employers, Namco/Bandai are looking for a marketing director. Sounds sweet except I don't want to move to California.

It says the position is in Santa Clara, California. I hate Santa Clara. You know what I hate about it?

You guessed it. All the damn vampires.