Gert

Durotan & Lothar & Rodolfo & Mimi

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The Warcraft movie is finally out, so of course I immediately went to see it. I had ordered a special movie package online that has a steel case blu-ray (gets sent on release) plus a code for a free warcraft game and a code for a free movie ticket. I have my Pathé Unlimited so I gave the free ticket to Nienke and she came along.

The movie itself is good. It has some points for improvement. For example, they’re trying to show a lot and give a lot of information. For those unfamiliar with the game and its world that can cause overload. But overall it is a good fantasy movie, and a great video game movie.

Thursday was theater-day. Mom and I had tickets to go see Opera Zuid perform La Bohème. They did a straight forward adaptation, no changes to time or place. The staging was basic in structure and filled in with details to make it look real. Which worked very well. The performances were very good. I definitely want to go see this company again.

Today, Gert and I popped over to Amsterdam to see the Warcraft movie in IMAX 3D. It was great fun, but I really don’t see the added value of IMAX 3D. I had to keep my head still and in the exact same position all the time or I would see double. And everything is so blown up that every panning shot was just a blurry mess.

After the movie we had a quick fast food dinner and hopped on the train back home.

The Nice Guys: Civil War

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More movies yesterday. After eating at Pappa Joe’s, Gert and I went to see The Nice Guys. I had seen trailers and it seemed like a fun movie. But in a way that I also didn’t quite know what to expect. Featuring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as private investigators who reluctantly team up to find a missing young woman, there’s a lot of comedy, but in a bit of a dark and forlorn way. The kid playing Gosling’s daughter steals the screen, though 🙂

Then we saw Captain America: Civil War. I have mixed feelings about this film, and I think that shows how good it is. I really like the Avengers. As individuals I like some more than others, but as a team, I love them. And I don’t like it when my team is fighting among themselves. Especially since both sides make good points. As such it is an excellent exploration of responsibility, accountability, guilt, trust and friendship.

I spent a large part of the movie being conflicted. In the end I side with Tony because I like Tony better than Steve. But I just want my babies to get along 🙁 They don’t have to be the best of friends. I don’t think they can be that. But at least a close partnership and mutual trust,

Amoras

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Busy day, today! I’ve been reading a new comic book series the last year called Amoras. It’s a six book series that tells a Suske & Wiske story in a dystopian future. There’s time travel, crime, death, blood and a fair amount of cursing and swearing. Suffice to say, it’s definitely not meant for kids. I really like the storyline and how it looks. A while ago I saw on Facebook that the Stripmuseum (comic museum) in Groningen would show an exhibition of Amoras pieces.

Since I am now the proud owner of a museum card, I decided it was time to go see. I asked Gert if he wanted to come as well, but he declined. So, this morning I made my way to Groningen. I arrived around lunch time and felt a wee bit peckish. The Stripmuseum is located above the McDonalds. So rather than go look for a place, I just hit the Mac for a quick and easy lunch.

After, I got my ticket for the museum and started looking around. I began with the regular collection that was divided into themes. First there was a section on comic art used in music and theater posters, other promotional imagery and album covers. Then it led me chronologically through the development of comics in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Once through all that, you end up on the top floor where there’s space for the changing exhibition. Which in this case was the Amoras one. It was interesting to see the process. There were many storyboards, sketches, and line-art pieces from all six of the books. The only thing I thought was a shame was the order of display. They went mostly by sort of art, and then chronologically. So, storyboards book one, storyboards book two and so on, then sketches book one, sketches book two, rinse and repeat. I would have liked to see the order from idea to end product. So the storyboard for a page, then its sketch, the line-art, and then the coloured page. So you can really see how it changes before getting to its final point.

When I got out, I made my way to the centre of the city to meet up with Gert and see X-Men: Apocalypse. I’d heard some bad stuff about it, but I liked it. The build-up wasn’t always strong enough. I didn’t notice, for instance, that the end battle was the end battle until it was a good bit underway. And I would have liked to see a bit more detail on the origin of Apocalypse.

Then it was time for some dinner. We decided to go to the Frietwinkel. This is a fairly new place that does fries. It’s all about the organic and the fresh. They literally cut fries from fresh potatoes right there instead of using frozen pre-cut fries. And they serve fries with pulled chicken. Which is fucking delicious. The place also looks rustic nice with old stools, crates on the walls and such.

Right after that we went back to the Pathé. This time to see the Angry Birds movie. It’s not very good. The only thing I found quite funny was this one scene, a homage to the slow-down-time-in-the kitchen scene in the previous X-Men movie. And they also did a sort of homage to that scene in X-Men: Apocalypse. So that was a fun coincidence. Other than that, it’s a generic animated kids movie.

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle, Kung Fu Panda Sleeps Tonight

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It was Mom birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday, Mom!

(My parents are very good at having their picture taken… )

Last week I saw The Jungle Book with Gert. It is an amazing movie, absolutely stunning in visual quality. The story is familiar but re-told in a good way, with some added darkness here and there to make it more realistic. I love that they kept the magicality of the whole by still letting the animals talk, and sing. Neel Sethi performs a good Mowgli, it it occasionally uneven, but I didn’t mind as that only underscores the fact that Mowgli’s a kid an really in over his head.

Today we saw Kung Fu Panda 3. I’d never seen the first two, so over the weekend I watched both of them on Netflix. I was pleasantly surprised by all three of them. They are really good. They tell good stories, I like the characters and the animation is very nice.

I Made Your Bed, Now Lie In It

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After finishing the cupboard I left it standing for two days to fully dry everywhere. I then enjoyed myself in packing it in. I’m also slowly starting to work on other bits in the house to get that as I want now that I have the space to myself. I pulled my old bed from the attic and put it together in the spare bedroom. I can now have guests sleep over! And, while I was painting anyway, I put a chalk board rectangle on the wall in the kitchen.

Tuesday after work I met up with Gert for a quick bite at Subway. Afterward we went to see The Revenant. I understand it has been getting rave reviews, but I really didn’t like it that much. The story in itself is okay. The movie, however, could easily have been done in half the time. It was too slow, with way too many scenes stuck in DiCaprio’s head. Really, after two times I know your dead wife makes you talk to trees. Get on with it.

It also has too many pretentious I’m-secretly-a-nature-documentary-moments with endless pans across the landscape looking at mountains and forests and sunsets. DiCaprio was good, but I wouldn’t have given him an Oscar for it.

Then, yesterday, it was farm time again as we all converged there for dinner and general merriment. Today is the first day of my week off work. I plan to relax, get stuff done around here, do some shopping for the house and in general have fun.

Move the Gods of Egypt

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The time has come, Nienke has moved. She got the key to her new house last Monday. Those first days she and her parents did cleaning and painting. And then the moving started. Last Friday and Saturday were designated for the big move. I got off work early on Friday so I could help. Then we spent the day, and Saturday, driving back and forth between my house and her house.

It feels funny that I can now really say this is my house. I like it 🙂

This afternoon, Gert and I went to the early showing of Gods of Egypt and had the room for ourselves 😀 The movie is ridiculous, but the visuals are fantastic, and everything is gloriously over the top. Shame that, once again, all the people of colour among the main characters (Egyptian Gods…) are played by white people. After we went to Toet for coffee and cake in the sunshine.

Van Gogh, Books and a Pink Waffle

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After buying another cheap day ticket for the train last month, I suggested to Gert we should go to Amsterdam again. He immediately mentioned he’d never been to the Van Gogh museum. And just like that, we had plans. And yesterday was the day to execute said plans.

We left Grunn early so we would be in Amsterdam somewhat early as well. We arrived at the central station around 10:30 and, priorities, went to Starbucks for a drink. We then got on a tram to the museum square where the Van Gogh Museum is.

When we got out, the sun was shining, the weather was nice (albeit cold) and across the field we could see the museum. As we crossed we saw a lot of people outside the museum. When we got close enough, we saw it was the queue.

20160227_113222And not just a queue to get in the museum, no, the queue to get a ticket. Every minute or so, yellow-jacketed hosts would let another handful of people through to the queue at the door where they could go in to buy their tickets.

We had talked about pre-ordering tickets online but forgot to do so. But it gave us an idea. We checked with a host, and indeed, it would work. So, on Gert’s phone we ordered tickets online. He immediately got them in his mailbox and we could skip the queue and go straight to the entrance 😀

20160227_122441Disappointingly it was not allowed to take pictures in the museum. Not even just flash-less pics, no, not at all. This did not stop us from sneaking in a few phone pictures anyway.

The building has several floors that thematically lead you through Van Gogh’s life. Starting with an Eye to Eye section with nothing but self portraits to his final works before committing suicide. There were sections for his early work after he had decided he wanted to be an artist, leading up to the Potato Eaters, his moving to France where he got in contact with impressionism and such making his work lighter and brighter. Also his Japanese inspired works, his period in the institution, and the brief period after he got out and before he killed himself.

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Our second plan for the day was to hit the book shops. When in Amsterdam we also tend to go to the American Book Center. This time around we decided to add The Book Exchange to the mix. This is a large second-hand bookstore with nothing but English works. Since this shop would close earlier, it became our first stop after we finished in the museum. We got on the tram again, but accidentally picked the one going the wrong way. So we got off again two stops further. Reassessing our priorities, we hit another Starbucks for a drink, and for Gert to charge his phone.

20160228_103309After a well deserved break, we got back on the tram, the right one this time, and headed for the city center. From there it was just a few minutes to get to The Book Exchange. We dove straight into the basement where they keep the scifi and fantasy books. I picked out some Star Trek books and then went around the room alphabetically. I found several books that had been on my list, or are sequels to works I have. I found Elizabeth Bear’s first books (the Jenny Casey trilogy) that I’ve been wanting. I found the follow-up to C.F. Bentley’s Harmony and also the sequels to Robert Sawyer’s Hominids. I’ve been looking for these last two for ages! They also had a fun Stargate book, and two Kim Harrison books that I still needed. And, in a surprise, twist, part four in that trilogy I got at the local thrift store on Wednesday…

20160227_163709A quiet hour later, we both had our arms full of books and decided to call it quits for now. With packed bags we stood outside and quickly agreed to skip the American Book Center for today. We walked back towards the city center. Gert bought himself a pink waffle with sprinkles. (I tasted, it’s ridiculously sweet)
In the morning we had sort of decided to eat Asian for dinner. But after what we spent on books, we decided on cheap food. KFC was our first choice but it was insanely crowded so we skedaddled. McDonalds was close by so we tried that. The first one we found was out of Maestro Burgers so we picked another one just a few hundred yards further. This one did have the Maestro’s, which are glorious.

After eating, we headed back to the station to go home. It was a good day 🙂

💀💩L and Caesar

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20160217_132530Wednesday Gert and I went to see Deadpool. We had some time before so we first had lunch at Wadapartja. A few years ago it would never have worked, but now it does. It’s a very vintage-retro-hipster place. Furnished with old formica tables and chair, mis-matched lights. A lot of wood and brick and signs everywhere that if you see something you like, you can buy it. They have a lunch and dinner menu and fall in the mid-range when it comes to price. I went for a brown seeded bun with slices of pear, blue cheese, walnuts, honey and arugula. It was very tasty, but it could’ve been a wee bit larger for the price.

Then came the movie, and it is fantastic. I don’t want to spoil it, but I enjoyed the movie so much, I want to see it again. The movie regularly breaks the fourth wall. It occasionally uses bullet time during which Deadpool converses with the audience. He also references other superhero movies, points out stereotypical bits, names actors by name and so on. The story is thin, but as an origin story it gives insight in who Deadpool is and what makes him tick. Also, Ryan Reynolds is awesome.

I also wanted to see Hail, Caesar. Except it only plays on ridiculous times either in the middle of the day, or late at night. Saturday would then be the best option so I decided to go. Gert said he might come. The next day I got texting with Ingrid and she suggested she return the moving boxes on Saturday. Catching two birds with one stone, I proposed she come here in the early afternoon with the boxes, and then go to the movies with me.

And thus Ingrid showed up today, with tasty bread for lunch. I was still in the middle of doing the litter boxes when she got here but after finishing that, we had lunch. Gert texted that he would like to join for the movie also. Ingrid and I then played some Fluxx and some Scrabble before driving to the city. We met up with Gert at the cinema and got our tickets.

Hail, Caesar is a weird movie, but a fun one. It is set in the fifties, the time of big movie studios pumping out film after film with stars they had under contract. The movie takes the pacing of films from that age and has about three or so major plot lines. They all interconnect and all have a similar level of importance. Because of that, combined with the calmer pace and the low level of action a lot of the events are unexpected. There’s also the occasional laugh-out-loud fun in small moments and dance routines mostly.

After, we went to Subway for dinner before splitting up. Gert to find his bike, and Ingrid and I to catch the bus.

Spotlight

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Yesterday being a Wednesday meant only half a day of work so lots of time for fun things! I’d planned to meet up with Gert and see two movies. I was in the city centre a bit before him so I browsed the market square and then headed for the News Café to have a drink. Gert met up with me there. We chose our movies and headed on the way to the cinema. However, we had some time left so we decided on some clothes shopping. This turned out to take more time than we thought as there were sales going on at several stores. I managed to score a pair of pants and a belt for under €20 and then another pair of pants elsewhere for about €10. Score!

After this, we were too late to make our first movie so we amended our plans. We decided to take the early Spotlight and then go for dinner after. Spotlight is a great movie. It tells the tale of how the large scale sexual abuse of children by Catholic Priests in the Boston area was uncovered by the investigative journalism team of the Boston Globe. It features, among others, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams. It shows how they, mostly accidentally, stumble upon data that doesn’t add up. As they do their research it becomes clear that something has been going on for a long time. And that people had tried to bring this to light earlier, only to get ignored or shut down. The team speaks with victims, who are often reluctant to come forward, as well as with suspected perpetrators and their higher ups who want the lid to stay on.

I found it to be an impressive film. The story is tight, no frills and unnecessary extra drama. The narrative as-is, is more than compelling enough and the acting is great. I definitely recommend.

After Spotlight we hit Subway for dinner and parted ways. Then today, after work, it was time for the regular dinner with friends. Hitching a ride with Ingrid, we headed to Mellien’s for great food, and great company 🙂

 

Ice, Joy

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20160116_185112Saturday Ingrid had her housewarming get together. In the morning I took a quick trip to the town centre to pick up a small gift. I found a pretty vase, vaguely diamond shaped, and a jar of coloured stones to fill it with. I then added a fake flower from my collection for a pleasing little arrangement. In the afternoon I headed over there and had a pleasant time with Ingrid and friends. We all ate together as Anne and her boyfriends made a huge pile of pancakes. Nom!

Gert recently got a train card thing that lets him travel for free during the weekends. So, on Sunday he came over. We had planned to play some games, but we ended up just talking and drinking tea and such. He stayed for dinner and we played with the Monty Python fridge poetry before he had to head back home. I grabbed my bike to accompany him to the station.

20160117_181123It was still cold and occasionally icy outside, so I was pretty careful when leaving. Nevertheless, the ice won. As I turned on to the road from the path beside my block, down I went. Fortunately I wasn’t going fast so I didn’t get hurt. Gert had walked ahead so didn’t even notice. I got back up on the bike and caught up with Gert. He had heard the noise of my bike padlock rattling in the basket when I fell, but figured I rode over a bump 😀

Yesterday was mostly uneventful. So, to compensate for that, my padlock decided to freeze up and stop me from unlocking my bike. I couldn’t even get my key in. I carry a small container of lock anti-freeze in my bag, but that didn’t help. So I had to walk home dragging the bike with me… To say I was ill-pleased is putting it mildy.

Today I went to the movies after work. I’d wanted to see Joy for a while now, but I couldn’t quite make it work time-wise until this week. I was a bit disappointed by the movie. Id’seen trailers and they made it seem like a family drama kinda thing set in the sixties (ish). Plus, Jennifer Lawrence.

A few times during the movie I checked the time, or wondered how far along we were. That’s not a good sign. I didn’t expect the actual plot where she is a regular sort of dead-end housewife who does an invention. The invention goes on TV and becomes popular, then she has to fight over the patent and all’s well that ends well.

There were definitely good bits. Especially the interaction between Joy and her ex-husband is nice. However I didn’t really understand the reasoning behind letting grandma be the narrator when she’s not around for most of the movie. The other family members annoyed the crap out of me. I also didn’t like how jumpy the story became where they would meticulously show everything that happened when it wasn’t really interesting, and then skip parts that I wanted to see. In the end, it’s the kind of movie you watch when you happen to come across it during channel surfing.