This is supposed to be a movie review...

...but because I'm tired from working in the hot sun, the movie review will come later.  I think I've started a new tradition, though.  Instead of an Easter egg hunt where I find the hidden eggs, today I uncovered all the hidden snakes!  Weeee!!!  Fun!!!

I got to see lots of Game of Thrones today because of the free HBO over the weekend and the premiere of episode one of season three.  Too bad I'll have to wait months and months until there's more free HBO and perhaps a marathon of all the season three episodes that I'll miss until then.

Tomorrow I'll try to get around to my rant on the movie that I wanted to see which turned out to be boring crap.

And now...the rest of the post!

OMG, I just finished reading the damn wiki on A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) because I am too impatient to have to wait until I'm able to see all of season three and it took me nearly an hour and a half to read and digest what is essentially the Cliff's Notes version of the story.  And Martin has two more books to write before the series is finished!  I can say with all honesty that I am too ADD to get through the literally thousands of pages--4,273 combined--of the 5 finished books.  I have no idea how long that much reading would take me.  I HATE reading through long books. I barely have the attention span to get through 200 pages. Martin doesn't have a style conducive to easy reading, IMO.  Oy!

Anyway, I got to see the first episode of season three last night and then, not realizing it until almost 3/4 of the way through, I got to see a sneak preview of the second episode tonight on the Blockbuster preview channel which is something that my satellite provider has.  I didn't realize it because I was in the process of reading the wiki.  Sooooo...I pretty much have satisfied my curiosity and now know most of the outcomes and won't be too pissed at having to wait to see season three.  From the way they are doing the TV series, season three looks like it could catch up with the books that are currently out.  Martin needs to get writing so the TV series can have a season four and a conclusion!  (Or else they'll just have to stretch out the TV series.)

Now, about that movie review that I meant to do!  I was waiting to see Snow White and the Huntsman and luckily for me it was one of the movies shown on the free HBO weekend.  I refuse to pay $10 to see a movie in the theater when it will eventually be on TV a few months after its release. 

Like most Hollywood movies these days, it looked really good visually but was boring as hell.  The top billed actors sucked ass, especially Kristen Stewart, who I hate with a passion.  I can't stand looking at her dumb face and her perpetually open mouth.  I just want to slap the shit out of her.  How anyone could cast her in the role of Snow White is beyond me.  And the notion that she would be "fairer" than Charlize Theron is laughable.  The whole movie I was cheering for the Queen or her minions to kill her, even though I already knew what the outcome would be. 

The one surprising thing was who was cast as four of the Seven Dwarves: Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, and Nick Frost.  Unfortunately, as much as I like those guys, and as awesome as they usually are, even they couldn't save this craptastic movie.  My main problem with it was the lack of character development. Everyone already knows what the plot is, at least give the characters some personality. The whole thing was just flat and boring and Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth just sucked so bad.  Thumbs down.

Bucket List: Local

I've been thinking on the subject of adventure.  One of the local places in my state that I've never been to is Key West.  I remember mentioning it to my mother before and her reply was, "Oh, I've been there before."  She's un-fucking-believeable.  How does that help me?  As if her having gone there before means that I don't need to go?  Like I'm an extension of her?  NPDs really are a breed unto themselves.

Anyway, back to the bucket list thing.  I really don't care that much about Key West per se, there really isn't that much to do there.  There are a couple museums and the Hemingway haunts and the funky graveyard that would be okay to see, but the place is really just a stepping stone for one of the places on my bucket list--the Dry Tortugas.

One of the cool things about going to Dry Tortugas is there are only two ways to get there:  ferry service or sea plane.  I've been on neither before so either way would be an adventure in itself.  The little atolls that comprise the Tortugas are a bit of a schlep West form Key West.  If I recall correctly, the ferry service, which is by fast catamaran, takes a couple hours to get there.  The sea plane would obviously be quicker but also more expensive.

Once you get out there, the main attraction is the old crumbling ruins of Fort Jefferson which was used as a prison during the Civil War.  One of the other cool things is that overnight camping is allowed outside of the grounds of the fort.  This has interested me.  To me, this seems both exciting and scary.  Imagine camping out on a beach practically in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico with hardly anyone around!  It's basically just you and the sea creatures and maybe a few other brave souls!

I think it would be kinda cool to do the camping thing.  After the ferry leaves with the day trippers you'd basically have the whole place to yourself depending on if anyone else stayed for camping.  It would be nice to do some snorkeling on the reefs and some BBQing.  Of course, when the sun goes down it would be pitch black since the place is in the middle of nowhere with no electricity.  There'd only be the moon and the stars.  I've been down to the Middle Keys before and trust me, it's amazing how many stars there are up in that sky!

I know I'll visit the Tortugas some day.  I'm just wondering if I'll work up the courage to camp over night.

Something Fun

I'm not feeling too depressed today.  In spite of having a minor fight with my mother which I feel that I got the best of(a rare occurrence indeed),  I really am not feeling that bad.  One of my friends on FB likes to share all sorts of funny pictures.  They really help to get me in a better mood.  Some of them are absolutely hilarious and have me hysterically laughing like this one:

That is just so damn absurd and presumptuous that it *has* to be a Mickey D's in Florida!  There are plenty of peeps here who are asshole enough to do that.  Seriously, WTF?  Management just lets them set up a freakin' big-ass desktop computer at a booth?  Did they haul that crap in on a dolly?  That is messed up on so many levels.

And what would one of my posts be without some of my latest obsession OUAT?  I thought it would be silly and fun to do some some Evil Regals torino/devil horns pictures.  Did you know that that gesture was popularized by Ronnie James Dio?  As the story goes, his Italian grandmother used to make that gesture to him.

So firstly, we have Mama Regal and Papa Regal:

Next is Oma Regal:

Tante Regal Xul:

Honorary Regal Pet, Grumpy Cat:

Now I just need one of Oom Regal Arekino!

I remember the first time I saw the original picture of Grumpy Cat.  The expression on that poor kitty's face had me cracking up so bad that I was in tears and couldn't breathe.  And the more I thought about it the funnier it got and the more painful.  I was probably laughing for a good 10 minutes.  Grumpy Cat is my favorite meme.  LOL

And what do *YOU* like for LOLs?

Strange Sightings

Friday night after a long day of my mother's doctor appointment and Walmart wandering, the last stop was at the local indie grocer for a few things.  I went in and got what I needed and then proceeded to the checkout.  It was really busy in there and the lines at the checkout were very long.  I looked at my watch and it was nearly 8pm.  I was like, 'why the hell is it so damn busy in here at this time of night?'  Then I remembered.  It's Friday!  Duh!  As I settled into one line, I looked up to the front of the store to see if there were many people at the service counter because if you have under ten items they allow you to pay up there.  Well, just my luck, the cashier there was just then putting the closed sign up.  But the one thing that everyone in the checkout lines seemed to notice at the service counter was the young lady who was obviously a stripper!

She was wearing quite the get-up--a bucket hat, black thick-frame glasses, an old style woodland camouflage BDU jacket, garter-top fishnet stockings, and some seriously uncomfortable looking bondage/fetish-style high heels.  I don't think she was wearing pants or a skirt.  The jacket just barely covered her ass so I really couldn't tell.  It was funny to hear everyone around me talking about her in hushed tones.  My neighborhood is predominately people from the Caribbean and they tend to be somewhat religious and judgmental.  The whole situation made me chuckle to myself.  Ya never know what you'll see around here.

Today was quite a nice day weather-wise.  I decided to go out back and do a bit of work in the yard and enjoy the nice day.  The stupid fish-tail palm that is directly outside my bedroom window had lots of dead fronds to attend to so I decided to do that.  While I was back there, I returned a phone call to my dad.  I had been reluctant to do so because he tends to leave pissy messages over trivial shit on my phone and it really does not have the effect of making me want to call him.  Anyway, I bit the bullet and called him and to my surprise, we actually had a pleasant chat.

Back to the dead frond trimming.  I cut down all that I could from ground level and then contemplated going inside for the ladder.  Nah!  Too much trouble!  I'll just climb up on the A/C unit and cut down some of the low-hanging seed bunches.  So I get two cut down and go for the third and biggest one when all of a sudden something comes flying out, flapping furiously!  What the hell is that?  It was the size of a small bird but it was flapping away like a humming bird.  It then fell to the ground.  That's when I realized what it was--a big-ass moth!  Holy crap, that was a huge moth!  I think it was probably the biggest one I have ever seen.  It was freakishly large.  It reminded me of the Mothman of Point Pleasant.  What a creepy looking bastard!  I jumped down to get a closer look but the thing suddenly recovered and flew off like it was jet propelled.  Ah well, at least it wasn't a snake.  ;P

Xul vs The Thought Police

The best thing about having my own blog is that I can post whatever I bloody well please and if anyone dares to say "boo!" to me in comments then I can immediately delete their comment!  If I want to make a comment about Rose McGowan's face, I can do so without someone coming along and chastising me for it.  I'm so sick of the self appointed thought police over at the OUAT fansite.  The worst among them are the ones who are obviously attention whores and in some make-believe contest to see who can have the most posts.  The mods don't even get into peoples shit like the self-righteous over there.  What the fuck business is it of yours that you HAVE to get on someone's ass over a comment?  If you don't like the comment or don't agree, let it go!  God, I hate douchebags who take everything personally and have to get into fights with strangers over trivial shit and cow them into an apology.

By the way, I didn't personally get into anything with anyone.  I'm just venting about someone being a douchebag to someone who made a negative comment about Rose McGowan's looks on the last episode.  And that person was correct!  They weren't saying that Rose did a poor job acting--quite the opposite.  That person thought Rose was great but was distracted by the obvious plastic surgery that has been done.  And yes, I know that she was in a damn car accident and had her face cut up pretty badly by her glasses.  That is not the point.  The point is she looks waaaay different than she used to and it is a bit distracting.

Rose used to be a very beautiful woman and it's a shame that she was in an accident.  I don't know how extensive her injuries were or how much of the plastic surgery was due to those injuries.  It did appear to me that she had some collagen injections in her upper lip and Botox in her face.  I even did a bit of web searching to look at some before and after pictures to be sure.  She has always had very full lips, but it looked to me like she's had some injections.  I could be wrong.  Anyway, she just doesn't look the same and it's a damn shame.

I'm pretty sure there are trolls out there who have nothing better to do than scour the intertoobs looking for negative comments about Rose so they can pick a fight over "SHE WAS IN A CAR ACCIDENT!!!!!eleventy11!!!"

Oy vey!

If you are such a troll, don't bother with your shit here.  You know what I will do!

Anyway, as a brief aside...I have a bit of a 'six degrees of separation' thing with Rose through Marilyn Manson, through the chicks from Jack Off Jill, through a friend of a friend.  LOL

And just another brief aside...it's too bad I don't have the bucks to take a wee vacation up to Vancouver to see either of two friends of mine because OUAT is still filming in the area and it would be cool to get to meet some of the cast.  I've heard that some of the regulars are really good about saying hello to the fans and signing autographs and taking pics.  I usually only get fangirlish with hockey players but this show is my exception!  ;P

And one last thing...because I agree with a lot of peeps out there that Henry is an annoying little brat who desperately needs to be put in his place once in a while...

It made me LOL.  Peeps sure are fast...this was from one of the preview pics for the next episode.

Commentary on OUAT 2.16

Okay, I know I said I would post about "The Miller's Daughter" and try not to spoil it for those who have not seen it yet, but I have no idea how I'll manage to do that.  I guess I'll just have to be tricksy and tiptoe around.  Let me just say that it was a great episode and all the actors brought their "A" game.  Why Robert Carlyle and Lana Parrilla do not have Emmy's yet is beyond comprehension.  These two need their Emmy's, dammit!

If I recall correctly, this episode was written by Jane Espenson.  I've liked her episodes.  Kudos!  And just to touch a bit on a discussion from another forum...It has been brought up by a lot of people that this show is anti-adoption.  That's not really what I want to discuss--the bio family versus adoptive family/family by marriage thing.  What I want to touch on is that someone commented that writers' personal experiences tend to come through in their writing whether they deliberately intend it or not.  If a writer had a bad experience with adoption it would color his/her outlook on the subject.  It might not be deliberate but that attitude could subconsciously come through in the writing.  I have pointed out before that someone seems to have first-hand knowledge of growing up in a family with personality disordered people because there are just too many spot on characterizations for it to be just coincidence.

On last night's episode, I could have run down a checklist of things that I recognize from my own first hand experiences with PD people.  I was okay with the episode until the end.  Then it got a bit too close to home for me.  One of the actors in particular gave a superb performance.  The reaction to the whole situation perfectly conveyed what someone in that position would have been feeling.  (I didn't even bother going into it on the other forum because unless you yourself have been in that sort of situation, then it is hard to empathize or comprehend.  Besides, most of those peeps over there are teens and early 20-ish and lack the life experience to understand.)  After seeking a particular thing your whole life and then to finally get it (but for only 10 seconds) and then have it taken away from you by someone who manipulated you and was a selfish cunt...Let's just say tremendous restraint was shown.  If it had been me and I had magic?  Holy shit!  I would have immediately gone on a two-fisted heart-ripping rampage followed by fireballs galore until the whole town was a smoldering heap!  (The world should be glad I don't have magic! LOL)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the revenge that shall soon commence.  It should be entertaining.  I foresee someone getting disgruntled with the whole situation and running off.  The season finale looks like it will be taking us all off on a pirate ship to Neverland.*

*highlight to reveal spoiler

Why? Because I'm evil!

My friends on FB didn't have such a good reaction to the first pic there.  LOL  You'd think it was the first time they'd met me!  "Why, Xul?  Why would you share this?"  "I can't unsee this...ever!"  I guess they didn't notice what the ink on the back of my hand in my profile pic says:  Evil Regal. 

Or maybe it was Cora posing as me?  Nah, it was me!  :::evil grin:::

And one for Arekino(to enhance your repertoire):

Black and White Dreams

I used to not like white kitchens because they look too generic, but recently on the television, there has been an IKEA commercial featuring a kitchen with white cabinets and black subway tiles as the back-splash and now I am totally obsessed with that look.

I have always been attracted to black and white prints in clothing and bedding, so why not in the kitchen or the rest of the house for that matter?  I think it has to do with being so enmeshed with my mother for so many years.  I kinda took on some of her tastes in things.  I think it mainly had to do with having to agree with her in all things.  If you do not agree with her in all things, she will brow-beat you and make life hell in general until you agree so it's just easier to agree.  I think agreeing in things of taste just happened subconsciously.

Well, now that I am not a child and am discovering what appeals to me, I am reconsidering black and white for my kitchen.  If my mother ever croaks and leaves the house to me, it is in serious need of a renovation and the kitchen will likely get it first.

The below picture I posted because I mainly like the basket-weave pattern flooring and the black(I'm assuming granite) counter tops.



This bathroom shows an example of the black subway tiles.  I think they look really good in black.  I actually like this look for a bathroom.  It has a nice clean look to it.  I don't care for the pedestal sink, though.  I'd prefer a wall mounted one like I have now.  And the flooring looks okay, except I'd lay the tiles on the diagonal.



Next is a kitchen with black cabinets.  They look less cheap than the white ones.  It's making me do all sorts of rethinking.  Maybe put half and half?  I don't care for the white subway tile.  I'm creative;  I'm sure I'll figure something out.



This one I posted because I like the grey marble tiles.



So, wa'dya think?

One For Me, One For You

Mua-hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!  Is that what you are up to my dearest Arekino?

Anyhoo, totally unrelated:  I just got through watching the latest episode of OUAT.  I did not care for it at all.  Of the past three episodes, I did not like two of them.  2.13 "Tiny," and tonight's episode, 2.15 "The Queen is Dead," did not do it for me.  In my opinion, they were trying to cram too much information into one episode and it came across as too contrived.  The last episode, 2.14 "Manhattan" I actually liked.  If they keep going like this with the extra-contrived contrivances, they are venturing into jumping the shark territory.  They came bloody close for me with this last one, and especially with the preview for next week's episode.  Unfortunately, you'll just have to trust me or else it will be spoilers galore.

The other thing that annoyed me is I went over to that fansite to see what other people thought and it is like I'm watching something totally different from everyone else.  Those idiots liked it for some reason.  And the parts that I liked they hated.  I'm just going to chalk it of to the student becoming the master.  This is something that my favorite English teacher Mr. C (the one who could play Toccata & Fugue in D Minor on the pipe organ) would do.  He would be eye rolling and predicting the outcomes over some TV show that we students liked.  He had the experience of seeing it all a hundred times before because everything TV writers do is so formulaic and predictable.  I guess I've finally lived long enough and seen enough of TV to be able to predict certain things.  Tonight's episode already proved something that I had speculated previously but can't say because, once again, spoilers.  :::sigh:::

Okay, I'm actually not going to be all negative here.  I actually liked the scenes with Emma and Neal and I really loved Regina's gloves and scarf.  Her hair was looking particularly fabulous and bouncy(must be her conditioner ;P) and I just wanted to touch it.  It looked *that* good.

And one final thought(what I happened to be thinking while watching this ep):  Evil will always triumph because good is dumb.