Tuesday, May 30, 2006

A Day At The Movies

So I woke up late today, very late, like 2pm late! I'm not sure what caused me to sleep in so late, I went to bed at my normal time (approx 1am). I didn't feel any more tired than usual, but for some reason, my body decided that it needed something like 13 hours worth of sleep last night. Go figure! Anyway, getting back on topic, I got up, had a shower, got dressed and didn't have a clue what to do. No-one was online to talk too, I didn't feel like playing any games and so after a few minutes of pacing about the house and munching grapes (I had a tub of mixed seedless grapes in the fridge) I decided to head out for a walk.

The walk took me briefly to Krackers Games Shop where I popped in and flicked through the latest issue of Dungeon magazine before putting it back in my bag (I'll buy it on Friday most likely). At least one adventure in there that I'm likely to run at some point, so that will be money well spent. Still, it being a really nice day, I'd decided to walk down to the Riverside Park and didn't want to take a magazine with me. Setting off, I stopped by Britannia to withdraw some cash from the machine, and then into Subway to grab a sandwich. Special of the Day was the Meatball Marinara (my favourite), so I got one of those and set off towards the river, munching on the way.

By the time I'd reached Firepool Weir the sandwich had been devoured and with shades on, I strolled alongside the River Tone towards the Park. The River flows through a long linear stretch of undeveloped land that is officially called The Children's Wood. I call it Linear Park myself, as, well... it really isn't very woodlike, but it sure is linear. Sure there are trees, here and there, but they are very well spaced out and to me, woodland is trees close together. There is a proper pathway laid out down the left bank of the Tone, but this time I walked down the right side. I usually stick to the pathway but as it was warm and it has been for a few days, I figured the right bank wouldn't be a quagmire and I figured correct.

It was a nice walk, the high point being sighting a Heron stood on one of the rocks in the middle of the river, motionless, watching the water rush past its vantage point. I stood and watched it for a few minutes, but to my disapointment I didn't get to see it catch any fish. Saw the blur of colour from a Kingfisher too, but again I missed seeing it catch anything. I got to the Riverside Park and went to the cinema, as I had been meaning to see the new X-Men movie. By pure chance I arrived 4 minutes before a showing was due to start. Cue frenzied buying of ticket, grabbing a bottle of Lime & Apple drink and dashing into screen 5... whereupon I realised that I still had my shades on, when I found out that I couldn't see anything, including my ticket! A quick swap of glasses and I found a seat. It wasn't the seat I had paid for, but this one was luxury and unoccupied and I figured "what the hell!".

I enjoyed the film, it is a little rough around the edges in parts and some bits really got me wondering just what kind of crack the characters were on (for example, the idea to put high powered mutant prisoners in a mobile prison convoy just stuck me as really dumb, and the folly of that idea is very swiftly proven when Magneto, without any difficulty at all, annihilates the convoy in stunning style). Wolverine, as good a character as he is, gets too much screen time for my liking, and other characters (such as Shadowcat, Colossus and especially Rogue) get far too little. I didn't think I'd like Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, but I did, on the other hand Famke Jansen is wasted as Phoenix as she basically spends a lot of time stood around doing very little and saying less.

I came out of the movie feeling good (the ending made me smile) and feeling a bit peckish I headed to McDonalds, buying a burger and a McFlurry (I love those things, this was the Yorkie variety which I'd not tried before) and I walked back to the cinema and sat in the foyer to eat them. There I saw that there was a showing of Mission: Impossible III at 6:30pm and having money to spend and nothing better to spend it on, I decided to stick around and watch another movie.

MI3 is an insane movie, but a very fun film. I came out of that feeling like my body was mainlining adrenaline. I honestly felt like I could have run the mile and half back to the town centre. so many edge of seat moments and all handled so well. The film looks beautiful and is very well written. A definate return to form, from the crap that was MI2, and here's hoping for another such movie in what is becoming a nice little franchise for Tom Cruise.

The walk back to town was quiet, the town centre dead as England were playing Hungary in a football match. I got home and sat down at my PC to messages waiting for a few friends. It wasn't until Gareth got home a few minutes ago though, that he pointed out that I'd missed Matt Cheetham's birthday. I was meant to be at the Coal Orchard pub for 8pm and had completely forgotten about it. Matt, if you're reading this, I'm really sorry mate! I hope you had a good evening, because I know I've had a great day.

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