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Bird Review: Soaring Through Grit and Grace
4 hours ago
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The Art of Travel
Starring:
Christopher Masterson
Brooke Burns
Johnny Messner
Directed By:
Written By:
I've recently started using the NetFlix Streaming service and it has introduced me to a whole new world of Independent Films. The movie is about a young man named Conner, who after finding out about his fiances infidelity, decides to go solo on his honeymoon.
His journey begins in Nicaragua of all places, because Nicaragua is no where near his original honeymoon destination. Flash forward to a coffee shop in Panama where Conner (Christopher Masterson) runs into Darlene and Johnny (Brooke Burns and Johnny Messner), an adventurous couple who intend on breaking the world record crossing the Darian Gap. He is supposed to return to the states to go to college the day following the meeting, but curiosity gets the best of him and he embarks on what turns out to be the journey of a life time!
I recognized Christopher Masterson immediately as the older brother from Malcom in the Middle and Johnny Masterson I remember most from Tears of the Sun. The whole time I was watching the movie I never really felt like anyone was "acting". The way the characters meshed made it seem as if I was just following along with a group of colleagues on their epic journey. The cinematography was beautiful as they journeyed to all four corners of the earth.
Somehow in the middle of all of this adventure a love story breaks out. A love story filled with adventure.
I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone. It has something for all tastes in movies.
The movie is rated R for nudity and language (nudity is very brief) and the language I really didn't even notice.
Overall I give this movie 8 out of 10.
Friday, June 18, 2010
America's Incredible Pizza Company Now Open in Draper
Ally saw the flier we got in the mail announcing that they were open and she just HAD to go!
I promised her if she was good we would go one day this week (this was on Monday). Before I knew it Friday was here and we hadn't gone yet. So today was the day!
Americas Incredible Pizza Company is located in Draper right behind the new Cowabunga Bay and is attached to the north side of the Outlet Mall.
The prices were reasonable. The all you can eat lunch buffet was 6.99 for adults. 5.99 for kids, 3 and under are free. Seniors eat for 4.99 all day. The best deal for kids is to get the 10.99 deal which gets you a $10 game card and the all you can eat buffet. You must purchase the buffet OR a $10 game card to get in.
I was very impressed with the buffet, the selection was huge. There was a full salad bar, 5 pizzas to choose from, a pasta bar, chicken strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, french fries, baked potato, biscuits, corn bread, mac & cheese, taco / nacho bar, hot dogs (with buns), cheeseburgers, AND a full desert bar (I'm sure I missed some items). As I was dishing up some chicken strips I noticed the guy come and replace the fries with fresh ones, but to my surprise he didn't put the old one back on top, he tossed them in the garbage. I went back to the table and told Grammy, Pop, and Nal about it and Nal said she had read that they are big on the freshness of the food on their buffet. I read up on this before I posted this blog and found that they do swap out the food every two hours AT THE LONGEST. This policy is truly reflected in the quality of the food.
The kids could hardly wait for the adults to finish so they could move onto the games! When you buy a game card they load it with however much you pay and then each game / activity has a price listed on it and a place to swipe the card. Most of the arcade / ticket games cost $.30. There was a play area for smaller kids to play in that was free. Mini-Golf and Bumper Cars were $3.00. The most expensive activity was Laser Tag which was $4.50 for a 10 minute round. They had Race Cars and Bowling too which I didn't catch the price of.. hopefully Nal can comment on here and let us know. The best part of the ticket games is THERE ARE NO PAPER TICKETS!!! The tickets are automatically added to your game card. If you run out of money on the game card you can charge it at a station similar to an ATM. I guess I should mention the shooting gallery they have there, it had a couple items that you could shoot and they would shoot water at you, this was a big hit with all the kids.
We will definitely be going back, this place is much better than Chuck-E-Cheese. They have birthday party packages available.. check them out at http://www.ipcparty.com
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Book of Eli
Starring:
Directed by:
Written by:
I wasn't really planning on seeing this movie in the theaters, after seeing the previews I figured it was one that could wait till it came out to rent. That being said I can say that the movie did not disappoint, it was worth the price of a ticket.
I really expected there to be a lot more of a religious vibe to the movie than there turned out to be. The movie starts out in post-apocalyptic war torn United States. Eli (Denzel Washington) is walking cross-country, headed west to deliver a book to a place that he has been told it will be safe and put to use for good. During his journey he is careful not to get involved in other peoples problems and to stay true to his quest. He comes to a town (or what's left of it anyway) that is populated by a few of the survivors and their offspring. The town is run by a man named Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who has a group of men that he sends out on motorcycles with only one mission, bring back books by an means necessary. Carnegie is only looking for one book however, The Holy Bible. Carnegie is a survivor of the war and knows that all religious documents of any type were burned after the war because it was believed that is what caused the war in the first place. The war seared the sky and depleted the ozone so the sun is extremely lethal to those not wearing protective lenses and proper skin protection. Carnegie knows that if he finds a Bible he can use its words as his own to gain the worship not only of the people of his town, but people all over the country and possibly the world. Carnegie finds out Eli has a Bible and the chase ensues.
I am not used to seeing Mila Kunis play a serious role, so it was hard for me to not see Jackie from That 70's Show up on the screen, but overall I think she did a decent job portraying her character. She really didn't mesh well with Denzel Washington in my opinion. It just felt like that was a gap that needed to be filled the whole movie. Gary Oldman always plays an excellent bad guy role and he did not disappoint. I was first introduced to Ray Stevenson in King Aurthur and then again in the HBO Series Rome. I enjoyed his character in both of those roles and wish he had more lines and screen time in this film.
The movie is rated R for graphic violence and language.
The fight scenes were very well choreographed. I do wish there was a bit more about the "war" itself that describes exactly how the world came to be in the shape it was in.
Overall I would give this movie a 7 out of 10.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Avatar
Starring:
Written and Directed by:
This was the first main stream movie I have viewed in the new 3D format. The effects were amazing to begin with, but add the 3D and it made them seem even more real. I must say James Cameron never does anything in small scale, and this movie proves that more than any of his others. His last big blockbuster was Titanic, which was a special effects marvel as well, but in Avatar Cameron has created a whole world for us to explore.
While the special effects were breathtaking, the actors and the characters they portrayed made this movie so enjoyable to watch, that there was never a moment when I stopped and thought, man this is really dragging! Which is something that is very rare for a movie with a runtime of almost 3 hours. Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) is the Avatar, a marine who is the only one eligible for the position after his brother who was originally chosen for the position and had begun training was killed in a random street mugging. The moon called Pandora is where the story takes place and the people of Earth have begun mining operations for a precious metal found in the ground, but soon find that the local population called the Na'vi might prove to be a bigger problem than originally thought. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) runs the Avatar program, whose only goal is to try and understand how the Na'vi seem to form "bonds" with everything the touch, even the ground itself. Colonel Miles Quartich (Stephen Lang) is a bloodthirsty commander of the troops on Pandora who convinces Jake to help gather valuable intel on how the Na'vi hunt, where they live, etc.. so that he might use it in an attack later on. The Colonel gets his orders from Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) a businessman whose only concern is the precious metal and he will do whatever it takes to get his hands on it.
The movie delivers a pretty clear message, people will stop at nothing to get what they want even if that means destroying or displacing an entire race. This movie has set the bar extremely high as far as special effects go. The whole time you are watching Avatar you truly feel like they are actually filming on location on some alien world.
The movie carries a PG-13 rating for some suggestive dialogue and violence.
I'm going to give this movie a 10 out of 10 because I really can't think of anything I didn't like while watching the movie. It has definitely earned a spot in my favorite movies of all time.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
So I was browsing Hulu the other day...
First post on this blog since September.. and first post from me since August. With winter coming though I should have more time to try to keep up with all my blogs. So let's get on with it...
I should explain that my monitor I use for work has Picture-In-Picture capability, so I plug my Xbox into that monitor as well as my work PC and use the PlayOn plugin allowing Xbox Media Center to stream Hulu through my PC to the Xbox using the secondary input on my monitor so I can literally watch shows while I am hard at work fixing stubborn server issues at hospitals. :)
I usually use Hulu to stream the latest TV shows I may have missed, but on this particular day there were no shows aired that I hadn't already seen, so I started browsing their Feature Films section. As I am browsing I was pleasantly surprised to find "So I Married An Axe Murderer.." in all of the selections. I immediately started watching it and man did it take me back.
Mike Meyers is a comedic genius. For those that haven't seen the movie, here is a plot summary. Charlie Mackenzie (played by Meyers) is a poet who has had a string of failed relationships due to what his friend Tony (played by Anthony LaPaglia) calls mild delusional paranoia. Ever time Charlie starts falling for a woman he comes up with some bogus reason to leave her, leaving his latest girlfriend after accusing her of stealing his cat.
Looking for some Haggis to surprise his parents (played by Brenda Fricker and Mike Meyers himself plays Stuart Mackenzie his father). Charlie goes into a butcher shop where he meets Harriet (played by Nancy) the owner of the shop. He is immediately intrigued by Harriet and uses Haggis as an excuse to keep going back and seeing her until he musters up the courage to ask her out.
After a few successful dates Charlie starts noticing some odd things about Harriet that coincide with an article his mother had read to him from her "news paper" (which is actually just a local tabloid) about the notorious Mrs. X who kills all her husbands on their wedding night. Tony tries to convince him he is just being paranoid, and this time he actually listens and decides to ask Harriet to marry him, and that is where I'll leave off as the rest you have to see for yourself!
If you haven't heard at least one or two lines from this movie at some point in your life I am pretty sure you have been living in a cave. It is truly one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I am so glad that I found it and was able to watch it again for the first time in years. Do yourself a favor and check it out either from your local video store or on Hulu by clicking here.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Pirate Island
My friend told me about this place a couple of weeks ago. Because she mentioned tokens, I assumed it was basically a variation of Chuck-E-Cheese. I found out today that my assumption could not have been more wrong.
One of our favorite DJs (Cort Johnson, from 101.9 THE END) was broadcasting live from Pirate Island in Orem today, AND he was giving away Miley Cyrus tickets. Also, my good friend Brooke lives in Provo so we decided that would be a great place to meet up with her and her family too.
I was impressed right from the moment that we pulled up because there was a giant pirate ship out front and big wooden doors to go inside. To give you an idea how big this place is, they have converted and older movie theater into a restaurant.
THE ATMOSPHERE: When we walked in, my first thought was that it seemed a little bit like the Mayan. The atmosphere was awesome. It basically felt like you were at Disneyland and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride stopped so you stepped off into this place. Our table was over in an area that had a bayou feeling. There were huge fake trees and fireflies that kept lighting up and you could hear crickets and frogs. It reminded me a lot of the Blue Bayou restaurant at Disneyland, except the prices were reasonable and the food was good. Part of the place was painted like a giant pirate ship and every once in a while canons would fire from it. Then, as you continued past the pirate ship you ended up in Tortuga, which had a much more rowdy and kid-like atmosphere. The arcade was over that way and there was a small play area for younger kids. Out of the two, I was really glad that we sat over in the bayou area, because my kids are old enough that they could go over to the arcade by themselves but I didn't have to see it or hear it. Did I mention that all of the waiters were dressed like pirates? The kids really liked that.
THE FOOD: When we first got there I asked to look at a menu, because after I saw the place inside I figured it was going to cost a fortune. The menu had a lot of variety, especially since I was just expecting cardboard pizza. I noticed that the prices were decent too. Kids meals were in the $3 to $4 range, and were your basic kid-friendly choices. The kids menu even turned into a pirate hat. The regular menu had reasonable prices and lots of different choices. Soup and a salad bar started at $5.99 and then there were different wraps and sandwiches, etc in the $8.99 range. We ended up ordering a pizza for Guy and Hannah and myself to share. We chose the medium-sized chicken/bacon/ranch pizza for $16.99. It was DELICIOUS and there was even one piece left-over. One of the coolest menu items was the Kraken pizza. It was 24" wide (yes, that's 2 feet). It would probably feed 8 to 10 people, assuming you could all decide on the same kind of pizza. They did say they could even do 1/2 and 1/2, and could cut it into normal slices or even into smaller squares so they weren't SO big. We saw one come out to a nearby table and I have to say it was pretty impressive.
THE BILL: I had decided to treat since it was my idea and I know things are tight for Brooke and Chad right now with school starting up. I figured that if the 10 of us (4 adults and 6 kids) could get out of there for $70 we would be doing pretty good. Imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when the bill came and it was just under $50. That included one medium pizza, 4 kids meals with sodas, 2 soups and salads, and 3 regular sodas. I left a $10 tip and still got out of there for ten bucks less than I was planning on spending.
I HIGHLY recommend this place. It is in Orem, just past the University Mall, in the old movie theaters, behind the brand-new movie theaters. There is also a Costco right there in the same area. It is definitely a great place for kids, but it is even a place that I would consider going to with only adults. I was very impressed!
One of our favorite DJs (Cort Johnson, from 101.9 THE END) was broadcasting live from Pirate Island in Orem today, AND he was giving away Miley Cyrus tickets. Also, my good friend Brooke lives in Provo so we decided that would be a great place to meet up with her and her family too.
I was impressed right from the moment that we pulled up because there was a giant pirate ship out front and big wooden doors to go inside. To give you an idea how big this place is, they have converted and older movie theater into a restaurant.
THE ATMOSPHERE: When we walked in, my first thought was that it seemed a little bit like the Mayan. The atmosphere was awesome. It basically felt like you were at Disneyland and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride stopped so you stepped off into this place. Our table was over in an area that had a bayou feeling. There were huge fake trees and fireflies that kept lighting up and you could hear crickets and frogs. It reminded me a lot of the Blue Bayou restaurant at Disneyland, except the prices were reasonable and the food was good. Part of the place was painted like a giant pirate ship and every once in a while canons would fire from it. Then, as you continued past the pirate ship you ended up in Tortuga, which had a much more rowdy and kid-like atmosphere. The arcade was over that way and there was a small play area for younger kids. Out of the two, I was really glad that we sat over in the bayou area, because my kids are old enough that they could go over to the arcade by themselves but I didn't have to see it or hear it. Did I mention that all of the waiters were dressed like pirates? The kids really liked that.
THE FOOD: When we first got there I asked to look at a menu, because after I saw the place inside I figured it was going to cost a fortune. The menu had a lot of variety, especially since I was just expecting cardboard pizza. I noticed that the prices were decent too. Kids meals were in the $3 to $4 range, and were your basic kid-friendly choices. The kids menu even turned into a pirate hat. The regular menu had reasonable prices and lots of different choices. Soup and a salad bar started at $5.99 and then there were different wraps and sandwiches, etc in the $8.99 range. We ended up ordering a pizza for Guy and Hannah and myself to share. We chose the medium-sized chicken/bacon/ranch pizza for $16.99. It was DELICIOUS and there was even one piece left-over. One of the coolest menu items was the Kraken pizza. It was 24" wide (yes, that's 2 feet). It would probably feed 8 to 10 people, assuming you could all decide on the same kind of pizza. They did say they could even do 1/2 and 1/2, and could cut it into normal slices or even into smaller squares so they weren't SO big. We saw one come out to a nearby table and I have to say it was pretty impressive.
THE BILL: I had decided to treat since it was my idea and I know things are tight for Brooke and Chad right now with school starting up. I figured that if the 10 of us (4 adults and 6 kids) could get out of there for $70 we would be doing pretty good. Imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when the bill came and it was just under $50. That included one medium pizza, 4 kids meals with sodas, 2 soups and salads, and 3 regular sodas. I left a $10 tip and still got out of there for ten bucks less than I was planning on spending.
I HIGHLY recommend this place. It is in Orem, just past the University Mall, in the old movie theaters, behind the brand-new movie theaters. There is also a Costco right there in the same area. It is definitely a great place for kids, but it is even a place that I would consider going to with only adults. I was very impressed!
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