Yeah, so, about those crocuses....

...buried under a foot of snow.

Saturday Chris (so sick of calling him Primo. Who doesn't know my husband's name is Chris? And who really cares?) and I went to see 300. It was entertaining enough, but first I must tell about the really cool thing about the movie. Tag team movie going! Meg and Vincent went to the movies first while we watched their kids, then we went to the movies while they watched our kids. My wish for having cool neighbors is coming true double fold.

So I liked the movie. It was like watching a comic book. And visually oriented person that I am, I didn't care that the dialogue sucked. It was a fun and fluffy movie. Here are the fun and fluffy things I liked about it.
The Casting Call
Buff, beefy, and beautiful need only apply. But I was put off by the fact that all those buff and beefy men had absolutely no chest hair, yet the most lush beards this side of Grizzly Adams. We're talking the Mediterranean, right? Whatever. There's a day spa out there with a really handsome chest waxing clientele.

Incredible Cinematography
It was like watching a comic book come to life. Which I guess it was.

Didn't take itself too seriously
At times I couldn't get past Xerxes stupid cheek piercings, and this movie will not win any awards for wardrobes (all those buff men in stupid looking loincloth/underwear were infernally distracting), but I don't think was its purpose. It was meant to be a movie with lots of near naked men running with spears, yelling and sweating like a deodorant commercial. It should have been called 300: Eye Candy and Violence.

All the women were beautiful
Equal opportunity hotties.

Kill Your Rapist
This wasn't really cool, but the one woman who had actual lines got to stab the man who raped her. It reminded me of a provocative tattoo I once saw of two pistols on either side of the woman's lower abdomen, and the words "Kill Your Rapist". Not something I would get, but a memorable and well done tattoo. I wish I could find a picture.
Here it is!

Faramir, Brother of Boromir
David Wenham, liberated from his ugly Two Towers/Return of the King wig, sigh. Sean Bean, who?

It was an entertaining movie. I still would have liked to have seen The Last King of Scotland, but Primo/Chris paid for everything. Maybe next week, since we saved money from not having a babysitter and from going to the matinee.

Bluffing Games and Horror Movies

I've never played poker, but I love bluffing games. I was at Greenfield Games yesterday looking for Christmas presents, and came across a game called The Werewolves of Millers Hollow. It looked fun, the cards are beautiful, so I decided I'd get it for someone, with no one in mind. Well the owner of GG raved about the game. He said when he played it, it brought an experienced gamer to tears. Well, that sold little old sadistic me. I decided to get it for moi, from Father Christmas, and since it needs at least 8 players (plus a GM), we'll play it at Christmas. It will make for a fine evening of comfort and joy, goose and ham, accusations of being a werewolf, lynching accused werewolves. A Christmas to remember.

I like scary games. Scary scenarios in RPG's don't give me nightmares. I don't like scary movies. They almost always give me nightmares. The last horror movie I saw in the theatre was The Grudge, and I was the one who suggested it, because it had Sarah Michelle Gellar, and it was set in Japan (I knew better than to see The Ring or Ringu). What a dumb idea. I've been able to sit through some horror movies, but I can't really do scary movies where the monster is the house, attacks in the house, or lives in the attic. I went with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and Primo. I kept my eyes covered for most of the movie, and all three of them made fun of me.

Primo loves horror and slasher movies. Last night he watched Hostel, and tried to seduce me into watching it with him. ("Let's spend some time together, honey....", "It won't be that bad....", "It's just a movie....", "I don't think the scary things happen in the house....") I lasted half an hour. I also can't handle slasher movies with homicidal crazy folk or demon-ish folk who like to cut people into little pieces or perform "surgery" on them. Ingrid woke up, and I went upstairs. I've never been happier to hear her cry. Screw "together time", dear. I can't even say never again, because I know I'll get suckered into another blood fest rental. Someone like Sean Bean will be in it, or Primo will pull the "snuggle with me on the couch" routine, or I'll get a recommendation from someone who swears "it's not that scary" or "it's more like a thriller".

Never say never. There are some horror/slasher movies I sort of liked, and would see again:
Opera. Totally freaked me out. On second thought, maybe I won't see this again.
The original Psycho. I guess it's more of a thriller. I really enjoyed this movie.
The Shining. Scary, with ghosts, in a house (sort of), and I still liked it.
The Dark, because Primo bears a striking resemblance to Boromir in Peter Jackson's version of LOTR, and I could just watch Sean Bean slice tomatoes or clean fish all day long. But it totally scared me and gave me nightmares. Even still, ghosts in a house, scary possibly evil children, and a crazy man trepanning his own daughter couldn't keep me away. It also had a fairy tale quality to it, which made it bearable.
Kwaidan is one of my all time favorite movies. It's just beautiful, and not gratutiously violent.