Good Weekend, And Hopefully More To Come

Last week, I talked about the previous weekend, and how it had *almost* come out as I had planned. I say almost because I hadn't anticipated the flat tire that the SUV had on Saturday, and my overall tiredness over the ensuing 48 hours that resulted in taking the entire weekend to watch "The Godfather Part II". Still, it was better than most.

This past weekend, however, was a demonstration in the funnest times happening when you least expect them to.

On Friday, the paper was produced and uploaded, and I ducked over to the elementary school to watch a cheque presentation and snap photos. When I came back, I dumped the photos into a folder on my computer and Photoshopped them. At that point, everyone else had left for lunch, so I decided to take off at about 12:45. I ran some errands before grabbing some Subway and jetting home, where I relaxed all afternoon.

Later, my brother Brendon and I were able to acquire the services of the SUV and headed up to the city to see "Rambo", since we didn't see it last weekend because of the previously mentioned flat tire. Once again, I didn't pay for my ticket and just used the points on my Scene card. (Now I'm trying to accumulate enough points to see Wrestlemania 24 for free at the Galaxy, too).

"Rambo" was awesome. If you saw the original trilogy from the 80's, then there's no reason why you wouldn't love this updated sequel. Sylvester Stallone was fantastic, and the movie showed me just how much he's underrated as a filmmaker. The violence is brutal, savage, and outright shocking at times. I gasped at a few select scenes myself, but the ultra-violent imagery just mirrors real life. Stallone made sure that the film wasn't censored in any way because he told the studios that this sort of slaying and killing really happens in parts of the world. Despite the fact that its packaged and targeted at young males and action addicts, "Rambo" is somewhat educational, in a "good-God-did-he-really-just-do-that" sort of way. To censor the graphic nature of the film would be to shield ourselves from the events of real life, and sweeping things under the rug is something that filmmakers need to stop doing in their line of work.

After the film, Brendon and I watched and snickered as the car passengers in front of us noticed the ticket tucked in their windshiled wipers, and hit Blockbuster, where I bought "Hot Fuzz" on DVD. We left after grabbing a late supper at KFC. After getting home, I ended up staying up all night and eventually going to sleep at nearly 6:30 AM, watching movies and listening to music.

On Saturday, I watched "Executive Decision" on DVD. Its a good mid-90's action flick with Kurt Russell about a group of military men trying to disarm a bomb on an airplane while terrorists hold the passengers captive. I remember back in 1996, while on our school's last year-end trip before closing, all the kids from Conquest School went to Regina with parents, teachers and chaperones. We stayed at the Travelodge Hotel and while eating Pizza Hut for supper, we had tried ordering "Decision" on the PPV in our room. We missed the first 45 minutes so the rest of the film was tainted, as far as I was concerned. Funny how nearly 12 years later, here I am watching it again. This time I liked it.

Before picking Brendon up from work, I rented "Saw IV", and watched it after the Conquest Merchants/Central Butte Flyers game at the rink. I didn't like the first two "Saw" sequels, so high hopes for this one were non-existent. But I'm surprised to say that I really liked it. The writing had suddenly gotten a lot better following Parts Two and Three and I found myself immersed in the story. Yeah, its still torture porn in many scenes, but I've become so desensitized to on-screen brutality that I sometimes even curse the filmmakers when a death on-screen goes on too long. It has a great ending and for the first time in a few years, I'll actually be anticipating another "Saw" sequel. (There's going to be six of them overall, so we're in this until at least late 2009, people!)

Sunday was the Super Bowl, which saw the New York Giants take out the New England Patriots. I was glad to see that, because the Giants were the underdog and nobody was expected to beat the Patriots. I hate that arrogant attitude and I'm not much of a Tom Brady fan. Matter of fact, I think he's a pretty boy who's enjoying his 15 minutes of sports glory a little too much, so I was cheering for New York pretty hard, and was pumped to see them score a touchdown with only 30 seconds left. I thought it was really immature and unprofessional of the Patriots coach going to the locker room before the game was officially over, but I guess he had some screaming he had to do. Overall, it was a good game and I'm glad the underdog Giants took the victory, because sometimes a cocky undefeated team needs to get knocked down a peg or two. Good job, New York!

So yeah, it was a good weekend. Saw some good movies, watched some good sports, and discussed fun little video-making projects when spring comes and all this snow and ice takes a hike. I hope more spur-of-the-moment weekends like this come along.

Keep 'em laughin',
Derek