Random Thoughts - Transformers 3, Kites, Lawn Care, and Life...

I've been a terrible blogger, as of late. Life is so busy, with such random and varied tasks seemingly placed upon my plate like a fire sale at a bad Chinese restaurant. (no offense Mongolian Barbecue). I really want to be a better blogger=writer, honestly. It's just, every time I sit in front of the pc, I have this sudden, drained feeling...like some mad doctor stuck a negative Ion needle into my arm and sucked the creative juice right out of my brain. Is it exhaustion? Writers block? The feeling that what i'm saying is boring, contrived, or not original enough? Perhaps a little of that. That is the human in me.

I finally had a date with my wife, it was nice. We even had time for dinner before a movie! We were both excited to see Transformers 3 in 3D...which surprisingly, was not eye-rolling OR annoying. To my great relief, it redeemed itself excellently from the somewhat embarrassing 'Revenge of the Fallen', to be more on par with the still excellent first movie. It was pretty sweet, actually. And the 3D was done to breath-taking effect. The scene where they jump out of a crashing Air Force V-22 Osprey [the irony not lost on my military mind] and plunged downward in a dizzying free fall...only to open up their winged flying suits and soar like crazy stuntman to a half-destroyed building below..was an amazing thrill ride, if however short. There were some pretty interesting moments in the whole film, a meeting of Optimus Prime and Neil Armstrong seemed so legit, I actually wondered if it really was him for a second...."naahhh..." There were plenty of site gag's, and background and set pieces of Transformers lore, only a hardcore comic geek could spot them all out.

It was also, simply amazing how seamless CGI tech is now incorporated into film [Is there even film anymore? Oh that's right...no]. The major example being my home town of Chicago, being effortlessly and incredibly broken to pieces under the Decepticon Siege during the almost 40 minute long 'Climax' of the movie. Robots battling among, around, and into recognizable fountains, plaza's, statues and buildings of my windy city was simply so real it almost made me call my gramma up to make sure she was ok! [heh] ILM must really have gotten this all down to a science. It is virtually impossible now to distinguish reality from simulated mayhem in modern movies. That could be a good thing, or scary.

Reason #2 Transformers 3 -The Dark of the Moon was pretty flippin' great, 3 words:

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. I was mildly curious how she would do, compared to Megan Fox, whom hillbilly demeanor or not, is still f'in hot...and my wife and I were pleasantly surprised. Rosie didn't seem to be shy of the camera, or aware of it...she spoke her lines from her pillow-like lips with force and the authority of someone like...well, almost like an actual actress! I had to remind myself that she was 'merely' a Victoria's Secret model, before her luck turned for this stint...but I'm just happy she didn't detract or ruin the movie, she did just fine. And my wife says, she was definitely hotter than Megan. Huh...

*Don't think on this too hard you might get a headache.

There were some cool upgrades to the bots- you know, to keep it fresh and new; -there were some well-chosen characters from my childhood, that I played with all the time-mainly LazerBeak! That thing was in the form of a killer Condor-like avian, that never transformed back into a cassette tape...because that is SO 1983. He was as cool to watch as the cat-like 'Ravage' was in TF2. Also-John Malkovich!, Frances McDormand!? HUH! All in all- it was a pretty amazing movie, not perfect, but a great pop-corn summer movie. One to watch again on Blu-ray when it comes out!

Bonus for me- the eerily accurate-looking scenes regarding the zone around Chernobyl [which of course the plot touches on-in interesting fashion]. Anyone that enjoys the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series of PC games [or Chernobyl history] will enjoy this quite a bit.

Back on the home front, the kids are having birthdays faster than I can buy cards, or cupcakes...we took them to the beach down by Newport, Oregon, and it was a lucky sunny, and warm day there. Little Rowan [3 now] was finally able to fly his kite, which was depressingly fielded in our un-windy rural back yard.

As a Dad, I can tell you there is nothing in the world that makes you feel like when you see your lil' mini-you smiling up at his very first kite on a sunny day at the beach. Everything else just seems to wash away for a few moments, as you reflect on your life, and your children's future.

The wind kept that baby up until he and I both got bored of that, and with his brother Aidan [5], they are off to the sand & rock throwing, and water splashing. It was a good time, half of my face was pink the next day.

The weekend passing fast, back to work and the grind, and my ever-wilding lawn. I tell you, gone are the days of simply mowing your lawn, to be respectable. Nope, perhaps my youthful memory was blinded, it takes much more than that to keep up with the jones's. A combination of rubber gloves, chemicals, and electric edgers are called to duty in order to stave off the soul-less minions of the HOA. [shudder....]

Don't get me wrong, this is MY first real yard, and I love that about it. But she's turning on me already, growing weird, wheat-looking stalks on the edges, dark green here, yellow patches there...and whatever those wide, spikey weeds are...I hate them.. Pull them all out by hand, admire your hard labor and sweat, two weeks later they are back in FORCE. Yeah, switching to happiness through better chemicals to hopefully reign in this beast. I found a spreader on craigslist for 15 bucks! sweet. Now to get my weed and feed and fertilizer groove on...yawn....next weekend, perhaps...I got to get those kids fed n' in bed....

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!