la fete nationale/bastille day

joyeux le quatorze juillet!

(Just like we say "Happy 4th of July", they say "Happy 14th of July")

WOW, this post should have been up Monday, but we were so busy that day and I didn't post on my off day yesterday... So, honestly, expect two posts today. (One for this, and I may do a post on some TV I watched last night, but that might turn into a post later this week.)

Anyways, my friend Megan and I love France. We've each been to the country twice (once together, and then we each had a separate trip before that), and well, we're dying to go back. ("Dying" might be a literal term in this case. We're stir crazy for some sort of travel, and Paris is higher towards the top of our lists.) We haven't seen each other in a while - we're busy, busy, busy working adults - and I suggested we celebrate Bastille Day, since this year it fell on our off days.

[caution: raw chicken bits ahead. I've emitted the grosser bits in picture form, but descriptions are still there.]

#moviereview - pacific rim

(HTML stars don't post well on my work computer, I'll fix this asap.)

(4 1/2 stars)

While this wasn't the most anticipated movie of the summer, a huge surge of positive word-of-mouth has increased this film's popularity and anticipation.

I'm a huge Guillermo del Toro fan. I'm a fan of his Hellboy movies, as well as Pan's Labrynth. I'm a big fan of much of the cast (Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Ron Pearlman, Mana Ashida). I'm a sucker for loud action movies. (Let's just say I'm a bigger fan of Transformers than I'd like to admit at times.)

I think I first heard about this movie a year ago, around the the time of Comic Con 2012. Back then, of course, I was high off of excitement for Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness, two of the most anticipated 2013 summer blockbusters. I knew that this movie would be good - I trusted the director and the cast - but I excitement, at the time, wasn't at the level as it was for other films. In March, there was a preview shown at WonderCon, and ever since then, my excitement has been in full gear.

For the past couple of weeks, various critics and celebrities have been able to attend special screening/premieres of the film. Kanye West's tweets about the movie increased my excitement, if that was even possible by that point. I follow a few critics/reviewers on Twitter, and while of course there are a few "negative nelly's" floating around, many people have been praising the film.

[spoilers ahead]

VA2013: day four (final day)

Trolley!

My final post on my escapades in Virginia!

VA2013: day three

Ducks!

(Whoops, didn't post this yesterday. Maybe I'll post the last two days today?)

VA2013: day two

I miss having a 7/Eleven around.

VA2013: day one

I know that picture isn't much, but I can't give away too much with an introduction picture!