Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Here in the USA
Yes, I finally found time to update this. And I'd really like to write thousands of words describing everything I've done so far, but I don't know if I'll have time (I can hear your sighs of relief). Then again...we'll see...*evil grin*
Okay, so let's start from the beginning.
Saturday:
I went to the airport, did all the necessary stuff, said bye, got on the plane. They showed some tv movie called "Baby" on the flight, and that's the first time in recent memory I believe I've refused to watch a movie when I've had the chance. It was kinda like, "Baby? TV movie? Fara Fawcett? I can feel myself getting ready to yawn already."
We were supposed to arrive in Houston at noon. But things didn't exactly go as planned. Firstly, we left about an hour later than we were supposed to because there were problems with the communications equipment that needed to be fixed. I don't think the pilot could communicate with the control tower. But I mean, really, that's just a small problem, right? Surely not big enough to warrant spending an extra hour on the ground! An hour that equates to two hours Houston time...and that was only the first part. Later, the pilot came on the intercome and informed us that due to bad weather, our landing would be delayed by around half an hour to forty-five minutes while we waited it out. I was hoping we would get transferred to New Orleans (Mardi Gras baby!), but alas, it didn't happen.
We landed at 1:20. We got off the plane at least five minutes later. That meant we had five whole minutes to get through the airport. Whoop-de-doo.
It took forever to get our baggage. Our suitcases had been placed in a completely different part of the "baggage-collecting-place". So we got them, then went to Baggage Claim, where we were informed that we had missed our flight (big surprise), and needed to get a new boarding pass. So we stood in another long line, just for a two-minute chat with some people so they could give us new tickets.
Then the fun began. Our new flight wasn't until 7. So we had around 4.5 hours to wait. We were free. The world was our oyster. And things were pretty boring. We ate at McDonald's (no Taco Bell at our terminal - which we had to walk part of the way to...stupid tram). I bought a magazine. And you know, if you read every single word of a magazine, it can take a few hours. The next thing I knew, we were on a plane. Finally. Things went smoothly this time, and we were in Greensboro by around 9 or 9:30. After we said hi to everyone, we went to Krispy Kreme and spent time at the house eating wonderful hot donuts. Yummy. Then I went to sleep. What a day.
Oh, and did I mention that my aunt informed me that our flight had actually left at 2:50? The people who told us we'd missed it were wrong. I don't know if we'd have made it in time anyway, due to all the time wasted waiting for our luggage and the inter-terminal tram, but still. I probably spent 5 hours in the Houston airport for nothing.
One day I'm going to look back on all of this and laugh. Maybe.
Sunday:
I slept until 3. At 4:20 we went to see The Terminal. Stephen Spielberg rules. Loved the suit shot. Tom Hanks was great, as usual. Catherine Zeta-Jones didn't have as major a role as I thought she would. Thankfully, Spielberg kept the romance light and chose instead to focus on what was more important - mainly: "Hey! This guy's forced to live in an airport! And now...uh...funny stuff's gonna happen!" It was pretty funny, and a very good movie. Also, the romance doesn't end in smiles and kisses. Yay! Something realistic! Plus, I personally found the last moment between Hanks and Zeta-Jones to be more touching than a happier outcome would have been. Less is more, people.
I can't really remember what we did after that. Oh yeah, we went to Blockbuster and rented some movies. That night we watched The Rundown with my aunt and my counsin. Now that Pierce Brosnan is married, my aunt has turned to someone new to be the object of her affection: The Rock. One of her favorite moments was when he took his shirt off. I recommended The Scorpion King, if she wants to see him running around in a loin-cloth for most of the movie.
Monday:
Slept until noon. Then at 2:20 we went to see Fahrenheit 9/11. From a film point of view, it's excellent. However, it's extremely biased, and I'm fairly confident Moore edited footage a lot more in this one than with Bowling For Columbine (which I personally enjoyed more). This one is more serious - though I guess it's hilarious if you really hate Bush - and I felt that more comedy would have been a lot nicer. I don't think it will impact the election, but we'll see. Most people will be able to see how incredibly biased and subjective it is. The only footage of Bush portrays him as a bewildered idiot, and I doubt people will actually believe he's like that all the time. Plus, most of the footage is probably taken out of context. But perhaps I'm giving the US public too much credit, and the movie really will change the election outcome.
After that we went to Best Buy, and James bought a new CD player and a CD. Blegh. Dave Matthews.
I ate four sloopy joes for dinner. Then, later that night, my brother and I watched Bubba Ho-Tep. Absolutely hilarious. I mean, when you've got a movie that's about Elvis (he's the real Elvis who's impersonating an Elvis impersonator who's impersonating the real Elvis) and a black JFK (aliens dyed him) and they've got to fight an evil soul-sucking mummy in a nursing home, you just know it's going to be quality cinema. I loved it. There's a reason it won all those comedy awards. Though if you don't like profanity and brief topless nudity, stay away. Frankly, I thought the profanity uttered in an Elvis accent made the movie even funnier.
Tuesday:
Got up early and drove 2.5 hours to visit Campbell university. It was a lot cooler than I expected, but I still doubt I'll end up going there. I mean, honors students get private dorms - that's very enticing to me. Plus, you can rent movies. And any school that has a copy of Dumb and Dumber really can't be that bad. I can see why my cousin likes it there.
Right now I'm updating my blog (duh). Tonight I'll watch Dogma with my aunt if we can get the TV Guardian working, since she's been wanting to see it and I really like it.
This is Andrew Johnson in North Carolina, signing off.
Okay, so let's start from the beginning.
Saturday:
I went to the airport, did all the necessary stuff, said bye, got on the plane. They showed some tv movie called "Baby" on the flight, and that's the first time in recent memory I believe I've refused to watch a movie when I've had the chance. It was kinda like, "Baby? TV movie? Fara Fawcett? I can feel myself getting ready to yawn already."
We were supposed to arrive in Houston at noon. But things didn't exactly go as planned. Firstly, we left about an hour later than we were supposed to because there were problems with the communications equipment that needed to be fixed. I don't think the pilot could communicate with the control tower. But I mean, really, that's just a small problem, right? Surely not big enough to warrant spending an extra hour on the ground! An hour that equates to two hours Houston time...and that was only the first part. Later, the pilot came on the intercome and informed us that due to bad weather, our landing would be delayed by around half an hour to forty-five minutes while we waited it out. I was hoping we would get transferred to New Orleans (Mardi Gras baby!), but alas, it didn't happen.
We landed at 1:20. We got off the plane at least five minutes later. That meant we had five whole minutes to get through the airport. Whoop-de-doo.
It took forever to get our baggage. Our suitcases had been placed in a completely different part of the "baggage-collecting-place". So we got them, then went to Baggage Claim, where we were informed that we had missed our flight (big surprise), and needed to get a new boarding pass. So we stood in another long line, just for a two-minute chat with some people so they could give us new tickets.
Then the fun began. Our new flight wasn't until 7. So we had around 4.5 hours to wait. We were free. The world was our oyster. And things were pretty boring. We ate at McDonald's (no Taco Bell at our terminal - which we had to walk part of the way to...stupid tram). I bought a magazine. And you know, if you read every single word of a magazine, it can take a few hours. The next thing I knew, we were on a plane. Finally. Things went smoothly this time, and we were in Greensboro by around 9 or 9:30. After we said hi to everyone, we went to Krispy Kreme and spent time at the house eating wonderful hot donuts. Yummy. Then I went to sleep. What a day.
Oh, and did I mention that my aunt informed me that our flight had actually left at 2:50? The people who told us we'd missed it were wrong. I don't know if we'd have made it in time anyway, due to all the time wasted waiting for our luggage and the inter-terminal tram, but still. I probably spent 5 hours in the Houston airport for nothing.
One day I'm going to look back on all of this and laugh. Maybe.
Sunday:
I slept until 3. At 4:20 we went to see The Terminal. Stephen Spielberg rules. Loved the suit shot. Tom Hanks was great, as usual. Catherine Zeta-Jones didn't have as major a role as I thought she would. Thankfully, Spielberg kept the romance light and chose instead to focus on what was more important - mainly: "Hey! This guy's forced to live in an airport! And now...uh...funny stuff's gonna happen!" It was pretty funny, and a very good movie. Also, the romance doesn't end in smiles and kisses. Yay! Something realistic! Plus, I personally found the last moment between Hanks and Zeta-Jones to be more touching than a happier outcome would have been. Less is more, people.
I can't really remember what we did after that. Oh yeah, we went to Blockbuster and rented some movies. That night we watched The Rundown with my aunt and my counsin. Now that Pierce Brosnan is married, my aunt has turned to someone new to be the object of her affection: The Rock. One of her favorite moments was when he took his shirt off. I recommended The Scorpion King, if she wants to see him running around in a loin-cloth for most of the movie.
Monday:
Slept until noon. Then at 2:20 we went to see Fahrenheit 9/11. From a film point of view, it's excellent. However, it's extremely biased, and I'm fairly confident Moore edited footage a lot more in this one than with Bowling For Columbine (which I personally enjoyed more). This one is more serious - though I guess it's hilarious if you really hate Bush - and I felt that more comedy would have been a lot nicer. I don't think it will impact the election, but we'll see. Most people will be able to see how incredibly biased and subjective it is. The only footage of Bush portrays him as a bewildered idiot, and I doubt people will actually believe he's like that all the time. Plus, most of the footage is probably taken out of context. But perhaps I'm giving the US public too much credit, and the movie really will change the election outcome.
After that we went to Best Buy, and James bought a new CD player and a CD. Blegh. Dave Matthews.
I ate four sloopy joes for dinner. Then, later that night, my brother and I watched Bubba Ho-Tep. Absolutely hilarious. I mean, when you've got a movie that's about Elvis (he's the real Elvis who's impersonating an Elvis impersonator who's impersonating the real Elvis) and a black JFK (aliens dyed him) and they've got to fight an evil soul-sucking mummy in a nursing home, you just know it's going to be quality cinema. I loved it. There's a reason it won all those comedy awards. Though if you don't like profanity and brief topless nudity, stay away. Frankly, I thought the profanity uttered in an Elvis accent made the movie even funnier.
Tuesday:
Got up early and drove 2.5 hours to visit Campbell university. It was a lot cooler than I expected, but I still doubt I'll end up going there. I mean, honors students get private dorms - that's very enticing to me. Plus, you can rent movies. And any school that has a copy of Dumb and Dumber really can't be that bad. I can see why my cousin likes it there.
Right now I'm updating my blog (duh). Tonight I'll watch Dogma with my aunt if we can get the TV Guardian working, since she's been wanting to see it and I really like it.
This is Andrew Johnson in North Carolina, signing off.
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 6/29/2004 04:04:00 PM 
