Went to See Bourne Ultimatum last night. I must say, that even with the heightened expectations, I came away happy. It’s a good movie, with lots of action and well thought out all the way through. Tip, though: Rent the other two right quick before trekking off to see this one. Not that you won’t enjoy it anyways, but it will give you a fresh view of where we are in the series. The importance of this fact was hit home last night as we sat in the theatre, and during the 1st two minutes of the film, The Girl turns to me and says, “So the second film ended with him getting together with that chick, right?”

Uh, no. The second film began with that chick being mowed down on a bridge and dying. ?

I’ll give it a B+. It’s good, but I thought it had a weakness or two. 1st weakness was it’s over-reliance on flashbacks. They’re good, they give you the story, but they have to be done sparingly, and I think they can kind of be a cheap vehicle to tell the audience things. Also, when the whole film is based on someone’s recollection of past details, sudden flashbacks in the middle of the movie can make the whole rest of the plot seem sort of unnecessary. I mean, why bother chasing & killing to get memories back, when you can just sit at a sink & remember?

2nd shortcoming was something that has been since the first installation. OK, so let’s get this straight. He’s being hunted by arguably the most intelligent agency in the world, as well as INTERPOL, the UN, Rowandan refugees, Charlie's Angels, Bebe's Kids, and probably even Canada. Everyone he’s with cuts their hair, dyes it a different color, gets piercings, and possibly removes an appendage, all to lose any resemblance to their past selves. Bourne? Fuck it. He’s going to parade around with the same hairdo, clean-cut shaven face, and drab attire that he’s always been seen in. And then catch trains, planes, & automobiles in and out of every country. And just hope that no one recognizes him, right?

Is it because he knows he’s a bad-ass? I mean, the guy fucked people’s shit up with things such as: A newspaper, a Bic pen, a book, a towel, and a cotton ball. He’s the shit. Does he just not care? Is he like, “Go ahead, come after me. I’ve got a half-eaten tuna sandwich in my left hand; you’ll regret ever coming within 100 feet of me.” Eh. Bad-ass or not, if I was being hunted by that many people & that many agencies that would snipe me at a moment’s notice, I think I’d invest in a new ‘do, maybe grow a beard. Maybe wear tie-dye shirts. Something.

Of course then again, I would have not made it out of the first 5 minutes of the initial film, either. Because I’m a pussy, comparatively, is what I’m saying.



Yard Transformation
For the last two days, The Girl & I have been up to elbows in tree & flowers. The place we rented has a small- to mid-sized backyard, and while it had grass & a tree when we moved in, the grass hadn’t been cut in like 4 months, and the tree is less tree-like and more bush-like. It was so low-hanging that you had to crouch and bend at the knees to get underneath it.

This was solved by a quick trip to Ace Hardware, and the purchase of some lopping shears. Two days later, I can walk under the tree, and the fence line has been cleanly plucked of grass and laid with wildflower seeds. Why? Because the fence is low and not a solid surface, so it’s hard to actually mow all the grass. The flowers give me some room to get in there with the mower & not run into the fence or leave some grass untouched. It’ll work, trust me.

We also uprooted some little moss-like plant that I can’t remember what the name is from under this one horrendous shrub that I’m pretty sure is the spawn of the tree (which I hate), and tried to replant it around the base of the big(-ger) shrub-tree for aesthetics. All-in-all, I’m pretty proud of what we accomplished, and the yard looks a lot better than it did when we took it over.

But about that shrub-tree. It has fucking thorns. Thorns. I hate this tree with passion. Trying to get it all lopped off and then into little enough pieces to put in the trash can was easy enough, but trying to actually put it in the trash can was another thing all together. We had gardening gloves on, but these thorns… they were like up to a half-inch long, and pointy & rigid. And out to get me. I eventually got wise & just lightly tossed the stuff onto the top of the trash can, then grabbed the Hoe and mashed the stuff in with frustration & hate on my mind. Take that, stupid shrub-tree. Yeah!



Funny thing happened on the way to the Beach
At the beach again this morning. Yeah, I’m there often. Strange that I leave So Cal, and now am more tan than ever before. Kind of like moving to North Dakota after spending your life on an island in the Pacific, only to find after you’ve moved you LOVE coconuts. Or something like that.

Peace.

Tags: hate, Entertainment