Friday Off

[liralen]

With the party on Saturday, our Friday off should have been as prep for the party, but we actually didn't do much related to that as work had a release party instead. Jet and I had cinnamon rolls and watched some cartoons and then John came home at 11 for us to head out.

We went to Gordon Bierche for lunch and then to the theater for a movie. The lunch was loud and boisterous and really nice. Jet had a root beer float to start, so wasn't that interested in his pizza, no surprise. We didn't get him a snack for the movie, but he was okay with that. We all went to see Cars again.



And I'm going to take back when I said in a comment on the opening weekend. I actually think Cars is an extremely strong Pixar movie for me. It had far more relevance and emotional ties for me than the Toy Stories or A Bug's Life ever had for me. Of course I grew up in Southern California, learned to drive in LA, and did the obligatory 3000 mile two week vacation every summer with my parents when I was a child. This movie touches on those old feelings, the sights, the sounds, the fact we nearly never got out of the car when we went traveling and it was good. Driving to enjoy the drive, not the 'getting there'. Cars are such a part of my life, and that intimate knowledge of cars is what this touches on. It's deeply, intensely American at a time when I really am, emotionally, trying to get a grip on why I might love being an American. It's been really hard, lately, but this gave me something to grab and hang onto.

Plus being older and so tired, gave me a deeper grasp of the emotions and reasons behind the Doc Hudson. And, gods, when the Hornet revved up something inside me finally turned back on again and just wept from the pain of it and the joy of it.

And, oh, the love of speed, of distance, of those vast open places that we have. That ability to just take a turn and go anywhere we want and end up finding ourselves in strange places. That grabbed deep and pulled hard at my knowledge of what the world is for me. And you know, I'm not sure I really care if it's marketable overseas. This movie spoke so deeply and eloquently to me, as I am, that I do love it nearly as much as The Incredibles and far more than any of the earlier movies they made. And maybe I and those like me will cheerfully make up for that lack of an overseas market. I don't know.

I do know that nearly everyone at Jet's party had seen it, even the ones that didn't have little kids anymore. That gear heads of all ages at the release party loved it, and nearly all were going to see it again with their families. Pixar's amazing and intense attention to the utmost detail shone even more with them. I think Lassitar said, when he was interviewed about this movie, that there were too many stupid car movies out there and this was not going to be a stupid car movie. He was certainly right about that.



After the movie we all went to Cold Stone and got too much ice cream and talked about the movie. It was fun. Jet didn't eat much ice cream either, but had a big bowl of noodles when he got home, which was likely better for him and certainly improved his mood.

Then we got into party gear, and got the place completely spic and span, the boys wired stuff outside, and we got the last grocery list together.

Saturday morning was hair cut, groceries, getting a ton of ice, and setting up extra shade and making sure everything was in place. Jet was so excited about the party that he kept asking how many hours it was until the party started. He started that on Friday and he told me, "I got to sleep at 8, so you have to wake me up at 2 so I don't miss the party at 3, right?" I told him that there would be a whole extra three in between now and then, so he didn't have to worry. He frowned a bit and then nodded.

Then he started insisting that he went to sleep at 7 and got up at 8, which is understandable given that it feels weird to say that you get up, numerically, before you went to sleep (going to bed at 8 and getting up at 7). That was fun.

Comments

[marith.livejournal.com]

Woot! Sounds like fun :) I'm glad you enjoyed Cars so much. I don't know if I will go to see it or if it will click with me in particular, never having done the really long car trip thing as a kid. It's been interesting, reading the different reviews and how some people really love it and some just go buh. An aspect of Americana, definitely.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yup. It's a matter of taste, I think.

I also know a lot of gear heads here at work, that are all into cars in a big way.

So the details *mattered* to them and they loved everything from how the Hudson Hornet *sounded* to the way the race cars warmed up their tires during the first lap, from the way the physics worked on the dirt track to the Dodge models that the Tapett brothers picked as their characters. :-) It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, but wow I'd love the pot, please. *grin*

*hugs*

[eyelessgame.livejournal.com]

Yah! I agree with the comment someone made that it's an entirely American movie -- but the rest of the world can cope; this one's for us.

I loved, among other things, the cameos -- Click and Clack, Bob Costas, Jay Leno, Mario Andretti. I adored the movie overall: so did my kids, so did my in-laws, so did silkiemom and her sister. The funny thing is, I'm not really that susceptible, normally, to small-town Americana or racing (I sorta agree with Bill Maher -- "I saw 'NASCAR for Dummies'. Let me save you the $12.99: it's rednecks watching other rednecks turn left") but it bowled me over with its goodheartedness, and it made me nostalgic and proud about my national heritage.

Hee about Jet. Kate and Robert are old enough to listen to a bit of Monty Python, and the night thing makes me think of one line the kids always howl at and repeat later -- "Right. We had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before we went to bed..."

[liralen.livejournal.com]

...but the rest of the world can cope; this one's for us.

*exactly*

Though, given that Pixar's been showing podcasts of the 41 other language crews that re-dubbed the movie afterwards, they seemed to be enjoying it as well. I loved the shot of one of the French actors just cracking up at one of the dialogs to the point he couldn't go on any more.

And, yeah, wow, Costas. Such a *beautifully* detailed car I've never seen in real life, but I've never seen any human being as neat as Costas anyway. :-) It was perfect. The Leno Mercedes was great, and the pairing of the personalities to the cars was so perfect.

Yes. I loved the goodheartedness of the characters as well.

The scenery blew me away as well, in a "I've BEEN there and loved it like *that*" kind of way, but that's the heritage of the old summer car trips along with the ones that we're now doing with Jet. The night drive with Mack was like, "oh, this is waaaaaay too familiar", and it nearly looked exactly like the 5 north of LA through the San Bernadino valley. John and I used to do that drive two or three times a year, going from Seattle to San Diego... and the early shots were just like from our drive from Vermont back home, with the round, aged mountains and the winding rivers.

*sigh*

Yeah...

*giggles* about the Monty Python quote. I need to let Jet hear that one soon. Hee. Thanks!!

[foomf.livejournal.com]

Between noodles and ice cream, the big differences are fast sugars and fats.

The ice cream probably had more fat and more fast sugars, but otherwise, nutritionally a bowl of noodles is the same as a bowl of rice is the same as a bowl of potatoes is the same as a bowl of low-fat ice cream dessert.

From a meta-nutrient point of view, the important element is the speed at which the sugars hit the bloodstream and the amount of fiber in the food. The fats actually slow down the sugars, somewhat, but provide added calories. Whole grains are better than processed, and flour from whole grains is better than flour from hull-removed grains, because of the amount of fiber that you still have available.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Jet likes his whole wheat noodles with vinegar and furikake (http://www.quickspice.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/japanesefoodfurikake.shtml?E+scstore) sprinkled all over them. Not too much of a difference; but enough that the proteins in the noodles seemed to help as well. I think that egg-based, ww noodles are a bit better than straight potatoes and about the same as a bowl of brown rice with Jet's sprinkles as well. He seems more even-keeled after it, anyway.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

I think a big, big part of it is that after 20 years of owning and working on cars the whole "cars have their very own personality" thing is HUGE in me. So much so I take it for granted. They're not mysterious mechanical things, they're a part of the family in a way, with their own history, personality, and aptitudes and attitudes.

Having "saved" Land Rovers from people who clearly didn't know what they had, giving them better homes and vetting the people who wanted to buy them, sometimes giving better deals to those that would really love them, the cars as creatures that thrive on care really clicks. Okay, and having driven Land Rovers really off-road made me just die of laughter during the "SUV boot camp" short during the credits. Hee.

Maybe it's tied into Carl's theory of "The more unique an item is the more soul it has". As the older cars get rarer and rarer and get more marks, damage, fixes, and other things on them, the more they develop their own soul. Though, a custom-made race car starts out pretty unique. *grin*

My. But, yes, that particular aspect of the movie really did it for me, too.