I made up my mind when I was a young girl / I’ve been given this one world / I won’t worry it away…
— Sara Bareilles, “Many the Miles”
The last few days have been hot, but there’s a refreshingly cool breeze blowing today. The textbook list for September should have been posted up on the UBC Bookstore site on Monday, but it’s still mysteriously MIA, so I’m taking this opportunity to enjoy my freedom from academia.
And summer is good. I got to go to the beach for the first time in three years (!!!) after my exam on Saturday, and soaked up the sun to my heart’s content. I’ve also been going out with my girlfriends, practising promenading Jane Austen-style around a park, having lunch with a Groupon coupon at La Brasserie (a Franco-German restaurant), and watching movies.
This year has been lovely to me for the movies I actually wanted to watch:
Toy Story 3 was probably my favourite one of the lot—it was surprisingly funny and touching; my eyes actually stung a little bit near the end.
For those who have never seen the first two movies, you probably don’t have to: suffice to say, Andy is off to college and his childhood toys are accidentally donated to the local daycare centre. The movie is about their attempt to return home. It’s beautifully animated, as all of Pixar’s works are, and is definitely a summer highlight.
I watched this in 3D at Tinseltown for $15.75, because I returned to Vancouver quite late and there were very few places showing it at the time. The cinema has large, comfortable seats, but the area is a little dodgy at night and I’m not a fan of being there after dark. The movie was totally worth it, though!
And how could anyone miss out on Inception after all the hype? I’d never seen the trailers or paid attention to the posters, but one of my friends told me it’s about stealing information from your dreams. Now that’s a concept that caught my attention.
I procured two friends to join me at Dunbar, which shows movies at $7 on Tuesdays. (Happily, this is one of those movies it’s easy to procure friends who want to rewatch it.) The movie was fine; I enjoyed it, but didn’t have my mind blown. Actually, I caught myself reflecting on another movie I’d watched with a friend before I left Hong Kong while watching Inception — Mr Nobody, directed by Jaco van Dormael, did blow my mind.
The last movie I saw yesterday at Oakridge (in 2D for $5.99 on Tuesdays, which can include popcorn and a soft drink) was Despicable Me — and I am so disappointed! All my favourite parts of the movie were what I’d already seen from the trailer, and apart from one ‘aww’ moment at the end, the whole thing was remarkably mediocre and requiring more suspension of disbelief than usual. I’m so sad, because I love Agnes; she’s easily my favourite character and exactly what I think my little sister would be like if I had one. Thank goodness I didn’t pay more for a 3D version — I probably should have waited for it come out on DVD.
Ah well.
Another thing I’m loving about my free time now is being able to catch up on all my emails. I do my best to keep up with emails, but I currently owe a lot of friends a lot of typing. They’ve been steadily sending me some fantastic goodies, such as Sin Titulo (which means “Without a Title”), an amazing and suspenseful webcomic I wait for updates like a hawk, and this fantastic commencement speech Ellen DeGeneres gave at Tulane in 2009:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e8ToRVOtRo]
(Her speech starts about one and a half minutes into the video.)
On that cheerful note, I am off to continue cleaning my house and prepare to make kimchi fried rice and pancakes with a friend tonight!
