Eagle Eye Review

Saw Eagle Eye last night, and was not planning to enjoy it. Afterall, it only had 25% on Rotten Tomatoes with a nice green splat symbol and a scathing review. I went and saw it with a fellow SLP and her fiance (an engineer). He thought it was ridiculous and stupid. Since I had lowered expectations going in, I was resigned to gain what enjoyment I could squeek out of it- and focused on the fact that I was going to get some movie popcorn (always a rare treat).

I loved the movie. I fully admit that under a microscope, (or walmart reading glasses), the scenario could never ever happen. But it was fun! It was fast paced, no slow bits, heros and villains that re-sort themselves into groups throughout the movie, and lots of eye candy in the form of shiny things, explosions, and jumps from ridiculous heights. It even has an ugly kid with freckles. And while the government was a character, it didn't try to use actors that resemble in any way the current administration. It did feature a bombing in a middle-eastern country, but that could be referring to any such war.

It was totally worth $7!!! If you spend a few brain cells thinking about it, the movie has a "message", but doesn't sit there yelling the message at you (like some penguin movie I once saw). It reminded me a bit of Transformers and The Net- paranoia and technology and all that jazz. My recommendation- worth the money if you want eye candy and a fast paced run through the streets film. Fun.

Big Lick Blues Festival

I had planned a totally relaxed weekend-- afterall I had had an adventure 2 weekends ago and had worked AND had gone to a Greek Festival last weekend-- so I was due a couch and paperwork weekend. But then I read a little bit about this Blues Festival going on 15 minutes away. The promise of an evening of music, combined with the lovely sunny 70 degree weather, were enough to move my bottom off the couch. Afterall, I can lounge just as easily on grass listening to blues!

Went at 3pm, left at 10pm. Very strongly considered heading to Blues cafe where they were holding an "After festival jam session" with the artists...but I used my head and decided that walking back to my car at 10pm was stupid enough. If I had roped someone into coming with me, I would have been there until dawn! On second thought, if I had been with someone I probably would have left at 8pm instead-- my friends here are way too sensible. Lovely, but sensible.

I just have to say it. Shemekia Copeland is a beautiful woman with a great set of pipes. She turned off the microphone towards the end of her performance and just SANG. Oh. My. Gosh. That was cool. For a sample of her- go here.

Jimmy Thackery played before her- I liked his long instrumental blues, but I could have lived without the lyrical ones.

I ate some awesome ribs and chatted with an older school teacher named Martha who had recently had her voice "saved" by an SLP. I love being a SLP! She was a funny duck- Martha was! She asked a whole bunch of questions when I first sat down and then said, "aren't you sorry you sat next to me? If you hadn't, I might not have talked to anyone all day!" Well, that's true for me too- but it's not such a daunting thing to me. I enjoyed chatting with her and she was kind enough not to talk during the music. It was fun having someone to laugh at the dancers with- a few guys down on stage were trying very hard to look graceful when dancing with their wives. At the end of the night I folded up my blanket and joined the growing group dancing in a mosh pit on stage and said goodbye to the very lovely Martha. Then I spent the last 2 hours probably being laughed at by the rest of the sitting audience because I love to dance, but I'm of Irish decent and anything but a jig looks awkward on me. I tried to blend in by bobbing, but occasionally involved my elbows and at least once gave off a good imitation of a butt wiggle. The song called for it.

Sunday was spent on the couch. And doing paperwork. And laundry. All good things to do from the couch position. 3 more weekends left- any suggestions?

Monticello, Natural Bridge and FoamHenge

Insider tip to beat the crowds at attractions: go during a Hurricane. Great pictures due to great lighting, and no pesky tourists in the pictures.

Saturday morning, I headed up to Monticello, former estate of Thomas Jefferson. Quite the house, I must say. I liked his bedroom especially, with the bed forming the wall between his study and sitting room. I could stand living there.

Front of the shack.


Back of the shack with obligatory flower in foreground.


Back of the shack with obligatory water reflection.


Storm clouds over an apple orchard.


After Monticello, I headed into Charlottesville to find food and shop around a bit. I LOVED their public chalk board and speaker podium! On it was engraved "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (1st amendment, just in case you just had a brain fart).



On the way home, I hit highway 11 at about 7pm and it occurred to me I might be able to make the 8pm light show on Natural Bridge. So I stopped and bought a ticket. I saw this way back in high school on a band trip, and I remember being really impressed with it. This time around I guess I was expecting...more. It was peaceful. I guess with all of the light technology available, I would have thought they would have upgraded in the last 15 years. Nope. Just pretty, slowly changing, multicolored lights on rock. With a deep voice from above talking us through the first 7 days of creation. It still was a nice rock.



I honestly reacted in an excited fashion when the ticket lady told me that I could come back Sunday on the same ticket and see FoamHenge. Yep, you read that right. I've been to Stonehenge outside of Bath, UK and was awed by it. I have now been to the foam interpretation of it. This Foamhenge hazards the theory that while the whole "moving the stones inch by inch over the landscape" is a perfectly acceptable theory, it was probably really Merlin using magic that put it into place. As a bonus, there was a renaissance festival going on around the structure. Not a large one where you can get lost in a crowd, but a small one where they all seem to know each other and you are not sure if they are talking about you as you approach each booth! I hung around to see the famous "Muffin Man" at the urging of the fellow selling crystals.



Have you seen the Muffin man? THE MUFFIN MAN? The Muffin man? WHO LIVES ON DRELY LANE? The crowd was immediately into the act. Mr. Muffin Man had us raise our right hands and promise not to sue him. He then read a quote, "He who lives by the Muffin, dies by the Muffin". I was intrigued. Mr. Muffin Man then began asking the crowd questions about medieval life. If you answered a question correctly, he threw a muffin at you. Not "threw", that would demean the velocity of this muffin. He HURLED a muffin at you. He clocked you in the head with said muffin if possible. The fellows around me kept getting questions correct and I kept ducking because DARN those muffins were moving fast! I was pretty clueless until the last set of questions:

"What was the symbol on Sir Kevin's Braves sheild?" (a chicken)
"What are the 3 things whose weight can be compared to a witch's?" (duck, wood, very small pebbles).
"What is your favorite color?" (blue!!!!!)

At which point he threw a handful of muffins at the crowd and closed his picnic basket.



I liked the Muffin Man. A lot.

The natural bridge cavern was my last stop and it was worth stopping for, but only as part of a general survey of the attractions in the area. I've heard the drive through zoo is something to see (the animals come up to your car) but I decided it was time to head home.

Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma Sally!

The matriarch of our family turned 90 this past week, and we threw a little shindig (40 or so people?). We catered it ourselves (at the last minute)- I think mom is masochistic for doing so, but I helped where I could! The party turned out great, and grandma was all smiles, so it was worth it.



The tiara and throne.... when Grandma was getting surgery on her broken arm (left arm in the picture) she announced that she would NOT be sitting in a wheelchair for her big event. She would be sitting in a throne, cause she's the QUEEN (there may have been narcotics involved in that declaration). So I bought her a tiara and some pink velvet and my talented God-daughter safety pinned the velvet in a drape-like fashion over the wheelchair. I crowned her on her entrance. Mom, I think, gave her a septer.



Finally thought of a gift. Day before the party I picked out and circulated a journal for everyone to write a message to her. Day after the party I put in some of the best pictures taken at the party. Gave it to mom for her to give to Grandma on her actual date of birth (4 days after the party). She loved it. Group effort necessary for this one- but it was blood sweat and tears to make sure everyone signed it-- my family is a bunch of procrastinators! "I want to sign it, but give me a bit to think about it!" 2 hours later, "I want to sign it, but give me a bit of time to think about it!". Towards the end of the night I was cracking the guilt whip at only one or two never-to-be mentioned family members. The footwork involved was my gift-- the journal was from everyone.