Ireland or Bust!

Day One- Travel

I don't understand some peoples aversion to Delta. The two times I've bee forced to fly them, either due to price or mechanical problems with my original airline, I've found it to be a rather pleasant experience. Sure, they moved my sister and I apart on the longest leg of our journey, but they also moved us back together. [side note: sitting by the emergency exit is the only way to travel internationally. Screw paying hundreds more for business or 1st class. If you're lucky, it's a free upgrade. Gotta love the leg room.]

The stewards on our first flight were clearly loving life. The humor displayed was much how I imagine Southwest believes theirs to be- delicate and funny but un-obtrusive. I wish I was thinking more clearly and wrote some of it down.

The Atlanta airport is a nice one with lots of options for eating. Our Dublin bound flight went smoothly. In fact, we arrived early before the runway was even open! I really appreciate the care given to us with special diets, i.e. vegetarian, vegan, kosher, gluten-free. But, I have to wonder at the logic of it sometimes. There is no distinction between vegetarian and vegan when ordering; which results in extra meals being packed when what was being served would have sufficed. The cheese tortellini option would have satisfied us just as well and we would have gotten a chocolate blondie. This is not to say our steamed veggies, orzo, and curry (??) sauce wasn't good, just that we could have shared. Truth be told, they probably did us a favor. Perhaps they could tell I was about to eat my weight in cole slaw soon. More on that later.

We did make out like gang busters on our breakfast though. No condiment free egg sandwich for us! I'll take the toasted bagel with butter and jam, banana, OJ, and granola any day!

Next: Dublin

Dear America-

On Sunday, Dallas (my hometown) hosted the Super Bowl. What should have been a happy and joyous affair turned into something altogether ugly and greedy. Didn't our visitors see the Troy Aikman commercial urging us to be better hosts and respectful? Is anyone else disturbed we needed a commercial to tell us that?

The week leading up to the game was a doozy. Mother Nature (or Jerry Jones depending on what circle you run in) attacked Dallas with the full force of her wintry nature. Ice and snow covered the ground and the complaints started. I didn't realize that as hosts of the Super Bowl we were also in control of the weather. I assure you, if Jones had his way he would have taken on the almighty himself to get the streets to clear. What our neighbors to the North need to realize and understand is that we don't get that kind of weather. We haven't had that level of winter since 1997. We are a temperate climate with mild winters marred by a few days of ice and maybe snow a year. It gets cold here sure (we only have two temperatures- Hot as hell, and Cold as shit), so it's not that we're lazy or unprepared; it's that we rarely have to be. The number of snow plows and ice trucks currently in the DFW area are adequate for the weather we see normally. No city can prepare against every scenario, it's too expensive. Industrial salt/sand spreaders can cost upwards of 60K. How many should Texas own? Therefore, my dear Yankees, shut your gob and enjoy the snow. Trust me when I tell you we wish it weren't here either but c'est la vie!

Complaints were further issued when some fans found out they no longer had seats to the game. That is a bummer but is a lawsuit the answer? Yahoo Sports reported that a $5 million dollar lawsuit is being filed against the NFL, Dallas Cowboys, and Jerry Jones for misrepresentation, etc. I am sorry many fans lost seats. Over 2/3 of those in the temporary seating were moved to equal or better seats. The remaining 400 watched from a bar area, were given three times the cost of their ticket and a ticket to any future Super Bowl complete with air fare and hotel. Um... That sounds like great customer service to me and a good deal. It's a let down for sure but when does good sense equal into the equation? I understand that as Americans we are a "me, me" nation who believes that life is fair and we get whatever we want. Well, life isn't fair. I learned that before the age of 5, and as the Rolling Stones taught us "you can't always get what you want". Yes, Jones should never have over sold the venue and rushed the temporary seating. I'm sure the weather didn't help the fire marshal's inspection plans either. However, the NFL went above and beyond to correct this situation and make it up to the fans. I hope that in a months time they realize the money and gift of ANY future bowl is more than adequate compensation. Put your greed and anger away and stop listening to lawyers. If only this would go to trail, it would be one heck of a show.

In closing, the grass is always greener unless you visit Texas during a freak ice storm. Then, you probably should have stayed home.

Blog Swap 2010

It's time once again for 20sb annual blog swap. You can check out my post here and below is the post from our guest. Enjoy!

I'm Char. I'm 22, and I got married about a month and a half ago. I'm a huge music and horror movie fanatic. My blog started as a newlywed blog, but I revamped it and now it's just whatever pops into my head.
I finished Shutter Island earlier today. My mind has been blown. To me, it definitely lives up to the hype. On a side note, kudos to Leonardo DiCaprio. I'm not usually a big fan of his, but I was really impressed with his range in this movie. DiCaprio played a U.S. Marshall that gets sent to a mental institution to search for a missing patient. And then a whole bunch of creepy craziness ensues. Unfortunately, I can't really explain more without giving something away.


All I'll say is you think you know how it's going to end, but you'd be wrong. The only thing I didn't like was how long it was. There's a crap-ton of exposition, but it is needed to progressive the story. If you want yet another reason to watch it, (spoiler) there's a brief appearance from Jackie Earl Haley. I'm a HUGE fan of is, and I definitely had a nerdgasm when I realized it was him. But anyways, I highly recommend Shutter Island to anyone that wants to see a thriller that actually isn't cheesy.




And the next flick for me? Inception :)

Happy Birthday!

So my birthday is coming up and I've started celebrating early, as is my custom. We kicked off the week long celebration with a Dallas Star's hockey game. My friend got us amazing seats and we had a blast. It was also one of the best games I think I've ever seen. We started it off right, scoring twice in the 1st period, but then seemed to get a little lackadaisical in the 2nd. We came back to tie it 4-4 in the third and won in overtime! There were more fights in this game than any of the others I've been to combined. What could be better? Fighting and winning, it's what hockey's all about!

Friday, I took my same friends to the Yelp.com Secret Carnival. It was a lot of fun! Free food and drinks, lots of vendors and swag bags, and jugglers on stilts putting all kinds of things up their noses. Super fun! I can't wait for the next Elite event. You can follow my Yelp reviews here.

Tomorrow I'm having brunch with a bunch of friends, then dinner with my folks, followed by the big party blow out, and Thanksgiving. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Hope you have a happy holiday!!

It's Called Courtesy...

Even if you can't spell it, you should use it.

Last night I had the priviledge of being my friends +1 to the Dandy Warhols. It totally took me back to high school and they played mostly older stuff so we were stoked! I was bummed today though when I couldn't find their CDs and realized they must be in the missing CD case that was sucked into some sort of abyss or the back of my closet.

The problem is, we are getting older. I don't just mean me, I mean everyone, all of us. We are all getting older. With age comes the list of complaints we have, especially regarding other people behaviour. Things are too loud or too quiet. You have to stand too long or sit too long. Everything is annoying. Unfortunately, we are correct in all of these assumptions. Case in point:

At the show last night, we were surrounded by a group of very young twenty-somethings. The couple to our left was, we assume, on their first date. They could not stop talking to each other the whole night! At one point, the guy turned to the girl and asked if he looked fat in his jeans. Seriously!? Who goes to a concert and chit chats? Do that in the back people! (mark it!) They were disrupting to everyone around us (except their equally dumb witted friends). Grr!!

This lead me to think about the rules of conduct when out in public, say at a concert or movie. Courtesy is not a 4-letter word!

1. If you are not interested in what you are seeing, step away. If you don't like the band, go outside, move to the back of the auditorium. Get out of the way of those who do like the band. If you're at the movies, feel free to leave. If you cannot, then sit quietly and wait for the pain that is your life to end. DO NOT engage in loud or distracting conversation.

1b. At the movies, it is not appropriate to continually turn to your partner and ask "What's going on?" We also don't need your play by play of what action is happening on screen. We can see it too. Maybe, if you shut your mouth and watched the movie instead of talking to your buddy, you would know what was going on. Just a thought, try it.

2. If you are at the movies, leave your phone in your purse or pocket. I'm serious. You can text your buddy where to meet you after the movie. It takes all my strength not to grab your phone from you and throw it at the screen.

3. Dancing is fun and encouraged at concerts. You may notice a whole group towards the front of the stage bouncing up and down. Perhaps there is a circle pit forming and you want to run your little heart out while pounding into other music fans. Bravo! However, flailing your arms akimbo with no regard for those around you is not dancing, it's assault. This includes but is not limited to: feet, legs, arms, hands, and stinky dreadlocks. Please keep these inside the ride at all times.

4. A note to the exceedingly tall: Move it! Everyone likes to be up close and see the band, however you are blocking over a dozen eyes with your gangly form. Move to the side or the back and enjoy looking over all of our heads as we struggle to see around the person in front of us.

5. Be aware of your surroundings. This is a good one for general life use as well. I know you can see me. I've been standing behind you for over half an hour. Do you think I'm a spectre? Then why do you insist of walking right towards me like you plan to pass through my shoulder? There's a foot and a half gap on the other side of me. Head that way fool!

What else annoys the crap out of you when you're at a concert or the movies.

Trivia Results!

Here are the answers to my Halloween photo trivia:

1. Blade
2. Dead Snow (Dead Sno)
3. Nosferatu
4. Sleepy Hollow
5. The Frighteners
6. Tremors
7. Watchmen
8. Jurassic Park
9. The Happening
10. Silence of the Lambs
11. Return of the Living Dead
12. Grindhouse: Planet Terror

Thanks to everyone who sent me their guesses as well as those who came out to trivia! Don't forget to follow my new film and television blog at WWQTW?.

I'm moving, kinda

As you've probably noticed, this blog has gotten a bit entertainment heavy, which is a good thing, but not necessarily appropriate to this blog anymore. So, I've started a new blog which I will be updating more frequently. Based in part from my movie club, WWQTW?, it will be a place for all my movie, TV, DVD, etc., reviews and thoughts. I hope you will all follow me there!

I will continue to post here although it may be less frequently. I have to accept that what I'm passionate about is movies and that's what I like to talk about and debate. Trying to come up with things to talk about with regularity about my life (so boring) and the world around me (less boring but I think others do it better) is exhausting. However I cannot give up this site completely. There are still things I want to say. At the very least, I came up with this title and idea almost a decade ago (though it took me longer to put it into practice) so it's impossible to give up.

Please join me at WWQTW? I am in the process of transfering some of my favorite The Art of Throwing Stones posts at the moment and new content will be up today or tomorrow.

Thanks!

Graygrrrl