Review: Avatar

This is for my sister who said that all she hears about is how great the special effects are and nothing about the story.  Warning: there are a few minor spoilers, but you've probably already figured some of them out before you see the movie.

The planet of Pandora is a tree-huggers wet dream.  All life on the planet is connected together in some way and maintains balance with each other.  But an evil Earth corporation wants a mineral that is located under a large settlement and is willing to terrorize and even kill the natives to get them to move.  The catalyst is a young Marine who is willing to take his dead brother's place with the scientists who are studying the natives.  His use of his brother's avatar gives him a chance to walk again, so he's more than willing to take it - and the offer of the opportunity to have his spinal injury repaired in exchange for information about the natives weaknesses.  As one reviewer put it, Avatar is Ferngully done well (which is good because Ferngully couldn't have been done any worse).

What James Cameron has crafted is a massively large stick that he uses to beats you about the head with.  While it may be an amazing and breathtaking movie, it's still a freaking heavy stick.

But I'm willing to forgive Cameron trying to beat me with the obvious stick because he made a movie that was worth the beating. For all the eco-drama, comparisons of the natives of Pandora to the natives of many earth cultures, and the Marines in the movie to Blackwater (who is now trying to rebrand themselves as Xe Services), Avatar works because much of this has happened over an over again in our own history and we know that it still continues to happen.  Familiarity is comforting, even if it's morally abhorrent (wasn't that one of the reasons District 9 was such a hit?).

So while there's nothing new, the story is decent.  But you can't talk about Avatar without mentioning the special effects because they ARE the reason that this average story makes such a great movie.  

Or maybe Sigourney Weaver had something to do with it. She makes everything better.

Fortunus is back with the Stars!

Found out today that they were sending Maxime Fortunus back down to the Stars.  While I hope that he eventually makes it to an NHL team, I'm glad to see him with us again.

Link to the story

Hockey: Texas Stars vs Syracuse Crunch 12/29/09

We played the Syracuse Crunch last Tuesday and thanks to a screw-up by the ticket office, Snarkyboy and Doce ended up with tickets up against the glass.  Because the wives wanted a shot at the good seats, we each got to spend a period sitting with a hubby with our noses on the glass and cheerleaders at our backs.  I got some really great shots there too. 

There are no photos from the first period because the guy we had to chase out of our seats moved in front of us and wouldn't remove his hat.  The second period was my turn up front and the first thing I saw was Holden's holey pants. 

Actually, I saw quite a bit of Holden's pants, so you get to as well. 

While I wasn't enamored with his pants, I did see enough of him that I'll keep an ear out for him the the future. 

I wasn't able to get any shots of the goals, but I did get a good before and after shot of Texas's second goal.

Right before the goal:

 

And right after:

There was also a fight:

 Lots of chasing after the puck:

 

  

  

 
 

There were a lot of flying pucks Tuesday.  In fact one made it over the glass, the net, and bounced off the back wall and into the crowd. 

The rest of the photos of the game are rather silly.

The Stars gave horsie rides:

 

And this is what your expression looks like right before you hit the glass.

  

The final score:

The next time we meet Syracuse will be an away game, so I won't get to see if Holden has replaced his pants yet.

Butternut Squash Dilema

We're starting one of our New Year's Resolutions for 2010 early.  It's one of the same ones we do every year and fail miserably, so we're doing it a little differently this time.  We're trying to lose weight and eat healthier, but this time we're going to concentrate on eating more vegetables, smaller amounts, and NOT worry about cutting all fat or flavor out (you know, the non-American diet). Right now I'm working on a weekly menu to keep me organized and help schedule the use of all the fresh veggies so they don't just sit and rot like they usually do.  After a $150 trip to the grocery store (for just the two of us), I came home with fresh ingredients and high hopes for this "diet".

I wanted to use the butternut squash tonight with the Christmas leftovers Mom packed for us, but while trying to find a good recipe, I've run into a small problem that I really didn't expect to have--there are too many recipes out that sound wonderful and I only have one squash.

Don't believe me? Here are several I found on Allrecipes.com:

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Pizzas with Rosemary

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter (didn't Alton Brown do this one?)

I've decided to go with a roasted vegetable recipe that uses the squash because I also have all the other veggies AND it will leave me with enough leftover squash to make the pizza recipe later this week. 

Some of my instructors from culinary school would be disappointed if they knew that I had forgotten that they had taught me that good food should also be good for you - but it's never too late to slap yourself and start over. 

Update: If you try the roasted vegetable recipe, make sure you cut the Yukon (or whatever other white potato you use) smaller than the others.  They will take longer to cook.  Other than that - it was pretty awesome.