1/20/08

Ahhh.... the LONG weekend! :D

What better way to start it out than with a movie-night. A movie night that turned into a 1 AM adventure drive through Central Jersey.

I think it's funny how everytime I go out, something... unexpected happens. Last night, I'm driving home, and I KNOW Rich is gonna call me to go out. Sure enough, as I'm driving home, Lupe Fiasco's "Superstar" starts playin on my phone, right on schedule.

We end up heading to Burtucci's...delicious. I had a glass of wine.

We head over to the movies to see, oh yes, CLOVERFIELD, opening night.... and opening night for a hyped movie, at the AMC in Cherry Hill... oh you know you're in for a fun night.

First showing we wanted to do was sold out, so we bought our tickets for the next show an hour later. Had some time to kill, so we head across the highway to the mall. Note to all you locals. When they begin to close the shops, don't figure on getting to your car easily if you park near the JCPenny. Take a West Side Exit, no matter where it is. We howerver went out an EAST entrance, and couldn't get back in when we realized in order to get to the car on the other side of the JC Penny, we'd either have to circumvent the entire 1 million square feet of mall to get our car, OR... hop a fence. I was wearing my good shoes for some reason, my good jeans I didn't wanna rip, so I ran down the block to the end of the fence, and back around. Rich hopped the fence. Yes, I apparently was a wuss. But I was not gonna be arrested last night for looking suspicious...or odd in my good clothes and a cozy scarf...

As I'm making my way back to Rich, I find he's on the phone with a friend who apparently has some paperwork he needs for his NJ for Obama meeting tomorrow, he asks me if I can come along with him after the movie. I said fine I guess... then I learn it's in Princeton, 45 minutes north of us. Now, at the beginning of the evening, I was planning on just dinner and a movie. I had a long-ass week, I was tired and wanted to sleep... I expressed my discontent, but eventually caved for the sake of helping him find the damn place.

We head to the movies, and made our way through the teenage sea of emos, freestylers, and teenyboppers into the theater... which was filled, except for the first three rows. Eventually we agreed that seeing 2 hours of shaky camera and jumpy horror was not going to be pleasant at a screen towering 30 feet above us... We exchanged for the next showing and waited in the line for an hour. [there being a reason for everything, had we stayed, I would not have run into my awesome friend, who was back from school in Seattle and gave us her number, she was seeing '27 Dresses']

The movie was... good. I mean it wasn't great, but it certainly held my attention. I felt like 'Aliens' meets '28 Days Later' meets 'Blair Witch Project' meets (say it with me) GODZILLA. BUT the effects were all but priceless. Like I am ACHING to buy this thing on DVD, and would buy it on High Def to get the full real-time feel for the camera work... on a considerably smaller screen. I will say, it almost hurt to watch the technique for so long. I found myself looking off-screen at the heads in front of me just so I wouldn't get queasy. But the creature was fantastic. Yes, the American explosion-loving sci-fi buff in me got all giddy after we left, there was no need for sleep after that. Ultimately, because of the technique they used, I presumed the very act of rotoscoping each shot to match the movement of the camera as perfectly as it looked must have been more fun than actually watching the movie. It was so LONG, yet I actually left wanting MORE. At least more of the cool stuff. More creature shots, more explanation. Hopefully I'll get my wish with a barrage books I can salivate over at B&N :D defining the creature, pics, drawings, making-of's, possibilities of sequels...perhaps shot with a steady-cam this time...? :), etc.

After we left, we began the hunt for this guy's house. It was 12:30 am, and we decided it was best to not call, as he was probably asleep. It was freezing. Somehow, we found ourselves in a section of Princeton I'd never seen before... a dark place with no street-lamps, dark foreboding houses, no fences, tall skinny trees, and only the glow of Princeton on the clouds above to offer any detail of the landscape. I lost my sense of direction immediately. It wasn't a neighborhood. It was a forest with off-shoot driveways. We eventually found the mailbox, the number worn and eroded, drove up, grabbed the stuff, and high-tailed it out of there before any worrisome rich fools had time to alert the night-watchman after staring at our slow car eyeing each house. So, it was a fun little adventure. After getting home and waking my parents, I slipped out of my coat and cozy scarf and into the best night's sleep of the week.