Went out to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End on Friday. alenxa wore her pirate costume again (previous versions at last year’s Pirates and, in a more appropriate setting, on the deck of the H.M.S. Surprise). We got to the Irvine Spectrum around 6:15, and ended up about 30 feet from the front of the line for the 8:30 showing. We had pizza from the food court, and later chocolate chip cookies from Donna B’s.
Since some moron genius decided to chop the courtyard in front of the movie theater in half and put in more shops (have they filled the shops in the last expansion, yet?), the theater has had to get a little creative in finding room for lines. Ours started between California Pizza Kitchen and P.F. Chang’s. Being off in the corner, we only got to see the pirates in our own line.
Anyway, the movie was a lot of fun. My main objection was that it got hard to keep track of all the double-, triple-, and quadruple-crosses. Despite what the reviewer for the L.A. Times thinks, it doesn’t require intimate knowledge of the previous films. All you have to know are who the major players are, and how they stand in relation to each other. You can do that by seeing the other films once while sober.
It let out around 11:30, and we went looking for a place that was still open to get something to drink. We stopped at Coffee Bean, where we discovered all the employees were dressed up as pirates. The guy at the counter was impressed with Katie’s costume, saying she was the first serious pirate they’d had all night (I guess they all stayed closer to the theater?) and gave us our drinks for free.
The rest of the weekend was mostly puttering around. We tried out a newish restaurant in the Marketplace called Taco Rosa, which was quite good. Caught the Veronica Mars finale, though we had to resort to iTunes again, because I evidently screwed up the VCR programming. I don’t know what it is about VM, but I’ve messed up recording it more times in the one year I’ve watched it live than any other show in the past decade. Watched some more BSG. Tried some pineapple wine (Maui Blanc, surprisingly good). Got about halfway through rereading Camber of Culdi out on the balcony. We really spend a lot less time out there than we should.
Dropped in at the Block to see what Heroes shirts they had at the Virgin Megastore, but the selection was pretty limited. Just one saying “Save the Cheerleader” on the front and “Save the World” on the back, and another saying “Are you on the list?” I looked at the new Dolores O’Riordan album—I was a Cranberries fan back in college—but after listening to some tracks I decided to pass it up.
Is it just me or is there no way in hell a software mogul like Jake Kane would be caught dead using encryption software that could be cracked in, say, a human lifetime by anything short of a quantum computer? 😛
There were enough things wrong with that episode (this season has been big on characters behaving more stupidly than normally portrayed for the sake of the plot) that I didn’t worry too much about the encryption.
On the bright side, they weren’t nearly as dumbed down as the characters in Alias in the last few seasons. And Alias had no excuse. It was quite popular and there would be no basis for the network to push anyone to reinvent the show to garner ratings. (Ok, technically J.J. Abrams had stopped paying attention entirely in order to create and run the first season of Lost.)
Anyway, could have been worse. 😉
Free coffee! Not bad. 😉
Nope! Hard to complain about that!
waterspout
Nice, I also saw it but on Thursday (and they said opening night is Friday pshaw ;p). I had no trouble following the crosses but the dots are another thing. Dots meaning, I had trouble with the spotty coverage/screentime of some characters.
Calypso learns who betrayed her and didn’t do a thing, not really choosing any side by the looks of it. (And she never appeared again after her transformation.)
Chow Yun Fat’s character got too little screentime and considering the actor’s background, you would think he may have some fighting prowess to show off.
Norrington just didn’t have one good scene. But he does exhibit what depression can do to a man and the regrets they engender.
Yes, all of this can be “explained” but it’s just not satisfying.
I did love the Jack Sparrow crew and jailmates. Those were good scenes and show Sparrow’s insanity at its most shipshape. ;p And the crabs… lol
The resolution of Will and Elizabeth was surprising, bittersweet, and romantic. And showed Jack not to be such a selfish bastard as he wants to think of himself. ;p
Barbossa’s little bit with Calypso was eye-opening in a way. Rush portrayed the thoughts of his own life and death in subtle but effective ways. The little pauses, the looks at and flexing of his hand, and his eventual camaraderie (however slight) with the rest of the crew. “Just kiss!”
One of my favorite lines… “How’s mum?” That actor’s guest spot’s significance didn’t hit me until later. By the code!