Waste of a Long Weekend

Well, the Victoria Day weekend has come to a close.  As much as I enjoyed just sitting around my house, enjoying the silence, I figured I should try to get out and do something.  So, with the final day of the long weekend here, I jumped in my car (Ol' Bessie-Lou, I call her), and headed off into the city!

As I've blogged before, in order to assuage any guilt I feel about spending too much money, I always figure I should buy at least one thing I actually need.  Well, then, lucky for me, I'm in need of a new jacket.  I've had my old one for 12 years now, and I've worn holes in all the pockets.  I've grown quite tired of losing stuff into the lining.  That, and I've grown quite a bit in the past 12 years (i.e. put on weight), leaving my old one embarrassingly tight in some places.  So a new jacket was definitely in order.

First stop, then, one of the many reasonably priced department stores!  And, I found one quite quickly.  It fit, it was in a colour I liked, and there were no holes in the pockets.  I'm now ready for long walks in the rain! 

With the necessities acquired and my guilt subsided, it was now off to my beloved West Edmonton Mall.  Did some browsing at my usual haunts, and made a grand discovery.  Something has finally happened that I've been wondering about since that fateful day in the autumn of 2012. 

The Disney Store now stocks Star Wars stuff.  I didn't snatch up anything because I found it to be mostly ridiculously overpriced, however, don't be surprised if one of those exclusive talking Han Solo action figures eventually finds its way to my collection.

Then off to HMV to peruse the DVDs and Blu-Rays, because my collection isn't big enough.  I managed to finally find a copy of Father Goose, released to Blu-Ray around a year ago.  This is one of my mother's favourite movies, and I wound up watching it a few times when I was a kid.  Released in 1964, Father Goose stars bonafied Hollywood legend Cary Grant.  Grant plays Walter Eckland, a beach bum content to drift with the tides in the South Pacific.  However, it is during World War II, and one of his pals, an officer in the Australian Navy, shanghais him into becoming a spotter -- he hides out on a deserted island and reports any enemy planes that fly overhead.  Hilarity ensues when a sassy French schoolmistress and her seven students get stranded on Walter's island.  My 10-year old self enjoyed it well enough, so it'll be interesting to see if my grown-up self gets more of the jokes. 

And now, with summer blockbuster season upon us, I of course, had to go see the big movie of the weekend.

Ah, Godzilla.  16 years after the last time they tried to do an American remake, Toho granted the USA a do-over.  And may I say, this time out, they do Godzilla right.  This feels like a Godzilla movie.  The music, the acting, the pacing, the giant monster fights.  It's a Godzilla movie!

But, because it is a Godzilla movie, it suffers from the same problems inherent to the franchise.  That is, it's kind of weak when there's no giant monster fights.  But the actors do the best they can with what they're given.

And it's such a tease!  Lots of other reviews have pointed out the similarity to Jaws, and how they only tease Godzilla for most of the film, only bringing him in for the climax, and I tell ya, it gets incredibly frustrating.  But it works, as when he does appear, I had to literally bite my tongue from cheering. 

So, yeah.  It was pretty good, but dang it, I want more Godzilla in my Godzilla movies. 

I've got the complete review up at my website, for you to see.

And that was pretty much it.  Just an attempt to get out and about and enjoy some of my long weekend.