You may have noticed that our poll is gone. That's because the concerts were on July 5th and it is now July 7th. Anyway, I'm sure the 14 of you who voted are curious to know which concert we saw. Here is how we decided:

Before the poll, we were already leaning toward the Fiona Apple show due to ticket prices. BUT, the Counting Crows show had a commanding 10-4 lead in the vote. We were totally comfortable ignoring 71.4% of our readers. Deep down, however, we knew we could ignore more. That, friends, is how we ended up going to neither concert and watching Curb Your Enthusiasm at home on DVD.


In other news, my parents came for a visit, driving from deep in the heart of Texas. We went to Colorado's biggest flea market, Rocky Mountain National Park, the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, and took in downtown Denver. For the 4th we saw the Colorado Rapids soccer game and firework extravaganza. The game was rain delayed because it was pouring rain for once. While waiting in traffic, we even saw lightning strike a streetlamp about 5 car lengths in front of us. The street lamp then came to life and began terrorizing the citizens of Denver. (That last sentence is a lie). The firework show was easily the best I've ever been to. My parents left on the 5th, but a good time was had by all.

While I was always an admirer of the deco stylings of the 1940s Fleischer Superman cartoons, I have never read a comic nor seen any of the Superman movies. That might just be why I liked this one more than a lot of the reviews I've been reading lately.

I liked how the movie flowed. I didn't need to see the movies before this one because they fill in the audience well by providing dialogue and flashbacks. I really enjoyed the beginning of the movie, where we watch Clark land at Mrs. Kent's home and remember what it was like to discover his powers.

As we ease into Metropolis, Jimmy Olsen was definitely a bright spot. It's Jeb from Detroit Rock City! I always wondered what happened to him. His was a fun performance. Slightly overdone, but I didn't care.

The plot points that bothered others didn't bother me. I just took it as it came and went along with all of it. Based on the plot the writers chose, Lois was pretty much being thrown around and didn't have a chance to show her own personality very much, but I just thought, hey, if Lois really were put in that situation, all she could do was be busy/motherly/scared (whichever each scene calls for). I didn't have a problem with her. I actually liked the dynamic of her having a fiance, too. How the husband and Superman deal with the situation is interesting. The kid wasn't annoying to me, and I like that he wasn't the main focus, but was an interesting twist to Lois & Clark's lives.

Spacey as Lex Luthor was fine. He could have been a bit more threatening, but I also liked the comedic touches he and his cronies had. The toothbrushing scene, as well as some of Parker Posey's lines, were the kind of light humor I find enjoyable in movies that are filled with action sequences.

The one thing that did bother me was Superman and Clark's hair. Seriously. I know the cartoon shows a more specific shape to Superman's hair, with the little curl in the front, but did it have to be so... gelled in the movie? I think a bit of waviness might have gotten the gist of things without being so painfully literal. I also thought it was weird that the curl would pop back into place even after superman would go into the water. Clark's moptop was distracting too.

The music was obviously recognizable, and I thought it did wonders for the movie. I really loved it. The art direction, as well, was beautiful in a lot of the scenes. There were a few odd camera angles (looking up at characters from under a glass desk for no particular reason), but overall I thought it was great eye-candy.

I don't have a lot I can contribute to the conversations people are already having about this movie, so I'll end here. But for a summer, comic, action movie filled with mostly "no-names" (or lesser-known names), I thought it had just enough of all of the good movie elements: fun, action, emotion, charm, music, and artsyness.

This one took me a couple of months because life just gets busier and busier. The Book-A-Minute review is pretty accurate. While it's good for character development and moving towards big action moments, it's basically filled with a lot of preparation, but no big action of its own. I still liked it. I won't even try to describe the plot because it won't make any sense unless you've read all of the other books.

This is number 10 in the Wheel of Time series, and I only have one more to go to be caught up.. that is, unless I want to read prequels and prophesies. I might.

Next up: Wuthering Heights (Bronte)
Still reading casually when I remember it's on my bedside table: Talk to the Hand (Truss)