Fireworks

Don't you just love fireworks? I never grow tired of them. Staring up at the sky in awe, saying "Woooooooowww" every two seconds makes me feel like a little kid again. This picture was taken last night, just outside our office. I think they may have been for GMA-7's Christmas party.

Happy Feet

I didn't like Happy Feet. :( I am so disappointed. It's not that I walked into the theater with really high expecatations... All I wanted was to be entertained and touched in the same way I usually am by animated features. The previews were pretty funny and the cast was impressive, so I figured it'd be a great way to unwind after a stressful day. I even gave up Grey's Anatomy to see it!

The first ten minutes were fun enough. My girlfriends and I were squealing over how adorable the baby penguins were. They also did a good job of establishing the challenges that lay ahead of its flawed hero, Mumble. For some stupid reason, throughout the movie I thought he was voiced by Orlando Bloom. It was Frodo, dummy, not Legolas. Also, I found it funny that Hugh Jackman, delectably testosterone-y hunk of a man that he is, played such an incredibly spineless wimp. But I digress. Anyway the set-up was pretty good, but that's about it.

I was surprisingly restless throughout most of the movie. It seemed to go on forever and I couldn't wait for it to finish. Walking out of the theater, I mumbled (pun intended) to myself that I should've seen Borat or Casino Royale instead. When I got home, I told my mom not to bother seeing Happy Feet, as the My Way preview she loved watching was already the funniest part of the movie anyway. It turns out one of her friends had actually fallen asleep watching it.

One of my brothers didn't like it either. Like me, he found it dragging, saying the narrative was severely flawed. I'm still trying to understand where the film, IMHO, failed those of us who felt that it was a waste of our time. Happy Feet had all the elements of a feel-good animated film -- a sympathetic young hero on a quest to find his place in the world and save it in the process, a spunky love interest (named Gloria! Yey!), hilarious sidekicks, a loving family, and infuriating bad guys. Combine all these with an incredible ensemble cast led by Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, and Nicole Kidman, fun musical numbers, and fantastic animation... you'd think there's no way the much-anticipated flick could disappoint.

But it did. My own theory is that they tried to do too many things. Or if it did try to accomplish one thing -- that is, have Mumble save his colony through tapdancing -- there were too many distractions along the way. For me, the long and short of it is, Happy Feet should've been shorter, not longer. Haha. I am definitely never going to watch this again.

On a positive note, I now know more about penguins and leopard seals than I would have, had I not seen the movie. It isn't useful information but it's always nice to enrich ourselves with new knowledge.

Just around the corner

Christmas is.
:)