Disneyland in Fall, Part 2

Wow, back-to-back sequels. Click here for the original "Disneyland in Fall", posted two years ago in October of 2011.

This time we had updated shirts, or, I guess, "shirts", as we wore fancy baseball jerseys. This time it was my mom's birthday, and we surprised her at the park as the crowds began mustering.

And oh my...the crowds. It was a beautiful Saturday in October, and the people were out in force. It didn't help that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, one of the better rides at the park, was shuttered; that would have alleviated some of the crowding everywhere else.

If you follow the link above and read through, I'm pretty sure I mention that it was Gay Day at Disneyland on that specific day. This Saturday trip wasn't Gay Day, and this time around I got a sense of the real visceral difference: at least 30% of the human beings at Disneyland this time around were under eight years old.

Holy cow, the kids... And Norman was with us again, but now he was nearly 2 and a half, and running around and having some fun.

Here's a post-surprise shot, where you can see our matching jerseys (thanks a ton Auntie Peg!):

After walking down Main Street, where all the buildings are 3/4 scale, we went to my mom's favorite ride, the cheesy and fun Jungle Cruise. I hadn't been on it for years, and Corrie had never ridden it. It's about the adventure and the guide's delivery of the jokes that make it what it is. It can be fun or a disaster, but I have faith in Disneyland's management in placing the right individuals in the guide spot, and I bet it's a heavily sought after job for specific individuals.

From there we went to Pirates, then the Haunted Mansion, then the Train ride through time, basically a resting ride for the adults, and then we went across the old parking lot to California Adventure. It was getting late in the day and the lines were outrageous, but we were enjoying ourselves.

I'm mostly crunched fr time right now, so if you're looking for a post with nostalgia and feeling and personality, go ahead and click through the link above. That Disneyland post has more character than many of my other posts.

Here are the "Sisters" with their names on their jerseys as we went down Main Street:

Only 10:30, and the crowds were crushing...also, I liked how all the parents just posted up their strollers and left them parked like cars:

With the right perspective and timing, we're beginning to warm up to the idea of "going to Disneyland" as a regular activity, especially if we complicate our lives with offspring.

Good Old Fashioned Manual Labor, Part 2

Click here for Part 1, originally posted back in October of 2009.

That post was about helping out some loved ones, Corrie's cousin Joshua and his wife Elizabeth, with some home construction work, namely setting tile in their would-be laundry nook.

This post is similar in that it involves a laundry nook, only this time it was OURS! Hell yes, we finally became adults! Or at least it feels like it now. We bought brand new editions of a washer and a dryer.

We got the type you can stack if you so chose, and we did, so that's that. Shorter folks might need a ladder for the dials on the dryer.

Unlike October of 2009, though, I didn't need to set any tile. Rather, I needed to make a hole in the wall for the dryers exhaust. But we have no Sawzall...what are two resourceful college grads to do?

Use a drill two dozens times, of course. See me trying avoid the nasty particulate inhalants with the train robber mask.

Here's the finished and installed exhaust pipe:

Oh, yeah...we're legit!

Movie "Super": Who knew Rainn Wilson was a guy?

I guess if you're a fan of "The Office", then you're familiar with the character Dwight, who is played by someone named Rainn Wilson. When we looked at the Netflix listing for the movie Super, we saw it was about normal folks who donned costumes and fought crime, starred Ellen Page, Kevin Bacon, Andre Royo, and the person named Rainn Wilson.

I've seen the name before, but was mistakenly under the impression it was a young Hollywood starlet. Andre Royo I mention because his name appears in the opening musical number next to an animated rendition of himself, a spot in the story saved for significant bit stars. Andre Royo, for those who don't know, is Bubbles from The Wire.

There were a few things I wanted to mention about this movie. Maybe the first is to address one of the easy things to say about it in general, that it was perceived as a rip-off of Kick-Ass and Defendor (maybe Defendor came out afterwards...). Rainn Wilson is a line cook (a burger guy!) in a burger joint who has married the former junkie Liv Tyler, who shacks up with her former dealer, leaving the dopey fry-cook. Kevin Bacon plays the bad-guy drug dealer, Andre Royo plays the buddy and fellow cook, and Ellen Page plays a girl who works in a comic shop and who, eventually teams up with Wilson when he snaps and starts wearing a costume and "fighting crime".

Wilson's character has a "vision", where the hand of god comes down and touches his brain, and this leads into something else I wanted to say about this movie: it's a wildly pro-Christian production, and nowhere online does it say anything like that.

One of Rainn's inspirations for his costumed psychotic break is Nathan Filion (the Canuck actor from "Firefly") playing a Christian costumed superhero on some Christian channel who, along with god, visit Rainn during his vision. The vision is after a scene in which a sobbing Wilson begs god for a sign. Maybe that's "God", but at this point, who's counting?

So, Rainn Wilson dons a red jumpsuit, grabs a plumber's wrench, and spends evenings behind a dumpster waiting for action. That's pretty funny, really. How boring being a crime-fighting superhero could be. Eventually he finds some action, swoops into the scene calling himself the Crimson Bolt, and brains some folks with his wrench. This is quite funny, really, because the news treats it as we would today: "Crazed man in a costume has been beating folks with a wrench!"

Eventually Ellen Page figures it out and talks herself into the role of kid sidekick. Meanwhile Kevin Bacon has snatched up Liv Tyler and is using her as tester for the heroin he's buying. What a dastardly drug dealer! Pimps and folks who do what they can to keep customers or their "stable" strung-out are serious problems in these circumstances, but rarely does something this cartoony happen.

It felt like it was a plot point out of the brain of someone who knew nothing about junkies or The Game, but what can you do? It felt a little like finger wagging from a Christian school-marm, like the dealers exist just to tempt you, and you have no power over your needs for strong dope.

Another less vaguely Christian aspect is the movies feelings about marriage and sexuality. The cops are onto Wilson's character's real identity, so he's sleeping on the couch at his 22 year-old "kid sidekick's" place, the silly and sexual Ellen Page. She's playing the role as a mix of violent-exuberance and sexual needs, and at one point suggests that she and the Crimson Bolt make out. He responds, "I'm married, and that's a sacred bond. And you're my kid sidekick!"

I'm not saying isn't a sacred bond, but that may not be the way in which I express similar thoughts, and, in the movie, that isn't the first or the last time he says it. "Marriage is a sacred bond!" he's yelling all the time. So, how does sex work its way into this film?

If you said "rape", then you're right, but not as you may expect. The only sexual encounter is Ellen Page forcing herself onto a resistant Rain Wilson. He even throws her off after she climaxes and runs into the bathroom to barf.

If you're keeping score, the main character's wife is a former junkie mildly kidnapped by a dealer, and the only other woman in the movie rapes him.

Ellen Page, whatever your feelings on a young girl getting off riding an unwilling participant, is easily the best part of the movie, and, being a rapist by the movie's standards, gets what rapists in movies should get: (SPOILER ALERT) a bullet turns her skull into a canoe.

At least the Crimson Bolt mourns her.

I liked the cast, and the this movie had its moments, but I may be overly sensitive to overtly Christian storylines...sounds like my own problem. I'd recommend this movie to anyone who likes the "regular guy snaps and become a costumed superhero" sort of non-Batman realism. Also, if the thought of Ellen Page forcing herself on someone intrigues your sick mind, this may be worth your time.