Into the Wild

Once in a while, I come across a movie that haunts me. Not because the movie is scary (I avoid those anyhow) but because it is unexpected. It makes me think and reflect upon my own life. In the case of Into the Wild, it is about a person I never knew. He is not like me in any way. His story is both brave and tragic. Into the Wild is based on a true story, and I guess that is what got to me. This extraordinary and yet ordinary person is real.

Immediately after graduating from college in 1990, Christopher McCandless disappears and cuts all ties with his family. He donates his entire $24,000 savings to charity and later burns the only money he had left. He travels across the country on foot, dreaming of making it to Alaska and living off the land and away from civilization. He meets strangers on his journey and impacts their lives in big and small ways.

Major spoiler alert! (meaning don't read if you don't want to know the ending!)

When he reaches Alaska in April of 1992, his only provision is a bag of rice. He hunts for meat and scrounges for berries and plants. Sometimes, food is scarce, and he is starving for any kind of sustenance. After a few months in Alaska, he decides to leave but finds his only way out is blocked by a raging river that had melted in the Summer months. By this point, he has no food. He becomes thinner and weaker by the day. In desperation, he accidentally eats a poisonous plant. With no strength to escape, he finally dies from starvation. The wild he so fervently sought is what tragically kills him.

The real Christopher McCandless was 24 years old and weighed only 67 pounds when he died. His body was found a few weeks later in September 1992. It's so very sad. He could have had a great story to tell after his great adventure. But he died instead, and all alone. We will never know what motivated him to leave everything behind. This movie made me reflect upon my safe and quite life and find new bravery in facing my own wilderness. So in my own way, I will bravely go into the wild.

Dexter Season 1

Because my TV shows are on summer hiatus, I started watching a new show, Dexter. I just finished the first season. Laura bought it for me as a Christmas present, and I saved it for the summer. Dexter is a one-hour drama on Showtime in which Michael C. Hall plays a serial killer. That was all I knew about the show before I decided to watch it. Well that, and it is supposed to be really good. And it came through for me.

Dexter works for the police as a blood splatter expert. He analyzes blood splatter and recreates the crime. It goes hand in hand with his "hobby" as a serial killer. He kills only murderers who get away or will get away. Also, Dexter is more than just a serial killer. He has many levels that are slowly peeled away in each episode. He calls himself a monster and believes it is his nature to kill. He hates himself for it. You learn a lot about him and what made him what he is. The show is really gruesome too...you see a lot of blood, guts, dead people and body parts. Yuck. I lose my appetite when watching the show. However, that didn't stop me. I kept watching and just made sure not to snack at the same time.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen in IMAX

The other day my friends and I stupidly decided to watch Transformers 2 in IMAX without properly purchasing the tickets beforehand. Of course, we found out it was sold out. So we decided to watch it the next day and found out some IMAX theaters were sold out three days earlier! But we finally found a theater and watched it.

I'm a pretty big Transformers fan. I loved the first one, and it definitely doesn't hurt that Shia Labeouf is the star! You all should know about my obsession by now.

The movie was a little disappointing. It was 2 1/2 hours long! The plot dragged on, and the fighting scenes were hella long. (Admittedly, I was extremely tired and fell asleep for about 10 minutes during a fight scene.) The first Transformers film had a good balance of humor and action during the entire film; however this one was funny for the first hour maybe. Then it lost all humor and became pretty serious.

Megan Fox was a little annoying. Her character was pretty useless during the whole thing. Know what else! She's a huge ho bag in the film! Every motion she makes is like she's posing for PlayBoy! It's disgusting! Read this poster for God's sake! Yeah, it really does say "and much more Megan Fox!" and yes, there is a whole lot of her cleavage showing, and shyeah, her picture is a lot bigger than Shia's and the transformer's! All I have to say is, "Oi."

Visually, the transformers and special effects were better than ever! The attention to detail is really impressive. For example, when the tranformers transform you can see every little thing turn and click together. I really just wish I had a remote so I could slow it down and see it clearer. Imax was definitely worth the price.

I give it 3.6 stars!

Gladiator Shoes

From time to time, I become obsessed with shoes and must buy them. Recently, I realized that I am no longer satisfied with just wearing flip flips all summer. I've grown up (really!) and want something more sophisticated to wear. So I've been searching for my shoe style. When I was in Hawaii, I was staring at everyone's feet. Like I said, I was searching. I was a girl on a mission. And the shoes that caught my eye the most were gladiators shoes, especially in silver or gold. But I don't want the really really strappy ones. I believe less is always more. Also, even though I think silver and gold look great, I need to ease myself into it. I'll stick with black for now.

We went to the mall in Oahu, and I found this really cute pair at Macy's (similar to the one pictured). But I just wasn't sure about it. So I convinced myself out of buying them. I thought maybe it was too trendy and I won't wear it for very long. Then, I immediately regretted not buying it. I became obsessed. I tried two different Macy's, and they didn't have it. And I checked on macys.com and couldn't find it there. I don't know the brand or anything because I really was just going to forget about it. Then today, I checked dsw.com, and they have something exactly like it! Jackpot! So I ordered it. I hope it is as nice as I remembered. Hehe.

Hawaiian Shave Ice

I tried Hawaiian shave ice in Oahu, and it was spectacular. It looks a bit like a giant snow cone, but it is way better. As apparent in the name, fine shaved ice is used, not ground ice like in snow cones. And it is nothing like water ice either. Flavored syrup (usually three different flavors) are poured over the ice. There are a few variations, some include ice cream, azuki beans (sweet red beans), fruit, sweetened condensed milk or dried salted plum powder. I found one place that served it with shaved frozen milk for a more creamy shave ice. (I didn't try it though.)

Hawaiian shave ice was sold almost everywhere in Hawaii, but sadly I only got to eat it twice. It is one of my biggest regrets (plus not taking enough pictures while we were there). My friend took us to a place up North Shore called Matsumoto Shave Ice, which she claimed was the best. It took over 30 minutes to get there, and the line was long. But it was well worth it. My husband and I shared a large order with vanilla ice cream and azuki beans at the bottom and condensed milk poured on top. We, of course, got three flavors, coconut, lychee and honey dew. It was delicious. The flavors were really intense and don't taste artificial either. I couldn't wait to eat it and completely forgot to take a picture of it. Doh! My second turn at Hawaiian shave ice was not nearly as good. We went to a place in Waikiki Beach that served shave ice with fresh fruit. It was eh. I really want Matsumoto again. It was perfection.