Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Always On, Slightly Off

The Independent Film Channel (IFC) mantra is cool. That's it. Just wanted to share that. Other things worth sharing are below. Well, I'll let you be the judge of that.

Courtesy of Zimbio
(Read on to see why the Kings
wanted to pose for Side of Honeydew.)
While watching IFC, I spotted that the movie Apocolypto would be airing soon. Hadn't seen it. Hit record. We watched it on and off over the next few days, flipping back and forth between it and a streaming Gone With the Wind (1939!). Those evenings, we were held by the action of the Mayans, and remembrance of how miserable Scarlet et al's lives really were. The movies were very different in their suspense (ah suspense; can I get an amen?). But both packed a survival punch. Whether racing through the forest Dangerous Game style, or getting the preggers Miss Melanie to safety. The subtitles and old-ness disappeared. (Well, a movie intermission was weird. And Mel was always in the back of my mind.) But watch both if you haven't already. And if you like Apocolypto, you'll love the book Rescue of Broken Arrow. Well, I did in 5th grade, and the flick reminded me of it.

A visit to the Gulf Breeze Zoo here in Florida also made for some good movie-making. Come on, give a watch or two - you have to admit those goats are adorable. Sadly, we emptied our sizable cup of animal jelly beans while walking the paths of this surprisingly large and interesting zoo for being set on a small strip of land extending into the Gulf of Mexico.







There were peacocks roaming around - about which the hus called out, "Um, these guys are out" - a seriously roaring lion, a tiger that really wanted to be a house cat (rolling around all kitty style), tiny monkeys with even tinier, almost indiscernible baby monkeys on their backs, crazy-eyed ostriches, the biggest, bumpiest turtle I've ever seen, a huge alligator (finally, yay, but doesn't count, 'cause it wasn't in the wild, boo), an enormous gorilla park, which was really quite beautiful and Jurassic-Park-like (we mainly saw regular looking monkeys but did get a 20-second glimpse of a flippin' miniature King Kong strolling through his lush, very green, moat-surrounded kingdom, touting his silvery butt before disappearing into the mist - ha!), and camels - which were the absolute best part. Because this ginormous animal from Bethlehem just came right over to Cary and finished off his feed cup. Tip: Go see them first. Start toward the right! The right!

Okay, one more animal movie. Or two. Dolphins!!! You have to be careful though - because did you know dolphins kill more humans than sharks? Just kidding. (Shout-out to Cody) FYI, Shark Week is this week.





(And some playful, only slightly boring zoo bear cubs are at www.youtube.com/alylawson.)

Courtesy of Good Lawd!
If home movies aren't your thing, maybe you need some solid television to sate your entertainment appetite. Right now, I'm promoting Showtime's United States of Tara. A) It was created and is sometimes written by Diablo Cody, who I have to restrain myself from being sickeningly jealous of for winning an Oscar for writing Juno and being young, successful, and having a kick-ass name. B) Toni Collette usually rocks in acting. C) It rocks - all the personalities (Buck and Gimme especially), the kids (Marsh and Kate), the sister Charmaine, her funny, rolly polly guy and baby daughter Wheels, and of course the super cute and wonderful husband and super perfect script.

But between Tara, the recent Ironman competition, the one-legged wrestler who took the national championship this year (we salute you, Anthony Robles), and our sad but brave loss to underdog? Japan in the U.S. women's World Cup, I need to dry my eyes. So, I snagged tickets to a Kings of Leon concert. It was everything I hoped it would be, pot smell and all.

The hus does his first helo flight tomorrow, so wish him luck on his hovering. It will be bigger than this. But maybe not bigger than this toad. Unfortunately, hopping down the road, he was slightly off.

2 comments:

thebluemuse, phd said...

Many things: 1. I want to watch Gone with the Wind now, thanks. 2. Those goats ARE cute. 3. Love your graphic header thingy! 4. You mentioned Shark Week. This is a plug for Bear Week, aka the funniest thing I've read in some time: http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6576889/10-reasons-why-bear-week-would-be-better-than-shark-week

Aly Lawson said...

Yay, enjoy Gone with the Wind! And lemme know whatcha think if ya think of it.

So glad you think the goats are cuties, too. And the header is courtesy of my graphics/coding wiz brother-in-law. He'll love the kudos. =)

I'm officially a Bear Week supporter now. Seriously.

OXO