camping! also, pirates

[jazzfish]

Camping was pretty awesome. Lots of holly trees, and thus holly leaves, everywhere (owch), lots of toads everywhere (on the hike on Satyrday I think we were seeing another one every ten minutes or so). 20-30 non-itchy mosquito bites, two mosquito bites that itch every time I bump them, and one tick. Also two second-degree burns (both small and basically healed now): one from eating a marshmallow directly off of a metal marshmallow toasting fork (after which I switched to using sticks, the way God intended), one from attempting to pick up a pot by its handle. The backpacking stove worked wonderfully, as did the monkeybread made in the small bakepacker oven. We had a campfire and s'mores. (Note to self: bring chairs next time.) The weather was a bit on the warm side. I feel like it's not really camping if I can't see my breath in the mornings. The hike was a pretty easy seven miles through pine forest (bleh) and hardwood; took us a little over four hours. Verdict: definitely doing that again. Possibly with more cool people; possibly actually backpacking and not just car-camping. We shall see.

Pirates was alright. Elizabeth and Will's relationship continues to aggravate me. Points for the flying zombie monkey, Chow Yun-Fat, Captain Teague, the opening fight sequence, the fight in the whirlpool, and Geoffrey Rush. Minus points for turning Tia Dalma into a Plot Device and for being insufficiently actiony between the two big fights. I don't think it really needed to be three hours long. Oh, and the rock crabs were awesome.

willshetterly has been posting things that make me think lately, but I've not had time to go into them. Maybe tonight.

Ice cream and movie tomorrow night.

Comments

[plumbob78.livejournal.com]

Eeeee! I'm currently agonizing over whether or not I can actually do this movie. I need to be up at 5:40, and that movie's gonna let out at nearly a quarter-til-one. Where's the Ben & jerry's in relation to the AFI, in case I decide to be stupid?

[jazzfish]

*blink* Having actually /looked/ at the time, I don't think I can handle 3.5 hours of samurai and then driving home and /then/ getting up to go to work. So, um. Not so much with the movie. uilos and I will still be at the Ben & Jerry's, though. Which is across the street from the Borders and the non-AFI-Silver movie theatre.

[jonny-law.livejournal.com]

What plumbob-78pants said. I doubt I'll have to show up at 7:30 again on Thursday, but 206 minutes starting at 9:20 is ridiculous, and isn't even listed on the SEVEN SAMURAI entry. You have my e-mail, if that seems reasonable.

[jazzfish]

HOLY JEEBUS WOW. I mean, um. I thought I'd read the time as 90ish minutes. I must have been looking at the time for Seventh Seal instead. Yeah. I'm thinking I'll probably end up having to give the movie a pass. I'm still up for ice cream, but for various reasons will still be doing so in Silver Spring.

[jonny-law.livejournal.com]

Ice cream at 8:30 I can do, although it will probably mean driving a circuitous route by going back home first. That's fitting since this place lacks freeways that take you direct from one place to another, relying instead mainly on the Beltway.

[jonny-law.livejournal.com]

Just to check, you're talking about the Ben and Jerry's at 903 Ellsworth Dr, Silver Spring, MD?

[jazzfish]

That's the one. There are a couple of free parking garages right around there.

Speaking of home, where are you looking at apartments?

[heptadecagram.livejournal.com]

Anyone who sees any Pirate movie past the first really needs to read this extended essay (http://shadowcaptain.livejournal.com/487295.html) by shadowcaptain, who runs in approximately the same circles I do, just four hours later, so I never see him.

[idoru.livejournal.com]

Is there a valid reason E. wouldn't be able to visit the Flying Dutchman? Comment w/ reply on a random post of mine, or email [username at lj will forward] if you care about avoiding spoileriness for your journal readers.

SPOILERY!

[heptadecagram.livejournal.com]

The following paragraph is white-on-white text.

What I find utterly freakin' bizarre is that, according to scriptwriters, Will is no longer cursed, because Elizabeth stayed faithful. If you saw the Easter Egg at the end, there's a green flash before the Dutchman appears. And the green flash is a sign that "a soul has returned to Earth", in this case, Will's. There was a scene in the movie that explained further that she needed to be faithful to him in order to bring him back, but it was deleted. Wikipedia's entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Turner) talks about it.

Re: SPOILERY!

[idoru.livejournal.com]

Likewise, whiteness.

Methinks they should have left that bit of explanation IN THE MOVIE, then. I waited around for the easter egg, but assumed that the curse was a CONTINUAL "10 years at sea, 1 day ashore" deal -- ie, for every 10 years at sea ferrying dead bodies, you get 1 day ashore, which is an intensely shitty deal, and who would ever agree to it, Davy Jones. After all, the Dutchman needs a captain, and people don't just cease dying at sea after 10 years. Also the Wiki entry says 'excahnge' at least twice.

I also assumed that the flash of light with Will's return was merely due to the fact that the Dutchman sails waters not necessarily chartable by human souls, thus if he's visiting Elizabeth, he has to technically 'return to earth'[plus the green flash sunset is a cool effect].

So all of their zombie-like moaning about thedutchmanmusthaveacaaaaptain comes to nothing if the captain's woman is faithful? How is this not an important plot point for the Caribbean's favorite couple? DISNEY. WTF. As if another 7 minutes would REALLY have killed you.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

Hell, I can't figure out why she didn't climb on the Dutchman, commit suicide so that she counts as a death at sea, and then get herself claimed by the crew.