where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Sunday, December 15th, 2013
show: 5:50 p.m. 2-D
costs: $10.25 Ticket + $6.75 medium Popcorn w/ Butter + $0.00 medium 30.0 oz Powerade Mountain Berry Blast ( free on my Cinemark Moviegoer Weekly E-Mail Coupon ) + $1.50 0.9 oz Kernel Season's Nacho Cheddar Popcorn Seasoning = $18.50
auditorium: 8
seat: 5th row ( counting from the front ), 9th column ( counting from the left )
2nd time
where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Monday, December 16th, 2013
show: 7:00 p.m. 3-D
costs: $13.75 Ticket + $4.50 medium 30.0 oz Powerade Mountain Berry Blast = $18.25
auditorium: 1
seat: 4th row ( counting from the front ), 7th column ( counting from the left )
synopsis/overview: Bilbo Baggins ( Martin Freeman ), Gandalf ( Ian McKellen ), Thorin Oakenshield ( Richard Armitage ) and a brave band of Dwarves embark on a dangerous journey to reclaim Erebor from the fearsome dragon, Smaug, as the power of the evil darkness strengthens and threatens everyone.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) "Someone wants you dead"; 2.) "That is our host"; 3.) The Path; 4.) Spiders; 5.) "That is my wife; that is my wee lad"; 6.) "Why don't you search me? I could have anything down my trousers"; 7.) "I faced the Great Serpents of The North"; 8.) "Other lands are not my concern"; 9.) Rune Stone; 10.) Wine cellar; 11.) Elves versus Orcs; 12.) "This is not a nice place to meet"; 13.) "We stuck him with a mortal shot"; 14.) "She went into the forest"; 15.) Fish; 16.) "Our house is being watched"; 17.) Outhouse; 18.) "You look like you've seen a ghost"; 19.) Weapons; 20.) "But I am not on my own"; 21.) Tapestry; 22.) Armory; 23.) "I have the only right"; 24.) "He's very sick"; 25.) "The desolation of Smaug"; 26.) "He is lifting the spell"; 27.) Secret door; 28.) "What's that above it"; 29.) "Don't move"; 30.) "Don't waken it"; 31.) "There is no light, wizard, that can defeat darkness"; 32.) "That ... was a dragon"; 33.) The Black Arrow; 34.) "Bilbo, his name is Bilbo"; 35.) Caged; 36.) "So, it is true"; 37.) "I'm going to save him"; 38.) "You cannot be her"; 39.) "The last of our kin"; 40.) Furnaces; 41.) "Perhaps, it is time I pay them a visit"; 42.) Giant golden statue; 43.) "I will show you revenge"; and 44.) "I am Fire, I am Death."
favorite scenes: I liked the Fat Dwarf Outrunning Everyone Else scene.
And I liked the Wine Barrel Rolling Down The Hill scene.
audience reaction: Both audiences liked this movie--and the first group gave this movie a "Hands Clapper" ending. But both audiences were disappointed at this movie's abrupt ending.
recommendation: I liked it enough. Go see this if you're a Lord Of The Rings fan.
spoiler alert! I don't think that spiders, in general, do frontal attacks while on the ground ( read my fyi ). It should have taken more than two chops to fell that overhanging branch. Did Legolas ( Orlando Bloom ) really have to aim his arrow at Tauriel ( Evangeline Lilly )? Why could Smaug smell one little hobbit and pinpoint its general location but could not do the same with the collective smell ( i.e. body odor ) of nine dwarves? The length of the Black Arrow was the same as that of the average height of a man; therefore, its relative size ( and heft ) to Smaug, the Dragon, is like that of a sewing needle's size ( and heft ) to a man's size--hardly threatening at all! All of that commotion with the Orcs didn't awaken the people of Lake town. When Legolas was grabbed from behind by the Orc, either he should have been not held too closely or the Orc's semi-circular cross blades on its chest should have killed Legolas. Okay, this movie established the "fact" that Elves are taller than Dwarves; but, in the close-up shot of Kili's ( Aidan Turner ) hand and Tauriel's hand, you could see that Kili's hand was definitely bigger than Tauriel's hand ( yet another reason why Hollywood should have hired my services as Cine-Man, Technical Adviser )--I am all for sexual dimorphism but not in this particular case!!! Smaug should not have been covered completely in gold coins, especially since it was an air breather! The molten gold didn't produce any dross at all! When the wheelbarrow landed in the molten gold, the difference in temperature between the two should have produced an explosion! Riding in that wheelbarrow would have become quite uncomfortable really fast! The mold used to contain the giant golden statue should have been too hot to stand on!
fyi: Back in 1998, I witnessed a spider attack an ant. I was sitting in the toilet at my second sister's house here in Vallejo when I saw an ant crawling on the linoleum floor. Then, I saw a spider just slightly bigger than the ant go charging at the ant from the edge of the floor. But, instead of attacking the ant directly, it crawled around the ant in circles, repeatedly raising its abdomen then tapping its end on the floor as the spider did so. What it was actually doing was using its web to wrap the legs of the ant in place in order to immobilize the ant and render it helpless for the attack that was soon to follow. By which time, the ant was as good as dead!
I know about molten metal and dross: I used to work at a die-casting place where zinc, brass and aluminum were melted down to be cast into assorted items.
word of advice: Stand firm in your belief.
"There's gold in them thar mountains!"
tidbits: As I drove on Tuolumne Street on my way to work at 7:20 a.m. today, Sunday, December 15th, 2013, I couldn't help but notice something near the upper left corner of my blue 2001 Hyundai Accent's windshield: A sliver of bright light that tapered to a sharp edge at either end. If this object was stuck to my windshield, it would have measured about half-an-inch/1.27 cm in length. But this object was not stuck to my windshield; it was up in the clear distant sky. There were no clouds anywhere near it as it stayed seemingly suspended at a 5 to 10 degree angle from vertical. It was definitely not a contrail because it held its shape. Had I not already been running two minutes late for work, I would have pulled my car over to step out and take a picture of it with my 12 mp red Vista Quest Digital Camera.
When I merged with the I-80 traffic, I noticed that the bright object was still in the sky. But by then it was inching further south toward an Altostratus cloud formation. Soon, it was behind the cloud but still visible because of its inherent brightness. By the time that I was on 780 East, it had completely disappeared behind the Altostratus cloud.
All the while that I was driving, I was doing the fifth of my six morning mantras.
Before I could get on the Southampton Road Exit in Benicia, CA, at 7:28 a.m., it appeared once again in a clear part of the sky, larger and closer ( about 3/4 of an inch/1.9 cm, had it been a measurable object stuck to my windshield )! But its angle to perpendicular still stayed the same.
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| The object reappeared once again just beyond this bend, about 100 to 200 yards/metres from the Southampton Road exit. I found this picture on the Internet. |
It seemed to have noticed me and had come back to observe me. But this sentient "object" was manifest for only one second, never (?) again to be seen by me.
This is the third time that I saw an ominous object in the sky. By ominous, I mean that something bad happened nine days after each of the first two visions occurred. But I saw the first two at night; and both fell down from the sky and into the ocean. I mentioned these first two visions on my blogs on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 ( Oct. 21st, 2012 ), SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3-D ( Nov. 1st, 2012 ) and HEREAFTER ( Oct. 22nd, 2010 ).
But this third vision happened in the daytime--there is no precedent for this particular one. And it was of a pure, bright white light! If I am to venture a guess, something once again will happen in nine days' time, which would make it Christmas Eve. And it reappeared in the sky "closer" to where my car was at. So, if something is to happen around Christmas Eve this year, said event will be closer to my general vicinity. And I hope and pray that nothing bad will happen. ( But "God's Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven ..." )
I used my Samsung Galaxy Mega for the first time at the concessions counter in order to use my e-mail discount coupon. I kept it in my chest pocket and touched it occasionally so that it wouldn't power-off before I had the chance to show my e-mail discount coupon to the cashier; to a casual observer, it probably looked like I was tweaking my left nipple every now and then! Ha, ha, ha.
2nd tidbits: It was a cold night last night. I had trouble sleeping because it felt like the front of my body was soaked in ice-cold water. Of course, maybe it had to do with the fact that I don't turn-on the heater at my condo in the winter-time and I always keep my bedroom and living room windows slightly open. Ha, ha, ha. But, seriously though, last night was the first night in my life that I can remember when I was awakened three times in my sleep by the cold winter temperature. ( Maybe, it had something to do with the vision that I saw earlier in the day. )
Parked across the theatre's parking lot from my car was a golden or brown colored Toyota Avalon with a brindle ( w/ white underbelly ) colored pit-bull inside of it. And that dog was barking constantly because its owners left it behind while they went to see a movie. I guess the owners couldn't afford to have a proper car alarm installed in their car---Which reminds me of a joke that I read years ago when I was still living in the Philippines:
>>> One day, a man bought himself a brand-new car. He lived in a neighborhood where cars get stolen. He had the idea to keep his ferocious dog inside his new car to guard it from theft ( remember, this was years before car alarms were readily available ). The next day, he discovered that his car was gone. And there was a note left in his parking spot. The note read: "Thank you for the free meal." <<<
I wanted to see this in I-Max 3-D at the FAIRFIELD STADIUM 16 & I-MAX in Fairfield, CA. But I wouldn't have gotten my money's worth on it because I am presently making-do with a 10-year old spare pair of eyeglasses ( so my eyesight isn't as sharp right now ). My newer pair of eyeglasses, a Nike Flex-Frame broke in half at work, right on the bridge, last week! Gad, I hate flex-frames. This was the second flex-frame eyeglasses ( the very same model ) that I had which broke in half ( a complete waste of the 600--something bucks that I paid for it )! I'm going back to titanium frames when I get my eyes examined tomorrow ( my last eye exam was six years ago ).
attention! According to an article which I read on-line, December 18th, 2013, will be the last time that the Federal Reserve will print money. I assume that what is meant by it is that they will be discontinuing the "Greenbacks" dollar bills. Because the new $5.oo, $10.oo, $20.oo, $50.oo and $100.oo bills are not completely green on the reverse side anymore. We'll just have to wait and see what happens ....
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| The new blue $100.oo bill--'looks kinda like play money. Don't you think so? ( I found this on the Internet. ) |
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