Winter Fun (aka Winter Want To Dos)

So Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are "officially" into the Winter/ Holiday season.

...When the hell did that happen?!

I am not ready for this yet! I still have shopping and crafting to do to get all the people on my gift list done. I still have stuff I want to do too! Between work (all those holiday shoppers *cringe*) and school taking up time until the week of the 17th, I want to find time to work in some fun and hopefully with my friends. So I, as usual, have compiled a list of fun things I'd like to do this winter. Not all of them have to or can be done before the holidays, but some of them I would like to do before then. So, in no particular order, I want to:


1. Bake cookies! And from scratch too! I don't do enough cooking and baking, but I always love it! Especially around the holidays there is a certain extra joy to it that I cannot place, but love the feel of. And now, since I noticed a kids picture book on the holiday display, I want to make holiday pirate cookies! Except I'm thinking of makin' 'em with sugar cookie dough instead of gingerbread dough.

2. See at least TWO more movies off my November and December (coming soon) lists. January and February too, but that's too far out to think and I hope by then I've seen two movies, sheesh!

3. Go see the Holidazzle Parade. I've lived in the Metro Area all my life and never gone down and stood on Nicollet Mall, freezing my tush off to watch a ton of pretty lights parade in front of me. I like pretty lights! And there are certainly enough nice joints along the mall to go to and enjoy a nice pre- or post-parade din.


4. I still want to try to make it to a Wild game! Even if they are not always the greatest, it's an awesome sport to watch and fun to support the home team.



5. Go to the St. Paul Winter Carnival. I have not gone to this since I was little, like Gimli would've dwarfed me little. The sculptures are always so cool, there's ice skating and all sorts of stuff I don't even know (there's not a calendar on the site yet).


6. Go ice skating. I'm not even sure if I remember how, but we should find out :)

7. I still want to go see the Titanic exhibit at the Science Museum.

8. Go for a walk in a state park or nature reserve or heck any nice park. Snow and ice covering everything with the sun shining down on it is so pretty and can make viewing wildlife a bit easier without so much foliage. Maybe even hit a park that rents snowshoes! This one is, of course, completely dependent on the weather.



This is all I can think of right now, but something else will probably pop into my head later on, that's just how my brain works :)

Movies (the November edition)!

OK so October was a bust. I did not see one movie last month. :( Between work, school, and lack of money I just was not able to get to one. Looking at my ticket stubs, the last one I saw was on September 9, so a week from tomorrow, I will have gone two months without seeing movie in theaters. Suck. Especially when you consider that Where The Wild Things Are is out AND at the IMAX no less? I'm also disappointed that The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is only in limited release right now, and apparently the Twin Cities is not on that list. Double suck.

But enough of that feeling sorry bull, it's a new month! Halloween rocked and now we've not only got new movies to look forward to, but also Thanksgiving (nom nom nom)! :D

11/6

A Christmas Carol
Robert Zemeckis brings his directing eye and his passion for life-like CG animation to another holiday classic (see 2004's Polar Express). We all know this beloved story, so let's move to the talent and - what I think will be interesting - the multiple roles they will portray. Jim Carrey will be the incorrigible and miserly Mr. Scrooge including all his younger incarnations as well as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come respectively. Gary Oldman will be the ever kind Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and Marley. Colin Firth will be Scrooge's nephew Fred. Other voice talent include Cary Elwes, Robin Wright Penn, and Bob Hoskins (as Mr. Fezziwig!) While Zemeckis's version of Beowulf had me laughing in the theater for some bits (anybody up for a game of hide-the-wang?) the animation was still pretty tight, and I really enjoyed Polar Express - although it was made even better by the fact that my friends and I decided to go in our pajamas for the viewing :) Also, this one's going to be out in 3D and in IMAX 3D! I'm looking forward to this being a good one.


Men Who Stare At Goats
Here's the synopsis IMDB gives, "In Iraq, reporter Bob Wilton (McGregor) meets Lyn Cassady (Clooney), whose seemingly wild claim - that he's a member of the U.S. Army's First Earth Battalion, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions - causes Wilton to join Cassady's hunt for the battalion's founder, whose gone missing." Here's my synopsis; crazy sounding plot that is based on a true story, starring Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, George Clooney and Jeff Bridges (looking kinda similar to the Dude) and there's goats! I'm totally in.

11/13

2012
John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, Serenity, Love Actually) star in this movie about the apocalyptic events that start to transpire in accordance with a prediction made by the ancient Mayan. Directed by Roland Emmerich, the director behind The Patriot, Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. The guy likes to destroy stuff, so if anything the effects should be awesome.

Pirate Radio
A comedy about an illegal radio station run by a band of rogue DJs on a ship in the middle of the Britain's North Sea during the 1960s. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Jack Davenport and Kenneth Branagh. This movie just looks super fun.


11/20

The Blind Side
Based on Michael Lewis's book, this film depicts the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youth from a broken home who is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do, conservative family who help him fulfill the potential they see in him. At the same time, Michael's presence in the Touhys' lives leads to some insightful discoveries of their own. Starring Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, Kathy Bates and Tim McGraw. I have wanted to see this since I first saw the trailer. I don't even LIKE football that much, I just think this looks like a great, feel good movie. Also I love Sandra Bullock and think this could be a good one from her.

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Based on the children's book by Roald Dahl, this is the story of angry farmers trying to rid themselves of the sly fox that's been staking their chickens. Done in claymation that's reminiscent of all those 1960s holiday shows but obviously finer tuned, I'm diggin' the style. This could be just your average cutesy family film, but something tells me it's not quite going to be so and that something is that Wes Anderson is directing. Yep, the writer and director of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is doing a "kids" movie. Featuring the voice talents of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon, Willem Defoe, as well as Anderson regulars Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson and even Anderson himself.


Planet 51
CG animated film about Astronaut Charles "Chuck" Baker goes on a routine mission to explore Planet 51...and unexpectedly finds aliens! Now he must befriend a young resident of the planet in order to evade capture and get back to Earth. Featuring the voices of Dwayne Johnson, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, John Cleese, and Sean William Scott. It could be cute and funny or it could suck. I think what I like is that it seems to introduce the concept of testing our perceptions of other cultures to kids.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Now before you rail on me, because I know you're thinking, "Kris, WTF?!", hear me out. I saw Twilight out of morbid curiosity and it was so horrible that it was hilarious. I do not intend to go anywhere NEAR the opening date and preferably during the week so it is as cheap as possible. I'm going to drink either before hand if not sneak something in with me and I'm going to laugh out loud and annoy all of the teeny-bopper fans drooling over the sparkly vampire. Even watching the trailer I start to giggle.

11/25

Ninja Assassin
The title pretty much says it all. Directed by James McTeigue (the genius eye behind V for Vendetta) and featuring Naomie Harris who played the totally bad ass "Selena" in 28 Days Later. Check out the trailer. I think this one will be a wicked movie!

The Road
FUCKING FINALLY! I've been waiting for this movie for over a friggin YEAR! They keep pushing around the date. Viggo Mortenson is simply 'the Father" in this film based on Cormac McCarthy's book about a father and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) traveling through the harsh wilds of a post-apocalyptic landscape in search of civilization.

So there you have 'em. If you think I forgot something, by all means please share. And, as always, the dates are based on those listed on IMDB.com.