Month: July 2006

Superman Returns

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We’re going to see Superman Returns in a few minutes. It better be worth the two and a half hours of my time, that’s all I have to say. You who have already seen it and gave it positive reviews on your blogs, you better not be duping me!

Update: Wow, I’m surprised to see your comments about the length of the film because I didn’t find it too long at all. In fact, it was between Pirates of the Caribbean or Superman Returns and I picked Superman simply because I fairly sure I wouldn’t enjoy Pirates (even though I did like the first one) but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Superman that much either. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Brandon Routh took on the role, particularly his portrayal of Clark Kent. His mannerisms were spot on. I was prepared to hate him simply for not being Christopher Reeve but I got into the story and didn’t find it boring at all. I also enjoyed Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor and Parker Posey as Kitty.

Oh well, to each their own. :)

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Was it just me, or did you know from the get-go as soon as seeing Lois Lane’s son that he was Superman’s son? I’m really looking forward to where they take that storyline in future films.

Festival of food

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We contemplated going to the Balloon Festival today like we did last year, but neither of us felt like getting up at the butt-crack of dawn. Besides, it looked to be the same exact balloons as last year and the sky was hazier. So maybe that will be an every few years type of outing.

We ended up at the mall earlier so I could look for some socks. I also got a pair of purple jogging pants and a cute purse.

Later in the day we decided to check out the Taste of Lombard which we’ve never been to before. Other than not finding close parking, we really liked it. The park they use for the festival grounds is huge so everything is spread out really nice. In addition to a ton of food, they have lots of tents to escape the brutal sun, carnival rides and games, live entertainment, and bingo.

The first thing we did was eat. I got a yummy steak taco and Joe got a beer brat. We sat down and listened to the band onstage for awhile before we walked over to the bingo tent. We didn’t win anything, but it was still fun. I always love bingo! After that we walked around a bit to check out the rides, then went back and listened to some more music, including the Lombard Idol, a singing competition. We only caught the beginning which included girls ages 10-12. I felt rather embarrassed for a few of them because they weren’t very good. But I have to hand it to them for getting up there and trying. I was also a bit surprised by one of the under 12 girls who was walking the stage and carrying on like a wannabe Britney Spears. Way too sexual for her age, if you ask me. By that time we had been there for over two hours, so we decided to leave.

For dinner I grilled some burgers, onion rings, and fries. Yes, I used the actual grill. They came out delicious too.

We’re not planning on trying to find somewhere to watch fireworks tonight. I do like fireworks, don’t get me wrong, I just hate the whole process of having arrive early to get a good spot and then waiting around forever til they actually start. I think we’ll just wait til our town has their summerfest; we can catch two fireworks shows from our driveway. Yes, we really are that lazy!

Hope you had a fun 4th of July!

Nine Inch Nails

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I don’t know if anyone crossed your fingers that it wouldn’t rain, but if you did, thank you. It was a beautiful night! I wore my new olive green skirt with a black tank top and my new sandals. We got to the venue around 6:30 pm. We ended up having to take our “gear” back to the car which was very annoying. On Thursday I got this e-mail that went over the show’s details.

The following items ARE permitted into the amphitheatre for Nine Inch Nails:
* Extra Clothes
* Blankets
* Food is allowed in small soft-sided coolers, small picnic baskets, or zip lock bags
* One (1) factory sealed bottled water up to a liter in size
* Small Backpacks
“Due to artist restriction, permitted items are subject to change without notice. We regret any inconvenience this may cause”

Turns out they wouldn’t allow any of the things mentioned above. Regardless of that disclaimer above, why send the fans an e-mail saying “hey, you can bring food, drinks and backpacks” two days before the show if there’s a chance that would change? Or how about a follow-up e-mail to update everyone? I doubt that changed two seconds before the show started.

Other than that, it was fun. We had lawn seats so we kicked back in the middle of the lawn to listen to the first opening act, Peaches. I had never heard of her before, but I really enjoyed her set even if all her songs were about sex. I liked the music more than her lyrics. When she did her last song, Fuck The Pain Away, I realized we had heard it before on the digital dance channel we listen to sometimes. I’m tempted to buy her album, Impeach My Bush. Love that clever title, by the way. After Peaches was Bauhaus. Nothing to really say about them. Don’t like them, never liked them, still don’t like them.

Nine Inch Nails didn’t take the stage until 9:20 pm. By then we had moved to the right of the stage away from all the people which is how I like it. Although the place didn’t sell out by any means. There were a lot of empty seats but they managed to fill all the front spots and up the middle. We got some fliers when we came in about “winning” upgraded seats but I had a feeling maybe they were giving them to everyone just to fill the seats in front and around the stage.

In any case, they played a lot of older stuff. They seemed to do almost all of Pretty Hate Machine which is my favorite album, so I was happy. There weren’t a ton of songs I didn’t recognize, though there were a few. I was a bit sad they didn’t play Happiness in Slavery, but overall between Trent’s performance and the cool lighting, it was an awesome show. We left after The Hand That Feeds and listened to the last song, Head Like A Hole (one of my all-time faves) in the parking lot so we could beat all the crazy traffic trying to get out of there.

Here’s what I think was the setlist. I got it off of Song Obsessed since it looked the same as what we heard. I’ll fix it when someone posts an official setlist online.

Updated setlist on 12/15/09 (mine was quite close actually)

1. Somewhat Damaged
2. You Know What You Are?
3. Sin
4. Terrible Lie
5. March of the Pigs
6. Something I Can Never Have
7. Closer
8. Burn
9. Gave Up
10. Help Me I Am In Hell
11. Even Deeper
12. Only
13. Wish
14. La Mer
15. Into The Void
16. The Big Come Down
17. Suck (Pigface cover)
18. Down In It
19. Hurt
20. Final Solution (Pere Ubu cover) (with Peter Murphy)
21. The Hand That Feeds
22. Head Like a Hole

Rain rain go away

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Tonight’s weather forecast isn’t looking good for the Nine Inch Nails concert. This is the last concert I buy tickets to until The Cure tours again, I swear. After the Depeche Mode concert being cancelled, I’m none too thrilled about these events. I’m really not in the mood to drive all the way out the theatre to chance getting rained on, but even lawn seats costs us $50 total so we’re going. I got a cute new skirt, shoes and shirt all at half price today and I want to wear them. Cross your fingers the rain holds out til it’s all over! Although the more I think about it, I wonder if I should wear the skirt and sandals if I might get wet. It’s so hot and humid though … grrrr!!!! I can’t decide. I hate this.

Mmmm … tempura chicken

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Our plan after work was to hit a few mom and pop pet stores to find some toys for Peanut. Dinner wasn’t part of that plan, but we were spontaneous for once in our lives. As we were driving through downtown Wheaton, we got stopped by a Metra train. We just so happened to be right in front of Luong Loi, a Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant. Joe said something about how we should try that place someday and I said, “how about now”? There was a parking spot right in front of the door so all he had to do was turn the steering wheel to slide right into the spot. It was actually kinda cool in a this kind of stuff only happens in movies way.

We’re always a bit hesitant when trying a new place, so we ended up ordering all Chinese dishes – fried wontons, chicken and broccoli and tempura chicken in sweet and sour sauce. But what delicious dishes they were! Most definitely worth the money as they were a little more than what we’re used to paying for Chinese food. I couldn’t get over just how good everything tasted.

I also enjoyed the atmosphere. It got busier as we were finishing up but it never got loud and annoying like some restaurants can get. They keep the music turned low and everyone’s conversations were low-key as well. We definitely want to go back and try a Vietnamese dish. Seems a lot of people were ordering the noodle soup.

After being stuffed silly, we finally got back to the matter at hand. The first place we stopped at is called Family Pets on Roosevelt Rd. in Glen Ellyn where we found these tubes called Funnels that you can connect to the Crittertrail cages. We had seen them at Petsmart but they were $12 a pack and you need at least two just to make a halfway decent loop for the hamster. This place had them for $8 each so we got two. They also had the cutest puppies in this place, and a pretty white and grey hamster who reminded me of Peanut.

We went a block down the road to the other pet shop (forget their name), but they didn’t have anything interesting. We stopped next door and got ice cream from the DQ though. Because all that Chinese food apparently wasn’t enough. ;)

Our last pet-related stop was Pet Supplies Plus. I can’t say I’m crazy about this store, but their prices on food and bedding are great, and I ended up getting some treats for Peanut, including these berry-flavored puffs that my other hamsters used to love.

We made a quick stop at Jewel-Osco to get Pepsi since it was on sale. I picked up some strawberries on sale and watermelon too. I don’t know if it was in my head, or the fantastic meal, or just that it was Friday, but everyone we came into contact today was just so nice. I was feeling the neighborly love unlike I have in a long time. It was just a nice day overall.

A scary thing did happen when we got home, though. When I came in the door, I said “Peanut, I’ve got treats” and I swear she came running out to see. No shit. I gave her one of the berry puffs and she liked that, so then I gave her a chew stick except she shoved the whole long thing into her cheek pouch and it was sticking in there at a weird angle. I was freaking out thinking she was going to end up choking on it. Joe tried grabbing her but she ran into her den, so I unlocked the cage and lifted the cover off the base so he could get in there and grab her. He managed to force the chew stick forward so it was sticking out of her mouth and he grabbed it and pulled it out. I was so relieved. I guess I will have to break them into little pieces so that never happens again. I’m just so glad she’s ok. I swear I was hyperventilating.

I should get to bed! We’re going to the first showing of Click tomorrow since we never got around to seeing it last weekend. I love Adam Sandler movies!