A is for Avatar

We're back.

EGG and I have really missed our Alphabet Weekends so we've decided to start all over again, but this time we're swapping the letters.

So EGG had A and although I am being a wee bit critical here, the best he could come up with was A is for Avatar. OK, we went Gold Class, but haven't we already done that (H is for Harry Potter) and it was 3D but we've done that too (U is for U2). So a big fat F for originality for EGG.

But Avatar it was, so off we went for three hours of excitement and adventure courtesy of the imagination of James Cameron. We got cool glasses again. The picture is EGG modelling them. After three hours they got a bit annoying though.

Now EGG loved Avatar. Me not so much. It went on and on. And it was such a pity to see that lovely Sam Worthington all stretched out and blue. He looks much nicer when he's human. I will admit to getting a little bored about half way, asking EGG "How much longer?". He just laughed at me. I passed a bit of time taking my glasses on and off to see if they made that much difference (they did).

I don't get this movie. Sure the special effects are great, but it was sort of predictable. I wonder if lovely Sam will turn to the good side (durr). I wonder if the evil marine will get his comeuppance (double durr). Will the boy get the girl (triple durr).

What I find most fascinating about this movie though are all the blogs and forums that have popped up around the place concerned that we here on Earth will never experience life on Pandora (the setting of Avatar).

Imagine it, all of these depressed whackos, I mean people, sitting in front of their computers typing things such as:

When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed ... gray. It was like my whole life, everything I've done and worked for, lost its meaning

or

Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it."

I did not make any of the above quotes up. I cut and pasted them directly from the web. How scary is it that people can't differentiate between real life and a movie. And quite frankly I don't know why anyone would want to live on Pandora. Didn't do much for me with all that poisonous gas, but live and let live I suppose (although some of you Avatar bloggers really should consider therapy of some sort).

EGG was impressed by the 3D effects, they were OK, but the movie could have survived without it (oh that's right you could choose 3D or not 3D versions). There was a nice theme about colonisation that could have been a lesson for all of those European countries about 300 years ago. So don't let me put you off.

By the way if you're interested there is an Na'vi language that is set to replace Klingon as the language of choice of nerds. Guess what this means? “Kaltxì. Ngaru lu fpom srak?” No idea? It means "Hello, how are you going?" There's grammar and syntax and stuff like conjugated verbs in the Na'vi language. Someone's actually written a user's compendium. And I think I've got too much time on my hands.

A is for Avatar.

U is for U2 3D

EGG and I are finding this late part of the alphabet pretty hard going. So it was with great relief that I found our Alphabet Weekend U at the movie theater when we saw U2 3D.

We don't often go to concerts. It's not because we can't be bothered (though there is an element of that). No, it's because we usually never get around to booking until...oh, about two days before the concert, and then of course it's sold out and we get a bit stroppy.

I blame Harry Connick Jr for this of course. A few years ago when he came to the thriving metropolis of Brisbane, I decided, on the day of the concert, that I had a whim to see that fine young man. I rang up and low and behold they had some tickets, but they were in the press seats at the front and would that be ok? By golly gosh, was it ok!

EGG and I rocked up to the venue and walked all the way down the front (the last time we got to sit at the front of anything was when we sneaked down the the front of the theatre at intermission because our seats at the back were so crap we couldn't see anything).

So there we were, legitimately sitting right at the front, waiting for the lovely Harry to appear. And appear he did where he made special eye contact with me all night long. (I actually may have made that last bit up, but the rest is true).

So that whole episode sort of spoilt our future concert plans as we think that the same thing is going to happen again one day. We wait in hope.

Obviously we missed seeing U2 when they last came to town. I rang up two days before hand and enquired about the availability of seats, but the telephonist just laughed and hung up. Guess not!

But what we saw was nearly as good, in fact I'll say it was even better. It was just like being at a U2 concert, or what I imagine it would be like if I actually ever got to one.

And it was made even more spectacular because it was in 3D. Now the last time I went to a 3D movie we had to wear these dinky little glasses made of white cardboard with one green cellophane lens and one red one.

Well haven't these little numbers made some progress in the last 20 or so years. No more red and green cellophane--no now they are like Roy Orbison sun glasses. So much cooler than they used to be. I was so taken with mine that I carried them in my handbag for about a month showing them to everybody I met.

But back to the concert. There was heaps of great music, lots of crowd atmosphere (on the movie, the crowd in the theatre was a bit subdued). And aren't U2 such a considerate band to each other. No wonder they've stayed together so long--they are very good sharers. No one hogged the limelight (well Bono does a bit, but that really can't be helped) and they all take turns.

The 3D effects were spectacular. At one stage I was going to have a chat with the naughty children sitting in front of me who kept waving their hands in the air until I realised it was on the movie. Midway through the movie, Bono reached out to me (shades of Harry Connick Jr) and I was going to give him a high five until commonsense took over. How ridiculous would I have looked--high fiving the air, all the while wearing Roy Orbison sunglasses. Bad enough that I was waving my mobile about to fit in with the rest of the crowd.

EGG loved the movie and asked why we didn't go to more concerts when I reminded him about our sad ticket buying history.

"That was way better than going to the concerts," he said. "Why don't they all do that and save themselves the bother of touring?"

Hey concert promoters, he might just be on to something. But remember you read it here first.

U is for U2 3D.