It was supposed to be a normal day of resting and recuperating after such a long day on Saturday (helping my mom for 7 hours with her yard sale and then some errands in the evening.) Instead, it turned into another busy day.
In the morning I did what I always do, which is go onto the laptop and check the weather and the headlines. I was going to post a couple of pictures of the fog outside, but then everything froze. Doing a "force quit" didn't work, so I did what I sometimes do, which is just turn the computer off without shutting it down correctly. Bad move. Bad, bad move.
When I turned it on again, the desktop never came back. Weird messages appeared and after trying all of the options I was given except putting in the recovery disk, at the risk of erasing the hard drive, I decided that I had exhausted my knowledge. Time to take it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. There are probably other places I could take it, but I don't know of them.
I dressed quickly so I could be at Best Buy before they opened at 10am, because a line usually forms outside of the store before they open, especially around the holidays. I got there at 9:45 and was surprised to find that they were already open. Special holiday hours.
The lady at the computer support counter was very nice and knowledgeable, but she told me that, realistically, my hard drive might have to be wiped out and the computer returned to me in the condition it had been when I first bought it. She also needed my external hard drive, which I zipped home and retrieved quickly. After signing a bunch of papers and listing my files in order of priority, I said goodbye to my 6-month old laptop for the next week and a half. I'm telling myself that there really isn't anything on there that I can't afford to lose, but I'm still really, really hoping I'll get some things back. Ugh, the thought of loading all of my CDs in there again is daunting. I won't be able to synchronize my Zune player with the computer until the Zune software and everything in it is back the way it was. And, despite the fact that I had a service plan, only very little of it covered what is going to be done (backing up all the files and going over the hard drive with a fine-toothed comb...)
I left Best Buy trying to stay hopeful, but I have a feeling I'm going to lose everything on the laptop. Right now I'm using the little Mac from school, which has a 12" screen and is around 5 years old. It's in desperate need of replacement, but today we received a letter outlining the possible budget cuts our district could endure over the next couple of years because of the dwindling economy. I think this laptop is going to have to last a long while.
When I left Best Buy I was starving. I ran to the nearby mall and went to my favorite Japanese buffet, Todai, enjoying the fact that I was able to get out and enjoy a little diversion. The Twilight movie was playing at the mall's theater-- maybe I would go and see it? I checked the show times on my phone. It was 12:01pm and the next show was at 12:05. Yeah, I could make it. It doesn't bother me to go to movies alone. I've done it tons of times.
I raced across to the other side of the mall, bought my ticket from one of those automated ticket machines and settled into my seat. The movie has elicited a variety of responses. I was curious to form my own opinion of it.
So what did I think?
Cinematography: B+
The look of Forks, WA was exactly the way I had imagined it in the book. Very overcast, but after a while I wanted to give everyone a powerful light bulb.
Casting: B+
The actors also looked the way I imagined they would, except for Bella's scatterbrained mom. Robert Pattinson was very good as Edward both in look and acting. The one I didn't like was Kristen Stewart as Bella. She fits the part physically, but her acting is so one-dimensional and bland that I was really unimpressed. Of course, it could also be the fault of the director.
Screenplay: B
Yes, it is a movie being adapted from a book, but I think some poor choices were made in the adaptation. The part that really was hacked was when Bella was walking with Jacob and he's telling her about the Quilute legend of the "cold ones." That is a crucial part of the book, but in the movie it is glossed over very quickly. I also felt like the silly-looking jackets that Jacob and Bella are wearing in the scene are very distracting.
Supporting characters: C+
I liked the actors they chose for Carlisle, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, and Bella's friends Angela and Mike. The actor who played Bella's dad was OK, as well as the ones who played the villains, James and Victoria. I have never liked Elizabeth Reaser (Esme) since she was on Grey's Anatomy, and I didn't like her in this movie either, and I thought the girl cast as Bella's friend, Jessica, was a real misfire. She was just plain annoying. But, clearly, I am not the demographic this movie was made for.
Overall grade: C+
Seriously, I wanted to like it more, but the movie had a lot of shortcomings and I found myself looking at my watch. I think that having one of the main characters be so boring (Bella) was a real disadvantage to the movie because she was in practically every scene. Having said that, though, I would still like to see it again and give it another chance on another day.
1 comment:
I went into the Twilight movie with very little, if any, expectations, so I came away thinking, "Hmmm...that wasn't too bad." It'll be interesting to see what they do with a better budget for the next one!
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