Movie Review: Captain Phillips - Sun., Oct. 13

Rain once again changes our plans to Volksmarch. The remnants of a tropical Pacific cyclone have made their way to south Texas. It looks like Oregon in winter outside, gray, gloomy and rainy. Luckily it's still warm, but not what we want to walk six miles in.

Plan B: see "Captain Phillips" with Tom Hanks. Excellent decision. If you've been boondocking or out of touch with current movies, time to catch up.

"Captain Phillips" is the true story of the Maersk Alabama's harrowing experience with Somali pirates. Tom Hanks is superb in his role as Captain Phillips. He had his crew follow orders to hide on the ship and gave them clues via radio on how to cripple part of the pirate crew. The movie provides suspense, thrills, intensity, and also mayhem on the part of the pirates.

The four main Somali pirate actors were chosen from Minneapolis' large Somali population. Barkhad Abdi, who plays Muse, decided to audition with three of his friends: Faysal Ahmed, Barkhad Abdirahman, and Mahat M. Ali. None of them had ever acted before. The result of casting the young Somalis adds a degree of authenticity to the supporting cast.

Bob and I both give this movie five out of five stars. If you want a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat, see this one.

After the movie, we went to 54th Street Grille for dinner. Bob had chicken fajitas and I had Coyote Chicken. Good stuff. Here are a few pics.

Decor of 54th St. Grille

Bob waiting for dinner.

Bob took a good photo, don't you think?

This evening after laundry, we watched "60 Minutes" and "Amazing Race." Bob is now watching the Cowboys vs. Redskins.

Have a great week everyone. Travel Bug out.

10.2 miles Walked Yesterday, Wed., June 19

Yesterday was too busy to write my blog and I worked ten hours today. Here's a recap.

My intention was to walk early yesterday morning before the temperature became uncomfortable. Well, that didn't happen and at 10:20 a.m. I started my 10K (6.2 mi) Volksmarch in the Brook Hollow neighborhood. It was hot and humid. Since I have walked there a couple of times before, I'll tell you about a few cool things I saw this time.

1. A deer family was hanging out in two different yards across the street from each other. A young buck walked in front of me while as he crossed the street. There were also two does and two darling fawns. If you look closely at the photo of the young buck, you will see scratch or teeth marks. I didn't notice them until I got the photos up on the computer screen.
2. Purple martin chicks at the purple mountain bird houses in someone's yard.
3. A brilliant yellow, large, parakeet-like bird was flying around being attacked by smaller birds. It looked like a house pet that had escaped. If it was a parakeet, it's the biggest parakeet I've ever seen. In trying to get a good photo, the bird flew out of my frame. I captured it on the ground by an outdoor air conditioner. But you can only see a splash of yellow. Lame, I know.

Two fawns

Young buck...looks like he was attached by a cougar (?).

One of the does with grackles in the background.

Purple martin chicks waiting for lunch.

Purple martin parent keeping an eye on me.

Yellow parakeet? It was rather large for a parakeet. Lame-o photo.

After the walk, Bob took me to lunch at La Madeline. What a good place! We enjoyed spending time talking in the middle of the day. He said it was a nice break from work. Thank you, sweetie.

In the afternoon I watched my Netflix selection, Cloud Atlas. Bob was not interested in it. The cast includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant.

At almost three hours this was a long, jumbled movie. The movie starts out very disjointed - choppy - in its storytelling. One storyline would start, then another, then another, then another. The narrator, after the third storyline starts, says to be patient and all will be revealed. Each actor portrays different characters throughout time, their gender changes from female to male and male to female during different eras. Quite interesting acting for stars.

The reason I'm giving this movie two stars out of five are:

• Too hard to follow.
• Too much gratuitous graphic violence. I do not like to see people splat on the pavement (after falling from a skyscraper) with blood spurting out all over, plus even more very bloody scenes.
• Too weird for me. 
• Some plot lines didn't seem to connect to others. The movie lost me. (See first bullet.)

Cloud Atlas, the book, was written a few years ago. If I had read the book first maybe the movie would have made more sense. The making of this movie was an ambitious undertaking and one I don't think translated well to the big screen.

At 6:45 p.m., Bob and I met with San Antonio Hill Country Hikers at Pearl Brewery Complex for a four-mile walk of Museum Reach of the Riverwalk. This was a hot, humid walk. Luckily most of the walk was in shade. Bob and I love the Museum Reach of the Riverwalk with its art work, the dam and locks, plus views of  skyscrapers downtown. Thank you, Paul, for leading us on this walk.

Locks and dam.

I'm behind again taking pictures.

Paul leading us into the sunset.

Yellow-crowned night heron.

I love my job at the RV park office: there's variety, we've been busy, it's a great commute, and my boss is patient and a good teacher. My days are Thursday and Friday...maybe when then Winter Texans arrive in October I will have more hours.

While at work today, Snelling called to ask if I can work Monday and Tuesday doing onsite registration for a Technology in Education conference at San Antonio's Gonzalez Convention Center. They expect 16,000 attendees. Sure! Sign me up. Monday will be an early day for me - start time is 6:15 a.m.!

And that is that for the past couple of days.

Travel Bug out.