MoviePass!

I love seeing movies in the theater. It's just a great experience to see stories play out on the big screen. We are a movie family in general which is why we own hundreds of movies (slowly getting our library on digital) and go to the theater as often as we can.

Out of the three of us, I might be the biggest movie freak of the family because I love seeing my favorites multiple times in the theater. I've already seen The Last Jedi three times (twice opening weekend!). I saw the Lord of the Rings movies so much in college that I ran out of people to come with me. Thankfully, I like going to the movies by myself!

I had heard, before Christmas, about MoviePass. For about $10 a month, you can see one 2D movie a day. Most of the movies I see are 2D anyway so I thought about it for a while. Now I had read online that some people were very unhappy with MoviePass, mostly because of cards never showing up. But I decided that I would try it out.

I paid for it a few days before Christmas and I got the card earlier this week. Today was the soonest I was able to get to the movies and I was a little nervous that it wouldn't work. Basically you have to have the app and the card. Once you get to the theater, you pick the movie you want to see on the app and click 'check in'. From there, you have 30 minutes to buy your ticket with the MoviePass card.

When I got to the front of the line, I gave the cashier my rewards app for the theater I was at and the MoviePass card, and held my breath for a minute (yes, I am a worry wart). The cashier ran it like a credit card and I got my tickets plus my rewards points for the theater! It was so simple!

Today I enjoyed Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, tomorrow, I'll probably go see Star Wars again. Next week, maybe Pitch Perfect 3! There are tons of great movies coming out this year and I can't wait to see them all! I would highly recommend MoviePass to anyone who loves movies!

Happy Birthday J.R.R. Tolkien!

On this date in 1892, one of the most beloved authors of fantasy fiction was born. J.R.R. Tolkien and his books have fans of all ages that are all over the world. But I have a personal reason for being a fan of Tolkien and his books.

As a young child, I would sit on the arm my dad’s chair as he would read to me from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It was my first taste of fantasy and I loved it. I think that was the start of my life as a geek as my love for Tolkien’s works haven’t diminished since I first heard them.

Today I'll be celebrating one of my favorite author's birth by watching the end of Fellowship of the Ring and the beginning of The Two Towers with Emily. She ended up watching part of Fellowship with me and she was fascinated by the Balrog. 

Happy Birthday J.R.R Tolkien and thank you for the gift you gave the world of Middle Earth!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

I’m a huge Tolkien fan and have been since I was a kid. I adored the Lord of the Rings movies and I loved the first Hobbit movie. I was able to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug at the midnight premiere and it didn’t disappoint.

Now I’m going to let you know, I’m not a huge fan of The Hobbit as a book. I always preferred Lord of the Rings. I re-read The Hobbit after seeing the first movie, and it is really lacking in some area. Character development is a big one and a lot of things seem rushed near the end.

After the image, there will be both book and movie spoilers.

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Desolation of Smaug was very good. I think what I like best about the Hobbit movies are that they try to give the dwarfs beyond Thorin some character development. Kili gets his own subplot with the new elf character, Tauriel. I like the character of Tauriel a lot but they were a little heavy handed with trying to compare her to Arwen near the end.

Beorn and Bard were awesome to see come to life, as well as the barrel ride. Bomur actually got to shine in that scene. The subtle and not so subtle hints that Thorin is starting to lose it were extremely well done as well.

Smaug was so good and that entire sequence where the dwarves and Bilbo are trying to evade him to get out of the mountain was brilliant. It was just a lot of fun to watch. I was also happy to see more of Gandalf once he left the company. That was one of the biggest things that bugged me about the book is that Gandalf goes off but in the book itself we don’t know what the heck he did.

The only issues I have with the movie is that they built up this whole subplot with Kili being poisoned and Tauriel having to save him. But Kili dies in the book during the Battle of the Five Armies. Annoying enough in the book we don’t see the death, it’s just mentioned that him and Fili had died like an afterthought. It makes me wonder if the movie will let them live.

Beyond that, the movie was great. I was hoping to see Bard against Smaug but the movie ended right before that. I’m very excited to see the 3rd movie next year!

Even Geek Parents Can Embarrass Their Geek Kids

My geeky Dad with my sister and I in the early 1980's

I was always a geek growing up and that was thanks in large part to the fact that my dad is a huge geek himself. One of my earliest memories is sitting on his lap in this old, brown chair we had as he read Lord of the Rings to me. My dad is super smart and a scientist to boot, which just adds to his geek cred.

You would think that being a geek myself from an early age, that my geeky dad wouldn’t be able to embarrass me. All kids are embarrassed by their parents, but it may be a little harder to embarrass a geek kid.

When I was in the 8th and 9th grade, I was really getting into Star Trek. It started out with Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was on the air at that time. I eventually got into the original Star Trek as well. We lived near to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and there were one day Star Trek conventions that happened every so often.

At one of these conventions, the guest was James Doohan who played Scotty in the original Star Trek. Usually there was a question and answer session before you could get in line for autographs. I remember very clearly sitting near the front with my dad at this q&a session and that my dad asked a terribly complicated science question. I don’t remember what the answer was, but I do remember that I wanted to disappear into the ground. I was so embarrassed. My dad wasn't though and we went on to have a good time getting our autograph from James Doohan. But it’s something I still remember, 20 years later.

I’m sure all parents embarrass their kids at some point. But only a geek parent could embarrass a geek kid at a Star Trek convention.