Chilly Sunday in A2: Brunch & A Movie

I must admit I'm kinda jealous that I'm not in Kauai, Hawaii with my family right now. They left on Friday and will be staying for about 10 days. I haven't been on the annual family Hawaii trip in 2 years... I'm starting to feel left out. *Le Sigh*

On the bright side, I am having an AMAZING time in Ann Arbor. Today was rather chill, but I did still do stuff.

I went out to brunch at Aut Bar (on Yelp!) with Mo and Megan, the local gay bar in the Kerrytown District of Ann Arbor that also has pretty good food. The waiter was cool. Kept us entertained with commentary every so often. Lol.

After that, we strolled the shops and Farmers Market in Kerrytown. We then strolled the streets to end up at Megan's new house that she recently bought. It's super cute with very unique architecture. Buying houses... in your 20's... pretty much not doable in Cali. *Sigh* It's the benefit of living in Michigan.

We then caught a flick at the Showcase Theatres in Ypsilanti. We ended up seeing Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I liked the film. There were some parts that will definitely stick in your memory. There were some very graphic scenes.

I then was able to work out for a bit at Gold's Gym and grab some dinner at Boston Market (my substitute for El Pollo Loco).

Hairspray Screening in MV

Although I didn't get a chance to see Hairspray in Monday in San Francisco, I was able to catch a screening in the South Bay. I guess New Line gave Google a bunch of passes to some Thursday evening showings at Century Theatres.

I brought Ty along because I knew he'd have a good time. I also went with Nai and Audrey. It was cool seeing the movie with a bunch of co-workers.

I typically don't like movie musicals. I feel like the music tends to not fit well with the overall movie. Hairspray changed my views on this. It was brilliant little film. It was fun, the cast was fab and the film just made you smile. The lyrics to the songs were really catchy. I left saying... damn... I want to sing along next time. I know... super gay of me. I even bought John Travolta as a woman... eventually.

I think this is a film even straight men could love. Come of straighties... enjoy it. :)

San Francisco Hairspray Screening

My buddy Ty invited me to a special screening of 'Hairspray' at the Metreon in San Francisco Monday Evening. There were two showings, one at 7pm and one at 7:30pm. We got in line around 6pm. Not everyone was guaranteed admission, but we got there early enough to where we were pretty sure we'd get in.

It turns out New Line/AMC Theatres made a HUGE goof. They let anyone with a 7pm movie pass into the 7:30pm showing, in effect, eliminating anyone with 7:30pm tickets a chance to see the movie. People got pissed. Very pissed. It got pretty ugly. Lets just say you don't want to get in between gay guys not getting to see a free screening of Hairspray.

After a huge fight with the management, someone was able to get those who stuck around long enough free movie passes. So it was a win-win situation overall. I got home earlier than expected, had a nice dinner with friends in the city, and got a free movie ticket I can use this weekend to see whatever I want. YES!

If you want read a whole bunch of people rant on this disaster (which apparently also happened in several other cities nationwide) go here.

Two Weekends of Fun

Since I forgot to post an entry about my adventures last weekend, I thought I'd give my journal a double decker of an entry.

Last Weekend (5.29.2007 to 6.1.2007):

• On Friday, I went with Nai to Downtown Palo Alto for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. We failed to remember the release of the iPhone. Thus it took a good 30 minutes to go 1/2 a mile on University Avenue because of crazy Apple fans causing a commotion at the Palo Alto Apple store. Crazy amounts of press were there too. I fail to remember that I live in the Silicon Valley... the heart of world of Technology.
• On Saturday, I had a chill day. Yes!
• On Sunday, I had a fabulous day. It started out by carpooling to the Millbrae BART station. This was my first BART trip to SF. It was quite pleasant. The end goal was getting to Dolores Park for Steph K.'s Birthday Picnic. Good food, wonderful friends, and pleasant views make for a fun afternoon in the park. We walked around, boy-scouted, played with dogs, listened to the Energy 92.7 DJ play music in the park, hula-hooped and lounged around. You can view pics here.
• After Dolores Park, I went to the final showing of Norm's show, Boylesque. It's not totally as scandalous as you think it might be. It was totally fun and a nice diversion in the early evening. After that, I went with a group of his buddies for dinner at Thanh Tam 2, a Vietnamese place in the Mission. It was really tasty food. We stayed away from the Pho and got other dishes. After that, Norm, Ninad, Aisha, Tu and I went to do a little dancin' at Badlands in the Castro. A few pics can be found here.

This Weekend (6.6.2007 to 6.8.2007):

• Friday evening I ate dinner at Tomatina with Elizabeth, Lauren, Steph & Becca. Afterward, we saw Ratatouille. That was a super cute film. It made me want to go to Paris and learn how to be a chef. Haha. It actually reminded me of very early Disney cartoons. It was modern, but not in that annoyingly CGI way.
• Saturday afternoon I met up with Norm and had lunch in Downtown Palo Alto. He was choreographing a show in San Jose, so he passed by my neck of the woods when traveling back up to Pacifica/SF. We went to Pluto's, my good ol' standby. After finishing our food, we went to the bathroom... you know, the type where only one person can enter at a time. So the Men's restroom was occupied and out comes a woman. Norm shouts, 'You don't have a Penis!' That made me chuckle. We strolled around town a bit and got some frozen yogurt at Fraiche. It's nice spending time with him.
• Sunday was all recovery! Working out, grocery shopping, and laundry too. I talked to Kenny for a few minutes. He was flying off to Dallas this week for work. We'll meet up next week for dinner.

Transformers: The Movie

I wasn't planning on seeing Transformers, let alone on opening night.

On Monday, I found out that the good 'ol GOOG got some tix for employees at the AMC Mercado in Santa Clara. Nai and I were lucky enough to snag a couple. We saw the 6:45 showing on Tuesday.

It was quite long for a summer flick. Running at ~2:15 mins, it most def could have been cut down a bit. But overall, this was a good film. Actually, I was going in with low expectations and was caught off guard. The humor in the movie was fantastic. It was a nice blend of Steven Spielberg's humor and Michael Bay's action.

I remember having some Transformers toys as a kid. I had a toy that transformed into a radio. That was pretty cool.

From a marketing standpoint, I was pretty astonished the number of product placements in the film. Off hand I could remember: Chevy, GM, Burger King, Apple, Mountain Dew, Ebay, Yahoo, Xbox, Nokia, and Panasonic. I notice these things... because, well I studied this in college.

Spiderman 3: Courtesy of Google

So I ended up watching Spiderman 3 this afternoon. Google gave employees 2 tickets to opening day at AMC Mercado in Santa Clara.

I ended up going to the 4:30 showing. I thought the movie was fun, sappy, and at times a bit slow. I don't think it will satisfy hardcore fans (like Nai) but is good for the casual guy like me. I liked push/pull love story. The special effects were good, but nothing mind-blowing.

It was fun seeing the movie with a theater full of co-workers because you can basically act however you want, without getting booed. Lol.

Grade: B


Spiderman 3 Ad on a LA Bus. Yes, I took a nerdy picture like this.