The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz

Justin:  Nicole's a big reader of books and I read comic books and graphic novels.  I thought this would be a fun new segment to discuss with each other and you fellow blog readers to get us to open up and challenge our literary tastes.  That way if she sees a graphic novel I like and posted about she might want to read that and vice versa. I told her once a long time ago that I wanted to read more books as a way to whet my appetite for writing my own stories.  In fact, one of the things we used to do when we were developing those feelings was we would read to each other.  We would each take a chapter or two and usually it would be a funny book or some kind of diary and read it to one another in bed.  IT was a great way to open up conversation and ultimately feel so comfortable with each other.  Also I dig the sound of her voice, especially when she would laugh.

I was never really a fan of Baum's tales of Oz until my favorite artist, Skottie Young was going to adapt it for Marvel Comics.  His take on the characters have been really inspiring and this adaption has made giant leaps forward into the realm of children's comics.

It is also the first graphic novel that Nicole ever read...and thus began her descent into geek-dom.  I thought this was a great way to introduce her to the graphic novel format because of its source material, easy to read panels and wonderful illustrations.

Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

The premiere American fantasy adventure gets the Merry Marvel treatment! Eisner Award-winning writer/artist Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze) teams up with fan-favorite artist Skottie Young (New X-Men) to bring L. Frank Baum's beloved classic to life! When Kansas farm girl Dorothy flies away to the magical Land of Oz, she fatally flattens a Wicked Witch, liberates a living Scarecrow and is hailed by the Munchkin people as a great sorceress...but all she really wants to know is: how does she get home? 

So that's my Read This pick for the month, week, day, what have you.  Hopefully Nic can share some of the books she recently read and we can get kind of our own little Oprah's Book Club going on here.  Happy Reading all!!


Nicole:  I love that Oz the first graphic novel I read, it was really good and made me want to explore other graphic novels and comics.

Justin mentioned that I am a reader of books and he's right.  In fact I am currently reading the whole Oz collection.  I'm about halfway through and I love it! There are so many short stories in the collection and it is really neat how they all intertwine with each other.  I am both excited and sad to finish the collection because I want to know know what happens but I don't want this amazing tale to end.

I look forward to the rest of the Oz graphic novels that are coming out as well :o)

We Like This: The Social Network

Justin:  I figured I'd talk about the weekend since it seems all I ever blog about is the movies we watch.  And Nicole blogs about the important stuff, like how romantic I am haha.

Nicole and I had a busy weekend...separate from each other.  She was playing mom this weekend.  Nic was off taking pictures for her younger sisters homecoming and hanging out with one of her good friends from college while I was stuffing my face and celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday.  Also Nic got a haircut and uhhhhh she looks amazing.  I probably told her that once.....every 5 minutes.

 On Sunday we got together to watch part of the 11th Annual Mustang Stampede at St. Rita High School.  We also ran into some old friends from high school, it was like being in band again.  Oh the..good...times?

In the evening we caught a showing of David Fincher's new film, The Social Network, which we both really dug.  If you live under a rock and don't know what this movie's about, it's the story of the people responsible for the rise of Facebook.   I won't get much more into it because that's the set up.  That's all you really need to know.  It's the facebook movie.  I honestly didn't know what to expect.  It wasn't funny or even dramatic but it was a character study of this unique persona, Mark Zuckerberg.  You don't dislike him, but you don't like him.  Its a very tug of war concept with how you view this character.  We both were pretty engaged in the story and admitted to watching it again.  I think the Oscar race has officially begun.  I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up seeing this at the AMC Best Picture Showcase come winter.  Go see this movie!

The Bank Job

The true story of a heist gone wrong... in all the right ways. 

Justin:  We are on a bit of a cops and robbers kick as last week was, The Town and last night's movie was The Bank Job.


Here's a synopsis from IMDB:  Martine offers Terry a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London's Baker Street. She targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Terry and his crew don't realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal.

I think Nicole enjoyed the film and when I saw this in theaters I thought it was such a well done movie.  Some times interweaving plot lines and character arcs get messy and complicated but this movie tells the story from all angles but manages to keep it together and not fold under itself.  I highly recommend this movie.  Another thing I loved about this movie was the film's poster.  It's sets the tone and look that the film was going for, tense and polished.

So Fresh for SoFly

Nicole:  So I started a new job this week and I have to say it's so different from my old job, in a very good way.  It has actually been kind of weird because I am so used to the crazy chaotic mess of the old job and this is very calm and relaxed, its so so different.

I know this is my first week but I feel like I have a good handle on what I have learned so far.  They will slowly be adding tasks for me and I will be taking on more work and I'd have to say I'm pretty darn excited about it!  Everyone is friendly, my boss is great, and I don't feel stressed which was a major issue with the old job because it was making me grumpy and not fun.

The best part about this new job though happened on the very first day.  Actually, I was on my way to work when it happened so it made the rest of the day that much better.  I was headed out to my car, opened the door and saw these!




















 with a very sweet card from Justin :o)

 

It was Awesome!  A great way to start my day, he's always so thoughtful.
And I am truly blessed  :o)

Justin:  THIS JUST-IN:  I'm awesome!  I'm blessed too!!!!  I'm very proud of Nicole for finding a new job.  Something she's wanted for a while.  I've always told her she's capable of anything and getting this slick new job just proves how amazing she is.  Good job love!

A Night in The Town

Justin:  Like I previously mentioned in another post, we really wanted to see Ben Affleck's new film, The Town.  Here's the imdb synopsis:

Welcome to the bank robbery capital of America. 

As he plans his next job, a longtime thief tries to balance his feelings for a bank manager connected to one of his earlier heists, as well as the FBI agent looking to bring him and his crew down

  

We both really dug the movie.  I think I liked it more than Nic though, as I'm down for multiple viewings and she's more of a one time viewer.  It's good to see Affleck grow as a director and I'm looking forward to his future efforts.  It had a good balance of action and drama and was really well paced.  Jeremy Renner was the shit.  The "Nun Mask" heist was really fun to watch.  Any thoughts Nic?

Nicole: Like you said, I'm generally a one time viewer.  I am really glad I saw it, but probably wont watch it again.  I don't really think the trailer portrayed it for what it was though.

I'm not really the best movie reviewer as I don't watch that many movies, as Justin has pointed out, but I did enjoy the action.

 Good times at the movies.  We'll see ya next week!

Wanna watch a movie?

Justin:  I had previously stated how important watching movies have been to us.  Other than being awesome, "going to see a movie" was my move.  I didn't have much luck with the ladies all throughout high school and college.  I think it was because, at that time, my interests in anything social we're lacking.  Clubs, parties, club-parties, were all non-enjoyable to me and movies were fun because it didn't bother with all that awkward socializing.

With Nicole it was different.  However, the first thing we did together was tour Downtown Chicago, which I never did and she was an expert at.  At the time I had yet seen the Cloud Gate a.k.a The Bean and well I felt like doing some picture taking and when Facebook became available to the public I found myself reconnecting with old high school people on the world wide web.

After that first day, which maybe Nic can elaborate for you more.

Nicole:  Call me lame, but just reading Justin's post about the movie nights makes me smile.  The sweetness, funniness and lameness.  It all made me smile.  K, no more mush.

Soo our first hang out day since high school.  We like to call it Sunday in the City.

Facebook was getting all popular and people were reconnecting and being friends with everyone and their mother that they had met for 2 seconds or had known but were'nt really friends with.


I talked to Justin in high school and was friendly with him but I wouldn't say we were exactly friends, he was pretty quiet and kinda goofy.  I mean, the only two things I really remember about him from high school were us making fun of my cheesy smile and him telling me that my armpits and my crotch were the two warmest parts of my body.


So back to Sunday in the City.  We started chatting because of facebook and I had found out he had never been downtown to the Bean and I worked literally across the street at the time.  It was a must, we were going, whether he liked it or not. 

So we were going to take the El downtown and since I lived close by we were meeting at my house.  He shows up on that 60 degree rainy day in shorts.  Shorts! and a tshirt, minus a jacket of any sort, or an umbrella. I look at him skeptically, make fun of him a little (ok, a lot) and we are on our way. 

So we get downtown and start walking around.  Justin's freezing but wont really admit it and we go around taking pictures and catching up.  He was so excited that I volunteered to be in pictures and was patient while he got artsy.


After a fun day of pictures and freezing we decided to go to corner bakery and warm up with some hot cocoa.  Justin bought mine and as we are sitting there chatting and answering questions from each other about our lives I remember thinking how I hoped he wasn't interested in me in more than a friendly way.


Well we head home and as we are chatting we realize that Justin's cousin and my sister are roommates in college and good friends.  I knew from that moment on we were destined to be in each others lives in some way.
  
Justin:  These were clearly ingredients for a solid friendship stewing.

So when we would hang out, most times we'd go to the movies.  It was what I was good at.  We'd talk a little on the way there and then talk about how awesome or bad the movie was at dinner or on the drive back.  It was, to me, genius set up.

As the friendship grew and the feelings began to surface, we moved the movie watching to the downstairs of my parents' house.  My dad had a projector and we would watch movies projected on the wall while chillin' on the couch.  So it was like being in the theater but we were the only audience.  The best part about that was: No arm rests...(BLOG POST FIVE!)

Ok now some nights, through no fault of my own, the dvd player downstairs would flip out and skip the disc.  I would suggest finishing the movie in my room....and at this time I still had a bed.  I would emphasize that in hopes that she wouldn't think I was trying to get her into my bed and I scratched the crap out of the disc before she got there.

One particular night, we were watching the Michael J. Fox classic, The Frighteners, which she would on occasion forget the name and call it The Firefighters.  (She's cute like that)  The disc had started skipping downstairs and I suggested finishing the movie in my room.  There we were laying in my bed. I kept a safe distance because I was nervous I might do or say something out of sheer awkwardness to send her screaming out the door.  BUT I never had any intentions like "Oh man, I'm going to score" because I'm not that kind of guy and I didn't think she liked me like that.

What happens next?  She falls asleep during the last 20 minutes of the movie!  I was like, uhhhhh what?  How could you fall asleep during The Frighteners?!  I wasn't outraged at all really because she kind of fell asleep on me...and well that was awesome!  I didn't know what to do so I just let her sleep til she woke up. And when she woke up she apologized for missing the movie and went right back to sleep.  Now I remember turning off the T.V. and just letting her sleep and I just kind of laid there and seriously thought how AWESOME this was but not to make any sudden self-celebration gestures so I didn't wake her up.  I think it was like 2 or 3am when she woke up and just kind of hugged goodbye and that was it.  It was a general stepping stone.  It gave me the notion that this friendship COULD go somewhere.  I didn't want to push it so I just let it be and took it for what it was.  I didn't want to amp myself up but it got me thinking about her and that was never a bad thing.  I was liking this girl more and more.

One of the other memorable movie nights we had was when we watched Superbad...but I think I'll leave that story for another time. Because this was just the beginning of it all and I again emphasize movies being very important to the forming of our relationship, til next time!

Actin' like Grown Ups

Nicole:  So we had a pretty awesome weekend I'd say.  We both got to take Friday off for a wedding.  And taking off a day of work from either of our jobs is awesome on it's own.  The reception was great, it was pretty, the food was really freaking good and I got to dance with an awesome dance partner, and Justin's a pretty good dancer too, haha, just kidding.  He dances just as crazy and goofy as I do so I know I look crazy, but I'm not doing it alone.

And on to the important stuff....Movie Review!

Justin:  I originally wrote this long intro into what Movie Nights meant for us and how important they were to the beginnings of our relationship.  I decided to ditch it and give it it's own separate post for  another time.  For our movie nights, we usually watch the movies from our collection...which is really my collection. Nicole hasn't really seen a lot of the films I own.  Its a plus too, because we're not dropping 20 bucks to catch some 3D piece of crap (I'm talking to you Avatar) and we can do a little bit of saving on our part.  Also, when we became "official" we started doing more couple-ly things and movie nights at home got lost in the shuffle a bit.  Which isn't bad but we both feel we kind of miss those days of staying in and cozying up to the warmth of each other.

THAT being said, if we're feelin' a bit crafty, will hit up the show for something we both REALLY want to see (The Town), or we'll take in a show at the cheap theater.  Since we had a good weekend, we decided to treat ourselves to a showing of Grown Ups.

Here's a quick synopsis from IMDB: After their high school basketball coach passes away, five good friends and former teammates reunite for a Fourth of July holiday weekend.

There's something about Adam Sandler movies that when viewed at the right time,  are really funny.  I think this hit the right spot on our funny bones that night because we were coming off a nice weekend.  That being said, the film's just ok.  I think it's not as funny as some of his other films and you'd think with a stellar comedy cast you'd play to their strengths, but in that department the film came up short.  They made good use of Scheinder and Spade...I don't know if that's good or bad.  You be the judge.


Editor's note - We'll keep these reviews short as to not drag on and on and on, but basically we liked it. Haha