yduras

Our usual alternate wednesday game is off tonight, as a key person has to work late. There is a boardgaming night at the Menlo Park Panera, though I've never been to one of the weeknight meetups.

Some movies open this weekend. I'm rather interested in Astro Boy and somewhat less interested in The Vampire's Assistant. Astro Boy might be worth an outing, although grandbuddha is working until midnight on Friday, so he won't be available. Large movie expeditions have largely fizzled lately anyway.

There's a proposed sushi outing planned for Saturday up in Morris Plains.

Next weekend is over booked. Aside from Halloween, there's the New York Chocolate Show, the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, and LugosiCon. I think I'll be skipping Lugosicon, because I don't really care to go all the way up to Whippany around all the other stuff I have to do. aiskon is, though, so there'll be some scheduling around her. So far it looks like I'll take a half day on Friday and hit the chocolate show, and aiskon will head up to Whippany that evening. On Saturday, I have an afternoon thing in Manhattan, (as does ishldgetoutmore). I might suggest that ishldgetoutmore and I might want to walk to the Chocolate Show after, since it's nearby and ask ellindsey if he wants to meet us, since I know he was disappointed he could not make it on Friday. On Sunday, aiskon will head back homeward and we'll probably meet at the crafts fair noonish.

I went off and saw Good Hair on Sunday. I wasn't the only white person in the audience, but I was in a distinct minority.

I was struck by the comment that the girl with natural hair wouldn't be able to apply for a professional job because she didn't look "together".

I do about as little as possible to my hair, except pay attention to which conditioners I use. Oh, and once a year or so, I get ten inches or so lopped off the ends. At a wild guess, the ends of my hair are about four years old. It's the path of least resistance, because I'm no good at styling and making salon appointments is a pain. I'm aware that traditional femininity calls for a little more salon time, but I don't usually think of my casual attitude about it as a luxury.

So yeah, yeah, a bunch of folks saw the midnight showing and some others plan to go Thursday night... Me? I have a day job, and I like sleeping, especially in sufficient quantity before said day job. So, I'm thinking Friday, like usual.

I don't know if I'll have aiskon or not. I'm pretty sure I won't have any of the southerly folks, so I'm going to say we should hit the Regal Hadley Center 16 (1000 Corporate Court, South Plainfield, NJ). Showtimes in our window are: 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00

Thoughts? Suggestions?

ETA: Looks like it'll be 7:30

Did I tweet yesterday? I did!

• 10:54 bit.ly/vY7W4 - Star Trek: IMAX, tonight 10pm, Hamilton NJ. Possibly dinner first. Tickets - bit.ly/LXVs8 #
• 17:18 Once again glad to have jumper cables. Gave @jpspiderman a jump on my way out. #
• 21:38 Have obtained seats. 20 minutes to show. Di watches over my shoulder. #

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Did I tweet yesterday? I did!

• 01:34 Have seen Star Trek and made it home. Now, it is time to collapse. #
• 10:41 I have a hangover from insufficient sleep. Worth it for the whole movie experience, but I really wish I could have taken today off. #
• 10:53 I do hate the new shakeycam trend. 75% of all action movies give me motion sickness now. I had to keep closing my eyes. #

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So, I've decided that I am going to trek way the heck down to Hamilton to take advantage of the IMAX screen on Thursday night.

I don't have specific plans, but I thought I might head down, pick up the tickets, and then do dinner beforehand. aiskon may not need to go to work on Friday, but I do.

So, hey, movie night.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens this weekend. It is highly likely that there will be a Friday night outing. Right now, I see the following showtimes at the Regal Commerce Center: 11:00am 1:30 4:15 7:00 9:45pm 12:30am

They'll almost certainly be adding showtimes between now and Friday, but if I were to bet, I'd bet on a 9:45pm showing. They've been terrible lately about having 8 or 8:30 showings, which are what works for our group. So, we'll see.

Did I tweet yesterday? I did!

• 11:41 bit.ly/qp5x - Earth Hour will take place at 830-930pm local time on Saturday March 28th. Earth hour, seriously. Turn off the lights. #
• 13:38 Have my contacts in, in anticipation of using 3-D glasses. It's weird. #
• 16:55 Movie Night Still On: Monsters vs. Aliens 3D at the Regal Commerce Center (Rte 1), 9:40pm showing - may stop by earlier for dinner. #
• 00:31 Holy cow, Monsters vs. Aliens was amazing. I was expecting mildly amusing and got laugh-out-loud funny. #

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So anyway, I'm planning on seeing Monsters vs. Aliens tonight, down at the Regal Commerce Center (the one on route 1 in North Brunswick), for the 9:40pm showing. I may or may not head down to the area earlier for dinner.

( original tweets )

The same customer who pulled the "It's after 5pm, please do this by tomorrow", sent an update later, complaining that their work was "full of typo's". Well, #1, everything we had came from them originally, and #2, there was exactly one item on their list that was an actual typo (an apostrophe has turned into a question mark, probably a smartquotes issue). So, no, writing "Fax" instead of "Facsimile" is not a typo. Similarly, typing "and" rather than "&" is also not a typo.

I don't mind being told there are edits, even finicky cosmetic edits. I mind being implicitly accused of sloppiness when what's really happening is that the customer changed their minds.

You recall, I suggested an expedition to see Monsters vs. Aliens on Friday. As 3D movies can be a special case, I checked the listings and found this:

Regal Commerce Center 18
2399 US 1 South, North Brunswick, NJ
10:00am 12:20 2:40 5:00 7:20 9:40pm

7:20 is still going to be too early, as far as I know. That gives us the 9:40pm showing. I'll confirm tomorrow, just in case the Thursday posting includes better options. As of now, though, the plan is 9:40 at the Regal Commerce Center.

Monsters vs Aliens comes out this weekend. In 3-D, even. (3d has gotten more common recently because the technology has gotten cheaper and it's a way the theaters can get away with charging a premium fee.)

I want to see this, as do many folks I know. This one pretty much has to be at the Regal Commerce Center, because the only two theaters with 3-D are that one and the one behind the worst mall in New Jersey. This means we're a go for Friday night, even if the only showing is 10pm. Frankly, 10pm will help avoid too many kiddies anyway.

Further details will emerge, of course, once proper showtimes are posted on Thursday.

(By the way, if there's anyone whose sourcepoint is not on the movie logistics map and would like to be, just let me know.)

You heard me. Eight pm, at the Aviation.

You know what, I'm making an unpopular decision here, to suit my own whim. You see, back in the day, I started announcing movie nights on my livejournal because I was tired of all the back and forthing of arranging movie nights. A can't make it early, B hates that theater, C doesn't feel like driving, whine, whine, whine. So I started just saying where I was going to be and that I'd like to see people there. If you look at the last couple posts, though, you can see drama developing. I hate drama. So I'm just going with my own convenience here. We'll probably be back at the Rte 1 Regal for the next big movie outing. END RANT

Now here's the thing, except for the individuals who have to work until 7pm, there is a very cool option. The Evil One is going to be taking a group to the Route 1 Loews for the 7pm showing. There will be many a congenial geek there. Seriously, and for an evil guy, The Evil One is good company.

I (and probably aiskon and ishldgetoutmore) will be at the AMC Aviation (US 1 and South Stiles St. Linden, NJ 07036) at 8pm. Anyone wants to join up with us, that would be keen, but no hard feelings if it's too far a drive.

Well, the theater preference poll did come out in favor of the Regal Commerce Center. The posted showtimes aren't so good, though. I'd hoped there'd be a showing around 8, but we're stuck between too early (7:30) and too late (10) again. Given that we have people who get off from work at 7...

In any case, make yourselves heard. Feel free to post comments with options not laid out in the poll.

What showings are possible?

What is the optimal showing?

ETA: According to Google showtimes, this is what it is. That makes things trickier...

Previously: Movie Location Poll

So anyway, Watchmen opens this weekend, which rather demands a movie excursion. Now, some folks work until 7pm, so we usually aim for an showtime somewhere around 8pm. Full showtimes, of course, don't post until Thursday, so that detail will have to wait until then. I expect there will be plenty of showtimes for something that's being advertised this hard.

Then we come to the theater choice. We tend to wind up at the Regal Commerce Center 18. Why? Well take a look at that map I just linked there. Those three residences just south of the regal skews the choices south. We northerly folks make a lot of noise about picking closer theaters, but we always seem to wind up down there. (The Loews would make a better compromise, but it's not a very good theater, so we bypass it. Other pros and cons of the various theaters are noted on the map.)

On the off chance we'll change the pattern, and because of an off-the-cuff comment by aiskon, I'm going to throw a couple of polls out there.

Poll #1357920 Theater Choice For Watchmen on Friday
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

What theaters are acceptable options?

Which is your preferred theater?

Previously, on the Movie Expedition Planning Show...

• A proposed expedition
• a poll

After watching the consensus develop, I think we're going with Saturday afternoon. So... logistics:

• Movie: Coraline
• Showtime: Saturday, 4:35pm
• Theater: Route 1 Regal Commerce Center

Remember I was proposing a movie expedition to see Coraline? Well, here it is Thursday, and the weekend showtimes are out. As I'd suspected, we're still looking at "11:45am 2:05 4:35 7:05 9:35pm" as the showtimes for the 3D version.

So, again, we've got the downside of 7:05pm being too early for folks who work the 10-7 shift) and 9:40pm resulting in an awfully late bedtime for some of us fogeys. Someone did suggest Saturday afternoon as an alternate, which also has some issues. Thus I shall put it up to a vote before deciding to do whatever I please.

What showtimes could you make it to?

What would be the optimal showtime for you?

Interest has been expressed in Coraline. Of course, if it is to be seen, then it must be seen in 3D. This means the Regal Commerce Center 18. Preliminary showtimes leave the sticky choice between 7:05pm (too early for folks on the 10-7 shift) and 9:40pm (too late for old people with early bedtimes.)

More showtimes may appear on Thursday, when weekend schedules are usually announced. On the other hand, if they only have the one 3D screen, then maybe not. We'll just have to see.

I expect most of Saturday to be taken up with shopping for KatsuCon, but if all else fails, an early evening showing on Saturday remains a slight possibility.

As always, these are open invitation movie nights, so pass this along to anyone who might be interested. I'll post again as plans coalesce.

So here's the deal, kids. Hellboy II opens this weekend. Some folks are going to want to see it.

Right about now, I'm looking at

Regal Hadley Center 16
South Plainfield, NJ (by the Middlesex Mall)

7:45pm

(Although if no southerly folks want to come, I might default to a sevenish show at the AMC Aviation. I'll post if that happens.)

You know what? According to yesterday's poll, we'll be seeing WALL-E at "ticky box".

I'm not going to count the second place vote, either, 'cause one of them was me, and that was just a vote registering the futility of trying to ever schedule movie nights anywhere else. Thing is, I'm not into driving way the heck down to North Brunswick given that most of the folks that pull the consensus southerly aren't planning to show. I'm actually going to be seeing the movie again tomorrow with my brother; I just want to go tonight in order to watch on a nice fancy screen without the distraction of watching a small child.

So, you know what, I'm going to the AMC Aviation, 'cause it's close to me. To the 7:35pm showing, 'cause that seems like a convenient time to head on over.

If anyone wants to join me, I'll be, like, pleasantly surprised. Want to coordinate? IM me while I'm on or call my cell.

(Don't read too much into the cranky mood. I'm not cranky over the movie. I'm cranky because this computer is running so slowly it might as well be going backwards. I keep exceeding the buffer as I type, and I do not type all that fast. Aaaargh!)