A Frightening Friday

(photo by e.hunt)

Art Just Makes You Feel Better About Life

This weekend I continued my cultural tour of St. Louis, this time with Taylor, by taking a little trip down to Forest Park.  Our destination of choice was The Art Museum, but since it was such a lovely day, we stopped at a bench along the tree-lined path around Art Hill and The Grand Basin.

While sitting there, we each guessed how long it would take to run down the hill, touch the water, then run back up.  My bet was one minute, while Taylor guessed one minute and fifteen seconds.  Of course we had to see who was right, so Taylor took off down the hill while I started the stop watch.  Total time was one minute and twenty-five seconds, so we were both wrong.

And then it was on to the museum!  We perused the somewhat disappointing Asian art area, which was mostly pottery and sculpture (no prints!), then moved into European, which included a few rooms of my favorite impressionists.  They even had one of Monet's Water Lilies!  After that we moved into the Contemporary art section, where I got yelled at for getting too close to a painting (even though I really wasn't that close).  Oh well, it was probably the most exciting thing that happened to that guy all day.

(photos by e.hunt)

The Equivalent of Nourishment

Taylor came home for a quick visit this weekend, and you know what that means; lots of good food!  On Friday we all walked down to Dewey's for some delicious pizza.  Dad and I tried a cheese-less pie topped with tomato sauce, black bean corn salsa, and chicken.  It was good enough to get again I think.

Later that night, Taylor and I went to check out this new donut joint in DTK called Strange Donuts.  There was a line out the door when we arrived, and a woman came out with her dozen exclaiming, to no one in particular, 'This is great!'  The donuts were a bit expensive, but tasted pretty good.  Not sure they were good enough to proclaim to the world, 'This is great!' but it was fun to try something new.

Guess where we went on Saturday morning?  You're right: Kaldi's!  And it was a pleasant enough morning that we got to sit outside to enjoy our coffee and pastries.  See the next post for Erica and Taylor's Saturday Afternoon Adventure!

(photos by e.hunt)

Sometimes, In the Middle of Nowhere

On Thursday I took advantage of the lovely, unseasonably warm afternoon and took a walk at Laumeier Sculpture Park.  First I made the rounds of the field, home to the most famous sculpture, The Big Red Thing.

After that I kept meandering down the plain to a new gazebo-like insect piece.

After that I rounded back towards the entrance, passing some delightful nature along the way.

Next was the forest trail.

There were a few sculptures nestled back in the woods as well, including this triangle bridge.  One side was glass that reflected the opposing viewpoint while the other was open.

Further down the trail was an abandoned Swiss Family Robinson set.

After exploring the wooden fortress for a while, I finished the rest of the loop and ended up back at my car to head home.  A delightful afternoon spent enjoying some non-conventional art in the outdoors.

(photos by e.hunt)

My Thoughts On Spider-Man

Recently I've had a bit of a Spider-Man kick in the movie department.  As everyone knows, there is a rather unnecessary reboot that's happening right now, only five years since the final installment of the Tobey Maguire series.  The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Andrew Garfield as the inordinately well-coiffed high-schooler, Peter Parker, who gains super powers after being bit by a genetically enhanced spider, and Emma Stone as the love interest, Gwen Stacy.  This was a smart choice; Stone plays her as a stylish science nerd, which matches better with Peter's interests than the previous Mary-Jane.  Like the Tobey Maguire version, this one retells the origin story, although in a slightly less believable way.  Instead of the high school students going on a field trip to the high-tech science giant Oscorp, Peter tags along with a group of students wanting to be interns (because high schoolers become interns at the worlds most premiere scientific lab all the time), and Gwen Stacy, also a junior in high school, is one of the top doctors' head personal assistant and is leading the intern tour.  Clearly, this is a world made up of extremely ambitious seventeen-year-olds.

Anyway, instead of being the nerdy, awkward class dork, portrayed very effectively by Tobey Maguire, Garfield plays him as a more suave, smart-guy geek.  He gets the popular, nice girl right away (con), invents the web-slingers like he does in the comics (pro), the Lizard bad-guy has multiple personalities and figures out Spider-Man's identity, which is eerily similar to The Green Goblin story line in the first series (con), but there are some excellent fight scenes (pro).  The standout was the battle between Spidey and the Lizard that takes place in the school halls and classrooms, with a delightful little cameo by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee.

After watching it, I was a bit disappointed.  It was definitely entertaining, but like I said, it is a bit unnecessary.  Then I watched The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was a vast improvement on the first. The villains are excellent, with the plot focusing on Jamie Foxx's Electro and Dane DeHaan's Harry Osborn/Green Goblin.  Foxx starts out as an odd electronics guy who doesn't have any friends and just wants people to remember and appreciate him, falls into a tank of electric eels while working late at Oscorp, causing him to turn blue and gain his electric powers.  The scene where he uncovers the range of his power in the middle of Times Square is beautiful.

And Dane DeHaan is perfect as the private school prep who has a crazy deranged look in his eye, ultimately just trying to uphold his father's (played by Chris Cooper) legacy.  His decent to transforming into the Green Goblin is a little rushed, but when he suddenly arrives in the massive final battle, he is pure evil.

There are also several other subplots, including a third villain, The Rhino, played by an unrecognizable Paul Giamatti, the Peter Parker-Gwen Stacy love story, Gwen's move to England, Peter's relationship with Aunt May now that Uncle Ben is gone, and his ongoing search into what happened to his parents.  As you can see, there's a lot going on and inevitably, some of the content slips as there's just not enough time to fully explore everything, but it is an excellent, well-acted, action-filled comic book movie, and that's really all you need in this genre.  I'm excited to see what happens in the third installment, scheduled for release in 2018.

(photos collected from 3dhorizon, pinterest, moviepilot, and marvel-movies.wikia)

It's Scary, But You Learn Something

Trying a couple new things today in the outfit realm; first, a big, loose sweater over a skirt, not tucked in.  Second, tall socks under short tennis shoes.  It looks kindof like a grownup, sporty schoolgirl look.

(photos by e.hunt)

Suddenly You Made My Day

There's nothing quite like the Mocha-Mocha Combo on a chilly Saturday morning in the fall.

(photo by e.hunt)

Jealous of the Morning People

I have my first 4:30am shift tomorrow at work.  Four thirty am.  Ew.

(photo by e.hunt)

Where the Sun Sails and the Moon Walks

We had a break from the never-ending rain today, with a warmer temperature as well!  So, I eased up on the layers a little but tried to stay in the fall pallet.

(photos by e.hunt)

The Aluminum Glow of Dawn

I love rooms with big, giant, taking over the wall windows.  I just wonder how these people get any sleep... where are the curtains?!

(photos collected from inhabitat, myfrugaladventures, and babble)

Scattered Across the Desert

What does this guy

and these gals have in common?

Well, for one thing, they are all (including the camel) impeccably dressed.  The other thing is that they are all wearing the color camel, named after the beautiful hue of the animal's coat.

(photos collected from flikr, fashiion-gone-rogue, bloglovin, and goldustgirl)