Back Home Again...

[kybearfuzz]

Happy happy birthday to the very handsome susobear. I hope you had a great one!

After driving 750 miles all over Eastern Kentucky's winding roads and hills, I was thrilled to finally get home and sleep in my own bed. I slept until 8 AM and then napped from 11 AM to 2 PM. It feels so good to be home.

I saw a bizarre fact while watching The History Channel today about a town that had a fire burning in a coal mine that will burn likely for 100 years more. More, I thought? The town is Centralia, PA. Apparently in 1962, some burned trash in a strip mine caught a vein of coal on fire, the vein ran underneath the town and continues to burn to this very day. The burning coal veins have released toxic gas and other problems to the point where the town has become a ghost town over the years as people have had to leave. Studies show that the burning coal veins could potentially continue to burn for another 100 years. I found a this website with lots of photos and information about Centralia.

I caught a matinee of Hoodwinked today. It was a fairly entertaining film. The animation was a bit like something from JImmy Neutron. The movie's main characters are voiced by Anne Hathaway (Red Riding Hood), Glenn Close (Granny), and Patrick Warburton (The Wolf). It's a basic whodunit, trying to determine who is stealing all of the goody recipes from the forest, so you get interviews with each of the character's who put their spins on interweaving storylines. The main detective is Nicky Flippers, a dapper-looking frog who looks and acts strangely like Nick Charles (i.e. The Thin Man). Favorite scene: five chipmunks dressed up like the Village People. Keep a sharp eye open for that or you'll miss it. The hyperactive squirrel photographer is fun too.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, I liked the interconnected stories. For a theater full of kids, everyone was reasonably well behaved, so the movie experience was pretty nice. Not to ruin the movie, but there is no extra scene at the end, just a bit of animation for the movie company logo.

The rest of the evening involved watching "Joan of Arcadia" on DVD. This show was really well-written and well-acted. I'm surprised it didn't last longer than two seasons.... Just proof, I guess, that any show of witty and entertaining quality will likely not last very long.

Comments

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's too freaky. I just heard about Centralia, PA the other night. I was out with a couple of friends I hadn't seen in a while and they were telling me that they went there a couple of weeks ago.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

LOL.. now that is odd. I was watching TV this morning and saw the story and just had to look it up. It would almost be worth a road trip to see the town (or what's left of it).

[truebrixon.livejournal.com]

I didn't watch Joan of Arcadia (too many shows to watch already I guess) but I can completely understand what you mean about smart, witty entertaining shows. Look at Firefly (which I recently found and love!) very well written, great character development and interaction, but gone before even the first season (mostly because Fox put it in a terrible time slot). Sometimes the major 4 (as it is now) really don't know a good thing when they see it.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

It's really sad how the major networks can drop a great show while keeping a mediocre one running. Shows like Firefly and Arcadia have a smaller, but definite fan base that try desperately to save them. I hate that they still use the Nielsen ratings to determine if a show is a success or not. It's why I watch a lot more WB and cable channels because the shows tend to be better (in my opinion).

[artsycub.livejournal.com]

Another weird fact about Centralia:

There's an upcoming horror/suspense movie that has the working title Silent Hill: Centralia (according to IMDB). Something tells me that the film will just be called Silent Hill, and that the Centralia portion of it might've just been a log floating through the rumor mill.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I looked up the movie website and entry on IMDB and it seems the movie is based on a video game. I thought maybe the movie was set or filmed in Centralia, but IMDB lists it's filming locations as Brantford, Hamilton, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Strangely enough, I've been to Brantford before (it's the hometown of Wayne Gretzsky).

[artsycub.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's based off of one of my favorite game series. After looking at some of the images from the Centralia link you posted I can see how the desolation could translate well into the story, but I don't see how else it'd tie into it. Oh well, only time will tell.

[cincycub.livejournal.com]

I was so very disappointed when Arcadia was cancelled. It truly didn't get the recognition it deserved.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Oh, I watched the episode where Joan is told to take the school bully/misfit to the school dance, she does, he gets caught with booze and is expelled that night, she goes with him to the junkyard where he has a gun, her dad shows up and talks the guy down. Joan gets grounded.

... then we have the kicker scene the next morning at school, where she asks God in the guise of a cupcake selling band booster mom or something what was the point of all of that grief. God points out the students and faculty that would have been shot and killed the next day by the misfit if she hadn't been there for him. It is so well done, it causes chills....

There are few shows with that kind of good writing. It was canceled way too soon.

[rixtur.livejournal.com]

I seen "hoodwinked" last night, and laughed my ass off, I must have missed the chipmonk/village people scene. Must have happened when I turned around on many occasions to tell some teens to shut the f@ck up. The writers of this movie did an excellent job intertwining stories and adding humor. The humor was more adult orientated, I couldn't see children getting most of it. Also Cool soundtrack too. As for TV, I have become extremely addicted to Nip/Tuck.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Hoodwinked too. The chipmonk Village People are early in the movie, around Red's bike ride throught the forest. Sorry the teens have no manners. :(