Man of Steel

photos via

Over the weekend, I went to see Man of Steel, the new Superman movie directed by Zack Snyder. Despite the scads of negative reviews I'd been hearing, I was still stoked to see it, primarily because the previews showing the bleak obviously-not-Kansas setting  and a seemingly depressed-looking Clark Kent really piqued my interest.  I also knew that Snyder (300, Watchmen) was going to produce a visually beautiful movie no matter what, so I happily paid the  price of a movie ticket, popcorn, and a slushie. 

According to my husband, there were times when I was pretty much gawking at the screen. And I'm not surprised. 

Man of Steel  is a refreshing interpretation of the iconic American superhero we all think we're familiar with. I am thrilled that Snyder deviated from the formulaic "Clark Kent secretly cultivating his powers in his Kansas homestead, moving to Metropolis to become a reporter hiding behind horn-rimmed glasses, being THE boy scout goody-two-shoes superhero, and being utterly useless when faced with Kryptonite" plot line. In Henry Cavill's Kent, I saw more of the isolation and piercing loneliness that I always imagined an alien with superhuman powers stuck on Earth would really feel. Cavill captures the tortuous pensiveness that Kent is perpetually immersed in as he tries to grasp what it means to be who he is: a Kryptonian, a human, a son, a god among humans. 

I thought that the casting was adequately done: my favorites being Cavill (of course) and Antje Traue who plays the only female, yet immensely badass Kryptonial soldier, Faora-Ul. As an Amy Adams fan, It hurts me to say this, but she didn't contribute much to her character (Lois Lane) or to the movie. In fact, I thought her tired and just plain. Michael Shannon was a frightful enough General Zod, but I think he should have pushed further to the point of irrationality or crazy rage.   

All in all, Man of Steel was enjoyable to watch and even more fun to talk about. The graphics and effects were (nor surprisingly) exceptional and tasteful, though I do wonder how Metropolis could ever possibly rebuild itself after all that destruction. It's tricky to create a superhero movie that isn't fueled by the excessive action scenes that portray the clash of good vs evil.  But the audience has to like the hero to cheer him on. 

Man of Steel captures that balance of character building and jaw-opening action and has me eagerly waiting for the sequel. 

Life Lately 007

Things have been pretty quiet, which is pretty normal for me this time of year. I'm not much for enjoying the outdoors when the heat and humidity are this oppressive, so I stay at home and bask in the cool shade. I'm probably the closest to a real vampire as it gets: hates the sun and sucks the life out of everything (as in, I'm a total killjoy.) Don't mind me, that's just the overheated bitch in me talking. 

I recently found some out-of-date, neglected maps which I turned into envelopes. These went out in a current batch of letters I just sent over the week. The envelopes are pretty easy to make. You just take apart an existing envelope, trace the pattern over the map, cut out, and then fold back and glue into shape. Easy, huh?

  

I'm honestly not much of a memoir/autobiography person, but this book jumped out at me because of the title. (cue tween memories) I'm glad I picked it up because it's a fantastic read. I pretty much finished it in one sitting. Huang's prose is unexpected, captivating, and most importantly, genuine. And though I'm not into hip hop, basketball, and sneakers, a lot of his ideas on food, life, and identity really resonate with me. 

I'm kicking myself for not starting my vegetable garden this year. It's a good thing that this rose bush growing at the side of my house doesn't need much tending at all. If only it also grew tomatoes. 

I'm trying to use up as much of my craft supplies as possible, and I found a roll of cross stitch fabric. So I dug out the Avengers pattern I downloaded for free a few months back and went to work. The finished product is now hanging on my bathroom door.

Nine months later

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

May 2013

Yesterday, while eating lunch with my husband, a man approached me, introduced himself as a stylist, and asked me how I managed to get my hair to be this light. After our conversation, I thought it would be fun to look back and see the progress of how my hair has changed. 

After my first bleaching and toning in September, I could only manage to a slight lift (orange, mostly) and most of that was at the root area. The ends were especially hard to bleach, and you can see that they were still pretty dark. They eventually were just lopped off a couple months later.  

I did another major bleaching and toning treatment in November, and as a result, the green has gotten a little brighter, and my ends were not as dark as they were when I did the first treatment. I should have done another bleaching in December/January, but the holidays were too hectic to get anything done, so I skipped that until February where you can tell that every strand is pretty much green already. 

Though I'd bleached/treated  my hair lots of times before, I wanted to take it extra slow this time so as to ensure it stays relatively healthy. I also knew I wanted to wear my hair long, so I patiently waited in between bleachings, and I'm proud that I have only inflicted minimal damage to my tresses! Slow and steady. Slow and steady.