Haste makes waste

[gwyn]

So I asked my dad a few minutes ago if he would please kill me and put me out of my misery, and he declined. Parents never do what you want them to. They suck.

I just really hate my life and myself so much now I could scream, or lock myself in a corner of a dark room and mutter insanely, like Angel in the icon.

A while ago, feochadn discovered $5 matinees early in the morning at a local theatre, of first-run movies. I was really hot to see the new Star Trek movie (really, Karl Urban as McCoy -- my life would be complete), so we arranged to go even though it was at a time I am usually just getting up on a Sunday. I had a hard time getting up as usual, too, since I had guests last night, and I ran out of the house to get cash and head up there, only to get stuck behind a guy doing all his banking apparently, and I waited almost ten minutes for that. Then the ATM wouldn't let me have any money, because I was overdrawn, even though i'd moved money into checking. This is the third time in the past couple weeks this has happened, and I had carefully planned out the money, but I guess it's the whole me + numbers = unmixy thing, because I still end up overdrawn. As a fraidy-cat who can't stand not having hundreds in my checking account just in case, this always puts the fear of god in me.

So that took an extra five minutes, then I raced off, only to get stuck behind the Sunday Morning Going to Church at 20 MPH crowd, completely pinned in for miles going 10 under the limit. By the time I could finally break free, I was nearly there, about ten minutes after showtime. ANd instead of slowing down, remembering the adage of my subject line, I sped into the parking lot and swung into a parking space and kapow. The Beetle is a very low slung car. I always forget this. And I smashed the left front bumper undercarriage into the curb, completely peeling away the skirt protecting the wheel and all the gizmos there (not to mention doing a number on my bumper). I just psuhed it back sort of in place and went to the movie, muttering darkly. mlyn and feochadn there-there'd me and Jo promised to look at it after the movie.

We spent a few minutes trying to push the skirt back on in some way, and then I noticed that there was a large bulge in the tire. So Jo mentioned a Firestone place a little bit away that was open on Sundays and after $300+ I left, my whole day blown, because they also had to adjust the alignment which got pretty blown by hitting the curb so hard (on top of the damage I regularly get by driving in one of the worst parts of the city -- I guess West Seattle got ranked a few years ago as having the most damaged streets per area in city limits. Go us). I thought they attached the skirt, but they didn't, as I discovered when, driving as slowly as I could, it flew off under the car and I drove over most of it. All the way home, I heard this scraping sound but there was no wobble in the wheel or pull to indicate I'd lost one of the tires. People were flipping me off, screaming at me, etc., so I figured whatever damage there was must not have been visible and all people saw was this person driving slightly under the speed limit (WTF?) so they felt they could harrass me with impunity.

I was just starting to feel like maybe I could get a handle on the future and the bills and all that. I so didn't need this, and it's totally my fault. I got up late, and first broke a glass, then accidentally hurled cat kibbles everywhere, and so on, and instead of just taking a breath and being okay with missing the overblown, bombastic previews that I've mostly seen before anyway, I made haste and totally made waste of my budget and my sanity. I really hate myself and my life sometimes.

If I had any money, I'd go up to the new, cool bar near my place and drink some more of their awesomely awesome drinks (seriously, if I had a regular income, I would be in trouble). But for now I will just try to forget all this until tomorrow when I have to see if I can get that bunched up piece of the skirt fixed and replace the rest of it, and bask in the movie

I went into this really skeptical -- first, JJ Abrams, whom I have really come to dislike, but I think after this I realize that movies should be his metier: he fumbles and stalls out on his series every time, but self contained like this, he does really well. Also, I just... well, I love the original Trek like whoa, and I didn't really want to see young models fill out those roles, which are so iconic. Third, Zach Quinto. I despise Sylar on Heroes, and he just won't. go. away. no matter how outlived and stupid that character has become and what a joke his villainy is, and as much as he is the perfect actor to portray young Spock, I really can't quite leave the Sylarness out of it. That was probably my hardest hurdle, and I'm still not there, but it was one small spot in the movie, and I did love the characterization of young Spock, so I think I'll get over it the more I see it.

It's extremely well-paced, the effects aren't intrusive in the way these things often are, it's not filled with boring exposition punctuated by shit blowing up on a constant rhythm, the way I've gotten so sadly used to Summer Blockbusteriness. The music was often more than a little bit intrusive, but I won't begrudge it because there were all the awesome ST sound effects that I have come to love.

I felt they were very daring and right in not fixing the fucked up timeline, but I was also very sad. Because, well, no Vulcan. I have always loved the realization of Vulcan as a planet, even way back in Amok Time, and it really does just make me sad that it's gone for good. And in a way I would have loved to see Kirk on the Farragut first, but I appreciated the way they kept this wrong history and just went with it, and that put Kirk immediately in driver's seat of the Enterprise.

My favorite thing, as totally expected, was Karl Urban as McCoy. OK, so I already love Karl like mad, but he was JUST SO PERFECT. People were pissing and moaning when he was cast, but I thought it was spot on, and even more so after seeing him. He had the delivery perfectly down pat without making it seem like he was aping DeForrest Kelly, and it was exquisite when he made his first appearance, bitching all the way. The affection between him and Kirk was so clear -- the two actors really did have great chemistry with each other, not to mention with Quinto as well.

And I adored Bruce Greenwood as Pike. In this timeline, I guess he won't get so horribly burned, and that's nice, because I'd love to see him again as Admiral Pike. I love Bruce anyhow, but he brought a necessary sense of gravitas to something that could easily seem like the teenage adventures of Kirk and Co. And again, his chemistry with Pine was evident, so I'm thinking that Chris Pine may end up being like a James Marsters or a Jason Patrick, where they have chemistry with everyone and the door knob. I really didn't think I'd like Pine, but he played it well (and that last scene, with his "Bones!" as he comes on the command deck, was a great Shatnerian style delivery), and I really did love how the writers made Jim a complete dickhead up until he's really tested against the Romulans. There's always been that jackassy, misogynistic quality about him under that adventuresome ladies man disguise, and they gave that free rein here.

I'm still unsure what I thought about Zoe Saldana, because I never saw Uhura as so sex-kitteny Spice Girl whatever, and she didn't possess the elegance and pride I thought Nichelle Nichols did, but I confess that her interactions with Spock were fascinating (sorry). I was not expecting that relationship, and it was a really interesting choice to make. I think the biggest thing the movie did right, though, was to have Nimoy in it reprising his Ambassadorial role. That makes the recasting a lot more palatable, and I think without him the movie would have veered toward disrespect of what went before; this way, it's more clearly tied in to what we carry with us about the series.

And oh, Simon Pegg is so perfectly adorable! And Sulu!! Not taking off the parking brake! Ah hah hah hah. I loved it. Chekhov definitely was different. I'm still having whiplash, but it helps that he's so freaking adorable. A huge thumbs up, all in all.

sekrit to killabeez: That relationship you were worried about? It's actually pretty cool, I think, and is definitely there in the movie

Comments

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

Sorry so much of your day sucked ass.

But yes, Karl Urban rocked like a rocking thing as Bones, without it being a deForrest Kelley imitation, and I love the chemistry between him and Kirk.

And yes, Bruce Greenwood was so awesome as Pike. He's so underrated.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I loved that the parking brake thing had a point -- it wasn't just for comic relief; it's what saved all of their lives because it meant they were running late enough that Kirk was able to figure out that it was a trap.

I've never seen Heroes, so didn't have the Sylar baggage that others did. I thought Zachary Quinto made a fabulous Spock. Honestly, I loved all of them. Chris Pine was a perfect Kirk, I thought -- full of bravado and horndoggery, but there's also a real person in there who genuinely cares about doing the right thing.

I really liked Uhuru; I liked that it was clear that she is at the top of her class, top of her field. And that the scene I'd thought was just random character color, as it were -- Kirk with the hot green chick -- was what allowed Kirk, and us, to hear Uhuru saying that she'd heard and translated the distress call the night before this attack.

This really felt to me like a love letter to the original, and also a rejiggering; like a new story, told as a kind of homage to the old.

(On an unrelated note: I am SO SORRY about your miserable day!)

[leela-cat.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't comment on it. But damn, am I sorry that you had such a sucky day.

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

* averting eyes from movie stuff as I haven't seen it yet *

I'm sorry about the day of massive suck. There seems to be a lot of that going around lately. Hopefully, it dropped all of your suck off at once and it will be clear from here on out.

[rainkatt.livejournal.com]

So sorry about your day. Ugh.

I was worried about the Sylar thing, but I did stop watching Heroes last season, so maybe it helped--I just saw Spock there after a few minutes. I wasn't prepared to love the movie SO MUCH, but I did, and especially McCoy. He was very nearly perfect. The only one that really threw me was Chekov, but I loved him by the end. I'm still thinking about Uhura, but I'm leaning toward approval.

[klia.livejournal.com]

*hugs and empathy from someone who had a week of major suckage*

[the-shoshanna.livejournal.com]

Gah, I'm sorry you had such a shitty day.

But I'm glad you had such a great movie! From the details of which I am carefully averting my eyes *g*