curiousillusion

[As always, my movie reviews are spoiler-free.  If you were looking for spoilers... sorry.  I'm sure you can find them if you look.]

I kind of resigned myself to not doing any more movie reviews, as I had decided that I’m not really good at writing them.  However, I really felt the need to write a review about this movie, mainly for the people that were like me – on the fence about seeing this movie, leaning towards the “eh it won’t be so good” side. So… here we go, for old times’ sake. :)

Yesterday I saw the movie Avatar with my brother and dad.  I have to start out by saying that I really didn’t care to see the movie. I mean, yes, I’d heard that it had already grossed a billion dollars worldwide, and that people were raving about the special effects… but I’m not really a person that cares about special effects.  Plus I had also heard that the plot was just eh, and usually I go to see a movie for the plot.

Obviously I went, mainly to see what the fuss was all about.  My brother (who had seen it once already) said that we HAD to see it at the IMAX in 3D… so we did.  At first it was difficult trying to buy the tickets online, because multiple showings were sold out.  Yes, this movie, that was released three weeks ago (December 18th) was still sold out in a few theaters, at many different times. Okay, now I HAD to see what the fuss was all about.  We got there early (another brother suggestion) and wow, am I glad we did… so many people had also gotten there early too.  I think if we would have gotten there 5 minutes later, we would have been stuck sitting right down at the front.  Yikes.  (So heads up… if you have plans to see it, get your tickets ahead of time, and get to the theater early.)

Anyway, on to the movie.  In a word, as my brother said, the movie was “pretty”.  I have to agree.  The special effects deserve all the hype; James Cameron went all out and spent so much money for a reason.  The world that he created is just so… amazing, almost magical.  The different creatures are spectacular to see, and the colors are so vivid, they made me wish I could be there.  And, while I’ve only seen it in IMAX 3D, I have to say that this must be the best way to see it.  The big screen, the 3D… it all just emphasizes the beauty of this film.

Btw, I have to say, I’m not usually a fan of 3D and this time my feelings were mixed.  On the one hand, yes, everything really does pop out at you (and the little girl next to me tried to reach out for something at one point during the movie… I actually almost wanted to at one point. Shut up, stop laughing.).  But on the other hand, and this is my general issue with 3D movies… at times, certain things seem almost transparent.  I mean, if the focus is the action in the middle of the screen, and there’s a character in the corner that you can almost see through, it doesn’t look as realistic as the rest of the picture. I don’t know.  I tried to explain it to my brother and my dad and they didn’t seem to really understand what I was saying.

Now, as I’ve said already – people have said that the plot wasn’t that great.  I don’t know about that.  From my viewpoint (and I guess I’m not being all that critical), I thought the plot was decent.  There WAS a reason for them being on the planet, there was a story to tell, rather than it just being all about the special effects.  Not only that, but there was a message and I really felt it, it really got to me and made me emotional.  It really made me think about what we do on a regular basis, without even thinking twice, and how it affects everything else.

What else can I say about this movie?  It had quite a bit of action, and at the end of the movie I felt exhausted – I was very “into” the fighting and at times I found myself holding my breath.  There were some parts that had me nervous (in that “something is about to jump out at me” way), but that may be just because I’m a scaredy cat. There was a bit of comedy, which had the audience laughing aloud.  And of course, a bit of romance too… basically it had something for everyone.

Oh yeah, and btw… it’s a long movie. About 2 and a half hours. And honestly?  It felt long at times.  I checked my watch quite a bit, more than I usually do during a movie.  I think a few scenes could have been made shorter, but at the same time, at the end I was surprised to find it over.  I didn’t want to leave the world James Cameron had created.

And, on that note, I will say that I kind of want to see it again already.  If anyone lives near me and wants to go… let’s go!  I definitely think I’ll buy it on DVD (although I’m sure it won’t be the same experience as IMAX 3D)… and if there’s a sequel, I’ll be there.

So, in the end, I have to give this movie a good review… let’s say 4 1/2 stars out of 5 (minus half a star for it feeling long, and for an annoying character that was just overly evil). I’m sure there are people that will disagree with me, as there always is… and, who knows… maybe I just liked it because I wasn’t expecting much.  But it’s nice to be pleasantly surprised by a movie, it’s nice to walk out of the theater wanting more… and the next day, all of it (the special effects, the characters, the plot) is still on my mind.  That’s what I consider a pretty good movie-going experience. :)

Have you seen Avatar?  Do you have any additional thoughts you’d like to leave?  And, if you haven’t seen it already… are you planning on going?

[As always, my movie reviews are *spoiler free*.]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a movie review… I haven’t been out to see anything good lately, unfortunately.  However, my brother came into town and had been wanting to watch New Moon so I said I’d go see it with him.  I wasn’t a fan of the Twilight movie so I figured I’d only go if I wasn’t paying.

Now, I read all the books but I never was a die hard fan like so many people out there are – I’ve always thought that the writing was pretty childish and the character Bella kind of annoyed me.  I read each book exactly once and I hadn’t read New Moon in over a year so I couldn’t remember what happened in the book – therefore, I will not be comparing the book to the movie.  As for the movie Twilight, I really did not like it.  Part of that I blame on the fact that I watched it at home and didn’t watch it continuously – I paused it repeatedly to do things around the house instead of sitting in a theater and watching it all the way through.  Oh and while I watched it, I was multitasking – I barely remember what happened in it.  But most of all, I thought the movie took the worst parts of the book and put them together – most of the movie ended up being of Bella pining away for a vampire and you didn’t really get to see WHY she was so interested in him, in my opinion.   The whole relationship felt forced to me.  (And I’m not a fan of Kristen Stewart but that’s another story.)

So, I didn’t have high standards for New Moon. However, I had heard from MANY people that this movie was better than the first, so I was curious to see it.  And, like I said, if my brother is paying – why not?

I will agree that this movie is better than the first.  Surprisingly, my brother liked Twilight better – but he says it was because he preferred seeing Edward (the vampire) and Edward doesn’t play as large of a role in this movie, Jacob does instead (who my brother is not a fan of).  I’m not a huge fan of either (don’t ask me which team I’m on because I wouldn’t pick) so that didn’t play a role in my preferring this film.  I think I just liked it because there was more to it than just watching Bella pining away for Edward.  Kind of.

I mean, there was a lot of pining, trust me.  And that’s what gets me, and it got to me during the books – she’s so dramatic.  I don’t remember ever being THAT dramatic over a guy, and I’ve had my moments, believe me.  But whatever.

I will say that you probably want to read the books before the movie.  And you’ll definitely need to see the first Twilight movie before seeing this one.  Having forgot what happened in the books and the first movie, I found myself asking my brother a lot of questions.  Plus I think the book explains things better, but don’t books always?

I’m having a hard time reviewing this movie without discussing what actually happens in the books and movies.  Really hard.  So, to sum it up… I thought it was worth the money.  I *might* even watch it again.  Maybe.  I think the special effects were pretty good so it might be worth it to see the movie for that alone.  Now, if you’re a huge fan of the books and especially if you’re Team Jacob, I’m sure you love this movie and in fact, have already seen it at least once by now.  If you’re like me – have read the books but not a die hard fan, I think you might like this movie too.  It’s worth at least one viewing, I would say.

Oh yeah and the ring that Bella wears during the movie – it would make a nice Christmas present for me.  That’s all I’m saying.  I couldn’t stop staring at it. :)

Day 27/30 of NaBloPoMo… reviewed!

Before I get to my spoiler-free movie review, I have to write about why I wanted to throttle my father today.  I got home from the gym today and Bay wasn’t anywhere in the room… not on the bed, in her cave, under the bed.  Not a good sign.  I started looking everywhere she could be… but still, no Bay.  I asked my dad if he had seen her and he mentioned that he had gone into the garage to get something and oh maybe she got in there.  Say what?!  My mom had left for church while I was out and I had visions of Bay getting out of the house… and getting into trouble.  But no, my dad insisted that he had seen Bay since my mother left.

So I turned the house upside down, yelled at my father to help look for her (he had been just yelling for her, which does no good) and was on the verge of tears when my dad finally found her: she had indeed gotten into the garage and then tucked herself away in the corner, underneath some table thingy.  Oh my word, I’ve never been so happy to see her… poor thing, I think she was completely freaked out too.  Unfortunately, my dad still doesn’t think that leaving doors open does any harm… as he said, “she didn’t get anywhere…”  Um, she got into the garage.  That’s somewhere.

ANYWAY, on to my move review… “The Time Traveler’s Wife”.  I had been looking forward to this movie for ages – I have read this book multiple upon multiple times and it has been a favorite of mine.  Plus I adore Rachel McAdams and the movie previews looked so good… however, I tried not to get my hopes up because movies are never as good as books.

I’m afraid I cannot be objective on this review whatsoever – the *entire* time I was comparing the book to the movie.  Even worse than when I saw Harry Potter.  So I honestly can’t step back from the book and say how I felt about the movie apart from the book.  In fact, I don’t even really know how I felt about the movie – I didn’t hate, but I didn’t love it.  I would watch it again but I don’t know that I would pay to watch it again.  I did think the acting was good, it moved me to tears at the end, and the premise itself is interesting, if not a bit hard to wrap your head around.  However, I didn’t think the characters were the well developed, especially the supporting characters – in fact, you almost kind of wonder why the supporting characters were there, since they left out most everything about them from the book.

I do thing that it is probably better to read the book first, because the movie left out so much that some parts might be a bit confusing.  That being said, I can’t get over how MUCH the movie left out.   They left out scenes I didn’t particularly care for but also scenes that I considered important, that I wanted to see in the movie. They cut out entire characters that were very significant in the book (tho, granted, I never did like Ingrid).  I missed that they didn’t focus on Claire (the main & title character)’s early childhood, like they did in the book – it made everything more magical somehow.  In fact, the relationship between Henry (btw I love the way Rachel McAdams says that name) and Claire seems more magical in the book… I missed that.

I’m not sure what else to say.  I guess I basically found the movie disappointing, and I really wanted to like it.  I still recommend the book and if anything, I do think people might like to see the movie after reading the book.

I hope that make sense.  I’m almost tempted to watch the movie again to try to make more sense of it.

There’s really something nice about getting free tickets to an early screening of a movie, especially a movie I’ve been dying to see.  And I’ve been dying to see “Julie & Julia” ever since I first saw the trailer, months ago.  Granted, I didn’t expect to be sitting waaaay down at the front, due to my having mixed up the theaters and us showing up later than I hoped, but even though my neck was sore, I still had a great time.

The movie itself, if you didn’t know, follows 2 stories: it intertwines the story of Julia Child, following her through cooking school in Paris and working on her now-famous cookbook, with that of Julie Powell, a writer who decides to write a blog where she attempts to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s book (all 524 of them) in one year.

I thought it was a very well-done movie… I really enjoyed it.  There were several moments that made me laugh, made me “awww”… the whole audience seemed to be really invested in the characters, which I think shows that the movie was both well-written and well-acted.  The movie really made me hungry (I drooled over most of the food that they showed) and kind of inspired me to want to cook… I know my mom now wants to buy the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, so maybe I’ll get to test out a few recipes myself.  Okay, knowing my mother, I will be forced to test out some recipes.

What was kind of interesting to me, in a very self-absorbed way, was that Julie was undertaking a project 365 of her own and I felt like I was able to relate to her.  I mean, granted it was in cooking and not in pictures, plus she had to do more than 365 (since she had to do more than 1 recipe a day).. but every day for a year, and then blogging about it.. sounds familiar to me.  Plus, as a new blogger myself, I was able to relate to her days as a new blogger – wondering if anyone was reading the blog, being excited for a comment… granted I don’t foresee newspaper articles written about me or book deals in my near future, but I’m okay with that.   Oh and if you’re wondering, her blog where she wrote The Julie/Julie Project still exists, and is a very good read, if slightly hard to navigate – I’ve been going through it all morning.

I will say there is one thing that I didn’t like about the ending.  I won’t give it away but if you’ve seen it/once you’ve seen it, you probably will know what I’m talking about.  I know that they probably included it because it really happened, but it just felt like a kick in the stomach to me and therefore the ending wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been.

That being said, this movie is definitely DVD-worthy to me, and I will be buying it the day it comes out.  I also am now interested in reading both books that this movie is based on, Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in France by Julia Child.  I guess a trip to the bookstore is in order!

[As always, my reviews are 100% spoiler-free!]

Today the movie “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” came out and, well, there’s just something I love about seeing movies when they’re first released.  I don’t really like having to wait until weeks after the movie has already come out, or even days… I’d rather see it straight away.  So off I went this morning.

Now I will say that I am a big fan of the Harry Potter series, both the books and the movies.  I had wanted to reread Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before seeing the movie but unfortunately it is packed away in my storage unit and I never got around to getting it out.  So therefore, I’m afraid I can’t really compare the movie to the book… although I did spend some time looking online to find the differences, after I got back from seeing the movie.

All in all, I thought the movie was really well done.  I thought it was an accurate depiction of the book, from what I can recall.  It was a very dark movie, but considering the storyline, it had to be dark.  Felt very moody too, and definitely sad at points – the climax of the movie made me tear up, even though I knew what was coming.  There were several light moments that made me and the audience laugh, and of course there were those “romantic” scenes every once in a while, which I found somewhat annoying at times.  It slowed down the action, but then again I think it was like that in the books too.

Now, to nitpick a bit: for a movie called “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, the “half-blood prince” part of the title didn’t play as big of a role as I think it should have.  I believe it was more important in the book and here it seemed like it was almost an after thought. But I guess that’s what happens when you have such a big book to condense into a small movie. Well not small, the movie was 2 and a half hours and I felt it… I found myself checking my watch a few times, but not *too* often.

So all in all, I would have to say I really enjoyed the movie.  I probably would watch it again, and I’d like to own it on DVD someday – I don’t own any of the DVDs anymore but I’d like to get the whole set eventually.  If you haven’t seen the last movie (and don’t read the books), you might want to watch it because they don’t really set up the characters or what already happened anymore, they assume that you know all about what’s going on and if you don’t, you’ll be lost.  Reading the books would probably help, there were a few instances where I found myself referring back to the book in order for an explanation that was otherwise not given… but I don’t think it’s necessary to read the book before watching the movie.

Has anyone else seen this movie yet?  Have any additional thoughts?  Or… are you going to see it?  Hmm… what other questions can I ask?  :)

First off… this review is completely spoiler free… so have no fear and read away!

So I went to see the movie “My Sister’s Keeper” with my mom today, a movie I had kind of looked forward to seeing since I heard it was being made.  I say kind of because I’m always hesitant when books I love turn into movies.. you never know what you’re going to get.  A while back I read that the ending had changed and I was a bit concerned: while I didn’t really like the ending in the book, I didn’t know if the new ending was going to be better.

Anyway, let’s talk about the movie without comparing it to the book.  It was a very heavy movie, very sad and I left pretty much feeling like I had been punched in the heart.  Few light moments or laughs, this was just pure depression.  My mom cried throughout the movie, but then again she’s been known to tear up easily.  I think twice I found myself a bit emotional but I didn’t cry.  I was too busy getting upset with how the movie was shaping up.  Now I accept that my view might be biased, but I thought the movie was poorly done.  The characters felt undeveloped, there were a few that were barely explained and you kind of wondered why they were there at all.  Plus there was a device in the movie, a scrapbook (not in the book) that basically kind of helped you figure out the whole “twist” so that it wasn’t a surprise anymore.  All in all, it was basically just a drain and I left feeling gutted.

Now, as someone who has read the book multiple times, I have plenty of thoughts about the way the book was adapted.  The main thing is the ending: not only was it changed, but I thought it was changed badly.  As I said, I wasn’t fond of the way the book ended but now, I really appreciate it.  The way this movie ended was awful, plain and simple – there really is no other way to put it.  But I wish that was all… they also omitted several major plot points: the guardian ad litum didn’t exist, the whole back story with the brother didn’t happen (which I thought was pretty significant) .  The lawyer’s story was rushed too, in the book I enjoyed reading about him but here you barely understand anything about him.  And, most importantly, the little nuances were left out, so you didn’t really get to see how the father and Anna bonded, how Anna was treated by her mother compared to her sister… basically the whole movie felt rushed (even though it also felt like it dragged on) so you didn’t really feel like there was any tension in the family, considering that the daughter is suing the parents.  Essentially, there’s very little about the book that made it to the movie, which is sad.  I thought it could have been done so much better.

I think maybe it’s time for me to pull out the book and give it another reread… make me feel better about the movie it somehow turned into.  That is, after I let my mom read it.

Sorry for the cheesy title… I really hate thinking these things up, I’m no good at them.

Anyway, the movie “The Proposal” came out today and I’ve been excited for this movie since I first saw the trailer – I mean, yes, I was excited about it because it looked funny and all that but…. Ryan Reynolds really sold it for me.  Wow, I just love him.  I mean, have you seen him?  He’s just tall and lanky and fit… and I’m drooling now.  Okay he’s gorgeous, we’ll leave it at that.

But… oh my word, I was not prepared for what a great movie it was.  Seriously, the funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time.  Really.  But don’t just take it from me… take it from these signs:

Ways you can tell a movie is great:

• When you and your 2 friends are doubled over, hysterically laughing for a good couple of minutes.
• When your friend tells you she had to wipe away *tears*, she was laughing so hard.
• When the whole theater is roaring in laughter… multiple times throughout the movie.
• When you end up spitting out the water you were taking a sip of, because a certain scene cracked you up (yup, seriously happened to me).
• When you and your friend turn to each other in the *middle* of the movie and say “I HAVE to get this when it comes out on DVD”.
• When all three of you come out of the theater and before you part ways, you cannot stop raving about how funny the movie was, and how you can’t wait to buy it.

So… you convinced yet?  Yes, it’s a “chick flick” but I really do think guys could like it… one of my friends even thought her husband would like it.  Without spoiling anything, it wasn’t 100% predictable, it did have some touching moments, but beyond that… it was just a really great, fun movie.

Meanwhile, this is my 365 picture for today… my notebook that I started carrying everywhere.  I got it at Starbucks (lol, surprised?) and it has nice little quotes on the bottom of some of the pages.  Anyway, the edges are worn from being tossed around inside my purse but I love it.  As I’ve said before, my memory is pretty bad (in fact, I always just say “I have no memory”) and with so much to do to move and so on, this notebook has been my lifeline.  I know, I have a Blackberry and probably could use that to keep track of everything… but there’s something about seeing it written down…

So I had been wanting to see “My Life in Ruins” ever since I first saw the previews for it.  It looks like a light, funny rom-com and it’s set in Greece, which is one of my dream destinations.  I have to say… it was not what I was expecting at all.

First of all, the group of tourists are supposed to be annoying cliches.  Unfortunately they are just that… annoying for most of the movie.  I didn’t really like them (except for Richard Dreyfuss but I think I just love him from “Mr. Holland’s Opus”)… in fact they grated on my nerves.  Plus there were very few funny parts… some jokes or sarcastic remarks that in your head you chuckle but you don’t bust out laughing aloud.  The theater was pretty much silent for the first hour of the movie.

But then a funny thing happened.  Suddenly the characters became less annoying and more sweet.  The jokes got funnier or something because the audience and I started cracking up more.  The guy that is the love interest in the movie started becoming cuter… in fact at one point, I literally sighed at what he did.   By the end of the movie, I was actually pleased and thought the movie turned around and became pretty good.

In other unrelated but totally exciting news… I’m working toward my goals of getting healthy!  First of all, I don’t feel as addicted to caffeine as I used to be… I have 2 more sodas left in my fridge that I’ll finish up this week and I don’t have any intention to buy anymore.  As much as I love Starbucks, I’m staying away (better for my wallet too),  although I think I can still have it as a treat every once in a while.  Just not, you know, 2-3 times a week like I was doing before.

But the big news is that I finally went to that outdoor track today.  Now I haven’t been walking/jogging in about 8 years so I took it slow.   I did only 3 laps (1 lap = half a mile), mostly walking but I did a bit of jogging too.  Next time I plan on doing at least 4 laps, if not more… and I’d like to gradually build myself up to more jogging and less walking.  Anyway, I managed to get out, get a bit of exercise, work up a bit of a sweat… so I’m proud.  Although, I’m thinking that the sweat might have to do with the fact that even at 5pm, it was still 99 degrees outside.

All in all a good day, made better by the fact that even though the weekend is over… I don’t have to work tomorrow cuz I’m on vacation!  Woohoo!

About this picture… at around 2am I woke up to this really loud thunderstorm. I sleep with a pretty noisy fan in my room (can’t sleep without it) so I usually don’t wake up too much but this storm was loud and there was a lot of lightning. We haven’t had a GOOD t’storm in ages and my first thought was, ‘try to take a picture of the lightning!’. Just when I was about to call myself crazy, some friends on twitter encouraged me to do the same thing. So I dragged myself out of bed and outside in my pajamas to try to take pictures of the lightning.

I tried using the self timer on the camera but in the 5 seconds before it would take the shot, the lightning would happen and then it would be over by the time the shot was taken. So I just went with the good ol’ ‘cross the fingers and take a picture randomly’ method. This is what I came up with. I’m actually pleased with it, good for my first attempt and so even though the buildings are blurry, I’m going with it.

Now, I have to do a mini movie review. I know, it’s not Sunday but this is more like a “I just saw a movie and you HAVE to watch it”. The past few days, the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” (also spelled Pyjamas) was the talk of the kindergarten teachers. One of them raved about the movie, and shared it with one teacher, who passed it on to the next teacher. Eventually I ended up with it and was seriously forced to watch it. I wasn’t really into it at first, playing on twitter and flickr while it was on in the background. Then suddenly, it got really interesting. Very interesting. Horrifying and tragic but so very interesting.

Anyway, I don’t recommend you find out about the movie before you watch it, just know that it’s set during WWII and it’s about a boy who befriends another boy, who is on the other side of the fence at a camp. Know that it’s sad but powerfully moving. And that I recommend it.

Another movie that I recommend is called “Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father”. It’s a documentary and the best thing I can tell you is do NOT google it. Seriously. Don’t. If you google it, you will ruin it for yourself. Just know that it is one of the most amazing documentaries I have ever seen, and it really is powerful.  I watched it back in January and it got me sad, it got me angry… I ranted about it for days after I saw it. It has nothing to do with “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”, the only reason I thought of it was because I went into both movies knowing nothing and I think that’s part of the reason why they affected me so much.

I bet you guys are off googling now, aren’t you? Stop that and leave me comment love instead!

Man that was fast. Feels like I was just thinking about all the pictures I have to take this month and suddenly it’s time to make my May mosaic. Edited to add: so I had originally taken a different shot of the blackberries but wasn’t happy with how it turned out.  Turns out the ISO was at 1600 so the pic came out grainy.  Once that was pointed out to me, I reshot it, and since I turned on the overhead light, I think it made the bokeh more sparkley.  Yay, I’m happier with it now.

Oh movie review! So after much debate, I went to see “Angels & Demons”. I had originally wanted to see it because I read the book back in college, but then the friend that I saw “The Da Vinci Code” with reminded me that I fell asleep during that movie. Not a good sign. Anyway, I ended up going… and since I read the book over 5 years ago, I went in knowing absolutely nothing and expecting the same.

I’m still not sure how I feel about the movie. I didn’t love it enough to watch it again (or buy it on DVD for that matter) but I didn’t hate it enough to tell people not to see it. I loved the way they captured Italy, it was really beautiful to watch and made me more determined to go there and take pictures of my own… I thought it was quite violent to a point… there wasn’t a lot of violence but what was portrayed was, I thought, particularly gruesome… which I didn’t really appreciate. Beyond that… I guess I’ll say, if you are looking for a thriller, you might enjoy this movie. Looking for comedy, or a light ‘sit back and enjoy’ movie… this isn’t it, it requires a bit of thinking.

One more note. You might have noticed that my reviews (if you could call them as much… they’re more like my random observations) don’t contain any spoilers. They never will. Last night I was directed to a blog that had a review about “Angels & Demons” and the author of the blog totally spilled the beans as to a major plot point. (Sidebar: saying SPOILER in capital letters a mere space away from revealing something isn’t helpful… my eyes move faster than my brain and I read the spoiler before my brain could process what was happening. Or something.) Having forgotten what happened in the book, it was kind of a bummer because as soon as the actor she referenced came on the screen, it was all I could think of and I think maybe I would have enjoyed the movie more if I didn’t see it coming.

Last thing, I promise.  During the opening (and end credits) I had a funny thought: you know you spend too much time on flickr, when you’re watching the beginning of “Angels & Demons” and all you can think is, “ooooh look at all the pretty bokeh dots!” Lol!