Brave

Brave is a nice coming-of-age story about a child that does not get along with a parent and is not growing up to be the ideal person that the parent had hoped the child would be. The child just isn't turning out to be the viking his father wants him to be . . . oh wait, wrong coming-of-age story with a strained parent-child relationship. No dragons in this movie, only bears. And it's not the father-son relationship this time, it's the mother-daughter one. So all of you ladies out there who felt robbed after How to Train Your Dragon, Pixar has finally come through for you.

Of course it's not exactly the same, but it really is. A boy who does not fit the stereotypical male role, not the tough, masculine, viking-type, but the scrawny, intellectual and curious type. A girl who isn't exactly lady-like and doesn't want to be, but would rather be out shooting arrows and living the life of a clansman. A father who does not understand his son. A mother who does not understand her daughter. A problem that can only be solved in the child's way so that the parent has to finally give notice to who he/she has been all along and what he/she has been trying to say all along. In the end (spoiler alert - oh wait, you probably already saw How to Train Your Dragon so it may not be quite the spoiler) the family is reunited with a new understanding and appreciation for each other.

And after seeing it, I'm not sure why it was called 'Brave.' Oh sure, I could make something up and draw a connection between the plot and the concept of bravery, but I feel that any such connection has to be read into the movie so much that it loses legitimacy as a title. The daughter didn't seem to have to learn to be brave, she was quite brave from the start of the movie and was definitely not a characteristic that she was lacking in. (She was probably the only one brave enough to go head to head with her mother the queen, for starters.) The mother did not seem to be lacking in bravery either (no problems taking on entire room of clansmen) and the moments when one might argue that she acted with the most bravery, I would probably respond that it wasn't from a discovery of bravery, but was an instinctive and motherly response. No other character seemed to have to learn bravery, nor would it matter, because the rest were so minor that it would not make sense to derive a title from their story. Maybe 'How to Train Your Bear' would have been more fitting . . .

I am curious if my opinions/perceptions would be different had this come out before How to Train Your Dragon, or if I were a girl. Naturally I can connect more with and understand better the character of Hiccup than the character of Merida. I would love to hear how the ladies out there respond to the show.

Of course all that being said, it's not a bad show. Predictable - yes. Done before - yes. But still cute. And the Celtic music is really nice and something different from other Disney or Pixar films. Worth seeing - probably, but not necessarily one I would go see in theaters again.

The short at the beginning (La Luna), however, is wonderful. It is simple and very endearing and heart-harming. (Probably not very masculine words for a guy to be using when describing a movie, maybe I need to go find my own dragon to train.) I must say, though, it is easily one of my favorite Pixar shorts, if not my new favorite. You just can't help but smile and feel good inside after watching it. A must-see!

Ruby River Steakhouse

It has been a while since I ate there, but an even that my taste buds will not soon forget. Since I moved to Provo, I have been trying to avoid chain restaurants and eat more at the little places that can only be found in Provo. However, I think I have only eaten at Ruby River once in my life before recently, if that. I must start out by giving a shout out to my Aunt Lola and Uncle Robert who treated me, along with my cousin Cathy to this delicious meal. So I think I will go through each item I enjoyed off of the menu. I almost want to say that I am going to go through it from least to greatest, but I hate to call anything I ate there the 'least.'

Steamed vegetables were wonderful. Of course I like steamed vegetables and the fact that they are vegetables is probably why they earn the position of 'least.' It's an item that doesn't seem too difficult to get right and when done right, there's not much to distinguish it from some other place that does them right. Anyway, these were done right. Not to mushy, but not so crisp that you might as well be eating raw vegetables. They really were just right.

Bread was really good. I remember liking it and wanting to eat more and more of it, but I can't quite remember why. It was obviously fresh and good. That's all.

Baked potato with the works (minus chives - no need for those). This was amazing. It was also perfectly cooked. Not overly cooked to where it is leather and not raw and under cooked. Just right. The kind of potato you would use a s model to teach culinary arts students how a potato should feel when you stick it after baking. The ingredients were quality all the way around, which is appreciated, and at Ruby River they dip your baked potato in a batter and fry it, which adds quite a delicious flavor to the whole experience.


The steak was excellent. I think at some point someone requested A1 sauce, which I love and usually enjoy on my steak, but I don't remember if it was ever brought to the table. Also cooked perfect to my liking, the meat was tender and nice. Not chewy or tough by any means. And the reason that no sauce was required was because it was so well seasoned and flavored that it did not need anything else. One of the best steaks I have had in a really long time.

Finally, and this may seem strange coming in as the best part of the meal, especially considering how wonderful the steak was (and I'm not joking or exaggerating on that part), but the must try for everyone going to Ruby River Steakhouse is their home brewed Cream Soda. I must confess, I have never had hand crafted cream soda before, so I don't have much to compare it to, but it was manna in beverage form. Absolutely the best soda I have ever had. A definite 'do not miss' the next time you are in Ruby River Steakhouse.

The Hunger Games

I know that it has been forever since I saw it, but I always intended to blog about the experience, I'll just have to try and recall everything I thought. I saw it when it had just come out and was in a pretty vacant theater, to which we were the first to arrive and had the seating of our choice. Why an almost vacant theater when there were lines to the door on all the other showings? They decided to throw in an extra showing since they had so many people showing up, and since the extra showing was not advertised, only those of us who happened to be at the theater at that time actually found out about it. This is a very convenient way to see a box office hit for the first time. (I did end up seeing The Hunger Games twice in theater and did not have nearly as good of a seat the second time.)

Just to get my major complaint out from the get go, I should have taken a Dramamine before going to see it. The cinematography made me sick. It took some time to adjust to it and I think I might have had to take a few minutes to get my 'land legs' back after the show was over. I have heard multiple explanations as to why the movie was filmed like it was and whether they are right or not, I certainly hope that future installments are done differently.

Now, before going any further in this critique, I have to establish that I really don't buy into comparing movies to their book counterparts. Most books aren't written as movie scripts and don't translate perfectly into movies (we have to learn to accept that); the simple length factor gets in the way of that. Movies are also money makers in different ways than books and usually attempt to appeal to a broader audience. Also, when we sit down to a book, we are making a long-term commitment, a different mentality than when we sit down to a movie. Anyway, I'm sure I could go off on this more, but I will leave it at that for now.

Having now diverged I think that my description of The Hunger Games would be that it is the one movie that I have seen that has best captured the feel of a page-turner. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat the entire time, often catching myself holding my breath. The funny thing is, I knew what was going to happen. I had read the book. Yet, I still felt this intensity that was well captured by the film. It was also one of those movies where you did not feel the time go by and you really did walk out of the theater surprised that so much time had passed.

That's about all I have for you on this one. I really need to work on writing more regularly so that I preserve all of my thoughts.