Avatar: The Way of Water, Christmas & End of 2022 Thoughts

This will be shorter than I planned on it being; a movie I thought would be seen theatrically will be put off until the first week of ’23 as with all the college football bowl games on, that provided me enough entertainment. As typical, nothing of note will be done on New Year’s Eve; considering that I encountered dumb people while on the way to pick up pizza earlier in the day, there’s another reason to not go out.

BTW, traffic in Florida has not gotten any better since the last few times I brought it up. Besides today, there was me travelling somewhere on Christmas Day and in a rotary I was almost sideswiped! Thankfully I was wary of that vehicle seconds before but perhaps I should have been even more wary and made sure they passed by before proceeding… but otherwise Christmas was a nice day spent with family. While that day will never feel the same after Mom passed away, there’s still the lights, the family I still have and various ephemera to make me still like the end of the year. 2022 had even more ups and downs than usual (no specifics on the various negatives) so all I can hope for is a better 2023. I’ll return sometime in January and already planned is at least one theatrical movie and me visiting a new location or two.

I’ll close this out by mentioning that despite various story issues with Avatar: The Way of Water, I was still glad to see it on the big screen earlier in December. Like with the first film, the visuals carried everything else. All that said, at least the plot itself was better… not to mention relatable with the focus on family. The spectacle and action were all better, along with the technology that brought Pandora to life. Unlike in far too many movies in recent year, it wasn’t full of bad comedy or “humor” that just wasn’t needed in a scene. There are many ways to see the sequel; I chose a giant Dolby Cinema at AMC screen showing it in 3D, which meant it was also High Frame Rate. This meant that often the picture would switch between the standard 24 frames per second to 48; the latter makes it look clearer although for some it will never appear quite right. I never had any problem with it… until this screening where the action at 48 fps looked to be in fast-forward. As up to now I haven’t seen anyone else mention that, it was my brain telling me that and it was strange, although that aspect did not ruin the experience. 2022 was a year of movies that were disappointing, mediocre, or just plain bad… at least films like Avatar 2 and the Top Gun sequel were fun.

Nifty Nut House, Hog Wild Pit Bar-B-Q, Papa's General Store & Other Kansas Adventures

First off, I'll wish everyone both a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. At the very end of the year I'll discuss things I've done as of late in Florida (including seeing Avatar: The Way of Water, which I enjoyed more than the first, mainly for the visuals and 3D rather than the story) but now, I will talk about my time in Kansas. Unlike in years past when it was right before Christmas, due to high ticket prices I was in Wichita from Sunday the 11^th of this month through Friday the 16^th. Given the impact of the winter storm Elliott & brutally cold weather in Kansas this week, I was SO lucky things worked out this way. It still felt like Christmas when I was there so no complaints.

The flight there was another lucky break: I was in an aisle seat AND it was an exit row, so it was quite a bit more comfortable than the way back. Both flights were fine and I really can't complain. While in Kansas it was time spent with a sister, her beau and several young boys, which was as chaotic as always yet everyone was happy to see me, and likewise. The toddler that befriended me last year was still my buddy this year. In fact he was quite sad when I left; the feeling was mutual. I won't discuss all the activities done (including a birthday party) or the one restaurant experience that wasn't good... concerning the latter, it's more because I want to be nice during the holidays. I mean, I could mention the awful restaurant experience in Florida I had earlier in the month or make public my feelings of Schadenfreude by mentioning the place I ranted about last year being closed down recently due to sanitation violations... but I'll be cheerful right before Christmas so instead I'll mention the food I had while in Kansas.

It ranged from pizza at Wichita Brewing Company (it was actually food we picked up and brought back home), barbecue, chicken fingers from a place (Big Larry's) I ordered burgers from last year, and the night before I returned home, a Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. I hadn't been to one of those places since mom passed away; it was nice to experience that again. Speaking of old experiences, for the first time in perhaps 20 or so years I had a sandwich at a Schlotzsky's Deli. All those places I mentioned offered good food. In addition, one early afternoon candy was purchased from Nifty Nut House; the amount of nuts and different candy they had was incredible.

It was nice seeing everyone out there as it's always a nice tradition. When I return about a week from now I'll catch up on Florida events which will include the weather that is cold by Florida standards, movies such as the Avatar sequel and others, & what I did on Christmas day. One last thing: I realized on the flight to Wichita that this is the first time I had been on a plane without a mask in THIRTEEN years. There was a decade that passed between air travel and when I was on a place in '20 & '21, the pandemic was in full force.

Thanksgiving, Car Shows, Windermere & Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Here’s a recap of what I’ve done since the last time I wrote one of these. For Thanksgiving, time was spent in the Fort Myers area; it was interesting to see what things are like down there since Hurricane Ian. Some places don’t look too bad although others are still devastated. The people I know down there are thankfully fine after Ian--I feel awful that many others are suffering weeks later. The one interesting thing I did down there was having lunch the day after at a Lenny’s Grill & Subs, which was fine.

On Tuesday, I saw Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in the last night before it left cineplexes and will only be on Netflix starting in a few weeks. The first movie I enjoyed although I heard it has plot holes and maybe those will be apparent if that is ever watched again. The sequel is at least different and offered a decent amount of entertainment… shame that some running gags were bombs and the final 10 or so minutes were awful. They should have stopped the movie at an obvious spot instead of going on and giving us trite, laughable sentiments instead. At least the random woman who sat by me was a delight; there were some gasps when it came to the plentiful cameos and there were even several snort-laughs.

Yesterday was interesting; for the first time in several years I attended the Central Florida International Auto Show at the Orange County Convention Center. Way back when it was always during Thanksgiving weekend but that hasn’t been the case for awhile now. When I was there yesterday, it was not as busy as in past years and a few major auto manufactures (Honda, Mazda) weren’t present. That said, it was still nice to see many different models-including some electric cars-and getting to sit in them. I had an early dinner there, which was… acceptable and that’s it.

On the way back I stopped in Windermere, a ritzy town which nevertheless still has a quaint downtown and I’ve never spent a lot of time in besides driving through it on many occasions. I wish the downtown event they had wouldn’t have had deafening music because otherwise it was nice to see some food trucks and trees covered w/ lights. That’s alright, as I had some great ice cream from a local establishment: Allen’s Creamery & Coffee House. There’s a place I highly recommend.

I’ll be back… sometime shortly before Christmas.