'GIVE US SOME PICTURES GILLIS!' cried the masses

mmmm, nah, not this week.

So lately I have been taking Spin classes at the gym. Sort of difficult to start but after your third visit your butt can just sense the numbness and preps itself accordingly. So the two classes a week are normally split between two ladies who can work you pretty well through various exercises and increases in the tension. Now the last class, both ladies were on vacation, so we had Brad. Now Brad was an interesting chap. After we had gotten our bikes set up, Brad switches OFF the lights...and turns just three on, the three that shine on the little instructor stage. Yes it appears we were in for some sweat AND theatre. Well, we get going well enough but then Brad starts shouting (He has too, his music is so loud) to increease the tension levels, quarter of a turn, half a turn and whatnot. This is easier said than done as I CANNOT SEE THE FREAKIN' DIAL BRAD. Oh, and it got worse. About a half hour into it the dancing started...Now I am a playful enough guy. I will join in the stretching, and I have danced many times in clubs, but I draw the line at dancing on a bike. Well it appears that I was the only on in the class not and I get admonished by BRAD...uhhh....how can you see me, YOU TURNED THE FREAKIN'LIGHTS OUT...what a *#&@.

I suppose if that is the worst this to happen to me this summer, I will have gotten off easy.

On another note, the plans for the latest expansion at the Gillis Vineyards goes on. The pool is going to be spraymapped this Tuesday. So next summer the fine weather (32 DEGREES YESTERDAY...YEAH WE ALL LIVE IN IGLOOS) will not disturb the Gillis's. But this does raise a problem. It involves my dear friend Simon and his glorious hole. You see Simon, your hole has been replaced, made redundant, outclassed, outmoded. Basically it's old news, unwanted, unused, unappreciated.

Well, you get the idea.

So it seems that I passed all my courses (Those late night phone-crys to my profs must have worked). That means another year abroad. And then...maybe one more? or two? or sixty-three? We shall see.

I must go fold my laundry as I am going to the vineyard for the next couple of days, bruschetta and books all day mmmmm.

And I will update again next Sunday, the 6th.

Clicking off,

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A Potpourri of Gillis

You know at some point I am going to stop starting all my posts apoligizing for my delays in posting. So here it is, your last one...sorry for taking so long.

Not loads going on, I have a few brief Gillis patented film reviews, which I am sure everyone has already seen so humor me.

Superman Returns - Surprisingly decent. I am a Batman fan so I went in with a biased attitude but it was a good simple narrative (All the best stories are). A fantastic dark scene where the henchmen (Who only have one line between them, I swear) of Luthor attack superman like a pack of dogs. I was a bit put out with superman's big return to public view scene. Now I am a patriotic American as much as Chavez is, but...*sniff*, when America's favourite hero comes out of the sky and lands in the midst of America's favourite pastime, a baseball game...*choke*, well, about nine of us stood up in the theatre and sung the Star Spangled Banner...*oh*, those stars and stripes...

whoa, enough of that...

Pirates of the Caribbean:...something - Ok, just far too much, the film just went on and on with new plots of characters coming in every few minutes. I swear it was like watching Revenge of the Sith again. Pointlesslessness and onwards. Once again Orlando 'Let's see if I can have a full film career without ever learning how to act' Bloom and Keira 'AAAHHH a lens of some kind, I must pout' Knightly provide no onscreen value of any kind. On the plus side for the film, Johnny Depp, unlike what some 'accredited' critics say, was great with even more flounce and parry. Meh, my personal thoughts I know, as I am no actor. In the end though, just too long with too much plot, and to top off the cruelty played by disney, in the final moments of the film (SPOILER ALERT), a brief glimmer of hope is given in some tarnished boots coming down the stairs...OH YES let the rumors be true, let dear of Keith be here, oh please...AAAHHH, but no, no Richards, at least not until the third one.

Lady in the Water - Now I just saw this one last night, so my thoughts about it are much more fresh in mind, and I was rather more conflicted about it as well. Another M. Night Shyamalan hoper, maybe, just maybe this one will, while having a nifty secret, will turn out at the end that the secret will not also wreck the whole experience. Honestly, I have not enjoyed his other work all that much. But this one...very different. It was Comedy/Thriller/Drama all in one. REALLY difficult to do I think. And it is sort of obvious why he came up with this story, he even gets the film critic character to say it, that there is no originality left with stories, that they are all the same. Now I disliked this film most of the way through because I went in expecting to be scared, but almost at first you find yourself laughing, so it throws off your whole sense of what all his other films have done...but you will get chills, don't worry. I am now going to say that I actually really liked this film. If you go into it with no expectations you will hopefully enjoy it despite being a PG rated flick.

Well, once again I postpone any pictures, perhaps next time, which I will promise, yes promise, will be a week today.

Clicking off,

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