Cloverfield. NO SPOILERS.

I was amazingly surprised by this movie! I went to see it thinking that I'd be unimpressed, but I really liked it a lot! I think a big part of the reason I did like it so much is that, as Rich put it -- it's a big monster movie, but the monster doesn't really matter. It was more about the people than the monster. ^_~

I knew that this was in the style of the Blair Witch Project, but really I feel like it was so much better. BWP was pretty boring. In Cloverfield, I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat, but it certainly never lost my attention. There were very few parts where I had to actually stretch my suspension of disbelief (which, for me, doesn't stretch too far, I admit).

Some fun facts:

- We got there just in time for the previews, so we had to sit in the front row. Joy.
- Someone screwed up so we got to see the previews for The Ruins (boo) and Star Trek (just a teaser), twice.
- The day of the attack was my birthday, May 22nd. >_<;
- One part reminded me of Henry and Silent Hill 4.
- 4 of the actors from the movie were in the theater with us! After the movie Hud said some stuff; it was cool! I love going to the Regal and AMC theaters on opening night! Always tons of surprises.

Still doing laundry right now; and not really packed yet. Ahhh, it feels like a con. I will probably get an hour or two of sleep. Sigh.

Greetings from ConCon!

So I had the expected two hours of sleep, got on the bus at Port Authority and we were in Philly at 10:30am. Picked up the car and went into the city. South Street feels kind of like Haight Street in San Francisco. But more diverse, so actually kind of interesting and funny. Lots of sex shops, clothing shops. We went into a goth/rock/punk store that had moved around the corner from its previous location -- where it had been since 1980, apparently one of the first punk stores in the nation. Supposedly they'd opened one year before Trash & Vaudeville on St. Marks. The women there were really cool and after we mentioned that we were visiting this weekend from NYC, they talked to us for a bit about goth clubs and interesting places to visit in Philly.

Oh man! Jim recommended going to Jim's Steaks on South Street & 4th Avenue. When we got there it hadn't opened yet, but on the way back we passed it and there was a line out the door and around the corner! I'm looking forward to going there at some point before we leave. (I also have to remember to tell Jim that I have now experienced and more fully understand the benefits of a GPS if you're driving in an area you don't know. It's pretty darn cool. Still, I wouldn't go somewhere dependant only on a GPS, I'd still bring a map with me.)

Anyway, after eating and taking a little time around the South Street area, we went over to the Mütter Museum. It's a bit smaller than I had thought it would be, but it was full of fascinating stuff. Took about 2 hours there before driving over to check into the hotel. I could have stayed a little longer, but it was crowded in there and I'd given my full attention to everything that I thought looked particularly interesting. I really enjoyed it; I'm really glad we went!

We have a tour reserved at the Eastern State Pen tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be able to get to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and possibly the Rodin Collection by the end of the trip.