January 15th, 2010 · 1 Comment
On Wednesday night I went to see Avatar in 3D at the IMAX theater with Dallas, Brian, Chad and Limey. These were the awesome glasses we got to wear! They were huge! And it was funny to turn to my friends during the movie and see them wearing them!!
So.. the movie. You know, there’s been so much hype about Avatar. Even before it premiered. And I remember hearing interviews with James Cameron going on about how this is his passion and his life’s work and how it was going to be bigger than his other movie Titanic and it was going to push the boundries technically and be better than Star Wars in its day or LOTR in its day. And I was kind of like “er. ok. whatever, dude!” But, I must say. I really liked it.
At its core it’s a story we’ve all heard a million times before. You know.. outsider infiltrates group and has an alterior motive. Group accepts him and he learns all about them and becomes one of them. Group finds out about alterior motives. Outsider must explain that those were the motives in the beginning but not any more. And there’s a romantic plot. And there’s a lot of action scenes with the big bad commander who will stop at nothing. This is nothing new. But the movie itself is gorgeous and fast paced. It’s something like 3 hours long, but doesn’t feel like it is. And the way that Cameron brings you into this new world, called Pandora, is really interesting.
As far as technology? Yes, some of the best CGI I’ve ever seen. .. and then add 3D. But, not your normal cheesy 3D, like the movies in the past that were just made for 3D and for messing with the technology. You know, things coming out at the audience on purpose just to make you jump. This is not like that. It’s more like you just feel like you’re a part of the movie. Of course, that huge IMAX screen didn’t hurt either.
So, overall, I think the story was weak, but the graphics were strong and it was still really fun to watch. Definitely worth the time and money.
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Tags:3d·avatar·brian·chad·Chicago·dallas·imax·limey·movies·navy pier

Jen & Chad

Dallas, Chen-Je, Paul

Jen & Halle

Diane, Quinn, Kristin

Chad & Jen with their new niece Halle

Rachelle & Cousin

Family Photo: Brian, Jill, Halle

Phil, Abby, Ed. Baby Jonah is in the bjorn!

Meg & Chad

Jill & Halle
This was the 5th year in a row that we have gone to Jen and Chad’s house for New Years Eve (2008, 2007, 2006, 2005). The party there has become very family friendly as many of our friends have children now. It is nice that there’s a place for our friends with families to hang out that is nice and relaxing and has other kids to play with. It was fun to see everyone and to meet Abby and Phil’s baby Jonah for the first time. He was the youngest at the party, only 6 weeks old! Kristin made a ton of food, plenty of pupus and some roast beef sandwiches, so we went to the party for dinner and stayed til about 10 p.m. before heading to our second party of the night.
Like last year, we gave Quinn his Christmas gift at the party. It was a tool box with tools in it and a book about a monkey with a tool belt. Quinn loved the tools and wouldn’t even open the book once he saw them. Then we finally got him to open the book with the use of the tools. Pretty funny. Now he can help Chad with “projects” around the house. Quinn also got to help open our gift for Halle, which was the Friend Brigade. I saw these for sale at Renegade and bought a set from their creator on Etsy.

Quinn excited to have a gift to open

Tools!

Using the tools to open the other gift
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Tags:abby·brian·chad·chen-je·Chicago·christmas·cousin·dallas·diane·halle·jen·jill·jonah·kristin·meg·new years eve·paul·phil·quinn·roscoe village

Eric

Kevin

Jeremy

Rick

Don

Frank

Waleed & Marlena

Bekah, Ben, Rudy, Don, Adam

Ronald, David, Manvesh, AJ, Waleed

Lynnanne, Aimee, Anjum

Shanks & Eric

Teal

Geoff (CTO) & Jeff (CXO)

Anjum & Marcel

Thomas, Sean, Gary, Jim, Shaun

Ashish & Brian

Jory, Mike, David, Craig

Rossanne & Ryan

Tony & Juan

Tony, Fadi, Erika

Adam
Last week Roundarch had it’s annual Summer Event, which consists of an all-night party and an all-day meeting with everyone from all of our offices in town to attend. It was great to see everyone that I work with in other offices and the party was so much fun. And the after party. The after after party, I can’t say… I went home at 2 and others were still going out for more! As for the meeting, it was actually pretty entertaining… not like the dry all-staff meetings I was used to at other places I’ve worked. Great event, Roundarch!
- Roundarch Summer Event 2008
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Tags:adam·aimee·aj·anjum·ashish·bekah·ben·brian·Chicago·craig·david·don·eric·erika·fadi·frank·gary·geoff·jeff·jeremy·jim·jory·juan·kevin·lynnanne·manvesh·marcel·marlena·mike·rick·river east arts center·ronald·rossanne·roundarch·rudy·ryan·sean·shanks·shaun·streeterville·teal·thomas·tony·waleed