Come on ride the train

After a sort of aggravating day, at least I can look back fondly on the train ride through Scotland's countryside. Tori and I took a trip on the rails to Edinburgh to map out the route to Edinburgh Napier Campus.

The trip on the train took about an hour and was surprisingly quiet. At one point I accidentally fell asleep on Tori's shoulder. Fortunately that wasn't until the trip back. It was really cool seeing the strewn about stone structures that littered the landscape. A house here and there, some barns, and even a few Scottish horses.

The most impressive thing, however, was how green and lush the rolling hills looked. More will come about Edinburgh, but for now this is all I've got to share. A little hint...it looks exactly how you'd imagine.

Italian lunch in Glasgow

Hey Everybody,

Just got back from strolling around the north/west side of Glasgow where Tori and I had lunch at a place called Mancini. Many who know me know that I'm a bit of a picky eater but this place was delicious. I had some lasagna that sat in a shallow meat and cheese sauce with garlic bread. However, because I was too hungry to wait for this meal to cool off before eating I've now scalded my mouth. Damn.

The only real negative thing about the meal - as is the case with eating at most places - was the lack of refills on refreshments. It's weird, but Coke actually costs more then beer or wine here and there are no free refills. And often times water costs money because it's bottled. It seems Glasgow is determined to make me drink as much alcohol as possible.

Anyway, not much new is happening here; we're still waiting to hear back from the letting agency if we got the place or not. I'll probably spend the next few hours reading and walking around the town. Perhaps a pub later tonight or drinks at the hotel, either way I'm thinking Glasgow will convince me to have a drink or two this evening. Cheers!

THE GUARD REVIEW

For everyone who saw and loved In Bruges, have I got the next movie for you…The Guard. This is a fantastic piece of cinema brought to us by John Michael McDonagh, the brother of Martin McDonagh, who was writer/director of In Bruges. This is the first major film directed by John Michael McDonagh and it does not disappoint.

Set in western Ireland, The Guard begins with an aerial view of a drunk driver cruising down the highway at high speeds. Right from the start it’s easy to understand where the humor will come from – Brendan Gleeson, who also played a large role in In Bruges. The car goes out of frame, skids, squeals, and crashes in front of Gleeson’s patrol car. Oh, did I mention he’s a cop this time? Quite the role reversal. The crash wakes him – slowly – from his day dream and he pulls up to check out the scene. After rummaging through the pockets of one of the people in the car he finds a bag of drugs, which he tosses away from the body, though, not before dropping a tablet of acid for himself. Cut to introductory credits.

If this doesn’t get you off, leave the theatre and begin questioning your understanding of what’s funny. The rest of the movie is comprised of smartass remarks and brilliant dry humor.

Don Cheadle plays a straight laced, by the books, FBI agent from the States investigating a drug smuggling scheme that’s rumored to be happening in the area. These two must work together to crack an overlapping case (Cheadle’s looking for the drug lords, Gleeson’s looking for murder suspects – the same people). It’s a good buddy-cop narrative between the two and they work really well together.

I don’t want to gush too much more over this movie, just go see it. I’ll leave you with a quote that should depict a fair picture about the humor in this movie:
Gleeson: I'm Irish. Racism is part of my culture.

See this movie. Until next time folks, cheers!

TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL

I just finished up watching Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, in the hotel on this rainy day in Glasgow, and, I must say, it was quite entertaining. I went into this movie thinking that it would probably be pretty stupid but after watching it in its entirety I was pleasantly surprised. The roles of hillbillies, Tucker and Dale, played by Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine, were very funny. The chemistry between the two seemed very natural. They are supposed to be two bumbling fools that just purchased a piece of shit cabin in the middle of no where, which, Tucker continuously gloats as his "vacation house." All they want is a place they can call their own where they can fish to their hearts content. Unfortunately some paranoid college kids won't let them be.


The worst part about this film is the acting on the part of the college kids. None of them seem like they could be classified as anything more than a - and this is generous -  B-List actor/actress and it occasionally distracts from the actual comedy that's happening in the scene. The lead female, played by Katrina Bowden (Cherie from "30 Rock"), is the best of these young actors. However, that's not saying much since every other scene she's knocked unconscious and carried back to Tucker and Dale's cabin.


All-in-all, if you're a fan of the horror/comedy genre (Sam Raimi films or the works of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost ) then this is a film you'll enjoy. I give this film a 6.5-7 on a scale of 1-10 for the comedy and closer to a low 5/10 in terms of horror and gore. Check it out if you've got a free 82 minutes to kill and you'll be pleasantly surprised as well. Cheers!

Let's see how this goes...

It is now day six here in Scotland and I'm finally getting around to starting this up. It's been an interesting few days here with tori. We found a place we loved but it was snatched away from us. The bank we were hoping to open accounts at continues to give us the run around. Finding mobile phones has been hell, but fortunately we finally found a person willing to help us and we've got it settled. Extending our stay at the hotel cost more than we were expecting but it was something that had to happen. So, yes, it has been a little bit frustrating this week. However, we are in Glasgow and that's something that continues to put a smile on our face every morning.

Good news today, though, we found a flat that we're very excited about! It's in west side of Glasgow and located near everything we could possibly need or want. Jean, the woman who showed us the flat, was an absolute delight. She looked like she came up to, maybe, tori's waist and all she seemed to want to talk about was her upcoming vacation to New York City. She had more questions for us about the States then we had about the flat. It was a blast!

Anyway, now that we're awaiting our answer on the flat we have no plans for tomorrow. I imagine a walking adventure is in order and perhaps an evening at the pub. Three Judges has been my favorite pub thus far but there's plenty more to explore, and I think we're just the two people for the job.