Friday night Steph and I went to dinner and a movie, so I thought I'd put up some pictures from our little date. You know, we didn't hire a driver and eat at a famous cafe from a movie or anything, but it was really fun because of the company.


First, we went straight from work to The Purple Cow Diner. Apparently they have food you can trust. I don't know about you, but I feel that I can trust a waving pickle, and a trio of dancing hot dogs.


[After dinner, we took a break from our fun to go work on a wireless network for some of Steph's family, but that's a different story.]

Ok, you have to keep in mind that I'm not as spry as I used to be. We wanted to go to a movie, but couldn't decide on whether to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at 10:10pm, or Batman Begins at 10:45pm. Finally, I chose the 10:10 so I could get home and get in bed earlier. On the way to the movie theater, we drove through Starbucks to get a couple of frappuccinos to help us stay awake through the movie.

So then we headed over to the Rave at North East Mall. Steph put both of our drinks in her bag because those ticket takers at the Rave can be drink nazis, and I hate throwing away $2 of a $4 drink. There were a ton of people, so I let Steph off to go buy the tickets while I parked. I must say that I'm learning from my father-in-law who can find a front row spot at Walmart on a Saturday night (practically impossible). Some how, I got a spot on the second row, which is pretty good considering I thought I'd have to hike a mile to get back to the front. It was perfect timing. I walked in the door just as Steph walked up with our tickets to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

So now about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I know that this is a movie version of the book, not a remake of the previous movie version of the book, but I can't help but compare the two since I've never read the book. Let me start by saying that I've always liked the old Willy Wonka movie alot. I like this one more. I thought Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka was a totally different type of character; a little more silly. Gene Wilder's Wonka seemed serious to me, like he was giving away the factory because he just found out he had some kind of terminal disease. I liked all the background into Willy's life in this new adaptation, too. The scene where he hugs his dad, was simultaneously touching and awkward, which I think is one of Tim Burton's many talents. The Oompa Loompas, with their dancing and genre spanning songs, cracked me up every time. I liked how the guests all thought it was weird that they were singing a song that already had Augustus' name in it. My favorite scene was the squirrel scene, although I was kind of weirded out when they first started attacking Veruca. So I guess it was a good movie by my standards because I want to go see it again now.

I kept looking over at Steph during the movie to try to judge her reaction, and she didn't seem to like it. On the way home, though, we talked about what we liked and didn't about the movie, and she sounded like she liked it overall. I really wasn't sure how much I liked it when we left, but the more I thought about different parts, the more I liked it. That's how I am with most of Tim Burton's movies. Anyway, we got home at about 1am. It was lot's of fun. I love hanging out with Steph. I recommend that if you're going to get married, you need to marry your best friend.

-out