Trains & Johnny Depp

GrownUp? said...
Train good - car bad. Charlie and The Chocolate Factory? Thumbs up or thumbs down?
4:49 PM
MWR said...
Can you really get a train from PDX on a Monday morning and get into Seattle to arrive at work at a respectable (for me) hour?Yes, let's hear about CatCF. And if you happen to be one of these "I see everything with Johnny Depp" people, please let us know that too.
9:22 PM

tp_diaries says:
CatCF - good. Different and less scary than the original (which I loved as a kid.) The new crop of kids were looked a lot like the original batch - not including Charlie. I prefer the first Grandpa Joe - but the new one was charming. No songs (other than the oompa loompa ditties - which were original to the book) and no scary tunnel movie with the snakes. The story is essentially the same with some nice stuff at the end. The title sequence is 100% CG which was distracting, but once you're in the factory it's fun.

I was a little wary of the Michael Jacksonesque look of the new Willy - but at no point did I get the impression that he wanted to touch Charlie in an inappropriate fashion. I actually liked WW because there are times in the movie when he's the only one who seems to notice that the children are freaks.

I'm not one to see every Johnny Depp movie and I wasn't a rabid fan of 21 Jump Street although I do have someone in my world who was a "jumper." I have never seen nor had the desire to see Crybaby. I loved Finding Neverland - but I'm a "peter pan" junkie not JD.

My list of "must see" actors are:
Gwyneth Paltrow
Ed Norton (although, he's moved away from the smart movies into "Matt Damon" type movies so he could lose his status.)
Steve Martin (he's dreamy! I know it's totally creepy - he's 150 years old but he could come live at my house. "Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma!")
Nichole Kidman (although Birthday Girl sucked! and I walked away from "Birth" and haven't gone back - it was slow and creepy.)

As for decent train times, no the earliest you can leave Portland is 8:45 am which ends up in a 12:15 pm arrival. If you have laptop and a phone - you could be 'working' during that time which is what I may do on my next trip down. The solo car trip is a pain.

Lastly, I think it's sad that we west coasters have not embraced rail travel more. I would love to take the train to Yakima to visit at Christmas. It's so humane - but no the train only goes to Ellensburg. This means my poor parents have to risk their lives to get me. That doesn't seem right -- although, it would mean I could get my inheritance earlier. It would be a bummer at Christmas for sure, especially for them. Anyway -- my point is that there's no solution - people won't ride the train until there are schedules that are convenient and the schedules won't increase until the ridership is there.