Scenes from the Weekend

ARE YOU READY?: Earlier this week, we caught a matinee of a movie we've all been awaiting, Ready Player One. 

Being the video game-loving family we are, it's no surprise we enjoyed the film, based on a best-selling book. I'll have CJ tell you a bit more about it. ... 

Years ago, I read Ernest Cline's 2011 debut novel Ready Player One, a story set in 2045 about a competition to take control of the "OASIS", a virtual-reality universe that has become a central part of world society. In Ready Player One, The way for a player to take control of OASIS was to collect three keys hidden by the OASIS' late creator, James Halliday, around the OASIS universe.

The film version of Ready Player One contained multiple differences from the book version. Here be spoilers!

In both the book and film versions, Wade Watts (the protagonist) uses a quarter near the end to resurrect his character in the OASIS. In the book, this quarter was obtained earlier in the story by Watts completing a perfect game of Pac-Man. In the film version, a tour guide at a museum chronicling James Halliday's memories gives it to Watts.

In the book version, two of the "High Five" (the five main characters) are killed outside of the OASIS by members of IOI (Innovative Online Industries, a central company in the story) in order to prevent either of them from obtaining the "keys to OASIS."

Here's a trailer if you want a sneak preview. I'd say you don't have to know a thing about video games to enjoy this film.


BACK AT THE BALLPARK: We had the great pleasure of attending the Mariners' home opener on Thursday night. Sunday, we were back at the ballpark for an afternoon game. 

It was sooooo c-c-cold! But we were mostly ready, with coats, hats, gloves and such. We stopped by to say 'hi' to Dave for the first time this season.

Once again, we sat in the top row of the stadium. During the national anthem, I noticed a couple of the kids popped out of formation and took a knee on the field. I noticed that the camera man did not show those kids on the big screen. ...

If you're interested in learning more about the incident, there's an interview with the student and her parents on KING5.com.

FURRY FRIENDS: This weekend, we had a regular menagerie at MPA. We have our two dogs, and our two fish, but we also now have a cat taking up residence for awhile, as well as a gecko, and then our Doberman friends came by for a visit. Busy place!

 In fact, the excitement was a bit much for Pretzel, who caught a cat nap on the couch.

ULTIMATELY: Saturday afternoon, we headed out to Magnusson Park in northeast Seattle. There, Annabelle played in her third Ultimate Frisbee game of the season.

While Annabelle was getting her game on, CJ was thrilled to be able to meet many a dog at Magnusson's popular off-leash area. (Unfortunately, however, no Shar-pei were to be found.)