the maze runner

last year, as my friend matt and i road tripped north carolina and virginia, we listened to 'the maze runner' by james dashner.

i had heard about the book at comic-con the prior month, and it seemed to have a huge following.  i knew that it was being turned into a movie and the synopsis was right up my alley, so i thought the road trip would be a great time to try it out.

unfortunately, it was TERRIBLE.  i mean, really, really bad.  maybe it was just the audio book and narrator, but i've heard similar poor reviews from 'readers' since.  i was a little baffled at how this book had developed any following at all, but, from what i've heard since, it seems that it's a less than great introduction to what builds into a great series.  i have my doubts.

nonetheless, it's bad-ness became a bit of a bonding experience and the jokes continue to this day. whrrrr. click. click. click.  (if you've read it, you'll understand)

when the movie's opening day was finally set, matt and i knew we had to go check it out.   i mean, we had already committed 10 miserable hours to the thing, might as well add a couple more.

me, trying to take a pretty photo of a delicious
looking crepe.  matt, trying to mess it up.
this round goes to him.

imagine our surprise when it was pretty good!  in fact we both quite enjoyed it.  the writing was far better suited to a visual portrayal than to words on paper.  seeing what had been described in the book (pretty poorly in some cases) finally made the story and characters interesting.  it was well cast, and there were a few really tense moments (even though i knew what was coming). watching it with matt, my partner in literary pain, was exquisite.

following the movie, we headed to a favorite of matt's - a local mexican place with the most amazing carne asada.  interestingly enough, the meat always reminds me of the best steak-and-cheese sandwich i ever had.  one of these days, i'm just going to buy some meat, take it home, throw it on a sub roll with some mayonnaise and grilled onions and pretend i'm eating trio's again!

we made quick work of dinner so that we still had time for dessert at a mutual favorite, la creperie.  it goes without saying that the chocolate - chocolate- strawberry crepe was divine, and a perfect way to end the evening.