Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Friday, January 01, 2010
Movies I've seen in 2010
* - My thumbs are up
^ - My thumbs are down
~ - At least one thumb is up, but maybe not super-enthusiastically
________________________
January 1 - Son of Rambow (2008)
January 23 - Stop-Loss (2008) *
January 30 - Dancer in the Dark (1999) ^
February 5 - Up (2009) *
February 6 - Zombieland (2009) ~
February 12 - A Serious Man (2009)
February 13 - Bright Star (2009) ~
February 14 - I Hate Valentine's Day (2009) ^
February 14 - Hannah Montana The Movie (2009)
February 26 - Coraline (2009) *
February 27 - Whip It (2009) *
March 13 - The Room (2003) ^^^
March 20 - The American President (1995) *
March 21 - Alice in Wonderland (2010) *
April 2 - The Lost Boys (1987)
April 3 - The Blind Side (2009) *
April 17 - The Impostors (1998)
April 18 - Cold Souls (2009) ^
April 21 - Fresh (2010) *
April 26 - Trampoline (2010) *
April 28 - The Hurt Locker (2009)
May 1 - An Education (2009) *
May 8 - The Cove (2009) *
May 8 - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009) ^
May 29 - 17 Again (2009)
May 30 - Lifeboat (1944) *
June 25 - TiMER (2009) *
June 27 - Crazy Heart (2009) *
July 5 - Adam (2009) *
July 12 - Twilight: Eclipse (2010)
July 24 - Salt (2010)
July 24 - Inception (2010)
July 31 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) *
August 13 - Valentine's Day (2010)
August 14 - Eat Pray Love (2010) ~
August 15 - Leap Year (2010) ^
August 19 - The Runaways (2010)
August 20 - The Switch (2010)
August 22 - Dakota Skye (2007)
August 22 - Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003) ^
September 4 - Cinema Paradiso (1988) ~
September 5 - Into Temptation (2009)
October 9 - Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) ~
November 12 - Fame (1980)
November 13 - The Experiment (2010)
November 13 - Chevolution (2008)
November 19 - Winter's Bone (2010) *
November 20 - You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger (2010)
November 26 - Mary and Max (2009) *
November 28 - Sex & the City 2 (2010) ^
December 5 - Someone Like You (2001)
December 11 - Rebecca (1940) ~
December 11 - Charade (1963)
December 12 - How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
December 14 - Parenthood (1989)*
December 16 - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) ~
December 25 - How Do You Know (2010)
December 26 - Martian Child (2007) ~
December 27 - Only You (1994)
December 30 - Daybreakers (2009)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Foodstuffs
I know most of you don't know my good friend Carrie, but is anyone curious how she fared in the Julie & Julia cooking contest I mentioned? She won! Well, she won second place, which is still awesome, of course (she got to take home an excellent set of brand-new cookware), but honestly, I was so shocked she did not win the grand prize that I almost forgot to clap when they announced her name as the runner-up. No, seriously. Whoops. It's times like that when I fear I would be a terrible parent. Or an excellent one, I suppose, depending on your perspective.
I am fairly certain it was the first place winner's sparkling Rachel Ray smile and gaggle of small, seemingly adorable children and not her any-more-stellar-than-Carrie's chicken salad that secured her the grand prize. Which, incidentally, trust me: if the judges had been sitting directly in front of those children, they would not have been deemed so precious. Little treasures, I am sure, but they could not get their high-pitched squeals and their grabby little hands away from me quickly enough. But that is neither here nor there. I wish the winner and her enormous family all the best, and I shall move on before I say anything else that would put me squarely back in that "terrible parent" camp.
After the contest, I got to accompany Carrie to an advance screening of Julie & Julia, which you really must see as soon as you are able, because it is beautiful and charming and might make even the likes of ME think it's a good idea to try my hand at French cooking. (Definitely not aspics or some crazy pastry-wrapped deboned duck, but perhaps a beef stew or pear tart. Maybe.) Meryl Streep is radiant, of course, and Amy Adams is adorable as always, and I almost don't even want to paste in the link for this movie that I just went to find, because I cannot believe Rotten Tomatoes currently deems it worthy of only a 20% rating. 20% means it is "Rotten," and that I simply do not understand. Granted, only five reviews have been counted thus far, but did those five reviewers see the same movie I did?? I'm perplexed.
In other food news, I have a post up at Allie's Answers today. That shouldn't be food news, since my assigned beat on that site is environmentally friendly cleaning products, but rules were meant to be broken and beats were meant to be veered from. Or so I decided after I got a tour and a free meal at a nearby Chipotle recently and felt compelled to write about it. Yes, my guest post is about Chipotle. I should warn you that if you click over, you may be unable to avoid taking yourself to Chipotle for lunch. Don't blame me; blame the accompanying photo Courtney found. Seriously, I need to close that Firefox tab immediately because if I look at that delicious burrito one more time there is no way I'm getting to bed without a snack. Yum.
And finally, this has nothing to do with food, but I found out today that I will be working on a short-term project with a former co-worker for the next two weeks. This project involves pretending I know how to use a tool I last saw three years and probably two software versions ago, but I am a professional! I can DO this, right? Wish me luck. This also means that instead of pulling on a pair of jeans and driving across the suburbs to my very far away office tomorrow morning, I shall be putting on a dress and going downtown! Just like a real grown-up. Actually, this means that my commute will be an awesome 4.1 miles instead of the usual 25, but given that it's 4.1 miles of stop lights and downtown rush hour traffic, I'm unsure whether the time savings will be at all notable. I shall see.
And with that, I should get myself to bed, so that I can actually be a responsible and professional grown-up in the bright and early morning hours. Is it me, or does it feel like Monday was somehow simultaneously just a moment ago and also a hundred years ago right now? This week has been a blur, and I don't even have alcohol or an unusual flurry of activity to blame. Go figure. Happy weekend, all.
I am fairly certain it was the first place winner's sparkling Rachel Ray smile and gaggle of small, seemingly adorable children and not her any-more-stellar-than-Carrie's chicken salad that secured her the grand prize. Which, incidentally, trust me: if the judges had been sitting directly in front of those children, they would not have been deemed so precious. Little treasures, I am sure, but they could not get their high-pitched squeals and their grabby little hands away from me quickly enough. But that is neither here nor there. I wish the winner and her enormous family all the best, and I shall move on before I say anything else that would put me squarely back in that "terrible parent" camp.
After the contest, I got to accompany Carrie to an advance screening of Julie & Julia, which you really must see as soon as you are able, because it is beautiful and charming and might make even the likes of ME think it's a good idea to try my hand at French cooking. (Definitely not aspics or some crazy pastry-wrapped deboned duck, but perhaps a beef stew or pear tart. Maybe.) Meryl Streep is radiant, of course, and Amy Adams is adorable as always, and I almost don't even want to paste in the link for this movie that I just went to find, because I cannot believe Rotten Tomatoes currently deems it worthy of only a 20% rating. 20% means it is "Rotten," and that I simply do not understand. Granted, only five reviews have been counted thus far, but did those five reviewers see the same movie I did?? I'm perplexed.
In other food news, I have a post up at Allie's Answers today. That shouldn't be food news, since my assigned beat on that site is environmentally friendly cleaning products, but rules were meant to be broken and beats were meant to be veered from. Or so I decided after I got a tour and a free meal at a nearby Chipotle recently and felt compelled to write about it. Yes, my guest post is about Chipotle. I should warn you that if you click over, you may be unable to avoid taking yourself to Chipotle for lunch. Don't blame me; blame the accompanying photo Courtney found. Seriously, I need to close that Firefox tab immediately because if I look at that delicious burrito one more time there is no way I'm getting to bed without a snack. Yum.
And finally, this has nothing to do with food, but I found out today that I will be working on a short-term project with a former co-worker for the next two weeks. This project involves pretending I know how to use a tool I last saw three years and probably two software versions ago, but I am a professional! I can DO this, right? Wish me luck. This also means that instead of pulling on a pair of jeans and driving across the suburbs to my very far away office tomorrow morning, I shall be putting on a dress and going downtown! Just like a real grown-up. Actually, this means that my commute will be an awesome 4.1 miles instead of the usual 25, but given that it's 4.1 miles of stop lights and downtown rush hour traffic, I'm unsure whether the time savings will be at all notable. I shall see.
And with that, I should get myself to bed, so that I can actually be a responsible and professional grown-up in the bright and early morning hours. Is it me, or does it feel like Monday was somehow simultaneously just a moment ago and also a hundred years ago right now? This week has been a blur, and I don't even have alcohol or an unusual flurry of activity to blame. Go figure. Happy weekend, all.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
In which I finally show you what I've been babbling about for the past month, and then babble about it some more
Is it really Sunday night again already? Well crap; how did that happen? I very much enjoyed my long weekend last week; do I really have to wait until next week for another? I do? Damn. Life, she's a cruel and unfair beast sometimes, no?
The good news is that after this weekend, I will no longer be sweating away my Saturdays and Sundays on my yard beautification project. At least, not anymore this year, anyway. My backyard still lacks any welcoming character whatsoever, and my front yard could still use some shade-loving plants in the thus-far neglected areas, but people, I am TIRED of digging and clearing and planting and such, so I have decided that what I've done in the past month and a half is ENOUGH for now.
So then. What have I done? Well, since you asked...
This is what the area in front of my house looked like previously... three sad, random, anemic bushes with nothing but weeds and sparse, half-dead grass in between.
And here is that same area, bushes gone, grass cleared, area edged and newly planted.
Of course, the idea is that those tiny lumps below my window will grow into full-sized shrubs, and the flowers and other foliage in front of them will also expand to nestle up alongside them. These things take time, but here's hoping that time actually improves this landscape rather than diminishes it. The last time I planted a fraction of a paycheck's worth of perennials, only half of them came back the following year. Do you have any advice to help me ensure that these plants don't also vanish underground over the winter or die a similarly untimely death? No, seriously. There are probably tricks and techniques to this sort of thing, right? And yet, the extent of my plant-care knowledge is summed up in that classic Sesame Street clip: Duh, man, plants need water. Beyond that, it's a mystery to me. Is there something else I should be doing, other than watering? Is there a pagan ritual or plant-dance I should know about? I'm willing to try almost anything, so please do fill me in.
While I was already up to my elbows in dirt, I figured I'd do some maintenance on the perennials along the side of my house as well. I dug up the grass and weeds in this area to create this bed a few years ago, but obviously I had no idea what I was doing, because as I said, half of what I planted did not come back, and the other half was not actually organized particularly well. Either the purple salvia I planted has done exceedingly, unexpectedly, mutantly well, or, more likely, I didn't consult the "Estimated height" line on the information card when I bought it, because it had grown far higher than the day lilies I planted behind it, and the whole area was a bit ridiculous-looking, actually. So I spent my vacation day last week moving the day lilies to the front and spent yesterday afternoon planting pink coneflowers in their place. Cross your fingers that those coneflowers actually bloom (and also come back next year), will you? Or, again, fill me in on some trick or ritual, because I'd really rather not revisit this same perennial bed again next year.
While I'm pretending this is an HGTV blog, let's talk about my tomato plants, shall we? I may not have the greenest of thumbs, but I maintain high hopes for these. Here they are huddled up alongside my grill and hose reel, because I lack a proper patio to place them on (and one digging-up-my-yard project was quite enough for one year)...
Yesterday, when I went out to water them, I wondered just when I might start to see something that looks like a tomato on any of the stems, so I crouched down to take a closer look, and lo! Tiny tomatoes! It's like magic! They are a long way off from being edible, of course, but I consider those little green balls tiny hopes and promises anyway.
And let's see. What else did I do with my weekend? Well, Friday night I attended another lovely soiree at my good friend Carrie's place, where both the food and the company were fantastic and yet I neglected to take any pictures to serve as memories or proof.
Last night I decided I needed a evening off, so I made myself a frozen pizza and opened a bottle of wine and watched He's Just Not That into You on DVD. And OK, can I make a confession? I fully realize it was a purportedly terrible movie based on a terrible book. I am well aware that it received almost universally dismal reviews. But you know what? I didn't hate it. In fact, up until the last 15 minutes, I maybe even liked it. I can't say I related to any of the characters specifically (Lord help me, I hope I didn't relate to any of the characters specifically!), but I am wearied enough of dating that I suppose I related to the topics generally, and it was actually refreshing to see a movie that attempted to crush the myths and idealism we single girls have been fed for so long, rather than perpetuating them. That is, until the final 15 minutes, when (sorry; spoiler alert) two of the characters actually get exactly what they want, what they've been told the entire movie they cannot expect, which basically wrapped their stories up into a neat little Hollywood bow just like every other romantic comedy that came before. What's worse is I actually cried at one point near the end, and kept it up almost all the way through to when the credits rolled. Part of me is strangely grateful for the reaction, because I feel so jaded these days that I worry perhaps I'm now made of stone, but even so, I'd like to blame the tears on, I don't know, hormones? Wine? Heat exhaustion? Please do take your pick.
And that's about all that's on my mind lately. I've got a busy week ahead, busy with both fun things (the first trip of the season to the Pizza Farm, as well as a movie screening a friend is hosting in an area parking lot) and also routine, have-to-be-done things (my first haircut since February and another appointment to sit in the Saturn service center lounge for a couple of hours while they finally repair my A/C problem). So while usually I write a Sunday or Monday night post with earnest but ultimately false intentions that I will write another one or two before the week is out, this time I am fairly certain I won't log in again before the holiday weekend, so I wish you a fun and happy one, whatever you have planned.
The good news is that after this weekend, I will no longer be sweating away my Saturdays and Sundays on my yard beautification project. At least, not anymore this year, anyway. My backyard still lacks any welcoming character whatsoever, and my front yard could still use some shade-loving plants in the thus-far neglected areas, but people, I am TIRED of digging and clearing and planting and such, so I have decided that what I've done in the past month and a half is ENOUGH for now.
So then. What have I done? Well, since you asked...
This is what the area in front of my house looked like previously... three sad, random, anemic bushes with nothing but weeds and sparse, half-dead grass in between.
And here is that same area, bushes gone, grass cleared, area edged and newly planted.
Of course, the idea is that those tiny lumps below my window will grow into full-sized shrubs, and the flowers and other foliage in front of them will also expand to nestle up alongside them. These things take time, but here's hoping that time actually improves this landscape rather than diminishes it. The last time I planted a fraction of a paycheck's worth of perennials, only half of them came back the following year. Do you have any advice to help me ensure that these plants don't also vanish underground over the winter or die a similarly untimely death? No, seriously. There are probably tricks and techniques to this sort of thing, right? And yet, the extent of my plant-care knowledge is summed up in that classic Sesame Street clip: Duh, man, plants need water. Beyond that, it's a mystery to me. Is there something else I should be doing, other than watering? Is there a pagan ritual or plant-dance I should know about? I'm willing to try almost anything, so please do fill me in.
While I was already up to my elbows in dirt, I figured I'd do some maintenance on the perennials along the side of my house as well. I dug up the grass and weeds in this area to create this bed a few years ago, but obviously I had no idea what I was doing, because as I said, half of what I planted did not come back, and the other half was not actually organized particularly well. Either the purple salvia I planted has done exceedingly, unexpectedly, mutantly well, or, more likely, I didn't consult the "Estimated height" line on the information card when I bought it, because it had grown far higher than the day lilies I planted behind it, and the whole area was a bit ridiculous-looking, actually. So I spent my vacation day last week moving the day lilies to the front and spent yesterday afternoon planting pink coneflowers in their place. Cross your fingers that those coneflowers actually bloom (and also come back next year), will you? Or, again, fill me in on some trick or ritual, because I'd really rather not revisit this same perennial bed again next year.
While I'm pretending this is an HGTV blog, let's talk about my tomato plants, shall we? I may not have the greenest of thumbs, but I maintain high hopes for these. Here they are huddled up alongside my grill and hose reel, because I lack a proper patio to place them on (and one digging-up-my-yard project was quite enough for one year)...
Yesterday, when I went out to water them, I wondered just when I might start to see something that looks like a tomato on any of the stems, so I crouched down to take a closer look, and lo! Tiny tomatoes! It's like magic! They are a long way off from being edible, of course, but I consider those little green balls tiny hopes and promises anyway.
And let's see. What else did I do with my weekend? Well, Friday night I attended another lovely soiree at my good friend Carrie's place, where both the food and the company were fantastic and yet I neglected to take any pictures to serve as memories or proof.
Last night I decided I needed a evening off, so I made myself a frozen pizza and opened a bottle of wine and watched He's Just Not That into You on DVD. And OK, can I make a confession? I fully realize it was a purportedly terrible movie based on a terrible book. I am well aware that it received almost universally dismal reviews. But you know what? I didn't hate it. In fact, up until the last 15 minutes, I maybe even liked it. I can't say I related to any of the characters specifically (Lord help me, I hope I didn't relate to any of the characters specifically!), but I am wearied enough of dating that I suppose I related to the topics generally, and it was actually refreshing to see a movie that attempted to crush the myths and idealism we single girls have been fed for so long, rather than perpetuating them. That is, until the final 15 minutes, when (sorry; spoiler alert) two of the characters actually get exactly what they want, what they've been told the entire movie they cannot expect, which basically wrapped their stories up into a neat little Hollywood bow just like every other romantic comedy that came before. What's worse is I actually cried at one point near the end, and kept it up almost all the way through to when the credits rolled. Part of me is strangely grateful for the reaction, because I feel so jaded these days that I worry perhaps I'm now made of stone, but even so, I'd like to blame the tears on, I don't know, hormones? Wine? Heat exhaustion? Please do take your pick.
And that's about all that's on my mind lately. I've got a busy week ahead, busy with both fun things (the first trip of the season to the Pizza Farm, as well as a movie screening a friend is hosting in an area parking lot) and also routine, have-to-be-done things (my first haircut since February and another appointment to sit in the Saturn service center lounge for a couple of hours while they finally repair my A/C problem). So while usually I write a Sunday or Monday night post with earnest but ultimately false intentions that I will write another one or two before the week is out, this time I am fairly certain I won't log in again before the holiday weekend, so I wish you a fun and happy one, whatever you have planned.
Monday, June 22, 2009
I've also seen all three High School Musicals. What does THAT say about me?
It's not that I dislike my job, but more often than not I find myself awfully annoyed by how much work gets in the way of the rest of my life. You know? I'm a busy girl! I've got a yard to pretty up! Friends to see! Concerts to attend! Books to read! A blog to ignore! Not to mention a couch that's almost losing its indentation of my ass, such has been the lack of time I've frittered away on it of late. Don't get me wrong; I'm aware that it's scary out there right now, and I'm thankful to have a job to inconvenience me. But surely I'm not the only gainfully employed one who thinks, every Sunday night, "Can't I please have one more day of weekend? Please?"
There's a scene in the not-very-good film Kate & Leopold in which Meg Ryan is blissfully entwined with Hugh Jackman on her patio. It's a Saturday night, and she asks what time it is, and when he says it's after midnight, she groans, "Ugh. It's Sunday." "But you don't work on Sunday," Hugh says, pointing out that she still has one more day of weekend left. "Yes, but Sunday is the day before the day I work," she replies, "so it gets poisoned."
I can totally relate. Lately I find myself prematurely depressed about the end of the weekend on Friday already. I know realistically that if I didn't have someplace to go every week day, I'd eventually feel directionless and bored. And yet, given the means, I'm quite convinced I could be rather content as a lady of leisure for a rather long time, in fact.
With that in mind, I gave myself a random vacation day today, and I have to say, the pressure to do something notable with vacation days is entirely overrated. I am a big proponent of the random vacation day, and I refuse to chastise myself for not making more of it. After a busy weekend, I was exhausted last night, meaning I got to bed at a reasonable hour and woke up just in time for Ellen. After that, I got sucked into an episode and a half of today's pre-season-premiere marathon of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which I probably would have watched the whole damn day had Grace not spouted yet another 7th Heaven-esque line about the power of prayer in deciding whether or not to have premarital underaged sex, at which point I remembered just how depressing it is to see Molly Ringwald and Josie Bissett as the parents of TV teenagers on a poorly written show that is simultaneously scandalous and annoyingly wholesome and I decided it really was time to get myself outside to transplant some day lilies.
Can I just say that, while taking a vacation day to do the things you didn't quite get to over the weekend is a fine idea, doing those things when it's nearly 90 degrees outside is maybe not? I realize it is still only June, and it's been, for the most part, a blessedly cool June thus far. But after the past few days, I can confidently say I am done with abysmally hot weather for this year. Should I decide to visit a beach or a water park this summer, I would appreciate an 85+ degree day that day. Until that point, however, pressing the "Hold" button somewhere in the low 70s would be A-OK by me.
So let's see. What else did I do with my impromptu three-day weekend (other than sweat buckets in my perennial beds, that is)? Well, I spent a day on the lawn of The Walker taking in the first big outdoor concert event of the summer. Although I am terrible at estimating the number of anything in large masses, I suspect there were at least 8,000 people at that event, and yet, shockingly, I did not see even ONE past date there. I did go to the event with two men I at one point dated, but that hardly counts as an unexpected run-in, obviously. One of those men was disappointed I didn't have any awkward run-ins. "I wanted to see one o' yer fellas!" he kept saying, in an amusingly uncharacteristic old man redneck tone. I'm sure more than one o' "my fellas" was there somewhere, but for once, I managed not to cross paths with them.
Also, I changed the battery in my trusty(ish) old Saturn (with the help of two boys, admittedly). And just as I was sighing with relief that my car's failure Friday night was just as simple a fix as the battery, the "Service Engine Soon" light came on. I'm still hoping it's just a glitch as it has been the last few times that light appeared and it'll shut off again midway through my commute tomorrow. Given that the practical things in my life have a way of punishing me when I splurge or spend frivolously, however, I remain more than a bit wary. You see, Friday night I went into Target for shower gel, blush, and toothpaste, and I came out with those items plus $109 worth of skirts, capris, and tops. The last time I spontaneously spent over a hundred dollars on clothing, my water heater died the next day. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I'm still terrified to buy anything else nonessential any time soon.
In today's requisite Facebook news, I would like to report that Facebook now thinks I should be friends with The Neighborhood Giant, who I have never searched for on the site and who is not in my address book, proving yet again that Facebook knows more about me than it should and perhaps the conspiracy theorists are right and CIA-type intelligence is behind this presumably harmless social networking diversion after all.
And finally, apropos of nothing and offered only as your interesting bit of trivia for the day, did the rest of you NPR nerds know that Peter Sagal (he of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me fame) is also a playright? And that his one big chance at a movie deal was for a film he wanted to write about an American girl in Cuba in the 1950s and the effect of the political unrest on her life there? It was a movie that got shelved for years, until, in true Hollywood form, it was reworked and retooled without any input from its original writer, and was eventually released as Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights.
Selfishly, what is most disturbing to me about this story is not that Peter Sagal missed his big break and had his hard work turned into one of the most unnecessary and forgettable movie sequels ever made. No, it is that, as Peter relayed the opening portions of this story to Ira Glass on this week's This American Life, I immediately said, "That sounds like Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights." He told a little more of the story, and I said, "That's TOTALLY Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights!" And when he he paused for effect before stating the title under which the film was eventually released, I beat him to the answer by crying out, yet again, "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights!"
I have a friend who has implied, more than once, that I am apparently unrelatably high-brow. It's a vision of me that I've always found baffling, and as such, I've disputed it repeatedly. With my embarrassing knowledge of this particular film, I think I can solidly rest my case finally.
There's a scene in the not-very-good film Kate & Leopold in which Meg Ryan is blissfully entwined with Hugh Jackman on her patio. It's a Saturday night, and she asks what time it is, and when he says it's after midnight, she groans, "Ugh. It's Sunday." "But you don't work on Sunday," Hugh says, pointing out that she still has one more day of weekend left. "Yes, but Sunday is the day before the day I work," she replies, "so it gets poisoned."
I can totally relate. Lately I find myself prematurely depressed about the end of the weekend on Friday already. I know realistically that if I didn't have someplace to go every week day, I'd eventually feel directionless and bored. And yet, given the means, I'm quite convinced I could be rather content as a lady of leisure for a rather long time, in fact.
With that in mind, I gave myself a random vacation day today, and I have to say, the pressure to do something notable with vacation days is entirely overrated. I am a big proponent of the random vacation day, and I refuse to chastise myself for not making more of it. After a busy weekend, I was exhausted last night, meaning I got to bed at a reasonable hour and woke up just in time for Ellen. After that, I got sucked into an episode and a half of today's pre-season-premiere marathon of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which I probably would have watched the whole damn day had Grace not spouted yet another 7th Heaven-esque line about the power of prayer in deciding whether or not to have premarital underaged sex, at which point I remembered just how depressing it is to see Molly Ringwald and Josie Bissett as the parents of TV teenagers on a poorly written show that is simultaneously scandalous and annoyingly wholesome and I decided it really was time to get myself outside to transplant some day lilies.
Can I just say that, while taking a vacation day to do the things you didn't quite get to over the weekend is a fine idea, doing those things when it's nearly 90 degrees outside is maybe not? I realize it is still only June, and it's been, for the most part, a blessedly cool June thus far. But after the past few days, I can confidently say I am done with abysmally hot weather for this year. Should I decide to visit a beach or a water park this summer, I would appreciate an 85+ degree day that day. Until that point, however, pressing the "Hold" button somewhere in the low 70s would be A-OK by me.
So let's see. What else did I do with my impromptu three-day weekend (other than sweat buckets in my perennial beds, that is)? Well, I spent a day on the lawn of The Walker taking in the first big outdoor concert event of the summer. Although I am terrible at estimating the number of anything in large masses, I suspect there were at least 8,000 people at that event, and yet, shockingly, I did not see even ONE past date there. I did go to the event with two men I at one point dated, but that hardly counts as an unexpected run-in, obviously. One of those men was disappointed I didn't have any awkward run-ins. "I wanted to see one o' yer fellas!" he kept saying, in an amusingly uncharacteristic old man redneck tone. I'm sure more than one o' "my fellas" was there somewhere, but for once, I managed not to cross paths with them.
Also, I changed the battery in my trusty(ish) old Saturn (with the help of two boys, admittedly). And just as I was sighing with relief that my car's failure Friday night was just as simple a fix as the battery, the "Service Engine Soon" light came on. I'm still hoping it's just a glitch as it has been the last few times that light appeared and it'll shut off again midway through my commute tomorrow. Given that the practical things in my life have a way of punishing me when I splurge or spend frivolously, however, I remain more than a bit wary. You see, Friday night I went into Target for shower gel, blush, and toothpaste, and I came out with those items plus $109 worth of skirts, capris, and tops. The last time I spontaneously spent over a hundred dollars on clothing, my water heater died the next day. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I'm still terrified to buy anything else nonessential any time soon.
In today's requisite Facebook news, I would like to report that Facebook now thinks I should be friends with The Neighborhood Giant, who I have never searched for on the site and who is not in my address book, proving yet again that Facebook knows more about me than it should and perhaps the conspiracy theorists are right and CIA-type intelligence is behind this presumably harmless social networking diversion after all.
And finally, apropos of nothing and offered only as your interesting bit of trivia for the day, did the rest of you NPR nerds know that Peter Sagal (he of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me fame) is also a playright? And that his one big chance at a movie deal was for a film he wanted to write about an American girl in Cuba in the 1950s and the effect of the political unrest on her life there? It was a movie that got shelved for years, until, in true Hollywood form, it was reworked and retooled without any input from its original writer, and was eventually released as Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights.
Selfishly, what is most disturbing to me about this story is not that Peter Sagal missed his big break and had his hard work turned into one of the most unnecessary and forgettable movie sequels ever made. No, it is that, as Peter relayed the opening portions of this story to Ira Glass on this week's This American Life, I immediately said, "That sounds like Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights." He told a little more of the story, and I said, "That's TOTALLY Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights!" And when he he paused for effect before stating the title under which the film was eventually released, I beat him to the answer by crying out, yet again, "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights!"
I have a friend who has implied, more than once, that I am apparently unrelatably high-brow. It's a vision of me that I've always found baffling, and as such, I've disputed it repeatedly. With my embarrassing knowledge of this particular film, I think I can solidly rest my case finally.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
What do Dexter, the Bible, and Library Boys have in common? Nothing, except they're all in this post.
I know I'm really late to the bandwagon on this Dexter phenomenon, so maybe the rest of you can help me out on this. If I need to stop the DVD after every episode before the end credits music rolls and that creepy string part comes in... If watching the first season finale tonight got my heart rate up more noticeably than my 30 minutes on the elliptical earlier today... Basically, if I am a big old 'fraidy cat who can't believe she even started watching an entire series about a serial killer... well, should I even queue up the remaining seasons in my Netflix list? Given some of the decisions I've made in my life (dating ones, in particular), clearly I am some kind of masochist, so perhaps now that I've started I may as well proceed. But season one wrapped up so nicely--a neatly contained story all on its own. Maybe that's enough? It probably gets better, but does it also get creepier? I live alone, you see. And there is no boy here at the moment in whose armpit I can bury my face (which is the only way I got through the final scenes of The Ring, mind you). So... I'm uncertain. Advice (sans spoilers, please), anyone?
Moving on to things that are too ridiculous to scare me, do you remember when I took a stab at writing a script for the Angry Alien 30-Second Bunny Theater production of Twilight? (Do you also remember that somebody was supposed to remind me to go look for that production in a couple months? No? Hrm. Then perhaps that's why I had to remember to look for it myself today!) Anyway, it is there now! Whee! And shockingly, my version is not so far off from their end result. Go ahead and go watch it. I'll wait.
Good stuff, no? Yes, friends, the Internet is filled with all manner of wonderful things. Also, all manner of frighteningly hideous and laughable things... like these pants, which have showed up in a sidebar ad beside my email at least five times in the past two days. I know that supposedly Gmail targets the ads its users see based on the content of their messages. I use Yahoo, however, which I can only hope and assume is not so meddling or advanced, because while I have typed the words "Roller skating always = fun" in an email recently, I am quite certain I've typed nothing along the lines of "let's all zip our shiny pants up to our sternum and party like it's 1978." Seriously, we may not all agree on much, but can we all agree the shiny, skin-tight, high-waist disco pant is a terrible idea? I thought so. Thank you. Ah, American Apparel. The great unifier in its absurdity. Naturally, I would expect nothing less from the people who brought us the return of hypercolor and the brilliant skirt-as-dress plan. (Note: If you're clicking through on that last link, go right ahead and skip to #2 of that post.)
To prove that I do still leave my house on occasion for entertainment that isn't displayed on a screen, I should tell you that I went to the Central library last night to hear David Plotz talk about his new book, Good Book, based on the Slate series he wrote detailing the "bizarre, hilarious, disturbing, marvelous, and inspiring things [he] learned when [he] read every single word of the Bible." OK, that Slate series was housed on a screen, of course, but Plotz's appearance at the library wasn't, so the first sentence of this paragraph still stands. I haven't actually read the related Blogging the Bible series, but I very much enjoyed Plotz's talk. And now I am curious to read the Book of Ruth, which is, apparently, like a subcompact Jane Austen novel, a perfect story that encapsulates everything that matters in life and yet can be read in ten minutes flat. I'm also curious just what sort of jabs Elijah made to have Plotz deem him the original insult comic. Plotz's experiment in general is an intriguing and tempting one, and maybe I should try it myself, but he also assured us that if we don't know the Bible very well, his book is a useful and entertaining substitute, so perhaps I'll just read his instead.
My library venture entertained me even before the main event got on stage, though. I seated myself directly behind and to the right of a quiet-looking, 30-ish nerd/hipster hybrid with short dark hair, a scruffy beard, and black-rimmed glasses. He scribbled something in his Moleskine, and a few minutes later, looked up and then shifted himself to let another library patron slide past him into the row. I looked at the two of them sitting on either side in front of me and had to stop myself from laughing out loud, wondering if either man realized they were, essentially, the exact same man. Short dark hair, scruffy beard, black-rimmed glasses. Charcoal pants. One in a muted-tone sweater, one in a similarly colored hoodie. Both jotting notes in tiny books. I surveyed the rest of the crowd. Quiet-looking, dark-haired, bespectacled men were everywhere. Not a one of them wearing a color more vibrant than maroon. A while ago, my friend Carrie wrote about searching for Cafe Boy. I didn't realize Library Lecture Boy was just as specific a type. Usually, he is even my type (minus the quiet part, I suppose, though in a library, quiet is to be expected, of course). In case you are wondering, though, no, I didn't actually talk to any of the Library Lecture Boys. It may have been a "kid in a candy store" sort of scenario, but this kid has a stomach ache, so I'm steering clear.
Moving on to things that are too ridiculous to scare me, do you remember when I took a stab at writing a script for the Angry Alien 30-Second Bunny Theater production of Twilight? (Do you also remember that somebody was supposed to remind me to go look for that production in a couple months? No? Hrm. Then perhaps that's why I had to remember to look for it myself today!) Anyway, it is there now! Whee! And shockingly, my version is not so far off from their end result. Go ahead and go watch it. I'll wait.
Good stuff, no? Yes, friends, the Internet is filled with all manner of wonderful things. Also, all manner of frighteningly hideous and laughable things... like these pants, which have showed up in a sidebar ad beside my email at least five times in the past two days. I know that supposedly Gmail targets the ads its users see based on the content of their messages. I use Yahoo, however, which I can only hope and assume is not so meddling or advanced, because while I have typed the words "Roller skating always = fun" in an email recently, I am quite certain I've typed nothing along the lines of "let's all zip our shiny pants up to our sternum and party like it's 1978." Seriously, we may not all agree on much, but can we all agree the shiny, skin-tight, high-waist disco pant is a terrible idea? I thought so. Thank you. Ah, American Apparel. The great unifier in its absurdity. Naturally, I would expect nothing less from the people who brought us the return of hypercolor and the brilliant skirt-as-dress plan. (Note: If you're clicking through on that last link, go right ahead and skip to #2 of that post.)
To prove that I do still leave my house on occasion for entertainment that isn't displayed on a screen, I should tell you that I went to the Central library last night to hear David Plotz talk about his new book, Good Book, based on the Slate series he wrote detailing the "bizarre, hilarious, disturbing, marvelous, and inspiring things [he] learned when [he] read every single word of the Bible." OK, that Slate series was housed on a screen, of course, but Plotz's appearance at the library wasn't, so the first sentence of this paragraph still stands. I haven't actually read the related Blogging the Bible series, but I very much enjoyed Plotz's talk. And now I am curious to read the Book of Ruth, which is, apparently, like a subcompact Jane Austen novel, a perfect story that encapsulates everything that matters in life and yet can be read in ten minutes flat. I'm also curious just what sort of jabs Elijah made to have Plotz deem him the original insult comic. Plotz's experiment in general is an intriguing and tempting one, and maybe I should try it myself, but he also assured us that if we don't know the Bible very well, his book is a useful and entertaining substitute, so perhaps I'll just read his instead.
My library venture entertained me even before the main event got on stage, though. I seated myself directly behind and to the right of a quiet-looking, 30-ish nerd/hipster hybrid with short dark hair, a scruffy beard, and black-rimmed glasses. He scribbled something in his Moleskine, and a few minutes later, looked up and then shifted himself to let another library patron slide past him into the row. I looked at the two of them sitting on either side in front of me and had to stop myself from laughing out loud, wondering if either man realized they were, essentially, the exact same man. Short dark hair, scruffy beard, black-rimmed glasses. Charcoal pants. One in a muted-tone sweater, one in a similarly colored hoodie. Both jotting notes in tiny books. I surveyed the rest of the crowd. Quiet-looking, dark-haired, bespectacled men were everywhere. Not a one of them wearing a color more vibrant than maroon. A while ago, my friend Carrie wrote about searching for Cafe Boy. I didn't realize Library Lecture Boy was just as specific a type. Usually, he is even my type (minus the quiet part, I suppose, though in a library, quiet is to be expected, of course). In case you are wondering, though, no, I didn't actually talk to any of the Library Lecture Boys. It may have been a "kid in a candy store" sort of scenario, but this kid has a stomach ache, so I'm steering clear.
Monday, March 02, 2009
As if I'd ever really consider gnomes "optional"
I've realized that ever since I started a blog, I almost never write in a private journal anymore. It's just as well, I suppose, because when I page back through the journals I've kept over the years, I find that nearly the only thing I ever wrote about was this boy or that boy and the sorts of emotional roller coasters each one put me through. It's valid in some way to get that out, I suppose. Perhaps it does help to make sense of things a bit, or if not that, at least to purge thoughts from such a place of immediacy in my head. And while it makes me feel like a vapid high schooler, I do think I'm probably not alone. I remember Liz Gilbert writing in Eat Pray Love about Cambodian refugees, who talked to the therapists they met with not about torture or starvation, but about relationships and lost loves. "This is what we are like," Gilbert said. "Collectively, as a species, this is our emotional landscape.... There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history. How much do you love me? and Who's in charge? Everything else is somehow manageable."
Right now the only things I feel compelled to write about are things best kept to a personal journal, rather than one that anyone on the Internets can see. It's not even about privacy so much as about committing thoughts to finality. Typing something in a public forum makes it so; it's harder to change my mind the next day. The problem is, I don't even want to waste the pages of a private journal on the mess that's in my head, because the things I need to write about are things I already filled a full journal with eight years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I suppose.
I hate when people vague-blog, so I'll stop that soon. My point, it seems, is I got nothin'. Or, nothing I'm ready to type about here just now.
Meanwhile, then, let's talk about books and movies, shall we? (Answer: we shall. What, you thought you had a say in this? Ha ha.)
Perhaps my favorite thing about a beach vacation is the luxury of spending essentially an entire day doing nothing except lounging in a chair reading a book. Yes, yes, I know I could do this at home as well; it's certainly not as if I do anything more productive than that every Saturday of my life. The point is, I don't do that. Instead, my reading is typically relegated to a half hour or less before bed, which is why it takes me a month or more to finish nearly any book I start. (Yes, even crazy Mormon teenaged vampire books. Which I am finally DONE with, by the way!) Not so with vacation reads, though! When I was in Mexico last week, I had the luxury of plowing through Who By Fire in its entirety in a day and a half, which is exactly how Lara (who originally told me about this book) would have wanted me to read it. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a highlighter or my Post-it flags to the beach chair, so while there were several passages I had to stop and read twice, pondering why I've never crafted a sentence quite so spot-on or beautiful, I can't actually share any of those passages with you right now. In fact, I don't think I'll even try to summarize just what it's about or why I enjoyed it, as Lara already covered that in her initial review and her follow-up interview with the author. That's right. Lara totally takes the train into The City and has wine with authors like it's no big whoop whatsoever. Then again, I have had wine with Lara. It is a good time, if you ask me. Who wouldn't want in on that? Anyway, thumbs up on Who By Fire is what I'm saying. Even though I'm saying it three months after this book made the rounds in the blog neighborhood.
While I'm recycling other people's reviews in place of my own, how about I let Metalia tell you what she thought of Revolutionary Road? It's fair, you see, because she covered pretty much every single comment my friends and I made over wine after our budget theater viewing of it last night, as well as a few comments we didn't. (Vinnie Delpino was in it? Really?? How did I miss that??)
Revolutionary Road was one of three movies I saw this weekend, actually, and while I didn't hate it, I can't decide if it was my least or second-least favorite of the three. It's a toss-up between that one and Lovely and Amazing, which Netflix assured me I would enjoy but which had me rolling my eyes and yelling at the TV for nearly the full hour and a half. Rotten Tomatoes' 85% "Fresh" rating will have you believe it is a "finely observed comedy," but I found very little to laugh at throughout. They also say it is a "smart and perceptive female character study," but I'd rather not study those particular characters. If I wanted to watch insecure, self-sabotaging women drive every person in their lives away from them, I would watch... Hmm... Actually, I don't know what I would watch. No one I know in real life actually lives their life as a constant stereotype of everything that is wrong with the way women interact with men (and with each other). Exactly where do these stereotypes come from, again?
And that brings us to Wristcutters: A Love Story, which was a strange bright spot by comparison, given that it's actually about an alternate universe inhabited solely by people who've killed themselves. (Cheery stuff, no? Maybe I'm not in a funk about some silly boy. Maybe it's my weekend's movie viewing I have to blame!) Anyway, it starred Patrick Fugit, who you probably remember from Almost Famous, and who was almost likable enough to make me forget I sort of hate Shannyn Sossamon. (All right; maybe I don't actually hate her. Maybe I just hate the impossible-to-remember way she spells her name and the fact that she named her son Audio Science. Yes, really.)
Except wait! I nearly forgot! I actually watched four movies this weekend. Saturday was the latest in the series of "Foreign Movie Night" gatherings my girlfriends and I have begun as a way to pretend we are getting some culture in lieu of forming a book club. (The real point of a book club is just to chat and drink wine, right? We decided we can do that just as easily at a foreign film night without any requisite prep work first.) Anyway, this month we decided to pull out a familiar favorite and re-watch Amelie. I'm sure you've likely all see it, but I nearly forgot how charming that film is. It is even more charming when you preface it with brie and prosciutto on baguettes and cheese-filled, berry-topped crepes. And more charming still when you bring your very own garden gnome as a centerpiece to set the scene for the evening. In fact, I recommend you re-watch Amelie at your earliest convenience, crepes and gnome optional.
Right now the only things I feel compelled to write about are things best kept to a personal journal, rather than one that anyone on the Internets can see. It's not even about privacy so much as about committing thoughts to finality. Typing something in a public forum makes it so; it's harder to change my mind the next day. The problem is, I don't even want to waste the pages of a private journal on the mess that's in my head, because the things I need to write about are things I already filled a full journal with eight years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I suppose.
I hate when people vague-blog, so I'll stop that soon. My point, it seems, is I got nothin'. Or, nothing I'm ready to type about here just now.
Meanwhile, then, let's talk about books and movies, shall we? (Answer: we shall. What, you thought you had a say in this? Ha ha.)
Perhaps my favorite thing about a beach vacation is the luxury of spending essentially an entire day doing nothing except lounging in a chair reading a book. Yes, yes, I know I could do this at home as well; it's certainly not as if I do anything more productive than that every Saturday of my life. The point is, I don't do that. Instead, my reading is typically relegated to a half hour or less before bed, which is why it takes me a month or more to finish nearly any book I start. (Yes, even crazy Mormon teenaged vampire books. Which I am finally DONE with, by the way!) Not so with vacation reads, though! When I was in Mexico last week, I had the luxury of plowing through Who By Fire in its entirety in a day and a half, which is exactly how Lara (who originally told me about this book) would have wanted me to read it. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a highlighter or my Post-it flags to the beach chair, so while there were several passages I had to stop and read twice, pondering why I've never crafted a sentence quite so spot-on or beautiful, I can't actually share any of those passages with you right now. In fact, I don't think I'll even try to summarize just what it's about or why I enjoyed it, as Lara already covered that in her initial review and her follow-up interview with the author. That's right. Lara totally takes the train into The City and has wine with authors like it's no big whoop whatsoever. Then again, I have had wine with Lara. It is a good time, if you ask me. Who wouldn't want in on that? Anyway, thumbs up on Who By Fire is what I'm saying. Even though I'm saying it three months after this book made the rounds in the blog neighborhood.
While I'm recycling other people's reviews in place of my own, how about I let Metalia tell you what she thought of Revolutionary Road? It's fair, you see, because she covered pretty much every single comment my friends and I made over wine after our budget theater viewing of it last night, as well as a few comments we didn't. (Vinnie Delpino was in it? Really?? How did I miss that??)
Revolutionary Road was one of three movies I saw this weekend, actually, and while I didn't hate it, I can't decide if it was my least or second-least favorite of the three. It's a toss-up between that one and Lovely and Amazing, which Netflix assured me I would enjoy but which had me rolling my eyes and yelling at the TV for nearly the full hour and a half. Rotten Tomatoes' 85% "Fresh" rating will have you believe it is a "finely observed comedy," but I found very little to laugh at throughout. They also say it is a "smart and perceptive female character study," but I'd rather not study those particular characters. If I wanted to watch insecure, self-sabotaging women drive every person in their lives away from them, I would watch... Hmm... Actually, I don't know what I would watch. No one I know in real life actually lives their life as a constant stereotype of everything that is wrong with the way women interact with men (and with each other). Exactly where do these stereotypes come from, again?
And that brings us to Wristcutters: A Love Story, which was a strange bright spot by comparison, given that it's actually about an alternate universe inhabited solely by people who've killed themselves. (Cheery stuff, no? Maybe I'm not in a funk about some silly boy. Maybe it's my weekend's movie viewing I have to blame!) Anyway, it starred Patrick Fugit, who you probably remember from Almost Famous, and who was almost likable enough to make me forget I sort of hate Shannyn Sossamon. (All right; maybe I don't actually hate her. Maybe I just hate the impossible-to-remember way she spells her name and the fact that she named her son Audio Science. Yes, really.)
Except wait! I nearly forgot! I actually watched four movies this weekend. Saturday was the latest in the series of "Foreign Movie Night" gatherings my girlfriends and I have begun as a way to pretend we are getting some culture in lieu of forming a book club. (The real point of a book club is just to chat and drink wine, right? We decided we can do that just as easily at a foreign film night without any requisite prep work first.) Anyway, this month we decided to pull out a familiar favorite and re-watch Amelie. I'm sure you've likely all see it, but I nearly forgot how charming that film is. It is even more charming when you preface it with brie and prosciutto on baguettes and cheese-filled, berry-topped crepes. And more charming still when you bring your very own garden gnome as a centerpiece to set the scene for the evening. In fact, I recommend you re-watch Amelie at your earliest convenience, crepes and gnome optional.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Movies I've seen in 2009
* - My thumbs are up
^ - My thumbs are down
~ - At least one thumb is up, but maybe not super-enthusiastically
________________________
January 3 - The Wedding Date (2005)
January 9 - Persepolis (2007) *
January 13 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) *
January 18 - Slumdog Millionaire (2008) *
January 24 - Speak (2005)
January 24 - Bride & Prejudice (2005) ~
January 28 - Senator Obama Goes to Africa (2007)
January 30 - The Women (1939)
February 1 - Towelhead (2008)
February 8 - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) *
February 14 - Gone Baby Gone (2007)
February 28 - Lovely and Amazing (2002) ^
March 1 - Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) ~
March 1 - Revolutionary Road (2008)
March 13 - Train Man (2005)
March 14 - The Reader (2008)
March 20 - Volver (2006) *
March 21 - Rachel Getting Married (2008) ~
March 28 - Role Models (2008)
April 1 - Blue State (2007)
April 2 - Frost/Nixon (2008) **
April 4 - Rocket Science (2007)
April 4 - Conversations with Other Women (2006)
April 22 - Tricks (2007) *
April 24 - Breaking Upwards (2009) *
April 25 - Babette's Feast (1987) ~
May 14 - The Wrestler (2008)
May 24 - The Bicycle Thief (1948)
May 25 - Antonia's Line (1995)
June 3 - Our Daily Bread (2006)
June 7 - Because I Said So (2007) ^^
June 12 - Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008) *
June 13 - I Capture the Castle (2003) *
June 13 - High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)
June 21 - Woman of the Year (1942)
June 27 - He's Just Not That into You (2009) ~ (I KNOW it got dreadful reviews. I KNOW! But somehow, I didn't hate it, OK?)
July 2 - Food Matters (2008) *
July 3 - Lost in Austen (2008) *
July 10 - Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) ^
July 11 - Sunshine Cleaning (2009) *
July 20 - 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2008) ^
July 25 - Let the Right One In (2008)
July 28 - Julie & Julia (2009) **
July 30 - New in Town (2009)
August 2 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) *
August 2 - Desk Set (1957) *
August 15 - 500 Days of Summer (2009) *
September 12 - The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) ^
September 18 - I Love You, Man (2009) *
September 19 - Adventureland (2009) ~
September 27 - State of Play (2009)
October 3 - The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
October 9 - Persuasion (1995)
October 17 - The Hangover (2009) *
October 24 - Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
October 30 - Away We Go (2009) *
November 20 - New Moon (2009)
November 28 - The Wackness (2008)
December 6 - Paper Heart (2009) ~
December 19 - How to Be (2008) ^^
December 25 - Up in the Air (2009) *
^ - My thumbs are down
~ - At least one thumb is up, but maybe not super-enthusiastically
________________________
January 3 - The Wedding Date (2005)
January 9 - Persepolis (2007) *
January 13 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) *
January 18 - Slumdog Millionaire (2008) *
January 24 - Speak (2005)
January 24 - Bride & Prejudice (2005) ~
January 28 - Senator Obama Goes to Africa (2007)
January 30 - The Women (1939)
February 1 - Towelhead (2008)
February 8 - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) *
February 14 - Gone Baby Gone (2007)
February 28 - Lovely and Amazing (2002) ^
March 1 - Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) ~
March 1 - Revolutionary Road (2008)
March 13 - Train Man (2005)
March 14 - The Reader (2008)
March 20 - Volver (2006) *
March 21 - Rachel Getting Married (2008) ~
March 28 - Role Models (2008)
April 1 - Blue State (2007)
April 2 - Frost/Nixon (2008) **
April 4 - Rocket Science (2007)
April 4 - Conversations with Other Women (2006)
April 22 - Tricks (2007) *
April 24 - Breaking Upwards (2009) *
April 25 - Babette's Feast (1987) ~
May 14 - The Wrestler (2008)
May 24 - The Bicycle Thief (1948)
May 25 - Antonia's Line (1995)
June 3 - Our Daily Bread (2006)
June 7 - Because I Said So (2007) ^^
June 12 - Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008) *
June 13 - I Capture the Castle (2003) *
June 13 - High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)
June 21 - Woman of the Year (1942)
June 27 - He's Just Not That into You (2009) ~ (I KNOW it got dreadful reviews. I KNOW! But somehow, I didn't hate it, OK?)
July 2 - Food Matters (2008) *
July 3 - Lost in Austen (2008) *
July 10 - Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) ^
July 11 - Sunshine Cleaning (2009) *
July 20 - 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2008) ^
July 25 - Let the Right One In (2008)
July 28 - Julie & Julia (2009) **
July 30 - New in Town (2009)
August 2 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) *
August 2 - Desk Set (1957) *
August 15 - 500 Days of Summer (2009) *
September 12 - The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) ^
September 18 - I Love You, Man (2009) *
September 19 - Adventureland (2009) ~
September 27 - State of Play (2009)
October 3 - The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
October 9 - Persuasion (1995)
October 17 - The Hangover (2009) *
October 24 - Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
October 30 - Away We Go (2009) *
November 20 - New Moon (2009)
November 28 - The Wackness (2008)
December 6 - Paper Heart (2009) ~
December 19 - How to Be (2008) ^^
December 25 - Up in the Air (2009) *
Thursday, December 04, 2008
As we all know, Obama won on the much-debated mozzarella platform.
Well then. I received more comments on that last post than I did on any post through all of NaBlo. This is not a news flash: people love to participate! God bless the geniuses who created polling tools for our blogs. Today I thought of at least three topics on which to poll you again. And then I realized that perhaps I should make some of my own decisions, instead of letting the Internet make them for me. Whatever. Who can I trust, if not the Internet? Clearly mob mentality is always the wisest, sagest choice.
That said, I was happy to see that the bulk of you agreed with me that it was, in fact, a shirt wiener that the boring man who will NOT be my next boyfriend was sporting. Most of you did not agree with my suspicion that it was intentional, but at least thus far zero percent of you have thought it was intentional and hilarious. Whew.
On to other topics, brought to you in bullet-point style, just the way the lazy and attention-deficit among us like them. Am I wrong?
That said, I was happy to see that the bulk of you agreed with me that it was, in fact, a shirt wiener that the boring man who will NOT be my next boyfriend was sporting. Most of you did not agree with my suspicion that it was intentional, but at least thus far zero percent of you have thought it was intentional and hilarious. Whew.
On to other topics, brought to you in bullet-point style, just the way the lazy and attention-deficit among us like them. Am I wrong?
- I saw Australia last night, and because I still have not succumbed to the allure of Twitter, I instead thereafter changed my Facebook status to "Stefanie thinks that maybe Baz Luhrmann needs an editor." It's not so much that I didn't like it; it's just that it was absurd that there was so much of it. Within those three hours were at least three separate movies, but rather than pick one, Baz (can I call you "Baz"?) decided to cram together all three. I think the following quote from the reviews compiled at Rotten Tomatoes summed it up best:
"You don't find many three-hour fairy tale love story war films about race relations featuring the ultra-competitive beef market in northern Australia. For good reason."
I saw this one with my new friend (former boyfriend candidate) AW, who added that, "Nicole Kidman as the tough-but-dainty woman sophisticate in the cowboy frontier is a bit tired. Didn't she play that role in, like, five other movies?" I agreed with him, even though by "five other movies" I think he meant "Cold Mountain." I suppose when you find a type-casting that works for you, you go with it. Isn't that right, Jodie Foster? (Note: For that last link, special thanks go to my ridiculously astute memory for seemingly useless details, as well as the beauty of blog search boxes.) - Shockingly, I actually have two candidates in the Catch dot Mom queue at the moment that I'm feeling ever so slightly optimistic about. One of them answered my request that my match know the difference between "your" and "you're" by noting that he "not only knows the difference between 'your' and 'you're,' but 'YORE' as well." Be still my nerdy heart. The other one said, in response to my first email to him, that he could tell I was a writer before even looking at my profile, such was the fine craftwork of my message. Flattery will get you everywhere, sir. Or, it might, if you would actually write me back again. I fear that dating karma may in fact be biting me in the rear. I neglect to write back to a slightly "off"-looking guy I've entered preliminary communication with, and my payback is a similar slighting from someone I actually do want to meet. Sigh. Eventually interest will line up simultaneously, right? Let's cross our fingers on that, OK?
- Meanwhile, I received another message from The Traffic Engineer today, asking if I'd like to see one of the Oscar-worthy movies out right now (Australia, perhaps? Thanks, but I already sat through that.) or check out a new restaurant some night. "I'd be up for it as a date or just friends," he says, but then added "My treat!" Oh, Nice Guy Who Does Nothing For Me... What am I to say to you? Incidentally, this was one of the topics I considered polling you folks on. I should probably just deal with it myself, though, right?
- As you may or may not know (depending on whether you read any of the posts I submitted in the last days of NaBloPoMo, while the rest of you were off neglecting the Internet), my parents were here last weekend, and my father brought with him an absurd amount of cheese for my sister and me. I know he means well; I know that bringing things we do not need and cannot possibly use is just his way of saying he loves us and he's thinking about us and wants to provide for us in some strange, small way. But really. Family-sized bags of cheese curds, string cheese, and mozzarella whips for each of us? What would happen to my already squashy midsection (much less my digestive system) if I ate all of that? Not wanting it to go to waste, however, I portioned off a small share for myself to keep at home and I brought the rest in to work. Most of my coworkers were appreciative. Who doesn't like free cheese as a mid-day snack? Who except the adversarial young conservative who, when hearing from whence the mystery cheese in the kitchen came, spouted some wisecrack about it being LIBERAL cheese, and hoping that eating it wouldn't turn him Democrat. I assured him that the free cheese was actually purchased and provided by a Bush-supporting, Clinton-and-Obama-hating Republican, but I'm not sure it set his fears at ease. CHEESE, people. CHEESE is now political! Oh, when will the madness end?
* Link provided for those of you not raised in Wisconsin. Sadly, I couldn't find a similar explanation for mozzarella whips (which are really just skinny string cheese; surely you can imagine that).
Sunday, November 23, 2008
There's a reason I'm not a film reviewer, it seems
So. You are probably wondering what I thought of Twilight, right? What do you mean, "Not really"? OK, the five of you who also saw Twilight this weekend are maybe wondering what I thought of it. And I'm curious what the five of you thought as well.
Me? Eh. I don't know. It sort of felt disjointed and rushed. I realize it's not easy to cram 500+ pages into a two-hour movie while remaining true enough to the tiny details of the plot to keep the preteen uber-fans happy, but I couldn't help thinking that the whole thing had been pieced together from a handful of key events in the book, minus the context or buildup around any of those events. I'm not sure it would have stood up on its own, had I (and seemingly everyone else in the sold-out theater with me) not already read the book.
It sort of reminded me of the Angry Alien "Bun-o-Vision" production of It's a Wonderful Life in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies. [Are you not familiar with that web phenomenon? Go ahead. Take half a minute to watch it. I'll wait. And incidentally, woah. The bunnies have been busy since the last time I visited their site. Their library has grown! They've now got Office Space! Sixteen Candles! March of the Penguins! (My two-cents: If you haven't yet seen that last one, save yourself the time and just watch the 30-second recap instead.)]
I was trying to decide what the 30-second Bun-o-Vision recap of Twilight would actually look like, when I realized there's a note on the site saying that title is next up for them to create. Whoo! I'm sort of more excited to see that than I was to see the full-length film on the big screen. I have short-term memory problems when it comes to this sort of thing, however. Someone remind me to go back in a few months and look for it, OK?
I'm guessing the 30-second recap of Twilight won't be all that different from the two-hour version, though. I think it'll go something like this:
And... scene. Tell me: what did I inadvertently leave out?
Me? Eh. I don't know. It sort of felt disjointed and rushed. I realize it's not easy to cram 500+ pages into a two-hour movie while remaining true enough to the tiny details of the plot to keep the preteen uber-fans happy, but I couldn't help thinking that the whole thing had been pieced together from a handful of key events in the book, minus the context or buildup around any of those events. I'm not sure it would have stood up on its own, had I (and seemingly everyone else in the sold-out theater with me) not already read the book.
It sort of reminded me of the Angry Alien "Bun-o-Vision" production of It's a Wonderful Life in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies. [Are you not familiar with that web phenomenon? Go ahead. Take half a minute to watch it. I'll wait. And incidentally, woah. The bunnies have been busy since the last time I visited their site. Their library has grown! They've now got Office Space! Sixteen Candles! March of the Penguins! (My two-cents: If you haven't yet seen that last one, save yourself the time and just watch the 30-second recap instead.)]
I was trying to decide what the 30-second Bun-o-Vision recap of Twilight would actually look like, when I realized there's a note on the site saying that title is next up for them to create. Whoo! I'm sort of more excited to see that than I was to see the full-length film on the big screen. I have short-term memory problems when it comes to this sort of thing, however. Someone remind me to go back in a few months and look for it, OK?
I'm guessing the 30-second recap of Twilight won't be all that different from the two-hour version, though. I think it'll go something like this:
Bella: My mom got remarried, so I'm moving from Phoenix to Forks, to live with my dad. I'm pretty sure it's going to suck.
Bella: A big, beat-up old truck? Cool! Oh, hi Jacob. Yeah, I think I remember you.
Every boy at Forks high school: Hey, Arizona. You're pretty. Lemme show you to your next class. Oh, and will you go to prom with me?
Every girl at Forks high school: All the boys like you, so I guess we'd better be friends with you. Oh. Those are the Cullens. They're impossibly beautiful, but way weird. Don't talk to them.
Bella: Why does Edward Cullen hate me? What did I do to him? Do I smell?
Edward: I'm sorry I was rude to you. I love you. Watch me keep a van from crushing you, but don't ask me how I did it. Did I mention I love you?
Jacob: The Cullens don't come here. They're the cold ones. We're descended from wolves.
Bella: What?
Jacob: Yeah. I know. It's just a silly story. You're pretty. Let's talk about something else.
Edward: I can read minds. Not yours, though. It's fairly maddening.
Bella: I've figured it out.
Edward: Say it. Say the word!
Bella: Vampire!
Edward: Are you scared?
Bella: No.
Edward: You should be.
Bella: I fall down a lot. See that? Whoopsie.
Edward: It really is a lot of work looking after you. Did I mention I watch you sleep at night? Also, look! I'm all sparkly.
Bella: You're beautiful! It's like diamonds!
The Cullens: There's a storm coming. Let's play baseball! Uh oh. We've got visitors.
James: You brought a snack.
The Cullens: The girl is with us.
James: But she's a human! I must have her!
Edward: Never!
James: We'll see about that.
Edward: I WILL make you safe again, Bella! If it takes hiding you away in a hotel room with my pretend sister and her husband/pretend-brother, only to have you run away from them because a vampire tricked you into thinking he had your mother, so that I then have to rush in and rip him to shreds while you bleed on the floor of your old ballet studio, I WILL make you safe again!
Bella: And then we'll go to the prom?
Edward: Yes. Alice will loan you a dress.
Bella: Neato. I love you.
Edward: I love you more.
Victoria: This film better make enough money to warrant a sequel, because I've got some revenge to seek.
And... scene. Tell me: what did I inadvertently leave out?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Yeeeees, I've been broken hearted, bluuuueeee since the day we parted
You'll have to forgive me. I saw Mamma Mia! last night, and the hamster in charge of the soundtrack in my head has had ABBA on constant loop ever since. Of course, now more than likely YOU have that line on repeat as well. Don't you love it when I share the wealth?
Since often any mention of a movie is followed by some sort of review of it, I should say that despite what Rotten Tomatoes thinks, I liked Mamma Mia! quite well. No, it is not any sort of serious cinematic achievement rife with subtle character development or artful dialogue, but I am OK with that. It is a musical, people. A musical based on ABBA songs. You are to go with your girlfriends and have fun with it. And that is exactly what I did.
I thought the film adaptation was reasonably true to the original stage version, with the exception, of course, of Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth stepping in for lesser known but more vocally talented actors. I'm sorry. Pierce Brosnan may have that smoldering distinguished older gentleman thing going on, but that did not stop at least a fourth of the theater from creeping into a giggle loop when he belted out his first few solo lines. I think perhaps my favorite part of last night's movie-going experience was glancing at my friend Lisa during Brosnan's first song and seeing tears welling up in her eyes from laughter, crying, "That's James Bond!" But there's something to be said for range, you know? Kudos to 007 for taking on something outside his usual realm just for fun.
So. Two thumbs up for Mamma Mia!, with the appropriate caveats in place. It is hokey and contrived and ridiculous, yes. And neither James Bond nor Mark Darcy will ever get a record deal. But it is also lots of fun. You will smile. You will want to sing along out loud in the theater. Go with it. That is all.
As I'm suddenly in uncharacteristic reviewing mode, we should talk about Twilight, right? Despite the fact that it's still sitting over in that "What I'm reading" spot in my sidebar, I did actually finish that book days ago. Did I like it? Yes. Will it make any sort of personal "best of" list? Probably not. That's not always the point, right? In a way, Twilight is a bit like Mamma Mia!--enjoyable in its own way outright, even if it doesn't stand up to any sort of scholarly criticism in the more serious corners of its field. All things have their purpose. (Well, almost all things. Spats atop modern shoes is something I'll likely never understand.)
So. Twilight. Obviously I am not in Stephenie Meyer's target demographic, seeing as I am a 34-year-old single, childless woman and not a crush-struck 14-year-old girl. But Meyer is a 34-year-old woman, too. A 34-year-old woman with a similarly wacked-up spelling of the same name as mine. I am not a Mormon with three kids and a successful series of teenage vampire love novels under my belt, but there must be at least some similarities in her past, as her description of the mundane day-to-day details of high school life could have come straight out of the over-dramatic journals of my youth. So I reveled in distant memories of all of that nonsense for the same reasons I've enjoyed Dawson's Creek and Felicity in my post-high school and post-college years. Plus, Twilight has the added bonus of the stock standard (if wholly unrealistic) "they fell in love in a DAY" nonsense that even Shakespeare made a career out of. Except in this case, it's love at first sight with a vampire. Drama! Danger! Intrigue! Outpouring of teen angst! Seriously, what more could you want??
In all honesty, I don't even know why I got so sucked in to this book. Artful prose? Not so much. It's a young adult novel, after all. But the story clipped along nicely, with smooth transitions from each page to the next. I'd sit down, thinking, "I'll just read to the next good stopping point and then go to bed," and suddenly it was 45 minutes later and well past my bed time, still no satisfying stopping point on the page in front of me. I've been a slow reader lately, what with the Internet and Netflix and various other things to distract me, and I got through a 500-page book in well under three weeks. That may not be speedy for some, but it's a pretty good pace for me. There must have been something that grabbed me in there.
I never jumped on the Harry Potter bandwagon, but I'm pretty sure I'll go ahead and read all the Twilight books. Unfortunately, a lot of other people (likely mostly 14-year-olds) are on this bandwagon as well, which means my name is on a hold list at the library for New Moon. I don't like to be between books, and meanwhile, I have a rather large stack of books sitting here waiting for me, but unfortunately no inclination whatsoever as to which one I should read next. Internets, you are full of good advice and recommendations. What should I read to tide me over until I get my next fix of vampire love? Bear in mind that the hold list could take anywhere from six days to six weeks and my reading is, as I said, less than voracious these days. What say you? Which is my best bet?
Since often any mention of a movie is followed by some sort of review of it, I should say that despite what Rotten Tomatoes thinks, I liked Mamma Mia! quite well. No, it is not any sort of serious cinematic achievement rife with subtle character development or artful dialogue, but I am OK with that. It is a musical, people. A musical based on ABBA songs. You are to go with your girlfriends and have fun with it. And that is exactly what I did.
I thought the film adaptation was reasonably true to the original stage version, with the exception, of course, of Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth stepping in for lesser known but more vocally talented actors. I'm sorry. Pierce Brosnan may have that smoldering distinguished older gentleman thing going on, but that did not stop at least a fourth of the theater from creeping into a giggle loop when he belted out his first few solo lines. I think perhaps my favorite part of last night's movie-going experience was glancing at my friend Lisa during Brosnan's first song and seeing tears welling up in her eyes from laughter, crying, "That's James Bond!" But there's something to be said for range, you know? Kudos to 007 for taking on something outside his usual realm just for fun.
So. Two thumbs up for Mamma Mia!, with the appropriate caveats in place. It is hokey and contrived and ridiculous, yes. And neither James Bond nor Mark Darcy will ever get a record deal. But it is also lots of fun. You will smile. You will want to sing along out loud in the theater. Go with it. That is all.
As I'm suddenly in uncharacteristic reviewing mode, we should talk about Twilight, right? Despite the fact that it's still sitting over in that "What I'm reading" spot in my sidebar, I did actually finish that book days ago. Did I like it? Yes. Will it make any sort of personal "best of" list? Probably not. That's not always the point, right? In a way, Twilight is a bit like Mamma Mia!--enjoyable in its own way outright, even if it doesn't stand up to any sort of scholarly criticism in the more serious corners of its field. All things have their purpose. (Well, almost all things. Spats atop modern shoes is something I'll likely never understand.)
So. Twilight. Obviously I am not in Stephenie Meyer's target demographic, seeing as I am a 34-year-old single, childless woman and not a crush-struck 14-year-old girl. But Meyer is a 34-year-old woman, too. A 34-year-old woman with a similarly wacked-up spelling of the same name as mine. I am not a Mormon with three kids and a successful series of teenage vampire love novels under my belt, but there must be at least some similarities in her past, as her description of the mundane day-to-day details of high school life could have come straight out of the over-dramatic journals of my youth. So I reveled in distant memories of all of that nonsense for the same reasons I've enjoyed Dawson's Creek and Felicity in my post-high school and post-college years. Plus, Twilight has the added bonus of the stock standard (if wholly unrealistic) "they fell in love in a DAY" nonsense that even Shakespeare made a career out of. Except in this case, it's love at first sight with a vampire. Drama! Danger! Intrigue! Outpouring of teen angst! Seriously, what more could you want??
In all honesty, I don't even know why I got so sucked in to this book. Artful prose? Not so much. It's a young adult novel, after all. But the story clipped along nicely, with smooth transitions from each page to the next. I'd sit down, thinking, "I'll just read to the next good stopping point and then go to bed," and suddenly it was 45 minutes later and well past my bed time, still no satisfying stopping point on the page in front of me. I've been a slow reader lately, what with the Internet and Netflix and various other things to distract me, and I got through a 500-page book in well under three weeks. That may not be speedy for some, but it's a pretty good pace for me. There must have been something that grabbed me in there.
I never jumped on the Harry Potter bandwagon, but I'm pretty sure I'll go ahead and read all the Twilight books. Unfortunately, a lot of other people (likely mostly 14-year-olds) are on this bandwagon as well, which means my name is on a hold list at the library for New Moon. I don't like to be between books, and meanwhile, I have a rather large stack of books sitting here waiting for me, but unfortunately no inclination whatsoever as to which one I should read next. Internets, you are full of good advice and recommendations. What should I read to tide me over until I get my next fix of vampire love? Bear in mind that the hold list could take anywhere from six days to six weeks and my reading is, as I said, less than voracious these days. What say you? Which is my best bet?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
I promise I will find something to write about other than my own ineptitude soon.
Seriously, people. Did I recently somehow quietly swap fortunes with some even less coordinated soul than myself, ala Lindsay Lohan circa 2006? I'm sure there's a more mundane explanation than that, but there has to be some reason I'm so much more accident prone than usual lately. If I have switched cosmic places with someone, however, I hope he is cute. Also, I hope he isn't turned off by my current collection of bruises and battle scars. To recap, at the moment I am sporting the following:
Luckily, I am absurdly busy at work at the moment, so when I made this graceless exit at 6:30 this evening, the office was nearly empty. Nearly. From two rooms away, I heard the owner of the company call out, "What was that??" To which I had to call back, "Oh nothing. Apparently I can no longer walk; therefore it is time for me to go home."
From two rooms further away, my own boss said, "Stef? Was that you??" Obviously I should have said, "No worries. This sort of thing happens all the time." Honestly, by this point it didn't even faze me. Of course I tripped on my own feet and hopped and skidded to the ground with a thud. Who here is really surprised about this by now?
I watched a movie last week in which Ione Skye claimed that what every woman is looking for is a man who makes her feel like the movie version of herself. I thought that was a charming and accurate sentiment. I just hope that when the right man finally comes along and meets Movie Me, what he sees is not a slapstick-prone Amanda Bynes.
On a related note, I hope this evening's fall has convinced my boss that I am not the most appropriate person to keep her company at our gym's new "Stiletto Strength" class after all. If I can fall and hurt myself while walking on carpet in Birkenstocks, should I really be exercising on a wood floor in heels?? I'm gonna go with NO on that.
Incidentally, the crazy stiletto class just further proves to me that the town where my office is located is the closest thing to Stars Hollow I've seen in real life. Can't you just see Miss Patty
standing in the doorway of her studio calling out instructions to a group of random townie women in sweats and heels? I sure can.
- A scab on my big toe from when I got rear-ended last week. (Sidenote: No word yet from the kid in the Civic's insurance company, which means either he is very slow with the estimate-getting or my own agent was correct when she said Ms. Leadfoot behind me would have to pay for his damages. Let's hope for the latter. Whoo!)
- Three small red scars on my inner wrist and forearm from my bathroom-cleaning mishap.
- A rather persistent bruise on my right arm, of long-forgotten origin.
- A red scuff to the left of my lower lip--the remains of Monday's Lean Cuisine flatbread burn.
- And finally, the latest evidence of my undying poise: a bruise on my upper thigh and rug burns on my foot and thumb, acquired when I somehow fell out of my shoe on my way out of the office and lurched and stumbled all the way to the floor.
Luckily, I am absurdly busy at work at the moment, so when I made this graceless exit at 6:30 this evening, the office was nearly empty. Nearly. From two rooms away, I heard the owner of the company call out, "What was that??" To which I had to call back, "Oh nothing. Apparently I can no longer walk; therefore it is time for me to go home."
From two rooms further away, my own boss said, "Stef? Was that you??" Obviously I should have said, "No worries. This sort of thing happens all the time." Honestly, by this point it didn't even faze me. Of course I tripped on my own feet and hopped and skidded to the ground with a thud. Who here is really surprised about this by now?
I watched a movie last week in which Ione Skye claimed that what every woman is looking for is a man who makes her feel like the movie version of herself. I thought that was a charming and accurate sentiment. I just hope that when the right man finally comes along and meets Movie Me, what he sees is not a slapstick-prone Amanda Bynes.
On a related note, I hope this evening's fall has convinced my boss that I am not the most appropriate person to keep her company at our gym's new "Stiletto Strength" class after all. If I can fall and hurt myself while walking on carpet in Birkenstocks, should I really be exercising on a wood floor in heels?? I'm gonna go with NO on that.
Incidentally, the crazy stiletto class just further proves to me that the town where my office is located is the closest thing to Stars Hollow I've seen in real life. Can't you just see Miss Patty
standing in the doorway of her studio calling out instructions to a group of random townie women in sweats and heels? I sure can.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
More grammar and more whining, but if you make it through that, there's a game!
-----------------------------------------------
3/10 Update: Finally! I've posted the answers below. I'm sure it was killing you.
-----------------------------------------------
Obviously it is no longer National Grammar Day, so I thought I'd really better post something to move that last entry from top position. Sognatrice is right, though: EVERY day should be National Grammar Day! It's sort of like that "Keep Christmas with you all through the year" song they sang on the Sesame Street Christmas special... except, you know, with grammar. And no puppets.
Coincidentally, ON National Grammar Day I received an email message from a friend of mine with a work-related grammar question. (This occurs more often than you might think. Apparently I am the go-to source for grammar dilemmas for many people I know, including my boss, who considers me not only a walking Chicago Manual of Style but a human dictionary as well. I am going to assume she does this mostly because she doesn't always see me on a daily basis and obviously misses me, and not because I need to introduce her to the Internet.) Anyway, when I responded to my friend's question, I mentioned that it was an excellent day to be pondering big questions such as his, it being National Grammar Day and all. He replied with enthusiasm, suggesting that opening his email on that particular day must have been like opening a present on my birthday (which is coming up, by the way; start your shopping now, folks). Sometimes I wonder if my friends overestimate the extent of my nerdery or if I underestimate the extent of my nerdery. It's toss-up, I suppose.
I'm feeling rather cranky today, for reasons that have nothing to do with grammar, or how big of a nerd I am (or am not), or the fact that I STILL don't have my Girl Scout cookies, or even that the wrong person won Project Runway last night. (Yes, I got sucked into that just like half the rest of you. No, I won't say any more in case you've taped or Tivoed it and have avoided any spoilers thus far.) No, trite and overstated as it is, I think the weather is what's getting to me right now. I am tired of being cold all the time, tired of sliding around every time I go outside, either because the ice is slipperier than usual this year or because I've somehow forgotten how to walk in this weather or because I simply ought to buy some better shoes. Also, I am tired of listening to my nearby coworker sniff and cough every 8.2 seconds like clockwork. I know he can't help it, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. After three days of this, Coughy McSnifferson is working my last nerve.
To distract me from the negative then, how about a game? I'm stealing this from NPW, and the game is pretty simple. I give you quotes; you give me the movie (without using the Internetto cheat for reference).
Sadly, there will be no prizes, because I only recently managed to finally send out the prizes from my Pay It Forward contest last month (actually, I have one prize left to distribute, but I plan to hand that over to -R- in person when we meet for dinner tonight), so I don't much feel like starting that process all over again right away. This time, then, the only prize is my respect and admiration. Let's play anyway, shall we?
3/10 Update: Finally! I've posted the answers below. I'm sure it was killing you.
-----------------------------------------------
Obviously it is no longer National Grammar Day, so I thought I'd really better post something to move that last entry from top position. Sognatrice is right, though: EVERY day should be National Grammar Day! It's sort of like that "Keep Christmas with you all through the year" song they sang on the Sesame Street Christmas special... except, you know, with grammar. And no puppets.
Coincidentally, ON National Grammar Day I received an email message from a friend of mine with a work-related grammar question. (This occurs more often than you might think. Apparently I am the go-to source for grammar dilemmas for many people I know, including my boss, who considers me not only a walking Chicago Manual of Style but a human dictionary as well. I am going to assume she does this mostly because she doesn't always see me on a daily basis and obviously misses me, and not because I need to introduce her to the Internet.) Anyway, when I responded to my friend's question, I mentioned that it was an excellent day to be pondering big questions such as his, it being National Grammar Day and all. He replied with enthusiasm, suggesting that opening his email on that particular day must have been like opening a present on my birthday (which is coming up, by the way; start your shopping now, folks). Sometimes I wonder if my friends overestimate the extent of my nerdery or if I underestimate the extent of my nerdery. It's toss-up, I suppose.
I'm feeling rather cranky today, for reasons that have nothing to do with grammar, or how big of a nerd I am (or am not), or the fact that I STILL don't have my Girl Scout cookies, or even that the wrong person won Project Runway last night. (Yes, I got sucked into that just like half the rest of you. No, I won't say any more in case you've taped or Tivoed it and have avoided any spoilers thus far.) No, trite and overstated as it is, I think the weather is what's getting to me right now. I am tired of being cold all the time, tired of sliding around every time I go outside, either because the ice is slipperier than usual this year or because I've somehow forgotten how to walk in this weather or because I simply ought to buy some better shoes. Also, I am tired of listening to my nearby coworker sniff and cough every 8.2 seconds like clockwork. I know he can't help it, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. After three days of this, Coughy McSnifferson is working my last nerve.
To distract me from the negative then, how about a game? I'm stealing this from NPW, and the game is pretty simple. I give you quotes; you give me the movie (without using the Internet
Sadly, there will be no prizes, because I only recently managed to finally send out the prizes from my Pay It Forward contest last month (actually, I have one prize left to distribute, but I plan to hand that over to -R- in person when we meet for dinner tonight), so I don't much feel like starting that process all over again right away. This time, then, the only prize is my respect and admiration. Let's play anyway, shall we?
- I can't sing. I've got a sore finger.
The Sound of Music (Congrats to -R-, Liz, L Sass, and Lara) - This desk set wants to fly. Ladies and gentlemen, the world's first unmanned flying desk set.
Dead Poets Society (Congrats NPW and Lara) - - Hey, my brother. Can I borrow your copy of Hey Soul Classics?
- No, my brother. You have to buy your own.
Say Anything (Congrats to Pam and 3Carnations... I really, really thought more people than that would get this one) - You know how I said I'd rather be with someone for the wrong reasons than alone for the right ones? I've decided I'd rather be right.
Some Kind of Wonderful (Pam again. Yay!) - That's fascinating. It's like dating public radio.
2 Days in Paris (I didn't really expect anyone to get this one, and it seems I was right.) - - How about worst case scenarios after graduation?
- Heart attack.
- Live in Milwaukee.
Kicking and Screaming (No, not the Will Ferrell one. This one. And I highly recommend you all see it.) - Hey brainless. Don't you know where coconuts come from?
It's a Wonderful Life (Yay Mara. I can't believe Aaron didn't also identify this one. Clearly he was too lazy to even play.) - Where's my wandering parakeet?
The Philadelphia Story (It's a Jimmy Stewart double feature on #7 and #8. I love this movie. If you haven't seen it yet, you really must.) - - You know that night on the phone? Well, I'm pregnant.
- Are you sure it's mine?
- I don't know; I made a lot of calls that night.
The Truth about Cats and Dogs (Congrats NPW and -R-, assuming this title is in fact the one -R- meant by "Cats and Dogs movie with Janeane Garafelo") - Now that's a real shame when people be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that.
Better Off Dead (Yay to Pam and NPW.) - - No more rhyming now. I mean it!
- Anybody want a peanut?
The Princess Bride (NPW, L Sass, and Pam pegged this one. I'm pretty sure Poppy knew it too.) - All the great themes have been used up and turned into theme parks.
Pump up the Volume (Apparently not everyone watched this movie 147 times during the early 90s, like my sisters and I did?) - Why, if only we were all wiener dogs, our problems would be solved!
The Brave Little Toaster (An obscure choice, I know, but a charming and underrated little animated gem) - Marriage is like a tense, unfunny version of Everybody Loves Raymond. Only it doesn't last 22 minutes. It lasts forever.
Knocked Up (NPW knows that Paul Rudd is one of my favorite fake boyfriends. Maybe the rest of you forgot.) - I don't think you're an idiot at all. I mean, there are elements of the ridiculous about you. Your mother's pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And, um, you tend to let whatever's in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences... But the thing is, um, what I'm trying to say, very inarticulately, is that, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like you, very much. Just as you are.
Bridget Jones's Diary (Yay NPW again, as well as -R-, Jess, 3Cs, and Lara. Note to 3Cs: It was actually Colin Firth who said it, not Hugh Grant, but you were close.)
Monday, February 25, 2008
I was probably also the kid who didn't like slumber parties because it messed with my sleep schedule*
Hey, you know what's fun? Tossing in my two cents about a movie that the rest of you either saw eight months ago or decided never to see. Maybe next I'll weigh in on that whole Britney head-shaving debacle. (No I won't. And it actually sort of pains me that I can't come up with a better example of the untimely than that.)
That said, what did we all think of Ratatouille? (Or, as -R- calls it, Rat-tat-tooey, which I'll agree does make the title that much more fun to say.)
My take? I feel there are moments in life that sort of crystallize who I am as a person... defining thoughts or comments that make me say, "Oh. Damn. That is who I am?" And who I am this time is someone who really needs to lighten up and take things a little less literally from time to time. Why? Because charming as Rat-tat-tooey was purported to be (what with the 95% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes and the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar and all), throughout the entire movie I simply could not get past the fact that there was a wiry-haired RAT in the kitchen, touching food with his pointy, rodenty little paws. And it revolted me. I know rats are supposed to be cute and harmless in animated form, but all I could think was "Rats! In the kitchen! Excuse me while I lose my dinner..."
Internets, help me out on this. It wasn't just me, was it?
It was? Yeah, I thought so. I'll take my pocket protector and antibacterial wipes and move along now. Thanks.
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* No, I wasn't that kid, actually, but I went to Girl Scout camp with her. And man, if ever there was a 35-year-old woman trapped in a ten-year-old's body... Actually she'd probably be with me on the Ratatouille thing. Oddly, I take no comfort in that.
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That said, what did we all think of Ratatouille? (Or, as -R- calls it, Rat-tat-tooey, which I'll agree does make the title that much more fun to say.)
My take? I feel there are moments in life that sort of crystallize who I am as a person... defining thoughts or comments that make me say, "Oh. Damn. That is who I am?" And who I am this time is someone who really needs to lighten up and take things a little less literally from time to time. Why? Because charming as Rat-tat-tooey was purported to be (what with the 95% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes and the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar and all), throughout the entire movie I simply could not get past the fact that there was a wiry-haired RAT in the kitchen, touching food with his pointy, rodenty little paws. And it revolted me. I know rats are supposed to be cute and harmless in animated form, but all I could think was "Rats! In the kitchen! Excuse me while I lose my dinner..."
Internets, help me out on this. It wasn't just me, was it?
It was? Yeah, I thought so. I'll take my pocket protector and antibacterial wipes and move along now. Thanks.
------------------------------------------------------
* No, I wasn't that kid, actually, but I went to Girl Scout camp with her. And man, if ever there was a 35-year-old woman trapped in a ten-year-old's body... Actually she'd probably be with me on the Ratatouille thing. Oddly, I take no comfort in that.
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Friday, January 11, 2008
Five reasons I know movies and television are embedded irreversibly in my brain
- I first forced myself to remember which direction the sun rises and sets by singing in my head the lyrics to Movin' Right Along from The Muppet Movie. (Fozzie: "Hey, I've never seen the sun come up in the west!")
- Every time I apply mascara, I remember Blossom talking about some of life's great mysteries... "like why women open their mouths when they put on mascara."
- Whenever I use vanilla extract, I remember the Very Special Episode of Family Ties in which Tom Hanks played alcoholic Uncle Ned--so hard up for a drink that he downed a whole bottle of the stuff.
- Nearly every day when I step out of the shower and the floor in my very old bathroom makes an ominous creaking, cracking sound, I think of Carol Seaver falling through the floor of her bedroom and into the living room because of a termite infestation and crying, "I am willing to get on a scale right now and prove this was not my fault!"
- Whenever I see an oncoming car that should have its headlights on, I hear Julia Roberts, saying "Lights! Lights would be good here."
That's five, but honestly, I could keep right on going... When I pee for an unusually long time, I think of Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own, and how the women on his team counted the seconds he was in the bathroom, waiting to see if it was a new record. When I wash my hands, I think of Bill Nye explaining the science behind the lather: "Soap makes water wetter!" And whenever I walk past the unusually large, gaping street drain in a gutter near my office, I expect to see the demonic clown from IT peering out at me from beneath the concrete.
That last image in particular is one I wish I could shake from the movie screen in my mind. My sincerest apologies for reminding you of the horror that was Pennywise as well. (Seriously, I am warning you. Don't click that last link. Aagh!)
Please, please tell me I'm not the only one whose brain works this way.
Friday, January 04, 2008
More than a day late, more than a dollar short
I am well aware that all my end-of-year sum-it-up posting should have been done last week. Christmas trees are down (well, mine isn't, but I am a week behind, after all*) and we are solidly into January, so I really should move on to 2008 already. But since last week was one of those spans where I temporarily forgot I had a blog (and also because CenterPoint Energy actually came early for my scheduled meter inspection today, meaning I really should do a very brief post and get myself to work rather than leisurely wile away what I thought would be a few hours waiting for them), I am going to do one more end-of-'07 post anyway. And then maybe I'll talk about something equally timely--you know, like LiLo's** stint in rehab or Paris Hilton crying on her way to the pokey.
That said, on to a one-week-late Friday Five.
My top five movies of 2007
(in no real particular order and bearing in mind that I didn't see half the movies I should have seen in '07, so Oscar will most certainly disagree with me on these)
OK, that is actually six, but I can't decide which of those last four to switch to a tie or honorable mention spot, so six it is, I guess.
Next up, I was going to list my top five books of 2007, but I actually only read a sad, measly 11 books during the year, so it hardly seems fair to highlight damn-near half of them. So I'll just say the top spots go easily to Eat Pray Love and Tolstoy Lied and leave it at that. (Incidentally, I realize neither of those books were actually published in 2007. Everything about this post is late, so why should that matter?)
And finally, let's talk music. I could spend hours agonizing over my top five songs of the year, but that would defeat the purpose of knocking out a quick post and getting my ass to the office already. Also, it would put me in the same sad category as that guy in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, and really, nobody wants to be that guy. So off the top of my head, with the request that you please not hold me to all of these indefinitely, here are...
Maybe my top five songs of 2007
See, now I'm already trying to revise my list, because frankly, much as I loved Lily Allen earlier this year, I'm feeling sort of done with her now, and I just heard Gomez's See the World on the radio and remembered how much I really, really liked that one, too (even if it did maybe come out in 2006 and not 2007, actually). And Rilo Kiley! Breaking up! I still dance around my living room whenever that one comes on, so how can I leave that out? Sigh. This is why I don't make Top Five lists. I give up.
All right then. Off to work. Happy Friday (and, of course, again, Happy 2008) to you all.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* Also, I was raised Catholic, which means I can leave the little tree up until the Epiphany on January 6 and say it's for religious reasons.
** Note to Carrie, Jamie, and anyone else who lives in a world void of trash pop culture: LiLo = Lindsay Lohan. You're welcome.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
That said, on to a one-week-late Friday Five.
My top five movies of 2007
(in no real particular order and bearing in mind that I didn't see half the movies I should have seen in '07, so Oscar will most certainly disagree with me on these)
OK, that is actually six, but I can't decide which of those last four to switch to a tie or honorable mention spot, so six it is, I guess.
Next up, I was going to list my top five books of 2007, but I actually only read a sad, measly 11 books during the year, so it hardly seems fair to highlight damn-near half of them. So I'll just say the top spots go easily to Eat Pray Love and Tolstoy Lied and leave it at that. (Incidentally, I realize neither of those books were actually published in 2007. Everything about this post is late, so why should that matter?)
And finally, let's talk music. I could spend hours agonizing over my top five songs of the year, but that would defeat the purpose of knocking out a quick post and getting my ass to the office already. Also, it would put me in the same sad category as that guy in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, and really, nobody wants to be that guy. So off the top of my head, with the request that you please not hold me to all of these indefinitely, here are...
Maybe my top five songs of 2007
- Band of Horses, No One's Gonna Love You
- Feist, 1234
- The National, Start a War
- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (from the Once soundtrack), Falling Slowly
- Lily Allen, LDN
See, now I'm already trying to revise my list, because frankly, much as I loved Lily Allen earlier this year, I'm feeling sort of done with her now, and I just heard Gomez's See the World on the radio and remembered how much I really, really liked that one, too (even if it did maybe come out in 2006 and not 2007, actually). And Rilo Kiley! Breaking up! I still dance around my living room whenever that one comes on, so how can I leave that out? Sigh. This is why I don't make Top Five lists. I give up.
All right then. Off to work. Happy Friday (and, of course, again, Happy 2008) to you all.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* Also, I was raised Catholic, which means I can leave the little tree up until the Epiphany on January 6 and say it's for religious reasons.
** Note to Carrie, Jamie, and anyone else who lives in a world void of trash pop culture: LiLo = Lindsay Lohan. You're welcome.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Movies I've seen in 2008
* - My thumbs are up
^ - My thumbs are down
~ - At least one thumb is up, but maybe not super-enthusiastically
________________________
January 11 - Paris Je T'aime (2007)
January 12 - Across the Universe (2007) *
January 20 - A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (2007)
January 27 - A Knight's Tale (2001) (RIP, Heath)
February 9 - The Ten (2007) ^
February 22 - Feast of Love (2007)
February 23 - Ratatouille (2007)
March 2 - Charlie Wilson's War (2007) *
March 4 - 2 Days in Paris (2007) ~
March 9 - Becoming Jane (2007) *
March 14 - Into the Wild (2007) *
March 22 - No Country for Old Men
April 4 - Dream for an Insomniac (1997) * (not the first time I've seen it; I own it now, actually)
April 8 - Two Weeks (2007)
April 11 - Atonement (2007) *
April 13 - Sweeney Todd (2007)
April 16 - Michael Clayton (2007)
April 20 - Lars and the Real Girl (2007) *
April 25 - Blindsight (2008) *
April 25 - Irina Palm (2008) *
April 26 - There Will Be Blood (2007)
May 3 - Planet of the Apes (1968)
May 8 - The Hagstone Demon (2008)
May 17 - The Big Lebowski (1998)
May 17 - 27 Dresses (2008)
May 22 - Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) *
May 23 - The Station Agent (2003) *
May 24 - The Savages (2007) *
May 25 - What America Needs (2003) * (I know the filmmaker, but I still think it's worthy of the "thumbs up" star) :-)
May 29 - No End in Sight (2007) *
May 31 - Made of Honor (2008) * (Shut up; I liked it, OK?)
June 15 - Sex & the City (2008) *
June 20 - The Lather Effect (2006) *
June 26 - 48 Hour Film Project (best of)
June 27 - The Rage in Placid Lake (2003) *
June 27 - The Darjeeling Limited (2007) *
June 28 - Je Ne Sais Quoi (2008) ~
July 4 - Ten Second Film Fest
July 5 - Definitely, Maybe (2008) *
July 5 - Charlie Bartlett (2007) *
July 18 - Big Eden (2001)
July 23 - Mamma Mia (2008) *
July 26 - P.S. I Love You (2007) *
August 3 - The Dark Knight (2008)
August 4 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
August 15 - Starter for 10 (2007) ~
August 22 - In the Realms of the Unreal (2004) *
August 22 - Lucky 7 (2003)
August 23 - Pineapple Express (2008)
August 24 - Conventioneers (2006) *
August 28 - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008) *
September 14 - Just Friends (2005)
September 14 - Waiting ^ (apparently it was Ryan Reynolds Day on Comedy Central, and I had nothing better to do)
September 19 - A Very Long Engagement (2004) ~
September 20 - The Visitor (2008) *
September 29 - Burn After Reading (2008) *
October 12 - Wall-E (2008) *
October 17 - The Band's Visit (2007) *
October 17 - Then She Found Me (2008) ~
October 22 - W. (2008)
October 23 - Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes (2008)
October 25 - L'Enfant (2006) ^
November 1 - Penelope (2008) *
November 15 - Smart People (2008) ^
November 21 - Twilight (2008)
November 22 - Yesterday (2004)
November 28 - Baby Mama (2008) * (Yes, yes, I know everyone else thought this was terrible. I laughed a lot, OK?)
December 3 - Australia (2008) ~
December 6 - Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
December 24 - Dan in Real Life (2007) *
December 24 - The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
December 25 - Doubt (2008) *
December 25 - State and Main (2000) *
December 28 - Broken English (2007) ^
December 29 - Milk (2007) *
^ - My thumbs are down
~ - At least one thumb is up, but maybe not super-enthusiastically
________________________
January 11 - Paris Je T'aime (2007)
January 12 - Across the Universe (2007) *
January 20 - A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (2007)
January 27 - A Knight's Tale (2001) (RIP, Heath)
February 9 - The Ten (2007) ^
February 22 - Feast of Love (2007)
February 23 - Ratatouille (2007)
March 2 - Charlie Wilson's War (2007) *
March 4 - 2 Days in Paris (2007) ~
March 9 - Becoming Jane (2007) *
March 14 - Into the Wild (2007) *
March 22 - No Country for Old Men
April 4 - Dream for an Insomniac (1997) * (not the first time I've seen it; I own it now, actually)
April 8 - Two Weeks (2007)
April 11 - Atonement (2007) *
April 13 - Sweeney Todd (2007)
April 16 - Michael Clayton (2007)
April 20 - Lars and the Real Girl (2007) *
April 25 - Blindsight (2008) *
April 25 - Irina Palm (2008) *
April 26 - There Will Be Blood (2007)
May 3 - Planet of the Apes (1968)
May 8 - The Hagstone Demon (2008)
May 17 - The Big Lebowski (1998)
May 17 - 27 Dresses (2008)
May 22 - Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) *
May 23 - The Station Agent (2003) *
May 24 - The Savages (2007) *
May 25 - What America Needs (2003) * (I know the filmmaker, but I still think it's worthy of the "thumbs up" star) :-)
May 29 - No End in Sight (2007) *
May 31 - Made of Honor (2008) * (Shut up; I liked it, OK?)
June 15 - Sex & the City (2008) *
June 20 - The Lather Effect (2006) *
June 26 - 48 Hour Film Project (best of)
June 27 - The Rage in Placid Lake (2003) *
June 27 - The Darjeeling Limited (2007) *
June 28 - Je Ne Sais Quoi (2008) ~
July 4 - Ten Second Film Fest
July 5 - Definitely, Maybe (2008) *
July 5 - Charlie Bartlett (2007) *
July 18 - Big Eden (2001)
July 23 - Mamma Mia (2008) *
July 26 - P.S. I Love You (2007) *
August 3 - The Dark Knight (2008)
August 4 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
August 15 - Starter for 10 (2007) ~
August 22 - In the Realms of the Unreal (2004) *
August 22 - Lucky 7 (2003)
August 23 - Pineapple Express (2008)
August 24 - Conventioneers (2006) *
August 28 - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008) *
September 14 - Just Friends (2005)
September 14 - Waiting ^ (apparently it was Ryan Reynolds Day on Comedy Central, and I had nothing better to do)
September 19 - A Very Long Engagement (2004) ~
September 20 - The Visitor (2008) *
September 29 - Burn After Reading (2008) *
October 12 - Wall-E (2008) *
October 17 - The Band's Visit (2007) *
October 17 - Then She Found Me (2008) ~
October 22 - W. (2008)
October 23 - Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes (2008)
October 25 - L'Enfant (2006) ^
November 1 - Penelope (2008) *
November 15 - Smart People (2008) ^
November 21 - Twilight (2008)
November 22 - Yesterday (2004)
November 28 - Baby Mama (2008) * (Yes, yes, I know everyone else thought this was terrible. I laughed a lot, OK?)
December 3 - Australia (2008) ~
December 6 - Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
December 24 - Dan in Real Life (2007) *
December 24 - The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
December 25 - Doubt (2008) *
December 25 - State and Main (2000) *
December 28 - Broken English (2007) ^
December 29 - Milk (2007) *
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