Tuesday, November 30, 2004

The Day After Yesterday

Movie Review: Sideways

..or Thelmo and Louis go to the wine country. What can I say about Sideways. Wow, was this a great flick?!

Jack and Miles hit the road for a last blast before washed up TV star Jack gets hitched the following weekend..and hilarty ensues! It covers the highs and lows of being in your late 30's and having to let go of the past (which face it, we all hate to do). It is very Swingers-like. This movie had just about everything to make a picture great, including comedy and drama, with lots of wine flowing. This is a must see for just about everyone. It's real, and it's passionate about wine, love, friendship and realizing what you want and then going after it...and also with an a-typical ending.

It's in my top 3 for the year (#2 between Garden State due on DVD on December 28th and Finding Neverland.

Check it out...tell your friends!

Monday, November 22, 2004

SpongeBob Square-Flop

Movie Review: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

Okay kids, spoilers ahead...

Can I just say, what a colossal disappointment. Now, look...I know, I'm 31 and this movie wasn't really meant for me, but even my 3-year old niece didn't like it and that says A LOT! She loves the TV show and has been SO looking forward to seeing The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Wow, can I just say "Suck City?!"

First of all, I didn't go in expecting too much. The SpongeBob laugh for 90 minutes was enough to worry, but Maggie was so excited to see it, that I was excited. So the movie was disjointed and scary. I mean, too much live action and King Neptune pointing a firey trident at poor Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob and Patrick under a heat lamp bring dried out to sell to tourists, complete with SB's arm breaking off because he was so brittle...a bit much, folks! Poor Maggie was fussing and climbed into my lap to bury her face. This movie couldn't end fast enough.

Now she did enjoy the credits and the scenes with the pirates, but that was about it. She kept giving me this look like - "Why did you let me see this, Aunt D?" Anyway, she took more enjoyment from watching the short film clips on Pixar's website. I could have saved myself $40.

Anyway, things are great here - Maggie misses her mommy and daddy, but for the most part has enjoyed spending time with me (and her Gramma and Grampa). We played together and read books and stuck stickers and played with her stamps. All in all, a good weekend! Popcorn, hotdogs, ice cream...easy kid to please.

Anywho, not much more to report for today. Hopefully we can pull off The Polar Express this week sometime to try and erase the horrid SB experience!

Friday, November 19, 2004

I Have Not Failed. I've Just Found 10,000 Ways That Won't Work!

Movie Review: National Treasure

So a wise man once said, that "It isn't the successes that teach you, it is the failures. If you always do everything right, how would you ever learn anything?" My grandfather was a pretty awesome character. He was one of the lesser known (okay, unknown) inventors of my time. He was able to look at just about anything, and figure out a way to improve it, fix it, etc...Basically, building a better mousetrap.

This has been a crazy, and albeit crappy week overall. There has to be something in the water or air, as people have just been rude and obnoxious. I've been insanely busy at work, and my quiet little corner has been discovered, so now there is little rest for the weary.

Rewind to Wednesday night - I attended a screening of National Treasure. God bless Nic Cage. He really helped me to escape my cruddy week to a little adventure tied up in a snazzy History 101 bow. Now Angie, having read The Da Vinci Code did not enjoy this movie nearly as much as I did. If you want to know why, read her blog review.

If you want my opinion, and let's face it, you are reading my blog, this movie was exactly what the shrink ordered. Take Stanley Goodspeed, add a dash if Indiana Jones and a smidge of Thomas Crown, and you have historian Benjamin Franklin Gates fighting for validation of his family's long journey to find the hidden treasure of the Founding Fathers. Now, you have to suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours and take in all the historical facts and puzzle pieces that make this movie so much fun. Don't go in thinking you can waltz right into the National Archives and boost the Declaration of Independence in order to find the hidden treasure map on the back. And don't forget, "X" never, ever marks the spot.

This movie is an entertaining game of cat and mouse where Nic and often misunderstood bad-guy Sean Bean race to find the riches left behind by the Knight's Templar. Pretty cool, if you ask me. And one point I have to make:

In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.


The answer is 2, folks! The British came by sea...

Anyway, if you enjoy being entertained, and don't go in expecting the newest Raiders of the Lost Ark, you should truly enjoy this movie. I know I'll buy this one on DVD when it comes out next year!

Next stop? Maggie-central! I hop on a plane this afternoon for San Fran, in anticipation of spending 10 fabulous days with the cutest 3-year old there ever was. So look for reviews of The Polar Express and who can forget, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. I'm still working on Monday and Tuesday, but I will have spent the weekend with Magalicious and nothing can put a damper on that! I'll be posting from SF, not to worry.

Is it time for my flight yet??


Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Finding the Edge of Reason

Movie Review: Finding Neverland and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

So I am more coherent today - thank god! I had a great weekend complete with having the gang over to take all their money playing poker...but a good host always lets someone leave with a little cash...nothing in comparison with my $85 worth of winnings :)

So this past week I saw a couple of flicks - starting with a screening of Finding Neverland. What a pleasant surprise this movie was. It is the story of J.M. Barrie, played by the ever gentle Johnny Depp and the experiences that caused him to write the classic fairy tale of Peter Pan. So this is supposedly the almost true life story, however there is one glaring difference - the movie portrays Barrie's relationship with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (played by Kate Winslet) as strictly platonic, however they were much more than that in real life (in the early 1900's).

This movie was full of wonderment and imagination - and if you walk out of the theatre not believing in Neverland, I would be shocked! Johnny deserves a nod for this one - there wasn't a dry eye in the house!

Next up was Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Now, like any woman with a pulse, I would watch Colin Firth and Hugh Grant reading numbers out of a telephone book for hours. That said, this wasn't much different. Now I love a good sequel, but detest bad ones. This movie wasn't bad, truly, but it wasn’t great either.

So how do you have a good sequel? Well, recreate the good parts of the first movie without copying them out right. Okay Andrew Davies, learn a lesson from this! Also, this movie takes up 1 month after the last movie, but it’s been 3 years since the last movie was in the theatres – suspending disbelief there a bit, aren’t we?

Mark and Daniel fighting was funny – again. But putting Bridget in a Thai prison, was just too far-fetched to swallow. While it was sweet all the trouble that Mark goes through to help his true love, Bridget, it wasn’t quite as poignant as when he gave her the exclusive interview with the married couple from the first installment. Also, having Daniel in this movie served little purpose, except when he was soaking wet, looking hot as ever. I love Hugh, but he just didn’t fit.

It was cute, but not very high on the hit list of sequels…

Chester is off today, so my day should be pretty calm. Did I mention he is also out the rest of this week as well? He is in on Wednesday, but then I leave for San Francisco to see Maggie on Friday...so 1 more day with Chester until December...NICE!

Monday, November 15, 2004

Everybody Must Get Stoned

Okay, so I am not a big fan of Bob Dylan, but he has a point.

So I went to the dentist for a root canal and ended up having a negative reaction to the anesthesia he gave me...I was catching trails off the TV - the first sign of a problem. Anyway, the procedure was called off and they need to figure out how to do this work without killing me - fun, huh?

So the weekend was a blast - I took all my friends' money in a great poker game (of course it was great, I won like $85). I love my friends, they keep me in stitches all the time.

SO I need to post about a couple of movies from this week - Finding Neverland and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason...today is not the day to do that. I'm so out of it - my one on one in an hour should be interesting.

I'm going to try and be effective for the next 45 minutes if I can...

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death and as sweet as love

So yesterday ended up being very odd, yet very satisfying. I got a phone call at work (my fault, I gave The Guy my work number) and I knew I should just let it go to voicemail...I had a feeling. Sure enough, The Guy was on the other end of the phone and wanted to talk to me. He wanted something and he was quite smart about how he went about it.
I was annoyed at Chester - as usual. I had been working hard all day and gotten some praise from my co-workers and some higher-ups and was quite pleased with myself. I made the mistake of defending myself when one of his unprovoked verbal attacks came my way and this prompted him (and he says he was kidding) to tell a Director not to give me positive feedback as it would "go to my head." At least said Director was nice enough to give me a heads up. Moral of the story - I was annoyed and needed a pick-me-up. And The Guy swoops in like Captain America. He wanted to meet me. So I agreed.
I told him to meet me around 5pm at the Starbucks up the street from work (okay, so there is a Starbucks in my building, but too many work people go there and the last thing I want to do is bring The Guy colliding with work).
I drove to Starbucks, figuring it was a public place and wouldn't have to worry about him becoming all hands. Wrong! So we are sitting in the corner table, talking about life (catching up mostly) and he puts his hand on my knee...and I didn't make him move it (1st mistake). Then this bubbly girl walks up and throws her arms around The Guy's neck and is like "Ive missed you, honey!" Okay - this annoyed me (not sure why).
Anyway, turns out they went to high school together at Pace (I totally blocked out her name), but The Guy did introduce me as his girlfriend, much to Bubbly Girl's dismay. Okay, I'm not his girlfriend but I wasn't going to embarass him. So she finally left and we got back to talking. He wants me to give him a shot to prove he has grown up, taken responsibility in his life, yada...yada...yada!
For some reason, The Guy had parked his car like 5 to 10 blocks away and I'm too nice. So I drove him to his car, which, did I mention, was parked behind a grocery store that I'm sure half my office frequents? So I pulled in across from his car, and he leaned over to kiss me goodbye (supposedly innocently) and I just melted. I lost all sense of reason and will power at that point. I leaned in and kissed him again (you know how your body just remembers someone - very dangerous). Next thing I know, we are making out in the back seat behind the freakin' grocery store. Did I mention how I lost all sense of reason?
So I finally kicked him out of the car and told him I needed time and space to think about this. Do I want to try this again when the past 12 times have worked out poorly? I don't think so, but I apparently convinced him to give me the chance to work this out on my own. Besides, I have plans every night this week and really don't have time to think about any of this.
So - today is a new day. I am in a fabulous mood - refusing for anything (even Chester) to bring me down. I had wonderful lobster dreams and The Guy didn't call me in the middle of the night to rudely interrupt such lovely dreams. So wonderful. I'm getting some space, I'm giddy, I even have a bit of the smirks today. Ahhhhhhh...life is GREAT!
By the way, going to be in tears tonight as I am going to a screening of Finding Neverland. I packed some Kleenex! I'm going to ignore the 3rd wheel feelings I'm sure I will have tonight as Angie and I actually take someone with us to this movie (which we try our best never to do). Nothing can ruin this day!

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

There's a Fine, Fine Line...

...so I walk into Starbucks this morning for my usual Grande Caramel Macchiato and was goofing around with my usual Barista. I turn around and see this somewhat hunky, very cute guy talking on his cell phone. I turned back around and made eyecontact with the Barista, and he was like "I saw that!" Apparently I was checking this hotty out and got busted for it - not all bad, the guy stopped me and dropped a line on me. Very cute, and I don't mind being "picked up" so early in the morning...especially after a rough night.

SO it started with my trying to get my reformatted computer back to the land of the living - installing all the programs I need and want, etc. I had some video card issues that plagued me all night long, but finally came to a resolution (not really sure how). Then Angie called. We had one of our boys are stupid phone conversations that we have every so often that usually lasts about 2 hours. I think we kept it to 90 minutes last night, but we kept getting interrupted by "The Guy," aka Chris.

So I explained that Angie was in emotional turmoil and needed my assistance. So after the second call - he left me alone...until around 245am. Did I mention how exhausted I am now. SO he is begging for a chance, at least to see me. I'm trying really hard not to cave in, but it is getting really hard. The Guy just doesn't seem to understand that we are better off apart - how do you get this through his thick skull? No clue.

Anyway, so I had an interesting 2 hour phone conversation with The Guy and needless to say, I got no sleep and am paying for it today. Boys, why do I let them get to me? I'm so soft...what can I say. I just have to stand firm going forward, before I cave in completely!

Back to work!

Monday, November 08, 2004

Sometimes you feel like a smirk...

...so some days you just feel giddy, other times you don't. I feel like I have lost the giddy. Why is this? I'm not sure, but I need to find someone who can help me to find it again.

So I had this weird experience with someone at work about a week ago - let's call him Chester. So Chester, seems to feel that I am cynical and sarcastic and disresptful towards authority...hmmm. Okay, so if anything, I feel dwarfed by authority. I have the opposite problem really - I am almost too agreeable when it comes to people who are higher up the food chain than I am. So what the hell is Chester talking about??

So to make matters worse, today Chester told me that I was much more positive last week and he would love to see me like that all the time. Okay, so I was accused of being too negative towards others when I started in this company and that was 5 1/2 years ago. I stopped at that very moment and became a cheerleader. I do my very best to put a positive spin on everything - to the point that I drive people batty (just ask Angie). So why, does Chester think I am such a bitch? This I need to know.

So this all ties back to the giddiness, or lack there of. There are a few places I might find it, but I am trying not to get sucked into someone else's world just to get that giddiness again. There are a few start attractions - Pants, the Lobster, even a dose of The Flash might be nice...what to do, what to do?

So I skipped a few days...

Movie Review: The Incredibles and Movie Review: After the Sunset

Sorry, but I kind of got busy and then when I finally had time this weekend to post, my computer was uncooperative. So now that my machine in being reformatted, I'm spending work time to post some reviews.

First, The Incredibles! We saw this on Friday and much to our dismay had NO Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith trailer. That was rude! All this hype and AMC didn't get the trailer in time to put it on the movie. I wanted my money back...until I watched the Incredibles and loved it! It is a great flick in the Pixar fashion, but this is more character driven. Sort of a departure from the past fare from Pixar, but still, not sure this deserved the PG rating. There is a wonderful homage to the Speeder Bike scene from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi that maybe aided in the rating since there is a CARTOON kid in danger. Who knows. It was fun, action packed, but a little slow getting started. I loved having Jason Lee playing the quirky bad guy - it was a lot of fun. I highly recommend it - I don't think you will be disappointed.

Next, we saw the Sneak Preview of After the Sunset. Okay, I do not care that Pierce Brosnan is 51 years old, he is still yummy! Okay, so his washboard abs are a thing of the past (probably good he hung up the shaken martinis), but he is still hot and can walk around without his shirt on whenever he wants. So as for the movie itself, I love the caper-flicks. This movie basically starts at the ending as Pierce retires after being a diamond thief for years to an island in the Bahamas with his sexy, younger girlfriend, Salma Hayek. In comes everyone's favorite airheaded bartender, Woody Harrelson to screw with his head and his life. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. It was not as predictable as one might expect, which is always a treat for me. It opens this Friday, November 12th - go see it!

Otherwise, my weekend was pretty relaxing. I cleaned my apartment on Saturday and then Sunday went with Angie to the barn to take pictures of her horses before spending my night working on the computer - no fun! Hopefully, we got some good shots of the horse, so my weekend had some purpose.

So I fall asleep last night, content on getting 7 hours of rest, when my phone rang in the middle of the night, much to my dismay. Why don't the boys let me sleep? Why must guys call you in the middle of the night and mess with your sleep patterns just to mess with your head even more. But I'm strong...I have convictions...I refuse to be sucked in! That said, need to find a more permanent lobster so I have a 2nd level of defense...ARGH!

Okay, back to work...