8 Women

One thing I can say is that the French love their musicals. Watching this I get the feeling that it was either adapted from a play, or it was written by a playwright rather than a screenwriter. The story line is incredible. It's full of twists and turns, and it's all about these 8 women who all thing any one of the other seven did it. the only thing I didn't like about the movie was the fact that they randomly burst out into song every so often. Each woman had her own song at some point, so there were 8 songs in the whole movie. But there were several twists and it was fabulous. Apparently, all of the actresses are really famous in France, but the only 2 I really know are Catherine Deneuve & Fanny Ardant. Fanny Ardant was Mary of Guise in Elizabeth and she totally has this aging sex bomb thing going on. Catherine Deneuve has made literally almost 100 movies.

French murder-mystery-musical. Very good, with some fun twists.

Run Lola Run

Wow. This movie is some kind of insanely fast paced. It's a German flick based around this girl and her boyfriend. The girl gets her Vespa stolen so she's not there to pick up her boyfriend after a money pickup for some mob boss and he loses the cash on a subway to a homeless guy. So, since he was supposed to deliver the money-100k Marks- by noon, he and his girlfriend, Lola, have 20 minutes to get another 100k or else he's dead. She decides to go to her father. He decides if she's not there, he's robbing the grocery store across the street from the pay-phone he's using. (This all gets explained in the first 5 minutes.) Considering it all happens pretty much in real time, and no one explained anything about the movie to me before hand, I was confused how they made 20 minutes into an hour and a half long movie. But the thing that makes this movie so amazing it that it's done in 3 acts of the same thing. Each one starts as she hangs up the phone and runs out the door. In each one there's a dog on the stairs. The first one, it simply growls at her and she runs by. The second time, it tries to bite her and she falls. The third time, she growls at it. In total, there's only a split second difference in timing when she actually leaves her building, but the difference it makes in when she gets to places and what occurs. The way that timing affects the decisions that she and Manni (her boyfriend) make. It's an incredible movie. It's in German, so you have to deal with subtitles, but it's not too difficult. The dialog is pretty simple. The other cool thing is the people she comes across and the way the movie deals with them. The film doesn't ignore them, but it doesn't spend 20 minutes on each of them explaining their life stories. It's really cool. I'm not going to give it away.

A really really fun film. I wish they would re-make it shot-for-shot in English, but it almost wouldn't be as good.

Footloose

Totally Awesome 80s Man! This is one of those movies that you watch as a guilty pleasure because if it's your favorite movie, you've got something wrong with you, but at the same time, it's just so much fun and 80s with throwbacks to the 50s it's awesome. (I was saying that in a way that has some sarcasm to it.) It's got some great songs in it that you just got to love. Sarah Jessica Parker is in it waaaay back in the day (it was released in 1984). It's part of the Six degrees of Kevin Bacon game. Even John Lithgow is in it. I got to see the musical when I was in New York once and it was a lot of fun. The acting as 2nd rate, but the hair is big and the clothes are great.

It's a fun movie, and one you have to see at least once in your life.

More Musings on Bond

I got to thinking earlier, this most recent Bond is number 21, so James bond is finally legal to drink. It's funny because the first one came out in like 1960 or something, so the movies themselves are like 46 years old, but now that there are 21 movies, Bond is finally legal to drink. So all this time, he's been Under-Age!!



Question of the Day: Do you ever notice how things are a hell of a lot funnier when you haven't slept?

Keys

I am officially an idiot. I somehow lost my keys last night at Costco. I have 2 sets of keys that I carry with me because I'm no longer doing the purse thing. One set is my car keys and they're on a lanyard and kinda bulky, so while I'm at Costco, I put them in my locker. The other set of keys has my house key, the key to my mailbox, my bike lock, and of course, the key to my locker. That second set is the set that went missing last night. Of course, I didn't notice that they disappeared until right as I was supposed to be leaving. We looked all over the place for them, re=traced my steps, and wound up using bolt-cutters to get the lock of my locker. I had my car keys, but I didn't have my house keys, so I could get home, but I couldn't get in. I was hoping that I had locked them in my locker, but no such luck. Luckily Jessica was already on her way home from Arizona, and I only had to wait 2 hours to get back into the apartment. This of course meant that I only got 3 hours of sleep last night because I had to open this morning, but I just woke up from a nap, so I'm ok, for now anyway...



Question of the Day: Have you ever lost a set of keys like this?

sooo, tired.....

I think I officially just worked like 17 hours or something completely crazy like that. I got to Starbucks at 4:30, but Gina was late, so I didn't actually start until 5, then I left at about 11:05, went straight to Costco, and started there at 11:30 and worked until 7:35pm. I got three 1/2 hour breaks all day: one at about 8:30 am, one in between the two jobs, and one at about 3:15 pm at Costco. I had a 15 minute break late in the day at 5 something and I actually fell asleep in the break room for part of it, I was so tired. I was pretty much dead on my feet. I have to get to bed here now, but luckily, I don't have to work as long tomorrow, and I have a break between my two schedules. (The worst part was I had only slept maybe 4 hours the night before...)



Question of the Day: Have you ever worked a crazy day like that?

I must be crazy

I'm looking at my schedule for the next few days, and wondering why I'm still awake at the moment. I need to go to sleep because I have to be at work in 5 hours. I got lucky and got off work at Costco about an hour and a half ago, but I got distracted doing things I didn't need to be doing. I decided to do a quick post before going to sleep, relax myself a bit.



Next week isn't as insane as this week is, I only do a double shift two days, and I have several hours in betwee non those days. I still don't have a day off, but at least I'll be able to sleep a bit more next week than I am this week. My body won't be yelling and screaming at me the way it will be tomorrow. I think I'm actually going to have to drink a fully caffeinated something-or-other tomorrow. Maybe I'll invent something.



Working at Starbucks, for some reason, I've gotten really into drinking soy milk rather than regular milk. I'm not really sure why. I think it's lower in fat and all that, but it's also organic. Recently Organic foods have been really important to me. Free Trade, Organic, Natural, they all seem like granola, California crunchy terms, but when you really think about how much we eat, and what we do to the environment, it makes sense. And then you think about the antibiotics they feed cattle and chickens, and wonder why we have the Super-Flu that doesn't respond to penicillin. And then the growth hormones, which I believe is responsible for the increase in the rates of cancer. The problem is that Organic foods are more expensive. Luckily, more people are buying them, which makes it more available, and more competitively priced. Better for everyone. Moral of the rant: Buy Organic when you can afford the extra few cents, or when you are feeling guilty, or because you love the environment or your kids.




Question of the Day: Do you buy Organic foods? What & Why?

On A Clear Day

I really enjoyed this movie. It's by Focus Features, so I knew from the opening credits that it would be good. It's all about this Old-ish Guy who loses his job, supposedly because he's too pigheaded to pansy up to a new head boss at the shipyard. So in a moment of desperation, on a day boat-trip to France, he decides to swim the English Channel. There are other things going on, too. He apparently had a son who died very young, and relations are very tense between him and his remaining son. Meanwhile his wife wants to learn to drive a bus, and they're both keeping their respective secrets from each other. It's a real movie, slightly uplifting in that, 'you can do anything if you set your mind to it' way. The cast is really very good. Peter Mullan is fantastic, he does the desperate look so well, but can pull off the happy moments perfectly. Brenda Blethyn is always fabulous. Billy Boyd is completely hysterical.

It's a really great movie. I think I'll get it for my dad for Christmas...

The Rise of Psychoses

I just took a nap after my early morning shift at Starbucks and I'm thinking to myself (as I'm slightly jittery still from caffeinating myself this morning) that I find it odd that people have their children diagnosed with ADHD or Bi-Polar disorders after heavily caffeinating them or sugaring for weeks and days on end. People load their kids up with Coke and Pepsi and Chocolate and candy and then wonder why they can't pay attention to anything. I don't understand people.



It's like at Starbucks, people leave their cups on the tables, expecting us to clean them up. At Costco, we spend hours re-folding clothes that people unfold to look at, and then just toss back in the pile, not caring that it was all nice and neat before they got there. Or they pull the one from the bottom of the pile, messing up all the ones on top of it. Like the one on the bottom is any better or cleaner than the one on the top. I keep my chin up and hope they grab the bottom one because it's a medium and the ones above it are larges or smalls.



Question of the Day: What do 'people' do that annoys you?

Nearly Thanksgiving

So, until now, I did not think it was possible to be alone on a day like Thanksgiving. But lo, and behold, I have zero plans for tomorrow. My parents are cross-country. My roommate left this morning to go to her parents house and my two really cool next door neighbors both have plans. One has family in town and the other is working and has a work related get-together. I am pretty much left to myself. I am working tomorrow at 4am at Starbucks, so I have to go to bed really soon, but I only work until 11am. I'm going to try to pick up extra hours, but I have nothing going on after. I guess I'll be coming home and writing or watching movies, or who knows what else....



Question of the Day: What are your plans for Turkey Day 2006?

4 am?

Well, today did not suck nearly as much as I expected. I think it's because I work at a coffee place, so having to be at work at 4:15 in the morning is not as hellish as it really could be. I was kinda absorbing caffeine through the air. I had 3 or 4 iced soy lattes, but they were all decaf, so I wasn't directly ingesting that much caffeine. I know, decaf still has caffeine in it, but nowhere near as much as regular coffee/espresso. I'm starting to kinda fall over now, but I'm only just slowing down. I came home and started doing laundry. I'm contemplating the nap thing, but I think it might be a bad idea. Since I'm going to be doing the opening thing several more times this week, I think I'm going to try to program my body to wake up earlier & go to bed earlier. Which should work, until I have to Costco until midnight... So a nap might be in order. I don't know. My body is going to have severe issues, and I have a feeling that I will be sleeping ALL DAY on Monday (assuming I'm not working at Starbuck's)...



Question of the Day: How messed up has your sleep schedule ever gotten?

Talk to Her

This was a really good movie. It feels kinda long, though it's only about an hour and 45, but it's very, almost, lyrical. It's about these two guy who have relationships with women in comas. They meet and the film tells about each of the men and how they met each of the women. The two men are in totally different situations. Marco is a writer who is in love with Lydia who is a female Bullfighter who got gored. Benigno is a nurse who is obsessed with Alicia, a dancer who was in a car accident. The way the story goes, it could be a very taut and frenetic story, but instead of going crazy with it, it's all about the people, and the way they interact, rather than the events themselves.

It's really a beautifully done movie.

Kung Fu Hustle

I love this movie. This is the third time I've seen it. I saw it in the theater, and now I've Netflix-ed it twice. I'd buy it if I could find it somewhere cheap. But the whole premise is kinda Bruce Lee crossed with Looney Toons, set in the 30s or 40s. It's in Chinese, so it's all subtitled, but most of the fun is in action sequences. Just about everyone channels Bruce Lee at some point, in doing some thing or other. It's so fun, and the music is great, you notice it, without it being overbearing. It's all authentic, old Chinese movie music, which I think is really cool. To quote IMDb in the description:

Set in Canton, China in the 1940s, the story revolves around a hapless wannabe gangster who aspires to become a member of the notorious "Axe Gang." Other characters include an obnoxious landlady and her apparently frail husband who exhibit extraordinary powers in defending their turf.

You can't properly describe this movie, without just telling every little detail about it, and then it just sounds outlandish and silly, and it is, but it's wonderful.

I really love this movie. It's truly fantastic, and a lot of fun.

Mac & Cheese

OK, it's time for a new recipe. I made this one up the other day, but I wanted to check and see how much of what I was actually putting in, before I posted it. Now before you say, "EEEWWWW!" to this recipe, I first off have to say that I'm not pregnant, and I love the combination of Tandoori Paste and Cheddar (or fake cheddar) cheese. I started doing it when I first bought the tandoori paste and I'd make a chicken breast with tandoori paste and then melt cheddar over it. But this is easier, both to make and to eat. So without furth ado:



Tandoori Chicken Macaroni & Cheese



You will need:

• A box of Macaroni & Cheese (Don't use the powdered stuff- go for a package with liquid cheese in it, like Velveeta)


• A can of Diced Tomatoes, drained, juice reserved (I recommend either S&W Ready Cut, or Del Monte Petite Cut)


• 2 chicken breasts, or thighs or however much chicken you want to use, cooked, chopped, & set aside, if you're a vegetarian, feel free to use tempeh (but for god's sake, don't use teriyaki flavor!)


• A jar of Tandoori paste

Directions:



Cook the pasta as directed adding the juice from the can of tomatoes to the water. Just before draining the pasta, add the tomatoes & the cold chicken or tempeh. Drain it all and add back to the pot. Pour cheese over and add 1-2 tablespoons of Tandoori Paste. I use about 1.5, but if you like it spicy, go for more. Mix it all well. Serve hot. I would garnish with something green, maybe cilantro, or mint even, if you were doing this for company...


Question of the Day: What is your favorite ethnic food?

Date Movie

This was an OK movie. I love Alyson Hannigan, but I don't think she quite works in this movie. I don't think she's quite believable as the fat chick to begin with. I'm sure Anna Ferris was probably supposed to be in it originally, but she had scheduling conflicts with Scary Movie 16 or whatever number they're up to. I have to think that Anna would have been a better choice for this one because she's got this wide-eyed innocent thing, where Alyson can totally do more devious easier. Being a redhead, I don't think she's really been able to truly pull off the innocent thing since the first 3 episodes of Buffy. Casting annoyances aside, some of the jokes were awesome. I loved the play on When Harry Met Sally, and the Paris Hilton hamburger thing, and the What Women Want Britney Spears thing was great. But there were some jokes that were over-done and played out. Like the When Harry Met Sally thing, it was actually longer than it needed to be.

Had funny bits, but it's kinda played out.

Caffinated

Last night, before the movie, I had a soy Mocha. I'm working at Starbucks, so these things are cheaper than before. But I wanted a decaf, and I'm not entirely sure it was. I'm still kinda jittery from it. It's crazy. I was online here until 3am, doing some really random stuff, and then I went to bed and proceeded to wake up like 4 times. It's so funny. I work at a coffee place, but I can't handle the caffeine well. How's that for ironic?



So I'm still dwelling on the new Bond movie. It's so good. I was reading a few reviews, and I really like some of the things the critics are saying about it. To quote off of IMDb:

Chris Vognar observes in the Dallas Morning News: "Casino doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does spin the franchise in some gritty new directions. The characters seem less like props in an ongoing adolescent fantasy. The tone isn't as cute or vapid as most installments; it's actually a little sinister compared with any recent Bond. ... The movie feels both old and new. It is quietly, casually revisionist in its reinvention." Manohla Dargis in the New York Times underlines the difference: "Here what pops off the screen aren't the exploding orange fireballs that have long been a staple of the Bond films and have been taken to new pyrotechnic levels by Hollywood producers like Jerry Bruckheimer, but some sensational stunt work and a core seriousness. Successful franchises are always serious business, yet this is the first Bond film in a long while that feels as if it were made by people who realize they have to fight for audiences' attention, not just bank on it.

I am really very pleased by the reviews. I really, really enjoyed the movie. I think it might just be the first Bond movie I'll buy, unless someone decides to buy me one of those happy shiny Bond boxed sets for Christmas.




Question of the Day: Why haven't you seen Casino Royale yet? (or if you have, what did you think of it?)

Hyper Movies

Ok, so I just went and saw Casino Royale. You know, the new Bond movie? Let me tell you it's fantastic. I love it. I'm still in awe of how hardcore and bad-ass Daniel Craig is. (For a full review, go to my other blog: The Random Movie Review.) At any rate I got to thinking about how hard or easy it would be to kill someone. Yeah, I know. It would be crazy hard, and I'd probably react like the Bond girl does, and freak out and all of that.



I've never had and contact with death really before. I've had 2 people close to me die. And one wasn't close at all. My Uncle Matt dies when I was like 7 I think (I don't really remember, I didn't really know the guy, but I think I remember him looking kinda like Fred McMurray). And then my grandmother died about 3 years ago. I was in the house when she died, and I'm trying to remember how I felt about it. I don't think I was freaked out that I was there when she went, but I was relieved that I had gotten to see her before she died. She had cancer and was in serious pain, so it was probably a relief to her, but I don't know how I felt about it all.



In all honesty I don't think I'd have the physical strength to kill someone. I mean Bond is ripped, and there are guns involved. I don't know if I could pull it off physically. Mentally, I think I'd probably over-think the whole thing and screw it up so badly that I'd send myself into some kind of mental breakdown and convince myself that who ever I killed was going to haunt me, or come back to life and eat my brains while I slept. I'd turn into a total Lady McB. or something... (Shakespeare reference for those of you who didn't get that.) So, I really don't think I could do the cold-blooded killer thing.



Question of the Day: Could you?

Casino Royale

Prepare yourself. I am about to wax poetic, or not so poetic, about this movie. I literally just finished watching it about half an hour ago, and I'm a little hyped up on sugar from Starbucks and the action from the movie. I loved it. I absolutely loved this movie. You can tell from the opening credits that it's different from the other recent Bond films. Chris Cornell wrote and sang the theme song and it's a completely different feeling than the other songs. The last one was done by Madonna, and it was all pop-y. This one is way darker and more rock, and that it the way the rest of the movie goes. This Bond, Daniel Craig, is amazing. Everyone was so upset about a blond Bond, about a guy who hadn't been in much, and I wholeheartedly approve of him. I liked him before, because he was great in Layer Cake, but he is so hardcore in this, and there's only one or two 'toys' in this movie. There's a portable defibrillator and a few tracking devices, and of course some cool phones, supplied by one of the few product placements. There's a scene in the beginning of the movie where Bond is chasing this guy who's played by a professional gazelle (and I mean the animal). Well, not really, but he's a free-runner or something like that, and they pull all these crazy stunts, and again, you can tell right from the beginning that it's a totally different kind of Bond. Plus the Bond girls are great. Eva Green is fantastic. She's the 'love interest' Bond-girl. She's a lot more interesting than a lot of the past Bond girls. She's smart and all of that. The other 2 girls don't get a lot of screen time, which is probably the only disappointment I had in the entire thing. But I don't see where it could have been slipped in. Paul Haggis, who wrote & directed Crash, did the re-write for this script. I loved it.

A hardcore, toy-free, shiny and new Bond. It makes me very happy.

Update 7/23/07: I own it now. Which makes me very happy...

LD???

So I'm really really really really excited because I finally have a woring laser disc player. Yeah, yeah, I know. LDs are an obsolete technology and all that jazz. But they are really such a better quality than DVDs even. Plus, the cases are like LPs and you can totally hang them on the wall and make it all pretty and stuff. My mom had originally shipped me the laser disc player that they had, but I think it got broken in shipment because it was seriously broken when it got here. The tray wouldn't even go in and out. So I took it someplace to get fixed and I had to pay $45 just to get it 'diagnosed.' Then, of course, they can't fix it because it's got like 3 things wrong with it, and they're not even sure they can get the parts for one of them, and it'll all cost me at least $200. Which I do not have.


So I started browsing cragslist (greatest site ever- if you haven't heard of it, you are in the stone ages of the internet.) and I found one. The guy had posted that and a VCR for $40 for the pair. Well, by the time I replied, he had already sold the VCR, so I wanted to check out the LD player. The funny thing is, his studio (he's a photographer) is literally around the corner from where I live. I walked over and we couldn't get it to work. It was crazy. the thing was totally fritzing. So I bought the 7 lasers he had for $1 each and he said he'd give mea call if he got it working. Well, this morning, I got a call saying that he got it working and so I got it from him for $20. I should have just binned the LD player my mom sent me from the start. But the LDs he gave me are freakin' awesome! I've now got Raging Bull, Apocalypse Now, 8 1/2 and a bunch of other cool ones. I'm really excited. I now officially have a larger LD collection than a DVD collection.


It freaking rocks!!



Question of the Day: What obsolete technologies do you find cool?

American History X

This movie is seriously intense. I want to put a disclaimer at the beginning of this review: If you have problems with violence, don't see this movie. If you have problems with racism, don't go see this movie. If you are uncomfortable with the idea that supposedly good little white boys can be turned into neo-nazi rasict, super-violent rage-machines, don't see this movie. All that said, I think everyone who is older than 17 (it's rated R, and for good reason) should see this movie. Edward Norton is incredible. I hated him, and then I loved him. I felt for him, and thought he needed to whither and die. He is an amazing actor. Period. Edward Furlong is good too. He's very young, very high school, and kinda annoying, though I think that was the point. (For those of you who aren't experts in knowing what people have been in, he was John Connor in Terminator 2.) Basically what this movie is about is a Young man (Norton) goes to jail for 2 years and when he comes out, he tries to put his younger brother (Furlong) onto a different path. Both were the neo-Nazi, racist type before he went to jail, and the younger brother is getting more & more into it as the older is getting ready to get out of jail. The movie goes a little into the why and the how of the guys, but it's more of what's happened to the older brother and how it's affected the younger. It's completely brilliant.

I want to see it again, but I don't think I can handle the violence level for another year or more.

New Goal

So I've come up with a new goal to post more frequently in this blog. I am insane in terms of when and where I work. Like Black Friday, I work at Costco until Midnight, and then I work on Saturday at Starbucks at 4:30 am. Then I supposedly work at 11:15 at Costco until after 7pm. So I have a feeling I'l be going to bed at like 8pm that night....



So I think I'm getting a thing for different guys at both of my work places. It's definitely a bad thing because workplace relationships are always a bad idea. There are a few different guys at both places which is the weird thing because usually I only focus on one guy. But it's all ok, because I won't date any of them. Because it's a bad idea. Really. (I'm trying to convince myself.)




Question of the Day: Have you ever dated someone at work? How did it turn out? (and yes I realize that's two questions, but the first one is a yes or no...)

Rice Pudding

OK, So I just officially closed one of my other blogs. I have 5 officially, I think, and I think that's just too many. I only regularly post in 3 of them (this one, Random Jokes, and The Random Movie Review) and I'm too poor to really do the Restaurant Review justice. I'll keep that one open for a while longer, and I'll post in it whenever I get the chance. But the Random Recipe blog, while a great idea, just hasn't been easy to keep up. I've been so busy I haven't been cooking a lot. Or I haven't been posting my recipes and inventions because I forgot, or just simply haven't had time. So I'm merging that blog with this blog. It's my final solution. That way I can keep up with things without feeling guilty I haven't posted in ages. And I can still post recipes without feeling like I need to do it somewhere else. I'll add the recipes from the other blog to this one before I delete that blog, if I decide to at all. There's a good number of food stuffs there, and I don't know that I want to bother with it at this point.



At any rate I wanted to wax poetic about Rice Pudding, not about moving and merging my blogs. That's silly... What I find silly about 99% of rice pudding recipes is that they call for left over rice. My problem with that is that I never have any leftover rice. It always gets eaten (or stuck to the bottom of the pot). So, instead of using leftover rice, I use raw, uncooked rice, and one heck of a lot of milk. My recipe takes a lot of patience as well, and a good strong stirring arm, but it's a super easy recipe.

1. Take some rice. I usually use about 2 cups. Rinse it well.
2. Put it in the bottom of a large pot. I stress large because the last time I made it, my pot ran out of room as the rice grew, and I only used a cup and a half of rice.
3. Add enough milk to cover the rice and about 1/2 a cup sugar. I never measure the milk, because there's not really much point.
4. Turn the heat on low.
5. You'll keep adding milk until the rice is cooked and the pudding is the right consistency.
6. Stir constantly.
7. When the rice is almost cooked, add about 2 tablespoons of vanilla, a tablespoon or two of cinnamon and about a cup of raisins. This is all optional. (For rum raisin rice pudding, soak the raisins in rum for an hour before you start, then add them at the very end.)
8. Keep adding milk.
9. Keep Stirring.
10. When the rice is fully cooked and the pudding has reached the desired consistency, remembering that it will thicken more as it cools, remove from the heat.
11. Let it cool a bit before serving, but I like it warm, rather than cold. If it gets too thick as it cools, you can add some more milk, just be very carful, because you can always add more milk, but you cannot remove it.

Question of the Day: What is your favorite flavor of pudding?

Wet, Hot American Summer

This movie was unbelievably fun. It has one hell of a cast, that do amazing jobs on their characters. They do the subtle stuff. They do the over-the-top super-campy stuff. They do the standard stuff. They do the sex stuff. They do the geek stuff. It's awesome. The movie is based around the last day of a kids sleep away summer camp in 1981. It's got a few story lines. The camp director is trying to hook up with an astrophysicist who's in the area. The Counselors are trying to hook up with each other. There's a gay couple. There's a rafting trip that goes awry. There's a falling piece of space lab. There's all sorts of stuff going on....

It's literally the ultimate camp movie. Incredibly funny.

MirrorMask

I have to say that I loved this movie. It was written by Neil Gaiman, whose work I love (I haven't read nearly enough of it), and it's all about this girl who was raised living in a Circus. Her mother gets sick after they fight and Helena (the girl) winds up in this dream world. She realizes that it's the world that she's been drawing and posting up on her walls, and she's traded places with the daughter of the evil queen. She has to find a charm to wake the Queen of Light to set everything to right. It's a very good story, and actually has a happy ending which not all of Gaiman's stories do. I have a collection of his short stories, and some of them end quite morbidly. The movie itself is quite a feast for your eyes because it's part live action, part animation, and part stop-action. The way that it's done is brilliant, and it was a movie I wanted to see strictly from a technical standpoint from the first time I heard about it. But it's really quite a good storyline as well. The acting is very good, I was well impressed with the people involved.

A delightful, slightly dark, 'not-quite-a-child-anymore' film.

The Libertine

I know a lot of people didn't like this movie, but I did. It's a period piece, and historical, and therefore something that I tend towards liking. It's about the Earl of Rochester in the 17th century. He was hopelessly debauched, drunk, et cetera, but he was a poet and playwright as well. Of course, he was never lauded for his work until after his death, because no one ever is. Johnny Depp is brilliantly utilized in this. The character is never liked, and the movie even starts out, "You will not like me." John Wilmot, Depp's character, kinda goes off the deep end, to see what he can get away with, and then just keeps going with the debauchery. He drinks to excess, he'll have sex with literally anything, but there's something in the man. He winds up with syphilis and yet, he's hard to stop watching.

It's like watching a train wreck. You just can't stop watching.

Prime

This was a cute little movie. I think I liked it because there was a lot familiar in it. My parents have a huge age difference as well. I have close friends with a large age difference. And they all make it work, which is why I was very disappointed in the way this ends. Obviously a relationship is easier if the age difference is smaller, but it's not impossible if there's 14 years between you. All that aside, it's a cute movie. Meryl Streep, as usual, is golden. She is amazing. She makes every movie she's in wonderful. The scene when she figures out that Rafi is dating her son is priceless. Uma Thurman is great, although I had no idea that she was as old as she is playing in this movie. Some people just shouldn't age, I refuse to believe movie stars actually get older. Bryan Greenberg is decent in this movie. He's a good 5 years older than he's supposed to be playing in this, which is a little disappointing when I looked that up, but he's not bad. His acting needs a little refining which he'll get over his next few projects. I was looking at his IMDb page and he's really only done TV.

Cute movie, though I was disappointed in the end.

The Fifth Element

This is another movie I really like. I think I've finally figured out my favorite kind of movie. A good action movie with a bit of romance thrown in. This one takes place about 300 years from now, and is all sci-fi. The premise is kinda complex if you try to explain it, but Milla Jovovich is apparently a perfect woman, a supreme being and the 'Fifth Element' in a weapon against an evil that pops up every 5000 years. There's more to it than that, but there's aliens and space travel and Chris Tucker being crazy and Bruce Willis being bad-ass. There's some crazy silly great quotes too.

It's a great movie, slightly cheesy, but still a lot of fun.

(So, I'm watching the Fact Track, and I just saw something I HAD to share: The McDonald's train the cops run into reads: 67 Trillion Served!)

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

I have to say: I love this movie. I bought it recently and I so rarely spend money to actually buy movies, so you know it's one I love. These two stars are great together. They've got a chemistry together that is completely palpable on-screen. It's no wonder they're shacking-up together now. This movie has it all for a girl like me. It's got action, romance, romantic-action, and really great, witty dialogue. I love some of the one-liners you can pull out of this movie. "Still alive, Baby?" "Garden Party, Girls." "We have an unusual problem here, Jane. You obviously want me dead, and I'm less and less concerned for your well-being." "Oh, come on, it was just a little bomb." And the list goes on... The premise behind this movie is that two assassins are married to each other, but neither realizes what the other is. So they eventually find out and are assigned to kill the other. Violence, hilarity & sex ensue.

A fun, action-filled romp with a couple of great stars shooting at each other.

Coffee and Cigarettes

This was a rather odd movie. Definitely not mainstream. The entire movie is a series of vignettes of people talking over & about Coffee and Cigarettes. They're never eating anything, and the entire thing is in black and white, but it's quite good. There's some great symmetry, plot-wise (or maybe I should say lack of plot-wise). Reflection from one conversation to another. There are doctors who aren't really doctors, but they are. There are musicians, and actors, and 'normal' people. Cate Blanchett plays a famous actress and her own cousin which a great scene. I wasn't sure what I was going into when I was watching it. Whether it would be more philosophical, or more esoteric, or more everyday. It's definitely more normal conversations with real people, but as you watch the whole thing it just kinda grows on you. It's a very watchable. (I wasn't the hugest fan of the first sketch, so make sure to keep watching past that one.)

Very good, not run-of-the-mill. Interesting.

ARGH!!!

Once again, for some un-godly reason, I am awake at 4:30 in the morning. I tried taking Tylenol PM. Didn't work. I tried a glass of warm milk. No Luck. Now I jsut spent a half an hour going through e-mail to see if I could get bored enough to go to sleep, and I'm barely yawning!! It's not fair!! I should be exhausted. I'm officially working 2 jobs now. I started work at Starbuck's yesterday. They've got a training manual that's an inch thick. And then I work at Costco. My muscles ache all over. I'm worn out, but I'll be in great shape! And now I can't sleep. I can't figure out why either. It's freaking annoying. It's almost 6 am now. I went to bed at 12:30-ish. I shouldn't be awake!



I'm hot too. It's been like some kind of heat wave here too. It's been getting below 65 degrees in my room overnight, and when I woke up it was around 70. I still haven't put any extra blankets on, but it was still rather jarring from previous nights. It was 73 in here when I went to sleep.



I think I might be getting sleepy. All this complaining is getting to me. Hopefully it's working...



Question of the Day: Do you ever have problems sleeping for no apparent reason?

Orlando

This was an altogether odd movie at first. It seemed natural while watching it, but the entire description is so odd. Well, I get ahead of myself. The movie is about this person who lives for over 400 years. He starts out as a man, then gets turned into a woman. It sounds very strange, but it's based on a novel by Virginia Woolf. The movie itself is very short, only about an hour and a half, but it's so well done, and so well played. Tilda Swinton is incredible. It's like this role was written for her. She has this amazing androgyny that makes this movie possible. The movie is laid out in chapters almost, starting with 'Death,' ending with 'Birth.' These chapters are different parts in the Saga of this person's life. My roommate says that things are much better explained in the book (which I haven't read), because it's all about thoughts and ideas, rather than the simple motions of life. But I rather liked the movie. It has amazing costumes, and the history surrounding Orlando is incredible.

A thinking movie. Not light and airy, but very good.