Christmas movie review: 2009 Wrap-Up

Well, it's been another season of Christmas movie reviews and below is the wrap-up of all the ratings I gave. I actually have two more movies back home on my Tivo that I might still watch but probably not. With the ones below, I've done 64 Christmas movie reviews since 2006. That's a lot of Christmas movies! I wonder if my ratings have been consistent from year to year...

A+
Christmas in Canaan

A
A Christmas Visitor

A-
Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle
The Ultimate Gift
The Christmas Hope

B+
Surviving Christmas
12 Men of Christmas
Fallen Angel

B
The National Tree
A Diva's Christmas Carol
The Three Gifts
Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe
Anne Tyler's Saint Maybe

B-
A Golden Christmas

C
Christmas Town

C-
Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Hope

Rating: A-

New this year on Lifetime, I thought The Christmas Hope was pretty good. It stars Madeleine Stowe and James Remar as a couple who have grown apart after their son's death of two years ago. They are talking about divorcing until they become foster parents to a little girl who loses her single mom just a few days before Christmas. The little girl helps the couple get closer again and helps them both get over their son a little bit. Meanwhile, other small miracles are at work to help them get over their son, too. It's a sweet story of overcoming Christmas pain and renewal and it made me cry, which is always a good thing. It was pretty predictable, but most Christmas movies are. The only reason I rated it an A- and not an A is that The Christmas Visitor, which I watched earlier this month, has most of the same themes and I thought it was slightly better. But this one was still good. I've loved Madeleine Stowe for years and James Remar I only knew from Sex & the City (he was Samantha's older successful businessman boyfriend) but both did a good job. As did Ian Ziering, who had only a small role.

Christmas movie review: Anne Tyler's Saint Maybe

Rating: B

This one was difficult to rate. Saint Maybe is originally from 1998 and always airs this time of year but I'm not sure I'd really call it a Christmas movie. We just happen to check up on the characters around Christmas a few times. Jeffrey Nordling and Mary Louise Parker star as a couple who meet and marry quickly and then seem to immediately have some problems. At least Jeffrey's brother, Ian, thinks so and babysits a lot. After one particular time of babysitting that Ian was not happy about, he says some things to his brother that cause him to drive into a tree. And die. Yes, depressing. Not too long after that, Mary Louise Parker's widow character overdoses and dies, too. Yes, I swear, the first part of the movie had people dying left and right. Well, Mary Louise had two kids from a previous relationship plus a baby that may or may not have been Jeffrey's and now suddenly, the three kids are orphans. Ian feels increasingly guilty and after consulting with a pastor, decides to drop out of school and help raise the children. Which seems to go swimmingly as we then check in with the family like 20 years later and Ian has turned into this near-saint of a person who has basically put his life on hold for these children. Out of nowhere, the kids decide they need to marry him off and just as out of nowhere, they hire a person to come in and organize their house and Ian falls in love with her and they plan to marry. So it wraps up happily ever after. It's semi-interesting in that it shows how one or two events can totally alter the course of one's life but the story just skipped too much in between for my liking. I don't even really understand the title, except that the one daughter says this in passing about Ian right near the end of the film. I'm guessing the book on which it was based tells a much more complete story and I might be interested in reading that someday but, as far as the movie is concerned, it's not really something I have any desire to see again.

Hmm, an interesting sidenote... I looked up the actor who played Ian because he really is the main character and his name is Tom McCarthy. While he's done some acting, he also seems to be a writer and director. He wrote the story of Up, as well as wrote and directed The Visitor and The Station Agent, all three of which are really good and unique stories. So color me impressed.

Christmas movie review: Fallen Angel

Rating: B+

I feel like I'm being harder on movies this year but I'll give Fallen Angel, from 2003, a B+. I think this one originally aired on CBS as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie but since then, it's aired regularly on The Hallmark Channel around Christmas. It stars Gary Sinise and Joely Richardson, which automatically moves it up slightly on the rating scale, as two people who knew each other when they were very young children and reconnect like 30 years later after a traumatic event in their childhood caused both children to move away from the small town where they'd been living. Gary's character returns after his father dies and although he had separated himself from his father, he finds out a little of what made him tick once he returns to sort out his affairs. Similarly, Joely's character decides to visit the small town after all these years, but doesn't even remember that she'd been there before, and meets up with Gary's character. The two of them learn about themselves and their fathers and overall, it's a story of forgiveness and learning, I guess. It's definitely well-acted but I do feel that some of the back story is needlessly convoluted. Plus, Gary's character seems to be all about reconciling Joely's character with her father but doesn't seem all that regretful that he never got to reconcile with his own father. I guess his actions show regret, but I'm not entirely convinced. It's definitely one of those "open your heart and learn a lesson around Christmastime" kind of stories.

Christmas movie review: Santa Baby 2

Rating: B

I was a big fan of the first Santa Baby movie, if you recall, back in 2006 when I first started writing my Christmas reviews. This year they made a sequel, Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe, and I was not as impressed. Jenny McCarthy was as enjoyable as before and Dean McDermott played her boyfriend and did a fine job. Unfortunately, neither even seemed to be in the movie all that much. The main character was a villainess ex-elf who tried to manipulate the elves into doing what she wanted and to sabotage Santa and Jenny's character. I found her really grating to the point that I was annoyed whenever she was on the screen. Which was a lot. I really would have liked to see more Jenny & Dean and wish they would have come up with a different storyline. Or at least a different actress.

Christmas movie review: Christmas in Canaan

Rating: A+

Christmas in Canaan was by far the best of the new crop this year. It aired on Hallmark and tells the story of a young white boy and young black boy who became friends in 1964. It starts off with the two boys fighting on a school bus when the black boy knows the capital of New York and the white boy feels stupid. When the white boy's dad worries that his son is turning into a bigot, he decides the best way to punish his son is to force him to spend time with the other boy and hope they become friends. Genius plan, for sure. Of course, it doesn't work at first but eventually the two boys form a lifelong friendship and that story is played out for the rest of the movie, through deaths and hardships and ultimately, success. It's not your traditional Christmas movie because much of it takes place outside the holiday season but it's a great story of growth and learning and sharing. It's really touching and incredibly well-acted. I was really impressed by Billy Ray Cyrus, who plays the dad. I just assumed he wasn't a good actor but I guess I've never seen him do so before.

Christmas movie review: The Three Gifts

Rating: B

The Three Gifts was totally predictable. It wasn't bad but I'm not particularly eager to watch it year after year, either. Dean Cain stars as the nephew of a woman who runs an orphanage and she seems to think it would be a good idea for him and his wife (who cannot have children of their own) to watch over three orphan boys for a week or so before Christmas. These boys are called the Holy Terrors, too, so they are a little on the difficult side. When one of the boys overhears Dean and his wife talking about the possibility of actually adopting one of the boys, they go crazy acting good in hopes of being the one who is adopted. Misunderstandings abound in this movie and then everyone lives happily ever after, of course.

Christmas movie review: A Diva's Christmas Carol

Rating: B

A Diva's Christmas Carol originally aired on VH-1 nearly ten years ago, but I somehow think I've missed it all these years so I thought I'd add it to my backlog. Of course, it's the same old story from Dickens we all know by heart. This time, it's told from the point of view of a diva pop singer, played by Vanessa Williams, who wants to have a concert on Christmas, much to the chagrin of all of her employees. It's your standard story and has nothing particularly original, although Kathy Griffin is the Ghost of Christmas Past and I'm a huge fan of hers. And, of course Vanessa Williams rocks in just about everything she does. This was basically her current Ugly Betty character years before that show started.

Christmas movie review: The Ultimate Gift

Rating: A-

I might be giving The Ultimate Gift a higher rating than it deserves because I've seen so many bad ones lately but I did mostly enjoy it. This one is from 2006 but I hadn't seen it yet and features James Garner as a really rich family patriarch who passes away and decides to give his grandson, instead of money, a series of gifts intended to make him a better person. Of course, the spoiled rotten grandson is not happy at first but eventually learns how great the gifts really are and totally changes into a better person. It's a little hokey when he ends up in a South American jail (or whatever it is) but I'll forgive it because Abigail Breslin does a fantastic job appearing as a dying girl that the guy meets when he's sleeping on a bench in the park. Overall, it's somewhat predictable but it's also touching.

Christmas holiday 2009

Yesterday was Christmas with my parents and it was a good day. I got some clothes, a Nintendo Wii and a portable external hard drive, which will be great for my laptop.

Today, my brother and his family came over. My niece and nephew got a lot of presents (of course!) and I think really enjoyed themselves. Ben's playing with a robot on the left. On the right, Mia seemed to have more interest in my dad's cane than she had in any of her presents. But that's okay, she's only 15 months.

Christmas movie review: Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage

Rating: C-

Wow, I could not get into Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage at all. I watched this over the course of three nights and kept falling asleep. I WANTED to like it because it pulled in some relatively good, or at least well-known, actors (Marcia Gay Harden, Jared Padalecki, Peter O'Toole, Richard Burgi, Ed Asner, Chris Elliott all come to mind) but wow, was it boring. It's apparently based on true events in the life of the painter Thomas Kinkade, the Painter of Light whose work is pretty recognizable even if you don't know his name. Basically, this story takes place in the 1970s and deals with young Tom and his brother trying to raise money so their mom can stay living in this cottage. He gets a job painting a town mural and meanwhile, his artistic mentor is in some sort of depressed funk that Tom's trying to get him out of... I honestly don't even know what the deal was with his mentor. And that's only half of what I didn't get. There was some kind of drama with Tom's dad, who is no longer married to his mom. There were a ton of small town folk stories, way too many to keep track of. It really was kind of a mess. Do not waste your time.

Christmas movie review: Christmas Town

Rating: C

Christmas Town also aired on ION this year. It was below average, mostly because the acting was subpar. A workaholic real estate agent mom decides to take her dad up on an invitation to spend Christmas with him in some idyllic town. It turns out this town is like Santa's southern headquarters or something, although no one really comes out and says that, even when asked. I guess I get the secrecy of something like that but, on the other hand, they also make a big deal throughout the movie on how hidden away this place is. The mother and son were invited, after all. Anyway, combining the woman's son trying to figure out the big secret and the woman trying to get the message of Christmas slammed down her throat, not to mention the bad acting, I found it all a bit much. Yawn.

Christmas movie review: A Golden Christmas

Rating: B-

A Golden Christmas was one of a couple of Christmas movies airing on the ION Network, which I'd never really heard of before doing a Tivo Wishlist search on "Christmas." Nonetheless, it wasn't a bad movie. It was average, so for a Christmas movie, that equates to a "B-"ish. It tells the story of a woman who secretly intends to buy her parents' house from them at Christmas but when she arrives for the holidays finds that someone else has already bought it. So, she tries to sabotage his sale. All the while, it turns out that this woman and the actual buyer met as pre-teens and both have idealized their meeting to the point that they both want to live on the property where they had met as youngsters because they feel that the property is magical. But of course neither realizes who the other is and instead of reuniting, they fight and bicker all movie long. Until the end, when it all changes and they live happily ever after, of course.

Christmas movie review: A Christmas Visitor

Rating: A

A Christmas Visitor is from 2002 but I'd never seen it so I decided to add to my archive. I'm glad I did. It was a good movie. It stars William Devane and Meredith Baxter-Birney as a couple who have not celebrated Christmas since their son passed away in the Gulf War ten years ago. When their daughter (who apparently lived most of her life not celebrating Christmas) has a cancer scare, the Dad decides to start celebrating the holiday again. The small town where they live are pleasantly shocked - it's apparently common knowledge that this family has boycotted the holiday all these years. The Dad runs into a stranger who claims to have been in the Gulf War, too, from the same company as his son, and they hit it off and Dad takes him home and he helps all of the family members by claiming that he knew the son, because the Dad asks him to lie. Anyway, it's got some mysticism, as well as Christmas cheer and redemption or reconciliation. Plus, it's well acted. You really can't ask for more in a Christmas movie, in my opinion.

Christmas movie review: Mrs. Miracle

Rating: A-

Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle is, as you'd expect, based on a book by Debbie Macomber. I'm not sure how true it is to the book but the storyline of the movie is that there is a single dad (played by James Van der Beek from Dawson's Creek) with two terrorizing twin sons who cannot find a nanny to save their lives until Mrs. Miracle shows up and not only gets the boys to behave but also fixes Dad's life by finding him a new girlfriend.

The nanny's name is really Mrs. Merkle but the kids mistakenly call her Mrs. Miracle and it sticks. Plus, it's fitting since Mrs. Miracle has some sort of magic power that she uses to put people in the right place at the right time and kind of manipulate them, all for their own good, of course. The female love interest takes over directing the children's play and meets their dad and they tentatively start a new relationship. The dad improves his relationship with his children, which had been struggling. The female lead improves her strained relationship with her sister, and we're led to believe they all live happily ever after.

It's a sweet story (although not original in the slightest) and acted well. A touch of magic is there, which is important in any true Christmas movie, and it actually could be an annual franchise with Mrs. Miracle stepping in to save different families every year.

Snow Day!

I just got a call from my boss that the office is closed tomorrow!! Yay! In case you haven't heard, the nation's capitol was hit with a major snowstorm this weekend. It started Friday night around 9pm and pretty much snowed for like 18 straight hours, I guess. The total accumulation in my neighborhood seems to be about 12-14 inches, I'd guess. Today was bright and sunny but since DC isn't used to this type of weather, the road clearing has taken a long time. The major highways and roads were cleared quickly but my street was finally cleared at about 3pm today. And the driveway into my garage still hasn't been cleared, and neither has the side street I can see out my window.

On top of the uncleared streets, public transportation is nearly non-existent. They are only running the Metro underground, so that eliminates maybe about 40% of all stops. Only a few buses were running today.

Anyway, I'm excited to not have to work, but I did have a lot of things I wanted to get done before I left and now I'm not sure how my Tuesday is going to look. I'm heading home on Tuesday and wanted to work just a few hours. Now it seems like it might be more like 4-6 hours. I also have some errands that I have to run tomorrow so I'll hit the roads, but it's great to be able to have all day to do it.

I'll be moving soon!

After looking at nearly 20 different one-bedroom apartments in Arlington over the last month, I finally found a place to call home and all the paperwork went through today! Hooray! I'm really looking forward to having a place all to myself, especially after all the drama my a-hole roommate has caused while moving out (maybe another post). I get the keys to the new place on Saturday but won't be fully moving in until probably the second weekend in January. It's great to have so much lead time where I can go into the place and take some measurements and decide what I might need. I might be able to get some furnishings and decorations at after-Christmas sales. The best part is that I don't have to pay rent until February 1.

My new place is a little smaller than some of the others I looked at, but I'm confident it will be big enough for me. I'll be about 5 blocks from work so my plan is to walk to work, which is fantastic. It's got built-in bookshelves, which, silly as it sounds, is something I have always wanted in my home. It's got decent closet space and a full-size washer and dryer within the unit, which actually is quite rare for Arlington. It's a little more than I wanted to spend but I think the perks make it worth it. With the month of free rent, my total rent cost over the year goes down considerably so I can't really complain.

Christmas movie review: 12 Men of Christmas

Rating: B+


12 Men of Christmas was difficult to grade. On the one hand, this brand new movie airing on Lifetime this year, stars Kristin Chenowith, of whom I'm a fan. It's a romantic comedy, which you can't go wrong with. Josh Hopkins is the male lead and he's definitely cute. It's a fish-out-of-water story, which is always enjoyable. But it's barely a Christmas story. It starts and ends around Christmas but beyond that it has little to do with Christmas. And the love story seems to happen out of nowhere. The twosome fight all movie long and then he professes his love for her... I wasn't really buying it. Overall, I guess the good outweighs the bad so I give it a B+, by the skin of its teeth.

Christmas movie review: The National Tree

Rating: B

Debuting this year on the Hallmark Channel, this was a little different type of story for a Christmas movie, so I definitely give it props for that but I'm only giving it an "average" grade (B is average for a Christmas movie) because I thought some of the writing and casting was problematic. The National Tree tells the story of a tree from Oregon that has been chosen to be "The National Tree" in Washington, DC, in front of the White House. Some kind of contest was held and this tree was chosen. The tree belongs to Andrew McCarthy's character and his teenage son, who have a very strained relationship. This tree was planted when the son was born and Andrew's character sort of cares more for the tree than his own son. They decide to personally take the tree to Washington, DC, and embark on a 3,000-mile road trip, during which they of course get closer and also find love. And, of course, there is some major drama at the end, too, but everything gets resolved. It was an okay story but I found the teenage son pretty grating. Plus, seriously? They got word like 4 days before the tree lighting that their tree was picked. That seems highly unlikely. There was just too much hokeyness - and not in a magical way - for me to grade it any higher.

Christmas movie review: Surviving Christmas

Rating: B+

Although it came out in 2004, I had never seen Surviving Christmas starring Ben Affleck and Christina Applegate. So I grabbed the DVD from the library and watched it over Thanksgiving break. I know it got panned when it was released but I actually enjoyed it. Ben's character is a multi-millionaire now but had a pretty crappy childhood and basically ignored Christmas every year. Now, he decides he wants to buy a dream Christmas for himself, so he shows up on the doorstep of a family and offers them a lot of money to become his for the week. Of course, the family is having major problems - marital strife, cut-off-from-the-world teenage son, for instance - and needs the money so they are willing. Ben's character is eager to create a fantastic holiday and whenever the family is hesitant to participate in one of his activities, he just throws more money at them. He's met with strong resistance from Christina's character, who shows up late to the party and doesn't understand why her family agreed to this. Of course, by the end of the movie, the family seems to have reconciled and be better for the experience, while Ben and Christina's characters fall in love. Sure, it's a little hokey but it does have some funny moments. Plus, all the actors do a good job and it's light fare that is great around the holidays.

December Goings-On

So, in case you hadn't noticed, I haven't found the time to write lately. I've been SWAMPED with work, social events, apartment-hunting and who knows what else. It's leading up to Christmas and as has been my tradition, I love to watch and then write reviews of Christmas movies. Unfortunately, I haven't found the time to watch many so far this year. I do plan on doing that but we'll see if I can find time.

Apartment-hunting has been a pain. Everything is way more expensive than advertised and I just cannot justify spending the ridiculous rent amounts that you find here in DC. I really do want a place of my own but I might just end up trying to find a roommate for the time being and look again at one bedroom apartments in a few months or even potentially buy something. I have three appointments tomorrow and maybe a few more for Saturday so all is not lost yet.

Roommate News

For those of you who know me well, you know I do not like my roommate. There are dozens of reasons why that I won't really get into right now... but the good news is that he is finally, finally moving out! I've been waiting forever for him to move out as he constantly told me his living there was only temporary. Now, nearly two years later, he's finally moving out. I've been waiting so long that I finally decided about a month ago that I should probably move out first. I even looked at some apartments a couple weeks ago and have been trying to determine exactly how much I can afford. Part of it is that I'm ready for a change... I've been there almost 2 years and that's the longest I've lived in one place in about a decade. Of course, now that Marc is leaving, I have to decide if I want that change to be a 1-bedroom apartment or if getting a new roommate will be enough change for me. Ugh. Big decision. I have to decide relatively soon; he's moving out until mid- to late-December and I've got to give 30 days notice.

On the Bus, Gus

I'm sitting on the bus heading back to Washington, DC, after spending a little over 24 hours in New York City. Gotta love free bus wifi! We left at 6:30 and were supposed to arrive at 10:45 but didn't get to the tunnel out of Manhattan until 7:22 so I'm guessing we are quite a bit behind schedule. Then, a little bit ago, the bus driver announced that we were going to have to detour because of some tractor trailer problem. It was hard to hear what she said but I heard something about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge so if we are going over that, it has to add a lot of time to our trip, I would imagine. I wish I had some idea where we were... but I'm in the back of the bus and it's so dark out. Anyway, I'm fine for now. I can imagine I might get a little stir crazy if we are hours late but I'm good with my reading material, movies and free Internet.

I went to New York to watch the Cavs play the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, which was pretty cool. I'll write a separate post about that and post some pictures later. Today, then, I just decided to walk around, do some shopping, etc... I basically walked for 6 straight hours so I'm happy to be on my butt. I went to the Holiday Shops at Bryant Park, toured the New York Public Library, and then basically just walked all around the Broadway/Times Square area, checking out different shops and the various Broadway theaters. Oh yeah, and I went to the big flagship Macy's, where I actually bought a bunch of stuff. It was a pretty nice and full day actually.

Now, we're literally driving through suburban Delaware, stopping at traffic lights and such, so it makes it a lot easier to find landmarks. Middletown, Delaware. From what I can tell on Google Maps (on our increasingly slow Internet), we're about two hours away from home. 60-90 minutes behind schedule.

Surgery for my dad

Tomorrow my dad is going in for a knee replacement surgery on his left knee. I know it's a pretty routine surgery nowadays but I'm still worried. I know my mom is a nervous wreck and I feel bad I won't be able to be there for her and for my dad after the surgery. Hoping my brother steps up... Anyway, here's praying everything goes well.

No, Fox, that doesn't really make me feel better

So imagine a team that had BOTH World Series Ace pitchers on their staff! How great a team would that be? Oh right, that was the Cleveland Indians last year. So yeah I don't think anyone in Cleveland is too excited to be watching Game 1 of the World Series with the Phillies and their starting pitcher, Cliff Lee, take on the Yankees and their starting pitcher, CC Sabathia. Here's Fox's acknowledgement of the suckiness:

"You Still Have Lebron" is what it says at the top of the screen. Yeah, great. Lebron is awesome but he's not won us a championship. In fact, he hasn't even won us a game this season yet. :-(

Second Place Showing in Trivia

By the way, we placed second tonight in trivia! Very exciting. It got us $25 in gift certificate money for the bar where the trivia takes place plus a bunch of Halloween loot, like candy and fake bugs and a jack-o-lantern pen that has punching arms. I am very proud of us but I do feel like we probably could have won first place again (we won once before) had we actually listened to each other. We had the correct answer to at least 5 more questions but let someone else on the team convince us we were wrong.

Basketball Season!!

Tomorrow is the start of the NBA season and I cannot tell you how excited I am. Go Cavs!! I just bought a ticket to the Cavs vs. Knicks game next Friday night in New York City. I bought bus tickets to go up there about a month ago but I've been struggling to find game tickets. I just kept trying and trying and finally, success! I know it's not the best seat but it's better than nothing. Should be interesting to see all the Lebron wooing in person. Anyway, I'm planning on going to see the Cavs in a few different cities this season. New York, Washington, Philadelphia and, of course, Cleveland. And who knows where else? I might make a trip up to Boston too.

Advance Movie Screening: Amelia

I get these free advanced movie screening passes every so often (seems like once a week lately) and last night was no different. I got to see Amelia, starring Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart. I'm a huge fan of Amelia Earhart's. I wrote my first in-depth research paper in college about her and her feminism, plus my grandmother always claimed that she was a distant relative of ours. I never really believed her since she never could explain the connection but who knows? Anyway, I was eager to see the movie because of the story it told, not so much because of Hilary Swank. She is one of those actresses that I'm not a big fan of. Personally, I mean. When I've seen her on talk shows, there's just something about her that I don't like. Her acting is fine enough. That being said, I found her really grating as Amelia. There is talk (supposedly) of her being nominated or even winning another Oscar for this portrayal and wow, I hope not. Maybe Amelia herself was grating so Hilary did a bang-up job but I think it was more the performance that was grating. I was more fascinated with how they were able to make her so full of freckles, which I'm pretty sure are not natural to Hilary.

As far as the movie goes, it was your average biopic. They overdramatized some stuff and left out a lot of information but it showed an interesting snapshot of her life from the time she was asked to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic until she passed away - basically it's Amelia in her 30s minus one flashback. If the ending happened exactly as portrayed, then it's ridiculous that there have been any rumors that she survived. They were literally in the middle of nowhere.

I would recommend this as a rental or a wait-for-cable viewing unless you are desperately fascinated about Amelia Earhart.

Lebron James stalking

The pride of Northeast Ohio, Lebron James, is making the TV talk show rounds to promote his new book and upcoming movie. He'll be on The View on Monday and Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday night (with former President Bill Clinton so that will be a good show all around). Then he'll fly to Los Angeles and show up on Jay Leno's new 10pm show and Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday.

I'll be watching them all, of course, but I hope they don't all go like his appearance on The Daily Show (see clip below), which was full of wooing. Uh no. Thankfully Jon didn't have much to offer.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
LeBron James
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

After that, he'll return to Cleveland for Training Camp! I'm really excited about this season and already have plans to go see the team a few times this season.

Traveling, traveling

I do enjoy traveling but I feel like I've been away from home forever. A month ago today, I got back from a family vacation in South Carolina (so I was gone a whole week before that) and in that month, I went to New York City for four days for a wedding, made a road trip to rural Virginia with some friends, and went to Chicago twice for work. Plus, my brother and his family came to visit for 4 days so I spent a few days touring DC with them so even though I was home, it still felt like I was playing tourist for that weekend, too. All my trips were pretty fun. It pretty much rained the entire time in Hilton Head, SC, but at least it was really relaxing. New York City was amazing - the first time I'd been there. Even Chicago turned out okay. This last trip I got to hang out with my college roommate for a few hours. I took a ton of pictures that I may link to eventually but I'm really looking forward to having a few weekends of relaxation and staying at home and getting things back to normal! My next trip is three weeks from today - I'll be heading back to Cleveland for 5 days.

SpeedCine - The Fast Way to Find Legal Movies Online

One of the librarian email lists that I'm on sent around something about this site, SpeedCine, which lets you search and browse for free movies available online. Once you find a movie, it tells you where you can find it online, either for free or for a fee. It's pretty cool. I can see it being useful. It even contains direct links so you can get right to the movie.

"Tiny librarian is hell on wheels"

Cute story with video about a librarian in Akron, OH, who is also a Roller Derby girl. My favorite part of the story is that her number on her playing jersey is "796.21 -- the Dewey Decimal library index number for skating." Heh.

'Time Traveler's Wife' Series Travels to ABC

Woo woo, this is my 1000th post! Too bad it wasn't a bit more substantial. But I am excited to hear that they might turn The Time Traveler's Wife into a TV series. Makes more sense than a movie because it's a confusing tale to tell to trim down to 2 hours. And I loved the book. (via)

Guess where I'm going next week?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Thank You, South Carolina!
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Headed to vacation in South Carolina on Sunday! Looks like I may see some interesting characters.

The Superstars Champs are Crowned

I've been watching The Superstars on ABC this summer. Right up my alley... sports plus celebrities trying something out of their element. I will pretty much watch anything that has celebrities trying something out of their element. It was enjoyable enough. I'd recommend it. All the episodes are available on Hulu. If you want to watch, then I'd suggest you stop reading though because I'm going to spoil the winners.

See, the show paired professional athletes with celebrities and the athletes/celebs competed as teams. The problem is that one of the celebrities was Maks from Dancing with the Stars. A professional dancer was one of the celebrities? But isn't he also a professional athlete? Seems like a ringer to me. And it's no surprise that his team won! They basically dominated the entire show, winning something like 8 of 14 events. Even expecting the outcome, it wasn't a bad show though.

"Netflix to stream early seasons of 'Lost,' others"

This news about Netflix streaming the first five seasons of Lost plus some of the older seasons of Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives is great news to me, even though I've already seen all those seasons. Now that I have a Tivo, I'm able to watch their streaming stuff directly on my television so anytime I want to watch an old episode of Lost, it will be easy to pull up on my TV!! (via)

That reminds me that I've meant to do a review of my Tivo. I should do that soon.

Going crazy?

Maybe a month or so ago my closet door broke in my bedroom. The doors are full-length mirror doors that slide. What happened was the back door's frame broke away from the mirror part. I didn't hurry to call maintenance to come fix the door because my bedroom was a mess. Plus, the door still basically worked. It was just a little tougher to slide it. It's been a few weeks now and I still haven't gotten around to calling. But yesterday I noticed that the door is fixed! I don't understand it! Did maintenance come in and do some sort of checkup and fix it on their own without telling me? Did it somehow fix itself? I have absolutely no idea but I guess the latter option makes more sense... maybe one time when it got pushed to the end of the closet, it reattached itself. But it sure is on there securely now and I had tried to reattach it when it first broke and it was way too heavy. So, so crazy. I wish I knew what happened.

Two Good Summer Movies

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend advanced screenings for two upcoming summer movies and both were really good so I highly recommend them.

The first was Julie & Julia, which opens August 7th. It stars Amy Adams and Meryl Streep as Julie Powell and Julia Child, respectively. Both do a great job! This movie is based on a book of the same name, which ironically has been suggested as a book club book at one of my book clubs probably at least 5 times and I've never had any desire to read it. The movie is a little different from the book because it's adapted not only from Julie Powell's book (where she decides to cook her way through a Julia Child cookbook in a year's time) but also from Julia Child's book. So, while you are seeing Julie's experience as she struggles with this project and attempts to find meaning in her life, you simultaneously learn about Julia Child. Anyway, it's really good. I'm not sure I'm doing a good job of selling it.

The second movie, (500) Days of Summer, is a romantic comedy, I guess, but so not cliched like most romantic comedies are (but don't get me wrong, the cliched romantic comedy is not always a bad thing!). This movie follows a guy (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the 500 days of his relationship with Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel. The movie states from the first sentence that this is not a love story and I guess it really isn't but it's really funny and clever and enjoyable. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is maybe best known for playing the kid in 3rd Rock from the Sun, does such a great job and looks so adorable in all the sweater vests he wears. I don't want to spoil it or anything but it's very good. Go see it.

I Want One: Crocs Coasters

It's funny that I don't find Crocs that cute when they are actually on someone's feet but these little Crocs coasters are adorable. And on sale! (via)

Pet Airways

So now there is an airline solely for pets. Interesting. It seems remarkable that there is a service for this but I suppose people need to transport their pets across the country and don't want to ride with them in the car. Right now, it looks like only cats and dogs are eligible but soon reptiles, birds, and even pigs will be welcome! But judging from the content on the site, the pets are taken care of very well.

Some of the pictures on the site are really funny and it seems like they have sort of a tongue-in-cheek approach, so good for them, but the constant use of "pawsengers" is a little annoying.(via)

Power Outage

Ugh. Our power went out last night around 11:30ish. Again. It was just a few weeks ago when our power went out at night for about 5 hours. The power company supposedly caused an intentional power outage in late May to update our lines so that unplanned outages wouldn't occur. Now it's been twice since that happened that not only did we have unplanned outages, but they were lengthy outages. Before that, I don't think we had a single outage the entire 16 months I'd lived here. This time, the power didn't come back on until about 11:30am. So, yes, 12 hours. The weirdest thing is that a few hours after the power went out, they restored partial service. This meant that only one in four of the outlets in my room worked, that our kitchen light worked but our refrigerator had no power. The bathroom light worked but the outlet in there didn't. Our air conditioner didn't work... etc, etc. It was really odd and ridiculously inconvenient. Thankfully, the outlet that operates the fan that I sleep with was the one outlet in my room that stayed on all night so I didn't die from heat exhaustion.

Flowers!

A couple weeks ago, we were having our monthly office birthday party when someone brought flowers into the board room and said the flower delivery was for me! How exciting! I couldn't for the life of me figure out who would have sent me flowers but it was a very pretty arrangement (see below!). Turns out one of the chairpeople I work with regularly as part of my job felt I deserved flowers so she had them sent to me. The card said, "Thanks for all you do!" It was so sweet and unexpected. So I thought I'd share and show everyone a pic of the flowers. And my messy office.

"Top 10 Longest Novels in the English Language"

In other words, here are ten books I will definitely avoid. I hate reading long books. (via)

The Real World comes to DC

Big news in DC is the upcoming filming of the next season of The Real World, MTV's long-running reality show. There have been reports all over DC news sites and blogs on which house is being remodeled for the seven strangers to move into... and I've been following it all with an interested eye. Here's the latest news, with pictures of the reported house at 2000 S St. NW! There are some pictures of the inside of the house here, too.

I haven't watched The Real World in, oh, maybe 5 years or more (probably way more) but anytime a TV show or movie is going to shoot nearby, it catches my eye. And, it really amuses me to read the snarky comments that appear at the end of every speculative blog post about how the kids are going to ruin the city and make going to your favorite hangouts impossible. One neighbor to the new house has even started a blog. Very entertaining.

Library Moms

I just came across this article and enjoyed it as it lists some celebrities and famous people who had moms who were librarians. Morrissey, B.J. Armstrong, Emily from the Indigo Girls... all had librarian moms. Pretty cool. Tim Gunn's mom helped set up the CIA library!! (via)

I Want One: Lighted Tweezers

These Lighted Slant Tweezers by Tweezerman seem pretty sweet. I've always heard good things about Tweezerman slant tweezers but to add a little light to them - cool! Sometimes a little extra light while plucking would be fantastic. They are $25 but I kinda feel like that might be worth it. (via)

H Street Country Club

This H Street Country Club place looks kinda cool. They have an actual miniature golf course inside the bar. Restaurant. Whatever. I guess it just opened today. And it's Mexican food. Yum! I'll have to check it out sometime. (via)

Good Luck Story

This evening after work, I was waiting for the train to come and sitting on a bench and reading. When the train came, I got on, not realizing that I apparently had dropped my Smartrip card - which holds my fare and saved fare of over $250! I rode my two stops and got off the train and tried to find my card that allows me to pay and exit. This was when I realized that my card was nowhere to be found. It wasn't in my pockets; it wasn't in my bag; it wasn't in my book. It was nowhere. I didn't even know how you exit the train station without the card. I mean, you have to swipe it when you enter and swipe it when you leave so what happens if you lose it in the middle of your trip? The train going the other way arrived so I hopped on it, thinking not too much time had passed so maybe if I went back to where I got on, I would find my card lying on the ground or something. So I rode the two stops again, got off, went to where I had been sitting and sure enough there was my card on the ground, untouched! Someone was nearly standing on it but hadn't picked it up. Phew! I retrieved it and rode the train AGAIN and got off at my stop and walked home. What a relief. Thank god no one stole it. I think I had two things working in my favor. One, I didn't get on the train at my regular stop right by work, which is always really busy and crowded. I walked to the library after work and got on at the next stop east, which is always pretty empty. Two, I have an Obama card rather than a regular one (further down that page). Most people have the regular one and aren't even aware that there is an Obama one, so I think some potential thieves could have walked right by it not realizing what it was. Phew!

Post Hunt

Also this weekend, I participated in the Post Hunt. It's like a scavenger hunt (sponsored by the Washington Post) where instead of having to find objects, you try to solve puzzles around the downtown DC area. Puzzles that are set up specifically for the event, I should add. It was tough! And pretty hard to explain. There is lots of info and some videos if you go that link, though. Let's just say that we didn't win. We had a team of six and we were pretty stumped, particularly by the statues puzzle. Although the winners were local, the 2nd place team was from Arizona and the 3rd place team was from Florida. People travel all over the country to do this? Crazy. It was definitely fun but it also made me feel way stupid.

Side note: Dave Barry was there! Does he count as a celebrity? I think so. He's one of the founders of the Hunt.

GI Film Festival

Last Wednesday, I found out I won a free VIP pass to the GI Film Festival! It was an all-access pass to all the movies that were playing, including some VIP movie showings and receptions. Plus, it included a gift pack with some free T-shirts, movies and other swag. Pretty exciting! They promised celebrities at the receptions and well, say no more, if there are going to be celebrities, I'm there!

So the first VIP event was Thursday and it included a showing of Valkyrie as well as a reception afterwards. The movie was actually pretty good (even if we all know how it turns out) and one of the producers was there to answer questions and talk about the filming. It was pretty interesting. As far as "celebrities" go, there was Faizon Love, Karri Turner, and Leann Tweeden (who I'm shocked to learn is only 35 - sorry). No I did not know who they were, other than possibly having heard their names before. Then, at the end of the screening, the organizers announced that Stephen Baldwin was also there! Finally someone I'd recognize on sight. And, indeed, he was there. I saw him myself. Also possibly at the event was the notorious Scooter Libby. I might be wrong but I swear I heard someone being introduced as Scooter Libby and the picture on Wikipedia looks enough like him that I'm just going to go with it. I don't know if I've ever knowingly been in the room with a convicted felon before!

On Friday night, there was another reception and then the showing of Taking Chance, which debuted on HBO recently. It was really enjoyable and supposedly, Kevin Bacon and the movie's director and co-writer were supposed to be in attendance. Uh no. However, the real person who Kevin plays was there and told us his story and answered questions after the movie so that was pretty cool. As far as celebrities go, Stephen Baldwin was there again and so was Jeffrey Ross. Who we talked to!! My friend Elizabeth saw Jeffrey first and decided we should go talk to him and before I could say, "What will we say?" she was already there talking to him!

Here's how our conversation went:

Elizabeth: I was really rooting for you on Dancing with the Stars. It's too bad you got eliminated.

Jeffrey: Thanks! But you should watch on Tuesday! I'll be there to roast the finalists.

Me: Oh yeah, you're a great roastist!

Me: Wait, is that what it's called... someone who roasts?

Jeffrey: Hmm, I think it's "roastmaster?" But roastist... I like that!

Elizabeth: Good luck!

And that was about it. So if he uses the word "roastist" tonight, you can thank me. Because I'm sure a well-paid, professional comedian relies on random strangers to provide him with vocabulary. Anyway, it was exciting and he couldn't have been nicer. A side note: We didn't even try to talk to Stephen Baldwin. However, I should have offered my hand for him to shake. I shook Joan Rivers' hand a few months ago and she went on to win Celebrity Apprentice. He could use my special powers as he heads off to do I'm a Celebrity... Get me Out of Here.

Yes! We have power!!

We got this notice a few days ago that the power company would be turning off our power from 8pm tonight to 6am tomorrow. Which sucks, of course. Who wants to walk around in the dark with only candles and flashlights to get by? And not in the middle of prime time television! Supposedly this "planned" outage will prevent future "unplanned" outages so fine, I mean, I guess it's worth it. But, personally, I think it would make more sense to have it during the day.

Anyway, the kicker of the whole thing was that the letter actually said the planned power outage would be from "8pm on Thursday May 18 to 6am on Friday May 19". A quick look at a calendar will make it obvious that there is no Thursday May 18 this year. So do they mean this Thursday & Friday? Or do they mean the 18th and the 19th? Yeah, how nice of them to be so clear. A couple neighbors & I discussed it and one concluded that it must be the Thursday & Friday that is accurate since there was a makeup date of Thursday May 21st-Friday May 22nd. All right, it makes a certain amount of sense.

So I was out tonight and got back around midnight, fully expecting the power to be out. But nope! It did rain for awhile, so maybe that was problematic and would cause a postponement to the make-up date. Or maybe it will be out on the 18th. Who knows? All I know is that I am glad it's on tonight.

"It's Official: Disney Joins Hulu"

This is the best TV news I've heard in awhile! I was going to post about it a month or so ago when it was just a rumor but this is even better! I watch a lot of TV online and Hulu has, by far, the best platform for watching shows. I rarely have loading problems or picture problems when I'm watching Hulu and I cannot say the same for the ABC/Disney platform. Plus, the ability to queue videos, to set subscriptions so the newest episodes automatically queue, to embed videos or parts of videos (whatever parts you choose!) into your web site or share with others via email.... there are really a zillion things to love about Hulu and since I do watch a ton of ABC or ABC Family shows, it will just be great. The other small benefit here is that while all the platforms show short ads, with Hulu it automatically connects back to the program after the ad. The current Disney platform requires the user to "Click to Continue," which is kind of a pain in the butt. I just hope with all the added programming (and presumably users), there won't suddenly be viewing problems. (via)

Big Sports Weekend

It was over 90 degrees this weekend - way too hot for April - so I spent some of my time indoors watching sports! The NFL draft was on and I eagerly awaited the Browns pick at #5... which they promptly traded away for pick #17. Then, when it was time for pick #17, guess what? They traded that away for #19. And then, when it was time for #19, they traded it away YET again. Finally, at the 21st pick, they picked Alex Mack, a center from California. A center? Bor-ing!

More exciting news was that the Cavs won their playoff series against the Pistons in a four-game sweep. It was pretty much no contest the entire series and now they get at least a week off while the other series battle it out. I tell you, it's so strange to have a team that is the #1 seed, that is dominant over other teams and is basically expected to win. A team from Cleveland doing that? Seems so wrong.

In other weekend news, I went out to dinner on Friday night, saw a movie with a friend on Saturday and ran some errands (including a trip to Wegmans!!) on Sunday. Very exciting stuff. I also have a persistent cough. I hope it's not swine flu.

Work Happy Hour

I organized a work happy hour since we haven't had one in a few months (I think January was the last one) and for awhile had been doing them once a month. Throughout the day, it seemed like more and more people were telling me, "Oh, I can't go now" so I expected a paltry turnout but we ended up with 8 people over the course of a couple hours. Out of 24 employees, I don't think that's too bad. Comparing it to the librarian happy hours we organize, where we also often get 8 people, it's actually fantastic. I mean, the librarian happy hour pool is at least a couple hundred.

I Want One: Zip-It Necklace

How cute are these zipper necklaces? I really like them, but I wonder how much Au$50 translates to in US$? Also, you know how you can catch your skin in zippers and it hurts like hell? Will that happen with this necklace? (via)

Drenched!

I got so wet walking home from work today (well, from the subway stop). I saw the storm coming and was hurrying home to avoid it but I was still about 5 minutes away when it started pouring. Yes, I did have an umbrella, but the puddles formed so quickly that my shoes and the bottom of my pants got soaked. Yuck. At least I was heading home, though, and could change when I got there.

There was a huge package waiting in the lobby for my roommate when I got home. It was long and skinny, maybe 7 feet long. I thought it was skis. Normally, I might bring it up to our apartment so it doesn't get stolen, but there was no way I was going to drag this thing up there. Does that make me a bad roommate? I don't care, though, because I despise my roommate.

Go Cavs!

I'm so excited now that the NBA Playoffs have started. Basketball is my favorite sports and it's especially exciting that the Cavs are pretty much a favorite to head to the Finals, if not win it all. All kinds of accolades are heading their way, including Coach Mike Brown being named NBA Coach of the Year yesterday! Yay! LeBron is considered a shoo-in for the MVP award and here's a great article on why.

Anyway, Game 2 against the Pistons tonight. Go Cavs!

Happy April!

I really don't post much on my blog anymore, do I? Well here's three recent happenings...

#1 - I got my laptop! Yes, in fact, I'm using it right now. It came early, last Tuesday. However, it wasn't without some drama. I checked the tracking info and it said "Item delivered!" Except, no it wasn't delivered. I checked all over the office and it was nowhere. So I called FedEx and the woman seriously said, "It was supposed to go to 4350 and it went to 4250; is that the same place?" Umm, no, no it's not. But luckily the FedEx guy corrected his mistake before the day was over and I walked home with my brand new, shiny, pretty laptop. I've been using it and enjoying it, especially because...

#2 - I've been sick. Yeah, yuck. Just major congestion, making breathing difficult and giving me an awful, awful headache. Allergies are very very common here so everyone asks me if I was sure that it was a cold and not allergies but I'm pretty sure it's just a cold. I mean, I could possibly develop allergies but I've never had them before and here we are like 72 hours after I started feeling sick and I'm already feeling better. I don't think allergies go away that quickly do they? Anyway I did miss two full days of work (in an already short week!) but feel much better as I type here. Thank God for Mucinex D.

#3 - Work has been pretty busy but in a manageable way. They sent me to Chicago last week for two days so it's always fun to get out of the office (although I won't deny that the traveling probably contributed to me getting sick). Even though we really only hung out by O'Hare, a coworker & I stayed an extra night to head downtown. We were going to see Second City but things didn't work out so instead we hit a nice restaurant next door and then walked around Rush Street.

I Bought a Laptop!

Yes, it's very exciting news to me because I've never had a laptop before, even though I've wanted one for years and even though it would have come in really handy when I was in grad school. Instead, I've been stuck to a desk anytime I wanted to use my computer for the last 10 or 12 years, however long I've owned a PC. Right now the plan is to keep the desktop too but since it's from 2002 (or 2003 maybe?), it's quite a few years old and I'm guessing the laptop is going to be so much quicker and faster and exciting and, of course, portable! So it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that I stop using my desktop. Anyway, it seemed like a good deal and I have tax refund money so I finally broke down and bought it. It's supposed to arrive on April 8th. Oh, and you're welcome, economy.

Turned Away

So I'm a big Coke drinker (Coke Zero actually). Anyone who knows me probably already knows this. For work, I've taken to buying 2 liters and keeping them in my office since we have ice readily available and then instead of spending about $1.50 per 12 ounces at the little convenient store in our building, I'm spending about $1.50 for a 2 liter that generally lasts me a week. The problem is that since I don't drive to work anymore, that means I either have to carry the 2 liter on my 10 minute walk to the subway (not very desirable since I'm not kind of a wuss) or I make an occasional trip to work on the weekends and drop off some 2 liters. The latter is what I planned to do today. A grocery store here is selling all its 2 liters for 10 for $10 so I stocked up and thought I would drop like 4 or 5 off at work. Otherwise, they sit in my car. I armed myself with four 2 liters and headed into the building carefully (that's heavy!) and when I got up to our office, I couldn't get in! We have three doors and the door entry code would not work on ANY of the doors. Ugh, I was so frustrated. Usually, the only time we change the door code is when someone leaves and considering I was at work until 6:30pm Friday night, I'm pretty positive no one just up and quit over the weekend. So what's the deal? I'm really annoyed. I came home and checked my work email and there isn't even an answer there. The only thing I can guess is that somehow the daylight savings switch affected it? Who knows? But I do know that all our office bigwigs are out of town until Thursday at a seminar so I can hope that this means we won't be able to come into the office for three days. Maybe?

Obama at the Wizards game

My friends & I went to the Wizards-Bulls game on Friday night (see proof here) and also there was President Obama! Very exciting, no? I think he got more applause every time he arrived and/or left than the team did, even though they pulled out a rare victory. Here's my pic of him, although it is probably difficult to tell which one he is even when you click on it and enlarge it. (Hint: He's in the front row wearing all black and sitting next to some kid.)



So, here are some links to some people with better shots of the event... here, here and here.

"Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems"

Reading through some articles I've bookmarked, this one is really fascinating! Some of my favorite tips:

• If you find yourself without your cell phone charger and your phone is dying, put it in the refrigerator. The cold slows down the draining of the battery.
• When you're low on printer ink, put the ink cartridge under the hair dryer and warm it up. It will give you a couple more pages of printing.
• Instead of buying DVD/CD cleaner, use mouthwash or vodka.
  
• If your hard drive crashes, stick it in the freezer.

There are more tips there. Very interesting.

"Recession Has People Running to Library"

This news story is not unique - there are tons of stories out there now on how library usage is up with the economy sucking so much (not that it stops librarians from being laid off!) but what's cool about this story is that it talks to the head librarian at the public library I go to! There is footage inside the library! I could have been there! And the clip isn't even from the DC area.

Back from Vacation

Not that I'm sure anyone missed me but I am back from my family vacation now! We (Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Niece, Nephew) spent a week in Hilton Head sharing a home and living together like one large extended family. I will say that it went better than I expected. My niece seems to be a sweet, smiley, well-behaved baby. She seems to be teething but, even with that discomfort, really didn't cry too much. She's really adorable too. My nephew, on the other hand, is 3 1/2 and spoiled rotten and gets to do pretty much anything he wants but he was mostly bearable. But, also shrill.

It was pretty cold in Hilton Head, like low to mid 50s every day. Coupled with the wind, it was downright chilly, probably close to 40. And, of course, colder at night. There was one really nice day where it might have even hit 70. I mostly spent my time just vegging with the family and reading. We did go shopping a couple times, of course, and I happily got a few really cute tops for a good price. And I watched a few movies, including some kids' ones that my nephew insists on watching during dinner. But, as a result, I got to see a genre of movies that I don't typically see!

Although I flew down there and landed in Charleston, where my parents picked me up on their drive down, I rode home with my parents. The drive wasn't too bad at all. We got home Saturday evening at about 11pm, but I think that was pretty good time considering we really didn't leave Hilton Head until 12:30pm, plus we then stopped for lunch, went to an outlet mall, and then stopped again for dinner. But I'm glad I didn't drive the 10-11 hours by myself. My parents stayed in DC for Sunday so I hung out with them and they finally went back to Cleveland yesterday while I went back to work.

Surprisingly, things didn't get too backed up at work while I was gone. I think that it was a good week to be gone. Anyway, just wanted to fill you in on the basics and let you know that I'm back and might possibly post more often. And I might upload some pictures from the trip.

FML - F*&# My Life

Heh. So when you think your life sucks, go to the FML site and see what shitty things have happened to other people and maybe you won't feel so bad! (via)

Bacon

I have no idea why anyone would invent this but it's pretty funny anyway. Display any Web site with a strip of bacon over it. For instance, here's my site! Find out more here...

Dallas libraries let you pay to check out hot titles

Interesting business model for a library. So you can pay $5 to get first priority to check out a hot new book or DVD. Loan periods are the same as if you don't pay the $5 but paying the money puts you at the top of the waiting list. I know library waiting lists for hot items can be pretty long so this is an intriguing way for the library to get a little money and patrons can maybe be a little more satisfied, but I wonder how many people are actually going for it. In the article, someone mentions that they can just wait their turn and spend the $5 elsewhere and I would tend to think that many might feel that way, especially in this economy. I know if I am spending $5 to get a new release movie at the library, I would probably rather go to a video store and spend less than that to rent it, or maybe I would consider spending the $10 or $15 more to just purchase it outright rather than $5 to keep it for a week. As for books, if I'm that interested in a hot new release, I likely will buy it anyway. (via)

Inauguration Day

Yes, I went to the Inauguration on Tuesday! We got the day off of work plus I live about 2 miles from the steps of the Capitol Building, so why not!? And before that, on Sunday, I went to the We Are One free concert that took place in front of the Lincoln Memorial and which apparently you can watch online from that link. My pics of the two events are below (Click on it for more):

Inauguration Events

There were a LOT of people at both events but I think things went mostly smoothly. On Sunday, the bridge we would have walked over super conveniently was closed so we took the Metro and yes, it was crowded, but there were no problems. It wasn't even that cold. And we got a pretty decent spot even though we didn't really get there until about an hour before the show. On Tuesday, we had zero problems. We walked over from my apartment, it took about 30-40 minutes, and yes it was crowded, but everyone was relatively polite and friendly and we just kept walking towards the Capitol until we could not walk anymore, so we ended up near the Washington Monument, which is not close at all really, but again, we probably got there an hour or 90 minutes before the ceremony started. We couldn't even see the Capitol from where we were standing. And, it was much colder on Tuesday but definitely bearable for the four hours or so that we were outside. For both events, I would estimate 95% of people had to watch via the Jumbotrons anyway so we made no extreme effort to get there extra extra early to get a front row spot. But it certainly was fun to be there!

Finally! General Hospital available online

I found out that ABC.com has finally added General Hospital to the shows it offers online! It's been a long time coming, with every other network offering its soaps available online for quite some time. If only ABC's media player didn't mess up every time I tried to watch it on my computer. Access the free episodes here.

Christmas movie review: 2008 Wrap-Up

Yes, finally, I know you all have breathlessly been awaiting my one post that wraps up all the Christmas movie reviews from 2008. Fifteen of them in total, very exciting.

This year kind of sucked in terms of Christmas movies. None of the new ones were that great (only one new made-for-TV one even cracked the A's), some of them were awful, and I kind of got sick of the genre, which is highly unusual for me. I'll admit that I don't think my grading was consistent this year (some of those B's were probably me being overly generous) but that has a lot to do with the things mentioned in the previous sentence like me getting sick of the genre. I did get comments from a director of one of the movies, though, so that was a highlight of my posting. Here we go:

A+
The Christmas Wish

A-
Borrowed Hearts
Four Christmases
Fred Claus
A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride

B+
The Christmas Choir
A Christmas Proposal

B
Flirting with Forty
Moonlight & Mistletoe
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Our First Christmas
Snow 2: Brain Freeze

B-
Will You Merry Me?

C
Christmas in Wonderland

D
Together Again for the First Time

I Can't Stop Shopping

I've been on this shopping kick for a couple weeks now, shopping online, shopping in stores. I think I've been to just about every mall in Northern Virginia in the last two weeks. I can't stop really. I got two pairs of pants and a pair of tights from TheLimited.com for $32 total. I got two new sweaters from The Gap for $28 total. I got a really cute shoulder bag from Old Navy for $9. I got about 10 items from Bath & Body Works for $25 total. I got a daily calendar for 2009 for 14 cents (I had a really old gift card with a small amount left on it). I've gotten some really good deals but on Saturday I think I found the best one yet. Hopefully, that will curb my shopping fix for awhile. See, I got these boots:
Apparently, I had put them in my "Shopping Cart" at Macys.com awhile ago, when they were $59.99. Macy's recently sent me an email to remind me that they were in my cart and tell me they were no longer available. So I removed them. But before that, I kind of admired them again. I looked online to see how much they would cost elsewhere and if they were available in my size at all. The best price I could find in my size was $79.99. Nah, not worth it.

However, as luck would have it, I was volunteering in Fairfax Saturday and decided to go to the Fair Oaks Mall afterwards. They happen to have a Bandolino store (who manufactures the boots) and there they were for $39.99 plus 20% off. Well, surely they wouldn't have my size, would they? But, they did! So I bought them! I'm very excited about it.

Cavs vs. Wizards game, part two

Last spring, I went to the Verizon Center to watch the Cavs eliminate the Wizards during the NBA Playoffs. I had an awesome seat. They won. It was fantastic. Yesterday, I tried it again and had another pretty good seat (no, not as good as that one) but the outcome wasn't as good. I guess I'd rather them lose a regular season game than the playoffs, especially when it was only their sixth loss of the season, but again, I took a lot of pictures and thought I'd share. Enjoy.

Christmas movie review: Snow 2 - Brain Freeze

Rating: B

Yes, I've been slack about posting the last of my Christmas movie reviews. I apologize. I had a busy weekend. This is the last one and hopefully sometime tomorrow I'll manage to write up the summary.

I am biased in favor of Snow 2: Brain Freeze if only because it stars one of my secret crushes, Tom Cavanagh (from Ed). In it, he plays Santa's son, who has taken over the Christmas responsibilities (as seen in the first Snow film) and currently is concerned about the reindeer's weight. While investigating ways to keep the reindeer in shape, he gets knocked unconscious and loses his memory away from the North Pole. His wife, played by Ashley Williams (who I'll admit normally annoys me greatly but didn't too much here), tries to find him and then make him remember who he is before Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Ashley's ex-boyfriend, who is still bitter about losing her to Tom's character, sees this as a great opportunity to maybe get her back and also get the power of Santa Claus. It's pretty predictable and, of course, everyone lives happily ever after, but it's sweet and it wasn't too bad. About average.

Christmas movie review: Borrowed Hearts

Rating: A-

I wanted to watch more good movies after what seemed like an entire season of bad ones so I recorded and rewatched Borrowed Hearts, from 1997. It stars Eric McCormack (pre-Will & Grace, I think) and Roma Downey and it's a cute romantic comedy with a touch of Christmas magic. Eric's character needs a family to pull off a big business deal. Roma and her daughter could use extra money and magically find themselves at Eric's house right when he's looking for a family. So they move in and start the charade.... only to eventually find themselves growing closer and closer and - surprise! - fall in love. And, Eric's character starts to become a nicer guy and even messes up the business deal so that hundreds of people do not lose their jobs.

Christmas movie review: A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride

Rating: A-

I mostly enjoyed A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride, which debuted on Lifetime this year, and was just basically a romantic comedy taking place around Christmas. The main character, played by the very appealing Joanna Garcia (seriously, I think I might start watching Privileged now), is a wedding planner who finds herself shockingly planning her mother's sudden wedding. When Luke Perry shows up as the son of the groom, the two join forces to try to destroy the wedding. Of course, they have very different reasons for doing so and Joanna's character starts to rethink her motives and let her mom by truly happy. It's cute, everyone is a decent enough actor and there is even a cameo by Jason Priestly in the movie so overall, not bad.