Christmas movie review: On Strike for Christmas

On Strike for Christmas debuted this year starring Daphne Zuniga and David Sutcliffe. I give it props for a unique story, for sure. Daphne is a mom of two teenage boys who finds herself doing all Christmas preparations by herself. Her husband shows up like a week before Christmas and announces his department Christmas party will be at their house this year... and offers zero assistance in putting the party on. She's had enough and, inspired by local picketers, decides to go on strike. She refuses to do any of the Christmas preparation until she gets help from her men. Other women like her idea and follow her cause. Meanwhile, the men try to bake cookies and do other holiday tasks and have a gigantic failure. Of course, eventually the men figure out what's what and manage to pull stuff together and the mom kind of realizes that Christmas doesn't have to be perfect. And they have a happy Christmas. It wasn't a bad story and, like I said, it was original. But some of it was so over-the-top stupid. And, honestly, I can't really blame her for being fed up but maybe she shouldn't have let the men get away with doing ABSOLUTELY nothing for 18 years.

Rating: B

Christmas movie review: James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffanys

James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffanys, starring Alyssa Milano, was new this year and was based on the book by James Patterson (obviously). I recorded this movie and then was looking through my books for something to read and saw that I actually owned the book so I both read it and watched it in the last couple of weeks.

The plot of both is that a young girl is basically ignored by her workaholic mother so she has an imaginary friend, or at least she does until she's 10 when the imaginary friend must leave. Apparently, that's just one of many rules of the imaginary friend. Twenty years later, they happen to meet up again in New York, where she is shocked to find that he's not so imaginary. Yes, there's a level of fantasy involved in the plot but I love the idea. Neither can figure out why he has shown up in her life again. She's engaged to someone else but remembers the times she shared with the imaginary friend so they slowly reconnect and then it turns into a love triangle. It's only incidentally a Christmas movie as it's one of those that just happens to take place during the holiday season. Ironically, the book doesn't take place at the same time of year - so it was an interesting choice by the filmmakers. However, considering the magic involved in the story, it was a wise choice.

Overall, I liked this movie. It was sweet and magical and well-acted. I didn't agree with some of the changes from the book, though, mostly involving the imaginary friend character. In the book, the friend is like a 35-year-old man and when he shows up 20 years later, he is still a 35-year-old man. In the movie, he's her age as an imaginary friend and then grows up at a regular pace and is her age when he shows up again. I get that it's kind of odd to have a young girl hanging out with a 35-year-old, but the change meant that she didn't recognize him and that he basically turned into a stalker. Plus, in the book, it's like the character gets these various imaginary friend assignments and does them but lives a life between assignments. In the movie, it was like the imaginary friend had no idea what life was, like he was a naive young baby. I thought the dynamic in the book was much better. But, overall, the movie worked and I enjoyed it.

Rating: A-

Christmas movie review: Christmas Cupid

Christmas Cupid debuted on ABC Family this year and is this year's version of A Christmas Carol, where an awful person is visited by ghosts of the past, present & future and comes to realize that they need to change pronto. In this case, Christina Milian plays a celebrity PR person who blows off her family and friends in order to make partner at the firm. She's also dating the son of the owner, presumably because she thinks it will get her the promotion. Her biggest client, a young Hollywood starlet who likes to party, dies and gives us our Jacob Marley. The starlet proceeds to show up to Christina's character throughout the movie to both help and warn her. Mixed in with all the work drama is an old flame - a nice guy - that resurfaces who she uses to make her current guy jealous. In fact, a lot of the past/present/future visits involve her love life. Obviously, you can't lose with A Christmas Carol story but some of these have been done better than others and I would put this on the lower end. It seems manic, unorganized, boring, and, quite honestly, I think it suffers from bad acting by Christina Milian. I've liked her in other things but not this.

Rating: B-

Christmas movie review: Unanswered Prayers

Based on the lyrics of a Garth Brooks song, Unanswered Prayers is a pretty good movie but, to be honest, it doesn't really qualify as a holiday film. Maybe a Thanksgiving film (it ends with Thanksgiving dinner) but definitely not Christmas. But, Lifetime did debut it at this time of the year so I'll go with it. It does have the feel of a holiday film. It's about a man who is married with a high school aged son who seems to still be hung up on his high school girlfriend. Actually, I think he's still hung up on high school as he is reliving his high school football career through his son. When the high school girlfriend shows up back in town for her mother's funeral, the guy finds himself spending more and more time with her, to the detriment of his marriage. It's one of those where you think you the grass is always greener... but maybe it isn't. Overall, it's good because I'm sure it's something we can all relate to plus it's well-acted and poignant. Christmas movie or not, I'd recommend it.

Rating: A-

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Clause

The Christmas Clause sat on my Tivo (well, technically I moved it to my laptop) for a year before I finally got around to watching it. It had some potential; for instance, star Lea Thompson is a top draw for us children of the 80s and its plot is one of the most tried and true Christmas stories - that of the person who makes a wish, gets what they wish for and then realizes things weren't so bad pre-wish. That can be a great, great plotline. Unfortunately, this movie doesn't work at all. It's very disjointed, like they had a bunch of scenes they wanted to film but didn't have an editor. We didn't get a very clear picture of what things were like pre-wish so that we could compare them to post-wish. For example, she wasn't a very loving mother or loving wife pre-wish so do we really buy that she would miss her children or husband? In fact, the entire story post-wish is her trying to get her husband back. Overall, it probably wasn't as bad as the rating indicates but it had such great potential that it was disappointing.

Rating: C+

Christmas movie review: Christmas Crash

Christmas Crash stars Michael Madsen and tells the story of a long married couple who are on the brink of divorce. He is a workaholic; she is fed up. It's Christmastime and they go on their annual trip to their cabin and while there, he takes her up in his private plane in an attempt to rekindle their love. While flying, the plane has trouble and crashes into the lake. He's hurt and she has to help him as they walk to the road to try to find help. In the time (days) it takes to walk to safety, they of course rekindle their love. No shock there. That part of the movie was fine. It wasn't all that interesting but it wasn't all that horrible either. Once the couple gets rescued, however, this whole big conspiracy comes out that the plane crash wasn't just an accident but that the guy's business cohorts were trying to kill him. Crazy. The last part happens over the course of about 5 minutes; in other words, it basically comes out of nowhere. Overall, a very stupid plot point that ruined an okay movie.

Rating: B-

Christmas movie review: Home for the Holidays

Not to be confused with the movie of the same name starring Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr., this Home for the Holidays is a made-for-TV holiday film starring Sean Young. And, she is mighty mighty distracting. Whether her hair is a wig or not, how she is such a bad actress, why she is wearing so much eye makeup all the time - these are the questions you can't stop asking yourself while you are watching this movie. And, it's too bad because in general it's not a bad story.

The movie's plot is that three young children lose their parents in a car accident and their aunt (Sean Young) steps up to take care of them. The youngest boy is so traumatized he won't speak. The parents mortgaged their farm to the hilt, leaving their home in jeopardy. The aunt barely makes ends meet on her own with only a part-time job in the local antiques store (more distracting questions arise from that!). Finally, the aunt gets the idea to move the farmhouse off the farm so the kids can keep their childhood home and the whole city pitches in to help them move it. It's a sweet story, honestly. Plus, another saving grace in the film is the social worker, who in a side story, becomes way too involved in this case that she gets yelled at by her supervisor all the time.

Overall, it's getting a higher grade than it probably deserves because the major downfall is the casting of Sean Young.

Rating: B

Christmas movie review: A Dad for Christmas

A Dad for Christmas debuted a few years ago but I hadn't yet seen it. It was average. It's about a college boy who gets his teenage girlfriend pregnant and has delusions of the two of them raising the baby together, but the girlfriend wants to give the baby up for adoption. When the boy is unable to convince her otherwise, he steals the baby and runs away to live with his estranged grandmother. At first there are complications - the grandmother isn't thrilled to have them living there, for instance. Eventually, everyone grows into their roles and the grandmother and the boy decide to sue for custody of the baby. Not a bad story but no better than average. Predictable. Not-so-great acting. Typical happy ending. And, it was only incidentally about Christmas, which drives me insane as a fan of holiday movies. Don't throw in a few scenes of Christmas celebration and call it a holiday movie.

Rating: B-

Christmas movie review: Holiday Baggage

Holiday Baggage is something I don't remember ever having been on the schedule before but it's from 2008. It stars Cheryl Ladd and Barry Bostwick as a long-estranged married couple who find themselves thrown together again at Christmastime when Barry's character finds himself in ill health and has nowhere to go. For reasons that are never really explained, Barry & Cheryl's characters separated long ago but never divorced. Barry's character has found a young woman he wants to marry so he tracks down his wife to get her to sign the papers, which is when he falls ill. He temporarily moves into her house and must deal with the wrath of his daughter, who he basically abandoned when she was young. By having him in the house, he gets to know his daughters again, helps them all bring Christmas into their lives again, and grows into a more understanding person. It's slightly predictable but it's well-acted, touching, and heartwarming. Pretty good.

Rating: A-

Christmas movie review: Christmas on Chestnut Street

Christmas on Chestnut Street airs on Lifetime (and is actually available to watch online for a limited time). It's about a guy, Lou, who lives at home with his dad (who has dementia) and mom and works at a department store with kind of a jerky boss. The boss's daughter has come to work at the store for the holidays and she is a girl with a plan. She has her life all planned out. When an inventory mistake leaves the store with tons of extra lights, the store comes up with a promotion to sell lights by offering one free hour of shopping to whoever has the best light display on their house. So the neighborhoods go crazy with their light displays. The boss's daughter decides to help Lou win the contest so he can donate the time to charity so the store doesn't have to worry about losing money to greedy shoppers. I'm not sure why the contest only boils down to Chestnut Street (are there no other streets in the neighborhood?) but there's lots of insane light displays which is kind of fun. Of course, Lou and the boss's daughter start to fall in love somehow. It's kind of an out-of-nowhere love story but overall, the story isn't bad, the acting is bearable and I enjoyed it more than many of the year's holiday viewings so I may be rating it higher than I would in another year but I definitely would rate it slightly above average.

Rating: B

Christmas movie review: The Ultimate Christmas Present

This is going to be tough because I'm going to try to fit in all these reviews before the month ends and I watched some of these movies weeks ago so who knows what I remember, but here goes.

The Ultimate Christmas Present is a made-for-TV movie from 2000 about two preteen girls who stumble upon and steal a weather machine and make a major blizzard hit Los Angeles right before Christmas. What starts off as a fun snow day or two becomes problematic when the one girl's dad is stranded away from home and the mother's catering clients keep canceling. On top of that, two of Santa's elves are helping Santa track down the stolen weather machine and a jealous meteorologist is also on the trail. It's pretty over the top stupid but it's a movie made for kids so I guess that's to be expected.

Rating: C

Book Review: Unbearable Lightness

In the midst of holiday preparations and Christmas movie watching, I read Portia de Rossi's Unbearable Lightness. Portia is an actress, probably best known for Ally McBeal or Arrested Development. She is also married to Ellen DeGeneres. The book sort of covers her whole life but really focuses on a few years in her twenties when she was first cast on Ally McBeal and had a major eating disorder. She got down to less than 90 pounds and was really resistant to efforts of help. It was fascinating to sort of get in the mind of someone who has an eating disorder, how little she ate, how much she exercised, the delusion. I thought there would be more about her life as an actress or her coming out as a lesbian but it really focused primarily on the eating disorder. It's definitely required reading for anyone who thinks they might know someone who has an eating disorder.

I Want One: Pajamas Warming Pouch

Okay I don't really want one but how awesome would it be to put on your pajamas every night and have them be all warm and toasty thanks to this pajamas warming pouch!! So awesome. (via)

Christmas movie review: How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale

How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale apparently is from 2000 but when it was airing on Lifetime this weekend, there was some banner on the screen that it was premiering then so I'm not sure where it aired originally. I certainly had never heard of it before. It stars John Stamos, Shemar Moore and Josh Malina as three guys who decide that they want to marry rich before Christmas. Females do it all the time so why can't guys do it? I think they owe money to a loan shark or something. John Stamos is most successful and he finds a girl who is infinitely annoying but quite wealthy and proposes to her within a few days (at least it seems that way). Meanwhile, he has met an artist on the beach who he kind of likes but assumes is a poor, struggling artist so doesn't give her a shot. Shocker, she isn't. It's a really, really predictable and borderline stupid movie that even John Stamos' good looks and charm cannot save. I guess it's based (loosely, I'm assuming) on the Marilyn Monroe movie, How to Marry a Millionaire. It gets a pretty low grade because of its predictability and it being only incidentally about Christmas.

Rating: C-

Christmas movie review: November Christmas

The description on my Tivo says it all to describe the plot: A community works together to help a couple bring an early Christmas to their sick 8-year-old daughter. John Corbett & Sarah Paulson play the parents of the sick little girl who are worried she won't make it through the rest of the year so they celebrate Halloween in August and then Christmas in November, with the help of a very amazing community who is willing to go along for the ride just to help the little girl. It's a great cast - besides those two, it also stars Sam Elliott and Karen Allen - and a sweet story but somehow it never fully got me involved as a viewer, perhaps because it was quite slow-moving. A library plays a prominent role in the film, too, so you think I would give it higher marks solely for that reason, but I will give it a solid "B".

Rating: B

Movie Review: Black Swan

This isn't a Christmas Movie review, just a regular movie review (although the Christmas movies are piling up on my Tivo)... I got the chance to see Black Swan about a week ago and it's sort of taken me that long to decide whether or not I liked it. I think I did. It's a psychological thriller so it tries to mess with your head and spook you and it certainly did do that. But, wow, it's really stuck with me this last week. I've heard Oscar buzz for Natalie Portman and she really did do an amazing job but I'll be honest that it doesn't really strike me as an Oscar-type movie. The plot is that Natalie's character is a star ballerina who is obsessed with perfection and gets the lead role in Swan Lake. She is asked to be both the perfect white swan character and the evil, manipulative black swan. She really struggles capturing the black swan part of the job because she is so focused on perfection. Meanwhile, she is convinced that another dancer is trying to steal her role. Her mom is a scary stage mom type. And the ballet's director is constantly pushing her. The whole thing is really over-the-top, yet also enjoyable.

2010 Holiday Movie Reviews

Any regular reader of my blog knows that I love Christmas movies and regularly provide reviews of them at this time of year. Which I will do again this year but there is one small obstacle I'll have to overcome... I no longer have access to the Hallmark Channel. And, 80% of each year's new Christmas movies are broadcast on the Hallmark Channel - it's the "biggest holiday destination on television," according to this press release. It looks like they have 11 new movies debuting during this holiday season and some of them sound really good. So, I will have to review all of the new movies that air on other channels (Lifetime, ABC Family, CBS) plus I'll possibly review any older movies that I might have missed along the way and who knows, maybe I'll be able to find some of the Hallmark movies on iTunes or YouTube or something. Or have a friend who has the Hallmark Channel record some for me. Or, maybe AT&T Uverse will resolve its issues with Hallmark and get the network back on its schedule. So, in sum, I guess this is kind of a warning that there may be fewer movies reviewed this year, my fifth year of doing these reviews.

Groupon

I used my first Groupon today! It was a spend $25, get $50 coupon for The Gap and it expired today, which is probably the only reason I used it because I have bought quite a few others and have yet to use any of them. I just tend to forget that I have them. Or, as was the case with this one, I printed it out and proceeded to misplace it for like 2 months. Anyway, it was quite a deal because it's basically like getting $25 free. I bought this dress (pictured below). I think it looks cuter in person than it does in the picture and looks really good on me so I'm excited. It was either that or two sweaters that were both on sale so the total was just over $50 but I figured that I already have so many sweaters so the dress was a better option. Very pleased!

Cool site: I Can't Find My Phone

I can't tell you how many times I misplace my phone and when I'm with someone and that happens, the first thing they always say is "Do you want me to call you?" You know, so that the ringing of the phone might help me find it. This site, therefore, is perfect for those times when I am alone. And clearly I'm not alone in having a need for this site.

Of course, the problem for me is that I almost always have my phone on vibrate so even when it rings, it's not like I can hear it.

Shopping Trip

I'd been in the mood to go shopping for a few weeks now but haven't really had the time, until today. I headed to the mall this evening with my 30% off everything pass for the Gap/Old Navy/Banana Republic and got some really good deals. I spent $170 and got two dresses, four sweaters, three t-shirts, a pair of shoes, yoga pants and a fleece jacket. Not bad for a few hours, right? Not only that but shopping raises my endorphins.

Currently Reading: L.A. Candy

Should I be embarrassed that I'm reading L.A. Candy? Not only is it a teen book but it's written by The Hills star Lauren Conrad. I'm curious and it should be a quick read, so don't judge me!

I've Got a Good Feeling About This-Wheel of Fortune-2010

This clip from Wheel of Fortune is making its way around the Internet and it is pretty remarkable that she was able to guess the puzzle with only one letter revealed. However, if she had a feeling that she knew what the puzzle was as she claims... why not pick a letter that appears more than once in the puzzle to 1.) truly verify that her feeling was correct and 2.) win herself more money. "G" would have been a good choice. Sometimes I'm baffled by the strategy of these Wheel players.

Re: Lebron James Nike "Rise" Commercial

Yeah yeah, everyone thinks Cleveland should get over it already but that doesn't mean we can't still make jokes about it. This "response" video to Lebron's newest Nike commercial is funny. (via)

Cool site: Wakerupper

I haven't tried Wakerupper but it seems like it could be useful. You fill in the information of when you want a call, including a message if desired, and lo and behold your phone will ring at that designated time. You can use it for an alarm or a reminder or my favorite uses from the Web site - "Escape from a boring date or meeting" and "Remind child or spouse to do chores." Cool.

Book Review: Addition

Our book club met tonight and the book was Addition by Toni Jordan. It tells the story of a girl who is obsessive-compulsive about numbers. She counts everything she owns and times everything out to the minute. Her life is very controlled and borderline insane. She's lost her job and can barely function in society at times. Then she meets a guy (she steals his banana at the grocery store because she had an uneven amount of bananas) who is willing to put up with her wackiness but also suggests she go to a therapist, who promptly puts her on some drug therapy and sends her to group sessions. Slowly, she becomes "better" and turns into a TV addict, gains a lot of weight and barely remains conscious. But at least she doesn't count things anymore!! I guess it plays into the definition of what's healthy and what isn't healthy. One day, she kind of just snaps out of it (there is a reason I guess but it's really not worth getting into) and dumps the boyfriend, dumps the pills and gets back to who she was and finds out life wasn't so bad with her OCD. It's kind of an odd book, difficult to read at times when she's in full-on OCD mode and none of us particularly liked it. Bottom line, I do not recommend it.

Rally wrap-up & other weekend events

I had a busy weekend! I went to see David Alan Grier do stand-up on Friday night. He was funny but that was expected. I thought the opening act, Brian Parise, was really funny too.

Saturday was the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and that turned into a very long day. I left my house at 8:45am and planned to Metro downtown but it was already ridiculously crowded and we had to wait awhile before a train came through the station that actually could fit us. Then, our train was a couple of stops away from the Mall and one of the doors malfunctioned so it was taken out of service - but only after we were all packed like sardines in the stopped train for about 15 minutes while they diagnosed the problem. Luckily we could walk from that point very easily and my other friend was on the train directly behind us so once they took that train out of service, she met up with us in no time. The Mall was already super crowded but we managed to find space and sit down. It only got more and more crowded by the time the Rally started at noon.

Overall, I liked the rally but it was more political than I expected. I wanted more funny. But apparently I was in the minority because most people there seemed to expect it to be all about politics, considering all the crazy signs people made and the fact that people traveled from all over the country to attend the rally. I've loved Jon Stewart for nearly 20 years and I will continue to love him but I won't lie that I was a little disappointed in the rally. The musical acts were pretty awesome though. Here are some clips from the event.

After the rally, my friends & I decided to stay downtown and get some food to avoid all the crowds heading home on the Metro. But apparently everyone had that idea because every place we went to had ridiculously long lines, even when we wandered a few Metro stops away from the Rally. We ended up at this place called the Banana Cafe and it was really good (don't let the circa 1995 Web site fool you) so I'm glad we decided to wait it out for an hour or so. By the time I got home after eating, it was after 7pm. A long, long day.

Today was a friend's birthday so she had a potluck brunch so that meant I had to get up and make something and be at her house by noon. Turns out all we did at her house was watch the Rally, which she had DVR'd. I guess I was lucky because most people had difficulty hearing anything at the Rally. Well, judging by the sample size at the brunch. But, then again, no one else got there anywhere near as early as I did.

After the brunch, I had a couple errands to run and didn't get home until about 6pm. This is my least favorite kind of weekend, where I'm barely home at all. It makes it worse when I am busy during the week after a weekend like that and right now I have plans for this coming Monday night, Weds. night, Thursday night and Saturday night. Something in my schedule might have to change.

Three Day Weekend

It's Saturday morning, I just slept in and I have a 3-day weekend ahead of me! It's not that unusual that I have a 3-day weekend thanks to our work flex schedules (although usually I have a Friday off) but it has been awhile that I've had three days ahead of me without any plans. The next two weekends will be busy for me so I guess I should make the most of this downtime!

One thing I definitely have to do is find out if there's something wrong with my car. I failed the state inspection because I needed new bushings and finally got them replaced yesterday (goodbye $550) but on my drive home from work last night, I heard this weird clunking noise that hadn't been there before. It was late (I'd had dinner with a friend) and it's only 1/2 mile to my house so maybe I was hearing things but I need to check it out and see if that noise continues and, if so, take it back to the stupid shop as soon as possible. Ugh.

Another must is that I need to clean. I've been busy the last couple of weeks and I realized when I got home last night that my apartment is quite the disaster area all of a sudden. In fact, as I sit here on the couch, I realize there is barely a clear walkable path in my living room. Stuff just has a habit of piling up. Ugh.

Otherwise, I think I'm going to watch a movie or two, read, go for some walks, play on the Wii, maybe hit up a mall (or maybe just unpack my winter clothes that have been stored away) and lay low.

Movie Review: 127 Hours

I went to a free advance screening of 127 Hours this past week and it was followed by a Q&A session with its director Danny Boyle, who is probably most well-known as the Academy Award-winning director of Slumdog Millionaire. The whole experience was amazing.

The movie tells the true story of Aron Ralston, who made news in 2003 when he got trapped while hiking in Utah and ultimately had to cut off his own hand in order to free himself. He was trapped for 127 hours, so over 5 days. I realize that's nothing compared to the Chilean miners' 69 days but it's an equally fascinating story.

Because Aron was trapped all alone in such a remote area, the filmmaker decided to film it as it happened and not intersperse it with any sort of outside story. So, basically after about 15-20 minutes, the movie depicts Aron's entrapment and that's all. It's pretty intense and James Franco is so fantastic in it. The movie and James' performance has really stuck with me ever since I saw it. I'd be shocked if he's not nominated for an Oscar.

The Q&A with the author was pretty cool but unfortunately they took questions from the audience and most people had really stupid questions. It would have been nice if they had done some pre-screening. "Why did you decide to use humor when Aron was trapped?" (Gee, I don't know, to break up the seriousness!!) "It seems like you spend a lot of time picking out music in your movies. Do you?" (Yes, don't all filmmakers?) I watched the Q&A session videos for a similar screening in Boston and Boyle said a lot of the same things, so if you're interested, I'd watch...

If not, I'd definitely recommend the movie!

Catching up

Look ma, I updated my blog! It's been a long time coming but I'm done traveling for the time being and had a fantastic four-day holiday weekend where I purposely made few plans so it's one major project I got out of the way. There will probably be more tweaks but I like what I've done so far, should have done this a long time ago.

With all the traveling (5 trips in about 6 weeks), this was my first full weekend home since mid-August, minus one weekend in September when I luckily had no trips scheduled but had a very bad cold. Three of the five trips were work trips so that typically means 15-hour workdays. Exhausting! Anyway, now it's all over, I'm rested, and my next trip will probably not be until Thanksgiving or more likely Christmas. And I'm okay with that.

Book Review: The Forgotten Garden

My book club met last Monday and our book was The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I was not looking forward to the book because it was nearly 600 pages (ugh!) and there was a lot of mention of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett in reviews, which was a kid's book I don't remember enjoying. But this new book I really enjoyed. It was a very quick read, considering its length, there was a mystery to unravel, and there were three generations of stories that are told in various orders throughout the book so it switches up the characters a lot. Basically, it's about an Australian woman who tries to investigate her grandmother's past when she inherits a home in England after her grandmother passes away. It turns out she didn't really know her grandmother like she thought she did! There is a lot of references to and symbolism of fairy tales throughout the book, which is pretty cool. Because who doesn't like fairy tales? And, perhaps best of all, I don't think there are really too many similarities to The Secret Garden.

Pictures from Ottawa

Here are some pictures (and one video, I think) from my trip to Ottawa in August. Nothing's captioned yet but the majority of the pictures are of Parliament. And the changing of the guard ceremony.

Ottawa

Movie Review: Going the Distance

The other day I got to attend a free sneak preview of Going the Distance, which stars Drew Barrymore and Justin Long as a couple trying out a long-distance relationship. It opens next Friday. I guess it is in the romantic comedy genre, although it's not in the girl-trying-to-get-guy style because they are in the relationship basically from the beginning.

I enjoyed it and would recommend it! It had a lot of funny moments, thanks to great casting of not only Drew & Justin, but also Christina Applegate, Jim Gaffigan, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day, who basically plays his character from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia so the fact that he's funny goes without saying. Not that I'm an expert, but the movie seems to be pretty honest in the way it depicts long-distance relationships, too. Drew & Justin are both adorable and you are rooting for them as a couple.

Movie Review: Hot Tub Time Machine

I watched Hot Tub Time Machine a couple of weeks back and while I mostly thought it sucked, I was slightly amused that a very small subplot had to do with the Browns vs. Broncos playoff game that resulted in "The Drive". The guys go back in time to the day of that game and once they realize that they know exactly what's going to happen, one of the guys bets on the outcome of that game. You know, the standard M.O. in time travel movies, the trying to make money off of the past. No one can believe that the Broncos come back to win so they take that bet. And.... "The Drive" doesn't happen. The Browns keep their lead and move on to the Super Bowl. Ha ha, only in the movies.

Beyond that, it was a very predictable and not especially funny movie. I was disappointed.

Four trips in four weeks

Sorry I haven't written in like a month. I've been very busy at work, where I've basically had to do the job of two people because the girl who works for me quit. Although, let's be honest. I was basically doing the work of two people for the last three years since this person who quit was basically useless. I'm really thrilled to have someone new come in but before I could find someone, I had to work hard and spend a lot of time looking for the right candidate. The new person starts September 7th. I can't wait to train someone new.

In the month going forward, I might not write a lot either because I have four trips planned, three of them for work. I'll be in Ottawa for three days next week, Philadelphia for one day the following week, back home in Cleveland over Labor Day weekend to attend my high school reunion, and finally in Orlando for work in mid-September. I am extending my trip to Ottawa an extra day and am really looking forward to exploring a new city a little. And, I'm going to extend my trip to Orlando also. Why not? It will be a great way to finish up my summer of overworking.

Movie Review: The Kids are All Right

Last night I saw a free advance screening of the movie The Kids are All Right, which I think opens today, at least in select markets. I had heard rave reviews about the film and I agree that it was pretty good. It tells the story of a family - two lesbian moms, an 18-year-old daughter about to leave for college, and a 15-year-old son - who deal with the changes in their family after the children get in touch with their sperm donor "father." The acting is amazing but that goes without saying when you have Julianne Moore, Annette Bening & Mark Ruffalo in the leading roles. It was interesting to see the dynamics of the two mom household and Mark Ruffalo has never been more appealing. He was so friggin' hot in the movie, totally sexy. I thought a lot of the dialogue was realistic and really funny in a lot of places but overall, I did have a few issues with the storyline so while I liked it, I wouldn't quite say it lived up to the reputation of the reviews I read.

Strangely, the worst part of the movie was that the boom mic was evident in nearly every scene shot inside the family's home. You could see it creeping into the screen from above to the point where it was completely distracting and where you would look and wait for it during any indoor scene. My friend was totally annoyed with it and went so far as to say that the movie was ruined. Every time it happened, she made a loud comment (which ironically kind of ruined the movie for me). I suggested to her afterwards that perhaps that is not the fault of the director or the director of photography but rather the fault of the projectionist. See, in the beginning, when the opening credits were rolling, the bottom parts of the names were hidden. Therefore, my theory is that if the projectionist had adjusted the picture up a little that not only would we have seen all the names but so too would we not have seen all the boom mics. My friend (as she always does) told me I was incorrect. And, yes, perhaps that sort of obvious error shouldn't show up at all on the tape, but I definitely think it was exacerbated by the crappy job of the projectionist. I'm curious to see how it would look at another theater. I just cannot believe, I don't care how low budget or independent the film is, that they would intentionally okay all those appearances of the boom mic. Crazy.

My First YouTube Upload

I know I haven't been online for a few weeks but I had my birthday, a librarian conference, and then a trip home for 5 days that kept me very busy. My trip home was okay. Perhaps the highlight was the Indians game I went to with my dad on Saturday night, where they had post-game fireworks that were completely awesome. I daresay they were one of the best fireworks displays I've ever seen. And, yes, I've seen those in our nation's capital a few times now. Anyway, I got the urge to record five minutes or so of the fireworks on my digital camera and then uploaded it onto YouTube. Voila! I know it's better to watch fireworks in person but it's my treat to you for my absence.

Passport!

I just realized I hadn't checked my mailbox in a couple days (I so rarely get mail) and my passport has arrived!! That was fast. My birth certificate was returned, too. Phew. Just in time for my birthday.

I'm excited to become a world traveler, even if I got it just to go to Canada again. The world is now my oyster - is that how that saying goes?

Swaptree

Someone once suggested I join Swaptree so about a year ago or longer, I set up an account and it basically went unused until the last couple of weeks when I was actually able to try it out and can now write a review.

The idea of Swaptree is that you have books, CDs, DVDs, or video games sitting around your house that you have used and no longer need and so do tons of other people, so why not swap them with each other? You set up an account and make a list of what you "have" - things that you would be willing to part with - and another list of what you "want" and then the trades begin. I guess you can initiate your own trade (for every item in your "have" list, you get a list of items available for trade for that item) or the site has some sort of system in place where it can figure out trades for you. The latter is what happened to me.

Once you get notification of a trade, you can choose to accept or reject it and then all you have to do is pay the mailing costs, which you can do right through the website, too. You drop it in a mailbox and get a new item from someone else within a few days.

It's pretty simple and I seem to consistently have a pile of books sitting around that I'm either planning to donate somewhere or sell online or something so why not put them up on Swaptree and see if I can get something in return? The shipping costs are media mail so therefore the cheapest. Really my only problem with the site is that they only give you like 24 hours to accept or reject a trade, which is difficult if you happen to be out of town or just not checking email. And I guess if you don't respond, it's a mark against you.

Movie Review: Get Him to the Greek

I went to a free advance screening of Get Him to the Greek about a month ago and never wrote a review of it but since it opens in theaters to a paying audience today, I thought I'd write a quick review. I'd skip it, if I were you, or at least wait for it to come out on DVD. There are definitely some funny moments - P.Diddy has some funny moments as a record exec, for instance - but it drags on way too long and is totally predictable to recommend it as a whole. The Russell Brand character is the same person from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (the rock star Sarah started dating) and while he was great in a small role, no way is he enough to carry a whole movie. He is grating. And I'd really say the same about Jonah Hill. He's great as the sidekick friend but not so much as the main character. And the plot, watching the rock star ruin the nice guy by way of drugs, alcohol, groupies and just general bad behavior, gets old real quick.

Movie Review: Inglourious Basterds

I finally watched Inglourious Basterds, the latest from Quentin Tarantino. It was up for some Oscars and at the time it was in theaters I had zero interest in watching it but I put it on hold at the library when it came out on DVD, thinking I'd see how I felt when my copy finally came in. Which it did this past week and I watched it last night. It was a more interesting story than I thought, although needlessly gruesome in parts. I guess that's to be expected from Tarantino. I also felt it was needlessly long at 2 1/2 hours. The plot has a few different storylines that ultimately come together at the end. It takes place during World War II. One storyline is a German Nazi who seems relatively high in the chain of command and who is searching for (and murdering) Jews in France. Another storyline is a Jew who got away from him living a secret life in France. And the third story is a group of American soldiers who go around killing and scalping Nazi soldiers in France. It's definitely not a story that you've seen before so kudos for originality. Plus, the acting is really good. I'd recommend it with a warning that there are some graphically violent scenes.

Friday randomness

This is the first of my four Memorial Day weekends in DC that I'm actually spending in DC, I think. And I'm being welcomed with amazing summer weather - not. It started pouring rain shortly after I got home from work. It's supposed to rain most of tomorrow, too. But that's all right because I have about six movies to watch between Netflix and the library. Why is it if you put a bunch of things on hold at the library at all different times that they all come in at the same time?

Today I went to the post office to finally apply for my first passport. I've left the country before, probably at least a dozen times, but I always only needed my birth certificate before. No longer and I'm supposed to go to Ottawa for work in August. But, I didn't realize that to get a passport, they take your birth certificate and mail it in with the application. You get it back when you receive your passport, apparently, but it makes me nervous. I feel like I'm going to be the one person who doesn't get theirs back.

Last night, I had such a crazy dream. I don't remember the dream at all but it must have involved me thinking something bad was in my bed because all I remember is basically waking up as I was frantically crawling out of bed. I was awake, my heart was beating really fast, it was pitch black, and I was standing beside my bed, yet I had no idea why I was out of bed. It was really crazy. Stress, perhaps? After a few minutes and I calmed down and sort of reassessed the situation, got back into bed and did not get eaten or anything so I don't even know what I thought was there.

Why waste the time?

So I've come to a big decision the last couple of weeks - I'm not going to try to force myself to read books that I just cannot get interested in. I always feel guilty or slightly like a failure if I don't finish a book that I start and I know it's a silly feeling to have but I have had it nonetheless.

This might make it difficult for my book club, which met tonight to discuss Atmospheric Disturbances and will read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for June. I was not the only one who did not get through this month's book, although I'll venture to bet I was the only one who gave it only about 20 pages. I tried it a few different times and struggled with every paragraph so I said "Screw it!" I'm not sure what June's book will hold for me since I haven't gotten it from the library yet but it's apparently there to educate me how to properly eat and grow food and start my own farm (I'm exaggerating slightly), complete with recipes, and it does not sound the least bit interesting to me. So if I start it and cannot stand it, I'll say "Screw it!" I've also recently gotten a few books out of the library that I've started and struggled with (Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is the latest and I heard rave reviews about it yet I cannot stand her writing style) so I say, "Screw it!" I have two shelves of books I haven't read, a list a mile long on Amazon, a couple boxes of books still at my parents' house and four public library districts within ten miles of my house. So I really don't need to force myself, you know? Give it a shot or two and then give up. No biggie. Thanks, I feel better.

I Want One: Star Wars Cookie Cutters

I'm not sure why I want them because I'm really not a huge Star Wars fan but they're just cute! $19.95 at Williams-Sonoma

May Mourning

I was emailing a friend I hadn't spoken to in a few months and was trying to sum up my May and I realized it was definitely full of melancholy and mourning. First there were my beloved Cavs stinking up the joint and ultimately exiting in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Optimistic as I try to be that LeBron will re-sign with the Cavs, I just have a sneaking suspicion that he will not and we will be back to square one.

Then, last night was the finale of Lost, which has definitely been one of my favorite shows since it came on the air 6 years ago. I'm a diehard, not like most people I know who caught on to the show via DVD or online airings at some point after its debut.

I remember reading this article a few months ago about the five types of Lost fans. I'm not entirely sure which category I fit in (a hybrid, to be sure), but I do know that I've run into many of the Catching-Up-on-DVD Set and had many "awkward, one-sided conversations" with people who have questions or want to talk about things that had happened up to a certain point. Once you've watched for years, it's hard to distinguish the exact order that things were revealed and it's a show that really works best if there are no spoilers. One of my coworkers just started at the beginning of the series last month and we attempted to have one of these conversations last week. It was tough but I won't lie that I kind of liked having more information than these other fans.

On Sunday, before the finale, I decided to rewatch some (or part of some) of my favorite episodes. I am definitely a diehard fan but I'm not one to watch and rewatch and rewatch the same episodes over and over. But on Sunday, I watched parts of maybe 8 or 9 episodes. It's funny because after I did that, I came across this article ranking every single Lost episode from worst to best. And wouldn't you know - all the episodes I watched ranked in the top fifteen. I guess I'm on the same page as that author.

Anyway, then there was the finale. I know a lot of people were clamoring to have all of their questions answered but I honestly didn't really have many left. One of my friends wanted answers about how certain things worked - like the science behind it. But the show is a science fiction show so I feel like the best thing to do when watching science fiction is to suspend some reality (hence, the fiction part). You just aren't going to get specific answers on how time travel works because it isn't actually possible! I was mostly curious to see what these flash sideways that showed up this season were and I'm happy with what they were revealed to be. But it's also very sad. I feel really sad that it's all over.

I've read a TON of articles & reviews about the show today, though, and I'm apparently in the minority. I really liked most of the final episode and thought it seemed pretty straightforward. I had no confusion when it all ended; I was just melancholy that the characters were gone. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that people seemed to not understand the finale or were reading much more into it because really that's what many did the entire run of the show.

I have nothing more profound to say but it's just odd that two things that preoccupied a lot of my time in the last few months both came to an end within weeks of each other. I know this sounds melodramatic but I feel like there is a huge hole in my heart for now and I feel like it won't get refilled soon.

Book Review: I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can

I picked up I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can by Tom Bergeron at the library because I love a good celebrity autobiography, especially by comedians, because they are usually remarkably good writers and the books are usually one of the quickest reads around. I guess it comes from having to write jokes that are worded perfectly. One of the best books I read in the last year was Craig Ferguson's autobiography, American on Purpose. So, since I watch Dancing with the Stars sort of religiously and am a big fan of Tom's, I thought why not check out his book. He's great at what he does (live host) but he's not a comedian and his book is not really funny or especially well-written. That's not to say it's awful but I did think it was slightly disjointed and had some big gaps in it. I think he was trying to keep it under about 220 pages but also provide as much information as possible so it left me feeling like he must have a ton more stories to share that I wished he would share. He keeps referring to this huge temper he used to have but only briefly gives one example. I also think he was trying not to say anything mean about anyone - possibly to not burn any bridges - when I'm sure he's got some great stories. After all, he's dealt with interviewing celebrities for about 20 years. So while it was interesting to hear how he became who he is today and see the path he took, I would suggest waiting for his second or third book when he might share some more dirt!

Book and Movie Review: The Blind Side

I finished reading The Blind Side by Michael Lewis a few weeks ago and finally watched the movie, starring Sandra Bullock, about a week ago. I like to read the book before I see the movie. It probably wouldn't have made that big of a deal with this one, though.

The gist of this true story is that this wealthy white couple in Memphis take in a poor black kid, Michael Oher, who attends the same school as their children and then provide him with a home, help him improve his life and then lead him on the path to becoming a multi-million-dollar professional football player. The titles of the book and movie refer to the position of left tackle, which protects the blind side of the quarterback. The book contains a lot more football speak than does the movie and I actually found that pretty interesting. It explains a lot about the history and development of the left tackle position, of which I knew very little. I knew that was going to be mostly cut out of the film, though, and it was. I can't blame them. The three sentence narrative they provided was good enough for most viewers.

The story of Michael Oher and the Tuohys who take him in is the typical tug-at-your-heartstrings type of story and I won't lie that I like those types of stories. The depths of Oher's poverty and shoddy childhood are astounding. The openness and kindness shown to him by the Tuohys is amazing. You really can't go wrong there and it was interesting in the book and perhaps more interesting in the movie. I won't lie that I felt the book dragged at times. They always change things when they make a movie out of a book and I found myself wondering about a few of the seemingly senseless changes (like when certain events happened or the fact that they did not have Michael and the Tuohy daughter graduate together). I don't think the movie truly depicts how much work Michael had to put in to get his grades up and I guess that's fine. I also found the book's description of how the various colleges wooed him way more interesting than they showed in the movie. But overall, I liked both the book and the movie. If I have to recommend just one, however, I would recommend the movie.

LeBron on Nightline

A pretty good interview with LeBron:

Book Review: The Lace Reader

The Lace Reader was my latest book club book. I actually chose the book because it had been on my list of books I wanted to read for awhile and I had seen something about the Salem Witch Trials recently and this book takes place in Salem, Mass.

But first, as an aside, I'm getting pretty sick of my book club. The gal who organized the whole group has probably not read the book in the last 6 months at least. She always tells us something else she's read recently but it's never that month's book. So if you have time to read, why are you never reading our group selections? While I don't think it's required that a person read the book to attend our meeting, what always happens is that she starts it like two days before our meeting so she's just barely into it and then she either asks us not to spoil it or we feel guilty spoiling it as she intends to finish it eventually. That leaves us with trying to talk about events only up to as far as she's read. I'm just getting aggravated now that it's been going on for months because I bust my ass to finish the books that are selected, even ones I don't enjoy, so I can at least talk with the group and she seems to not even try to finish them. It's a recurring pattern with her. So what happened is that I wanted to talk about the book because it's got a lot of interesting events that take place but we couldn't really talk about it. Ugh.

Anyway, this book had a lot to talk about because there were some interesting twists. The main character is clearly crazy, or at least has had a history of mental illness, so she's not especially credible so it's an interesting way to tell a story. You're always kind of wondering if what she's describing is really happening or not. It's got some mystery, some romance, some magical qualities (for instance, the lace reading itself is a type of fortune-telling), a villain.... so a little bit of everything. I wasn't sure as I was reading it if I liked it or not - there are some slow spots - but it really stuck with me afterwards, even now that it's been a week later, so I think that means I did like it. It stuck with me in that I was wondering how the characters were doing and their "voice" was one I missed once I put the book down. I guess it's been optioned into a movie so I'll look forward to seeing that when it's released. I'd recommend it.

I Think I Stole Something from the Public Library

So I was at work and was going to listen to a CD - which is not something I do that often - so I opened the disk drive on my PC. There was a disk already in there - one I'd gotten from the library. And returned to the library. Or, so I thought. Um, oops. I had absolutely no recollection of even listening to that CD at work so I have no idea how long it was in there. It's been at least a couple of weeks since I returned it. Or, returned the case anyway. I'm not sure what to do next. My account says nothing about me still needing to return it. As far as the library is concerned, I returned it. I've checked items out since then and haven't been asked about it. Did they not notice the empty case? Or, did I put something else (one of mine) in the case? Has it been circulating with the incorrect CD in it? Wouldn't someone notice? If I did return it now, would I owe a ton of late fees once they figured out how long I'd had it out? It raises all sorts of questions.

D.C. Horticulture in Pictures

A couple weeks ago - Easter weekend, in fact - a friend & I went down to see the famous Cherry Blossoms. And I took pictures! Today, another friend & I went to the White House Spring Garden Tour. And I took pictures! I've combined the pictures of beautiful DC landscaping into a photo album, so feel free to click on the picture below for more pictures.

DC - April 2010

The Cherry Blossoms, and I hope I don't get kicked out of DC for saying this, were kinda overrated. Way too many people and a lot of walking just for some pretty trees. Yes, they were pretty but there are a lot of trees like that around the area and they are all pretty, not just the ones around the Tidal Basin. I was told by someone who had gone the same weekend that I did as well as the previous weekend that they were far more spectacular the previous weekend.

On the other hand, the White House Garden Tour, was way underrated. I remember I kind of wanted to go last year but another friend of mine wasn't so convinced so we didn't go, but what a mistake because it was awesome. I mean, we literally get to walk all over the White House grounds. We saw their front door, where the helicopter lands, the Rose Garden, the Oval Office, the garden that Michelle planted, the swing set installed for Sasha & Malia, and I don't know what else. It was super cool. Crowded, too, but totally worth the wait and the crowds. Enjoy the pics!

Shecky's Girls Night Out

I mentioned this briefly the other day but I attended Shecky's Girls Night Out on Weds. and one of the big draws with that event is the gift bag. This time didn't really disappoint, as you can see all the freebies I got in the picture below.



Another benefit of the event is the sampling of alcohol. I tried the Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry, which has an interesting non-beer flavor. It would have been a great option before I enjoyed the taste of beer. I also tried Budweiser Select 55, a beer that boasts only 55 calories. It honestly didn't taste any different than any other light beer, but with far fewer calories, I suppose. I wanted to try the Bacardi Silver Sangria, but they had run out of it by the time I got to the bar.

"Americans so caught up in the Net, they would set TV free"

We were discussing the very thing addressed in this article with friends a couple of months ago... would you rather live without a TV or without Internet? I said hands down the Internet, but most of my friends were shocked and said definitely the television. Don't get me wrong, I watch a lot of TV (probably too much) but pretty much everything I watch, I can watch online. Yet, you can get so much more online. I already stopped paying for cable years ago.

Of course, I'm going to keep both my TV and my Internet access for now!

Mid-Week Day Off

As some of you know, we get a "flex day" off each pay period, which we earn for working longer hours the other nine days in that pay period. The best thing is having 3-day weekends. This pay period, however, I didn't have many options for fitting in a three-day weekend. I had an out-of-town meeting last Friday, attended a conference on Monday, and cannot take off this Friday since the other person in my department has switched her day to then. I guess on rare occasions we can carry them over to the following pay period but considering I worked 58 hours last week thanks to three days at out-of-town meetings, I didn't want to wait any longer for my day off. So, I ended up taking today off, which kinda sucked. I guess it breaks up the week nicely but I also am the kind of person who builds momentum at work as the week goes on. Now, tomorrow is going to be like starting over.

I will say that I actually was pretty productive today, though, a lot more than I am on my usual Fridays off. I did a bunch of laundry, did my taxes, applied for a job, watched 2 movies, ran some errands and attended the Shecky's Girls Night Out event and got my super sweet gift bag. That might warrant a separate post, but not tonight.

Another Update: Grow a Christmas Tree Project

I just took these pictures just minutes ago and boy, have my seeds sprouted! It looks so much different since two weeks ago when I posted the last picture, doesn't it? It's amazing. They are over an inch high and the directions say to replant when they reach three inches. I thought that would never happen! Also, it looks like not only will I have one Christmas tree but I'll have three! I'm going to have to open my own Christmas tree lot.

Update: Operation Grow a Christmas Tree

I took a picture a few days ago to show the status of my little gardening experiment and, lo and behold, some green is poking through the dirt! It's working! You have to look closely (maybe click on the picture to see it bigger) but it's definitely started to grow. And, actually, it's grown a lot higher in the four days since I took that picture and I actually think another piece is peaking through the dirt, too. I'll definitely keep everyone updated, maybe post another picture this weekend. Who knows, maybe I will have a Christmas tree by December.

Movie Review: An Education

I just watched An Education, which was nominated for a few Oscars this year, including Best Picture and Best Actress, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The acting is good but it's also an interesting story of a teenage girl trying to figure out what she wants in life. She hooks up with a much older man and you know it's trouble, you just aren't sure exactly how that trouble is going to manifest itself. Anyway, I'm a big fan of it and definitely recommend it. I liked the few sarcastic moments of humor in it.

Netflix downgrade

I haven't found the time to watch many movies the last few weeks so I took the opportunity to save $5 each month and I downgraded to the one-movie-out-at-a-time plan. We'll see. I went through my queue of movies and realized that a good portion of the movies are available at the local library, plus I still have unlimited online "instant" viewing and my "instant" queue is pretty long. So I figured I would cut down my queues those two ways for the time being. I'll let you know if it doesn't work out!

Book Review: Loving Frank

Loving Frank is our latest book club book. We met on Monday, although I finished it last week! Woo woo. I really struggled with it, though. I found parts of it really boring. It's a historical fiction novel based on the period of Frank Lloyd Wright's life when he was with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, from like 1908 to 1914. Both were married when they met - Frank was hired to do the Cheney home of Mamah and her husband at the time in Oak Park, IL - and they fell in love and ran off to Europe together. Mamah left her children for years and Frank's wife refused to divorce him so the whole event was quite a scandal for the time. While it's written from the perspective of Mamah, I found her really unsympathetic. I realize the times were different and a divorced woman couldn't easily (if at all) get custody of her children, but it seems unforgiveable that she chose her own pleasure over even attempting to work something out to see her children. She met a tragic end so I guess there was a tiny bit of sympathy for her then but overall it was a so-so book about a very unsympathetic historical figure. Blech.

Book Review: Your Big Break

I have a large collection of chick lit because 1) that's what my mom buys me and 2.) those are the types of books that I buy for myself, mostly because those are the ones I want to read if I go on vacation. Seeings as how I rarely go on a vacation, they just sit here and pile up. So it is one of my New Year's resolutions to go through some of them this year. That's where Your Big Break came in. A lot of chick lit is pretty formulaic but I'm writing about this one because it sort of wasn't! Instead of being all about finding a guy, this one had a girl dealing with her parents breaking up. Don't worry, she found love, too. But, it was sort of a minor occurrence. The main character works at a company called Your Big Break Inc., which lets you hire specialists to handle break-ups for you. This might be quitting your job or it might be dumping a girlfriend. It's an ingenious idea, really. Pay someone else to do your dirty work. I'm surprised there aren't real companies that do that (there probably are). Anyway, I did enjoy this book. It was kind of mindless, like most chick lit but which I enjoy sometimes, but besides that, it kept me interested and was a little unique.

"Twitter users not so social after all"

I was interested in this article as I've been debating about getting a Twitter account for nearly two years now. It says that 73% of people with Twitter accounts have tweeted less than 10 times. Wow, interesting. And most people only use it to follow others, particularly celebrities. It's funny because I had a conversation with a friend about exactly that just a week or so ago... she is thinking of joining so she can follow celebrities. I told her each person's page has an RSS feed so she can do that without setting up an account. I guess people don't realize that. Or, they want to officially "follow" celebrities and hope that they get singled out like that follower of Conan O'Brien's. Regardless, the article has some interesting stats considering how much attention Twitter gets from the media.

"For the Dishwasher’s Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent"

An interesting New York Times article about how to properly use your dishwasher/washing machine/dryer. Most people put too much soap in there. I might be guilty of that in the dishwasher. But I'm definitely not guilty of using too many dryer sheets. I use one sheet for two or three loads, usually.

Liveblogging the Oscars

What's up with those actor/actress introductions? That's it? Bring them on stage and introduce them? (8:31pm)

The Neil Patrick Harris song intro was rumored, supposedly with Martin Short. However, he said he wasn't doing it with Martin Short. I guess that was the key part. (8:34pm)

Monologue (err, duologue?) wasn't bad. Seemed longer than it needed to be considering it was just making silly jokes about the actors in the audience (8:44pm)

Christoph Waltz was considered a shoo-in... so much so, that I barely even knew who the other nominees were. But I'll tell you Stanley Tucci was unrecognizable in The Lovely Bones so wow. (8:48pm)

Huh? What did he say? (8:50pm)

First commercial break and I'm already kind of bored. So not into the Oscars this year :(. (8:54pm)

Haven't seen The Blind Side yet but I do want to. Am gonna read the book first, though. (8:51pm)

That's two 'sleeping with Jennifer Garner' jokes in less than 30 minutes. Random. (8:56pm)

The animated movie clip was cute. Cameron & Steve? Not so much. Not a fan of Cameron's dress (8:58pm)

Up was amazing. It's definitely one of the top ten films of the year. (9:00pm)

Wikipedia tells me that Randy Newman has been nominated for 19 Oscars. Wow. (9:03pm)

Tina Fey/Robert Downey Jr. writer/actor banter was amusing. Quentin did not look pleased. I think he wanted to win. (9:15pm)

Molly Ringwald & Matthew Broderick - obviously this is the John Hughes tribute. (9:16pm)

Love how they showed so many different people in the John Hughes tribute clips, including our hosts! (9:21pm)

Macauley Culkin looks like he's still a little kid, even though he turns 30 this year. On the other hand, what happened to Judd Nelson? (9:23pm)

I think Pretty in Pink is my favorite John Hughes film. (9:24pm)

Not a fan of Zoe Saldana's dress at all. It look like it's a few dresses put together to form one dress. (9:29pm)

I think this clip about short films is probably longer than each of the short films nominated. (9:30pm)

Logorama? Did he have to get permission to use all of those logos in his film? (9:32pm)

Best Live Action Short? What was that last category? How many short categories are there? (9:36pm)

I hated A Serious Man. Hated it. It better not win. (9:44pm)

I always get Rachel McAdams and Elizabeth Banks confused. (9:47pm)

They should play sisters in a movie. Same with Amy Adams and Isla Fisher. (9:50pm)

Dude if you are going to continue to talk this slowly, you are going to get cut off. Yeah yeah, so you adapted a book into a screenplay. (9:51pm)

Steve Martin: "I wrote that speech for him." lol (9:52pm)

Mo'Nique: Expected. Art Direction: Yawn. (10:07pm)

While I do think some people look nice tonight, Sarah Jessica Parker is not one of them. Blech. (10:09pm)

Tom Ford, on the other hand, yum. (10:09pm)

Charlize Theron's dress: Pretty color, looks like two hands holding her breasts. (10:12pm)

Wow, we have another 75 minutes of this, at least. But a LOT of awards are left. (10:16pm)

Umm, how do you say that "It's been 37 years since a horror movie was honored..." and then show footage of Silence of the Lambs and Misery (both Oscar winners) in your horror montage? (10:22pm)

But, then again, Edward Scissorhands is definitely not a horror movie and that was in their montage. (10:24pm)

Since I've only seen 4 of the 10 nominated movies, I'm glad one I saw (The Hurt Locker) is winning everything (10:27pm)

Did I mention that I often confuse Elizabeth Banks for Rachel McAdams? This is the other one. (10:28pm)

See, I don't hate everyone's dress. I think Sandra Bullock looks amazing. (10:34pm)

Demi Moore too. Amazing. Her entrance to the Ghost music tells me this is where we mourn Patrick Swayze. :( And others. (10:38pm)

I think I'll be skipping Happy Town. (10:43pm)

I never saw Food Inc. for the same reason why I didn't like The Cove. I don't want to know. (11:03pm)

Hey! The one I saw won! I didn't know Fisher Stevens was involved. The doc was kinda unforgettable. (11:05pm)

Heh, Tyler Perry is funny. (11:06pm)

I'll be really surprised if Evan Lysacek doesn't win Dancing with the Stars this season. (11:12pm)

I really like the personal stories from other actors who have worked with the nominees (11:30pm)

It's just a great way to honor all of the nominees... make them feel special. Give us some insight to them. See the other actors in a little more personal light and not just reading straight b.s. from the teleprompter.(11:43pm)

I feel like this is the only acting award that isn't so completely obvious. Everyone seems to think it's either Sandra or Meryl. (11:48pm)

Yay! I'm happy for Arlington native Sandra Bullock! (11:50pm)

It seems kind of shocking that neither a female or African-American director has ever won. (11:56pm)

Yay! One of the four films I saw won! Go The Hurt Locker! (11:59pm)

Operation Grow a Christmas Tree Begins

I bought this little Christmas tree growing kit at Target after Christmas for about 25 cents and today, I planted it! I figured it would be a nice project to track on my blog. Who knows, by Christmas maybe I'll have a cute little tree to decorate! Somehow I'm doubtful that the couple of seeds and soil block that came in the package will result in a tree but hey, I did spend a lot of money on it so maybe it will surprise me. Ha ha.

"Hulu losing `Daily Show,' `Colbert Report'"

Oh no! This is awful news! That's how I catch up on The Daily Show! I know it says that you'll still be able to view full episodes via the Comedy Central Web site but it's just not the same. I've had quality/buffering issues with Comedy Central videos on their Web site that I rarely ever have with anything I watch on Hulu. Plus, what's great about Hulu is that the episodes just show up in your queue if you have a subscription, you don't have to make the effort to seek out the videos. (via)

Movie Review: Everybody's Fine

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. I guess that's because I'm nesting in my new apartment. Anyway, Everybody's Fine was just out around Thanksgiving/Christmastime I think but now it's already on DVD so I watched it last night and it was so profoundly sad. Ugh. Robert DeNiro plays this widowed father who seems to want to reconnect with his grown children, but all of them cancel their trips home so he decides to hit the road and surprise each of them. They live throughout the country and at each stop, each kid basically lies to him, hides their real life from him and sends him on his way as quick as possible. It's just sad. He's clearly trying and is clearly trying to find his way after the death of his wife. It seems like the kids were really close with their mother. And more tragedy befalls him on his journey. I don't know. It was a good movie, actually, just so so sad. I wasn't expecting that at all. Robert DeNiro's character reminded me of my own father in a lot of ways, maybe that's why it affected me so much.

Movie Review: The Cove

You know how at the end of my last entry I said that I like documentaries because you learn something new? Well, sometimes you really don't want to know anything about that new thing. The Cove is a perfect example. This is an Academy Award-nominated documentary about dolphins. It features this guy who was a dolphin trainer and then finally realized that dolphins are not supposed to be confined so he became an activist for their freedom. Along the way he discovered this cove in Japan where dolphins are lured each year. Once there, some of them are captured and sold to aquariums and petting zoos, while hundreds of others are brutally murdered and sold for food. It's really a gruesome story that shows these activists sneaking into this cove and planting cameras to record the footage of what happens to the dolphins. It's truly awful. And while I feel awful for the dolphins, it's tough getting the images out of my head. I guess that's the point.

Movie Review: Eleven Minutes

Eleven Minutes is a documentary about Jay McCarroll, who won the first season of Project Runway, as he tries to prepare his first official New York Fashion Week show. It was really interesting. I mean, you hear a lot about Fashion Week, especially if you watch Project Runway, but you don't really know what it takes to put on a show and this was Jay's attempt to bring us into that world. It's a lot of work, especially because not only is there the fashion show, but there's the attempt to sell the items to stores after the show. This is a perfect example of why I love documentaries - they give you insight into new worlds.

New boots!

I've been unhappy with my clothes the last couple of weeks, so I want to go clothes shopping this weekend. But, one thing I did buy recently was rain boots! I realized that with all the snow we got, my snow boots weren't really that waterproof. Plus, now that I can walk to work, it seemed worthwhile to buy rain boots! Here are the ones I got at Target... Cute, right? They kind of have that rubbery smell, though. How do I get rid of that?

Snow update

I guess I never updated everyone about the snow.... So, we basically had an unbelievable 5 snow days! Friday Feb. 5th was an early dismissal of 4 hours. Monday, Feb 8th through Thursday Feb 11th were full snow days. Friday Feb 12th and Tuesday Feb 16th were 2 hour delayed arrival days. That all adds up to 5 days - although I came in on time the delayed arrival days and worked from home for many of the full snow days, so it wasn't really like a super-long vacation really.

There hasn't been measurable snowfall in ten days but that doesn't stop the streets from being a complete mess. Some sidewalks still aren't shoveled so that means pedestrians have to walk in the streets. Many streets are only one lane because there is so much snow piled up on both sides of the street that there is only a clear space for one car to get by. Some streets that are plowed have ridiculously high snowpiles on the curbs, making visibility difficult when trying to make turns. It aggravates me that there seems to have been very little effort on the part of the city, county, state (whoever is responsible) to go back and do any kind of clean-up plowing. At this point, the plows could have easily come back through and made more room available on these one-lane streets. This weekend has been helpful because it's been in the upper 40s - some of the snow is starting to melt.

At work, my Executive Director berated the entire staff at our monthly staff meeting on Tuesday afternoon. She went on about how just because the office was closed for that long, that didn't mean that everyone should do no work. And, we should have all been checking emails and voicemails remotely. She didn't want to hear anyone say anything like "swamped" or "digging out" because of their heavy workload. And, she said that this would have been a great opportunity for those of us potentially interested in teleworking to show her how much could have been done from home. She finished by suggesting that maybe we should not use our flex day for that pay period since we basically got paid for not working all those days. Well, we were all shocked by her reaction and her assumptions and the more we thought about it, we got furious. Why does she jump to the conclusion that we did absolutely nothing during the time off? And, well, really, isn't that's what is supposed to happen the office is CLOSED! Pretty much every person in our office did check their email during the week and many of us conducted teleconferences from our homes. There is obviously a big difference between telecommuting and trying to get some things done with our limited resources during a natural weather disaster. But no one said anything to her and we all just muttered to ourselves about how wrong she was. Although most of us refused to give up our flex day as she suggested - it's one small act of rebellion. I thought about it but in the end, I took my day off. After all, I pretty much got everything done that I needed to do. I'm no longer swamped in the slightest.

Book Review: Under the Banner of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer was our latest book club selection, although our meeting has been postponed for weeks due to the snow. This is a nonfiction book that discusses the Mormon religion, particularly fundamentalism and their beliefs in polygamy and blood atonement. Now, I've read quite a few autobiographies of women who had grown up as FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) and lived in plural marriage and I find the topic fascinating. And although most of these books do try to provide some historical background for their faith (even though the only reason these women have written books is because they no longer are part of that faith), none of them provide the detail that Under the Banner of Heaven provides. So, I was thankful for that, and learned about founder Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the Mormon trek across the United States to find a place to fit in before ultimately settling in Utah. But, it also was kind of boring, as historical records can be.

All in all, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the book. Parts were very interesting, but other parts were boring. Some parts were thorough, others were lacking. At the heart of the story, the author talked about one family who committed murders but felt absolutely just about doing so due to the concept of Blood Atonement - basically the justification of the death of sinners. And Krakauer did a good job of explaining how this theory has been carried out by Mormons throughout their history. But, I guess I feel like there were points of view that were missing. Did anyone change their mind about the faith after seeing Blood Atonement carried out? I also guess I realized that I'm definitely more fascinated about the polygamous lifestyle than I am about anything else that the FLDS believes and that wasn't what this book was about. So, while it definitely served to inform me about the Mormon beliefs, it also kind of left me with more questions than answers.

Book Review: The Book of Fred

The Book of Fred is a quirky little work of fiction that tells the story of Mary Fred, a teenager who was raised in a bizarre fundamentalist religious cult and is sent to live with a foster family when her parents are sent to jail. Mary Fred is thrust into this bizarre world and with a foster family who was pretty disconnected with each other. The family has a teenage daughter about the same age as Mary Fred, a single mom who still hasn't gotten over her divorce, and Uncle Roy, who appears to be a jobless, lazy mess-up. The writing style is unique in that all four main characters serve as narrators at different points so you get to see the story from each person's viewpoint. But, I think it works really well. In fact, the last section repeats someone's point-of-view and I found myself wishing that things were wrapped up from everyone's point-of-view. Anyway, the story isn't particularly unique - how Mary Fred changes these person's lives and how they in turn change hers - but the writing style is unique enough and interesting to make this a pretty good read.

Movie Review: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

One benefit of being snowed in was that I've been able to watch some movies - although not as many as I would have liked since the post office is behind and so too are my Netflix arrivals. But yesterday I was able to watch Beyond a Reasonable Doubt , and I thought it was pretty good. It features Michael Douglas as a reportedly corrupt district attorney, Amber Tamblyn as another lawyer in the district attorney's office and Jesse Metcalfe (the gardener from the early seasons of Desperate Housewives) as a budding broadcast journalist looking for a big break and hoping to break the story of the corruption. To do so, he decides to frame himself for a murder with only circumstantial evidence and show how the district attorney convicts him with fabricated DNA evidence. Interesting plotline and interesting execution, too, with some twists and turns and surprises. I'd recommend it and I'm also thinking of tracking down and watching the original (it's based on a film from 1956).

Snow Day, Day Three

I guess it's actually Day 3 1/2 since we were dismissed 4 hours early on Friday. Today, though, is one of those blizzardy days with high winds, lots of snow, whiteout conditions, and freezing cold temperatures so I get why today is a day off. The previous few days just had a lot of snow that fell over a relatively short period of time, but the temperatures weren't particularly low nor were the winds particularly high. This city just doesn't know how to clean up after such a large snowfall.

I never thought I'd say this but I'm kind of bored. I've probably worked from home about 8-10 hours over the last few days - there's only so much I can do out of the office. But otherwise, I don't really have a whole lot of accomplishments to list after my five-day weekend. I'm curious to see if we have work tomorrow. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we didn't. It all depends on how quickly they can clean things up and I'm guessing the high winds make that somewhat difficult.