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.

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.

Happy New Year! Back in DC

Today was my first full day back in Washington, DC. I got back last night about 11pm. It was a relatively easy drive, although it was scary for about an hour in the middle of the hills of Pennsylvania where it was blizzarding a bit. Luckily, it passed over... or I passed through it.

It's been so windy here and my apartment is freezing. The sliding glass door to the balcony in my bedroom basically lets the wind pass right through and although I have had my heater going most of the day, it only gets as warm as about 62 degrees. Brr. That's way too cold for the inside of a house. I can't wait to move next week!

Oh so I knew I was going to forget something at my parents' house, what with making sure I brought everything back that I had brought plus the new stuff I bought and the new Christmas presents, plus the belongings that my parents had been storing that I didn't have room for in the apartment I'm leaving. Anyway, about halfway through my trip, I realized I forgot my new Nintendo Wii console. Oops. That was only by far the biggest present I'd gotten and I forgot it! So now we have to figure out how to get it to me, either by mail or by me buying one and sending the receipt to my parents to return the one there.

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.

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!

"Breaks on the Bailout"

Last night, WUSA Channel 9 kept advertising a story for its 11pm news about the auto industry bailout plan with the words "Breaks on the Bailout," implying that the bailout plan was delayed. I'm sorry but shouldn't that be "Brakes on the Bailout?" If you are trying to be cute by inserting a word from the auto industry into your headline, you should probably spell that word correctly, no?

I am a idiot, cell phone edition

So last night when I went to bed, I had the feeling that I wasn't entirely sure where my cell phone was, but went to bed without looking for it anyway. Today, I realized on my way to work that I never did get around to looking for it. At work, I checked and it definitely was not in my bag. When I got home, I searched high and low in my room, my apartment and my car. No phone anywhere. My roommate came home and I asked him to call my phone and when he did, it went straight to voicemail. Not a good sign to me.

Well I became convinced I must have left it at Target last night, which was the only place I'd gone and was the last place I knew I'd had it. I drove up to Target (and wouldn't you know that traffic was AWFUL) and checked there and no one had found a phone. So I assumed this meant that it was not only lost but that someone had found it and kept it for themselves.

Great. So I figured I better report it ASAP and do what needed to be done to get a new phone since that is my only phone. We have no landline in my apartment. I went to a nearby AT&T store but it was insanely crowded. There had to be about 20 customers and it was already nearly 8:00. I was guessing the store would be closing before all the customers would be helped so I figured my best bet would be to go home and try to cancel it online. There had to be that option available to me, right?

So, back at home, I went online to deal with AT&T and decided to first check my email. An old habit. But, what do you know? There was an email with the subject line "Cell phone". What? I was so confused as to how someone knew my email address from having come across my cell phone. Then I read the message. Apparently I had somehow returned my book-on-CD to the library with my cell phone inside the case. Phew! Idiot, yes, but at least I don't have to buy a new phone!