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.

Still Snowed In

Yep, we in DC are still trapped by the snow that fell over the weekend. We had a snow day today and will have another tomorrow. Yay! Can't complain about that. All of the roads around me are really not plowed at all. They are all side streets and therefore low priority, I guess, but it's insane to me to think that the snow stopped more than 50 hours ago and a snowplow hasn't even made it down my street or the neighboring streets. Sure, most of the busier roads near me are completely clear but why haven't all the streets been cleared yet? Not only that, but the above-ground subway stops remain closed and 99% of the bus routes are not working. I guess I just expect a lot because I come from the Worst Winter Weather City in America.

Snowed in

DC has been hit by another huge snowstorm, just about 6 weeks after the last one. 20-25 inches was the norm around town with this storm, which started Friday afternoon and basically continued for nearly 24 hours. It's stopped now so we are in clean-up mode. I kind of hope they don't get it cleaned up too quickly so we'll have another snow day at work. They let us leave early on Friday as a precaution.

My car is completely covered in snow, as you can tell in the picture on the left. Well, actually, you can't tell which is mine. My car is directly in the middle of the picture. You can see the antenna poking through the snow.

The whole thing is crazy. The city comes to a complete standstill. Well, that is true even with like 8 inches of snow, so you can imagine what happens with 3 times that amount. My street hasn't even been plowed once, which makes no sense to me. I mean, it's not a super busy street but you would think it would have been done once or twice in the midst of the storm rather than trying to get the plow down here to clear 20 inches of snow away at once. My parking lot was plowed a couple of times and appears to be passable, should I decide I want to clear off my car at some point. The sidewalk from my building to the street's sidewalk was cleared a little by my neighbor. I swear she was using a spatula. It was something tiny and it took her forever.

"Consider these teams officially tortured"

You know any article with a headline like that is going to feature Cleveland prominently. Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, from ESPN.com ranks the top 15 most tortured teams in professional sports and wouldn't you know all three of Cleveland's professional teams are on the list, at the No. 10, No. 5, and No. 4 spots. I'll let you guess which team is where, although I'm sure it's kind of a no-brainer. There's probably a valid argument for switching No 5 and No. 4, though. Anyway, I guess at least we continue to win in these types of rankings. Yay us.

Wide awake and philosophical

I'm actually really tired but when I lay down, I can't sleep. My mind is so full of all these projects I'm doing at work... I guess they call that stress. So, I pulled out my laptop and spent nearly an hour wandering the Internet aimlessly, half-heartedly googling old boyfriends and crushes and reading celebrity Twitter feeds. Maybe I should start tweeting? I've debated about it for a long time but since I haven't started yet, I guess that really is my answer, isn't it? I could maybe start by logging in to Facebook more than once a month and updating my status more than once a year. Yes, maybe I should make that a 2010 resolution.

As much as I'm enjoying my new solo living situation, it's turned me into quite a lazy person. I need to change that. There's nothing wrong with calming down my schedule and not being out four nights a week but I shouldn't exchange that for sitting on my couch staring blankly at the television for hours, like I did yesterday and today. Well, last night I actually ran some errands and didn't get home until nearly 9pm, so really it was just today I was uber lazy. And I did go out three nights last week. And the week before that, I spent most of my time after work back at the old place cleaning it. And this Thursday is our next librarian Happy Hour. Come to think of it, maybe I'm not as lazy as I feel. Regardless, I do have a bunch of projects to do around the house that I should perhaps work on while I'm sitting on my couch watching television. And one of those projects is to get the slipcover back on that couch. Ha.

Book review: Open

Open is the autobiography of tennis great Andre Agassi. I'm not sure what my opinion was of Andre when he was in his prime (probably apathy), but after reading his book, I can't stand him. All he does for 90% of the book is whine. He hates tennis. He must tell you 8000 times in his book how much he hates tennis. Okay, I get that at first - his dad pushed him way too hard to basically follow his own dreams, regardless of what Andre wanted. But okay, by age 18, Andre was an adult and had probably a million dollars (or at least way more than a typical teenager with a high school diploma, which Andre does not) so if you hate tennis so much, find something else to do. Or, for the next 18 years while you remained a professional tennis player, you could have gotten out at any time. No one wants to hear your sob story when the biggest problem in your blessed life was your overbearing dad. I just feel like Andre has spent a lot of his life feeling sorry for himself and not making any real effort to change. Well-written but a totally unsympathetic autobiography.

Moved!

It's been just over a week but I didn't get my Internet connection working until today so this is the first time I've been able to officially announce that my move was successful! Yay!

This was the first time I used movers and while it was more money than I wanted to spend, it wasn't all that much more than renting a truck and bribing some friends to help. Plus it went really smoothly. Well, except for the movers temporarily putting the elevator at my old place out of service. That had me worried, since all that was left in the apartment was the big stuff. But it was only temporarily out of service, like 5 minutes. The other worry was that I had paid for the movers for three hours and desperately did not want them to take any longer than that. It took them about 90-100 minutes to load the truck. So I was worried. Luckily, it only took about half that to unload it.

Last week, I spent time trying to unpack and organize the new place while simultaneously trying to get everything out of the old place and get it cleaned. The latter item took much, much longer than I planned, but I'm confident that I should get my entire security deposit back. The former item is a work in progress, of course. I do have just about everything unpacked, but I can't guarantee that everything is in its final resting place. I'm still trying to figure out where the best place to put everything is. Of course that will take time.

In the meantime, I am so psyched about my new place and especially the prospect of having a place all to myself. It's so, so, so fantastic; I don't know why I was waiting so long to ditch the roommate.

I Want One: Cash Cab Trivia

Who doesn't want to go on Cash Cab? All two times I've been in New York City, I hoped to get picked up by the Cash Cab - and one of those times I didn't even take a cab! Anyway, this is the next best thing: Cash Cab Trivia. How fun! (via)

Book review: The Lost Symbol

I'm going to try to write more book and movie reviews in 2010. We'll see.

Anyway, I read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown over my vacation. My book club selected it for our next meeting. I'd read Dan Brown's earlier books (Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code) years ago - for another book club - and remember enjoying the first one but thinking the second one followed the exact same formula. Like those earlier ones and the movies that have been made from them, this was a fast-paced action thriller starring symbologist Robert Langdon, who is brought to Washington, DC, under odd circumstances and finds himself embroiled in a mystery regarding Masonic legends and a box he's been asked to hold onto by his mentor, who is the Director of the Smithsonian or something powerful like that. Beyond being interested in the locale, I did not enjoy the book at all. I felt like it was at least 100 pages too long. Literally, some of the chapters kept saying the same things. Even once the bad guy was caught, there were another like 40 pages before the book ended! Who needs that? Some of the symbology and science (the Director's sister studies Noetic science) was quite interesting but even that seemed to get shoved down your throat in an almost condescending tone. The book almost seemed like an advertisement for Noetic science. And the major "reveal" about the villain was so obvious that I can't imagine that anyone didn't see it coming from a mile away. I'm sure the movie will be much better, as they'll be able to edit out all the crap and make it into a more streamlined story. So my suggestion to all is to wait for the movie!

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.

Christmas movie review: 2009 Wrap-Up

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

A+
Christmas in Canaan

A
A Christmas Visitor

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

B+
Surviving Christmas
12 Men of Christmas
Fallen Angel

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

B-
A Golden Christmas

C
Christmas Town

C-
Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Hope

Rating: A-

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

Christmas movie review: Anne Tyler's Saint Maybe

Rating: B

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

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

Christmas movie review: Fallen Angel

Rating: B+

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

Christmas movie review: Santa Baby 2

Rating: B

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

Christmas movie review: Christmas in Canaan

Rating: A+

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

Christmas movie review: The Three Gifts

Rating: B

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

Christmas movie review: A Diva's Christmas Carol

Rating: B

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

Christmas movie review: The Ultimate Gift

Rating: A-

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

Christmas holiday 2009

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

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

Christmas movie review: Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage

Rating: C-

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

Christmas movie review: Christmas Town

Rating: C

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

Christmas movie review: A Golden Christmas

Rating: B-

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

Christmas movie review: A Christmas Visitor

Rating: A

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

Christmas movie review: Mrs. Miracle

Rating: A-

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

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

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

Snow Day!

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

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

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

I'll be moving soon!

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

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

Christmas movie review: 12 Men of Christmas

Rating: B+


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

Christmas movie review: The National Tree

Rating: B

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

Christmas movie review: Surviving Christmas

Rating: B+

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

December Goings-On

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

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

Roommate News

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

On the Bus, Gus

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

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

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

Surgery for my dad

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

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

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

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

Second Place Showing in Trivia

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

Basketball Season!!

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

Advance Movie Screening: Amelia

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

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

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

Lebron James stalking

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

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

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

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

Traveling, traveling

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

SpeedCine - The Fast Way to Find Legal Movies Online

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

"Tiny librarian is hell on wheels"

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

'Time Traveler's Wife' Series Travels to ABC

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

Guess where I'm going next week?

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

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

The Superstars Champs are Crowned

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

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

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

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

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

Going crazy?

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

Two Good Summer Movies

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

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

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

I Want One: Crocs Coasters

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

Pet Airways

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

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

Power Outage

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

Flowers!

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

"Top 10 Longest Novels in the English Language"

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

The Real World comes to DC

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

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

Library Moms

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

I Want One: Lighted Tweezers

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

H Street Country Club

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

Good Luck Story

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

Post Hunt

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

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

GI Film Festival

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

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

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

Here's how our conversation went:

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

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

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

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

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

Elizabeth: Good luck!

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

Yes! We have power!!

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

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

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