Inauguration Day

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

Inauguration Events

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

Finally! General Hospital available online

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

Christmas movie review: 2008 Wrap-Up

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

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

A+
The Christmas Wish

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

B+
The Christmas Choir
A Christmas Proposal

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

B-
Will You Merry Me?

C
Christmas in Wonderland

D
Together Again for the First Time

I Can't Stop Shopping

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

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

Cavs vs. Wizards game, part two

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

Christmas movie review: Snow 2 - Brain Freeze

Rating: B

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

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

Christmas movie review: Borrowed Hearts

Rating: A-

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

Christmas movie review: A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride

Rating: A-

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

The kids at Christmas

Thought I'd share a pic of my niece and nephew from Christmas...

And here is a link to a few more pics.

US News & World Report Names Best Careers for 2009

Guess one of the professions that was named as one of the best for 2009? Yep, LIBRARIAN! There is a nice write-up of the librarian profession there. Also, I like the part under "Smart Specialty", where it names Special Librarian. That's what I am!

"Football Yes, Libraries No"

This article from the San Diego Reader isn't all that interesting unless you care about the city of San Diego's financial woes but the opening quote is quite interesting:

"The pride and presence of a professional football team is far more important than 30 libraries."

That comes from Art Modell. Yes, the same Art Modell who stole the Browns out of Cleveland and moved them to Baltimore. Typical that it would come from him. The truth is, though, that a large number of people probably agree with that statement. (via)

Christmas movie review: Our First Christmas

Rating: B

Our First Christmas is a Hallmark Channel original movie that debuted this year and like most of the ones that debuted this year, it's meh. It's about a new family - a blended family of two widowed spouses and three children from the first marriages - who do not want to give up any of their old traditions to truly blend into a new family. There are grandparents involved (John Ratzenberger and Dixie Carter) and they of course are used to their grandkids spending time with them but quickly realize that maybe some sort of compromise should be reached. The kids are having none of it and the parents are total pushovers and agree to go along with what the kids want. For awhile... until - surprise! - the kids soon realize that old traditions are fun but new traditions with their new family can be fun too. It's not a horrible movie but it's not really something I want to watch year in and year out.

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Wish

Rating: A+

Ah, The Christmas Wish. This one is from about ten years ago and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Debbie Reynolds and Naomi Watts - a pretty impressive cast! And yes, I adore Neil Patrick Harris so I might be biased but this one is a very good one. I'm pretty sure I'd seen it before but I didn't remember the ending so it was worth watching again and it's good to have something positive to say about a movie after the disastrous ones that were produced this year.

The gist of The Christmas Wish is that Neil plays a young man brought back to his small hometown to run his grandfather's real estate business after the death of his grandfather. It's nearly Christmastime and he's getting ready to move back to New York City. His grandmother asks for one Christmas wish before he goes - for Neil to find some "Lillian" that the grandfather wrote about in his journals and that no one knew anything about before he died. As Neil embarks on the journey to discover who Lillian is (Was Grandpa having an affair? Is Lillian a love child? Is it a charity case he took care of?), he also discovers a little more about who his grandfather was and of course who he is. It's sweet and touching and the mystery is a nice added element to keep you interested. Plus, Neil is a good actor and you enjoy seeing his journey. Highly recommended.

Christmas movie review: A Christmas Proposal

Rating: B+

Now I'm to the point where I watched like 6 movies in the last couple of days (they are the perfect backdrop to wrapping presents) and they all kind of run together. A Christmas Proposal is a pretty okay romantic comedy. A guy who looks distractedly like Patrick Dempsey brings his new girlfriend to his hometown, where he had planned to propose to her. And, oh yeah, the girlfriend and her father are planning on building a ski resort in the hometown, much to the chagrin of the inhabitants, including his ex-girlfriend and high school sweetheart who basically single-handedly leads the effort against the plans. It pretty much works out as expected.... guy realizes the plans to destroy his hometown are bad and that his feelings for his ex-girlfriend are good and still there and there is a proposal, of course. It's not bad and kinda cute, pretty predictable but in a good way. All the actors were likeable enough. Except I'm not kidding, the main actor looks exactly like Patrick Dempsey, except he maybe weighs 15 pounds more. Way too distracting.

Christmas movie review: Christmas in Wonderland

Rating: C

Had I not just seen Together Again for the First Time, this ABC Family movie might have gotten a lower rating but I think it was just a tad more bearable. Christmas in Wonderland features Patrick Swayze as the struggling dad of three who just moved to Edmonton a few days before Christmas and lost his job. He takes the kids to the mall to get some Christmas shopping done and mayhem occurs. Patrick's character basically disappears then and we follow the kids around. The two youngest kids find a bag of counterfeit money, go on a spending spree and then get chased by the criminals who want their fake money back. Then it evolves into Home Alone. It's slightly cute and, of course, everyone lives happily ever after at the end; I'm sure kids would enjoy it. The best part was the real mall where they filmed the movie. It's gorgeous! The West Edmonton Mall has an amusement park, water park, ice rink, aquarium, miniature golf course and of course tons of stores inside the mall!

This link, by the way, takes you to the full movie online, if you want to watch it after the great write-up I gave it.

Christmas movie review: Together Again for the First Time

Rating: D

Together Again for the First Time was awful. Just awful. It's about a blended family (Mom, a Martha Stewart wannabe, has two sons while Dad has three daughters) where the kids do NOT get along at all. Kids is kind of wrong - these are all young adults. And there's a lot of drama. The oldest guy and girl bicker constantly. The middle girl is engaged to someone that the oldest gal used to date. The oldest guy brings his girlfriend and then proceeds to ignore her the entire time. The oldest guy has arranged for his younger brother to come back to the college town where he lives and enroll in school, even though the younger brother apparently doesn't want to. And, meanwhile, the Mom has a radio show that she apparently is trying to turn into a TV show and decides forcing the kids to participate in a pretend holiday craft session is an ideal pilot for her show. The show (did I mention it is live?) doesn't go particularly well, presumably because it seems like it was sprung on the kids at the last minute. Anyway, on the live show, the movie turns into an Afterschool Special with the reveal that the older son is doing drugs. He is banished immediately but, of course, it only takes about ten minutes for the family to realize that the younger son is really the one on drugs. Then, the family pulls together and tries to save the son, who has taken off without a word and his drugs. It's just so melodramatic and annoying and not well-acted at all. I get the premise of family starting to heal but it's just ridiculous. Ridiculous.

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Choir

Rating: B+

Inspired by a true story, The Christmas Choir airs on the Hallmark Channel this year and features Jason Gedrick and Rhea Perlman. Jason stars as Peter, a workaholic accountant who seems to have nothing going his way... he works too much, his fiance dumps him, he has virtually no relationship with his father. One evening, a couple weeks before Christmas, he meets a homeless man in a bar and they bond over their love of music. The homeless man takes Peter to the shelter where he lives and suddenly, Peter decides to organize a choir for Christmas. This will give him something to do and also will help these men at the shelter raise some money for Christmas. It was a sweet story and it's definitely appealing that it's based on a true story, but I had to drop the rating a bit based on the extreme hokiness of the plot. Pulling together a choir might be one thing but the extent of circumstances that befall this group in supposedly a 2-week period is just way too ridiculous for me to get past. In this two week period in which the movie takes place: 1.) Peter and his fiance break up yet he falls in love with someone he meets who works at the subway; 2.) Peter makes amends with his father; 3.) the homeless shelter burns down; 4.) the choir gets pulled together and is able to perform songs cohesively; 5.) the choir realizes that they are not allowed to just show up at the subway and start singing but instead need to get a permit and coincidentally, find out the permit tryouts are the very next day; 6.) manage to pull off a benefit concert to rebuild the shelter. Like I said, it was just a little too much for me to get past for such a short timespan. But besides that, enjoyable.

Merry Washington DC Christmas

I stopped by the National Christmas Tree madhouse last night before heading home from my day downtown and here are some pictures of the tree all lit up at night. It was prettier than last year. And also way more crowded.

"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?

Christmas movie review: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Rating: B

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is new this year from Hallmark Channel. It stars Brooke Burns (not to be confused with Dancing with the Stars winner Brooke Burke, although I'm sure you wouldn't be the first one to confuse them and yes they both formerly hosted reality shows. This Brooke hosted Dog Eat Dog and was on Baywatch for awhile.) Anyway, Brooke is a hard-working single mom who doesn't particularly like Christmas but does like making lists. She apparently is very organized, cautious and not a risk taker. Her uncle, played by Henry Winkler, shows up for Christmas and brings with him someone he met at the airport. Of course, random stranger guy turns out to be a pretty great guy and helps Brooke out a lot, with her neighbors, with her house, with her cooking, with her son. The only problem with random stranger guy is that Brooke's boyfriend doesn't like him! Overall, it's kind of a cute story of what happens when someone opens themselves up to a little change and throws caution to the wind just a little. The two main characters have some chemistry and Henry is sweet and adorable. But I won't lie... I dozed off a few times while watching this. Really, it has nothing to do with the movie because I've been really under the weather today and would probably doze off watching anything. But the truth is, I had zero desire to go back and watch the ten minutes here or there that I slept through. So that's why it gets a 'B'.