2010 Holiday Movie Reviews

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

Groupon

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

Cool site: I Can't Find My Phone

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

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

Shopping Trip

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

Currently Reading: L.A. Candy

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

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

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

Re: Lebron James Nike "Rise" Commercial

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

Cool site: Wakerupper

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

Book Review: Addition

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

Rally wrap-up & other weekend events

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

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

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

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

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

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

Three Day Weekend

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

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

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

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

Movie Review: 127 Hours

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

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

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

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

If not, I'd definitely recommend the movie!

Catching up

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

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

Book Review: The Forgotten Garden

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

Pictures from Ottawa

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

Ottawa

Movie Review: Going the Distance

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

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

Movie Review: Hot Tub Time Machine

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

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

Four trips in four weeks

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

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

Movie Review: The Kids are All Right

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

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

My First YouTube Upload

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