Sunday's Guide to the Galaxy

2 Days in Paris

2008-05-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, I finally saw a movie worth writing about. I rented it on itunes movie rental, so it's surely available in dvd by now as well. 2 Days in Paris was written and directed by Julie Delpy (Delpy wrote part of Before Sunset, one of my favs). It stars Adam Goldberg and Delpy as a NYC couple who travel to Paris to visit Delpy's family. All I'll say is hilarity ensues. Goldberg is adept as a kvetching hypochondriac and Delpy is totally unself-conscious at portraying herself in a bad light. Horrible glasses, frizzy hair, the works. Thomas thoroughly enjoyed this one as well so it's not just your typical rom-com. I haven't laughed so much in a movie in a very long time. But it also manages to be intelligent, natural and a great dialogue movie.

Thomas and I also saw Iron Man on its opening weekend. I loved the first half or so. RDJ is in a class of his own. Gwyneth did fine, but really anyone could have played this roll. It was RDJ's show and he ran with it. Jeff Bridges was great as usual and it was interesting seeing him with a shaved head. He somehow pulled it off. It helps that he has one of the best voices in the biz.

Boulder Bumperstickers of the Day:

Stop bitching and start a revolution

Beef. It's what's rotting in your colon

-sunday

Mad Men Redux and Another to Check Out

2008-01-18T08:43:00.001-08:00

Good news for everyone who did not catch Mad Men the first time around, AMC is going to begin rerunning Mad Men season one on Sundays at midnight. Now you have no excuse! If you can't trust me, trust the Golden Globe Givers.

A new series, Breaking Bad is also premiering on AMC. AMC is trying to be the HBO of basic cable, so they shouldn't be shrugged off lightly. If this show is anywhere close to Mad Men in premium goodness, then it is a must see. Especially given the barren tv sched the writer's-strike has left us with. Just give them their piece of online profits already! Here's what AMC has to say about Breaking Bad:

Breaking Bad is the new original series that the AP calls, "heartbreaking, shocking and bitterly funny."

Meet Walter White, high school chemistry teacher. Sleepwalking through life when, boom, a terminal diagnosis changes everything. Liberates him. Empowers him to use his chemistry skills anew: to man a rolling drug lab and finance his family's future. Breaking Bad: Change the Equation.

Premieres Sunday, January 20 @ 10PM | 9C.

-sunday

The Golden Globes that Should Have Been

2008-01-14T13:50:00.001-08:00

Best Dressed: Keira Knightley
Worst Dressed: Everyone else

Hey everyone, It's been a decade. Or so it seems. But I did have a baby, so that's my big excuse. I've been doing more posting on Sam's blog these days, so if you want to check that out send me an email or post a comment to this post and I'll link you to it.

Anyway, there have been many entries that I've wanted to write. My reading, tv-watching and movie-going have all suffered in the past five months, but that doesn't mean I've totally been out of touch. In fact, I did get some good tv watching in many an early morning while feeding Sam thanks to my ever trusty replayer. And what I found were two stellar new shows. I should have blogged on them ages ago, as they're both on hiatus now, but you can probably catch them on line or eventually on dvd.

So why am I posting on this now? The Golden Globes of course! My fav awards show was cancelled this year due to that bedeviling writer's strike. So that means there's no chance for me to make fun of people's speeches and even better - their dresses. Instead, I got to scour the web for the list of winners. What I found was great news. These two shows I discovered this summer were somehow also loved by those madcap foreign press people: Mad Men (best drama and best dramatic actor) and Damages. If you have not seen either, I have to pity you. Mad Men especially is the show of the year. It's set in an ad agency in 1960 and it follows adman Don Draper, his coworkers and their spouses. The show's stellar performances and meticulous eye for detail impressed me so much I forced Thomas to watch it, and he was an instant convert as well. Easily the best thing that's been on tv in the past 5 years (except for The Wire). The question of Who is the Real Don Draper was tv's most compelling mystery.

Damages centers around one case in a high-powered law practice owned by Glenn Close. The firm represents a group of workers who lost all of their pensions at their Enronesque company headed by Ted Danson. The twists and turns and complications are too much for me to go into, but the cast and writing are great and I never knew where the script was going. I can tell you that I was very wary of this show because I am SICK TO DEATH of shows about lawyers (David Kelly should be banned from penning their stories at this point), but Damages' focus on one very complex case made lawyers fresh again and never ever boring. Anyway, Close won Best Dramatic Actress. So yeah for her! I wasn't really interested in any of the other winners, though Rose Byrne was screwed for not winning Best Supporting Actress in a Drama series (for Damages).

As for movies, I have seen a few - including this year's winner, Atonement. I read McEwan's novel a few years ago when it was all the rage and remember being disappointed in it. So much so that I've yet to check out his other raved about novel Saturday. The first half of Atonement was to die for. I was on the edge of my seat loving everything from the costumes to the exquisite Keira and her freakly little sis. Then the second half felt like a silent movie to me and I was bored silly. So bored that I have to admit I dozed at some point. Hugely embarrasing, but true. The darkness of the movie theatre seduced me. So I could just not ever justify giving top honors to a movie I couldn't stay awake for.

Others I've seen:
The Great Debaters - true story which always helps. Interesting and inspiring. Denzel and Forest were great.
Superbad - I'm ashamed to say this was Sam's first movie. Seen at far too young an age. I'm not sure what effect this will have on him, but Thomas and I really enjoyed it. Thomas more than me because let's face it, it is definitely aimed at guys. But as a girl, I still thought it was really funny when not being too gross
Golden Compass - I read all three of these books and this one was my fav of the series. I LOVED this movie! So many people have slammed it. I just don't get it. I thought it was magical, interesting, CG was awesome and it left me wanting more. This was definitely a better movie than the first Narnia book was as a movie. Don't get me wrong - I love Narnia, but the movie was disappointing. I wasn't disappointed for a second by Golden Compass. Loved all the casting from Kidman to Craig to Eva Green to the perfectly-cast Sam Elliot as Texan Lee Scoresby.
American Gangster - another true story ( both this and Debaters were inspired by magazine articles). Saw this one with Jen and we were both a little disappointed that they didn't expand the ending some more. This could have been the most interesting part of the story but it was glossed over. Still, great performances from Denzel and Russell Crowe (worst haircut ever!). I was never bored even though the movie was almost 3 hrs. Guess that's partly due to Ridley Scott's directing.
Beowulf - This movie is a good literary lesson for those of us who have zero desire to go back and read Beowulf. The motion-capture animation bugged the heck out of me though. Some people looked good (I was very annoyed that Thomas and Jess thought nothing was enhanced on Angelina) and some looked horrid (Anthony Hopkins, I'm talking to you). It didn't help that I didn't like any of the characters in the story. Beowulf is such a blowhard! It was also too long and I admit to falling asleep. Maybe this should not be a factor since I'm obviously sleep-deprived at this point in my life.

Movies I'm dying to see: Charlie Wilson's War, Juno, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Cloverfield, Persepolis and 27 Dresses

So now the big question is will the Oscar's get cancelled too? After the last few years shows, one can only hope.

-sunday

One Final Note

2007-08-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I forgot to add that thanks to my diligent efforts, HP was not spoiled for me - not even one tiny plot point. Even though it took me an extra week to finish the book. I did live in a state of terror that entire week, especially since the first thing Thomas did when I got my (first) Harry Potter book was to open it up and read the last two pages. He miraculously kept it quiet for the entire time so props must be given.

I actually enjoyed my 2 week moratorium on news - even the entertainment variety. This will hopefully be good prep for the coming months.

-sunday

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - SPOILERS BELOW

2007-07-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So my grand plans for reading Harry Potter did not work out as I hoped. To give you an idea, by noon 7/21 I was still frantically waiting for my book to arrive, thinking I'd already missed out on at least two prime reading hours. An hour later after cursing a mad Swede to Azkaban, I was at home, exhausted, with 2 copies of HP7 sitting on my coffee table. Thomas managed to not strangle me during this entire disturbed period. A feat for which he should be awarded the Order of the Phoenix. Okay, enough of that. By the end of the weekend, instead of having finished the book I was only half way through. You know you're tired when reading exhausts you. I continued to read about 100 pages/day and completed the book on the morning of 7/28. Now for the review. Be warned there are plenty of spoilers!!!
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HP7 started out once again with Harry at his Aunt and Uncle's home. He was quickly whisked off, but not before Dudley had a chance to redeem himself and be decent to Harry. His parents chose not to do the same. I was hoping for more from Petunia. What a cold-blooded freak. She so would have been a Slytherin had she not been a muggle. During the journey to Ron's house, we quickly had the death count jump to two. I wasn't too shocked by Moody's death (but was saddened by it) and was stunned by Hedwig's - killing Harry's pet seemed especially cruel. When I told Thomas about this he immediately thought of a little kid he saw dressed up as Hedwig waiting outside Boulder Bookstore on Pearl St at midnite on 7/21 (in other news, he really needs to post the pics and video he took of this - it was crazier than Halloween). Anyway, this brought up the first potential mystery. How did the deatheaters know when Harry was being moved? Who was the turncoat?

Next up was the big wedding scene for Bill and Fleur. It was nice for us to get a little levity and happiness here and I was especially intrigued by the appearance of Luna and her father and the mysterious symbol he was wearing. Unfortunately, JKR couldn't let us have one full happy day and had to have the death eaters crash the wedding and send Harry, Ron and Hermione (HRH) off on their search for the horcruxes even earlier than expected. This led to the portion of the book that I must admit I was a bit frustrated by. The constant camping and moving and squabbling I found a bit depressing. I'm sure this was her intent, but I wish she would have gone in a different direction here. It seemed overly long and too focused on the 3 leads. I kept wanting to know what was happening elsewhere in the wizarding world and particularly what was going on at Hogwarts. I wish she would have had some scenes set there to break up the HRH trek which started to seem a bit Fellowship of the Ringsish to me. We did get the departure of Ron. As I'm not a huge Ron fan, I had pegged him to be a turncoat so I was very excited when he abandoned H and H. However, he made a fairly quick return and took over for a glum Harry. This gets us through about the first half of the book which I would have to rate a 7 out of 10.

Things dramatically pick up though around page 400 when HRH visit Luna's dad to find out about the mysterious symbol - the Deathly Hallows - and then end up captured and locked in the Malfoy's basement with Luna and some others. I started LOVING the book from here on. JKR is a master at building and sustaining momentum - and that she was able to successfully do so for almost 350 pages is an amazing feat. I was utterly enthralled from this point and the story just kept getting more and more riveting. The escape from the Malfoys was thrilling though Dobby's death upset me more than I expected, given that I wasn't a huge Dobby fan. I was of course happy to get Luna back in the picture, but we also got other characters involved - Bill, Fleur, Dean, Olevander, the goblin and many more - as well and got an update on events at Hogwarts and in the wizarding world.

Things escalated even more of course with the return to Hogwarts and the introduction of Dumbledore's brother. Did NOT see that one coming! I won't cover the battle in detail but will say it was totally awesome, that I especially loved: Neville's role , the entire school - everything from teachers to paintings to statues to magical creatures fighting in the siege of Hogwarts, and the Prince's tale. I was one that totally thought Snape was a Foe, so hearing his whole story and finding out he actually was a Friend was shocking but great. I took his death the hardest. I'm still a bit confused about why he treated Harry so poorly this whole time though. I guess it's because he thought he was so much like James and James took Lily, but this seemed a bit of a stretch.

I was also confused about a couple of other things - how was Malfoy the true owner of the Elder Wand and did Harry really die in the forest when Voldemort cursed him? One of these is answered by JKR here (this explanation also seems a bit of a stretch, but I guess we are dealing with a whole bunch of magicians so suspension of disbelief is already a given). As for the other, I'd appreciate any thoughts.

The epilogue? I was pleased by everything I read and was glad that she didn't wrap up everything too tightly and provide too many details. Though I do hear she's going to write an encyclopedia that provides more details (for example, she said Luna became a naturalist and roamed the world). But most importantly we found that Harry got his happily ever after. The 2nd half of the book gets a 10/10 from me.

I did experience a huge feeling of sadnesse last page because I knew this was it. No more to the story. And nothing - no book or series or even movie - on the horizon that can even come close in the whole expectation game. I will really, really miss having another HP book to look forward to. I don't know if any book will ever match the hoopla that this one generated. It's not my favorite book of all time or anything, but I think the series is in the top ten.

But all is not lost. In 8 days I should be having Boomer and that's something real and concrete and amazing for me and Thomas to look forward to. Something tells me I'll be way too busy in the coming days to read - or even miss Harry.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Jimmy Buffett for President.

-sunday

Waiting for Harry

2007-07-20T09:58:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Tomorrow is the day. Or for the true diehards, 13 hours from now is the hour. My HP book is set to be delivered by UPS to our house sometime tomorrow - hopefully in the morning. I've used all of my engineering skills to devise a plan to finish the book unspoiled. I understand it's about 750 pages and I read around a page a minute, so this means to finish the book this wkend, I'll need to read it for 6 hours and 15 minutes each day. This is all that's on my schedule, so it should not pose a problem. Until then I'm in media blackout mode. This means no internet, cable or NPR news. I've been at this for a week now, and it's somewhat refreshing. I'm also using it as an opportunity to blast Boomer (yep, still no name. we've about given up) with classical music while driving in my car. Better late than never, right? He seems to sleep when I drive, so I don't know if this is doing him much good though.

In other Boomer news, we are down to 2.5 wks and counting. I cannot believe I will actually have a baby then, but everyone assures me this is the case. It all still seems very theoretical even though I am all kinds of huge in the stomach department. If it weren't for Boomer's pummeling of my insides, I would be convinced that I'd just let myself go in a big way. Anyway, theoretical or not, I am very excited and we've almost got his nook ready. Ambyswing (our crib), changing table (my old dresser), hanging racks and shelves (my reconfigured 2nd closet) all somehow fit together perfectly in his little nest. My mom and I made blackout curtains a couple of wks ago for it and I have to admit I'm very pleased with the whole shebang. Hopefully he will be as well.

As for movies, I've seen 3 of note:

Live Free, Die Hard - surprisingly awesome. Bruce Willis still rocks and the Mac guy was a great sidekick. The special effects were great, especially the ones at the end when some crazy jet that Thomas tells me actually exists chases and fires on Bruce as he drives an 18 wheeler. Unreal. The bad guy (Deadwood's Sheriff Bullock) was also great - funny and his motives actually made sense. All in all this did NOT let the franchise down. Way better than DH2 and even 3.
Transformers -not surprisingly horrid. For some reason I had a fondness for this cartoon when I was young. It makes no sense as most of my fav cartoons around this time were more along the line of Smurfs. But there you have it. Even though the previews for Transformers looked beyond stupid, reviews weren't bad and a couple of friends said it was good. Plus it was really hot outside so what else are you gonna do if you're pregnant? The first hour wasn't too bad. The problem came with the last hour and forty minutes. Once the transformers started talking the movie started sucking in the hugest way possible. It was absolutely terrible. What can you expect from Michael Bay though. I fully deserved the suffering since I contributed my $5 to its bottom line.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - good, but nowhere close to the book. This book was my favorite so far, so my expectations for the movie were pretty high. The movie did a good job representing the general plot of the book, but so many good parts were cut that I was inevitably disappointed. The ending fight scene was trimmed by a ridiculous amount and this was one of my fav parts of the book so I just can't get past it. On a good note tho, book 5 introduced one of my fav characters the spacy but sweet Luna Lovegood, and the movie did not cut her role at all. The actress perfectly captured her character and I especially enjoyed all the scenes she was in. One of my big complaints with Book 6 was the lack of Luna and Neville. Hopefully this will be remedied in book 7.

That's it! I'll post my thoughts on book 7 sometime next week after I've recovered.

Enjoy all you HP fans!

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: If you're not outraged, you voted for Bush. Twice.

-sunday

Summer Movie Blues

2007-06-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! In this summer of sequels aimed at 12 yr old boys, I have had little to look forward to. There's only one sequel I want to see and that's HP5. Non-sequels have been few and far between but I've actually seen a few movies of late and two of them were worthy:

Knocked Up - We went to see this with Allison and Jess when they were in town a couple of weeks ago. And since Al and I are both pregnant we really thought we should be let in free. Instead we paid our $9.75 for a 4 pm show. When is 4 pm not a matinee anymore? Scumbags. Anyway, the movie was actually worth the money. Katherine Heigl plays an ambitious reporter (at E!) who gets pregnant after a drunken one nite stand with Seth Rogen's Canadian slacker. Rogen's group of pals include many from director Judd Apatow's beloved tv series Freaks and Geeks. This alone made the movie great for me. There were many, many laughs but the movie managed to have heart as well and great supporting characters. It's one flaw was what else - the runtime. Sorry, but no comedy should be over 2 hours and this one was 2 hrs and 25 minutes. The only time I was actually bored tho was the Vegas scene. That should have been cut. And the delivery scene? That was just plain terrifying for a woman in my condition.

Waitress - Yet another film about a pregnant woman. I sense a trend here. Or maybe that's just what I'm drawn too of late. The knocked up girl in this case is Kerry Russell who plays a waitress and pie maker. She's bullied by her husband but soon finds solace in the arms of her OB played by Firefly's Nathan Fillion. The movie had a bit of a storybook quality to it, but once I settled into it I really enjoyed it. Performances of the two leads were great as were supporting ones by Andy Griffith and Adrienne Shelly. Making it all the more poignant is the fact that Waitress was directed by Shelly and she was murdered by an illegal alien prior to the film's release. She left a beautiful swan song.

Georgia Rule - No pregnancies here, but perhaps one could have helped. I went into this film knowing nada about it but its cast - Lindsay Lohan, Jane Fonda, Felicity Huffman and its director, Gary Marshall (he did Pretty Woman). I assumed this was a romantic comedy. Instead it was a bizarre hodgepodge of molestation, mormons, alcoholism and death. Not exactly your standard elements of a rom-com. But somehow it was a movie you couldn't look away from, kind of like a trainwreck. Lohan did a fairly decent job, though I don't think she ever read the script in its entirety. Her main purpose seemed to be to show off one white sundress after another and yell at Fonda. Fonda's performance showed she may be better off in retirement.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Make Levees Not War

-sunday

Great Expectations

2007-05-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! It's been forever. I think that's because there's been very little in the entertainment world to report. Not many movies out worth blogging on and not a Boulder Bumpersticker to be seen. Thomas did drag me to 28 Weeks Later this wkend. It was extremely scary - not for the faint of heart. And lots of shaky-cam which annoyed us both. In other movie news, we tried Netflix On Demand. If you have a Netflix membership, this is currently available to you as well. You can watch select movies for free on your computer on demand. I have to say the selection wasn't too grand. We watched the Enron doc which was very good and part of a Russian trilogy I heard about - Night Watch based on some sci fi novels. It didn't keep my interest. So I have very little to recommend unfortunately. Have yet to see Spidey, but it appears to be a bit of a letdown. Chick flick I'm dying to see? Georgia Rule. It's getting a 20 on the tomameter, but I know I will catch a matinee of this before all is said and done.

I have been keeping myself busy instead by re-reading Harry Potter book 5. I finished it yesterday and developed an instant case of the mean reds because I promised myself I would not re-read book 6 until June, thus paving the way for the final installment to be delivered to my door on July 21. I can tell you now when I get this book, I will be a shut in - closed off to all people and media until it is finished. Why? Because there are supposedly already spoilers out there! I just don't get these people who first leak the spoilers and then those that would willingly read them. Tread carefully one and all.

The timing of book 7 is all the more precarious because of the imminent arrival of the newest member of our family. Yep, we're pregnant! I think every possible person who randomly checks this blog knows this news, but now it's out there for the world. We are having a boy in mid-August. No name yet, much to parental dismay. Thomas and I have yet to have a meeting of the minds on this one and instead have nicknamed him Boomer. Somehow it fits. We are extremely excited, totally smitten and a bit terrified. Luckily we have friends and family who've done this thing before who've given us lots of excellent advice. My mom just came down last week and brought me loads of goodies and we did lots of shopping. Who knew babies required so much gear?! So here's a pic of him at 25 weeks- we almost got a full profile on this one.

-sunday

April Musings

2007-04-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Winter is having one last gasp in Colorado after several beautiful weeks of spring. I spent my lunchtime in Borders today drinking chai, eating a sandwich and reading (The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank - she wrote one of the first chicklit books, Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing which I did not much enjoy. Wonder Spot is much better). While there, I felt a surprising surge of nostalgia for winter as everyone rushed about in coats and hats and mittens. This feeling will certainly disappear this afternoon as I drive down to Denver for an appointment. I can already imagine myself cursing the skies and the roads. But I'm not alone in the cold. I heard from Creede this morning that it is snowing in Stillwater, OK - a rarity in April.

I feel like I've been super busy these past few weeks, but don't have a ton to show for it. We are in the midst of remodeling our dining room and thanks to Home Depot that's been a bit of a disaster. The install work is now set for the ominous date of Friday the 13th. How apros po. We've lived with most of our dining room furniture in our living room for a couple of weeks now, so what's one more?

In better news, I finally bought a new car! It's a 2007 silver crv exl. I adore it, though it does not arrive for a couple of weeks. It's currently enjoying a cruise from Japan, so hopefully it will arrive refreshed and ready for me. This car is much needed after my car was practically totalled on our drive to Ardmore at Christmas. The saab is still drivable, but not worth much. The honda dealer actually offered to take it off my hands for $100. There's something a bit liberating about driving a $100 car though. I have zero fear of curbs, door dings, scrapes, hail storms, cracked windshields, etc. Of course, I hope to find some saab enthusiast or parts trader to buy my car for more than that. We shall see...

I've seen a few good movies of late:

Zodiac - Zodiac is just plain awesome as you can expect from David Fincher. I knew little about the Zodiac killer going in. The 70s was just a weird and scary time with serial killers preying on cities and bad clothing galore. The movie wasn't really scary, just creepy.

The Lives of Others - This film won the Oscar this year for Best Foreign Picture. It's set in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall and tells the story of a captain in the Stasi, the German secret police, who's assigned to spy on a playwright and his actress girlfriend. This is a really great story and it makes East Germany seem like the most depressing place imaginable. Lives is yet another good film made by the Germans that puts an unsparing eye on a dreadful period of their history. Performances were excellent, particularly that of Sebastian Koch who played the charismatic playwright. My vote for best foreign film still goes to Pan's Labyrinth tho.

Breach - Breach tells the true story of the most destructive spy in US history, Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who worked for the Soviets for 15 YEARS. Talk about despicable. Chris Cooper gives a mesmerizing performance as Hanssen, one truly weird dude. He was an uber-devout Catholic grandfather who aside from being a spy was also a perv. Ryan Phillippe and the always awesome Laura Linney work to bust him before he flies the coop. The story was very interesting, but I found the movie a bit on the slow, and once again depressing, side. Are there no shiny, happy movies to be found this spring?

And I've seen one insane movie:

300 - Thomas dragged me to this one. In fact, I'm certain this is the case for every girl that saw this movie. It was like watching a videogame. And boy did I get a history lesson. Little did I know that Xerxes, leader of the Persians, was a 7 foot tall drag queen complete with Lee Press-on Nails, that all of the Spartans had the exact same set of six pack abs, or that Xerxes' band of elite fighters, The Immortals, looked like monsters beneath their silver masks. 300 was so over the top I found it pretty amusing. It helped that we saw it on the imax screen. I must admit I was never bored and the fight scenes were pretty cool. But I would like to one day see a more realistic version of the battle of Thermoplyae. Something tells me with the huge, unexpected success of 300, that that isn't just a pipe dream.

This wkend we're going to see Grindhouse - the C movie double feature by Quentin Tarantino and Roberto Rodriguez. It looks BEYOND awesome and is currently getting a 90 on the tomameter. I am bound and determined to love it!

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Bush for Inmate
-sunday

Last Bit on Oscars and The Winner

2007-03-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I finally got a chance to watch E's Oscar arrivals and catch more of the stars. Thank goodness they repeat these specials like crazy. I know it's old news now, but for the sake of completeness, here's a few things I missed:

Best Dressed: Portia De Rossi - absolutely stunning! Ellen is a v lucky lady.
Worst Dressed Man: Quincy Jones - During the Italian composer's speech, the camera kept flashing to a bizarrely dressed man sitting in a box seat with the Italian's wife. I could not for the life of me imagine who this must be and why he was dressed in such a fashion. Thomas called him Gold Circle guy for the gold rings scattered all over his kimono-like jacket. I thought he had to be a foreigner who just had no concept of a tuxedo. Wrong! He was none other than QJ.

Sorest Loser: Eddie Murphy - After losing out as Best Supporting Actor, he immediately left the theater. What an idiot.
Worst hair - Jodie Foster. Yikes!
Best hair - Rachel Weisz

That's it! In other news, Thomas and I caught a new sitcom on Fox last night - The Winner. It stars The Daily Show's Rob Cordry and I have not laughed so much at a tv show in ages. It's about a 32 year old guy who has yet to leave home - he still lives with his parents. His junior high crush moves back to town next door to him and he becomes best friends with her 14 year old son. It sounds weird, but somehow it really works. Plus it's told in flashback fashion and set in 1994, so the references and clothes are a welcome bit of nostalgia. Everything from the infamous OJ bronco chase to long cut off jean shorts. Check it.

-sunday

2007 Oscars Recap

2007-02-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! The 79th Oscars has come and gone, and I must express relief that it's all over. After the past several years of boring ceremonies, my expectations were sufficiently lowered for this one. What I didn't expect though is that they would go 45 minutes over. I only padded my DVR for 30 minutes. So yep, I missed Best Actor, Director and Picture. Thank God for Youtube. The fact that they cram these three awards into the last 15 minutes is telling. I think saving best picture for the end is one thing, but 3 of the 7 most anticipated awards happen in the last 15 minutes of a 4 hour show? Something is out of whack. I also just don't understand how the producer of this show could have so underestimated the length of the show. No one's speech went on for 45 minutes, so did they just never do a full run through? Fire this man at once! And finally, once again, we have too many sound awards, too many songs, and too many montages/tributes. Enough already!

As for what went well, I thought Ellen was a good host. I enjoyed her tone and opening monologue. She wasn't too mean, too political or too bawdy. She was light and that was refreshing. That said, I still long for the return of Steve Martin.

And now for how I did on my predictions. I predicted 16 awards - what I thought should win and what I thought would win. For the would wins, I got 10 out of 16 - or 63% accuracy. For the should wins, I got 7 out of 16 or 44% accuracy. I was happy to see that Marie Antoinette picked up the Costume award, Pan's the Art Direction and Arkin the Best Supporting Actor. Those were all in the Should but not Will category! I can't take too much credit here. I think this was the most predictable year in decades.

And now for my own awards of the night:

Best Use of Color: Emily Blunt
Best Dressed: Reese Witherspoon once again, Cate Blanchett as always, Rachel Weisz (sans the necklace) and Gwyneth Paltrow's art deco gown
Worst Dressed: Cameron Diaz and Meryl Streep
Best Dressed Men: George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Peter O'Toole (I adored his smoking jacket)
Best Fashion Analysis Ever: Randolph Duke
Worst Excuse for a Human Being - Much Less a Correspondent: Ryan Seacrest
Biggest Trends: Neutral colors, Beaded dresses, Long straight hair
Belle of the Ball: Helen Mirren - she had more shout-outs than Jack Nicholson
Biggest Mystery: Where was Rachel McAdams? Ryan Gosling brought his mom and sister - the jerk!
Worst Trend: Prepared, read speeches. These people are in the entertainment industry! Why can't they memorize a few lines - and yes, I'm specifically talking to you Alan Arkin. And a bazillion others. There wasn't a speech of the night that knocked my socks off. Forest Whitaker was MUCH improved over the Golden Globes, even if he did use note cards.
Biggest Upset: Alan Arkin beating Eddie Murphy. Now if only Peter O'Toole could have pulled off the upset for Best Actor, I'd have really been happy. Tell me again how Lawrence of Arabia doesn't have an Oscar??
Biggest Headscratcher: Happy Feet winning the animated award
Biggest Attempt to Boost Self Esteem: The Gospel Choir that marched down the aisles at the end of Ellen's opening monologue singing about how great it is to be nominated. I can only imagine what the Brits must have been thinking during this bit of bizarreness.
Most Overplayed: A tie between everyone telling us how this is the most international/diverse telecast EVER and them telling us how great they all are for being environmentalists. I wonder how many private planes were flown to this ceremony? And something tells me JLo did not arrive via Prius.
Biggest Disappointment: The opening montage. While I admire the idea of having Errol Morris document the nominees' reactions to being nominated, I thought this was a huge letdown. I went back to last year's Oscar entry and was reminded of how much I loved that opening montage of all these characters from movieland intermingling. It was magical. This year's was frustrating. I didn't know who 90% of the people were - they weren't identified, and I can only take so much self-congratulation!
Most Overdue for a win: Scorcese - you know it's a bad year for movies when you're thrilled Martin Scorcese wins for one of his tier two films.
Most Overexposed: Jack Black - somebody lock this guy away for a couple of years.
Funniest Presenter: Jerry Seinfeld - give him the host's job next year. Or put him back to work in some fashion. His riff on trashing movie theatres just may have been my fav moment.

Oh well, here's hoping 2007 is a better year for cinema.

-sunday

Last Minute Oscar Predictions

2007-02-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I'm so running late on this, but better late than never. We just this second got back from a wkend in Winter Park. Thomas boarded and I did the lodge/hot chocolate/book thing (Model Student, in case you're interested about a girl who's a model and a student at Columbia - lots of good makeup and dieting tips;). I cannot believe how much Winter Park has grown! There are actually lots of restaurants/bars/coffee shops there now, and it was only 1.5 hrs away, so it's officially on my good list.

And now, my predictions:

Original Screenplay: Will win - Little Miss Sunshine. Should win - Little Miss Sunshine
Adapted Screenplay: Will win - The Departed. Should win - Notes on a Scandal
Original Score: Will win - Phillip Glass for Notes on a Scandal. Should win - Phillip Glass for The Illusionist (not even nominated)
Best Foreign Language Film - Will win - Pan's Labyrinth. Should win - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Film Editing - Will win - The Departed. Should win - United 93
Best Documentary - Will win - Inconvenient Truth. Should win - anything but (spare me the Al Gore acceptance/presidential announcement speech)
Best Costume Design - Will win - Dreamgirls. Should win - Marie Antoinette
Best Cinematography - Will win - Pan's Labyrinth. Should win - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Art Direction - Will win - Dream Girls. Should win - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Animated Film - Will win - Cars. Should win - Monster House
Best Supporting Actress - Will win - Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls. Should win - Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Best Supporting Actor - Will win - Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls. Should win - Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine. Should win, but not nominated: Adam Beach, Flags of our Fathers
Best Actress - Will win - Helen Mirren, The Queen. Should win - Judy Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Best Actor - Will win - Forest Whitaker, Last King of Scotland. Should win - Leonardo DiCaprio for The Departed (nominated for Blood Diamond instead)
Best Director - Will win - Martin Scorcese. Should win - Martin Scorcese.
Best Picture - Will win - The Departed. Should win - The Departed.

Caveat: I have not seen Babel, Dreamgirls, any of the documentary nominees and only Pan's in the Foreign Film Category.

Happy Oscar watching! Let's hope the musical numbers and honorary awards are brief, the dresses aren't dull, and the acceptance speeches are off the cuff.

-sunday

Letters from Iwo Jima

2007-02-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I managed to see one more Oscar nominee a couple of weeks ago, Letters From Iwo Jima, Clint Eastwood's flip side to Flags of our Fathers. Eastwood has received much aclaim for being such an overachiever that he actually made two well-received movies at once. And for the most part, he deserves it. As I recall, the editing and the music in Flags annoyed me quite a bit, though the performance by Adam Beach was worth the ticket in. Luckily, I did not have the same problems with Letters. The film was shot documentary style - very stark, very washed out, not much music at all. It was interesting seeing things from the Japanese perspective and Eastwood was smart in highlighting three sympathetic figures - the General (played by the awesome Ken Watanabe of Last Samurai), his friend Baron Nishi a former equestrian Olympian with a fondness for Americans, and an apathetic foot soldier, Saigo. The rest of the Japanese seemed either angry at the General's strategy or desperate to off themselves once it became obvious Iwo Jima was a battle they would not win. The scene where a group of soldiers each blow themselves up one after the other in a cave was most disturbing. I was especially surprised that they at least did not try to do this kamikaze style and take out an American or two. It is hard to rationalize people who show such a preference for death.

My main quibble with Letters comes not so much from it, but from a pattern I've seen in all of Eastwood's recent films - from Mystic River on. As Spielberg is often accused of being an overly sentimental director, I think Eastwood should face the opposite charge. He's overly cynical. And just as one is a crutch, so is the other. In Mystic River, not only did Sean Penn's daughter die, her accused killer was one of his best friends - but then wait - he actually didn't do it. In Million Dollar Baby, not only does Hillary Swank get paralyzed, she bites off her own tongue in an effort to kill herself. In Flags, not only do three soldiers get exploited in a propaganda machine, one of them ends up killing himself. And finally in Letters, not only are the circumstances so dreadful that a couple of Japanese soldiers actually surrender, they end up getting murdered by a couple of American G.I.s after doing so. Okay Clint, I get it. Life sucks. There's always an unhappy ending if you look hard enough. Yeesh.

The other thing that was a bit unsettling for me was the effort to show the Japanese side and make some type of statement that no matter what side you're on, war is hell. I firmly believe that this is true, but I still think the side you're on is vitally important. I realize that the intent of Letters was to show the Japanese side of things, but is this really something we need an American to do? One of the things that made the movie Downfall (the story of Hitler's last days and the best war movie I've seen in years), so great is that it was all done by Germans. I would have found Letters to be more potent had it been an all Japanese production. I do see that both the story and screenwriting were done by Iris Yamashita, who I'm assuming is at least of Japanese descent, but still. A lot of critics are calling this an anti-war film. I don't know if I get that. Any story of war other than Hogan's Heroes always makes war look horrid and brutal. But as long as there are people in the world who are intolerant, uncompromising, envious to the point of violence or power-mad, it looks like war is something we're stuck with. I'm still waiting for the a movie or a miniseries that tells me the full story of Iwo Jima. Both sides or not, Flags and Letters just didn't do this for me.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day : Except for Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism & Communism, War Has Never Solved Anything

-sunday

Painted Veil and Pan's

2007-02-09T15:37:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Last weekend I saw two more good movies I can happily recommend:

Pan's Labryinth - Pan's is currently in running for the Best Foreign Language pic at the upcoming Oscars. And though I have yet to see any of the other contenders, it's hard to imagine a more original film in this category (I do hear truly fabulous things about The Lives of Others, but it has yet to grace my local cineplex). Pan's is set in mid 1940's Spain and tells the story of a young girl, Ofelia, and her pregnant mother who move to the countryside to live with her new stepfather, Capitan Vidal, one of Franco's henchmen. This guy is a sadistic monster, so Ofelia chooses to escape from her reality by imagining a fantasy world. Unfortunately for Ofelia, even her fantasy world is a dark and disturbing place, full of hideous creatures. The movie has two parallel stories going on. One is set in Ofelia's fantasy world, and the other is in the real world where a group of rebel's are in conflict with the militia led by Capitan Vidal. On the side of the rebels is the Capitan's maid, Mercedes, who becomes Ofelia's ally. Both storylines are equally compelling, and the visuals in the fantasy storyline are especially creative. It got distracting reading the subtitles during these scenes because I was so interested in what was going on onscreen. In the end, Pan's is a very dark, graphic and sad movie. The first of the year that made me cry. Not one for kids, but definitely one for adults.

The Painted Veil - The Painted Veil is based on the William Somerset Maugham novel that I have not read. It focuses on the lives of ill-matched English married couple Kitty and Walter Fein, played by Naomi Watts and Edward Norton in the 1920s. Norton is a bacteriologist stationed in Shanghai. Thanks to a brief affair with the British Vice Consul (Liev Schreiber), Walter decides to punish Kitty by dragging her to an isolated village to help with a cholera outbreak. He actually tells her she has a choice: she can do this or he will divorce her. I have to say, I would have chosen divorce, given the extremely horrific conditions of the cholera-beset village. I started off the movie not at all blaming Kitty for her liaison, so wooden was Walter. The movie succeeds in turning this view on its head as the two battle wits and eventually come to see the good in each other. By the end, Walter and Kitty had both won me over thanks to excellent performances by Watts and Norton. I understand the book's ending is quite different from the movie's, but I found it very pleasing and ultimately romantic (though once again sad) nonetheless. This felt like a movie that should have been made a few decades ago - and I mean that as a compliment. Not enough movies like this are made anymore. Related gossip of the day: Current Hollywood couple Naomi Watts and Liev Scheiber got together on this movie. They've been together a year and Watts is rumored to be pregnant.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: I'm already against the next war.

-sunday

Winter Book Reviews

2007-02-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Since it's been bitterly cold in Colorado, there's not much one can do. Thankfully we have books. Here are a few that have kept me from going stir-crazy:

City of Falling Angels by John Berendt - I'm usually not a huge fan of non-fiction, but I fell in love with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Berendt's first book. It was given to me by Martina. She cited its study of the various stata of society in Savannah, GA as similar to Thorton Wilder's book, Mr. North on Newport, RI. Knowing my love of Mr. North, she thought I should give it a try and boy, was she right. If you've just seen the Midnight movie, don't judge the book by it. Go out now and check this one out. Anyway, in City, Berendt give Venice, Italy the same treatment. Once again he immediately captured my interest with a cast of real life characters that only a city like Venice could host. If you've been to Venice, City makes you want to return post haste and if you haven't, get ready to call your travel agent. I first went to Venice about ten years ago with Cyd and was captured by both the beauty and the oddity of the place. It's the kind of city where the directions to your hotel go something like this: Go to xxx square. Find the statue. Walk 64 paces in the direction his sword is pointing and turn left, etc. Basically it was a scavenger hunt for adults and who doesn't love that. It's also the kind of place where you ask a waiter for a cool place to go and he directs you to Il Picolo Mondo (The Small World). After almost giving up finding it, you notice a couple of people knock on a black door. A hidden window slides open and they are eventually let in. You walk up to the door and read in 10 point font, Il Picolo Mondo. After getting in, you learn the tango from mad Italians. And the list goes on....

City tells the story of several of Venice's residents and expats. The story is kicked off by the mysterious burning of the oldest opera house in Italy, the Fenice, and continues with the effort to determine who is responsible and how it should be rebuilt. Basically the amount of red tape involved makes the movie Brazil look tame. Other chapters are devoted to exiled poet Ezra Pound (who knew that he was found a traitor during WWII and sentenced to an asylum for the criminally insane for 13 years?), dueling glass blowers, various aristocrats and artists, a world class killer of rats, and many, many more. City is an entertaining read and an interesting look at Venice from the inside.

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle - I continued my travelogue with this book, given by my brother to my mother for Christmas. I got to read it first. Year tells the story of Mayle and his wife as they buy a house in the countryside in Provence. Each chapter represents a month of the year so Mayle spends a lot of time talking about the changing seasons and the different foods each season brings. Early on he makes it clear that life in Provence revolves around food and drink. His description of some of the meals he eats got my mouth watering and me longing for a trip to L'Atelier, our local French restaurant. Mayle also describes the challenges they faced in doing some remodeling of their house. Lots more red tape to be found. This is a mood book for me. When I was in the right mood, the month Mayle was writing about flew by. Towards the end, I started getting a bit bored. I can say that if I were to travel to Provence, this is a book I'd bring.

Jane Austen in Scarscale by Paula Marantz Cohen - I made a triumphant return to fiction with this book, the second of Cohen's that I've read. The first is Jane Austen in Boca, a take on Pride and Prejudice set in a Florida retirement community. Trust me it works. Scarsdale works just as well. Cohen structures the plot on Austen's Persuasion, a novel whose heroine (Anne Elliot) I didn't enjoy near as much as those in P&P or Emma. Scarsdale focuses on another Anne, Anne Ehrlich, a guidance counselor at a highly competitive high school. Much of the book is spent on Anne's dealings with her highly motivated students and their obnoxious parents as they battle to get into the Ivy League schools of their choice. After reading about the effort Anne puts into all of this, I could not help but feel hugely cheated by my own high school guidance teacher - Caroline Roberts, a woman who didn't help me one iota with a single college applicaiton. Where was Anne when I needed her? Anyway, when Anne's not at school, she's helping out her beloved but infirm grandmother and her newly impoverished family. One day in walks Ben Cutler, Anne's first love whom she spurned at her family's request because he wasn't of their class. Ben has made it big and Anne's feelings have not diminished after ten years. I won't spoil the rest. This was a super quick read for me and Cohen is an excellent writer - very insightful.

-sunday

On Groundhogs and Wizards

2007-02-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! It's official: there is hope! Sure, I woke up this morning to find out we broke a record at 4:44 a.m. - -18 degrees outside with a -40 degree windchill factor. And sure, it still has yet to hit zero, but I was saved by two things. The first is my new fav animal, Puxatawny Phil! In case you missed the broadcast, he did not see his shadow, so that means Spring is coming early! I have never been so happy to hear this news and I never thought I could put so much faith in a groundhog. But that's what happens when you live in the frozen tundra of Colorado where we've had snow for SEVEN weeks in a row and the snow from pre-Christmas has yet to melt. But all of that's behind us because Spring is officially just around the corner. I've promised Thomas I won't complain a whit about the heat this summer, so ready am I for it. He remains skeptical. Ha!

And now I have an even better reason to look forward to July. What's that? The final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is being released on July 21, 2007. Making that one of the happiest days of the year. This is much sooner than I'd expected. I thought we'd have to wait at least until 2008 for this gift from J.K.! I already have my Amazon pre-order in. Can't wait!

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Avaholic

-sunday

Winter Movie Reviews

2007-01-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I must be in a good mood of late because I've liked every movie I've been to see. Either that or the studios did indeed save the best for last. And by that I mean the last part of the year. So since I live in flyover country, that means January is a good month for movies for us. Here are some of my favs of late:

Children of Men - First off, Clive Owen can do no wrong by me. Secondly, this film had me on the edge of my seat. We left it with Thomas saying something like, that's how I picture the future. Yikes! I hope not. It definitely puts the dys in dystopia. Children of Men is set in a future world that has pretty much gone to hell. There's major discontent/rioting/violence everywhere, and to top it off the human race is on the verge of dying out because no more babies are being born. The story follows Owen as he struggles to get a miraculously pregnant woman to safety against all odds. Owen is spectacular and was robbed of an Oscar nom. For some reason, this film hasn't been nominated for much at all this season. The movie also has good performances by Julianne Moore and newcomer Claire-Hope Ashitey. Micheal Caine plays an overly stereotypical aging hippie. There is much action in the movie - car chases, shoot outs, escape sequences, etc., but it's alleviated by much needed bits of humor from Owen.

Apocalypto- Thomas has been dying to see this movie since previews started coming out this fall. I have not. This seems to be the case with every married couple I know. The men all want to see it and the women don't. I finally gave in, because let's face it, I love to go to the movies and it has been so deathly cold this winter that there's little else to do. Apocalypto tells the story of an isolated Mayan tribe living out in the jungle/woods that is attacked by a group of mercenaries (that's the closest thing I can think to call them) who are intent on bringing them to a Mayan city to either work as slave labor or be sacrificed. The movie focuses on one particular man, Jaguar Paw, and his quest to escape and get back to his pregnant wife and child who are inconveniently stuck at the bottom of a very deep well. The movie is basically one long chase scene with a spectacular stop at the Mayan city. The sets for the city were worth the price of admission - a visual treat for the eye with a cornucopia of tribes represented. Whoever built them definitely deserves some recognition, though I see none was given by the Academy voters. From what I understand only one real professional actor was cast in the movie, but that did not detract at all from the performances. Jaguar Paw and his wife were both great and his wife was especially sympathetic. There are some excessively violent scenes in this movie. I had to close my eyes for extended periods during three of them. But I'm glad I saw it, and I'm glad I'm not a Mayan.

Notes on a Scandal - Luckily, I went into this movie not knowing much about it. Because boy, were there some surprises. I won't ruin any for you, so this will be brief. Notes stars Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett as two schoolteachers who have quite the rocky relationship. Blanchett is glowing and wonderful, but it's Dench who delivers the best female performance of the year in this edge of your seat faceoff. Bill Nighey is also stellar as Blanchett's husband.

The Queen - I almost didn't want to see this because I've grown tired of watching Helen Mirren accept all those awards for this movie and for Elizabeth I, which I have yet to see. How silly. The Queen is all about what happens when the royal family has to deal with Princess Diana's death. Basically their love of protocol, dignity, and privacy are scorned by the English media and public so it's up to newly elected Tony Blair to save the day. I'm one of those people who was shocked and saddened by Diana's death - I watched both her marriage and her funeral - so it was very interesting to see all this from the viewpoint of the family she scorned. Queen Elizabeth ends up coming off as sympathetic, though her husband Prince Phillip seems a bit of a monster. Mirren, Michael Sheen as Blair, and the always great James Cromwell as Phillip all rock.

Next up via the big screen or netflix: Little Children, Volver, Letters from Iwo Jima, Blood Diamond, Pursuit of Happiness, and Last King of Scotland. Whew.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: God Bless the World. No exceptions.

-sunday

2006 Oscar Noms Are In

2007-01-23T15:13:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! The Oscar noms are in and sad to say I haven't seen two of the best picture nominees - Letters from Iwo Jima and Babel. Thomas and I planned to see Letters this wkend but didn't get around to it. I'm now determined to catch it next wkend. As for Babel, I have no plans to see it any time soon. Maybe I'll netflix it. Why? First I saw the horrifically annoying preview in theaters about a billion times until it drove me mad, and second I wasn't a fan of the director's other films, 21 Grams and Amores Perros. Tres depressing and much ado about nothing they both were. The only segment that looked interesting to me was the one with the Japanese girl. I must admit I'm officially off Brad Pitt these days.

Other notes of interest:

Everyone's in an uproar that Dreamgirls did not score a best pic nod, tho it led with 8 nominations (3 for singing). I haven't seen this movie either and will be hard pressed to do so because I am not a Beyonce fan, Jamie Foxx's public persona is off-putting, and I hate the type of singing they do in the movie. However, there are such raves for Jen Hudson's performance, that I may netflix this one as well and fast forward thru the singing parts.
Leo got a nom for Blood Diamond and not Departed. This completely baffled me because in Departed he acted circles around everyone else. Forrest Whitaker must be thanking his lucky stars. I did some research tho and found that Warner Brothers produced both films and since in the Oscars one actor can only be nominated once per category, they decided to promote him as Best Actor for Blood Diamond and Best Supporting Actor for Departed. He was clearly the lead in Departed so their strategy failed miserably and will likely result in no Oscar for Leo. Instead Mark Wahlberg got the Best Supporting nom for Departed. I must admit that he was quite good, better than Jack Nicholson or Matt Damon, so I'm fine with this.The longshot in this category is Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson, a movie I did not enjoy, but Gosling is an excellent actor so it's great that he's getting some recognition. He will also hopefully bring his rumored fiancee and my fav younger actress Rachel McAdams.
As for Best Actress, I've seen all the films except for Volver and Little Children. It's a stretch having Meryl Streep in this category rather than Supporting. She was fabulous as always, but this role was really more of a caricature than anything else. It is likely to be a battle of the Brits with Helen Mirren coming out on top, as she's swept all awards this season. I preferred Dench's performance in Notes on a Scandal though. She scared the bejeesus out of Cyd and me.
Finally, the most pleasant surprise for me was the number of noms received by my fav film of the year, Little Miss Sunshine- five in all! I would be happy if it won all five, but as they say, it's just nice to be nominated.

I'll be back closer to the awards themselves with my fearless predictions.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: 40 MPG Patriot

-sunday

2007 Golden Globes Wrap-up

2007-01-16T15:38:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I'm back. Just in time to review the Golden Globes. Given that this has been a blah movie year, I'm not too surprised that almost none of my favs took home the gold. I guess it's fitting. The show itself was okay. It seemed to move quickly, provided you did not have to sit through the billion commercials. Not sure how anyone watches this thing live though. Now, onto my best/worst of the night:

Best short dress - Reese Witherspoon
Best black dresses - Hillary Swank and Penelope Cruz
Best white dress - Jen Garner (but only standing still - girl could not walk well in it at all),
Best metallic dress - Jessica Biel
Worst dressed - Beyonce, Annette Benning, Salma Hayek
Best hair - Evangeline Lily
Worst hair - Sienna Miller, Cate Blanchett second
Worst makeup - Sienna Miller
Worst hair accessory - Hillary Swank
Glummest - Angelina Jolie
Most glowing - Cate Blanchett
Best looking tv guy - Eric Dane (aka McSteamy)
Best looking movie guy - Leonardo DiCaprio
Biggest trends: British winners, white/cream dresses, short dresses, strapless dresses
Best speech: Hugh Laurie - why is it that the Brits are so much wittier and so much LESS likely to cry than Americans. What are they taught that we're not?
Most outlandish speech: Sacha Baron Cohen
Most senile: Warren Beatty
Who I most wanna be when I grow up: Meryl Streep - loved her speech!
Most lauded: Helen Mirren - between the globes and the emmys, i have to admit i'm getting sick of her winning everything
Most poised newcomer: America Ferrera
Most boring speech - Kyra Sedgwick. When will these nitwits learn to NOT thank their publicists, agents and lawyers or at least don't id their professions
Most incoherent - Forrest Whitaker
Most overlooked- Little Miss Sunshine!
Most disappointing - The winners: Babel, Dreamgirls, Kyra Sedgwick, Ugly Betty, and Alec Baldwin
Favorite win - Hugh Laurie

Once again, I'll have to hold out hope for a better showing at the Oscars.

-sunday

Pre-Christmas Movie Wrap-up

2006-12-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! It's officially time for a pre-Christmas movie wrap-up. Because surely once Christmas hits there will be so many awesome movies out that I will implode with happiness. I feel like this has to happen because 2006 has been a hugely bad year for movies, IMHO. I can count about ten that I enjoyed. But in the past month I've seen a few worth typing about:

Marie Antoinette - I've put off this review because I saw it sans Thomas. He is still bitter and the only way I can make it up to him is to watch it again with him on netflix. When I saw the preview for MA, I thought Sophia had lost it. But the movie worked for me. This is the polar opposite of what usually happens. Usually a preview tricks me by showing only the good parts, then I go to the movie and it's five minutes of good and 2.5 hours of boredom. The main thing Sophia does that's right is that she doesn't try to do too much. She's not telling the story of the French revolution here. She's telling the story of Marie Antoinette. The film is from Marie's perspective when she arrives at Versaille as a young girl until she gets carted off to her doom. While Marie's a princess and then a queen, you're barely aware of the turmoil that's going on in France. There are a few references to it that she pretty much blows off, but that's it. MA instead shows what life was like for a spoiled young girl who could eventually do/get whatever she likes. The film excels when it focuses on the manners and mores of the royal family in the 18th century. It turns out to be a fun history lesson. As for the lead actors, Kirsten Dunst pulled off the role, even though I was really worried about her accent. But Jason Schwartzman was miscast as her husband Louis XVI. Especially for the first half of the movie I thought he was dreadful, but then he eases into the role a bit towards the end. What I liked even more than the stars though were the cinematography and the score. Sophia scored a huge coup by actually getting to film at Versailles, so of course the sets were beyond fabulous. Her unconventional choice to feature New Wave bands in the soundtrack also worked. This was a big surprise to me. I think the reason that it worked was that it helped to create a mood. MA was a leisurely paced film, a sumptuous feast for the eyes.

The Holiday - I've been waiting for a great chick flick all year. What about Devil Wears Prada, you may ask. Yes, I did enjoy that movie, but it wasn't a traditional chick flick for me because the girl started out with the guy. Not nearly as enjoyable for some reason. It looks like The Holiday has to be it since it has all of the major ingredients: the meet cute, fabulous outfits (whoever dressed these girls is a genius - I wanted every sweater that was worn), set during the holidays, etc. The Holiday focuses on two girls and at the beginning of the movie, neither of them have The Guy. Since it's near Christmas and since they're boyfriendless, they do the only practical thing and that's to switch houses for a couple of weeks. Kate Winslet moves from her English village to LA and Cameron Diaz moves from her LA mansion to Kate's whimsical cottage. I was very worried at the beginning because for some reason I've decided not to like Cameron Diaz. I think it's her face and the fact that she has to dance solo in every movie she's in (sure enough this happens in Holiday as well). However, she won me over once she encountered her guy, none other than Jude Law. He is now officially on my Top 5 list. So charming, so gorgeous and an accent to die for. Their story was well told and I rooted for them the whole way. On the other hand, my beloved Kate Winslet gets stuck with Jack Black. A mismatch in oh so many ways, not the least of which is that Kate basically acted rings around Jack. Her story was saved by the benevolent presence of Eli Wallach as a 90 year old Hollywood screenwriter. As Cyd and I were saying yesterday in our post-movie wrap-up call (she'd seen it in England - like the symmetry there, eh?), Kate had more chemistry with Wallach than she did with Jack. Nevertheless, I enjoyed her story as big chunks of it were without JB. What I also really liked about The Holiday is that it was obviously made by people who loved movies. Through Wallach's characters, many of the great ones are discussed - like The Lady Eve - and there was even a brief clip from my all-time fav romantic comedy, His Girl Friday. That's the kind of stuff I eat up.

Casino Royale - Maybe I have a short memory, but I think this was the Best Bond Movie Ever. I went to see it over Thanksgiving in Madison, MS at the Taj Mahal of movie theatres, so I'm sure that helped. It made oure stadium theatres in CO seem old school. CR got me from the beginning with an epic chase scene, most of which was done on foot. And then Bond still shoots the guy point blank at the end of the chase. Classic. Daniel Craig was not who I imagined to play Bond, but he's perfect for the new millenium. Cold as ice. My problem with the last few Bond movies was not with Pierce Brosnan. It was with the cartoony plotlines and cheesy quips. So it was more with the writing and execution. CR stays serious even though Bond isn't saving the world this time, he's just stopping a guy who funds some terrorists. I went in knowing that this movie was based on the first Bond book, so I didn't expect the consequences to be so dire. Instead this film set out to establish how Bond became a 00 and how he came to view women the way he does. The female lead is played by Eva Green, an actress with some chops. Her storyline twists and turns a bit as well, leaving me surprised at the end. So bring on more 007 films because Bond is back and better than ever.

-sunday

New Fall TV Must Sees

2006-12-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! This is long overdue, but now that the fall tv season has come to a close, it's time for my fav new shows. First off, as an avid tv watcher who heartily agrees with Bright Abbot's quote, "There's always something good on tv. That's been my motto since I was a kid and I'm sticking to it.", I have to say we are firmly in the midst of the golden age of tv. There have been times when a few good shows have been out at once, but never the plethora that are available now. I am firmly convinced that many of the tv shows that are on right now are hands down better than the typical movies shown at your local cineplex (I feel confident making this statement as I also happen to be an avid moviegoer;). What does this mean for you if you're not much of a tv watcher? Reorder your netflix queue and take a gander for yourself. Try Season 1 of Lost and House to start and see if they don't keep your attention for longer than the average movie. Plus they're in handy 40 minute segments so you can get on with your life.

Now, the best new shows in no particular order:

Heroes - Save the cheerleader. Save the world. If you haven't heard this catchphrase by now, you must be living under a rock. Heroes has it all. A subtle sci-fi theme, a killer mystery, an excellent cast, and some of my favorite characters around. The premise is that humans have finally evolved to the point where a select few have developed genetic anomalies that translate into super powers. Each week, we see a part of the characters' stories and watch as they gravitate towards each other to play a part in preventing the world - or at least NYC - from getting nuked. There are no silly costumes, it's done as realistically as possible. My favorite characters? Hiro, the Japanese guy (who actually speaks Japanese - subtitles provided) whose enthusiasm at his ability to bend time and space is beyond adorable, and Claire, the cheerleader who can heal herself after virtually any wound. Only letdown? Ali Larter. I keep hoping her character will die.
Friday Night Lights - Yep, I'm as surprised to be typing this as you should be reading it. Why? Because I can't remember the last time I watched more than five minutes of a football game and that's what I thought this drama was all about. Boy was I wrong. Instead, this is the most realistically written, heartbreaking show on tv. It focuses on the football-obsessed town of Dillon, TX, the town coach and his family, and several of the students. This is the story of people who use football as an escape. The players are using it as their possible golden ticket out of town, and the fans use it as a trip down memory lane or an escape from the banality of their own lives. FNL has made some brutal moves with its characters - in episode 1, the star quarterback suffered an injury that paralized him. Rather than drop this character, his recovery and struggles continue to be shown. But it's not all grim. The show also has the best romantic triangle on tv right now between the paralyzed player, his cheerleader girlfriend and his best friend. It's so nuanced you don't know who to root for. The cast is spectacular, particularly Kyle Chander as the coach, Connie Britton as his wife, and Taylor Kitsch as troubled player Tim Riggins. And the football? Sometimes play is never even shown. If it is, it accounts for no more than 10% of a show. So don't let that be the reason you do or don't watch this show. It's all about the writing and acting.
Men in Trees - This show is tailor-made for me. It's a combination between Sex and the City and Northern Exposure, two of my all-time favorite shows. To be honest, it's not as good as either of these shows, but it's pretty darn great. Men in Trees stars Anne Heche as Marin Frist, a self-help author who decides to stay in the small Alaskan town of Elmo when her fiance dumps her and her book contract gets cancelled. There she interacts with the mostly quirky locals and finds some peace for herself. She also falls for this year's newest tv hunk (forget McDreamy - check this guy out), James Tupper as Jack. Good news is that he can actually act. He's Paul Newman for the 21st century. The show doesn't rely solely on the chemistry between the two leads. It's got a great cast of secondary characters as well. ABC has shown its confidence in it by moving it to Thursdays at 9 after Grey's Anatomy.

Tune in and enjoy!

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: I think, therefore I'm dangerous.

-sunday

Adventures with Creede

2006-11-15T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! This weekend Thomas and I took a much needed mini-break to Santa Fe and Taos. Creede is now living in SF so he showed us the sights and we got to spend lots of time hanging out. There is much to see and do in the Plaza - tons of restaurants, cool shops and more galleries than one would think possible. In Santa Fe we stayed at El Dorado Hotel. I highly recommend it - it has one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept on and nice, large rooms. We stayed at the Taos Inn in downtown Taos and it's a funky hotel that is blessed with fireplaces in each room. I found Taos to be a bit of a letdown after Santa Fe and remain baffled as to why Julia Roberts chooses to live there. But it was fun for a day.

Here are some pics of our trip:

Santa Fe

And here are some of our more memorable moments:

Dinner at The Shed with Creede - easily the best guacamole I've ever had and great margaritas. The restaurant is housed in a building that dates back to the 1600s.
Meeting Igor the Misogynist Parrot - Creede's new pet is beyond adorable and has personality to spare. Though he is a famed woman-hater, he seemed to like me. I felt very Sally Fieldish.
Seeing all the kooks in NM (it's no wonder Igor's fav word is cukoo - he should be the designated town crier). Aside from being just generally wacky, I also finally found a place that's more liberal that Boulder. One group protesting Bush/War in the middle of a busy intersection included a guy juggling and wearing a Nazi armband. Lovely.
Taking the 90 minute Custom Tour by Clarice - we learned a lot about the history of Santa Fe, drove all over town, got some great ideas of what to do the next time we're in town, and heard about Shirley McClaine's ill-fated attempt to build a house up on the tippy top of the town's highest peak. Wouldn't have missed it
Touring the Larredo Chapel and viewing the miraculous staircase. This chapel was absolutely beautiful and we were properly amazed by the staircase and its story.
Gallery hopping along the plaza. We're not fans of the typical Santa Fe style art, but there are plenty of other options in this town - all kinds of art and artists. Our favorite was Lynden Saint Victor and his surrealist works. We were mightily tempted by a print or two.
Taking in all the pueblo style architecture. Some ordinance was passed in Santa Fe in the early 1900s that everything had to be covered in adobe. It's bizarre to see everything from McDonald's to Target in that style.
Having a beer at Evangelos in downtown Santa Fe. First off, Evangelos is my favorite kind of bar - it's been there forever, people were friendly, it's kind of divish and it has a history. There were a couple of huge photos of a WWII soldier behind the bar that piqued my interest. I asked the extremely nice bartender about them and it turned out they were of his father, Angelo Klonis who first opened the bar. He was a sergeant in the army in WWII and his photo was taken by famed photographer Eugene Smith. The picure ended up on Life magazine and was commemorated on a postage stamp in 2002.
Dining at Doc Marten's in Taos - we were having a very nice dinner when this middle aged white lady comes in decked out in American Indian gear, introduces herself to a table of people, sits down with them, and in short order proceeds to pull out some marraccas and start chanting. She then reads a story about a wolf. After a bit, one of the men finally interrupts her and tells her they're going to talk about something else now, but she is welcome to stay. So she sits there and watches them eat for the rest of the meal. You can't make this stuff up.
Walking along the bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge outside of Taos. If it sounds familiar it's because that's where Mickey and Mallory of Natural Born Killers got hitched. Like those two we declared our eternal love but also promised not to go on any killing sprees.
Driving past the world's largest earthship subdivision outside of Taos. You have to see it to believe it. I know where I'll be staying should I ever return to Taos.
When we entered Creede, around Blue Creek lodge, running down the middle of the road right in front of us was what I thought was a donkey. Instead, it turned out to be a big horn sheep. It trotted down the road for awhile and then scrambled up the cliff and I nabbed a picture of it. I've been coming to Creede my entire life, and I've never seen one; whereas, most people manage to spot one on their first visit. This has made me very bitter. But now, I'm bitter no more! I got a very close up view of the sheep and it was adorable.
And finally, swinging by Plan B of our house that's being built. It definitely exceeded expecations. The first floor of the structure is up so we got to climb the stairs and check the view. It is unbelievable - 360 views. I cannot wait for its completion. It will be terribly hard not to find some reason to move there for good.

Santa Fe Bumpersticker of the Day: Be nice to America or we'll bring democracy to your country.

And or course: Gore 2008

-sunday

Show Me the Money!

2006-11-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, The most unbelievable thing ever happened last night. There's a new show on ABC called Show Me The Money hosted by William Shatner. lt's kind of similar to Deal or No Deal. The premier guest was none other than Matt Marr of Lone Grove, OK, also known as my mom's all time favorite student. We was up there for 45 minutes with Shatner answering questions, dancing and generally being an ideal contestant. The best part is he actually won $590,000!! I could not BELIEVE what I was watching. He is a great guy - I'm so happy for him. Now I just have to figure out how to get on the show myself.

Congrats, Matt!

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: My other car is a Tardis.

-sunday

Fall Book Reviews

2006-11-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Literacy and Longing in LA by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack. I tend to be extremely suspicious of a book written by two people. I just don't see how this works. Though I've never written a novel (it's on my todo list), it seems like it would be intensely personal. I get how you'd bounce ideas off people, but actually share in the entire writing of the book? Weird. Thanks to the description, I decided to give this one a shot and I'm really glad I did. The protagonist, Dora, is a 35 year old woman obsessed with books. Whenever she gets down, which is fairly often, she goes on a book binge and locks herself in her apartment spending several days devouring books. Anyone who's an avid reader has probably done this, fantasized about it, or can at least imagine it in concept. Luckily for Dora, she is living on the remnants of an inheritance that supports this type of behaviour. She also has a rich, kind ex-husband, a crazy Teamster friend named Darlene, and a crush Fred, the local book store's literary guru. The plot meanders a bit, covering Dora's half-hearted quest to get her old job back, her conflicted feelings for both her ex and Fred, her thoughts on all sorts of books and authors, and her compulsion to help out friends and even acquaintances in need. If you're a booklover, you'll probably enjoy this one for both it's heroine and it's many great quotes. Here are a few of my favorites:

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." Oscar Wilde

"I divide all readers into two classes; Those who read to remember and those who read to forget." William Lyon Phelps

"People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading." Logan Pearsall Smith

There are many, many more. But L&L had me for good when it referenced Eudora Welty's, "Why I live at the P.O.", my all time favorite short story. Like most pieces of fiction, I was introduced to it by my English-teaching mom. She gave me a shot at cutting it for one of her speech students. I loved it so much that I was envious beyond all belief of the girl that got to perform this piece because it felt like it belonged solely to me. To this day, I sometimes dream of becoming a postmistress. If you haven't read this piece, you are missing out on one of the funnier reads of your lifetime. As the authors in L&L note, "Reading her (Welty's) stuff is like watching slapstick - the timing is impeccable", and "Next to Shakespeare, she has the best high comic dialogue I've ever read."

---------------
Baby Proof by Emily Griffin. Now that Helen Fielding is no longer writing diaries for Bridget Jones, Griffin has fast become my favorite chick lit writer. The reason is simple: her books are so realistic. Many chick lit books tend to go over the top with their characters and their plots. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy many of these, but every once in awhile, realism is called for, even in your escapism. And Griffin delivers it in spades. Her first novel, Something Borrowed remains my favorite and will likely be one I re-read. Her new book, Baby Proof tells the story of Claudia Parr, a woman in her 30s who is surrounded by all things baby, but is determined not to join the club. Initially she is joined in this sentiment by her husband Ben, but he ends up changing his mind. Not wanting a child makes her a bit of a pariah to her friends and family. Everyone is convinced that she will grow out of it, but Claudia stubbornly holds her ground. Griffin succeeds in covering all sides of this prickliest of issues and does a good job in creating a multi-faceted protagonist. One that has good and bad traits and one that is all too real. She also provides several secondary characters who have interesting storylines. This is the fatal flaw of all too many books and Griffin bypasses it with ease. I anxiously await her next novel.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Josiah Bartlett for President

-sunday

Snow Day...I Wish

2006-10-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So far fall has been nice, but today it feels like winter has arrived. We awoke to lots and lots of snow and it was still coming down outside when I left the house. This is our third snowstorm of the year already, but it was the first one that drove me into the the bowels of hell, i.e., the RTD. Yes, me and public transportation were one this morning. My experience with the bus is forever tainted because the only time I get near it is when the weather is bad. So that means every time I ride it it's LATE. This time, I waited 35 minutes. Not fun, but I eventually made it out of Boulder. I then walked to Starbucks, sought solace in a latte, and called Aida to pick me up and take me the rest of the way to work. So it basically took me 90 minutes to go 10 miles this morning. But I arrived safe and sound and I guess that's what it's all about.

In other news, I've seen a few flicks and one totally awesome concert. First, the concert. Cindy and Bob were in Boulder and got tickets to see an Australian band, The Cat Empire, at the Fox Theatre. We'd never heard of this band, but it's one of their son Max's favorites, so we wanted to give it a try. Best live music in forever! Cat Empire plays happy fusion music. One song sounded like it was from south of the border and the next sounded like a polka. All of it was awesome and the CU students were in ecstacy. There was a lot of moshing going on. The band was made up of several members, all of them insanely talented, particularly their trumpet player. Thanks to my formative years playing said instrument, I have a soft spot for trumpet players. And this one did not let me down. I now need to get all my new music recs from Max and Ian.

So movies. The best one easily was The Departed. I'm partial to anything done by Scorcese and starring DiCaprio so I knew this would be one for me. DiCaprio owns this movie. Yes, I know Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon are in it, but it's DiCaprio's movie. He outacts everyone hands down, making him The Best Actor of Our Generation. Yep, it's official. Jack plays psychotic Jack and he does it well but he really does play himself. Matt Damon is an actor I'm not too fond of, and luckily he plays an utterly unlikable character, so that worked for me here. All that being said, The Departed is not in the top tier of Scorcese films. It's not Age of Innocence, it's not Goodfellas and it's not The Aviator, but it's 100% worth seeing and DiCaprio should get a best actor nod out of it. The Departed is a dark movie though and for that reason alone it could never really be my favorite movie of the year. That honor still currently resides in the hands of Little Miss Sunshine.

Next up was Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers. Another great movie that is a must see. I went in thinking this was going to be all about the battle of Iwo Jima. It is to some degree, but most of the movie centers around the repurcussions of the infamous pic taken of soldiers raising a flag there. This picture so inspired the American people that the government had the soldiers in the pic tour the country to raise money to finish the war. Performances were spot on, particularly that of Adam Beach playing Ira Hayes, an American Indian in the photo. I did have a bit of a problem with the execution of the film. Eastwood chose to tell it in a non-linear fashion so this meant tons of flashbacks. And the devices used to segue into these flashbacks tended to be pretty cheesy: lighting flash--->flashback! thunderous applause from a crowd--->flashback! camera flashes--->flashback! You get the picture. It also messed with the momentum of the battlescenes for me. And finally the original music by Clint Eastwood himself drove me nuts. The guy needs to learn to delegate. Still, I in no way want to discourage you from seeing this movie. Flags is a story that needed to be told and I was not bored for a second of it.

And to go back in time, a few weeks ago I saw one I'd really been looking forward to - Half Nelson. And no, this isn't a wrestling movie, except in the sense that the protagonist was wrestling with his soul. Get it. Yeah, that's how I felt during most of the movie. Starring one of my favs and one of the runner-ups to that Best Actor of Our Generation title, Ryan Gosling, HN told the story of a good-intentioned inner city school teacher who spends his evenings doing crack and sleeping around. Yep, it's the whole yin and yang thing. The story ups the ante when one of his students sees him shooting up crack in the girls bathroom after hours. Performances are indeed good, but the story meandered like crazy, was too obvious, at times too uncomfortable for me, and in the end went nowhere. This indie is one that really let me down. If you're a Gosling fan, check it on dvd when you're in the mood to sink one level lower in your current state of depression.

Next up for me: Marie Antoinette, Running with Scissors and Borat. And since I have tomorrow off (yippee!), I plan to take in one of these.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: May the forest bewitch you.

-sunday

Battlestar's Back

2006-10-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Thomas and I kicked off the weekend by heading over to Rich and Melissa's to watch the season premiere of Battlestar Gallactica. Yep, we were in full-on geek mode. Thomas is a fan of all things sci-fi and as ever, I am open to all forms of entertainment. From its initial mini-series, BG has exceeded expectations. It is so much more than sci-fi. It's to sci-fi as Deadwood is to the western. If you haven't seen either of these shows, just trust me. It's genre-bending. It also has a great cast and explores complex issues from religion to abortion to terrorism. Plus there are spaceships. What more could you want? That said, I was a little disappointed in the season 3 premiere. Part of the problem was that we kicked things off by watching the 10 webisodes of BG that were released on scifi.com to whet its viewers appetites over the hiatus. Each webisode was between 2 and 3 minutes. And they were all boring and pointless. The Office also did webisodes this summer. I haven't watched them yet, but hopefully they pulled it off better than BG.

The problem with the premiere itself is that it was two hours, rather than the standard one. This amount of time just wasn't called for. It prevented the show from being as tightly scripted as it could have been and resulted in me being a tad bored during the middle portion. It didn't help matters that one part of the crew is stuck on a planet that's being occupied by Cylons (robots) and the rest of the crew is floating about space trying to plan a rescue attempt. So this year instead of the crew all being on the battlestar kicking ass, a good chunk of them are instead living as civilians/insurgents on Cylon-occupied Caprica. This gave the writers leeway to make some ill-fitting parallels (humans = Iraqis, complete with suicide bombs and Cylons = USA). This was way too much of a stretch for me. On top of that it jolted me out of the storyline itself. This is happening all too often in tv and movies these days. If I wanted to hear about politics or Iraq, I'd watch the news. I seek entertainment and escapism in my shows, not to hear yet another screenwriter's take on What's Happening in the World. Maybe I'm alone in this, because it's happening more and more.

Don't get me wrong though. BG planted enough seeds and stirred enough interest that I'm sure it will pull off another great season.

-sunday

Dinner and a Movie

2006-10-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Ok, so I didn't actually go to this particular dinner and this particular movie at the same time, but I wanted to write about both. Thomas just wasn't up for a movie called, The Last Kiss. Shocking, I know. But this is a title pretty much guaranteed to draw me in. Romantic comedy, I'm thinking. Turned out to be not too romantic and not too much comedy either. This was kind of a poor man's remake of my beloved Beautiful Girls. Except that Beautiful Girls is beyond wonderful and Last Kiss was OK at best. It too was about a group of guys in their late twentys having a quarter-life crisis. First we have Zach Braff living with Jacinda Barrett (the Aussie model from Real World London). She gets pregnant so he decides to step out on her with college girl Rachel Bilson of the OC. Then we have Casie Affleck who is cursed because he's married with a baby, then there's some other guy who's suicidal because his girlfriend dumped him, and finally a guy who's bummed because all the women he meets actually want a relationship and not just a one night stand. These poor, poor guys. They have it rough.

The tribulations of Zach Braff of course hog the lion's share of this movie. And the premise here is just plain flawed. I'm sorry, but this guy is way too goofy looking for me to believe a super model and a hot college girl are fighting over him. In my review of The Family Stone, I noted that Sarah Jessica Parker did not have a face for the big screen. Zach Braff is the male version of her. On Scrubs, a show I just can't get into, that goofiness could be somewhat acceptable given the right amount of alcohol. But on the bigscreen....yikes! Enough wiuth the closeups already. Aside from the fact that Braff just isn't hot, the entire movie seemed to be written and performed by people who wanted the institution of marriage to be abolished. This was like a marriage horror story. If you're engaged, do not go to this movie. If you're pregnant or your wife/girlfriend is pregnant, do not go to this movie. It will depress the hell out of you. The final thing that bugs me is why does almost every movie these days have to have a guy as the protagonist? I read that Entertainment Weekly did a cover story on this recently. Only something like 8 or 18% of movies released by big studios this year had a woman as the protagonist. This is ridiculous. I like my share of big studio blockbusters just like everyone else, but women do account for 50% of the population and we need more Family Stones, more Bridget Joneses. One a year just ain't cutting it. Rant over.

And now for the dinner. Luckily it was a big improvement on the movie. This past Sunday was the official kickoff of birthday month so Thomas took me to L'Absinthe, a newish French restaurant in Boulder I've been dying to try. All I can say is YUM. To kick things off right, I ordered absinthe (sans the wormwood, more's the pity). Several years ago Cyd and I developed a bit of an absinthe obsession, Cuban passport stamps be damned. I'm not sure what stirred our interest, as it wasn't available in the US, but thanks to our lack of absinthe spoons and OCD, the myriad of steps required to properly prepare the drink were never followed. So the taste of our version could be described as medicinal at best. On a trip to London, we did go to an absinthe bar where Cyd swears we watched the bartender prepare the drink with spoons, fire and all, but I recall absolutely none of this. Anyway, I was thrilled to have our divine Chilean waiter prepare the drink and light it afire right before my eyes. He also told me that absinthe spoons can still be procured. Who knew? Though the first sip was a little too like licorice for my taste, the aftertaste was pleasing and the rest of the drink went down well. The waiter said it's original use actually was medicinal and it's recommended if you have stomach problems. As for the rest of the meal, I got the prix fix dinner - mussles then trout in beurre blanc sauce. Both were excellent. We will definitely be back. This weekend we're trying Le Chantecler in Niwot wtih Eddie and Larissa so my French food fixation will be sated.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day (straight from the seventies): Just wink....I'll do the rest!

-sunday

It's Fall-tastic!

2006-10-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Fall is my favorite time of year in Colorado. Right now I just wish I could hit the pause button because it's so beautiful and I know it can't last for long, especially since the wind is starting to return. Luckily we've been able to enjoy it of late thanks to our Indian Summer. My parents were in town this past weekend and it was in the 80s - almost too hot for me. My mom has been wanting to go to a hockey game and as luck would have it the Avs were playing the LA Kings. I used to get to go every once in awhile with Cyd back in the day when she could score free tkts, but it's been awhile. This time I actually watched part of the game. Luckily we were seated next to the the world's most passionate Avs fan and he answered all of our questions while sitting on the edge of his seat. Important facts: Joe Sakic is the captain and has been forever and the goalie is Jose Theodore who recently dated Paris Hilton and is known as a ladies man. How lucky was I to actually sit next to a man who even knew some gossip. Our seats were up high, but they were right in front of the goal where all the points were scored so it was very exciting for mom and me. We got a bird's eye view of six goals. My almost fav part tho was when the camera pans the crowd and people have to dance or kiss. This was soooo much fun to watch. And finally, in case you're interested, we won - 4 to 3!

Last weekend, Thomas's dad was in town and he and Thomas took me to an early bday dinner at a new restaurant (for us, anyways) Praha in Longmont. Thomas and I both LOVE Eastern European food and this is now the best place to go for it. The atmosphere is romantic, the service was excellent and the food was beyond wonderful. If you're in the neighborhood, check it out.

Not much has been playing in the movies these days. Thomas and I did check out Flyboys, primarily because he's a fan of any war movie. It was way too long, the acting wasn't too great and had a few pointless subplots, but the action scenes were spectacular. Also of note, the movie was financed by Larry Ellison's son, David who is an actrobatic pilot in real life and amazingly he also gets to star in the movie.

Next up for me are Half Nelson (if it's still playing.......please!!), Black Dahlia and All the King's Men (even tho reviews for the latter two are fairly hideous).

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day (courtesy of Mom); Kinky Friedman for Governor

-sunday

9/11 on Film

2006-09-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Last week I watched two 9/11-related movies. The first was the much-discussed Path to 9/11 on ABC. The movie covers what happened from the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 to the attack on 9/11. It centers around John O'Neill who works at the FBI and spends years directing and participating in efforts to catch Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda until he finally gets fed up with the buearcrocy and inter-agency fighting and quits, only to start work at his new job on 9/11. And what was his new job? Head of security for the World Trade Center. Talk about unlucky. And right out of Shakespeare or a Greek tragedy. This is one of those situations where truth is indeed stranger than fiction. And that's the thing. The entire time I watched this excellently made mini-series, I kept thinking, if only this were just a movie. That it was instead, based on all too real events just kept breaking my heart. As for all the controversy, Path actually isn't political. If you want it to be, I'm sure you could find reasons to be mad about how Albright or Rice or someone was portrayed. But that's so not the point of this film. True, most of it is focused on events that occured during the Clinton administration for the simple reason of timing. He was in office for 8 years during these events, while Bush was in office for 9 months. Path doesn't spend much time slamming Bush or Clinton though. It instead focuses its attention on the FBI and the CIA. Here's who came out looking good:

John O'Neill and some other agents in the FBI
Richard Clarke
A Phillipina policewoman who helped capture one of the bombers in the 93 attack
A US Border Agent (another woman) on the Canada border who helped prevent the Y2K attacks
A CIA operative named "Kirk"
And most of all: Massoud, the "Lion of Panjshir", leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance who fought Al Qaeda. And as CIA op Kirk said, the US never had a truer ally. Unfortunately, shortly before 9/11 he ends up killed by two Al Qaeda pretending to be a reporter and cameraman.

Who looked bad:
The CIA in general and George Tenet (who served both admins) in particular
Madeline Albright and Sandy Berger of the Clinton admin
Our Ambassador to Yemen when the USS Cole was bombed
Condoleeza Rice of the Bush admin

A few negative remarks were made about Clinton, but he was rarely shown. A lot of attention was paid to Bush's absense when the 9/11 attacks happened and the lack of direction provided. But that was pretty much it.

Even if it is unfair here or there, the story more than makes up for it. The acting was spot on (special kudos to Harvey Keitel, Donnie Walberg and Stephen Root aka NewsRadio's hilarious Jimmy James), the production quality was flawless and the story was always informative and at times riveting. I can easily say that it was the best miniseries I've seen since Lonesome Dove. And that's saying something. My takeaway is that we are too caught up in procedure, political correctness and red tape to consider ourselves safe, be it 8 years ago or today. Luckily the movie also demonstrates that whatever mistakes any agency or administration made, the true enemy is Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Hopefully that's something all Americans regardless of their politics can keep in mind.

The second movie was United 93. After reading Creede's review, I ventured to my own version of Redbox at King Soopers and got the dvd. This film was much more condemning of the Bush administration because they were at the helm when 9/11 occurred. The FAA and the military were shown in a particularly damning light. In the first half of the movie they kept running around like chickens with their heads cut off, unable to believe what was happening - that this was a real life situation and not a test. The second half of the movie focuses on doomed flight 93 itself and that's the part that stood out for me. The realism was heart-wrenching. The plan devised by the passengers could have worked. And the tactics they employed to gain control of the cockpit were brutal but brilliant. It made me proud to know that there are still some people in this world who will put everything on the line, even when they shouldn't have to. I can only hope that every senator and congressman that we have remembers the sacrifice the United 93 passengers made to prevent that plane from crashing into the Capitol every time they debate a bill or cast a vote. Something tells me though, that this isn't the case.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Save an elk, shoot a land developer.

-sunday

September Movies

2006-09-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I've seen a few movies in the past few weeks, so here are some mini reviews:

Little Miss Sunshine - Easily my favorite movie of the year. Stellar cast, great story, at times hilarious and at others painful, this is one of those movies you don't want to end. A disparate group of people take a road trip to a beauty pageant. They have one thing in common - blood. LMS manages to show exactly why you need family and how sometimes life's messy situations are the ones that end up meaning the most. Steve Carrell proves he's not a one-dimensional player here, but he is just one part of the year's best ensemble.

Hollywoodland - Or Hollywoodbland as Creede called it after listening to me gripe about it. This movie was fine. That's it, fine. It tells the story of actor George Reeves' suspicious suicide. Ben Affleck plays Reeves and somehow came away with Best Actor honors at Venice. He was again, fine (something tells me playing an out of work actor looking to get a role isn't a huge stretch for him), but if this is the best acting of the year, I need to turn in my frequent movie watcher card now. I started looking at my watch after an hour. Unfortunately I had seventy minutes left to be bored. I've yet to see its evil twin, Black Dahlia, but despite its 37 on the Tomameter, my guess is it'll be more interesting at least.

The Illusionist - I've bragged before about the power of my suspension of disbelief, but in this movie it failed me. The Illusionist is gorgeous to look at and the music by Phillip Glass is the best I've heard in a movie in years, but I just couldn't buy 1) the tricks and 2) the mystery. If I were to see Ed Norton performing magic live on stage, I would be impressed. But since it was a movie, I just kept thinking all of his tricks were CGI. Then, the mystery. I won't go into it, but it's called The Illusionist for goodness sake! Performances by Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel were all great. Rufus Sewell stole the movie for me though as the villian. He looks like he belongs in the period - turn of the 20th century Vienna - and his performance was divine as always. Good news for Biel is this should elevate her for good from an endless series of teen roles.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: It's not all going to be okay.

-sunday

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

2006-09-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
In the past couple of months Thomas has been secretly rearranging our netflix queue moving all sorts of nonsense up to the top, guaranteeing that I am bound to be disappointed. Examples: Flightplan, The Siege, 83 Charing Cross Road, Near Dark and Equilibrium. You may have heard of Flightplan (aka worst Jodie Foster movie ever), but the others are pretty obscure or old. And all of them are pretty darn bad - except for the first 2/3 of 83 Charing Cross. But the last third was dismal enough to earn an overall bad review. In addition, some of the films that I missed last year that should have been outstanding ended up disappointing/boring me. Yes, I'm talking to both of you, Corpse Bride and Wallace and Gromit.

Finally I had enough and reordered the queue. My first selection was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang starring Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer and it was awesome. It felt like a return to the glory days of the 90s when Tarantino penned scripts you'd want to watch over and over. As this film proves, screenwriting's what it's all about. And interestingly enough, the screenwriter, Shane Black, was one of Hollywood's fabled Young Turks back in the day - and its highest paid screenwriter. A couple of standouts are Lethal Weapon andLast Boy Scout to name a couple. Then he wrote a couple of bombs and disappeared. Now he's back, thank goodness.

In the movie, Harry Lockhart (Downey Jr) is a thief who lucks into auditioning for a role as a private detective in a Hollywood movie. In preparation for the audition, he shadows a real life detective, Val Kilmer's Gay Perry. The two go out on one of Perry's cases and in the course of events, dead bodies start showing up. In the meantime, Harry sets out to woo his old childhood friend Harmony (Michelle Monaghan) who's now a struggling actress. The three get tangled up with some bad guys and spend a few days trying to solve the case and exchanging lots of amusing dialogue. Some suspension of disbelief is required, as the plot is a bit unrealistic, but that's really beside the point. The point is the character development and teh dialogue. Particularly between Kilmer and Downey Jr. Both were typically excellent and it was obvious that they had oodles of fun making KKBB.

A sample exchange courtesy of IMDB:

Perry: Go. Sleep badly. Any questions, hesitate to call.
Harry: Bad.
Perry: Excuse me?
Harry: Sleep bad. Otherwise it makes it seem like the mechanism that allows you to sleep...
Perry: What, f***head? Badly's an adverb. Who taught you grammar? Get out. Vanish.

Kilmer's delivery makes it all the funnier. I can only hope that this duo is re-paired in the future. If so, we as an audience have a lot to look forward to.

The only downside was the casting of Monaghan. I disliked her heartily in Mission Impossible III and though she has a more interesting character to play in this film and doesn't do a bad job, I couldn't help but heartily dislike her in this film as well. Superficial as it may be, I think it's her face. Just looking at her annoys me. So in this dream future where Kilmer/Downey Jr amuse us once again, I hope they find a more agreeable leading lady.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: I ain't bashful, I'm from Nashville!
-sunday

Never 4Get

2006-09-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Spotted in the Broomfield, CO 9/5/06: An SUV shoepolished with

Never 4Get
Steve Irwin

2006 Emmy's Wrap-up

2006-08-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

The 58th Annual Emmy Awards were handed out Sunday night. In his opening monologue Conan O'Brien jokingly informed the audience that it was 58th and Final Emmy Awards. Unfortunately, I almost wish this were true. Yes, the Emmys were that bad. Not only were 80% of the awards they handed out ridiculous, many deserving actors and shows weren't even nominated. I'm convinced the people that vote do not watch tv. And to add insult to injury, the telecast itself was just plain boring.

This is not to say that the show did not start out well. It did indeed with a hilarious montage where Conan tries desperately to get to the Emmys as he travels through tvland. He gets: stranded on the Lost island, scared by Dwight and interviewed at The Office, trapped in a closet with Tom Cruise on South Park, 24's Chole on the phone for help, and diagnosed by House. Loved every second, except perhaps for the Dateline NBC bit. They could have cut that. Does anyone under 65 actually watch that show?

Conan's opening monologue was also great and I even enjoyed his song and dance number. I can definitely tell you if I were still in college or in some other situation where I regularly stayed up late on weeknites, his would be the late night tv show I'd watch. Forget Leno, Letterman and the rest. He then raised the bar by wheeling out Bob Newhart in an airtight chamber and informing him and the audience that if the show goes over 3 hrs that he would run out of air. Newhart's patented subtlety and deadpan expression were put to excellent use in this running gag. And funnily enough, most of the speeches were quite short. Very few were played off by the orchestra. You can breathe a sigh of relief: the show came in at 3 minutes under 3 hours. So Newhart lives!

Unfortunately the monologue had to end at sometime though and the awards presentation began. Here's a complete list of winners.

And now for some things that stood out to me in the big categories:

Best Supporting Actress - Megan Mullally won for Will & Grace. Thank God that show is done, so it can't get an y more awards. Who was robbed? Jaime Pressley, My Name is Earl

Best Supporting Actor - Alan Alda, The West Wing. Whoopee! They got one right. He wasn't there to accept it though.

Best Supporting Actress - Drama: Blythe Danner, Huff. I don't watch the show, so I can't judge. In general she's a good actress. Her speech was a bit scattered and daffy.

Best Supporting Actor - Comedy: Jeremy Piven, Entourage. Yes! I haven't watched this summer due to no HBO, but I loved him in the first two seasons and I love him in movies as well. Creede actually has a Jeremy Piven rule: If he's in the movie, it's bound to be good. So far, the rule has held true.

Best Variety Show - Daily Show. Who was robbed? The Colbert Report. The Emmys continues its reputation for always being behind the times. The Colbert Report is to the The Daily Show as The Simpsons is to Tracy Ullman.

Best Actor - Miniseries: Andre Brauer, Thief. Yes! If you missed this show, you should be kicking yourself.

Best Actor - Comedy: Tony Shaloub, Monk. Tony must have A LOT of friends in the biz. Who was robbed? Steve Carell.

Best Reality Show: Amazing Race. Who was robbed? Project Runway.

Best Actress - Drama: Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order, SVU. Like all police procedurals, this show requires very little acting, but all of the nominees sucked so it didn't really matter who won.

Best Actress - Comedy: Julia Louis Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine. I've never seen it, but I loved her as Elaine, so I'm okay with this.

Best Actor, Drama: Kiefer Sutherland, 24. I love his voice and I've liked this show on and off, but there are just so many better actors this could have gone to. Most of whom, of course, weren't even nominated.

Best Comedy: The Office!!! It's all good and Pam looked so glamorous. I loved show creator, Greg Daniel's speech. Who knew he and Conan used to be roomies.

Best Drama: 24. Who was robbed? Of the nominees, Grey's Anatomy or House.

Now for The Sundays:

Most Beautiful: Virginia Madsen looked absolutely gorgeous. It's also nice that she's not 20 years old and anorexic.

Best Dressed: Katherine Heigl's vintage Escada gown. Fabulous and it fit her perfectly.
Runners Up: Evangeline Lily (Kate from Lost), Helen Mirren and Annette Bening

Best Dressed and Pregnant: Heidi Klum. She looked amazing in her red gown. And she outshined many, many women of the night that actually had a waist.

Worst Dressed: Eva Longoria - her poofy white gown overwhelmed her. The proportion was off and teh bodice was weird.

Runners Up: Mariska Hargitay. I hated this dress. She looked big as a house, the detail in the front drew the eye to all the wrong places and the bodice was again, weird.

Best Hair: I really liked Kim Raver's upswept hair. It was very pretty and given that it was 100 degrees, practical.

Worst Hair: Paula Abdul, looking particularly troll-like.

Runner Up: Ellen Pompeo. Pulled back tight and straight, she looked even more like an alien fish than usual.

Best Idea for a Fashion Correspondent: Tim Gunn. It was a brilliant move to bring in Project Runway's top gun for the pre-show, but they didn't give him enough time.

Best Slapdown: Jeremy Piven to Billy Bush during the pre-show: " You have potential as a human being. You shouldn't be doing this."

Best Conan line: About the heaviness of the Emmy award: "Of course it's heavy! It's carrying the shattered dreams of four losers."

Funniest Speech: Greg Garcia, won for Best Writing for a Comedy Series (My Name is Earl): He read off who he didn't want to thank. These included his 8th grade science teacher and his first boss.

Runner Up: Marc Buckland, won for Best Directing of a Comedy Series (My Name is Earl). I guess we now know why this show can be so funny.

Funniest Presenter: Stephen Colbert calling the audience "godless sodomites".
Runner Up: Matthew Perry

Best Surprise: When all three of the original Charlies Angels walked out onstage together!! I was so excited when the music for the show started playing. Farrah was weird as always but Kate and Jaclyn were great and Jaclyn especially still looks beautiful.

Weirdest Pairing of presenters: Tyra Banks and Victor Garbor. You so know that Tyra had to be a last minute replacement for some no-show.

Freakiest Looking Guy: Ray Liotta. 4 words: Too much plastic surgery.

Biggest Problem with the Telecast: Too much crap we don't care about - tributes and the oodles of awards doled out to tv movies and miniseries. They need to get their own awards show.

Whew. That's it! Thank God for the Golden Globes. Maybe they'll be better.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: They hate us for our freedom fries.

Denver T-shirt of the Day: If you can read, thank a teacher. If you can read in English, thank a Marine.

-sunday

Skip Scoop

2006-08-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Woody Allen is like the little girl with the curl on her forehead. When he's good, he's very, very good. And when he's bad, he's awful. Yes, you've heard that 1000 times, and that's how hackneyed many of the jokes and one-liners in Scoop feel as well. I went into Scoop with high expectations given that it was his follow up to last year's brilliant Match Point and that it was also set in London and featured Scarlett Johansson. For some reason I feel it is my duty in life to see every Woody Allen movie in the theater. Many of these have paid off, but in the past decade or so, he's had lots of flops.

Scoop could not have been more different than Match Point. It was deliberately distinct in tone, obviously intended to be one of Woody's comedic films. To throw another cliche at you, they say death is easy; comedy is hard. Scoop proves it. I think the time has come for Woody to retire from being in front of the camera. His stammering, stuttering, washed-out presence made Scoop little more than an annoyance. Woody played Sidney, a magician touring London who meets Scarlett's Sandra, an American journalism student, when she is selected to take part in his disappearing act. During this disappearing act, Sondra encounters the ghost of a recently dead reporter (Deadwood's Ian McShane) who gives her a scoop that rich, aristocrat Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) is London's notorious Tarot Card Killer.

Got that? My level of suspension of disbelief is such that this concept did not pose a problem for me. I actually didn't mind the ghost. In fact because he was played by McShane, I quite enjoyed him. Just listening to McShane's voice is a pleasure and it was interesting to see him in a modern day role, brief though it was. What I minded was Scoop's flimsy plot, lack of character development and its scattered editing. It felt like Woody was so busy perfecting his dreadful performance that he neglected his directing duties. The film's other oddity was Johansson's appearance. I'm not sure whether the costume designer had a deep-seated dislike of her, a crush on Josh Hartnett or what, but Johansson was made to look as dowdy as possible - scene after scene showed her in unfashionable glasses, ill-fitting shorts, and baggy tops. Her hair was perpetually in a high ponytail covered with a scrunchy of all things. This decision as well as many other made Scoop the movie a much bigger mystery to me than the one ultimately solved on screen.

Before the movie I saw several new previews. The one that stood out the most was Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman (Max from Rushmore and Coppola's real life cousin). I am a huge fan of Coppola's films Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation so no matter the reviews, I will go see this movie. That said, the preview was utterly bizarre. The images were gorgeous, the problem was with the sound. This is one of those movies where everyone is speaking English either with a British or French accent, EXCEPT, the star of the movie, Dunst, whose every line sounds like something spoken by a valley girl. It's like she thinks she's in the movie Clueless and everyone else thinks they're on Masterpiece Theatre. I already have to wonder what the heck Coppola was thinking. There's a fabulous story here, but I can already tell it would have been so much better if actual French were spoken. I think audiences (at least those actually willing to see a period film to begin with) are able to accept subtitles. Current release date is 10/20/06.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Support Your Local Universe.

-sunday

Miami Nice

2006-07-31T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Given how slow the summer movie-going season has been, I was thrilled to have three movies out in an eight day period that I wanted to see and actually got to see. The third movie was Michael Mann's Miami Vice. Back when MV was a tv show, I never got to see it for the simple reason that we didn't get that channel. This happened a lot because for a very long time we only got one channel: KXII, aka CBS. However, I do remember that my friend Amy had a poster of Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett on her wall and he was very pretty indeed. This makes the look devised for Colin Farrell's Sonny all the more bewildering. His hairstylist has got to stop it with the long blondish hair that was first brought to screen in Alexander and makes another unfortunate appearance in MV. He's a good looking guy when he has short, dark hair (see Tigerland for proof). To top it off instead of sporting Johnson's five o'clock shadow, Farrell has a full-on handlebar mustache. This combined with his crazy accent - part redneck, part newscaster, part Irishman and I wasn't sure what to think. Luckily Farrell had great chemistry with his female lead, Li Gong. I imdb'd Gong and found that she was in Memoirs of a Geisha, playing the evil Hatsumomo, and in 2046, a movie I'm dying to see. She has a fairly thick accent so I couldn't understand everything she said, but Gong is stunningly beautiful, has great presence and is fun to watch.

That's the thing about this movie: it was fun to watch. Mann is unsurpassed in giving a movie a beautiful, distinctive look and feel. From speedboats propelling across the ocean to planes flying through the clouds to a stunning house in the middle of a rainforest, Mann's camera catches them all in an eye-opening way. I'm a dialogue kind of girl, but in his movies I'm happy just to watch whatever his camera touches on.

The movie is both simple and confusing, depending on how seriously you want to take the plot. Basically Crockett and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) go undercover to catch a druglord and uncover a mole. The druglord's right hand man is Isabella (Gong) and as expected, Crockett falls for her. There are many parties involved: Columbians, disco club owners, two kickass female detectives, all sorts of US agencies, confidential informants and white supremists. In the middle of the movie, there's a great scene where the police attempt a rescue. Surprisingly, this scene was the high point of the movie.

I enjoyed almost all of MV, but the ending which left me with an unfinished feeling. The finale was anti-climactic. There is the standard Michael Mann shootout scene, but it's not nearly as good as the ones in Heat or Collateral. The actors all did a decent job, even accounting for Farrell's accent, but as Creede and I were saying last night, this part should have been Matthew McConnaughey's. He needs to fire his agent now. The rest of the movie was cast it seemed straight from HBO: I spotted Sol Starr from Deadwood, Cesar from Rome and Herc from The Wire. Thomas noted that we never did find out who the mole was. But that wasn't really the point of this movie. It was more style than substance. But when Mann can present style in such a wonderful way, it makes the trip worth it.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Ausralopithecus ends in us

-sunday

The Return of Winona

2006-07-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Before there was Angelina, before there was Gwyneth, there was Winona. Since she was a teenager, Winona Ryder has been the actress most representative of my generation. She was goth teen Lydia in Beetlejuice, sarcastic killer Veronica in Heathers, dreamy Kim in Edward Scissorhands, grunge girl Lelaina in Reality Bites, and Joe in Little Women. Great directors wanted to work with her - Scorcese and Coppola to name two of the biggies. She was nominated for an Oscar twice. She inspired Johnny Depp to tattoo Winona Forever on his arm and dated practically every lead singer around. She even had a fling with Mr. Big himself during the height of Sex and the City. Then something happened. She got arrested for shoplifting and went underground. She actually hasn't had a good role since 1999's Girl Interrupted when Angelina herself stole her thunder and the Oscar. I have waited patiently for the return of Winona and it's finally here with Scanner Darkly.

So is Scanner Darkly worthy? I think it was a good choice for her reemergence. SD is helmed by beloved indie director Richard Linklater (not so indie these past few years, actually), it's based on a cult scifi novel by Phillip K. Dick (unread by me) and it's got a killer cast: Keanu, Woody, and Robert Downey Jr. Winona isn't the protagonist in SD; she is The Girl, but it's not a one-dimensional role. She plays Donna Hawthorne, girlfriend to Keanu's Bob. At the beginning of the movie we're told that it's set seven years in the future. Bob is undercover drug agent investigating a group of Substance D users and potential dealers. He and Donna are both among this crew so he's in effect investigating himself. Like Linklater's Waking Life, SD is filmed in rotoscoping animation, a technique that I personally don't like for the simple reason that it makes me dizzy. Linklater's toned the effects down a lot in this film, so I only had to hide my eyes for probably 10% of the movie (it was more like 80% in Waking Life). The animation was helpful in showing some of the hallucinations of the characters and the scramble suits worn by the undercover drug agents. But aside from that, I just don't think it adds anything to the movie. The animation kind of makes SD seem futuristic, but it's distracting.

The performances of all the leads are good. Winona as usual is able to convey much with her eyes and Downey is a standout with an especially humorous performance. The story itself was confusing to me. It's all about paranoia, conspiracies, and watching/listening to a group of addicts do their thing. My favorite parts were the exploration of the Bob/Donna relationship, but that represented too little of SD to make this dark and ultimately depressing work a success for me. Was Winona a success though? You bet. And hopefully her next role will more effectively showcase her talents.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: This car is on an energy diet.

-sunday

P.S. I forgot to mention that The Fountainhead was on significant display in one scene. Linklater updated the screenplay, so I wonder if this scene was taken directly from Dick's book or if Linklater added it. If anyone's read the book, please advise!

The Tale of the Literary Rat

2006-07-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Every month or so I get recommendations from the Tattered Cover Bookstore. If you've ever been lucky enough to go to this bookstore, you'll know why I take these recs seriously. The TC is simply the best bookstore in the world - or at least the part of the world I've been to. Shakespeare's in Paris is a close second, thanks to its history. When I lived in Denver, my weekly visit to the Lodo store provided a much needed respite. Cyd actually dated a guy who lived above the TC. I could not imagine the bliss of having such an address. And now there's a new TC on Colfax, replacing the one in Cherry Creek. I've yet to venture there, but this seems like a good move to me. In their last newsletter, the TC recommended a new book called Firmin, by Sam Savage. The next day I went to the library and sure enough it was among the new releases. Kismet.

Firmin is Sam Savage's first published work. His picture on the back of the book showed a hagard looking man complete with long white hair and beard. Though he got a PhD from Yale in philosoply, it says his past jobs were everything from a bicycle repairman to a commercial fisherman. Needless to say, my interest was piqued. Between the author bio and the summary of the book - it's about a rat who lives in a bookstore and develops the ability to read - I was extremely excited to begin reading this book, particularly since I was bent on finishing 1984 when I got my hot little hands on my copy. I gleefully told Thomas, mom and Creede all about it. And the latter two at least were also anxious to read it.

And then I read this gem of a first paragraph and I was even more convinced that this book could break into my top ten: "I had always imagined that my life story, if and when I wrote it, would have a great first line: something lyric like Nabokov's "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins"; or if I could not do lyric, then something sweeping like Tolstoy's "All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." People remember those words even when they have forgotten everything else about the books. When it comes to openers, though, the best in my view has to be the beginning of Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier; "This is the saddest story I have ever heard." I've read that one dozens of times and it still knocks my socks off. Ford Madox Ford was a Big One."

All of this leads me to the following; Firmin was not what I expected. When I think of a literary rat, I think whimsical. Not so Firmin. It turns out if you're a rat who can read, but can't speak, you lead a bit of a tortured existence. Firmin has many of the primal instincts of a rat, but thanks to his exposure to works of fiction and non-fiction alike, he is a thinker, a dreamer, a brooder. And he's terminally unhappy with his inability to convince the humans around him that he knows more about books than they do. The two humans he is obsessed with are Norman, the owner of a bookstore where Firmin makes his nest and Jerry, a radical writer who takes Firmin on as a pet.

Firmin is set in Boston's Scollay Square, a hardscrabble neighborhood that is being dismantled by the government. The city has given up providing services to the neighborhood so there's garbage rotting everywhere, making it a rat's paradise. I kept wondering as I read it if this really happened. My curiosity was satisfied by the the author note at the end. Savage states that Scollay Square did exist and that it was demolished in the 1960s to be replaced by the ominous sounding Government Center.

So that was an interesting bit of history I learned. Another thing I picked up was an album recommendation: No Sun in Venice by Modern Jazz Quartet. Thanks to Thomas's Rhapsody service, I was able to read part of the book to this album, one I surprisingly enjoyed. I'm fairly distrustful of jazz thanks to my most hated elective of all time. At SMU I took an Evolution of Jazz class thinking it would be an easy A and a much needed break from the horrors of Fortran and Calculus. My teacher came to class each day dressed in a sweatsuit and a tie. His pretensions knew no bounds. My detestation of him was also boundless and rubbed off on jazz as well. His teaching was an absolute mystery to me. We seemed to spend more time analyzing Earth, Wind and Fire than anything else. I was awarded a B- for my efforts. Obviously, I have yet to get over it. But it's good to know that No Sun in Venice is out there.

Back to Firmin. I can say that I'm glad I read the book and did enjoy parts of it. Savage has a much apparent love of books - and any reader who loves books will enjoy some of his observations on The Big Ones. Firmin just wasn't what I was looking for after 1984. There was a dearth of the much anticipated whimsy. And that was just something I couldn't forgive at the time. I instead got a big dose of Firmin's depression caused by the purgatory he finds himself in. After that perfect first paragraph, Savage writes about how for some books it's impossible for the book to live up to that first sentence. Was this some type of caveat emptor to the reader? Perhaps, because this was the case with Firmin.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Jesus Saves. Buddha Invests.

Clerks Strike Back

2006-07-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This weekend Thomas and I went to see Clerks II with Tom and Becky after we had dinner in Louisville at Via Toscana (high marks for food, service and atmosphere). The first thing that struck me when we entered the theater was that when 2 teenage to college-age boys go to a movie together, they still sit with one seat between them. I remember them doing this back in Oklahoma when I was in high school and I'm surprised to see that years later they're still doing this in Colorado. Does this behavior extend all over the nation...the world...has it been in existence since cinemas first opened? Sometimes, I'm really glad to be a girl.

Ten years ago I remember watching Clerks in Arkansas with Chris Setser, I believe. It was one of the first true low low budget indie movies that came out and I loved it. Now we finally have the sequel and get to find out what Dante and Randal and Jay and Silent Bob have been up to all this time. It turns out not much has changed. But things are about to. Clerks focuses on the the existential crises of Dante and Randal and their struggle to maintain their friendship amid change. That doesn't mean Kevin Smith strayed too far from his roots. Also present in the film are riffs on the war between Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans, insults to coworkers and customers, a love triangle, a donkey show and lots of jokes. Clerks II was profane, disgusting and laugh-out-loud funny. Two gray-hairs left the movie about 20 minutes into it. The only thing surprising about this was that they were in there to start with.

The movie takes place the week before Dante is set to leave New Jersey to live in Florida with his overly enthusiastic fiance. So enthusiastic is she that she insists on wearing a "Mrs. Hicks" shirt for pretty much the entire movie. The Quick Stop has closed so Dante and Randal are now working at a fast food joint, Mooby's, run by Becky (fanboy dreamgirl, Rosario Dawson). While Dante is ready to finally step out of his clerks uniform, the other 3 guys are fairly content with their roles in life. I especially enjoyed the antics of Jay. Watching him apply chapstick and dance about in front of Mooby's is a joy to behold. Kevin Smith's Silent Bob on the other hand spent far too much time mugging for the camera. This character took a turn for the worse in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and he has yet to revert course. Jeff Anderson (Randal) showed some surprising acting chops. I imdb'd him and see that he pretty much only stars in Kevin Smith films. His performance here proves he should be able to expand his repertoire.

As long as you have a strong stomach and are up for some silly humor, Clerks II is worth the ride. Smith even tacks on a dance number and an ending that is guaranteed to make you smile.

-sunday

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

2006-07-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH EASTASIA

WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH EURASIA

Hey everyone! My summer book reading continued after the now beloved Curious Incident with a classic that I've somehow managed to avoid: George Orwell's 1984. The above slogans are taken from the book. They are the slogans of the Inner Party of Oceania, the futuristic setting for 1984. And curiously enough, about two days after I finished the book, I saw a car with several bumperstickers of these slogans. I was quite happy to be able to identify their source.

1984 by George Orwell was published in 1948. From Thomas I learned that it was based on or in reaction to a similar work by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin, We. I could also not help comparing it to Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living, published in 1936. I won't bother to recap the plot, as most have probably already read this book or seen the John Hurt movie. And for anyone who hasn't, I don't want to spoil it. I can tell you that it's thin on characters but bursting with ideas and ideology.

1984 was easily the most depressing book I've ever read. And anyone who knows me can confirm that I tend to avoid depressing books like the plague. Movies I can handle, but books not so much. My mom, brother and Cyd were all surprised to learn of my latest reading choice and expressed concern for my state of mind. What could have driven me to such an out of character choice? That would be Jen and Thomas. Jen got huge points with her loan of Curious and Thomas has talked about 1984 for as long as I've known him. And even after reading it, I know he still gets it more than I do. Though I did find 1984 to be wrist-slicingly depressing, I could not help but be amazed by Orwell's prescience. He predicts everything from the internet to video cameras to the government's ability to spy on its citizens.

In true scaredy-cat fashion, I'm someone who has said many times in the past that I don't care if the government monitors my phone calls because I've got nothing to hide. 1984 has made me reconsider this. As long as you trust the government and know who they're after and that you don't fit the profile, you can assume you've nothing to worry about. But what happens in 50 years? Who could be running our country then and what could their goals be? Every right we cede now could come back to haunt us in the future.

Another example. July 1 was the official kickoff of the smoking ban in indoor public places in Colorado. I was in Creede for the occasion and a little shocked to find that the bars in town were complying, as Creede is a stick-it-to-the-Man town if ever there was one. But they were, though there were some complaints voiced. One in particular that I heard was from the town's prior judge. Something tells me cigar smoking may still be tolerated in Creede. Given that I've taken but a few puffs of a cigarette here and there in all my life and that the smell of smoke makes me nauseous, I was beyond thrilled when smoking was banned. But will this be a stepping stone - a precedent - for eliminating something I do enjoy? It's all quite confusing and I'm a bit torn to be honest.

This is what comes from reading classics, depressing books or even worse, depressing classics. But I must admit that I'm glad I did it this one time. I can say though that it will be a long, long time before I tackle Zamyatin's We.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: My Sailor Protects Your Honor Student.

-sunday

Devil Wears Prada

2006-07-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! The Devil Wears Prada is an ode to high fashion and the fine art of paying one's dues. With is high production quality, endless array of gorgeous clothes and accessories, and cameos from highrollers in the fashion world (I spotted YSL, Heidi Klum and Giselle in a small role), Devil is eye candy for girls. First off let me say that I haven't read the book. Though it was a huge hit, it just did not seem appealing to me. I thought it would be light on story and nothing but page after page of label-dropping. The movie definitely worked for me though. It's got a great cast with Meryl Streep channeling Cruella Deville, the always spot-on Stanley Tucci, and an interesting Anne Hathaway. Hathaway plays Andrea, an idealistic journalism graduate who can't find a job writing in NYC so she takes one as the second assistant to Streep's Miranda Priestly, the editrix of Runway (both substituting for Anna Wintour and Vogue). The opening shot alone was worth the show. It pans about as the entire high heeled staff of Runway skitters around in a panic perfecting the office in preparation for Miranda's morning arrival. Miranda tortures Andrea in ways large and small. Andrea in turn starts out disparaging the fashion world and slowly gets sucked in until she has the obligatory makeover. The movie makes a lot of judgements about women. How those who put their career first will surely end up regretting it, how you should follow your heart no matter whether there are jobs out there that let you viably do so, and how unfair it is that you should have to pay your dues. Pretty much anyone starting out in the workforce has to pay some kind of dues. And those choosing fields in the arts probably have to do so even more. We've all heard the horror stories of assistants in the art world, movie world, etc. It seems that creative types - once they reach the top - must be some combination of more demanding and more unrealistic. But is the payoff worth it? In many ways it seemed to be for Andrea. The obstacle of her equally idealistic boyfriend (a boring Adrien Grenier) not approving should have been easily overcome.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.

Emmy Nomination Nightmare

2006-07-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Last week the TV Emmy nominations came out. The awards aren't until September. I'm not sure how they do it, but the nominations were even more baffling and disappointing than usual. Some of these shows I have never seen. But who really needs to watch the ten billionth sitcom about how stupid guys are to KNOW this type of drivel should not be included in any Best Of list.

Drama Series: "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; "House," Fox; "The Sopranos," HBO; "24," Fox; "The West Wing," NBC. 24 and The Sopranos

Weirdest Choices: Sopranos and 24. I didn't watch Sopranos yet, so I could be speaking out of turn. But I hear it was an off year. 24? That's so 2001.

Most Glaring Omissions: Lost, Rome, Battlestar Gallactica

What They Got Right: Grey's and House.

Comedy Series: "Arrested Development," Fox; "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; "The Office," NBC; "Scrubs," NBC; "Two and a Half Men," CBS.

Weirdest Choices: Two and a Half Men and Curb Your Enthusiasm

Most Glaring Omissions: My Name is Earl and Entourage

What They Got Right: The Office made the list though, so it should have a clean shot at winning this award (deservedly so). Though Will & Grace received 10 noms, Best Comedy thankfully wasn't one of them.

Miniseries: "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; "Elizabeth I," HBO; "Into the West," TNT; "Sleeper Cell," Showtime.

Cruelest Choice: The only one I watched of the nominees was Into the West. It was beyond horrible - AND it received 16 nominations.

What They Got Right: Though I didn't yet see it, I hear Bleak House is the stand out.

Actor, Drama: Christopher Meloni, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Denis Leary, "Rescue Me," FX Network; Peter Krause, "Six Feet Under," HBO; Kiefer Sutherland, "24," Fox; Martin Sheen, "The West Wing," NBC.

Weirdest Choices: All of them. In particular, if you were going to choose someone from West Wing (which had a great year), why Martin Sheen? He was barely on this year.

Most Glaring Omissions: Hugh Laurie or what about one of the guys from Rome?

What They Got Right: Nothing

Actress, drama series: Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer," TNT; Geena Davis, "Commander in Chief," ABC; Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under," HBO; Allison Janney, "The West Wing," NBC.

Weirdest choices: All of them. Do these people even watch television? I guess I can be happy for Geena Davis though her show is horrid, because at least she made a really good speech when she won at last year's Golden Globes.

Most Glaring Omissions: Polly Walker from "Rome" and Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars

What They Got Right: Nothing

Supporting actor, drama series: William Shatner, "Boston Legal," ABC; Oliver Platt, "Huff," Showtime; Michael Imperioli, "The Sopranos," HBO; Gregory Itzin, "24," Fox; Alan Alda, "The West Wing," NBC.

Weirdest choice: William Shatner. The Emmy selection committee must be being blackmailed by David Kelly and/or him.

Most Glaring Omission: Any one of the guys from Rome (Titus, in particular), Logan from V Mars, Gaius from Battlestar

What They Got Right: I am thrilled to see Alan Alda on the list. His performance on West Wing was superb. He outacted everyone that came near him.

Supporting actress, drama series: Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal," ABC; Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Blythe Danner, "Huff," Showtime; Jean Smart, "24," Fox.

What They Got Right: This category makes sense to me. I'm a fan of Oh and Wilson. But I would really love to see Jean Smart win just because I love Charlene Stillfield so much (but she did do a great job playing a lunatic first lady as well).

Most Glaring Omissions: Starbuck or the President from Battlestar Gallactica

Actor, comedy series: Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; Kevin James, "The King of Queens," CBS; Tony Shalhoub, "Monk," USA; Steve Carell, "The Office," NBC; Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men," CBS.

Weirdest choices: I can't believe Charlie Sheen and Kevin James were nominated. Not that I watch their shows, mind you.

Most Glaring Omissions: Jason Lee

What They Got Right: The only person I'm happy to see on this list is Steve Carell. Hopefully he will win.

Actress, comedy series: Lisa Kudrow, "The Comeback," HBO; Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine," CBS; Stockard Channing, "Out of Practice," CBS; Debra Messing, "Will & Grace," NBC.

Weirdest choices: Jane Kaczmarek, Stockard Channing, Debra Messing

Most Glaring Omissions: Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls The horror!

What They Got Right: Lisa Kudrow in a good, but extremely uncomfortable performance.

Supporting actor, comedy series: Will Arnett, "Arrested Development," Fox; Jeremy Piven, "Entourage," HBO; Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men," CBS; Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace," NBC.

Weirdest choices: Bryan Cranston and Sean Hayes

Most Glaring Omissions: Jim and Dwight from The Office!!! How could they?!

What They Got Right: Will Arnett and Jeremy Piven.

Supporting actress, comedy series: Cheryl Hines, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; Alfre Woodard, "Desperate Housewives," ABC; Jaime Pressly, "My Name Is Earl," NBC; Elizabeth Perkins, "Weeds," Showtime; Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace," NBC. The new season of HBO's The Wire won't begin until Sept. 10, but there is already buzz about Police Lt. Charles F. Marimow.

Weirdest choices: Cheryl Hines, Alfre Woodard (good actress in a bad season of a mediocre show and her character was not even meant to be funny), Megan Mullally

Most Glaring Omissions: Pam from The Office and Kelly Bishop from Gilmore Girls

What They Got Right: Jaime Pressly

-sunday

Fourth Festivities

2006-07-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

“A place can really make your heart skip a beat, especially if you have to take a plane to get there." --Andy Warhol

Hey everyone! Though it doesn’t actually take a plane to get to Creede, there have been many times Thomas and I wished we had that as an option given the 4-5 hr drive over several mountain passes. Unfortunately, the only pilot we know lives in the British Isles. But as usual, this trip was worth it. We headed down on Saturday to celebrate the 4^th. It was a smaller crowd this year, so it was pretty mellow. I didn’t even get to make it to the theatre. This year’s shows are Crazy for You, The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Jesse James (this event actually occurred in the town of Creede back in its Wild West Days), Sweeny Todd and Enchanted April. I really want to catch those last 2 at some point this summer. But I did get to spend lots of quality time at Sans Souci catching up with my parents, petting the dog, walking about and reading. The scariest part of the trip was when the ladder my dad was standing on collapsed and he fell and fractured a rib. I saw the whole thing happen – too frightening for words. Luckily the rib was the only thing injured.

I also got to see my aunt Cindy, her husband Bob, and their best friends Donna and Ron. Donna was something of a rock star to me when I was a kid so it was great to catch up with her once again. We had a bbq on Monday at Rio Loco, Cindy and Bob’s new place. The weather cleared up enough so that we got to spend most of the day outdoors at the fruit stand, aka their gazebo by the Rio Grande. Aside from Scout trying to steal fish from the fishermen (Bob and Ron), it was a fun and relaxing day.

As anyone who’s been to Creede can attest, the one thing it needs is more restaurants. And this summer it actually got two: Kips Grill and Cascada. I especially enjoyed the latter. The owner has brought in a group of Russians to work the place. Vicki from Belarus was our waitress and she was quite friendly. I can't imagine the culture shock she must be going through though.

On Tuesday we went to town for the Creede parade. We all agreed that there were more people there than ever. I’m talking thousands. The town normally has about 600 residents so this is a big deal. The parade is so popular probably because the peculiarity of its floats (one was a truck full of guys with signs that said “Happy 50^th Birthday, Joe” – basically anyone can have a float) and the massive quantity of candy and beads handed out. It’s gotta be second only to New Orleans for beads handed out per capita. We all got a string, and my mom got more than anyone. The parade started off with a WWII fighter plane buzzing Main Street. I have to say that was my favorite part this year.

Thomas and I had to take off after that to head back to Boulder. We watched the fireworks that went up over Folsom Field from the hammock on our deck. It was twenty minutes of splendor. We were serenaded by a group of tipsy college girls on the other side of the fence. I was shocked by the number of patriotic songs they knew – Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, Proud to be an American, etc. I didn’t know they taught kids these songs anymore, so that was a nice surprise.

-Sunday

Summer Reading At Last

2006-06-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I'd been through a bit of a dry spell for the past month or so when it came to reading. I stopped and started several books. I then lucked into one and received a few others on loan from Jen. Here's a summary of a few I've enjoyed of late:

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. Several months ago I read about a project in the works to retell some old myths in a modern way. I stumbled upon The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood at the library. In the intro I found that Canongate Books is spearheading this project and in the next few years several other books in the series will be coming out - at least one already is Weight, by Jeanette Winterson (the re-telling of Atlas). I was also thrilled to learn that Donna Tartt will be retelling one of the myths. This was wonderful news as it took her at least a decade to come out with her second book (much loved by me) The Little Friend. So now I won't have to wait another decade to read something by Tartt.

The Penelopiad is the first in the series and it tells the story of Odysseus and Penelope from her standpoint. All I really remembered about Penelope was that she had to wait at home for years for Odysseus while he was off having adventures. The story tells how she ends up married to him in the first place, what she did while waiting and what she thought of the whole thing. Not surprisingly, she wasn't too thrilled. It throws in lots of bits I didn't know such as Penelope was cousin to Helen of Troy and upon Odysseus's return 12 maids were killed. The maids serve as a chorus in the book and tell a bit of the story as well. If you're a fan of mythology, or just want to brush up on it a bit, you should enjoy this book.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is one of the books Jen loaned me. I had seen this book in the bookstore of course, but never felt the need to pick it up. Something about the cover or title didn't click with me. But after the first few pages, I was hooked. I read this book last weekend and that's pretty much ALL I wanted to do. Luckily it was pretty, so I got to spend lots of time in the hammock. Bliss is the only word that comes to mind. Curious tells the story of 15 year-old Christopher, an English autistic boy who lives with his father. It opens with the killing of a neighbor's poodle. Christopher is determined to solve the mystery. He believes he can do this because he's extremely smart - especially at math. The book is told from Christopher's perspective and his voice is so distinct and original. I couldn't believe how refreshing it was. Many things I read that i enjoy even, just don't have that distinctive of a voice. This book had it. There are a few twists thrown in and though you can imagine how trying he must be to be around in person, on the written page you can do nothing but root for him and pray things turn out okay. I cannot recommend Curious more highly. It is compulsively readable.

Charmed Thirds by Megan Mccafferty is the third in the Jessica Darling series. I really enjoyed the two predecessors to this book, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings and was surprised to find a third was already published. Mccafferty made the news a couple of months ago when it was discovered that debut novelist and Harvard student Kaavya Viswanathan, plagarized some passages from her. I can see why she did so. Mccafferty can turn quite a good phrase and she's very creative. All three of these books are page-turners. Thirds tells what happens when Jessica goes to Columbia and her erstwhile boyfriend Marcus heads west to go to Buddhist school. This leads to much angst and depression. There's not too much to be happy about in Charmed. While this tendency was also present in the first two of the series, this is to be expected and almost celebrated since Jessica was in high school. But once you're in college, there are lots of things to be happy about, so her endless moaning and complaining started grating on my nerves. That said though, I had little trouble finishing this book in lightning-quick speed. I underststand that Mccafferty is already writing the fourth in this series. I think it's time to put it to rest and start with something fresh.

Happy reading. Pls forward any good suggestions you have to me!

-sunday

The British are Coming!

2006-06-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I had a real treat last weekend. My old friend from SMU, Stacia came into town for a few days with her wonderful fiancé Dean. They were driving cross country on their way to LA and paid us a visit. It was wonderful catching up with her, as I haven’t seen her too much in several years because she’s been living in London. Seems to be a trend for my friends. To top it off, Dean is English so I got to satisfy my curiosity about all things British. I am very appreciative of most things British (books and movies and Churchill and Blair, in particular), so this was quite exciting for me. Here are a few things I learned from him and Stacia:

The British really do like football (soccer). The World Cup was on while they were here and Dean watched bits and pieces. He was very caught up in the spectacle and was rooting for England, Australia and the USA in that order.

Stacia said the English do deserve their “reserved” label. They have a stiff upper lip about almost everything but football. That’s where they let out all of their emotions. After a tough game, there sometimes won’t be a dry eye in the pub.
The English do not tend to get involved with people outside their inner circle – those they’ve known forever. And it’s still a classist society. The likelihood of Cinderella stories is not good.
English people consider curry their national dish. And they like it spicy. At Rhumba Dean ordered his killer hot. I guess this is never done, because the chef came out to check on him. Dean wasn’t fazed though and said he’s had hotter.
English people are more eloquent than Americans (no surprise there).
The English don't like imposing on others in any way, shape or form. Dean's comparison of an American drowning and asking for help and an Englishman was particularly hilarious. Basically 3 words versus a treatise.
English people are very suspicious of anything that's supposed to be on sale. So that's why they never have sales in their stores and tend to avoid Ebay.
English people prefer to be called English rather than British, as it’s more specific. This has always confused me – I’ll blame it on my lack of a geography class. I have actually been to London twice and Brighton once, so I can’t imagine why I didn’t get this down then, but for all those in a similar state, here’s a summary:

People in the UK are called British although they have different nationalities
Great Britain is comprised of England, Scotland and Wales
The UK's full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Countries in the UK are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
The British Isles are made up of the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and a whole bunch of other small islands

Some English people (at least 1) prefer coffee over tea. This was a nice surprise as almost everyone I know refuses to share a cup with me

I’m sure I picked up many more particulars, but they escape me at the moment. We did our best to show them around the area. This included taking the top off the Jeep and driving up to Estes Park to check out the Stanley Hotel. I’ve driven past it several times but never gone in. it reminded me a bit of Hotel Colorado. I would definitely like to spend the night there one night. Though signs warned against it, we snuck upstairs to find room 237. The scary room from The Shining. But get this……it didn’t exist! Pretty creepy, eh? The only other weird thing was empty room after empty room set up with long tables covered with white cloth. In front of each table was one chair placed just so. Stacia speculated that some sort of Scientology experiment was in progress. Before we got converted, w left to have a snack on the front porch of the hotel and enjoy the view. It was a gorgeous day. We then drove the Peak to Peak highway back through Gold Hill. Thomas took advantage of this opportunity and we somehow ended careening up on dirt roads alongside huge drop-offs with no guardrails. Around Gold Hill there were a couple of forest fires and we saw one helicopter pouring water onto a fire. We ended the night on Pearl Street, eating at Rhumba and being entertained by the Boulder hippies and buskers.

Stacia and Dean are in LA now. They are both writers. Stacia of novels and screenplays (she has one of a giant squid that has adapted to exist in a lake in KS where it terrifies the locals that sounds like it’s going to be awesome) and Dean of screenplays (I won’t give away his ideas here. No spoilers to be found). So good luck to Stacia and Dean. I hope you both make it big in the city where dreams come true and invite me to your premieres.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Bring Back Capitalism.

-sunday

NYC Pics

2006-06-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, We finally got our pics off our camera from the June trip to NYC. Here's Thomas and me at the greatest building in the world! And some others of us all in NYC - including shopping at Bloomindales, our hotel, the Studio 54 Theatre, etc.

-sunday

Big Apple Revisited

2006-06-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This weekend I got to return to that greatest city in the world, New York. This time with Thomas, Marlene and Allison. We arrived Friday afternoon in the midst of a rainstorm but didn't let that stop us. We pricelined our hotel and lucked out with The W on 49th and Lex. It rocked! The rooms were small (but who stays in your room in NYC except to sleep), but it had tons of amenities from Bliss Spa, which has a store inside the hotel, and a modern, swanky lobby/bar where they are happy to serve you $8 amstel lites. Yes, we indulged and yes, it was worth it.

Three blocks down from The W is my fav building ever and Thomas's inspiration for my wedding ring, The Chrysler Building. I'd actually never been inside it before so we decided this was the ideal time. Although we weren't able to make it to the top to see the offices (think Aviator) the lobby alone was worth the trip. The ceiling is comprised of one of the world's largest murals entitled, "Energy, Result, Workmanship and Transportation," by Edward Turnbull. The mural was inspired by man's achievement and love of enterprise. Very Fountainhead. When the building was completed it was the tallest in the world between 1929 and 1931. Per this source, in what was certainly one of the greatest secrets and publicity coups in Manhattan real estate history, the famous stainless steel top was installed to the public's utter surprise in about 90 minutes in November, 1929. The tip of spire was 1046 feet high. The stainless steel cladding had been hidden in five pieces within the building's shell and was hoisted out of the top of the building and riveted into place. Can you just imagine walking out of your apartment one day and looking up and suddenly seeing that spire, virtually appearing out of nowhere? What a gift to the city! Also a joy to behold were the marble floors and the gorgeous Art Deco elevators. I envy the people who get to work in that building. Funnily enough, we met an extremely talkative lady from Alabama who'd come to check out the building. Her son just graduated from law school and is set to join a practice whose offices are in the Chrysler building. Lucky guy.

After that, we continued our Art Deco architecture tour and visited the Waldorf Astoria. It's also a gorgeous building, particularly the lobby. We decided to have dinner at Oscars there and enjoyed the Veal Oscar and of course, a Waldorf salad which was especially delicious. The entire time I ate it I thought of the hilarious Fawlty Towers ep where a group of Americans come in and demand this dish of the beleaguered Fawlty.

The next day we headed downtown on the subway for breakfast at The Cupping Room. A relaxed cafe in Soho that has great atmosphere and serves delicious food. Cyd introduced me to it and I've been there twice before in the past year. Anyway, while I was there one of the waiters remembered me from these visits and was extremely kind. I go to Zolo in Boulder at least once a month and this has yet to happen to me there. And people say New Yorkers are rude. This was so not our experience on this trip. After breakfast we shopped some in Soho and then headed to the new Apple store on Fifth Avenue - The Glass Cube - a beauty to behold. Once inside I sent emails just because I could while Thomas marveled at the genius bar. Apple has got it down.

Next was our first Broadway musical, The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center. Marlene sent me a first edition of the book earlier in the year. The musical is based on the book by Mississippi author, Elizabeth Spencer. It restored my faith in musicals! I think it ties with Rent as my favorite musical ever. It won five much-deserved Tonys last year, including Best Music, Best Lead Actress for the divine Victoria Clark, and Best Scenic and Costume Design. The story, the performers, the sets and the music were beyond wonderful. Light takes you through a range of emotions from humor to heartbreak. I cannot recommend this one more. Hopefully it will have a traveling show. We then had an early dinner at a fab Italian joint called Cafe Fiorello where Thomas and I split a wonderful proscuitto pizza and a pear salad.

Finally we ventured to our next musical, Threepenny Opera, showing at Studio 54. My expectations for this one were extremely high because starring in it were Cindy Lauper, Alan Cumming and our fav, Nellie McKay. This was a revival of the Bertl Brecht work and the only song you're likely to have heard of from it is Mac the Knife. Things started out poorly when we were crammed into seats with legroom that made United Economy seem extremely generous. Things got worse when the depressed looking cast appeared on a poorly lit stage. And they kept getting worse as all the music sounded like a funeral dirge. All I can say is Brecht and this revival's adaptor, Wallace Shawn, must both be a couple of extremely depressed people. The story and the direction of this show were beyond horrible. Allison, Marlene and I were all up for leaving at intermission, but Thomas somehow enjoyed Threepenny's twisted, satirical world. I do have to say that Cumming and McKay were great performers, as were scene stealers Jim Dale (voice of all the Harry Potter audio books) and Brian Charles Rooney as cross-dresser Lucy. Lauper was a disappointment. We decided the seats were so uncomfortable to prevent you from falling asleep and escaping the visual and auditory torture.

The next morning we were joined for brunch at Heartbeat, the hotel's restaurant, by Thomas's aunts and diehard New Yorkers, Mary Ellen and Anne. A good time was had by all. Unfortunately we had to leave around 12:30 for our 2 pm flight. Tho it turned out this wasn't really necessary given the 5 pm departure time thanks to United's mechanical problems. They don't make it easy for you, but delays and all, I wouldn't have missed this trip for the world.

-sunday

The Best of TV, The Worst of TV

2006-06-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Now that it's June 1, the 2005/2006 television season is officially over. So it's time for this year's Sundays, a list of awards voted on by an elite group of tv-savvy people (that'd be me with Thomas occasionally pitching in when I bugged him enough).

Best Show on TV: The Office
Best Soap Masquerading as a Drama: Grey's Anatomy
Best Unwatched Show: Thief
Best Last Hope for the Human Race: Battlestar Gallactica
Best Reality Show: America's Next Top Model
Most Overrated Show: Desperate Housewives
Best Season Finale - Sitcom: The Office
Best Season Finale - Drama: Lost
Best Series Finale: TBD (I've yet to see either West Wing's, Alias's or Everwood's, but it will be one of the three)
Most Unrealistic Season Finale: Prison Break
Worst Season Finale: House (a show I usually ADORE, but save me from the Dream Episode please!)
Worst Series Finale: Will & Grace
Best Comeback: West Wing
Best Cast: Grey's Anatomy
Show Most Likely to Annoy Thomas: Real World
Most Wanted in a Time of Crisis: The Unit
Most Disappointing Sophomore Season: Veronica Mars
Most Disappointing 6th Season: Gilmore Girls
Biggest Shock: The last minute of Lost
Best TV Husband: Joe DuBois, Medium
Best TV Kid: Bridget DuBois, Medium
Least Likely to Agree with You: Gregory House, House
Best Use of the English Language: Al Swearengen, Deadwood
Sexiest Redneck: Sawyer, Lost
Best Married Couple: Allison and Joe, Medium
Best Potential Couple: Jim and Pam (Jam), The Office
Most Unlikely Couple: Dwight and Angela, The Office
Most Disappointing Couple: Luke and Lorelei, Gilmore Girls
Best Sidekick: Rose, Dr. Who
Most Surprising Death(s): Ana Lucia and Libby, Lost
Best Kiss: Jim and Pam, The Office Season Finale
Most Annoying Brother: Randy, My Name is Earl
Best Starcrossed Lovers: Seth Bullock and Alma Garret, Deadwood
Best Reconciliation: Veronica and Logan, Veronica Mars
Most Looked Forward to Summer Show: Deadwood
Most Looked Forward to Summer Show if you don't get HBO (e.g., Me): The Hills, MTV

-sunday

Da Vinci Decoded

2006-05-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So opening weekend, Thomas, Jen and I went to see Da Vinci Code. I was all stirred up as usual about this thinking I'd have to deal with long lines and front row seats. Instead we arrived to no lines and a theatre that was about 2/3 full. And we had excellent seats. An absolute necessity for any movie over 2 hrs. I had dramatically lowered my expectations for DC thanks to 1) The casting, 2) Tom Hanks's hair and 3) the whopping 17 it scored on the Tomameter. Lowered expectations are always a good thing. Because as it turned out the movie was not, in fact, horrible. It was a good movie and I was never bored. The Never Bored test is the one that MUST be passed if I'm to like a movie. But don't get me wrong. I didn't love this movie. It turned out that the casting was a problem, tho surprisingly Tom Hanks's hair didn't end up bothering me too much. I did read the book a few years ago and it was quite the page turner, but I'd forgotten about 4/5 of the plot. This proved to be very helpful as I had no clue where the movie was going and I did get caught up in it all. I had trouble with some of Ron Howard's directing choices - too many ghostlike figures wandering about and too many bizarre closeups. Weird choices between that and the casting. Oh, did I mention the casting? Tom Hanks was so not who I imagined when reading about Robert Langdon. Jen had some good substitutes - Viggo Mortensen and Aaron Eckhart are two that I can recall. And I think Aaron Eckhart would have been absolutely perfect. And tho I absolutely adored Audrey Tautou as Amelie, I didn't dig her as Sophie (this is probably due in part to my antipathy for her Amelie follow-up, A Very Long Engagement (aka, A Very Long Very Boring Movie). I would have infinitely preferred French actress Julie Delpy as Sophie. She and A Eckhart would have had fab chemistry and I can guarantee the movie would have ended with a passionate kiss. Instead at the end, I prayed that Tom would not go there with Audrey. Hyena-like laughter combined with nausea would have been the only possible response. Luckily Howard must have sensed this as well. Aside from Tom and Audrey, the cast was filled with all the stock French actors. Need a French detective? Who else to play him than Jean Reno! He is the go-to guy for French detectives. But the story is good, the pacing is fine and the locations are great. So DC's worth the trip to ye ole cineplex afterall.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Save the earth so we have some place to boogie.

-sunday

May Book Review

2006-05-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! It's been a bit since I've reviewed books, but there've been a few worth noting:

Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sue Townsend - Sue Townsend has written four or five Adrian Mole books, and I've adored them since I stumbled across my first one whilst in college. I remember reading Adrian Mole, Aged 13 & 3/4 while on the treadmill at the OU gym. This was not a good idea as I actually started laughing so hard that I fell off the treadmill. Not my finest hour. But definitely one of my more enjoyable ones. The Adrian Mole books are all about a British boy who imagines himself an intellectual, superior to all about him, particularly his parents. His one object of devotion is Pandora, a girl in his school from an upper-class family. The first two Adrian Mole books are beyond hysterical. They're told in diary format and are too quick of a read for anyone to avoid. Townsend then struck out Adrian Mole, The Cappuccino Years, released a few years ago. It tells of Adrian's misadventures in his 20s and was quite disappointing. I'm happy to say that she has returned to form with this latest in the series. Adrian is now in his 30s and has a son in Iraq, hence the title. All my favorites are back - Pandora, the Mole parents, etc. I saved this book for our trip to Hawaii and it was definitely the perfect beach read. It got a little too preachy toward the end for me (totally out of character for these books so it just didn't work), but given all the chuckles it gave me, that is easily forgiven. I now look forward to whatever lies ahead for Adrian. Regardless of your age, anyone from 12 to 102 should enjoy reading about the bizarre world of Adrian Mole.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith - Unlike the rest of the modern world, I read On Beauty before Smith's acclaimed White Teeth. The setting of the book was instantly appealing to me. It's about two families in the world of academia, the Belseys and the Kipps. The Belseys are a liberal mixed family - the father Howard is a white professor at Wellington, a fictitious Ivy league school and his wife Kiki is an African American homemaker. The Kipps are a conservative black British family - the father Monty is also a professor and he and Howard both teach some form of Art History, but with radically different theories on the topic. The drama unfolds when Monty takes a guest professor post at Wellington and the two families begin intermixing. Some friendships are made, some enemies reinforced, and some secrets are unveiled, but this book is really about the characters. On Beauty is told from several different perspectives - Howard's, Kiki's and two of their high school and college-aged children. Smith has a brilliant ability to capture a character's voice and make it ring true. The book is long, but there was enough drama and bits of humor to make it very enjoyable.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith - I'm really glad I read On Beauty before White Teeth. Because getting through this novel was like pulling teeth for me. I enjoyed very, very little of it and though Smith once again tells the tale from several characters' perspectivez - and does this successfully - the problem was that I didn't like any of the characters. And Smith didn't seem to either. The story is once again about two families those of Archie Jones and Pakistani Samad Iqbal. The two men meet during WWII and form an unlikely friendship that lasts for decades. Their wives and offspring intermingle in the book and it gives you several different viewpoints on what it must have been like to have been an immigrant in Britain, or the descendant of one. All I can say is BORING.

Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells - Several years ago I was in love with Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. It made getting older and having kids seem like it could still be fun and crazy. Wells also wrote a prequel called Little Altars Everywhere that was really good. But Bloom is a different story. It has no plot and instead is a series of stories about the Ya-Yas and their kids, the Petite Ya-Yas. Some were mildly amusing, but I picked this up thinking it would be a novel, a continuation of the story or something. Bloom must have wanted some fast cash and traded off a series that was loved by women. Bad idea. With the sub par Bloom, she managed to taint the whole Ya-Ya series.

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris - Harris is most known for Chocolat, the book that was made into a movie featuring the divine Johnny Depp. G&P is set in a British prep school, St. Oswalds. The novel is told from two perspectives, that of Roy Straightley a Classics teacher who's been at the school for 30 years and Julian Snyde, the child of St. Oswald's caretaker. Julian has a pretty poor, bleak childhood at his local school so he decides to sneak about St. Oswald's and fit in as a student there. It works and he even makes a friend. Drama goes down though and 15 years later Julian returns with an alias and a vengeance and manages to get hired as a professor at the school. He is then set upon bringing St. Oswald's down. The story goes back and forth in time and is a very intriguing one. Plus it has a magnificent twist at the end. I did not even come close to guessing this twist, making it all the better, since it is plausible. I ended up caring for both the school, Straightley and many of the other assorted players that make up the novel - from the backbiting teachers to the rebellious but lovable students.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: These colors don't run....the world.

Siskel and Ebert and the Misery

2006-05-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I stumbled across these clips and had to pass them on. They are out-takes from the old Siskel and Ebert Show. If you're a fan (that'd be you, Jen), you will enjoy. The first is quite long, but all are worthy. The two obviously had a love/hate (with quite the emphasis on hate) relationship back in the 80s. Ebert constantly chastises Siskel for his poor enunciation and his inability to up the energy quotient, while Siskel resorts to fat jokes. It makes me wonder if Roepert is spared Ebert's wrath, and vice versa?

-sunday

Weekend Movie Recap

2006-05-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This weekend Thomas and I went to see Mission Impossible 3. I was all stirred up about this and expected long lines and packed theaters. Instead we arrived at the Saturday matinee 5 minutes late to our favorite Boulder moviehouse to find no line and a theater that wasn't even a third full. From an article my brother sent me, this seems to have been par for the course across the country. I guess Tom's antics have officially tried the public's good will. This is unfortunate, as he usually puts on a good show. And I am pleased to tell you that MI:3 tops the first two films. I personally credit the brilliant JJ Abrams (director and co-writer) for this. The cast was also especially good and I loved seeing Felicity (that would be Keri Russell to you, but she'll always be Felicity to me) kick ass in the beginning of the movie. That alone made the movie worthwhile for me. Also excellent were PS Hoffman (no surprise there), Maggie Q (unknown to me before this, but I see that she was also in Rush Hour 2 - she is just amazingly beautiful and a good actress), Ving Rhames and Jonathon Rhys Meyers. A decidedly unappealing Billy Crudup also stars as does the film's one weak link, Michelle Monaghan as Cruise's love interest. The movie was paced well and tho the storyline's twists weren't entirely surprising, I can honestly say that I was never bored. The action sequences and special effects were thrilling, particulary one that takes place on a bridge in DC. I have to warn you that they do the whole face/off mask thing once too often. This is a crutch that Thomas and I both find tiresome, but it was not as overplayed in this sequel as it was in MI:2. If you're looking for an action-packed popcorn movie with some humor thrown in, you won't be disappointed in MI:3. As I told Thomas, I like my celebrities weird. If they were normal, they'd be boring. So give Cruise a chance.

After all that though, MI:3 was not the best movie I saw last week. That would be Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. Palfrey is one of those British movies I so adore starring Joan Plowright (Plowright was Laurence Olivier's third wife after my personal fav, Vivien Leigh). There's no one better for playing older, upper middle class British ladies. She's done this many times in the past couple of decades - for another good example, see Enchanted April. In Palfrey, Plowright stars as the eponymous Mrs. Palfrey, a widow who checks into the London Claremont hotel for an undetermined amount of time. Though she is quite protective of her privacy, she quickly becomes familiar with all the regulars, some of whom have been at the Claremont for years. The one challenge to her stay is her grandson's refusal to come visit her, thus creating something of a scandal among the guests. One day Mrs. Palfrey is out running an errand when she slips and is rescued by Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend - last seen as the evil but cute Wickham in 2005's P&P and Keira Knightley's current real life boyfriend). Ludovic is a handsome struggling writer with a taste for poetry and unlimited time on his hands. He and Mrs. Palfrey develop a decidedly convincing and deep friendship and he serves as a stand-in grandson for her. Mrs. Palfrey is clearly delighted with both the friendship and the drama this small intrigue provides. The movie's message that the people who surround you, who are part of your day-to-day existence - whether they be friends, neighbors or people met through unexpected encounters - can play as strong a role in your life as your actual family - is made beautifully. I hope there are many more such stories that Plowright can make in the future. I will happily see them all.

Palfrey also references the 1945 film Brief Encounter several times and by some lucky twist of fate I had replayed that movie on TCM several weeks ago. I talked Thomas into watching it Friday night and its four stars are rightly deserved. Brief Encounter was one of the first British-made movies to make a big splash in America. It stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard (both unknown to me) as two middle-aged, married people who have a chance meeting at a train station and fall violently in love. Their tear-jerker of a love affair is true to the title, a brief one, and is told as a flashback by Ms. Johnson. Her blunt telling of the tale was at times humorous and must certainly have been shocking to audiences in the 40s. But it definitely rang true and is one of those great old movies I'm glad I finally saw.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Peace: Back by popular demand.

I Heart NY - And the Photos are In

2006-05-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, Cyd emailed me the pics of our trip to NYC. To the left you can see the infamous Scott Cohen and Judd Hirsh at the premiere of My Brother's Shadow. Below are pics of the full cast from the movie, Cyd and I breakfasting in Bryant Park, and finally a pic of Arnold Schwarzenneger. Much to my dismay, Cyd and I left Bryant Park and headed in opposite directions: I to Laguardia and she to the Columbus Circle Whole Foods. There she spotted The Terminator himself getting coffee. She reported that he was surprisingly short. Before my plane took off, I immediately relayed this info via phone to Thomas. After I hung up, the German lady sitting next to me agreed that he was short and stocky and she said he was a jerk. I asked her how she knew all this, and she said her children went to school with his. She also told me that Maria was distant (headline news, that one). So that's your celebrity gossip for the day - no need to even read Us Magazine.

Boulder Bumpersticker or the Day: Actions Speak Louder than Bumperstickers.

-sunday

I Heart NY Part 2

2006-05-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So the rest of my NYC trip. Saturday morning I woke up and put on my new Black Sabbath t-shirt. When in Rome, as they say. Cyd wore a t-shirt she bought on the street from Dennis, a young Russian artist. His brand is Piece of Peace. It should be hitting your neighborhood department store any day;). We went to breakfast at a Brazilian cafe and I was immediately complimented on my new shirt and taste in music (yeah, right) by our pierced Goth-girl waitress. Success! After that we wandered about looking for a schedule to the Tribeca Film Festival. I repeated over and over how shocked I was that this info was not in the day's NY Times. We finally stumbled across an information booth. When we asked for recommendations, the Info guy recommended a few hip hop films and then told us we couldn't go wrong with any of the many hip hop offerings. Cyd and I found this particularly hilarious as neither of us know/care a thing about hip hop. We figured once again our t-shirts lent us an air of cool that we didn't actually possess. Completely disregarding his advice, we instead saw Toots, a documentary of the legendary NYC saloon owner Toots Shor. The doc was absolutely fabulous - the perfect New York story. It contained tons of interviews of Toots' friends and customers and great footage of NYC from the 1930s-70s. His was the kind of place visited by Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, President Nixon, Jackie Gleason and Frank Sinatra. Man would I have killed to be there in its heyday (the 1950s and 60s). At the end there was a Q&A and we found that the doc was directed by his granddaughter. She did a great job. The last question was asked by an old man in a quavering voice. He told her that back when he was a young man he spent far too much time in Toots Shor's and that her granddad always treated him well. He then started crying and she started crying and half the audience teared up. The perfect end to that movie.

We then wandered about and grabbed sandwiches from Cyd's old neighborhood bodega, ate them in a tiny park next to a hippie passed out on the concrete and made our way to Magnolia. Magnolia was made famous (to me at least) in a Sex and the City episode. It's a tiny bakery famous for cupcakes. We got there and there were probably 15 people in a serpentine line in the store. You grab you cupcake, plonk down $1.75 for it and proceed to enjoy the best icing ever. The cupcake was good, but the icing was to die for. After that we decided to take a chance and stand in line for Ed Burns' new movie, The Groomsmen. In typical fashion, we were in no hurry and about half a block from our destination decided to lie about in the sun for 20 minutes rather than check on the line. This proved to be a fatal error. Once we lazily made our way to the line we saw that it was huge. Feeling lucky, we stood there for an hour only to have the line closed 20 people in front of us. Part of the problem were the horrid ushers letting billions of VIPs (none of whom we recognized) walk the red carpet at the drop of a hat. I have to say the Tribeca Film Fest is only 5 years old, but it has a lot to learn. It was very unorganized and shoddily run. They could take some tips from Telluride.

We were not deterred though and decided to catch a flick starring our mutual crush/Top 5 listee, Scott Cohen. You may know him as Max Medina from Gilmore Girls, The Wolf from 13th Kingdom or best of all, The Guy from Kissing Jessica Stein (if you have not seen this movie, immediately Netflix it. It sounds like it's just a chick flick, but it is so witty and so well done that Thomas loved it too). Anyway, the movie he was starring in was called My Brother's Shadow. We made our way to the theatre and the line for it wasn't too long, so we decided to grab a drink rather than stand in the cold. Time has a way of getting away from us and by the time we made it back to the line it was 7:35 (the movie was scheduled to start at 7:30). Luckily the poorly run festival was running late. As we stood in line, I kept noticing bizarrely dressed people pass by. One was a 40 year old woman wearing a lime green headband and a Rick Springfield t-shirt, next was a guy in a letter jacket holding a football standing up out of a limo yelling "Seniors Rule". Quite perplexed I proceeded to make several snarky comments to Cyd until she got fed up with me and pointed down the street to the mega-club, Webster's Hall. That night was Awesome 80's Prom. I then noticed the huge line of brilliantly costumed people: prom queens, girls in full headgear, Judd Nelson and Duckie wannabees and the like. Next time I'm in NYC, I'm so there.

Anyway, after a 20 minute wait where we entertained ourselves by yelling at ushers and prom-goers, the ushers informed us that the premiere of My Brother's Shadow was sold out. At this point Cyd started mouthing off to a magnificent degree telling one poor usher in particular that there would be hell to pay as Scott Cohen was desperate to see us. By some twist of fate, rather than having us arrested this guy took pity on us and decided to sneak us in for free (tickets were $12). This resulted in several Festival workers yelling at him and threatening us, but by some miracle this do-gooder got us in and sat us on the front row (sold out my Aunt Fannie!). Unfortunately, Scott Cohen played a ne'er-do-well ex-convict and looked quite rough throughout the movie. Judd Hirsch starred as his father. I won't bore you with any more details because it just wouldn't be worth it. Shadow will not be released in theaters if you get my drift. At the end of the movie though, there was a Q&A with the director and cast. So yes, Scott Cohen (and Judd Hirsh - Alex from Taxi) was standing not 6 feet from us during the entire 30 minute Q&A. We could have kicked them, but instead just blinded them with our camera flash. And it turned out that Cyd was right. I think Scott Cohen really was glad that we were there. That made the bad movie beyond worth it! I am glad that to report that he is tall and good looking IRL (and he brought his parents as his guests for the premiere). Once Cyd emails me pics, I will post them.

The next day was unfortunately my last. We grabbed breakfast from Pax and ate it in Bryant Park before I had to leave. Another perfectly sunny beautiful day in NYC. It was hard to leave, but the leaving was made easier knowing I'll return in early June with Thomas, Marlene and Allison to catch some plays.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: What Would W Not Do?

-sunday

I Heart NY Part 1

2006-05-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This weekend I met Cyd in New York City. We've been venturing there together since our days in Arkansas, so it's become something of a tradition. This was the best trip in years. The weather could not have been more perfect, and since NYC is best seen and experienced on foot, good weather is mandatory for a perfect trip. I felt this was much deserved since last year it rained cats and dogs and I returned sick as a dog. This time I returned absolutely refreshed.

My trip did get off to quite the rocky start thanks to a miserable experience at DIA and with United. I was running late from parking at Pikes Peak Shuttle because all the DIA lots were full. Pikes Peak has to be the slowest operation on record so by the time I hit security I was cutting it close. United then flagged me for extra security screening. This has never happened before and I pray it will never happen again. The line was filled with the most innocuous looking people in the entire airport - me, a Chinese businessman, two old ladies and a frat boy. The FAA agents were so busy gossiping and joking about that rummaging through my luggage took an eternity. After a sprint to my gate, I arrive and find that my seat is on the last row. I'm in the midst of the plane, pulling my suitcase, with 10 people behind me when a stewardess starts yelling at me that my bag won't fit. The plane is too full. She tells me to turn around and bring it to the front so it can be checked. This is absolutely impossible - which she of course knew - thanks to the 10 people behind me and the world's narrowest aisles. I finally give up and drag my bag to the back where another stewardess yells at me. At that point I gave her my best glare and welcomed her to take it up front for me and plopped down in my seat. She then stores it in the back with her bags, so no checking for me. I swear United has just gotten worse. Of course I was seated next to a talkative man with the worst BO imaginable. And of course our plane was late. Joy. Luckily, that's where the bad part of my trip ended. I know the last thing the world needs is another airplane story (particularly on the weekend United 93 opened, making mine sound incredibly trite in comparison), but I had to get it out.

The last time Cyd and I got a hotel together, I was in charge and thanks to Orbitz got us a particulary scary room. We're talking holes in the shower. It was above a Subway sandwich shop (still can't eat there) and in the midst of Times Square. Never again was our motto. So we pricelined a nice hotel on Park and 38th street. The room was small but it was clean and in a great location. Friday morning we started out with breakfast downtown at The Cupping Room. A great place for waffles and blueberry pancakes. We were met by Cyd's friend Ashley and the three of us then went shopping. I scored new shoes and a vintagesque Black Sabbath t-shirt that I knew Thomas would adore. In my new shoes, I could have walked forever, which we pretty much did. After grabbing a slice and a coke in an idyllic courtyard, Cyd and I eventually found ourselves wandering about the meatpacking district. They are planning an above ground park there which should be interesting once it's completed. Seems very Jetsons to me. We then paid an afternoon visit to Hogs and Heifers, a country music-playing biker joint that gained fame years ago during the Coyote Ugly craze. There was one waitress who did an impressive jig on the bar and about 8 customers and Cyd and me. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson were playing on the jukebox and we were bought free drinks by some anonymous person (all the better) due to our status as The Only Girls in The Place. Cyd was surely the only person in the place that knew all the words to every song played.

After that we rushed off to the hotel to change for dinner and a play. We went to Assenzio, a Sardenian joint downtown that is famous for suckling pig and myrtle liqueur. We had a delicious dinner and then went to see Festen, a poorly named play that just arrived on Broadway starring Julianna Margulies (Nurse Hathaway from ER), Ali McGraw and Jeremy Sisto (Crazy Billy from Six Feet Under). The play was based on the Danish Dogma 95 film, The Celebration, a very dark story about a family gathering for the father's 60th birthday only to have a shocking secret from the past revealed. The performances were fabulous, but the material and the set itself were very dark.

It is a truth univerally acknowledged that two girls leaving a Broadway play at 10:30 pm must be in want of a cab. It is also true that there are destined to be no cabs in sight. So we had no choice but to flag down a rickshaw driven by a mad 25 year old Turk named Mahmoud. Careening in a rickshaw, running red lights through Time Square, is an experience I heartily recommend to anyone visiting NYC. Exhilerating does not begin to describe it. We passed yellow cabs, amusing the cabbies but angering their customers. Sure enough though, we arrived safe and sound at our hotel. The perfect end to a perfect day.

Tomorrow: Wrap up of NYC and Tribeca Film Festival.

-sunday

Spring Movie Recap

2006-04-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I've been utterly uninspired of late when it comes to blogging, but I have seen a couple of movies worth mentioning: Thanks for Smoking , Take the Lead and Lucky Number Slevin. Smoking is the best movie of the year (not that that's saying much). It's really smart and funny and even better, politically incorrect. Aaron Eckhart plays a lobbyist for a whole bunch of cigarette companies. His best friends are fellow lobbyists - one for guns and one for alcohol. They are quite the unholy trio. The cast includes the now unpregnant Katie Holmes, Maria Bellow, Rob Lowe and the great Robert Duvall. If you're a smoker or not, it's worthy.

Take the Lead proved to be the most enjoyable movie of the year for me. Something of a cross between To Sir, With Love and Dirty Dancing. Antonio Banderas returned to form here and reminded me why I really used to like him as an actor (see Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down for a prime example). He stars as a gentlemanly ballroom dancing teacher who, after a chance encounter with a high school student from the wrong side of the tracks, begins teaching the worst of the worst kids ballroom dancing. It's based on a true story and was so much fun to watch. Yaya from one of the past seasons of America's Next Top Model has a major role in the movie as well and was surprisingly good. This one I did not want to end. And I don't think that much.

Slevin is a Tarantinoesque revenge movie that had be guessing up until almost the end. I went with Creede and he guessed the gambit in the first ten minutes. My powers of deduction obviously need some help. The cast is great: Bruce Willis, Sir Ben Kingsley (Sir was actually specified in the credits - I hear he has a thing for this), Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu, who stole the whole movie. It's a good one with lots of violence and humor.

And now, I'm off to meet Cyd in NYC for the Tribeca Film Festival. We plan to catch a couple of good flicks and spot a few stars of course. We already have tkts to Festen, a new play on Broadway with a killer cast. In other travel news, my brother is relocating to delightful Santa Fe this wkend and my parents are going there to help him get situated. So we're all out and about.

Next time: Recap of Tribeca Film Fest (Tom Cruise is going to be in town premiering MI:III, so I'll be on the lookut for all kinds of bizarre antics).

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Amateur Gynecologist (this was on a mini-van which just made it weirder)

New Orleans T-Shirt of the Day: I stayed here for Katrina, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt, a Cadillac and a plasma TV.

-sunday

It's Finally Happened

2006-04-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I just read that Real World is coming to Denver next year. Yep, the mother of all reality shows has selected Denver as it's home for the 18th edition of the series. It's about time. Even the tiny island burg of Key West played host before us. I will definitely be watching to see which locales are showcased. The article says they be living in surprise, surprise, LoDo. I'm sure the only culture they'll get is the downtown bar scene, but it will we worth a gander.

-sunday

25 Years Ago Today

2006-03-30T12:47:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I read on the internet this morning that today is the 25th anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Reagan, my all time favorite president. It's probably the first national event that happened that I can remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. I was at the hairdresser's with my mom and everyone was in an uproar - it was right out of Steel Magnolias. Anyway, this column from MSNBC.com is really interesting and contains a lot of info I didn't know, including two of Reagan's more famous quips made while he was near death. The first was "Honey, I forgot to duck", his initial greeting to his wife . The second was "Please tell me you're Republicans" to his doctors. Talk about grace under fire.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Is it 2008 yet?

March (Movie) Madness

2006-03-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! The past two weeks have brought some welcome relief to us avid movie-goers. I saw two back to back that I enjoyed. These are the first two movies of 2006 that I've seen that have actually been worth a trip to the cinema.

V For Vendetta - I am a huge fan of Natalie Portman's and of the Wachowski brothers' films Bound and Matrix 1. Matrix 2 and 3 were pretty big letdowns for me. Almost everything I heard about V was from last summer when the film got postponed after the London tube bombings. Then I read on Creede's website that it was based on a comic written back in the 80s while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. The opening and closing scenes of V were by far my favorites - absolute masterpieces of combined special effects and music. Buildings in London were bombed with fireworks going off to the tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, one of the few pieces of classical music I not only love, but can reliably identify. The tone that most of this movie is told in is what makes the blowing up of buildings okay. First off, it is based on a comic book and is set in the future, so it just doesn't seem real. Maybe they're trying to get us to see that this is what the future could be like, but I didn't really buy it. To me, this was more of a fantastical work that did result in a bit of post-movie discussion. I found the violence to be on par to seeing aliens blow up the White House in Independence Day - another movie whose explosions I loved. There were no suicide bombings in the movie, in fact the bomber goes out of his way to broadcast the date and exact location of his newxt target. On top of that, the message of V was basically to fight to win back freedoms taken by a truly fascist government - and what could be more American than that? If you want to read more into V than that, you probably can, but you were not beat over the head with any kind of politicking. Natalie Portman was fabulous in the film and there are few actresses that can so easily pull off the shaved head look. Hugo Weaving, the Matrix's Agent Smith stars as the man in the mask. I did wish I could see movement in his face, and as an actor I can't imagine how daunting this role was, but he also did a great job. I have to say that V felt overly long to me and that it slowed down a bit in the middle. I kept wanting more explosions. Those at the end were worth the wait.

The Inside Man - This weekend Thomas, Jen and I went to see the new Spike Lee movie, Inside Man. Spike Lee is one of my favorite modern-day directors. It doesn't hurt that as I sit typing this I can look to a photo I took with him a few years ago at the Denver Distinguished Lecture Series. He was very nice and let me have two pictures taken. I thoroughly enjoyed his thought-provoking lecture. Aside from Henry Kissinger's, it was the best I heard in that series. I've also enjoyed a good many of his films, Malcolm X (the movie Denzel should have won his lead Oscar for), in particular. I have felt that Lee's been off his game a bit lately though. The last film of his that I enjoyed was 2002's 25th Hour starring Edward Norton and this year's Oscar winner, P.S. Hoffman. I was thrilled that Lee returned to form with Inside Man starring the delicous Denzel, the equally delicious Clive Owen and an under-used Jody Foster. I can only take so many movies about bank heists and "one last job"s, but Inside Man had an original script, fabulous actors and a great director. It definitely freshened up this over-played genre. It makes me sooooo glad that I did not waste my time on this year's poorly reviewed Firewall starring Harrison Ford. The other noteworthy thing about Inside Man was its well-defined characters - even those with the smallest of parts felt like they had fully-drawn people to play - from the Albanian ex-wife to the Sikh frustrated with being constantly mistaken for a Muslim terrorist. There are many twists to the story that I don't want to spoil, and the script doesn't tie up every loose end. Even today I've been exchanging emails with Jen filled with speculation. My only real problem with the movie though was the ever-changing camera styles. Lee did not employ one particular look and feel for this movie, a la Michael Mann. At times the camera jittered wildly and at other times he would employed fast close-up swoops, both of which I suffered in agony given my battle with motion sickness. I have to wonder if enough people enjoy this style of film-making to make up for all of us that get sickened by it. If I could ban something in the world, that would be near the top of my list. Denzel and Clive and a smart story make Inside Man a can't miss, queasy stomach or not. I'd say it's definitely the most enjoyable film of 2006...yet.

-sunday

R.I.P. Caspar Weinberger.

Dancing Queen Gone Bad

2006-03-23T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, This weekend Thomas and I went with Matt and Tracy to see Mamma Mia at the Denver Center for Performaing Arts. I was very excited because I knew the music was all of Abba's old songs, songs I dearly love. I mistakenly thought the plot was going to be around the actual band Abba - how they formed or the story of their days on tour, etc. I expected lots of 70s outfits, disco balls and blond hair. Instead the curtain drew back to reveal the plainest set I have ever seen in my life. I eventually realized that it was meant to be an inn/cafe in a modern-day Greek village. The actresses appeared and instead of being blond disco divas, they were 2000-era hippies. The plot centered around Sophie, a 20 year old Mary Lou Retton lookalike about to get married. She was distressed because she read her mother Donna's diary and found out the father she never was any one of three different men. As the play progresses, the three men arrive in town as do Rosie and Tanya, two women Donna used to be in a band with back in the 70s.

There were many faults I found with Mamma Mia:

The look and abilities of the cast - they all seemed like munchkin rejects from Wicked, except for the actress playing Tanya - she was great
There was shockingly little dancing. The cast stood rooted to the ground during most of their solos. Finally in the second act there were a few larger scale dance numbers
The quality of the entire show. We agreed that the show's sophistication was on par with an episode of Saved by the Bell. I would never in my wildest dreams have imagined that this is the quality of a show I could see on Broadway, yet it was staged by a touring Broadway company.

I in no way want to sound ageist, but I could not help noticing that all the greyhairs surrounding me were howling throughout the musical. They all throughly enjoyed it. So was it us? Do you have to be very young or on the other side of 50 to appreciate Mamma Mia? Or is it that musicals in general are in decline? The last one I saw was Wicked and I was a little disappointed in it, particularly the anti-climacic finale. But in comparison to Mamma Mia it was a masterpiece. There was spectacle and some degree of complexity in the story. I've come to the conclusion that I'm better off sticking with plays. I completely enjoyed a recent production of Steel Magnolias and the two off-Broadway plays I saw last year. This is disheartening because when a musical is done well - Rent or The Lion King - there's nothing like it.

Ads for Mamma Mia all say that the audience ends up dancing in the aisle. We did end up on our feet after being forced into an ill-deserved standing ovation. At that time, the cast gets dressed up in glam-rock outfits and performed a couple of numbers singing and dancing. That turned out to be the highlight of the show. Why they saved it for the encore is beyond me.

The night was saved thanks to a fabulous dinner at Rioja, a restaurant I'd never been to on Larimer. Every single bite - the bread, the salad, and the dinner was delicious and the service was excellent. If you're downtown, it's definitely worth a shot.

-sunday

Oscar 2006 Recap

2006-03-21T15:34:00.000-08:00

Aloha everyone! In a cruel twist of fate this year's Oscars were scheduled the night before our 6 a.m. (yes, that was a.m.) flight to Maui. As this is the entertainment world's super bowl (not mine - that's the Golden Globes with their brilliant cocktail of movies, tv, and well, cocktails), I just had to watch it. Once again I am eternally grateful for my Replayer. I zapped through a large portion of the show, but watched enough of it to distract me from packing important things like my camera. Anyway, I know that everyone has already forgotten the Oscars, but I am too caught up in this stuff to not detail my best and worst.

Overall, I'd say the show was pretty unmemorable. John Stewart did a serviceable job. He didn't suck, but he didn't knock my socks off, either. After his enjoyable opening monologue the only comments I even recall of his were regarding the enthusiasm displayed by surprise winners Three 6 Mafia for Best Song. It probably didn't help that all of the nominated films were in the Indie category. No Lord of the Rings this year, more's the pity. And no film swept the awards, a few here, a few there. Definitely a mixed bag.

And now for The Sundays:

All Time Best Montage: That would be the one at the very beginning of the show - the one that showed all these movie characters promenading down a road. I watched it several times from the swoop in where we saw the Titanic and the spaceship from Close Encounters to the end where the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars zipped off the screen. Some of the actors/characters I spotted included Bogart's Rick, Rhett and Scarlett, Brando, Nicole in Moulin Rouge, Julia as Pretty Woman, Denzel from Glory, and James Dean from Rebel taunting Spidey that he reads too many comic books. There were many others, and I loved them all and the general idea that somewhere all these characters are in some kind of movieland hanging out with each other. After that all the subsequent montages failed. And why we must have 17 different montages at the Oscars is beyond me. It was overkill (and yes, I now remember Stewart commenting on that as well).
Best Presenters: Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin's introduction of Robert Altman for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Their Altmanesque overlapping dialogue was charming and stood out in stark relief from the stuttering of other presenters (yes, I'm talking to you Jessica Alba).
Most Disappointing Win: That would be a tie - George Clooney for Syriana (Matt Dillon was so robbed!) and Rachel Weisz for Constant Gardner. I would have preferred anyone but her, particularly Amy Adams or Michelle Williams, but anyone but her. Not that I dislike either of the above, but I did heartily dislike both films.
Best Accessory: The penguins! I am embarrassed to say that I have not yet seen March of the Penguins (I have a reluctance to see most documentaries in the theatre for some reason), but I'm really glad the crazy French guys carried their penguins onstage and I'm really glad they won the award. I haven't seen any of the nominees, but I'm a huge fan of penguins in general.
Worst Accessory: The bow on Charlize Theron's left shoulder. It looked like a raccoon or something. Perhaps a little too avant garde for the rest of us.
Most Annoying Addition to the Show: Producer Gil Cates decided to up the drama by playing music the entire time a recipient is giving their speech. This was both rude and extremely annoying. Please, please find a new producer and freshen this show up.
The Newest Hasbeen Award: This goes to Jennifer Lopez. For a few years JLo was one of my favorite celebrities. I'm embarrased to admit that I even bought one of her albums (tho I admit that I never listened to the entire thing). Ever since she married the scarily ugly Marc Anthony, she just looks weirder and worse. Who would have thought her liasons with Puff Daddy and Ben Affleck would be her relationship high points?
Funniest Speech: Three 6 Mafia's speech when they won for Best Song. I agree with Stewart - their excitement and bleeped out speech was a breath of fresh air.
Best Recovery: Jennifer Garner's comment that she does her own stunts after she tripped while walking to present some category or other.
Most Militant Speech: The guy who won best foreign film for the South African Tsotsi. He took the time limit very seriously and even ordered about the cameraman.
Most Improved Pregnant Dresser: I can't imagine the horror an actress must feel when having to figure out what to aware to awards shows when pregnant, so I shouldn't even comment on this. But I will. I noted at the Golden Globes that Rachel Weisz looked fairly hideous. Well, she was much improved this time around and looked quite beautiful in her black dress, normal hair and understated makeup.
Smallest Waist: Hillary Swank - she has to have had a rib removed!
Most Emotional Speech: Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I loved what he said about his mom. I was pulling for Joaquin, but I wouldn't have minded Heath or PSH winning, so I was okay with this.
Best Speech: Reese! Finally, someone I wanted to win actually won. And she gave a great speech and managed to avoid tears and hysterics while actually saying something meaningful. Bravo!
Worst Dressed: Much as I hate to say it, Larry McMurtry. What was up with the crooked bowtie and jeans. Come on, it's the Oscars.
Most Boring Speech: McMurtry's writing partner, Diana Ossana. Yikes.
Biggest Shock to everyone in the Kodak Theatre: Crash beats Brokeback. Since my #1 film (Walk the Line) wasn't even nominated, I didn't really care who won. But Crash was on my top 5 of the year, so I was glad it prevailed. Plus, it gave all the news reporters something to write about for this pretty boring awards show.
And finally, Best Dressed: Michelle Williams. Who'd have thought little Jen from Dawson's Creek would steal the show. But she did in her mustard colored gown, and gorgeous, old Hollywood hair and makeup. The color of her dress somehow worked and she just looked amazingly beautiful - better than she ever has and much better than the poofy purple thing she wore to the Globes. Plus, she and Heath Ledger win the award for most in love Hollywood couple in a long time. They are beyond adorable. Runners up: Uma Thurman (looked like a goddess), Salma Hayek (great dress color and hair) and Naomi Watts.

Let's hope next year is better (but it's almost April and we haven't had anything Oscar-worthy yet).

-sunday

Happy Mardi Gras!

2006-02-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, It's Fat Tuesday and I'm not in New Orleans. I've never been to Mardi Gras and it's not looking like I'll be going anytime soon. I guess I'm more of Jazz Fest girl. But I did get a strand of beads today that made me happy. And all I had to do was flash my credit card at Whole Foods (they were handing them out to us customers). You gotta take what you can get. Here's hoping that New Orleans will somehow return to the kind of place Ignatius J. Reilly would inhabit.

In other book news, I found out that Sue Townsend has released a new Adrian Mole book just in time for me to take on vacation - Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction. It was v well reviewed on Amazon - some even say it's the best one yet. I have to admit that the previous book The Cappucino Years was quite disappointing, but I'm glad to know Adrian's adventures continue. Should make for a laugh.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day (courtesy of Larissa): If you don't love geology, UPPER JURASSIC!!

-sunday

What ever happened to Whit Stillman?

2006-02-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I ran across some website or magazine or other that was recommending new dvds and lo and behold it turns out a Criterion dvd of Metropolitan has recently been released. Metropolitan was the first of Whit Stillman's trilogy. The other two are Barcelona and Last Days of Disco. Stillman is virtually unknown, but his movies have been hugely influential to a slice of the movie-going public (those enamored with nostalgia). A book of essays, Doomed Bougeois in Love, was even written about his films (you can get it on Amazon). Metropolitan is set in New York "not so long ago" and tells the story of a group of debutantes and their escorts during one deb season. Most of the movie is set in apartments and features the group engaged in conversation, primarily concerning the lack of respect/importance given to those in their self-named class, the Urban Haute Bourgeouise or UHB. Stillman is a huge fan of Jane Austen and it shows both in the dialogue and his chosen genre, the comedy of manners. Metropolitan was also Chris Eigeman's first movie. He is the standout in the film, but if you watch it you'll recognize a few other faces. Eigeman is I believe the only actor to appear in all three Stillman films. One of his best lines comes from Barcelona. When a group of Spaniards comment on how many guns there are in the U.S., his character Fred replies, "We don't have more guns. We're just better shots." I have managed to work this line into conversation many times, eliciting much eye rolling from Thomas as I rarely credit the source. Anyway, thanks to Criterion you can now have easy access to Metropolitan which even the Academy Awards acknowledged (with just a nomination, not the Oscar - heaven forbid they get anything exactly right these days) for Best Original Screenplay. The dvd has a commentary track by Stillman which will likely be invaluable.

All of this excitement immediately led me to imdb to see what Stillman's been up to. Much to my dismay, nothing new was listed. A little web search led me to an unofficial Stillman site and an interview he gave recently. He has been living in Paris for the last few years and is at work on a couple of screenplays and says one is nearly finished. This has me the most excited I've been about movies since the night before I saw The Two Towers. Finally, something to look forward to.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Carpe Manana

Downfall Indeed

2006-02-20T16:08:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Since the movie theaters deserted us this weekend, Thomas and I did something we haven't done in awhile: we rented a movie from The Video Station. None of our netfixes did the trick for us. This turned out to be a good thing as we got one we'd long forgotten about, Downfall. Downfall is a German movie that was released in 2004 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2005. It lost to the Spanish film, The Sea Inside, a movie I didn't see but I can tell you now Downfall got robbed. It's that good. It should be required viewing and it did win many awards from other countries.

Downfall tells the story of the last days of the Nazi regime, a story I thought I knew, but it was nothing like I pictured it in my head. I pictured Hitler's bunker to be this small dark kind of place that he and Eva Braun ran to right before Berlin was invaded and then killed themselves. The movie took my five second imagination and turned it into a 2.5 hour film that is incredibly gripping. That the Germans made this film is just unreal. There is absolutely no sentimentalizing, no glossing over, no excuses. Downfall made everything and everyone look so much more horrible than I could have ever imagined. Hitler, played brilliantly and disturbingly by Bruno Ganz, is absolutely delusional, insane, prone to fits and rages, you name it. But as Thomas said, he never actually kills anyone. They're all too busy offing themselves. Downfall focuses on a few of the dozens of people housed in the surprisingly large, bright bunker during the the last 10-20 days of Hitler's reign. Primary players are Hitler's 24 year old secretary Traudl (the screenplay is partially based on a book she wrote) who blindly almost worshipped Hitler and couldn't bare to leave him alone; Himmler, his wife and their five children all of whom also worship Hitler and want to go down with the ship; Eva Braun, a madcap kind of gal if ever there was one; a couple of doctors trying to display a little humanity; and a general who pretty much just wants to be shot because he can't deal with all of Hitler's bizarre tactical decisions and his belief that non-existant divisions will be arriving at any moment to crush the Russians, preferably in a pincer move. Occasionally shots of the bombing in the streets of Berlin are shown, with particular focus being paid to Peter, a young member of the Hitler youth - 10 to 15 year old boys and girls whose goal it is to take down Russian tanks. Towards the end of the movie though, there is nothing but carnage and insanity on those streets with civilians turning against each other and old men being hanged for not being on the front line. Again, the fact that this is a German film impresses the heck out of me. Downfall could not have been an easy movie to see as a German, much less make as a German. I can't recommend it more.

-sunday

Calling All Buddhists!

2006-01-31T16:00:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Today at the grocery store the guy checking me out took my credit card and asked if my name was really Sunday. I replied yes and he told me his name was Friday! I was very excited, though his nametag read Pannang. He said that means Friday in Tibetan - that's where he's from. He then told me that other people were named after weekdays in Tibet. My name is Pima there. I always love figuring this out. I once met a lady at the DMV named Dominga (it's the word for Sunday in Spanish and was my name in my jr high Spanish class - Senora Galoodt vetoed my first choice of Josephina for some reason) - she processed yet another lost driver's license for me. Dominga wasn't nearly as thrilled by our naming coincidence though. It must have been the setting.

I still have people from college that call me Dominga and I'm also called Zondag by Niels (he's from the Netherlands). I just googled how to spell Zondag and found my new favorite website - it has the days of the week in almost every language! Pima isn't listed, but neither is anything in Tibetan, so I'll hope Pannang wasn't pulling my leg. Pima sounds like puma to me, so maybe it'll somehow make me faster, just like black sneakers used to do.

Anyway, Pannang was extremely friendly and obviously thrilled to be asked any question about his native country and asked me if I was familiar with the Dalai Lama. Any girl who's read anything about Richard Gere knows the answer to this question. It turns out the Lama himself is coming to Colorado on September 17. Pannang can't remember the exact name of the venue, but it's open to the public so it should be pretty easy to find. He is so excited though already, I just don't know how he's going to wait 8 more months for this. For all you would be Buddhists or celebrity stalkers out there, here's an event you can't miss. Tibetans seem pretty friendly so I think I'll be there to support Pannang.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Skateboarding ruined my life.

And One I Forgot

2006-01-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I just saw Joan and Mellissa's Golden Globe Fashion Wrap on the TV Guide Channel where they review the best and worst dressed of the night. The TV Guide channel is a new one for us. Our local cable network just got bought out by Comcast (an utter nightmare of a transition let me tell you, resulting in me missing last week's Lost - I'm still bitter). Anyway, it's a very strange channel. The top half is a show and the bottom half is the scrolling guide of what's currently on TV. Joan and Melissa deserve better. It's definitely not the best forum for reviewing stars' clothing choices I can promise you. But it was still worthwhile to me because they highlighted a star I had somehow missed in my Golden Globes viewing: Kate Beckinsdale. She looked utterly gorgeous in her white gown. She also had great hair, makeup and jewelry so she definitely belongs on my best dressed list. I first noticed Kate in a fabulous movie called Cold Comfort Farm (this led me to read the equally good novel by Stella Gibbons). If you're an Anglophile or a fan of great, small, witty period movies (this one's set in the 30's), Cold Comfort is one to add to your netflix queue. It also stars Rufus Sewell of Dark City (please don't tell me you haven't seen it - Ebert actually named it the number 1 movie of 1998 so you have no excuse), Ian McKellan (that'd be Gandalf to all you Tolkien fans) and Joanna Lumley of the incomparable Ab Fab. Anyway, this is the first movie I ever saw Kate in and I adored her for it. Since then, she's had a fairly dismal record in film. She opens in the sequel to Underworld this weekend, a movie I'll probably be forced to see by Thomas. The original was fairly horrid even tho it starred Kate and my beloved Ben from Felicity. Hopefully Kate will one day return to her roots and star in more English period pieces, definitely one of my favorite genres.

-sunday

The Golden Tomato Awards

2006-01-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

Rotten Tomatoes posted their top 25 rated films in 2005 in wide release and limited release. The results are pretty interesting. Check it! Wallace & Gromit got #1 for wide release and Good Night and Good Luck got #1 for limited. I haven't seen either. I'm beginning to doubt my entertainment junkie status. I'm a little suspicious of these results tho. Star Wars is #6 in wide release. Lists like these do feed the netflix queue.

-sunday

Golden Globes

2006-01-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! My favorite awards show of the year was Monday night, The Golden Globes, and they did not disappoint me too much. I got a late start on them and expected to only watch 20 min or so that night and save the rest for the next day. Instead I was up until midnite - they were just too addictive. How 80 foreign journalists manage to consistently produce a more entertaining show every year than the Oscars is amazingly inexplicable, but it sure does happen. Some of my picks were left off - Joan Allen, in particular. She should have so been nominated for Upside of Anger, but they did a pretty good job. Now for the results.

Here's what made me happy:

Sandra Oh's win for Grey's Anatomy
Steve Carell's win for The Office
Mary-Louise Parker's win for Weeds, a show I did not see, but Desperate Housewives is so undeserving and thanks to it worthy people like Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls, Ed's ex-wife played by Jaime Pressly, and Pam from The Office were not even on the ballot
Hugh Laurie's win for House
Lost's win for best drama (tho I would probably have been a little more happy had Rome won)
Joaquin Phoenix's win for Walk the Line
Reese Witherspoon's win for Walk the Line
Walk the Line's win for Best Musical or Comedy
Phillip Seymour Hoffman's win for Capote
The fact that Maria Bello did not win for History of Violence so that horrid, horrid film received no awards (it's my 2nd to last film of the year, better only than the even more horrid Edmund starring William H. Macy. At least we had Viggo to look at in History).
Larry McMurtry's win for Screenwriting - I'll always love him for Lonesome Dove, so this is really what I'm happy about. One issue I do have is the whole original vs. adapted screenplay. The Oscars do one thing right -they separate the two into two categories. This wasn't the case with the GGs. Since they're all lumped in an original screenplay (like Crash) should have won. But still, props to Larry and his Hermes typewriter.

Here's what made me mad:

Paul Newman's win for Empire Falls. That they lump actors from mini-series in with those from full on series is a total injustice to me. Newman was great as always in Empire, but he wasn't even there to pick up his award. I could never get as an attached to a mini-series character as I can to a regular series one. This was Naveen Andrews's year!
Desperate Housewives's win for Best TV Comedy - The Office and Earl are so much more deserving. It's infuriating.
Geena Davis's win for Best Actress in a TV Drama - Polly Walker's Attia was a joy to watch on Rome.
George Clooney's win for Best Supporting Actor in Syriana. First, wasn't he supposed to be the lead actor of that movie? Competition must have seemed a bit too thick in that category for him. Second, he and everything else about the moviee sucked. I think I'll officially award it my third worst movie of the year. Matt Dillon was so robbed!

There are still so many of this year's nominees that I haven't seen that I just don't know what to think about most of the other winners. I'm bound and determined to adore Woody's Match Point. He is consistently one of my fave directors, and though the preview looks nada like a Woody Allen movie, I'll be in the first showing should it ever come to Boulder. There is, however, a good chance I'll finally see The Squid and the Whale this wkend if the Landmark Theatre gods are smiling on me. It's another I have penciled in in my Top 5 of 2005 list. But for now I don't have much to root in the Best Picture and Actor/Actress categories. Hopefully this will be remedied by Oscar time.

Now for The Sundays:

Best Dressed: Keira Knightley - absolutely flawless in vintage Valentino. Shoulders to die for.
Honorable Mention: Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria

Worst Dressed: Drew Barrymore - she can do sooooo much better
Honorable Mention: Rachel Weisz (scary hair and makeup too), Geena Davis (you aren't winning for Thelma - this is 2006), and Reese Witherspoon (to make matters worse her vintage Chanel - the exact same dress, like it had to be dry-cleaned - was previously worn to a GG after party by Kirsten Dunst), and of course our old standby Mariah Carey

Best Hair: Maria Bello - the gardenias in her casual updo were gorgeous and Mary-Louise Parker. She just has great hair (worn in a low ponytail to the side and also adorned with gardenias) and a beautiful face. Plus I'll always love her for Fried Green Tomatoes.

Best Back: Hillary Swank - her dress was pretty normal from the front but showed off her amazing back in a spectacular way. She definitely has the best back in the biz.

Best Speech: Geena Davis - I do not think she deserved the award, but after hearing her speech I was happy she got it. Her mensa abilities were put to good use.
Honorable Mention: Hugh Laurie (gotta love the Brit wit) and Steve Carrel's speech that was supposedly written by his wife

Worst Speech: Jonathon Rhys Meyers - the boy was both nervous and boring. A fatal combination.

Happiest Winner: Sandra Oh - utterly bubbly and adorable

Meanest Intro: Chris Rock's impromptu comments about how he feels bad for Mary-Louise Parker because no one watches her show. Okay, I'm one of the no-watchers but it's not my fault we don't have Showtime. And Weeds is on my netflix queue!

Most Suspicious No-show: Lindsay Lohan - she was supposed to be presenting with the new Superman. Instead the deplorable Terri Hatcher had to fill in. Why, you crazy foreign journalists, why??

Most Horrifying Couple: Nicollette Sheridan (looking quite good though, I must say) and Michael Bolton - they're back together. This cannot mean good things for the listening public. Any day now he'll be ruining another good Percy Sledge song. But at least he cut his hair.

Most Immature Audience Member: Ryan Phillipe (husband of Reese). When Joaquin Phoenix won and was onstage, the camera kept panning to Phillipe as he jumped up and yelled, "You owe me money, you lost the bet." Sorry dude, but it's so not your moment.

That's it for this year's Golden Globes. Next up: my Oscar picks.

-sunday

SJP and the Family Stone

2006-01-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! The Family Stone is a new movie I've been really looking forward to - the cast was stellar (Rachel McAdams, my fav, the return of Sarah Jessica Parker, and a little Luke Wilson thrown in - what more could I want), plus it was a Christmas movie (I saw it pre 12/25, so this review is kind of old). It pretty much lived up to my expectations. The Family Stone is one of those movies that have so many awkward moments that you leave it utterly thankful for relative normalcy of your own family. SJP stars as Meredith, girlfriend of Dermut Mulroney's Everett. The two travel to Everett's family home for Christmas. What awaits them is a big loving liberal family that's comfortable with its own members but not too willing to welcome an outsider - particularly one as haughty and stiff as Meredith. Stone has proved that Parker does not have a face for the big screen - that sounds mean - but it's unfortunately true. I loved loved loved her Carrie (most of the time) on Sex & The City and found her attractive on the show despite some of wacko outfits wardrobe put her in each week. Maybe part of the problem with her looks in Stone was the role itself. She played an extremely uptight, driven perfectionist. Her hair was scraped back from her head tightly in a bun emphasizing her face (nose, mole and all) and her clothes seemed to magnify just how taut and wiry her body is. The contrast with Everett's family - relaxed, even sloppy, and almost soft to the point of blurriness was extreme. The Stone family, with the exception of Luke Wilson's Ben joins forces against Meredith. At first the ringleader is Everett's bratty younger sister Amy, played by Rachel McAdams to perfection. She knows precisely what to say to push every one of Meredith's buttons. But the lead hater turns out to be Everett's mom, Sybil, (Diane Keaton). Sybil initially comes off as kind of wacky and funny but she eventually treats Meredith so rudely that the audience just shifted around in discomfort. We eventually learn she has another reason for being so bitchy - though this was supposed to make Sybil more sympathetic, it didn't work for me. What did work for me is most of the movie. When they're not being horrifically mean to Meredith, the Stone family is fun to watch, particularly in a chaotic fight scene toward the end of the movie that had the audience laughing hysterically. The movie has a few twists and turns and some things work out in the end but others don't. I like that it wasn't quite as straight forward as most Christmas dramedys. Several leaps of faith are called for - such as how a little alcohol can basically transform Meredith's personality - but it wasn't anything I didn't mind watching. In fact, The Family Stone was compulsively watchable - awkward moments or not.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day - Republican Healthcare Plan: Don't get sick.

Kong Fever

2005-12-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Big Hairy Ape who loves munching on bamboo, watching sunsets, and occasionally wrestling dinosaurs seeks damsel in distress who will make him laugh.

Yep, we saw KING KONG this weekend! Thomas and I met Jen and Dave at Dave and Buster's and after Thomas and Dave prepared by bonding over Donkey Kong, we ventured over to the cineplex. As Dave said, we all had Kong fever (him especially - he spent the previous wkend watching the 30s and 70s versions). Thomas, Jen and I had all seen the 30's on the big screen in Telluride, so we got to feel superior about that.

The movie! This is THE event movie of the year. I don't care what other claims are made - this is it. It's not my favorite movie of the year, but it is in the top 10 - maybe 5. I could not rip my eyes away from the screen for the final two hours of it, even tho as Creede predicted, the last 30 minutes were nauseating to anyone who either has a fear of heights or a motion sickness problem (I have a little of the former and a heaping helping of the latter). I was willing to get sick for it - luckily that didn't happen though. The plot to this third Kong follows 1 and 2 fairly closely. There are some character differences, but this remains the story of Beauty and the Beast - Ann Darrow and Kong. Naomi Watts is radiant and utterly fetching as Ann Darrow, a vaudevillian actress with a gift for comedy trying to make it big. She gets her shot when director Carl Denham, played by the always funny Jack Black, casts her in his latest film, written by her dream playwright, Jack Tisdale (Adrien Brody). The first hour is all set up, but it's worth it just for the shots of 30s era New York. The skyline at night glimmers beautifully and all day long the streets are bustling with cabs and commuters. Director Peter Jackson proves once again his eye for detail. But the real action begins when the cast and crew set off on a boat to find the as yet undiscovered (and unfortunately aptly named) Skull Island.

Once they arrive on the island, all hell breaks loose. The natives aren't just restless, they're full on unhinged. Rarely is an eye seen that it's not rolled back in it's socket. Being female, blond and beautiful, Ann is naturally offered up for sacrifice to the mighty Kong. Ann's survival instincts kick in and she decides to try her comedy skills on Kong in hopes of entertaining him enough that he'll decide to keep her around rather than have her for dinner. This results in a charming and funny scene and sets up one of the more surprising friendships in movie history. Watts' skills as an actress are brought out in full force, but the scene (and of course the movie itself) would never have worked had the special effects designed by Jackson's Weta Workshop not been so jaw-droppingly good. Kong was 100% real to me. Not a facial movement, snaggle tooth or roar were questionable. It was that good. And Kong wasn't the only special effect. There were dinosaurs up the wazoo. There were so many dinosaurs, that there was an actual dinosaur stampede. You don't see that every day. We all agreed Jackson did go a bit overboard with a giant insect-riddled swamp scene that will likely haunt me for years to come. I guess he just threw that one in for his own amusement. I have no idea how they do it at Weta, but they do it well. Kong made Gollum look totally fake - and everyone remembers how people raved over Gollum. The other actors all deliver fine performances - particularly Black and Brody - but this isn't their story. The movie rests on the shoulders of Watts and Kong and they pulled it off completely. Back in New York City, where Kong was captured, displayed and then hunted down, I really felt for the big ape. My disbelief was fully suspended.

-sunday

Awards Season is Approaching - Golden Globes Noms!

2005-12-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, My all time favorite awards show, The Golden Globes came out with their nominations today. It's a mixed bag, but what else can you expect when you consider the nominees are chosen and selected solely by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press. Not the most reliable bunch I'm guessing. But they are brilliant in their plan to hand out awards for movies and tv at one event, thus trumping both the Oscars and the Emmys. You can see all the nominations here. Unfortunately, I have yet to see many of these film nominees, but Munich, King Kong, Constant Gardener, Match Point, The Squid and the Whale, and Mrs. Henderson Presents are all on my To See list. Following are my thoughts on the inclusion/exclusion of ones I have seen:

What They Got Right - Movies:

Best Actor, Drama - Russell Crowe for Cinderella Man, Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain and Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Capote all deserve to be on this list

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy - I don't really think of Pride & Prejudice as a comedy, though it is definitely amusing, but either way I'm glad for the nod. Not as glad though as I am to see Walk the Line. Still my #1 of the year.

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy - Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line. He really was the man in black.

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy - Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line and Keira Knightley for P&P are both great picks.

Supporting Actor - Matt Dillon for Crash. Pretty much anyone from Crash could have been on this list and I'd be pleased. But something tells me this is my favorite Outsider's first nomination (in junior high, I watched the movie over and over in vain on HBO hoping that things would turn out differently for Dally, but they never did), so I'm especially happy to see him get some recognition.

Screenplay - Hooray for Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco for Crash

What they got Wrong - Movies:

Where is Upside of Anger? No love for this movie whatsoever. It is an insult that the movie wasn't nominated for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy and it is an outrage that Joan Allen isn't up for best actress. For shame! I would have been pleased to see Kevin Costner up there as well for Best Supporting Actor.

Including History of Violence (absolutely pointless and horrid) and Brokeback Mountain (too long and way too depressing) in the Best Picture category. Crash so should have been there in place of History.

Nominating George Clooney for Syriana and Maria Bello for History of Violence. Why, you crazy foreign journalists, why?!

What they got Right - TV:

Drama Series - Right on for Lost and Rome

Comedy Series - Entourage and My Name is Earl are both deserving

Actress, Drama - I was thrilled to see the delightfully evil Polly Walker on the list for Rome

Actor, Drama - Hugh Laurie IS House

Actor, Comedy - Jason Lee for Earl and Steve Carell for The Office both rock

Miniseries - I'm torn between Empire Falls and Warm Springs. Both were most enjoyable.

What they got Wrong - TV:

First off, due to HBO's bizarre scheduling, I'm not sure if The Wire or to a lesser extent, Deadwood qualified for Golden Globes this year, but if they did, the entire list of TV nominations needs to be used as birdcage liner. I'm going to go with the assumption that The Wire did not qualify so I don't have to boycott the Awards this year.

Drama - Commander in Chief, really? We watched a few eps and it was good but in no way great. I guess they had to replace The West Wing with something, tho thanks to the whole presidential race storyline, West Wing is back to being good and would make more sense on this list than Commander. I watched a few Prison Breaks and wasn't too impressed with it either. I'd have put Gilmore Girls here - tho it could go in Comedy as well - or even better this year, Everwood.

Comedy - Where's The Office? I'm going on the record right now by naming this show as my favorite of the 2005 Fall season. If you're not watching it, you are so missing out. There's so much going on for it besides Steve Carell. The true stars are those playing Jim and Pam, my fav star-crossed couple of the year, and doofus Dwight. The Office handily takes up the mantle of Newsradio.

Comedy - As everyone and their dog noted, Curb Your Enthusiasm kind of sucked this year. It totally stole The Office's space. I don't watch Two and a Half Men, but I'm guessing it stole How I Met Your Mother's space.

Actress, Comedy - Do we really need all four housewives? The four in question must terrify the foreign press, hence their bizarre decision to include them all. Beware the wrath of Nicollette Sheridan! The surprising comedienne of the show this year has been Eva Longoria's Gabrielle. She and perhaps Marcia Cross make a little sense. But where's Lauren Graham? Tho Gilmore Girls has been a bit off this year, her Lorelai is right on. Teri Hatcher so stole her spot. I'd also replace another housewife, yep that would mean you Felicity - with Pam from The Office. On second thought, I'd also rather see a nom go to the hilarious Jaime Pressley for My Name is Earl rather than to DH's Cross.

Miniseries - Thomas and I are probably the only two that made it through all of Into the West. If you didn't watch it, be very very grateful. It was tres boring. It's on this list for one reason: A Stephen Spielberg Production.

Jan 16 is Awards Day. You can be I'll bet tuning in.

-sunday

A Tale of Four Movies

2005-12-12T13:31:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I am beyond thrilled that good movies are finally entering the theatres after this bleakest of years for moviegoers. The past couple of weekends I've managed to see four of them. All I had looked forward to, unfortunately all were not worth the wait.

Syriana: After all the fantasy and adventure movies that have been out, I was ripe for a good political thriller. Syriana looked to fit the bill. Great cast, I thought. But I was a little hesitant that it was written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, Oscar winner of Adapted Screenplay for Traffic, a movie I enjoyed but found overrated. Gaghan's win looked especially suspicious to me after seeing the original version of Traffic, a BBC miniseries about the UK’s war on opium with Afghanistan. Gaghan's version was basically just a rewrite subbing in the US and Mexico. Almost all of Gaghan's characters, flaws and all, were lifted directly from the original Traffic. He won his Oscar simply because he was a recovering drug addict who wrote a movie about the perils of the US war on drugs. The irony, you could practically hear all the Academy members sing! Gaghan then went on to write and direct the extremely bad Katie Holmes thriller, Abandon. Any thoughts that Abandon was some kind of sophomore slump were erased by Syriana. Yep, I hated it. I really hated it. And it's pretty much impossible to hate anything George Clooney is in, but I did. It wasn't the fact that he was bearded or overweight either. It was the fact that he was boooooooring (when we was even onscreen, because despite the previews he isn't even in it all that much). As was everyone else in the movie. They acted in some kind of emotional vacuum. Not a facial expression was seen for 95% of the movie. For the first 75 minutes absolutely nothing happens except for the knee-jerk outpouring of grief that results from the accidental death of a six year old. If all else fails, I guess killing a kid is the card you have to play. The movie picks up a bit when all parties descend on Beirut and an extremely graphic torture scene livens things up. Though it was so graphic, I covered my ears and hid in my coat, so I didn't get too much enjoyment out of it. If killing a child and torture weren’t going to do it, the only thing Gaghan could do to give Syriana some depth, some meaning, some gravitas was to make it deliberately confusing. Like Traffic, it follows around ten different characters all tenuously connected to the US obsession with oil. You've got the stock parts: evil oil executive, valiant CIA agent, selfish government bureaucrat who cares only for his talking points, poor embittered Islamist, and the deal-making out for himself lawyer. There was not one scene I marveled at or enjoyed in the movie. I could have dealt with the fact that it was blatantly anti-American (America uses lots of oil, ergo America is bad, ergo all the world’s problems lie at our feet even though we've only been around a measly 230 years. Forgive me, but I'll start paying attention to the proselytizing of Hollywood hotshots when they start turning down rides on gas guzzling private jets. Until then I'll continue driving my 10 year old Saab, recycling every bizarre item Thomas comes up with (e.g., yesterday I recycled the paperboard aluminum foil container and diligently detached and disposed of the teeth-edged tin cutting strip. I was later informed by Thomas that this strip should have gone in with the aluminum cans. Who knew?) and sleeping well at night)), had Syriana not been dull as dirt. Rating: Must be paid to see.

Aeon Flux: A few years ago Thomas introduced me to MTV's animated show and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Aeon was extremely visually creative and just could not be called a cartoon. That didn't cover it. We were both excited when we heard Charlize Theron would be starring in the movie version. We realized something was amiss when the movie was not released for critics, but that didn't stop us from going. It probably should have. Where the animated tv show was visually creative, the movie, not so much. It felt like I was watching some combination of a dream and a videogame. The set up for Aeon Flux is a bit Oryx and Crakeish and timely thanks to the media's obsession with the Asian bird flu: A disease wipes out most of the world's population. A cure is finally found and the remaining survivors all live in a Utopian enclosed community. Weird things start happening, people have flashbacks that make no sense and others disappear entirely. A rebel group, including Aeon, forms to fight the government. Theron does have chemistry with relative unknown Martin Csokas who plays the leader of the government and shares a mysterious past with Aeon. Some of the visuals in the movie were interesting, the sets had a kind of Japanese elegance, but the special effects were just plain weird and v unrealistic. I cannot recommend Aeon as I was bored by a good bit of it (though not as bored as I was in Syriana). Rating: Wait for cable

Chronicles of Narnia: Like most people who read the Chronicles of Narnia as a child, they remain some of my all time favorite children's books. And after seeing previews for the film, I absolutely could not wait to see the movie. Thomas and I caught a Saturday matinee and I was thrilled that we did. The movie follows the book to the letter. The characters, the sets and the plot are uncanny in their ability to replicate what I imagined from the book. The four human siblings who visit and must then save Narnia are all very convincing. Edmund is a little jerk from the start and Lucy captures your heart and holds it with a surprisingly nuanced performance for a nine year old. Given that the movie is targeted at children, I was afraid they'd cheat us on the ending battle scene, but instead the last thirty minutes were my favorite part. They manage to capture the urgency of the situation. However, there were a couple of things that kept Narnia from being this year's LOTR. As stated above, the movie is definitely aimed at kids, kind of like the first 2 Harry Potter movies. And because of this, I got a little bored in the middle. It doesn't help that the movie is 2.5 hours long. Narnia could have been tighter and the boredom factor would have been eliminated. But I think they really wanted to be true to the book and not cut a lot. So I can understand. My other objection is with the White Witch played by Tilda Swinton. I thought Swinton was perfectly cast in this role and she does look the part. But she just wasn't that scary. Nowhere near as terrifying as Sauron from LOTR or even the Queen from Snow White. They need to up the fear factor on future movies. What I really would have loved is to have seen this movie at age ten. I'm betting my ten-year-old self would be utterly enthralled. Unfortunately, I don't run with too many ten year olds, so I can't confirm their appreciation of the film, though the ones in the theatre with us seemed to really enjoy it. And Narnia had a $108.8 million dollar world wide box office opening this weekend, second only to the final LOTR for a December weekend, so I think we can be assured that they will be filming the other six books. You can bet I’ll be in line for them. Rating: Matinee

Pride & Prejudice: Of the four movies I saw in the past two weeks, there's only one that I am tempted to return to immediately: Pride & Prejudice. However, I am just as tempted to rent the BBC version and curl up on the couch for six straight hours watching it. I don't know what it is about this particular story that I just can't get enough of. They could make ten versions of it a year and I would go see them all. Let me start out by saying that the BBC mini-series starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle (paired both on and off screen during filming, resulting in all that lovely chemistry) is the definitive filmed version of the book. The story requires six hours to capture all the narrative and nuances in Austen's work. And no actor ever has or will embody Darcy like Firth. Ask any woman who's seen it and you'll get an earful. Jen and I went to see the latest P&P directed by newcomer Joe Wright last Sunday. It enthralled me from the get go. I've liked Keira Knightley ever since Bend it Like Beckham, but I was a little worried about her ability to be Elizabeth Bennet, one of the best roles of all time. However, Knightley handily portrayed Elizabeth's wit, amusement, loyalty, pride and yes, prejudice. She was a wonderful Elizabeth. Matthew McFayden starred as Darcy and this could not have been an easy role for anyone to take given the public's abject love and devotion to Firth. And it must be said that McFayden is not the best looking guy to be seen in front of the camera. His was a very brooding Darcy, fortuitously balanced by the equal amount of passion beneath the brooding. There was great chemistry between the two leads. Whenever one is anywhere in the vicinity of the other, the antagonism/attraction is palpable. The other standout in P&P was Donald Sutherland as Elizabeth's father, Mr. Bennet. His is now the ultimate Mr. Bennet. His love for his daughters (especially Elizabeth) and his crass, overly dramatic wife is apparent. But Sutherland does a brilliant job at making known Bennet's flaws as well. The two actors playing Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley are also very good and good looking. Due to the length of the movie, many parts had to be cut down dramatically, particularly that of the evil Mr. Wickham and his effect on the Bennett family. For the most part the directing was well done. There are some amazing scenes of the English countryside and the director went out of his way to make his version more realistic. Befitting their financial situation, the girls' dresses are not so fine and the county balls are more rough-hewn. I personally like the pretty dresses, so this desire towards realism didn't really improve things for me. The director also tried a few fancy camera tricks that succeeded only in distracting me. But these are mere quibbles. The meat of P&P - the story of Elizabeth and Darcy - is all there and wonderful. It definitely sated this Austenatic's appetite for a short while. Rating: Night time movie

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: No war. No KKK. No fascist USA!

-sunday

Get on the Bus!

2005-12-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! You know it's bad when 20 degrees looks like a manna from heaven. This is the situation we've been here in the front range for about a week now. It started with crazy winds, turned into negative degree weather and just stayed that way for days. Now it's finally warming up, and by that I mean a balmy 22 degrees. But thanks to the sunshine and lack of wind it feels warmer.

All of this was made much worse by the snow that came on Tuesday. Single digit temps and snow tend to create one of my top ten fears: driving on ice. Tuesday would have been the first day I was forced to attempt it in a while and I just wasn't up for it, so I decided to catch the bus. This was made much easier by the installment of a bus stop pretty much right outside my door, meaning I could hop on the bus and be dropped off at the Flatirons stop. It's then about a 10 minute walk (all uphill, but still) to work. Sounds easy, right?

Not quite. On Tuesday after work, I left my car in the lot and had Aida drive me to the Flatirons bus stop. I was there a good five minutes before it was due, so I thought I was sitting pretty. Instead the bus was ONE HOUR late. This meant that me and two other frozen popcicles had to stand at the stop in - not kidding - 2 degree weather for one hour. 50 minutes later when no buses had appeared AT ALL I broke down, called Thomas and told him I was getting on the next bus no matter where it was going. I just had to get warm! I could not feel my fingers or toes and I was ready to break. Amazingly ten minutes later the next bus appeared and it was actually the one I needed. I've never been so glad to be on a bus in my life. The guy I sat next to told me that he caught it in Denver and that the line wrapped around the building. Looks like it's going to be a fun winter.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Stop hiding behind your bumperstickers!

A Week of Feasting

2005-12-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! First, the pic to the left is Thomas (looking oh so thrilled) wearing the scarf I knitted Creede for his birthday . He requested orange and black stripes. These are the colors of OSU, so he'll be very spirited indeed when donning it. It was my first time making stripes and fringe, so it was a good learning experiment. When we come home for Christmas, he'd so better be wearing it!

For Thanksgiving, Thomas and I went to Jackson, MS to visit his family. Click this link to see all the pics. Once again, I've never had so much good food. I got to eat all of my favorite things - catfish one night from the Cock of the Walk (if you're ever in Jackson this is a must stop as they also have the best cornbread, hushpuppies, turnip greens and fried pickles imaginable), ribs another night, and finally Thanksgiving dinner itself. However, the best treat of all turned out to be growing in Allison and Jess's backyard. My new favorite fruit, the persimmon. I've never before had a persimmon and this is just a crime against nature. They look like a cross between a mini-pumkin and an orange tomato. They're very pretty, great texture and extremely sweet. Marlene sent us home with three and we shared the last one last night. I miss them dreadfully already. As a shot in the dark, I asked Thomas to see if Whole Foods had any. They did! They were bigger, so I was a little suspicious. And rightly so. These persimmons were v bitter and seemed to coat my mouth with a chalky substance. Also the texture was much less crisp. Allison must have seeds to the the most magic persimmon tree in all the land. We kept our seeds from the three sent home with us and hope to plant them on our deck. I'm not holding my breath, but here's hoping.

Also over Thanksgiving Thomas and I made Bobbi's kiffles recipe. I'd never heard of kiffles before last Christmas when Thomas had a hankering for them. They take a few hours to make, but are worth every minute. They're basically a slim pastry stuffed with a sweet walnut filling. I guess they're well known back East, but no one in Oklahoma had heard of them. They were a huge hit both there and in Jackson. We'll be making them again in a month.

During the trip we also introduced Allison and Jess to Settlers of Catan. I was a little peeved that Allison won her first game ever while I'd yet to win a game, but later that week, my win finally came and boy did it feel good. I think we have two more converts to Catan now.

Finally, I got to meet Thomas's imaginary friend, Mark, who proved to be quite real indeed. We met him and his Argentinian girlfriend Kendela at The Two O'Clock Bayou a cajun joint in Jackson and then got to spend some time on Mark's sailboat, The Silver Fox 2. That was it! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

-sunday

Fall Movie Reviews

2005-12-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Wow - where did November go? It honestly feels like I wrote a blog entry like one week ago and I look and see it's been a month. I guess it's just that time of year. Utter and complete craziness. Thomas and I have done several things worth blogging about. The first is our venture to the Denver Film Fest with Jen and Dave (the above pic is from the Telluride film fest, so its presence is not quite as random as it seems). We saw two movies. The first was From Subway with Love, a Czech romantic comedy. Since romantic comedies are probably my fav genre, I'm pretty easy to please with a movie like this. The film is supposed to be the biggest Czech film of all time and 600,000 Czechs have seen it. Not sure what this translates in box office numbers but they're quite excited about it. The story revolves around a 20-something girl who gets involved with an older guy (so old he actually dated her mother). All the actors were good and the directing was fine as well, though he did make a few bizarre choices, one involving a fake bear. I was a little disappointed that there weren't more cityscapes included in the movie, as Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It would have been interesting to see what scenery, buildings, etc., a native Czech would want to show off. But this is really my only complaint. From Subway was very enjoyable and I'd recommend it if you're a fan of romantic comedies or foreign films or both, of course. A highlight of going to the festival was that the director came up after the movie to take questions from the audience. Most of the questions were pretty dumb (except for Thomas's of course), and most he answered in pretty good English. But the question of the fake bear came up and he gave an answer in Czech that lasted like five minutes that his interpreter answered it in about 10 words. Talk about being lost in translation.

After that, we saw The White Countess, the last Merchant Ivory film, starring Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson. It's set in the late 30s in Shanghai, the same setting you'll note as the beginning of Empire of the Sun. Unfortunately this movie does not compare in the slightest to Empire, one of my favs and the debut of Mr. Batman himself, Christian Bale. If you haven't seen it (Empire or Batman Begins really, run don't walk to your nearest video store. Anyway, back to the boring topic of Countess. This should have been a good movie. I'm a huge fan of Merchant Ivory (Room with a View, Howard's End, Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, to name a few). Merchant just died though, so this is the denouement of the famous production duo. Fiennes plays ex-American diplomat, Todd Jackson (doesn't that sound like a character out of a John Hughes 80s movie or at least one of the Todds I dated in the 90s, for in those decades all guys seemed to be named either Mark or Todd) a blind guy who lost his sight and his family in various Shanghai bombings. This depresses him, but doesn't deter him from staying in Shanghai (full of ex-pats from all sorts of countries all hobnobbing together) and opening his dream club. He befriends a Japanese man of similar sensibilities, Mr. Matsuda and hires Countess Sofia Belinsky (Richardson) to be the club's hostess. Sofia, her daughter and various other family members (played by Richardson's real life mother, Vanessa Redgrave and aunt, Lynn Redgrave) are Russian émigrés who've fled Russia thanks to the Communist revolution. They've fallen on hard times and now rely on Sofia to bring in the cash for the family, all the while judging her harshly for her shady occupation. The movie drifts along for a good 2 hours before the Japanese finally start bombing Shanghai and Countess picks up a bit. I enjoyed the last 30 minutes but in no way can I recommend this dullest of films about what should be a very interesting subject.

Since the Film Festival, we've tried desperately to see some other films as the good ones are finally being released. Circumstances have intervened and though we've made it to the theatre several times, we've only actually seen one other movie in the past month. Quelle horreur! That movie was of course, Harry Potter 4. Once again we had a new director. I was a bit upset about this given my fondness for Alfonso Cuaron's (Great Expectations, A Little Princess) brilliant job in Harry Potter 3. But at least they didn't reinstate Chris Columbus. 4 was directed by Mike Newell another good director (Four Weddings & a Funeral, Pushing Tin, Donnie Brasco, etc.). His talent at pacing well served the film as it moved swiftly along and managed to capture all the key scenes from the book. The book is very long so there were some harsh cuts that were made, but they were understandable. For example, the highlight of the movie for both Thomas and me was the challenge where Harry has to capture the golden egg from the dragon. The action scenes were breathtaking. We were both disappointed that they didn't show the other three champions' battles with dragons, but I'm guessing the special effects budget for this was too steep. There was a lot of media attention on the fact that this is the first HP movie to get a pg-13 rating. I was thankful for this. Just as the books have progressed in complexity and maturity as Harry's aged, so should the movies. There's a good deal of focus on the romantic ordeals of Harry, Hermione and Ron. All of this I enjoyed but Thomas was bored by. The dance was especially fun, though I thought Hermione was quite overwrought both in this scene and throughout the movie. She didn't seem so emotional in the book to me. Ron, as usual, is the weak link. I'm not sure what will happen to his whiny character in book 7, but the only fitting end for him will be death or conversion to the dark side. I also have to say the kid who plays Harry isn't aging too gracefully. Perhaps it's just an ugly duckling phase, but a hottie he is not - so will he be replaced come HP 5, 6 or 7 due to his "age"? We'll just have to see. The actor, Danielle Radcliffe, does have some chops though. He brought the high emotion needed to the finale when the infamous first Hogwarts death occurs. So, Harry Potter 4 was awesome - it wasn't as visually interesting as Cuaron's 3, but the story, the effects and the pacing made for an exciting film that did not disappoint this fan of all things HP.

Next time, a Thanksgiving wrap up and pics, provided I can remember how to get them off my camera.

-sunday

A Hunting We Will Go

2005-11-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! This weekend the town of Creede was awash in day-glo orange. That could only mean one thing: hunting season. Thomas and I traveled down Wednesday night for a long weekend to see some relatives who were in town hunting and to celebrate my favorite occasion, my birthday. I've managed to get Thomas to buy into the concept of "Birthday Month", so this was the culmination of lots of treats for me. Let's just say I think he's really happy it's finally November. Anyway, two weeks ago Johnny, Dennis, Jimmy and Joe all from PA and NJ traveled west to stay at Plan B and do some elk hunting. Given the large number and variety of animals that we've seen in Creede this summer, we all thought this would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Instead, everyone in town agreed that it was the worst hunting season in years, thanks to it being unseasonably warm. So although they saw lots of animals (big horn sheep, deer, elk, coyotes, chipmunks, etc), thanks to the byzantine hunting rules of Mineral County, they weren't able to catch any of the one kind they were licensed for: female elk (or cows as they are called). We did have a lot of fun visiting with them though on Wednesday and Thursday nights. We also had the good fortune to be the recipients of all their leftover food. Their wives Joanne and Sandy had baked and frozen lots of wonderful dishes - beef stroganov, turkey cutlets, bean and barley soup, chili, to name a few - and my new goal in life is to get some of these recipes. Thursday night we all went to dinner at the Creede Hotel for their Mexican night. The hotel had been closed for a month, so it was packed, but the food was great. The new place in town, Glenn Mora, which my parents raved about after a dinner there with Bob and Cindy this summer, was already closed for winter, much to my dismay. We also swung by Bob and Cindy's new place in Creede. It's a perfect spot - right on the Rio Grande. Our plan to take over the town is well underway.

I had many things to be happy about this weekend. Lots of lovely presents, of course, and a good helping of some of my favorite things. These included:

Pumpkin bagels from Moes - so treasured because they are seasonal. Though I used to be a bagel fanatic, I now eat them only one week a year, and this was it. I looked forward to it every morning - perfect with a piping hot cup of Zapatista.
Northern Exposure - Thomas has given me Northern Exposure on dvd for the past couple of years. I now have the first three seasons, but it didn't seem right to watch the show anyplace but Creede. Because nowhere I've ever been feels more like Cicely, Alaska than Creede. The summer I worked in Creede, I lived with Jen who was studying for her MCATs. Her goal was to be the Dr. Fleishman of Creede. Sure enough, she lives there now with her husband and two kids and is the town's resident doctor. My goal was to be a bush pilot, a la Maggie. This has yet to happen. But back to the show. I was a little nervous watching the pilot. Would it hold up? Oh boy, but it did. I love this show and most of its characters dearly. How a show this good managed to survive more than one season is beyond me, but I'm oh so thankful. Thomas and I watched the first four episodes and loved them all. I can honestly say that NE is my all time favorite tv show. It will be soooooo hard to save the rest of those eps for our next trip.
Fawlty Towers - We also watched three episodes of this funniest of comedies. Another of my all time fav tv shows. Definitely makes the top 10. Unfortunately, they only made 12 episodes, because the Brits are sadists. But all 12 are gems. If you haven't seen Fawlty Towers, you will love it. Trust me.
Settlers of Catan - 2 weeks ago we forced the game upon Matt and Tracy. Our explanation of the rules needs a lot of work still, but we're getting there. That game ended with a win by Thomas. We are totally addicted at this point so Thomas and I played it solo this weekend which makes for a very fast game and yes, another win for Thomas. Obviously, I have no head for real estate. Luckily a warm fire in the stove and 40s music from my satellite radio took away the sting of losing.
Daylite Savings Time - Not sure if it was turned on of off with this fall back. But I feel like it's America's gift to me as it always happens the wkend of my bday and extends it for one more hour. Plus, that extra hour of sleep is a treasured thing. If they could just figure out how to keep it from getting dark earlier as well, I'd be over the moon.
The San Juans - The mountains were all covered in snow and just amazingly beautiful. Unfortunately the aspens were already bare, but there was plenty to make up for it. We hiked around Plan B one afternoon and the scenery just kept getting prettier (plus I saw a fox, a deer and a chipmunk). All in all our trip was wonderful and I could easily make it an annual birthday event.

In other news, today is voting day here in Colorado. Probably in other places as well. Thankfully we're able to vote by mail. Unfortunately 17 years of education didn't teach me to read instructions so I screwed up my ballot and was forced to go to the Boulder Elections Office for a replacement. This was a very bad idea as it was swarming with angry octogenarians. And we wonder why politicians cater to old people. I doubt I saw anyone there under the age of 50. But I survived the madness and the winding lines and lived to cast my vote.

Finally, I got some wonderful news the other day. I received an email from my old SMU
friend Stacia and she's moving back to the States and getting married. Best wishes, Stacia. I couldn't be happier for you.

Creede Bumpersticker of the Day: Give me coffee and nobody gets hurt.

-sunday

Time's Top 100 Novels....Say What?

2005-10-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Time magazine recently published their list of the Top 100 Novels. Lists like this immediately catch my eye as I'm such a fan of ranking things. Even though I always get annoyed by the end product, the concept itself is too alluring to be resisted. Plus, it exposes me and everyone else to books we may not have discovered otherwise.

As I scanned through the list my first thoughts were No Russians? And No Austen? And No Fountainhead? I was so perplexed by this that I read their blurb on how they came up with the list. They only chose novels that were written in the English language after 1923 (they noted that Ulysses was written in 1922 - so was the entire point of this arbitrary date to exclude the works of James Joyce - not that I have a problem with that since I've never read Joyce, but still). Secondly, I noted that two guys came up with this list. I have two problems with this: Two. Guys. How random is that? Why don't they just get their own blog or something. Their random criteria explains no Anna Karenina and no Pride and Prejudice. But what about The Fountainhead? It was written in English after 1923. My guess at their rational: Written by a woman - strike 1. Written by someone whose native tongue was not English - strike 2. Written by a devout anti-Communist whose devotees include Fed Chair Alan Greenspan - strike 3. Sorry Ayn, hopefully you'll be satisfied with your placement on the Most Influential Books list. But I'm sure Time's two critics were educated/indoctrinated in liberal arts at Ivy League schools, so I guess we'll just have to assume that they're qualified to be the sole contributors for such a grandly named list and take their opinions as gospel. Now for a little analysis on the list:

19 - Number of books I've read on the list
16 - Number of books I've read on the list and liked
10 - Number of books I haven't read but have seen the movie version
7 - Number of books I've tried to read but gave up on
13 - Number of books previously on my To Read list
72 - Number of books written by men
18 - Number of books written by women
9 - Number of authors who were on the list twice
1 - Number of women authors who made the list twice (Virgina Woolf)
1 - Father/Son combo who made the list (Kingley and Martin Amis)
Lots - Number of books on list I haven't even heard of, many of which I'll now add to my To Read List
Infinity - Number of books I like much better than many on this list

I have to wonder how Time's Top 100 Novels would have looked if two women created it - or even one man and one woman. I'm really to believe that 80% of the best novels written since 1923 - are written by men? This strikes me as extremely sexist. And most of the women they did include are tres PC. It seems like they said, ok we picked our 70 white guys who wrote books we loved, so let's spend the rest of the list trying to appease all the non-white males out there (for example, Beloved was required reading in SEVERAL classes for my brother who majored in journalism and is a thesis away from his Masters in Education. Why that book and why was it mandated more than once? No, I've never read Beloved so I don't know just how mind-blowingly good it is. And I will probably never know as I have no desire to ever read it. And yes, I know this is close-minded and Oprah would be disappointed in me.).

Four of my top 5 books were left off the list, but I was pleased to see that GWTW made it (aside from The Fountainhead, my other huge disappointment was the blackballing of A Confederacy of Dunces). I'm sure this was a yet another calculating move on the part of these two guys. They didn't want to deal with all the hate mail that one exception would have created from romantically-minded females. The funniest inclusion was Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Don't get me wrong, I loved this book when I was ten and I would happily re-read it and all of Judy Blume, except for the icky Forever. I'm just trying really hard to picture these two dingbats reading this book on the subway on their way to work and then deciding yeah, that's one of the best 100 novels ever written! My guess is that they're also afraid of all of America's tween girls. The other children's book on the list is The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. No complaints here.

Some authors I was glad to see on the list, but the book selected was either not my choice or one I haven't yet read, i.e., Dashiell Hammet's Red Meridian (haven't even heard of it), Thorton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey (his Mr. North is in my personal Top 10 list, but I'm now adding Bridge to my To Read list even though it sounds suspiciously like a war book), E.M. Forster's A Passage to India (good book, but I loved Room with a View so much more), Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby (the traditional choice, but I'm a Tender is the Night girl.....Die Daisy, Die!), and John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (I'll admit it - I hated the book, the movie, and even a play of it I was forced to watch in The Fort starring Brother Alexander. Give me East of Eden any day). The other books on this list that I really, really didn't like were McEwan's Atonement and DeLillo's White Noise (both books by white guys I read so much about that I practically felt obligated to read. End result: a heap of boredom and much ado about nothing).

But at least they included Faulkner. In my opinion, the best writer of the 20th century. And he made the list twice. A Southerner no less.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Rednecks for Kerry

-sunday

Hodgepodge

2005-10-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I keep thinking things will settle down and I'll just have all this time on my hands, but it never seems to happen. Fall has been super busy for me, but on the upside we've had an amazingly gorgeous season here in Boulder. Up until this week it's been in the 70s or 80s so the leaves have been slowly turning, giving us weekend after weekend to enjoy them. I think this week has been the peak, but the aspens are just now turning gold, so maybe we still have several days left. I spend a lot of time making fun of the never-ending landscaping that goes on everywhere around me, particularly at work. However, these past couple of weeks I've been thankful for it all. I'm surrounded by reds and greens and oranges and golds - it's almost overwhelming how beautiful it is. My favorite thing they plant at work is wheat. There are 2 kinds: one kind of wheat - the tan and green - is everywhere, but the second kind - kind of a cream and red wheat - is much rarer and it's my favorite. They plant it a couple of places at work and it's so pretty and soft (yes, I touched it). But it doesn't last long and today's rain could spell doom for my wheat. It's rained twice this week throwing the general populace out of sorts. We've had so much sunshine and so many beautiful days in a row, that this sudden onset of clouds and drizzle messes with everyone. People are drinking lots more coffee - always a good thing - but still looking blurry-eyed and confused, exclaiming over the fact that it's rained for four straight hours. What next, we think. Luckily the sunshine is supposed to return in time for the weekend. I need at least one more weekend in my hammock so I've my fingers crossed.

Last weekend we had Joe and Kim over, along with their children Zack (3) and Alena (18 months or so). Thomas and I still haven't gotten around to really having people over much and there's absolutely no excuse for this, except for above busy one. I think we just need practice. We decided to do things the easy way this time and ordered pizza and salad from our favorite pizza place, Boulder Pizza Exchange (weird name, I agree) that's half a block down the road. In addition I made spinach and artichoke dip with carrots and chips as an appetizer, some of Larissa's Famous Sangria (last batch of the year) and 4-H brownies. Kim brought a really yummy dessert that I want to try making myself - peaches in rum sauce with angelfood cake. It was delicous! After dinner, Zack wanted to show us Samarai Jack - a favorite cartoon of his. Thomas is really into animation, so I sense a netflix in our future. We then played my favorite new game - The Settlers of Catan. Joe and Kim have been raving over this game for awhile and they brought it over. It is the best! It's all about strategy and bartering and of course, luck. The actual board is made up of cards that change every game, so the game feels new every time you play it. Beware any friends and family, should you ever come to our house now, you'll be forced to play Settlers - but you'll love it! It takes about one hour to play a game and I was very confused for the first 20 minutes. For awhile there I thought I was going to win, but I ended up coming in last. Joe won and Kim and Thomas tied for second. Vengance will be mine! Anyway, after that we just talked for awhile as the kids slept in the guestroom. They are amazingly good and soooooooo cute! We had a wonderful time and it's definitely given us the push we needed to have people over more.

In other news, I made the mistake yesterday of going to Whole Foods in Boulder after work. Thomas and I are very particular about when we actually go to Whole Foods because it's always crammed full of people and you can barely find a parking space. Saturday or Sunday nights at 9 pm are the best. But the trip could not be postponed, so there I was. I should have known I was in for trouble when I had to wait for a parking place, but I thought it just must be all the after-work-pre-weekend shoppers. Once I was finally parked I made my way inside only to be confronted by hordes of people - the usual amount of shoppers (honestly twice as many as there should be to be able to comfortably push your cart around) and an additional 100-200 people standing in winding lines everywhere. I found out from the seafood guy that they were having a massive tasting event. Hence the lines. He also told me that he tasted the best thing in the world in one of those lines. What could that be, I asked. Goat cheese dipped in chocolate. I'm a huge fan of both items, but the combination sounds iffy to me. He said to trust him. One day, maybe I'll get the chance. But you would have had to pay me $200 to even consider standing in that line. There were 50 people in that line all giving me the evil eye as I tried to fight my way to snatch a carton of milk. And it just went on and on - every aisle I went down. I ran into so many people and was hit by just as many. I'm black and blue from it all. Why would they schedule a tasting at Thursday at 6 pm??? And who are all these people that have the time to stand in these lines??? Are CU classes really that easy or are there tons of well dressed homeless people looking for a free snack? I'm perplexed. By the time I finally made it out of there, I was traumatized for the rest of the night. I got dinner from the deli there because the thought of cooking was just too much. Luckily the pumpkin risotto cakes were so good that one day soon, I will be returning to Whole Foods.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Attack Syria? NO!
-sunday

Past Due Reviews

2005-10-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! I wrote this a couple of months ago and somehow missed posting it. It's too late to catch most of these movies in the theatre, but in case you haven't seen them, there's always netflix. The summer offerings (aside from Telluride) have been extraordinarilly slim this season. Here are a few that have stood out

War of the Worlds: I'd been anxiously awaiting this movie for the better part of a year and finally saw it after the 4th with Thomas, Allison and Jess. I've never read the book, seen the earlier version of the movie, or heard the story on radio so all I knew going in was that aliens invade. I was expecting something along the lines of Independence Day (a movie I LOVED), but with a better ending. I'd also seen the previews which were awesome. Now for the big however. ...this movie totally sucked. We were all so disappointed it was unbelievable. I kept thinking it had to get better, had to get more interesting. Wrong. It was so boring and so stupid I wanted to pound in Spielberg's head with a mallet for making me believe all the hype. Because despite Tom Cruise's couch moment, he was not the problem with this film. Cruise is a reliable actor. I can't remember a bad performance of his and he doesn't give one here. It's quite servicable. It's the direction that's the problem. Spielberg chose to focus on Cruise and his family exclusively. I kept wondering, What's the president saying, what's happening in NYC, in other countries, to anyone except the loathsome three (Cruise and his two mewling, worthless kids)? Spielberg compounded this mistake by spending what seemed like a decade on Cruise and his daughter stuck in a farmhouse with a deranged Tim Robbins as the aliens persistently try to find them. They're three people! Why do the aliens care so much about these three when later in the movie we see that Boston looks pretty much untouched. You'd think they'd want a bigger bang for their buck. But no, instead we see scenes of the aliens passing around old family photos and whatnot. I could go on, but it makes me too angry. This movie was an even bigger disappointment than Spielberg's AI - and that's saying something since after it I still despise that Haley kid. Spielberg's next film is Munich, the story of the Mossad agent who hunts down the Palestinian terrorists who assassinated Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Spielberg seems to have a much better track record with revisiting history than imagining the future (have you tried re-watching ET lately?) - think Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, so I have hope that he'll recover from this travesty. Rating: Must be paid to see

The Wedding Crashers: If you like Owen Wilson and/or Vince Vaughn, go see this movie. Thomas and I both really enjoyed it. It's a great comedy and a great date movie. Vaughn particularly is hilarious. The supporting cast is also wonderful. I've mentioned Rachel McAdams before (and will do again). She plays Wilson's love interest. It's not the best part in the movie (the movie belongs to the guys) but she fleshes it out and makes it more than the standard girlfriend role. Also doing great work are Isla Fischer (aka Ali G's real life girlfriend) as the deranged bridesmaid who terrorizes Vaughn, Bradley Cooper (aka Will from Alias) as McAdams's evil preppy boyfriend, and of course Christopher Walken as her scary Secratary of the Treasury dad. The movie goes on a bit too long and gets a bit weird and borderline depressing with a cameo by Will Ferrell, but it redeems itself in the end. Rating: Matinee

Skeleton Key: Thomas has this system for determining which movies he'll go see that he likes to torture me with - he goes pretty much by the magic Rotten Tomatoes number. And his cutoff is usually an 80. My cutoff - there isn't one. I tend to avoid reviews until after I've seen the movie, making me the kind of indiscriminate moviegoer that studios love. As for Skeleton Key, the tomameter was in the 30's or 40's. Usually this is enough to disqualify any movie, but he will occasionally make an exception - especially if it's a horror movie. Skeleton Key is not a horror movie and I'm baffled by the overall low rating. Methinks some people just don't like Kate Hudson. And I think these people are crazy. I've been a fan ever since her magical turn as Penny Lane in Almost Famous. And who could forget how funny she was in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Anyway, she tries something different with Skeleton Key, playing Caroline, a nurse who lives in New Orleans and travels to the bayou to care for stroke victim, Ben Devereaux, played by John Hurt. Caroline lives with Hurt and his wife Violet (Gena Rowlands - who'd have thought she could be so scary?) in one of those fabulous antibellum type mansions surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens. A truly great location for filming. The couple's lawyer (Peter Sarsgaard) also keeps popping up and flirting with Caroline throughout the movie. Anyway, Caroline quickly realizes that something's amiss in the house. And that something has to do with a type of voodoo (it's called Hoodoo - honest) that was practiced at the estate years and years ago by a couple of servants who were eventually hanged. The movie is beautifully filmed and has lots of scary scenes (but I didn't have to watch the whole thing from between my fingers, thank goodness). Caroline drove me crazy with her curiosity but the twist at the end - neither Thomas or I saw it coming - made it all worthwhile. Rating: Matinee

Next up: Reviews of a couple I've seen more recently - History of Violence and In Her Shoes.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day (courtesy of Jen): My other car is a college education.
-sunday

School Days

2005-10-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! School is officially back in session for me. Every spring and fall I volunteer for Junior Achievement, an organization my company supports. Basically I go to a class and teach a series of courses on community, money, government and businesses. This semester I'm back at Louisville Elementary in Mrs. Beitzel's second grade class. I've worked with this teacher once before a couple of years ago and she was by far the best, so I was happy to get this assignment. Sometimes the teachers don't show up at all, so it's like you're a full on substitute, or sometimes they'll just ignore you entirely and let the class go wild. Not Mrs. Beitzel - she's right there the whole time and her class is soooo well behaved. Last year I taught the gifted class or 5th and 6th graders. It was a special course that involved making, marketing and selling these utterly hideous animal-themed foam picture frames. I still have nightmares from all the glue. At the end of the course though, we actually sold out of frames during our lunchtime sale ($.50/frame). They decided to give all the money - $26 or so - to the tsunami relief fund. How sweet is that?

Yesterday was the second class of My Community - the course for second graders. We learned all about production - unit versus assembly line. This involved four teams making paper donuts, two with unit production and two with assembly line. Unit always wins this exercise but it's fun to see how excited they get. At the end of the class I surprised them with real donuts and basically got to feel like a hero. Bribery definitely works with 7 year olds. At least when you just see them an hour a week.

One of my favorite questions for the kids is what they want to be when they grow up. I ask this during the first class. The responses inevitably crack me up. This year's standouts were a ninja, a director, a zookeeper, a stuntman, a doctor - because they make lots of money, and a famous singer/art teacher (it's good to have a backup plan). I always have a few boys that want to be in the military. One year I got responses for every branch of the military, including the Coast Guard. Not sure how much of a need there is for that in Colorado, but...... Other favorite occupations for the boys include video game makers, firemen, policemen and bankers - I guess Monopoly has its impact after all. The girls almost all want veterinarians (or veteritarians as Lexie told me this year), teachers or movie/rock stars.

Anyway, Junior Achievement is a great organization. A lot of fun and a good way to break up the work week, so check it out if your company partners with them. There's nothing like 25 7 year olds to liven up your day. And by the end of the course they are so enamored with your presence that you get lots of hugs. How often does that happen at work?

-sunday

End of Summer Reading Extravanza

2005-10-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I haven't talked much about books lately. And no it's not because I'm still in mourning from finishing Harry Potter 6. I'm just going to try to put the series out of my mind for the next two years, with a brief hiatus to see the 4th film in November. Anyway, I struck gold a couple of months ago and read four books in a row that I enjoyed.

A Light in the Piazza by Elizabeth Spencer: I was given a first edition of this book by Marlene that I will prize forevermore. My brother gave me an unfortunate dilettantish taste for first editions a few years ago by giving me a first edition, first printing of Atlas Shrugged for Christmas. Since then, whenever I find a new book that I really like, I try to get a first edition off Amazon or bn.com. Older books tend to be tricky because they're so pricey. For example, I could only afford a third edition of I Capture the Castle that's in okay condition. But it was in the library of Louie B. Nunn, the former govenor of Kentucky, so that made me happy. Anyway, to the book review! You may have heard of A Light in the Piazza, particularly if you live in NYC or are a fan of the stage, because it was made into a Broadway musical this year and won buckets of Tonys. Marlene, Janice and Bobbi were all lucky enough to see it a month or so ago and I'm still pea-green with envy! The book was written in 1960 by Mississippi author, Elizabeth Spencer. It reminded me of some of the works of Tennessee Williams, like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, or to a lesser extent Suddenly Last Summer, where a few Southern characters travel to Europe and some drama goes down. In this case it's the wealthy Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, Clara touring Italy. Clara is in her early 20s, but had an accident in her childhood that left with the mentality of a child. This disability goes unnoticed by Fabrizio, the handsome, young Italian she meets and subsequently falls in love with. Finally a benefit to language barriers. This causes much distress for Mrs. Johnson as she worries about the effect of the relationship on her daughter. She does her best to discourage the pair, knowing Clara's condition will eventually be figured out by Fabrizio or his family. The characters are charmingly and effectively written and the plot takes a few unexpected turns. It's also interesting to read about the mores and opinions of the time and the role of class and wealth in the States and Europe. A Light in the Piazza also benefits by being a very quick read, quite the pageturner. Now if I can only see the musical!

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford: I've always wanted to read one of Mitford's novels, because I've been intrigued with the author herself. Mitford and her sisters were quite notorious in their day, kind of like early 20th century England's version of the Hilton sisters. Pursuit is her first novel, written in 1945. And Mitford wrote what she knew, so it's fun reading about this wealthy, eccentric family, the Radletts of Alconleigh. Lord Alconleigh is obsessed with old school English ideals - hunting and going to war, basically; while his wife does her best to accomodate everyone while not putting herself out too much. There are nannies and servants for that. The beginning of the book reminded me some of Cold Comfort Farm or I Capture the Castle because it focuses the Radlett children playing about in the English countryside, getting into amusing adventures, tricking their parents and whatnot. The protagonist of Pursuit is Linda Radlett and the story follows her through childhood and beyond. Once Linda hits her teens, she marries one misfit after another, gets involved in the Spanish Civil War, and is finally stranded in Paris where she meets her match. Of course WWII must get in the way at that point. You know what Shakespeare said about the course of true love. About halfway through the book, I got a bit tired of Linda and her romantic trials. I was more interested in some of the other, more neglected characters. But it was a first novel, so I definitely will try Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate somewhere down the road.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden : This book has been tormenting me since it first came out. It received so may rave reviews, I heard so much about it and I knew so many people who read it. But I never could bring myself to pick it up, regardless of my love of kimonos (a love that was exquisitely requited thanks to my trouseau). This all changed when I heard they were making a movie version coming out this December. I knew it was now or never. I was also encouraged when a review on the back of the book compared the heroine to Scarlett O'Hara. So Geisha is the book I took to Telluride (yes, I still found time to read despite my nine movies). The setup for the story took around 160 pages. This was a little rough for me - lots of details and description. I'm more of a dialogue girl. But I did enjoy Geisha and I learned a lot about the geisha lifestyle - much different than I expected. I really thought they were just high class prostitutes, but it turns out that especially at the top level, geishas are more along the lines of extremely accomplisted hostesses and entertainers who must comply with a rigourous code of conduct. They spend years going to school to become geishas and have some sort of continuous learning thereafter. The book is set in the 1930s and 1940s and told through the eyes of Sayuri, who starts out life in a small fishing village with her distant father, sick mother, and dumb sister. Soon enough Sayuri ends up in Gion, a Japanese geisha district and begins her training. She is terrorized by the head geisha in her house, the monstrous Matsumoto, but eventually finds a big sister in the geisha, Mameha. Along the way she becomes one of the most famous geishas of her day and falls secretly in love with The Chairman who steps aside as Sayuri is pursued by his disfigured business partner, Nobu. The love story didn't really do much for me, but I did enjoy learning about all the geisha rituals, Japanese customs, and the Japanese view of WWII and Americans. Sayuri is definitely no Scarlett, but she is a survivor and given the horrid environment that she grew up in, that's saying something. I hear that Ziyi Zhang is supposed to be great in the movie, so I can now see it with the clean conscience of having read the book.

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: I take a lot of flack for continuing to enjoy children's books. But I always say, just because a book is about children doesn't necessarily mean it's a chidren's book. Somehow I missed out on reading Anne in my younger years. It's been on the shelf taunting me for years. As I haven't had time to go to the library I finally gave in and plucked it down. The novel is set in a small rural village on Prince Edward Island in the early 1900s. As a 9 year old orphan, Anne comes to live with the Cuthberts . The Cuthberts are comprised of an old maid, Marilla, and her old bachelor brother Matthew. They wanted a boy to help Matthew with the farm, but once they got Anne they couldn't turn her away. Anne is characterized by her runaway, vivid imagination, her non-stop talking, and her red hair which she detests. Most of the story centers around Anne's adventures and the scrapes she gets into on the farm, at school and all places in between. This is one of those books that's perfect to read in a hammock. It makes you feel good and happy and peaceful and right with the world. Kind of like Jan Karon's Mitford series. I wouldn't be surprised if Montgomery inspired some of Karon's work. I'm very happy that though I've finished the first book in this series, there are many more to look forward to. I'll be interested to read about the woman Anne grows up to be.

I'm currently re-reading The Eight, a thriller by Katherine Neville. I first read it years ago and remember really getting into it, but I've totally forgotten it now. The Eight revolves around a mystery rooted in a notorious chess set given to Charlemagne in the 8th century. Math also plays a part in figuring this whole thing out. Reading it makes me wish I knew a bit more about both topics, particulary chess. The Eight was written about 20 yrs ago, and it's Divinci Codesque, except that in The Eight, a woman is the protagonist. Much better.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Decade

2005-10-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

I finally found one I want:

I brake for prairie dogs.

-sunday

Ray vs. Walk the Line

2005-10-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I finally got around to watching the movie, Ray. Last year it won an Oscar for Jamie Foxx as lead actor. Watching it, I couldn't help comparing it to Walk the Line, another movie about another famous but troubled singer, Johnny Cash. There were many similarities between the two men, and unfortunately many differences between the two movies. A compare and contrast was called for:

Brothers: Both lost a brother as children, and both were haunted by the loss and felt responsible for it throughout their lives.
Childhood family: Both had difficult childhoods. Cash had a bitter father who put him down, but Charles wins the worst childhood easily as he grew up a black child in the segregated South, was raised by a caring single mother, was dirt poor and became blind.
Musical Impact: Cash and Charles both broke new ground and were enormously talented, but Charles came out the winner here - first to make the transition from R&B to pop and first artist ever to own his own master recordings (not sure I understand the significance of this, but they made it a big deal in the movie). However, Cash's live recording from Folsom Prison topped The Beatles on the charts, so that's saying something.
Drugs: Cash was entralled by pills of all kinds, while Charles's was heroin. Both abused drugs for years, ended up being briefly imprisoned because of it, then went through painful withdrawals
True Love: Cash - June Carter. Charles - it looked like heroin to me, but the movie posited that it was his music. I can go for this AFTER he finally quits using. And this isn't until like the last scene of the movie.
Acting: Foxx did a good impersonation of Charles and had some good moments, but this proves to me that Leo was robbed at last year's Oscars. My fav parts of Ray were the flashbacks and Foxx wasn't even in them. Don't get me wrong, Foxx is a great actor, but I think he was a heck of a lot better in Collateral than in Ray. Phoenix doesn't give an impersonation - he disappears into the person of Johnny Cash. Phoneix may not look exactly like him, but after seeing him on screen for 5 seconds you're completely absorbed in the character and riveted to the screen. As for the supporting casts, Charles was involved with lots of women, his band and his handlers, and all these supporting parts are fine but no one else really stands out in Ray. The obvious standout in Walk the Line is Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. She's right there with Phoenix, holding up the movie.
Singing: Phoenix and Witherspoon do their own singing. Foxx lipsynchs.
Movies: Ray is a good biopic. Walk the Line is a wonderful movie. Ray almost felt like a documentary. It took you piece by piece through 30 years of his life. It felt like they were checking off concerts and events. Watching it at home was especially difficult for me. I stopped it at least 7 times to do other things. At 2 hrs and 45 min, Ray was waaaaay too long - it could have knocked off 45 min and I would have rejoiced. Walk the Line had 100% of my attention and it could have gone on for another hour and I would have been thrilled.
Easy Winner: Walk the Line

-sunday

Serenity NOW!

2005-10-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

A few years ago my favorite new show on tv was called Firefly. It was made by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you liked Buffy, you would have liked Firefly. It had all of Whedon's calling cards. Complex characters, a talented cast, complicated relationships, oodles of witty dialogue, and lots of action. If you liked Westerns or space movies, like Star Wars, you'd also like Firefly, because it was billed as a Space Western, set in the future. The crew flies around the galaxy in its beater old spaceship called Serenity. The captain of Serenity is Mal (as in Spanish for bad). Mal fought the ruling Alliance as a rebel or browncoat. He, along with his comrade in arms, Zoe; Zoe's husband the pilot, Wash; mercenary Jane; mechanic Kaylee; companion (kind of like a geisha) Inara; and preacher Sheperd make up the crew of Serenity. They took on risky jobs (some legal, some not so much) to make their living. Along the way they also picked up two passengers - a doctor, Simon Tam and his sister River. River had been part of some Alliance initiative that programmed her to basically behave very strangely. As the series progressed, the Tams history with the alliance was a strong storyline. Of course, the writers also teased the audience with a couple of budding relationships: Mal and Inara and Simon and Kaylee (I love the Mal/Inara relationship, but I hate Simon so his pairing with Kaylee never did much for me). Thanks to the lack of a consistent timeslot from Fox and the horror known as baseball playoffs, Firefly never did too well in the ratings and was canceled after 13 episodes.

Something surprising happened after that. Thanks to the miracle known as DVDs, all sorts of fans ended up seeing the show once the boxset was released. It was a huge seller. This led Universal to greenlight a movie version of Firefly that would appeal to fans and those who'd never seen the tv show. This movie was called Serenity and it finally came out in theatres on Friday. Thomas and I were both huge fans of Firefly so we've been waiting years to see this movie. We were also terrifed we'd be disappointed. Luckily that didn't happen.

Serenity does it all. It progresses the Firefly mythology - we learn why River is such a wackjob (and a martial arts machine as it turns out), it delves into the Mal/Inara and Simon/Kaylee relationships, and it tells how the canabalistic Reevers that terrorized the crew throughout the series came into being. And everyone stays in character and there are tons of great dialogue and witty repartee. The action scenes - basically every single one throughout the movie - are awesome, thrilling and have you sitting on the edge of your seat (and I'm not one for action scenes, really). By the end of the movie you're basically fearing for the survival of the entire crew. I won't spoil it for you, but there are some vicious scenes. Whedon continues to be a heartbreaker, just as he was on Buffy (I'm still bitter that he killed Anya on the LAST episode of that show).

So, if you liked Firefly, the tv show, you'll love Serenity. If you haven't seen Firefly, you'll still probably really like Serenity. There's more character development in Serenity than there is in 95% of action movies. Plus there's some romance, some scares and a lot of humor. If Universal can make some money on this, Whedon has promised to make more movies in the series. He said he has hundreds of stories to tell for the crew of Serenity. Go contribute some dollars to this one, and make Thomas and me really, really happy.

-sunday

Not So Lazy Days of Summer

2005-09-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone, This past weekend was a busy one for Thomas and me. My brother came into town for a visit. I'd previously mentioned that he's moving to Denver. He's decided against this, so he came for a brief stay instead. After over a year of being married, Thomas and I have developed a better process for having guests stay over. I guess practice makes perfect, so the entire stay went smoothly and was enjoyable. Friday night we went down to Pearl Street for the Fall Festival. It was awesome! There was a great band and all sorts of booths. They also had this trapeze thing that you could do for ten minutes. I was feeling a touch under the weather and had just eaten dinner so I avoided it. But at the next Fall Fest, I will definitely be flying thru the air with the greatest of ease (and hopefully not crashing to the ground). Saturday we hit Flatirons to do some shopping. They've remodeled The Gap and I highly recommend it now. When you go in the dressing room you get a buzzer and they write your name on the door. Instant, personal service!

Saturday night we went to a party at Eddie and Larissa's. It was a combination housewarming/late birthday party (Eddie's) and it was wonderful. Their new house is beautiful - front and back yard, hardwood floors, great fixtures, lighting and cabinets and countertops, and lots of space. At the party, I got to see some people I haven't seen in awhile - Rich and Melissa, Tim, and Tom. And I got to meet some new people like Eddie's brother, his best man and their neighbors (I was quite jealous of their neighbors as ours tend to be rowdy college kids). I honestly felt like I was on a TV show. That's how great this group was. Eddie grilled the most delicious burgers and Larissa made cous cous and the best potatoes ever (Thomas inquired about the recipe - I see it in my future). However, I most enjoyed her sangria and moist chocolate cake with coffee ice cream. All in all it was a lovely evening. We stayed outside most of the time because the weather was just that good. Eddie and Larissa made it all look so easy. It kind of inspired me to try having more than two people over at one time.

On Sunday Thomas decided the time had come to put up our Sunsetter. A Sunsetter is an awning. We needed it for our upper deck, a great space that has gone unused because the horrid sun beats down on you and burns you within five minutes. So if this space was ever to be used, the awning was a necessity. Unfortunately it came in three hugely heavy and ridiculously long boxes. Luckily Creede was there or we would never have got them upstairs. It was definitely a three man job. Once we got everything upstairs we opened the boxes and there were literally hundreds of parts. I almost wept. I knew this project would not only take the entire day, but would likely end in disaster. Fortunately, Thomas read the instructions and had a visionary's sense of how things should be done, so though it did take all day we actually got the thing up. Now that it's up, I adore it. I have made much use of it in the past three days because the deck plays host to one of my favorite things - my hammock. Now I can lie and read in the hammock whenever I like and not have to worry about the sun. With my skin, this is a BIG deal. I am over the moon with happiness about this turn of events.

On Sunday night Thomas, Creede and I met Tim at Dave & Busters in Westminster. Creede and Thomas played lots of games while Tim and I caught up. D&B has this new deal now where you get your meal and for a little extra get a $10 game card as well. This proved to be very popular with us and we actually didn't even use up all our cards. I played a solitary mean game of Ms. Pac man - got past level 3, made 67,000+ points, and wore out my right hand in the process. Definitely the best bang for your buck. After that, the boys went to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose (I am forever grateful to Tim for accompanying Thomas to these horror movies. The nightmares are just too much for me), and I went to see Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. It was your typical romantic comedy. Maybe a little better than average, but the plot was especially predictable. Luckily the two leads are charismatic and talented, tho it's not like they had chemistry in spades. I'm still glad I saw it rather than Exorcism , even though Thomas, Creede and Tim really enjoyed it (read what Creede had to say here).

So that was my weekend. Creede left for Creede Wednesday, but it's going to be a beautiful weekend. I see a lot of hammock time (and finally Serenity!!!) in my future.

-sunday

2005 Emmys - The Good, The Bad and the Downright Scary

2005-09-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Now that I went through all the winners and the losers (there was a little bit of happiness for me), on to the important stuff. Who made out and who made fools of themselves! Here are some observations:

Ellen Degeneres: I really like Ellen and think she did a good job. Her opening joke about how she always hosts the show after national tragedies (9/11 and now Hurricane Katrina) and that her next job would be emceeing North Korea's People's Choice Awards really made me laugh. She's just a little bit wacky, kind hearted, and she doesn't seem to take show business too seriously.

The Emmy Timekeeper: He kept appearing in a recurring bit, and though that got a bit old, I'm very grateful to him for keeping the show moving. It ended on time! When was the last time the Oscars did that?

The Emmy Director: When Lost won for Best Drama, the camera stayed focus on presenter, Hugh Jackmane. This was very annoying. Lost won in its first season - you know these people went nuts, and we didn't get to see their reaction.

The kid from Everybody Hates Chris: He came out with another kid who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. Both were so cute and self possessed. I hope it forced some of the Hollywood bigwigs to open their pockets.

David Letterman's Johnny Carson tribute: The classiest moment of the night. Letterman said how back in the day Carson was the idol of all the comics. Later John Stewart said that's how today's comics feel about Letterman. I wonder what Jay Leno is thinking right now?

I admit that I didn't watch the other tribute. I recorded the whole show and got thru it in 1 hr and 15 minutes thanks to moves like this.

John Stewart's tape of his reaction to Hurricane Katrina. And his acceptance speech for winning best tv talk show.

Are all directors of American tv shows British? It seems that all the winners were. Not sure how to account for this.

S. Epatha Merkerson's win for Best Actress in a TV Miniseries: I loved her speech. She said she dropped what she'd written down the front of her dress and was quite discombobulated and emotional. I've only see her as the dry Law and Order lady, so it was funny to see what a screwball she was in real life. She ties with Felicity Huffman for Best Speech given by a Girl.

Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo looked great. Like a young Diane Lane, but she really needs to work on her walk.

Best Dress Overall and Best Dressed in their 40s: Marcia Cross from Desperate Housewives. Even though she looks like a robot, she was gorgeously attired in a brilliant green gown that was timeless. Could have been worn 100 years ago and will still look fab 100 years from now.

Best Dressed in their 20s: Mischa Barton from The OC. She looked absolutely lovely.

Best Dressed in their 30s: Halle Berry. If you look like Halle, almost anything looks good on you, but she looked especially great in a brilliant blue floaty strapless number cut up to here.

Most Surprisingly Popular Color: OSU fans can rejoice because orange was a big hit at the Emmys this year. Mariska Hargitay and Eva Longoria pulled it off beautifully, but Portia d' Rossi kind of scared me.

Scariest: Terri Hatcher from Desperate Housewives. Hatcher used to be a beautiful woman but now she's the posterchild for od'ing on anorexia and plastic surgery. Her face scares me. And her dress didn't do that much for me either. I think all the other housewives trumped her.

Most Grown Up: Allison Hannigan, aka Willow from Buffy. She's always kind of freaked me out me in the past, but she looked great at the Emmys.

Most Bloated: Jennifer Garner. Her face looked really weird and swollen. I guess not everyone looks great pregnant. And why didn't Ben Affleck walk the red carpet with her?

Most Hated: Star Jones. At times like the preshow, it makes me realize how much I miss Joan and Melissa. Once again tho, Kathy Griffin saved it from being too painful by slamming all the celebs. BTW, I just heard she filed for divorce after 4 yrs AND Chad Michael Murray and Sofia Bush (both teen idols of One Tree Hill) did the same after 4 months.

Ok, that's it for my snarky comments. Hopefully, I'll be more prompt in disecting the next awards show. But even more hopefully maybe next yr, the voters will give some love to The Wire, Gilmore Girls, and Veronica Mars.

-sunday

Sunday's Guide to the Galaxy

2 Days in Paris

Mad Men Redux and Another to Check Out

The Golden Globes that Should Have Been

One Final Note

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - ****SPOILERS BELOW****

Waiting for Harry

Summer Movie Blues

Great Expectations

April Musings

Last Bit on Oscars and The Winner

2007 Oscars Recap

Last Minute Oscar Predictions

Letters from Iwo Jima

Painted Veil and Pan's

Winter Book Reviews

On Groundhogs and Wizards

Winter Movie Reviews

2006 Oscar Noms Are In

2007 Golden Globes Wrap-up

Pre-Christmas Movie Wrap-up

New Fall TV Must Sees

Adventures with Creede

Show Me the Money!

Fall Book Reviews

Snow Day...I Wish

Battlestar's Back

Dinner and a Movie

It's Fall-tastic!

9/11 on Film

September Movies

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Never 4Get

2006 Emmy's Wrap-up

Skip Scoop

Miami Nice

The Return of Winona

The Tale of the Literary Rat

Clerks Strike Back

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

Devil Wears Prada

Emmy Nomination Nightmare

Fourth Festivities

Summer Reading At Last

The British are Coming!

NYC Pics

Big Apple Revisited

The Best of TV, The Worst of TV

Da Vinci Decoded

May Book Review

Siskel and Ebert and the Misery

Weekend Movie Recap

I Heart NY - And the Photos are In

I Heart NY Part 2

I Heart NY Part 1

Spring Movie Recap

It's Finally Happened

25 Years Ago Today

March (Movie) Madness

Dancing Queen Gone Bad

Oscar 2006 Recap

Happy Mardi Gras!

What ever happened to Whit Stillman?

Downfall Indeed

Calling All Buddhists!

And One I Forgot

The Golden Tomato Awards

Golden Globes

SJP and the Family Stone

Kong Fever

Awards Season is Approaching - Golden Globes Noms!

A Tale of Four Movies

Get on the Bus!

A Week of Feasting

Fall Movie Reviews

A Hunting We Will Go

Time's Top 100 Novels....Say What?

Hodgepodge

Past Due Reviews

School Days

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - SPOILERS BELOW