movies & shows galore

This month, I have seen so many different movies and shows, I thought I'd post about them before I forget.

Love & Other Drugs pleasantly surprised me. Robyn and I have taken to watching movies with closed captioning in theaters so when she told me she and Tiffany had plans to see it, I jumped on board. It was more than just 'the-movie-where-Jake-Gyllenhaal-and-Anne-Hathaway-were-naked'. It was surprisingly moving. The first half played off like a comedy but the second half took a serious turn. Anne's Maggie the artist has early onset Parkinson's and Jake's Jamie the pharmaceutical rep falls for her, much to his (but not our) surprise. They both gave great performances, in which my sister bawled like a baby in the second half, LOL.

Tangled became my favorite movie of the year. One, I am a sucker for Disney movies and two, Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi (although in cartoon) have great chemistry. You all know the beloved tale of Rapunzel. Goldie-loooooong-locks stuck in a tower by the evil mother....I felt Disney put a fresh spin on a familiar tale. You have to see it for yourself to know what I mean but I will say, the end credits song is now my most played on my iTunes list!

I'm not sure why I agreed to see Burlesque when my sister suggested coming with her but I did. And boy...am I glad. It IS a cliched movie. I mean, small town girl makes it big, little girl with big voice...it's been done before. However, maybe it's because of a solid cast or because of Christina's pipes, whatever it was...I was sold. Great musical numbers (Express is a personal favorite) and great acting by everyone (cast also includes Cher, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Kristen Bell). If campy movies involving music are your thing, by all means, see it! One website I read argues this movie isn't really campy enough to be a guilty pleasure but I disagree.

On the 5th, a group of us (thanks to John's coordinating) went to see Wintuk, a stunning display of "acrobatics amid flakes" as one website puts it, to tell the story of a boy's quest for snow. You really have to see it yourself to get how insanely talented these performers are!! Some of the stunts are truly mind boggling. I would have seriously injured myself doing any of them. Major props to John for suggesting we see this. Very sad Winktuk isn't coming back around for another run at Madison Square Garden.

eat pray love

I happened to catch Eat Pray Love on opening day with Tiffany and Robyn and I pretty much loved every minute. I must warn you though, eat before you see the movie because it will leave you feeling hungry. Those close ups of Julia Roberts twirling and devouring her pasta left Tiffany and I giggling for some reason. But also craving some good old Italian food. Regardless of the delicious looking meals featured, the movie left you feeling like you could do anything. Liz, the main character (and also the author, who wrote the book about her experiences traveling to Italy, India and Indonesia) left her husband after a moment of clarity, took up a younger boyfriend, experienced heartbreak and then found love overseas. Not that I desire to do any of that (except the travel overseas part) but anything about "finding yourself" and "experiencing the world" gets an A+ in my book.

just eat it.

My parents bought a new T.V for their bedroom and gave Robyn & I their old one. Their old one, btw, is really nice in itself, so we are very happy and that's putting it lightly. It allows us a lot of freedom because we were sharing the one in the living room with our other roommates and to be honest it got annoying. I mean they were generous in letting us use it, don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound unappreciative. But the freedom to put on a movie whenever I want is nice :-) Right now I am watching Gran Torino. I keep hearing such good things about it, how it's really sad, etc so I had put it on the top of my Netflix list. 

Recently I had been praying for another job opportunity and even Robyn admitted to praying for me too, LOL. I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this...yup. I got another gig for a brief period. However it comes to my aid when aid is needed. Coincidence? I think not. Sometimes I am truly amazed how good God is. I am the last person who deserves their prayers answered yet He did anyway. August is off to a good start!

Saw (500) Days of Summer the other day. Loved it -- definitely thought it lived up to its hype. I liked that it didn't have your usual happy ending but in a way, it WAS a happy ending. Speaking of the end, the last line is probably my favorite of the whole movie LOL. I recommend it if you're looking for a good movie to watch.

I am not much of a chocolate girl but these are enough to make me one. As my sister puts it, "orgasmic!"

"i'm an orphan!"

I was recently thinking about the fact that I rarely see my parents anymore. So when I learned they were going to Mohegan Sun next weekend, I jumped at the chance to go with them. It'll just be the two of them, Michael (the baby of the family) and me. It's going to be very tame but that's exactly what I need! My dad just wanted to be by the pool while my mom is gonna be the butterfly that goes from place to place. I definitely get a little of that from my mom. As Jonathan tells it, I always have to be some place. =P My dad & Michael are going to try to score WWE tickets at the Mohegan Sun Arena for the 3rd of August but I highly doubt there will be any left. If they do succeed though, I bet non existant money my mom's gonna want to do a little shopping spree. I am all for that =D

Orphan was such a sick movie. I saw it with Robyn and Tiffany on Friday and by the end of the movie we were all practically yelling at the screen. I kept thinking to myself, "kill whoever you want, just don't kill the little girl!" She was THAT adorable. (The little girl I mention would be the biological daughter of the couple). I highly suggest watching it if you want a good scare! The twist definitely surprised me but I don't know how I didn't think of it.

Lately I've been reading Columbine by Dave Cullen. He's worked/interviewed/followed the survivors closely since the event on April 20, 1999. Am I twisted for being fascinated with the story? I don't know...something about tragedies like that get me. I want to know what led the killers to do something like that, what the survivors were thinking while they were stuck inside that school...yeah, I'm a little looney. But regardless, the book is very well written. I highly recommend it. The story is not told in chronological order so if you don't mind jumping around a bit, time wise...

"i love to swim..."

I got hotel review happy during my Sociology class today because well, when you have about 2 and a half hours to sit through, the mind begins to wander. Not to knock the subject and all. We did have a very interesting discussion pertaining to gender roles in society. We also read an article called I Want A Wife which you can read here. I'm happy to say we (or I) don't live in a society where this is what is expected of wives, for the most part. This was written in, I think, 1972? Things sure have changed since then. But yeah, back to the hotel reviews...so far, nothing but great stuff. J.D & I are staying at Pop Century Resort. For the most part, it's got great reviews. Basically, you get what you pay for. I'm hoping the bad reviews were from disgruntled visitors who expected more than what they paid for.

I saw The Last House on the Left with Tiffany yesterday. Absolutely loved it! I had to cover my ears during the rape scene...I thought it was painful to watch/hear. Otherwise, it kept me on the edge of my seat. Monica Potter and Sara Paxton could be mother/daughter in real life. If you love the horror genre, go see it! I didn't realize it came out on March 13th, otherwise I would've seen it sooner. As it was, the theater was not full at all but everyone was really engaged in the movie; you can always tell by the verbal response theatergoers give. For those who don't know the premise (the original version came out in 1972...which seems to be the theme year of this post), you can read about it here.

Final papers, final exams and the final week of school are all coming up. Then in exactly 57 days, I will be leaving this great city for the other great city of Orlando. I absolutely cannot wait! I have a feeling I will be mentioning Disney World plenty of times until then. Bear with me!

The iced mocha at McDonald's is heaven in a cup. In fact, I like it better than Starbucks' version of the drink. Imagine that!

so call me your sugar...

My parents came home from vacation with not only stories but some great things for us: a Harley Davidson tank top (gee, I wonder which parent got that), a coffee cup with my name on it, a beach bag and a turtle themed travel coffee thermos...do my parents know me well or what?! But the best news they gave upon their return was they already booked a January 2011 cruise for all of us!

By the way, all this time I thought the F in Flo Rida was a gun. Turns out it's the state of Florida. Which also explains his name. Man, I'm slow to pick up on those things. Thanks to Tiffany for pointing that out!

Zac Efron in 17 Again turned me, Tiffany and Robyn into ditzy 12 year old girls. Seriously, we were talking about how jealous of Vanessa Hudgens we were. I can't believe I'm even admitting that! The movie itself, however, was no cinematic masterpiece. I think 13 Going on 30 did it slightly better. But Zac Efron definitely carried the movie all the way to the end. In fact, he had better chemistry with Leslie Mann (who played his wife) than Matthew Perry did! And any scene Zefron does with Michelle Trachtenburg (who plays his daughter) is straight up funny, more so the ones where she tries to come on to him.

pop goes the...muscle?

Well, pooh. I was going to do the Freaks & Geeks post but yesterday didn't go quite as planned. I've been staying in the basement apartment of my parents' house lately (my grandparents occupy the second floor) just because I wanted to get away from my apartment for awhile. So there I was, drinking coffee and chatting with my Oma on Thursday morning when I cut her off to turn around in my chair to reach for a spoon behind me. When I turned again to face her...SNAP! Oma went and put this icy/hot thing on my neck but it didn't do much. Went downstairs, Mom tried to massage my neck into good health (she's a massage therapist so I have to give her credit and say she knew what she was doing). It helped but it still was hurting bad.

I had to go get my dogs in the city and then head to school. Even though I wanted to go to the chiropractor literally up the block from me, I didn't have time. I wish I had taken off for the day because by the end of the day, I could no longer put my head up. It was titled to the right and it seemed it was there to stay. But this morning I went to see Dr. Scheff, the best chiropractor in the world, and I can now sit up straight! It's still inflammed and hard to move around but he still helped greatly. The sound my neck made when he snapped it was pretty damn impressive. Dr. Scheff's been practicing for forever. I'm not kidding when I say that...he was taught by the son of Daniel Palmer, the man who invented the practice of chiropractic!

I feel kind of silly that all this ensued because I reached for a damn spoon. But my dad said the last time he sprained something in his neck, he had just been stretching in the morning. The reason I feel silly is because when I was in Starbucks yesterday morning, the barista at my local one wanted to know what happened (I had a neck brace on) and I told him the story. He responded "Oh my God, are you serious?" I was going to say, "Why wouldn't I be?" but then I realized that saying I got hit a car is probably more 'impressive' than 'turning around in my seat'. Not to make light of car accident victims or anything.

I couldn't work last night and I can't work again tonight, this time on doctor's orders but I am going to take advantage of this by watching "The Bone Collector", since it just came in the mail (thank you, Netflix!) I remember seeing it in 1999, when it was released. I enjoyed it a lot and remember the feeling of being kept at the edge of my seat. Let's see it I still feel the same in 2009!

fool me twice, shame on me.

Happy April Fool's! Did anyone fool you today? I love playing pranks on people so this day is right up my alley. However, I didn't do as good as I've done in the past. I managed to fool a few people but they caught on quickly. I also learned that most females joke about being pregnant. I'm sorry to say I was one of them. Gotta be more original next year!






After watching Kris Allen perform Ain't No Sunshine last night on Idol, I am now a loyal follower. I don't even want to say how many times I've watched his performance...okay, 10...but seriously, how did I not notice this guy before? And he's my age to boot! But all that is pointless, since he's married. Mrs. Allen, you better hold on to that boy! My favorite part of tonight's result show, besides the fact that Megan Joy left, is when the Idols were mocking each other's singing. And Megan's arm flapping as she went to the bottom 3. And Allison imitating her when she went. As for Lady GaGa's performance, I was not impressed. Although I did like the zipper over her eye...






June 18, 2010. Does that date mean anything to you? Well it should. That's because Toy Story 3 comes out. I just read that right now. WHOA. I thought the series was long over by this point. This...should be interesting.