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Mongol is the story of the formative years of Genghis Khan. Temudjin is his name as a child, and this movie begins by showing us Temudjin at age nine, when he needs to choose a wife. It continues all the way until he starts to become powerful. The movie is in Mongolian and shot in Kazakhstan.

From the advertisements, my assumption was that this movie was more like the entire life story of Genghis Khan. I thought I'd be watching a lot of battles. But instead, this movie shows what his background was and the road that led him to his rise to power. My assumptions made me a little bit impatient while watching Mongol, which definitely moves at its own pace as the years and events pass by. It could probably have used a little bit of editing, but I guess I didn't mind because the movie was great to look at.

The movie has a couple of main story focuses. One is the love between Temudjin and his chosen wife, Borte, which begins at age nine but is a love that has to endure many absences from each other. Their dedication to one another as they both take turns getting captured and trying to save each other throughout the entire movie. They would do anything for the other, and both understand that it doesn't matter how that is accomplished, as long as they have each other. I liked the scene where Borte shows up to break Temudjin out of prison, and she has a child that was conceived and born while he was locked away (she slept with a man to get transportation across some drastic plains). He asks the girl's name inconsequentially, and then Borte tells her daughter that this is her new father and that she should forget about her old one.

The other focus of the movie is Temudjin's struggle to become Khan. It was his rightful title when his father, the previous Khan, died, but the villagers refused to recognize him as an authority figure. He has many encounters with other villages and their leaders, and his biggest encounter is actually between him and his blood-brother, Jamukha. The two form an early friendship (filled with some funny moments as well), but as the dynamics of being individual leaders escalate, they are forced apart. I liked that they still admire each other, even as they go into battle against one another.

I think my exposure to Mongolia has been limited to Ewan McGregor's The Long Way Round, so watching a few hours of the Mongolian environment was a pleasure. Director Sergei Bodrov features the landscape in wide, airy shots, and I don't think there was ever a moment where a screen shot looked vertically-minded. One could always feel the vastness of Temudjin's surroundings, and the isolated and unprotected nature of all of the villages.

Overall, Mongol is a new experience, but not perfect. It could use a few edits to bring it down in length, and some of the action sequences could be better filmed. But it's a movie that captures a culture, and unlike the usual focus of movie-making, it tells a relatively unfamiliar story about a famous person in history. It's wonderful to look at, and, while flawed, is an interesting and enjoyable experience.

We saw Hellboy II last weekend. I wanted to see it, but had my doubts about it because the trailer seemed to show that the movie was more about visuals than it was about substance. In a way, I think my assessment was right, although the movie was better than I thought it would be.

This story isn't directly connected with that of the first Hellboy movie, which told the origins of its main character. Here, Hellboy and his team secretly fight evil creatures, but the big red guy wants to be able to go public with his personality. When he does, the public isn't so fond of him. Then, a prince from the other world decides to attack the people world (I'm using official terms, of course) because people have not kept their bargain from a treaty made long ago between humans and other creatures.

For the most part, I enjoyed this movie. It has a lot of great colors, great looking creatures, and some really awesome action sequences. My favorite scenes involve fighting the Golden Army and fighting the giant forest god (which was a scene that had more significance than any other to me).

I don't have anything against Doug Jones, but I do think that David Hyde Pierce's voice is very distinct, and was one of the things I loved the most in the first Hellboy movie. I did miss the presence of his voice, although it was nice to see Doug Jones take more ownership of Abe Sapien's character.

There are a few odd visual and musical choices in the movie. The opening scenes, with a flashback to Hellboy as a child, were good for the storytelling aspect, but Hellboy as a child was incredibly annoying, especially the fact that his mouth couldn't sync with what he was saying. As for musical choices, there were a few pieces used that didn't really fit in with the editing of the film very well. My sister and I love Travis, so when we heard the first notes of "All I Wanna Do is Rock" we got excited, only to find that the song was cut off before there was ever a chance for the music to make a connection with the story being told.

I also wish that this movie had done a little bit more with the character of Hellboy than it did. There were a few attempts to pose ethical conflicts, but when compared with the rest of the comic movies I've seen this summer, they didn't seem very significant. The baby angle seemed a little contrived to me, but I don't know if that's going to be a significant plot point in the next Hellboy installation, so I guess I can't complain too much yet.

Basically, the wonders of Del Toro's mind are beautiful to look at, and Hellboy II was a feast for the eyes, but not so much for the soul. It was a fun action movie, and I'm sure I'll watch it again one day, but it certainly isn't as good as the other big name movies coming out this summer.

So, I feel like I've been up to everything and nothing over the past few days!

On my short Friday, I picked up some cash and food and met up with my sister, and we drove out to the Westpark 8 again, to see Mongol. That's right. Everybody's going crazy over Batman, and I wanna go see a movie about Genghis Khan's origins. Review to come.

That evening, Ric and I got a chance to hang out with Kristen for the first time in over two years. We had dinner at Islands and drinks at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. It was a great time of catching up with each other.

Saturday, I slept in, and puttered around the house a lot, either cleaning, working out, or keeping up with blogs and emails. In the evening, I met up with Ric and Todd, and we drove out to Brea to get in line for The Dark Knight. We ate Flame Broiler while we waited, and then Jenny joined us for the movie. Review to come for that as well.

Sunday, we went to church with the Andersons and chatted for a while, then to Del Taco for lunch, Game Stop for Ric to buy an XBox, and then spent several hours at home, relaxing. I got a good portion of Atlas Shrugged done, and now I'm almost at the halfway point. I'm not sure I've ever read anything like this, and I am really enjoying it. In the evening, we ran errands at Target, my parents' house, and Ric's parents' house. I'm pretty sure we watched a couple episodes of Sledgehammer, too.

Monday was a crazy day. Although it was Ruth's birthday, the day took a bad turn for Ric pretty early on, when he was rear-ended at a stoplight by a Dodge Ram traveling at 40-45 miles an hour. I spent half the day picking him up from the dealer, taking him to the doctor, and helping him get a rental car. He is doing remarkably well, I think, and is mostly just sore. I'm very thankful that he's doing well, and that it's a company car that we don't have to pay for. In the evening, Ric and I started watching Goonies together, until Ric fell asleep. I watched a Ginger Rogers movie called Tight Spot, which I will review soon, although I'm not going to recommend that you watch it.

Today I've got a dinner at Roman Cucina to celebrate Ruth's birthday! I'm looking forward to it. Dan and Jenine will be in town this weekend, which I am soooo excited about!

Being a fan of Night Watch (not to be confused with this terrible movie) and Day Watch, once I found out that director Timur Bekmambetov was in charge of Wanted, I was sold. And, perhaps, Scotsman James McAvoy had a teeny bit to do with my wanting to see the movie.

I barely knew anything about Wanted when I walked into the theater, except that it's about a guy who is suddenly thrust from a boring life into a world of professional assassins. And, that basically is the premise. Wesley works in a cubicle and is living the Office Space life with a witch of a boss. He has a girlfriend, who cheats on him with his work buddy, and he has almost no money. One day at the store, a beautiful woman approaches him to let him know his father, an assassin, was just killed, and that the man who killed his father is now after him. The man in question arrives and a shootout and car chase ensues, and soon Wesley is told that he has inherited everything from his father and can join the assassination crew, who (get this) receive the lists of whom they are to kill by reading flaws--which translate to binary-- in a fabric that is pieced together by a giant loom. No joke.

When the movie first started, it felt a little bit hokey. The first big scene where the audience was exposed to the special assassin tactics (they are actually born with the ability to sort of experience the world in slow motion by adapting the speed of their own bodies) made the audience laugh. There's a lot of time spent in exposition at Wesley's work, which seemed like it could be edited down a bit. And McAvoy's American accent sounds a little bit odd as well.

But, when the story gets moving, all the hokey feels like a friendly hokeyness, like you might experience while watching a humorous Asian action film. It's kind of like Fight Club meets Kung Fu Hustle.. or maybe Rumble in the Bronx would be a better comparison.

Anyway, the idea of weavers (Josh, when the movie started, I thought they were using "weavers" in the Robert Jordan sense, but they were actually talking about guys who weave fabric!) and the loom of fate, as I like to call it, are ridiculous. But the movie has a fun sense of humor and some great action sequences. One certainly laughs at some of the ridiculousness, but once I saw a certain sequence with rats in it, I was sure that the filmmakers wanted (hey, that's the name of the movie!) us to laugh.

By the end, we all walked out thoroughly entertained, even despite the fact that the movie's big secret was revealed while the sound went out in our theater. If I were you, I'd probably wait to see it at the cheap theater, but obviously, only for those of you who like weird, funny, sometimes tasteless, and sometimes bloody action flicks.

Wow, I thought I'd be up to almost nothing this week, but actually, I've only been home long enough to sleep and watch the premiere of Project Runway.

Monday at work, we all went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant to celebrate some birthdays. That night I went grocery shopping and figured I'd rest, but Ric was up for a movie, so we went to see Semi-Pro. Review to come, as always! The list gets longer and longer.

Tuesday, we had an office party at work for the birthdays. That afternoon, I got an IM from Tina, an old friend from high school, who said that Gina, another one of my friends from high school, was in town and they wanted to have dinner together. I have missed almost every time they have invited me to hang out because I'm either out of town or already have something I have to go to. So, they finally caught me on a day when I had no plans, and we all caught up with each other at the Yard House in Irvine. After the restaurant, we asked the Merry-Go-Round attendant to take our photo, and she actually let us ride for free before the photo shoot. That was nice of her. It was good to catch up with old friends, although also a little bit weird to realize how much time has passed and how many things have gone on in our lives that we missed out on.

Here we are, 5 years after the last time we saw each other (my wedding) and 10 years after the last time we hung out together. I think I'm the only one who looks almost exactly the same. I don't like change:

Wednesday we didn't have any parties at work, but we went to a financial advising appointment and then had movie night with Ryan and Amy. My dad called last-minute to say that Stray Dog needed some food, so we make a quick stop before movie night to pick up some food from the store and drop it by my parents' house. My dad had taken the dog to get groomed. He's a cutie. Anyone want to adopt a friendly abandoned dog?:

On top of all that, we're meeting up with Kristen tomorrow evening. I'm hoping that I'll have time enough tonight to actually see the upstairs of my condo and do some dishes too.

I wasn't all that interested in WALL-E based on the trailers I saw, but I knew one thing: the movie was being made by Pixar. That alone is enough to get me to the theater, although I admit it's taken me a while to learn that lesson. I think the only mistake Pixar has ever made was the vocal casting in Finding Nemo (but I know I'm a minority on that one). So, Ric and I ran out to see the movie in its opening weekend.

Now, I have almost no anticipation for the rest of the summer, because I'm pretty sure I just saw the best movie that the summer has to offer. Am I exaggerating? I don't think so. WALL-E is full of creativity, made me feel more than I've felt at any movie this year, and was the simplest and most complex movie I've seen this summer. It could melt the coldest of hearts and is enjoyable for all ages. What else could you ask for?

Shoot. I've got to get to an appointment. Here's the quick lowdown. The movie is funny, sad, romantic, adventurous, and many other emotions rolled into one. It's a timely piece that criticizes our current generation. It looks wonderful and the textures are better than ever by Pixar. Even the credits look amazing.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and sing its praises to everyone. And now, the generic entertainment magazine quote, which is entirely appropriate here: if you see one movie this summer, see WALL-E.

Gotta run!

Hi all,

I'm hoping to get in a few posts this week, to review movies I've seen in the theaters recently, and those that I've been catching via Netflix, Roku, and other miscellaneous sources. For now, it's a weekend in review, as always! I had a pretty packed weekend, but it was a good one.

Friday I buzzed out of the office right at 11:30 and went down to the student services offices to have my photo taken for passport renewal. I basically have to re-do the entire passport process because my name changed when I got married. Boooo! I picked up my sister at noon and we drove to a new theater to us - the Edwards Westpark 8 in Irvine. I don't know how long it's been there, but I'm pretty sure I've been missing out! Their selection is the limited of limited releases. I'm sure I'll be visiting it again, although it does take a minimum 45 minutes to get there from home. We went to see Tell No One, based on Nobody's high recommendation. We liked it a lot - review forthcoming. After the show, we sorted through traffic to the Brea mall and I bought some makeup supplies and a couple of sweaters. Yes, I'm one of few who buys sweaters in the dead of summer. It's an air-conditioned work thing. We headed home for a little bit of rest, then joined with Ric for dinner at the Fullerton Spaghetti Factory. Our waitress was odd, but we forgave her, and topped off the night with a second movie of the day: Hellboy II (review coming soon as well).

Saturday, I slept in. Ric and I had lunch at KFC and went to Lowe's for a few supplies. This time we bought door frames and more orange peel spray spackle, for texturing the bathroom wall. I just started re-visiting the Lord of the Rings trilogy on cassette, so I spent a couple of hours listening to Fellowship while working on bathroom wall texture. Around 4, I headed to my parents' house and picked up Stray Dog. We went to PetSmart to see if he had a microchip in him. Of course, he did not. We headed back home. From there, my sister and I drove out to Hollywood. We started at Amoeba, where we sold her carefully-collected singles from our high school years (she has back-ups of them) and used the store credit to buy all the new CDs we've been forgetting to buy lately: Coldplay, Supergrass, Bluetones, Spiritualized, Nick Cave, and more. After our long adventures there, we went to Astro Burgers for dinner, where our cashier didn't know what change to give us (the bill was $12.12 and we gave her $12.20 - confusing!). Around 8ish, we headed up a couple blocks, parked across from the Pantages, and walked to the Avalon (formerly the Palace) to see Supergrass. The show was energetic and the band made sure to play my favorite song, so I was happy. Here's a cell phone photo:

Not many bands can get me really excited for a live show, but Supergrass has maintained their energy over the years. I've been going to their shows for over 10 years now, and they never fail to entertain.

Sunday we went to church with the Andersons, as well as lunch at Mad Wolf. It's no wonder I feel gross after this weekend. I've had far too much unhealthy food. Anyway, after lunch we came home to rest a bit. I spent a couple of hours reading Atlas Shrugged and then got to work in the bathroom again. In the evening I watched the second half of The Innocents, and then Ric and I watched a couple of episodes of Sledgehammer and the Soup together.

Up this week: Ric's got a busier week than I do. He's going to some sort of preliminary minor league hockey practice or game tonight, a beer making class with Rob tomorrow, then on Wednesday I'll join him for movie night with the Agadonis, and on Friday I think we'll see Kristen for the first time in a looong while.

Movies in the review queue:
Wall-E
Wanted
Tell No One
Hellboy II
Control
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Payback
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
King Kong
The Lady from Shanghai
Out of Africa
Frisky Dingo
American Grafitti
THX1138
The Innocents

Hi all,

Just a quick long weekend in review!

I had a lot of intense data entry work Monday-Wednesday at work, so I took off an extra day on Thursday to give myself an extra long weekend. I spent Wednesday night and all day Thursday and Friday at my in-laws' house, hanging out with the visiting Arizona family. My nephews are so cute, but are soooo difficult to keep up with! They went swimming three times a day! On Thursday, a family who have been friends with Ric's family for many years came to visit while on their vacation. We spent the evening talking and watching the kids play in the pool.

The 4th was an interesting day. I went with Angie and nephew Jack to the park, and befriended a stray dog. Since he didn't run away from me, I picked him up and took him to my parents' house. He's staying in the back yard while I put up posters around the area and post online. In the evening, the fireworks being set off on the in-laws' street were incredible. I don't think I need to go see actual shows anymore, since they've got the real deal in the neighborhoods now.

Saturday I slept in and then went on a useless drive, trying to return an audio book in a slot that was too small for it, and going to a library that wasn't open. Then I went with Ric to Lowe's to buy supplies for our continued work on the bathroom. We stopped by my folks' place to get photos of the stray:

In the evening we went with my sister to see Hancock, but the lines were long, so we ended up choosing Wanted instead. Review to come soon!

Sunday we didn't go to church, but we listened to Johnny Cash reading Mark on CD while working in the bathroom. I worked on resurfacing some of the patchwork areas on the walls, and Ric got started with painting one wall. We went out to eat at the Elephant Bar, ran some errands at Walmart and Target, and came home to watch Arrested Development and The Soup. One more AD show to go, and we'll be done with the series again. Our next DVD viewing will be Frisky Dingo (Adult Swim).

Up this week: grocery shopping, advertising a found dog, maybe Speed Racer at the cheap theater, maybe American Graffiti on the Fox, and maybe some work on the condo if there's time.

They're actually having me do work (and out of the office) lately, so sorry, no posts! I'm not sure if I'll be on much in the next couple of weeks, but I'll try.

Well, this weekend I tried to liven things up a little more. I've had the itch to do more than just sit around the house on my weekends.

On Friday, I teamed up with my mom and my sister, and we drove to Fashion Island in Newport. I had never been there before. Honestly, I'd rather just go to South Coast Plaza. I had a delicious salad and pesto pasta at a restaurant, but it made me sick later on. Yet another of my food allergies that I can't quite pin down, I guess. We got back from shopping in the evening, and I crashed for a couple of hours. I got up to watch tv with Ric and then called it a night.

Saturday I slept in and then went straight to work on painting trim in our hallway. It's tedious work. In the late afternoon we joined forces with the Hutchinseses and drove out to Newport to have dinner on the water at Joe's Crab Shack. We ate mighty big portions of mighty fine food, went out for a walk on the windy pier, and had gelato and shakes at a local shop before heading home.

Sunday I went to church while Ric stayed home (feeling unwell) and saw the Andersons for a bit. I went grocery shopping and then came home to do more paint work. In the evening we went to Brea to see WALL-E, which is worth every penny. It did my soul well. We spent the rest of the night watching Arrested Development.

Up this week: Fellowship of the Ring at the Academy with Brendan and Curtis, movie night with Ryan and Amy, and a visit from the Arizona family!

Well apparently, I hit some sort of strand of Meryl Streep movies lately. Honestly, there's something about her that bothers me, even though I can often admire her work. Most of the movie's I've seen are more recent, so this is probably the second movie I've seen of her in her younger years. Sophie's Choice stars Streep as Sophie, who is a Polish woman who lives in New York after having been in a concentration camp during the second World War. Sophie is dependent on her boyfriend Nathan, played by Kevin Kline and they have a very dynamic relationship. They befriend Stingo, a young writer who moves into their boarding house, who is enamored with their personalities and, of course, attracted to Sophie in particular. As the story progresses, we learn that Nathan isn't quite as quirky as he is mentally unstable, and the dynamics between the trio get more interesting.

I liked the style of Sophie's Choice, although I was at first very annoyed with the character of Nathan and why his character seemed magnetic to other people. I couldn't understand why Sophie would always accept him after he treated her so poorly. But thankfully, the third act of the movie delves into the real main character, Sophie (for a while, it seems like it could be Stingo or Nathan), and her history at the concentration camp. Here is where Streep shines. She was already impressive with the very natural sounding accent and mannerisms of a Polish woman, but her character was almost one-dimensional at first, and the fullness of the character brought out the fullness of her acting and a much more complete story.

I think it's interesting that Kevin Kline didn't get nominated for a Supporting or main Actor award for his exuberant portrayal of Nathan, but perhaps the Academy was as turned off by the eccentricities as I was. I do admit, though, that I'm not sure I've seen him get into his character in any other movie as much as he did in this one.

It was good to see a Polish story of WWII. I think the only other one I've seen is The Pianist. Sophie's background and familial ties made her situation more complex, and her experience working as a secretary for a German officer was a different twist than I've seen in other movies of this type. I hadn't heard about the program of importing white "looking" children into the German culture, so Sophie's efforts to get her child placed in that program was an aspect of the film I found interesting too.

Overall, I think I liked the last part of the movie much better than the first, but it wouldn't be a complete story without both of them. I didn't love the film but admire it for being well made. The character studies of Nathan and Sophie were in depth but there was something about the movie that felt kind of empty at the same time. So, file that under "Glad I watched it, but probably won't watch it again."

I didn't grow up watching the adventures of Maxwell Smart in the original tv series, but my favorite local channel these days plays a great run of older shows in the evening, so I've been watching a lot of Maxwell Smart lately. I've gotten a feel for the show well enough to understand its overall style. This movie does not necessarily capture that style, but seems like an appropriately updated take on the series. It's more modern, has more action sequences (which make it a little more Bond-like in nature), and a lot more modern language and innuendo. Steve Carell stars, and although Max is a bumbling idiot a lot of the time, the screenwriters and Carell are able to convey him as a smart and endearing character as well.

The movie has a lot of stars in it. Anne Hathaway provided great chemistry as Agent 99, I loved that Terrence Stamp played the bad guy, Dwayne Johnson was surprisingly funny, Alan Arkin was funny enough, and loved the supporting work of David Koechner, Masi Oka, and Nate Terrence. Particularly funny was a little cameo by Bill Murray.

As a regular action flick, I think the film succeeds because it actually goes to all sorts of locales, has plenty of action sequences and special effects, and follows the basic formula of one of those movies. As a comedy, it succeeds because it doesn't resort to over exaggeration like many spoof movies do (Scary Movie, anyone?). There's certainly plenty of verbal and physical humor, but it doesn't feel outrageous or annoying.

I really liked that this movie didn't insult Max or make him insulting to others. He just dances to the beat of a different drum, and it works. I love the scene where he tries to show up Agent 99 by dancing with an overweight woman. He doesn't insult the woman, and they dance wonderfully. I loved that touch. It was a funny scene, it produced a different outcome than expected, and it showed a part of Max's character that made him admirable to others.

The theater where we saw Get Smart was packed by about half an hour before the movie began, and everyone laughed a lot. It isn't perfectly clean fun, but it is fun. I actually think it has potential to be a series of movies, if general audiences are interested. It isn't going to win any awards, but it is a fun and funny movie. I had a great time watching it.

I usually write my reviews in order of when the movies were seen, but since I always seem to be falling behind, I think I'm going to start posting about new releases as top priorities. That will start with Get Smart, since I actually saw The Incredible Hulk over a week ago.

I'm not sure if there were many people who enjoyed Ang Lee's take on the Incredible Hulk, starring Eric Bana and Jennifer Connolly. I think I rated it as the second-to-last worst movie of 2003 (right above Anger Management). So it was safe for me to assume that I'd like this version better unless someone did something incredibly wrong. I was also interested because the movie stars Edward Norton and Tim Roth, who tend to make movies that I enjoy.

While the last version focused on how the Hulk became the Hulk, this version skipped through the How and jumped forward to show Bruce Banner's attempt to live a life without incident (without letting his heart rate to reach 200 and trigger Hulkification). One thing I didn't like about Lee's Hulk was that we never really got the feeling that the Hulk was becoming a superhero. He just had a lot of strength. By the end of this movie, I got the feeling that I had seen the beginnings of some real superhero fighting and catchphrases. I liked hearing "Hulk Stomp" shouted out during a climactic battle.

Like Iron Man, this comic book hero movie uses the desire for technological advances in military weapons as the bad guys' goal, and the accidental result is a superhero. Just like in Iron Man, the bad guy (Tim Roth with William Hurt's help instead of Jeff Bridges) is a bigger and badder looking version of the hero, and they will ultimately fight each other in an impressive battle. I liked the development of Roth's Emil Blonsky, whose progression from soldier to grotesque thingamabob somehow seems reasonable in the hands of a good actor. Likewise, Norton is more likable than I ever would have expected, and does a great job as Banner.

The movie's one weakness, for me, was Tim Blake Nelson (whom I usually admire). This movie is mostly grounded in a realistic setting and the fights are supposed to feel a little bit more real-life. It doesn't feel like Spider-Man or X-Men, and while there are a few laughs here and there, it's mostly more serious. Tim Blake Nelson jumps in as a physical realization of Goofy himself, and is so incredibly annoying that I thought the whole movie was ruined for a while there, when he was on screen. It reminded me of John Turturro in Transformers (maybe not quite that bad). Thankfully, his role isn't a large one, and if you hang in there, he goes away after a while. I'm just not sure if it was a casting issue or direction, but he was a sore thumb in the middle of an otherwise good movie.

I like the settings of this movie a lot better than the first as well. Rather the middle of nowhere, it moves around in location, but is always in the middle of a city. At first it's cramped Brazilian streets and a bottling factory, and then it's in well-populated areas of the U.S., including a university and busy city blocks.

Overall this movie was tens of times an improvement when compared with Ang Lee's take on the Hulk. The script is a lot smarter (minus one too many of Hulk's big yells), the Hulk is better realized as a character, and the action is better too. Of course, this movie comes standard with your expected Stan Lee and Lou Ferigno appearances, and yes, the promised appearance of Tony Stark (and Nick Fury's name flashing in the opening sequence) is there too. It's got so much more to offer, and is well made. It's not my favorite comic book movie (I tend to prefer the less realism-based ones), but it's a respectable entry and has promise for future movies.

P.S. Work is affecting me more than it ought - I was sitting in the middle of this movie thinking.. "Bruce Banner is the Hulk. We're converting our software to Banner and we've been calling it the beast... we should be calling Banner the Hulk!"

Wow, it's been really hot lately. Thank goodness for sunscreen and a condo and workplace with central air! Working out has been a lot more of a chore lately. There were a few days where there was no breeze at all. On those, the sun just beat down and gave me more of a farmer's tan (even though I wear sunscreen). Honestly, though, I'm thankful for the days when I successfully get out there and do stuff. My back has been making things difficult lately, so I'm always excited when it lets me do things.

Well, on Friday I went to a birthday party/Arbonne presentation at a friend from work's apartment. It was fun to see her place and even to get inspired to make our place feel a little bit more like home. It was hot, though. When I left it was 105 degrees out and my car had been sitting out there for a while. The seats were almost unbearable, even when wearing jeans. I rushed home to the coolness of my bedroom and watched tv and napped with Pip. Ric and I stayed in that night, although we did make a little trip out to Target to kill some boredom and pick up a few food items. I finished watching King Kong (the Jessica Lange edition) and we watched more 30 Rock on the Roku.

Saturday I slept in, then got up and started working on paint touch-up in the kitchen. I swear, I just touch up with white along an edge and then need to do more touch up with beige. One of these days there will be a crisp-looking edge. Anyway, I got through a lot of The Last of the Mohicans over the weekend while painting. I'm really enjoying it. In the evening Ric and I went to Shoe City to get him a new pair of shoes and then headed over to Brea to go see Get Smart. Our theater was packed and everyone had a great time. At home, we finished season one of 30 Rock (only took us a week).

Sunday we went to church. The high school pastor kicked off a series called Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, which is a series that features lessons from children's ministries being brought to the main sermon. It's kind of fun, but a little bit more milk than meat for my tastes. We'll see how the rest of the sermons go. After church we tried out Sansei, a new Japanese place over where they're renovating the old SuperK to make a Target and Circut City. There are a bunch of new restaurants over there, so we decided to get out of the rut and try new places. Well... meh. I'd rather pay $5 for a bowl at the Flame Broiler, which is much tastier. I'll have to give it another try sometime and try something besides their spicy chicken breast bowl.

We went home and I worked on more touch up until it was time for our weekly trip to Lowe's. We bought doors for our hallway closet, new fixtures for the bathroom tub/shower, and more painting supplies. I spent the next several hours painting and listening to TLOTM. When I was done I realized I had done too much. Oops. Well, we watched the opening hour to Helvetica until Ric had to go to bed for an early morning, and then I watched The Lady from Shanghai. I tried to read after that, but Pip interrupted me every paragraph or so for attention, so I gave up and went to bed.

Up this week: grocery shopping, painting, maybe a night at Disneyland with my sister, and maybe a fun activity of some kind for short Friday.

A few months ago, Cyndi and I got to see a test screening of Kung Fu Panda. The animation was incomplete and the music wasn't finished, so it was a very rough draft. We enjoyed ourselves, but I admit that I didn't feel completely satisfied, and I think that's just because it still had a lot of work to be done. Ric and I went to see it last weekend and we had a great time.

Jack Black voices the character of Po, a Panda who accidentally interrupts an important ceremony and gets named the Dragon Master of the Valley of Peace. He trains with the Furious Five, who are Kung Fu experts, and his master's name is Shifu. Shifu once trained Tai Lung, who was too hungry for power and was eventually put in prison. But now Tai Lung has escaped, and Po is expected to fight him. But first, Po has to learn the basics of Kung Fu!

Po's character is what makes this movie great, and Jack Black's vocals are perfect. His dialog is full of humor that has today's attitude in a setting of the past. It's an odd blend to think about, but it works well. Lines about there being no charge for awesomeness at the beginning of the film were really funny, but the final line of the battle between Po and Tai Lung was a big highlight for me too. Other famous actors are a little bit wasted because of how little screen time they get, but I guess they all do a good job with what they're given.

The thing that stood out to me the most in this movie is its style. There are several dream sequences and credits that feature an almost comic-book style of Kung Fu animation. These were probably my favorite part of the movie. But then there's an amazing prison break scene with great lighting, and then there are tons of beautiful settings as well. The movie just looks great. It's this attention to detail that makes it better than a lot of the other modern animated movies and makes it feel more like a Pixar movie.

I also really liked the angle of using Po's love of food as a catalyst for his Kung Fu style. The movie's good for the family, has some good lessons, and has a definite rewatchability factor. Ric was really surprised at how much he liked it, and I'd have to say I was really happy with the finished product too.

For some reason, I remembered from high school that my yearbook teacher (who was like a father to me in those years) listed Papillon as his favorite movie. It only took me 11 years to get around to watching it, but I finally Netflixed it. The movie stars Steve McQueen as Henry "Papillon" Charriere, a small time crook who was wrongly imprisoned for murder and sent to French Guiana, South America, where the prisoners were basically unable to escape because of their remote location. Papillon befriends Louis Degas (played by Dustin Hoffman), a quirky but famous counterfeiter, and serves as his security in exchange for help in his escape attempt.

It was kind of odd to see another escape attempt movie starring Steve McQueen (see: The Great Escape), but it was different enough in style and story to allow it. Papillon tries all manners of escape, and in a great sequence, is placed in solitary confinement. This is where McQueen really shines, as his character changes drastically both mentally and physically, and actually becomes dependent on Degas for a change.

One problem I had with this movie, which is always a moral problem I have in movies of this kind, is rooting for the criminals. I know he didn't commit the murder he was convicted of, but from the movie's early scenes, it's established that he's a criminal and seems to have a reputation for it. And then, while protecting Degas, we watch him slit a guy's throat. I don't know. It kind of made me think he belonged on the island. Degas was also a character that was hard to like. He's socially awkward and is definitely in jail for a reason. I just didn't care that much about him.

The movie is very long but is beautifully shot. It's gorier than I expected for its time, but I think that a modern audience would relate to it more because of that. The locales and subject matter are interesting, as are the ways both prisoners and their guards work the system. I found the setting of the second island especially interesting.

Overall, I had trouble connecting with the characters, but found the situation to be really interesting, and that's what won me over, along with McQueen's great performance.

Hey everybody, I plan to be in the office all week this week, so hopefully there will be more frequent posts! This weekend we spent a lot of time with the fathers, obviously.

On Friday night, we celebrated with my dad. We all went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. I tried the Gourmet Crab Ravioli, which was basically crabmeat in colorful ravioli pasta, topped with a bit of pesto sauce. They were all right, but I'd probably order something else the next time around. We had dessert at my parents' place and my dad opened his gift from the kids, which is a prepaid cell phone, to be used in cases of emergency. Hopefully he'll figure out how to use it, considering the man has never even used a computer in his lifetime. I'm jealous that his phone looks cooler than mine - the only one at our price range was a sleek and shiny red phone. Ric and I went home that night and watched tv together.

Saturday, I slept in, and then Ric and I went Flame Boiler and then to see The Hulk at a matinee. I like matinees, but they leave me with nothing to do in the evening. On the way home, we stopped by Ric's parents' house to pick up a package for me, which contained my new Roku. I had that baby hooked up in a snap, and we were watching streaming tv and movie rentals in no time! We started with season one of 30 Rock, which Ric hasn't seen. I took a tv break to work on painting, and started on the hallway trim. I got pouty when it came to the slatted laundry closet doors because there's no real way to paint them neatly, so we decided it might be worth the cash to buy new doors. We watched more 30 Rock and Arrested Development that night, and I also Rokued (new word) The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Sunday we went to church and said Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday to Colin, then headed out to Lowe's. I don't even want to tally up how much of our money they've gotten this year. We bought some texture spray for the wall patch jobs in the bathroom. I spent the afternoon taping and painting while listening to The Last of the Mohicans. We packed up the Pip and went to Ric's parents' house, and we all went out to eat at El Cholo. Not my favorite place, but hey, it was Todd's day, not mine. We played some Sequence and had dessert, and then we went home. At home I Rokued a little bit of Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, then stopped to watch more 30 Rock with Ric.

Up this week: we're hoping to figure out a way to celebrate Brendan's birthday with him (and catch up with Curtis) and have our usual movie night with the Agadonis, and I might go to the Movies on the Fox event on Thursday, where they'll be showing E.T.

Would you be surprised if I told you that I don't blog about every movie I watch? That's right, I watch even more than I blog about. I just don't have the time to give a long review for each thing. But here's a review of things I've been watching lately.

First of all, I'm not sure if I've told all of you about (or if you've already discovered) Hulu.com. It's filled with streaming videos of movies and tv shows, from old to new, and has a pretty good selection. This past spring, I followed The Riches and New Amsterdam by watching their newest episodes each week on Hulu. Since I do a lot of data entry at work, my boss doesn't mind if I entertain myself while doing the monotonous work. I like Hulu because you can make a pop out window and shrink it to a very small size. I watch shows in a tiny box in the right-hand corner of my screen. Most of the time, I don't even look at it, but it's so nice to have some entertainment to make the hours go by quickly. I also like that the commercials are only about 10-15 seconds long.

I decided to start with the As in the TV section of Hulu, and have been wading my way through Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I'm almost done with season two. Wait a sec, I feel like I've already talked about this on my blog. Well, if I haven't, I'd like to say that Hitchcock is brilliant. His monologues in each show are wonderful, his stabs at advertisement are endless and hilarious, and the stories are all over the place. Sometimes a story can be filled with dark humor, but sometimes it is straight-out thriller material. I've enjoyed watching these a lot, although I've learned that any time a woman sees a dead body or a killer, I should turn down my volume immediately, because there are plenty of blood-curdling screams in this show.

I've also been catching up with all of my TiVoed episodes of Masterpiece (Theatre), which has been revamped this year. They just played many of Jane Austen's stories. A few were old productions by Masterpiece Theatre, but several were new, including Northinger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Sense and Sensibility. Northinger Abbey was a little bit odd in style, but I did end up enjoying it. Mansfield Park was a little more abrupt in its ending than I expected, but it somehow packed an unexpected punch. I really liked the casting of Sense and Sensibility, and thought the attention to setting was great as well. I also watched Masterpiece's production of A Room with a View, which was very good (some good casting there as well), but ultimately I think I prefer the Merchant Ivory version starring Helena Bonham Carter. Right now I am finishing up My Boy Jack, which stars Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) as Rudyard Kipling's son, who is determined to go fight in the War, despite a significant problem with his eyesight. I'm really enjoying it.

Some movies I watched without reviewing recently are The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the first three Indiana Jones movies, and Michaelangelo Antonioni's La Notte. Munchausen was a pleasant surprise. I had heard many mixed reviews, but I loved its breadth and insanity. Believe it or not, I only saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time a couple of years ago, and just in the past couple of months, I caught up with the other two original movies. Everyone told me I'd hate Temple of Doom. I only hated Kate Capshaw. I'm a fan of Jonathan Ke Quan, who played Short Round, so I was happy with it overall. The Last Crusade was surprisingly good-looking for how old it is. I might prefer that one the most out of the three. I think that because I watch a lot of old movies, this series settled in well with me, despite what some might call a camp factor. I haven't seen the new movie yet, but will catch it when it hits the cheap theater. La Notte was a hard sell for me. While I admired the structure of the film and what it was trying to accomplish, it made me feel as apathetic as its lead characters (who realize that their lives are meaningless and slowly lead themselves to break up with each other).

Besides that, Ric and I are going through Arrested Development again. I plan to start going through Twin Peaks soon as well, and when my Roku comes (yes, I ordered one - temptation was too great), I want Ric to watch the first couple seasons of 30 Rock.

That's all for now! Summer is filled with viewing opportunities, since there's no new TV shows on. I am following a couple, like So You Think You Can Dance and Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days. This week my back's been a lot of trouble, so I've been spending a lot of time on the couch watching TV. Hopefully I'll keep myself motivated to keep learning Italian and to finish reading Atlas Shrugged as well, so that my brain doesn't fry from staring at a screen all day and night!

Hello all!

I'll keep it short, since I'm doing some intensive data entry at work today... I had a pretty good weekend.

On my short Friday I went shopping and nearly killed myself because of it. My back was so tired, but I spent the rest of our big Nordstrom gift card at the Rack and got to shop at the new H&M in Brea. I went out to eat at the restaurant next to Nordstrom in the mall, which was a first for both of us, and we both enjoyed it a lot. After I got home, I relaxed a lot and ended up going to be early because I was so tired.

I slept in Saturday, then packed up some supplies to go make cupcakes at my parents' house with my sister. We made S'more Cupcakes. They're all right. I've got some improvements noted for the next time I make the recipe. Next time, they will be awesome. We went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse on a gift card with Colin and Liz. Yummy dinner, and a yummy homemade dessert afterwards!

Sunday we went to church, then ran some errands to buy more items for the condo. In the afternoon, I studied Italian for a while (I'm finally starting the book I bought before we packed it for our FIRST move), then spent a long time removing the caulking from the shower and tub that was left over after taking out the shower doors. In the evening, Ric and I watched some TV shows together.

Up this week: ? Not much - probably working on the condo!

I had always heard of Dr. Zhivago, and it always seemed to be referenced as a love-story that a lot of women loved to watch. That sounded rather sappy to me, so I avoided it for a while. Once I actually watched the movie, I wondered where I reached that impression or where other people reached it, because it just didn't do it for me as a love story, although it has merit in other areas.

The movie stars Omar Shariff and a beautiful and young Julie Christie as Dr. Zhivago and Lara, who are Russians living in the time of the Russian revolution. We follow their separate stories at the beginning of the film, as grows up and becomes a doctor and marries a girl named Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin). Lara is abused by her mother's lover, Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), and is also engaged to marry a young activist. Her life intertwines with Zhivago's by chance on several occasions, one being medical work during the war. They become close, but separate after their work is done, only to find themselves living in the same town later on and unable to resist each other. Meanwhile, political events continue to escalate, and their lives are constantly affected by these changes.

I really liked the first part of this movie. Its scope, its focus on the historical context, its look, and its story are all easy to get involved with and admire. A few lighting choices bothered me, but overall it was a new story (one I hadn't seen other movies about) and interesting. But as it unfolds, the focus moves more towards the relationship with Zhivago and Lara, and it sort of loses its sense of urgency and importance. There are still many good scenes, but honestly, the love story weakened its impact for me.

How much more meaningful would it have been if the movie hadn't gone as far as an affair between its leads, like the characters in The Age of Innocence. In that movie, the married husband has a sort of emotional affair, and the dynamics of an unrealized relationship were so much more intense and interesting. In Dr. Zhivago, we see that Zhivago and Lara work with each other as doctor and nurse for a long period, but not much is shown of why they are drawn to each other. They are sort of generic people in the movie, and neither necessarily projects a really magnetic personality. Personally, I find Zhivago's character a kind man, but Shariff is a little bit creepy, and the dark lighting often used on him makes him look almost sinister at times. His character seems to be very wishy-washy, and a bit too weak to admire. Knowing that he has a beautiful and charming wife at home made me dislike him for going after Lara. And seeing Lara tell him not to make the mistake of getting involved with her at first, but then rush into his arms the second time around made me disappointed with her (although it's a little more understandable on her part because she is more needy and vulnerable as a result of her abuse). I was disappointed in both of them, and as a result, their so-called legendary love story and the poems that Zhivago wrote about her lost meaning for me, and I became an emotionally detached viewer as a result.

Dr. Zhivago is directed by David Lean, who always has a great vision for his movies. This one is extremely wide in its scope and the amount of settings and time that are covered, and especially in showing the amount of change Russia went through at this time. I especially loved the scenes where Zhivago's family travels a long distance by train, and his encounter with Lara's husband who has become an important military leader. There are so many beautiful shots, and so many talented actors, that it's easy to admire many aspects of this film.

But one thing that I just couldn't sell myself on was the music and the use of a repeated theme throughout all three hours. This was the sound of the balalaika, which I suppose sounded very Russian and enticing the first couple of times it was played, but wore itself out in repetitiveness by the movie's end. I also thought the focus on the balalaika that travels with Zhivago wherever he went was more of a forced visual than an important part of the movie.

Oh, and Rod Steiger is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. I hadn't seen many of his movies until just the past year (The Illustrated Man, In the Heat of the Night, and this movie), and the more I watch him, the more I admire him for his presence and the variety in his choice of roles. I never even recognized him as Komarovsky until after the movie was over and I was looking at the credits. I look forward to checking out more of his career in the future.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Dr. Zhivago. My initial reaction was to pan it because I lost interest in its emotional story as it progressed, but I can also see that there are many things that make it very impressive as a piece of film-making. It's a masterpiece in many people's eyes. I definitely wouldn't go that far since I found several flaws with it, but I can understand why people think of it as a great film. I guess I'll just sit in the middle on this one.

Ric and I were in the mood for a comedy, and Wedding Crashers is one of the most popular rentals on Netflix, even a few years after it was released, so we decided to give it a go. The movie starts off with a promising premise: guys who crash weddings to hook up with bridesmaids. There's a great montage of these experiences right at the beginning, and then it quickly settles into its actual plot, which features John (Owen Wilson) falling in love with a bridesmaid named Claire, played by Rachel McAdams. While John falls in love, his partner in crashing, Jeremy (Vince Vaughn), has many misadventures with Claire's family, including a sparky little redhead played by Isla Fisher.

We watched the "uncorked" version of the movie, so I have no idea what the theatrical release was like. Surprisingly, the uncorked version didn't seem all that out-there, with the exception of a few female nude scenes. What surprised us was that the whole movie was a lot less raunchy than we had expected. I thought there were going to be jokes left and right, but it's actually a lot more serious than that, because Claire and John's relationship plays out very gradually and without any gimmicks. There are a lot of scenes that feel drawn out, and a lot of the comedic scenes seem like they were forced in to help lighten the mood.

All of the actors are likable, for the most part. Owen and Vaughn are a good fit together, and the movie's best times are when the two are together. Unfortunately, they get split up and put into their own individual stories for far too much screen time. I was surprised at how well Bradley Cooper from Alias slipped into a comedic jerk role. And Isla Fisher definitely steals the show. But even with this cast, the material fails. It never finds a good balance of funny and serious, and the funny often feels like it's supposed to be funny but just isn't funny enough to make me laugh out loud.

Overall, the movie seemed pretty slow, and based on everything I had heard about it, I just expected more. Oh, and I thought it was pretty funny that the DVD skipped during every nude scene. Did someone rewind too many times, maybe? Anyway. I didn't hate it but I didn't laugh very much either. I'll never watch it a second time.

Right before our trip to Arizona we had a movie night at the Agadoni home. The movie chooser this time around was Amy, and she chose Funny Farm, starring Chevy Chase. In this movie, the ideal of quitting one's day job and buying a home in the country is destroyed, when Andy Farmer and his wife arrive to their new home with great excitement only to realize that the country comes with a lot of nuisances.

The couple go into town and realize that it's full of weirdos, so they buy a dog, and the dog runs away. That pretty much sets the pace for a while, and with all the mishaps going on around the farm, Andy's wife writes a children's book based on Andy's adventures. When the book sells and Andy finds out about it, he loses it, and soon the couple are ready for a divorce. But divorce includes selling the farm, and selling the farm means "selling" the town and its people, so the couple hire the whole town to be hospitable to potential buyers.

There's a great chemistry between Andy and his wife, and the way they interact with each other feels very genuine. I liked that dynamic a lot, which is why Andy's slip into mild insanity and their pending divorce feels a little bit like overkill. But it did create the opportunity to see their townspeople caroling and frolicking in the snow, which was pretty amusing.

Another funny thing was all of the animal injury humor, which we don't see too often these days. The idea of pouring a hot cup of coffee on a twittering bird or hitting a dog over the head with a frying pan seems pretty harsh, but it probably made us laugh the most because it was so unexpected.

I'm glad we got a chance to see this movie. Like Ric mentioned, we had always seen the DVD in the stores and had heard about it, but neither of us had actually watched it.

Our little movie nights are turning out to be a lot of fun. It's fun to see the variety we can come up with and how excited we all get with figuring out which movies the others haven't seen. So far, we have watched: In the Heat of the Night, In the Name of the Father, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Blues Brothers, Kelly's Heroes, Logan's Run, Funny Farm, and whatever Ric picks tonight. Good times.

It's that lovely time of year when the university pays me to take Friday afternoons off, so I decided to take full advantage of the first afternoon off. I found out that it was the only Friday of the summer that I'm not blocked from going to Disneyland, so I invited my mom to go with me for the afternoon. We went to California Adventure. Most of the attractions had short waiting lines, and the weather was great. We walked through lots of areas that I hadn't really bothered checking out in the past. I really liked the giant waterfall above the water rapids ride because it seemed so real. We basically walked around every part of the park. I enjoyed rumbling across the bridges in the redwood trail area. I haven't been on a rope bridge in a long time! That night, Ric and I took it easy because we had a long day planned the next day. Ric fell asleep early, so I watched Papillon.

On Saturday morning, Ric went with Rob to a make-your-own-brew class in Long Beach. I think they learned some things, but found the waiting time a little bit boring. Ric left early and didn't get back until an hour before we had to get ready for our evening, so he took a nap. I spent the morning sleeping and the afternoon piddling around the house, putting things away, watching tv, doing some spot painting, dislodging part of the bathroom vanity from the wall and cabinet, and scraping glue off the tub where the glass shower doors used to be. We took off in the afternoon to pick up some money and food, and we drove out to the LA Zoo parking lot to meet my sister and take the shuttle to the Hollywood Bowl to see The Cure. The band played for over three hours! And even still, there were so many songs we wanted to hear that we didn't. Our highlights were From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea and The Kiss. They played a lot of hits and plenty of songs from all of their albums across the years, as well as a few songs that will be on their new album. The band is definitely a little bit older, and it seems like we were one of the earlier dates on the tour, because it could have been a little bit tighter, and we were missing the presence of the keyboards (this tour is called the Four Tour because they are touring without a keyboardist). Even still, their music is amazing and a Cure show is always worth the money. We drove home in a record 35 minutes, by the way. That's from LA by the 134 to Whittier. OH yeah.

On Sunday we went to church, yet again to be rocked by our pastor, who is really telling it like it is these days. Afterwards, we were going to have a good free (gift cards!) meal at Outback Steakhouse with the Andersons, but when we got there we found out it doesn't open until 2pm. What kind of restaurant doesn't cater to the Sunday church crowd? Crazy! So we caravaned to the Elephant Bar and spent a couple of hours there. In the afternoon I shopped online for bathroom items for the renovations Ric is doing, with no luck (but better luck was had today at lunch). Then I drove over to Cyndi's and we went out to the Block for a movie screening. Last time I went I saw Kung Fu Panda. This time I saw Alien Trespass. Let's just say you can't win them all. I've never seen so many people leave the theater during a free movie. When I went home, Ric was making popcorn, so I buckled and made cookies, and we watched Arrested Development together for a few hours.

Up this week: much-needed grocery shopping, the in-laws come home from Scotland, movie night, a dinner with the Andersons, and hopefully a trip to the cheap theater as well.

Black Beauty was another audio book I gave a shot. I was never all that interested in reading it, but I have gone through the majority of the audio books of interest at the local mini-library, save The Last of the Mohicans, which I have been saving for last because of its lengthiness and the fact that I've been trying to finish reading it for many years. So I'm reading The Last of the Mohicans right now, which means that I'll soon have to venture uptown for my audio entertainment. Blahbity blah blah, I know. But really, my library adventures are probably more entertaining than Black Beauty was for me.

The book is basically a self-narrative from a horse's point of view. He tells of his youth, his training, and the many owners, drivers, and jobs he has over the years. He goes through a lot of ups and downs, but above all, he has many PETA-esque stories to tell about the treatment of animals. In fact, each chapter contains either a lesson about animal treatment or a religious point of view. The whole thing is propaganda disguised as a story about an animal.

I'm not saying that there aren't a few good characters, like James and John, or the taxi driver who treats Beauty so well. There are some episodes of excitement, and one does learn a little bit about the nature of a horse. But to me, it was far too preachy. I almost returned it to the library about a third of the way through, when I noticed the pattern, but decided to finish it because I've only ever really quit reading a book without finishing (with two exceptions: The Man in the Iron Mask - when I realized I could summarize the first few hundred pages in just about 10 seconds, and Herzog - because I hated the protagonist).

So I gave it a go, and it didn't do much for me. But I'm sure it's great for little kids who have a fascination with horses, and it's probably good for teaching kids about animal treatment. But for an adult, it's a pass.

Babette's feast is the story of a small town in Denmark in the 1800s that gets rocked by a French meal. Two religious sisters plan to celebrate what would have been their minister father's 100th birthday, and the local townspeople are invited to join them. They have a French refugee who is their servant, named Babette. Babette wins a lottery from France and decides to use the money to put together a full French dinner for the sisters' celebration. The townspeople are afraid of her French concoctions when they see the ingredients arriving by boat, but determine to go through with the meal. The dinner also brings up several memories of the sisters' pasts (of which a few episodic flashbacks are shown earlier in the film) and forces them to think about the decisions they made that affected their futures.

The movie is very simple in style, which is certainly appropriate in proportion to the town where the people live, which is a tiny seaside village of mostly older inhabitants. They all live in rougher housing and aren't used to extravagances. This makes Babbette's dinner all the more surreal for them, especially when they have a beautiful table setting, a wine for each dinner course, and plenty of foods even I've never been exposed to.

As the dinner progresses, the moods and outlooks of the guests are all very changed. The wine helps them relax, and in such a fine social setting, they are able to forgive their difference and overcome prejudices.

It's not anything groundbreaking, but the setting, the sisters' stories, and the spectacle of the meal are all so interesting that I couldn't help but enjoy myself.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly didn't come anywhere near where I live when it was in limited release, so I had to wait for Netflix. (Wow, I think my blog is basically free advertising for them since I love it so much.. that and TiVo! Speaking of which, I need to buy a Roku Netflix Player asap.) I'm trying to remember which other foreign films I saw from last year... I'm pretty sure none of them compared with this one.

The story is a true one, about Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), who was editor of Elle magazine until he had a massive stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome (complete paralysis, unable to speak). The movie begins with his point of view, waking up in a hospital after his stroke. The camera blurs often and is set at his eye-level, and the audience is able to hear his thoughts as he discovers what has happened to him. It's very effective (actually to the point where I was feeling a little bit queasy with the camera work and effects at first), and really gives the audience the experience of a person with locked-in syndrome.

Eventually, Bauby is able to communicate because he is able to blink his one working eye to answer yes or no. And after that, his therapist discovers that he can spell out words as she reads the alphabet to him and he blinks when she reads the correct letter. It's a slow process, but he actually writes a book using this method. As he goes through this process, he also has to deal with the changed relationships in his life, as a career man, a boyfriend, a father, and a son. Particularly touching is his relationship with his father, who is played beautifully by Max Von Sydow. There are many scenes flashing back to Bauby's former life, and eventually there is a flashback to the actual scene of his stroke. The way the movie weaves back and forth between his personal thoughts, his experiences, and his past is very fluid and very intimate.

The direction and acting in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly are superb, and I've never seen anything quite like it. It's a wonderful film and I would definitely recommend it to the mature audience.

Sometimes when work is a little slow, I'll watch a movie or two using the instant viewing feature on Netflix while I go through the work motions. I don't think I can give as good a review for movies that I do this with, so I usually watch movies that seem like they'll be easy to follow. I definitely chose right this time. Kramer vs. Kramer is the simple story of a man (Dustin Hoffman) who has to change his ways and become an attentive dad when his wife (Meryl Streep) suddenly leaves him and leaves their son with him as well. Ted faces a lot of trouble when his fathering interferes with his career, and fathering is a big challenge for him since his wife had always taken care of their son. But just as soon as he gets the hang of things, his wife comes back and takes him to court for custody of the kid.

I had avoided watching this movie for a long time because the title sounded more like it was a serious courtroom drama of two parents battling it out for their kid. Instead, the custody battle doesn't take place until about the last third of the movie. The focus is more on Ted's development and his relationship with his son, which plays out wonderfully. I liked the dynamics caused by the twist of forcing a dad to be the sole caretaker of a child. It's obvious at the beginning that Ted has no idea what he's doing and doesn't necessarily have a great bond with his son, but when the boy is injured at the playground, one can see how much his love has grown over the time he has had alone with his son.

Meryl Streep was in the movie for a much shorter time than I expected, but enough to win the best supporting actress Oscar. Hoffman also won his own Oscar, and the movie also took home best picture, best director, and best screenplay. I don't know what else was out that year, but I'm not so sure I would have given the movie that much praise, but it is really good. Hoffman and Streep tend to be actors that I don't really enjoy even though they are good at what they do, but here they both shine more than usual. The subtle screenplay is just right, although I do feel that the ending is a little bit forced. Overall, a great little picture.

Hey there! I'm back from my five-day weekend. Ric and I both got Thursday and Friday off, and let me tell you, it was nice. We wanted to take a trip out to see our quickly-growing nephews and their tired but wonderful parents.

We like to drive at night - it helps Ric focus. So we decided to leave late Wednesday night, but not before a movie night at the Agadonis. We had breakfast for dinner, played a tiny bit of MarioKart on the Wii, and settled in to watch Funny Farm. After that, we went directly to get gas, pick up some coffee, and hit the road for Arizona. We made it in somewhere around three or four in the mourning.

Thursday, we slept in, but not too long, since the sounds of nephews and puppies (although pleasant) are hard to sleep through. Angie and I went out in the afternoon to get massages at a local spa, which was something I definitely needed! We hung out with the family the rest of the afternoon. In the evening, we met up with Becky and went to an Irish pub and Starbucks. It's always great to hang out with her and feel like no time has gone by, even though it's usually about half a year in between our visits.

Friday, we were supposed to go to the zoo, but it was rainy! We played a lot of Wii games and Angie made a turkey so we could all have turkey sandwiches whenever we wanted. In the evening we went to The Olive Garden for dinner, then went to the mall where the boys went wild in the mall's play area. That evening Ric and Jon went out to see Indiana Jones while Angie and I stayed home and talked for a long time.

Saturday, we were thinking about the zoo again, but in the morning Angie discovered there was entertainment for kids provided by the fire department, and Harrison and Jack got to go on a firetruck and a helicopter. I guess they did a cool safety program too, so Harrison came home and started inspecting his house for fire hazards. Three-year-olds are cute. We all drove out to look at some model homes, which is something the family does for fun. The kids like playing on the playgrounds in different housing communities. There were some great homes, but as always, Arizona just depresses me, and I'm not interested in moving. One thing I don't like about the area we were at is how far one has to drive to do anything. Anyway, we all had a nice dinner together and talked for a while longer before Ric and I headed home. Traffic was a breeze and we got home around two in the morning.

Sunday I felt sick, so I spent most of the day watching tv and movies. Ric got a sudden inspiration while in Arizona and decided to re-do our upstairs bathroom, so he went to Lowe's and bought supplies, and began demolition work. He tore out the linoleum, took out the ugly shower doors, took down a bulky cabinet, and took down a mirror as well. Now all he has to do is remove the vanity/sink, and then we can get started. He says it's practice for working on the kitchen. We'll see how it goes! He also bought a steam cleaner for the carpets and furniture. It was sorely needed, since the people who lived here before us didn't seem to vacuum ever, and the water he threw out after the first cleaning was black as black can be.

Monday in the early afternoon, we drove Ric's parents to the airport. Right about now, they are touring around Edinburgh Scotland and will be visiting many other Scottish locations in the next week or so. We're having them keep an eye out on what types of foods they think we'll like, since we're planning a Scotland/Wales/Ireland trip for the fall. After the airport, we went home and did more work on the condo. I did a lot of touch-up painting in the kitchen, which almost ended up being a complete coat, since the painters did a crap job in there. I'm disappointed with the edges/trim, so I'll be working on that some more. The kitchen is just hard to get looking great, although it is much improved. In the evening we did more shopping around Lowe's and Home Depot and got some food at the Flame Broiler (warning: the one in La Habra is more expensive!). The rest of the night was movies and tv.

Up this week: more condo painting/demo, a fun retirement party at work, a visit from Ric's brother, and The Cure at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday! I'm trying to find a day to do a make-up International Meat Day, since I was out of town for it this year. Maybe next week will work best.

Hi everyone,

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I was kind of busy decorating someone's cubicle to look like a Mini Mammoth made of tissue paper:

Staff are coming from all over to check it out, as if I didn't do the same thing last year to someone else, only with different colored tissue paper!

I was also busy going to lunch with the gang:

Over the weekend I had a lot of good times. On Friday, Erika was in town for a wedding, so she met up with all her friends at Mimi's. We had a meal, then went to Starbucks for a while, and then I had her over to see our condo. We hung out until midnight, then I had to drop her off. We ended up chasing around a stray dog at 12:15 in the morning for a while until we gave up try to save it.

Saturday I got some sleep, and was lucky that Ric ended up not having to work like he though he would. So he called my sister and had her bring my mom to meet us at the movie theater to see Prince Caspian. We ran a lot of errands after that, and then we got a free pizza (a reward for signing up for Charter cable, which we only had for a few months while we lived at the rental house) and had Jenny over. She bought Mario Kart for the Wii (which is awesome and I can't stop playing) and we pretty much spent the whole night playing video games.

Sunday we made it to church and were reminded yet again that we're in the right church with the right pastor. It was good to be back after having missed a few weeks. We had a Panera lunch and I spent the afternoon reading, then finally pepped up and started working around the house. I did dishes, cleaned, did laundry, organized a lot of stuff I need to sell, and did finances. Ric and I went out and got Chipotle for dinner (kind of overpriced for plain eaters) and started watching Wedding Crashers. We made a spur-of-the-moment trip to the grocery store for some snacks and watched some tv for a while.

All in all, a pretty good weekend. Last night we did more around the house as well as watching tv, and tonight we're hanging out with Josh if plans go smoothly. We've been having a mini vacation from working on the condo over the past week. I think my back needed it. And this week, we're taking a mini vacation from work too! We're both taking off Thursday and Friday, so we've got a 5-day weekend ahead of us. Only one more work day to go!

My most recently read (listened-to) book was Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Borroughs. It's one of those books I just kept putting off reading but finally gave a shot. I don't know why I waited so long. It was really interesting!

The book begins with the story of Tarzan's parents, and how they became stranded on a deserted island. Tarzan is born on the island, and his parents don't survive, and an ape named Kala raises him as her own child. When Tarzan is young, he starts to notice the differences between the apes and him, and comes across the hut where his parents lived before they died (not knowing that they were his parents). He discovers reading primers in their trunks, which they had intended to use for him, and is able to learn how to read and write based on these and a big illustrated dictionary. When a group of abandoned treasure hunters are left by mutinous sailors on the shore of his island, he tries to make a connection with them through writing, since he can't actually speak English. One of those is the famous Jane of whom all of us have heard.

Only in this movie, there is no "Me Tarzan, you Jane" conversation. When Tarzan falls for Jane, the only language he can speak is apish. And actually, Jane falls for him as quickly as he does for her. That's not the impression I had of this story, so I was glad to read something that was a lot different from all of the Tarzan-inspired movies and cartoons I have seen floating around.

The story is actually a lot more intellectual than I expected, explaining Tarzan's learning process. It focuses a lot on how Tarzan had an advantage over the apes in many ways because, as a creature with a human brain, he was able to think more critically than his fellow apes. He learns to hunt with the aid of a piece of rope and a knife that he found in his parents' hut, and he becomes king of the apes because of his intellectual advances. Tarzan learns the instincts and ways of human dignity but also struggles with his desire to be free like the apes. He has a lot of inner conflict and certainly isn't as oafish as other versions I have seen of him. By the end of the novel, he's fluent in French.

Also surprising to me is how almost no illustrator seems to accurately portray Tarzan, who was probably 18-20 years old during this story. Everyone always makes him look so much older! I like the illustration I found for this post because it at least emphasizes his similarity to the apes and gets his overall complexion and strength right.

Overall, author Edgar Rice Borroughs keeps the story moving and thought-provoking, and actually takes the story to the soul to make it much more than just a simple adventure. That level of depth was definitely unexpected for me, and made it a really interesting book that I actually looked forward to reading every time I went to work out. In fact, after the ending that pretty much left me hanging (yet somehow satisfied at the same time, which I can't explain), I'll probably have to go out and buy the next couple books about Tarzan so I can hopefully find out what happens!