Watchlist 2007

More movies:

Talladega Nights. Just like Deep Impact and Armageddon, we have Cars and Talladega Nights. NASCAR, boy loses way, boy makes comeback and learns a Mighty Valuable Lesson, finding romance along the way. Except Ricky Bobby doesn't really learn anything. Oh, and romance consists of who has the best set of boobs. Silly, mindless fun. Thank you, Baby Jesus...

The Illusionist. Something about gaslights and hansom cabs have always been appealing to me, so I enjoyed this, even though it's fairly predictable. Paul Giamatti shines again, and Edward Norton is pretty good as well. Unfortunately, Jessica Biel still can't do anything but stand around looking pretty. I was also surprised that the crown prince wasn't Jude Law--sure looked like him. On to The Prestige and Scoop (the informal "Magic" trilogy of 2006).

Apples and Oranges, part 3

I almost convinced PJ to upgrade the MacBook to a MacBook Pro. We visited an Apple store, where she played with the various Apple notebooks. She was impressed with how sleek 'n' sexy the MacBook Pro was, and was amazed at the weight. She went to the Genius bar to ask whether we could upgrade our unopened MacBook by just adding extra cash, and the so-called Genius said yes. When we walked out of the store, we had agreed that we would upgrade.

This didn't last, though. Five minutes later she realized that we would be adding $900 in order to upgrade; add $200++ for a Windows XP Pro license (yeah, yeah, I know. She's comfortable in Windows, and would rather not take the time to learn something else), and that took us to $1,100! Then the question of the Windows software (specifically QuickBooks) being supported on a BootCamp install of WinXP was raised as well.

So, no go. We decided to just sell it. We eventually sold it for less than retail, but hey--at least we have the money towards just buying a regular ol' laptop (probably a COMPAL or an ASUS).

Oh well. Maybe some other time.

Watchlist 2007

I told myself that I would keep track of what movies I've watched this 2007. Currently I've seen four movies:

My Super Ex-Girlfriend: Fluff, but an interesting diversion. Uma's pretty cool, although the plot pretty much sucked. Lots of comedy potential here that was sadly unrealized. Glad we rented it.

Casino Royale: Wasn't expecting too much from this, but (a) this is the best Bond movie I've ever seen (no gizmos to distract us), and (b) Daniel Craig is the best Bond I've seen. I thought Pierce Brosnan was an inspired choice, but unfortunately his movies were parodies of the Bond franchise. Still, though, I wonder what Clive Owen would've done with the role. Impressed with Craig, and looking forward to the next one. Best movie I've seen in 2007 by far.

Little Miss Sunshine: Cute. Not as great as advertised, but what was cool was that they road-tripped to states I've been to--New Mexico, Arizona and of course, California. The pageant itself was scary--the other contestants looked like living dolls. Plus points for Chloe!

Lady In The Water: Not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it was actually interesting and moved pretty quickly--no wasted time, no goofy forced "twist". Definitely better than The Village. I kept thinking what a wonderful book it would be--at least I wouldn't have to watch Shymalan ham it up. Paul Giamatti and Bryce Howard were great, though. Howard, especially--skin like paper, but she has that ethereal beauty that made her perfect for the title role.

Spare the Rod

So this California assemblywoman wants to make spanking a crime. This is just so annoying on many levels--not the least of which is that this same assemblywoman doesn't even have kids.

Growing up I don't recall ever being spanked. What I do remember is getting kurot by my yaya whenever I did something naughty. Those pinches were pretty nasty--she had long nails, and her kurots were very, very fine, so they hurt like anything. I must've been three then; it made quite an impression, considering that I can still remember it.

Fast forward to now. I have kids of my own, and they get naughty sometimes, like all kids do. Do I hit them? No. I raise my voice, when I scold them, and usually that's enough to scare them silly. I don't advocate hitting a child, but I don't want the government telling me how to raise my children either (that's what my mom and my mother-in-law are for).

I can't stress this enough: This woman doesn't have kids! And yet she thinks she has the right to tell me how to be a better parent. How screwed up is that?

And so it Begins...Again

First off: 24. The first four hours were pretty kick-ass, but it pales in comparison to last season's four hours. The emotional toll last season was scary. This year? I made the crack to PJ that maybe they should call Jonas from The Unit to save the day. Heh.

Second: Idol's back. Jewel's looking pretty hot nowadays. Not difficult sitting next to a seemingly-drugged out Pauler. Funny how Daughtry's outselling Taylor and probably Katharine. I'm still convinced that some of the weirdos are actors, particularly the "girl" who sang Pussycat Dolls and her "mother". I'm almost sure they were in a fatsuit and in drag. If they're real people, I apologize. But yikes--heavy make up, mannish voices...

Oh, and Zayra from Rock Star has a hit song! Although it's singing backing vocals for Blue October. Still better than how Lucky Charms is doing, in my opinion.

Watching Ice and Fire

Great Eddard's Ghost! Variety is reporting that George RR Martin's masterpiece A Song of Ice and Fire is being turned into a mini-series by HBO. Wow! I mean...wow! Couple of thoughts, though:

• GRRM is producing this as well! C'mon, George, stop wearing too many hats and finish the darned series first!
• Who are they going to cast, I wonder? I can see Liam Neeson as Ned Stark, but everyone else? The twins Jamie and Cersei? The screen might melt from all that prettiness! Tyrion? Malkovich, maybe?
  
• This is going to be one expensive series. Then again, Rome is pretty impressive from what I've seen.
  
• I'm going to have to seriously consider getting HBO once this is out. I resisted The Sopranos, but this might be too much.
  

This can be very, very, good or can be a nightmare. Knowing HBO, though, they can pull it off.

250 Million Reasons

David Beckham, LA Galaxy. A quarter-BILLION dollars.

"I want to make a difference with the kids." Yeah, that and $50M a year.

The Apprentice LA: You're Fired

I got the chance to watch The Apprentice: Los Angeles last night while ironing some clothes (ironing is always boring, so I have to have the TV on while doing it. Usually it's X-Files re-runs). Yikes.

One of the girls, upon being sent to live in Tents (losers!), proclaimed that she felt like she was living in the "Third World", because there was no electricity. Right, princess, because we third world folks all live in mud huts and use two sticks to create fire. Idiot.

The first firing felt wrong to me. Not that the guy didn't deserve it, it just felt that Daddy Trump was just catering to his daughter's wishes. I would've thought that the other guy would get fired, seeing as he kept interrupting the Donald and didn't let anyone get anything in edgewise. Instead, Martin gets fired because Ivanka thinks he's pompous and won't fit in with the company. Yes, because there's only room for one pompous guy in the Trump empire. Remember that.

Pic of the day: Generalissimo

Haven't done this in a while (the 365 Days photoessay has sadly fizzled out). Loved this picture, though--Amelie looks like she's commanding her troop of Disney Princesses.

Movie Beat: Past and Future

We didn't really see that many movies in 2006, with the kids and all. We tried bringing them in to watch Cars, but wound up bringing them out of the theater because they were making too much noise. So, most of the films we saw were on DVD. We did manage to see the big ones, though.

Best movie I saw was, surprisingly, The Devil Wears Prada. Anne Hathaway FTW, but Meryl Streep's performance was just superb. You didn't think she was a mean boss, just someone extremely competent and someone I'm actually willing to work for. Also some good indie films there, like Brick and Everything Is Illuminated. Oh, and we saw My Neighbor Totoro for the first time.

Honorable mentions go to X3 and POTC2. Not that impressed with the aforementioned Cars--Over the Hedge and Monster House were much better (the latter being underrated, in my opinion).

Looking forward to: Stardust (yay!), Transformers, Spiderman 3, Harry Potter 5, Ratatouille, FF2/Silver Surfer, Die Hard 4 and of course, POTC3. Bring back Jack!

Note that everything's pretty much a sequel. Who cares if there's "nothing original" in film anymore--all I want is to watch something good.

Which Supervillain Are You?

So I'm such a goody-two shoes that I forgot to take the counterpart supervillain test. Interestingly, I'm Lex Luthor. This proves that I'm a Gemini, since I'm two sides of the same coin. Or maybe it's the "Are you bald?" question that tipped the scales.



Your results:

A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test