.jeri.

The Wages of Fear has two major protagonists named Mario and Luigi. They wear some kind of uniformed outfits (one with a cap) for half the movie. That made me laugh. And just so you know, the Super Mario Brother names were inspired by an Italian restaurant. At least that's what I found online.

But this movie is far from cartoonish! Although it is a little bit hard to decipher the locale, it's actually set in South America, in a place that one might call the middle of nowhere. Nearby there's oil, and the town serves as a home for the internationally diverse. They all came to the town where the prices were low, and now that the prices are so high, none of them can afford to go back home to their own countries. From France are Mario and Joe, who become friends, to the dismay of Mario's roommate Luigi, when Mario spends all of his time with Joe. A lot of tension builds up between these men.

Finally, the break that many of the people have been waiting for arrives, although it's not much of a lucky break. There is a fire at the oil site three hundred miles away, and men are needed to drive trucks over high, curvy, and bumpy roads to deliver nitroglycerin to the workers so the fire can be put out. The reward is $2000 - enough money to get out of the country. Of course, Mario and Joe are paired in one truck, and Luigi is paired with a German man named Bimba. They have to ride the distance without jarring the trucks too much in order to avoid exploding themselves.

The movie takes a while setting up the situation, the characters, and the relationships. But it's all necessary for the dynamics to play into the driving sequence, which is wonderful. The tension builds up more and more the closer they get to their destination. There are encounters with a cliff-lined road, a bumpy stretch of road called "the washboard", a giant pool of petroleum, and a massive boulder in the middle of their path. All of these are wonderfully filmed scenes, and the actors are all great in them.

Overall, The Wages of Fear is a very good movie and one worth checking out. It covers all sorts of themes, especially that of making a deal with the devil and (obviously) the wages of fear. With its acting, action, and great cinematic view, it certainly proves itself as a Criterion Collection film.

What's with the overuse of the name Robert Hawkins lately? After watching Jericho, it was hard for me to separate the name and allow it to be used as the protagonist of Cloverfield, but I got over it. Cloverfield stars a bunch of lesser-known twenty-something actors as friends and acquaintances at a party who all get caught in Manhattan at the wrong time - when a giant monster attacks the city. Since this movie has been around for a few months now, I'm going to post spoilers all throughout, so don't say I didn't warn you.

There was so much buzz around this movie that I really wanted to see it when it came out, but we were busy moving and Ric wasn't too excited about the handheld camera experience in the theater, so we waited and Netflixed it. The camera motions didn't bother me, but Ric was feeling a little tired out by the movie's end. I think the movie really did have an interesting concept with the camera work. It put us in the characters' situation with them, and we experienced it as they did. It was also a nice touch because of the moments where Hud the camera man paused the tape and small cuts of the previous footage on the tape revealed details of the relationship between Robert and Jenn.

The movie was definitely better than I thought it would be because of details like that. Sure, it had some cliches, including the idea of quarantining/bombing an island (see 28 Weeks Later, I Am Legend, etc.), the image of a damaged Statue of Liberty (Planet of the Apes), using a dark subway to escape danger (28 Weeks Later), and baby monsters (and subsequently, exploding humans: Alien trilogy). But the ways those were used were all effective, and the effects used with those ideas made it seem very real (except for the baby monsters, who seemed too dangerous to be beaten by three people and a pipe). Every moment still continued to be surprising and filled with tension.

As for the lesser-known casting, unfortunately Hud is also in the mediocre tv show Carpoolers, which I watched for a while in the hopes that it would get funnier. TJ Miller (Hud) plays a guy named Marmaduke, who is one of the stupidest individuals ever. I could only think of Marmaduke through the whole movie, so that kind of killed it for me.

Overall, I think Cloverfield started out a bit slow but got a lot better as it went. In fact, thinking about it now, I'm convinced that I like monster movies so much more than horror movies. And yes, I would group in zombie movies with monster movies. Those such as the first half of I Am Legend, 28 Weeks Later (minus the editing) and The Host all have some really creative aspects to them, whereas all horror movies seem to be pretty much the same. Somehow, it seems that in the monster movies, the characters are all still the focal point, and the monsters are only there to make the characters grow. I've been really interested by the ideas behind these types of movies lately. It will be interesting to see what happens to the genre over the next few years.

Ric and I went to see Iron Man at the uptown Whittier theater at a late showing. I think I'm going to go to Brea for all of my big movie openings from now on, because my last two shows have been full of talkie folk. I sat next to a row of 7-year-olds, but they were completely silent during the movie - it was the quiet-looking couple sitting behind me who had a conversation for the entire flick. Good thing the sound was up nice and loud.

I had no interest in this movie for the many months I had been hearing about it. My first thought when I saw a trailer was that Robert Downey Jr. was too old to play a superhero, and Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't so hot in Sky Captain, so I wasn't expecting much despite the fact that I'm a fan of both actors. But the reviews were hot and I suddenly changed my mind about it (and Ric really wanted to see it too). Surprisingly enough, it turned out to be one of the best comic hero movies Hollywood has made so far.

I didn't really have many issues with this movie, except for choosing the Walt Disney Concert Hall as one of its settings, since every other car commercial or action movie seems to have a scene there. That, and a kind of uninteresting underling villain were the two things that slightly irked me, but that's about it. The movie completely rides on the performances of its cast, along with a clever screenplay/dialog.

Robert Downey Jr. has come a long way from his self-destructive ways, and every performance he gives seems to cement him as an established, awesome actor. Iron Man is a perfect role for him, and his performance as Tony Stark is wonderful in his portrayal of playboy, contemplative/confused man, and superhero. Honestly, the casting was what worried me most, but ended up having the best payoff, because Paltrow was wonderful as well. I don't want to get too surfacy with this review, but red hair certainly does wonders for her. Her one-on-one scenes are some of the biggest highlights of the movie. And Jeff Bridges as a balding grey-haired evil guy was a complete surprise, but worked. Terrance Howard didn't have much of a chance for development with his character, so hopefully I'll have interesting things to say about him in Iron Man 2.

The special-effects are a lot of fun to watch. The Iron Man suit's development and final product are really impressive, especially as all of the parts of the suit lock into place with Tony Stark inside. The Jericho missile and Stark's escape from imprisonment were my favorite explosive touches. Actually, come to think of it, I think the earlier action sequences are a little more interesting than the final battle between Iron Man and whatever you call the super-sized version of him (which for some reason reminded me of the big robots in The Incredibles). Even still, the action is still very entertaining.

I am definitely looking forward to the next installment of this series. As the critics have rightfully said, Iron Man raises the bar high for 2008's summer movies. I'm not so sure any other action/adventure movie will be this good, but one can always hope.

This weekend was a lot of fun and plenty busy. On Friday after workout (which is now reduced to light weightlifting and walking thanks to my disc issues) I went out shopping at Lowe's and Walmart and got money from the bank. I met up with Ric at home, and we went out to BevMo to buy some goodies for Saturday, and then we headed over to the Wine Stop. I think most of the wines were a miss for me, but I still had a good time, and we managed not to spend an arm and a leg this time around. Friday also marked Jon's graduation from college after beginning several years ago. We're proud of him for working so hard and finishing. I went to see Jon's art show with Brendan on Monday, and it was awesome.

Saturday Ric and I went with my family to Benihana to celebrate Mother's Day. We all had a good lunch together. I think I like Benihana's food better than Karuta, but it's more expensive, and our Japanese food chef was named Jorge, which was odd. We left straight from there for Yo's house in Crestline. I finally got to drive the Mini up mountain roads, and it was fun to see how the car's center of gravity was able to handle the curves so nicely. Even still, I think I worry too much while driving roads like that, so it's not all that fun because all I'm thinking about is how one wrong steer of the wheel could end up with the Mini plummeting off the side of the mountain (also, it's not good to watch The Wages of Fear before taking a drive like that).

Ric and I arrived at Yo's home in only an hour. His house is surrounded by trees, and you can see a tiny bit of Lake Gregory from his deck. The house is awesome and Yo's doing all sorts of cool things to it. We were there to celebrate his 40th birthday. Yo and I met in person on his 30th birthday, so it was a special day for me too. If any of you don't know the story, he and I met online in 1997 on a Morrissey music bulletin board. A lot of us on there were local, so we all decided to meet in person at Yo's 30th birthday party. And the rest is history. We're probably one of the oddest pairing of friends a person could think of, but it works for us. Anyway, we hung out, had some drinks, had some food, watched some videos, and played (or observed) some poke r.

Sunday, we puttered around the house. I kicked it into gear in the afternoon and spent several hours with a heat gun in our office. The original decoration of the condo included a very lame idea - flowery wallpapered wood paneling glued (industrial strength) to the sliding closet doors. Here's a bit of it from a photo back in February. No, it wasn't that color scheme before - it was ALL yellow - we painted the walls blue, and then the trim got painted white after this photo:

The closet is the entire length of the office, which means I need to remove an entire wall of paneling. The only way to do it without breaking the actual doors is to use a heat gun (think: really hot hairdryer) and a hammer. Heat, then pry, then heat, then pry. It was hot, difficult work. And I only got one door cleared with about four hours of work! Underneath the paneling is the glue, and under that is a layer of paint (that's why the weekend was only sort of paint-free). So once the paneling comes off, the glue and paint need to be heated and scraped off. Then the doors need sanded, and then they can be painted. It sure is a heck of a lot of work, but a heat gun only costs $35 and new doors would have been a few hundred bucks. Next time I'll have to wear gloves, because my right hand got really sore from using the hammer and prying the paneling.

I was so wiped out and tired from that that I was starving, so Ric and I made an Arby's run, and then we watched some tv together. I spent the last couple hours of the night reading Prince Caspian, in preparation for the movie coming out this weekend. I'm about 2/3 done right now, so I'm pretty sure I'll have finished it by the time we see it.

Tonight, Brendan and I are headed to the Oscar headquarters to see a screening of Fargo at the Samuel Goldwyn theater. There's going to be a panel of people who worked on the film afterwards. This is the first time we've tried going to the theater, although we both have passes for their summer series, so I'm hoping our first trip out there will go smoothly with traffic and figuring out where to go.

Other than tonight, this week should be quiet. Hopefully that will give me time to do some errands and chores.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you lovely ladies out there! I have so many friends that are mothers now that I can't even list them all without leaving someone out accidentally.

But a special nod goes to the couple of ladies I know who are currently expecting their first children. Today we found out that Abby in our office is three months pregnant! What an exciting time.

So here's to all of you young moms, who are doing your best to keep up the home, raise your child, be a good wife, and be yourself. I know it's a balancing act, and I admire you for doing it.

Who knew Peter O'Toole was capable of being a manly man?! In The Lion in Winter, he plays Henry II, who has ruled for many years and acquired much power, but must now choose which son will take over as king when he dies. The problem is that Henry favors his son John (Nigel Terry), his hating-loving wife Eleanor (Katherine Hepburn) favors Richard (Anthony Hopkins), and poor Geoffrey (John Castle) must fend for himself since nobody seems to care for him. Added to the complexities is the character of Alais, played by Jane Morrow, who loves Henry but could possibly be forced to marry one of his sons.

The movie was adapted from a successful play, and it shows. The dialog is whip-smart and moves quickly and with great impact. Each scene is filled with so many witticisms, emotions, and changes in the direction of the plot. At one moment, one might think there was love between certain members of the royal family, but at the next, one is sure that they all hate each other and are simply plotting. And it switches back and forth throughout the whole film, leaving the audience to figure out if even the characters actually know how they truly feel about each other.

I haven't seen a lot of Peter O'Toole movies, but (and I know I'm a minority on this) I hated him in Lawrence of Arabia. Actually, I'm not so sure I hated him so much as his actual character. O'Toole was kind of set in my mind as the epitome of a wuss since then, so to see him roar through the castle in The Lion in Winter was a surprise. It was a welcome surprise, though, and I loved him as Henry II. Not to be outdone is Katherine Hepburn, who seemed to become a much better actor as her years progressed, and is absolutely superb in this movie. She is most certainly the star of the show. This movie also marks the first major role of one Anthony Hopkins, who is one of my all-time favorites. His character is extremely interesting because he is both a fighter and a pawn, and he handles the extremes very well, from absolute anger to vulnerability in a matter of seconds.

The movie does feel like a play, with each scene lasting a very long time and the sets being only a few rooms of the castle. It works, though, and the movie is deeply involving because of the family's tight quarters for their battles of words and wits.

Overall, it's thoroughly tiring because of its range of emotional charges but a very great film.

I couldn't even talk Ric into seeing this one with me. I'm not sure why I really wanted to see it, but then again, I run out to see Nickelodeon movies some times, so why try to make sense out of my movie tastes?

Anyway, I thought it was probably safest to see this at the cheap theater, just in case, so I had to go see it by myself. Thanks, dear! The highlight of the audience was an older man who looked like stalker potential but ended up falling asleep halfway through the movie and snoring through about 1/4 of the story. Other than that, I've actually been having better luck with audiences at the cheap theater than those at regular ones lately!

Jumper is about a teenager who lives alone with his father and has a crush on a girl at school. He gives her a snowglobe with the Eiffel Tower in it because she wants to travel. When another guy sees it and makes fun of him, throwing the globe onto an ice-covered river, it's not hard to guess that our hero will go after it. When he does, he falls through the ice, and instead of dying, he instinctively teleports himself to his local library. Several years later, after he has honed his talent, he's being tracked by people called Palladins, who think that all Jumpers should die (for religious reasons, of course). He pops back to his home town to pick up the girl he loved, and they fly to Rome, where the adventure begins, including the discovery that there are others of his kind.

The movie stars Hayden Christensen, who shows here as well as in other movies (see: Shattered Glass) that it really was George Lucas's fault that he came across so poorly in Attack of the Clones (say what you will about Revenge of the Sith - I liked it). Jumper doesn't give Christensen much of an acting challenge, but he's at ease in this role, and makes the preposterous plot not seem so preposterous, which I think takes talent. His co-star is Rachel Bilson, who does the best she can with the character she's given - a girl who doesn't seem to question very much when the boy who disappeared under the ice shows up 8 years later with no explanation of how he lived.

The movie obviously has a bit of ridiculousness and some flaws. One bit of ridiculousness is that one of David's favorite places to relax is on a lawn chair on top of the Sphinx. Uhh, that's pretty obvious, with so many tourists around, don't you think? The movie also has a lot of narration at the beginning, but none of it is necessary at all, and it would have been a better movie without it.

But despite the little things, Jumper has a little bit of something to it. The jumping itself is pretty cool. The sound and visual effects are good. The locations are all over the place and interesting (I got to re-live my honeymoon a bit in the Rome sequence). The idea of jumping is well-developed, including wormholes and the idea that a jumper can take people or items with him when he jumps. David's relationship with his father and the story of his mother are more than I would have expected out of a movie like this.

It's a movie that had the potential to be much better, but ended up being pretty good anyway. I'm not saying that it's taking home any prizes, but I had a fun time, and am not sorry that I made a point of going out to see it. It's probably better than some of the blockbusters I'll end up seeing this summer.

I think I just reached a part of my Netflix queue that I added when I first started getting into Netflix, and I was bored one day and started adding all of Roger Ebert's recommendations. I can't think of any other reason why it looks so random to me. So expect all sorts of variety in the future!

The Right Stuff was another I had heard of and always meant to get around to, and now that I have, I wonder why I never saw it earlier. The cast alone is so enticing, especially now, because it's so fun to see all of these famous people in their younger years. Starring Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Kim Stanley, Veronica Cartwright (who I always like to think of as "the bad acting mom from Flight of the Navigator" but is wonderful here), Pamela Reed, and Mary Jo Deschanel - to name a few - this movie is the story of America's first astronauts. I'd just like to add that Ed Harris isn't an actor that I tend to enjoy, even though he is usually a very capable actor, but with his role as John Glenn, it was impossible to dislike his infectious performance.

Beginning with recruitment of pilots, the story takes us through tons of tests and competitions and leads to the first manned trips into orbit. It's such a comprehensive storyline and is so interesting that I certainly didn't mind that it was three-and-a-half hours long.

The movie is beautiful from start to finish, with great use of color, costume, sets, and direction. I really liked the combination of imagery and music as well. The scenes with the failed takeoffs were particularly effective to me.

I liked that this movie focused a lot on character development rather than just telling us the events as they happened. This is the story of people, and whether or not it's completely accurate, it's a complete movie because the script got into the details, such as the story of John Glenn's wife (especially when she turns down LBJ for an interview). There are also several scenes that show the solidarity of the astronauts. I really liked watching them learn that they had to like and stand up for each other in order to reach their common goals.

But even beyond the grandeur of the space race, the movie is framed and intersected often by the story of Chuck Yeager, who began where all of those pilots did, but stayed there when they moved on. The movie really focuses on what makes a hero and what makes a good pilot, and I loved that this story flushed out that theme. They don't do that type of thing often with big movies these days.

Well, as you might guess, I really liked this movie. It's got such an interesting subject, but it tells that story in a great way, and has far more of a sense of humor than I expected. Great flick!

Wow. I knew that Google had been working on Street View for their maps lately, but didn't realize it had finally extended to our area! It's a little bit creepy, but it's so useful for finding one's destination. My only disappointment was that my car wasn't parked on the street when they took photos of our old place. It would have been immortalized!

Anyway, I know I have been bad about posting photos of the new place, so I'm starting off with one straight from the amazing online map system. We now live in a condo complex of about 100 units. Our biggest fear would be that we would move in and realize we were in the ghetto, but actually it's been almost always completely quiet. I say almost because while I was out on Monday, Ric said our quiet (almost non-existent in my consciousness) neighbors had a massive argument and were screaming at each other and knocking over furniture. Whoah! But, after being here for three months, that instance was certainly out of the norm.

We have loved the location of our particular unit, because it's right next to the gate and right next to the trash. We don't have to drive through the complex and go over speed bumps to get to our carports, and our carports have direct access to our condo. The trash bin is right across from our carports too, so it doesn't seem like a very big hassle to take out the trash. In fact, it's actually a lot easier because I don't have to walk through Little Vietnam to put out the trash for pickup. Speaking of which, here's a great photo from our moving day:

That's another great thing about living in a condo - no yard work! While I enjoyed having a yard and took pride in working on it, it's actually nice to have my time free so that I can focus on the inside of our new place.

Another thing I like is that our condo is situated in such a way that we only have a window facing the north in our master bedroom. This means it's always cool in there, no matter what time of day. And so we can sleep or nap comfortably for the first time since we got married, since we're not miserable because of the heat like we were in our old apartment.

So that's an intro to where we live. I'll have to put together a slideshow in the future to show the progress we have been making inside. It's a battle of us vs. yellow, and we're finally winning!

Ever since we watched this movie at movie night with the Agadonis, I've been conjuring up Oddball whenever Ric's being pessimistic and saying, "Why don't you knock it off with them negative vibes?" An unrealistic but lovable romp through WWII Germany, this movie stars all sorts of great actors, from Clint Eastwood (Kelly) to Donald Sutherland (who plays Oddball). Together, they are soldiers who get wind of Nazi treasure and create an unauthorized invasion across enemy lines to rob a bank. That they take out some significant German forces is definitely a bonus.

The funny thing that Ryan pointed out is that Oddball is certainly odd when you're thinking about WWII, because everything he says sounds like something out of the mouths of hippies. But it doesn't seem to matter because it's entertaining. And Germany doesn't look much like Germany for half the movie, but again, it doesn't matter because it's entertaining.

Another interesting thing is that Clint Eastwood is pretty much outshone by all of the actors in the movie, but his character's name is in the title. But when your supporting men are Telly Savalas and Don Rickles, and you're an even-keeled kind of guy, I suppose it's understandable.

We all had a lot of fun watching this one. I had never heard of it before, so kudos to Ryan (even though I actually don't like phrase "kudos to") for knowing it so well and wanting to share it with us. It's my pick this week, and I'll be choosing yet another one that I haven't seen in a very long time but remember liking a lot. Let's hope everyone does!

No End was the last of the many Kristoff Kieslowsky-directed movies that I got from Netflix. I have now watched all that Netflix has to offer of his. Sweet. Like Blind Chance, this movie had me from its start, because it begins with a man talking directly to the audience and telling them that he has died. In the events that follow, we learn that his wife has not taken his death well. She realizes, once he is dead, that she loved him more than she thought he did. She seems to alternate between sensing his presence and missing it as well. Antek, the dead husband, does watch her quite a bit, but at the times where she can't see him, she tries to find other ways to connect with him or fill in the void that he left. Eventually Ulla seeks to free herself from the hold that Antek has on her.

Another part of the movie is the story of a man whom Antek (a lawyer) was defending before he died. This is during a period of Martial Law in Poland, and the man is in jail for organizing a Solidarity strike. Ulla directs the man's wife towards Labrador, an older lawyer who was Antek's mentor, but is uncertain that she has made the right move when a question mark suddenly appears next to the lawyer's name in the directory. The lawyer uses manipulation to work the system in an effort to get the man out of prison, but the man finds more freedom in his own integrity than working the system.

It was a little bit hard for me to follow this movie because I didn't have a good understanding of the historical background, so some of the conversations going on in court or in prison were somewhat challenging, although I got the overall gist.

The movie is cast very well, all with actors who were also featured in Kieslowski's later movies. I recognized "the silent man" from The Decalogue instantly; I think his effectiveness in his later role sort of harmed my viewing of him in this movie because I didn't want to hear him talk. Also, from A Short Film About Love, Grazyna Szapolowska was unrecognizable to me. I didn't even connect her with the movie I had already seen. She is splendid here, particularly in a scene where she has a one night stand with a foreigner and tells him everything she has been feeling in Polish.

I think the elements of the story connected with death are the most effective ones, although the movie is successful overall. With the acting, writing, and music (yet again) combined, it was a movie that grabbed me at the beginning and had me very entranced until its end, and I would say that has everything to do with the Kieslowki-Szapolowska combination.

Hi all,

In comparison with the past couple of weekends, I kept myself pretty darn busy this time around. On Friday after workout, I headed straight to the stores to buy a wok for my mother-in-law, because we were having our Mother's Day early this year. While I was out, I bought a lot of supplies for the Cinco de Mayo party, which I'm in charge of coordinating. It's a thing we do at work every year to have fun and eat food together. Basically we love parties. I went home and worked around the house and got some trim painted, and then Ric and I headed out for a late-night showing of Iron Man, which we loved.

Saturday I slept in only a little bit, then got up and started painting trim. Once I was finished with that, I shopped online a bit and ordered a heat gun for trying to get some paneling off our closet doors in the office. Then I headed out to the stores to shop for more Cinco de Mayo stuff. There's a party supply store in Santa Fe Springs that I can't recommend enough. Its prices are decent and they just have so much stuff! I loaded up with supplies for a couple of parties, then headed over to Costco. I had been considering a membership there for a while, but when I realized I needed to buy a 4+ pound chunk of beef for shredded beef tacos, I knew that I should just go get a membership. The awesome part was that I got a free $25 cash card at sign up and was able to use that to buy what I needed. From there I went to Vons to buy brownie sundae ingredients, and went home to bake brownies, since brownie sundaes were Ric's mom's choice for her Mother's Day dessert. Then we headed over to Ric's parents' place and went with them to Karuta for Mother's Day dinner. We had a good time there and then spent the evening chatting over our sundaes. I think I did more painting once I got home, and Ric and I watched Cloverfield too.

Sunday there was an outdoor church service and we didn't want to go, so I woke up and went straight to work on paint. I finally finished all the paint in the office and the living room! It feels good to finally be able to say that something is finished. We also ordered a little console to hold all of our audiovisual equipment, which should come in the next couple of weeks, and then the living room will almost look complete (minus some artwork). In the evening Erika called and we caught up with each other for a while, and then Ric and I went out to try and entertain ourselves only to find out that every store we wanted to visit was already closed. We made a quick stop by the grocery store, then watched some tv together (after I did a little bit more painting).

Today has been crazier than the weekend. I got to work and unloaded all of my party supplies, and then it was time for the department meeting. Once that was over, it was time for chapel. Our chaplain is retiring after 42 years of service, so we had to make sure to go and show our support of him. It was a fun time. After chapel, I started set up for the party, and at lunch we ate to our hearts' content and had a great time together. As soon as we were done cleaning up, I headed out for a doctor's appointment.

I had the test results for my MRI today. They say, "There is a central annular tear at the L5-S1. There is a moderate-to-large central disc protrusion. This projects approximately 6 mm posteriorly. This is likely in contact with the S1 nerve roots where they arise from the thecal sac. There is disc desiccation at this level." When I had my very first MRI a few years ago, the protrusion was 3 mm. So, it has increased, and now there is a tear on the disc. This is what has been causing my hip trouble while running. The only thing to do is not to overdo things. Supposedly, over time the tear will heal itself, and hopefully that will end the hip problems. So I guess that means I won't be running for a long time. That's frustrating, since it's very hard for me to make progress losing weight when I'm only walking and lifting weights. But it's what I've got, so I've got to get on with it!

Up this week: tonight is Jon's art show opening, Wednesday we're watching movies with the Agadonis, and Friday is Jon's graduation and celebration!

Ric and the Agadonis and I went to an event at the university where Expelled was supposedly going to be screened, only to find out that it was Ben Stein in person talking about the movie. It ended up being an interesting event, but we were all disappointed that we would have to shell out another $10 to see the movie. Oh well.

The documentary is about how people in the scientific world of academia who even mention or consider the idea of intelligent design as an explanation for the origin of life are basically being blacklisted. Ben Stein interviews several people who have experienced unfair treatment. He goes on to interview experts in the field of ID and also experts in the field of evolution. He then explores the arguments of both sides.

Overall, I thought the movie was thought-provoking. I didn't care for the old footage (there are several clips of old movies) at all and worry that the movie's exploration of the Darwinian extremes (Hitler, communism) will come across as fanatical. I think that's probably why the movie is receiving poor marks from the critics.

Oh yeah, did I mention there's a scene of Ben Stein on our campus, walking in front of the 50 foot Jesus? That whole scene was like one big advertisement for our school.

I think Ben Stein's intentions were better revealed to us at the event we went to at the university, and Expelled actually meanders more than I would like. Personally, I didn't think the movie needed to be about Intelligent Design vs. Darwinism. A film is far too short a forum for discussing such big topics, although I admit that Stein addressed more than I thought he would. If he, like he did at the university event, had focused solely on the idea of people being Expelled because of their own academic inquiry, I think it would resonate more with audiences and make a bigger impact as well.

Even so, it was interesting and sometimes amusing, and a good conversation starter, to say the least.

Save your monies for a cheap theater or rental! I think the fact that this movie got built up so much by a lot of people is why I was disappointed. That and false advertising. I have a big problem with movies being promoted by footage that doesn't actually get shown, which was the case for several scenes (between us and the Hutchinses, we counted at least three).

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is about a guy who gets dumped. He goes to Hawaii to a resort she mentioned a few times to forget his troubles, but it turns out she's there with her new boyfriend. In between sharing his miseries with the staff around the resort, he befriends and starts dating a hostess and learns to move on.

I think the movie had very few laugh-out-loud moments, although there were some. A lot of the jokes were predictable or not very much of an impact. I also didn't care for the movie's end because the main character made a very dumb move that I think was unnecessary and kind of ruined the ending for me because I didn't find him empathetic anymore.

Overall, it was a nice little movie with several imperfections (although one bonus was that Kenneth from 30 Rock was in it), and I'll probably never watch it again.

Thank goodness for books on tape. Without browsing the small selection at my local library, I never even would have known that this book exists. I always thought there were legends or short stories, but didn't even know that Howard Pyle actually put together an entire book. The great thing about experiencing this book in audio format is that the book is filled with songs sung by all of the characters. I would seriously love to learn those songs for myself. Perhaps I'll take that on some day.

This is basically a collection of the best stories about Robin Hood and his men. It explains how Robin Hood became an outlaw, how he met fun people like Little John and Friar Tuck, and tells the best adventures that all of them undergo. Particularly rewarding are the stories where someone outwits the Sheriff of Nottingham.

I can't tell you how much I loved this book. It will definitely be required reading for my kids. Speaking of which, I need to start the hunt for a pretty hardcover version of the book.

I loved the songs, I loved the adventures, and I loved the language. It gives such a wonderful picture of manliness, loyalty, integrity, and fun that I looked forward to listening to it every day.

Oh yeah. Any movie or tv show that shows Robin Hood as a serious man (aka Kevin Costner version) is missing the point of Robin Hood. The book is called "merry" right in the title, and that's a very accurate description. The tone is always light, save for when someone dies. Speaking of which, if you read this and don't want to be sad, then listen to the author when he warns you not to read the epilogue. Also interesting to me was the fact that Maid Marion gets mentioned but actually never appears in the book.

This is my favorite book I've read this year.

I spent so much time at home over the weekend I almost went nuts. But I did manage to get out here and there. On Friday I was sick, so I asked Ric if we could get food out somewhere. We ate at the Elephant Bar. Once we got home, I let the cat out on the patio with a leash because he had been craving it for so long. Poor little guy. Our patio is so much more boring than Little Vietnam. I think we must have watched tv or dvds the rest of the night.

Saturday was a work day, but only after sleeping in. I spent about five hours working on trim. Thank goodness for audio books, because Tarzan of the Apes helped me get through the monotony. Ric worked on painting doors. Once we were sick of paint, we headed out to run a few errands, which ended up taking almost the whole night. We went to Panera because we hadn't eaten anything all day and were starving. Then we went to Best Buy because our Vonage adapter (actually, it's made by V-Tech) broke down. We bought a new set of phones that aren't made by V-Tech, which makes us happy. Then we went to Lowe's to re-order a water heater because our first one we ordered ended up being too big. That took an incredibly long time. After that, we went back home and spent more time watching tv together.

Sunday I forgot about a special church service being at an earlier hour, so I missed it. I spent most of the day lying around watching tv and dvds and reading. I went out once to get some dinner, but that was about it. It was a very long day. I did get some cleaning done, though.

Up this week: not all that much. Probably more paint. Sigh.

Enough with being behind. Here I go with a little bit of catch-up!

Moliere (2007)

Moliere is a costume comedy-drama about the famous author of delightful plays, whose beginnings were mostly in serious theater--and not very good serious theater. As the author finds himself in a series of preposterous situations, including dressing himself as a tutor to help a married man gain the attention of the smartest lady at court in order to pay off his debt (and stay out of prison), he learns a little bit more about what makes a good play. Sadly, the actor who plays Moliere is a little bit creepy and uninteresting. And the wigs in this movie are some of the worst I've ever seen in moviemaking. Luckily, a little bit of heart helps this one go a long way, and it ended up being better than I thought it would. I think the acting of Fabrice Luchini is what holds up this entire film.

The King of Kong (2007)

Who doesn't love a good-hearted geek? Steve Wiebe looks just like Dave from News Radio, and is just as likable. He strives to reach the all-time record for Donkey Kong, and keeps getting thwarted by a shadowy man named Billy Mitchell, who refuses to play head-to-head in live circumstances. Instead, the Nick Cave-esque (only not half as cool) turns in videos of his best games. Never did I dislike a person more in last year's movies than Mitchell's little Smithers figure, who runs around getting people to come watch Wiebe play in the hopes that all the pressure will make him crack. Full of fun and frustration, I loved this one.

Leatherheads (2008)

Leatherheads doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. Does it want to be a clever, quick-witted jaunt between male and female, or does it want to be a physical comedy? The movie moves back and forth between both, and not very easily. Zellweger can't catch the pace of her own dialog, and the movie suffers from a lot of slow moments. While there are bits of fun and Clooney can catch a cool looking scene (see above), it offers only a few laughs, and is ultimately forgettable.

Blind Chance (1987)

Blind Chance is another of my Kieslowski movies. Apparently, it may have inspired the concept for Run Lola Run, because it operates in a series of three movies. The main character takes a break from his studies. He decides to board a train, and in all three movies is running to try and catch it at the last minute. Whether or not he makes it changes the outcome of his life. There are three different outcomes, all of which make the audience think about chance, fate, and related topics. The beginning sequence of this movie is incredible and took my breath away with how quickly it moved through the main character's life leading up to the moment when he leaves school. The music is so memorable that it was stuck in my head for days after seeing the movie, and I can still remember it now. While I'm not sure the three scenarios are as exciting as the concept and start of the film, it was certainly a great find for me.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

This adventure story follows little-growing-bigger Freddie Highmore as twins who discover a hidden world outside their new home, a creepy old Victorian place that belonged to their great-Uncle. The balance of good and evil within this world of interesting creatures is shifted when the evil Mulgarath discovers that the twins have a book that tells the secrets of all things in their world. Mulgarath seeks to destroy them, and they seek to save themselves and the world, along with a little help from their sister, mom, and plenty of tomato juice. While the movie is full of action, I wouldn't call it all that exciting. Interesting for me is the connection of John Sayles as one of the screenplay writers. Too bad it didn't come together as something a little more amazing. Still, it passed the time pleasantly enough.

Untraceable (2008)

Untraceable was one of those "I need to see a movie right now, so what's playing?" movies for Ric and me. We caught it for two bucks, and that's about what it's worth. I'm not saying it's terrible, but it's definitely flawed. It takes the interesting idea of how far the internet and the media can go with coverage of real-time deaths. Lane's character works to find online predators or hoax-makers and have them arrested. When she comes across a website that features live footage of a victim who will be killed more quickly as viewers log in to the site, she is concerned. At first, a little kitty dies, but then the victims are real human beings. She and her team work to find out how the victims are connected and who the killer is. It's an idea, but executed with a lot of lame scenes scattered throughout. I'd say to give it a pass if you come across it. Maybe someone will get it right another time.

Ahh.. Now I've only got a few more to get myself completely caught up! Time for the weekend!

Taking a few cues from old comedies of the 30s, this little romp features an accidental social secretary, played by Frances McDormand, who struggles to keep up with her new employer, played by Amy Adams. Adams' character has three prospective men in her life, and needs a little bit of help balancing them, as well as deciding whether love or fortune matters to her most. Guess what wins out?!

This movie starts off poorly, but eventually wins you over with its heart. McDormand is comfortable and easy to like, and Adams eventually wins you over despite a bit of excessive perkiness.

I don't have much else to say. It's a nice little flick, worth a watch some time if you catch it on tv.

Hi everyone,

Over the weekend we were able to get out to see a couple of movies, but seemed to spend a lot of time at home as well. On Friday, Ric and I joined up with the Hutchinseses to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I'll comment on it later, but save your $10 and pay $2 when it's at the cheap theater. Saturday, we worked around the house, and in the evening I had dinner with my sister at Market City Cafe (don't order the trout unless you want your dinner to be looking at you) and met up with Ric to see Expelled. Sunday, we had church and a free meal at Liz's parents' place and spent the afternoon working on the condo. We had dinner at El Pollo Loco because I was tired of sitting at home. Yes, I know I'll be a restless stay-at-home mom.

I continue to work out every day after work, but have had a bit of a setback lately because I'm having some hip trouble. I went to the orthopedic doctor twice. He x-rayed me both times and the first time he gave me a cortisone shot, which made no real difference. This time he referred me to get another MRI because he thinks my hip looks fine and the pain may be related to my back problems. He's wondering if something has gotten worse in the back, which is causing the hip trouble. Right now I can't even run a full lap, which is really frustrating. So I'm walking 4-5 miles every day (at least I can still do that!). We'll see if the MRI shows anything interesting.

So, besides an MRI and a regular chiropractor appointment this week, we've got a movie night with the Agadonis and pretty much nothing else planned. I need to get motivated with the condo a little more. I didn't do any painting last week, but I did get a lot of things organized. I'd like to be able to say one room is completely finished, but I'm still a ways off from that. The bedrooms are the nearest things close to done, so at least I can feel relaxed in those rooms.

June 1st at the Shrine Auditorium (I've never been there!) - my sister might not be in town and Ric is going with me to the Bowl show, so I need a partner or two! There's a presale tomorrow morning.

I heard a bit of buzz around this movie when it was released in the States, so I decided to give it a try. The movie begins with a man in a medical facility being forced to pour mass quantities of toxic chemicals down the drain, which leads out to the Han river in Seoul. Several years later, we meet the Park family. The father and his grown son work in a small shop near a recreational area by the river. When the son, who the family sees as lazy and unsuccessful, is serving snacks to customers, he suddenly sees a giant monster come out of the river and start attacking people. He snaps into action and tries to help, but when the monster goes after his teenage daughter, his efforts are in vain. The family mourns her loss, but soon receives a phone call from her - she's alive and trapped somewhere in the sewer system. It's up to the family to figure out where she is and fight the monster, which isn't easy since the government has quarantined all of them and set up blockades around the river.

I had no idea what I was going to see when I rented The Host. I didn't expect it to be humorous in the least. When it first began, there was a little bit of humor, but a lot of action, too, so I settled in for a good action flick. But when the family started mourning the lost little girl and they're falling all over the floor while they wail, I realized I was in for a lot more humor than I expected. It ends up being a careful balance of action, humor, and drama, which works incredibly well.

I really liked the creativity used with the story, the monster, and several camera effects. Only ten minutes in, I was already noting that this wasn't just a cliche action or comedy flick. When I try to explain it to others, I say it's like the action and seriousness of a monster movie with the humor of Kung Fu Hustle, only not as exaggerated. Haha. I know that's hard to imagine. The family each have different personal attributes that make them stronger as they move toward the end of the movie. They all come together to fight for their cause, and all in ways I didn't always see coming.

The movie definitely ends on a note that I didn't expect, but appreciated. I'm definitely glad I decided to give it a try. It's weird, funny, creative, gruesome, and exciting, and that combo makes for a great little movie.

It's all the talk around the university BBS these days - they're switching to a new system, and alumni won't have access.

Personally, I think it's a bad business move because alienating alumni = no donations.

But beyond that, the community would suffer. If you think that alumni should have access to the new BBS system, sign the petition here.

Ric and I both agree that In Bruges is our favorite movie we've seen this year. I know it's only April, but I expect it will probably stay near the top as the months pass by. Staring Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, the movie is about two hitmen who are sent to Bruges (in Belgium) to keep under wraps after a botched job.

Ray, the younger of the two, thinks Bruges is the most boring place he's ever been. He distracts himself by hitting on a local girl and trying to befriend a little person who is in town to film a movie. Ken, who is a bit of a mentor to Ray, loves the city and drags Ray around to sightsee. At first, the movie functions by letting the audience get to know these two likable characters, and to find out what went wrong with the hit. The social and cultural humor is hilarious. I particularly love the scene where Ray tries to explain to a bunch of tourists that they shouldn't try to go to the top of the church tower because they're too fat to climb the stairs.

Then, the movie shifts gears and becomes much darker and more serious than I had anticipated. Even with this giant shift in tone, the movie comes together wonderfully.

All of the actors involved are wonderful. Someone I forgot to mention was Ralph Fiennes, who plays the boss, whose insanity and ruthlessness are absolutely perfect. Gleeson is charming as always, and Farrell shows a new dimension of himself, in a kind of comic and tragic role that suits him perfectly.

Oh, and now that I've seen this movie, I would really like to visit the city of Bruges. As soon as the movie began, I turned to Ric and said, "I want to go there!" and I'm serious. I don't know when it would happen, but I would love to see it.

Since I didn't know very much about the plot before seeing the movie, I believe that's the best way to see it, so I'm not going to discuss it much further. I don't think it's for everyone because of how dark it can be. But Ric and I loved it, and will definitely recommend it to several of our friends.

Thought I'd include a life snip for Josh from my quiet weekend. Obviously, Jenny isn't serious about becoming King.

Hey there. Sorry I forgot to post towards the end of the week last weekend. We were doing software consulting at work and I was away from my desk, and then I took off the afternoon on Friday.

For lunch on Friday, the office went to an Indian restaurant in Buena Park. I took off from there to meet up with my mom and sister at Disneyland. Speaking of which, I renewed my pass, so if any of you ever want to go together, let me know. We spent a lot longer there than I expected (thought mom would poop out), so I got worked because I parked at Downtown Disney and didn't get validated (I thought you could get validation from purchases at a store, but actually you need validation from a restaurant or the movie theater). Twenty-eight bucks later, Jenny and I went to downtown Fullerton and spent a while at Starbucks.

Saturday, I worked on finances, put on another layer of paint on the baseboards in the living room, and lounged around the house. Ric and I made a trip to Lowe's to buy a few things. In the evening, the Andersons called us up and asked to come over for a while, so we all played Wii for a while together.

Sunday, we went to church with the Andersons as usual. I spent the afternoon playing through my classics songbook on the piano, then Ric and I returned to Lowe's to finally make a purchase of a new water heater. We also got the duct work for the microwave. Too bad we're having trouble making it fit! I put another layer of paint on the living room baseboards, and Ric and I watched some tv together. Finally, Ric got bored (I was already bored) and asked to go to see a movie. We ended up at the cheap theater to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. I topped of the night with a bit of laundry.

All-in-all, a kind of slow weekend. I could have used some more excitement, but I guess it was fine. I got some stuff done.

Up this week: working on the condo, a dinner with the Andersons, and probably more work on the condo.

In case you haven't heard..

No time for longer posts today. I'm taking half-day to meet up with my mom and sister at Disneyland. This week, I got a bit of trim accomplished, but we got sidetracked with the fun of the week. We had a movie night with the Agadonis, featuring The Blues Brothers, and last night we were so excited for the return of new TV on NBC. 30 Rock gets funnier and funner, the Office gets weirder and weirder, and the Space Invaders bit alone made Scrubs entirely worthwhile.

I haven't shown you all photos of the condo yet, but they'll come sometime soon, hopefully. When you do see them, you'll see the ledge that our cat either jumped or fell from yesterday. My back was to him and I was downstairs while he was upstairs on the ledge. All of a sudden, Pip landed behind me and looked completely freaked out, like he couldn't believe what just happened. He spent most of the evening downstairs, afraid to go upstairs, and followed me everywhere I went, since I seemed to be a source of comfort to him. My greatest fear moving here was that he'd fall from there and not land on his feet. It's still a fear, but am glad to know that he is able to survive as long as he lands on his feet.

The new kitchen's small size is turning out to be not such a bad thing. I get frustrated with lack of counter space, but it makes me be neater, and everything I want is pretty much two steps away. I've been having fun with all of the new appliances, which are all incredible.

Anyway, I've got only about a half-hour of work left, so I should go get some things done before I take off. Have a great weekend, every one!

I rented The Page Turner because it received a few nominations for our local university movie bulletin board awards. I had never heard of it until then, but am glad to have given it a chance. This quiet little movie is right up my alley (for those who have seen it, what does that say about me?).

I don't want to talk in too much detail, because if a person hasn't heard anything about this movie, then it's best experience without knowing much about it. The more you know for first viewing, the less effective I think it would be. That being said, the movie begins when a young girl is taken to a piano audition. She has decided to quit playing if she fails. Melanie's performance goes well until a judge decides to give an autograph to a fan in the middle of her song. She stops, and when she resumes, she has lost her focus. Years later, by chance, she finds herself working for that judge's husband, and he needs temporary child care for his son while his wife focuses on an upcoming performance. Soon, Melanie is in the home of the woman who destroyed her young dreams. How will she react?

Director Daniel Dercourt keeps the audience waiting, wondering, and guessing, which is what makes this movie so good. Melanie is very quiet, and her life between the audition and her new job is unknown. We don't know her exact motives or what her plan is, so we have to wait and see what happens.

I loved the tone of the entire movie. I read that Dercourt directed another movie before this one about the demands of parents on musical children. In a similar vein, the character of Ariane is a tormented musician, who suffers from the pressures of stage fright. Her fears add to the overall tension of the movie, as well as make us feel some sympathy for her. The way Dercourt explores this area of performance art is intriguing, and I would really like to see My Children Are Different, were it ever to be released to the States.

If anyone wants to discuss further, it'll have to be in comments or emails, since I don't want to give anything away. Obviously, though, I thought it was great, though not for all audiences!

Right now I'm in the middle of watching a bunch of Kieslowski films, and in the past year, I've had my first exposure to the director Wadja, and also watched The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. So, I'd say that throughout the year, I've probably watched about 20 Romanian movies. I think I'm starting to get a feel for this country, its history, and how its history affects its people.

Speaking of which, that's exactly what 12:08 East of Bucharest is about--the way Romanians view their own history. In this movie, it's the 16 year anniversary of the revolution in Romania. A television host decides to put together a call-in panel show to discuss whether there really was a revolution in his small town. What it comes down to for the members of this panel is whether there were protesters in the town square before or after 12:08, which is when Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu left the country.

The movie begins by introducing us to the panel members. One is a teacher who claims to have been in the town square before 12:08. As the show begins to accept callers, the teacher's story is contested, and the television host soon discovers that he is sitting next to what one might call a town drunk. The other panel member is a friendly elderly man, who turns out to be quite comical once the camera starts rolling. He's so awkward on live television, and when he finally gets over it, he's incredibly long-winded.

While it can feel a bit slow at times, and one would think the subject matter would be serious, this movie has plenty of laughs. But what it's getting at is somewhat serious as well. Looking at the past and present, it questions Romanians on the issue of the revolution, asking whether or not there technically was one, as well as if there truly was one (whether it significantly changed their way of life). It creates plenty of food for thought without being offensive and with plenty of humorous moments.

I'll admit that it's a little hard to follow this movie if one isn't semi-acquainted with Romanian history or cultural context. The significance of certain scenes is sometimes difficult to decipher, and I wasn't familiar with the names of some of the people and places they discuss. But, as it goes, one can get the hang of things, as I did, and I did enjoy it.