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The Alamo

Now, I'm not one to claim I know it all about history, especially the history of Texas, and especially the history of the Alamo.

That being said, for what it was, I enjoyed the Alamo a lot more than I thought I would. This movie was centered around people, as opposed to complete action. It made a conscious effort to look at how the Alamo affected everyone, from the American soldiers to the Mexican soldiers to the families of San Antonio, and even the slaves who were caught in the middle of the action.

One thing that bothered my husband was that they played down the legendary men such as Davy Crockett. I actually enjoyed that aspect of the movie. I thought it was interesting to see that the legend is portrayed as a normal guy, who really is talented and charismatic, but doesn't actually leap across rivers.

The only character I didn't think was done sucessfully was Jim Bowie. I think they dramatized him a bit too much, especially how they kept cutting back to him dressing himself in his bed before the Mexicans invaded the mission.

The costuming, acting, music, and directing were all very good. I really appreciated the somewhat subdued storytelling (especially after watching King of the Hill, when some revisionists did a play about the Alamo where most people were cowards and characters were dressing in drag. ha ha).

Overall, I was surprised to find myself liking this movie, and thought it deserved more attention than it received.

Posted by wendytime at 09:54 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

vote or design me something different!

www.nikeid.com

i can't decide which colors i like best, or what combos to use them in.

Posted by wendytime at 01:53 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

harrison

My new nephew is going to be named Harrison Price. Now we're going to have to find as many Indiana Jones and Han Solo action figures as possible!

Busy weekend. Morgans were staying at our place, and Ric's grandparents were in town. I didn't see any movies. That's the first weekend in quite some time!

Posted by wendytime at 01:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

batmanstuff

So Brendan, did you read the supposed Batman script? What did you think? I read it on my spare time during work. I think it has potential, with a few too many flashbacks though. But it was interesting and a nice break from work.

I think I'll start reading books online more often.

Posted by wendytime at 01:33 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

my month of music

Yesterday was Robert Smith's birthday. Wohoo!

Today I'm going to see Morrissey at the Wiltern (yeah, Brendan, I figured out I was looking at the wrong dates, which is good). Fun times. I hope to not get killed by his rampant hispanic fans. Usually they come in the form of young Mexican guys who have pompadours and wear jeans with a white t-shirt, and of course, there is a pack of cigarettes tucked away in the roll of a t-shirt sleeve. The especially frightening ones have mustaches.

Next Tuesday I'm going to see Morrissey again.

Next Saturday I'm off with Brendan to Coachella for the weekend.

My Siouxsie and the Banshees show got postponed until September. I think I'm actually relieved.

Anyone notice I'm going to see a bunch of people who had their heyday in the 80s? Yeah, me too. But surprisingly enough, they're still generating music, and I actually still like it.

Posted by wendytime at 11:16 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

the goods and bads of yesterday

good: we got our tax refund check
bad: i smashed my finger in a drawer and had to cancel my first piano lesson in about 8 months
good: we bought a dyson vacuum cleaner. it is vacuum heaven.
bad: i discovered i have some sort of stupid thing where i can do complicated things in cars, but not simple. i stinking scratched the miata again, on a post in our car port. this is my 4th car related incident since i've gotten married. i think my brain is dying.
good: we went to see monster at the dollar theatre. i liked it even more the second time.

Posted by wendytime at 11:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

It's April... 22nd

... and everybody knows today is Earth Day
Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to whoever's being born
And now I'm trying hard to think of something
meaningful and worthy, kind of earthy
to make everybody ask themselves just

What are we doing here?
and what are we doing to her?

I don't know
What are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do?

2041, the world is gonna end, I've got the message
from a tiny little man who only said that he'd been sent
I'm not a protest singer, I can't write a song to send a message
but it seems to me that this message needed to be sent

What are we doing here?
and what are we doing to her?

I don't know
What are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do?

It's April 21st and everybody knows today is Earth Day
Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to whoever's being ....

Posted by wendytime at 08:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Help Save the Fox Tonight

Tonight -- Thursday, April 22
Restaurants 6pm-10pm, Bars 9pm-12:30am
Downtown Fullerton

Tonight would be a great night to meet friends downtown for dinner and a drink!

The Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation invites Fox supporters to enjoy 17 unique restaurants and bars tonight to help the Save the Fox effort. Restaurants will commit a portion of their proceeds tonight to our efforts, and bars will charge a voluntary $5 cover to go to the Fox. Participants will receive a “Fox Trot” sticker, so they need to pay any cover charge only once. This event will help raise the funds necessary to meet the City of Fullerton’s $1.65 million challenge grant in order to purchase the Fox Fullerton Theatre to save it from demolition.

There will be Fox volunteers at each participating restaurant and bar to answer questions about the Fox and take donations and memberships. For a flyer you can pass out to friends, visit our website and click on the Fox Trot link on the home page: www.FoxFullerton.org

The Foundation thanks the following restaurants and bars for their participation:

Back Alley 116 1/2 W. Wilshire Ave.
Café Hidalgo 305 N. Harbor Blvd.
The Cellar 305 N. Harbor Blvd.
The Continental Room 115 W. Santa Fe Ave.
Fierro's 211 N. Harbor Blvd.
Florentine's Downtown Grill 102 N. Harbor Blvd.
Il Ghiotto 136 E. Commonwealth Ave.
McClaine's 817 N. Harbor Blvd.
Mulberry Street 114 W. Wilshire Ave.
The Olde Ship 709 N. Harbor Blvd.
Plush Design Lab + Café 207 N. Harbor Blvd.
Revolución 205 N. Harbor Blvd.
The Rockin' Taco 111 N. Harbor Blvd.
Rutabegorz 211 N. Pomona Ave.
Stadium Tavern 305 N. Harbor Blvd.
Starbucks 444 N. Harbor Blvd.
The Tuscany Club 100 N. Harbor Blvd.
Ziing's 209 N. Harbor Blvd.

Posted by wendytime at 08:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Bon Voyage

Bon Voyage, directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, stars Isabelle Adjiani, Gerard Depardieu, and Gregori Derangere. The story gets a bit complicated. It's set in pre-WWII Paris, as the Germans are starting to invade France. Many of the rich are fleeing to Bordeaux. A movie star who has recently framed one of her lovers for a self-defense killing of one of her other lovers finds a new lover in the French minister because he can help her escape. Of course, it wouldn't be a story unless the framed lover somehow got out of prison and was trying to help out the movie star, as well as helping out a professor and his young and beautiful government worker, who are trying to get the country's last bottles of heavy water to safety in England.

I loved how this movie kept an incredibly fast pace. Every character moves with urgency, and most of them are running wherever they go. The acting is great from everyone involved. I was pleased to see Gerard Depardieu has lost his slovenliness and was looking quite sharp as the minister. The sets and costuming were incredible. I can't imagine coordinating this movie, especially the moving and rioting scenes in crowded hotels.

Besides being an entertaining story, this movie also gives a picture of a scene I'd never thought about. Seeing the wealthy of Paris as they sleep in cars and scramble for a place to stay outside of Paris was a very interesting picture.

I wouldn't say it's the best movie I've seen come out of France, but it was adventurous, creative at times, and a quick-paced story full of 1-dimensional, yet interesting characters.

Posted by wendytime at 01:40 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Kill Bill

Looking at both volumes of Kill Bill, I loved this movie. Even separated, both are satisfying movies.

I love how Tarrantino takes everything he loves about every type of movie and shoves it all into one movie. And he does it all with style. The choice of music in Kill Bill is incredible. I've had the songs stuck in my head for the past few days since watching both volumes.

I really don't have a lot to say right now, except that I don't think I can emphasize enough how creative and full of life (and I guess death too) Kill Bill seemed to me. I can't wait for the DVD.

Posted by wendytime at 01:24 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

wowsers

I haven't been very good about updating lately. Sorry.

So. Anthony showed up a couple of weeks ago at Ric's parents' house. I guess having formerly been on drugs, he forgot that Ric moved out almost a year ago. He brought his friend whom I don't really like (because of this one time where he was tossing a gun around), and I came home with the groceries to find them in our apartment. Good thing Ric called to warn me! My "confrontation moment" with Anthony turned out to be him walking up to me saying I could kick him in the nuts. I almost did it, I swear. I ended up kicking right in front of his nuts and then he hugged me. I wasn't comfortable. I had Ric tell him that it's going to be a while before I get comfortable with him being around again. I just can't seem to get over it. He was dead in my eyes, and gone out of my life. And here he is again.

We've been learning a lot about real estate lately. We're still seriously considering doing the investment house thing. We have been pre-qualified for some good loans with our "nearly perfect" (that's what the guy said) credit rating.

Speaking of credit, for no reason whatsoever, one of my credit card payments online didn't go through, and they charged me all these extra fees without even notifying me that the payment was rejected. How it was rejected, I'll never know, because I had well over a thousand bucks in my account. How stupid. Now I have to go through all this crap to get the fees taken away. Booooo. I hate errors that happen for no reason!

Oh yeah - did I mention I scratched the Miata? Some guy was coming in our steep and narrow driveway (only room for one car) as I was going out. I clearly was almost out of the driveway, and he was on the street looking at me like I should be backing up. I wasn't going to until I realized he was blocking traffic on the street while he was waiting for me. So on that STEEEEEEEP and NAAAAAROOWWW driveway (can't emphasize that enough), this new-to-manual-transmission driver had to gun it in reverse (couldn't use parking break because it doesn't work). I kind of went into panic mode because of the cars lining up on the street and because the tires on my car were screeching and because the driveway was so narrow (did I mention it's sided by a fence on one side and a stucco wall on the other?), and thus I scraped the car up against the stucco wall. At least there aren't any dents.

What else... I have a busy month or so ahead. This week I've got a Moz show and am housing guests. Next week another Moz show and another guest and Coachella. Week after that I think we're thinking about looking at some homes in AZ.

This weekend was poo. I mean, it was fun, but poo. I was sneezing all night on Friday. My sister surprised me by "dropping by to pick up tickets" and then staying for like 2 hours. Saturday I was resting because of the cold or whatever I have. Then on Saturday night while watching Kill Bill, my back (upper this time, by my shoulder) started hurting so bad that it was shooting into my arm and up into my head. We got to go out to eat with David and the gang though, so I kept it up until we got home. It's been hurting ever since. Then on Sunday we went to the Angels vs. the As game in Anaheim. It was a business game, and we sat with some guy Ric does business with. He was nice. The game was... well, baseball, so I wasn't that interested. But we had prime seats in the season ticket area. It's pretty nice to sit in your seat while some little go-to person gets food FOR you. But the menus at all baseball stadiums suck, so I didn't care for the food. Nothing for a vegetarian.

I guess that's the update for now. I'll post some movie reviews for Kill Bill and Bon Voyage soon.

Posted by wendytime at 09:32 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

The United States of Leland

The United States of Leland begins with the fact that a teenager named Leland P. Fitzgerald has murdered his ex-girlfriend's 8-year-old autistic brother. He's the son of a famed author, played by Kevin Spacey, who has not seen him since he was 6 years old. His girlfriend has recently left him for a guy who shares her drug habit. Everyone is trying to find out why Leland killed the boy, especially a teacher in the prison, who smells a good book opportunity that can launch his writing career, when he sees that Leland isn't a lot like the other guys in prison.

The movie focuses on the lives of all of the individual involved, including the grieving family, Leland's estranged parents, Leland's teacher, and his ex-girlfriend. There are several flashbacks that show Leland's relationship with his girlfriend, his relationship with her brother, his childhood, etc.

I really liked the direction, the acting, and the mood of this movie. Its object was not to teach the audience about love and sadness, but to muse about them. But it mused almost to the point of nausea, and to the point of forgetting that someone was murdered. It was almost like watching American Beauty, only this could have been called American Sadness. There's a kind of odd male teenager who looks at the world differently, only in this movie, Leland picks up on the sadness of everyone in the world.

I don't know. I liked a lot about the movie, but was irked by how messy it got with emotions and morality. Musing about love and sadness doesn't make a person's wrong actions acceptable. And by the end, I didn't know what the heck they were even musing about. I'd recommend it I guess.

Posted by wendytime at 01:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

i remember when he was born!

My nephew is the one on the right. He's shipping out to Baghdad soon. I'm proud of him.

Posted by wendytime at 09:46 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

i knew it!

You always complain when i correct your grammar, but....

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I know what's best for you. :)

Posted by wendytime at 08:08 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

The Dreaded Move

So. The University is skimping once again. School of Buisness gets a brand new building. School of Psychology gets a new completely renovated building. Everyone gets an upgrade, and we go from a huge house... to psychology's old SHACK. Yes, the same shack that the President of the University has openly admitted to being ashamed of, and the same shack that everyone acknowledges is too small for psychology (and we're bigger than they are). Make sense? Hell no.

The funny thing is I think I could live with this move if I thought what I had to say mattered in the setup of the new place. My supervisor (or rather, the lady who is called my supervisor, who doesn't really supervise me at all because I work on my own without need of supervision) is making all these plans for HER to have privacy. Yeah. A wall in front of her desk, so she can concentrate on the budget. Heaven knows, I don't need to concentrate on anything. She wants a half wall, so she can see when I'm busy. Chances are, being behind a wall, she'll be less likely to see that I'm busy, and being behind a wall, she'll be less likely to actually get up to help someone, and more likely to just assume that I'll help each person in line as they individually come to me. I tried to mention that I thought I'd never get any privacy and she wouldn't see very well that I need help, and she basically threw it around to say that I was hired to work in a position where I'm the first point of contact. What the hell? With or without the wall, that's not going to change. I'm still the first point of contact.

So I'll probably be stuck out in front with no privacy whatsoever, and a heavier work load. I'll be the first, and probably ONLY point of contact. They also want to move two of the office staff into offices. Yeah. Great. No communication. I need to converse with them regularly every day on little things. Now we get to pick up the phone every time we have a small question. Why can't they have cubicles, or something different?

This is just my emotion after a 2 minute conversation. I'm pissed, I want a new job to avoid this, and I have less and less respect for my supervisor because it becomes more and more apparent that she's interested in making things better for her without thinking about how she's coming across to me. I could go into a whole other rant about how I feel like a student worker a lot of the time, or worse, a kid of hers, whom she can yell across the house to when she wants my help.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I hate this f-ing department sometimes.

Posted by wendytime at 02:55 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

american splendor

Rented this one, FINALLY.

For those who haven't seen/heard of it, the movie is basically the true story of Harvey Pekar, a file clerk who looks at life pretty pessimistically and starts to write comics based on his experiences (illustrated by Crumb) - and the comics are called American Splendor.

I loved the use of frames and animated comic characters in this movie. An extra bonus was that the movie actually incorporates interviews and narrative from the real Harvey Pekar and his wife. Seeing them and their acquaintances made some of the characters (that I would have otherwise thought to be a bit exaggerated) believable. They even show the actual footage of Pekar's interviews on the David Letterman show. The mix of film, comic, acting, and real people was a great blend, and very interesting, funny, and even sad.

Cool movie. Rent it. Paul Giamatti was great as Pekar.

Posted by wendytime at 02:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

here's something i don't get

.. a PRESALE for Concrete Blonde??? Why do they email me with this nonsense!?

Posted by wendytime at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

courtney did it

Wow. I just went to look online for a picture of Kurt Cobain and found some horrid images that could or couldn't be actual pictures of his blown up head. I think I'm going to throw up.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that, although he wasn't the most spectacular musician that ever lived, his band did change the direction of kroq forever (for the worse in my opinion, even though I liked Nirvana), and I liked his music.

I think I'll always remember where I was when I found out he died. It's kind of like the JFK marker of my youth. I can't believe i't 10 years ago today that they found him.

Posted by wendytime at 02:42 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Hellboy

Now, it may just be that I drank about triple shot of Jack Daniel's for ten dollars before I went to see this movie, but I had a fun time at Hellboy.

It wasn't as heavy-handed as the Hulk, it was more mature than Spider-Man, and I didn't bother with Daredevil, so I can't compare it. I really like Ron Perlman, and I thought he really sold the show. The characters were all interesting (except Selma Blair at the beginning), and it really did feel like a comic book. Not that I've read one.

Overall, I'd say that Rasputin really wasn't that scary, but the rest of the movie worked for me. It was very fun.

Posted by wendytime at 02:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Which Family Guy Character Are YOU?

Which Family Guy character are you?