Blog Crush Unmasked August 1, 2008

I’ve been in love with him, well his writing for almost three years. Yet, all I knew was his URL - www.waiterrant.net.

I found him in Jan of 2006 and one night I was sick and had just broken up with my boyfriend. He distracted me all night long. I wrote him of my devotion and even got a response. He’s that good.

I’ve been glued to his blog ever since. Yet I feared I would never know who he really was. But, he just published a new book, based on his award-winning writing and his identity is finally revealed. He is Steve Dublanica. The New York Post even showed his photo, and he is oh so my type.

Now how can I convince him to come to Cleveland to do a book signing?

Steve, there are serious fans in Ohio, you have to come.

The Dark Knight [2008] July 31, 2008

Last night for lack of something to do in rainy NE Ohio we decided to go to the movies. My mom, aunt and cousin Sierra went to see Mamma Mia. Ben and I went see The Dark Knight.

I didn’t know much about the story other than it was Heath Ledger’s last movie and his portrayal of the Joker is considered Oscar-worthy by some.

I hadn’t really planned on seeing this film. I am not a comic book fan. I don’t generally like superhero movies or tv shows. I haven’t seen any of the previous movies but after this one I plan on renting Batman Begins.

This movie is amazing. It transcends comic books to become a viable story of its own. It is big budget. It has big thrills. It has a great story. This is a more than an action film it is a psychological thriller from beginning to end. I was on the edge of my seat and jumped on two or three occassions. I think this movie is so appropriate for our world today.

Batman finds himself face to face with a killer he can’t predict and one that doesn’t fit the usual pattern. The joker has no morality and no conscience. He delights in the kill alone and creating chaos. He forces Batman to confront his own dark side and purpose. Is he a hero or just a vigil ante?So good.

So many great actors in this movie - Morgan Freeman, Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman and Maggie Gyllenhaal. I like Aaron Eckhart stole the show. His portrayal of Harvey Dent is powerful and captivating.

This movie is worth seeing on the big screen.

Mamma Mia [2008] July 21, 2008

Looking for something lighthearted and a way out of the heat we decided to go see Mamma Mia tonight.

The Broadway musical based on Abba songs, finally made it to the big screen with Merle Streep, Christine Baranski, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. I knew I would see the movie as soon as I heard Colin Firth was in it. I can’t stay away from any of his movies.

This is the story of Sophie and her quest to find her father. She steals her mother’s journal from the summer she was conceived and invited three men to her wedding, hoping one will walk her down the aisle as she weds her true love.

Of course complications, surprises and confusion ensue. It is a pure cotton candy for the summer. Mamma Mia was fun and silly. In case you wondered, Pierce Brosnan cannot sing, but who cares. The setting is spectacular with amazing white cliffs and crystal blue waters. My favorite parts were when the town joined in to play the chorus, like in a greek play.

I left singing all the songs. I even downloaded a few of them. This will be a great rental or trip to the dollar theatre.

Passing the Torch July 21, 2008

I take my role as aunt very seriously. I firmly believe that it is my responsibility and duty to make sure they are educated well on all things of life.

So last Friday I decided that since Mikey is 10, it is time for him to see Princess Bride. His father was 10 when it was realized in theatres so it has come full circle.

So we sat down as a family and watched it. He liked it, I think.

His favorite part was, “Hello My Name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.”

Jordy lasted about five minutes. He wandered off somewhere to do something.

Cancelled Shows June 12, 2008

There has been a fresh ax of shows across the board in the last week. Among shows not renewed: Men in Trees, October Road, Las Vegas, Dirt, and The Dead Zone.

It’s interesting that in a shortened season, due to the writer’s strike, that networks would cite poor ratings as the reason they were pulled. No one had any idea when these shows were airing, when they were new and there was little to no time to invest into characters.

I really don’t care about most of the shows, but I am sad to see Men in Trees go. It was a cute, quirky show that filled the void that Gilmore Girls left. But it changed time slots six times and went on two VERY long hiatuses. While I think Anne Heche is a loon, this show just worked for me. I mean how can you not like a show that features a recovering prostitute, a hot man that lives in the woods, and a self-help guru who moves to Alaska from NY. It has the makings of a cult-classic. ABC never gave it a chance.

I tell ya in the world of scripted tv nothing makes sense. Why in the world is the Ghost Whisperer still on CBS (4 years)? Why is David Caruso, a no talent hack, still employed? Do we need 18 CSI’s?

One more reason to love non-scripted tv. Go Bravo, TLC, and HGTV.

For the love of Wii June 8, 2008

This Friday my nephew Mikey turns 10. What the heck?! That is so hard to believe, but I say that every year so I’ll quietly bemoan the fact that he is growing up.

All he wants this year is a Wii. Well that’s the biggest thing he wants. He also wants a skateboard, x-box games, party at laser quest and a trip to Camp Gideon. But that is besides the point.

Wii mania is relatively new to this area. I remember two Christmas’ ago when there were none in CA there were tons in the stores here. But now that Mikey wants one there are none to be found. Mike heard that Toys R Us was getting a shipment last night but you had to get in line at the store to get a ticket to buy one.

Mike had to be at church this morning so it fell to me to get in line. I arrived at 8:15 a.m. (they opened at 10 a.m.) and got my number. I was #2 in line and was in and out of the store in about 3 minutes. Compared to a lot of black Friday shopping waiting 1 hour and 45 minutes not bad. At least it wasn’t the heat of the day.

All that matters is that Mikey got his Wii.

Sex and The City [2008] June 2, 2008

After much ado, the moment all SITC fans have been waiting for has arrived, the premiere of the movie. We finally get to catch up with Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.

The series ended on a perfect note, I wasn’t sure how the movie could really expand on that. Each character had such a complete emotional journey where we saw them grow, develop and mature into their true selves.

I mean I was excited about the film I wasn’t sure I really wanted to watch reality hit them in the face. Carrie finally had Big, Miranda softened in her new life as wife and mother, Charlotte found true love, and Samantha became more than a walking vagina. There was a note of redemption to their characters. At the end of the series they seemed to be about a bit more than clothes, shoes, clubs, and sex. While sad the ride had come to an end I was satisfied with it.

But like the devoted follower I am I went to the see the movie opening weekend. I was disappointed I couldn’t go with my friends in CA, but Lisa and Kristen were kind enough to indulge my small obsession with these fashionistas for 2.5 hours. Seeing them larger than life on the big screen was like catching up with old friends. There were still funny, beautiful and outrageous.

But unlike the show after the movie ride ended I was a tad sick. It really took Carrie’s speech from the end of the show and blew it up. She said: “I’m looking for love, real love, ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t-live-without-each-other love. And I don’t think that love is here in this expensive suite in this lovely hotel in Paris.” So the entire movie is her quest to determine if that love is enough.

Sarah Jessica Parker said in various interviews that the movie compares and contransts the angst of your 20s with the angst of your 40s. The 20s version of herself is representated by Jennifer Hudson in the form of her assistant, Louise. She’s naive, wholesome, determined and lovesick. I would say that accurately represents your 20s. But she is faced with a million possiblities and in contrast Carrie has boiled her life down to one. Is that what age brings you - one last ditch hope and effort for true love and happiness?

The entire movie is really asking if love lasts. Each girl represents a slice of what that feels like for women today. Each comes to grips and expresses her own personal truth and in the the end must remain true to who she is.

It felt shallow, somewhat unsatisfying, a tad long and a bit overindulgent. There were some genuine laughs and real tears but rather than a movie that stood on its own it was just a reunion show that could have been a tv movie of the week. As the devoted fan, who got HBO just to watch the show for its outrageously frank, controversial discussions of life, sex and love it was fun to catch up. But now I don’t really feel the need to see those friends again.

Grey’s Anatomy and the Writer’s Strike May 23, 2008

Ok, the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy. One more chapter in the life of Seattle Grace closed til fall.

As I sat and watched it tonight I realized that the show has lost its luster for me. I’m tired of trying to figure out the connections, the bigger picture, how it all fits together. I am really sick of Meredith and Derek and all of their drama. McSteamy is tired and cliched. Erica and Callie are predictable and so politically correct. The really, big traumas are just lackluster and uninteresting. I’m just over it. I’m done caring. Who cares if Meredith “got whole?”

You know that Derek probably won’t make it back to her. Meredith is going to be stuck there, waiting for him, still. Something will happen on the way back - he’ll get hit by a car, Rose will turn out to be the dark and twisty one and will kill him - SOMETHING will happen. This is how the evil Shonda works.

I also blame the writer’s strike. Who cares about scripted tv? I must say I’ve lost a little love for tv through this strike. The networks didn’t do enough to woo me back. They should have made the season longer or something. All it did was make me realize there are more interesting things on tv to watch. Who knew I’d be fine with less of it and just HGTV, E, Bravo and TLC.

So goodbye Grey’s, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, and Men in Trees. I have officially deleted you from my series manager.

American Idol 2008 May 21, 2008

For the first time since Kelly Clarkson I was totally sucked into American Idol. I blame it on the rough Ohio winter when we had nothing else to do.

Anyway, I was so into David Cook, from the time he sang Billie Jean I was on the bandwagon. I tried in vain for two hours last night to vote for him but it looks like he didn’t need me. Winning by 12 million votes he is the new American Idol. I think he is so talented and I would actually buy his album vs Ruben Studdard, Taylor Hicks, Fantasia Barrino or Jordin Sparks. It’s no surprise that Hicks has already been dropped from his label.

The finale this year was actually a great show, not just a lame one hour delay to the reveal. It was a great hour of tv - very entertaining.

Chick Flicks of the Bible May 20, 2008

Last night Elisabeth, a fellow PK and I, were talking and somehow got onto the topic of things we’d do and read in church when we got bored during the sermon while we were in high school.

Inbetween the perfection of my signature and writing notes to friends we’d respectively read and re-read our favorite passages of scripture, not for their holiness but for the drama. There are some seriously good chick flicks in the bible. Among our favorites:

- Esther - For such a time is this. A King is coerced by his ego into banishing his queen. A nationwide search is conducted to find a new queen. Esther, a Jewess, is abducted from the streets of her hometown and pushed into harem-training to learn how to please the King in hopes she’ll be chosen. But little does she know the role she will need to play to save her people from a genocide at the hands of the King who is duped by a leading advisor.
- Ruth and Boaz - When her husband dies the Moabite Ruth flees famine with her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi. In Bethlehem, with strange customs and religion Ruth begs in the fields, collecting leftover grain to support them. The fields are owned by Boaz, a relative of Naomi who is obligated by Levite law to marry Ruth to carry on his family line. But there is another man who has a closer rite and so he has to go and offer him Ruth first. The man declines, they marry and have a son named Obed, who is in Christ’s lineage.
- Rachel and Jacob and Leah - love triange between two sisters and one man. He is forced to work 14 years to get the love of his life who is then found to be barren.
- David and Bathsheba - this is definitely a Lifetime movie. He’s the King and she’s the wife of a soldier. He sees her bathing and has to have her. He summons, she comes to him and after one night of passion gets pregnant. He then has her husband killed. In shame he tries to hide from the consequences of his action until a prophet comes to reveal God’s punishment which includes the death of the baby.

See lots of drama, sin, intrigue, adultery, and heartbreak. Gotta love that in a good story.