A Movie Review Of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

We had a post Thanksgiving dinner at our friend's, Paul and Kathy's home. The food was sumptuous and we love spending time with them. After a well prepared dinner with special recipes from Paul's mom and another one from Kathy's mom, we also had home-made pumpkin pie. We decided to see a movie in their large TV with surround sound -  the movie of choice was Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.


The movie seemed to be based on either a graphic novel or a video game and since we truly enjoyed Kick-Ass, then, we thought this was a good movie to see while relaxing and letting our body digest the food. We realized soon enough that maybe this was not within our age range. To explain, the movie is about Scott Pilgrim who has a band, he has a rebound girlfriend, Knives who is 17 (he's 22) and then falls in love with Ramona Flowers who has 7 exes all of which Scott has to defeat in order to gain Ramona. Why you ask, well, I don't know. The summary is simple but we got confused about the battle, the exes, everything did not make sense to us.  In between scenes I even checked rotten tomatoes which gave this movie an 81%...why? Just so you know, I am a fan of The Guild, but this movie is quite different which I had difficulty understanding.  Maybe there is some hidden meaning in the movie that all four of us did not quite understand.   There were scenes that made us laugh but it was not enough for us to truly enjoy it. The next day though, I still remember the vegan police - especially when Brandon Routh (who played one of the powerful exes because he is a...vegan) asked, "chicken is not vegan?". Oh well, this is just my opinion, just don't say I didn't warn you. =)

Thanksgiving 2010

Yesterday, I posted a blog of what I was thankful for (that day). Today is thanksgiving and just to be brief here's a list of the things I am thankful for or what I consider as blessings:

Cool! We look so tall and slim here!

1. My loving husband, Bong. He's my GG (God's gift).
2. Our home.
3. Our 3 lovable dogs.
4. My life long friends whom even if we seem to have lost contact,when I call out to them, they are always there anytime, all the time. Niña and Jin-Jin, that's you.
5. Our new found friends.
6. The cool couples we get to hang out with once or twice a month. And the Opie's who we get to see more.
7. Also, the friends who say yes when I ask for a favor, you know what I am talking about and you know who you are...Thank you!
8. The smart folks I get to work with everyday and most of them have become my friends as well.  Those who are not in my team anymore, please know that you are in my thoughts and hey, we are still in contact anyway, right?
9. My book club.
10. The authors who continually provoke my thoughts, who takes me to the threshold of the what is possible, who ignites my imagination with their books. Because of them, I found the inspiration to say, I too can write, I too have a voice and one day my book will also be published.
11. Movies! Especially those visually stunning, highly entertaining, well made ones.
12. Concerts and shows (Phantom, Lion King, Ingrid Michaelson, Stomp).
13. Books, Books in Kindle.
14. My Kindle
15. Joining Contests.
16. 2 trips this year (Orlando and Vegas).  I went to Vegas to attend a work related conference.
There are still a lot more to be thankful for, but now it's your turn, what are you most thankful for?
Happy Thanksgiving!

A Thankful Heart

"A Thankful Heart Is A Happy Heart." this is a quote from an episode of Veggie Tales.

Yes. It's that cold.

Today, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 was a snow day and like most, I informed my boss and team that I was going to work from home, since our car (which I refer to as Bong's first girlfriend) is already a teenager (17 years old), it was better to just stay home, but, I was having issues accessing some pertinent work related sites, so with Bong,we walked to one of our offices and was able to get a lot of work done. At around 7pm, Bong remembered that there were several time sensitive materials that he needed to mail, thus, began our drive in the icy cold weather which was below freezing point. We managed to safely get back home and in addition were able to buy firewood for our fireplace.

This seemed like a short and simple day, right? If you are wondering what is there to be thankful for, then, please allow me to tell you.

Our wonderful winter walk to work.

First, having a snow day two days before Thanksgiving is wonderful because folks get to work from home, spend time with family and still get paid. Also, snow is a rarity in our State. We had about 2-3 inches of snow in Bellevue and not comparing this to other States but if you are in North Dakota, New York or New Jersey that amount would not be declared a snow day at all. We walked to one of our offices which is just about 3 minutes away from our home, yes, it is that close.  That night, we drove in very icy roads and another blessing is Bong is used to driving in those road conditions having come from New Jersey . If you consider my thoughts of wishing to have a second car is somewhat a complain, I realized while on our way to the post office there were people who were standing in the darkness exposed to the freezing cold as they were waiting for a bus, this made me truly thankful that we have a car.  At the post office, Bong and I were in a hurry because it was very cold. As we were finishing up, a couple entered, and the wife said, "Wow, it's much warmer here than being outside." I was dressed in layers with a thick jacket and still managed to want more - they had thinner jackets than us and they were out walking.

The events helped me open my eyes to the fact that there are numerous things that we could possibly complain about but if we just step back and take a look around us, we will realize that we are abundantly blessed, this made me grateful and again reminded me of the quote, "A Happy Heart Is A Thankful Heart."

My Movie Review of Unstoppable

Unstoppable is a film that was loosely inspired by an incident that happened in 2001, with an unmanned train that traveled in high speed for several miles in Ohio. 
Aside from reading the gist comprised of one sentence and knowing that this film was about a train, we had no expectations about it, just high hopes that it would be entertaining since there was an extremely long line in Harry Potter 7 Part 1 and also because our friends, Paul and Kathy were not really Harry Potter fans and we wanted to see a movie with them. 
Back to my review, when I saw the opening credits which said that it was based on a true story, worry took over, because to me The Perfect Storm was such a sad movie and I was in no place to see something similar to that. It was uplifting to know that this movie directed by Tony Scott slightly reminded us of Speed, because of the action sequence, stunts and there was an explosion!
Similar to what insipred the movie, it is about an unmanned train that contained highly flammable chemicals on several cars. We saw how by just a minor oversight due to carelessness could cause the potential destruction of a small town with a population of about 2745,000 which also resulted in deaths of a couple of people. The two protagonists were Will Colson (Chris Pine), a rookie engineer and Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) who has been working with trains for 28 years and is about to retire. It showed their personal lives and how they became heroes. This was a well made, well directed film and was highly enjoyable.  If the lines are still long in Harry Potter or if you are looking for a good action, drama movie, Unstoppable would be a good choice to see with friends.

Stomp at the Paramount 11/14/10

Since about nine years ago, Bong have always wanted to see Stomp and for one reason or another we never had the chance to see them perform live on stage in New York. Three months ago, we saw Stomp on Netflix streaming and it was impressive to see them create such wonderful beats using everday household supplies or some random things like a an entire sink, a toilet plunger, a street sign, brooms, matches, and a lot more.

On November 14, 2010, we finally saw them live on stage. They had new surprises,  and as always there were eight folks who showed exemplary performances. They provided great beats and well choreographed movements, made us laugh and even had us participate by clapping and none of them spoke, it was all done through body language. I felt that they ended too quickly as the show ran for about 90 minutes only. They did not do my favorite part which was the water bottle scene. Overall, it was still enjoyable and if you get a chance to see them, please do so.

Movies We Saw The Week Of 11/8/10

This week was a slow week for movies but a big one for TV shows (imagine spending hours on catching up - it was worth it).

Movie:

Mega Mind

I saw this twice in one day. The first one was with my new BFF, Avery and the second time was with Bong.

The movie started with the end and ended with almost the same first few minutes of the film. In my opinion, it seems to be based on the premise (fan fiction) of what if Lex Luthor succeeded in killing Superman. To make it different, all the characters had different names like the Super Hero was Metroman, the City was called Metro City depending on who says it (if Megamind does, he pronounces it like Metropolis - Metrocity which is funny)  and the Super Villain is Megamind. The movie showed how both Super Hero and Super Villain rose to become known as such and how Megamind coped without Metro Man. For an animated film, I loved the action sequence and also I appreciated the fact that there weren't a lot of emotional parts to it. I enjoyed that there was a gray line between being a villain and a hero. In the end (as said in the movie) good would always arise when there is bad happening. To me, it was a fun and worthwhile 3D movie.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog

We had no expectations about this film and was pleasantly surprised by the story, the acting and especially the singing - after all it's a sing- along blog, right?
This is about Dr. Horrible/Billy who wants be apart of the League of Evil, and to be such, he needs to do a heinous crime or actually kill someone. He decided to steal the wonderflonium a component that would complete his freeze ray. Billy  is attracted to a girl named Penny (Felicia Day from The Guild), a volunteer in their local homeless shelter. Of course if there is a villain, the "so-called" hero is Hammer Man. In the end, Dr. Horrible gets what he truly desires, but is he happy? The last few lines of his song is ..."now the nightmare begins."
The story is less than an hour long and is told in three acts. Neil Patrick Harris is a terrific actor and singer. Another revelation is Nathan Fillion sings! I am used to seeing him as Mal in Firefly and Richard Castle in Castle, so this is another side of him that was unbeknown to us.

True Blood: The Complete Third Season (HBO Series) [Blu-ray]

As always, their opening credit is still eerie and dark (and they added a few film strips with mature content). To summarize this season of True Blood ... there were werewolves, Eric made out with (I won't spoil it) and was also able to take revenge on..., Bill and Sookie are in another one of those lover's quarrel, Sam has a family, Jessica and Hoyt are back together, Lala is in love with a witch, Tara leaves, Jason becomes responsible for a small group of mistreated folks and falls in love with a were panther. I now know what Sookie is. Life is back to normal in Bon Temps.

 Dexter season 5

Although we saw episodes 1 to 8, this may be an off limits topic because folks who haven't seen this season of Dexter will not be happy if I blog about who the guests are or what has been going on and what Dexter is up to...uh oh, I think I said too much. I will stop now. Just know that it is a very good season, it always is.

Showbox SODO after Ingrid Michaelson's Concert

For 8 seasons in the TV Series 24 starring Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) had those fast paced days where within a few minutes a bomb could explode, his daughter gets kidnapped, someone could die or something far worst which meant that in that show a lot of thigs could happen during such a short period of time.



This was my last photo before Bong called me to go to our car,
this was taken just a few minutes before the incident.



My point to this (and I do have one) is that life has a lot of uncertainties, things could happen in a blink of an eye. Here is what happened to us...Bong and I went to Ingrid Michaelson’s concert that was held in Showbox SODO last October 28, 2010, it was so much fun even if it meant standing up the whole time which was about four hours. Ingrid is smart, funny and was such a wonderful performer. What happened after the concert was another story and this was how it went. Since it was our first time at Showbox, Bong and I took pictures.

We crossed the street as we were headed toward our car. I stopped by the side walk and continued to take pictures (for my blog). Bong who was a few feet away said in a worried tone, “You’re making me nervous, a car might hit you, let’s go.” I took one last picture and obediently walked into Bong's loving arms. From the time we walked to our car – to the time we drove back to the very sidewalk where I was taking pictures (which was approximately less than 5 minutes) to head home via i-90, we saw an ambulance and several people surrounding a person on the ground. Again, this was just approximately five minutes (or less) since I was at that same spot taking pictures. The scene was discombobulating and to add to the mix, a firetruck parked right in front of us with several police cars in tow. We drove off as soon as we were allowed to but of couse we had several theories, like a fight, or maybe a shooting incident but we would have heard the gun shot, right? 



A few minutes before this scene, I was standing at the sidewalk behind the car.



 

We went online as soon as we got home and found out that there were five pedestrians (from the concert) who got hit by a pick up truck.



What would have happened if I had stayed in that spot a few minutes longer? Bong was my hero, Angel and is always my God's Gift. Just a gentle reminder that life happens so make every minute count.

Ingrid Michaelson was in Seattle

Ingrid Michaelson is an indie pop singer/song writer who hails from the Island of Staten (oftenly referred to as Is that an Island - said quickly then it would sound like Staten Island - well, it's funnier said than read). I am blogging about her because she is one of my favorite artists and she was recently here for a concert which we went to.

No one told me how wonderful Ingrid is, it was I who single handedly discovered her awesomeness when I heard her song You and I! The first thing that came to mind was, she wrote a song about me and Bong? If you haven't heard it, please do. The music is uplifting and happy, with a ukele accompaniment, her voice (to me) is perfect and a lot of people could identify to the lyrics, not to mention, if you don't clap to the beat then you are one of a kind.

Because of the fact that on a daily basis I would sing to Bong most of Ingrid's songs, like what he refers to as the Rogaine song which is The Way I am, Be OK, or the spooning song which is You and I, when Bong found out that she was having a concert in Showbox SODO on October 28, 2010, we went ahead and bought tickets.

On the day of the concert, I was extremely excited - we arrived at Showbox at 6:15pm, the doors (as stated on our ticket) were suppose to open at 7pm, but instead we were out in the cold as it was drizzling and was able to finally get in at 7:30pm. After 45 mins of listening to the opening act, Bong and I were questioning ourselves, if we were getting old because standing for almost three hours was really exhausting - it was about 9 and Ingrid hasn't come out yet, so again, we asked ourselves, if this was worth it or should we go home?

At around 9:30pm Ingrid finally came out, the band started playing and Ingrid started singing. It was such a wonderful moment to hear one of my favorite singers sing her famous and my most listened to songs live. In between acts Ingrid told such humorous stories about LeAnn Rimes, REM, Performing without taking a shower and more, you have to hear her tell it to appreciate the stories, everyone who was at Showbox Sodo seemed to have fun - we did (despite standing the whole time, it was really worth it). By the way, one last piece of infomation about Ingrid, she does not want to be referred to as cute =)

Have you been to any concerts lately? I heard that Gorillaz were here, did you go? How was it?