I totally paused!

I was recently at my local Target, looking just for stuff, really.  Since I just moved, there are some things I need in this new place that I didn’t have before.

Anyway, I pass the clothing section and I am just in love with tons of the dresses I am seeing.  This happens everywhere I go.  The problem?  I am five feet, three inches tall.  This translates to maxi length dresses looking like wedding trains on me.  And it makes me so sad, because I really do want to wear these pretty dresses, so much that I have been tempted to get some and just find shoes tall enough to accommodate my height deficiency.

So fashion designers, I beg you, pleeeeeeeease make these dresses in a “short” version.  Y’all do it with jeans, you should be able to do it with dresses too!

Tags: style

I’m not sure if it was a legit comment or not, but someone asked if I intended to post about Michael Jackson dying.  Truthfully, it had not even occurred to me until it was suggested.  And the reason it didn’t occur to me is because his death really doesn’t affect me.

I will admit that I like some of the stuff from The Jackson Five.  I’m a sucker for some good motown.  But while everyone else was loving Thriller, Black & White, Billie Jean, etc. I was wondering why.  Part of me was wondering if he’s just so weird that I didn’t like his music because of him, but then I think about someone like Marilyn Manson, who is also kinda weird, and I like his stuff fine.

So I am left without any real idea of why I didn’t care for the music of Michael Jackson, and why his death has no meaning for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish death on people or anything like that, but I think the only thing of his I really liked was Ebony & Ivory, which wasn’t really him since it was half Paul McCartney.

I am sorry for all those people out there who are saddened by this death, and feel it is a loss to the music world.  Undoubtedly I listen to artists who are influenced by his music, so I am sorry for them as well.  But for me, he will always just be some cute little kid from the motown scene.

Tags: sad

Starring Christian Bale & Heath Ledger

I was gonna list all the people starring in this movie, then I remembered there are a ton of them so I decided against it.

As you can possibly see, I haven’t actually restored all the content here yet.  I debated about not posting anything new until that’s done, but I’m slower than I had anticipated, so I decided to post new stuff.  Although I will freely admit I do not have any “new” content right now, in the sense that I’m in the middle of two books and haven’t watched any new TV lately.  In fact, my TV is currently inaccessible, so I can’t watch anything anyway.  So instead, I remembered that I never gave a full review to The Dark Knight due to the timing when I saw it, so I bring you my review now.

I loved this movie, and still do, otherwise why would I have seen it a couple dozen times this month as it’s been on HBO.  I’m a huge fan of Batman in general, he’s my favorite super hero (the Slayer aside, of course),  so I am naturally prone to watching and liking movies about him.  And Christian Bale is super hot, so that doesn’t hurt either.

The first thing that struck me about this movie is that I so wish they had cast Maggie Gyllenhaal from the start.  I think she did a much better job as Rachel, and I think Maggie is more versatile than Katie Holmes.  I just found her more charming, more likeable, and that made it a lot harder to watch her die.

Speaking of her death, I knew it was going to happen as soon as they said only one of either her or Harvey would live.  This is because, as a Batman fan, I watched all the other Batman movies…you know, the ones that got progressively worse as time went on.  So I knew that Harvey Dent went on to be Two Face, and that if someone was going to die it wouldn’t be him.

I kind of like that Christopher Nolan is making decisions based on the assumption that people don’t know anything about Batman in general.  Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made a scenario where you might think Harvey Dent would die, and I like that.  I also really loved the makeup job on Two Face, much scarier than the Tommy Lee Jones version in the other franchise.

I know there are a lot of people loyal to the Jack Nicholsen Joker, and while he did a fine job, I think there is absolutely no comparison to the Heath Ledger version.  I truly felt that Heath was unrecognizable, and genuinely had a fantastic performance.  And since I’ve never been super into him, I feel like I say that without any bias from his death.

As is the case with Batman Begins, I love the dark, honest portrayal of Gotham and Batman in general.  It’s a scary, dangerous place, and is presented as such in these movies.  I can’t wait to see what they do with any subsequent movies they make!

My Rating: 4.5/5

See this movie if: You like Batman, comic books, or action movies.  Although it’s a little long, it’s worth it.

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Morgan Freeman was in Million Dollar Baby with Hillary Swank
Hillary Swank was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer the movie by Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon created the TV show after the movie

Tags: action, comic books

I did a really stupid thing recently, and I unintentionally deleted ALL the content here.  Which I feel so dumb about.  Let this be a lesson, internets, do not update your website while tired!

I’m in the process of restoring everything, but it will be several days at least before things are back to normal.  So don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned you, I was just a little dumb.

Tags: sad

Holy boring story Batman!

I’ve never really been a big fan of horses, I chalk it up to getting bit by one when I was very young. I’m not scared of them, just don’t really have that urge that so many other girls have to ride and be obsessed with horses. So all I ever knew of them I learned from this book, which made me want to go to sleep.

Lila gets a horse, Thunder, and lets people see/ride him for favors like doing her homework. Cuz what Lila Fowler wants, she gets. Liz is in love with horses so she betrays her best friend and twin sister all to please Lila and ride that damn horse. The whole damn book is about horses and riding and some high school stable hand called Ted.

I wanted drama! Deception! None of that was here! Well, a little bit of deception maybe but nothing worth noting. No fun outfits, although at one point Jessica wears a lilac jumpsuit. Man, jumpsuits…I only ever had one and I hated it with a passion.

There was no mention of ballet in this book, so it looks like they’re over that. Wonder if horses come back, since Ted buys Thunder at the end and tells Liz she can ride him whenever she wants.

I honestly can’t even think of anything else to say about this book. It totally sucked and was so not worth the reread.

Tags: svt

Starring Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire

I’d been meaning to see this movie for years.  Now that I did, I half wonder why I was so anxious to see it.  And by “so anxious” I mean one day I put it on my Netflix list and it finally wandered to the top of the queue.

Not to say the movie is bad, it’s just okay, mediocre at best.  I like the concept of it, and love the making fun of Leave it to Beaver, I guess it just felt a little rushed.  There wasn’t enough character development on David and Jennifer in their “real” lives to make me feel connected to them.

Maybe it’s just that I felt kind of detached from it all, not pulled in or wrapped up in the story.  The acting was fine, nothing sucked, it just wasn’t spectacular.

I do like the method of showing how supposedly “good” characters can become so nasty with just a little change in their surroundings.  And also that so many of the characters in the town of Pleasantville were essentially, well unpleasant, to start out with, since they did things like threaten Betty and vandalize Bill’s shop without turning to real colors.

But you know I totally noticed that it had not one but two Buffy actors in the movie – Marc Blucas and Danny Strong.  And if we’re going to get really technical, Jason Behr was also in one episode of Buffy.  I think I’m going to start playing Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with new movies and stuff I watch, cuz that’s fun and I’m half way doing it already

My Rating: 3/5

Tags: comedy

Starring Michael Cera & Jonah Hill

Just like I said with Knocked Up, I severely doubt that I’m the target audience for this movie.  I am not male, seventeen, and again, I don’t have a good sense of humor.

That all being said, I was totally prepared to hate this movie.  Going into it I thought there would be nothing at all for me.  I’m not really endorsing it either, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I liked it, I just didn’t hate it.  I laughed a few times, although at least half of those laughs were me wondering “OMG what?!  This is seriously happening?!”  I guess it’s something if you can laugh at the stupidity of a movie?

Also, is this really representative of what a male high school senior goes through/thinks about constantly?  If so, I can only begin to express how glad I am that I’m not a guy.  Cuz seriously, I have way more to think about than what guy I’m going to bang next.

I’m also going to go out on a limb here and say the whole dance floor scene thing, pretty unlikely from my perspective.  Let’s just say that a girl probably realizes what’s going on menstrual cycle wise and uh, I just don’t think it would happen like that.  Also, she was way too cute for Jonah Hill, just fyi.

I think one of the things that is slightly bugging me about these Apatow & Co. movies is that, for me at least, it takes a little bit of the fun fantasy element out of a movie.  I don’t really want to see a film about some cute girl getting together with some nerdy guy – I see that in real life.  Or if your lead dude is going to be a nerd, could he at least be Hugh Grant?

Plus, umm, where was Paul Rudd in this movie?  He is half the reason I have continued to watch Apatow & Co. movies!  Cuz he’s part of the “& Co.”!

Basically, while this is fine if it’s on cable or whatever, I don’t recommend wasting your money by renting it.  Unless you’re a 17 year old high school senior, then you might like it if you can manage to watch it without your moms around – cuz man, there was some LANGUAGE in this thing.  Which makes me giggle but that’s because I am so immature that saying “fuck” twenty times is amusing to me.

Oh, and Seth Rogan totally proved that he is in my age group by making a reference to Zack Morris.  Making a Saved By the Bell reference is, well, like making a Sweet Valley or Baby-Sitters Club reference – you’re only going to get a small number of people who know wtf you’re talking about.

Case in point: I had to explain who Zack Morris was to my boyfriend.  Although I do like the completely my generational reference…SBTB was one of my very most favorite tv shows!

My Rating: 2.5/5

Tags: comedy

Starring Steve Carell & Juliette Binoche

The first time I heard about this movie, it won me over.  Really all I needed to hear was that Steve Carell was playing an advice columnist and I was sold.  I adore Steve Carell, and I’m addicted to advice columns, so really, what more do you need?

I found this movie charming and I think everything I had hoped it would be.  Ten minutes into it, I turned to my boyfriend and said “Unless Dane Cook really screws this up for me, this is going to be my new favorite movie.”  And by “new” I mean newest favorite movie – pretty much anytime I see something that warrants a 4.5 or higher in my book gets added to my favorite movies list.

Perhaps it’s just the point I’m at in my life, but I felt like I could identify with the daughters and adults in the movie.  I can so vividly remember what it felt like to have your parents doing things you were positive were going to ruin your life, but I also now understand what it can feel like to be the adult in those situations…not that I have children who have lives I can ruin, but I see where some of that stuff is coming from now.

I also kind of think I wish I had a family like the one in the movie.  I know I wouldn’t really fit in with that sort of family, but I still want one.  Maybe those families only exist in books and movies, but they were sweet with just enough whimsy to draw you in.

I think I’ll find myself turning this movie on in the days to come, as it’s on cable this month and I want to see it again.  It’s just the sort of thing I’m pulled to and I won’t be surprised if I own this movie relatively soon.

Although I do have to wonder, with so much rain, how come no one had an umbrella?

My Rating: 4.5/5

Tags: comedy, movies I own, romancey

Of all the shoes I own (which, for the record, is not actually that many if we’re comparing me to women who are not a part of my family), this pair has by far gotten me the most compliments. Yes, more than any of the adorable sandals I own, fun heels, even more than my super cute winter boots.

I, of course, think they are cute shoes. Why would I own them if not! What I’ve never really grasped, however, is why these shoes have garnered the most compliments. And when I say compliments, I’m referring to men. Women comment on my shoes all the time but really, that’s to be expected. We ladies notice each others footwear!

They are a basic skater shoe, no frills and nothing remarkable about them, but for some reason they just draw the boys attention. Maybe it’s because it’s rare to see a professional woman wearing shoes like this – it’s to be expected when you’re in high school, not when you’re ten years removed.

In addition to being cute, they are super comfortable. I bought them kind of on a whim, I was looking for a pair of white shoes in the same style and just fell in love with these. They only offered them in this color (which is called Cement I believe) or pink, and as much as I love pink, I couldn’t bring myself to commit to it in a shoe in that style. I had slight reservations about purchasing them because of the color, but I’m really glad that I did. I am loathing the day when they are worn out and have to be replaced.

Tags: style

A fast read, this book is mostly fiction with a little bit of history mixed in. I read it in the span of a weekend and found myself sucked in, feeling as though I was a part of the story. I could see the gowns and all the splendor of court life, yet feel the disappointment that accompanies it all at the same time.

In this novel, a knights daughter Margret is to wed the Earl of Lytham. The story starts just before their first meeting and goes through the ups and downs of their marriage. Margret is very beautiful and this troubles Lytham greatly – we learn over time that his previous (annulled) marriage was to a beautiful woman who betrayed him and he no longer trusts women who possess beauty. Over time, however, Margret is able to convince him through her loyalties that she is emphatically not his previous wife and does in fact possess a constant heart as he desires.

This is the sort of book that makes me question our general fascination and love affair with Tudor England. We don’t often get a glimpse into what life was like for people not in the favor of Elizabeth I, and it can be heartbreaking to see what goes into those lives. I think with the current Tudor craze, we’ve all fictionalized that time period to an extent and are loathe to let in the realization that both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were a bit on the crazy side and really required a lot of their people.

I really felt badly for Margret through much of this book. Her realization that she was misled through much of her life at court is very difficult to see because really, you want to see the heroine of the book succeed and not fall prey to schemes.

It’s also interesting to see the effect of the white paint the women used during this time to make themselves as pale as possible. It amazes me to see the affect the queen could have on fashion, that everyone was willing to fore go their health and happiness to simply be accepted. Things like this make me feel so much for the women of history, to see the sacrifices they were all forced to make for their husbands, fathers, etc. It’s hard to believe that they were simply pawns in a big game.

I did find myself, at the end, questioning Margret’s sense for a bit, and also wondering “what happens next” for her and Lytham. I’d be interested to see a sequel to see how things go for them. Even though they are completely fictional characters, I can still get caught up in their lives and wonder how things turn out.

Tags: reading