*Gush*

I can't even begin to describe how cute my cats are, so I took pictures.




To the left you will see Elmo playing with his new furry black mouse. After sitting there posing for a few minutes, he began to attack his furry friend.

This picture can be seen below:





Notice how intently he stares at the mouse while he clobbers it with his dagger like claws.









My second kitty is Lucy. She is so beautiful but somehow not that photogenic. Her pictures don't come out looking as pretty as she looks.

Here she is sitting in Matt's favorite chair. I think it may become the "Lucy Chair"...



Anyway, the kitties are adjusting well to the move. It has been only one day since they arrived, but they are claiming their own space (even as I speak).

Talk amongst yourselves

Question - In the movie theater, why do people clap after a movie? What's up with that phenomenon? I mean, clapping generally is used when people want to express their appreciation for someone or something such as a play, or speaker, etc.

Dictonary.com defines applause as, "Approval expressed especially by the clapping of hands". So are these people basically standing up and announcing their approval for the movie? A movie is basically an inanimate object - it can't hear that people in the movie theater are clapping in appreciation for it, so why do it? Is it because people want to announce their approval for the movie so everyone in the theater can know? I mean why does anyone else care if other people in the movie enjoyed it? Why do we care what Joe Moviegoer in the 4th row thought of the movie? Does it change your view of a movie if people start to clap?

Some thoughts:

A) People clap because they are bursting with "good feelings" after the movie ends - Ok so if this theory were true, wouldn't the same people clap at home after a good movie? I highly doubt these applauders are standing up in their living room clapping after watching a five star flick. Surely there are other times when people burst with "good feelings" - Do these people clap after a good meal in a restaurant? After a torrid afternoon of hot sex? After drinking that delicious coffee first thing on a Sunday morning after some rediculously good sex but before reading the paper?

B) People clap because they want everyone else arond them to know that they enjoyed the film so much that they are bursting with "good feelings". Ahh now this one may make a smidge more sense. The first clapper - he's the guy that starts it all - I mean once he starts, the rest of the people in category A or C also join in and start their clapping. Makes me wonder if this clap initiator guy is intentionally clapping or it is just an automatic response to the silence that fills the theater after a good movie. Is this guy the one that must always be first? Does he crave attention? Does it give him some secret satisfaction to know that HE started the clapping that everyone joined in on? Does he look around during the applause and think with a smirk of pure satisfaction, I started all this ?

C) Clapping is a way to unite the audience
- When the whole theater breaks out into clapping after the flick - it sends the message that everyone enjoyed the movie and if you didn't enjoy it, there just might be something wrong with you. This is sort of like a weird form of peer pressure - Say you really didn't care for the movie and everyone around you is clapping away like crazed monkeys - maybe you'd eventually join in. Maybe you'd leave the theater wondering what it was that you missed in the movie. Maybe you'd even go see it again - or tell someone that you really liked it, when you really didn't. Maybe you'd just leave feeling insecure and shitty - or maybe - just maybe you'd leave wondering wtf is up with all that clapping.

Movie Review - Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is about a highly disfunctional family that travels by VW bus from New Mexico to California so that their daughter Olive can compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pagent. Olive's dream is to become a beauty queen and the opening scene shows her watching a beauty pagent and imitating the winner. Her grandfather has been helping her to reherse her talent routine and she practices daily. They can't afford to fly to California, and due to circumstances, they all must go together in the VW bus to California.

The father, Richard (played by Greg Kinnear) is the inventor of a "9 Step Program" on being a "winner" and his opinions on avoiding loserdom are quite funny. He is suave, tanned, and styled out like a typical "motivational speaker".

Dwayne (the brother) doesn't speak (by choice) and reads philosophy. He hates everyone. He hasn't spoken in 9 months. He wants to be a pilot, and his mother bribes him to go on the trip by promising to allow him to go to flight school.

Sheryl, the mother, is a divorcee - Olive and Dwayne are not Richards children. She appears to be the glue that holds everyone together.

The Grandpa is hysterical. He has many vices all of which add a lot of humor to the picture. He is Olive's "coach" for her beauty pageant.

Sheryl's brother Frank (Steve Carell) is there as well - after a failed suicide attempt he must live with Sheryl and her family, and can't be left alone, so he's also along for the ride.

Okay, so mix all these people up with their problems, and the movie is an abolute trip. Many things happen along the way that could be construed as negative - but overall, the movie, to me, had a positive vibe. You see, Olive is not a beauty queen. She is a plain girl, with a bit of a belly and big bucked teeth. In reality she has no chance in a beauty pagent - but her family, with all of their problems never tells Olive that she can't do it.

In reality most families under stress (to put it lightly...) would simply skip the 800-mile, 2-day treck that they can't really afford, and simply tell their child, "Sorry honey, you really dont have a chance at winning and we can't afford it, so you don't get to be in the beauty pageant".

Not this family. They stand beind Olive in persuing her dream (win or lose) with confidence, and to me, that was very uplifting and positive.

Overall I thought Little Miss Sunshine was supremely funny and very well made.

Five green palm trees.

Walking contradiction

Ok so I kind of came to a realization the other day - I'm a walking contradiction (at least in a fashion sense...) !

I mean I was out and about this weekend, and I began to look around at everyone - they all were dressed in what I would call a "style". Preppy, country-club, couture, ghetto fabulous, granola, grundge, grandma, etc - they all "fit in" to a certain style classification. You could look at these people, and kind of get what/who they are based on what they were wearing.

So I looked at myself and here's what I saw:

  • Big black Baby Phat sunglasses (Ghetto fabulous)
  • Coach purse (Designer, trendy)
  • Distressed brown Leather flat thong sandals (Hippie chic)
  • Brown khaki capri "dockers style" pants (Preppy)
  • Cream colored silk tank top with green cotton crochet vneck sweater (?? meets granola?)
So I felt kind of silly. I mean why can't I have a particular style? I mean I wouldn't describe myself as one particular style. I don't shop exclusively at one particular store or department at Nordstroms.

So my question is - Do you have to "fit in" to a certain style classification to be considered stylish?

I began to think more and more about it and my first instinct was to say, "Well my style is a blend of other styles". But the more I thought of it, was I taking the easy way out? I mean can a persons sense of personal style simply be a mish-mash of pieces from other styles?

This all kind of coincided, timing wise, with cleaning out my closets. I had previously decided to sell all my "nice" clothes that I didn't wear to a consignment shop. I thought about the clothing I was getting rid if - there were over 150 pieces in all - it all didnt fit into a style either! I mean I'm getting rid of everything from suede to satin to Ralph Lauren to items from Hot Topic.

So I guess what I need to figure out is - Do I have my own style? Does it even matter? I mean do your clothes define who you are? Looking around at people, I tend to think sometimes people DO fit in with their style and other times, I think they may be pretending (or striving?) to be something they're not.

I certainly don't want to fit into that last category - I don't want to try to be something I'm not. So maybe my hodge podge style is me.. Who knows.





Like riding a roller coaster!

Apparently Rehab makes you famous. It's not only fun, it's the IN thing to do, thanks to my favorite actor (note the dripping sarcasm here) Mel Gibson.

Now I hear Robin Williams has "found himself drinking again" after a whopping 20 years of sobriety! (not sure how you just happen to find yourself drinking again. Did he just happen wake up with a face full of bar snacks and an empty bottle of cheap vodka and say, "holy crap! I guess I'm drinking again!" ?)

Hmmm... is he perhaps jumping on the Mel Gibson trainwreck or is it just plain old coincidence?

Let's see:

* Robin William's last hit movie? Um.....assuming we don't count voice parts in cartoon movies, I'd say his last great movie was maybe 'The Birdcage' - waaaaay back in in 1996 or possibly 'Good Will Hunting' in 1997...

* Up and coming movies? SIX!!


Mrs. Doubtfire 2 (2007) (in production) .... Daniel Hillard
The Krazees (2006) (announced)
License to Wed (2007) (filming) .... Father Frank
Man of the Year (2006) (post-production) .... Tom Dobbs
Night at the Museum (2006) (post-production) .... Theodore Roosevelt
August Rush (2006) (post-production) .... Wizard
Happy Feet (2006) (completed) (voice) .... Ramone

Does rehab make you [more] famous? I guess we'll see ... oh, and will Lindsay Lohan be next? Stay tuned. . .

Movie Review: Talladega Nights

OK so I really loved Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. So when I saw the trailer for Talladega Nights a few months back, I laughed outloud and fully expected something of the same caliber.
When the movie finally opened, I went to see it with high expectations. I kind of couldn't wait to sit there and laugh for a while.
Well I can say the movie fell short, in my opinion. The jokes just weren't "funny enough" - they lacked that extra bit of something that induces the "laugh out loud" laughter. Don't get me wrong, there were some funny parts to the movie, but they were mostly the scenes from the trailer. Speaking of the trailer, the movie didn't even include all the parts (I'm sure they'll be on the DVD though...)
Anyway, I really liked the concept but I think the whole thing could have just been, well, funnier. I mean seriously - is "Baby Jesus" really such a funny joke that it needed to be referenced throughout the movie?

Movie Rating:

My Own Movie Rating System

My very own copyrighted highly subjective rating system for movies.

(Five green palm trees FGPT) - This is the higest rating a movie can get. You should definitely drop whatever it is that you're doing and go see this movie. Your life will not be complete until you have witnessed the beauty and awesomeness that is this movie.

(Four blue palm trees FBPT) - This is a great movie but there was something about it that stopped it from achieving the five green palm trees (FGPT) rating. This something, however does not detract from the movie substantially, and therefore you should also consider going to see this movie immediately, if not in the very near future.

(Three purple palm trees TPPT).
This movie is good, but not great. It is a movie that is worth seeing, but you may want to go only when there's nothing else fun to do, or when you unexpectedly find an extra $20 in your pants pocket. Movies with the TPPT rating are excellent for renting and watching on your own TV.

(Two orange palm trees TOPT). This movie borderline sucks but there is something about it keeping it barely afloat. Maybe there's this one great scene that makes it so good, or there's one character that saves the movie, or even a memorable funny line or two that will be repeated over and over again (think Napolean Dynamite) for months. After seeing a TOPT movie, you may wish for your money back, or pray that the time wasted on the movie would be returned to you. Think carefully before venturing out to see a TOPT movie.

(One brown palm tree OBPT). Do not waste your time on this movie. You will hate yourself for ever thinking you might find a modicum of something slightly good about this movie. This movie will make you regret not staying home and scraping the two week old dog poop from the many grooves in the bottom of sneakers with a toothpick. It's the worst of the worst. A pointless movie that fails to even be pointless enough. Don't waste your time or your money.




Point du jour

Point: Why do we care what Mel Gibson thinks about Jews? Furthermore, why should the Jews care what Mel Gibson thinks, either?
I mean why do we give celebrites so much power/authority? They are just beautiful people that make movies - they are not people that should be leading the thoughts and ideals of this country, religious or otherwise!
I read the following quote online today, "His apology prompted one rabbi to invite Gibson to speak at his temple on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. Other Jewish leaders say the healing process will take some time."
Healing time? Are you kidding??
He was piss drunk (an admitted alcoholic) and said some anti-Jewish statements to the arresting officer. Healing time? For who?
Again I just don't get why the Jewish community needs to HEAL when an actor/director babbles something to an officer during a drunk driving arrest. It becomes all about his drunken comments and subsequent "heartfelt apology" for his anti-Jewish comments - and then it becomes about the "healing" of the Jewish community. Again - is there something I don't quite understand here??
People, lets not forget that we have freedom of speech in this country. He's allowed to have his opinions whether or not they're politically correct (or even true). The fact that he has sobered up and said they are not his real opinons should just make the whole thing moot. But no. The Jewish community needs time to heal, call the press.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not writing this because I'm a Mel Gibson fan. I'm just sick and tired of reading front page news stories about his dumbass comments and his lame apology. Mostly, I'm just outraged that someone drunk out of their gourd said some stupid comment to a cop gets to be classified as NEWS, and for DAYS on end. I'm tired of it all.