Summer Moview Review: Knight and Day

First I should start out by saying that I love Tom Cruise. I think he's a fantastic actor and has some REALLY great films under his belt. If he hadn't been cast in the lead of this film, I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did. That being said, this movie was really entertaining. It's no classic nor is it oscar worthy material, but it's fun. The humor is great as well as the action.

And that's all I have to say about that one. :)

Final Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Summer Movie Review: Toy Story 3

I was 9 years old when the first Toy Story movie was released. I was 13 when the second graced us with it's presence. Now, here I am 24 years old, eleven years later, and I've just gotten home from seeing the third. I cried like a baby.

If you have ever felt sentimental about a childhood toy, felt the sadness that comes with growing up and not wanting to give up something that has truly become a part of who you are, then this is the movie for you. If not, and you just want to see hilariousness all over the place, it's still the movie for you. :) I am both, but more so the former. This movie was magnificent. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you bite your fingernails in anxiety!

I'm not going to go into details about the synopsis. Just go and experience the fantastic-ness of the whole thing. We get to see all of our favorite familiar characters and we also get to meet some really really funny new characters. Ken, Barbie's male counterpart, is hilarious to the extreme. There is one scene where he and Barbie are saying "I love yous" and it had my dad and I cracking up for at least the whole scene after. Michael Keaton voiced him and he was perfect.

Seriously, what a great (and heartbreaking!) way to end such an original trilogy. What a fun day it will be when I can watch all three movies consecutively.

Final score: Solid 10 out of 10.

Also, the short six minute movie that comes before the film: Oh. My. Heck. It's pure genius. No joke, it was the most creative (and if I'm going for cheesy, truly inspiring) six minutes I've ever seen. That I also give 10 out of 10.

Now, for something to make you laugh! :) I would like to show you why this movie meant so much to me. When I was 3 years old I got a stuffed mouse for Christmas. She's about a foot tall, blue, with chewed up plastic whiskers and to this day, I love her more than anything I own. I, being such a creative child, named her Mousy. That same same Christmas, Leslee got a stuffed bunny....and named her Bunny. Mark received a stuffed yellow furred bear.....and named him Yellow Bear. Ken was given a brown furred bear.....and can you guess? Named him Brown Bear. These 4 stuffed animals honestly became the center of our universes. We gave them life, personalities, quirks. Our imaginations grew from these inanimate objects.
Time passed and they became less played with, but they were still very much a part of us. None of us have parted with them. Yellow Bear is still with Mark, Leslee has put Bunny in her cedar chest, I think. Mousy still sleeps on my bed (In fact, she's sitting next to me right now!!). Brown Bear however.....well....the poor little guy sometimes gets left behind. About 5 years ago, Mark, Leslee and I noticed that Brown was stuffed away in Ken's closet. We realized he probably hadn't seen the light of day for some time. This made us very sad. I mean, just because he's not real doesn't mean he has no feelings! So, being the witty people we are, we decided to teach Ken a little lesson by making him this video. It might not be as funny to others as it was to us, but I dare you not to laugh at least once! Quick note, just so you don't think we're total weirdos. The last part of the video (music and text) is taken from the movie King Arthur. And no, we really didn't burn Brown Bear......

****Also keep in mind we were thinking "funny," not "high quality."****





The last picture shown is a parody of a picture of us kids. It got quite the discussion going on facebook. I swear it's the most commented on picture I've ever seen! :) I'll load it for you here so you can see it.
Gosh we were cute. We look like quadruplets. ADORABLE quadruplets.

Well, peace out for now! :D

Stink Bugs

I know that I have already written a post about The Sad Life of A Bug a few years back, but I feel like I should revisit this topic.
My basement is being overrun with stink bugs. Now, please don't think that I live in filth. (Just because I let a spider live inside my window sill for 6 months.......) I really am a very clean person, and no matter what one does, bugs get in the house. It's a fact of life. But seriously, they're everywhere in my basement. "Why are there so many?" You ask. Well, here is the thing. I don't kill stink bugs. I just don't. There are certain insects that for some reason that is truly beyond me, I have sympathy (fondness may be a better word....) for. Stink bugs, crickets, and especially potato bugs. (Now, for some reason I call this bug a potato bug. Most people call them a roly poly. But through my wiki meanderings, I've discovered it's actually this bug that is nicknamed the potato bug.)
Anyway, so me not killing any of the stink bugs is causing an overpopulation in my home. I'm not disturbed by this. However, I am disturbed by my lack of being disturbed.
I bring the subject of stink bugs in my basement up because of two thoughts that I've had in my dealings with them.

1: A few days ago, I had a stink bug in my room. I walked in and saw him on my floor. As usual, I just ignored him. I mean, he's not a dangerous bug and he's not crawling ON me, why bother him? I did whatever I was in my room to do, glanced at him (we'll classify him as that for now) in the same spot he'd been the whole time and walked out. No kidding, less than five minutes later I walked in again to find him clear on the other side of my room. Now, I'm not so good as calculating distances and stuff, but if you think about the size of that bug, that was a pretty far way to go in a few minutes. It must have been like crossing the Sahara! (That's obviously an exaggeration, although my carpet is a sand color......) This made me feel lazy. A BUG made me feel lazy. That poor little guy, searching for food and walking all that way in less than 5 minutes! I need to get my butt in gear so that I can be in as good a shape as that stink bug!!

2: Yesterday there was another one in my bathroom. In the morning he was there when I took my shower. Again, I didn't bother him. A couple hours later, I walked in and saw him in the same spot. The first time I didn't wonder why he hadn't moved. But yet another time later he was still in the same spot. I decided to take a closer look. He was upside down!!! The poor little guy's legs flailing wildly in the air. Like the weirdo I am, I felt sorry for him and decided to flip him over, so he wouldn't die in such a terrible way. So I flipped him on his feet and I walked away. Yet another amount of time went by and I found him again, in the same spot, on his back AGAIN, his legs twitching in the air. Now I was annoyed. "Good heavens, bug." I thought to myself. "If you're that stupid, you deserve to die!" But, once again I flipped him over and moved him to a new location on the floor. Who knows, maybe that particular spot was slippery!

There are no morals to these stories. They're pretty pointless, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway, if nothing else but to help you see what a lunatic I am. Until next time! Peace. :)

Summer Movie Review: The A Team

This review is going to be rather short. I'm not going to give you a synopsis, because it's just too much work. I'm also not going to go on about the things I liked about this movie, because it'd mostly be about how attractive everyone was with their blue eyes.
However, I will say this: This movie was a BLAST! Seriously, it was funny and action packed and really funny. Did I mention how funny it was? If you decide to go see this one, keep an open mind and go to just enjoy a good popcorn flick. :)

Final Score: 7.5 out of 10. Now, if I were basing this on just entertainment value, I'd give it a 9 out of 10 instead, but I've gotta include all around quality, ya know? I'm pretty stingy sometimes with my scoring. :)

Next up: Toy Story 3! Holy smokes, batman! I'm excited! :D :D Until then, peace out!

Book Review: The Red Pyramind by Rick Riordan

I was so happy when this book came out. I missed my Percy Jackson, and I figured anything Rick Riordan writes would fill the void. This book is the first in a series called The Kane Chronicles. Let's get to it!

Plot: Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane. One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives. Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them--Set--has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe--a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

Thoughts: There are many aspects of this book that are very similar to the Percy Jackson series, but since I loved those books, I was OK with that. One of the first things that made me love this particular book is the little "shout-out" Riordan gave to his former book series. If you've never read the Percy Jackson series you won't get it, but if you have, you'll catch it...and it'll make you grin. :)
But enough about Percy Jackson, this book was extremely entertaining in it's own right. The story was exciting and the characters (the good and the not-so-good) are very likable. I'm not going to lie, there is one character who I decided to pictures as myself....because I'm a nerd like that. But anyway, another thing I enjoyed was the mythology, obviously. In Riordan's Greek mythology based series I could see what was coming, because I'm really familiar with all those names and legends. But with this book, Egyptian Mythology based, it was new territory. I enjoyed that aspect. I had studied Egyptian Mythology in my Myths and Legends class a few semesters ago, but I had forgotten most of it. I liked being surprised and I loved learning names and stories about Egypt.

Final score: I give this book a 9 out of 1o. The only reason I take off one point is due to the fact that I didn't actually get into the book until about 10 chapters in.

Summer Movie Review: Killers

OK, so this movie was SLAMMED by the critics, and after seeing it that doesn't surprise me, but I don't necessarily agree with them......

Synopsis: Spencer is a government agent who hates his job. He wants to settle down and live a normal life. Jen is a recently dumped gal who never does anything exciting or out of the ordinary. One day in France (while Jen is on a vaca with the folks and Spencer is on a "mission") the two meet and fall madly in love. Spencer keeps the truth about his job a secret. They get married and the movie really starts about three years after. Stuff happens, she finds out, yada yada yada.

Cast: I like Ashton Kutcher, and though he's no "A-List" actor, I enjoyed him AND his hot shirtless scenes! (Yes there IS more than one!) But really, I liked his character. Despite my severe dislike for Katherine Heigl, I wasn't repulsed by her in this movie. She's a good actress and delivered some funny lines. We get to see Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara as Jen's parents. Selleck is just OK, but Catherine O'Hara is seriously funny playing a woman a little too fond of the alcohol. She was my favorite part of the movie.

Thoughts: While this obviously is not the best movie in the world, I thought it was going to be the worst. Like I said earlier, the critics were ruthless with this one, along with many IMDB reviews. So I left my brain at the door, thinking my IQ might drop a few points if I brought it with me. I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I thought it was funny, and though cliche, the actors make it work. I wasn't a fan of the "twist" thrown in, partially because you see it coming a mile away and partially because after it's revealed, the movie falls flat.

All in all, it's a good movie. If you are saving pennies, wait til you can redbox it (or better yet, support your local rental store! Help out the "little man" if you can!) If you are in the mood for a big screen movie, go see it in theaters.....but see a matinee. Don't spend more than you need to on this film. Like I said, I did very much enjoy it but I am not going to lie, when I began writing this review I had to pull up the movie's IMDB page just to remember the characters' names. That should tell you something.

Final score: 5 out of ten (note that probably 2 of those points are contributed to Ashton Kutcher's shirtlessness.)

Next week: The A-Team. Until then, peace!

Pick-Churs

Here are a few picks from the wedding shoot last week. It was fun! Except for when I biffed it like a fool on the temple steps.....but I was rewarded with a really great bruise. :)