How to Ruin Everything for Everyone

So, maybe I'm a bit dramatic. But you'll see why.

Last night Tim and I decided to go on a date. So, being the big spenders we are, we headed to the local Sticky Foot Theater, dolled out $3 each, and went to see The Informant. While we were paying, a middle aged couple behind us were trying to decide which movie to see again. It seems they'd already seen all of them, but were lacking anything else to do. Then, Tim and I were heading for the theater, and they started talking about just following us to the appropriate theater. (Mind you, they were about 200 feet behind us, so notice they were not quiet or discreet type people. See what's coming?) Tim and I enter the theater and see two people in the back row. All the other seats were empty. Repeat: ALL the other seats were EMPTY. We chose seats about 5 rows back, toward the left side. Enter loud followers. They see the theater now has 4 people in it, with about 40 empty seats, and beeline to the seats directly behind us and one seat over. At this point, they were on my radar. (I have strict rules about movie theater etiquette. Stricter when the theater is virtually empty. There's no one there to absorb the sounds!) The couple gabs in pseudo stage whispers until the lights dim, and previews begin. "Whew," I thought. "At least they'll be quiet now." Riiiiight. They proceed to talk through the previews in voices slightly quieter than yelling. Once the movie started (remember, I'm fairly confident they'd already seen it, so didn't feel the need to pay strict attention) I foolishly thought they'd notice other people were there and quiet down. After about 10 minutes of incessant talk I turned and did one of those "Seriously? Shut it!" stares. The talking turned to whispers briefly. Then gradually increased in volume. I tried valiantly to ignore this. Then the Mr. of the couple decided to start kicking the back of the seat. What? I pointedly leaned forward and cast another glare in their direction. Then, as the movie was drawing to an end, they started discussing what was going to happen. I turned to Tim, and said, "Seriously?!" and he turned around and said loudly, "We're still watching this."
Silly me to think that they would be abashed by this and shut up. They talked through the remainder of the movie and were still seated talking when the lights came up.

Moral of the story:
If this is you - save everyone around you some grief and go to a coffee shop! Don't ruin everyone else's experience. Just don't. And, if the theater is empty - leave some space between you and the next guy. There's room to spare!

And if you're wondering if the movie was any good, I couldn't tell you. I was so angry by the end that I assume it was terrible, but I think that's just transference on my part.

I'm still mad. Can you tell?

Hilarious

Because I'm a dork I was looking through the New Moon stills and thought this picture was awesome.

I love that you can tell exactly what's going on. It's pretty much just what I pictured when I read that scene. Except that no one looks like I think they should, but whatever...

Christmas Movies

I've decided I'm going to start watching a Christmas movie (or what I consider to be a Christmas movie) once a week until the season is over (and has started...heh...I'm an early bird). I inadvertently started on Saturday while Tim was playing disc golf with the boys.

So, without further ado...

Why it's a Christmas movie -

Yes, most of the movie takes place in January on a boat. Then again in July. And some of the time in between. But it ends on Christmas. How we know this: There is a decorated tree. The words "Merry Christmas" are exchanged. There is a Christmas banquet.

Reasons I love it -

Cary Grant

Music

I go through an entire range of emotions watching this: Happiness, bitterness, sadness, frustration, more sadness, discontent, happiness.

Few cringeworthy moments (lets be honest, the songs she makes those kids sing are terrible.)

To me, this is the perfect movie to watch with the lady relatives on Thanksgiving while the guys are playing cards. A great way to usher in the season. Tune in next week for another great movie!

The Worst Scary Movies I've Seen

These fall into the worst for various reasons (among them being tooooo scary, stupid, etc.)30 Days of Night. This made the list because it was too over the top. Too bloody, too unlikely, too stupid of an ending. Although I did enjoy the company I watched this in. Andrew, Sara, Tim and I watched this before leaving for Alaska (since it takes place there.)

The Omen. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I watched this on Halloween in high school. (The original). I made my friend walk me into my house when she dropped me off to make sure I didn't have any demonic children waiting for me in the dark entry way. Then I let her fend for herself as she made her way to her car and back home. Horrifying.

Interview with a Vampire. This may not have made the list if it weren't for the scene with Kirstin Dunst and a pile of dolls (among other things). That alone did it for me. Too psychologically horrifying to recover from.

Ernest Scared Stupid. No, I'm not kidding. There's a scene where a little boy checks under his bed for monsters, and when he comes back up the monster is on his bed and gets him. It took away the safety of bed for me, and I didn't sleep for days. What once was a household favorite (Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Goes to Jail, etc...) was now a nightmarish punishment. Thanks a lot Ernest.

That's it, as far as I can remember. So, I don't recommend any of these movies, especially Ernest if you're under 10.

My "Scary" Movie Picks

Since the spookiest time of year is approaching, I thought I'd fill you in my favorite "scary" movies. You may notice "scary" is appearing in quotes. The simple reason for that is this: I am a sissy. So, here you go, in no particular order:

The Others

1 - Nicole Kidman is amazing

2- The story is just all around creepy, all the way through

3- The children scare the living daylights out of me for no good reason

4- The story is unlike any other I've seen

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

1- I've been watching this since I was tiny

2- It's a cartoon

3- It's Disney

4- There's music

Sweeney Todd

1- Johnny Depp - hellllooooo

2- Music - great music

3- Amazing cast

4- Gory beyond all reason (to the degree that you can recognize it's fake, kinda like a Quentin Tarentino movie)

Zodiac

1- Great cast

2- Great story

3- True story (terrifying)

4- Made me hold my breath for a record amount of time. Something like 2 hours.

5- Made me sleep with a night light

6- Too scary (cause it's real life scary, not ghosts and vampires scary), but I love it!

Psycho

1- Alfred Hitchcock is a genius
2- Creepy cast
3- Classic
4- Disturbing ending, like all Hitchcocks movies

Rear Window

1- Fantastic cast - Jimmy and Grace!
2- Plausible storyline

3- Doesn't leave me too terrified at the end

Dumbo

You're probably wondering, why Dumbo? That's not a scary movie.

1- Elephants on Parade

2- Elephants on Parade

3- Elephants

4- On

5- Parade

6- There's a mouse (scares the elephants.)

So, those are my "scary" movie picks. Seeing the trend of mildly creepy movies, does anyone have any suggestions?

Labor Day Come and Gone

What did you do over the Labor Day weekend? I crafted, shopped a smidge, watched movies with Tim and played games with Tim and his parents.

The crafting consisted of making a second cute top using this tutorial. (Pictures to come shortly).

The shopping, you will be shocked to know, consisted of a trip to Martin and Osa, and a fruitless hunt for shoes to go with my jewel green dress.

The movies: We've had a rough go of movie choices lately (excepting Julie and Julia - that was great). We watched I Love You, Man - wow.

This is what I liked from that movie:

A shirt. That's all. Everything else about the movie was uncomfortable. But this beautiful shirt got 4 stars.

Then Tim and my dad went to see District 9. I opted out of this one, and evidently it was a good one to miss.

Then I went to the $1 movie box and rented BedTime Stories...not a bad movie, per say...but it may have been more enjoyable to watch with an 8 year old.

So, this weekend we were looking for a gooood movie. We picked up Sunshine Cleaning. While it was a good movie, it wasn't what we'd expected. We were looking for funny, light hearted, laugh until you cry kind of thing. This was not that. While it wasn't exactly dark, it was sad, and circled around disturbed characters in disturbing settings. It was good - but not what we wanted.

We finally found what we were looking for last night.

Ah....this movie hit the spot. We went to see it at the local Sticky Foot (which, was the scene of my first job in high school when it was a new and fancy theater.) It was so well done, so far fetched, so funny...and so sad. I'm not going to pretend it didn't take a lot of will power not to sob in the beginning of the movie. Most people probably wouldn't have this reaction, but for me the scenes were too familiar. But, sometimes you need a good cry, and this gave a good justification. Then we laughed a LOT for the next hour or so, then we cried some more. Then we laughed some more. Oh, it was great. I love the dogs...if you haven't seen this, you really should. It was everything we were wanting from a movie and more.

As far as the games go, we had quite the Settlers fest yesterday with Tim's parents. The first game went about 10 rounds, which is relatively short, and I beat everyone soundly. The second game went less than three rounds before Tim's mom whooped us all! Three rounds? Unheard of! Then we played some Boomblox on Wii (if you don't have this game, try to find it used, it's really fun and well worth the used price.) (If you don't have a Wii...seriously. Go. Get. One. Now.)

That was my weekend...how was yours?

Imagine Christmas Wishes Shooting Out of Your Eyes...

On Julie and Julia, Costco, and Tracy Jordan...


On Sunday, Tim and I saw Julie and Julia. I loved it. It made me want cheese. So, naturally, after the movie we went to Costco in search of Brie...let me tell you what stood between me and Brie. Christmas stood between us. A veritable winter wonderland maze to wonder while you wander through and, yes, even to have Christmas wishes shoot out of your eyes. There were ornaments and lights and Santa's and gift wrap - and my particular downfall - ribbon. So, I squeezed my eyes shut to avoid the folly of buying Christmas ribbon in August and ran for the cheese. Then later, we happened to watch the Christmas 30 Rock episode...it's a Jordan Christmas everyone.



Oh, and seriously - go see Julie and Julia.