Small Stuff

You know, I've come to the stark realization that it's just too easy to get wrapped up and sucked into the small details and drama of everyday life. I know, it's crazy (and a little sad) but it's true. Life can mean so much more than the petty shit that you find yourself having to deal with on a day-to-day basis...and if you let those things get to you, you start to lose sight of all the important stuff around you. How do I know this...? Well...let's just say that I'm learning as I go.

The thing that is going to make my life easier is taking comfort in knowing that I'm not going to love (or even like) everyone I meet in life...and vice versa. And you know what? That's perfectly ok. I don't need everyone to love (or even like) me and heck, I don't like everyone I meet either. I just have to remember to...keep that smile on my face, stay away from all the slimy people in the world and not stress the small stuff. I refuse to get sucked into the drama and waste my time dwelling on stupid stuff. I'm done. And also remember people...karma's a bitch, Bitch!

Peace out.

Cars 2

After my long rant last week about Green Lantern, I really didn’t want to have to complain about another movie. However, I saw Cars 2 over the weekend and man…it was just not good. Granted, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Green Lantern, but for a Pixar movie…it definitely wasn’t great.

I love Pixar and I loved Cars, so I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of Cars 2. And to be fair, there were some things that I really liked about the movie. I did like the animation of the different cities that the cars visited and thought they did a really good job making the scenic shots look really cool. Also, there is a scene in the movie about the intricacies of the toilets and bathroom stalls in Japan…and it was funny (because it’s so true…toilets in Japan are smarter than people). Hehe. But short of that…that was about it.

I give Pixar credit for trying to make the movie into some elaborate spy movie…but it just didn’t work. I think the biggest thing wrong with the movie was…lack of heart. Pixar can be best known for sappy kiddie movies that have smart dialogue, cool characters and deep heart-felt messages for kids. Cars 2 didn’t really have any of that...and it really didn’t feel like a kiddie movie at all. And for all you cynics out there who say that good sequels don’t exist…look at Toy Story 3…a perfectly awesome movie on its own and an even better ending to the Toy Story trilogy.

Anyway, I’m not going to list all the things that I didn’t like about Cars 2 and spoil the whole movie because, like I said, there were some decent scenes in there and it can be worth seeing...but let me just say that my biggest complaint was that the movie should not have been based on Mater. I mean how could they have made Lightening McQueen more of a supporting character to Mater vs. a main character…really?!?!? Not cool. Mater is too much of an idiot to carry a movie. So yeah…

You know…I think the reason for my discontent…is just movie overload. I’ve seen more than my fair share of them lately and I think I’m just burnt out. I’m gonna take a break for awhile and enjoy life outside the theaters for the next couple weeks.

Green Lantern

...ok where do I start with Green Lantern? I wanted to really like the movie...no, I take that back. I wanted to freakin’ love Green Lantern. I mean, I've been looking forward to the release of this movie for weeks...however, after watching it this weekend, I'm feeling extremely disappointed and robbed. It was just god awful. And, yes, I do mean awful. I put down all my criticisms below and hope I spoil it enough to save you all the trouble of watching it and wasting your time and money. You can thank me later.

Ryan Reynolds (Hal Jordan/Green Lantern) and Blake Lively (Carol Ferris) - Both are horrible actors. I mean...absolutely, downright, horrible. They have no emotion and no depth. Watching them play out the motions in this movie didn't do anything for me and did nothing to advance the storyline. And worst yet, they aren't even nice to look at. I mean, yes, it is Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively (I'm not a fan of either of them)...so yes, I was concerned about watching these two in Green Lantern and was hoping that they'd prove me wrong and bring it...but sadly, they've got nothing. I mean, the most basic rule of being a good actor/actress is being able to sit there and look pretty...Ryan and Blake both fail.

Character Development - There wasn't any. Nothing. I was waiting for it...but it just didn't happen. Character development is important in any movie, especially super hero movies. You have to feel connected to the hero. You have to feel the struggle and the transformation of the character over the course of the movie. And in the end, you have to really believe in the hero and the journey. In Green Lantern...there was none of that. Hal Jordan is chosen to be the first human to have the powers that comes with being a Green Lantern. But the irresponsible, self-absorbed and arrogant ass that he is, can't seem to get over himself to save the world and just decides to give up halfway through the movie. I mean, in the end, he decides to be Green Lantern to get the girl…but not really to save the world…but whatever. He's suppose to be portrayed as untouchable and a badass...when in fact, he's just cocky, spineless and a coward. He makes you wish that you could slap the smug smirk off his face. It was bad.

Storyline - oh man...there are so many things wrong with the storyline of this movie. I don't even know where to start because it was so bad. Ugh. First, let’s start with the people that are introduced in this movie. Why do the writers introduce a concerned brother, a dotting nephew and a smart-mouthed best friend...if they didn't plan to put them into more than one scene? It's stupid. These characters show concern...but nothing comes of it. After you see them once, you don't see or hear about them again. So again, I ask, what's the point? Second, Hal's superpowers. How is it that Hal, this humanoid, is given these superpowers...and yet, has no problem using them?!?! There is no training...no adjustment period...no development. I didn't like that at all. It was just another missed opportunity for me to bond with the character. Third, Hector Hammond, the scientist guy, is not only the creepiest motherfucker I've ever seen, but he is Hal's biggest earth-lurking archenemy. However, in the "epic" showdown between Hal and Hector…it only lasts about five minutes...only to have Parallax (the universe's worst nightmare and Green Lantern’s universal enemy) kill Hector…which leads Carol Ferris to furiously type on a computer to, somehow, rescue Hal. I still have no idea how that happened...but it was just done so poorly that I didn't even care. And even worse, at the end of the movie, Sinestro (Green Lantern’s supporter/friendish person) arbitrarily puts on Parallax’s ring and hints at a sequel movie of him becoming evil…but you know what? By the end of this movie…I could give a shit about that and am starting to question my love for super hero movies all together.

Romance - I don't pay to see a movie like Green Lantern for the romance. I mean, if I wanted to see a romantic comedy, I would. The cheesy ass romantic storyline between Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively was just terrible. The lines were corny, their chemistry was off and the "romantic" scenes were just laughable. I totally wasn't feeling it. It was as bad as the new episodes of Star Wars between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen. I really don't know why the Green Lantern writers wasted precious movie reel time to produce the romantic vomit crap that can be found in this movie.

Fight Scenes - But hey…when all else fails (i.e. dialogue, character development, storyline, etc.) in any action movie, trust in the fight scenes to save the movie and make it worth it, right? Wrong! Fight scenes? What fight scenes? Struggle? What struggle? In the final fight scene (what is suppose to be the ultimate climax of the movie) Hal "tricks" Parallax into following him into the sun...where Parallax winds up being sucked into the sun and burning to death...WTF…really?!?! Wow. I'm surprised the entire freakin' Green Lantern Corps. (a whole brotherhood of warriors formed by the different races from entire universe sworn to keep intergalactic order) didn't think to do that...What a concept. Ugh. It was just so freakin' terrible.

OK...there you have it. That’s my review of Green Lantern. Take it for what you will...but don't say I didn't warn you.

Go Bruins

Tonight was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.

All I have to say to those goddamn Vancouver fans is...the Cup is ours, Bitch!!!

Congratulations to the Boston Bruins! Yaaay!

Drama

I take to my blog this morning to vent my frustrations. I’m trying to calm myself down and keep my cool…but I’m finding it quite difficult.

After hearing some troubling news early this morning, I’m trying to keep in mind that my friends have the utmost best intentions (deep down, I know that). However, with all the stuff that went down yesterday and some tales that were told…they actually cause more unnecessary drama than anything else. And you know what? It’s totally uncalled for and so not cool. It gets me really upset because if you can’t trust your friends, who can you trust? I wish I could understand why there is the need for all the drama…because I just don’t get it.

I want to say more and vent to my heart’s content…but I’ll have to leave it at that for now and hope things get better. As for right now, I know I just need to stay away from certain people just to preserve my sanity.

X-Men: First Class

I saw X-Men: First Class over the weekend....and it was really good. As a prequel goes, it was pretty top notch. Granted, I haven't see all the previous X-Men movies (which, from what I understand, weren't really all that great), so I was really surprised that I actually did like this movie.

The movie started out really dark. However, in the big overall scheme of the plot...it was totally worth it and laid out the necessary groundwork for the rest of the movie. The movie had a solid storyline and did a nice job of showing character development for all the X-Men mutants. As most of you know, the movie basically centers around Professor X and Magneto and their quest to protect the humans and train other young mutants. There were quite a few familiar characters...Professor X and Magneto, of course, Beast, and Mystique...and others that I didn't recognize (Riptide, Azazel, Angel, and Emma Frost). But I gotta say, I had no idea Magneto would be such a badass...and in the movie, oh man, his character is so freakin' awesome. There are definitely times that you just can't help but root for him. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that he's so dreamy. Hehe.

Anyway, in terms of X-Men, I wish there were more modern X-Men characters in this movie (who I'm more familiar with) like...Cyclops, Jean, Storm, Rogue, Nightcrawler and Wolverine... But I guess since this is "X-Men: First Class" there are plenty of characters that still need to be discovered. So I will take this movie to be the prequel for the X-Men franchise and look forward to where this goes...and will blatantly ignore all X-Men movies that have come before.

World Series Ring

The beautiful ring box.

The huge ass rock on my finger.

Isn't it beautiful?

Me and the World Series ring.

Email Addresses

I keep my life pretty compartmentalized. It makes my life easier to deal with and I never have to worry about mixing things together...

With that being said, I got to thinking today. You know how many active personal email addresses I have? 10 email addresses. 10 email addresses that I check (fairly) regularly. It's weird because I find the process of checking emails extremely tedious. However, I have different groups of people assigned to different email addresses and depending on that group and how I often I want to hear from them and/or respond to their emails...that dictates how often I check that email box. Let's go over this for the fun of it.

I have 2 hotmail email addresses. Both are primarily used for signing up for online crap, junk email and for anyone I really don't want to hear from. Sorry, but it's true. Plus, I don't like hotmail's interface...so using hotmail was never something I was totally comfortable with. I check those email accounts and clean out my inbox about once every other week. Nothing really exciting about that.

I have 4 yahoo email addresses. These accounts are primarily used for family correspondence, old high school junk and political crap. I check these email accounts about once a week. I get a pretty high number of emails to these accounts, so I really have to be in the right mind set to really wanna take the time and respond to emails. And really, I only respond when absolutely necessary.

I have 4 gmail addresses. One is a family account that I monitor and maintain. It serves its purpose well...it's mainly just a centralized place to house family pictures. It makes it easy to share and distribute to people (without having to be on Facebook...ugh). I don't really check this account at all. Two other gmail accounts are used for professional purposes. I check those accounts probably twice a week. And, lastly, the other account is my personal, go-to account. I check that account...definitely a couple times a day. I do most of my personal correspondence through my main gmail account and people know if they really need to get in touch with me via email...my personal gmail address is the one to use.

Anyway, it's interesting to see how things break down. I never really thought about all the email addresses I have and check. Since I like having things compartmentalized, this doesn't seem weird to me. Do other people do this too...or is this just me?

Disney Ride Totals

I spent a weekend in LA last month and I got to spend a whole crap load of time at Disneyland. It’s been years and years since I’ve really had time to explore and appreciate all the park has to offer. And I gotta say…it’s pretty cool. I mean, I remember the good ‘ole days when the family used to take road trips down to Disneyland (once a year…something like…5 or 6 years in a row). It was crazy, but definitely fun times. And those were the days before the existence of CA Adventure and Fast Passes. So…the park has definitely changed since then...and even within the last couple weeks, the park has opened three new rides. It's crazy. But I guess that just means I have an excuse to make the trek down there and spend more time exploring. Hehe. :-)

Below are my ride totals…if you can beat the total, with your visit including a weekend, you get my extreme admiration.

Day 1:
Matterhorn – 3
Thunder Mountain – 3
Indiana Jones – 2
Haunted Mansion – 1
Pirates – 2
Toy Story Midway Mania – 2 (most awesome ride in CA Adventure)
Grizzly River Run – 1
Autopia – 1
Day 1 Total = 15

Day 2:
Peter Pan's Flight – 1
Snow White – 1
Mr. Toad – 1
Pinnochio – 1
Tea Cups – 1
Alice In Wonderland – 1
It's Small World – 2
Roger Rabbit Cartoon Spin – 1
Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters – 1
Thunder Mountain – 7 (no joke, 7 times)
Grizzly River Run – 1
California Screamin' – 1
Tower of Terror – 1
Matterhorn – 4
Pirates – 2
Indiana Jones – 2
Dumbo – 1
Haunted Mansion – 1
Day 2 Total = 25

Day 3:
Astro Flight – 1
Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters – 4
Matterhorn – 5
Tea Cups – 1
Mr. Toad – 1
It's a Small World – 2 (gotta love this ride)
Thunder Mountain – 3
Jungle Cruise – 1
Pirates – 2
Indiana Jones – 3
Soaring over California – 1
Toy Story Midway Mania – 2
Grizzly River Run – 2
California Screamin' – 2
Day 3 Total = 25

Disneyland Trip Grand Total – 75 rides! Wahoo!

Kung Fu Panda 2

Over this past weekend, I saw Kung Fu Panda 2. It was only the Panda's second week in release, but the movie was already demoted to the "small" theater screening room. I was surprised...but then realized that it just must be too much to compete with X-Men: First Class and Hangover 2.

Anyway, Kung Fu Panda 2 was cute. The movie started off slow, but picked up rather quickly. The scenery shots were gorgeous, the storyline was incredibly wholesome and the ending of the movie was satisfying...yet left room for another sequel. So if you've got kids, this movie is a good choice and not a bad pick. And as much as I was loving it, the kid next to me was, literally, on the edge of his seat the whole time. Literally...the whole time.

Speaking of kids and movies, you know, the one complaint I do have with watching these kiddie movies in the theaters is...well, the kids. I mean, I do love seeing the occasional kid movies in the theaters (Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, etc.)...however, I hate the annoyances that come with that. I mean, I guess I'm just used to seeing adult movies without having to deal with the kiddie chatter, their excessive noise and their little annoying habits. So I guess with that being said...waiting a couple weeks after a kiddie movie is released to go see it in the theaters might be the best bet. Not that I'm going to let that stop me from watching Cars 2 during its opening weekend...but you know, I'm just saying.

Pasta Dish

In the midst of all the excitement this weekend, I'm actually writing today about a pasta dish that was just so good it deserves a blog dedicated to its awesomeness.

Let me start at the beginning. After a nice run Saturday afternoon, I was starving for a nice hearty meal. I went out to dinner that night and had the pleasure of trying a new Italian place. Now, as a kid, I used to think that good Italian food was found at Olive Garden...yeah, I know, Olive Garden, right? Haha and boy, have I realized how much I had to learn about really good food.

But anyway, I'm always up for trying new places and dishes...and when I heard that this place was suppose to have dynamite gnocchi, I was very excited to try it. To tell you the truth, the place was really nothing special and wasn't really all that fancy (which, I guess, makes it an even better find, huh?). But anyway, this inconspicuous place houses the most amazing pasta dish…and it wasn’t the gnocchi. The appetizer gnocchi (in brown butter with black truffle and fried sage…I know, sounds amazing, right?) wasn't all that great. The sauce was good, but the gnocchi was just ok. And, I have to be honest, after eating the gnocchi, I was a little nervous about the main dish. I ordered the baked cannelloni stuffed with braised short ribs and…as good as that was, it was nothing compared to what my food buddy got. He got the pasta tortilla stuffed with pears and asiago cheese, with a parmesan cream sauce, drizzled with chive oil...and oh my god…it was so amazingly good that he’s lucky I didn’t wrestle the dish away from him to finish it all. The sauce was creamy but very light and fruity at the same time…it was such an interesting mix of flavors in my mouth that it was just mindblowingly good. I wish I could really find the words to describe its pure awesomeness, but oh man…just enjoy the picture below and hopefully that will do it justice.

A tiny bite of Heaven.

June

We're halfway through 2011 already. Can you believe that? It's crazy. It just feels like yesterday I was ringing in the New Year and contemplating resolutions.

Anyway, I'm in desperate need of some summertime temperatures. Seriously, where the heck is the hot weather? I want to bust out my shorts, skirts and tank tops and enjoy the outdoors.

On the upside, the weekend is almost here...and I can't wait. :-)

Hangover 2

As I mentioned in my last post, I saw Hangover 2 this past weekend. And you know what? It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a movie during its opening weekend…so I didn’t expect all the lines. But with the $80ish million dollars that the movie was said to have made this past weekend, I guess I’m not really all that surprised.

Anyway, if you were a big fan of the first movie (and, I mean, a huge fan)…you’re probably going to really love the second movie. However, if you only liked the first movie and you weren’t a fan of the crude humor or the plot of the first movie, you’re gonna hate this movie. I mean, let me start by saying that as crude as the first Hangover movie was…Hangover 2 blew that right out of the park. And there were some full frontal shots that I’m surprised they were able to show…don’t worry, I’m not going to give anything away and I’ll stop there...but be warned, full frontal shots to come…wow.

Hangover 2 followed almost the same exact format and plot as the first movie (which I think was kinda lazy on their part). However, there were definitely some jokes and scenes that were just so off the wall that it made it totally hilarious. I did spend most of the movie laughing and definitely enjoyed it. Although, if I can say, my only criticism was that the ending of the movie was just too easy. Instead of spending time to gather clues and really have to work to put the events together and figure everything out…the ending was just sort of an epiphany. I mean, the pieces of the puzzle just seemed to magically come together at the end and…that was it. And c’mon, if you lost a finger…wouldn’t you be just a little more upset? Ok…sorry I probably said too much.

But in the end, I liked it, I thought it was funny…and I would consider seeing it again.