Entertainment

Tags

Books, Cathing Fire, entertainment, Mockingjay, Movies, The Godfather, The Help, The Hunger Games, You've Got Mail

Books:
My sister Cheryl and I wanted to read a book at the same time. She let me pick. I chose The Hunger Games. That was a couple weeks ago, and now we are on book three, Mockingjay.

OMG.
Oh. My. Goodness.
Goodness Sakes! This is a good trilogy! Rick is reading Hunger Games now. My Dad is buying them for his kindle and will read them on the train coming up to Bellingham for Josh’s wedding. I think we have a cult following, folks! if you haven’t read these books, go buy them, borrow them, put them on your kindle. Read them. You can thank me later.

Speaking of books, I’ve mentioned here before how much I enjoyed The Help. Today I saw the movie with Abbie. I don’t normally enjoy a movie if I loved the book. This is the absolute total exception. I loved the movie. As much as the book. They left out only a couple little details, but didn’t ruin the story. Now, I want to read the book again AND see the movie again. Read the book. Watch the movie. You don’t even have to do it in that order with this one!!

Speaking of movies, The Godfather. I put it in our Blockbuster.com Que and it came this week. Neither of us have ever seen it. Rick watched it, I saw snippets. We chuckled at the quotes used in You’ve Got Mail, and having never seen it, thought they were so funny. Great movie, stellar cast, (hardly recognized one of my favorite actresses, Diane Keaton, who I’d always THOUGHT had never had cosmetic surgery, but that nose is a dead give-away), classic story. When it ended Rick said, Ok, you know you have to get me the rest of them, right?

Right.

Entertainment. Good books and good movies. One of the wonderful things that Rick and I continue have in common.

And The Winner Is…

Tags

Dan in Real Life, favorite movies, mama mia, Movies, Notting Hill, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail

Yesterday I was making homemade tortilla chips and watching my favorite movie of all time on Amazon Prime instant video. I put my facebook status to say:

“Making home made tortilla chips and watching my favorite movie of all time. Name it and I’ll write a blog post about you.”

Within seconds Abbie responded,
“You’ve Got Mail. Done and done.”

Well, that’s hardly fair! I already (apparently) blog more about Abbie than any other person, so really, I pretty much would have gotten around to these pictures anyway.

But I did think it was funny that she knew without hesitating. It really could have been one of 5 movies.

When I admit my top five movies, I hope you’ll still like me. Keep in mind that I’m a sucker for a good love story and I like a happy ending.

1. You’ve Got Mail
2. Dan in Real Life
3. Mama Mia
4. Notting Hill
5. Sleepless in Seattle

You know what these all have in common?

No bad guys.

I don’t know what else this says about me, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

And I realize this post was more about me and my taste in movies than about the winner of my little game, and for that I apologize. I do think it’s fitting that Abbie knew. She probably knows me better than anyone else on the planet. Rick knows me too, but I think he would have been saying eeny-meeny-miney-moe through the five movies I mentioned.

I promise to make it up to you, Abbie. Fortunately, you always let me practice with my camera on you so there will always be plenty of material in the future.

T.V. and Movies

Tags

ironman the movie, madmen, mama mia, modern family, Movies, parenthood the movie, postaday2011, T.V. shows

Movies:
I had to update our Blockbusteronline que tonight. Can I just say there are not very many new movies that look like something I care to devote a couple hours to?

Where have all the movies gone!?

One of our favorite things to do (Rick’s and mine) is to watch movies. We rarely go to the theater anymore, (more because of noisy annoying people than even the outrageous prices), but when we do, we tally how many of the previews show other movies we want to see. It always seems like great movies are coming out when you see the trailer in the theater.

But tonight trying to update our list….well, there’s pretty much nothing I would give my time and attention to right now.

TV:
I miss Parenthood.
I miss Modern Family. Can’t wait for those two shows to start back up. Parenthood especially. I think it’s my favorite show Of. All. Time. And you know what that means.

We watched the first 2 or 3 seasons of Madmen recently (I almost wrote ‘this summer’ but stopped myself because I couldn’t remember for a split second if we’d had summer yet, but that’s another post…which I’ve already written), anyway, back to Madmen…At first we were entralled. Set between 1960 and 1962 (the seasons we watched, I’m sure it covers more than that), which are the exact years Rick and I were born, respectively, so seeing the fashion, and the furnishings…the archaic attitudes toward:
a. Women
b. Drinking
c. Smoking
d. All of the above

was interesting and kept our interest, but by the last couple episodes we watched, Rick asked me if I would mind if we didn’t finish. Maybe it wouldn’t seem so drastic if we were watching it as it was aired, one episode at a time with a break for 3 or 4 months, but watching them back to back in a matter of weeks was, admittedly, a bit over the top and degrading to our souls. It left us wondering if any man in the 60s was EVER faithful to his wife, and if EVERY single working person drank cocktails during staff meetings. Ok, the cocktails, probably, but seriously, the complete disregard of morality was too much, and I agreed, I’d had enough. To those of you on facebook that recommended it, we did like it. It was just a little like a 5lb bag of peanut M&Ms at one sitting; too much of something not really healthy for us in the first place, so no thank you, I’m done.

One of my favorite bloggers of all time, Miz Booshay, wrote about movies yesterday and today and mentioned those she had not seen and would never see, and then listed her favorites. Her list of favorites totally match movies I love, to a movie, and her list of those she hates or refuses to see…I’m sad to say…list one movie that I consider one of my favorites of all time and watch with my girlie whenever:
a. I’m feeling down
b. She’s feeling down
c. I’m flying high
d. She’s flying high
and times in between. It’s ok. One of my best friends detests that movie (you know who you are HGD) and I love her anyway.

The other movie Miz Booshay said she has no interest in is Ironman. I’m sorry. I love Robert Downey Jr. And I love any movie he is in. I can’t help it. I know I shouldn’t. But I do.

Other than Ironman and Mama Mia, I think Miz Booshay and I could actually be very very good friends. I won’t say best friends because I have a few women in my life who would be hurt, and I’ve already declared Pioneer Womanmy fantasy celebrity BFF, but I do sense a kindred spirit….

The Help

Tags

Movies, postaday2011, the help trailer

I cannot wait to see this movie:

The book was one of my favorite reads of all time, and though I usually don’t like a movie if I’ve read the book, this one looks wonderful!!

I love Weekends.

Tags

acadamy awards, bellingham washington, el riconcito, liam neeson, Mexican Food, Movies, oscars, postaday2011

Yesterday afternoon, on our way to the gym for our workout Rick said, ‘I think we should go out on a date tonight. How does True Grit and Boomer Burgers sound?’

Sounded GREAT to me.   Our usual weekly date nights have been put on hold indefinitely, and we haven’t gone out just the two of us in ages.

While we were finishing getting ready Rick said, ‘Maybe not boomers. Maybe more of a sit-down place. And maybe not True Grit?’

Fine. Sounded great to me. I would have been happy with a Comcast On Demand movie and a Tino’s Calzone delivered.

We ended up at El Rinconcito on Yew Street. We haven’t been there in years and had forgotten what great Mexican food it is! Rick had Pollo Chipotle and we both groaned when we tasted it, so good. I had the special, two enchilladas, one with white sauce and one with their own tomatilla sauce. The white sauce was simply Mexican crema as far as I could tell, but so yummy, and I happen to still have my leftovers in the fridge waiting for me to indulge for my early dinner. Poor Rick ate his leftovers last night after the movie. He’s on his own tonight!

The movie was amazing!!

It's a good movie if Rick doesn't already know the end in the first 30 minutes, and he didn't guess the end until it was unveiled! Good acting, intense, suspenseful, without being gorey and gross. Totally go see it!

Today we got just almost up to the 9 inch mark of snow before it started warming up and raining a little. It’s melting now, but not super fast, so there’s still enough to justify not putting on makeup or doing my hair, lazing around in yoga pants and sweatshirt, and pretending we’re still snowed in and hunker down to watch the Oscars tonight.

Ok, speaking of the Oscars. I’ve only seen three of the movies up for Best Picture:
Inception, The Social Network, and Toy Story 3

(This is mostly due to the fact that Rick and I don’t go out on dates right now. Going to movies, or at least WATCHING movies is one of our favorite things to do together, so this is really cramping my style right now! )

Incecption: though everyone I know loved it, I didn’t. Maybe I was too tired the night we watched it, but I just couldn’t follow it. And I’m usually really into movies that are hard to follow.

The Social Network:
Again, maybe I was tired that night, but it must have been forgetable because I don’t remember it much.

Toy Story 3:
I’m sure I would have loved it, had I stayed awake.

Are you seeing a trend here? Maybe we’ll rent each of these once my thyroid and iron levels come back up to within normal range!

I’ll still enjoy the Oscars tonight, even though I’ve seen none of the movies.

If I can stay awake.
P.S. I saw a coyote in the woods behind our house today. I’ve made the dogs stay inside since then.

Three Things I Recommend

Tags

Christmas, friends, Movies

From a wonderful weekend away at our friends Brent and Heather’s in Issaquah, I am highly recommending three things:

Go see The Blind Side.  Best movie I’ve seen in ages.

The Bellevue Botanical Gardens Light Show was unbelievable.  The whole thing flora and fauna recreated in christmas lights.  The displays were so well done you could tell what flowers they were supposed to be.  I highly recommend taking an evening and hitting this place for $1 donation at the entrance!

No photograph of our friends this time, but I also highly recommend slowing down time a bit, and spend a relaxing evening or morning, or both, like we did with good friends you love and who love you.

My new Favorite Movie

Tags

Dan in Real Life, Movies

We saw this in the Theater the weekend it opened. Twice. We never do that. NEVER. But I loved this movie. Rick and I are going to watch it tonight. I love all the family dynamics in it. I love the chaos at the vacation house, and the dinners by candle light. I love the Grandpa’s interaction with the baby, and the aunts’ interaction with the neices; I love the sound track, and I’ll bet after tonight I’ll love the out takes. This is my favorite movie. EVER. Period, end of story.