Summer Blockbusters 2009

1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

This was my first summer blockbuster of 2009 and I was really disappointed L I usually really love the X-Men movies (the last one is my favorite) and Wolverine is my favorite character. The plot was pretty weak, the action was lame, and I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. I am not knowledgeable about the comic book series and not sure how closely if at all they followed that plot. One thing I do know is that if that’s the best Wolverine origin story they could come up with I hope this is the first and last of the origin series. If you really want to see it wait for it on DVD, don’t waste the money.

2. Star Trek

I am not a Star Trek watcher; I can honestly say I have never seen an episode of Star Trek. This is not a movie that I was interested and was not planning on seeing it. My husband talked me into in and I loved it! I had heard that a lot of Trekkies did not like the movie because it did not follow the original series and tried too hard to appeal to a bigger audience, and that it did. I thought the action, plot, actors were great. There were lots of things I didn’t really get and my husband had to keep telling me when there was a reference to the original series but I still loved it. I am now in love with Spock and Vulcan powers. Live long and prosper words to live by. Go see it now!

3. Terminator Salvation

First, I have to start by saying I have only see Terminator 2, I never saw the first one so I went in without having all of the background information. I had really high expectations because I really loved the second one, thought it was way ahead of it’s time and the trailer looked awesome. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed. Overall, the movie was okay, the action was pretty good, the plot was lacking, and I don’t know if they want Christian Bale to do his Batman voice or if that’s his new thing, I felt like I was watching a Keanu Reeves movie. Within the context of Batman movies it’s okay but that’s it. I normally love Christian Bale; he was awesome in the Machinist. Sam Worthington played the hunky star; I thought he was really great. He’s relatively unknown; I would like to see more of him. Maybe a matinee movie, wait for the dollar theatre, if you really want to see it, I would see it in a theatre not at home.

4. Angels and Demons

I have not read any of Dan Brown’s books, not something that I am interested in reading. This is not a movie that I would have put on the top of my list to watch but my husband wanted to see it so we went. I had pretty low expectations. Overall, the movie was pretty entertaining. My husband is an architecture student so it was really interesting to watch Tom Hanks run around Rome visiting a bunch of Bernini’s buildings and sculptures. I thought the outcome was amazingly ridiculous. It was so off the charts unbelievable that it really ruined it for me. Like I said I didn’t read the book so I don’t know how closely it followed the book but the ending was just silly. If you have read the book, know what’s going to happen and are just looking for some entertainment, go see it. If you have high expectations, you might want to skip this one.

1 out of 4… Not the best start to summer movies.

Movies I am really looking forward to:

1. Away We Go: The trailer is awesome, the movie looks so fun and heartbreaking but happy. Dave Eggers is one of the writers of this movie, that makes me so happy. His first book A Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius was good but he has another book that I really love called Teachers Have it Easy. It is one of the reasons I decided to not be a teacher.

2. Where the Wild Things Are?: I think anyone who loved this book as a child or adult is exciting about this movie. I am no different. This movie is directed by Spike Jonze, who I love, is sure to deliver.

3. Inglorious Bastards: There are great things being said about this movie, it was the movie to see at Cannes this year. I have heard nothing but good reviews. I have heard it is Tarantino's bloodiest film, Brad Pitt is the lead role, what's not to love?

Compost Happens

I just heard a story on Market Place about the mayor of San Francisco making an attempt to mandate compost and I think it is so wonderful. My city, Denver, is doing a composting pilot program that my neighborhood is a part of. The city picked five neighborhoods representative of the city as a whole. It is unbelievable how much of our trash can be composted or recycled, very little goes to the landfill. I do wish Denver recycled more plastics. I can’t believe more cities aren’t initiating composting programs. I think it would be a great business venture. You can do compost collection, change a fee, similar to people who are not services by city waste removal, and then sell the compost. Sounds like a win-win.

8 True Things

I was inspired by this blog, to write this…


8 True Things

1. There are so many cute, crafty things that I want to do but when I get home I usually end up eating dinner and curling up on the couch with my hubby to watch a movie. Recently I learned to crochet; I can do that and watch movies… I really hate it, I want to be more crafty, do more on our remodel, and I just can’t get motivated.
2. I hold people to a really high standard, and for the most part I know it’s unrealistic. I know it’s unrealistic but at the same time I don’t want to surround myself with people that I don’t believe in, trust, admire, etc. I have ruined a lot of good friendships because people disappoint me. There are a few a really regret, some I am happy about. It’s the ones I regret that really bother me.
3. I have never really challenged myself. For the past year or two I have wanted a physical challenge, and for me that meant running a ½ marathon. It has been two years since I started saying this and I am hoping to run my first ½ marathon in October. My degree is in education and my program was pretty easy (sorry, I don’t mean to be offense to anyone who may have struggled in a similar program), I feel as though I probably never pursued any other career options because they might be have been difficult. Now, 3 years later I am planning to go back to school in a field I am really interested in, and dare I say a degree program that may be challenging.
4. I wish I had a strong family support system. I could say a lot about this but I don’t really want to get into it. A lot of this probably relates to my no. 2. But the truth is I am not really close to anyone in my family, and I don’t feel like I can go to my family for support, help, etc. My little brother, who is 16, is actually moving in with me for a while because of how bad his home life is (my previous home life). It makes me really sad.
5. I am struggling with my need for my career and my desire to have a family. Right now I don’t think we want kids but I just don’t see how we could have kids and keep my career intact. There is a really great book called The Bitch in the House that speaks to this issue exactly. Women in my generation, in my mother’s generation are now expected to have a career, but still remain a housewife, child care provider. I know we are not in a position to have kids, we probably won’t even think about it seriously for another five years, but this is really weighing on me. I guess I want to be able to do both well, without one or the other suffering, and I just don’t think that’s possible.
6. I miss music. When I was in high school I went to shows every weekend, The Nile was my home. My freshman year of high school I moved to a very, very small town in PA and I didn’t have a car. I only went to two shows the whole year, as many as I went to during Christmas break at home… I just kinda got out of the music scene, and the scene I was into kinda died, ska, but I still really miss going to see bands play, finding new bands, etc. Now I feel old going to certain shows…
7. I don’t feel like my image reflects who I am inside. When I started working in offices (sophomore year of college), I started wearing what I thought was appropriate work attire without wearing things that I necessary liked. Little by little I am working on finding a happy middle, and adding to my wardrobe. This also extends to my hair, tattoos, etc. I would like my hair to be more fun, for a lack of a better word. I would like a lot more tattoos, (working on that). But I also feel like I have been me for so long that it would be weird to up and change the way I dress, do my hair, etc.
8. I can’t wear white! I would really like to but I have sweat issues…. This is gross but it is true. A while back I started using this stuff called Certain Dry, you don’t sweat at all, and that started to freak me out, so I stopped, and now I just sweat a lot. Most of the time I don’t mind except when it comes to wearing white. All of my white tops have sweat stains and after a few wears I have to get rid of them.

I am suppose to write ten of these, but feeling really good about my 8. I am going to stop here.