movie night

I went to the movies tonight and saw "House Bunny". Anna Faris has such great comedic timing. I laughed and laughed until my sides hurt at one point. For once, all the jokes were not given away in the trailer and I truly enjoyed this. I would not say it was the best movie ever and it certainly is not the worst. I have seen far worse movies than this - the Year of The Dog, for one - that did make me laugh half as much as this.

The only thing funnier I've seen this year was Don't Mess with the Zohan. I don't normally enjoy Adam Sandler's movies. They are just too much for me, too predictable for one. The Zohan was hilarious and I really laughed until I had tears in my eyes.
I don't like satire or overly predictable comedy - you know the in-your-face kind that you don't need a brain to get. Almost as if there is a laugh track. I hate those movies. I'm my own person. Just because the critics love it, doesn't sell me on a movie. I make that decision myself. After all, I know what I like way better than any critic out there.
For example, I saw "Wall-E" against my initial instincts. It got such great reviews right? My friend who saw it with me, loved it. I was so bored. The first 30 min were fine and I might have enjoyed it more if it ended at that point. I actually fell asleep during most of it and woke up at the end. This rarely happens. I see a lot of movies and I've slept through 3 of them - Wall-E, Atonement, and Scoop. I don't think Scoop was all that boring but I was exhausted and still went out to a night movie anyway when I went to see it. Atonement, two words...snooze-fest. I'm not saying it's a bad movie but just not for me - I saw it with 3 other people who loved it. And when they explained to me why I could almost see it. Almost.
I think the short film they showed before Wall-E was far more entertaining imho.

I still haven't seen the Dark Knight - just too much hype. I will see it eventually on DVD. Tropic Thunder, I will not be seeing. Why can't they get a black actor? Why does Robert Downey junior have to play a black man? I just don't get that. Pineapple Express might be funny but I'm not sure if it's my kinda funny. SO I'll wait for that on DVD as well.

The Golden Compass

I saw the Golden Compass this past week. I really enjoyed it. I think it's worth seeing. I haven't read the book but plan to over the holiday break. I was out last night at a local bar with my friend Z and we were chatting with these 2 guys. They were very cool and we even exchanged numbers and plan to hang out again. One of the guys and I totally clicked but in a completely platonic way. He has a potential girl and I have a potential guy. I think he and I can be friends though. I have so missed have close guys friends I can hang out with. I've lost touch with most of the ones from college so I'd really like it if this works out.
While we were there, I was telling one of them that I'd really like to get an armoured bear like Iorek from the movie :) He was very cool(the bear). A guy at another table leaned over and jumped in and said to me "a lot of atheists say that they left God completely out of that movie". I have so many issues with that statement. For one, if what he says is true, for at least some atheists, then why do they care? IF they really don't believe in God what does it matter. Another thing that kills me - when the first Narnia movie came out, people said, there were too many Christian connotations(that it was very propaganda-like) and that's why they didn't like it. Now with The Golden Compass(TGC) movie, they are complaining because they think it's lacking God. WTF? I did not have a problem with either movie. If I had to choose a fav between the 2 movies it'd be tough. For visual effects alone, I would choose TGC over Narnia b/c none of the scenes made me think of CGI special effects. It all looked real. The polar bears in particular as well as the other animals looked so real and I know logically that they couldn't have been real and speaking :) but in all the scenes - you believe it. In Narnia, there were several scenes which I could tell were done by models/computer graphics/etc. yet that didn't diminish my enjoyment of it. Also with Narnia, I knew the basic story from having seen a cartoon version of the story as a child, so I had a fondness for the story ahead of time. All I knew about TGC was what I got from the previews I saw. Also b/c I haven't read the book yet, it didn't seem to be missing stuff and it set up the next sequel at the end.
That's my 2 cents.

lars and the real girl

I checked and it was going out of the theaters soon so I ate my dinner in a hurry and went out to see it tonight. I missed the first couple minutes I think but not enough to spoil it. I enjoyed it. I laughed a lot. It was sad and cute and funny.

I've seen a ton of movies lately. I've given up on rationing myself. I'm trying to see only movies I really want to see, not just ones I'm lukewarm about.

Next, I want see Martian Child with John Cusack. Kinda wanted to see American Gangster when I first saw the previews for it 3 months ago but now, not so much. Also want to see Dan in Real Life but I'm going to catch that one on DVD.

Gone Baby Gone is probably a great movie but I'm going to give it a miss - how many times have they done the kidnapped young child and tortured detectives. Feels like I've seen it already.

I've been waiting for almost half the year for The Golden Compass. I hate when they show you a great preview and you have to wait forever before hte movie comes out.

movies, movies, movies

I've seen 5 of the movies currently in theaters. I'm out of control. Yeah I am b/c I was trying to have a movie budget. See 1 movie or so a month. I'm way past that now.
I've even seen one of them twice (harry potter). I don't usu buy anyting to eat, I eat before I go to see a movie most times and also sneak in my own bottled water so I'm really only paying for the ticket. But at $8.50-10/movie it adds up real fast.
I guess it's not such a big deal. It's not like I have kids or pets that are going without so I can see all these movies :) So what movies have i seen in the last month? (I know you're dying to know - all 2 of you :)

The Bourne Ultimatum was non-stop fast-paced action. My friend Z and I went. She and I both love Matty-Matt aka Matt Damon. If you blink during this movie you will miss stuff. We tried not to blink.

Becoming Jane was ok, not quite as good as I expected it to be from previews.

No Reservations - I kinda enjoyed this one, though C. Zeta Jones is "not at all vulnerable" as I think the character was in the original movie - which I plan to see soon. I think the chemistry between the 2 main characters took longer to develop than the story implies.

Ratatouille - a fun movie, even if you have an aversion to rats. They're almost cute in this movie and the main character is totally cute. I think he's cute b/c he's blue and less rat-like than a brown/black rat would be.

Sunshine - not my usual kind of movie. My friend S recommendation, it was better than I expected until the last 15-20 min. At that point it went from science fiction to slasher movie. Still don't get it.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix - I had to see this since I've seen all the others. I felt like stuff was missing though in a way different from the other movies. I'm inclined to read the book now. I haven't felt the need to read any of the other books before.

stranger than me

Tonight I rented "Stranger Than Fiction"(STF). I saw it in the cinema but was in the mood for it again tonight. Went to the video store to choose a movie for tonight - I had one free movie coupon left (from reward point from a credit card). I was determined to borrow a movie I hadn't seen before. My choices..."the last king of scotland" or "the good shepherd". I wasn't really in the mood for either of those movies, even though I do want to see them eventually. Felt like something more upbeat and funny. So I went with STF. Such a great movie. The only thing is that when I first saw this movie - I went with several friends. We had horrible seats in the nosebleed section, partly due to the fact that there were 6 of us, we were late and it was opening weekend and the place was packed. Anyhoo, one of the friends with me was C. And I had such a great time watching the movie with him next to me. He and I laughed at many of the same things (that most other ppl weren't laughing at). He was very touchy-feely. Not inappropriately, he only touched my hand or arm from time to time. I liked it, a lot. And later we went for coffee and hung out for a while with a couple other friends. He sat next to me again and seemed so into me. It was a very good night, at least I thought it was. I was sure he'd call soon for us to hang again. He even suggested it himself to me that night. But then...nothing. No calls from him, nothing. This was back in December I think. He hasn't called me since. Several times I started dialing his number but bailed at the last minute before it goes through. Then I recently saw his ad on yahoo personals...for someone other than me...much younger than me...any race but black. I'd almost forgotten about that night. Guess I was trying to block it out b/c it's tied to the other not-so-good stuff.

So there's this guy at the gym who I thought was kinda cute but he seemed shy. I don't have much patience for the shy. I just don't. Anyhoo, finally he comes over to me and talks to me at the gym for quite some time (while I worked out on 3 different machines). So I figure, the next time he sees me, he's going to ask for my number at the very least or ask me out...maybe for drinks or coffee sometime. Well, I was wrong again. I swear, sometimes my love-life (or lack thereof) is a like a country-western song. 5 times now he has come over to talk to me. Does he expect to learn all about me without even paying for a coffee. What am I supposed to think? That he's interested? Or that he's not interested? Whatever I'm supposed to think...what I think now is that he's a weirdo. One of my friends told me I should ask him out for coffee. But I fear if I do this, it'll only confirm my suspicions that he's a weirdo and then I'll end up having to give him that awkward "I'm just not interested in you" talk b/c I was the one who asked him out first.

The other weird thing is that I saw him tonight. Not at the gym(cause you know there's no way I'm going there on a sun), but at the gas station where I decided to go fill up my tank before going to get my movie (the gas station is next door). The weird thing is that he was there at all b/c he lives far away from there (at least 15min or more) whereas I live 5 min from there. The gas is cheaper there than at most stations and he drives an Audi which needs premium grade so maybe it's worth it to him to drive that far. I always wonder about people driving around (wasting gas) to find the cheapest gas. Surely it'd be cheaper to get gas closest to you than to drive further for it. imho, but what do I know. From our conversations...where he never asks me for my number or asks me out...I don't think we have much in common other than the fact that our parents are from the same country. Plus with every meeting, he's becoming less cute and more weird. He totally came up behind me at the gym the other day and I was like "whoa, don't sneak up on me". What does he think? that we have thing now? That he can get into my personal space and I'd be ok with that. Maybe I'm the one who's weird. I just don't think this guy is it.

I have a totally inappropriate crush on a guy at work - he's 22. I'm sure it'll pass. He's funny and and sarcastic and so quick-witted. And 22. I try not to visit his lab anymore so I don't see him much. This is for the best. I couldn't even think about dating this guy ever. Even if he was interested in someone 10 yrs older. He's way too young. Plus, he's a co-worker in my former lab and that would just make me fodder for the rumor mills. Who needs that? I sure don't. I only bring this up b/c I was telling T while we were out at lunch about my crush. Well I started to say " I think my crush is fading, this is good". She said "oooh, the guy from the gym?" And I was like "not him, no way, he's barely even cute anymore, I don't have a crush on him at all. I was talking about a guy here at work". I planned to keep his name to myself for as long as possible. Well until the crush goes away completely. Any day now, it's bound to happen.

I just don't know what to think or do about this guy at the gym. I actually have a name for him - dorkyD. It's a little mean, I know. In my defense all I can say is that, no guy who was interested in me before waited this long to ask for my number. Not even the weirdos. Actually, the weirdos always want my number asap or give me theirs if I refuse to give them mine. The longer he waits, it'll be 3 weeks mon. Granted I only see him a couple times a week at the gym and I only went once last week. I have seen him randomly before though. At the grocery - again far away from where hw claims he lives. Well he has to pass 4 or 5 other groceries to shop at that one. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was stalking me.

I gotta stop this train of thought - obviously, I'm tired and should go to bed now.

Dinner & movie

I'm really due for a break, for things to start going well. I feel more positive now than I did at the start of this week. That's a good sign.
Went to dinner / movie last night with my usual group. This helped improve my outlook.

For dinner, I picked a grilled Ahi tuna sandwich with fries. It was delicious and it only cost $17 incl tip for my share. I had hot tea, no alcohol (this always ramps up the bill). The tuna was a little rarer than I would normally have it if I cooked it myself but was still good. The fries were thick-cut, crispy on the outside and fully cooked on the inside. Perfect. I also had tastes of everyone else's entres. All really good food at reasonable prices.

I hate it when we go out to eat and I realize I've spent $30 or more on mediocre food. So I went in tonight thinking about the cost and ordering to suit. The restaurant was empty except for us and 2 other tables. The food was so good, I don't know why it wasn't packed with patrons. The bread they brought out before out dinner was warmed in the oven first. Warmed bread is rarely done these days and always a real treat for me. Maybe it was the time - we got there after our movie around 9:30pm. They had live jazz which at first weirded me out. I got there first and a couple amateurs were "singing karaoke-style" I use this term very generously. By the time the others got there, they'd stopped thank God. The band was a little too loud. I prefer it to be background rather than so loud it feels like a concert.

We saw Zodiac which for some reason I've been calling 'vertigo' all week. Some kind of brain glitch...with the week I've had I guess it's excusable. It was a bit gory in parts but interesting all the way through. Wasn't bored and I think the ending was done well.