Reviews

Matt and I love movies.  We don't see too many in the theater anymore, but over the last month a few have come out that we were too excited about not to catch on the big screen.  I thought a review was in order :)

First we saw Wolverine, a prequel/spin off to the X Men movies, which we both loved.

Wolverine was pretty good.  It's the type of movie that has benefited from time and space; the further away from it I get, the more fondly I remember it.

Hugh Jackman is in the best shape of his life.  Not that I've known him for long (or at all) but this has got to be tip-top physical form.  For anyone.  Did you see this picture of him in People?  

This man was born in 1968.  Nineteen-sixty-eight.  Wow.

Anyway, Wolverine was fine.  I'd give it 3.5 of 5 stars.  Good backstory, nice character

development, fun action scenes.  The effects were lacking, the CG obvious at times, but overall, not bad.  The movie reviewer for our local paper (The Salt Lake Tribune) said this: 

"The filmakers couldn't decide what to cut out, so they threw everything into the pot and hoped for the best.  The results are half interesting, but half filler"

And I agree. 

The following weekend we saw Star Trek.

When I was 9 or 10 I found The Next Generation on reruns in the afternoon when I got home from school.  I watched only 3 or 4 episodes (loving them) before my dad found out and started to make fun.  That was the end of that. 

When Matt and I were dating he took me to see a Star Trek movie.  I remember being a bit lost, but enjoying it enough.  He tells me we actually saw one or two Star Trek movies besides the one I remember...but I have no recollection of those.

At any rate, I have no Star Trek background.  I am certainly not a Trekkie.  But this movie almost makes me wish I were.

Amazing, amazing, amazing.  I loved every single second of it.  

The most incredible accomplishment (IMO) was a complete lack of cheesiness.  They included all these great sayings, mannerisms, etc from the original without the typical corny behavior that most movies like this can't resist.  When Bones says "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" He does it without a dramatic pause, without a smirk, without the emphasis that would have made it cheesy.  It's fantastic.

JJ Abrams directed, proving that his genius knows no bounds.  Everything the man touches (with the huge and horrible exception of Cloverfield) turns to gold.  Thank you, JJ Abrams, for Lost and Fringe.  I love you.

Anyway, Star Trek is the first movie in YEARS that I would consider seeing more than once in the theater.  It made my top 10 list before it was even half over - and then got better.  If you haven't seen it...DO!

5 of 5 stars, obviously.

This past weekend we say Terminator Salvation - the movie we have been psyched about for months.

I tried not to let my expectations get out of control.  It's just that the trailers for the movie were so well done...maybe they pumped it up too much.  Either way, Terminator 4 fell a bit short of where I was hoping it would.

The character Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington, yum) completely stole the show. Christian Bale was secondary, at best.  The character Kyle Reese (played by Anton Yelchin) was also a bit of a scene steal-er.

John Connor in this movie didn't turn out quite like I pictured him.  The John Connor I expected would have been a bit more open to working with the machines - after all, he sent a Terminator back in time to protect himself as a teenager!  In his past (and future) he's worked with the terminator played by Arnold twice before, yet in this movie he's horrified at the thought.  Even when he gives in he does it half heartedly. The John Connor I expected wouldn't have sat around listening to his mommy's audio tapes so damn often, either.  Please, John!  Grow up!

The character development was seriously lacking.  John's wife, Kate, may as well not have been in the movie for all the importance she had.  They never even mentioned the fact that she was (heavily) pregnant.  Jeez!  You'd think carrying the heir to the savior of the human race would at least deserve a passing thought.

John himself had NO development.  Perhaps the screen writers thought the previous movies were enough of a backstory?  They weren't.  Last we saw John he was just a teen - I'd assume he's done some growing, had some life experiences since then.  But maybe not.  Either way, you'd never know!

Marcus had the most complete history, yet it was severely lacking.  We know that his brother and 2 cops are dead "because of him" and that he's being put to death for his crimes - but that's it.  He insists that he's "not a good guy" yet proves time and again that he is.  Seems like there should be a lot more to him.  10 minutes worth of flashbacks and conversations would have gone a long way here.

Kyle Reese and his mute dependent, Star, were such warm-fuzzy characters.  I only wish I'd had a 5 minute explanation about why they were alone, how they rigged up their terminator-smashing booby traps and how they came to be together.  

Blair was the most ridiculous character.  When we meet her she's a total bad-ass.  She's not just beautiful, she's a fighter pilot, spy, soldier.  Doesn't need Marcus's help, not even to get untangled from her escape parachute that's tangled in a (powerless) power line tower.  Then she's almost raped, saved by Marcus and is suddenly cuddling up to him to sleep, telling him he has a strong heart and using his chest as a pillow.  She becomes a bad-ass again to help him escape the resistance, standing up to her commanding officer, John Connor.  Yet when Marcus and John come back from destroying the enemy she's clinging to her man once again, tearing up as he makes the ultimate sacrifice.  She seemed a bit bi-polar to me.  As a writer, it must be nice to be able to mold a character to whatever the current scene needs without worrying about what their actual behavior as a real person might be.

I went on a lot longer than I'd planned about the lack of character development.  Didn't realize it bothered me quite that much.

Despite all that, there were dozens of parts in Terminator Salvation when I looked at Matt (who wore a grin matching my own) and whispered "that was awesome!"

The action scenes were great, the effects were fantastic.  

The direction (McG - love him!) was wonderful.  The script, however, could have been so much better than it was.  I hope if they continue with this franchise they'll do it in a more complete way.  I hesitate to give it 4 stars...though I liked it better than I did Wolverine.  3.75 stars from me.

2 (more) things

I left two things off my "29 things" list.

I remembered them the same afternoon I wrote the list, but it felt like cheating to go back and change things.

It's driving me crazy, though.  I'm OCD like that.

Hagarmann's Sugar Cookies and Guitar Hero.  

They should both be on my list.  

Last April we went to St. George for Jesse's Birthday with the Moody family.  It was lots of fun. Jessica and James brought their PS2 and Guitar Hero2 and we played often.  

I'd met Guitar Hero prior to this and hated it - but I fell in love on this trip.  The crazy thing is that I sucked.  Like, bad.

The day after we got home from St. George I said to Matt "I'm kinda thinking about buying guitar hero for the Wii..."

And before I knew what was happening we were in the car and on our way to Game Stop.  

Matt's like that.

He's the type of person that takes action.

So while I would have spent the next several weeks pondering the purchase, he physically hustled me and both babies out to the truck, buckled us up, and made way (with great haste) to the closest video game store.

We spent several months addicted to Guitar Hero III, playing almost nightly and working our way from 'Easy' to 'Hard'.

Then Guitar Hero World Tour came out.  We're 'Experts' now - isn't that ridiculous?  Shows how much time we've wasted playing this silly game.  We probably should have learned to play a REAL guitar.  Then at least we'd have something to do around the campfire.  

One day a comet's going to hit, people, and we won't have TV after that.

(that's an inside reference to a book, not an end-of-the-world prediction, FYI)

On to Hagarmann's.

Theses cookies are like paradise.  I didn't even like sugar cookies until I tried them.

The first time I had them I said "there's almond in there..."

I said it in a spooky, trance-like voice.

And I was right.  They add almond extract to the cookies and to the frosting.  It's heavenly.

I'm dying to duplicate the recipe.  My one attempt thus far was a failure.  I almost cried.  The dough smelled right...but when they came out of the oven they weren't even close.

Becki has a client who has a boyfriend who works at Hagarmann's.  She's promised to ask for the recipe, but keeps forgetting.  And who knows if the recipe is even accessible by underlings, anyway???  

I've scoured the internet with no luck.  

I've got to find this recipe and conquer this cookie.  It's imperative to my mental health, my wallet and my waistline.

Once I was passionate about Mrs. Fields Cinnamon Sugar Cookies.  But I found that recipe, and now I'm impervious to the mall bakeshop.  

Once I was enamoured of the Tropical Chocolate Chip cookie at Paradise Bakery - but I mastered that recipe and again, I got over it.

Once I know I can have a cookie any time I want it, it loses it's hold over me. 

I have to find the Hagarmann's recipe.

These cookies cost $1.75 a piece.  Isn't that sick?

If you can help me, please do.  It's obvious that I need professional assistance.

I'm debating whether or not to post this.  I feel like it makes me sound insane.  

Which may not be too far off.

I heart TV

I love television.  SO much.

Sure - there's a lot of crap on TV.  But there's also a lot of GOOD stuff.  

(and, btw, some of that crap is highly entertaining)

Nothing bugs me more than when people say "oh - I don't really watch TV" or "I don't really like TV".  I think most of those people are liars that think they seem smarter because they don't watch the idiot box.  Here's the thing - I'm fairly smart.  Matt is brilliant.  We have a show every night of the week.  We have 2 (or even 3) shows some nights.  

I think the DVR is the greatest invention since the internet.  Because of it, we can play guitar hero (which is the greatest invention since the DVR, btw) until we're ready to watch - then skip through all the commercials!

Anyway, you may wonder why I felt the need to wax lyrical about television.

It's because the fall break is over!  All those shows that went on hiatus back in November are back or are coming back within the next couple of weeks.  Oh, how I've missed my shows...

Two weeks ago The Biggest Loser and Nip/Tuck came back.

The Biggest Loser is one of those guilty pleasure shows for me.  I can't help but be addicted to the show.  That I have a big, fat crush (pun intended) on both trainers (Jillian and Bob) is a big part of my addiction.

Nip/Tuck is more of a habit at this point.  Last season kind of sucked.  This season has really sucked.  But we're only a couple of episodes in, and I'm willing to stick it out for a while to see if it gets better.

Damages (another FX show) also came back.  Two episodes are languishing in the DVR, begging to be watched.  I'm indifferent to their pleas.  I'd delete them, but Matt is keeping them around.  We'll see if anything happens with that.  I think I'd have to be REALLY bored to watch.

Last week Supernatural came back.

This show ranks really high for me.  #2 or #3 of all my loves.  I have a strange habit with Supernatural - I love to let them pile up in my DVR so I can watch 2, 3, 4 episodes or more at a time.  I can't get enough of this show. Once I start watching, I want it to go on and on.  So last weeks episode is waiting for a mate in the DVR.  I check on it daily - just making sure nothing has happened to it.  When I have 2 or more, I'll watch them all.  And it will be wonderful.

Last night House came back.  We watched it, it was great.  

Tonight Fringe is back.  I love Fringe.  It grapples with Supernatural for the 2nd place position in my heart.

Wednesday night is big.  HUGE.  I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it.  

LOST is back.

I have a themed dinner planned (yes, I am a loser) Island-style food, because we're all so desperate to get back.  We'll be having coconut crusted salmon with orange marmalade dipping sauce and pina-colada rice with shrimp.  Maybe a heart of palm salad.

LOST is the best show on television, without a doubt.  I remember the first commercial I ever saw for LOST.  It was during a Sunday night football game.  I knew then that LOST and I would love each other.

I've seen every single episode and own the first two seasons on DVD (thoughtful gifts from L'Jean and Ryan, who share the addiction.) My theory about people that don't like LOST is that that they aren't smart or patient enough to watch it.  Every time I talk to someone who tells me "I used to watch, but it's so stupid! They never answer any questions!" they prove my theory.

We watch LOST the second we're far enough into it that I can ff through comercials.  Unlike Supernatural, I can't wait long enough to let more than one pile up.  It's just too important.  I just HAVE to know what's happening.  When I worked I would spend half of Wednesday trolling the LOST boards on ABC.com, reading the theories...coming up with own (but never posting, too creepy over there!) 

And that's why LOST is #1 on my list.

Moving on - before I frighten too many people...

Next week Hells Kitchen is back - I love Gordon Ramsey!

The week after Heroes is back - so much better this season than last, I'm glad we kept watching.

The week after that Survivor and Terminator are back.  We jumped on the Survivor bandwagon long after most people, and Matt often jokes that we are the only ones still watching.  This one obviously depends on the cast, but it often ends up one of our favorite shows of the week. Terminator is fantastic.  I love the movies, and the show is even better.  Perfect casting, excellent stories.  This one is Matt's favorite.  For me, it ranks right up there with Supernatural and Fringe.

And that concludes my winter TV show roster.  Sort of.  There are a bunch of others that I watch, but don't consider to be essential viewing.

I feel the need to rank my shows now.  

1. LOST

2. Supernatural, Fringe or Terminator

3. see above

4. see above

5. Heroes

6. House

7. Biggest Loser

8. Survivor

You can see almost everything we watch is science fiction or reality tv.

The other shows that weren't included above are fluffy little things like What Not to Wear, Girls Next Door and America's Next Top Model - shows that are much more mine than Matt's - and of course, our silly Sunday night shows, The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad.

We also like The Riches, which won't be back until mid-March.  So You Think You Can Dance also deserves mentioning, though it's on in the Summer.

We also love Monster Quest and watch a lot of specials on the History Channel.  Matt, especially, is a big fan of Modern Marvels.  I love anything historical.  Last night we watched 2 hours of Presidents and have the remaining 6 hours set to record over the next few days.  So, see?  Not all our shows are silly!

Anyway, it's all out there now.  I've confessed to everything I watch.

(except this horrible new reality show called True Beauty that makes poor Matt cringe. I saved it until last so maybe people wouldn't see it.)

Twilight Review

Matt and I and Becki and Colby went and saw Twilight Sunday afternoon.

That's right - we had to see it opening weekend. Along with every other 15 year old girl in the state.

I say every other 15 year old girl in the state because there's something about this story that turns me into just that - a squeal-y adolescent. It's just so perfect! What a swoon-worthy love story, right?

I mean, once you get past the fact that Edward is something like 115 and Bella is 17, which is really a gross age difference, even if he is frozen in time.

And the fact that Edward sort of stalks Bella, watching her while she sleeps, following her when she's out, etc. Sure, it's creepy...but in a cute way.

And the fact that at first all Edward wants to do is drink Bella's blood...

Anyway - none of that matters! Because it kind of grabs me - makes me cross both hands over my heart and sigh. And that's the 15 year old girl in me, making her prescence known.

I read the first 3 Twilight books last fall and loved them. Oh, I rated them 3,3, and 4 stars (out of 5) on Goodreads - but that doesn't mean that I didn't just love them. It just means that the writing was really weak in some areas. Stephenie Meyer isn't the best author - weak dialogue, repetetive descriptions, and more cliche's than you can shake a stick at (yeah - that was supposed to be funny), but she tells a story like few people can. And Twilight is a great story.

Anyway - back to the movie!

It was great. Awesome. One of the best book to movie adaptations ever.

The casting was awesome - with the exception of Rosalie. In the book she's supposed to be supermodel-gorgeous, but in the movie she was just barely pretty. I IMDB'd the movie after we got home (obsessive? me?) and IRL the girl (Niki Reed) is beautiful. She's actually pretty dark, though - olive skin and dark hair. I'd guess all the makeup to make her vampire pale is what took away from her normal beauty.

Edward is less golden than I had pictured him, but Robert Pattinson is a really good actor and he played the part wonderfully. Kristen Stewart was a perfect Bella. Laurent, James and Victoria were dead on. Charlie, Billy, Jacob, Jessica, Angela, Mike, Emmet and Carlisle were all perfect. Alice, Jasper and Esme were great.

Enough - you get it. I liked the movie.

I give it 5 of 5 stars.

Pioneer Woman - my new BFF

Yesterday was cold and windy and grey. Days like that make me want to cook and bake. Unfortunately, I cook and bake a lot in the winter! Unfortunate because I eat a lot of what I make...
Yesterday I resisted for most of the day, but Matt has school Tuesday nights, and isn't home until 10:00 or so. Around 5:00, I finally gave in to the urge.
I made the Yogurt Marmalade Cake from the Pioneer Womans website. The full name of the cake is actually Yogurt Marmalade Cake: To DIE For - and it is.
I thought that I liked it...until Matt got a hold of it. He liked it a LOT. lol
I chose it because PW has it listed under both dessert and breakfast - and breakfast is a tough meal for me. I can never think of anything I want to eat.
Anyway, when I got up this morning I discovered that Matt had hidden the remaining cake. No fear - I found it and had a nice thick slice with my tea this morning. Yum!

If you haven't checked out the Pioneer Womans website - do so!
A couple of weeks ago we harvested all the veggies from my garden and made her bacon wrapped jalepenos with all the peppers I'd grown - they were so amazing we made them again for our Halloween party last weekend. Everything I've tried from her recipe index has been ridiculously good. Laugh out loud good. You're laughing, of course, because you can practically FEEL the fat and calories settling in to your most problematic of problem areas - but you don't care, because the food is that good.
Or, at least that's how I feel about it.

I'm going to make her Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. for L'Jeans Birthday next week - but with Cream Cheese frosting, because that's what she requested. I love cake. I love baking cake. I hope it's cold and grey that day!

Matchbox 20!!!

A couple of weeks ago Jon was listening to the radio and heard a question to win concert tickets to Matchbox 20. the question was "who sang the title track to Grease?"
Which, of course, is John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. Duh.
Anyway, he called in, and he won!
Matchbox 20 is one of my favorite bands of all time - in fact, only Marroon 5 ranks equal with them. Jon knows that, so he gave the tickets to me.

When he brought them over last weekend he said to me "also, I was entered into some prize drawing where you get to meet the band, but I'm not going to win so don't worry about that"

Guess what?
we got to meet the band!!!

The concert was last night and it was awesome.
First we had the meet and greet. We got to talk to each of the band members - and they were very cool. They are like munchkins, though. Seriously - the tallest guy in the band was maybe 5'9 - he looked about Matt's height to me. The rest of them were 5'6 or 5'7, maybe. They looked like they were almost life size, you knwo what I mean? Like they stepped out of your big screen TV.
They gave us an 8x10 photograph and each of them signed it - made out to us individually. The guys were very personable, very friendly. The promotions director from the radio station asked Rob Thomas a couple of questions and he was so willing to answer her..it was really neat. He told us that he always watches a portion of the opening acts - otherwise he feels like it's a wierd transition from just being backstage to preforming. He likes to be part of the crowd beforehand to get a feel for the audience. He also told us that they have a tradition after the shows...when they arrive they set up a room with a disco ball directly above an air hockey table. After the show the guys from Matchbox 20, Mutemath and Alanis (plus their wives, girlfriends, etc) all get together, turn off the room lights and have an air hocket tournament under the disco call. He said it's like Fight Club - everyone crowded around in a circle, watching and yelling...it was hysterical.
The radio station took group pictures, and then we were done. The meet and greet lasted about 30 minutes, I think.

Then Matt and I ran over to Chili's for dinner.

Mutemath opened - and they were REALLY good. The music was very cool, and they were great preformers. Check out their music here http://www.myspace.com/mutemath

Then Alanis preformed. I think about half the people at the concert were there for her! She seems to have a very strong cult following! She put on a great show - very entertaining. I was shocked at how many of her songs I knew the lyrics to! Almost all were off the Jagged Little Pill album that I listened to in high school.
She did a parody of My Humps that was hysterical. She wore a pink boa and her band showered her with money at one point. That was the lead in to You Outta Know - which rocked.

After Alanis I pulled out my press pass and went down to the floor. The guy from the radio station escorted me up front where I got to take pictures in the press area. There was only one other photographer and one security gaurd there - I felt pretty special :)
There was about 3 feet between the stage and the first row, the space was mostly filled with gigantic speakers. That's where we stood to take pictures. We were allowed to move back and forth, etc. It was so cool.
I got to shoot during the first 3 songs, then I went back to my seat.
Matchbox 20 were amazing. So high energy! The guitarist was incredible in person - I've never really noticed that on the albums! And Rob Thomas's voice was just perfection live.
We stayed until about 10:30 - the concert was supposed to be over at 11:00, but we needed to get home to the kids and thought we'd skip the mass exodus traffic.

I took some pictures with my camera, and then the battery died. Can't believe I was such an idiot that I didn't think to charge it before we went! After that I used the camera that was part of the prize package. It's a Nikon Coolpix, a very cute little camera, but not great for taking action shots or pictures in strage lighting. Anyway, the pics I took with it kind of suck.
The radio guy also took the group shot with that camera. So that's why it's pretty grainy, I don't think he really knew how to use it.

Here's a link to a slideshow of the group photo and some of the best shots from my foray as a prossional photog. http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/1141Mandy/?action=view&current=9ced3142.pbw

It was a seriously cool experience. We had such a great time.