hunger games.

allow me to nerd out for just a moment.  recently, i read the hunger games trilogy.  and when i say read, i mean devoured - staying up late, taking an actual lunch break to read, etc.  it was so good.  it's an easy read trilogy about a future dystopian society.  totally written for teenagers.  but, well written and thought-out nonetheless.  i loved it.  total brain candy, which i need on occasion (or quite frequently, really).

anyway.  they are making it into a movie!  or, three movies i would presume.  i'm stoked.  and they've just announced the cast.  and it's amazing.  and i agree with probably 99% of the casting decisions, which is so excellent.

i'm excited.  and a huge dork.

leaving the house.

way back when, i was out and about all the time.  i would head down to book people and curl up in a chair and read there.  i would duck in and out of boutiques, music stores, grocers.  i would languish for hours at friends' houses, in cafes, at random restaurants.  when i started grad school, i became a bit more homebodied.  homebodied?  sure.  being at work all day and then at class until 9:30 two nights a week, i started to relish my time in our house.  this also roughly coincided with us owning a house, so that may have something to do with it too.  in any case, i kept it closer to the casa, but i could still pry myself away for a happy hour or yoga class or dinner with friends.

since having emme, i feel like i have crawled into my little hermit shell with my young and i am not budging.  in addition to wanting to keep it closer to home for the bunny, i am a control freak (shocker, i know).  i feel like tying myself to the house gives me some small sense of dominion over the deluge of chores that i face daily.  i live in a mountain of laundry (i can't decide if i hate clean or dirty laundry more...), i wash bottles incessantly, i attend to the living creatures that cohabitate with us, all of whom have needs (alas, the joy of pethood, motherhood, wifehood).  despite knowing that our house will never stay clean, that there is no place to put things to feel more organized, that i will never have time to read all the books/do all the crafts i want, i feel like being there at least puts those pipe dreams into the realm of the possible....  home is my safe nest, regardless of any accompanying frustrations.  i feel the possibility of control there.

last night, though, i was coerced out of my abode to meet some girlfriends for a  chick flick.  i'd read the book and i'm a sucker for a cheesy romcom (hate that term).  the movie was fun and seeing the girls was lovely, despite not having too much of a chance to visit.  and somehow, when i got home, it was the sweetest place i have ever been.  i was happy to be loading the dishwasher at 10:13 and hauling clean diapers out of the dryer at 10:46.  it was such a little thing to do, leaving the house.  relinquishing that control over my fiefdom for just a minute.  i was gone for not a full three hours.  but it gave me brand new eyes coming back.  i will have to consider doing this more often.


*note: i re-posted this because of the blogger mishap yesterday.  boo for blogger!

rolling rolling rolling....

today, emme rolled over.  it was amazing - i think it surprised her even more than it surprised me!  we went to a movie at alamo drafthouse with our friends alison and cameron this morning.  we saw black swan for baby day (this theatre normally doesn't allow anyone below 18, but they have showings for folks with kiddos on tuesday mornings).  it was quite intense and really well acted and emmeline crashed on me the entire time.  she was so sweet and i love all of our time cuddling.

anyway...we came back to our house and the babies were having play time on the floor.  emme has been getting mad at tummy time on occasion and today was one of those occasions.  i put her down on her belly and she wiggled for a second and then just launched herself over onto her back.  it made her stop crying in surprise - it was so cute.

she has yet to have a repeat performance, but i will persist with the tummy time and we shall see.  for now, though, i'm marking january 25 as the first tummy to back roll...
(i know the hand holding picture is kinda blurry, but these two girls are just so cute i had to post it....)

movie reviews

we've been to/seen quite a few movies lately.  a couple that are not on this list because they aren't super-recent: robin hood (very mediocre); how to train your dragon (awesome); and iron man 2 (could have been so much better).  sorry this is quite long...

- eclipse: i'll spare the great detail and refer to my previous post for this one.  better than the others in the series does not a great movie make.  i want to like kristen stewart a lot, but mostly she just seems sulky and kind of annoying.  2 out of 5 stars.

- gasland: my friend w. had knee surgery last week, so we brought over food on friday night and watched this movie at their house.  wow.  so much information about a topic i had never really given much thought (natural gas fracking).  obviously, this was a documentary, so the views presented were biased to the filmmaker's opinions, but i thought it was really well done.  it was also terrifying and heart-wrenching to learn about what's happening to small pockets of people across the country (short summary: the fracking poisons ground water and people are getting very sick.  they are also able to light their water on fire as it comes out of the tap).  i don't think you can unilaterally say that extracting natural gas is a bad idea (we have energy needs, there is a huge supply, etc), but the lack of accountability for major companies is startling.  this is a classic david vs. goliath story (think erin brokovitch on steroids) and it seems inevitable that david is going to lose this battle in a very profound way.  anyway...incredible flick, highly informative and engrossing.  4 out of 5 stars.

- cyrus: i think this movie could have been way better than it was.  there were some great actors in it - catherine keener (who i love), marisa tomei, john c. reily.  but none of them really did anything spectacular with the roles, and my guess is that a sub-par plot progression is to blame.  the story is about john (reily's character) meeting molly (tomei) and the wrench in their little love story when he meets her 21 year-old son, cyrus (jonah hill).  anyway, cyrus and molly have a bizarre relationship, and wacky antics ensue.  except that they don't, really.  the premise of the movie leaves a lot of opportunity for hilarity and humanity and in the end, i didn't get my fill of either.  most movies are too long, this one was over in a hurry and i think they left out some valuable character development that would have helped the authenticity a little bit....3 out of 5 stars.

- get him to the greek: it's been a few weeks for this one, but i am still on the fence about it.  i think i just don't really like jonah hill that much.  anyway...in this one, he works for a record label that is trying to get a washed up rock star to perform a show at the greek theatre.  hill is the go-to guy that becomes responsible for getting him there.  there are some hilarious and excellent moments involving p. diddy throughout the movie, and russel brand does his russel brand thing quite well, but the whole thing takes a really serious turn that just doesn't flow with the irreverence and insanity of the majority of the film.  couple that with some less-believable (and less interesting) sub-plots and i was left feeling just sort of bleh about it all.  3 out of 5 stars.

- toy story 3: despite the fact that i cannot remember the first toy story, and i never saw the second one, and this one is in 3D which makes my eyes twitch in ways i'm not really comfortable with, this movie was phenomenal.  it's always so refreshing to me when a movie has everything - character development, cohesive plot, humor, the human experience, and a little dash of nostalgia.  it's clear why pixar is so successful - we went to see this with another couple, none of us has kids, and at least 2-3 of us shed a little tear and left the theatre feeling warmer and fuzzier than we were when we got there.  4.5 out of 5 stars.

- the a-team: i am aware that movies like the a-team aren't actually good, but i like to see a fun, mindless, crazy budget, blockbuster, especially during the summer.  the trailers for the a-team looked super entertaining and funny.  and the movie was enjoyable enough - at least, i was fine sitting in the theatre for the 110 minutes or so.  unfortunately, it left not much else on the table.  i love liam neeson and bradley cooper, but neither of them blew me away (haha, puns!) in this one.  the highlight was sharlto copley, the same guy who was the lead in district 9 (probably my favorite movie of last summer).  that guy is tremendous and i hope he is in lots more movies down the road.  2.5 out of 5 stars.

- shrek 4 (i think it's 4?): again, i saw the first one forever ago, and hadn't seen one of them since, but i thought shrek was very cute.  nothing earth-shattering, and not as well done as toy story, but entertaining nonetheless.  the animation was great and the story, while predictable, was engaging.  3 out of 5 stars.

edward cullen.

first of all, here's a picture of part of the front of the baby quilt i'm making.  the lighting is terrible in this picture (i took it with the isight camera on our imac and our bedroom is kinda dark), but i think you get the idea.  it's definitely not your typical pattern choices, but it's growing on me.  this could work for a boy or a girl, right?  i've been trying so hard to balance evenly between the slightly feminine and the slightly masculine, but it's so hard and makes me feel slightly schizoid sometimes - haha!

i actually have some other fabric i need to use and i'm contemplating trying to cut and piece another one over the weekend, just so i don't forget what i'm doing.  i love holiday weekends - yay for four days off!

last night, i made jb go see eclipse, the new twilight movie, with me.  in my defense, i read all the books so i feel like i have to go see the movies.  i had very much a love/hate relationship with the books.  i couldn't stop reading them or put them down, but i thought they were really vapid and ridiculous.  like candy for my brain - no nutritional value, but i just couldn't stop eating it.  anyway...i think the movies are pretty horrendous.  the casting is really good as far as physical characteristics and all of that, but i think the acting is abysmal.  there's also the lack of decent script writing (though i will say #3 is much better than the first two in this department), the unbelievably slow timing of every scene, and the hilarity of the CG werewolves.  but, we saw it and i have to say that jb is a great sport for being willing to be coerced into going to these movies.

one quick observation: all the vampires look constipated like 80% of the time.  i don't know why that is.  i don't know if their contacts make them feel weird or if the director is offering some bizarre suggestions, but it makes me laugh hysterically at inappropriate times of the movie.  also, all of their teeth are SO white i'm worried they might be radioactive.  just a thought.

more movie reviews...

while this might not be super interesting for many people (not that there are many people that read this, but regardless), jb and i have been on quite the little movie jag lately, and i like to keep track of our viewings and thoughts about them.  this week, we managed to have two movie nights at home, which was such a treat.  i have been super duper sleepy lately, so it's been nice to have these laid back nights.  anyway...on with the reviews.

inglorious basterds: i never saw the original, but i was quite impressed with tarrantino's remake.  his films are normally super violent, and this one was no exception, but i thought he exercised some discretion with the violence for once.  it was also very fitting for the story, which was powerful and well written.  i'm a sucker for a strong female character (not to mention the french language), and this movie had both in spades.  the acting was remarkable, the mise en scene well thought-out.  it was really really long (like 2 hours, 40 minutes or something?), so maybe they could have made some more liberal choices with the editing, but i was never bored or anxious for the movie to be over.  certainly worth seeing, regardless of what you think of mr. quentin's other work.

sunshine cleaning: we watched this last night and i was pretty much in tears for half of it.  it was so touching and well-acted, i just couldn't help myself.  amy adams is a gem and i will gladly watch her in anything she is ever in.  emily blunt is also fantastic, and this role was no exception for her either.  i would have loved some more screen time for alan arkin, who i find hilarious and perfect in movies like this.  but all in all, just so so so good.  the script was beautiful, the story simple and character-driven.  i find myself thinking about the people still, today, and if that's not the hallmark of a good movie, i don't know what is.

anyway...i hope we continue on this little bout of movie-watching for a while.  i am loving it.

the envelope please....

tonight is oscar night and for the third year in a row we will head to our friends; m&j's house for delicious italian food, oscar smack-talking, and prizes in every category.  the hosts go all out and it's a great time.  jb has won the last two years in a row, so he's looking for a three-peat.
last night we went to see alice in wonderland in 3D at the alamo.  it was rather disappointing, especially because i normally like johnny depp and tim burton's weirdo brain is always at least entertaining on the big screen.  not so much the case this time.  redeeming factors: alice was a good choice, helena bonham carter was the highlight of the whole movie.  the story was at least moderately interesting in its attempt to tie together the more traditional take with this version.
other than that, we are just taking it easy.  hoping to get the spring vegetable garden planted over the next week or two, so i will post pictures.  enjoying the slightly warmer weather we're seeing.
more news later.

procrastination

i have some accounting homework i should be doing, as well as some asinine book to read for my capstone class (my prof wrote it and 40% of our grade is participation, but in an mba class, that amounts to lots of people regurgitating the same stuff because they like to hear themselves speak).  but i ran this morning (100 minutes of running!) and it's overcast and chilly out and i just really want to nap with my pets and watch the olympics.
instead of napping or doing homework, though, i will take this brief opportunity to review a few things.  i have opinions, and i like to voice them.  so, here goes.
crazy heart, the movie.  jeff bridges is good, but i don't know how un-jeff bridges he is in this movie.  the song writing is good, even if you're not the world's biggest country fan, which i'm not.  the story is anti-climactic, but held together by a level of refreshing optimism.  there is hope, people can change.  too late doesn't necessarily mean too little, all that.  fundamentally, this is a little movie that wasn't trying to be anything but that.  i like that about it, but now that it's become all hyped up and whatnot, i don't know that it really rises to the occasion.  though a little slow-moving, there's nothing to really despise about the movie, which tells me maybe they played it a little too safe.
valentine's day, the movie.  i could say a lot of this about valentine's day the day too, but this was one of the most trite, sickly sweet busts of a romantic comedy that i've ever seen.  i love cheesy movies - i swear i have several of them memorized.  but this, this is beyond bad.  the acting is horrendous.  the stories are too perfectly and obnoxiously woven together to be even remotely believable or enjoyable (you can't even suspend disbelief, that's how bad they are).  even the token kid, who is always a redeeming character, was annoying and written so poorly.  i think they might have paid monkeys to write this script.  it is possibly the most base level of character development i've seen in a movie, ever.  don't waste your $7, or risk your husband's ire by forcing him to see this with you (i, fortunately, went with several girlfriends, so even though it was bad, it was still entertaining and super fun to be with friends).
the soloist, the movie.  we just received this via netflix.  jb is a classically trained cellist.  the folks in the movie, not so much.  so, we are biased.  the story is compelling, but should have stayed a news feature.  we both fell asleep before the end, and had no desire to watch the rest.
contra, the album by vampire weekend.  i cannot say enough positive things about vampire weekend's sophomore effort.  i also cannot believe i just wrote sophomore effort.  but anyway...it's great.  hints of a paul simon influence, maybe some fab 80s dance hits, refreshingly mixed with their signature drum lines and clever (albeit sometimes hard to understand) lyrics.  i loved the first album, but the diversity and evolution they display with contra has completely wowed me.

i think that's it for now.  we're going to see shutter island tonight, so stay tuned.  also, we're not drinking for lent, so there will probably be several movie reviews forthcoming.