Pansy and Peony

On Sunday I had the privilege of watching my first and last episode of Rock of Love 2 with Bret Michaels. The only reason why I watched it was because I love Celebrity Fit Club. With the exception of Dustin and Erin, I like the people,. They seem good people I wouldn't mind knowing. Most people on TV-well let's just say I am glad they are on TV and not next door to me. I like Dr. Ian's smile and I just love Harvey. I want Harvey to come get my kids motivated to clean their rooms and do their school work. Back to Rock of Love, the only reason I watched it is I was captive under a just falling asleep toddler without a remote to change the channel. It was a pathetic site as I kept doing that whisper-yelling thing hoping I was loud enough for someone outside my door to hear me, yet not loud enough for the kid next to my face to wake up. No luck, I was hostage to VH-1. So I kept the show on. Although I never saw the first show or one episode of the second, you practically have to live under a rock to not know that one of the contestants is Oscar De La Hoya's neice, Daisy De La Hoya. And lo and behold, there she was, one of the two finalists. So my interest was piqued.

I watched in horror for one and a half hours as an obviously plastic-surgery-enhanced-too-old-to-not-get-a-haircut "gentleman" pitted these two women, Daisy and Ambre (every time I see that spelling I think it''s pretentious and should be pronounced AHM-bray), against each other. Daisy, the supposed "Looker" between the two of them (who also looks quite surgically enhanced) did not have one intelligent word come out of her mouth. There was no way he was going to pick her. Ambre who seemed more intelligent, and was more appropriate choice age wise in comparison to Daisy seemed more "together", but she was also someone who is not ashamed to show the world she goes to dinner without underpants on for a man who has not committed to her. In truth, as much as the feminist in me wanted to hate him, I didn't. Truth be told, I'm not sure exactly what my opinion of him is exactly.

These poor women went to Mexico and for 24 hours waited in a hotel room with nothing to do but pine over this guy while he wine, dined and slept with their opponent in the hopes that the next day he will pick them. The only thing that made total sense to me was when Daisy left Bret's room the next morning, she went to her room and broke down in tears.

Can someone please explain the Feminist Movement to me? Where are they? Why has being used as game show prizes the mark of modern woman?

That night I had nightmares about Daisy and Ambre and when I woke up the next morning, I still had a sort of emotional bitter taste in my mouth about the show. I remembered why I never watch these shows, they make me feel angry and depressed. There are certain horror movies I cannot watch because I feel the graphic imagery does some kind of damage to my soul. I felt the same way about what I witnessed on VH-1 last Sunday.It chips away little by little the sense of right and wrong God instilled in me, and takes us a step away from viewing people as people, but seeing them merely as commodities.

I guess it was the unpleasant memories of having been there, done that made me feel terrible. Nothing fulfilling about it.

Posted by Pansy at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I spent part of the day cooking and freezing meals. This is a venture I have attempted somewhat both successfully and unsuccessfully in anticipation of the arrival of a new baby. Even though I would have a meal in the freezer, I would never plan out in time to have it thawed if necessary and have the side dishes available, hence the "OK"-ness of the method.

This week I bought the book The Freeze Cooking Manual from The 30 Day Gourmet. I did not think to buy the book before because I figured it was simply like the site in print. While the site has some good advice, it is mostly recipes, some that are not quite my style. The book however is more of a "how-to" with these incredible worksheets that help out with organized shopping, meal planning and menus. So I substituted many of my own recipes and used the method.

Today I shopped for a number of meals at 6 AM, and started preparing some. I intended for tomorrow or Friday to be my "cooking day", but with a nursling who hates everyone but me, I am not sure how feasible that is.

So as of today, I have in the freezer:

-4 nights worth of pork chops in marinade (they were buy one/get one)
-2 pans of baked rigatoni (rigatoni in bechamel sauce with mozarella or fontina cheese and proscuitto)
-2 nights worth of homeade chicken nuggets (I suppose I could save myself the effort and buy ready made/frozen nuggets, but I hate how salty ready-made food is-it gives me a stomach ache)
-3 quiche broccoli, cheese and bacon quiche fillings

I also bought some Italian bread and to accompany the meals and wrapped it up tight in foil and freezer bags.

I plan to make a couple of lasagnas, meatballs for three nights, a couple of Chicago pizzas, some chimichanga-ey things for a couple of nights, some type of chicken-alfredo stuff, and 16 pie crusts for quiches, or pies or whatever.

So what is the benefit? A planned menu. A full freezer. Better budget-ing. I spend a lot of time lately heading out to the supermarket at 2 PM trying to figure out what to make for dinner that night. I end up spending more money shopping like this and I am not sure how I got into this habit lately, but I need to get out.

Also, thank you for filling up the comments box below with some favorite recipes. I love the pretzel idea. Keep 'em coming!

Posted by Pansy at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

How do you get out of dinnertime idea ruts? One of the latest problems I am faced with is whatever I cook has to be enough food. Many recipes I find that can feed a family my size are a little too "la femme cuisine" than I would like. Lots of what Dinka would call "with goo recipes" (canned soup and Velveeta). So my old cooking strageties nned to be revamped.

Oh, I forgot! My grandmother corrected me a few weeks ago-dinner is early in the day and supper is at night.

Posted by Pansy at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Whenever I make lemon meringue pie, it never sets. (I suppose baking on 90 degree days does not help either). The flavor is always fantastic and a homeade lemon meringue beats a store bought in flavor hands down. Still, it always turns into more a mess. We still enjoy it-we just put in bowls and use a spoon. However, I would not mind having a nice, stiff pie for once. Any suggestions?

Posted by Pansy at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

I'll leave the robots to Pansy and just blog all-Ratatouille all the time. I'd love to write a long, leisurely review but Happy Catholic Julie wrote a good one, so I'll just link to it and say, "what she said":

When "Fin" came up on the screen, I suppressed an impulse to applaud. No need. The audience around me, without my reservations, burst into applause anyway.

There was applause when I saw it, too.

Two themes I want to tie together at some point. Julie quotes Juila Child:

Noncooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.

I want to pull out Pieper's Leisure: The Basis of Culture

and consider that idea in the light of Pieper's comments on sacrifice.

Posted by Peony at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We saw The Transfomers last night and it sucked. OK, it was slightly better that I expected so let's get the good part out.

Optimus, who was voiced by the original Optimus, Peter Cullen, recited the above line and Rosey Posey said she thought she saw my eyes tear up. That was cool albeit totally pointless and a bone thrown at us nostaligic Transformer fans. The sell-out I am, I happily took the bone.

The other plus was the action scenes were really, really good.

So the negatives? It was mostly Shia LeBeaouf and his antics with his car, and getting the attention of a girl for like an hour before any action set in. There were lots of stupid little sex jokes that could have been dropped to make the movie more kid-friendly. On that same line of thinking, the violence could have been toned down a bit without any loss to the movie to give it a PG rating. I hated the sex humor although The audience laughed hysterically at it while I just rolled my eyes. So what do I know?

There also tghe usual mini-public service announcements strung throughout taking pokes at our government and Bush and what-not. Yawn.

The story was terrible, boring and incoherent. Many of the situations could have been resolved with common sense. For example, there is one action scene that ensues because instead of putting Sam and his Lady Friend inside his cab and driving away with the rest of the Autobots, Optimus decides to put them on his shoulder and climb under a bridge...and drops them. Why? What for? No one knows.

The robots looked kind of icky. Michael Bay's attempt to recreate this alien-robotic-life form and thought the boxy Transformers looked "unrealistic". OK I got that. But um, there is nothing realistic about Transformers to begin with (why must we take everything so seriously lately?) He should have established some middle grown and made them look slightly more like the guys we remember. They were literally confusing to look at-just jumbles of metallic spikes. Rosey Posey was kavetching for two hours afterwards about why did they feel the need to give Megatron pointy teeth: "To show how evil he is while he eats small bunnies?"

Mostly, something was seriously missing with the Optimus character. I am still not sure what it was. He seemed slightly ditzy and silly or something.

The movie is obviously a set-up for a sequel.

I give it a C-.

Posted by Pansy at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

drop what you're doing and go see this movie RIGHT NOW.

Posted by Peony at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The Soprano's ending sucked!

Posted by Pansy at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

This weekend we went to the movies to see Happy Feet. I was looking forward to it. Penguins, dance numbers, music, PG rating, what more could a movie have to entertain the senses? Well for one, more dancing and singing penguins. I was disappointed. Instead, what I got was mostly long-ass public service announcements about living a politically correct, ecology friendly lifestyles blah, blah, blah.

My family of course thinks I am a wet blanket and I always just have to get annoyed at the political messages, but I asked them "were the messages there or not?" They were. So I can be insulted if I want to. Still, I suppose if you are not fed up and cynical with that sort of thing, you might truly enjoy the film.

If you do not want to hear me whine, I think the Kansas City Star's review is quite accurate:

But despite a great look and some nifty action sequences, this computer-animated effort doesn’t click. It piles lots of contemporary issues on what should be a simple children’s fable and becomes an overlong, emotionally muted and tiresome epic.

It wasn't just "ecology" lessons involved. There were other undertones, such as the elders who wouldn't stray from their old ways, and kept referring to foreigners as "pagans". Yawn

I think what bothers me most is not the message itself that they are trying to get across (well yeah, a little), but the fact that every childfren's movie, or TV show or whatever cannot just be entertaining anymore. That someone out there truly feels we have to be politically educated every single minute of everyday or else something horrible happen. I wouldn't mind as much if they inundated our children with times tables as they political correctness.

You know though. I mean is everyone in the general IQ all so stupid all the time that we need one more message about the environment or how terrible calling people bad names is?

I thought not, but you know what? I was wrong! Especially for a Catholic! Bishop Katharine Schori says so! (I had to throw that in).

Update:Michael Medved's review

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anyone see Ghost Hunters live last night/this morning?

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Ok, so now that Flavor of Love has ended, the question begs to be asked:"is this for real?" I mean seriously, was New York really that into Flavor Flav that she came back a second time for all that drama and abuse? Or are these actresses? I don't want to diss Flavor, but these girls are a good ten years younger than I am, which makes them like 20 something years younger than Flav. I am missing the romantic attraction. And any girls that showed character, he booted off for that very sake. Bootz would not sleep with him prior to marriage, so he kicked her off. Tiger didn't like the idea of kissing him after he kissed 5 other girls, and he wasn't cool with that. New York started to get upset at the idea of his bed-hopping, so she was crazy and possesive (she did seem crazy though, but to me her reaction as far as that was concerned was quite normal). So am I the only who thinks this show is staged? Or am I just flabbergasted at how backwards our culture has become?

Project Runway has ended making way for Season 2 of Top Chef. What I like about these shows is seeing people with extraordinary talent get a challenge, and showing off what they can do. What I hate about these shows is the individual interviews where they just cut each other up. It is uncomfortable and not sportsman like. It makes me not care about the people and their abilities. Jeffrey had lots of talent, but he was so mean and nasty, no one cared if he won.

VH-1 has a new show: The Celebrity Paranormal Project. Again, are these shows staged? What is it exactly that constitutes "reality" TV anyway? In the first episode, the first bunch of celebrities had to explore a sanitorium (once surveyed by the Ghost Hunters) for paranormal activity. They were there for one night, and each team had some kind of major event happen to them like balls mysteriously rolling back to them, shadow people, voices, foot steps. I don't believe it. People live in haunted houses all their lives, and after 20 years have as many events as these people experienced in one evening. Ghost Hunters was there all night and got like one shadow person on tape for a second or something.

I also didn't like that instead of going into a "haunted place" to simply observe what happens, they attempted to "channel" spirits.

Which of course brings me to my Ghost Hunters. I think one of the reasons why I like this show is I like Grant and Jason. Despite their nighttime occupation, they seem so normal. They're plumbers. They have families; Jason has five kids, Grant has three. They're motivation is to help people who are afraid.

There was an episode last season where the house was not haunted, but they figured out that the homeowner had some electrical problems, chemicals for home restoration near his heating ducts, and mold in the basement. All thesethings could lead to a feeling of foreboding. So despite not finding anything "weird", they were able to help.

I would love to send them to my grandmother's house, but she would never let them in. Besides, all the creepy stuff happens when I am there alone anyway.

Posted by Pansy at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

The Curt Jester has a very funny Simpson's clip that explains one of the many reasons why we could never be Protestant. Too boring. Oops, am I allowed to say that? Sorry.

I never saw this. I stopped watching Simspons when they basically started to totally suck.

Posted by Pansy at 6:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to a new contest at Transformers.com, that wish is becoming an ill-conceived reality. Simply type in a line you want to hear Optimus Prime say in the form below, submit, and if yours is chosen you'll get to hear it spoken in Michael Bay's upcoming Transformers movie...

So what is this...now they care what the fans think?

Posted by Pansy at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

But in no way do I have any illusion I will ever look that good if I buy skinny, black pants from the Gap.

Posted by Pansy at 1:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

HT again: Angry Zen Master

Posted by Pansy at 5:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Update: The Superficial has a picture of Optimus up. I don't know. What's up with his feet? They look like metal ET feet.

Lots to say over at Angry Zen Master blog on this very pressing subject! Warning: the language is kind of profane.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It is not looking good for The Transformers movie.

Exhibit A:
Megatron looks really stupid.
I am going have to say the Superficial's interpretation of how he looks may be vulgar, but quite accurate.

Exhibit B:
The tidbits in this Shia LeBouf interview starting with:

There's a lot of stuff... you know, there's new robots that he'll create. Or he'll take something like Soundwave and turn it into Soundbyte and it'll become something else.

I don't care, set the movie back in the 80s and make it retro. Please don't do what you did to Megatron to Soundwave. Please...

There are certain things, like Megatron wasn't a jet, you know?

Yes I know! Any self-respecting, self-claimed, geeky Transformers fan knows Megatron ain't no dang jet! I read somewhere (can't find it) that they decided to make him a jet because when the toy comes out they are afraid the gun will influence kids to play with guns or something. I grew up on Transformers, I never shot anybody.

A few years ago, my husband bought a reissued Megatron toy directly from Japan (they didn't make them here). It took like three months to get here partly because of customs problems because it looks like a real handgun; in a package with a plastic front and cartoon drawings (that is how guns nuts buy guns-from Japan don't you know). It is so cool. Gosh, I hope he still has it and my mother-in-law's boyfriend didn't steal it and sell it for .50 cents for crack money.

But back to the "kids with Gun-Megatron" thing, you know, I don't even think that whole line of thought deserves any credence. You don't like warring giant robots for your kids, the stay away from the Transformers. But don't torture the rest of us by changing Megatron. Characters like Megatron, Galvatron, Shockwave are big shooty things. Thundercracker, Starscream, Skyfire are cool jet guys (although, isn't Skyfire afraid of heights?). Transformer history was changed when Megatron sucker shot Optimus killing him and initiating the horrible chain of events that gave us Rotimus Prime. (But that is OK because there was not a sweeter moment then when Optimus came back to life, and Rotimus handed the Matrix back). So what, is he going to fly over him in this movie?

"Ooh Optimus, I can fly and you can just drive around!" Wow. Entertaining.

Exhibit C:

I don't even have to comment on this, the corn is so self-explanatory:

QUINT: You know... I sat down with Bay before shooting and he told me that the whole hook for him with this project wasn't the robots or the action. He said it was the human story, specifically your story, what he called the All-American story of a kid getting his first car.

SHIA LABEOUF: When I met with him he said the same thing. That's why I was into it. I mean, yes it was TRANSFORMERS and oh shit! You're taking me to meet with Michael Bay, but then he was like, "It's a coming of age story."

That is what The Transformers was always and we didn't know it-a coming of age story. I thought it was about giant robots in a war and coming to earth disguised as earth vehicles.

Continue reading "I'm Gonna Cry" »

Posted by Pansy at 5:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I was sick. I got better, but not 100%. I have not been able to shake the exhaustion. It is not simply exhaustion, I have been feeling that since getting pregnant. It is lethargy, and shortness of breath. I just want to sleep all the time and I sense some added blues as well.I am having trouble thinking clearly. It occured to me that I am probably anemic since that is my usual course during pregnancy. I looked up anemia and have all the symptoms except the usual tell-tale pica. I had a check-up yesterday and my doctor put me on prescription iron supplements. I hope they help.

I am awake now. (I have intermittent bouts of insomnia and falling asleep). I was watching a show on Discovery Channel that I like called A Haunting but fell asleep. I woke up to the next show called Most Evil. It is about a doctor from Columbia U. who studies the "why's" of serial killers and ranks them on a scale from 1-22, 22 being the most evil. I woke up in time to hear about the #22 guy for the evening, and to make a long story short without too many details, this guy was different because his victims were children. I got to hear the last story, and now I can't stop cryingh because I keep thinking what if that were my sweet, little Gorbulas?

I am not sure which is worse, that this stuff happens, or that they put it on TV. I mean knowing about it just got me really, really upset. But not knowing about doesn't change what happened. For some reason I think the Discovery Channel is "safe". But sometimes I think these shows are just as bad as any of the other crap, just in the guise of "documentary". If I learned something practical from it, then I would not feel quite as bad.

Posted by Pansy at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

My husband and I got into our usual dispute yesterday, and I need to prove once and for all that I'm right, he is wrong. There is no "grey" area in this issue. Just black and white I'm right, he's wrong.

He claims I am not a real Star Wars fan because I say Episodes I, II, and III stunk big time. According to him, if you are a true fan, even if the movies were a little cheesey (understatement), it was so great to see what happened after waiting all your life for George Lucas to make new movies. I say George Lucas should have left well alone, and as a true fan, I find the movies insulting.

They were horrendous. Why do I make such a bold claim? Here are ten good reasons to support my flawless argument:

1.Anakin cried all the time. I could not believe he was Darth Vader, but just some whiney skateboarder kid.
2.Little Anakin was equally annoying: "are you an angel?"
3.The pod races lasted too long. And for the record, little Anakin's best friend's name was "Kitster" which is a stupid, unimganinative name for a "kid".
4.Jar Jar Binks. The only good things about Episodes II, and III was less Jar Jar Binks.
5.Padme was useless. She was supposedly one of the best rulers of Naboo, and she chose this guy for his wonderful pick-up lines? And calls him "Annie" at that which means she should be thrown.
6.The whole notion that Anakin became Darth Vader because he wanted to save Padme's life, and then killed her is dumb, dumb, dumb. Does anybody buy that?
7.Bad dialogue like the "I hate sand. It's so coarse. Not like here. Everything here is smooth." pick-up line (see point #5) and overuse of the term "younglings".
8.Jar Jar Binks.
9.The fact that Mace Windu got killed in a "hey, what's that over there" move when he was powerful enough to defeat a single droid army by himself during the Clone Wars is annoying as well.
10.The big finale fighting scene at the volcano that we have been reading about for 25 years was lame!

Is that enough? Do I win, win, win?

I am sending the link to this entry to my husband, so I need to add the bonus #11 point: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was better. :P

Posted by Pansy at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been a Benji fan since I saw he and Heidi do their West Coast Swing thing in their auditions.

I of course missed the finale because I totally fell asleep. I just saw the end. Funny how you fall asleep on a show, you wake up just long enough to see the closing credits?

Update thanks to Dinka for the Heidi and Benji link.

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Peter Cullen, the guy who did the voice of Optimus Prime back in the day is doing the voice again in the movie next year!! How exciting is that? I can hardly contain myself!

"One shall stand, one shall fall"

Hee hee hee.

Posted by Pansy at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, so far we have seen:

Superman

I didn't expect much, so I ended up enjoying it. I liked that it continued from the second installment of the Christopher Reeve films.
Lois Lane left a lot to be desired, much like the old movies, as I cannot figure out what he sees in her. There is a twist, which I will not reveal.

Pirates of the Carribean

I liked it, but I don't know how to say anything about it without spoiling it.I liked it, but literally, I had no idea where the plot (or if there was one) was going until the very, very end. If you go see this and have not seen Number 1, you have got to rent the first one, or else you will be so lost.

Click

A bit too long, but it ranks on the side of Adam Sandlers less annoying films. I thought it was cute.
I cried at the end, but it could be hormones.

The Break-Up

I liked this a lot. I really thought they captured a common friction point between man/woman relationships very well, and how people resort to manipulation tactics to try to fix things. I really cried at this one.

Stick It

It was the second feature after Pirates of the Carribean. I slept through most of it. It seemed to me like a 13-year old girl's movie, but RoseyPosey told me she thought it was really silly.

Posted by Pansy at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The movie I have been waiting my whole life for (since I was 12 anyway).

They better do it right! I mean it!

Transformers: The Movie trailer.

Of course, let's not forget about the original, animated classic The Transformers the Movie.Bah weep grana weep nini bahm!

Posted by Pansy at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Four villains! From the trailer, looks like
1. Venom
2.Green Goblin
3. Sandman
4. ???

Could it Lizard Man? They showed him in the last movie (the one-armed professor, "smart but lazy"). Or does John Jamieson hire the Scorpion to get back at Peter Parker?
I'm on pins and needles!

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We went to see the new X-Men movie today. Well, more so than the other two, it was this X-Men Geeks dream. I mean, there were some characters killed off that should not have been(and some I were glad they finally killed off). I'd like to say who, but it would be a spoiler. But there were some scenes taken from issues I remember from back in the '81 that were classic scenes. I mean you have to cut them some slack for trying to compact 25 years of issues into two hours.

I didn't like Famke Jensen as Jean Grey/Phoenix-she was useless playing an Omega-Level mutant who spent most of her time staring into space and crunchy looking. There were a couple of good Storm moments, Kitty Pryde moments, and Wolverine moments. Beast was cool too.

There was storyline that sort alluded to the misguided conservative attitude towards homosexuality. The "right" side develops a cure drug for mutants, and there is a political clash because "there is nothing wrong with mutants, and they don't need to be cured". I could be reading into it, but I remember the same speeches in the comic with Polaris standing on the steps of the capitol building saying "no one should be discrimnated against for being a mutant, homosexual, or different race..." Gag. I started to lose interest in X-Men around then because it was kind of boring. Who wants to hear super heroes whine about politics? Get back to fighting Sleazoids!

Anyway, I thought the message of "it's natural, and doesn't need a cure" made me think of contraception. Is fertility something that needs to be cured? Sorry, you will hear me rant about this a lot as I hear more and more comments about number 6.

Update: The Decent Films review.

Posted by Pansy at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

It was soooo good. I got teary eyes a few times, first when they brought in Al Jerreau, and then seeing Mandisa and Paris and Ace and Chris and Kevin, and then with Mary J. Blige and Elliott and Toni Braxton and Taylor and it was so good. And then the Burt Bacharach homage with Dionna Warwick! And then Prince! Prince after Ryan Seacrest said no more guest stars-that was so tricky Ryan!! But Prince! And then Taylor won! I didn't even bother to watch Ghost Hunters!

Posted by Pansy at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

Chris got voted off?!? I was sure he was going to be the winner!

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Paris Hilton is Catholic?

I have to say this, whoever Nick Lachey's PR rep is, they are a genius. This is the most pathetic video I have ever seen. It makes you say "Poor Nick, how could that terrible Jessica do that to him?" and I don't even know what happened.

Ugh, this is what happens when you have morning sickness and all you can do is sit there in front of daytime TV.

Posted by Pansy at 6:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It's so weird.

Posted by Pansy at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

Mandisa got voted off?

*fumes*

Posted by Peony at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

is Simon a nice person or a jerk? Or maybe a jerky-nice person?

Posted by Pansy at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Why does every TV show lately have to have a public service announcement about abortion, euthenasia or whatever?
ER lately, just about every week is about someone who has the right to die.Last week (or maybe the week before) it was about how evil Bush is to stop federal funding on embryonic stem cell research. Tonight CSI was abou how distasteful it is to adopt frozen embryos. I mean, I don't even have the energy to get into the logistics about how I disagree with the issues as much, but let's start from the beginning: isn't it bad form to consistently put forth "extreme" opinions on such heated issues all the time?

I get tired of everything being so loaded. I guess they are only extreme if they are pro-life...

Posted by Pansy at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

GAY RIGHTS GROUP: 'AMERICAN IDOL IS HOMOPHOBIC' On the programme, Brit Cowell told one effeminate wannabe to "shave off your beard and wear a dress,"

...while Jackson asked another audition hopeful, "Are you a girl?" Both contestants were rejected.

I apologize, if I read the AOL news page too long, I start to find it really funny about what is deemed newsworthy.

Posted by Pansy at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

on Saturday, I was out taking a stroll with dear Mr Moss and little Hambet, and we saw a poster for that DaVinci Code movie.

I had high hopes when I heard that Sir Ian McKellan had been cast for the movie. I was hoping that he would be cast as Silas, the albino Opus Dei monk-assasin and that he would steal the whole movie, the same way Alan Rickman subverted "Prince of Thieves." But alas, it was not to be; Paul Bettany is to play Silas.

So maybe all is not lost. Bettany was cast as Maturin in "Master and Commander" and I didn't think the character they gave him to play had anything to do with the Maturin of the books. So maybe there will be a really clever, subversive screenwriter on the project who will give Silas all the funny lines.

Posted by Peony at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

So what movies have we seen thus far?

Stealth
I loved it. Lots of action and suspense. The critics hated it. I don't care, it was lots of fun to me. There is no moral
or lessons or anything. Just some really neat fast jet scenes. That's all I need.

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

This was "pretty ok". I think the whole thing was a way to poke fun at Michael Jackson, but Tim Burton says "no". Besides the fact that Johnny Depp looks like Michael,
the part of the story that was added on and not taken from the book was that poor Willy Wonka lost much of his candy eating childhood to his ambitious dentist father.

I liked the movie better than I thought I would. Tim Burton usually gives me the heebie jeebies. Speaking of which he is coming out with a new movie called "Corpse Bride"...see what I mean? By the way, does he do those creepy Wal-greens "in a town called Perfect" commercials?

That new Herbie the Love Bug movie with Lindsay Lohan.
Um, how could a car that seems to be "alive" just fall out of everyone's memory-yet Matt Dillon doesn't? Strange world. I dunno, it was the second feature after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Otherwise I would have really been annoyed.

War of The Worlds
Miranda Otto is supposed to be weirdling Tom Cruise's ex wife? How old is she?

What I didn't get about this movie is they spend much of the movie running for their lives, yet the kids manage to find lots of time to whine about how their father pays no attention to them. This may be a valid argument, but if robots are vaporising people to the left and right of me, it would be the last thing on my mind!
The flip side-big robots, lasers, aliens and special effects (am I a shallow push over or what?)

Fantastic Four

All the good action scenes are in the previews. Great comic book, boring movie even with as neat a cast as Jessica Alban, Julian McMahon, Michael Chicklis and that girl from Save the Last Dance. Too much talking, not enough action. Even the final fight scene was pretty lame.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

I could barely stay awake.

The Island

An interesting message about the consequences of creating people simply to be used by others. I actually thought the message was so appropriate to many of todays ethical issues, I was surprised they made the movie. They countered the message by making it drag on a bit.

Madagascar

I really liked this. This was like the best of Ben Stiller without the sex or bathroom humor.

Batman Begins
This was so good. Christian Bale is so cute. This movie explains how Batman got his start, how he got his really cool stuff and it is not creepy and Tim Burtony.
There is a really nifty car in it too.

Posted by Pansy at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I so want to say it was awesome! I want to be in line with my husband and kids and claim it made the last too shameful attempts at prequeling worth while. And I really, really want to say Anakin had no more corny love lines at Padme and didn't cry. But I can't. I can say that the movie was not filled with Jar Jar exclaiming "Meesa think Annie gone bombad!" (And you atheists thought there was no God!).

Truth be told, I saw the movie Saturday and I have spent the past few days trying to figure out exactly what it is that was missing. I mean, as far as special effects and sci fi goes, it was entertaining. But the groom and I are on polar opposite ends of the spectrum of Star Wars fan philosophy. First of all because he is way more geeky than I am and I have a better sense of style. But second, he as a Star Wars fan has blind loyalty and thinks anything that George Lucas comes out with is great. I on the other hand am a more cerebral (ha ha) fan and am even more dissappointed because I expected better from what I have come to know to be Star Wars caliber. This was just another expensive Lucasfilm B movie just like Episodes I and II.

Part of the problem is the prequels were written after the story with many holes that you just aren't supposed to think about. And they were more attempts to get characters we know on the screen than an opportunity to be loyal to the story. Now if you are like my husband, and if seeing Chewbacca standing there gives you a thrill, than you will love the movie. If you are like me, wondering if Chewbacca and Yoda knew each other so well, prior to Episode IV, why didn't ever mention anything? Why did Leia claim to remember her Mom in Return of the Jedi when in fact Padme died (of a broken heart of all things)? So I guess whether or not the movie was good is a matter of perspective.

I am so dissappointed with Anakin in general. I mean it was bad enough when they took his helmut off in Return of the Jedi and he was nothing more than a crusty old white guy. But that annoying little kid ("hit the nose!") and the whiney Jedi with the cheesy lines and bad acting ("I hate sand. It's coarse, rough and irritating and gets everywhere. Not like here everything here is soft...and smooth" or"I killed them all! Not just the men! But the women and the children!"). In the third movie he is stupid ("Gasp! You're the Sith Lord, aren't you?")Betcha didn't know that the sky is blue and cake is good either Anakin! Gosh, I was like shoot me now.

My husband and kids thought so much of it, they have seen it twice already. They went last Wednesday night (or technically Thursday morning) for the midnight showing. OK, now I thought my husband needed some major intervention to realize his Geek problem. But at the midnight showing, a limo pulled up with a bunch of Jedi clad wannabees. How bad is that?

Posted by Pansy at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

The Internet Monk on "House, M.D:"

What is there for a Christian to like about House, M.D.? For me there has been plenty....

House presents, for once, an unafraid portrayal of our depravity in terms that most of us can relate to: the stony refusal of offered love, the seeming logic of the idolatry of addiction and the petty, useless cruelties to those around us who love, need, and must work with us.. House isn't the usual prodigal son in the far country doing "bad things." He's a jerk. He's just like me apart from God. Empty of grace, love and gratitude, so addiction is easy. Ashamed, petty, hurtful and selfish. No spectacular evil acts. Just a brilliant man living a miserable life that mixes healing and hurtfulness. You look, you listen, and you ask yourself "Is this what I am like?" Oh yes. Apart from grace, House of a picture of what we can turn into. He's so close to many of us that it's uncomfortable. Sure, he's exaggerated, but not by much.

Posted by Peony at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Seriously. What are they thinking? First it was those Chicken Bacon Cheddar Ranch commercials with Hootie singing the jingle dressed liked an extra from Oklahoma. I kept saying "Ohmygosh! That's Hootie!" My mother almost did not believe me.

I mean it soooo screamed "My career is in the toilet. I needed something on my resume for when they interview me for Where Are They Now?." I wasn't anymore inclined to buy a Bacon Chicken Ranch whatever it was sandwich, but I did consider sending him my Christian Children's Fund money. Or worse, going on Catholic message boards to complain about what a horrible president George Bush really is to let things like this happen to former celebrities during his administration.

The good thing, I thought, about that ad was they brought back the Burger King. I have been telling my kids for years that we used to have an actual Burger King back in the day. The concept to them was kind of corny, like "Ha ha, I am the King of the Burgers! And you, Burger Consumers are my loyal subjects! Ha ha." OK, never mind me, I need more sleep.

Anywho, I regret my excitement for the Burger King because their next ads were just butt creepy. Some guy wakes up and opens his window and sees this bizarre, big-plastic headed Burger King standing in his yard. He looks away a second and looks out his second story window again to see the Burger King hovering outside his window. I screamed! If I saw that mess in real life I would call my husband and get my baseball bat and start beating him. Then I'd call the priest and get the house excorcised. But ok, so let's overlook that creepiness. Good Ole BK is bringing good tidings, from behind his back he pulls out that 750 calorie 49 gram of fat breakfast sandwich hoagie thing with eggs, cheese, bacon sausage, real creamery butter, you name it. Who would eat that?

The guy eats the sandwich, his heart miraculously does not arrest and the dogs start licking the BK and I am staring at the TV saying "what the?"

OK, I had to get that off my chest.

Posted by Pansy at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Remaking Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. My children have stated: Tim Burton makes creepy movies, Johnny Depp looks really pale and they don't like Oompa Loompas and big, round blueberry girls.

Posted by Pansy at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

*Typed while nursing*

Ah, why do I homeschool, let me count the ways. Or you can go see this movie and I won't have to bother. This movie is perfect example of how kids live up or down to what is expected of them and how at least this particular public school in the film expects less than more. My personal experience with public schools has been no more has been expected of minority students beyond being bipedal, but perhaps I should talk more about the movie than my bitter public school experience.

Coach Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) is a Joe Clark(a great man by the way who I think should be cloned and sent to every public school)esque type of man. He utilises strange tactics like discipline and a sense of self respect in how young men carry themselves to make a high school basketball team live up to their potential, and hopefully achieve college.

Now, I am not a very good movie reviewer because I never know exactly how much more of a plot I should reveal than what is in previews without spoiling the movie.

I will say I found the scenarios realistic. I do recommend this film and I would almost give it an 'A' except for one big problem I had with it that almost had me walk out. It made me feel so bad. One of the basketball players' girlfriends, played by Ashanti, is pregnant. She decides because the future is unsure and she really wants her boyfriend to go off to college instead of remaining in a dead end life in the ghetto to have an abortion. After that all is well in the world. There is one point in the movie where Coach Carter stresses the importance of star athletes not getting special treatment and having to obey the rules like everyone else. But then the girlfriend has an abortion.

Watching the games is fun and watching the transformation from thugs into young men is also fun. I also liked the soundtrack and perhaps will purchase it. So I give the movie a 'C'.

Posted by Pansy at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So, who saw it last night?

Posted by Peony at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

I meant to blog about this movie like a month ago when I first saw this, but haven't had a free arm.

Now my children, brothers, father and husband have been reciting I guess you would call them "Napolean-isms" for a month.

This movie is silly, is not about anything, has a sort of pointless plot but is a must see. OK, maybe not a must see, but if you are fan of stupid humor it is. It is about a teenager who is pretty much a geek, who lives with his grandmother. He help his best friend runs for class president. Not deep at all.

There is an interesting story about the one of the stars, Efren Ramirez:

Efren Ramirez is an upcoming rising star. A new face to filmgoers, Efren Ramirez is a bonifide scene-stealer in the quirky comedy Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Stuck between choosing between Napoleon Dynamite and the studio film "The Alamo", Efren was quick to choose Napoleon Dynamite which has grossed over $41 million at the box office to date.

I think that's funny.

Posted by Pansy at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't know. I tried to like it because I am such a big Marvel fan, although I have never been a Daredevil fan. The few times the character Elektra bumped into the comics I did read, as a child I thought she had a really cool costume, but was not very nice or interesting.

So Elektra is an extraordinary martial artist with issues. Her mother was killed when she was a little girl, and on top of that she was killed in the Daredevil movie and either revived or brought back to life-I dunno. The movie is unclear. So to work through these issues, she becomes an assasin instead of taking Prozac. Um, yeah.

She is hired to assasinate a father and thirteen year old girl. The father is played by hunky Goran Visjnic who is pretty much useless and wimpy. Instead of assinasinating them, she decides to rpotect them. Without going in to more depth of this very boring storyline, let me just say, the little girl is your typical teenager-she steals, she acts up etc. The father is useless as a character and as a man. He always running as Elektra, Super Woman De jour protects them over and over again until it is revealed the teenage girl is also a prodigy martial artist and protects him. Typical modern day feminist trite. Then to top it all off, Elektra's sensei played by Terrance Stamp admits that he always knew she had a "pure heart" even though she was an assasin for awhile trying to find herself. What-ever.

I actually would not have cared at all about the slightly offensive story line if they just gave me more martial arts fighting scenes. I am a simple minded sucker for special effects and action. But action scenes were few and far between with lots of scenes of Elektra staring out a windown remembering her mother's death, which they never really explained. There are movies where the story is simply an "excuse" to show fun stuff. Drumline's story is merely an excuse to see some really neat badn scenes. Strictly Ballroom is an excuse to see some neat dancing. Any Jet Li movie is an excuse to see him do his thing. Anyway, Elektra didn't cut it.

Posted by Pansy at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Steven has such an endearing request: He is asking us readers of the Aubrey-Maturin series why we like the books.

I'll be coming back to this question myself over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, I'm going to cross-post a review I did of the recent film that touches on some of the things I like about the books.

This was originally posted at Popcorn Critics on February 27, 2004

It's a rare occasion that I get to see a movie in the theater, and a really rare occasion that I get to go with my husband (this was the first movie we've seen together in an actual theater since January 2001!) My husband and I both like historical movies; I am also on my first reading through the Patrick O'Brian series that inspired the books (and am completely enthralled.) So I was pleased that we were able to get out and see this on the big screen.

I liked it okay, but I was disappointed. I wanted to like it more.

As far as spectacle and entertainment value, if you like sea spray and dramatic helicopter shots and storms and meticulous attention to costumes and period detail and lots and lots of battle, then this is the movie for you. The movie is a cracking good adventure. It does an amazing job of evoking what life must have been like on a crowded, dangerous ship, and showing us the bravery and resourcefulness of the men who sailed those ships.

But in the O'Brian books, the adventure is only the beginning. Their special appeal is in wit, their humor, their depiction of the human drama, and it's here that the movie almost completely fails. It's a shame, because the casting of the secondary characters -- Pullings, Bonden, Killick, Padeen, each with their own vivid little quirks -- is spot-on. I was laughing out loud at some of the little jokes and perfections. But the heart of the books, the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr Stephen Maturin, is completely lost.

A big part of the problem is the inappropriate casting of the two leads. Russell Crowe's Aubrey is 100% action hero, with none of Jack's Aubrey's goofy charm. He might have come closer, though, with a different Maturin. Paul Bettany is physically wrong for the part -- tall, fair, youthful and handsome instead of short, dark, and mysterious. Maturin's Irish accent seems to have gotten lost somewhere too, as well as his gift for languages.

The affection between the two characters is nowhere to be seen. They are seen together at their music, but we are shown none of the funny little exchanges between the two, so that when we are treated to a favorite line from the books, such as one of Aubrey's mangled proverbs, the humor is lost and it makes no sense. Many of their scenes together end up instead as cheesy little debates that strongly reminded me of a different captain and a different doctor: Dammit, Jim! You can't keep cracking on like this! Hang Starfleet, Bones -- I know what I'm doing!

Part of the problem is that the movie is a sort of careless puree of at least four books chosen from the first two-thirds of the series, combined with some schmaltzy Hollywoodish additions, which means that many of the characters' words and actions make no sense. Jack comes up with tactics that we are asked to believe are totally new ideas, but in fact have been part of his bag of tricks from the very first book. Stephen, in particular, comes out with some howlers -- questions that make sense when he asked them in the third book but not in the eighth, and speeches that make him seem like an amnesia victim who has forgotten that he is on a ship of the Royal Navy. And yet we are asked to believe that he knows his way around this ship and is an experienced ship's doctor. Instead of coming off as a lovable absent-minded professor type ("What a fellow you are, Stephen") he seems arrogant and obtusely self-centered.

Another reason it's hard to like these characters is that it's hard to catch their names. The movie is action, action, action from the first scene, and introductions to the characters is not a priority, yet we've got about ten people in the gunroom we're supposed to keep straight. You thought keeping your LOTR characters in order was difficult? At the end of the movie I was still unclear as to who was a lieutenant and who was a mid, and what some of their names were -- and I've read the books!

Dialogue can be hard to catch, as well, in part because of the thick English accents and in part because of all the stuff going on. Subtitles on the DVD (which is supposed to come out next month) might be helpful for some.

The pretentious Hollywoodisms got annoying quickly. The swelling sad music when the captain must make a dreadful decision, the affecting farewell between two friends when you Just Know one of them's not going to make it back (just like the red-shirted ensign on that other captain's ship).... For all this movie's loving attention to grimy detail, someone forgot that it's unlikely that a cello left propped on a chair, balanced on a peg, is going to stay that way through three days on a sailing ship. And as for the cheesy music at the ending, it's a good think I didn't buy a soda, because I'd have been sorely tempted to heave it at the screen.

I hear Russell Crowe wants to do a sequel. I'm not holding my breath; at this writing the movie is still $30 million in the red. If there is a sequel, I hope they recast Stephen and get a little more organized. I wonder if it's even possible to capture these books in a single feature film. Maybe A&E could take a crack at a miniseries someday.

So, overall, a good movie, but one that should have been better. If you enjoy this movie and are inspired to try the books, it's all to the good.

If you want to give the books a try, please allow me to suggest starting with Master and Commander and following quickly with Post Captain.

Posted by Peony at 4:28 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I didn't like it. Well, let me start with the positives. The kids were cute and liked the way they interacted with each other in the story. They stood up for each other and got along. That was the plus.

The negative was Jim Carrey's character was characterised in one interview as "evil but likeable" which was what they were going for. I didn't like this. Count Olaf was a murderer, materialistic, and he attempted to marry his 14 year old ward to get money. There was nothing funny or likeable here at all. I found the story a bit too creepy for children.

The set was also very dark, like the Batman movies, which to me was also too creepy for kids.

The plot started developing mysteries and questions which were never answered. I hate that.

So I didn't like this movie except for the interesting costumes. I think Hollywood really thought they have a winner on their hands (which they very well might by theeir standards) judging from the all star cast. It stars Jim Carrey, Jude Law, Meryl Streep and has cameos by Luiz Guzman, Cedric the Entertainer, Catherine O'Hara and Dustin Hoffman to name a few.

Maybe I would like it better if it were not a kid's movie.

Posted by Pansy at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I've taken kind of a shine to the new Fox show House (it's on tonight.) It's a pretty formulaic medical show (with some real howlers in the fact-checking department); the twist is that the main character, who is supposed to be a physician with an uncanny talent for diagnosing obscure illnesses, is also a rude, cynical misanthrope. Hugh Laurie plays the misanthrope, and is just amazing. Come for his performance, stay for the allusions to two great literary detectives, ignore the rest as you please.

So I've been watching this show, and I know Victor's been tuning in too. Unfortunately neither of us got around to blogging last week's surprisingly good episode. So allow me to refer you to S.T. Karnick's article in NRO today: Must-Believe TV: Christianity gets a fair shake:

...the [nuns] are portrayed as far more complex and intelligent than one might have expected. Both their ideas and their personal histories are quite sophisticated, and in the case of the one stricken by illness, the revelations of her many past sins show not hypocrisy but the redemptive power of religious faith. The nuns argue quite evenly with Dr. House, and though he usually wins through the sheer force of his great intellect and even greater will, the emptiness in his soul becomes increasingly clear. His doubts in his own abilities suggest that for this man, science is not enough.

Throughout all of this, Christmas is prominent in the background. It is Advent, and the hospital staff members are reacting in various ways appropriate to their characters. Dr. House, in particular, increasingly reveals a loneliness and personal despair that has been strongly hinted at in previous episodes. The context, however, points the viewer inexorably toward a spiritual explanation of his problem: Dr. House is a lost soul who desperately needs to find some transcendent meaning to his life. Though he claims to be a strict materialist, his frequent references to Dante's Circles of Hell suggest what is really troubling him.

(The episode also has a neat reference to the Seven Deadly Sins.)

I do have a couple of quibbles; for example, Karnick writes, "though [House] usually wins through the sheer force of his great intellect and even greater will"; but the way I saw it, House actually doesn't do too well against the nuns. They have his number, and he doesn't even know it. In one argument, when the nun is getting a little too close to the truth, he only "wins" by rudely breaking off the conversation; later, in another, he is stunned into silence. But all in all, I thought it was not only fair (which is rare enough) but showed the nuns as being intelligent and good (!) without being sentimental.

Posted by Peony at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

So my kids were whining at me about how we do not have enough Christmas movies. I made a mental inventory out loud as to what we had:
The Santa Claus
Home Alone
Veggie Tales: The Toy That Saved Christmas
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
And the Nest family video on the Nativity.
Yeah, pretty pathetic. I also have While You Were Sleeping. Posco objected because none of those videos are really about Christmas and Baby Jesus. Rosey Posey tried to make it seem better by stating that not everyone is Catholic, so you can't expect them all to watch Baby Jesus Christmas movies. Buzz-wrong answer! But we won't go there because we did that to death this afternoon.

Anywho, my Christmas DVD Library is very pathetic, considering none of those are even DVD's, so I haven't even purchased an entry in like 5 years. I think I never like buying holiday items because they are only good for a few weeks out of the year and my thrifty logic wins out. But I have been thrifty to the point of no holiday fun. And I suck at buying holiday items. Why did I get that Rudolph video anyway?

So, if you were me, what Christmas movies would you purchase? Please don't say It's A Wonderful Life or Bells of St. Mary's because those are the obvious choices.

Posted by Pansy at 6:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

...and saw The Incredibles yesterday.

I am so blown away, I can't even tell you how good that movie is. I am scheming to see it again this very week.

(And yes, I was right not to bring Hambet.)

Posted by Peony at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)