We Did It

After three failed attempts to see the movie, The Hangover, Zak and I finally made it. We thought it was really funny and really liked it, but that just might have been mediated by the two (yes, two seperate locations) happy hours we hit before seeing the film.

This is not a movie I originally wanted to see, but did for two reasons:

1. Bradley Cooper, formerly of Alias, is super-hot and I have missed seeing him regularly.

2. Before this movie had been released in theatres, they were already working on the sequel. They just knew that it would make enough money to warrant a second go round. I had to see what kind of film would warrant that.

So, obvioiusly, Bradley Cooper was certainly worth my movie dollar, but I must say I’m a little confused on how you do a sequel. Do they go back to Vegas for another bachelor party and have another ridiculously outrageous time? Interestingly enough, in order to get the answer to this question, I’ll probably have to see the 2nd one, so maybe they were right to start work on it already.

After that movie, we decided to see another since we were out. The only thing starting then was Year One. Let’s take a minute to talk about how horrible this movie was. It was so very very bad that Zak and I left after a half hour. And it’s not like Zak and I weren’t in the mood to laugh at silly things. I mean, by this time we’d been drinking for 5 hours and we had just seen another silly movie, but this one was too much. And not in a good way. There were at least 5 of the first 30 minutes dedicated to fart jokes. I do not like this sort of humor in movies and thus, shortly after this part, we left. It was just all bad all the time. The things that were supposed to be funny were not. It’s on of those things where a lot of good people come together to make a bad movie. I mean, Paul Rudd, Michael Cera, Tobias from Arrested Development and a GhostBuster were all in it and it was just so bad. Note to selves-stay away.

 

The Da Vinci Code

As the fluff contines:

I read the Da Vinci Code this week. Having seen the movie for the first time about a month ago I was pleased to find that the book was much better. It’s nice to find that even in less than intellectual fiction, the book is still better. I’m glad to know that this is a universal truth.

The thing I enjoyed about reading this book was that it took place in the parts of Paris where Zak and I spent a lot of time and so I could vividly picutre where they were and what things looked like. The only things that was negative about this was that I felt a little guilty about spending about 10 minutes in the Louvre instead of the many days it deserves.

This book also reminded me how interesting the history of religions is. If you haven’t read Under the Banner of Heaven which is a history of the Mormon church, you should. After the summer of fluff, I think I’ll do some non-fiction reading and look into the history of more religions. It’s all so very very interesting and sneaky and sometimes very bloody. I mean, more blood has been shed in the name of religion than in the World Wars combined and then some. Those crusades were pretty brutal and in the name of religion. I think I could read about this stuff for a long time and not tire of it. I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes.

I can’t wait for my summer of fluff to be over. There are so many books that I want to read. My amazon.com wish list is growing by the day and it’s starting to wear away at me. What if I’m getting dumber by the second. What if that part of my brain that is used to read better books atrophies during this summer and I have to do some sort of physical therapy to get it back in working order. I mean, what if I have to start with really good children’s books like the Very Hungry Caterpillar and Where the Wild Things Are and then work my way up to the Pulitzers and Mann Booker winners of my past. Oh dear, this summer could cost me a lot more than I originally anticipated. Maybe to make up for summer of fluff, I’ll read all the books on Time Magazines top 100 novels of the 20th century. I’ll have to look up that list and see what’s on it before I commit to it.

Oh, that reminds me. In 1998 AFI (American Film Institute) came out with a list of the top 100 movies of all time. Zak, Maren and I decided to watch all of the movies on the list starting with the last one and working our way up. We made a little progress in high school but haven’t worked on it since then as we were separated for a long time. But, now that we are back together, we are starting the list up again and we are pretty excited. Up next #85 Duck Soup and then #84 Fargo. I’ll keep you updated on our work through the list and I can almost guarantee that after we are done with all 100 we will make our own list and pass that along as well. I know, you can’t wait. In order to give you a hint of this, I can guaratnee that while Willow does not appear on the AFI list, it will definately appear on ours. In case you weren’t sure, this list is less about great and moving films and more about our favorites of the past.

 

Shakespeare in the Park

Yes friends, it was time once again last week for our annual Shakespeare in the park outing. This year Meghan and I waited in line next to some very annoying private school pre-teens. But, after several hours of being annoyed, we realized that the best way to get them to stop talking to eachother was to invite them to play a game with us, thus distracting them from their irritating conversation. I’d like to claim the credit for this stroke of genius, but it was a Meghan brainchild and really saved the day.

After getting the tickets, Meghan and I tried to make it to meet Lisa for an IMAX viewing of Transformers. Sadly, by the time we got there we had missed 20 minutes of movie. And I mean 20 minutes of movie, not 15 minutes of previews and 5 minutes of movie. So, lovely Lisa came out of the IMAX version and waited a whole hour to see the regular version of it with us. It was not as good as the first one, but still good-as most action movies are.

Then we three met Maren at Lisa’s for a Thai food feast. We ordered way more food than any 4 people needed and did some good work to eat most of it. In case you weren’t sure-it was yummy.

Then finally back to the park for Maren’s first ever Shakespeare in the park. And boy did she pick a good one. It was the best in the park production I have seen in the 4 years we’ve been going. It was Twelfth Night and starred Anne Hathaway and Julie White.

    

It was so funny (as is the play when you read it) and so well acted and the music was so good I wished that you could buy the soundtrack.

The only thing to muck up the glory of this great work was that Erica, long missed and much loved Erica, was not there as she usually is to enjoy it with me. I was, however, slightly comforted by her twin sitting two rows in front of Maren. She was wearing an Erica outfit, used Erica hand movements (which, if you know Erica, are very distinct) and even had her hair done in an Erica fashion (buns). It made me feel a little better to have this visual trickery Erica to look at who seemed to enjoy the show. Needless to say, while a great time was had by one and all, we missed our Erica and talked about how bummed we were to have her gone this year.

 

9 to 5

Last night the girls and I went to see the Musical version of the Dolly Parton classic-9 to 5. Dolly did the music and it was great. We had such a great time and the music was so fun and funny! Well done, Dolly!

We met Zak beforehand at Bourbon Street to enjoy the happy hour and great food.

Needless to say, we drank a lot and had great food.

And aparently, Zak and Lisa really enjoyed themselves.

 

Arrested Development

So, I’ve been slowly making my way through the first season of Arrested Development. And I must say, I love it. It’s super funny and has Jason Bateman in it and is narrated by Ron Howard. What more could a person want in a comedy? I say, nothing.

My favorite quote from the episode I watched yesterday:

Mother: “I’ll be in the hospital bar.”

Son: “you know there is no hospital bar.”

Mother: “That must be why people hate hospitals.”

Unrelated other information. People that I talk to on a regular basis keep asking me when I am leaving for my trip as if I would not mention it to Maren or Amber and just leave without talking to them before going. So, for those of you who are wondering again and for the Ambers and Marens of the world who keep asking, I’m leaving April 30th and coming back May 11. For the Oklahomans who are reading, I’ll be in your great state May 17-22. I hope Sonic is ready for the increase in business that will happen when Jeff, Brianne and Maren spend a week in OK.

 

It’s about Time

Okay, Amber and I have been watching General Hospital for a very very long time. We watched it together everyday from the time we were 18-23 and watch it separately since then and discuss all the time.

Sometimes watching GH gets us a little down. The story lines slow down. Or they do things we don’t like. Or they replace great characters (second Carly) with terrible people (Carl). But, we keep going. And why do we keep going? Because we love these people. We have known some of these characters longer than we have known a lot of people that read this blog. And so, we persevere. Even when they kill off our favorites. Or do things we don’t like.

But sometimes or dedication is rewarded. And that day is today. We have favorite characters. And then we have characters that go beyond favorites. They are so fantastic and over the top that we love them more than we love some of you. That’s just how great they are. Sadly, we so rarely get to see these people. They come and go and sometimes long long years pass between the sightings.

And this is why, when they show up out of nowhere and we get to see them again, it causes some of us to yell in the middle of the living room and immediately pick up the phone and tell Amber to watch the show RIGHTNOW and not do anything else she needed to do.

And why?

Because our favorite character of all time-Helena-is back. After at least five years of absence, she’s back! We got to see her for a full 5 seconds yesterday and it was the best 5 seconds of GH in years! Oh, Helena, how I have missed your evil ways. Welcome back, old friend.

P.S. Amber-is this not the greatest thing ever?

P.P.S. Sorry to the rest of you about the long GH-related blog.

 

It’s a Sign

I seem to take a lot of mocking for watching General Hospital. Well, I guess if I just sort of watched it casually, then I wouldn’t get so much mocking, so I guess I should say that I take a lot of mocking for my all-consuming obsession with General Hospital. But, I take the mocking and stand by my position that one day my watching will in some way save a life or something big and awesome like that. I promise, it’ll happen. Just you wait…

In the meantime, I think it’s nice to get little signs from the universe that I should be watching GH. The most recent sign came yesterday when I was doing my homework for class for the week Zak and I are gone and what was the topic of that week? Postpartum depression. Now, while the rest of you may not understand, Amber knows that it’s awesome because Robyn on GH is suffering from PPD right this very moment. And how very handy that I had to do a lot of research on that same topic today for class. You see, I’m supposed to be watching this show. Isn’t it clear?

So, Berta, I say we keep going strong. If loving General Hospital is wrong, do we really want to be right?

In equally great but unrelated news: a hearty way to go to Phil Mickelson for his great round of Friday and his big move from +1 to -3. That’s my boy!

 

Yesterday Part One

Today I will tell you about the early part of yesterday and then tomorrow I’ll tell you about Friday night.

Zak and I met for our $6 Friday the 13th viewing and he brought us Crystal Light Icee’s from 7-11. Crystal Light frozen? Awesome. And while I didn’t hug Zak when I saw him, I did give him a hug when he revealed the frozen treat hidden under his coat.

In today’s edition of movie reviews I must say that both Zak and I decided that My Bloody Valentine 3-D was better than Friday the 13th. I mean, first, the 3-D movie came with awesome glasses, and we got nothing for seeing 13. Then there was also the fact that the makers of My Bloody Valentine knew they were making a bad movie and made it awesomely bad. The makers of Friday the 13th seemed to think they were making a good movie and tried way too hard and it didn’t work out for them. There were a few too many holes for my taste and it was funny in ways that I don’t think they intended. Zak and I had to keep covering our mouths to laugh silently because we were the only ones in the theatre laughing.

After our movie, we decided to lunch, but instead went to Zaks apartment, drank for a few hours and then ate lunch while waiting for Zak to finish his laundry. What did we drink? Well, thanks for asking. We drank a suicide of sorts, also called a Manhattan Iced Tea, which was a mixture of all the things Zak had in his studio.

1. French Vanilla Kahlua

2. Vodka

3. Dark Rum

4. Pepsi

5. Raspberry Lime Seltzer

6. Banana/Pineapple Fuze drink

7. Ginger Beer

Yes, that is an actual list of the items in our beverage and you may be shocked to learn that it was quite good. We liked it. If you visit NYC, we’ll mix you up a batch. But I’ll need advanced notice because who just has those things in their home? The liquor? Yes. The other items? Not so much.

Anyway, after this drinking, I came home and attempted to take a nap which was really more of a “laying down time” but was nice nonetheless. Seriously, I heart my bed.

This takes us to 6:00 pm when Lisa and Julie came over to start our evening. And there ends todays story…

Oh! Wait, I forgot to tell you about the funny thing that happened while Zak and I were drinking. It’s 2:00 in the afternoon, we are drinking our suicides and all of a sudden we are having this conversation where we are both crying! What?! It was so crazy and so funny and actually had us saying out loud “why are we crying at 2:00 in the afternoon?” Yes, good times. I hope this was not a side effect of the drink I just offered to make you all upon your visits. If so, then get ready for a tear jerker.

 

Friday Part Two

Okay, so, after my laying down time, Lisa and her friend, Julie showed up so we could do a little arts and crafts time and prepare the veils that we had decided to wear funeral style to Erica and Seans going away party.

After our arts and crafts time, we headed over to Tibetan Kitchen for a yummy dinner of yummy Tibetan food. Good times. Then we got on the subway for the long, long trek to New Jersey. You should all see this as a testament to my love for all things Erica because I avoid Jersey at all costs. For serious. So for me to go out there is a big statement.

So, years later, we get to Jersey City and to Sean and Erica’s apartment. Let’s all take a moment to be thankful that we did not have to clean out our apartment of 7 years and either give away, throw away or store 95% of our stuff in preparation for a long road trip. Just the idea of it makes me never ever want to move.

The quote of the evening belongs to Julie who said “I thought I was tired but…I was tired of not dancing”.

Before we left, we took a tour of the Van. To say it was Vantastic would be an understatement. It was impressive. Well done, Sean and Erica.

Well, friends, I’m sure going to miss you guys. However, Erica and I figured that there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll talk more often when they are on the road than we did when they lived here. Which is probably going to be true. So, have a great great trip!

 

Freaks and Geeks

After hearing about how great this show is for so long, I finally Netflixed it and am watching and loving it. It’s called Freaks and Geeks and was on for one season in 1999-2000 and has some really great people in it that might be familiar to some of you:

1. James Franco

2. Jason Segel

3. Seth Rogen

4. Busy Phillips

So, if this show turns out to be a great mixture of Spiderman, How I Met Your Mother, Knocked Up and Dawsons Creek, I think we’re in for a good time. I’ll keep you all updated.