Friday, December 30, 2005
Cosmic
I dreamt about her this morning.
We were somewhere, a restaurant or hotel, I think, and she kept walking away from me but still talking to me, like she didn't want me to get too close to her, and I was trying to catch up to her. I said "We don't hug as much as we used to..."
I finally caught her and gave her a big hug, and I was crying into her shoulder. She said "You don't have to cry anymore."
I woke up then, and I looked at the time because that's what I ALWAYS do whenever I wake up and the alarm hasn't gone off. It was 7, and I had to get up in 20 minutes. I took a closer look at the clock and noticed that I had failed to set the alarm last night.
I quickly set it for 20 more minutes and went back to sleep.
Thanks for waking me up early, Gram, so I wasn't late for work this morning...
We were somewhere, a restaurant or hotel, I think, and she kept walking away from me but still talking to me, like she didn't want me to get too close to her, and I was trying to catch up to her. I said "We don't hug as much as we used to..."
I finally caught her and gave her a big hug, and I was crying into her shoulder. She said "You don't have to cry anymore."
I woke up then, and I looked at the time because that's what I ALWAYS do whenever I wake up and the alarm hasn't gone off. It was 7, and I had to get up in 20 minutes. I took a closer look at the clock and noticed that I had failed to set the alarm last night.
I quickly set it for 20 more minutes and went back to sleep.
Thanks for waking me up early, Gram, so I wasn't late for work this morning...
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Christmas Swag!
This was a great Christmas, I hope everyone had an awesome one. I've still got a few more present exchanges with friends but wanted to express a few words on some of the awesome swag I've received so far this year!
#1 I would have to say is the new Nightmare Before Christmas game: Oogie's Revenge. Now, to say I love the Nightmare Before Christmas is being generous. Its more of an obscene obsession with it. And now I've got this righteous video game to help me pass the time. I got a tiny taste of playing around in Halloweentown while playing the Kingdom Hearts game a couple years back, but this is an ENTIRE game played in Halloweentown! Ok I'm done gushing, but its a really fun game so far, I've only played a couple hours worth of it because Ben and I are now fighting over our Playstation 2 (which is a first in the Hall house since I'm usually the only one that plays video games) because he got the new Evil Dead game (which is the only video game franchise that Ben cares about) as well...
The last thing I received so far that's been tops was this (again, thanks Mom!). Those of you who know me well know that no Marlena Christmas is complete without the receipt of at least one watch, preferably of the Fossil kind, and even MORE preferable, of the Nightmare Before Christmas kind...
So my iPod is full to its guts, I even had to take some songs off to fill it up with my newly acquired music goodness, my DVD collection is a bit swollen and all is right in the world.
Hope everyone enjoyed their loot as much as I have, and I hope everyone has a safe New Year's!
No drinking and driving!! I mean it, I'll cut you if I find out you didn't just crash at your friend's house or take a cab!
#1 I would have to say is the new Nightmare Before Christmas game: Oogie's Revenge. Now, to say I love the Nightmare Before Christmas is being generous. Its more of an obscene obsession with it. And now I've got this righteous video game to help me pass the time. I got a tiny taste of playing around in Halloweentown while playing the Kingdom Hearts game a couple years back, but this is an ENTIRE game played in Halloweentown! Ok I'm done gushing, but its a really fun game so far, I've only played a couple hours worth of it because Ben and I are now fighting over our Playstation 2 (which is a first in the Hall house since I'm usually the only one that plays video games) because he got the new Evil Dead game (which is the only video game franchise that Ben cares about) as well...
I also received a nice lot of Invader Zim toys (thanks Ben), the new Ladytron CD, some old Depeche Mode CDs that I've been wanting but could never justify making the purchase because the albums were so old (thanks Sissypoo!), TOO many DVDs from my mom (the first 4 volumes of the Batman Animated series?? she's nuts!), The Monkees greatest hits (shut up, the Monkees are awesome, you know you watched that show growing up), Danger Mouse seasons 3 & 4 (if you've never seen this cartoon please please go out and buy these boxed sets, you won't be sorry), Beastie Boys Solid Gold Hits (upon receiving this CD, I realized that I already have EVERY song on this album in some form or another and felt silly for wanting it, but still overjoyed that I had gotten it), a VERY swank Paul Frank Skurvy scarf and knit cap set (now if we could only get out of the 70s here, I could wear them), an awesomely ginormous Day of the Dead magnet that's taking up half of my fridge door, the new Madonna CD (again, you KNOW you love Madonna and the Hung Up video homage to Saturday Night Fever is enough for anyone to want this), the limited edition Demon Days CD and DVD by Gorillaz (which is cool, but the CD itself is the EXACT same one as the regular version, I can't count how many of the SAME CD or DVD I have because of repackaging with a little bit of extra stuff on it) a fantastic Sonicare toothbrush (from my in-laws, and I never knew what I was missing in my oral hygiene until I used this thing), some cash and a myriad of other things, but I don't want to bore you with a laundry list of the sweetness. Let's just say I've had a very merry Christmas, indeed, and the gift giving isn't over yet!!
The last thing I received so far that's been tops was this (again, thanks Mom!). Those of you who know me well know that no Marlena Christmas is complete without the receipt of at least one watch, preferably of the Fossil kind, and even MORE preferable, of the Nightmare Before Christmas kind...
So my iPod is full to its guts, I even had to take some songs off to fill it up with my newly acquired music goodness, my DVD collection is a bit swollen and all is right in the world.
Hope everyone enjoyed their loot as much as I have, and I hope everyone has a safe New Year's!
No drinking and driving!! I mean it, I'll cut you if I find out you didn't just crash at your friend's house or take a cab!
Monday, December 26, 2005
Updates
I took advantage of the holiday weekend to make some tweaks to the website. I've got my links on a new page, some portfolio pieces up and a spiffy new contact form for you all to use and fill my mailbox with random knowledge!!
There's also some Blue Sky Comics updates as well!
So check out the site by clicking on one of my robot minions to the right and enjoy!
There's also some Blue Sky Comics updates as well!
So check out the site by clicking on one of my robot minions to the right and enjoy!
Friday, December 23, 2005
Feliz Navidad...
This will probably be my last post until after the big day so I wanted to say it now...
I feel like I'm 6 years old again just bursting with excitement wanting it to be Christmas SO bad. I'm sure my mom and dad would love for me to be 6 again.
My fondest memory of Christmas as a child wasn't in the actual opening of the presents and getting the "loot". It was the night before jitters, opening just one present before bedtime (as was tradition in my family and one which I plan to pass on to my kids), trying to decide which present to open. I didn't want it to be too good of a present because then I'd be robbed of opening it the next day, but I didn't want it to be a sweater either because I would be up all night playing with whatever I got.
My parents didn't employ the empty tree until Christmas Eve and then put all the presents out during the night tactic. All our presents were under our tree from day one, but we were told that they were empty and that Santa would come and fill them because he couldn't possibly carry ALL the presents for ALL the kids in the world in his bag. He used magic to fill them once he got to our house. And if we were tempted to prove this and open a gift it would automatically turn into coal and we'd be screwed out of whatever gift it WOULD have been. This is a VERY good technique I think now that I'm an adult because my sister and I NEVER took that chance in case my mom wasn't full of it.
Christmas was also about finally saying good night and going to my room that I shared with my sister for a good portion of my childhood. My sister and I staying up WAY later than we should have hoping desperately that Santa wouldn't pass by our house because we weren't asleep, but not being able to help ourselves...
Alicia and I would stay up until our eyes were drooping and we were practically holding each other up to try to stay awake and getting about 2 hours of sleep before promptly at 6 am we would awake. I would then make the rounds to my parent's room and my gramma's room to tell them it was time to get up. My gramma was the only one who would get right up with us to try to let my parents get a few more minutes of sleep. She would say that she had to have her coffee first and then we could open presents. For what seemed like a millennia we waited until all the adults had their coffee and then the magic began.
My Dad with the video camera making us show EVERY present to him and telling him what it was and it taking FOREVER because we just wanted to get to the next one. His constant asking of us how old were we and what day was it. My mom pretending she didn't know what any of the gifts were when we opened them and being just as excited as we were that we had received them. My gramma loving every gift that we gave her no matter how small or how ridiculous it was. Our various cats and dogs through the years having just as much fun running through the shed paper and making everyone laugh. My sister and I comparing our gifts as we opened them. "OH I wish I had one too!!"
The gifts aren't Barbies, My Little Ponies, GI Joes or Transformers anymore, they're video games, DVDs, CDs, some toys, usually Nightmare Before Christmas related nowadays, but the magic is still there for me and I hope that everyone has as magical and wonderful a Christmas as they've ever had.
Again, Merry Christmas and always be good to each other. This is the one life we've got. Make every second count, because no one is guaranteed another one.
I feel like I'm 6 years old again just bursting with excitement wanting it to be Christmas SO bad. I'm sure my mom and dad would love for me to be 6 again.
My fondest memory of Christmas as a child wasn't in the actual opening of the presents and getting the "loot". It was the night before jitters, opening just one present before bedtime (as was tradition in my family and one which I plan to pass on to my kids), trying to decide which present to open. I didn't want it to be too good of a present because then I'd be robbed of opening it the next day, but I didn't want it to be a sweater either because I would be up all night playing with whatever I got.
My parents didn't employ the empty tree until Christmas Eve and then put all the presents out during the night tactic. All our presents were under our tree from day one, but we were told that they were empty and that Santa would come and fill them because he couldn't possibly carry ALL the presents for ALL the kids in the world in his bag. He used magic to fill them once he got to our house. And if we were tempted to prove this and open a gift it would automatically turn into coal and we'd be screwed out of whatever gift it WOULD have been. This is a VERY good technique I think now that I'm an adult because my sister and I NEVER took that chance in case my mom wasn't full of it.
Christmas was also about finally saying good night and going to my room that I shared with my sister for a good portion of my childhood. My sister and I staying up WAY later than we should have hoping desperately that Santa wouldn't pass by our house because we weren't asleep, but not being able to help ourselves...
Alicia and I would stay up until our eyes were drooping and we were practically holding each other up to try to stay awake and getting about 2 hours of sleep before promptly at 6 am we would awake. I would then make the rounds to my parent's room and my gramma's room to tell them it was time to get up. My gramma was the only one who would get right up with us to try to let my parents get a few more minutes of sleep. She would say that she had to have her coffee first and then we could open presents. For what seemed like a millennia we waited until all the adults had their coffee and then the magic began.
My Dad with the video camera making us show EVERY present to him and telling him what it was and it taking FOREVER because we just wanted to get to the next one. His constant asking of us how old were we and what day was it. My mom pretending she didn't know what any of the gifts were when we opened them and being just as excited as we were that we had received them. My gramma loving every gift that we gave her no matter how small or how ridiculous it was. Our various cats and dogs through the years having just as much fun running through the shed paper and making everyone laugh. My sister and I comparing our gifts as we opened them. "OH I wish I had one too!!"
The gifts aren't Barbies, My Little Ponies, GI Joes or Transformers anymore, they're video games, DVDs, CDs, some toys, usually Nightmare Before Christmas related nowadays, but the magic is still there for me and I hope that everyone has as magical and wonderful a Christmas as they've ever had.
Again, Merry Christmas and always be good to each other. This is the one life we've got. Make every second count, because no one is guaranteed another one.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Pay attention
Just in case you don't regularly check out the Blue Sky Comics section of this website...(which, you know, you should, because that's where the magic happens)
Dead@17: Protectorate Issue #2 hits the stands TODAY!
Go HERE to buy it.
Or if that doesn't fancy you, go HERE.
Dead@17: Protectorate Issue #2 hits the stands TODAY!
Go HERE to buy it.
Or if that doesn't fancy you, go HERE.
Thank you Lori
I would like to take this moment to thank my good friend Lori for creating a wonderful MySpace group for our favorite gal, Katie Couric:
Katie Couric is Satan's Spawn
If you have a MySpace account, please join this group today...the world must be made aware of how evil Katie is...
Just to show you how heartless she really is, here's what she did today!
A fan that sits out in the freezing cold, just to catch a glimpse of her and the Today show hosts, gave her a Christmas gift (it was one of those vibrator exercise belts I think) and she IMMEDIATELY turned around and gave it to Dave (the anchor that's filling in for Matt Lauer) and she says, I kid you not, "A fan just gave this to me as a gift so I'm going to REGIFT it to you, David!!!"
What a swell gal our Katie is.
Join our group today!!
Katie Couric is Satan's Spawn
If you have a MySpace account, please join this group today...the world must be made aware of how evil Katie is...
Just to show you how heartless she really is, here's what she did today!
A fan that sits out in the freezing cold, just to catch a glimpse of her and the Today show hosts, gave her a Christmas gift (it was one of those vibrator exercise belts I think) and she IMMEDIATELY turned around and gave it to Dave (the anchor that's filling in for Matt Lauer) and she says, I kid you not, "A fan just gave this to me as a gift so I'm going to REGIFT it to you, David!!!"
What a swell gal our Katie is.
Join our group today!!
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Have you heard the latest?
Katie Couric is a rotten evil heartless robot!
This morning on the Today show she was announcing that Jim Carrey was set to appear soon to talk about his new movie "Fun with Dick and Jane", a remake of the 1977 film starring Jane Fonda and George Segal.
When announcing this she said, "Jim Carrey is going to be here to talk about his new movie, 'Fun with Dick and Jane', a remake of the 1977 original, isn't that redundant?"
If I were Jim Carrey and heard Katie calling my new movie redundant, I would have walked off the stage never to return. What's redundant is her constant belittling and badgering of everyone that comes across her path!
At least Jim was a complete jackass to her the entire segment, which made me VERY happy.
This morning on the Today show she was announcing that Jim Carrey was set to appear soon to talk about his new movie "Fun with Dick and Jane", a remake of the 1977 film starring Jane Fonda and George Segal.
When announcing this she said, "Jim Carrey is going to be here to talk about his new movie, 'Fun with Dick and Jane', a remake of the 1977 original, isn't that redundant?"
If I were Jim Carrey and heard Katie calling my new movie redundant, I would have walked off the stage never to return. What's redundant is her constant belittling and badgering of everyone that comes across her path!
At least Jim was a complete jackass to her the entire segment, which made me VERY happy.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Just breathe...
At this very moment, I'm 26, married, my life is on track with a budding career in comics and web design/development, I'm thinking about having children, but I've never felt more like a playground bully in all my life.
Some recent events have brought to light some interesting things that I'm not going to get into, but I just wish that snap judgements weren't made because things have obviously been omitted, made up and/or misconstrued.
In my family, I've always been the mouthpiece. My family doesn't talk to each other. We sit and simmer in our own anger, hurt, joy, indifference...until it comes to a head and someone has to take a stand. Guess who's the one that usually ends up doing it? You guessed it, its me. I can't count the number of times I've gone to family member X to tell them that family member Y has a problem with what they did or said or both. "Ok, go tell X this." "X, Y says this." "Tell X this and this." and so on and so on...
Its very tiring...and its very hard to do, because 9 times out of 10 I end up being the bad guy because I wear my heart on my sleeve. If I have an opinion about something, I'm going to voice it. I don't walk on eggshells, I don't lie or omit truths because it will make someone else feel better. I was taught to tell the truth and be myself. Its burned me in the past, more than once, but that's life, a "life lesson" if you will, and I'm stronger for it. I don't want to live my life thinking, well, I should have said that at this time and regretting that I didn't tell whomever how I felt about something.
Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, but the hard thing is that I'm usually the one that's still hurt, or angry or sad and no one ever asks me what I'm thinking or what I'm feeling. That's why I'm so thankful for Ben, he's my defender, he's my pillar when I'm weary with being the foundation of my family. He's everything to me that I am to my family and so much more...without him, I'd be lost.
Everyone that has taken the time to get to know me knows this about me, and they either love me for it, or hate me for it. Either way, I know that I've got the best friends a girl can ask for, and they know that I'm someone that they can always count on because they know I do everything full throttle at 100% or I don't do it at all. The ones that I'm not friends with, well, it would have come out eventually that we didn't jive and I'd rather I found it out sooner than later.
I should be a rockstar with how I live my life. I don't pay that much mind to astrology mumbo jumbo, but I'm a true Aries, I'm fiery, loud, outspoken, loyal and very protective.
But I know we're only given one shot at this and I've had too much heartbreak not to respect and cherish every minute of it.
So I guess I'm just going to take a breath and continue to be me.
Some recent events have brought to light some interesting things that I'm not going to get into, but I just wish that snap judgements weren't made because things have obviously been omitted, made up and/or misconstrued.
In my family, I've always been the mouthpiece. My family doesn't talk to each other. We sit and simmer in our own anger, hurt, joy, indifference...until it comes to a head and someone has to take a stand. Guess who's the one that usually ends up doing it? You guessed it, its me. I can't count the number of times I've gone to family member X to tell them that family member Y has a problem with what they did or said or both. "Ok, go tell X this." "X, Y says this." "Tell X this and this." and so on and so on...
Its very tiring...and its very hard to do, because 9 times out of 10 I end up being the bad guy because I wear my heart on my sleeve. If I have an opinion about something, I'm going to voice it. I don't walk on eggshells, I don't lie or omit truths because it will make someone else feel better. I was taught to tell the truth and be myself. Its burned me in the past, more than once, but that's life, a "life lesson" if you will, and I'm stronger for it. I don't want to live my life thinking, well, I should have said that at this time and regretting that I didn't tell whomever how I felt about something.
Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, but the hard thing is that I'm usually the one that's still hurt, or angry or sad and no one ever asks me what I'm thinking or what I'm feeling. That's why I'm so thankful for Ben, he's my defender, he's my pillar when I'm weary with being the foundation of my family. He's everything to me that I am to my family and so much more...without him, I'd be lost.
Everyone that has taken the time to get to know me knows this about me, and they either love me for it, or hate me for it. Either way, I know that I've got the best friends a girl can ask for, and they know that I'm someone that they can always count on because they know I do everything full throttle at 100% or I don't do it at all. The ones that I'm not friends with, well, it would have come out eventually that we didn't jive and I'd rather I found it out sooner than later.
I should be a rockstar with how I live my life. I don't pay that much mind to astrology mumbo jumbo, but I'm a true Aries, I'm fiery, loud, outspoken, loyal and very protective.
But I know we're only given one shot at this and I've had too much heartbreak not to respect and cherish every minute of it.
So I guess I'm just going to take a breath and continue to be me.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Goodnight Mrs. Hitler
If you aren't watching and waiting for each week's new Venue song by They Might Be Giants, well then, you're just not living...
Venue Songs
Venue Songs
Thursday, December 15, 2005
It was beauty killed the beast...
Last night, I treated my eyeballs to the wonder and delight of Peter Jackson's King Kong with Ben and some friends.
It is, in my opinion, one of the best movies of the year, and is probably the best remake I've seen in a long time, if not the best remake. With Hollywood scrambling to make old material new again with remake after remake and just downright ridiculous TV-to-movie adaptations (did ANYONE actually go see the Dukes of Hazzard movie?) lately, I had no doubt in my mind that if anyone could pull it off, it would be Peter Jackson.
Only 5 movies have captured my heart and have left me breathless this year. Batman Begins, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, The Corpse Bride, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and now King Kong.
To start the night we ate at Red Robin which has the BEST chicken fingers this side of the Mississippi. Then we went to the theatre and had to hang out in the gameroom until they allowed us to go near the theatre. While waiting I noticed the air hockey table had an interesting name, as seen in this image. Who in their right mind would name an air hockey table after a symptom of menopause? I then felt the need to immediately coin Chris' air hockey table at his house "Night Sweats" to keep the theme going.
We were finally allowed to start a line to wait to get in but apparently, at the Rave theatre in Hurst, a line is meaningless if there's nothing to wrangle people into staying in it so people were just milling about and around the theatre. Then when we were allowed inside, Josh put it very fittingly, "the first people in line are always the last to know", meaning, it was a free for all getting inside, no usher saying, ok you guys go in now since, you know, you've been patiently waiting here this whole time.
I also don't know why God is punishing me by ALWAYS putting the annoyingly rude person or persons either right next to me, right behind me, or right in front of me at the movies. This group of people behind us were generally quiet through the whole movie, but as soon as Kong showed up that was their cue that the rest of the movie needed their quiet and mostly inappropriate running commentary, that most of the time had nothing to do with the movie, and was delivered out loud at the most inappropriate times.
So here's an open letter to all the ghetto jerks that go to the movies and ruin it for everyone else:
Please don't talk during the movie. Laughing at the right spots, and the occasional outburst is, of course, ok, as long as it isn't when a major character is dying or something like that. Don't text message your friend or check your phone because we can all still see the light of the display in a pitch black theatre. Don't bring your babies or too-young-for-the-movie-children to the theatre. If you can't find a sitter, don't come. Your comments are SO not going to be as funny to the rest of the theatre as they are to your friends, so save it for the lobby or the previews. If you don't have the $8.50 to pay to every person in the audience for ruining the movie going experience for them because you have Tourettes or something similar and can't control yourself, then maybe the opening night busiest show of the evening isn't for you. Go to a matinee on a Monday afternoon when most people are at work. Stop talking, stop talking and lastly, stop TALKING during the MOVIE!
Other than that, my movie going experience was perfect...I also would just like to say how much I LOVE Naomi Watts. She will always be Jet Girl to me, but I just love her in everything, and of course Jack Black is always fantastic, as well as the rest of the cast...just top notch.
I forgot to also add that thanks to Peter Jackson, I will be having and have had many a nightmare due to his too realistic CGI bugs. I was almost in tears in the scene where the ship and film crew were battling the larger than life insects. Especially Adrien Brody's part in that scene..the whole scene was unnaturally quiet and it was just painful to watch...I hate anything with more limbs than I have, and nothing makes me squirm more than seeing them enlarged on the big screen. This scene and the huge spider scene in LOTR: Return of the King make me want to curl up into a ball and cry for my mommy.
King Kong is one of the finest pieces of cinema I've ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes upon. Go see it, and then go see it again. You won't be sorry that you did.
Also, for all you old school Peter Jackson pre-Lord-of-the-Rings-fame, fans, look for the nod to Dead Alive, one of the funniest gore movies ever made. The only sad thing is that I didn't catch Peter's cameo, he always puts himself in some random background role in his movies and I couldn't find him in this one. If any of you saw him, let me know where he was so I can slap my forehead in lameness.
It is, in my opinion, one of the best movies of the year, and is probably the best remake I've seen in a long time, if not the best remake. With Hollywood scrambling to make old material new again with remake after remake and just downright ridiculous TV-to-movie adaptations (did ANYONE actually go see the Dukes of Hazzard movie?) lately, I had no doubt in my mind that if anyone could pull it off, it would be Peter Jackson.
Only 5 movies have captured my heart and have left me breathless this year. Batman Begins, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, The Corpse Bride, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and now King Kong.
To start the night we ate at Red Robin which has the BEST chicken fingers this side of the Mississippi. Then we went to the theatre and had to hang out in the gameroom until they allowed us to go near the theatre. While waiting I noticed the air hockey table had an interesting name, as seen in this image. Who in their right mind would name an air hockey table after a symptom of menopause? I then felt the need to immediately coin Chris' air hockey table at his house "Night Sweats" to keep the theme going.We were finally allowed to start a line to wait to get in but apparently, at the Rave theatre in Hurst, a line is meaningless if there's nothing to wrangle people into staying in it so people were just milling about and around the theatre. Then when we were allowed inside, Josh put it very fittingly, "the first people in line are always the last to know", meaning, it was a free for all getting inside, no usher saying, ok you guys go in now since, you know, you've been patiently waiting here this whole time.
I also don't know why God is punishing me by ALWAYS putting the annoyingly rude person or persons either right next to me, right behind me, or right in front of me at the movies. This group of people behind us were generally quiet through the whole movie, but as soon as Kong showed up that was their cue that the rest of the movie needed their quiet and mostly inappropriate running commentary, that most of the time had nothing to do with the movie, and was delivered out loud at the most inappropriate times.
So here's an open letter to all the ghetto jerks that go to the movies and ruin it for everyone else:
Please don't talk during the movie. Laughing at the right spots, and the occasional outburst is, of course, ok, as long as it isn't when a major character is dying or something like that. Don't text message your friend or check your phone because we can all still see the light of the display in a pitch black theatre. Don't bring your babies or too-young-for-the-movie-children to the theatre. If you can't find a sitter, don't come. Your comments are SO not going to be as funny to the rest of the theatre as they are to your friends, so save it for the lobby or the previews. If you don't have the $8.50 to pay to every person in the audience for ruining the movie going experience for them because you have Tourettes or something similar and can't control yourself, then maybe the opening night busiest show of the evening isn't for you. Go to a matinee on a Monday afternoon when most people are at work. Stop talking, stop talking and lastly, stop TALKING during the MOVIE!
Other than that, my movie going experience was perfect...I also would just like to say how much I LOVE Naomi Watts. She will always be Jet Girl to me, but I just love her in everything, and of course Jack Black is always fantastic, as well as the rest of the cast...just top notch.
I forgot to also add that thanks to Peter Jackson, I will be having and have had many a nightmare due to his too realistic CGI bugs. I was almost in tears in the scene where the ship and film crew were battling the larger than life insects. Especially Adrien Brody's part in that scene..the whole scene was unnaturally quiet and it was just painful to watch...I hate anything with more limbs than I have, and nothing makes me squirm more than seeing them enlarged on the big screen. This scene and the huge spider scene in LOTR: Return of the King make me want to curl up into a ball and cry for my mommy.
King Kong is one of the finest pieces of cinema I've ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes upon. Go see it, and then go see it again. You won't be sorry that you did.
Also, for all you old school Peter Jackson pre-Lord-of-the-Rings-fame, fans, look for the nod to Dead Alive, one of the funniest gore movies ever made. The only sad thing is that I didn't catch Peter's cameo, he always puts himself in some random background role in his movies and I couldn't find him in this one. If any of you saw him, let me know where he was so I can slap my forehead in lameness.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
You know, Santa Claus, and ho-ho-ho, and mistletoe... and presents for pretty girls...
I love Christmas.
I love buying presents. I love decorating the Christmas tree and laughing while watching my cats try to be sly and play with the ornaments. I love snuggling up on the couch with some hot chocolate and Ben while we watch A Charlie Brown Christmas on DVD (so's we don't have to wait for it to come on tv, we watch it whenever we darn well please). I love snow and cold weather, just not driving in it. I love wrapping presents, baking (and eating) Christmas cookies. I love egg nog (cut with milk and sometimes rum, because drinking it straight is just gross). I love Christmas music but only the stuff that I grew up with and some new favorites, not the sappy junk they play on KVIL, the Christmas Evil radio station. I pretty much love everything about this time of year...
The only thing I don't like about Christmas is the actual shopping for the gifts. I'm the anti-girl when it comes to shopping and the mall. I don't like shopping any time of year, I don't window shop, I can't spend hours at the mall "just looking". Whenever I go out shopping its always with an agenda. I plan out the stores I need to go to, what I'm there to buy, I go in, get the item and get out. There's only a couple stores that I can actually walk around in looking at things and not get bored within 5 minutes. The Body Shop, Best Buy and Target are pretty much it. I can shop online at places like Amazon because its at my leisure, and if I get bored I can leave the website and not be pissed that I have get in my car and come back later. I don't know, I guess I just missed the part where I'm a girl and therefore must have a love for shopping.
Ben, on the other hand, loves Christmas shopping. He can walk around all day looking at stuff, but I think he just likes the Christmas spirit and being out in public rather than being chained to his drawing table all day.
So Merry Christmas and be good to each other.
I love buying presents. I love decorating the Christmas tree and laughing while watching my cats try to be sly and play with the ornaments. I love snuggling up on the couch with some hot chocolate and Ben while we watch A Charlie Brown Christmas on DVD (so's we don't have to wait for it to come on tv, we watch it whenever we darn well please). I love snow and cold weather, just not driving in it. I love wrapping presents, baking (and eating) Christmas cookies. I love egg nog (cut with milk and sometimes rum, because drinking it straight is just gross). I love Christmas music but only the stuff that I grew up with and some new favorites, not the sappy junk they play on KVIL, the Christmas Evil radio station. I pretty much love everything about this time of year...
The only thing I don't like about Christmas is the actual shopping for the gifts. I'm the anti-girl when it comes to shopping and the mall. I don't like shopping any time of year, I don't window shop, I can't spend hours at the mall "just looking". Whenever I go out shopping its always with an agenda. I plan out the stores I need to go to, what I'm there to buy, I go in, get the item and get out. There's only a couple stores that I can actually walk around in looking at things and not get bored within 5 minutes. The Body Shop, Best Buy and Target are pretty much it. I can shop online at places like Amazon because its at my leisure, and if I get bored I can leave the website and not be pissed that I have get in my car and come back later. I don't know, I guess I just missed the part where I'm a girl and therefore must have a love for shopping.
Ben, on the other hand, loves Christmas shopping. He can walk around all day looking at stuff, but I think he just likes the Christmas spirit and being out in public rather than being chained to his drawing table all day.
So Merry Christmas and be good to each other.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Happy Birthday ol' Blue Eyes
Also, today is Frank Sinatra's birthday.
Long live the Chairman of the Board. May you have a swingin' affair wherever you are...
Long live the Chairman of the Board. May you have a swingin' affair wherever you are...
The Chronicles of Marlena...the Ladies, the Drag Queen, and the Closet?
Now that I'm in between comic gigs, I've got a smidgeon of free time on my hands.
So Ben and I went with some friends to see The Chronicles of Narnia on Friday. (Even though it was Lori who invited us out, she screamed out in the theatre "I can't believe you guys took me to a Disney movie!" halfway through the credits, this is an indication of how my weekend went from here on out.) The movie was enjoyable, it was more geared toward children, so as an adult, it was a good ride, a little cheesecake in some areas, but I wasn't wishing I had the two hours of my life back after it was over. The most enjoyable moments were the scenes with Tilda Swinton as the White Witch. I just love her. Having never read the books as a kid, I don't know how good of a job they did in the translation of it, but I hear that C.S. Lewis didn't spend alot of time on epic battle scenes so things like that had to be fleshed out by hollywood. The only bad part of not having prior knowledge of what was to happen was annoying people around us shouting out things that were about to happen...namely one girl who yelled "SANTA!" at one part of the movie, and they hadn't yet revealed that this character was indeed, Santa, so that kind of annoyed me. I don't go yelling things out in Harry Potter movies before they happen, because I KNOW not everyone has read the books and will not know what's coming up...
Saturday Ben and I did a TON of Christmas shopping because we've been too busy to do it up until now. We got pretty much everyone done, just a few stragglers here and there. Then that night was another Girl's Night Out adventure with Lori and Laura.
That's where the fun starts.
We had decided to go to a Mexican restaurant in Dallas and then go see a drag show since Laura had never been to one and has been dying to go for a while now (see last Girl's Night Out, here to be known as GNO, where we ended up at a strip club because of Laura's underage sister). So we get to the restaurant and wait FOREVER for a table (it seems this place is the only good restaurant in a 75 mile radius because its always JAMPACKED with people), and we get the SAME waiter from last GNO. He's one of these guys that sees a table of girls and thinks that we are OBVIOUSLY all out looking to "hook up" or "on the prowl" and thinks he probably has a shot if he acts cool enough or at least he'll get a BIG TIP because we're all desperate despite the wedding rings on two of our fingers. Well, that might work with regular girls, but we three are anything but.
So we make fun of him the whole night and make our way to the bar at around 10. The place was pretty dead to start so we got some drinks and just sat at a table waiting for the drag show to start, watching the dancers.
I'm leaving out the bit about the guy with his pants half down displaying his bits to everyone because its just too weird to think about and I'm trying to purge that memory from my mind forever. See Lori's account of it if you must.
At around 11:30 we went to get seats for the show and of course since its supposed to start at midnight, when we get in there, its already started...Joy. So we wrangle some seats and that's when the night took yet another turn to the weird. For some reason they had the air conditioning on and it was FREEZING, the performers just weren't on par this evening, one of the queens came by and stole Lori's purse for a bit then brought it back. We had a new friend Jay come and sit with us for a while and while Laura and Lori ditched me to go to the bathroom, I had to save the seats and Jay gave me a rousing rendition of Save Ferris' "Come on Eileen".
We called it a night at about 1:30 after we could barely feel our fingers from the cold and the show was just NOT that entertaining...it was really sad. Lori had said she rarely gets weirded out by ANYTHING in an evening, but she had just hit her weird alert level. We'll take Laura again some other time, maybe in June when we'll NEED the A/C at full blast in the room.
Next GNO we decided we're going to FT. Worth, where its decidedly LESS cuckoo...that is, until we arrive, I'm sure.
So Ben and I went with some friends to see The Chronicles of Narnia on Friday. (Even though it was Lori who invited us out, she screamed out in the theatre "I can't believe you guys took me to a Disney movie!" halfway through the credits, this is an indication of how my weekend went from here on out.) The movie was enjoyable, it was more geared toward children, so as an adult, it was a good ride, a little cheesecake in some areas, but I wasn't wishing I had the two hours of my life back after it was over. The most enjoyable moments were the scenes with Tilda Swinton as the White Witch. I just love her. Having never read the books as a kid, I don't know how good of a job they did in the translation of it, but I hear that C.S. Lewis didn't spend alot of time on epic battle scenes so things like that had to be fleshed out by hollywood. The only bad part of not having prior knowledge of what was to happen was annoying people around us shouting out things that were about to happen...namely one girl who yelled "SANTA!" at one part of the movie, and they hadn't yet revealed that this character was indeed, Santa, so that kind of annoyed me. I don't go yelling things out in Harry Potter movies before they happen, because I KNOW not everyone has read the books and will not know what's coming up...
Saturday Ben and I did a TON of Christmas shopping because we've been too busy to do it up until now. We got pretty much everyone done, just a few stragglers here and there. Then that night was another Girl's Night Out adventure with Lori and Laura.
That's where the fun starts.
We had decided to go to a Mexican restaurant in Dallas and then go see a drag show since Laura had never been to one and has been dying to go for a while now (see last Girl's Night Out, here to be known as GNO, where we ended up at a strip club because of Laura's underage sister). So we get to the restaurant and wait FOREVER for a table (it seems this place is the only good restaurant in a 75 mile radius because its always JAMPACKED with people), and we get the SAME waiter from last GNO. He's one of these guys that sees a table of girls and thinks that we are OBVIOUSLY all out looking to "hook up" or "on the prowl" and thinks he probably has a shot if he acts cool enough or at least he'll get a BIG TIP because we're all desperate despite the wedding rings on two of our fingers. Well, that might work with regular girls, but we three are anything but.
So we make fun of him the whole night and make our way to the bar at around 10. The place was pretty dead to start so we got some drinks and just sat at a table waiting for the drag show to start, watching the dancers.I'm leaving out the bit about the guy with his pants half down displaying his bits to everyone because its just too weird to think about and I'm trying to purge that memory from my mind forever. See Lori's account of it if you must.
At around 11:30 we went to get seats for the show and of course since its supposed to start at midnight, when we get in there, its already started...Joy. So we wrangle some seats and that's when the night took yet another turn to the weird. For some reason they had the air conditioning on and it was FREEZING, the performers just weren't on par this evening, one of the queens came by and stole Lori's purse for a bit then brought it back. We had a new friend Jay come and sit with us for a while and while Laura and Lori ditched me to go to the bathroom, I had to save the seats and Jay gave me a rousing rendition of Save Ferris' "Come on Eileen".
We called it a night at about 1:30 after we could barely feel our fingers from the cold and the show was just NOT that entertaining...it was really sad. Lori had said she rarely gets weirded out by ANYTHING in an evening, but she had just hit her weird alert level. We'll take Laura again some other time, maybe in June when we'll NEED the A/C at full blast in the room.
Next GNO we decided we're going to FT. Worth, where its decidedly LESS cuckoo...that is, until we arrive, I'm sure.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Just in case...
Is that ICE?
Ok, I know that I'm probably being a complete baby, but ICE on roadways scares the crap out of me. I grew up in the desert where the coldest it ever gets is 40 degrees. The roads NEVER ice, we never have snow. (well, lately, my sister tells me it snows more often, like once a year, but not more than an inch and it turns to slush, not ice because its still not cold enough to freeze it on the road)
So when we had FREEZING rain and ice heading our way on Wednesday, I told Ben we were packing it in early and left work at 3:30 not to come back until Friday.
Well, we had planned on going to work on Thursday but our driveway and street had other plans for us.
7:30 - Wake up, look out window. ICE
8:30 - Boss calls, wake up, look out window. ICE. Told boss we're not coming in just yet, because we're trapped in our house.
8:45 - 9:30 - Take shower, get dressed, look out window. ICE.
So around noon my boss calls again and says that he's going into the office. We live about 30 minutes away from our job so Ben and I debate on whether we should go into work. I turn on the news and learn that at 8:30 that morning a semi had jack-knifed on the highway we take to get to work and it was still on fire and crews were still trying to clean it up and it was in the east bound lanes...the same route we take to work. So I say it would probably take us an hour or longer to get to work with the backups and detours only to have to turn right around and come home in the same mess again a few hours later. We decide that the pay isn't worth the hassle and headache and call it a snow day.
The semi didn't get cleared up until 4 o'clock right around when rush hour starts...I think we made a wise decision.
So during our snow day we got some more website graphic goodness done, we snuggled up on the couch, ate some leftover pizza (yeah we were NOT above paying some poor bastard to bring us pizza in the ice Wednesday night rather than going out to get our own dinner. We gave him a HUGE tip though, because, you know, he was risking his neck to bring us lazy jerks some food), and watched Near Dark on DVD.
I know some of you are like, that's nothing, you sissy, a little ice never hurt anyone! To that I say, yes, you're right, but I don't know how to drive in the ice, Ben's car needs oil before it can be driven again and he's not used to driving my car, and rather than put anyone in danger by my dumb self driving in the ice, I would rather stay home and not cause any wrecks. Before moving here I didn't even know what an ice scraper was or why I would ever need one...
So when we had FREEZING rain and ice heading our way on Wednesday, I told Ben we were packing it in early and left work at 3:30 not to come back until Friday.
Well, we had planned on going to work on Thursday but our driveway and street had other plans for us.
7:30 - Wake up, look out window. ICE
8:30 - Boss calls, wake up, look out window. ICE. Told boss we're not coming in just yet, because we're trapped in our house.
8:45 - 9:30 - Take shower, get dressed, look out window. ICE.
So around noon my boss calls again and says that he's going into the office. We live about 30 minutes away from our job so Ben and I debate on whether we should go into work. I turn on the news and learn that at 8:30 that morning a semi had jack-knifed on the highway we take to get to work and it was still on fire and crews were still trying to clean it up and it was in the east bound lanes...the same route we take to work. So I say it would probably take us an hour or longer to get to work with the backups and detours only to have to turn right around and come home in the same mess again a few hours later. We decide that the pay isn't worth the hassle and headache and call it a snow day.
The semi didn't get cleared up until 4 o'clock right around when rush hour starts...I think we made a wise decision.
So during our snow day we got some more website graphic goodness done, we snuggled up on the couch, ate some leftover pizza (yeah we were NOT above paying some poor bastard to bring us pizza in the ice Wednesday night rather than going out to get our own dinner. We gave him a HUGE tip though, because, you know, he was risking his neck to bring us lazy jerks some food), and watched Near Dark on DVD.
I know some of you are like, that's nothing, you sissy, a little ice never hurt anyone! To that I say, yes, you're right, but I don't know how to drive in the ice, Ben's car needs oil before it can be driven again and he's not used to driving my car, and rather than put anyone in danger by my dumb self driving in the ice, I would rather stay home and not cause any wrecks. Before moving here I didn't even know what an ice scraper was or why I would ever need one...
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