Over Half Way!

I've watched quite a few movies since I wrote last, and will try to keep my reviews brief, as I haven't written in a while and have lots to update.

First off with the movies: I watched Sex and the City, I am Legend, and Juno - in that order.

I was/am a huge STC fan from back in the day when it was still on and I had HBO. I loved that show, and loved the movie. My sister in-law and I went and watched it at the local movie theater, which wasn't that bad because it wasn't very busy. The thing with the Lincoln Theater is that it doesn't have graduated seating, so if someone tall sits in front of you, you're out of luck. Anyhow, the movie perfectly gave a nod to all the things that made the show famous - even the little things like Cosmopolitans. I can't say too much more about it without having to explain 10 years of plot from the show, so I will just say, it was great - I give it a Double Woot! But if you never watched the show, don't bother.

I am Legend was also excellent. I am told by friends that the book is much better, so I will probably give it a look. Basically it's Will Smith and his dog in a post bio-disaster NYC. The Fresh Prince was totally dope in this role, which must not have been easy since he was alone for 90% of the film. I'm a huge fan of the bio-disaster movie - like the Stand, which is in my opinion the best bio-disaster book/movie ever made. These types of movies scare the bejesus out of me because it seems so plausible, probably the way that nuke movies were so popular in the 70's. This one had an interesting twist in that the crazy virus made people turn into vampires, as opposed to the ever popular zombie thread. The super creepy vampire dogs were a nice touch as well. Double Woot!

On to Juno. I had put off seeing this movie just because from the clips I had seen on tv with all the cool banter, I thought it was going to be super annoying. That said, I loved this movie. I think it gave a pretty realistic portrayal of teen pregnancy. The girl gets pregnant, doesn't really know what to do and is totally freaked out but not in a lame after school special way. She decides to give the baby up for adoption - which I can't even imagine doing. The adoptive parents were Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman - I would like to say, although this is totally unrelated - Jennifer Garner needs to 1. Lay off the Botox and 2. Eat a sandwich! She looked like a wax skeleton. The dialog in this movie was brills. In fact, I would like to see Diablo Cody and Quentin Tarantino have a dialog off, or at least work on a project together. It just goes to show, yet again that yes the American public DOES like interesting, smart, well written movies, not just things going boom. As you may have guessed - Juno - Double Woot!

On to books. After giving up on a book half way through, which I never ever do (It was ghost by Alan Lightman - Double Poopsandwich with a side of boogers. Even though the Times liked, it they are often a bunch of pompous blowhards who also like movies like Lost in Translation which was one of the worst movies ever made.) I read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Does this book sound familiar? Remember the book that Oprah picked for her book club about a guy that goes to rehab and it's horrifying and allegedly all true, then she found out it was a load of crap and called him out on her show? No? Read this. Anyway this is that book. Here's the thing. It was a great book, and I highly recommend it. I'm only giving it a single woot though. Why you ask? Because I cannot see how ANYONE could have not known that this book was fiction. First of all, the guy just happens to end up in rehab with a mafia dude AND a federal judge, all who become BFF's because "addicts are all equal" and he just HAPPENS to hook up with a former 13 year old crack whore, who he falls deeply in love with - so much so that he risks his life for her - in 6 weeks? PFFFTTTT. I mean really. OH, and conveniently all the major characters except him are now either dead or missing (says the list at the back of the book) so his story couldn't be corroborated. Even saying all that, it was still a well written good read, and still would have been well received as a work of fiction. Or one of those "based on true events" books, the guy was in rehab, I'm sure parts of it are true, and it's an excellent book about addiction, and the insistence by many that 12 steps are the only way to sobriety, and the willingness of the vast majority of the population to take absolutely no responsibility for their actions whatsoever. So, go ahead and read it, you will like it, don't let the change in classification stop you.

Onward and upward. The title of this blog refers to the half way mark on two fronts: 1. As of July 6, I have been working the list for 6 months and 2. The average of all my accomplishments is at 44% - which is pretty darn close to half. I am absolutely astounded that I have kept with it, and accomplished so many of my goals in 6 months. Though my knitting has come to a screeching halt this summer, which often happens. I have picked up some great new habits, like a new diet plan AND doing yoga a few times per week. I'm super excited to have found two wonderful websites which offer both for free. My averages are probably going to jump even further soon since I have a bunch of words to add to my list.

On a side note, I have decided to tackle one of my big "fear/desires" which is to eat a meal, or even have a cup of coffee in a restaurant - BY MYSELF. Something I have never done in my entire life. I know right? This is definately a skill one should have, especially if one would like to be self sufficient in the least.

And finally, you may be interested to learn, that this blog has been read by people in 9 different countries! How weird is that?