All About the Ds

Exercise Sitrep: beyond depressing.
Weekly goal: Gym 2x, PerfectCardio workout 1x

So I went to the movies Saturday to see "Alice in Wonderland" in 3-D. I have to admit, I probably would have enjoyed the movie more in 2-D. Had a minor tension-type headache by the time it was over. Not sure if that was because I had a migraine most of the week (love those coworkers that marinate in perfume!), or if it was the 3-D. It didn't seem to add much to the story line to me. But I'm used to 2-D movies. And perhaps this wasn't the best picture for 3-D. The affects seemed to me to be added just because, not to move the storyline along. I guess I should also mention I'm not big on huge special effects. I prefer things to be very subtle and realistic. Not overwhelming and punching out at me from the screen. Found the glasses to be fuzzy around the edges. That could just be my eyesite and the fact I wear contacts.

The movie itself was enjoyable. A nice trip back to "Wonderland". Although I have to admit I remember it as more cheerful and colorful. But then again, the original Alice movie by Disn.e.y wasn't one of my favorites as a child. So my memories are pretty sparse and faded.

Which brings me to my second "D" of this post. Which I'm afraid I've forgotten. I had it all planned out on the drive to work this morning, and thought it was rather clever of me to connect two topics with the "D". Oh well. Let's just call it a Monday, and leave it at that!

On the Exercise Front

Last Week's Goal: 3x Arms & Abs, Gym Night
Debrief: 2x Arms, 3x Abs, 20 min Basketball (Gym Night)
Goals (4/7-13): 2x Arms & Abs, 2 nights finishing bedroom floor (scraping, sanding)

I just wanted to pop in with a post on my exercise for last week. I feel much better, almost made my goal. Only short one Arms workout. Also got in some stair climbing via the bleachers at the dinner on Saturday. And does it count that we stood in line for several hours? In the "bitter wind and snow" to quote the local paper? It was cold when the wind blew. Enough to make a person move around alot. But I did the layers thing which was smart. Because it was darn hot inside. At least up in the bleachers. Too many politicians campaigning on the floor. ;)

Will download pics to my computer today from the rally, and compose a post. Lots to think about. It was an amazing evening. Left me completely exhausted yesterday. Managed to hangout with Shanni and KT though. Watched "Sweeney Todd" (excellent, if bloody - had to make Shanni cover her eyes for some of it), and "Enchanted" (fun, different.) I guess it was a day for musicals of a different color...ST is on my "buy" list for DVDs now. Hint, hint. (Hey, someone has a birthday coming up in oh, ten days?)

Be back later with info on Montana's O.C. ;)

Books & Movies

Sitrep: 1x Abs
Goal: 3x Abs, 2x Arms
Check out Alden's blog today - great post. And definitely try the Perfect Pushup. If I can do it, so can you!

Lately I've been on quite a roll when it comes to books and movies. Knocking quite a few off my TBR (To Be Read) or TBW (To Be Watched) piles. So I thought I'd give some reviews:

Castle of the Wolf by Sandra Schwab - I picked this up due to a review posted on the readers bulletin board I go to. Well worth the money and the time. I liked it for several reasons:

1. Character Driven - well developed characters, can understand why they do what they do, no large cast of unnecessary-to-the story-line and just-there-for-spin offs characters
2. Set in Germany - unusual place setting for a Historical Romance
3. Shades of paranormal in it, but just shades. Wasn't about vampires or werewolves or whatever
4. Well written.
5. The hero/heroine didn't have that misunderstanding for three-hundred years thing keeping them apart. The heroine took action, made mistakes, etc. She wasn't TSTL (too stupid to live), either.

A definite Buy.

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Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne - also purchased due to a recommendation from a friend & BB posts/reviews. Well worth it.

1. Character driven - definitely are seeing more in their heads than those stories that are more suspense/action than romance. The romance/character development is the primary story, the suspense/action is the vehicle showcasing the character development, the vehicle moving it along.
2. Again, no large cast of characters that are there only for amusement and for potential spin-off books. The characters that are there are there for a reason. Only one I find maybe more lacking in development, and a caricature or more of a stereotypical role is the bad guy they're running from. Reminds me of Chauvelin from The Scarlet Pimpernel.
3. Well written. I'm not rolling my eyes and flipping forward, skipping paragraphs.

A definite Buy - and I'm only half-way through it!

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Babel (starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett) - avoid this movie at all costs. Premise is great, execution is terrible.

1. Five minutes into the movie I figured they weren't going to a) start speaking in English and b) give me subtitles. So I turned them on myself. Not sure if the movie is intentionally supposed to be non-understandable for most of it...Doesn't work for me. If I want a foreign film with subtitles, that's what I'll rent. At the least, give me subtitles. I think they were aiming for it to be unintelligible unless in English, to give the watcher more of the feeling of being in the middle of this chaos...Doesn't work for me.
2. What was up with the Japanese family? Tenuous connection to the other 2 story lines at best, waste of time at worst. Did not like at all. Especially the 10-15 minute disco/club scene of nothing but flashing lights and dance music and bodies moving around...would have given a few people I know seizures (epileptic) & started giving me a headache. So I fast forwarded. Again, not sure why this was in there or what point they were making. That people are people and miserable the world over? Great. But what connection did they even have to the main story? Small, inconsequential. Should have ended up on the cutting room floor.
3. The Hispanic woman taking care of the kids. Had real issues with this because a) What illegal alien in their right mind would head back to Mexico for a wedding? Even if it is her son's wedding. She's an illegal. I don't think she'd do it, even if she did have her boss' kids with her. And b) If she did raise those kids from birth, why would the family just toss her aside because of this one mistake? Didn't buy it.
4. Didn't buy their miraculous rescue from the desert either. Or that the nephew never came back for her, that she started walking instead of waiting where he left her - at least until daylight so she could see the road. At least their story tied in more with the one in Morocco...these were the kids of the parents.
5. Didn't like the US government thinking it was a terrorist attack. Seriously. Out in the boonies where they were, with one shot at a tourist bus? What would be the point? I don't think the embassy would have gotten involved to the point of stopping the ambulance from picking them up. Would they even have been able to stop it anyway? And then to send in the helicopter? Give me a break. Americans get in trouble all the time overseas and the embassy's power is limited...Usually the can't do much more than get you a lawyer if you're in jail, get the Red Cross involved, maybe make a phone call...But hey, maybe that's just my take on it.
6. The actual Morocco storyline, which I thought from previews was the main point of the movie, was a backseat to everything else. I thought it was going to be more along the lines of Frantic starring Harrison Ford. Would have been better.

Don't buy, don't rent.

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The Last King of Scotland (Forest Whittaker) - AWESOME MOVIE.

1. Well acted, to say the least. Whittaker did an unbelievable job. No wonder he got an Oscar for the role.
2. This is a dark movie, a historical thriller. I'm not an expert on the time & place or Idi Amin, but I thought they did a masterful job of tying the fiction in with the historical facts. At the end I wasn't sure if the doctor was a real character or a fictional one. Watch the special features after the movie to find out. Definitely worth watching.
3. Well written and acted. Tense, believable, I could definitely see the doctor being taken in at first. Young, naive, newly in country. Oh yeah, it takes awhile to really get a sense of things when you're fresh in country. And after all, historically Idi Amin was popular with the people...until his madness and paranoia took full control.

Definite watch. Buy or Rent.

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I Am Legend (Will Smith) - Very good movie, if dark and depressing.

1. Good acting
2. Great special effects
3. Jump in your seat moments - mostly in the beginning.
4. End was kind of the usual blow 'em kind of thing, but overall it was a good movie.
5. Spoiler coming - don't read if you don't wanna know (The dog dies. For those of you that prefer to know those things in advance...like me.)

Definite watch. Rent.

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So that about sums up the last few weeks. I also spent inordinate hours this weekend watching History Channel & Discovery Channel doing "Easter" shows. Discovery's "In the Footsteps of Jesus" is worth watching. The History Channel's "Exodus Explained" is great. I love the historical & archaeological searches to prove/explain things that happened in the Bible. I've always thought the Bible was a fair history book of sorts.

Is it Saturday Yet?

I'm on my second dose of liquid Dayq.uil since 8am. (I usually stay away from the stuff. Nyq.uil makes me hallucinate. The day stuff is just a step behind that.)

Ran out of Klee.nex by 10am, reducing me to using toilet paper. (Had to steal a roll of TP from the bathroom. Shhhh. No one turn me in, please.)

Santa can use me to lead his sleigh, my nose is so raw it's glowing red.

Every lotion I have makes my nose burn, even the stuff supposedly for this very thing.

Oh, and I did Abs Essentials Intermediate last night.

Tonight I'm going home and curling up on the sofa and watching Jane Eyre again. Too bad I no longer have a VCR. It would be a pefect evening for Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

Note to self: Add P&P to your wish list on Amazon...

And every time I scan this post, my eyes substitute "Satan" for "Santa". Repeat after me: step away from the Dayq.uil...