Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Merry Day after Christmas

Hello my men and women of many holidays: Christmas, Channukah, Kwanzaa and Festivus. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday full of family and food.

As for me, I had some of both and it was lovely celebrating Christmas with my small family and new dog, Moose.

Can I just tell you that as 'unemployed' as I always say I am, I am kept quite busy by the few days of employment I take on...which usually include numerous movie screenings. I know, my life is hard and yes, I realize I am one of the luckiest chiquitas to ever set foot on this earth. And I don't take it for granted. Now let me digress for a second and tell you that I am awaiting free pizza at the office while waiting to shoot 'The Big Tease' for Reelz Channel and it is 15 minutes late! I am starving and about to make a Cheetolicious sandwich. What am I, Britney Spears? I will never look at Cheetos the same way again. Way to ruin a good thing Brit.

Anyhoo, I saw movies on top of movies on top of movies. And then my brain exploded. Luckily I am a highly skilled brain surgeon (Read Puzzle putter-together) and was able to MacGyver some brain together with some scotch tape and paper clips. Good thing I am in the office with a supplies closet. ;)

Back to movies: Children of Men, DreamGirls, Notes on a Scandal, Alpha Dog, Smoking Aces, and...Oceans Eleven. Damn. Since I can write almost endlessly about movies, I will try and keep this short and sweet about what I saw and what is worth your $10. Yo, it takes me several days to earn ten bones, so I am not the type to just go flinging it around at any old movie...

Oceans Eleven - I am a moron for not seeing this sooner. I am sure you all have seen this stellar movie, and honetly 'Oceans Twelve' has nothing on its predescessor.

Children of Men - so much potential here. Like boatloads, which is what they play up as their goal, the boat for 'The Human Project'. Long story short, guy tries to help only pregnant woman who is also an immigrant get from sterile world to a safe ship. There are a number of important messages about immigration, the environment, and radicals as we see them in this film, however I felt the story line lacked just that, depth of storyline. For me, I felt very unfulfilled about what each group was fighting for, how the sterilization came to be, and why. and that my friends is what separates a movie from a matinee venture. The movie is really pretty to look at, and so is Mr. Owen, but I can get two magazines for $10 and those babies don't end in 2 hours.

Smoking Aces - This movie is really a fun, slightly dark comedy written and directed by Joe Carnahan and stars Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Common, and a slew of other talented actors. The film is a good ol' mobster fightout that starts with a hit being placed on Buddy 'Aces' Israel's head, and all the mercenaries and hitmen come out of the woodwork to get the $1 million prize. FBI try and save him and the mob is trying to kill him. It's an exciting storyline that gets extremely action-packed and gruesome. But still it puts in humor where needed. So I was talking to this one reporter for CNN at the junket and asked him, 'what did you think of the movie' and he said 'well i guess it was all right, but it isn't changing our world.' Wow. Really? Dude, make room for that pulitzer on your desk because man, a mobster movie all about hitting a magician in Tahoe isn't inspiring world change? That should lead of tonight's news. Plus he's staff. Crack team at CNN does it again. Good movie.

DreamGirls - see this movie. Jennifer Hudson steals every scene she is in, and although superficially speaking she isn't as outright gorgeous as Beyonce, she is by far the stunningly beautiful star of DreamGirls.

Notes on A Scandal - A teacher enters into an illicit affair with one of her students. Craziness ensues. See it for the performances by Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett alone. Seriously...

Alpha Dog - Story of Jesse James Hollywood, one of the youngest men on the FBI's Most Wanted until he was recently caught. I am truly on teh fence abotu this one. It is an interesting story, but for me, the characters are so human, that their malicious pre-meditated murder of a 15-year old acquaintence is kind of played down and characters sympathetic in the movie. But maybe that's the point. See why I am on the fence?

Update on my doggie, Moose. I have pictures which I hope to upload tonight. You guys have to check this littel stud out. He's getting better with my Dad, but he is still aggressive towards strangers and men. We're still working with him and watching a lot of The Dog Whisperer. I mean a lot!

anyone going to CES? I'll be there. Stop me and say hi!

Friday, December 08, 2006

James Kim

I am sure you all have heard the heartbreaking story of James Kim and his courageous family's struggle to survive in the wwilderness.

Luckily Kati, Penelope and Sabine were found safe and healthy, but sadly James was found a few days later, his body found less than a mile from where his family was rescued.

The thing is, this story was really hard for me to hear because I knew James well at TechTV and we still kept in touch after I moved to LA and he went on to CNET. James was one of those crazy smart guys whose knowledge you always envied. And as much as he knew, he always wanted to share, and was never condescending to those not as tech savvy as he. That was appreciated by many at TechTV.

He was also so cool you just basked in his greatness. But my favorite thing about him was his unflappable dedication to his wife and children. This was the ultimate father who loved his children more than anything else in the entire world. He lived for them and the pride he felt when he spoke their names or sent me pics of the girls was omnipresent.

There were tears in my eyes when I heard of James' untimely demise. It still breaks my heart, but makes me take account of my life and realize how truly lucky I am to have healthy and happy family and friends that surround me. That's all that really counts.