Sunday, April 29, 2007

Love Actually

Even though I'm going to be watching "Love Actually" with some friends tomorrow night, I can't resist watching it tonight, too.

There's something about a movie that you can watch over and over and over again, without getting sick of it, and without hating it. Ironically, the first time I saw this movie, I hated it. HATED it. I was watching it with my then-roommate. The Portuguese one. I'd been trying to convince her to watch something with me (probably Tarzan, she hates that movie. Monkeys make her nervous), and she'd talked me into this, instead. And there was a part, right in the very beginning of the movie. I saw it, and I said, "Oh, that's what they're doing," thinking about some "friends" of mine. I put it from my mind, because obviously, that was stupid. Ironically, I was right. I didn't know that then, though. Instead, I found other reasons to hate it: the way American females are portrayed as easy (well...), the way the naked couple makes so many appearances, and then there's Billy Mac. And for anyone who has seen the movie, it's not hard to imagine why, as the person I was then, all these things annoyed me. Euridice made me watch it the next night, too. I was not happy. And the next. And then, the next night, I asked her to watch it with me. (She took forever getting home from the Louvre that night, and I was pissed at her for two reason: 1) she was late meeting me and 2)she'd used my card to get in {to make it free for her}, so I couldn't go with.)

Somewhere over those three or four nights, something changed. Now, I love it.

I love the character interactions. I love the way the whole story comes in a full circle, and the way the people within the story are connected in some way, whether they know it or not.

The opening scene always throws me, because there is no speaking, no music, just pictures. I always feel like there should be something there. However, the fact that there isn't just seems to make it more powerful.

I have my favorite parts in this movie, but the thing I really love about it is that every time I see it, I see something new. Or I recognize something in it that makes me think of life as it really is. I think that's what makes a movie. Taking some aspect of life and making it apparent to everyone.

Love hides itself really well sometimes. Other times it's blindingly obvious. Sometimes, love just hits you. Other times, it sneaks up on you. Sometimes, you fall in love with the right person. Other times, the wrong one. As my friend, Natalie, says, "Us stupid humans. Always falling in love with the wrong person."

I like this movie because it has all of that: parts that make you laugh, parts that make you cry, people you love, people you hate, and love in all of its forms.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

He's going home!!!!!!
Life IS beautiful!!!

However, with all the goings-on at Virginia Tech, it's really hard to be so excited about something as silly and mundane as American Idol.
There isn't anything that is going to make the students feel better, nor is there anything that will make them feel safer. Enough is enough.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

It's About Time

Unfortunately, last night I wasn't able to watch my adored "American Idol."

Even so, after tonight's mini review of last night, I have a few comments: 1) Sanjaya's hair may not have been as bad as it's been in the past, but that doesn't make it good. Nor does it mean he sang well. If this evening's opener was any representation of how he sang last night, we're in trouble. Make that one comment. I can't remember whatever else I was going to say. Maybe that Blake is hot? He is...

Speaking of that opener, Sanjaya and Haley should not have sung a duet together. They truly are the weakest of the bunch, and whoever paired them didn't do either of them any favors.

I was also horrified by Seacrest's interview of random people in the street. For some reason, many of them seemed to LIKE Sanjaya. Is it me, or is something wrong here?

On the other hand, last night seemed to have just the type of music I enjoy, which makes me even sorrier to have missed it. (Is "sorrier" a word? More sorry? I don't know. Blast) I could have - and would have been dancing. It's probably good I missed it.

As for the JLo thing. I was quite impressed with myself. Spanish is not my strength (far from it), but I still understood the majority of it. Yay. I'm chalk it up to practising bits and pieces of Spanish a bit over the last couple days. Amazing how using it a little bit improves it so quickly.

And, though I didn't actually hear Simon's comment on Haley's appearance, I'm inclined to agree with him, as I generally tend to agree with him. Whether Haley wants to admit it or not, I'm quite certain that she knows that only Sanjaya has less talent than her. As a result, she went after the male vote by baring breasts and legs. It got her this far, but no further.

And to quote a very dear friend, who was not tossing out a person but gum, "Au revoir, terrible."

(That should be quite understandable. If it's not... well, not even "babelfish" can mess up "au revoir.")

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm glad that Haley's bared body parts will never flash across my screen again. Hurray!

And now, I'm going to bed.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

The Reaping

Sarah and I went to see "The Reaping" earlier today and it was great.
o
Katherine (I don't know if it's spelled with a "C" or a "K" in the movie, so we'll go with this) was once an ordained minister of the church. After her husband and daughter (Sarah) were murdered in Sudan by people they were helping, she turned her back on God and dedicated her life to disproving miracles and/or other miraculous occurences. The movie opens with her and a colleague (a black man) researching "miracles" that were occuring somewhere in South America. Her goal is to prove that all miracles have a scientific explanation.

A friend of Katherine, a priest, called her to tell her that her face was burned out of the all of the picures he had of her, and when put together, the shape showed an upside-down sicle. He told her he believed she was in grave danger.

A man comes to the college where Katherine is a professor, and he tells her and her colleague about a problem. He is the science teahcer in his town's school, teaching grades 3-12, and the river has turend red. A girl, Lauren, is seen as the culprit, after she possibly murdered her brother.

Obviously, Katherine goes to check it out. What she finds is the river, 2.5 miles of it, is full of human blood. Frogs and cattle die, lice and flies plague the townspeople. The townspeople say that it's the ten plagues, God's way of purging their town of the terrible people (Lauren and her family) and the terrible, horrible things they do. A very suspicious little town, really. They most definitely believe that this family is out to get them.

Meanwhile, Katherine finds herself mysteriously plagued (hehe) by memories from Africa, with her husband and daughter, and memories of what she'd once had.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

SALAUD!

My apartment manager is an asshole.

Il est completement nul, et pas du tout intelligent, il n'avait pas un tete, et il ne respect personne.

SALAUD! VOUS ETES UN SALAUD, STUPID!