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Monday, September 14, 2009
I think this weekend i was most looking forward to seeing Drew Barrymore's new movie, Whip It. There were roller derby girls dressed as the characters at Yonge and Dundas Square.
Then they had a real roller derby right there.
This was the first movie Drew Barrymore directed - and it was great.
I got most of the cast to sign my poster! Heeeeeee!
Another great movie at the Toronto Film Festival - The Joneses, starring David Duchovny and Demi Moore. I can't say too much... I don't want to give it away but it is an interesting concept. Definitely a very unique movie.
Oh and we saw David Duchovny in the lobby. MULDER!
I went to see Julie and Julia a couple weeks ago with my peeps. I loved it. I almost yelled when Amander Hesser (NY Times food writer and author of Cooking for Mr. Latte see blog post here) appeared on screen as herself! I also think you could create a drinking game where you take a drink every time butter appears or is mentioned.
After the movie I started reading the book Julie and Julia. I know some people thought Julia's story in the movie was great but felt Julie's was weak, but I loved the Julie storyline too... because she is a blogger. I could relate to so much of her storyline. The book Julie & Julia definitely has less of Julia in it so I got My Life in France to read alongside.
I really meant to look for a used version of Julia Chlld's infamous cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but everyone must have been thinking the same thing as me because I couldn't find it in the used bookstores. So I had to get a new version with the little movie ad wrap. Oh well!
One of these days I will make something tasty from it!
Aaron and I went to see 500 Days of Summer. I loved the filming, the costumes, the music - didn't love the ending but I won't go into that. The funny thing is I was reading an interview with Zooey Deschanel about the movie and after all this time learned that she is the sister of the star of one of my favorite TV shows (Bones) and wearer of most excellent necklaces - Emily Deschanel. Looking at them together, how could I have not realized that?!
As with many movies that I like, I went to check out the soundtrack for Yes Man. I was especially interested because Zoey Deschanel's fake band in the movie - Manchausen By Proxy, made up of Zoey and the San Franciscan band, Von Iva, has songs on the soundtrack.
I was going to get the Manchausen By Proxy songs on iTunes, but it was one of those annoying albums where you have to buy the entire album. Since I didn't want nine Eel songs, I went to Amazon and bought just the ones I wanted, "Uh-Huh" and "Sweet Ballad".
I thought the lyrics were pretty funny and I went to look them up. At first I thought someone did a really bad job capturing the lyrics because where it clearly said "Amoeba Records" and "Trader Joes" the lyrics said "My Records" and "Trader Place". Then Aaron pointed out they probably did have the rights to use those trademarked names... ohhhhh.
Aaron picked up Yes Man from Red Box and I wasn't sure I wanted to watch it. I had sort of sworn off Jim Carey movies, but it turned out to be pretty good and it had Zoey Deschanel in it!
And Zoey rides a scooter! (Aaron says it's an Aprillia scooter)
I love her helmet too! It has eyeballs on it! It totally made watching the movie worth it.
It all started with this book, "Cooking for Mr. Latte". I read an article by NY Tmes food writer Amanda Hesser about how she prepared meals for flying and it was enough to make me get this book. (I'm not sure why there are two different book covers out there) I like to read about her cooking adventures and run ins with foodies, of which have convinced me I am not a true foodie. There are some hard core foodies out there. The book is a collection of stories around food and cooking during the time she met her boyfriend Mr. Latte. Each story is accompanied by recipes of the food mentioned.
Amanda mentions Julia Child frequently which led me to to this book Julie and Julia based on the blog called The Julie/Julia Project. Julie Powell started the blog as a record of her plan to set her life right by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".
The hardcover is called "Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen" and the soft cover is named "Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously". Again I am baffled as to why this is but I digress.
Julie Powell's book has been combined with Julia Child's book "My Life in France" to create the movie Julie and Julia.
The movie chronicles both Julie's endevours (played by Amy Adams) and the life of Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep). I can attest that reading about food and watching movies about food can make you very hungry. I am looking forward to this movie though, because as my mom says, "Meryl never disapoints".
Aaron and I saw Coraline on Valentine's Day and it was so good. Of course button eyes creep me out a little bit now, but I had to try the Button Your Eyes app on the movie website.
I loved the cat and I was so impressed that even the interior of the family VW bug was replicated exactly.
I can't even imagine how cool it was to be one of the 50 bloggers to get a Coraline box in the mail!
Yes, at midnight last night I was sitting in the theatre with my friends to see the opening of Twilght. *sigh* So good. It was a pajama party teenager screamfest but besides that the movie was so good.
And look at this movie poster I saw on my way out!
When we were standing in line for Nick and Norah's infinite Playlist at the Toronto Film Festival, there were posters for Where's Fluffy everywhere. I started to worry that someone lost their bunny.
Aaron and I just saw Dark Knight which was a strange experience. Last year at about this time we were in Chicago and came back to the hotel to find a movie crew filming a scene for Dark Knight on our hotel street.
We saw the helecopter chase scene with the Joker's tractor trailer. It was weird to see a helecopter flying up and down the street at street light level.
A little more on my new Twilight addiction. I picked up "New Moon" Thursday night and finished it this morning.
Grabbed "Eclipse" while waiting in line at Wegmans knowing I would need it next.
I've decided we are going to the midnight book party on August 1st to get a copy of "Breaking Dawn".
I had to rush out and get a copy of Entertainment Weekly because Edward and Bella from the upcoming Twilight movie were on the cover.
Can't wait til December 12 when the movie is released.
I gave Twiight to Aaron to read which has been kind of annoying as he is snickering and guffawing his way through. "...his ocher eyes scorching... Bah hah hah!" I have had to threaten to take the book away from him on several occasions.
Here are two thoughts I had. If you haven't read the first two books yet, stop here... spoilers ahead.
#1 Bella is so set on becoming a vampire. But hasn't it occured to her that if she does, some of Edward's attraction to her may be diminished? The scent of her blood that is so appealing to him will be gone once she is a vampire right? I am just guessing here.
#2 More of a rant than a question... she doesn't want to marry Edward? Is she INSANE?! Geez.
I was watching a preview of the upcoming Sex in the City movie when I spotted a pug in the "red paint fur coat Samantha" scene.
(I took a picture of the tv screen with my camera and was amazed at how clear it came out. We just got a new flat screen HD tv and this is an unexpected benefit.)
He looks so disdainful. Pug in the City. Not as big a deal as Beverly Hills Chihuahua though.
Wonderful movie with Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth. Jim plays
Colin's dad who steals the spotlight and embaresses his son, but by the
end of the movie you still care about him. The actor that plays young
Colin was excellent.
Oh hey... lookee here... Colin Firth again. How did that
happen? Heh.
Helen Hunt directed and starred in this film about a 39 year
old woman dealing with a separation, wanting a child and meeting her
real mother. The dialogue had a jilting, abrupt quality to it... very
much Helen's style... which was odd to hear everyone conversing like
that. The story is great though and Bette Midler was awesome.
This was by far my favorite movie for the weekend. Esp being a
Jane Austen fan. Each member of the book club had a story going on and
some of them reflected an Austen plot. This film was warm, funny and
charming. I esp liked Emily Blunt (from The Devil Wears Prada)... her
character is a Francophile and wearst the cutest outfits. Hugh Dancy is
quite nice also.
I hardly have words for this film. I was completely
uncomfortable throughout the entire thing. There are scenes that are
shocking and horrible. My only consolation is the young actress was not
13 as she is in the film, but 19. It is a well made film... the
writing, the acting the plot. But there are too many terrible things, I
could have gone without seeing it... and esp wish it hadn't been the
movie we ended the festival with.
This year Nancy and Brian went to TIFF also and we were able to meet up for breakfast. There is a breakfast spot across from the Elgin Theatre called Eggspectation that was perfect. I kept calling it Eggceptional or Eggcitement.
Aaron and I had the day before taking a red eye back to
Rochester. We strolled around a bit.
And we went to see Underdog
at the El Capitan. I really wanted to see the stunt dog. I had a
weimaraner when I was a kid so I really wanted to see this show. I'm
glad I got a chance to see it.
The George Eastman House gave out 100 Ansel Rocks! t-shirts to promote
the Ansel Adams exhibit. There is even a flickr
group for picture of people in their t-shirts.
We just became members of the GEH. I don't know why we didn't do it
sooner. I really like going to The Dryden Theatre. Right now they are
running Audrey
Hepburn Wednesdays.
With the Simpson's moving coming out later this month, now is
the time to go and create your Simpson's avatar on the movie site.
Mine doesn't look as much like me as my
M&M one did but it's still pretty funny.
Aaron is really excited about the Transformers
movie opening July 4. He has been talking about Optimus Prime and
Autobots whenever he has a chance.
When I was a kid I watched Transformers once in awhile when
Smurfs was a rerun... but not enough to know as much as he does. But there
is one character that I think is interesting.
Back in the day the Transformer Bumblebee was a robot
transformed from a VW beetle. For some reason however, for
the movie VW did not let them use the beetle. I thought that
sounded crazy. So Bumblebee is going to be a Chevy Camaro instead. What
a bummer.
Today was my birthday and I got to spend it at my alma mater
watching a movie about a typeface.
I was pretty excited when I heard Helvetica
was coming to RIT on my birthday. There was the movie, a
question and answer session with the director, a panel with RIT instructors and Hermann Zapf signing books.
The movie was great and I was in design geek heaven.
H E L V E T I C A spelled out in rice crispy treat was
brilliant.
There are so many big movies opening this summer! We already
saw Spiderman 3 (the day it opened of course). Also looking forward to
Shrek 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Harry Potter 5, Oceans 13 (3),
Fantastic Four (2), The Bourne Ultimatum (3)... whew! A lot of
sequels.
But there is one little movie that I am really looking forward
to. Underdog.
It's too cute. I can hardly stand it. We may have to see it at a drive
in so we can take Oscar!
I have to admit it. My little nerdling heart skipped a beat
when I heard that they were coming out with Star Wars stamps
this year.
And it was almost too much to take when I found out some US
Mailboxes were going to be converted into R2D2. I had to walk down to
the corner of State and Main to see Rochester's Artoo.
Star Wars and stamps... my two geek loves combined. *sniff*