Awwwww!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvWNaqLIH0M


Do you know how cute you are?

Catching Up on Movies

TK got me a portable DVD player for Xmas and it's gotta be my fave gift. The funny thing is that when we had been out doing Xmas shopping and saw it in the store, I remarked that it was really cool but it was the type of item I would never buy for myself. Believe me, this was not a subtle hint. Anyone who knows me, knows there is nothing subtle at all about me.

Well, whaddya know? There it was on Xmas morning and I have to say it makes my commute into the city a whole lot more bearable.

So, after the Academy Awards, I am finally catching up on all the movies I never got to the theater to see. A short review follows:

A Prairie Home Companion--A real disappointment. I'm a Garrison Keillor fan by proxy. That is, my brother in Oregon raved about this guy forever and I finally familiarized myself with him and I have to say, he's captivating. I genuinely enjoy his stories about Lake Wobegon and whatnot.

That being said, the movie fell flat. There was a terrific cast: Keillor himself, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, John C. Reilly. Geez, even Lindsay Lohan was good. If you like country and western, you'll like the music. My fave was Lefty and Rusty (Harrelson and Reilly were awesome with their dirty ditties). But this was supposed to portray the last live radio show of APHC, so the characters should have pulled out all the stops when it came to reminiscing about the past. That didn't happen. All of their stories were predictable, lame and boring. I didn't get the "feel" of APHC; a good reminiscing movie should pull you in to the action, make you feel like part of the extended family. I just didn't get that.

Honestly, I think I learned more about Garrison Keillor and APHC from Wikipedia!

Some other things that annoyed me:

Virginia Madsen as the "Mystery Woman" ghost. WTF was that all about? Too contrived and totally unnecessary!

Kevin Kline's character. He was supposed to be a security guy. He was dressed more like a guy who got lost on the way to a barbershop quartet competition. Totally didn't get his character.

Things I liked:

Garrison Keillor playing himself.
The guy who did the radio show sound effects.
Rusty and Lefty's jokes.
The music.


Art School Confidential--I wanted to love this movie but that didn't happen. I liked some things about this film but I can't say I loved it.

It was a product of Terry Zwigoff, the same guy who directed Ghost World, which I DID love, so I just expected the lovefest to carry on over.

Granted there were some VERY funny scenes and the acting was decent. Plus, there was an actor in it I have never seen before named Matt Keeslar who was the hottest thing this side of wasabi paste. Where the hell has he been hiding? Note to directors: PLEASE cast this hunk in other productions!

Basically, it's a parody of the pretentious people one might find at art school. Now I've never been to art school but I have been in writer's workshops (Breadloaf) and let's just say there are pretentious characters in any artistic setting. You have the crazy chick, the phony intellectual, the druggie-punk, the closeted gay, the ass kisser, the hippy-vegan, you get the picture.

Now in case there's someone out there who hasn't seen the film, I don't want to put any spoilers in here. Suffice it to say that the movie takes a *comic* twist at the end which really didn't bowl me over. If I had to sum up this film in one sentence, I'd say, "It's a comedy about what an artist will do to get some notoriety."

But something was gnawing me about this film, hours after having viewed it. Where have I seen this theme before? And then I remembered: The King of Comedy, with Robert DeNiro, Jerry Lewis and Sandra Bernhard. Same message but funnier. Genius, if I say so myself.

Reviews to come: Jesus Camp and Little Miss Sunshine.

Nice Way to Start the Day

So I'm standing in the nasty waiting for the 280 Express bus when this car pulls into the service station next to the bus stop. The window rolls down and a young Arabic guy asks me what time the 280 EX is due. I tell him and then the driver, who appears to be his mom in a headwrap, says to me, "Why don't you get inside? Don't wait out in the snow."

I hesistated for a second. C'mon, fess up, you would have, too! I don't know these people from Adam. They could whisk me away to a mosque somewhere and I would never be heard from again. But my gut, which is usually pretty reliable says, "Trust them."

Well, I'm glad I did because they were the nicest folks you'd ever want to meet. The son, Ahmed, who appeared to be in his early 20s, works in the financial industry. While he was telling me this, his mom, beaming with pride, told me that he got his MBA from Fordham. She herself is a pharmaceutical chemist who turned down a high-paying job in NYC because she didn't want to commute. Smart woman!

In all my years commuting, I don't remember anything like this ever happening, whether it was at the train station in Montclair or the bus stop in Verona. God forbid, some rich yuppie would offer me shelter from the storm. I'd have a better chance of winning the lottery.

Just shows to go ya, you can't judge a book.

Good Start

Had my first 5K race of the season on March 10 and I think I did pretty well. Tough course, tough weather (32 freakin' degrees and very damp), tough crowd (lots of fast runners...the overall winner was a 40 yo man who clocked in at 15 and some change, with a 5:01 pace. Egads!)

Clocked in at 25:15. That's a little bit faster than I was running at this same time last year. And I felt pretty good, albeit a little out of breath more than unusual. But then I discovered that almost everyone I spoke to, even the best runners in our club, felt breathless.

So, although the weight training and cross-training has been paying off, I simply need to get back on the roads again and build up my lung capacity. Now that it's getting lighter at night (coupled with the early DST), that should be happening real soon.

In other news, my trainer/nutritionist at my gym had said he wanted to see me once race season started so he could go over my calorie intake, possibly bumping it up a bit to keep up with the demand. I hadn't seen him in a month or so I was very curious about my BF measurement. I stopped journaling my food intake because I feel I can do this with my eyes closed now. I was pretty good about sticking to the plan even with a few setbacks (dining out with friends, bad weather pre-empting my outdoor training, etc.)

So, needless to say, I was quite surprised when he told me I was down to 16.7% BF! Evidently, my body is not done yet. All told, I have lost 10 lbs. of body fat and gained about 10 lbs. of lean muscle. My scale weight is about the same, though. Really, I don't want to go any lower than this, folks. He told me to add about 200 calories of some good carbs (whole grains, sweet potatoes, fruit, etc.) every fourth day. That works out to be Sunday and Wednesday for me which is good because Sunday is usually race day and I need the extra calories then.

I also need some new clothes but that's another blog entry, another time.

Let's try this again!

I tried posting this pic last week and then one day it was gone. Something to do with the Blogger server, I s'pose. But ain't it purty?