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The Bucket List

We saw The Bucket List yesterday. I was expecting a comedy, however, it was much more of a drama with comic undertones. Don't let the drama turn you off: it's an awesome movie! Two guys - one married with a devoted family, the other rich as sin - have cancer and less than a year to live. They get fed up with their diagnosis and decide to go out and fulfill some dreams. While doing so, half way round the world, they find out what's really important in life.

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, two of my favorite actors play the men. The hospital scenes are some of the best in the movie in terms of dialogue. However, the "bucket" scenes are pretty fantastic too: sky diving, race car driving, private jets, pyramids, mountains and Hong Kong.

I liked the ending! It's hard to say more without giving it away. I'll simply say that The Bucket List comes full circle in many, many ways and reminds us that in dying sometimes we learn what it means to live.

Squaredancing!

We're going back to squaredancing tonight after over 5 weeks off. Yippee! And dos-i-do!

Secret Spaces

Yesterday, I posted my very first review on iTunes! It was for Secret Spaces, a piano solo album by Craig Urquhart. I first heard the title track on the Soundscapes channel on Comcast. The whole album is just one lovely song after another, although "Secret Spaces" is probably my fave. When I noticed that there were no other reviews for the album, it seemed appropriate to be the first to review it.

Go to iTunes and search on "Craig Urquhart", and if nothing else, listen to the first 30 seconds of "Secret Spaces!"

Camilla

We saw another movie tonight: Camilla with Jessica Tandy and Bridget Fonda. (It is currently playing on "Encore on Demand.') This was one of Jessica's last movies; in fact, it was released after her death. It's hard to believe that she was able to play Camilla, such a spunky character, despite having cancer. You would have never known it! Camilla was a dreamer and the ultimate romantic, and such an optimist too! It reminded me of the character Jessica played in Fried Green Tomatoes: she uplifts the younger generation in ways that changes their lives. Camilla (a violinist) gives Freda (a composer) her groove! It was fun to see how Freda gains her confidence as the movie progresses. The ending is superb, as everything finally falls in place in a lovely way.

Waitress

We saw Waitress last night; it was straaaange! The cover of the dvd and the previews gave it such high and uplifting reviews. The story was disturbing. The main character is married to an abusive control freak and has an awkward affair with her ob-gyn. She is pregnant and professes loudly and clearly that she doesn't want the baby. One of her daily customers at the cafe is an old curmudgeon who shouts out his orders like she's his slave. Ok... there are a few uplifting moments in Waitress:  1) the creative names of the pies; 2) the marriage of one of the waitresses (I'm not saying which one!), 3) a generous gesture by the old curmudgeon, and 4) the last five minutes of the movie are exceptionally sublime. But, overall, it was an uncomfortable movie to watch.

What Women Want

What Women Want was on TV tonight. What a funny movie! I wonder if men think it's as funny as women do. Actually, women don't come off very impressively during the movie, always thinking silly or worried thoughts. Even so, some of the scenes are hilarious: 1) the scene where Mel's assistants' thoughts are blank (!!!) 2) the scene where Bette Midler tells Mel that knowing what women think is the best gift he could ever hope for, and  3) some of the many scenes when Mel realizes that most women think he's a jerk.

Actually, Mel does progressively become a better man during the movie, and by the end of it he's far from being a jerk.

National Treasure: Book of Lists

As  we've done in years past, we spent Christmas afternoon at the movies, and so did a lot of other families. You'd be amazed.

Our movie of choice was National Treasure: Book of Lists. Don't ask me to explain the plot, because I didn't get a lot of the subtleties of it. In fact, I must say that I don't even know exactly how the family's good name was vindicated at the end, although it had something to do with discovering a lot of gold under Mount Rushmore. But, not to get bogged down in details, the movie was chock full of thrilling scenes: flying a remote-controlled helicopter around Paris' Statue of Liberty, sneaking into Buckingham Palace and the Oval Office, "kidnapping" the president, and of course the finale at Mount Rushmore. I kept thinking during the movie that none of this is plausible, but the main characters ran into just enough trouble to keep it real.

National Treasure is worth seeing at the big screen, and if you can explain how the city of gold underneath Mount Rushmore cleared Thomas Gates' family name, will you let me know?

Love Actually is All Around Us

My favorite Christmas movie came on last night: Love Actually. The title comes from the first two words of the movie's theme: Love actually is all around us. It's set right before Christmas and tells the tales of several couples who are either falling in love, trying to stay in love, or being burned by love. Lots of good little plots that are at least loosely interrelated.  For example, while the Prime Minister is falling in love with his catering manager, the Prime Minister's sister is trying to keep her marriage safe from a sexy secretary. The sexy secretary lives next door to the catering manager. The catering manager pulls the Prime Minister along to the same Christmas pageant that his sister's children are in. There are several more connections too, but you get the message. The sum of the plots truly is greater than each on standing on its own; and just a few of them are not tied up nicely by the end of the movie. But, I guess that's the way love is actually in real life.

The music is good too!

Here's a Fun Game

Ever wonder what to get when you go out to eat? Eat This, Not That, a recent book, has put out an online game to raise awareness. Here's the link:

http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/

I didn't do that well, when I played, and usually I can detect a fat gram a mile away! However, it is fun to see foods stack up to each other: for example, French toast vs Belgian waffles!

Christmas music

I've about worn out Karen Carpenter's Christmas cd! It's on "Repeat" mode in my car's cd player. I can start humming the next song even before it starts. Surely am enjoying the soothing change of pace, since my usual car entertainment is Neil Boortz, Sean Hannity and 680 The Fan!