things that make me smile... the summer edition

Things I love about Summer... in no particular order (except for #1... my fave food ever :)

1. Strawberries
2. My rose garden in bloom
3. Lazy Sunday mornings on my back patio with a chai and the LA Times
4. Flip flops
5. Summer Movie Blockbuster Club 
6. Bike rides 
7. John Williams at The Hollywood Bowl
8. The Stanley Cup Finals (especially this year ;)
9. Daylight till ~8pm
10. Peaches
11. 4th of July
12. BBQ's
13. Gardening
14. All-day hikes 
15. True Blood
16. Grilled asparagus
17. Vacation
18. Margaritas 
19. The Olympics
20. Big Brother
21. The farmer's market
22. Concerts at the Greek Theatre
23. Movies in the Cemetary
24. Mojitos
25. Dining al fresco on warm nights

things i'm looking forward to

Tomorrow is the official start of spring, so to celebrate let's look at all the cool stuff I'm looking forward to that is coming... along with the warm weather :)

1) Playoff hockey (assuming the LA Kings make the playoffs. Otherwise, we'll forget this entry) because once the playoffs start, anything can happen.... especially if you have a superstar baby goalie and a bunch of forwards who are finally beginning to score some goals ;)

 

2) May 4, 2012 so I can see this super-awesomeness on the big screen in super-surround sound with a giant bucket of popcorn as the Summer Movie Blockbuster Club kicks off its 2012 season :)



3) My summer TV guilty pleasures, including Game of Thrones (below) starting on April Fool's Day (I hate that Joffrey kid. I hope he gets his head chopped off too... karma's a bitch), True Blood (helllooo Alexander Skarsgard!) and the train-wreck known as Big Brother (I just can't not watch. I've tried, really I have!)

chills!

July 15th better hurry up!

2010 -- the year that was

It's New Year's Eve, my most hated of holidays. People put way too much emphasis on going out, drinking, and cheering when the clock strikes 12. Any time I've tried to "celebrate" this "holiday," I usually regret it... I get in a fight with someone, or the evening doesn't live up to the artificially manufactured expectations that it be awesome, and I feel like I've failed the Party Gods. So this year, I'm sitting on my couch watching movies, with a vodka cranberry in hand. This has been a not-awesome year, and I prefer to just let it slip quietly into the past.

The year 2010 actually started off really well. I was the happiest I'd been in a long time... for about six days. Then things went awry. Sadness, worry and stress took over my personal and professional lives. I'd like to say those feelings lessened as the year went on, but alas, they did not. My mom was diagnosed with MS in June. Work got all re-org-ish over the summer, some people I loved working with are no longer there, and it now seems more in flux than it's ever been. And since July, four colleagues, all under the age of 50, have passed away, three from health issues that took them from this earth way before their time; and the fourth was killed the day after Christmas at the hands of a drunk driver in Vermont. (RIP Johannes, Leslie, Wayne and Kaye.) So sad.

The year was not all bad though. I traveled a lot, (although most of it was for work) and went three places I'd never been before. I also saw a lot of great shows and concerts, participated in three great volunteer events, and made a great home improvement. This year also saw me convert from PC to Mac at home, and I must say I love the freedom of my light, easy to use, virus-free MacBook now, even though converting all my files (or not, as the case may be) was a pain. I got my awesome Droid Incredible phone. And I went to Pilates almost every week of the year. (But went on only one hike due to my knee problems, finally diagnosed in May as runner's knee... although I do not run). Here are some of the highlights of the year:

January:

• My mom and dad celebrated their 40th Anniversary

February:

• Bon Jovi Concert #1 in Anaheim
• Saw Cast and Producers of LOST at PaleyFest

March:

• Bon Jovi Concert #2 in Los Angeles @ Staples Center

April:

• I started blogging (here) again!
• Michael Buble Concert @ Staples Center
• Trip #1: Seattle, WA, for the first time
• The Los Angeles Kings make the playoffs for the first time since 2002!

May:

• Trip #2: San Francisco for Web 2.0 Expo
• The 2010 Summer Movie Blockbuster Club kicks off its season
• Renoir in the 20th Century @ LACMA, with Mom, on Mother's Day
• Trip #3: Boulder, CO
• Upgraded to the Droid Incredible
• Trip #4: New Orleans (my one non-work, just for fun trip, for Jason & Nora's wedding!)

June:

• Sting's "Symphonicity" @ the Hollywood Bowl
• Jonny Lang @ House of Blues, Hollywood
• Grease Sing-Along @ the Hollywood Bowl
• I got my new, gorgeous back patio installed!

July:

• Hosted my first 4th of July BBQ
• Went to the Grammy Museum

August:

• RENT @ the Hollywood Bowl, directed by Neil Patrick Harris
• Trip #5: St. Louis, MO, for the first (and hopefully last) time ever
• John Williams @ the Hollywood Bowl
• Goo Goo Dolls @ the Greek Theatre

September:

• Trip #6: Raleigh, NC, for the first time... at the same time as Hurricane Earl
• Trip #7: Palo Alto, CA
• Southern California Coastal Cleanup Day
• Trip #8: San Francisco, again

October:

• Trip #9: Phoenix
• Trip #10: New York City & Hackensack, NJ
• Apple and pumpkin picking in Yucaipa, CA
• The Kings season begins... awesomely. 

November:

• Volunteering for Operation Gratitude
• Disneyland with The Z's 

December:

• My first year with outdoor Christmas lights!
• Volunteering @ LA Regional Foodbank
• Christmas Cocktails
• 12 days of vacation kicks off

And here's what I did this year, according to some of my favorite Facebook status updates:

As 2011 nears, I'm thinking about what I can do to make it better than 2010 was. I think my overall goals are to take care of myself, and strive for happiness in my life and the lives of those close -- and not so close -- to me.

To that end, I want to:

• Get Healthy: I will eat better and utilize either my Wii Fit or the treadmill -- that I plan to "borrow" from my parents' garage -- at least three times per week, in addition to continuing Pilates. I also want to resume hiking when the time changes.  
• Write More: I will not put my journal in a drawer. I will keep it in eyesight and use it to brain dump feelings and ideas not for public consumption here.
• Read Actual Books: A minimum of four this year. One per quarter. That's doable, right? (Sub-goal: I will not let my magazine pile deter me from this goal, no matter how tall it gets.)
• Volunteer More: Operation Gratitude takes place four minutes from my house. I can give up three hours of my life every few weekends to bring some happiness to the lives of people sacrificing theirs for our freedom. I also plan to participate in the "Walk MS" in April to raise funds for the National MS Society.
• Host More: I love my house, I have a great kitchen and I just spent a lot of money on an awesome patio. I need to invite people over to enjoy it with me more. I also need to practice cooking more, minus eating more (see goal #1 ;) 
• Travel for Me: I will go to Portland this year to spend time with friends -- I've made that promise. I also hope 2011, one way or another, will finally be my Italian vacation year. I'm thinking either April for someone's birthday, or a solo tour in the Fall. 

That's six things, some more complicated than others. But I was quite amazed with everything I got done in December simply by planning my month, day by day, and checking things off a list. Tomorrow is the start of a new calendar and I can start filling it in right away :)

filmography 2010 - enjoy!

Love this!



Here's a list of all the films featured. Enjoy!

more inception... with a pixar twist :)

This is why the internet is awesome sometimes...

Trailer for "UPception"




Trailer for "Toy Story 3: Inception"



And that's just two of the recuts. Hang out on You Tube for a while and you'll find Inception "trailers" starring the casts of "The Matrix," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "Monsters Inc.," "The Simpsons Movie," "The Dark Knight," "Lord of the Rings," "Lost" and "Titanic"!

i need to see this movie again...

...I can't stop thinking about the ending, and articles like this don't help :p

Inception Explained: Unraveling The Dream Within The Dream

what a weekend!

This weekend could be described in three words: AC, Movies, Friends.

Considering I came home from the movies on Friday night to a house that was 88 degrees inside due to the AC going out, it was a pretty good weekend overall.

Thanks to my long-lost awesome AC guy Mark (who installed the new system in my condo back in the day), I got cool air back mid-day Saturday. I highly recommend him for all your air conditioning needs... seriously.. I do. Read the recommendation here on Yelp. 

Movies consisted of the better-than-I-expected Sorcerer's Apprentice, which sadly did not do great at the box office. But I would recommend it. It was suspenseful and fun in that National Treasure way (which is a shocker considering it has the same director and star as NT ;). But the movie of the weekend, and possibly year thus far, was Inception. OMG! SO GOOD! It's about going into people's dreams to retrieve information...or plant it as the case may be. Did I mention it is SO GOOD! SEE THIS MOVIE! I LOVED IT! Amazing script (by Christopher Nolan)! Amazing cast (Leo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Wantanabe, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine)! Amazing director (again..Christopher Nolan)! Amazing "how'd they do THAT?!" effects! I will be seeing this again!

And Sunday was spent with my friends... first at Dane's 3rd Birthday party (that's the first of TWO cupcakes he ate! :) .....

... then a little Lowe's shopping and BBQing on the new patio. Very fun, but also tiring... time to snooze. I anticipate a crazy week ahead.

quick summer movie update

Other than the awesome Iron Man 2, the Summer Movie Blockbuster Club (SMBC) has seen three movies thus far this summer that I haven't logged an opinion of yet. So here's the quick lowdown:

Sex and the City 2:  This was a super-fun girly movie! Not as depressing as much of the first one was... just the girls back together and back to their old selves from the show. Hilarious music number at a wedding. Hilarious Samantha back to her raunchy self. And loads of cool clothes to covet. (Worth a full price ticket.)

Prince of Persia: I could have lived without paying Arclight prices for this. (Shouldn't I have been able to see it for free.. hello!) It was shorter than SATC2, yet felt longer.. mostly because it had two "almost endings" (where you think it's going to end, then keeps going), which was annoying. It wasn't bad, just wasn't super-awesome. I'd compare it to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which was no Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. (Wait for cable.)  

The A-Team: The SMBC was a bit split on this. Everyone liked it, but those that did not watch the TV show in the '80s liked it more than those of us that loved the TV show in the '80s. It was action-packed and funny too, but about an hour after I got home, I realized why I didn't love it as much as I could have: On the show, each mission was to help some underdog-type who'd hired them. In the movie, they were still on a government mission (it's a bit of a prequel to the outlaws on the TV series), so there was no Robin Hood-esque stealing from the rich/screwing "the man" to give to the poor element that was the essence of the TV series. Also, sorry, but Liam Neeson is no George Peppard. He just didn't have the coy humor that the late, great Peppard brought to Col. Hannibal Smith. Bradley Cooper, on the other hand, was awesome as Face... he's the only actor I may have liked better than the original. (Worth a matinee-priced ticket)

the toys are back in town

Got an early screening of the super-amazing Toy Story 3 yesterday at our all-hands meeting. LOVED IT! The Toy Story films are works of art filled with so much heart and humor, people of all ages can't help but love them (and I'm not just saying that because of who I work for). And the story in 3, about what happens when toys are outgrown, and the strength of friendship... well, let's just say I have to go to my parents' garage and find new, loving homes for all of my old toys that have been in boxes for 20 years now. Toys deserve to be played with... gently :)

iron man 2 rocks... guts of the ushers at arclight sherman oaks, not so much

So last night was the first official meeting of "The Summer Movie Blockbuster Club - 2010 Edition" on opening night of Iron Man 2. We went to see it at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks, which while an Arclight, is not as awesome as the original Arclight in Hollywood for many reasons... a list which got longer last night.

We'd bought out almost an entire row in the theater (there were 14 of us), and Shawn, our fearless organizer, had the seat on the end. However, when we arrived at our row, there was a couple sitting in seats 1 and 2, claiming they were theirs because they had a receipt with those seat numbers on them. Shawn had cold, hard, glossy tickets in his hands. The two ushers in the theater asked the couple to move. They refused. So instead of calling security to boot the squatters, who probably snuck in from another movie, out of the theater, they left them there (next to us - yuck) and found Shawn and his friend, who had the ticket for seat 2, seats four rows up from us. Shawn was a good sport, and then complained to Guest Services after the movie, who gave us five free tickets. But still... what's the point of having a Summer Movie Blockbuster Club when two of your members get relegated to seats away from everyone else. Arclight Sherman Oaks ushers: You are wimps who don't deserve to be ushering during Iron Man 2, an awesome film all about the opposite of being wimpy.

Speaking of which, LOVED this movie almost as much as the original. (I say almost because I had zero expectations walking into the original and was totally blown away; this time, I was expecting the awesome.) Robert Downey Jr. is the epitome of cool as Tony Stark, and has great chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts. Don Cheadle was great as the replacement "Rhodey." Samuel L. Jackson (as S.H.I.E.L.D Director Nick Fury) had more than one scene at the end of the credits this time, which was entertaining and informative, as the lead up to The Avengers movie in 2012 continues. And, to quote and agree with my friend Diana, "This is the first movie Scarlett Johansson didn't annoy the crap out of me in."

The effects were awesome. The cast looked cool at all times. The soundtrack rocked. And everything felt really loud... perfect for the start of the Summer Movie season!