Feb 9, 2009

Marvelous Monday Update 2/9/09

Movie Monday
HANGING UP: Starring Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, Lisa Kudrow, and Walter Mathau.

Meg Ryan plays “Daddy's favorite daughter” who is over-extended in this comedy about loving, laughing, and learning to let go. Meg Ryan’s character, “Eve” is a party-planner, a streched-too-thin mother, wife, sister, and dutiful daughter. Eve's harried life has become even more complicated by her reliance on modern technology: cell phone, fax machine, lap top, and answering machine. Walter Matthau “Lou” is her ailing 79-year-old father, a grouch who is admitted into the hospital with memory loss. Eve tries to recruit help with her father from her two neglectful sisters: Georgia (Diane Keaton), a New York publishing tycoon who runs her own magazine, and baby sister Maddy (Lisa Kudrow), a self-involved soap opera actress. Hoping to please her father, Eve also tries to reach out to her mother (Cloris Leachman) who abandoned the family years earlier. Eve finally learns to let go and to "hang up" on the pressures, obligations, and responsibilities of being a do-it-all woman. This movie was Walter Matthau's last film before his death in 2000.

It’s a good movie and brought tears to my eyes because I could relate to the struggles of “doing it all” and dealing with family.


GONE BABY GONE: Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monahan, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman.

A 4-year old girl, Amanda, goes missing in Boston and the case attracts widespread media attention. Patrrick (Affleck) and Angie (Monaghan) are private investigators are hired by the child's Aunt Beatrice to find Amanda. Twists and turns involving drug dealing, stolen money, and making deals in order to get Amanda back ensue. The exchange at a nearby quarry is botched and Amanda is believed to have drowned. Captain Doyle (Freeman), whose own daughter was also killed years before, takes responsibility and goes into early retirement. Through a series of events, Patrick discovers the botched exchange was a forgery and visits Doyle for answers.

I had a hard time staying interested in the movie. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that an ethical dilemma occurred and makes you think, "What would I do?"


P.S. I LOVE YOU: Starring Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (HOT!), Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, Harry Connick Jr., and Kathy Bates.

Gerry (Butler) and Holly (Swank) Kennedy are a happily married couple until he dies of a brain tumor. Deeply distraught, Holly withdraws from her family and friends until they descend upon her on her 30th birthday. They are determined to force Holly to face the future. As they rally around Holly and help organize her apartment, a cake is delivered, and on it is a message from Gerry. It’s the first of several - all ending with the sign-off P.S. I Love You. He arranged to have these delivered to her after his death. As the seasons pass, each new message fills her with encouragement and sends her on a new adventure. Gerry's words guide Holly on a journey of recovery and rediscovery.

Filled with humor and sadness, I really enjoyed this movie!


HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU: Starring Jennifer Anniston, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Drew Barrymore, Ben Affleck, Kris Kristofferson.

A group of interconnected, 20- and 30-somethings navigate their various relationships from the shallow end of the dating pool through the deep, murky waters of married life, trying to read the signs of the opposite sex--and hoping to be the exceptions to the "no-exceptions"; rule. Gigi just wants a man who says he'll call--and does--while Alex advises her to stop sitting by the phone. Beth wonders if she should call it off after 7 years of committed singlehood with her boyfriend, Neil. He doesn't think there's anything wrong with their unmarried life. Janine's not sure if she can trust her husband, Ben, who can't quite trust himself around Anna. Anna can't decide between the sexy married guy, or her straightforward, no-sparks, no-drama standby (i.e. “nice guy”), Conor. He can't get over the fact that he can't have Anna. Then there’s Mary, who's found an entire network of loving, supportive men, just needs to find one who's straight.

Based on the book by the same title. This was a cute movie, and probably every woman can relate to “reading the signs” of human behavior. Most notably, if a guy is interested he will call. If not “He’s just not that into you” despite whatever he says to your face. I’ve discussed this with friends and have tried to impress upon this point. Even so, I’ve caught myself stumbling over this one from time to time. But for the most part, actions speak louder than words.


Night at the Theatre
On Friday night, I saw "Run For Your Wife" at the local community theatre. It was one of the better ones I've seen... very hilarious! A packed house, and the cast had the audience rolling in their seats.

A comedy about bigamy, a dull man, John Smith who is a taxi driver, turns out to have a two wives in two cities a short distance apart. Because of an accident too complicated to explain, his worlds collide, and the police are called in to investigate. The taxi driver tries to keep one wife from learning about the other. Whenever possible, the play makes fun of stereotypes (dumb cops, swishy gays and prefeminist women who think only of getting their man into bed). To complicate the plot, almost everyone is mistaken for someone else, one wife for a nun, the other for a transvestite. Much of the confusion derives from the cute terms of endearment characters use for their mates. John’s upstairs neighbor unwittingly becomes an accomplice in trying to hide the truth from the wives. In the end, of course, they both find out.


School
I received my first test back and scored.... 100%! On essay questions!! (Thanks to the bonus essay question). Not so sure I did as well on the second test, though. The instructor *did* clue us in on something: He will give us partial credit for answers slightly related to the question. Meaning if he asked about IT structure, he'd expect an answer along those lines and not what was at the circus performance we saw over the weekend. LOL!

I'm getting a bit nervous about the class project. Our team "leader" said last Monday night: "I don't mind be the leader and turning in the stuff, but I don't have a lot of time to do this. I work all day and I have three kids plus my wife is pregnant." Well now! The other two of us work all day also -AND- we have lives outside of work and school. *Humpf!*


Blogging
First, I'd like to thank my readers for all the comments. They really do encourage me. :)

Secondly, My-O-My am I so behind on my blog reading. My reader says I have 1000+ blog entries to catch up on. How does that happen so fast?? I'm plugging away at it, so bear with me.








Third, I'm never at a loss to what to blog about, but in case anyone else has this problem....







In The News
Have you heard of Fluffy? No? Fluffy is 24 feet long, weighs 300 pounds, and is 15 years old. Fluffy's waist is the size of a watermelon. You're probably thinking... What the heck? Fluffy is the world's largest exhibited snake.


Why am I edifying you with this snake? Because on the radio last week, the announcer said: "This is the largest snake since Rod Blagovich." LOL! For those not aware, Blago is our esteemed (NOT) govenor who was recently impeached unanimously by the Senate. It would've been unanimous with the House of Reps, too, except his sister-in-law voted to keep him.


Stitchy Stuff
Before I put my Christmas decorations away, I thought I'd take a pic of all the stitched ones I've made and that others have made:


For my birthday, Nancy sent me a gift certificate for Silkweavers. I bought a beautiful piece of fabric that arrived in the mail this past week:

Thank you Nancy! Now what should I stitch on it???

Believe it or not, I actually had some time for stitching this week. Not much, but some! Progress so far:

This is my version of Erynne's Love Bug chart. I think I'm going to make it into a floss tag.

Yum-Yums
It's been a while since I've shown my culinary skills, so here goes! I made Shrimp Creole with white rice. Easier than I thought it'd be and very healthy!

18 comments:

Carolyn NC said...

Well, now I'm hungry and ready to stitch (such a cute design!), & watch a movie! Enjoyed it all.

Terri said...

Wow you are really busy. Great stitching

CJ said...

I screamed when I saw that snake. You bad girl. Congrats on the 100 I know it means alot to you. Keep it up....

CJ

Linda said...

And of course your stitching is wonderful! I do like all the variety of things that you do.
I always thought when you take classes, you actually put effort into them not whine that you have too much to do. I hope your "group leader" pulls his weight!
Thanks for the movie insights. I'm always looking for something good to see.
Lynn

Rene la Frog said...

Love the ladybug, very cute. The dinner sure looks good, makes me hungry LOL

Sadie said...

What a cute little design, i have already printed it off and added it to my 'to do' pile! The silkweaver fabric looks beautiful, what a great present. Well done on top marks in the test, sounds like your team leader is a team loser, hope he gets it together. yummy looking food, of to raid the biscuit barrel now!

craftypatty2 said...

Gee I am coming over and please make this for dinner LOL wish you were closer I would so do this LOL
Love the ladybug that is on my to stitch list.
HUGS
Patty

Rachel S-H said...

I have thought about seeing He's Just Not That Into You, but I still have hard feeling b/c a friend bought me that book for my birthday--what a cruddy gift. I may give it a chance.

Debra said...

Love bug is going to be cute, the shrimp looks yummy. Congrats on your grade.
Debra in Indiana

too_busy_to_stitch said...

Loved reading your blog as always Meari - apart from that snake...

Deb said...

Geez, Meari, I can't even keep up with you by reading all you're doing! I've seen some of the movies you saw. Actually, I had read the book "Gone Baby Gone" and I've read all of Dennis LeHaye's books so I had a different perspective. As always the book was better...etc. So it fleshed it out for me. You're stitching amongst your classes, as usual, and doing a fabulous job on both. Amazing!! Hugs, Deb

Jacinta said...

Always enjoy reading your updates - and the snake was pretty cool too :)

Cute pattern to stitch - sigh another for the "To Do" pile

Jacinta
Cairns

Kristin said...

Congrats on your 100. The stitchy stuff is awesome. I want the recipe for the shrimp dish.

And, I gave you an award on my blog;)

Anonymous said...

You've really been on a movie watching jaunt lately. I rarely get to the theater anymore. I just found Erynne's Love Bug design & it's a definite "to do" for me. Congrats on your 100% grade!!! And finally - thank you NOT for the pic of the snake. I scrolled down past it as quickly as possible. I absolutely HATE those things. But other than that, I enjoyed reading your weekly update. ;d
Barb in TX

glenda said...

Thanks for the update :) I just watched the foreign film "The Pope's Toilet". Pretty good flick, actually.

Nancy M said...

I'm behind too....can you tell?? Been a really weird, and busy week. Glad you got some cool fabric with the GC! I am still awaiting my order! Nearly done with Tuscany Town!!!! Look for an overdue update from me soon.....just to add to your list. LOL

stitcherw said...

Enjoyed the movie reviews. I'd seen Hanging up and enjoyed it too, probably a lot due to being able to relate to Meg Ryan's part like you said. Glad you had a good time at the play. We have a couple local theaters here and one generally does comedy pieces like this, so maybe I'll get a chance to see it sometime.

Congrats on doing so well on the test. Good luck too with the project, I hope it goes smoothly.

Loved the stitchy stuff pictures. You have so many wonderful Christmas pieces, and the Days Gone by is gorgeous. I think a sampler, maybe one of the Quaker styles, would look great, or it is a fun autumn color like for a Halloween piece. Love the Love Bug project too, very cute. Thanks for the link. Yummy dinner, now I have the munchies. :)
Sue

Anonymous said...

waw, congrats on your grades!
Katrien - ILCS