New TV I love!

New television for me has been BBC America's "Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares." This awesomely aggressive British man travels around to restaurants in the UK helping failing businesses by critiquing the management, changing the menu, suggesting great ideas and chewing everyone out. I love it but most of the dialogue consists of bleeped British curses.

Ramsey really does a great job bringing the thunder and saving these businesses. It just reminds me that people HATE being corrected. They take everything so personally. It is just business. Anyone watching can see that Ramsey is right but the chefs sometimes go back to their old bad habits as soon as Ramsey leaves for a few months.

This week at our New Member small group we talked about the heart attitude "Give and receive spiritual correction." The book of Proverbs is oozing fabulous warnings about wise men taking rebukes but these people just don't get it. This guy is an expert!! Listen to him!

I just wonder if I were in the same position if I would respond the same way. I want to respond like a wise man. I want to change when presented an opportunity.

Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares just reminds me of how dumb we look when we are stubborn about our own points of view and refuse to listen to the wise. There is no benefit in putting your own pride and interests first. AGH!

If you get BBC America, I encourage you to check it out.

Other BBC favorites:

How Clean is Your House?- Two ladies infiltrate super dirty houses throughout the UK. The show mostly focuses on Hoarders (which I think is fascinating!) and takes them through the whole process of cleaning out their lives. The most shocking part is when one of the ladies takes swabs from the kitchen and bathroom and checks for the size of the bacterial populations there and what types are there. It is disgusting and makes me get off my tush to clean.

You are What You Eat- Another lady (can't recall her name) confronts people who are killing themselves with their diets. She puts them on a vegan diet for a few months and watches them drop the pounds. I really like it when they refer to how many "stone" they have lost. Apparently a Stone is 14 pounds. I have no idea why this is a common expression in the UK but I hear it often. I usually have to do the math or I go crazy trying to figure out the result. Very entertaining!

Cheerio!

Downton Abbey--- I overheard that!

I have done it again! Those darn Brits and their series (how do you spell the plural of series?) getting you hooked and then making you wait. It all started long ago with Harry Potter. I started reading when book 4 was out but finished them a month before book 5

Man, I thought that was a wait... Little did I know about waiting on J.k. Rowling!

Netflix pulled me in to Downton Abbey. I don't know where or from whom I heard it but the British subliminals must have worked because I just saw the series and knew it was good and for me. I got Jenn Duckworth hooked and my husband ostracized as we flew through the first season and on to the second. But now it's over.

It really is fantastic! There is just something so great about proper people acting foolishly... Especially with that British accent. It's funny how we have no stake in the characters wealth or position or reputation but we entangle ourselves in it and become
Loyal to them. Jane Austen has also trained us well in the skills of smelling scandal a mile away. We yell audibly at the characters, "Don't you know you'll never get a good husband and your family will be left with nothing if you risk your honor by sleeping with that guy?!"

Sigh.

It's good though. Check it out. In the meantime search YouTube for the SNL digital parody they did of the show as if it were part of Spike Tvs fall lineup!

Love-Hate Relationship

I love going to the movies but I have recently hated what I have seen.

1. No Country For Old Men. Maybe I am lame but I just don't get it. It was violent with a super creepy villain and no resolution. No resolution kills the overactive sense of justice in me.

2. Jumper. I didn't care about any of the characters. I want so badly to care about Hayden Christianson but I just can't get behind his acting. Terrible, like cardboard.

3. 27 Dresses. What is romantic about a formula? Plus, the commercial for the movie gave away the lightly revengeful ending. Totally unsatisfying. Girl is in love with someone pursuing her under a false identity. The truth comes out accidentally. "I'll never forgive you!" "Nevermind, I can't live without you." Some embarassing, and very public "I am in love with you." Neat, tidy happy ending with no real consequences for petty and terrible behavior. Whatever, I am over it.

4. P.S. I love you. I just came home bawling and hugged my husband. I could never do that film again. Love the soundtrack though. Listen to it on repeat!

Criticality has moved!

This sounds very egotistical but a big shout out to me.
I just went back through and read my own reviews from my old xanga and actually liked what I wrote. I liked it so much that I am bringing it back. I'm going to import the posts and keep new ones coming.

Keep watching!

Catch up on back issues!

Movies I have Seen Recently (July, 2005)

1.Batman Begins- (four cool points)

This is the Batman that should have come out in '88. It was breathtaking and fabulous. I loved it! I saw it 3 times in one weekend and would see it again. I think that it would be fun to see Christian Bale continue as Batman...would even be great to redo the originals. It was dark and respectable. Bruce Wayne was believable and Alfred a father figure. It had heart and you felt it deeply. The villans were perfect. You didn't want it to end...now that is good filmmaking!

2. Star Wars Episode III- (two points)

ehhhhh. It answered all of our questions and was somewhat satisfying but ehhhhh. I think it explained too much.

My major issue was that I always had the impression that Darth Vader was evolving...that over years of the clone wars and probably lots of individual resistance (and the resulting light sabre duels) made him into what he was...not one terrifying fight with his former mentor...It was too much all at once. I felt like Episode 1 dragged and was a tangent adding numerous random characters that never played out and pod races that added nothing to Anakin's character...plus everyone calling him "Ani" made me want to bust out in renditions of "Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I'll love ya, Tomorrow..."

3. The Interpreter- (3 points)

Can I just let it be known that I love Nicole Kidman. She is fabulous. I heard that Naomi Watts was also offered the part. GAG. Nicole, you are my hero. This is a great film about Civil unrest in Africa. You stop breathing in the climax. Great.

4. A lot like Love- (2 1/2 points)

Amanda Peet is gorgeous and Ashton Kutcher is...gorgeous. These two are extremely likable allowing you to really care about their story but not wish that you were them. It is a romantic comedy that doesn't leave you longing to date the characters. Fun for all

5.Garden State-

What the? I dunno what to say...I love artsy films but...what?

Movies recently seen: (April 7, 2005)

1. Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason: Hilarious. I laughed and laughed. It had several really dramatic parts but the normal humility that almost drove me to tears with laughter

2.Ladder 49: Boring. I couldn't take the heat and so I went to bed early.

3. Vanity Fair: Artsy and beautiful but LAME. You didn't like any of the characters. You didn't care if Reese Witherspoon fell under a carriage and died...it might have improved the plot.

Recent Television:

1. Carnivale: Season Finale. I was intrigued with this shows mystery. It reminded me of watching Twin Peaks with friends in High School. In fact I think some of the actors are the same. I was curious to see how they would continue the show when this season was set to end in Armageddon.

2. My sweet 16. This MTV show is hilarious. More lifestyles of the rich and bratty. You basically follow a young man or woman (snigger) through party planning for thier 16th birthday. The whining is awful. It is kinda like Super Nanny without the Nanny.

3. Extreme Makeover and Home Edition: Making ugly things beautiful will always be a favorite of mine!

Currently in the CD Player:

Levi Smith Band: Humorous lyrics from a 20 year old who is trying for his own sound. The band held its own opening for Derek Webb this weekend in Ft. Worth. Keep an ear out for them.

Current Strange Obsessions:

1. Terry Shiavo: abbhorrence to the way she died. Thinking of becoming more political. This is being called "the Roe v. Wade of euthanasia"

2. Death of Pope John Paul II: I watched the processional to the basillica and the chanting rings in my head. I think about it and look it up on the internet. I am mourning a man I know very little about. Hmmm.

Here are my favorite movie picks for Feb. 2005.

1. The Notebook- Though not a fan of his books, Nicholas Sparks' novel comes alive on screen in a way his two dimensional books can never capture. Sparks' in depth character development lays the foundation for a rip-your-heart-out but leaves you smiling story of love at the cost of sacrifice. You almost don't see it coming and then BAM..you are weeping like a child amd praising God for His gifts of love. It's great though. On sale at Walmart for $14.95

2. The Village- M. Night Shyamalan does it again. A period piece love story draped in suspense and downright fear. You'll scream and want to fall in love all at the same time. This suprisingly postmodern film has had mixed reviews from those who see it as a moving contradiction. However, this is a working definition of postmodernism. Relevant Magazine says of The Village: "The film is another very moving addition to the growing Shyamalan catalog of thrillers with elements of romance, tenderness and high drama."

To quote Leonard Sweet: "Where the premodern age was predominantly either-or, the postmodern world is and/also."

Chew on that.

November 8, 2004

---"What's with you today? Yesterday you were normal. Today you are like the Chinese guy on Karate Kid."

"What's with today, today?"

"Agh!"

---"Who glued these quarters down?"

"I did."

"What the (heck) for man?"

" I don't feel I need to explain my art to you, Warren."

-Empire Records

"Define irony. A bunch of idiots dancing around on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash."

-Con Air

"A man in a really nice camper wants to play our song on the radio. Gimme a pen. I'm signing. You're signing. We're all signing."

"Table 19 your pizza is ready"

" Yer talkin' gibberish"

- That Thing You Do

"It's like people only do things because they get paid. That's just really sad."

"Why does this guy have contracts? Did you ever see that episode of the Twilight Zone where the guy signed a contract and they cut out his tongue and put it in a jar, but it wouldn't die...it just grew and gave birth to baby tongues? I gotta go."

"Excuse me. I'd like to get by now."

-Wayne's World.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

"You know what they say about women and trolley cars. There are plenty of them in the sea. Am I right or am I right?"

Can't Hardly Wait. I am talking about a hilarious flick. Why? Because we went to high school with all these people. And because every time you watch it you run across another little joke that the director snuck in.

It's the night of graduation and two questions are making the rounds. Are you going to that party tonight? Did you hear that Mike broke up with Amanda? A night of hilarity ensues with plots, revelations, and fate stepping in. Ah, the sweet days.

Check it out. 10 points on the Amyzing movie review scale.