State of Play Review

Last night I went to see State of Play with two of my girlfriends. These are the same two friends who went with me to see He's Just Not That Into You. It's so nice to have friends who will keep you company while you obsess over Ben Affleck.

A word about the previews:

Saw the trailer for the new Star Trek movie and my heart was fluttering with excitement by the time it was over. I. Cannot. Wait. Already planning to see it with either the above-referenced girlfriends OR with them and their husbands, in which case I will probably be an annoying tagalong 5th wheel, but I won't care because none of my other friends would dare go see this movie and I definitely want to see it at the theater, and not by myself.

Saw the trailer for Johnny Depp's new movie about John Dillenger. Can't remember the name of it... Public Enemies maybe? Anyway, it looks pretty good. You almost can't go wrong with Johnny Depp. He looks especially hot wearing the 30's style suits and hats.

Overall, I liked State of Play very much. (Come on, have you EVER heard me say I DIDN'T like one of My Sweet Ben's movies?? Even Gigli? So suck it.) I thought the movie was well done, but I did think the ending was somewhat confusing. I thought I had the whole thing figured out towards the end, only to be proven completely wrong and blindsided by the way it actually ended. I even had to check with my friends on the way out to assure myself of what had happened at the end. And I was right, and I wasn't happy about it.

Surprisingly, for a suspense/thriller, there were a lot of laugh-out-loud parts, and it seemed like everyone in the theater was enjoying it. I didn't expect it to have as much humor as it did.

Russell Crowe was ok. I'm not a huge fan of his, and his long hair annoyed me, but I got the essence of his character, and I think he did a decent job portraying this reporter. However, in the movie he's supposed to be Ben's old college roommate, and I just didn't really buy that. Russell Crowe is way too old to have been in college with Ben. I wish they had cast Matt Damon to play the reporter! At least the two would have had amazing chemistry.

The Princess Buttercup Robin Wright Penn plays My Sweet Ben's wife. Her role was fairly small, but she played the scorned wife pretty well. She certainly looked the part - does this woman ever sleep? The bags under her eyes were horrendous.

And then, you have Mr. Affleck. He plays a US Congressman, and I think he pulls off the look, for sure. He was dressed in a suit and tie for pretty much the whole movie, and he has his hair cropped real short, like all good politicians. He has a few moments where he gets very emotional, and I haven't seen him turn on the tears this well since Holden's amazingly beautiful speech in Chasing Amy.

He also kicks Jason Bateman's ass, which I found amusing. Bateman has a small role in the film, a role that is quite reminescent of his role in Smokin' Aces (also starring Ben Affleck). Bateman is also going to be in Ben's next movie, Extract, which comes out later this year.

I've read both positive and negative reviews of the movie. Most of the negative ones had to do with the fact that the movie felt rushed, and the ending was so rushed that a lot of people (including me) were confused by it. But many of the positive reviews say that Ben did a good job, and that he is believable as the character.

I don't know if Ben will even be able to prove himself to the throngs of people who love to bash him all day, and it's impossible for me to be objective about his acting abilities due to my intense love for him. But I do hope that this movie does what it can to boost his credibility. I just want him to do well and be respected.

Membership has its disadvantages

For the past year, I've had a membership to a very popular nationwide workout center that's only for women. I don't say "gym" because there are no weights or aerobics or anything like that. It's just a circuit of different machines that you go around twice, then you're done.

When I first signed up, I was faithful about going every day after work. But, I lost interest eventually, and pretty much quit going a few months after I started. Unfortunately, I had signed up for the membership for ONE YEAR and there was no way I could get out of it. So for the past 5 months, I've been paying for a gym membership that I do not use. (I know this is fiscally irresponsible, and sadly, I'm more ashamed of the wasted money than I am of the fact that I am not exercising regularly.)

It so happens that my membership was up in February, and after you fulfill your original membership period, you can cancel at any time. So a few weeks ago, I called and told them I wanted to cancel my membership. They asked why, and I said that it was mainly because I wanted to save the extra money each month. Also, since it's getting close to spring I can just go outside and get exercise that way (read: I'm a lazy couch potato and don't want to work out). The girl on the phone (whose name I did not write down, as it were) told me thank you and that she would make a note of it.

A month went by. Last night I checked my bank balance, and notice right away that another payment from the workout place has been debited from my account. Hey wait, I cancelled that!!

So yesterday I called and asked them why they took another payment when I cancelled my membership last month. It was then that they informed me that my cancellation must be submitted in writing for it to be valid. I asked them if they would refund my payment if I got the letter to them before the end of the month. Not surprisingly, they said no, but added that I'd be welcome to come work out for the rest of the month.

Uh, no thanks.

I then asked if I could fax the letter and was abruptly told no, it has to be an ORIGINAL. She then started to rattle off the mailing address, at which point I interrupted that I would just drive over there and drop it off after work.

I went over the top and typed out this very formal letter, then had a friend at work notarize it for me just to make it look even more official. I took it over there tonight and asked for a written acknowledgement that it had been received. The girl at the desk kind of looked at me funny, but I didn't think it was an unreasonable request considering they made me cancel in writing.

The thing is, I do not fault them for requiring a written cancellation notice. In fact, I'm not even that surprised by it. What I do have a problem with is the fact that the person who answered the phone when I called last month did not inform me of the correct procedures for cancelling my membership at that time.

I didn't complain to them about it, even though I'm a little salty about having to spend the extra month's payment because of their lack of training. Instead, I complain about it here, where mine is the only opinion that counts.

New Look

I've been wanting to change my template for a while, but I am a fan of simple blog design, and most of the blog templates I've seen lately just have too much fluff for my taste. What I had in mind was a picture of someone holding on to and being carried away by helium balloons, so as to illustrate my blog title. I couldn't find one, so I started trying to create my own, using my limited photosh0p skills.

Didn't take me long to give up on that. So I kept looking, and finally, FINALLY, I found the perfect template. This is it! I love this design - it's simple, easy to follow and best of all, the header pic is PERFECT and goes right along with the entire theme of this blog... holdin' on.

The only thing I don't really like about the design is how the whole blog is so narrow on the page. I would prefer the blog take up more of the page and show less of the background on the sides. I'd like the middle and right columns to be wider, so as to require less scrolling (and more room for my tweets), but I've stared at the CSS code for about 20 minutes and realized I'd be in way over my head if I tried to adjust anything manually. If anyone knows where exactly in the code I would adjust the column widths, please share.

Aside from the width issues, I'm really happy with this design and hope all 2 of the people who read this blog find it easy on the eyes. Unfortunately, a sleek design doesn't make up for shiteous content, but those of you who still read this should be used to my drivel by now. Thanks for reading anyway!

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In other news, they are calling for 7 to 9 inches of snow tomorrow. In honor of that, I wrote the following haiku on my Twitter today:

Oh spring, why do you
Tease us with beautiful days
Then retreat again

After having numerous days when it hit 60 and one day when we were almost at 70, it just seems like such a bummer to be expecting another huge snowfall. I was toying with the idea of scheduling my annual "Welcome Spring Pedicure," so that my feet could be sandal ready if a nice day pops up. But with the looming forcast, it apepars my feet will stay tucked snug inside socks and shoes for the forseeable future.

Interesting Meme

1. Put your iPod or iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the “next” button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!!

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
The End of the World (John Mellencamp)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
All These Things that I've Done (The Killers)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Little Wonders (Rob Thomas)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love Tonight (The Outfield)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Miss Murder (AFI) hahahahahahahaha

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Lean on Me (Club Nuveau)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
The Way (Fastball)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
To Make You Feel My Love (Adele)

WHAT IS 2+2?
My Sharona (The Knack)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Karma Cameleon (Culture Club)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Uptown Girl (Billy Joel)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
These Arms of Mine (Otis Redding)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Red Red Wine (UB40)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Santaria (Sublime)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
My Hometown (Bruce Springsteen)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Once Bitten Twice Shy (Great White)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Yellow Ledbetter (Pearl Jam)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Hey Joe (Jimi Hendrix)

WHATS THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Silent Night (Amy Grant)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights (Freddy Fender)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Walking on Sunshine (Katrina and the Waves)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
All My Lovin (Me First & the Gimme Gimmes)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
The Unforgiven II (Metallica)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Two Dozen Rozes (Shenendoah)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Kyrie (Mr. Mister)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Waiting (Green Day)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Face Down (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus)

Did I Do That?

About a month ago, I received a package. When I went to open it, I noticed that the sender had used copious amounts of tape to seal the box. So, I grabbed a pair of scissors and proceeded to try and get the box open. Well, in trying to open the box, I accidentally cut my hand.

I don't think this scar is going to go away. My friend who is a nurse told me it looks like it will probably be a permanent scar. How bad does that suck? It's in a pretty visible spot.

Leave it to clumsy, uncoordinated me to be so inept as to not be able to open a box without causing permanent damage. Ugh.

I Gots Mad Skillz

Totally Twitterpated

I recently discovered Twitter and have decided that it is the coolest thing ever. (Amy, you should really check this out.) You can see my twitter updates over on the right, OR you could sign up for twitter yourself and follow me! Thank you to Chickie for being my twitspiration (um, that does not mean she inspired me to be a twit. Ahem.) The cool thing about twitter is I can post tweets from my cell phone. It's good for random thoughts, which is all I can really think of to put in my blog these days, hence the no updating for weeks on end.

On to the randomness.

I found this post on John Mayer's blog to be hilarious.

I joined a NCAA bracket pool with one of the girls on my bowling team. As of last night, I was ranked 21 out of 25. Thanks a lot Wake Forest, I had you going to the semi-finals. Bah.

Speaking of bowling, our team is currently in 12th place out of 12 teams, with 5 weeks left in the season. And as further proof that my life is boring, if I make it to bowling the next 5 weeks, I will have perfect attendance for the season. That means I've spent the last 33 Tuesday nights at the bowling alley. I'm nothing if not predictable.

My nephew said my name to me for the first time on the phone last night. My brother told him to say "Hi Emmy" and he did. It was the sweetest, most pure and beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life. I can't wait to hear him say it to my face, which will hopefully happen during Easter weekend, when I am going HOME! Yay! I can't wait to see Caleb and plant gratuitious kisses all over his adorable little face.