From Sweetwater to the Kodak Theatre

Magnet #1102 - Bierstadt's Last of the Buffalo

Another one of my postage stamp magnets from the Corcoran.

The Last of the Buffalo looks small here, but it's actually something like 5' x 9' - like most of Albert Bierstadt's work, it's pretty huge. It's one of his most important paintings late in his career, and one telling the story of the last days of the buffalo, and the Indians who hunted them. Supposedly, this painting is set at the foot of the Wind River Mountains in Sweetwater County, Wyoming.

For a select few, probably just my sisters and me, you'll know Sweetwater territory as the home base of the Young Riders, the supercute boys of early days of the Pony Express...and their housemom, Emma, played by a very young Melissa Leo, before her Oscar-winning, f-bomb dropping speech last night.

Here she is, with a very young Josh Brolin, before his own matchy-matchy Oscar-presenting with Javier Bardem, cater-waiter outfit.

Too thinky! Tooooo thinky!!!

Magnet #897 - Albert Einstein

I picked this Albert Einstein magnet from Pomegranate for today, because I think he would have had a heyday with Inception. He'd probably talk for hours about the layered realities and dreams, the inherent quantum time and physics of each layer, and of course, the relativity of it all.

But, here's the thing. He'd have to go discuss it with someone else.

I hate movies that make me think too much. There. I said it.

There's a reason I go to movies, and that's to go into a darken theatre and forget about the world at large for a couple of hours.

Yes, there's an argument to be made for a movie to challenge your thinking about what you know to be truth and reality.

There's an argument to be made for a movie to expand your horizons, to teach you something.

There's even an argument for a movie to scare the living daylights out of you.

But, you know what? I hate being mindf*cked. Hate it. So any movie that exists solely to make me think about it days later makes me crazy.

On top of that, I also hate nonlinear storytelling, which is why I also didn't get through Christopher Nolan's Memento. And, yes, I know that's quite an unpopular, if pedestrian, opinion. I don't care.

The story line, screwy though it was, does keep you engaged (unless you were that idiot girl child in front on me on her Blackberry for the last 30 minutes of the movie. It would have been different if she were saving lives on email, but she was on Facebook. Tagging pictures. Of her and her boyfriend. Kissing. Several pictures. And her and her girlfriends. Not kissing. Dudes. Tagging pictures. I get that you're too dumb to understand what was happening, but seriously? Dim the freakin' BB display then! /endrant), and the ending is open ended enough to make the entire room (except dumbass Facebook girl) grunt. (Admittedly, I also hate open-ended endings, for the same reason I hate unsolved mysteries.)

Now. On the flip side? Inception was gorgeous. The direction was phenomenal, the cinematography was beautiful, the effects were amazing, the multiple locations were fabulous, the architecture was awesome, the score was terrific, and the pretty people were, well, pretty.

So, I guess that leaves me on the fence about Inception. I hated the mindf*ck, but loved the production as a whole.

And, I dunno what dreams may come tonight, but the movie kinda made me realize that the vivid, violent and unhappy dreams I was having earlier this summer have all but gone away in this last week of freedom.

It's kinda nice to have my good sleeps back.

Now, I just gotta find me a totem.

We named the *dog* Indiana

Magnet #887 - Professor Henry Jones

SuperTaj and THE SHADOW and their mom and I went to Legoland this week.

First, it's ridiculous that people actually thought that I - of all people - wouldn't enjoy Legoland. I mean, hello, it's Legoland!!! There's a big part of me that thinks they built Legoland just for me.

I flippin' loved it. I want to know exactly how many items made out of Legos are in the park, and how many Legos it took to make everything. How freakin' awesome is that park?

Honestly, I would have been happy without any of the rides - maybe because we only rode the rides for 36" and over, and under 3YO, and so I don't know what I missed. But, I loved everything they built out of Legos.

What's not to love? A mini-USA? Complete with a Grand Central Station, a Flatiron building, my absolute favorite building in NYC - the Fred F. French building? OML. Their Vegas didn't have a Bellagio or an Elvis, but that's ok. I totally loved their tiny towns!

Plus, their gift shop? The fact that they call it the BIG SHOP? Ohmygoodness. LOVE. Where else would I find Professor Henry Jones? C'mon! I couldn't believe it, either. I can't wait to get home to unpack the rest of the magnet sets I bought.

Because you know I just bought a tiny town of magnets.

Who are those guys?

Magnet #885 - Butch & Sundance

I got this Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid magnet from my Union Square magnet guy a while back, and I'd been saving it to talk about branding (go with it).

But, I'm staying with a good friend of mine, and her family. The last time I was out here was for a wedding, and I've never met either one of her young boys, about four and just under two. But now, I feel like I'm hanging out with a baby Butch and Sundance.

First, let me set the stage: If you know anything about me, ya'll know I'm a baby whisperer. Babies always love me. They come into my arms from the get-go, and we're best pals after that.

It's my fat face. They see themselves in it, and immediately think I'm one of them.

So it was disconcerting for me to get into the back seat of the car yesterday and have the youngest boy panic and not stop crying for a good ten minutes. I'm sure it was because a complete stranger got into his car with him, because he eventually he warmed up to me. But still. Disconcerting.

Second, while the baby was down for his nap, we got to hang out with the oldest boy, who, aside from his baby brother, is just the coolest kid ever. My favorite incident with him by far, is watching him tie a tether ball to his giant playset...and proceed to try and sit on top of that ball. Uhh, yeah. You see where this is going, he's not quite Eagle Scout-level at knot-tying. So we had to run out to the backyard and come grab him before he truly let go of the beam to sit on the tetherball. Whew.

It's funny for me, because I grew up mostly around girls, so watching two little boys rough-house and interact is so much different. We spent most of the morning with the youngest boy while his older brother was at school. He's an explorer - running around and choosing to play with sticks, rather than watch the giant elephants at the zoo.

But, when we picked up the older kid, the youngest's personality totally changed. He became much more animated - keying off everything his older brother did and said. It was like the oldest one had a tiny little shadow. I love it. They're so great together, it's lovely to see.

And of course, fresh from Comic-Con, I've already given them a superhero names -

SuperTaj!!!!...and THE SHADOW.

(Yeah, you kinda have to hear it to like it. The boys sure love it, though, cuz they burst into giggles whenever I say it.)

Hollywood and Joy

Magnet #826 - Hollywood Joy

Dudes. I have a whole half of a board devoted to these silly personalized magnets. I mean, discounting the fact that I love magnets with my name on them, I just want to keep collecting these for the cheesiness of it all. I never pass up a chance to pick one up.

So, yeah. A whole half of a board. And I'm thinking shoot, by now, I must have magnetblogged all of them before. Nu-uh. Dudes! I have like a dozen I haven't used! Whoa.

Also? Yay!

Anyway, I wanted to use this for today because tonight, I'm hoping to see Top Gun. I know! I love it, too! But more awesome than just rewatching the movie for the zillionth time?

Watching it on board the Flight Deck of the Intrepid! The Flight Deck! Of the Intrepid! I mean, I shoved off a whole road trip to NC to early morning Saturday, so that I could see Maverick and Goose take to the skies with "Danger Zone" underscoring the ride.

Top Gun was part of my group project for the lone film class I took at Carolina. Basically, we took pivotal scenes from various movies and re-scored them with different tracks. For Top Gun, we took out "Take my Breath Away," and inserted Jimmy Buffett's "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw." So funny how the scene takes on a whole different tone based on the score.

Hello. A+!

eta:
Mind you, when the (PG) movie first came out? I was just into my teens, and my parents refused to let me go see it in the theatres. They heard about the French kissing scene.

Uh. Yeah. I was like French what? Heh.

eta2:
Sigh. Looks like work just doesn't seem to want to agree with anyone. Guess I'll be packing (which I need to do anyway) with Maverick and Goose at my place, rather than the Intrepid. And, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

World of women

Magnet #823 - New York City Skyline

I heart NY. I've said it before. I'm saying it again. I just do. I wouldn't trade it for any other city in the world. Well, maybe London, but really, if I lived there, I'd just be visiting here.

So tonight, some friends and I went to an advance screening of Sex and the City 2, with a Q&A session with Michael Patrick King, the writer/director/producer of the movie, hosted by the American Museum of the Moving Image. (If you haven't been out to Astoria to visit, it's definitely a worthwhile trip to the outerboroughs.)

I've never been like a huge fan of the show, I mean, I liked it, saw every episode, and did the NYC tour, and I even wept at the movie (in the theatre, no less)...but I've never been one of the true-fans. Still, watching this movie was like hanging out with old friends - a fun two and half hours. The storylines were pretty good - I got teary when I was supposed to (and even when I wasn't), and I laughed when I was supposed to (and even when I wasn't).

But production-wise? In a word: lush. The movie, the locations, the costumes, the sets - all gorgeous and beautifully shot. It went big, and it was unapologetic about it. And that's what we love about this show, and our four friends.

The session with King was fantastic. I've never seen any interviews with him before, but he was the most charming, personable guy ever. He made a good movie and wrote a good script, and he knew it. In some odd way, he gets women, and he clearly understands this SATC phenomena that he's been a part of. During the last movie, he'd discovered a world of women, he said, after getting lost in his sea of nouns, trying to explain what made him expand the story beyond New York to Abu Dhabi.

Speaking of, the movie wasn't perfect - I totally had my issues with the Americans being typical Americans in foreign countries. There was a part of me that cringed when I saw the fearsome foursome running around in Abu Dhabi. I also don't buy into King's argument that because Samantha would be outrageous in Bergdorf's, it's ok that she was totally outrageous in Abu Dhabi - the implication being that we all just have to forgive her because...she's Samantha.

But, given that she is just being Samantha, I can pretty much dismiss it, and move on. Plus, I was provided enough distraction with the cool architecture/set design and the hot boys (in the form of Aidan, Smith, rugby boys, but also Max Ryan, my new old guy crush). So thanks for that!

Will everyone like it? Eh, who cares, it's still going to make a ton of glitter at the box office.

It's true - if you aren't on board by the time Manhattan turns into diamonds, leave the theatre. It's not for everyone, and as Michael Patrick King says, it doesn't have to be.

A Smurfy New York

Magnet #816 - Smurfs

For the last few weeks, folks at work and I have been running into The Smurfs movie shoot around town. Seriously.

What's funny is how big this cast list is. Neil Patrick Harris, Anton Yelchin, Katy Perry as Smurfette, Paul Rubens, Alan Cumming (playing Gutsy Smurf? Huh?) and even Jeff Foxworthy. And Tim Gunn. And Wolfgang Puck.

Uhhh, huh?

Ya'll, I don't care. I watched both Alvin and the Squeakquel. I enjoyed them both. Shut it. I won't even lie and say I watched them for Jason Lee and Zachary Levi. I watched them because I loved watching Alvin and the Chipmunks (with my sisters, of course).

So, if they're doing the same think to the Smurfs, yeah, I'll watch it. It might be on DVD, but yeah, I'll watch it.

Although, really, how much live action can there possibly be in this movie? The Chipmunks made sense, because hi, they lived with Dave. In a house.

But the Smurfs lived in the woods. In mushrooms. What the heck are they doing in New York? Are those woods really in Central Park? Is Gargamel's Castle really Belvedere Castle?

Yep. Color me blue with curiosity.

Oh, Henry

Magnet #782 - Henry II "Curtmantle" (r. 1154-1189)

I know. With as many Henrys in the family line, I could have picked a better monarch on which to blow this magnetpost title.

The only thing I know about Henry II is what I dimly remember from Peter O'Toole in A Lion in Winter, which seems to bear another watching. He was an acerbic king...or, that was just Peter.

Anyway, he was definitely a monarch with a really big kingdom - far-reaching enough to afford him the titles of King of the English, Duke of the Normans and Aquitanians and Count of the Angevins.

Henry gets a mention today, because today back in 1969, Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand tied for Best Actress Oscar - a feat that I didn't even know ever happened. Kate won for playing Eleanor of Aquitaine to Peter's Henry II, while Babs won for Funny Girl. Even better, that night, Kate became the first actress to be awarded three Oscars, with her final tally at four by 1981.

I thought a bit of royalty would work for today, because tonight, we'll be queuing up for the Doctor Who panel down in the village. I'd like to thank the Paley Center for that. Think I was bitter before? Wait. Give me 12 hours.

We'll likely not make it in, because people are planning on getting in line right about now (for a 7pm event). But, I suppose, in the end, it'll be fun to taste the madness.

Oh! And, yes, I looked up "Curtmantle" - it's supposedly a name derived from the fact that he wore a shorter robe than the other men about town. Really? Would love to see what he says about what we wear now. /random

Swirling dervish

Magnet #779 - Amen Corner, Augusta, Hole 12

The second in our golfing trinity at Augusta is the Golden Bell, Hole 12, par 3, and only 155 yards.

I was thinking that with it being only 155 yards, it'd be fairly easy. (I can say this with absolutely no authority, since I've never been on a golf course to actually golf.) But, from what I understand, this hole has a supremely narrow green, with Raes Creek in front, and a bank of azaleas and Golden Bells behind it.

On top of that, hit that corner on a windy day, and man, are you in trouble!

Historically speaking, the original name of the tournament was the Augusta National Invitation Tournament, and it wasn't for another five years (1939) that they could convince Bobby Jones to go with the name the Masters Tournament.

I imagine that it takes years for any golfing event to build up an audience, so I'm betting those first couple of years it was Bobby and his buddies rounding up everyone they knew to come out to Augusta to watch some guys hit a ball around. But, even without being an official PGA TOUR event, judging by what I saw on tv this weekend, it's certainly well attended, with guesstimates being somewhere around 35,000 folks a day. Whoa. I can't even imagine.

Of course, now, I've got this insane urge to watch that cuteboy Jim Caviezel play Bobby Jones in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, and also to see that cuteboy Joel Gretch play Bobby Jones in The Legend of Bagger Vance. Then again, I've also got a hankerin' to see Happy Gilmore, Caddyshack and Tin Cup, too.

Smiles away

Magnet #768 - George Clooney, Up in the Air

Lest ya'll think that I favor David over George, here's a magnet of my absolute favorite scene from Up in the Air.

C'mon, who doesn't love a man with an easy smile?

Anyway. There.

A George magnet and a magnetpost with absolutely no real content whatsoever.

What? I was gonna do this whole thing about the movie and rant about the hard decisions being made, the sucky conversations that people have to go through, the terribleness of the times, the high rate of unemployment, the rugs being pulled out from under people, etc., etc.

But you know what? It's a magnetblog. And sometimes, you just gotta take time to look at the cuteboys.

Get your head in the game

Magnet #764 - Mickey Mouse

I've been having such a hard time getting my head in the game at work, at home, or basically anywhere. Sheesh, I'm still trying to catch up to the real number of magnets I should be on this day! I'm like two weeks behind.

Moving on. I picked this Mickey magnet because I'm rounding out my weekend of television and getting nothing accomplished with the Disney Channel and High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

I've already seen it, but for whatever reason, even in my late-30s, I find these things pretty rewatchable. I think it's the breaking into song, and what catchy songs they are.

Plus, I think I'm just hard-wired for anything the Mouse puts out there anyway. Or so says the amount of time I've just spent on Disney this weekend. Heh.

Ease your storm

Magnet #762 - Medusa, by Caravaggio

As the last-minute, looking for the exit, bid to see more art at the Uffizi, we saw the Caravaggios hidden off in one of the more remote galleries.

As with DaVinci and Michelangelo and so many others, it was so very cool to see Caravaggio in Italy. That's probably what most surprised me, how much I was affected by seeing all that art in its native homeland.

Caravaggio painted Medusa around 1597, and it's so very lifelike, it makes you take a step back for fear of turning to stone. Ok, ok, it wasn't as lifelike as all that, but you could certainly make out the gruesome sheen of blood spouting from Medusa's head in that dimly lit gallery. Totally creepy and scary.

Which is fitting, because that's how I remember the classic 1981 Clash of the Titans fight between Harry Hamlin and the Gorgon Medusa. Scary. Sure, it was supposed be cheesy and crazy silly with the animatronics and greenscreen work of the day, but as a kid, I was totally freaked out by Medusa!

So, when I heard they were doing a new Clash, and with my boy Sam "packed only my books when I moved to the States" Worthington, I could not wait. Seriously, having watched the trailer a few times, and had the giant 20-story billboard teasing me from up the street. Totally looking forward to it. It was my first movie in months!

And, especially given how much technology's moved forward on the CGI/SFX front, I really thought the movie was gonna be amazing. And in 3D!

That's why we went to the 11:45am showing at the Ziegfeld - which has, despite the lack of stadium seating, the largest screen in Manhattan. I should have known when the theatre had about a dozen people. Goodness.

I love Sam. And Nicholas Hoult (Tony from Skins). And shoot, I even love Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson.

But the movie? I did not love.

It was just silly, and not in the way that classic Clash was silly. That was silly good. This movie was silly bad. So bad that I was entertaining walking out of the theatre, and would have, had I not spent $15.75, and have a thing for Sam's knobby knees, which for some reason, directors seem to focus on.

They updated the story, revising storylines and characters, which was fine by me, and they had a couple of shout-outs to the old - with a great one to the mechanical owl of old. And I suppose the effects were great, too, even though sometimes, I felt like someone on the production side was a huge LOST black smoke fan, with a little dash of Harry Potter.

The rest, though, was just terrible. I can always tell when something's bad, when I'm totally laughing at dialogues and scenes that I'm not supposed to laugh at. Out loud. To a deathly quiet theatre.

But c'mon. With a line like "Ease your storm" in the mix, you can see why I did a fair amount of giggling. I mean, really. Who wrote that and said, yes, that's an awesome line! Who directed that and said, yes, that was a great take! Who acted that and said, hells yes, that's not cheesy at all?

Ugh. Mind you, I'm totally stealing that line for everytime someone I know gets overexcited. I seriously can't wait. Sigh. Just like I couldn't wait for the movie to finally be over.

Oh, not to worry, they're still gonna make money, if the $24mil they made off of Friday's box office has anything to say for it.

No easing of the storm there.

Macho man

Magnet #745 - John Wayne

I catch a lot of flak over my tv and movie boyfriends. Especially because when you watch tv or movies with me, it's generally because there's a cuteboy involved, and I'm generally grinning like a Cheshire cat, with the cooing in a high-pitched tone, "Eeeeep, that's my boyfriend!!!"

The funny part is that on the whole, most of the boys I love on screen wouldn't be able to live up to every trait I've imbued them with in my head. Which is yet another reason I don't really want to ever meet George Clooney or David Tennant or John Taylor. I want to preserve the mystique.

Oddly, even though I love the metroboys on screen, my tastes in real life generally run to macho men (good grief, does anyone ever really say that nowadays? what am I, a refuge from Kotter's classroom?), but basically the guy's guy. The big and burly, rough and tough, get the job done, with just a touch of class and a little more (secret) sensitivity, and a whole lotta lovin' for his woman. Think John Wayne in McClintock! or Hatari!

I don't care how sexist and girly this sounds, but I swear I fell for a (gentle giant) guy once just because I overheard him ask my (Amazonian) roommate where "the little one" was...that's just how big and burly that guy's gotta be.

And, yeah, I just basically described any romance book in any time period. I know. I'm nuts, but I grew up on those romance books, so I have to believe that they exist somewhere. Never mind that I once had a romance author tell me, "Joy, you know we just make them up, right? They're not real?" Oiy.

Yes. They're real. Otherwise, they wouldn't have made magnets of them.

What? I'm just sayin.

Take me to the fair

Magnet #717 - Young Elvis

Dang, am I behind! Things are crazy at work, and with 26 days left to go before we decamp to Tampa for the Transitions Championship, things are bound to get crazier. I better do a magnet photoshoot quick, cuz dat folder be tres slim pickin's.

I picked this magnet for right this second, because the new Transitions Optical spot, Serenity, just aired, and it reminded me of our Seattle trip.

And the deplorable fact that I was with a whole team of adults, none of whom knew my favorite Elvis movie, It Happened at the World's Fair, that took place at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.

Like, seriously. How do you not know that movie? We were sitting at a restaurant underneath the monorail! The monorail that Elvis rode with little Sue-Lin to get to and from the fair! Down the street from the Seattle Space Needle! The Space Needle built specifically for the World's Fair! Good gravy.

One of my travelmates even said, wait, Elvis was...an actor????

*dies*

Shaping the future

Magnet #708 - Eero Saarinen's Gateway to the West Arch

Earlier this week, some random Tweet popped up about the Eero Saarinen exhibit leaving the Museum of the City of New York on January 31st. I didn't even know it was around, and it's been here since November!

But, yay for that random Tweet, because I squeezed it in this morning, and I'm so very glad I did. Loved it. I think what I like about architectural retrospectives are the cool building models. I just love looking at the cool fake buildings. Granted, every time I see them, I think of Michelle Pfeiffer running around New York City trying to repair her own building model, and then ending the night kissing George Clooney in One Fine Day, but there really is something neat about being able to draw something, and then getting it built.

Of course, today was one of the last gallery tours, which means they were inundated with people, and it was hard to enjoy the tour because of all the bodies. But MCNY did a fantastic job setting up the exhibition. Apparently, it's been traveling since 2006, and when it leaves here, it heads for Yale to close out the 4-year-tour.

His work covers a very specific time - the 1950s (and early 60s) - that's when he was most successful, working for prominent corporations and individuals, before he passed away way too young at 51. For those of you who haven't seen Eero Saarinen's work (not to be confused with his pop, Eliel Saarinen), you totally, totally have. If you've seen the Arch in St. Louis on this magnet, you have. If you've ever flown out of Dulles, you have. If you've seen one of those cool Knoll womb chairs, you have.

It's weird how I didn't know how much of his work I've seen before. But, I was quite charmed by the fact that in addition for having designed their technical building (the supercool blue on in this blogpost) , he als0 did a ton of corporate design work for IBM - product brochures and even the neat 1964 World's Fair IBM egg.

I'm sad I didn't get to spend more time reading all the placards and looking at the models, I really just buzzed right through. Otherwise, I'd probably still be rattling off many more facts and figures and quotes and buildings than you wanted to know.

I guess it's not for everyone, as I had to dodge the guy sleeping in his wheelchair...and that was even before we entered the exhibition space!

Toro, toro, toro!

Magnet #703 - Bullfight Poster

My friend brought this back for me from Barcelona a while ago, and I had to do a little research to figure out what it was, besides a vintage bullfight poster, and a cool one at that.

Here's what I found: Plaza de Toros Monumental is a bullring in Barcelona - and it's gorgeous! Built in 1914, it seats a good 19,500 people. I saw somewhere that the city of Barcelona is officially against bullfighting, and this ring is the only place you can actually see a bullfight in town.

While you're there, you can check out the Museum of Bullfighting as well - apparently, it's filled with costumes and heads of famous bulls (sniffle) and various bullfighting paraphernalia, like tickets and posters, etc.

This vintage fight poster actually calls out one of the greats in the sport, Sebastian "Palomo Linares" whom you can see here, later on in life, I believe.

Even though bullfighting can trace its roots back to prehistoric times, I really can't figure out if it's something that I'd want to see in person or not.

First, when it comes to dangerous sporting events, I'm a chicken. I can't even watch divers in the Olympics anymore, thanks to Greg Louganis. (I was totally gonna link that infamous dive, but I couldn't stomach watching it again.)

Second, while I'm sure it takes great skill to avoid being gored by the bull, it always just seems really mean to be tossing that red cape in front of them, trying to get them to charge. I can't guarantee that I wouldn't be on the bull's side, ya know?

Still, today's magnet is supercool, and now I've learned a little bit about the sport. That's probably for the better, given that all I really knew about bullfighting, I learned from Harvey Korman in Herbie Goes Bananas, circa 1980, where Herbie finds himself smack dab in the middle of a bullring in Mexico, trying to fend off a big bull, and the bad guys, all at once.

Such a great movie! Oh, I know Bananas is one of the most deplored of the series, but it's still one of my favorites.

And, c'mon. Who doesn't love a good Herbie movie?

Talking points

Magnet #687 - John Wayne quote

Shopping in Jersey, and what did I spy? A quartet of John Wayne magnets, at FYE's clearance rack. Woot!

I loves me some John Wayne. No, seriously. I haven't seen all of his movies, and I'm not a huge fan of his Westerns, which leaves me my favorite few.

And they are, in order: Hatari!, Without Reservations, and McClintock!

A bit random, but all with a romance focus, and none considered the best of his oeuvre. I still had to get this magnet set anyway.

But, I don't mind saying that given that I rarely talk low, I never talk slow, and I always talk too much, I'm betting The Duke and I wouldn't ever be caught hanging out together. Heh.

La La, la-la-la-la, La la-la-la-lahhhhh

Magnet #682a & 682b - Smurfette

You have got to love Target for their 99-cent aisles up front. So. Many. Magnets. I totally bought a Smurfy set of magnets. What?

And, you've got to love Sony Pictures for trying to bring back the Smurfs. Noooo, I'm not talking about Avatar. They're seriously trying to bring back the Smurfs in a live-action flick.

Live. Action. Can you imagine? Supposedly, and I guess quite rightly, the director attached is the same guy who did the Scooby movie several years ago with Buffy as Daphne and Mr. Buffy as Fred.

Then again, I just saw the movie's been moved to 2011, so who knows if it'll really ever get produced, but c'mon. Who doesn't love a Smurf?

I mean, they even had a Smurf Island down at Carowinds theme park (on the border of NC/SC). It was an acre-ish big island at the park, aimed at the young-uns with those plastic ball pools that parents are so afraid of nowadays, and fun little jungle gyms. And, the best part was that Papa Smurf and a few of the other Smurfs got to roam around to hang out with the kids.

As usual, in my childhood, I was a little older than the average Smurf-lover, I went, because my two baby sisters had to go. And, I'm sure at the time, it wasn't all that cool to be hanging out there.

But the most scandalized a pre-teen girl can be? Clear as day, while all the other kids were standing with her getting pictures and autographs, I watched as an 8-year-old boy grabbed Smurfette's behind, and hit on her, with a hey, baby.

On Smurfette!

Who doesn't love a Smurf, indeed!

Sherlock Holmes, I presume

Magnet #673 - Sherlock Holmes

Oh, yes. I have totally been waiting to use this magnet for the day I saw RDJ's Sherlock Holmes.

I picked this up earlier this year at the BEA show, back when we thought our company rebranding was feature the world's greatest detectives, and position our account executives and creatives as brand investigators and storytellers. I know. Don't ask. It kinda seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm just sorry I didn't manage to convince anyone to pick this magnet as our little company launch tchotcke. Heh.

But yay, fun finger puppet magnet!

I kinda had really high hopes for Sherlock Holmes today, which is why I was kinda sad that it didn't live up to my own hype. Don't get me wrong - it was a fairly good movie, it just didn't rock my world as I expected it to.

I blame the overall story, which was only so-so. I tend to love mysticism in my stories, but this one wasn't at all engaging for me. Though the intricate Holmesian details were pretty good, my problem was that my attention was already lost by the time they started explaining the mysticism of the conspiracy.

One of the best parts about the movie was of course, Robert Downey Jr. He was fantastic, as we knew he would be. And you gotta love the total yay between RDJ's Holmes and Jude Law's Watson. The dialogue skipped along whenever the two of them were together on screen. Loved them - loved their banter. In fact, their banter should be in every movie ever made. And, honestly, Rachel McAdams was cute with them as well.

Another thing I love seeing in any movie is a historic background - in this case, London in the making (literally, with the Tower Bridge being built). Seeing St. Paul's and Westminster and even 221B was supercool. The Thames all crowded with boats plying their trade and horse carriages cluttering the streets was just fantastic.

Of course, now I'm trying to remember how accurate Holmes' and Watson's rooms were at 221B Baker Street - a few years ago, my sisters and I did our own little tour of the Sherlock Holmes house/museum. Pretty cool, even though the wax Watson scared the bejeepers out of me. Also? Check it - this Watson, not as hot as Jude Law. I'm just sayin'.

The Hans Zimmer score was fabulous, particularly with the undercurrents of Big Ben's Westminster chimes, keeping time with all the fight scenes toward the end.

Speaking of fights scenes - whoa. Just. Whoa. The fighting was intense and often - and as my dad said, every time my mom woke him up, people were fighting. But, they were well done.

So, yeah - it's still a recommend. Go. See it. While I wasn't carried away by it, there were a ton of things I really did like about the movie. Not the least of which, RDJ should totally have a stipulation in his contract to do at least one shirtless scene in every single movie he does.

I insist.

Light's nature

Magnet #668 - Monet's Four Poplars

This magnet is one of my many, many, many Monet paintings - this one being an inset of the painting The Four Trees/Four Poplars. About a mile from Monet's house in Giverny is the tree-lined Epte River, where Monet used to sit in a boat in the water to paint these poplars.

Part of Monet's visual vocabulary (if I'm using that term in the right context here, who knows) was light - and how light changed throughout the day and the year. Which is how Monet ending up painting series after series of the same subjects - haystacks, Venice, London, Rouen, water lilies, these poplars - so that he could capture the many shades of light.

I picked this magnet today, because yesterday, I saw two movies that couldn't be more different - the tv movie Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage and the blockbuster Avatar.

Christmas Cottage with Supernatural's Jared Padalecki oddly paired with screen greats Marcia Gay Harden and Peter O'Toole was an unabashedly tearjerky biopic about one particularly formative Christmas that "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade spent with his family and friends. I won't lie, the only reason I tuned in because it was cuteboy J-Pad in a dramatic role I've never seen him in. (I think we can agree that you really can't count Gilmore Girls or Supernatural as dramatic fodder.)

But, the movie tried too hard to gain an emotional response from me, and I found myself spending much of the time waiting for Peter or Marcia to show up on screen. But it was the final scenes where Peter O'Toole's character was going on and on about his last painting, and how you muuuuust paaaaaint the liiiiight pretty much reminded me of Monet.

It's the nature theme of these poplars reminds me of James Cameron's Avatar (in 3D at AMC Empire 25's FauxMAX theatre), which I was also pretty meh about.

Oh, don't get me wrong, Sam Worthington was hot, knobby-knees and all. And, in the end, the Smurf people weren't as annoying as I was thinking they would be. And, the movie itself was gorgeous - and if you stop for a second to actually watch all the background plates and the CG work and SFX and the fact that it was a completely made-up world, you'd just be amazed at the sheer magnitude of the effort. There were a few callbacks to Titanic for me - some triumphant King of the World moments, a couple "I'll never let go" moments, oh, and a giant catastrophic event or two as well.

But overall, I kept getting pulled out of the movie by the Cameron soapbox - how society (America) has a way of killing off indigenous peoples and how humankind can't stop itself from destroying Mother Planet. In fact, it felt very much like his directors cut of The Abyss (which of course I loved), where the aliens just wanted us to save ourselves from ourselves.

In the end, I'll admit that as much as I was wary of his "we're all connected" theme, I guess I can't disagree with his soapbox...

...or the $73 million he made during opening weekend.

eta:
I try and put capture my own thoughts on movies/tv shows before I read any reviews or talk to anyone else about their opinions. Having just talked to the guy who peer pressured me into thinking there was no way I could *not* see Avatar opening weekend...

I really cannot believe that I missed that the overall story was just basically the story of Pocahontas. Huh. Right down to the Colors of the Wind and the talking trees!