Cashback

I've found a GREAT one!

I was looking through movies I can watch instantly and I decided to go for the independent genre. One of the first movies I saw was called Cashback and the brief synopsis sounded VERY much like a short film I'd seen in screenwriting. So I put the movie on and it starts with a narration and I was like "wow, the guy in the short was British and youthful just like this guy sounds." And then the guy comes on the screen and I realized that it was indeed the same guy. So then I had to rack my brain. Was the film I saw actually feature length?  I distinctly remembered the guy but I didn't remember the exact scene, which... I don't think I would forget a scene... especially not so quickly. So I wikipedia-ed it and the writer/producer/director made the short film and then made it into a long film more than a year later!! which I think is pretty amazing. So I grappled over whether I needed to watch the long version if I already saw the short one. 

I did and it was WORTH IT! I really loved it. Better than the short... kind of by a lot. Although the short was good. But it was a little creepier as a short. But what's amazing is that, to my recollection, all of the short is WITHIN the feature... and it's unbelievable because it's the same actors and it's... brilliantly the heart of the plot still so it's completely seamless. Unless I'm mistaken, you would NEVER be able to tell that parts were done before the feature was even written. Amazing. I'm so impressed. And very clever. Ooo I loved it!

Plus.. this is like... the cutest kid in the world (Sean Biggerstaff). Like... seriously seriously. He played Oliver Wood in Harry Potter and I remember when people were first fussing over Robert Pattinson and they were saying he played Cedric Diggory and how attractive he was, I agreed because I got confused and thought they meant this guy (I find Robert Pattinson... well I don't want to be rude about him or anything...  but he doesn't particularly catch my eye. But maybe if he were very kind...). 

The second one is him in the movie. I don't necessarily want degrade the movie by making him the selling point... but if you look at that face and don't want to see the movie... I don't know what to say. 

Peace, Frustration, and Movies

Several things. 

1. As I have mentioned many times, I LOVE late night TV. I've taken to the habit of looking on CBS.com and NBC.com for interviews when I know someone great has a movie coming out. That's how I knew about John Krasinski... because I specifically stalked Conan, Fallon, Letterman, and Ferguson for him. So naturally I've been regularly searching for Michael Cera. And here's the deal. He was on Letterman (which is my favorite amongst the four for interviews) on June 19th. BUUUUT CBS doesn't put the interviews up right away. We're only up to the 16th as of... 5 minutes ago. I shall be ungrateful and announce that it is torture. Thank GOODNESS NBC doesn't do that. I don't know what I would have done if I had to wait a week to watch The Office when I missed it. 

(I'm not REALLY angry obviously. I'm absolutely grateful that I CAN watch shows online. Or that we even HAVE internet. Or that they even DO the shows. For real for real.)

2. I pretty much have peace with what I'm doing. I think the driving thing made it WAY better. Or maybe just that I told my grandpa, which seems weird, even to me. 

3. I NEED to clean the bathtub. I made an attempt with an entire bottle of drain unclogger which was actually IN the apartment. But it also LITERALLY did nothing. Since I'm on such an incredibly tight budget, I REALLY don't want to spend $12 on Draino when the other one didn't work. Nevertheless, I believe I am going to be facing quite a bit of company and ... I'll just die with the tub in the condition it's in right now. 

4. The other day I decided to make rosemary chicken and then put it all in tupperware and then eat it as meals. My primary concern for this plan was that I would end up eating it too quickly. Buuuut that didn't happen. Instead, my error was that I UNDERCOOKED IT! I put that in caps because this is the ONLY MEAL I can make and I can't even get it. And I've been cooking it regularly for over a year!  And I REGULARLY burn it too. And I won't quickly forget the vinegar fiasco. Maybe I just honestly can't cook. I don't know how this is possible because cooking is seemingly all directions. Here are the things that infuriate me about cooking: 

a. Tools required. I need a specific pan for baking chicken. I need a huge pot for soups. I need big bowls to make cookies. So many things!! And those are for simple things. Most of the recipes in my recipe book require pots and pans that I do not have. 

b. Ingredients. The problem is things like "1 teaspoon of paprika" and then paprika is like... $6 for a tiny bit of it. Or like... 1/2 cup of half and half, which is even worse because it spoils quickly and ... I would never use half and half in any other circumstances. I want to just cut them out because... the paprika seems so insignificant... how could I taste 1 teaspoon of anything? And why half and half? Couldn't I just use whole milk? And that's why my things taste weird. 

c. You have to WATCH the food. I stayed in the kitchen with the rosemary chicken the entire time, which I directly blame for the fact that it's underdone. It LOOKS gorgeous though. But the last time I DIDN'T watch the food, I completely burnt it. I think I prefer it burnt, but it makes the pans really hard to clean, and I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to eat burnt things because burning things makes them chemically different and thus potentially harmful. 

I guess my husband will just have to eat sandwiches when I cook. And I'll invite my mom over for Thanksgiving and we can make the turkey "together."

ANYWAY

5. Yesterday morning, after neither washing nor brushing my hair in two days, I bought an ivy plant and a coke at 6am at the grocery store. I WOULD think that the guy at the register thought I was strange or wondered what I was doing... but that's pretty presumptuous. Cashiers, in my experience, do not care at all what you buy and when because they don't notice. A good cashier at a grocery store finds a place in their own mind and stays there. The only thing I ever even noticed was when people bought 70 bottles of salad dressing. Although one guy bought like... 20 frozen dinners and felt inclined to tell me that they weren't for him. 

5 pt. 2. I've been wanting to get a companion for my jade plant for a while because it just SEEMS like it would be healthier... although that's probably me anthropomorphizing my plant. BUUUT I couldn't get one that blooms because I feel like it would take away from the jade. But I think the ivy is complimentary... like the odd couple but no one is bigger and brighter. And, in retrospect, I'm also glad I got the ivy because I really like them both as names. Jade and Ivy. 

Now some movies/shows: 

Watched more of The Tudors and I DEFINITELY think the problem is that I know what's going to happen. It really does kind of ruin the suspense. In the last episode I watched, the sweating plague was upon them... but I KNEW Henry would live... and Anne and even Katherine of Aragon... so I wasn't that worried even though they spent a lot of time making HIM worried. Also they have a story line with a gay minstrel guy... but I have no idea what he has to do with the Henry story except that he's THERE. But like... he never interacts with Henry. And he isn't even a noble or anything. He has a little affair with one of Henry's closer men... but like the guy isn't even THAT close with Henry AND he just died. I'm pretty sure they were just trying to get the gay demographic. 

I also STARTED to watch the first episode of Californication. My grandpa doesn't really like it but he doesn't know why. I THOUGHT I really liked David Duchovny. I really like his face. But one time I bought a movie with him and Minnie Driver for like... $3 called Return to Me and I REALLY disliked it, so much that I gave it away or sold it or something because I couldn't have it ruining the integrity of my collection. So I watched the beginning of the show (you can watch it instantly on netflix) and in the first 5 minutes I was like... "wait a minute. Maybe I hate David Duchovny." Now, I was tired so I decided to sleep instead of pressing on, so that isn't a fair assessment. But he seems like an incredibly poor actor. And even though I am very comforted by his face sometimes, I don't think I've ever enjoyed him onscreen. In fact, the only time I even remember liking his face was when I remember him distinctly on the cover of a magazine with his wife (whom he has since cheated on in life... because of his sex-addiction... ... ) about 5 or 6 years ago and I remember thinking how ... I don't know exactly. But they were comforting. After writing this, I kind of dislike him even more. I don't know why that one picture affected me so greatly. 

I also watched a movie called The Governess with Tom Wilkinson, Minnie Driver, and a quite young Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. I basically have no opinion because I chose it quickly because I wanted something to paint to... which means something that I wouldn't be upset that I didn't watch carefully. It was incredibly standard about a jewish girl who pretends to be gentile to make money as a governess to feed her family after her father dies. Then she has an affair with the dad, who is just inventing photography. And the son falls in love with her. But nothing really dramatic happens. No one finds out, really. When he learns she's jewish he... neither cares nor is accepting. Like... he doesn't make a scene about it. And (I'm going to spoil it because no one will ever watch it) in the end she steals his lenses that he's been working on and shows the wife of him sleeping naked... and she makes a photography business back at home... and he finds her and he isn't even upset and they don't even get back together... and there is no begging.  You do get to see a little of Jonathan Rhys Meyer's penis... and a lot of Tom Wilkinson. So I guess I do have an opinion. Not good. I need more drama in my dramas. 

I watched Water Lilies which I found to be VERY good. It's a french film and it's about a lesbian who's like... 15. It was very good. I don't want to say anything else about it. 

Vicky Christina Barcelona. First of all, it's kind of the best name ever. Also, I didn't know it was a Woody Allen movie until the beginning... like I didn't know that is what I was getting into and when his name popped up during the opening music I was like "ooh wait...". I definitely like Woody Allen movies, but... you kind of have to put on your Woody Allen cap to watch one. For instance, his characters talk a LOT, which I KNOW is to get a feeling of reality, and that works. And his endings always seem to be disconcerting. Like... you could tell a Woody Allen ending from... whatever else. That being said, I enjoyed the movie. And Penelope Cruz WAS fantastic and she deserved that oscar. And Scarlett Johansson was fine. She didn't annoy me in this film... even though she WAS the same. 

I watched Run Lola Run, which was trippy as hell!! And it gives you a lot of anxiety. I was jumpy watching the whole thing. A LOT of it is just Lola running and I kept saying out loud "RUN!!" So I guess it's the most appropriate title ever. But also it was super fast paced and fast cuts and like... fast circling around things and it was basically ALL to techno music except at super dramatic parts. Very cool. ALTHOUGH my disk was messed up for like... the VEEEERRRRY end so .. I was PIISSSEEED, although not at netflix because this has never happened before in the ... 7ish months that I've had it... AND they don't even wait until the damaged one gets to them before they send you a new one. That's more than fair. So, in summation, I was pissed because I really wanted to see the ending, but it was aimed at no one. But anyway,  I tried to look it up online, but I could only get it from some sort of Asian site and it had only Asian subtitles... and it's a German movie. So, netflix is going to send me a new copy. Nevertheless, even though I missed literally the last 1-2 minutes, I can say with conviction that it was good. I don't think the last minute could ruin it. 

I also watched Skipped Parts which I rented because Bug Hall, Alfalfa in The Little Rascals, was in it and it was rated R "for sexual situations, some involving young teens." It was basically like a story someone would write in screenwriting. Like... you have something that you really want to happen (little girl, Mischa Barton, getting pregnant in an interesting way) but... then you just half-ass the story around it. Like... technically it's narrated by Bug, who is going to be a writer, but... that's such a lame way to make a story. Nothing really WITHIN the story convinced me that his being a writer was important EXCEPT that that was the only way they could make the story happen. And the little girl hated Bug until he comforted her when JFK died... which is such a cop-out, I think. It's just like... assholes hated JFK and good-guys like him... so if you stick his death in there, it's an easy way to make the audience hate some people and love the others. Lame. Also Mischa Barton is a terrible actress... and so is Bug Hall kind of... I was not convinced by either of them...but they were children and most children can only do so much. But it was cute when they held hands or slept together in their little PJs. Also I just remembered that Drew Barrymore is kind of in it in the kid's fantasies. I think if it wasn't Bug Hall, I'd be more convinced. He's cute as HELL though. And I mean that in the little kid way.

Lastly, I watched The Basketball Diaries, which was THE most standard plot line about kids on drugs ever. Mostly it just seemed like the person who wrote it didn't actually live it... although it was a true story about a guy who wrote books and poetry and did a one man show about it... and maybe he just had the most standard experience possible. That being said, I couldn't help but enjoy a quite young Leo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg and some guys I didn't know playing basketball, causing trouble in NYC, doing drugs, and ... not too much sex... but some. I have to enjoy that. The movie just wasn't that stimulating... in my mind at least. 

Wow... that was more movies than I feel like I watched. 

ALSO, ELENA IS COMING LIKE... TOMORROW I THINK!!

AND I've been playing a LOOOOT of the Sims. I've made an incredibly successful family... at the expense of my own personal shame. It's Isaac and Zelda (I didn't name Zelda) and their sons Alastor and Silas. And the other family I made is a mother named Ava and her adopted son that I named August. 

I don't care. I don't CARE about the shame.  

My Newest Painting

This is residual from my Away We Go ... interest. I'm pretty sure it's done. Also, even though it's a lot of white space, it took forever because it's the biggest painting I've ever done. 16x21 inches maybe?

The Proposal?

"The opening day gross for Disney's romantic comedy "The Proposal" marks the best ever for a Sandra Bullock film. And it's the best for a romantic comedy opening in the June-August stretch since Julia Roberts-Richard Gere starrer "Runaway Bride" in 1999."

Really?!

Grandpa to the Rescue

I had a few lost days. Days that I cannot justify or explain. Days I basically didn't live at all, culminating in yesterday where I slept until (oh God, I don't even want to say...) 5pm. MISSING a lunch thing that I kind of thought was an early dinner, but regardless, made me look like an irresponsible fool. 

My grandpa called me a few days ago to chat. I cannot call him back because I have nothing good to say for myself. But now it's been three days and I feel like I have to do something REALLY GREAT

OK!!!!

This part is being written 2 hours later. I apparently stopped my sentence in the middle and called my grandpa (apparently writing my excuses brought to light the foolishness... mid-sentence, no less). I called my grandpa and started my conversation by telling him that the reason I didn't call back for three days is because I'm ashamed of how I'm living and then I realized that time wasn't going to make it better so I just have to come out and say it. He laughed and told me that he loves me and that I can do no wrong. What's interesting about my relationship with my grandpa is that my mom HATES him. But I LOOOVE him. I think it kind of sucks for my mom, because I talk about him doing something great (I try to avoid it) and I'm sure she gets upset. Also she told me that one time he called her "honey" and she knows it's because he accidently addressed her as though he was talking to me. AND I talk to him more than I talk to my mom. And for much longer than when my mom and I DO talk. Awkward. Especially because technically he stopped talking to my mom when she refused to abort me. Although I think the silence only lasted a few months. Still...

To be clear, this is her father. 

And I must mention that if MY child mysteriously loves Ernie, I will likely be SUPER pissed! CRAZY FUCKING PISSED! Although... I don't think I have to worry about that at all.

So I talked to my grandpa and he GLORIOUSLY offered to take me up to Utica and spend like... 10 days or whatever rigorously teaching me how to drive!!!! YES!!! So tentatively I'm leaving July 8 for a little while. 

AAAALSO, I told my grandpa about my obsession with Weeds and he told me that HEEEE had an obsession with Weeds around Thanksgiving and he watched all the episodes in a few days with my grandma. AAAAND he also finds it torture that now we can only watch a half hour per week. My grandpa and I are soul mates. Then we talked about Away We Go, Robert Downey Jr., Charlie Chaplin, my Fallon trip to NYC, Ken (32 IS too old... did I ever mention that my mom did NOT think 32 was a problem? Even though that's 11 years older than me and only 8 years younger than her?), Hugh Laurie, America Ferrara, whether or not Californication has any merit, The Tudors and Jonathan Rhys Meyes, Rachel McAdams, netflix vs. on demand, and whether or not Sherlock Holmes will be too much action or if it will have a good amount of intellect too. SEE WHY MY GRANDPA AND I ARE SOULMATES?! Or maybe I just relate to retired 67 year old men. Or maybe we just both watch a LOT of TV. 

ANYWAY! In other news, I printed out 70 pictures for my scrapbook and it only cost me $13!! Remember when you had to BUY a disposable camera and usually they were $15 but SOMETIMES I could get them for $9.99? And I always had to get 2 cameras for every dance and party and everything... just in case it was SUPER eventful. And I got them ALL THE TIME and had a system in which I never wound the camera AFTER a picture because I wouldn't want the camera to go off in my bag and have to pay for a black picture... but sometimes we would have group shots and 2 people would take the same goddamn picture with 15 different cameras and then we would all have a copy of the same picture AND the people taking the picture would wind the camera? And then I'd have to pay another $10 or $15? (I don't even remember... a lot because I couldn't always do it right away) to develop the camera, and I would ALWAYS get doubles in case I wanted to use a copy to put into my quote book or god forbid I spilled water or something on a picture. And then only like... 13/24 pictures would even be any good. And you NEEDED a flash because a non-flash picture would NEVER come out well. 

Yeah... I remember that. And I have a HUUUUUUGE box of shitty pictures. 

Look at how far we've come. No more forever group shots... you take the picture once, tag everyone in it, done. Delete the shitty pictures you took. Never have to develop them. Glor-i-ous!

In not-so great technology news, my itunes will not show up on my computer and I don't know why. I will probably panic in a few days. 

Also, today I bought latex gloves for the dishes. Do you know how much more glorious washing dishes is if you have gloves? Infinitely more glorious!! No touching disgusting things. No prune-y and smelly hands. No skin dryness after your done. Your hands are as good as they were before the task. Excellent. 

I haven't watched as many movies recently. Mostly because I watched 52 episodes of Weeds in 2 days. That's almost 26 hours. AAAMAZING!!

Then I watched a movie called YPF (Young People Fucking) which was recommended by Elena. Pretty good. I don't have too much to say about it. It's 5 separate couples in different situations (exes, friends, first date, roommates (except really the roommate with the guy's girlfriend while the guy watches...), and the couple) having sex and it all takes place over one night. And the people are not that diverse... they probably all live in the same area. And the girls are mostly dominant.. really new-age-y guys. ANYWAY ANYWAY, right after giving Elena my feedback, I decided to start watching The Tudors and one of the guys from YPF was in the show. Not a main person, but.. well actually it wasn't all that special. 

Anyway, I only watched 2 episodes of The Tudors because... they're 55 minutes long and... it was like.. 5:30am. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is unbelievably attractive. I even surprisingly like his voice, which always throws me off because it's almost effeminate... and I usually don't love that... but I like his. Plus he has a LOT of sex in the show. I can't say for certain whether I will be obsessed... although I have to guess that I won't be unless it's out of pure boredom, because I usually know pretty instantly. I think the situation might be that I already know what's going to happen... particularly since I JUST watched The Other Boleyn Girl... but I WOOOULD like to see Jonathan get hot and bothered over Anne Boleyn. Maybe I will be obsessed, now that I think of it. I was probably just tired. 

Although actually, I still haven't slept yet since 5pm yesterday (it's 1:52pm now) and I'm still going. When you (I) have nothing to do and your (my) sleep gets all distorted, there are several times of the day when you (I) need to make some decisions. 

3-5pm- Am I going to leave my place or put off my things until the next day? 

2:30am- Am I going to try to sleep the night or am I going to keep going?

5:30am- Am I going to stay awake and do my things in the morning or am I going to sleep and TRY to be up by 11am, taking the chance that I might oversleep for half of the day?

1-2pm- Am I going to nap now and try to wake up at 5pm, taking the chance that I might oversleep until 10pm? 

Well THAT was honesty. 

Last thing, but I JUST talked to my mom and told her about how glorious Weeds was. She told me that she's been telling me all along that I should watch it. Ugh! I know this is senseless hating on my mom, but this is the reason I wouldn't be friends with my mom if she was my peer; she takes credit for everything. And I don't even BELIEVE her when she tells me these things... but even if they ARE true... even if she HAD been telling me I would love Weeds forever (which, even if she had, she also likes Medium and CSI-y stuff that I don't like), the conversation shouldn't shift to her being pissed that I didn't watch the show as soon as she gave her alleged recommendation. This shouldn't be an "I told you so" conversation.  A GOOD conversationalist would say "REALLY?!" and ask my why I liked the show and tell me why THEY like the show etc etc.  

And she does it all the time. If there is a great artist, she knew about and loved the artist before they were even big. When I like something, not just this show because this phenomenon happens regularly, she has allegedly told me that I would like said thing forever and I never listen. And the most annoying one, when I'm ill, she's had the same illness for weeks and now I know how she feels... bonus if she is also inflicted with something ELSE in addition to whatever pain she's getting from my meager illness. I told her about my itunes and she insists that she noticed HER itunes was fucked up YESTERDAY. Thankfully her and I have been to basically all of the same places because otherwise I know she'd do the annoying thing where like... they say things like "you've never TASTED bread until you've been to Philadelphia. I KNOW good bread."

Part 2 to the Weeds story is that I, in a joking way, told her that I simply don't trust her opinion and that I only trust netflix... and she got pissed! And then I told her I was kidding... but then I had to take that back because... I don't know why... probably because I like to intentionally piss her off as much as she unintentionally pisses me off.

We're not a great team. 

What you CAN take from the story is that all three generations, despite some verbal communication issues, all really love TV and movies. 

Plus I told her about grandpa teaching me how to drive, pretending that I was disappointed and that Utica is the last place I want to be. She did the sarcastic "good luck." Also, the time that I'm potentially going to Utica is when the Wolber Open is happening... yes my family has a reunion called the Wolber Open. I've been one time and it's not fun because I never really knew any of the relatives since I lived in the west for most of my growing years. My mother has gone every year for like... 5 years maybe? And I went on her second time only. When I discussed it with my grandpa, he was like "I don't think your mother has been there since you were there." How terrible is their relationship that he doesn't even remember seeing his daughter at the family reunion?

Also, last thing about my mom, but instead of filling out a financial form by herself, she insisted that we do it on the phone, which we did with a previous form. But it's terrible because I'll be reading a question out loud and she'll get super aggravated and be like "NO NO NO we OBVIOUSLY don't receive any aid from the military" and I'll be like "I'M READING IT! DO YOU WANT ME TO READ IT TO MYSELF FIRST, CENSOR THE SHIT YOU NEED TO HEAR?!" Damnit! It's so annoying!!

I do love my mom. I know everyone has these grievances. And she is NOT the reason I hate going home. 

Health Reform

Today I decided to check and see how my funds are working out, a task I've been dreading a bit because I don't want to know if I'm over spending. Well I'm NOT!! I'm on a role. SOOOO I decided to donate $10 to Obama for health reform. I REEEALLY think it's a good idea. 

Make it happen. 

Sherlock Holmes

Check out the trailer for Sherlock Holmes! O God, I will be swooning in my pants for SURE!