Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Movie Review: The Simpsons Movie

OK - one word: VERY FUNNY! Alright, that was two words.

Actually this review isnt about the movie itself (although I must say that I'm scarred for life where Bart is concerned). No, this review is more of a statement. I've come to be spoiled when it comes to movie going experiences. And this viewing of The Simpsons Movie proves it.

When I went to see Dreamgirls at the Arclight, I was surrounded by the people who would most appreciate the movie. Yes, those lovely boys who I wouldnt have dares shhh'd when Jennifer Hudson finished her take on that showstopping number - you guys know what I'm talking about.

When I went to see Transformers at the Arclight, I was surrounded by people who had the tenacity to hoot and holler and cheer when Optimus Prime said lines from the original cartoon. And yes, I mocked but deep down inside I wanted to be screaming too.

When I went to see The Simpsons Movie at the Santa Anita AMC - it was a mistake! There were times in the movie when I was laughing all by myself...and many of you have heard my laugh, it ain't pretty. I was shocked...no...dare I say appalled at the lack of humor in that crowd. There was no sense of camaraderie to experience these 2 hours together and watch an artist's vision come alive on the big screen. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. NADA.

I am making a stand now my loyal reader(s). Any movie that I have any sort of anticipation of seeing, I will only see at the Arclight. If a movie somewhat piques my interest, then I will consider going elsewhere (and probably end up paying a matinee price on a Sunday morning). The Arclight will now be my default theater for my movie going experiences.

I knew that those pesky crepes that are sold in the food court were going to be my downfall - damn you Santa Anita AMC and your liberal outside food policy, DAMN YOU!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

America's Got Talent Made Jake Cry! BASTARDS!

I guess I shouldn't say America's Got Talent but more like the general American population that voted. Jake loves watching the show and he absolutely adored a band on there called "Jonny Come Lately". Jonny Come Lately's members are teenagers who play music from Elvis Presley, Queen, and The Stray Cats.

Needless to say, they were not voted through to the next round and Jake was visibly upset when the group SIDESWIPE (a martial arts troupe that got by on their abs) got the last spot in the finals. I wish I was kidding, I had to console the poor kid!

At least we got our votes in for Boy Britney this time around.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Not As Dumb As I Look

My car has been more drama in the past 6 months than in the 3 and change years that I've had it total. I've needed to get it smogged for my registration and if it wasnt one thing it was another. I finally had gotten the mysterious check engine light to disappear and now, it was time!

Now, remember my trip to Vegas a few posts down and how it leaked oil most of the way to and from Sin City? I kept an eye on the oil and decided before I go get it smogged, that I was going to get an oil change just to be safe.

So off I go to the local EZ Lube with my (expired) coupon for 40% off the full service deal. I know this coupon is expired but I'm going to use my negotiating skills that I've developed at work to make this happen.

When I arrive to the EZ Lube I'm greeted by a man who you know was a car salesman in his previous life. He introduces himself and explains the services they offer. I tell him that all I'm really interested in getting is an oil change and that I have my coupon. He looks at the coupon and says "Well ma'am, this coupon is expired. Let me check with my manager if we are able to accept it." He leaves and while he's gone, his group of merry men are chatting it up with me a bit. One guy is especially obvious that he's hitting on me, which is pretty good for the ego considering I just rolled out of bed to get cracking on my car errands for the day.

Mr Helperman comes back to inform me that they can't give me the coupon discount because its expired - however, I can go to the EZLube website and print out another coupon and bring it back to them. Now...why would a business send me home to get a coupon? This was going to be easier than I thought. I pulled out the doe eyes and say "But I dont have a printer at home." He looks at me and says, "Well, see here, there is a code at the bottom of the coupon that I need in order to give you the discount." I look him straight in the eye and say "If you only need the code, can't you just look at the coupon on the website to get the code and input it into your computer?" Yeah, got him with that one.

So he asks to pull my car in to do a check on it, I explain about the oil leak and that I just really want the oil changed for the smog check I'm on my way to. Yes, yes, I know - I screwed up with that one. They have me wait in the little waiting room and he comes in to tell me the services they are suggesting I get for "the good of my car". Most of everything he is suggesting "would improve my chances of passing the smog test". I love how they use fear to upsell. When I looked at the initial quote, my mouth actually dropped - $312.40. I walked in with a coupon for a $19.99 oil change people! So he's throwing all this stuff in there, like a free air filter and a free fuel injection somethingorother, which would bring the price down to around$200. Meanwhile, the guy that had been flirting with me is behind him mouthing the words - "Don't do it!" I swear it was a circus. And then, he showed his cards, he said "Well, I'll give you the discounted price for the full service oil change if you get these services."

HELLO! The elusive code appears.

I tell him that the only thing I will get is an air filter and he can go ahead and give me the discount that he knows I came in for. He's trying to call me on how he just can't do that. And I tell him its crap because I can see that he's inputting the code right in front of me. I'm doing him a favor by purchasing an air filter from him because I can easily go to Kragen's or Pep Boys and get one myself and change it out. He knows he's beat. The only other time I saw a salesperson's face fall so quickly was when I was trying to buy my first new car with my dad and the man had the audacity to try to negotiate with my father instead of me, even though it was my money. But thats for another time.

So after my oil change, I head over to the smog place. The nice men at the smog place told me that my car was a piece of shit and not to bother putting any more money into the engine because it might die on me any minute, including while they were doing the test. I hear them revving up my engine and I'm just praying it doesnt die. Pass or fail, I would like for my car to at least be able to drive me home. As I'm waiting for the results, it feels like I'm at the hospital waiting to hear how a loved one had come through a surgery. The tech walks in and the first thing I said was , "Pass, Fail, or car dead?" He said "Pass" and I yelled "Sweet Jesus!".

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Oh, Happy Day!

Today was a good day...dare I saw GREAT day.

I love it when people show their appreciation and they are able to voice your value aloud.

Oh yes, absolutely, fabulous day.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

MICHAEL BOOOOOBLAAAYYYY!!!

On Friday, I embarked on a journey.

Destination: Las Vegas
Mission: To See Michael Buble' In Concert

I have to admit some roadblocks that were laid out for my mission.
1) I was supposed to get tickets for his show in August at the Greek Theater, but the show sold out so fast, I wasn't able to buy any.
2) My devil car was getting a little work done and I actually didn't get it back until the night before I left town.
3) I wont lie - I was broke.

Friday morning, I pack the car with the kid and all of my stuff (including some laundry I could do there) to head to my brother's abode in beautiful and hot as hell Las Vegas. Between Baker and Stateline, I notice that my oil light has turned on. Hmmm...last time it did this - it had no oil. But I had JUST gotten it checked out - what was my devil car up to? I kept an eye on the oil light and realized that it wasn't just turning on to say hi -but something was up. So I turn off onto one of those exits that has a scary gas station where you feel you wont survive if crack a bad joke. We get out of the car and sure enough - I have a leak. I check the oil and it seems fine, but I put another quart in just in case and hop back on the freeway because Jake had already started the "Are we there yet?" routine about 20 minutes before. It was a godsend to see Stateline so I can finally say "YES! We are in Nevada!".

I get to my brother's house and we are waiting for my parents to arrive to eat. Finally they arrive and the weekend festivities begin. The next day, my cell decides to randomly call numbers. Like the phone is possessed or something - its closed and sitting on the floor when BAM, it starts calling a number. I take out the battery, the sim card, and even give it a few whacks for good luck and to no avail. The phone is inoperable. The only thing that works on the phone is the on/off button. Which, by the way, doesn't matter that the phone is completely turned off because my cell phone alarm still went off and now that I'm typing this, I think I'm going to take it to the church tomorrow to have it exorcised.

So Saturday night rolls around and my wonderful sister in law and I head to the concert at the MGM Grand. Now - I know that I am not the most punctual person. But there are a few times in my life where I want to be where I need to be at the precise time my ticket says to be. Most of those are hockey games, especially when Canadian teams are in town so I can hear their national anthem, but that is neither here nor there.

The show starts at 8pm. We arrive at the (packed) parking lot at 7:50pm. My sister in law can see that this is giving me some sort of tick and drops me off at the entrance of the arena at 7:58pm after circling the lot a few times with no success. I grab my ticket and run into the arena. Luckily there is an opening act, Jann Arden who was fabulous and funny as hell. But because I dont have my cell phone - I cannot call and tell Missy that she had time. Oh and did I forget to mention that my camera's battery died? Um yeah....

So Missy shows up right when Jann Arden is wrapping up and we have a few minutes to gather ourselves before the performance.

Now - let me say that I am not one of those ladies that will scream and swoon over a singer or actor. The last time I got all starry eyed was when I met Donnie "I was in New Kids On The Block" Wahlberg about 6 years ago at Universal Studios. And by starry eyed, I mean when I got in front of coworkers that knew who he was I actually did the clapping and jumping up and down thing and shrieked "OH MY GOD! I JUST SAW DONNIE WALBERG FROM NKOTB!" Nowadays, I will stalk quietly and subtly but I will keep it together for appearances sake. And you bet your ass that I will text everyone that I feel my sighting will have the same giddy response to it.

But then...then came Michael Buble'. Michael Buble' is in one word DREAMY. He's handsome. He sings. I learned that night that he's funny in a campy sort of way. And any man that refers to anything, especially himself, as fantabulous, cannot be bad in my book. This video is from a concert he performed and I can tell you that he had just finished running through the audience.



The concert was so awesome! I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we had laughing at his jokes and singing along to his songs. One of my favorite bits of the night was when he got offended that after his band played without him singing, everyone cheered really loud. He stood there and would stop singing and kept saying "But I'm the star! How can you cheer louder for them?" and then stormed off stage, throwing the microphone on the stage and everything. One of the trombone players got up and apologized for the "Buble' Diva" and proceeded to sing in his place because the show must go on! Of course Michael came back and the show continued. You can tell he was having a great time on stage and he is one hell of a performer. I may have to suck it up and buy a ticket to see him in LA next month.

And yes - I did go apeshit at the end of the show and started screaming for Michael to do the encore. I freely admit it!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

SWEET VICTORY!!!

WE WON OUR GAME LAST NIGHT!!!!

This may not be a big deal to anyone not on our team but this was our very first win of the season. It went down in dramatic fashion no less - tied going into the top of the ninth inning. The opposing team scores three runs and we finally get them out to have our shot.

Vim - pops out
Rosemary - Walks
David - Single
Burhan - Single
Will - Lines Out

Bases loaded - 2 outs...Evan up to the plate - he has hit 2 homeruns in this game alone.

Evan - Doubles up the center

Two Runs score! We are down by one with the winning run on second base.

Adam up to bat....hits a loop past first - Burhan scores from third...they mishandle the throw, Adam is safe at first! Meanwhile, Evan is running from second base to score and sweet jesus we win!!! When I say that we jumped up like little kids and ran, yes, RAN into the field to celebrate - I am not exaggerating.


We looked like this:

I swear I was so happy, I nearly cried. I even called Jacob who was with his dad and told him....do you know what he said, "FINALLY!" No respect, even from the kid.

Who cares - WE WON!!! Two more games left and we play this team one more time. YAY!!!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Our Trip To The Kwik-E-Mart

Ever wonder how it would be to step into a Simpson's cartoon? Well, some 7-11's across the country are giving the people an opportunity to find out.

The one in Burbank is on our way home, so I opted to give it a whirl. Let me just say how entertaining it is to be in there! First of all, we had to wait in line to get in. I felt like I was waiting to go into a club with the rent-a-cop as the door man. I guess because of fire codes they could only have so many people in the 7-11 at a time, so when three people came out, three went in.

Got to meet Apu!

The don't miss the little details huh...


The food selection is amazing!



Even Jake found a new friend.

MMMM - DONUTS!


Short on cash? The Bank of Springfield looks like a good bet.

No Apu, thank YOU for the memories...THANK YOU...