Thursday, February 26

The two Corey's should have been warning enough..

Very sleepy, but I should have known.

Watched Lost Boys..which is the 80's take on a vampire movie.

Best line "One thing I never could stand about Santa Carla was the damn vampires."

Not so funny out of context. Kind of funny at the end of the movie.

Otherwise, not a huge fan.

I don't think the 80's was a good decade for disaster movies.

From now on I'm sticking with the classics and the most recent fare. I'll take campy any day, but is there a word for something that's campy, but still bad?

Ironically campy?

Monday, February 23

Ok, one more NYtimes article

Just go read this one..no ranting from me..

All about fistulas.

If you know what they are, go read. It's a quick but good overview.
If you don't know what a fistula is, be prepared to be mildly/incredibly horrified by how women continue to suffer around the world (i.e. also go read the article asap).

One step forward..

I decided to take a quick NYtimes break.

I start with the US section, bounce over to International and almost always end up in health for the long haul.

Today a book review caught my eye.

A book review in the health section?
Sounds interesting.

And it is.

The book is all about periods.
The female kind, not the punctuation.
A young female writer compiled 90+ stories about how women felt the first time.
She very creatively named it "The Little Red Book" (and I'm only 1/2 mocking).

The book sounds interesting.
The reviewer,however, seriously annoyed me.

The sad thing is, she had good intentions.
She used the word menstruation without verbally flinching (it is possible) and shared some of the funnier anecdotes from the book.

She seems to like the idea.
Unfortunately, she also seems to buy into the idea that getting your period is yucky.
And that men don't want to understand.

Case in point:
"Reasoning that every lonely soul wandering through Walgreens has a story to tell, she [the author] was inspired to assemble a collection of 92 short reflections by women on the subject of their first period.

At this point, male readers may want to go outside and toss a ball around for a while. No matter how sympathetic, how curious or how deeply interested in life’s little yuck factors you are, this collection is unlikely to hold more than the mildest intellectual appeal for you."

See what I mean?

She started so strong! And then boom..gender norming galore, and some feminine shaming thrown in for good measure.

OF COURSE men won't want to read the book if you tell them that it's unlikely to hold much appeal for them. Also, I'm not sure that some of the most important men in my life (including father, brother and boyfriend) would feel the need to regain their foothold in the world of manliness & masculinity by 'tossing around a ball.' If they didn't want to read a book about periods, they are much more likely to go read a classic or theorize about politics (brother), iron while listening to opera (dad), or throw a few bowls on the pottery wheel (boyfriend). Excuse them for not wanting to play in the yard.

And of course, can't forget that the reviewer called getting your period 'one of life's little yuck factors.'

Maybe it's yucky, or maybe it's an empowering reminder of the life cycle. I won't get all hippy chick, but really..calling it 'yucky?' Is that really necessary?

Thursday, February 19

Midterms make me sad

I have not had time to watch any good (or bad depending on how you feel about my taste) movies at all this week.

BUT..Netflix is sending a movie that should arrive tomorrow. I might not get it until I get back on Sunday, but I'm excited.

And yes, I said Netflix. I switched!

A few weeks ago a friend of the boyfriend stayed over. He has Netflix. He showed us how Netflix has tons of movies and tv shows available online to subscribers. Instead of having to watch stuff on sites that are of perhaps dubious legal nature, I can watch tons of stuff for less than I was paying for my Blockbuster subscription.

Exciting!

Monday, February 16

AMC=AWFUL

Ok, I know this is the second totally random post in 1 day.

But, just wanted to share my annoying Friday night story.

Tried to see a movie with 3 friends.

Bought tickets ($10..eek!) and got to see all but the last 10-15 minutes.

Then, someone (youth! 30 rock reference for those of you who care) probably pulled a fire alarm.
In any case, sirens went off and we had to evacuate.

I understand that these things happen.
It was cold, but no big deal standing outside for a few minutes.

Until we tried to get back into the theater and found the doors were locked.

I know it was the last show..but shouldn't there be at least 1 employee around in case of an emergency?

Instead, they all left.

So I didn't get to see the end of my movie. Or a free ticket.

I would have been happy with either.

Not happy at all..and not going back to the AMC in Towson!

Who knew you could buy paintball stuff online..

I do a lot of random searching online.

I'll even admit that might occasionally frequent sites that sell supplies..and by supplies, I mean emergency food, water etc.

You know, all sorts of useful stuff in case of emergency (see the disaster link!).

Anyway, some of this browsing eventually led me to a site (Tippman) that sells paintballing equipment.

I was really surprised. I mean, I've been paintballing once and it was fun..but I never really considered buying my own stuff.

I might have also thought that paintballing was going to be more like that scene from "10 Things." It isn't though! Mostly because Health Ledger definitely did not make out with me while I was covered in paint.

Maybe I'm too much of a baby! Paintball means a lot of running around and lugging of kind of heavy equipment.

But really, who knew how much stuff was out there for sale! Now I kind of want to buy a paintball gun & mask.

Mostly to play paintball. Maybe also to take funny pictures wearing full paintball gear. Mostly the second..

tippmann alpha black

Friday, February 13

What if I wanna watch a show about a singer AND a superhero?

Disney Launching A Boys' Channel

13 February 2009 1:35 AM, PST

Saying that it plans to focus on "tween" and younger boys but include girls, the Walt Disney Company on Thursday announced the creation of Disney Xd, which will combine a cable channel offering sports and action programing with a website offering games, music and social networking. Until now, much of Disney's specialized cable programming for the 6-14-year-old set has been aimed principally at girls, with such shows as Hannah Montana, Kim Possible, the High School Musical specials, and the upcoming Jonas Brothers series. And just as Hannah Montana features a character who lives a double life as an ordinary teen and a famous rock star, Disney Xd has a show in production called Aaron Stone about a boy who leads a double life as a crime fighter.



I stole this directly from the imdb.com news sheet. More on this later..


But what if you're me? I would want to watch both a show about secret singer (if I didn't hate Miley Cyrus) AND a show about a secret superhero.

Excuse me for being into both singing and superheros.



Thursday, February 12

I'm on a classics spree

I must say, there's something to be said for the classics.

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers..

Favorite line so far:

"Doctor, is this an example of your bedside manner?"
"No, that comes later."

I like that this was made long before CGI existed.
So it's cheesy and the effects are minimal, but it forces everyone to actually act!
Or at least give it their best effort.
Plus, if you don't have much to work with for effects, you have to create suspense.

The body count is impossible to determine, but basically the whole town has been turned into mindless automatrons.

I'm liking the movie..plot holes the size of Pluto and all.
And yes, I chose Pluto because it may no longer be a planet, but it's still pretty darn big.
Oh, and the movie is about aliens. Or at least pod-like things from space.
So the Pluto connection makes sense.

Wednesday, February 11

Lovely: sexual harassment hits the iphone

I have a new iphone & I've already become one of those annoying people who whips it out whenever I need directions, or to check my e-mail, or just to distract myself at any time.

Sometimes I'll poke around in the app store just for fun. So far I've only downloaded 1 paid application (the classic books!), but it's fun to look.

Well, today I found a real doozy.

Something called "Wobble Anything."

And in case you weren't sure what they wanted you to wobble..the provide this helpful graphic:
Look! You can take the pictures on your iphone and then add 'wobbly' or 'jiggly' bits to parts of the body.

Apparently women's breasts are the PERFECT part of the body to wiggle or jiggle..whether they want you to do this to their picture or not.

I was going to let this whole app go without a rant, until I read this gem of a review:


"This app is such a HUGE KICK at work (especially to all the waitresses lol). Never fails to show an employee her own picture come to life right before her eyes!
"Hey Lisa, look at this.."
"OMG! Heh, they do look good don't they..hehe"

(original emphasis)

So apparently this guy (and I'm sure it's a guy from his username, which will remain unposted because I'm nice) thinks it's super fun to take pictures of his coworkers, make their 'jiggly' bits obvious and then show her the 'improved' view of her body.

I hope it's pretty obvious..but this reeks of sexual harassment. And, as someone who has worked in the food business..chefs & managers are almost all men and women are the servers. So you already have a power/gender dynamic at play and then you throw in jerks who use their iphone apps to objectify the bodies of their co-workers.

Someone I doubt this guy would find it as funny if his female co-workers took pictures of his body and then used applications to give him a small genitalia, or look overtly homosexual (because in the world of hyper masculinity there's nothing worse than being gay or lacking in the nether regions).

I know iphone allows for people to upload any applications. But shame on all those people who bought this product & then posted such demeaning reviews.

Tuesday, February 10

Like the new template?

I write about death, destruction (yay disaster movies!) and rant-inducing social issues.


I feel like the blog template needs to stay nice and light to balance things out!

Monday, February 9

Setup for a blob sequel??

I wonder if they made a blob sequel. Does anyone know?? The movie definitely set up quite the potential premise:

The blob was dropped in the arctic at the end of the movie (cold=bad). Well, then stupid Steve had to go ahead and say something like, "Well I guess we're safe.. as long as the arctic stays cold."

What a great idea. Lets make a disaster movie that incorporates the polar ice caps melting, global warming..and the return of THE BLOB!

I'd rent it.

Sunday, February 8

They tried to Jaws 2 the blob! Explanation below...

At 30 minutes into the movie:
Death count: 3
Hysterical female count: 1
Hysterical male count: 1

Not a bad ratio really. Already have multiple people turned to mush in the blob, and the hysterics seem to be equally distributed. The effects aren't half bad either considering it was made in 1958.

Have to wait and see how this plays out...

Oh wait. 40 minutes in.. a woman just said "I'll take care of this..it's my job." And by her job, she means cleaning. Since it's a woman's job to clean, and it's the man's job to find the scary criminals.

60 minutes in:
Death count: 3+ (hard to tell when they don't show anyone getting blobbed!)
Hysterical female count: 2
Hysterical male count: 1


70 minutes in:
Classic blob pouring out of the movie theater scene. And some stupid kid trying to shoot the blob with a toy gun. Kids are silly..but I'm pretty sure the blog is going to follow the rules and let the (stupid) kid survive.

And I think they're going to try and Jaws 2 the blob. For those of you unfamiliar with this monster killing technique, it means trying to electrocute it with a power line. Although, since the Blob came first I guess Jaws 2 stole the idea. And then Buffy stole it to kill a creepy monster in a tub. Long story on that one!

And they tried the Jaws 2 to no avail..but apparently the blob doesn't like cold! Which makes PERFECT SENSE since the blob survived a journey through space with no problem. Oh well, at least they figured out a way to kill the blob and save Steve, the only mildly annoying girlfriend and the super annoying kid.

Also, the death count (apparently) rests at about 40-50 people. Sadly, we only saw the first three blob deaths.

The Blob!

Classic disaster flick coming right up..!

Thursday, February 5

Too sick for snark

Ok, I'm not really that sick.

Just a minor cold. But I'm grumpy, and my nose is red.

I did watch Octopus the other night. Think Jaws meets U-571, except the shark is a radioactive octopus with anemia and the sub is..well..still a sub.

Bad acting, pretty bad CGI, a weird gangster/spy subplot. And yet I still watched the whole thing.

See the lack of snark? So many opportunities, but just too tired! Stupid cold.

Monday, February 2

Arranged marriage tv show? Hm.

Ok, not sure how I feel about this new tv premise.

Granted, other than Top Chef I'm not that big into reality tv.

(OK, minor fib. I also watch Top Model. It's my non-feminist cheat show! I'm addicted..although I kind of hate Tyra..still can't turn away).


Anyway, CBS is apparently developing a tv show where unmarried people from 25-45 are fixed up by their friends and families and married.

The tv show will then chronicle their post-marriage ceremony life.

I don't know if I like this idea.

It places a lot of emphasis on marriage.
(think: Single at 30? Old maid alert!)

It places a lot of emphasis on heterosexual relationships.
(I didn't see commitment ceremony thrown in the description..)

It also kind of mocks a rather ancient cultural tradition that is still
practiced in a number of countries by a number of different faiths.

Good or bad, arranged marriages exist. Don't you think the practice
deserves a discussion with a little more..depth?

Sunday, February 1

MI-5 love

Breaking my own rules..kind of.

MI-5 is definitely not a disaster movie.
It's not even a movie..it's a tv series.

But I think it might be my new obsession.
I don't have time, and I kind of don't care.

The boy DVRd an episode for me to try,
and then I found out I can watch most of the
episodes for free on Netflix! Woohoo.

Cute accents, high tech gadgets and (relatively)
cute Brits running around.

No carnage, but definitely lots of impending doom.
Also a surprising amount of feminist-ish plotlines.

So far: 1st episode dealt with anti-choice bombers,
and the 2nd episode has a domestic violence subplot.

Might be blog worthy after all.