Reunited with The Mummy at Universal Studios

After resting up in Margaritaville last Friday, my husband and I headed over to Universal Studios. We had been to Universal in 2000 and in 2006 and had gone on all of the attractions, so we only intended to go back to our favorites this time around.

Therefore, we made a beeline for the Revenge of the Mummy ride. I haven't even seen this movie (and thought that the original Mummy was one of the worst films ever--I seriously almost walked out of the theater), but the ride rocks the hiz-ouse. It's one of my favorite rides across all theme parks I've been to; in 2006 we went on it four times in a row! It's very much an indoor rollercoaster, but there are several unique aspects to it that are hard for me to describe--you just have to go on it to understand. If you've ever been on the new Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland (in L.A.), it's kind of like that, only much better. The only annoying part is that they force you to put any bags you have with you in a free locker before you get in line, and it seems kind of unnecessary, but whatever.

Then we walked to the opposite end of the park to see if the new Simpsons Ride was open. Alas, it was not. I had read online that they were doing a "soft launch" the week we were there, but if they did, we missed it. It is still scheduled to open sometime soon, but the exact date hasn't been announced. Whoever goes on it must tell me about it! I have never consistently watched The Simpsons, but I am familiar with most of the characters, so I'm very curious about what this ride through "Krustyland" will be like. Here is a picture of the under-construction entrance:



Even though we had seen it before, we went to Shrek-4D again because neither of us could remember it (getting old...). It's one of these new "interactive movies" where not only is the show in 3-D, but the seats move and wind blows at you and water spits out at you and whatnot. They have great movies like this at the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, too, which I'll write about at another time.

Then we left. We just couldn't hang in the 87-degree weather--we were outta there by 4 PM--only 6.5 hours of theme park fun that day. But the next day we lasted FOURTEEN HOURS--so there!

- e

P.S. If you do ever visit Universal Studios, I would highly recommend the Terminator 2:3D attraction--it rocks. We have seen it several times and just didn't have the energy to wait in line again for it this year, but it is pretty incredible (unless you have small children, who would be scarred for life).

Moved by Young@Heart

(Sorry to those to whom this post was emailed twice... it disappeared from my site and I had to re-write it. Blogger treats that as a new post.)

Let's take a break from Theme Park Mania for a day, shall we?

Last week I read an article (warning, the linked article contains a major spoiler that I wish I hadn't read before I saw the movie) about a new documentary coming out called Young@Heart. It follows a group of seniors (their average age is 80) who travel around singing songs by the likes of Sonic Youth, The Ramones and Coldplay. I looked into the movie a little bit more and read nothing but absolutely glowing reviews. And then I happened upon passes for a free screening that was being held in Chicago last night... so I went.

I seriously contemplated writing only one line for this post... something like: "Young@Heart--just go see it, trust me." I strongly believe that everyone should try and catch this movie one way or the other, even if it means waiting for it to come out on DVD. But the reason that I decided to write a full post about it is that I'm going to go against the grain and criticize the film just a tad. Yes, I thought it was great and I do recommend it highly to everyone, no matter what your tastes are... but the movie could've been awesome, and I blame the director Stephen Walker for its shortcomings.

First off, I think that documentaries are much stronger if they "show, don't tell." I'm not a fan of narration in these types of films, and Young@Heart had a lot of narration, most of which was totally unnecessary. I got the sense that the director (who was also the narrator) just wanted to hear his own voice. For example, why did he have to include a voice-over that explained that the group had three weeks to go until their big show and that practices were therefore being more frequently scheduled? Just have "Three weeks before the show" in text over the beginning of the scene and get on with it. Or have some of the people in the choir explain their schedule.

Secondly, there should have been much more focus on the individuals in the group than there was. The audience learned hardly anything about the lives of the spotlighted chorus members... we only knew about their most recent health issues and what their current living situation was. But I would've loved to have heard about what they all did in their careers and other interesting tidbits about their long lives. Instead, there were only brief snippets with some of the group members and way too much time spent on the practices leading up to the big show.

Finally, I didn't like the inclusion of "music videos" that were spaced throughout the film (such as 'Stayin' Alive' and 'I Wanna Be Sedated'). They gave the documentary a cheesy vibe that it wouldn't have had otherwise. Those videos would have been great as DVD extras, or maybe one of them could've been played over the end credits, but to have included them in the actual film used up time that would've been better spent on getting to know the individual members of Young@Heart better.

All that being said, the vast majority of the 107 minutes you'll spend watching this movie are enjoyable. I'm not going to lie and say that there aren't some sad parts--my eyes and nose were red for a good hour after the movie because I was crying so hard (as was almost everyone seated around me--I looked). There are also some scenes that are literally hard to watch. One of the main singers, Stan, has a debilitating spinal condition and you know he must be in great pain just to stand up and walk over to the microphone (even though he never complained or voiced any discomfort, and is the one in the picture above with his hands up!). And it is tough to see some of the members struggling to remember just one or two lines of a song.

But the reason I highly recommend Young@Heart to absolutely everyone is because of the message it sends, which greatly overpowers all of my nit-picks. You may remember the soft spot I have for the elderly from a previous post on this subject. My Grandma R and Grandpa O are two of the coolest people in the world, are in their 80s, and are a huge inspiration to me. And that's how I felt about the seniors in Young@Heart, many of whom are convinced that they would not still be around if they weren't singing. Their drive and motivation to perform with the group was absolutely amazing. They all had great personalities; my favorite was Fred, who has a deep, deep voice like Johnny Cash and who loved to get a rise out of people with his goofy one-liners. "You don't make it out of this world alive, that's for damn sure," was his best one.

When I rode home from the theater last night, I definitely had a different attitude and perspective on all of the lame little things that I worry about or complain about. When you see people in their 90s rallying for a sold-out theater performance and singing to prisoners and spending hours practicing on a weekly basis, it makes you feel a little bit sheepish about the sore legs you have from running around Orlando for 3 days.

And please don't be scared off by the fact that I bawled my head off during this movie... I would not lie to you--there is happiness in the sadness that is filmed, and I personally believe that the world would be a much better place if everyone paused now and then and thought about what they want out of their lives and what kind of legacy they're going to leave. Young@Heart will make you do just that, and you'll have fun in the process.

I promise.

Here is a trailer for the movie below (I wouldn't watch any other clips from the movie if I were you, as the other ones I've seen all contain spoilers). Unfortunately, since Young@Heart is a documentary, it's a little bit hard to find in theaters. The list of cities and dates it is playing is here (scroll down a bit on the page that opens).

If you are able to catch it, please let me know if I was right-on with my comments. And if you have ever actually been lucky enough to have seen the group perform live, by all means let the rest of us know!

- e

Islands of Adventure: Best Theme Park Ever?

After my EPCOT adventure, I ran around the Magic Kingdom (what most people would call "Disney World") by myself for several hours. However, I will write about my experience there later, as I went back again on Saturday with my husband in tow; I plan to combine the two visits into one big debrief in a single post.

Before we went back to the Disney parks on Saturday, we spent the majority of the day at Islands of Adventure on Friday. This is a theme park that is close in location to (and owned by) Universal Studios Orlando, but is completely separate... you can pay more for a "park hopper" ticket (which we did) that gives you access to both places within the same day. We went to IOA two years ago and absolutely loved it, so I was anxious to go back again this year. As I mentioned previously, the Harry Potter theme park is going to be located within Islands of Adventure and is slated to open in 2010. I was happy with that decision when I heard the news last summer, and am even happier after going back to the park a few days ago. They have done an absolutely incredible job with Islands of Adventure... truly carrying through the themes for each area (Seuss Landing and Toon Lagoon are two examples) in painstaking detail.

In the Marvel Comics Super Hero area, we went on The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, which was fantastic. They've combined just about every type of ride technology there is for this attraction: you're wearing 3-D glasses as you move in a small car through a city where Spidey is battling villains. He pounces down right in front of you, catches the car in his web after you free-fall from the top of a building, and saves you from multiple attacks by the bad guys. Highly recommended.

When we went to IOA in 2006, a lot of the Seuss Landing area wasn't completed yet. So we made it a point to go on the Seuss Trolley--a slow-moving train that rides above that part of the park while re-telling the story of The Sneetches. We also went on The Cat in the Hat, in which you move and spin through scenes from that famous book. I even got to meet The Cat!

I really enjoyed this area of the park because I've always loved the Dr. Seuss collection of stories, and I got a kick out of the design of everything from the buildings to the trashcans. Here are a handful of pictures from Seuss Landing (clicking on them will enlarge the shot)...



Because of my love for all things magical, fantastical (that IS a word!) and imaginary, I also greatly enjoyed the Jurassic Park area and The Lost Continent. Here are some pictures from those parts of the park...





Needless to say, we had a lot of fun at Islands of Adventure. I'll cover Universal Studios in another post, but I'll end today with the break we took at lunchtime.

We went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, which is located right outside of the entrance to Islands of Adventure. This one was a little different than what I could remember from the one in Vegas... it actually had a volcano that would erupt every once in awhile (after "Volcano" would play over the loudspeakers, of course... you can see the volcano to the left of the pole in the upper-left of the shot).


After eating, we rested a while in the sun on the lounge chairs they had outside... gathering up our strength for the rest of the day.


But MOST importantly, as some of you may remember from my Vegas trip to Margaritaville last summer, I finally bought the pirate plaque I had regretted not getting back then. One day when I have a home office I will hang it proudly on the wall... but for now it's just propped up against my laptop stand.

It makes me very happy, so I'm glad I got it!

- e

The Future Looks Like the Past at EPCOT

Despite the fact that I flew on American Airlines, I amazingly made it back from Orlando yesterday--we even landed twenty minutes early. Some of that Disney magic must have still been with us.

We went down to the sunshine state because my husband had some business down there for The Man, so I took it as an opportunity to tag along and get a change of scenery and weather. After chilling for two days at our resort, I headed out on Thursday for eleven hours of theme park madness on my own. I spent half of the day at EPCOT and the other half at the Magic Kingdom.

The last time I was at EPCOT was in the year 2000, and it hasn't changed a heck of a lot since then. I remember when the park was first built in the early 80s, and then renamed EPCOT in the early 90s--it was supposed to be a futuristic place that spotlighted new technologies and innovations. (EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow... Walt Disney had originally envisioned it as an actual town where people would live and where businesses could be based. That didn't quite work out.) When I visited this park as a kid, it did seem kind of cool. But now it just seems dated.

I went there this time for one reason and one reason only: to ride the new Finding Nemo ride. I have a sneaking suspicion that they placed this ride in EPCOT, instead of where it more logically would fit in the Magic Kingdom, to keep people coming to the park. I made a beeline for the ride as soon as I got there (which was shortly after the park opened at 9 AM) and was happy to find that there was hardly any line at all.

The ride was short and sweet... and quite honestly, meant for the 3-6 year old set. But hey, I still liked it. You're in this little clam shell thingy that moves slowly through scenes from the movie, and at one point it looks like Nemo and some of the other characters are swimming around with real fish, so that was cool. Here are some pictures of the entrance to the ride...


The seagulls above move and shout "Mine!" like in the movie.



I barely made it out of the ride alive!


Since I got through Nemo so quickly, I decided to keep going and tried the new Soarin' ride. Basically it's like you're in a hang glider and you're flying over all of these scenic landscapes. You're in front of a gigantic movie screen and your feet are dangling down as they raise all of the seats into the air, so it does feel pretty real. However, I kept being distracted by little flecks on the film, and I thought they cut between scenes too quickly, which ruined the illusion that you were actually soaring. You can't just go from being over the ocean to being over the mountains in a split second!

I actually liked waiting in line (about 40 minutes) for Soarin' better than the ride itself. They had this giant screen that projected outlines of everyone standing in line, and then you could move things on the screen with your hands--it was wild. I am the figure a little bit to the right of the center of the picture below, with a bag over my shoulder. The blue spots are where peoples' hands are moving the rows of "mountains" projected onto the screen. It really does not take much to amuse me.


After Soarin', I got a kiddie meal for lunch. My husband said that this picture made him ill. What? Chocolate pudding and carrots don't mix?


I then went on Imagination! and Maelstrom (the ride located within the Norway exhibit). There were some teenagers in the boat with me for Maelstrom, and they kept yelling, "Help me Lord JEEEEESSSSSSUS!" I actually found it pretty funny because it is not a scary ride, at least not if you're above the age of 5.

That was pretty much it for me at EPCOT. By 1 PM I headed over to the Magic Kingdom, though I did really enjoy the International Flower and Garden Show displays that were out throughout the park at EPCOT on my way out.

Here are a bunch of them for your viewing pleasure...






- e

No Shamu For Me, But What About ShamWow?

Over the past few days I've been engaging in something I haven't done in a long time... I've been watching live TV. That's right, no Tivo'd shows for me while staying at a hotel. So for the first time in months, I've seen commercials.

There is one that has stuck with me for two days, so much so that I actually went to the web site for the product. It is the ShamWow. Have you heard of this thing? Here is the commercial that is less than a minute long:

First, and most importantly, why is that guy talking into a headset? Secondly, does anyone you know actually spend $20 a month on paper towels? If so, does that person happen to be the messiest slob ever? Thirdly, who came up with the name ShamWow? Maybe it's because I'm down the street from SeaWorld right now, but all I could think about was Shamu the killer whale.

I must know... has anyone out there actually tried a ShamWow? I googled the term and found a few other blogs that ripped on the commercial, and half of the commenters said that the towels actually worked, while the other half cried that they were a scam. I think it may just be worth $20 to find out for myself. My husband and I have some towels that are kind of similar that we used while backpacking through Asia for 2 months... you could wipe your whole body off and towel dry your hair with one of them after a shower and then wring it out and it would be dry again in minutes--amazing (REI sells some if you're interested, as do most camping stores). So I know that the concept of a ShamWow is possible... but the commercial made these new towels look less bulky and more flexible than the ones I used back in the day.

When I went to the ShamWow web site, I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that on the homepage, the word "washable" was spelled incorrectly (they have "wasahble), as was "dries" (they have "dryes"). I can't claim to be flawless in these blog posts, but you would think that a company would spellcheck its own web site?!? Maybe they were too preoccupied with wiping up spills around the ol' office.

- e

No Skillz at the Arcade

For some strange reason, I got $5 worth of free video arcade tokens for each day of internet service I purchased at my hotel here in Orlando (they also throw in a liter of Fiji water, free golf range usage and a bunch of other things, all for $17 a day?!?). Even though I'm only using the connection for three days, they gave me four vouchers... so I went to the arcade to cash in the vouchers and check out the games.

I'm too old to be able to play half of what they had, but my eyes lit up at a few of the old school choices available: Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Centipede, Millipede and Missile Command. I thought that 1 token equaled one dollar, but each dollar got me 4 tokens, so I had EIGHTY TOKENS handed to me in this gigantic cup. One game is only 2 tokens?!?!

There was no way I was going to be able to play forty games of Ms. Pac-Man, so I found a harried-looking mom of four and poured half of the tokens into her hands and I think she thought an angel had descended from on high--her crazy kids were going to be occupied for the next hour--hallelujah! Before you start thinking that I am a nice person, just know that if the arcade had housed Area 51, I would've kept all of the tokens for myself. A little known fact about your blogger friend e is that she held the high score record for Area 51 in the Minneapolis Airport Arcade in 1996. That's what happens when your consulting project is based in Minnesota in the dead of winter and your flights constantly get delayed... you find ways to pass the time.

Anyway, I ended up playing all of the games listed above, plus some car racing simulator and some shoot-em-up game that was similar to Area 51, but not nearly as cool as there were no aliens. I was awful at all of these games. I kept looking around to ensure no one was watching me--I was that bad. Little kids who could barely reach the controls were better than I was. But it was still fun.

After expending all of my energy at the arcade, I needed to power back up in preparation for my visit to five theme parks over the next three days. Yes, five theme parks. Rest assured I will report back about my antics after it's all over. Anyway, I went and got a huge dessert--brownies and caramel sauce and fudge and ice cream... and mini chocolate chips thrown on top for good measure. I have such a high tolerance for sweets that, believe it or not, that feast will not keep me awake with sugar-fueled jitters tonight. Rather, I will drift off to sleep thinking back fondly on every bite, and running through my plan of attack for the parks tomorrow.

- e

That's Not That Much Time.

Some of you may remember how I marveled at Madonna's stamina and agility when I saw her "Confessions on a Dance Floor" concert a few years ago. Now she's nearing 50 and can still rock it out better than I can--damn! Have you heard her new song with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, 4 Minutes?

I LOVE IT!

I listened to it over and over again at the gym yesterday, and just saw the video... I totally dig it. She was very smart to team up with JT and Timbaland as many teenagers aren't as familiar with her as they are with those two. I pre-ordered her entire CD on iTunes and will let you know what I think of the rest of it when it comes out at the end of April. But so far, I'm impressed.

One small gripe though... the video and song are both slightly longer than four minutes. What up with that? If you say "we only got four minutes to save the world"... then there should only be four minutes!!!

- e

Yay for Lizards! Boo for "Line Rage."

After my flight was delayed several hours last night (surprise, surprise), I didn't get to my hotel until after 1 AM. Therefore, I took it easy today and slept in; around 1 PM I headed outside with my journal, a book and a magazine.

The main pool area at my hotel is kind of crazy--it's really huge, and while it wasn't that crowded, the scene was still pretty active and the speakers were pumping out tunes and there were a lot of kids going down the water slide (if you look closely you can see where it dumps people out in a white tube to the right of the waterfall (click to enlarge)).


There also wasn't much shade near the main pool, so instead I found a lounge chair under covered cabana near the "spa pool." At this pool they had soothing Enya-ish music playing at a reasonable volume and there was a waterfall thingy that I was near which helped complete the relaxing vibe (the sound of a waterfall is one of my favorite sounds in the world).


While I was wandering around the grounds figuring out where I was going to hang, I remembered one of the things I like about Florida the most--lizards! If I just stood still for a few seconds on the sidewalks in the quieter areas of the resort, I would see tons of them run out onto the pavement to sun themselves, or climb up and down trees, or scamper around under the foliage lining the walkways. I looked for lizards high and low in St. Maarten, but only saw a few of them. But I definitely got my fill today. Here are two little guys who begged to have their picture taken... both seemed to have hurt their tails! Poor little lizards!



After a relaxing afternoon and some time at the gym, I went for dinner at a Japanese steakhouse here at the hotel (think Benihana--complete with a smoking onion ring volcano and everything). A family I sat at the table with had spent the entire day at the Magic Kingdom--they said the lines were awful. Great... I'm sure it will be much worse when I am there in a few days.

All I know is that I'm going to stay far away from The Mad Tea Party ride. "Spinny" rides usually make me sick in the first place, so I was planning on avoiding it, but then on the local news today I saw a spot about this woman who may get 15 years in prison for beating and choking someone while in line for this ride!

I think she took the name of the ride a little too literally... Didn't she get the memo that Disney World is "the Happiest Place on Earth?" Geez!

- e

Would That Make Her Mrs. Z?

Celebrity gossip has been in a sad state lately... the same stories about Britney's mental breakdown or a feud on The Hills keep getting recycled over and over in the magazines. But then on Friday, there was something new to talk about. Beyoncé and Jay-Z finally got married... or did they?

Unfortunately for me, I don't really care what the answer is. While I like both artists' music, they already seemed married. For a while there when there were rumors that Rihanna might be trying to steal Jay-Z away, it got interesting. But now I'm just waiting for the inevitable pictures of the B/Z honeymoon... and I bet they'll do the same thing they always do--take a yacht to St. Tropez. Bor-ing.


The couple has not gone on record yet to confirm the marriage, so CNN investigated this extremely important mystery in a video clip, here.

My prediction is that soon, shots of the ceremony and/or honeymoon will start to emerge, and those will dominate the pages of celebrity magazines for a week or so. But then it will be back to pictures of famous people's kids and speculation about whether Brad and Angelina are going to make it official (my bet: they never will).

Sigh.

- e

Off to Embarrass Myself...

I am headed out to Orlando today, where I will be sure to embarrass myself in the hat above, given to me by my friend Nerdy P.

If I have internet access over the next few days in my hotel, I intend to post... but if it doesn't work out, then I will be back with many funny pictures for you on Monday, April 14th.

Or I may just stay there and get a job walking around in a character suit. Perhaps Goofy would be fitting?

- e

When Pirates Attack, Again

At the end of October, I marveled at the string of pirate attacks that had occurred along the coast of Africa. Now, just a few minutes ago when I checked CNN.com, what was one of the headlines?

"Pirates Seize French Yacht."

Are you kidding me? Pirates are totally taking over the world, and y'all best get used to it.

Good thing they know I love them.

- e

There's One for You, Nineteen for Me

I spent a good part of the day yesterday finishing up my taxes and preparing to mail them out. Not surprisingly, I found myself humming "Taxman" by The Beatles.

I thought it might be one of my favorite Beatles songs, but then I spent five minutes really thinking about it, and decided it wasn't.


Here are my five favorite Beatles songs, off the top of my head (and in no particular order):

For No One
Ticket to Ride
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Magical Mystery Tour
Paperback Writer

I'm kind of iffy on whether or not "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" should make the cut, but it popped into my mind, so it's staying for now. I reserve the right to change this list!

You can't talk about favorites without listing least favorites, so here are the Beatles songs I never did like:

Girl
Michelle
Lady Madonna
And I Love Her
Hey Jude

I know many of you are probably thinking, "What? "Hey Jude"??!?!" But what can I say, I've just heard it way too many times, and I think it's definitely too long. The only time I liked it was when I saw Paul McCartney in concert in 2002--it's a little different when a huge stadium is singing "Nana-na-naaaah" together.

(By the way, if you want to check out some VERY "old school e," here's the write-up of that concert I did back in grad school. It's kind of funny because Heather Mills was in the audience, and they were engaged at that time. We all know how that turned out...)

So there you have it. I'm going to go mail my taxes and listen to my Beatles collection on my iPod on the way, so I'm sure I'll have changed my mind about my "favorite song list" by tomorrow.

- e

Meeps, Dolly and She-Pratt (Oh My!)

Even if you don't watch, or have never seen, The Bachelor, I beg of you to play the 45-second video below. While it is a clip from the show, it has nothing to do with the show--I just want you to experience the craziness of "The Meeps."

This one girl gets stress-induced hiccups and it totally sounds like Beaker from The Muppet Show, no lie. I feel really bad for her, because otherwise she is one of the nicest and most normal girls in the competition. The other contestants must be really used to her problem by now if they can carry on a conversation during one of her episodes...

Wasn't that crazy?

Nothing new to report with The Bachelor... I don't think any of the women are good matches for Matt, The Best Bachelor Ever. But now I'm just too curious to see which of the goofballs he picks to stop watching the show.


American Idol

I haven't commented on AI in a while, but the appearance of Dolly Parton on the show last night (and I assume she'll be on again tonight, too) inspired me to say something: Dolly Parton rocks. She is totally hilarious. The best part of the show was when she was worried about her "false eyelashes" (I say fake eyelashes, you say false eyelashes, toMAYto, toMAHto) coming off if she cried at David Archuleta's version of "Smokey Mountain Memories." Well, I cried at it, only because I can't stand him anymore. My 2008 Cute Quota was hit the second time he sang, and now after he performs I feel like I want to throw up because it's as if I ate ten bags of candy or something. He should really just quit the show and start working for Disney already.

It's a damn shame that Chikezie is gone, because he was going to sing "9 to 5." Which he probably would've either rocked or completely blown--there could've been no in-between. Alas, it was not meant to be. At this point, I like Brooke White the best. I think Ramiele should've been kicked off a long time ago, and I could take or leave everyone else. But Simon totally called it last night regarding Irish Chick Carly... she needs to get a makeover. I'm sure she's proud of that gargantuan tattoo and all (since her husband's entire body, including his face, is covered with ink), but it's distracting. She also consistently chooses unflattering outfits for her body type. While her voice is strong, I just don't think she's going to win. Who will, though, is anyone's guess. Am I the only one who feels the title is totally up for grabs?


The Hills

Ah, a full hour of nothingness from The Hills this week. Actually, I liked that they focused on Whitney a bit more--she's the only one with a real job and any sense of responsibility. The part where her new boss said, "Um, and, if you haven't noticed, you always have to be dressed in all black" was one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time. Whitney's gonna be kickin' the East Coast style on the West Coast and it's going to freak everyone out!

Back in Lauren-land, could they have been anymore obvious that her budding friendship with Stephanie Pratt is going to eventually burst into flames? Everyone kept on not-to-subtly warning Lauren to "be careful" around the She-Pratt. But I would take Stephanie over Spencer any day.


The Office

That's right, I said The Office! It's back with a new episode April 10 (next Thursday), but guess what? My Tivo wasn't going to record it. What up with that? So I thought I would do a PSA of sorts and let those of you who watch it know that you better check your DVRs. Mine never records new episodes of Survivor, either, but then tries to record ALL episodes of The Hills because none of them are listed as reruns. I view this as an evil plot by MTV to infect the world with The Hills virus. I literally found 20 episodes set to record over the next week when I checked my "To Do" list on Tivo last night. No one should be subjected to that much of nothing.

- e

Bet on '21'

After falling in love with Jim Sturgess in Across the Universe, I was excited beyond belief that he was cast in the starring role of 21--the movie adaptation of Ben Mezrich's bestseller Bringing Down the House. (Apparently the movie is fairly different from the book, though. Like the main guy didn't have Kate Bosworth for a girlfriend. He's an MIT student, for Chrissake!)

I went to go see the movie on its opening night this past Friday and was not disappointed. 21 is the story of Ben Campbell, a too-smart-for-his-own-good student at MIT who is invited to join a secret group of blackjack players, led by one of his professors (played by Kevin Spacey). They go to Vegas on the weekends and, by using card-counting techniques, rack up a ton of cash. Ben decides to join the card team only to save up enough money to pay for graduate school. "$300,000 and I'm out," he declares. But, well... we all know what lots of money can do to a person...

When I wasn't drooling over Jim/Ben, I was absolutely blown away by the concept of card-counting and the ability some people have to not only do it, but to do it extremely well. There is no way I could ever calculate numbers that fast... that's why I always end up throwing a bunch of money at cab drivers--I get too flustered. It's amazing to me that anyone could concentrate enough (in a Vegas casino, of all places) to keep track of what cards have been dealt and what ones still remain.

The practice of card-counting is technically not illegal, but it can still apparently get you beat up by the likes of Laurence Fishburne. He plays a grumpy casino security manager intent on proving his worth in light of new facial recognition software that is taking away his firm's business.

All I know is that the next time I'm in Vegas, there are now a lot more things I'm going to be paying attention to and looking for... when I'm not at the 25-cent slots or lunch and dinner buffets, that is.

If you like Vegas in the slightest, then you will enjoy 21. If you like Jim Sturgess or Kate Bosworth or Kevin Spacey, then you will definitely like 21. If the concept of card-counting intrigues you, then you've probably already seen 21. It's a little bit long at 2 hours and three minutes, but overall it was pretty much my ideal movie: not silly but also not too deep, good-looking cast, interesting concept, and based on a true story. If there had been magical creatures involved, then it would have been perfect.

Here's the trailer if you haven't come across it yet...

Double-down!

- e