The Settings: I stumbled across this blog that is devoted entirely to cupcakes. It's "all cupcakes, all the time." I thought it was pretty cool. People tell stories about cupcakes, upload pictures of cupcakes they see in bakeries or of those that they've made themselves. People post videos of themselves talking about cupcakes. The blog includes the cupcake calendar and links to cupcake blogs and bakeries in NYC and other cities and to cupcake books. Don't forget to check out the cupcake haiku. View the Cupcakes Take the Cake blog here.
The Setting: I do not condone shooting a fellow patron in a movie theatre, but I'm thinking it might be OK to slap them around a little bit.You should be able to tell by now that I like to go to the movies. A lot. Going to the movies for me is an experience. I get there early, get my medium popcorn and my large Icee, I sit almost all the way at the top of the stadium seating, on the aisle. I actually enjoy watching the previews, partly because they allow me to decide on the next batch of movies I'm going to see.Inevitably, a couple comes in, usually as the previews are playing, sometimes after the movie has already started. They are talking when they walk in, they talk through the previews, then they continue to talk through the entire picture. Their conversation is usually about the movie, but the couple sitting behind me last week talked about everything but the movie. Actually, the girl was talking, the guy just grunted a few responses now and then. I was hoping one of those grunts would stand for, "shut the hell up."
The last time I went to the movies, The Couple came in and sat in the row I was in, about three seats over. They talked through the entire movie, speculating about what was happening in the movie. I do not like having a movie ruined by the people next to me saying, "I bet you the butler did it!" That's exactly what it's like. Maybe I want to figure out on my own that it was Col. Mustard, with a wrench, in the library. So this is for you, Mr. and Mrs. Ruin the Movie For Everyone Around You. Maybe discussing the movie and figuring the mystery out is part of your experience. OK, fine. But could you sit in those seats in front of the stadium part so the rest of us don't have to hear it? And I'm not implying anything, but here's an article my friend posted about a guy who shot someone in a theatre who wouldn't stop talking. Again, I do not condone this behavior. I'm just sayin'...
The Setting: Spoken by Tom Cruise's character, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, in the movie Valkyrie. Easier said than done. If you're as hated as Hitler, you know someone (lots of someones) will try to kill you. He practically had bodyguards for his bodyguards.Valkyrie is the third movie I've seen on my list of movies I want to see this holiday season. Not exactly a feel-good movie to see during the holiday season but that is not what I was expecting. It is very much of a drama with lots of moments of suspense. By how crowded the movie theatre was, it appears a lot of people were able to see past the wackiness of Tom Cruise's personal life. Good.This is one of those films that you go into knowing pretty much how it's going to end. We all knew the Titantic was going to sink, but we still rooted for the characters; we wanted them to succeed, to survive. Well, most of them, anyway. This movie takes you to that place. This picture is not about how the plot ends, it's about the plan, the operation, the attempt. Men who felt strongly enough about their cause that they were willing to risk not only their own lives but the lives of their families as well. It did a great job of portraying the struggle the men felt, wanting to do something but knowing the consequences of failure.It was based on a true story which, I admit, I really know nothing about, so I don't know how accurate this story is or isn't. Apparently there were 15 known attempts on Hitler's life by Germans. This movie is the portrayal of one of those attempts. As one character says, "We have to show the world that not all of us were like him."T
he movie also stars Christian Berkel, Kenneth Branagh, and Terrence Stamp. I liked the movie and I recommend it. I give it three and a half Slurpees.
The Setting: We had our holiday potluck at work today. Final score - Christmas cookies: 12, My plan to lose weight: 0. I took veggies and ranch dip, 'cause it didn't require my having to actually cook anything. But then I made the mistake yesterday of telling a couple co-workers about this recipe I saw online that I planned to make one day. Long story short, they shamed me into making the recipe. But I'm glad I did. They were amazing although a little hard on my lactose intolerance. Whatever. I walk on the wild side. Anyway, the recipe is on BettyCrocker.com and it's called Apple Struesel Cheesecake Bars. There is a variation that I plan to make one day called Almond Struesel Cherry Cheesecake Bars, except I'm going to make them without the almonds. Just so you know.
The Setting: A friend of mine at work gave me one of those magnetic poetry kits for Christmas. You know the ones? It's a bunch of magnetic words that you use to create some clever saying and stick it to the refrigerator or some other magnetic surface. Except this one is for dog lovers. As I was on my way to the cafeteria I left a message on her desk: beautiful animals sniff butt. When I got back from the cafe, she had left a message on my desk: sniff beautiful animals butt.
Oh, I am so gonna have a ball with these magical little magnets! Stay tuned...
The Setting: Walking out of the movie theatre after watching Seven Pounds, all I heard was silence. And a few women (and maybe a few men) sniffing. Seven Pounds is the second movie I've seen from my list of movies I want to see this Christmas season. One of the reasons I wanted to see it is because the previews and commercials really haven't given too much of the movie away. I really like being able to see a movie under those circumstances and watching it unfold, without knowing much about what's going to happen. Yes, that means I am not going to tell you the plot here. I was disappointed that I managed to guess part of what was going on a little more than half-way through the movie, but there were some surprises at the end. However, I felt things could have been much more of a surprise if they had left a few things out earlier. Do not expect a Sixth Sense punch . Certain parts reminded me of another Will Smith movie, I am Legend: Will Smith waking up from a nightmare about something that happened in the past; Will Smith in the shower, upset about something that happened in the past; flashbacks of bits and pieces of something (we just don't know what yet) that happened in the past. Of course, we get to see the whole situation in the end. This movie is very much of a drama, so expect it to be slow moving in certain spots. Will Smith is good at dramas, but he is really subdued in this movie and I did get a little sick of his having the same look on his face in several scenes. The potential for this movie to be great was there but lack of believeability in parts allowed it to only be good.Smith's relationship with Rosario Dawson is, as times, elegant. In smaller roles: Barry Pepper, Woody Harrelson, and Michael Ealy. I would give this movie a three and a half out of five Slurpees (that's my new rating system). Worth seeing, but I always recommend going to the matinee just because I never pay full price for a movie.
The Setting: Just in case you weren't depressed enough, here is some gloom and doom from "eight of the market's sharpest thinkers." View the slide show here in which these experts predict what's going to happen with the economy over the next couple of years. My favorite line: "In my view, U.S. stocks are still not attractive." No shit.
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