These last two days have been movie days! On Wednesday, Matthew and I watched From Hell (2001) and on Thursday evening we saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). It's nice having movie nights with Matthew where we just grab some food and relax together. Yay for being married! Anyway, here are my reviews for the movies:
From Hell was a good mystery movie. Sometimes I feel like mystery movies are a bit predictable or have cheesy endings, but I was somewhat surprised by the ending of the film. The explanation has its cheesy elements, though; I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories so I found it a little bit ridiculous. I read that this film is based off of a graphic novel, so I don't know how much freedom the director and writer were allotted in terms of the plot. Either way, I still appreciate the perspective of the film in spite of its flaws. Heather Graham was surprisingly impressive with her role as Mary Kelly, especially since I'm not a huge fan of her typical movies (though I loved her as Molly in Scrubs). The other great acting job was from Ian Holme, who played Sir William Gull. He was really creepy at the end, but in a good way. For the most part the movie was entertaining, just not great.
Rating: 3.5/5
"A perfect movie classic" is a great way to describe Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Everything about the movie was incredible - from the flawless John Williams music to the wonderful acting by the cast, I do not have one critique of this film. Harrison Ford and Sean Connery had a hilarious and dynamic father-son relationship, and I loved watching Jones Senior get under the skin of "Junior." The other actors did a great job as well; Denholm Elliott, who played Marcus Brody, and John Rhys-Davies, who played Sallah, had incredibly funny one-liners and slapstick moments. The action scenes were classic with guns going off, near-death moments, and misplaced explosions that are so ridiculous you can't help but love them. I can't believe how many things blew up in that movie, but I still enjoyed watching them. Nazis were aplenty, and who doesn't love watching a hero fight and evade Nazis? I also have a new scene that has joined my list of best movie scenes: the moment when Indiana was pushed through the crowd in front of Hitler and all Hitler did was sign the diary! Man, that is such a great scene. And let's not forget the great ending with the insanely creepy bad guy death (great special effects, again!). This was just a great movie, and I'm very glad to have finally watched it.
Rating: 5/5
Movies: 18/100 viewed
Can't wait to watch the other Indiana Jones movies!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
"Son, any statement that begins with 'I really ought to -' is suspect. It means you haven't analyzed your motives."
Yay for burn-free cooking! This week's cooking was much simpler, yet still tasty! Thursday night I made banana-berry smoothies, and man were they good! The recipe called for bananas, yogurt, and strawberries, and then my pick of blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries. Since blackberries were the cheapest of the three berries, I went with those, and I wasn't disappointed! I hadn't made smoothies yet with this blender I received last year, and it was a little tricky getting everything blended, probably because there was so much fruit and yogurt that it nearly filled the blender to the brim. But once everything was mixed, Matthew and I each had a giant glass of delicious smoothie. It took a while to finish drinking because it was so thick! I had forgotten how much I love berries, and I am making a mental note to buy a lot more berries once I have more money.
Matthew and I both had work from about 4:15 to 10:30, so I made the new dish as a late lunch. I decided on this peas and mushrooms dish because I already had the frozen peas, half an onion, and all the spices. The only thing I had to buy were the mushrooms, which is good considering how much I had to spend on the berries! The lunch was pretty good; it's mostly meant to be used as a side dish instead of the whole meal, so it wasn't incredibly flavorful. The recipe called for just salt and pepper, but I looked up different herbs in my cookbook to find one that would be compatible with the recipe and chose marjoram. I love using my rotating spice rack, which Matthew's mom was nice enough to buy me as a shower gift! It has all these dried herbs, seeds, and spices, and I'm trying to use them more often in my cooking. I'm not too familiar with marjoram, but it worked well in this peas and mushrooms dish!
Cooking: 22/75 completed
There's not much more to say. I'm in the middle of Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. It seems like it could fall into the category of young adult and sci-fi, but I'm going to stick with it because it's still a good book. The beginning was entertaining, especially Kip's father. His character is amusing, witty, and intelligent. I loved how he dumbfounded the tax collectors by proving that he can use cash to pay for everything, including his taxes. I should be done with that in a few days, so there will be a full review soon!
Matthew and I both had work from about 4:15 to 10:30, so I made the new dish as a late lunch. I decided on this peas and mushrooms dish because I already had the frozen peas, half an onion, and all the spices. The only thing I had to buy were the mushrooms, which is good considering how much I had to spend on the berries! The lunch was pretty good; it's mostly meant to be used as a side dish instead of the whole meal, so it wasn't incredibly flavorful. The recipe called for just salt and pepper, but I looked up different herbs in my cookbook to find one that would be compatible with the recipe and chose marjoram. I love using my rotating spice rack, which Matthew's mom was nice enough to buy me as a shower gift! It has all these dried herbs, seeds, and spices, and I'm trying to use them more often in my cooking. I'm not too familiar with marjoram, but it worked well in this peas and mushrooms dish!
Cooking: 22/75 completed
There's not much more to say. I'm in the middle of Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. It seems like it could fall into the category of young adult and sci-fi, but I'm going to stick with it because it's still a good book. The beginning was entertaining, especially Kip's father. His character is amusing, witty, and intelligent. I loved how he dumbfounded the tax collectors by proving that he can use cash to pay for everything, including his taxes. I should be done with that in a few days, so there will be a full review soon!
Monday, March 21, 2011
"I have to return some video tapes."
It's been a while since I've updated, I know, but at least I've checked something off for each list! I'll start with the cooking because I actually have three new recipes completed! Last week I made honey-glazed chicken stir-fry, which Matthew and I enjoyed very much. Upon reflection, I've become quite a fan of stir-fry meals - they're quick and easy to make, they can be just as good with or without meat, they have lots of vegetables, and the wide variety of flavoring agents that can be used in stir-fry meals allows for a wide range of flavors. For this dinner, I loved how the orange juice and honey provided a tart, sweet taste, and then how the soy sauce made a nice contrasting salty flavor. The one mess-up I had was with the rice; the recipe called for two cups of hot cooked rice, so I took two cups of my raw brown rice and cooked it in the designated saucepan. I was quite surprised when I opened the lid after it was done cooking and saw that the entire pan had filled with rice! Luckily, Matthew and I love rice, so we just piled it onto our plates and enjoyed our dinner =]
This week's dinner was beef enchiladas! This was my first recipe that called for beef, and I ended up choosing the all-natural ground beef from Meijers, which actually turned out quite well. I'm not entirely unfamiliar with choosing beef cuts as I've accompanied my dad on shopping trips many times in the past, so I know better than to get the cheapest ground beef that's largely comprised of fat. My opinion is that if you want to make a meat dish, spring for at least a mid-level quality of meat, otherwise what's the point? Anyway, the meal was great! Strangely enough, it called for cottage cheese to be mixed with the beef. I have no idea what the cottage cheese did, but since the flavor was good I'm not complaining! Sadly, Matthew got burned while he was taking the baking pan out of the oven =[ He has a dark scab on his arm now where it hit the side of the oven, and before that it was blistering, but at least it's healing well. Injury aside, the enchiladas were a great lunch before work and also made for tasty leftovers.
I decided to make deluxe chocolate marshmallow bars from the Taste of Home's Holiday Get-Together's cookbook. Oh my gosh, this is a fantastic dessert! It's a blend of every great baking flavor: the bottom layer was like a very soft and fluffy chocolate cake (this was the layer that baked in the oven for a while), the second layer was entirely comprised of mini-marshmallows that were only in the oven for a few minutes so that they would melt and spread evenly, and the third layer was a blend of melted butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter that was mixed with a rice krispies cereal just before pouring it over the marshmallows. After a few hours of chilling, the bars were ready to be cut up and eaten! Funny enough, I ended burning my arm on the side of the oven while getting this pan out! I must have moved my arm away faster than Matthew though because my burn only turned red without blistering or scabbing. This must have been a cursed week for baking or something. Burnt arm aside, the dessert was a big hit for Matthew and his parents, so I'm happy with the outcome!
Cooking: 20/75 completed
The night that Matthew and I ate the stir-fry was also the night that we watched American Psycho. This is a movie that I've seen once before, but that was five years ago, so I didn't remember very many details at all. I did remember that near the beginning there's a very unfortunate scene in which he kills a dog, so I covered my eyes and hummed to myself until Matthew told me that the scene was over. I remember liking the movie, but I had forgotten how many times this movie made me laugh! Christian Bale played the part of sociopathic serial killer Patrick Bateman perfectly! Everything from his great one-liners ("Would you like to hear today's specials?" "Not if you want to keep your spleen.") to his music-oriented monologues that he says shortly before killing someone had me laughing at the utter insanity of the situation. I really can't see how someone would dislike a movie in which an ATM asks the main actor to feed it a stray cat. Hilarity aside, I also appreciate the social critique that is spread throughout the film. Starting with the first scene in which all these clone-looking men fail to correctly identify their co-workers, the film points out how humanity has largely been stripped from the corporate sector. In this movie, the only thing that anybody cares about is money and their reputation. The fact that everyone is sleeping around with each other's significant others shows how relationships are only used for status symbol. What I really like is the somewhat uncertain ending: did Bateman imagine everything or were his killing sprees real? There's quite a bit of evidence that suggests that Bateman did actually kill all those people, and funny enough, if it all was real, then it proves that others are just as evil and emotionless as Bateman. The only thing that really threw me off were the sex scenes. I understand why they're there, it's just too disturbing at times for my taste. This movie is not exactly one that I would want to watch frequently, but it's still a fantastic movie for those who can handle it!
Rating: 4/5
Movies: 16/100 viewed
Lastly, I finished another novel! This one was Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. I'm actually surprised that I liked a war novel as much as I did, but it's a pleasant surprise. Following Juan "Johnnie" Rico through his training in the mobile infantry was exciting, interesting, and actually quite thought-provoking. The novel's political system threw me back for a while, but upon reflection it actually makes quite a bit of sense. In Starship Troopers, there are civilians, who are normal people who have never served in the military but are still protected under all laws, and then there are citizens, who are those that are retired from military service and the only ones allowed to vote. The reasoning for this system is that those who have served voluntarily in the military have proven that they value the survival of the group/country over their own survival; as such, only those people have the authority to make political decisions that will affect everybody. To be honest, I wouldn't be opposed to something like that happening in America. Too many people are greedy and selfish and have a one-track mind when it comes to voting: "me, me, me." Those people would never be able to harm others with their reckless voting anymore because those are the kinds of people who wouldn't risk their lives for complete strangers. If that's how America was, I definitely would have signed up at 18. Politics aside, I enjoyed watching Johnnie grow as a person. He starts off as a confused 18-year old whose only reason for enlisting is so that he doesn't turn out to be a carbon copy of his father, but the military forces him to grow up. Though we don't get much insight into any of the other characters and at times all the listings of the military personnel were confusing, overall this book is a good war novel and a good sci-fi novel.
Rating: 8.3/10
Books read: 5/75
This week's dinner was beef enchiladas! This was my first recipe that called for beef, and I ended up choosing the all-natural ground beef from Meijers, which actually turned out quite well. I'm not entirely unfamiliar with choosing beef cuts as I've accompanied my dad on shopping trips many times in the past, so I know better than to get the cheapest ground beef that's largely comprised of fat. My opinion is that if you want to make a meat dish, spring for at least a mid-level quality of meat, otherwise what's the point? Anyway, the meal was great! Strangely enough, it called for cottage cheese to be mixed with the beef. I have no idea what the cottage cheese did, but since the flavor was good I'm not complaining! Sadly, Matthew got burned while he was taking the baking pan out of the oven =[ He has a dark scab on his arm now where it hit the side of the oven, and before that it was blistering, but at least it's healing well. Injury aside, the enchiladas were a great lunch before work and also made for tasty leftovers.
I decided to make deluxe chocolate marshmallow bars from the Taste of Home's Holiday Get-Together's cookbook. Oh my gosh, this is a fantastic dessert! It's a blend of every great baking flavor: the bottom layer was like a very soft and fluffy chocolate cake (this was the layer that baked in the oven for a while), the second layer was entirely comprised of mini-marshmallows that were only in the oven for a few minutes so that they would melt and spread evenly, and the third layer was a blend of melted butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter that was mixed with a rice krispies cereal just before pouring it over the marshmallows. After a few hours of chilling, the bars were ready to be cut up and eaten! Funny enough, I ended burning my arm on the side of the oven while getting this pan out! I must have moved my arm away faster than Matthew though because my burn only turned red without blistering or scabbing. This must have been a cursed week for baking or something. Burnt arm aside, the dessert was a big hit for Matthew and his parents, so I'm happy with the outcome!
Cooking: 20/75 completed
The night that Matthew and I ate the stir-fry was also the night that we watched American Psycho. This is a movie that I've seen once before, but that was five years ago, so I didn't remember very many details at all. I did remember that near the beginning there's a very unfortunate scene in which he kills a dog, so I covered my eyes and hummed to myself until Matthew told me that the scene was over. I remember liking the movie, but I had forgotten how many times this movie made me laugh! Christian Bale played the part of sociopathic serial killer Patrick Bateman perfectly! Everything from his great one-liners ("Would you like to hear today's specials?" "Not if you want to keep your spleen.") to his music-oriented monologues that he says shortly before killing someone had me laughing at the utter insanity of the situation. I really can't see how someone would dislike a movie in which an ATM asks the main actor to feed it a stray cat. Hilarity aside, I also appreciate the social critique that is spread throughout the film. Starting with the first scene in which all these clone-looking men fail to correctly identify their co-workers, the film points out how humanity has largely been stripped from the corporate sector. In this movie, the only thing that anybody cares about is money and their reputation. The fact that everyone is sleeping around with each other's significant others shows how relationships are only used for status symbol. What I really like is the somewhat uncertain ending: did Bateman imagine everything or were his killing sprees real? There's quite a bit of evidence that suggests that Bateman did actually kill all those people, and funny enough, if it all was real, then it proves that others are just as evil and emotionless as Bateman. The only thing that really threw me off were the sex scenes. I understand why they're there, it's just too disturbing at times for my taste. This movie is not exactly one that I would want to watch frequently, but it's still a fantastic movie for those who can handle it!
Rating: 4/5
Movies: 16/100 viewed
Lastly, I finished another novel! This one was Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. I'm actually surprised that I liked a war novel as much as I did, but it's a pleasant surprise. Following Juan "Johnnie" Rico through his training in the mobile infantry was exciting, interesting, and actually quite thought-provoking. The novel's political system threw me back for a while, but upon reflection it actually makes quite a bit of sense. In Starship Troopers, there are civilians, who are normal people who have never served in the military but are still protected under all laws, and then there are citizens, who are those that are retired from military service and the only ones allowed to vote. The reasoning for this system is that those who have served voluntarily in the military have proven that they value the survival of the group/country over their own survival; as such, only those people have the authority to make political decisions that will affect everybody. To be honest, I wouldn't be opposed to something like that happening in America. Too many people are greedy and selfish and have a one-track mind when it comes to voting: "me, me, me." Those people would never be able to harm others with their reckless voting anymore because those are the kinds of people who wouldn't risk their lives for complete strangers. If that's how America was, I definitely would have signed up at 18. Politics aside, I enjoyed watching Johnnie grow as a person. He starts off as a confused 18-year old whose only reason for enlisting is so that he doesn't turn out to be a carbon copy of his father, but the military forces him to grow up. Though we don't get much insight into any of the other characters and at times all the listings of the military personnel were confusing, overall this book is a good war novel and a good sci-fi novel.
Rating: 8.3/10
Books read: 5/75
Thursday, March 10, 2011
"I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar."
Sadly, I am done with the Firefly series. I have watched the movie now, and while it was an incredible movie, I still feel rather unsatisfied. However, I think that is a feeling experienced by everyone who's seen Firefly and its accompanying movie, Serenity. I wish there was a way for someone to pick up where the movie left off and continue the series, but it seems unlikely, especially since so much time has passed since the first season. Alas, all of us Browncoats will be frustrated for quite some time. At least I can watch the series and movie any time I please!
15. Serenity - I'm impressed with how the film can stand alone as its own production for those who haven't seen the series, yet it also was a wonderful complement to the show. I'm thankful that the movie provides some character history, particularly Simon's and River's, and that they explain why the Alliance is so hell-bent on finding River. However, there were some character inconsistencies. For instance, Mal was a lot more aggressive than he normally was in the series, and I was a bit surprised to see him and Simon fighting so often and intensely. Still, the characters did a good job at maintaining their personalities from the show, especially Wash and Jayne. The action scenes were impressive and exciting, and I loved watching River go "Kill Bill" in her two fight scenes. I was definitely taken aback with some of the more tragic scenes; one in particular seemed to come from nowhere. Assuming that this film is the final installment of the Firefly series, Serenity was a superb finale to an incredible story.
Rating: 4.5/5
Movies: 15/100 viewed
Lists aside, the Wisconsin unions were put to death yesterday. It's a sad time for the middle class in America. I'm just waiting to see how long it takes before the middle class is completely gone. They're already starting to do the same in Michigan : http://michiganmessenger.com/47158/emergency-financial-manager-bill-on-the-verge-of-passage. The last thing I'm going to say about the whole situation is that people need to prepare themselves for much harder times.
15. Serenity - I'm impressed with how the film can stand alone as its own production for those who haven't seen the series, yet it also was a wonderful complement to the show. I'm thankful that the movie provides some character history, particularly Simon's and River's, and that they explain why the Alliance is so hell-bent on finding River. However, there were some character inconsistencies. For instance, Mal was a lot more aggressive than he normally was in the series, and I was a bit surprised to see him and Simon fighting so often and intensely. Still, the characters did a good job at maintaining their personalities from the show, especially Wash and Jayne. The action scenes were impressive and exciting, and I loved watching River go "Kill Bill" in her two fight scenes. I was definitely taken aback with some of the more tragic scenes; one in particular seemed to come from nowhere. Assuming that this film is the final installment of the Firefly series, Serenity was a superb finale to an incredible story.
Rating: 4.5/5
Movies: 15/100 viewed
Lists aside, the Wisconsin unions were put to death yesterday. It's a sad time for the middle class in America. I'm just waiting to see how long it takes before the middle class is completely gone. They're already starting to do the same in Michigan : http://michiganmessenger.com/47158/emergency-financial-manager-bill-on-the-verge-of-passage. The last thing I'm going to say about the whole situation is that people need to prepare themselves for much harder times.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
"Burn the land and boil the sea / You can't take the sky from me"
Unfortunately I don't have a cooking update for this entry. Matthew and I have been dog-sitting at my dad's house for the last several days, and we've also had work for the entire weekend. However, I do have a great update for movie-watching! Technically, it's a television series, but it was completely new to me and it actually has a thought-out plotline, so I'm going to count it in my movie list. The series that I am fortunate enough to have come across is Firefly, created by Joss Whedon. Matthew received it as a gift a while ago but we just kept putting off watching it. Now that I've seen it, I can't decide whether I'm more glad about having seen it, or pissed off that it was cancelled after one season.
Firefly is an intelligent, entertaining, and captivating show. Every single character is well-developed, unique, and likable in some way. While there are still some unanswered questions about the characters, such as the extent of River's abilities, I know that if given more seasons the show would have artfully explained everything. Speaking of, River is definitely a favorite. This girl is mysterious without being disconnected from the audience. For instance, in the episode "War Stories," Kaylee is outnumbered by Niska's men and would've been killed if River hadn't picked up her gun and shot them all dead from a distance with her eyes closed. Impressive and scary as that is, River just smiles at Kaylee and walks away. Fox could have filled several seasons diving into the expanses of her mind and slowly revealing what the Alliance did with her mind, but instead they leave her story unfinished.
In addition, I like the universe that Whedon imagined. There's futuristic technology, like laser guns and warp drive, but the reality of human selfishness and corporate greed has also left other planets with only the most basic technologies. Hell, on some border planets they're still using horses and carriages! I also enjoy the incorporation of Earth politics into a show that takes place 500 years in the future. It makes sense that America and China were the greatest superpowers when Earth died, so the cultures melted together as people colonized other planets. I find it amusing that most of their slang and swearing is done in Chinese, but I wish they could have at least subtitled those moments instead of just putting "[Speaking Chinese]" at the bottom of the screen. The planets have western and oriental influences in their art, architecture, and customs, which provides for more variety in setting. Similarly, the show's depiction of space is phenomenal. Every single time the camera looks on the ship from space, there is no sound, just background music. This makes the most sense, seeing as there is no sound in space. Attention to details like this is part of what makes Firefly such a great show!
What I cannot understand is why Fox treated this show like crap. In addition to not airing the episodes in order, they also spaced episodes weeks apart, thus making it difficult to have an initial following. Still, I don't know if a second season would have gathered a following large enough to keep it alive. Firefly is one of those shows that is too smart for a large portion of society. We have shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Secret Life of the American Teenager going into yet another season, so that doesn't speak well for the typical tastes of viewers. I'm hoping to see the movie soon, and maybe one day someone with enough money will give all of us "Browncoats" another fix of this amazing show. Anyone who watches the season in order on dvd will admit that Firefly is addictive!
Rating: 5/5
Since each episode is approximately 45 minutes, the 14-episode series comes to about 10.5 hours of viewing time. I'll be generous and say that the average movie is about two hours (even though comedies and romantic movies are often shorter). That would give me five movies worth of time, and it's plot is strong enough to count for five movies! If anything, it's not unlike how the individual movies of a series could be watched as one congruent plot. So, I am now that much closer to my goal! My greatest hope though is that this entry entices more people into discovering and enjoying the world of Firefly. Later!
Movies: 14/100 viewed
Firefly is an intelligent, entertaining, and captivating show. Every single character is well-developed, unique, and likable in some way. While there are still some unanswered questions about the characters, such as the extent of River's abilities, I know that if given more seasons the show would have artfully explained everything. Speaking of, River is definitely a favorite. This girl is mysterious without being disconnected from the audience. For instance, in the episode "War Stories," Kaylee is outnumbered by Niska's men and would've been killed if River hadn't picked up her gun and shot them all dead from a distance with her eyes closed. Impressive and scary as that is, River just smiles at Kaylee and walks away. Fox could have filled several seasons diving into the expanses of her mind and slowly revealing what the Alliance did with her mind, but instead they leave her story unfinished.
In addition, I like the universe that Whedon imagined. There's futuristic technology, like laser guns and warp drive, but the reality of human selfishness and corporate greed has also left other planets with only the most basic technologies. Hell, on some border planets they're still using horses and carriages! I also enjoy the incorporation of Earth politics into a show that takes place 500 years in the future. It makes sense that America and China were the greatest superpowers when Earth died, so the cultures melted together as people colonized other planets. I find it amusing that most of their slang and swearing is done in Chinese, but I wish they could have at least subtitled those moments instead of just putting "[Speaking Chinese]" at the bottom of the screen. The planets have western and oriental influences in their art, architecture, and customs, which provides for more variety in setting. Similarly, the show's depiction of space is phenomenal. Every single time the camera looks on the ship from space, there is no sound, just background music. This makes the most sense, seeing as there is no sound in space. Attention to details like this is part of what makes Firefly such a great show!
What I cannot understand is why Fox treated this show like crap. In addition to not airing the episodes in order, they also spaced episodes weeks apart, thus making it difficult to have an initial following. Still, I don't know if a second season would have gathered a following large enough to keep it alive. Firefly is one of those shows that is too smart for a large portion of society. We have shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Secret Life of the American Teenager going into yet another season, so that doesn't speak well for the typical tastes of viewers. I'm hoping to see the movie soon, and maybe one day someone with enough money will give all of us "Browncoats" another fix of this amazing show. Anyone who watches the season in order on dvd will admit that Firefly is addictive!
Rating: 5/5
Since each episode is approximately 45 minutes, the 14-episode series comes to about 10.5 hours of viewing time. I'll be generous and say that the average movie is about two hours (even though comedies and romantic movies are often shorter). That would give me five movies worth of time, and it's plot is strong enough to count for five movies! If anything, it's not unlike how the individual movies of a series could be watched as one congruent plot. So, I am now that much closer to my goal! My greatest hope though is that this entry entices more people into discovering and enjoying the world of Firefly. Later!
Movies: 14/100 viewed
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
"The point is this: the greed that led you into the teaching profession has led to the corruption of it!"
Update time! First, in movies, Matthew and I watched Kick-Ass this weekend, which despite its flaws was an overall entertaining movie:
9. Kick-Ass - It was very interesting, to say the least. I enjoyed the combination of Kick-Ass' innocence and naivety with the serious and deadly demeanor provided by Big Daddy and Hit Girl. While their motivations are completely different, they make a likable trio. The action scenes were very intense and choreographed, and enjoyed the use of different weapons rather than just the constant gunfire seen in other films. Blood and gore don't bother me in the least, but there's quite a lot of it in the movie, so I wouldn't recommend it for people who enjoy cleaner action. I also appreciated some of the funny moments, like the progression of Dave's relationship with Katie. However, even with the impressive action scenes and the occasional moments of laughter, the two contrasting tones did not mesh well throughout the movie. Some of the humor in Big Daddy and Hit Girl's storyline was too disturbing or strange to make me laugh, and it felt like there were two separate story lines that melded mostly during violence. Not to say I'm opposed to violence in movies, but it felt like this movie was having a hard time deciding if it wanted to be a comedy or a gory action film, which is why it's not a great movie.
Rating: 3/5
Movies: 9/100 viewed
For cooking, I made two new dishes this weekend. The first were southwest-style turkey burgers that featured ground turkey meat mixed with egg, crushed tortilla chips, chopped green pepper, chopped onion (my own personal addition!), salt, pepper, and chili powder. After broiling, I added some sliced pepper jack cheese, salsa, and lettuce. That made a delicious lunch! The taste was perfect; the flavors complemented each other and turned an otherwise ordinary burger into a fun and spicy dish! I would love to taste these in the summer after grilling on a nice charcoal grill.
Peanut butter fudge was my second dish this weekend. My sister just had her birthday and so for her gift I asked her what her favorite dessert flavors were, which led me to making the fudge. I had no idea that fudge stiffened so quickly! Not to mention the constant stirring I had to do while heating the peanut butter, evaporated milk, and sugar - this dessert is best mixed by someone with upper body strength! However, in spite of my arms feeling like they were going to fall off, the fudge turned out to be very good! The added peanuts help out when trying to chew the intensely rich fudge, and I'm glad that it can keep in the fridge for a month because it'll take about that long to get through it all!
Cooking: 17/75 completed
I'm still rooting for the Wisconsin workers, and my friend Rachel posted this hilarious link to one of John Stewart's video clips. The sad part is that people actually do believe that teachers are lazy, stupid, and overpaid, which is funny considering that most parents don't even bother to teach their kids to read before sticking them in kindergarten at age five. Parents need to get their kids interested in learning and at least starting to learn well before they're put into a classroom. Hell, I was starting to read before I entered kindergarten and I was four when I started school! I'm not going to lie and say that every teacher is a saint, but the majority are underpaid and under-appreciated, and without further ado I give the link to Stewart's lecture to teachers:
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