The Hangover

My favorite genre of films in order of preference are Sci Fi, Action, Thriller & Suspense (not the Paris Hilton slasher kind of movies), Foreign Films, Drama, Romance, Comedy. Comedy is last because I can't stand slap stick movies ie. Wayans Brothers or movie spoofs. I'm not a big fan of Jack Black ("Be Kind Rewind", "Nacho Libre"). Not a huge fan of Jim Carrey. He's too over the top for me (although he was great in "Eternal Sunshine ...."). Neither did I enjoy the "Naked Gun" nor "Airplane" nor "Harold and Kumar.".... Somehow I get dragged to a myriad of these movies and sit in drudgery. My one exception - Adam Sandler. He's just adorable.. ("50 First Kisses", "Happy Gilmore").

However, I loved the movies: "Planes, Trains and Automobile", "What About Bob", the skimble-skamble creations of Woody Allen, the oenophile like Miles (Paul Giamatti) in "Sideways" and tv shows: "Seinfeld", "Cheers", "Wings", "King of the Hill", "The Office". Most recently - "Tropic Thunder".

So when friends told me about "The HangOver", I was skeptical. I just sat through Carment Electra in the spoof of "300" so it can't get any worse than that!

"The Hangover" was hilarious. It had you rolling on the floor in the first scene. I laughed so hard --- feared wetting my pants. There were a couple of scenes where I thought.. "don't go there.. it will be cheeeeeeeesy".. but the film quickly turned around (the scene in the desert with Mr. Chow). Ed Helms is a riot!!

There were a couple of unanswered questions for me... maybe someone can fill me in..

1) Where did the chicken come from?
2) Who undressed Mr. Chow?

Looks like the characters Stu, Allen and Phil are all in the works for The Hangover 2... I have strong feelings about sequels - Don't make 'em! (unless it's Star Trek or Iron Man :) )

The Road

Spent the last several days in Orange County, CA, vacationing in the sun while Tianna and Kevin frolicked in the water with their boogy board and surfboard, respectively. Later, they even knocked people over with their inflatable boat. Not too strong of a swimmer, I sat back and read most of the time.

I finished a quick read called "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy ("No Country For Old Men"). The book will be a major motion picture being released sometime in Oct. I saw the trailer on imdb and am actually excited as it will star Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises") and Guy Pearce ("Memento").

"The Road" was very haunting but poetic in a sense that it had an elegiac, metaphoric tone throughout the whole book. It was emotionally draining as at times, I had to set it down and switch to a lighter, comical read ("Breathing Lessons" by Anne Tyler).

As the reader, you don't quite know what kind of catastrophe has ruined the earth and destroyed human civilization. However, there are many references to scorched landscapes and corpses covered in ashes. The book is great and I hope the movie will do it justice.

The following are vivid images in the back of my mind....

1991 - Fresno, CA - I was sitting in a dentist chair getting my teeth cleaned when it was announced on the radio that Majic Johnson had contracted HIV. My dentist stopped what he was doing and we all tuned in for a half hour in disbelief.

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1994 - Orange County, CA - Heading north on the 405 and channel surfing when I heard on the radio that OJ Simpson was in a white Bronco going south on the 405 and suspected of killing his ex wife.

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1997 - Hong Kong - I was laying in bed in the Hong Kong Grand Hyatt, when I turned on the news to learn Princess Diana had been killed in a car crash

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1999 - Miami Beach, FL - Awakened early one morning from the wails of my 3 month old little girl, I turned on the television while feeding her and saw the headlines that dozens of aircraft and ships were searching for John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane.

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2001 - Fort Lauderdale, FL - While in graduate school, a student comes bursting in the door screaming that a plane had crashed into the twin towers.

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2009 - Huntington Beach, CA - Around 4 pm, driving back to our hotel room from a long day at Huntington Beach, we turned on the radio and heard a Michael Jackson song. Then we turned the channel and heard another Michael Jackson song. My little girl inquired "Is Michael Jackson dead?" since they were playing his songs on couple channels. I stated "Don't be ridiculous.." just as the dj announced "Michael Jackson has passed".

Summer Solstice in SB

Today was the Summer Solstice parade in SB

Midlife crisis?

I believe I'm going through a mild midlife crisis. I've been reflecting upon my lack of accomplishments. The wasted years!!! And on top of it all, I am beginning to look my age. No amount of Retin-A will erase the signs of aging. Even my circle of friends is pretty small.

Although, I've been playing golf for couple of years now, w/o formal training, I've just not improved. I started taking semi-private lessons at Twin Lakes. Made a world of a difference! I can now loft the ball with the pitching wedge!

I was disappointed with my weight gain and the inability to lose weight even though I was attending a local gym. I never really enjoyed going to the gym and decided to look at other ways to lose weight and stay fit. I have played tennis off and on for several years and once again, w/o formal training and the infrequency of playing, I never improved. I cancelled my gym membership and signed up for tennis lessons. Not only do I love playing, I am meeting a lot of great people this way!

The violin has always been my favorite instrument and regret never having the opportunity to learn to play it. I have forced this love onto my daughter and though she hates to play the violin, she's actually pretty good at it. She had two violin recitals this month and while sitting in the audience, I was so moved and felt an overwhelming sense of regret as they played one of my favorite piece, "Pachelbel Canon in D Major". So while buying new strings for my guitar, I thought "why not?". It's never too late to learn. I rented a violin and the student has become the teacher. Tianna loves to correct my bow hold. (gosh....If I could just relive my youth, I would also take piano lessons so I could play Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" ...although this guitar version (from Michael Lucarelli) is brilliant!).

I am beginning to think it shouldn't be referred to as a "crisis". I think it's a wake up call for me. I keep putting off things I want to do because I'm too tired or feel too "old". The next three to five years looks promising again....

Puff Puff

It seems like "Senate votes to give FDA greater control over tobacco" would be a good idea. I believe this might be a way to curb smoking amongst teens and children. I was walking downtown yesterday afternoon when two teenagers were walking towards me both with cigarettes dangling from their mouths. I found it disturbing and repugnant.

It's so unattractive when I see a woman smoking in her car with the windows down. My boyfriend is a smoker but he will deny it up and down. "I only smoke when I drink". In this day and age, when it's common knowledge that smoking causes lung cancer, he still believes he is immune to it and so do many others.

There are warnings all over the cigarette box. It's such an addictive drug, why start?