I Don't Want To Fake It

Lots and Lots of movies: (all summaries via IMDB)

Meet Bill

Summary:A guy fed up with his job and married to a cheating wife reluctantly mentors a rebellious teen

This was filmed in my hometown, about 1/4 of a mile from my boyfriend's office building, and he got to go on set for a while. So, needless to say, he was pretty excited to see this. I thought it was good. It wasn't super exciting or heartwarming, but it was funny and smart. The humor in it was for adults, without being crass. It didn't go for gross out humor, which is becoming rarer and rarer, so it's nice to see a smart comedy.

Run Fat Boy Run

Summary
: Five years after jilting his pregnant fiancée on their wedding day, out-of-shape Dennis decides to run a marathon to win her back.

I should preface this by saying I love Simon Pegg. He was in two of the funniest, smartest comedies of our time. I thought the movie was pretty good. It was really predictable and safe, but that didn't keep it from being good. It was just obvious. But it still had loads of funny parts, and it was fun to watch.


Smart People


Summary: Into the life of a widowed professor comes a new love and an unexpected visit from his adopted brother.

This was not my favorite movie. It was well acted and everything, but it was so unbelievably pretentious. The characters were mostly all assholes, and I have trouble believe Sarah Jessica Parker's character would have liked Dennis Quaid's. He was a complete jerk the whole time. I don't know, this just wasn't the movie for me.


Forgetting Sarah Marshall:


Summary: Devastated Peter takes a Hawaii vacation in order to deal with recent break-up with his TV star girlfriend, Sarah. Little does he know Sarah's traveling to the same resort as her ex ... and she's bringing along her new boyfriend.

Okay, realistically, I was going to be biased towards this movie. For one, Kristen Bell is amazing. Two, Jason Segel is one of my favorite actors (Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Knocked Up, How I Met Your Mother) and the fact that he wrote this is awesome (and the penis shots certainly didn't hurt). To me, this movie was fabulous. It was the perfect mixture of crude and romantic comedies. Hot cast, hilarious dialogue. All and all, awesome.

Pain In My Heart

I love food. It's been documented.

But my boyfriend took it to a new level this weekend.

He loves steak. Absolutely loves it. He'll eat it anyway he can get it. But his absolute favorite is from Houston's. He loves their Hawaiian ribeye.

However, there is no Houston's in St. Louis, so when we go on vacation we always find a way to visit one (Kansas City, Memphis, LA, and Atlanta so far). When we went to Colorado in October, we stopped in KC on the way home just to have this steak.

So it's been about four months since we've made the trek. He wanted to go this weekend to Kansas City (under the pretense that I would really love their new addition to the art museum.) but we had plans on Saturday.

Instead of taking a weekend trip, on Sunday, we drove nine hours round trip to Kansas City. We started at the new addition to the Nelson-Atkins museum, because I've been wanting to go since it opened last June. Then we ate a huge steak dinner before driving back home.

I rarely eat meat, especially red meat. But Houston's does make a tasty center cut filet, so I indulged. I ate carrots and peas with it, so I'm assuming that balances out... Right?

It was so worth the nine hour drive.

Any foods you're willing to drive nine hours for?

I'm Gonna Need My Own Zipcode

I lead a healthful lifestyle. I go to the gym, I eat plenty of fresh vegetables, I avoid processed foods (aside from my Lean Cuisines), I drink red wine.

I have found what will probably be the death of me.






I have literally eaten 4 bags of these in the last 5 days. This is as much processed food as I usually eat in a year. I don't know what it is about these fuckers, but I cannot get enough. Thankfully the whole bag only has about 12 grams of fat, but still. It is the perfect combination of potato and salt. They are light and fluffy instead of greasy and heavy like most chips.

I need to go to the gym.

Are We Growing Up, or Just Going Down?

1. If you were to attend a costume party tonight, as what or whom would you go

Do I get to go shopping? If not, I think the only costume I have is a slutty witch costume. That would work I guess

2. What are your choice of toppings on a hamburger? And do you prefer gas or charcoal grilling?

I don't like hamburgers, but I guess cheese is my number one. I prefer charcoal, but I use gas because it's a million times easier.

3. You are chosen to have lunch with the President. The condition is you only get to ask one question. What do you ask?.

Where's the bathroom, I need to throw up?

4. It’s your first day of vacation, what are you doing?

I'm super anal and I love planning, so I'm sure I have a list of activities. Ha, I must be lots of fun to go on vacation with.

5. What is your concession stand must-have at the movies?

Popcorn. But I don't like the fake butter stuff. So just plain popcorn.

6. Which do you dislike most: pop-up ads or spam email?

I don't really see either thanks to pop-up blockers and e-mail filters. But I guess pop-ups because they don't offer to enlarge my penis.

7. What do you think Captain Hook’s name was before he had a hook for a hand?

Crap Bag. First name Crap, last name Bag.

8. Rock, paper, or scissors?

I think I do rock a lot. This could be because of my exceptional laziness.

9. How long was it from ‘the first date’ until the proposal of marriage? How long until the wedding?

I have nothing to base this on. But I don't know, usually 1-5 years?

10. Which is worse, being in a place that is too loud, or too quiet?

Too quiet, I go crazy. Loud doesn't bother me.

11. What is one quality that you really appreciate in a person?

Humor. It always adds interest.

12. At the good old general store, what particular kind of candy would you expect to be in the big jar at the counter?

Um... I literally have no idea. What?

13. What is the most distinguishing landmark in your city?

I'm guessing the Arch, but we have way better stuff.

14. Everyone hears discussions that they consider boring. What topic can put you to sleep quicker than any other?

Battlestar Gallactica. (Don't get mad)

15. How many times did it take you to pass your drivers test?

I passed the first time, oddly.

16. If you had to have the same topping on your vanilla ice cream for the rest of your life, what topping would you choose?

Is Cookie Dough a topping?

17. What food item would need to be removed from the market altogether in order for you to live a healthier, longer life?

Anything made by Frito-Lay.

18. You are offered an envelope that you know contains $50. You are then told that you may either keep it or exchange it for another envelope that may contain $500 or may be empty. Do you keep the first envelope, or do you take your chances with the second?

The second one, $50 is worth the gamble. Who's giving me this money?

19. If you had to choose, which would you give up: cable TV, or DSL/cable internet?

TV, because you can watch it on the internet. But most of the stuff I watch isn't on cable anyway. I would miss Comedy Central though

21. How much is a gallon of gas in your city? What was the highest it’s been?

Thankfully, we're one of the lowest cities in the country. I think it's like $3.20 right now?

23. What would you rather have, a nanny, a housekeeper, a cook, or a chauffeur?

Housekeeper I guess. I like to cook, I don't have kids, and my boyfriend drives me places.

I've Been Thinking About The Future, But I'm Too Young To Pretend

Before you read this, I should tell you it's long and rambling. It's about my anger at my work situation, but because I don't want to say what I do, parts of it probably don't make sense.

Also, I forgot to mention my 100th post was a few posts ago. Whoops.

On with the rant:


I'm not someone to dwell on things. Honestly. I tend to have a "shit happens" mentality. I move on quickly.

But I'm so sick and tired of my job. I don't want to say what I do, because I don't want to get fired (I'm not going to call it the D word, because I know she makes people angry. Besides, she's not the only one to get fired because of blogging about her job. We could call it getting Fabbed instead.)

Anyways. I've worked for the same company for four years. When I was hired, my company was owned by a small(ish) company and I had a certain job. About 18 months later my company was purchased by a very large company that is now the largest company in our industry. My job changed. A Lot. And even that was cool. I'm good at adapting.

However, when the changes started happening, a coworker's position was eliminated. He was given the same job as me, which was great. He had tons of experience in the field, even if it wasn't for our specific job. I helped to train him.

Two years later, he still can't do the fucking job right. He's 52 years old, and he can't grasp this simple job. Trust me, my job is not that hard. Really. There's a lot of technical aspects to it, but he already knew all of that. It's the day to day aspects he can't handle. He can't multi-task AT ALL. This includes answering the phone while reading something. If he's in one room doing something, he won't walk to the other room to handle anything else. We work in a customer-heavy field, so his blatant ignoring of customers is pretty unprofessional. He takes three times as long to do his job than any of the rest of us. He leaves things unfinished all around the office. When he actually files, all his files are way out of alphabetical order.

My manager seems to see no problem with this arrangement. (My manager, I should point out, is supposed to be out on the floor with us, but spends 90% of the time in her office working on "paperwork" but mostly she talks on the phone to her husband. I don't really mind because she's not all over us and doesn't really watch what we do. I usually like the freedom.)

I've gotten to the point where I just ignore him, unless I have to ask him to help me when there are multiple customers in the office. If he leaves things around, unfinished, I refuse to finish them for him. So I'll show it to him and say "Are you done with this?" or something to that effect. But it's not my job to clean up after him.

But still, I've dealt with the incompetence okay. I'm probably not as patient as I always should be, but honestly, after two years doing a job, you really should be able to do it.

When we got our reviews last week, my manager marked me down for not being a team player, because I'm not willing to pitch in and help out. Apparently, I'm detracting from the family atmosphere we've always had with my selfishness and inability to be a team player.

Fuck this. It was one thing having to deal with the bullshit and incompetence, it's another when I'm chastised for not being willing to do my job and someone else's.

I've started applying for all sorts of other jobs, so let the job search begin. It's about time I move into something related to the field I'm majoring anyway. People always ask if I'm in school for (what my job is) and I'm always like "No, Art." and people look at me like I'm crazy.

So it's time to move on.

I'm Gonna Make A Mistake

I was trying to make everything look prettier and I fucked up everything. So please excuse the look here while I try to fix it. But not tonight, I'm tired. So ignore the looks please. Have a good weekend!


04/05/08- EDIT- Okay, it's fixed. Mostly. I still have a little work to do, but it seems to be in order. I lost all my stuff that was on the side, including the Blogroll. So I recreated it, but if I forgot you please let me know. If the new template is too obnoxious, just tell me.

You've Got The Right Stuff, Baby




With the recent reemergence of my childhood heroes, New Kids On The Block, I've been thinking about the male-crushes throughout my life. I've discovered that I had mostly horrible taste in men.

Donnie Wahlberg 16

First up, Donnie Wahlberg. He was such a badass. I was about six when they really hit it big. I had a Donnie doll, it was similar to a Ken doll, but had a rat tail made of barbie-like hair. Oh,so classy.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Next, JTT. Randy Taylor. Simba. He's someone I hadn't thought of in years, until he popped up in one of my favorite episodes of Veronica Mars (when Logan and Veronica finally hook up.)

gavin

This is one I don't feel bad about. Gavin Rossdale is still one of the sexiest men I've ever seen. Also, Bush is still one of my favorite bands.

backstreet boys

At one point, I loved each of them, so I can't target my favorite. But man, did I love the Backstreet Boys. From 7th grade to 10th grade was obsessed. Concerts, posters, all of it. I had awesome taste. I mean, come on. Look at how unposed and natural they look here. They still hold a certain place in my heart, but I can't listen to the music anymore without gagging.


ryan reynolds

Currently, it's all about Ryan Reynolds for me, so hopefully, you can see that my tastes have improved.

Now that I've shared my embarrassment with you, it's your turn. Who did you have a crush on growing up?

Tell Me That You'll Open Your Eyes

(Alternatively titled: Finally, something to blog about)

I suck, I haven't written anything in almost two weeks. We haven't seen any movies in this time, because there wasn't anything that looked good. Plus we've been really busy rehabbing the house my brother bought, going to weddings, that sort of thing. Anyway, finally saw a movie last night that I recommend to everyone.

Stop-Loss: (Summary via IMDB)

A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army

It starred Ryan Phillipe, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Abbie Cornish.

My Take: I thought it was really good. I think that it's an important topic that needs to be discussed, and it's one that often gets glossed over for the sake of "patriotism" and "national security." It raises a lot of questions about what defines bravery, honor, duty, and patriotism. To be honest, I'm not usually a fan of movies with a Big Message, but I thought this was really good. It wasn't cramming anything down your throat, it just presented a problem that a lot of soldiers are facing and different reactions people have post war.

What I also liked about it is that it wasn't really about the war. There wasn't really a political message there. It was about the soldiers and the conflicts they face personally. It was very pro-soldier.

There were some particularly powerful performances from Ryan Phillipe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but it was well acted all around. I was happy to see Channing Tatum in something where he wasn't dancing (Although after seeing him in that uniform, I'm even more convinced he'll do well for GI Joe.)

I only have two problems with it. One, Brandon goes AWOL (I'm not giving anything away, this is in the trailer). I'm no expert, but isn't this a big offense? Shouldn't he go to jail? Two, the ending. It was fairly obvious what was going to happen, but I guess it was the realistic choice.

I highly recommend this to everyone as it is an important topic facing so many people today, especially as long as we remain in Iraq.