More Birthday Happenins

So as with any birthday that lands on a heavily commercialized holiday, it just keeps giving.

We have received an almost infinite amount of incredibly tasty chocolates, cookies, etc. Included in that gift-giving was this incredible trio of hand-dipped caramel apples created by a very talented individual:



















My step-momma came to town unexpectedly and took me to dinner as a fun surprise. Here she is giving lil meg some verboten ice cream:



















Steve likes to do that stuff too--give babies food before they are capable of digesting it. However as you can see in this pic she is a huge fan of the stuff. It WAS really tasty tho.

In other news:

1) Elder Holland is coming to our stake conference in March. New stake prez will be announced.

2) Saw the Hulk last night. Ed Norton is awesome, movie mediocre.

3) A water pitcher broke, which is devastating since I purchased a one-of-a-kinder from my friend Ben whose artwork is truly spectacular (his wife Lynette was one of my mission comps.) The good news is that it only held a quart of water so I ordered a replacement on Amazon.com. Matches my new le creuset ramekins. I am totally in love with the cherry red line now so I think I am going to order the crock next. Who knows, maybe I will even get crazy and order like a mini cocotte or something. Anyway I am chalking up the broken pitcher to a new opportunity.

Dinner and a Movie, or, How I Need a New Camera

Last night I had a GREAT time going to dinner and a movie with some very fun people.

I tried to take a few pics but my camera is muy lame for this kind of lighting. Steve pointed out I could have used the flash, but why wasn't it already on the "auto" setting? I should have checked but I didn't want to take a million pictures and then have people to be nervous that I was going to post them all over the internet.

So here are just a few so you can get a sense of it:

1. Thanks to Vivian for arranging the menu ordering (such a pain when you are eating family style). I have to admit that the Chicken Nirvana truly WAS nirvana. I might go back this weekend, just to get my hands on some of that stuff. Wow. I mean WOW. She also arranged the payment so in the end my friends even bought me dinner even though I asked them to come out with me. Mucho generous and I really appreciated the gesture! Here is a picture of her counting the money:



























2. Las virgenes section of the table--ladies who were having Indian food for the first time. I HEARD (heard) that they liked it and hope that it is true.



















3. The chicken nirvana was good but it was practically indistinguishable from 90% of the other dishes on the table so I didn't take a pic. Here is one of me in front of the ever popular Tandoori:



















No pics of this, but there were 3 mere survivors who were brave enough to see Taken. I have to say that I would give it a couple of stars for good action and violence and a couple of stars for a very understated but incredible Liam Neeson adding up to a respectable 4 out of 5 stars. The presence of the archtype of Eastern Bloc bad guys while reiterating that torture does indeed work smacks a little of 24 but overall I would give it a thumbs up. Some dark and sinister parts to it about selling young girls into prostitution but don't worry, no real gratuitous sex scenes, only violence. And of course no fewer than 6 of the now-dead evil men spoke Arabic so that should satisfy needs you might have for the bad guy to be middle eastern. Warning: Albania is not in the Middle East.

Oh and I shoulda taken pics of Elephant Bar dessert crew afterwards which really topped off what was a great time. Thanks to one and all.

Where have all the real men gone?

So Markie23 was the first to verbalize (publicize) what this poll was trying to ascertain. After watching Daniel Deronda (one of those BBC George Eliot adaptations) and contemplating the role of men in films, I have decided that there is a reason why I am not a huge fan of modern romantic comedy. I love About a Boy, but not Hugh Grant--or really any movie with Hugh Grant set in the 21st century. I love Say Anything but would never have interest in someone who doesn't want to buy anything sold, bought, or processed.

I particularly love the Wedding Singer and appreciate humor as the sole characteristic of the man in the lead, but could never have found happiness with one who while intoxicated publicly decried female facial hair.

So these are the leading men I adore and my guess is, most of you would agree at least on the pre-21st century hero-types:

Colin Firth. Duh. Or any other Austen hero.
Hugh Jackman, X-men style
Russell Crowe, Cinderella Man (or just about anything else except Beautiful Mind because, well, wackoooo)
Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry (okay, I just really, really like this scene)

It turns out that for all my feminist talk, I really do still feel like the tough-guy rescue scene act. The modern romantic comedy, unless the guy takes a hit in rescue of his lady lead, does nada for me.

I think this is secretly why Simon is my favorite judge too.

If you have some leading men that are "normal" guys without all the macho business who still inspire the "Awwww" of the ladies, speak now.

Okay now for a REAL poll question (that was a test)

Okay so after watching Disney's version of Robin Hood (love the music) I asked Steve why all movies highlight men in such a light and if it were possible that any men out there would risk their lives for the kiss of a particular woman (you know, he dresses as the stork to go the archery contest?)

That led to a discussion of modern leading men vs. old tymey story types (like Colin Firth in P&P or Robin Hood, etc.) So here is the poll question. Defend your answer if you dare.

Which of the following leading men appeals most to you?

The Early Show

So I have to say, I feel like I just got back from a concert. The adrenaline of teenage girls screaming, jumping, holding hands with their bff because of tension, and sucking in their breath during the romance scenes just absolutely made the show for me.

I admit it, I loved the movie. It kind of felt artsy, like a bit understated. Some examples:

- Diamonds on the skin? Actually looked like sparkly skin--they could have done this up big-time hollywood style but instead it just looked like it should

-Lots of zooming in on the faces from interesting angles--no dialogue, just zooming in. Especially Bella, who I actually loved in this movie.

- Charlie Swan. Perfect amount of dialogue, matched the book perfectly for me--didn't look like how I pictured him, but the character was great.

- Mike and Eric--just regular looking guys for once. I liked how everyone was pretty much regular looking who was supposed to be.

-Soundtrack. Perfect.

So much other stuff. But I really do recommend Twilight, even if you didn't like the books. The movie was great fun.

I also loved all the mother-daughter combos hanging out in the theater though I still preferred sitting behind the teenagers with the "bite me" and "I love Edward" T-shirts. That made it a truly enjoyable experience and I wish I knew who they were to send them thank you notes.

The only things I didn't like:
- Okay I have no idea who picks the previews but this theater played the most horrific film preview I have ever seen. I had to close my eyes it was so disturbing. It is called "Let the Right One In." So wrong. So foreign.

Thats it!

A Movie Review

I randomly click "add to my queue" on netflix whenever I login (like once a month maybe). When I am dancing around the house with this baby in a sling I like to have something to watch and with the "no cable" situation I don't have anything on a tivo or dvr to watch.

So... I thought it would be fun to get Dreamgirls since it would be a light, musical whimsy.

Yeah, no. I haven't even finished it but truly it is a depressing movie. I was confused how it could get such good reviews and Steve pointed out that Million $$ Baby got good reviews too. If you have not seen either of these movies, I would skip them but if not, get ready to sing some Stones because you ain't gonna get no Satisfaction.

It is then that I decided I like happy endings. Does this make me shallow? Before I decided to keep Dreamgirls and finish it, I need someone to guarantee that it is going to end happily. Can someone here verify that for me?

My next up title is Catch and Release which I have never heard of before-- it must have been one of those sleepless nights in which I added it without knowing in advance if it was worth it.

I did, however, like Prison Break season 1 which my neighbors have had for two months, preventing me from a speedy turnaround on on my netflix these days. I can't ask them to turn it in though because they need to watch it having been the best netflix rental all year. Oh except for a bizarre little indy called "Jump Tomorrow" which I highly recommend. Very weird, almost Napoleon Dynamite-like. Hilarious.

I will take other recommends and also would like you to verify the Dreamgirls situation thank you.