I’m taking another vacation because I need it and because my company is making it very attractive for me to take more time off. Sooooooo, Lisa and I are taking the most kick ass exciting trip EVER! Brace yourselves and try not to get too jealous—- WE’RE GOING TO ELVIS WEEK! We have tickets for the Elvis Expo 2006, Music and Movies at Graceland, Shawn Klush in Concert and the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest Semifinals AND Finals!

I am so excited!

Had a dream last night in which I positively beat the crap out of a person. In my dream, a woman insulted my looks and I had the impression that she often offered rude and hurtful remarks and so I felt it was my duty to toss her against the wall and then perform other violent procedures against her. Could this dream be the manifestation of my guilt over admitting I found the girl in Batman ugly? Perhaps this is what occurs when you watch a couple of violent movies back to back? Who knows!

Yesterday I spent the entire day at the movies! I went to see The X-Files: I Want to Believe. I loved it. Of course, I am a blind fan. I would enjoy anything that is labeled The X-Files. (The X-Files 3: Mulder and Scully Breed Rabbits! I LOVE IT!) This second movie felt like an extended episode of the series. It seems odd to me that Chris Carter would pick this small little suspense story to make into a movie. I guess by choosing something so small and keeping the costs down, and as long as me and a couple other people buy tickets, they will make a profit. Regardless of why, I thought it was great and I OH SO LOVED MULDER AND SCULLY’S RELATIONSHIP. I refuse to say anymore on this front because then I would give stuff away and that just isn’t fair. Oh, and Callum Keith Rennie showed up as an evil Russian man! You know Callum Keith Rennie… He replaced Ray Vecchio in Due South and he had guest spots on Forever Knight and Highlander and he played Nikita’s first season boyfriend in La Femme Nikita! Sorry, I just love Canadian working actors. Somehow it became a game to keep an indexed filmography in my brain of where I saw them last.

As I was about to walk out of the theater I noticed that Dark Knight was about to start and like a crazy teenager, I darted into the theater and took a seat. I felt evil until I thought, “How can this be anymore evil than selling burnt popcorn and stale pretzel bites for over $5.00 apiece?” So I crashed the 5:00 showing of Dark Knight. I can’t say I enjoyed it. It was a little too much for me. My preference is a slower, quieter film (LIKE THE X-FILES!). I get dizzy watching buildings shake from explosions and rounds and rounds of bullets get fired. Now I appreciated that an ugly girl got cast as the love interest but that just wasn’t enough to save the movie. Perhaps if the fellow who portrayed the Joker grew a thick mustache and coated it in white paint in a misguided attempt to hide it— maybe then I would have loved the movie.

Walking out of Dark Knight, I really wanted to walk into Step Brothers starring Will Ferrell and make it a Triple Feature day but there was this force pulling at my hand guiding me out of the theater and into Sears to look at white Reebok sneakers… I guess the Triple Feature just wasn’t in my cards.

So here is a summary of my recommendations:
Mama Mia! LOVED IT!
The X-Files: I Want to Believe: LOVED IT!
Dark Knight: NOT FOR ME BUT PERHAPS IT WILL FLOAT YOUR BOAT!

Friday I left work 15 minutes early so I could get to the local cinema to buy tickets for Mama Mia before it sold out. My mom and Lisa met me there a few minutes later and we had a girls’ night out. Mama Mia was such a fun movie, I truly adored it. I think it will become a movie like Grease, a movie you watch over and over again– a movie to cheer you up, a movie that doesn’t need to be watched from beginning to end, as long as you catch a song and dance number, it’s all good.

There was one thing that bothered me about this movie, it was really anachronistic.

1. I had the impression Meryl Streep was a wild child, not much older than 20 years old when she had her flings and became pregnant. Her love child is now 20 years old. WHY THEN DOES MERYL AND HER FRIENDS ALL LOOK TO BE IN THEIR LATE 50’s EARLY 60’S? Could Meryl have been a completely irresponsible 39-year-old?

2. The movie looks to be taking place TODAY. I say this because of the clothing styles worn by all the characters. YET MERYL AND TWO OF HER EX-LOVERS TALK LIKE THEY HAD BEEN HIPPIES. The pictures they’d flash from yesteryear showed them to be hippies with long hair and bell-bottom pants. That would mean the flashbacks were late 60’s and the rest of the movie took place in the late 80’s.

3. One of Meryl’s lovers was called Headbanger and he looked like a PUNK! AND HE MENTIONED HE WORE A SID VICIOUS T-SHIRT. This would then mean the flashbacks took place in the mid-70’s and then the other part took place in the 90’s. Plus, the term Headbanger is more for heavy metal lovers– not punks, right? I guess the name Pogo Dancer just didn’t sit well with test audiences.

Okay, that’s it about my pet peeves.

Guess Meryl Streep’s character’s name? DONNA!
Guess the name of the hotel her character runs? THE VILLA DONNA!
Guess who played one of her lovers? MY FUTURE HUSBAND COLIN FIRTH!
Guess which lover became gay at the end of the movie? MY FUTURE HUSBAND COLIN FIRTH 😕

I heartily recommend Mama Mia! Just don’t think too much about it. And maybe have a drink or two beforehand.

Check out Mrs Emma Peel! She still looks great!

Listening to XM radio this morning, I heard this song called Stay Awhile by The Bells. LOVE IT! Very schmaltzy– reminds me of the song, Afternoon Delight in a weird way. At the end of this entry you will find a YouTube of it. Enjoy! My father told me last night my blog has really bottomed out. It’s so bad that it can’t really get any worse. I said, “But by saying it’s bottomed out, you are implying that it was at one time good– and I take exception to that! My blog was never any good!” My father than went on to spell out how when I was unemployed I was more interesting . He said he does understand that I am somewhat censored as to what I can write about anymore yet that is not an excuse. He also stated that I post entirely too many Youtube music videos.

HERE’S ANOTHER ONE! 🙂

It’s 5am. I am showered and dressed and ready to face the day. I am taking a 6ish train into NYC so I am in the office by 7:30. We’re doing some type of sales training or something. I dunno. Luckily I only woke up once. Typically when I need to awake earlier than usual, I spend the entire night jerking awake every half hour, certain I missed my alarm. This morning I awoke about 15 minutes before my alarm went off. Not bad.

Saturday night I saw The Incredible Hulk. I kinda liked it. It was nice to see the filmmakers take the time to explain how Dr Banner’s pants were able to cover the Hulk. He bought elastic waistband. This meant I no longer had to suspend any disbelief. Elastic Waistband! The other thing I liked about it was how they got Bill Bixby and Mr. Lou Ferigno into the action! I won’t say how. I’m just going to say it was an enjoyable movie. I bumped Hulk, Ang Lee’s version, up to the top of my NetFlix queue so I can compare them.

Father’s Day was really nice. My mom made an incredible meal and an incredible dessert. My dad was somewhat accepting of his Father’s Day gift. He’s getting better. At one time he just refused everything. It was quite a challenge.

Gosh, I am not really looking forward to working out of NYC today but in a way, it’s something different and I need that. It’s a good thing. I can deal with it.

I forgot to mention that I saw Sex and the City last weekend. As I’ve always maintained, I watched Sex and the City mainly because I enjoyed the confusion, disgust, and shock it produced within me. The movie did not disappoint. Charlotte shat her pants. Really. Miranda displayed tufts of her private part fuzz poking out the edges of her bathing suit. Samantha got fat and let her gut bulge out from her white jeans. WHITE JEANS!?! And Carrie got stood up at the altar. Miranda also had two VERY GRAPHIC making love scenes which I thought would be right at home in a porno movie. I can’t help but wonder about the woman who portrays this character. I understand she has children and since she is here on this earth, she must have parents too. Has she no shame? How could she do that knowing there is a very good chance her children or parents may see it or hear about it? I dunno. Maybe it’s just me. Getting back to the movie, Carrie was about to get married to her boyfriend “BIG” but he gets cold feet and doesn’t show up at the ceremony. They do run into each other as she leaves the church. She hits him with her bouquet, over and over again and screams, “I knew it! You humiliated me!” The rest of the movie shows her in mourning over the situation. Then at the very end she discovers that BIG has been writing her emails — transcribing love letters from a book and somehow this makes it all okay. They reunite and get married in court and Carrie wears a frumpy dress. I can’t figure out how this can be a happy ending. I guess it’s a happy ending because although BIG is the biggest jerk of all time, he’s also very handsome and rich and those things negate the jerkiness AND his money allows Carrie the ability to buy expensive, non-orthopedic shoes and silly dresses. The other clincher is that Samantha breaks up with a very handsome, successful man because she doesn’t like being in a monogamous relationship. She then celebrates her 50th birthday!?! As the credits rolled I couldn’t help but imagine how Carrie will continue to be humiliated by BIG and how Samantha will prowl around, looking for empty sex from the likes of disgusting men who would be interested in that sort of thing. It’s a tragedy in the form of a romantic comedy.

So yeah, I enjoyed it. God didn’t.

John Phillip Law – Perhaps best known as playing the nearly naked angel in Barbarella.
Dick Martin – Half of Rowen and Martin’s Laugh In, say good night, Dick
Harvey Korman – Loved on The Carol Burnett Show but I loved him as the principal in the movie Lord Love a Duck.

So sad!