Eternal sunshine of my spotless mind

Little One fell asleep early and I got to use the big tv. Watched Star Trek. Wow. I loved it! Someone told me it was a prequel and you get to see Kirk become captain. But as I watched the movie, I realized it's not a prequel. It's just another Star Trek movie. But I loved it! Loved the actors they picked. Loved that Leonord Nimoy was in it. Loved the storyline. I want to watch it again!

Of course, it doesn't help that I was a closet Trekkie. Loved the original Star Trek and was a big fan of the Next Generation. The other series that followed were too sci-fi for me (I don't know how, but they were just more sci-fi than the others), so I couldn't get into them as much.

It was one of the best in the Star Trek series. I wanna go back and rewatch the other movies now. To me, it was what I wanted episodes 1-3 of Star Wars to be like! I was so disappointed with the Star Wars movies.

My mood: itchy (sun rash)

Posted by Cora at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After the Superbowl we watched the new show Undercover Boss. It was some big boss of a waste management company who went out into the field and discovered things about his company as a low level employee and then comes back to his high makamaka job and then tries to make the world a better place for his employees? Or whatever. It was a pretty interesting show, so I recorded the next one which was the big kahuna at Hooters. Apparently their business has been slower since the economy went bad (join the club) and he wants to see how he can get more business for his restaurants. This one was such a joke. Please, he knows the company has a certain reputation and yet seems extremely shocked to find out that women are offended by the restaurant and that people wouldn't take their kids there to eat. I'm sorry, but your company is named after a slang for boobies? I may have eaten there once in my life, I don't even remember, but I don't think I would ever go there to eat, just because I consider it a bar more than a restaurant AND I would never take my child there to eat. If you want it to be a family restaurant, get rid of the girls and go with large dancing mice. That's the way to get kids...

Released one butterfly today... another girl.

My mood: still coughing, but feeling better. Legs are a little stiff today.

Posted by Cora at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Been slacking in the blogging dept. Too much other crap to do and stupid FB is taking up lots of my precious time.

Watched Julie & Julia the other nite w/the gals. I have to say that the acting of Meryl and Stanley (I love stanley) were fabulous! Didn't care for Amy Adams and whoever the husband was. I didn't love the story. It was just okay. What person does a FOOD blog and doesn't post pictures??? I dunno what the rules are of Salon, but I'm sure if I were blogging about food I made, I would post pictures! The lobster scene was hilarious. Defintely worth 2 hours of my life to watch, but I'll never watch it again.

Now if I can only get myself to sit down and watch Star Trek. All my Star Trek fans (not fanatics) loved it, so I want to see if it lives up to its reputation.

My mood: tired, but proud momma. my son is the Februrary "Student of the Month" at his Martial Arts school (for Tiger Cubs)!

Posted by Cora at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So we finally went to see New Moon last nite for KK's birthday. It was good and not good. I won't ruin it for anyone, but it's such a teen movie. Mostly Bella brooding, Edward brooding, Jacob brooding. Lots of brooding. I am not a vampire love story freak, like many other people. I only followed the Buffy/Angel story until it died. Then nothing until the story of Edward and Bella. I must say, that while reading the book I was on Team Edward. But I find Robert P so unappealing as Edward, that when I see the movies I am all for Team Jacob. He is much more appealing. I don't know who does Edward's makeup, but it looks like I did it, so fakey. Ugh. The funniest part of the whole movie is when Bella falls off the motorcycle and her head is bleeding, Jacob tears off his t-shirt to wipe up the blood and there is an audible GASP from the audience as Jacob reveals his beautiful body. Yikes! He worked very hard for that body. Very nice, but disturbing as I realize I am old enough to be his mother!!! Again, Yikes! And Yikes still. Anyway, watching that movie made me realize that the books are WAY better and I have the urge to read Midnight Sun on Stephanie Meyer's webpage.

Hot link: Midnight Sun draft

My mood: stressing over Christmas gifts I haven't bought yet.

Posted by Cora at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ugh, feeling like a slug. Been catching up on a LOT of TV in the wee hours of the night. I have watched the Mentalist, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint, and a variety of other shows. My newest addiction is Project Runway on Lifetime. It is hilarious to see some of their creations and the problems they have putting together a particular look, I especially enjoyed the mother hen look for Rebecca Romijn. Of course, I find it hilarious because at one time, I WAS a fashion design student. For a very brief period of my college career. I took a half-dozen fashion design classes including a class where a huge chunk of my final grade was creating a pattern for a tunic that I sewed and had to wear in front of the professor for a grade. YIKES! Those were scary days. I'll take Dewey over that anyday. It was kind of fun. I enjoyed the history of fashion classes and the merchandising class too. Ahhh. college... mostly memories I'd like to squelch from my head. But that's another entry for another day... NOT.

Ooh, and wahine volleyball started up tonite. Go Bows! Team looks fairly together. When did they recruit so many blondes? There were a bunch of 'em towards the end of game 3. Not that I'm complaining, AK is one of my seasoned faves... I was not sad to see JH gone. Now the other outside hitters will get great play time (ACO, KD, and even SF).

Posted by Cora at 01:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For lack of anything else to say...

Little One's a pre-teen at 4-yrs old. Here's his new favorite songs:

Alyson Stoner-- Dancing in the Moonlight

Linkin Park-- New Divide (song from the newest Transformers movie)

Daughtry-- What about now

Green Day-- Know your enemy

My mood: tired

Posted by Cora at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At 12:01 a.m. early Wednesday morning (or late Tuesday nite), my friends and I did our traditional HP movie nite. Woohoo! We got there at 9:30 and waited for a bit before they let us inside the theater at 10:00. Since we had nothing else to do, we talked story and ate junk food. This HP movie was about as good as the last one. I prefer this Dumbledore under this director (the worst director was HP#3 when Dumbledore was psychotic and paranoid). I won't give away too much, although I'm sure everyone knows what happens in the book already. I also liked the way Malfoy was portrayed in this film. I love Ginny Weasley and Hermione. There were cameos by Tonks, Lupin, McGonagall, the twins, and Neville. There wasn't enough time in the film, so they were just briefly passing through scenes. Too bad, cause I would have liked the movie to be longer (I think it's almost 3 hours long already). No wonder the last movie is split into 2 films, they really needed to split it to get all the good stuff in. At least I have 2 more opening nights to look forward to...

Posted by Cora at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I guess the ultimate comeback is death. Read the article on Yahoo that says Michael Jackson's albums are selling hundreds of thousands of albums this week and iTunes is reporting many of his songs on their top 100 bestsellers. Strange, how everyone loves him now. 2 weeks ago, people treated him like a leper. I was in Walmart and a young kid (teenager) was singing thriller. Yikes. Personally, I liked Billie Jean (yes, even before the David Cook AI version), but the rest of the songs I could live without. And please, he was a freak w/all his crazy plastic surgery. I tried to record an episode of the Mentalist (my new favorite show) and instead I got an hour of Michael Jackson's life. It's easy to feel sorry for the man, he had no life of his own. Guess that's what happens when you're the "king" of pop.

My mood: apprehensive of my library's future. Will find out tomorrow if we get the axe.

Posted by Cora at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally the day had come. We were on Maui, but that didn't stop us. We drove over to Kahului on Wednesday (opening day) to catch Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen at the Kaahumanu Theaters. The lines were manini compared to a line over on this island. Of course, the theater was small too, so we didn't get the full effect of the "big" screen. Not to worry, I'm sure I will end up seeing it again at least once more before it leaves the theaters. If you don't wanna know what happens, you should stop reading now...

IMO, this movie was not as good as the last one. And it was too long. There was a lot of unnecessary fighting and blowing up of stuff, but hey, that's what makes a great action film right? It was a great action film. The plot was a little weak. And when did Transformers start morphing into flesh? Why would OP depend on Sam to convince the military and the President that the world needed them? What was with all the unnecessary booty shots? Little One thought the two twin bots were hilarious. We even have a shirt with them on it now. The action scenes were pretty intense in some places, although I have a hard time seeing clearly when the transformers are fighting, like who's who and what's going on. Too much metal. I liked that a lot of the main characters came back (of course, why wouldn't they?). Overall, I have to say it was a good movie, just wished the story was better.

It was his first movie in a theater. Woohoo! Maybe now we can go see something else.

Wondering how many Transformers movies there will be? Do we see another one on the horizon?

My mood: exhausted

Posted by Cora at 06:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ran across this comic strip on the internet at the following site:

Hijinks Ensue-Geek Webcomic 2009-05-29-rebuffed

My mood: hating my job, but grateful to have it

Posted by Cora at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blasphemy is the word I would use to describe the news that I've seen that they're going to redo the Buffy movie without input from Joss Whedon. WTF? (excuse my harshness, but it's totally called for) How can they even comprehend redoing Buffy without JOSS!?!? I think the studio who owns the rights to the film want to jump in on the whole "vampires are hot" bandwagon, but please-- Any sane person would boycott such a film. They should drive a stake in it now and save it from box office bomb hell.

Please, let there be a cinematic god who would smite this project before it even starts.

My mood: horrified at the very thought

Posted by Cora at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watched the season finale of American Idol tonite. It was crazy, like waiting to see if a black man would become President! I expected to totally breeze through the whole thing (thanks to media player), but I ended up watching the whole thing. It was like I'd just had the best dessert ever and was licking the bowl clean. I wanted every minute of it. You can tell how long they've come since the beginning. Now you have great performers like Kiss, Santana, Cyndi Lauper, and Rod Stewart gracing the stage of AI.

As for the winner, I can say that I was pretty shocked too. I so expected the other one to win, but after reading the various blogs, I guess I can see how the votes landed. I was pretty much undecided, because I loved to watch both of them.

Sigh. Now what the heck am I supposed to watch until next January???!

My mood: excited

Posted by Cora at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am, of course, torn between who should be in the finals of AI. I LOVE Kris and Danny. Was fairly certain that Adam would be in the finals, but I was not impressed w/his 2nd song choice. His first, however was far better than the other 2 guys. So who am I going with? K&D. Sorry A (even though I think he'll get in). Need to check w/sis if she's been iTuning any of the songs... Holy crap, Kris. That was awesome.

How many times can one child watch the movie Space Buddies before driving his mommy absolutely batty? About 7. Granted it's a pretty cute movie and there are no robots in it... although it does take place in outer space!

My mood: exhausted

Posted by Cora at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have been watching American Idol again. Tonite was the last round of 12. I'm going w/Lil, Jorge, and Scott.

For the wildcard (I dunno how they're doing it), but if I had to pick one person from each of the 3 nites, I'll go w/Anoop, Megan, and Kristen.

Of course, my favorite is still Danny.

Fortunately, I've been avoiding television, so I haven't added on any new shows to my list, oh, wait. I did start watching Dollhouse. Only because it's a J. Whedon show (Buffy, Angel, Firefly). And I'm so ready to drop Heroes.

And since I've been trying to catch up w/my list of movies I wanted to see... I finally watched Sex and the city: the movie. It was okay. I was sort of disappointed with the whole thing. I don't know what I was expecting, but I wanted something else.

My mood: face hurts. Had to go back to the dentist to get a filling replaced and finish off my root canal--FUN I apparently am grinding away my teeth and need a nite guard

Posted by Cora at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yeah! I finally got to see a movie in the theater. I saw He's just not that into you last nite w/my friends. I was kinda wondering about it since I read the book, but was hesitant because Jennifer A is in it. I have seen many of her movies and I hated ALL of them. Happy to say this is the first one that's decent. I had issues w/the Mac guy, because I didn't see his character. All I saw was the "Mac" guy. Oh, and Drew was her usual cute-as-a-button-but-not-a-great-actress self. Needless to say, I really had fun.

We went to the health expo to pick up our packets for the great aloha run. Then we went to the movie, followed by a quick trip to Ross (we had to get in some shopping), then to Ryan's for a late dinner. Had the french onion soup and the kobe sliders. I love the soup, but they always make it way too salty. The sliders were good too. Dessert was da bomb. Yum. Haupia creme brulee. I can't even begin to explain how ono it was. Ran into one of my former employees (from my UH days). She's now the dinner manager there. Great job for her, I was worried when the restaurant next door closed, cause she was a manager there before they shut down. Didn't make our usual shop at Walmart. I don't think we could handle it, since we left the restaurant just before midnite. Yikes!

My mood: anxious (about the run tomorrow)

Posted by Cora at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, not at the theater, so it's not all that exciting. But I did manage to squeeze in 3 movies this weekend: Transformers (doesn't really count since I've seen it more than 5 times), Hancock, and Get Smart.

I can't really say anything about Hancock without giving away a major spoiler. But other than that obvious historical error. I was quite pleased with the film. It had that sixth sensish element of surprise (which was bugging me because of the reviews I had read about the movie regarding the key actors). And the ever-eternal "I-love-you-but-I-can-never-be-with-you" storyline which always gets me teary. Okay, that was probably TMI for anyone who was interested in seeing it and didn't yet. Or I just confused you big time.

I was really not expecting ANYTHING from Get Smart, but it was surprisingly funny. I laughed my butt off in certain parts. Definitely a good thing. Was not too keen on the storyline, but the actors were good. I liked the characters. And it was funny. Of course, take into consideration that I love Will Ferrell. Oh, and that scene in the airplane bathroom. OUCH!!!

I'm being ambitious and hoping to watch Spiderwick Chronicles, Mamma Mia, and rewatch Smallville from the beginning...

My mood: good

Posted by Cora at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

and I am addicted to American Idol.

This season, I decided not to wait until they narrowed it down to just the best singers. I needed my AI fix! 2 shows down and I've already chosen my winner: D. Gokey. He's the Robert Downey Jr. look-a-like. Sis! You need to catch up. He was fabulous. I love recording it and then watching it later because I can fast forward through the really bad singing which just sucks and catch the good singers early.

p.s. don't tell anyone that I watch it... please

Now I'm just sitting and waiting for the wind to start.

My mood: excited and expecting great things

Posted by Cora at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yikes, was browsing on iTunes and found a Jack 2 pack. It has the original sountrack for NIghtmare before Christmas AND remade songs by various artists like Marilyn Manson, Korn, and Amy Lee. I've gotta say YIKES, except for the Amy Lee version of Sally's song, the rest of it really tanks. Please! Give me Danny Elfman anyday. Now I'm thinking the soundtrack might be a nice addition to my digital collection, but still debating. C-Man watched it after we got back from Disneyland (yes, we watched Toy Story & Nightmare since he enjoyed the rides so much, I thought he might enjoy the movies) and he loved it. He says it's his favorite movie, but I doubt it. He has been singing songs from the movie, so I was thinking of downloading some of them to the iPod. I figure it's better to have him singing these songs rather than "I kissed a girl" and "So what" and "I'm yours" (the part of the song with the line with --damn you're free upon which he emphasizes the word damn). Why do kids pick up on the phrases and words that you don't want them to pick up?

Tomorrow we have to go to the doctor to get his TB test checked. Poor baby got 3 shots at his checkup and needs to go back for a 4th shot next month.

My mood: sore

Posted by Cora at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week, I was first.

This week, I'm dead last. Still waiting for Peyton to bring me back up, but he'd have to have one helluva game and make me 2000 points richer to dig me out of misery. Only 1 player broke 100 pts for a day's total of >600. Yes, pity me.

Watched Speed Racer (twice). It was entertaining enough. Loved the chimp and the surreal setting. C-Man could care less about the story, he just wanted to watch the racing parts. Seemed to leave the movie open, like they were trying to get a feel about whether people would be interested in a sequel. The characters were sort of like the cartoon versions of themselves. Sort-of, but not really. Hard to explain. Throughout the movie, C-Man kept telling me "This is not the real Speed Racer. I want to watch the real Speed Racer." We do have a videotape of the old cartoon series that he likes to watch. Figured he would like the live-action version, but maybe not. But maybe so, cause he asked to watch it twice. Hard to say.

Taped my Wahine Volleyball game, I already know the outcome, but I love to watch them in action.

My mood: sufficiently entertained, drained, and ready for bed

Posted by Cora at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watched the new Indiana Jones movie. What can I say? It was weird and NOT at all what I was expecting from an Indiana Jones film. It was certainly entertaining and action packed, but as I watched it, I envisioned this conversation taking place a few years ago...

Lucas (sipping a mai tai by the pool): Hey Steven, wanna make a few million bucks this weekend?"
Spielberg: Sure. Whatcha thinkin'?
Lucas: We haven't done an Indy movie in a while.
Spielberg: Sure. Why not?
Lucas: Hmmm... Harrison's gettin' old. Maybe we need new blood.
Spielberg: Sure. Who?
Lucas: How's about that kid from Transformers? He's wicked cool.
Spielberg: Sure. Call me when ya got a script. I'll direct.

and tah-dah! -- New Indiana flick. (no offense to Greg, who worships the ground they walk on...)

My mood: trying not to give it away, but it was just weird...

Don't read on or you're gonna find out what I really think of the movie (major spoilers!!!)

Continue reading "Indiana" »

Posted by Cora at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Joss Whedon is a genius. I am not totally impressed by his new upcoming series, but I look forward to it like a mom looks forward to her child returning for break from college.

See for yourself...

But I dunno when it starts. In the meantime, there's this:

My mood: lovely

Posted by Cora at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Had a surprisingly wonderful experience last nite at DH theatre's Les Mis.

We started out the evening at Assagio's. We had anti-pasto salad, my choice for dinner was the Fish Arrabiata (with Opah) for dinner and we had a wonderful sorbet trio cake thing (guava, coconut, and mango) and a fabulous chocolate mousse cake. Our criteria for dinner was that it had to be a restaurant that didn't serve fries, pizza or hot dogs. Woohoo. I love no-kid evenings (I equally love the kiddie ones too).

Went to the theatre. And I have to say the only disappointing thing was spending intermission in an incredibly long line for the restroom (only 4 stalls). Yikes. I let the woman behind me go first since she's been waiting to use the restroom since before the show started (if you've seen Les Mis, it's long). Oh, and Valjean's performance of Bring him home was a little cracky, but I don't know if it was the sound system or he was over-emotional. Fantine was superb (Tricia). Sis can send her a message that her performance was great. And I am a hugely over-critical of off-Broadway performances, they're ususally disappointing for me. This performance was not. Our next scheduled musical by DHT will be Gypsy.

Musson tells me that Bright is doing Miss Saigon (a family production of sorts-- with his usual crew), but I'm a little skeptical. May end up going, since I am starved for musical theatre. Musicals bring back all sorts of memories. Mostly of Rochelle, Michael, etc. Those were fun times.

Tnen went off on our usual Walmart expedition following any child-free outting. Was disappointed that I only spent $20 on necessities. It was not a good hunt.

Forgot to get on the computer last nite to set my lineup for football. Sucks! At least I was on earlier in the week to take off the people with byes! Oh, well. We'll just hope for the best. I did however watch the last 3 episodes of Bones (including the shocking season finale!). And this morning before blogging, I did manage to catch video of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in last nite's SNL sketch. I love her -- Tina Fey, not the person she was mocking.

My mood: good, but there's much to do, like start packing (we leave next week) and planning for C-Man's birthday!

Posted by Cora at 07:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watched the movie Who killed the electric car? today as I try to get rid of this cold. It was very enlightening and further fuels my outrage at our government and its leaders.

When I was preggers and needed to buy a car before C-Man arrived, I looked into buying a Prius, but the wait list for the vehicle was 8-months and he was due in 3, so I ended up with my too-small-gas-guzzling-but-still-cute car. My co-worker's husband is going to buy an electric car kit on the internet so that he can convert his VW into an electric car. That will be cool.

Gas is now $4.03.

Watch the movie. It's very interesting. The next documentaries on my list are Why we fight and Sicko. I don't know why I watch these things, they just make me so mad. Also have the new National Treasure movie to watch, so that will counter the boiling blood.

Posted by Cora at 03:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well it's finally over. I must say I was surprised with the results. At first I was thinking that Cowell must have made people mad with his comments on Tuesday, so they overvoted for DC instead of DA, but DC won by a huge number of votes, so I guess that's not the case. Yeah, the show is over and I can get on with my usual life of no television. I do this every year. Get sucked into the Idol drama. Aah, well... must have some guilty pleasures in life. After all, there are worse shows I could be addicted to.

My mood: tingly (my foot's asleep)

Posted by Cora at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watched 2 (sort of) movies this weekend:

Dan in real life was one of the worst movies ever. It's possible that it got better, but I couldn't get past the whole I'm-in-love-with-my-brother's-girlfriend-after-one-muffin-and-a-cup-of-coffee-so-I-think-I'll-be-an-asshole plotline. So I turned it off. It was not romantic, funny, charming, or feel-goody (as promised on the DVD box). I felt robbed of 30 minutes that could have been better spent washing my car.

Enchanted was enchanting. I loved the idea of fairy tale meets New York City. The parts were well cast. Amy Adams, James Marsden, and Patrick Dempsey were charming. Best scene: when she calls to her "animal friends" in NYC to help her clean. I loved the big musical number. The ending was very predictable as a fairy tale should be, and what else can one expect from the studio of Walt Disney? I thought Susan Sarandon would have a bigger role, but she was equally fabulous to Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew from HP movies). Okay, I even loved the chipmunk. The bus scene (from the previews) is just hilarious:
Prince Edward: [on top of the bus, stabs it thinking it's a dragon] The steel beast is dead peasants! I've set you all free!
Bus Driver: [gets off the bus and yells at Edward] Are you crazy? Nobody stabs my bus! I'll tear you apart! Do you hear me? You get down here right now!

********************************************************************************************
The rest of the weekend was spent shopping (back to Borders to buy more books for the library) and building bridges out of sticks and sand at the beach. Except for the work part, it was a great weekend.

Happy Boy's Day!

$3.75 Is how much I paid for gas today. $46.25 on about 3/4 tank. KK says she filled up her tank and it cost her $70.00. Yikers. If I didn't have a child, I'd buy a bus pass or an electric car (coincidentally the next movie I plan to see is Who killed the electric car?).

My mood: pillaged by an unnecessarily inflated economy and mad at Bush yet again (I blame him for everything, why the hell not?)

Posted by Cora at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is how I would describe my experience watching a local high school production of Cabaret.

I found the production extrememly offensive for several reasons:

1. As a parent, I was appalled at the dress of the cabaret girls. I mean, come on, I know they're cabaret girls, but for God's sake these are HIGH SCHOOL girls. I was shocked at their costumes with their butt cheeks hanging out and wiggling their butts at the audience. YIKES. Frankly, I found it to be quite disgusting and I am no prude.

2. I don't recall being a huge fan of the musical. I saw it once on video and didn't buy the soundtrack (I still have all my old musicals on CD). But I also don't recall Nazi's being glamorized in the movie. It seemed bizzare to me at the ending when the emcee comes out on stage and does the closing act, in which he salutes hitler and fr*ckin' huge swastikas (5 of them) on giant 6-foot banners drop down from the top of the stage, people start to applaud. WTF? Where the hell does one even get swastika banners that big in the first place??? Not only that, but if you were clueless about what REALLY happened to the Jews in Germany, there was no indication in the musical that the Nazis were BAD PEOPLE. All they show is a brick being thrown through a window and the old Jewish man leaving town. Seemed to convey that Berlin was a great place to be in and that if you were Jewish your troubles were minor. Nazi's were just a political party, like the Republicans.

3. By the time the musical ended I had a migraine. Besides the bad directing of the scenes to portray Nazis as "not that bad," something has got to be done about the sound in the auditorium. It was horrid. The people speaking/singing were barely audible or too loud. The mike on the lead female faded in and out throughout an entire scene (including her singing number) and I could barely understand them. Oh, and the singing was quite atrocious (granted they were high school students), except for the girl who played the German house frau.

Okay, I know I'm being way too harsh. I realize that these are high school kids and I applaud their efforts. I really blame the director of the musical. I just don't remember being so offended and disturbed at seeing any production. I love musicals. There was a time when this theatre used to be sold out, you had to park across the street from the school, and they used to hire police officers to direct traffic when it was through. We bought out tickets there that night and got row G. We could have sat in the front row if we wanted. It was pretty pathetic compared to how it was when I was a much younger person.

My mood: glad for the weekend, even though I have to work this afternoon.

Posted by Cora at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Still sick and meant to go to bed early, but was distracted by my new best friend --YouTube (watching the unaired pilot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- Real Willow is much better and OMG that dusting sucked)

My mood: spiffy

Posted by Cora at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't seen Veronica Mars (season 3) and yet I managed to watch Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

Posted by Cora at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lea Salonga has the voice of an angel. Her voice brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. If you ever get a chance to hear her sing, RUN and buy tickets. She's amazing. She also looked fabulous (not grungy like Eponine). This is my favorite Les Mis song (but I really love most of the songs) from the 10th anniversary concert.

My mood: great

Posted by Cora at 02:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Those 3 a.m. crisis ads are driving me crazy. I can't believe how well Hill did yesterday. Are those people crazy or are they so media driven that the ad actually made them change their minds? I guess sitting in the White House while your husband (the actual President) is off screwing around makes you qualified to run a free country. Is that what she meant by experienced? That she knows where the bathrooms are already? Oh, well, there's still a few states left... I withdraw my petty stabs at Hill. Too bad, I used to like the Clintons too...

My favorite performer last night was David C. I loved his version of Hello. I actually hate that song, but his version was fairly decent. My favorite is still David A. I think I prefer watching AI on Media Center because I can fast forward through all the added crap and just listen to the singing. And I can fast forward through Noriega. Yikes.

This is for C-Man. He keeps asking me to sing the song for Galactic Goodnight so here it is (this way I don't have to keep looking it up). It is sung to the tune Fur Elise:

Mercury is closest to the sun, Mercury is Planet one,
Then it's off to Venus it's Planet two, Venus, two, is where we flew,
Our home planet, Earth is Planet three, Sing with me the Earth is three,
After Earth is Mars is Planet four, Right next door is planet four,
Big Jupiter is number five, Just a short drive from Saturn six,
Saturn is six!
Uranus is seven, it looks blue,
Neptune, eight looks that way ,too.
Last not least, is Pluto, Number nine, Last in line is Pluto, nine!
(of course, this was written before Pluto was demoted)

Hot Links:
Hill vs. Obama
-The Swamp says Clinton ad: Who should take 3 am crisis call?
-Barak's Ad on YouTube
-My favorite Spoof on YouTube

David C on AI

Off to work...

My mood: good

Posted by Cora at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, sis. I have to agree with you and Paula about David A. My first impression of him was that if we went to high school together, he would definitely be crush-worthy. Of course, I'm old now so my impression is --What a doll. I agreed with Paula. I want to squish him, squeeze off his head and dangle him from my rear-view mirror too. He's such a cutie and what a voice. If he doesn't win, I don't think I'll watch the show any more. Sort of reminds me of Michael I-have-a-cute-boyfriend-who-can-really-sing (okay, forget about the but-now-he's-gay part). Anyway, my other picks are David H, Jason, Luke and Michael.

My mood: good

Posted by Cora at 09:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonite was our annual Oscar Party. Picking winners was like gambling in Vegas. I've only seen a handful of movies (maybe 3 of them) that were nominated. We decided next year that our goal was to see every movie in a single category. You might think Best Picture, right? No way. Too much drama. I'll go for Best Editing or Sound Effects or Special Effects or Costume or Original Screenplay. Can't decide right now, but definitely something fun.

Watched the first round of American Idol. I know, I know... What am I doing? Sucked into the drama, I can't help it, guilty pleasure and no calories-- just loss of brain cells which is no big deal, they're dying anyway. There are a few people that aren't very good, but I can't really judge by one song. I have a preliminary list of the people I think will be in the top 10, but I'll keep it to myself for now. There are a couple of cuties on this season, very young.

I need a vacation to recover from my weekend. I should probably try to sleep. Back to regular work weeks and no vacations to look forward to until October (Booked our tickets for Disneyland. Yeah! That's finalized and out of the way). Maybe a weekend on the neighbor island.

My mood: awake, breathing, and clean

Posted by Cora at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Have started to read Buffy, season 8. Ex-hub was right in that the Whedon wit that I love does not translate well to pen and paper. The one-liners are there, but not as effective. Not sure what's going on, it's sort of like watching Buffy with lots of interruptions. I'm already lost and on part 4, not sure what's going on w/Buf & Xander or why his head fell off, did I miss something? The whole Amy thing is weird too. And what's his face w/o the skin. Hmmm, Am confused. Only on the first volume. Am not a graphic novel person, so we'll see how far we get.

Going to rewatch the entire Buffy and Angel series. That should take me a few months. The problem is that C-Man is so niele that I can't watch it when he's awake. So it's good for those nights and mornings that sleep escapes me.

This morning, I'm watched What dreams may come.

Yesterday, C-Man and I went to the beach. It was a beautiful day.

My mood: itchy

Posted by Cora at 06:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Went to see Juno with MO yesterday. Last week we went to see the Tyler Perry movie "Why did I get married?" and left after 2 minutes thinking "Why did we go to that movie?" Not a tragedy, since we only paid $2 to see it (gotta love the $1 theater).

Juno was fun and the dialogue was reminiscent of Joss Whedon or at the very least Veronica Mars. I loved the music and will probably iTune it. Ellen Page is a fabulous young actress. According to my movie bible, IMDB, she's been in over 20 films, none of which I've seen (which is not surprising, I haven't been watching too many films lately). She's incredibly young (or I'm getting old), she was born the year MO graduated from high school (or maybe he's getting old... and I'm following a close second). Yikes! Anyway, I loved the entire cast. They were all great. I wish they had shown more history behind her relationship with Bleeker. It might have been more helpful in convincing me at the end, of course, I am the cynic when it comes to teenage love (though I shouldn't be, considering my current relationship). Don't want to spoil it for anyone, so I won't go into the details of the movie, if you want to know what happens, I suggest you watch it and find out. You'll fall in love with Juno too.

Cool Link: Juno

I know, I know, pack woman, pack...

Posted by Cora at 06:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Went to see Juno with MO yesterday. Last week we went to see the Tyler Perry movie "Why did I get married?" and left after 2 minutes thinking "Why did we go to that movie?" Not a tragedy, since we only paid $2 to see it (gotta love the $1 theater).

Juno was fun and the dialogue was reminiscent of Joss Whedon or at the very least Veronica Mars. I loved the music and will probably iTune it. Ellen Page is a fabulous young actress. According to my movie bible, IMDB, she's been in over 20 films, none of which I've seen (which is not surprising, I haven't been watching too many films lately). She's incredibly young (or I'm getting old), she was born the year MO graduated from high school (or maybe he's getting old... and I'm following a close second). Yikes! Anyway, I loved the entire cast. They were all great. I wish they had shown more history behind her relationship with Bleeker. It might have been more helpful in convincing me at the end, of course, I am the cynic when it comes to teenage love (though I shouldn't be, considering my current relationship). Don't want to spoil it for anyone, so I won't go into the details of the movie, if you want to know what happens, I suggest you watch it and find out. You'll fall in love with Juno too.

Cool Link: Juno

I know, I know, pack woman, pack...

Posted by Cora at 06:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Life... it's all about the journey, but how the hell did I get here?

Read a book a few months ago about clutter. Some people hold on to clutter because they attach the memories to the object. According to the book, your memories are in you, not in the object. Well I beg to differ. I spent a good part of my evening tossing clutter and I came upon a plastic baggie filled with ticket stubs for various events I attended dating 1988 - 2002. There was about a 5" stack of movie stubs dating back to 1988! And ticket stubs from various events. When glancing through the stubs it was like reliving my past, and someone else's. I don't remember many of those movies or even some of the events. So before I retire them to the energy creating H-Power plant, here's one for the memory books.

Movie stubs: I didn't go through the whole pile, but the earliest ticket I found was dated 03/19/88 for Masquerade. What the hell movie was that? I don't even have a clue and am too lazy to look it up on IMDB. It was playing at Pearlridge West and the ticket price was $5.00. Also found a bunch from 1989: Back to the future (dunno which one), D. Liasons, Star Trek, Shag, The Abyss, and Naked Gun.

Local theatre performances: I don't even remember seeing Can Can, but I did in 1994. Hmmmm. There were lots for Castle Theatre and various others for Diamond Head, Kennedy, & Mid Pac. Oh, and a stub for a 1988 performance of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which was when I first met Mike, who would end up being my boyfriend 3 years later. He had an amazing voice. I hear that he moved to New York and has a boyfriend now. Figures... I also found a ticket stub for a May 1998 Iona Pear Dance Theatre which may have been the first time I went out with the ex outside of work, that was 3 months before we started sort-of dating and 6 months before he became an official boyfriend.

Broadway performances & music concerts:
March 11 1985: U2 - my first concert, I was in section AA, Row 12, seat 9! I touched Bono's hand! I haven't washed my hand since that day...
1986: Julian Lennon $12 (for Sis), A-ha $16 (I can't believe how cheap they were back then)
1988: INXS, George Michael
No date: Midnight Oil
1990: Bolshoi Ballet, Johnny Mathis (I think I went to these with a boyfriend and his parents)
1991: Harry Connick Jr.
1993: Phantom of the Opera
1994: Cats
1995: Grease (Jon Secada was Danny)
1996: Les Miserables, Stomp
1997: Bernadette Peters
1998: David Copperfield (Yes, Kathy we did go to see David apparently), Natalie Merchant
1999: Kenny Endo, the Flying Karamazov Brothers
2002: Ahn Trio, Journey, No Doubt
And a bunch of Kanikapilas, Blue Hawaiian Music Festival, UH football and baseball games, a Honolulu Sharks game, and other local concerts. I know there were more than that, but I guess that's all I managed to save. Gee, think that was enough?

Nothing from 2002 on, guess I decided that I didn't need to save them anymore. So looks like 2002-now is just a blank. I did see Lion King this year. And I have no stubs from the musicals and shows that I've seen on the mainland (I think I saw one every day I was in New York, Les Mis in San Francisco(?), and I remember seeing Chicago in Seattle). My mind is drawing a big fat zero on anything else.

My mood: lighter

Posted by Cora at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have fond memories of going out to watch movies. I used to be an avid moviegoer B.C. (before C-Man).

I am so looking forward to the day when C-Man can sit through and watch a whole movie with me. Then I might be able to return to the movie theaters again. Aah, the bliss of paying way too much to walk through sticky aisles, sit on some unidentifiable and unnervingly stained seat and the scent of stale popcorn brings a certain joy that only modern American entertainment can provide. All uncertainties vanish once the lights dim and that familiar sound of the conch shell of Consolidated theaters bellows over the speakers and you are whisked away to another realm for anywhere from 90 to 180 minutes. Of course, I think that day’s a long way coming. He won’t even watch Finding Nemo or Toy Story because they’re too scary. Or the other possibility is if I ever date again. The chances of either happening anytime soon are slim to none.

Because my mind is a hole of oblivion, I made a list of upcoming movies I want to see someday (probably on DVD):

Enchanted- cute and mindless fun.

Beowulf- tried to reread this one earlier this year in German w/English on the next page, but failed miserably. Settled for the graphic novel instead, but all I got was a stupid fine for returning the book late (I know, what kind of librarian am I?). I look forward to this movie version, despite the lukewarm reviews.

Love in the time of cholera –finally broke down and bought the damn book since I can’t seem to get my hands on a library copy since Oprah made it one of her books (my copy is lost). Only finished half so far. Have not had a chance to read again since the weather has been dreary and I can't find the book anywhere (I think it's at work now).

I am legend – will make an some attempt to see this one at the theater. Will Smith is brilliant and oh, so sexy.

Sweeney Todd- I love musicals. Okay, I love live musicals, movie ones are so-so.

Juno- looks witty and like something I’d like to watch.

Grace is gone- can’t do this one in the theater. Will wait for DVD, need box of tissue.

National treasure: book of secrets- liked the first movie. I love the whole genre of religious/historical/secret society thrillers.

Be kind rewind- Sounds hilarious. Sis: you probably hates Jack Black too since you hate Will Ferrell, but come on, you have to admit that Blades of Glory was pure genius.

My mood: tired, need to wake up early to catch a plane

Posted by Cora at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I guess the curse is lifted for good. Well Boston's certainly thrilled. Another season come and gone. Aah, maybe next year we can catch a pre-season game. It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of the all-American indulgence of professional sports. There's just something about sitting in a ballpark that can make you feel like all is right in the world (although it helps if your team is having a good day).

Lion King was spectacular (at least the parts I saw). We had lunch at P.F. Chang before the LK and the food was MSGabulous. The best part was, of course, dessert. There was a Banana Spring Roll which came with a pina colada ice cream. The rolls were drizzled with a caramel and vanilla sauce. It was warm and heavenly as most desserts should be. Will go back, just for that. Anyway, by the time we got to LK, I was full, it was the afternoon and the venue was cool, comfortable and the music soothing enough to lull me into an inevitable snooze. I did catch the very beginning with the presentation of Simba. I awoke during the stampede. So I guess I missed a large chunk of the show. No matter, the costumes alone were worth the exorbitant cost. It was not my favorite show, but I will be glad to say that I did see it.

Had the pleasure of lunch with a certain ESL teacher this afternoon. We went to a quaint cafe downtown after my interviews. It was a nice way to unwind. Food was good. Company was better.

My mood: sunny

Posted by Cora at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)