"Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it's because they sat there that they were able to do it."

The good news is, I found a job. The bad news is, it is only part-time and is not in the field I want to be in, so it is not permanent. It also means I have less time for movie and TV watching :o) If only Bradley Cooper would realize that I am the girl for him, then we could get married and I would not have to work and I could just watch movies all day. Until then, my job search continues...


I saw When In Rome Friday afternoon and I thought it was super cute. Going in, knowing that it was a Disney movie, I was not expecting anything spectucular and it was a little cheesy, but overall I liked it. Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel were really funny and I liked their chemistry. I also thought Dax Shepherd's character was funny, however, the other characters played by Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Danny DeVito were a little cheesy/creepy. It was worth seeing, but definitely not the best romantic comedy that I have seen.

The latest news on the Veronica Mars movie is that creator Rob Thomas has pitched his idea to Warner Brothers but they do not feel that a movie would do well at this time. Kristen Bell has been saying in interviews and on twitter (@IMKristenBell) that if When In Rome does well it will hopefully show the studio that she can carry a movie. I also feel like since Veronica Mars has been cancelled, it has gained a lot of fans and that the already existing fan base would make it a huge hit. I am a little biased as I would LOVE a VM movie, but still, sometimes I think the studios are out of touch with their audience.

I FINALLY saw Up In The Air, which was excellent. It is a movie about a guy who spends 250 days of the year travelling around the country firing people. There is obviously more to it than that, but as someone who was recently let go from her job, that aspect of the movie was a little surreal. My favorite part is actually when George Clooney is telling Anna Kendrick the fastest way to get through airport security. He says, "Never get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em."

This is not that scene, but it is another good one:


The whole movie was very well done and George Clooney was amazing, as usual. I also have to say that, Anna Kendrick's acting skills are definitely not getting put to good use in the Twilight movies. She should be playing a much bigger role than just one of Bella's high school friends. She should have been Bella. If it were not for Mo'nique's amazing performance in Precious, I would say Anna should win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

I also finally got Angels & Demons from Netflix. I saw The DaVinci Code in theaters, but was unimpressed so I was not in a big hurry to see Angels & Demons. Although, I had read the book, so I did want to see it eventually. As a person of faith, I always found Angels & Demons to be a more interesting read than The DaVinci Code. Apparently that is also true of the movies because I did not think that The DaVinci Code movie was very good at all. I thought that Angels & Demons was very well done and much easier to follow than its prequel. Interestingly, the book Angels & Demons was written after The DaVinci Code, but chronologically took place before. In the movie though, they implied at the beginning that Angels & Demons took place after the occurrences in The DaVinci Code. Anyways, if you too did not see the second movie because you did not like the first, then I suggest you give it a try because it was much, much better.

I also had no interest in seeing Bright Star in the theater, but it was getting such good reviews that I thought I should watch it. However, I thought it was just alright. The story of writer John Keats and his three-year romance with Fanny Brawne was interesting and the acting was good, but there was something about the movie that threw me off. For instance, there was never any indication of time. By that I mean, some times it went day-to-day and sometimes many days or months would pass and you never knew when that happened. It just felt kind of abrupt and choppy at times.

Last on my list for this posting is Wonder Boys. Although, it was not quite what I was expecting, I thought that it was pretty good. I was expecting it to be more about a professor who is having trouble writing his second novel and forms and odd relationship with one of his students. And while, that was, I suppose, the main plot of the movie, it had more to do with the crazy circumstances that happen over a few days. Michael Douglas is the pot smoking professor who is having an affair with the dean's wife, and Topher Grace plays the quirky student. It also stars Robert Downey, Jr. who was hilarious as a gay, book editor who shows up with a transvesite that he picked up on the plane. Like I said, it was not really what I was expecting, so it took me a while to get into the movie, but I eventually found it to be quite entertaining.

Also this week, Oscar nominations were announced. There were not really any surprises, except that Up was nominated for Best Picture. Which was not really a surpise so much as, I just disagree with the choice. I have already expressed my feelings on that movie. Here is the full list for your viewing pleasure: http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees

I hope that everyone is staying warm and that if you live in the east coast you have a few good movies at home to watch when we all get snowed in this weekend :o)

xoxo
c

ps. Haiti still needs our help, so if you have not done so already, please consider donating. Here are some of my choices:

Hope For Haiti Now
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
UNICEF
StillerStrong

Veronica Mars is smarter than me.

So, I've already told you how I found my favorite actor, Ryan Gosling. Now it's time to talk about my favorite actress, Kristen Bell.

I had seen her in the one episode of American Dreams that she did in 2003, but had no idea who she was at the time.

Then, about three and half years ago, I was visiting some high school friends in New York City. They had started watching this new show called Veronica Mars on UPN and said it was awesome. It was the middle of the second season and they had the first season on DVD. I watched the first episode, really liked it and by the end of the weekend, had watched the first four episodes and could not wait to watch the rest of the season.

I came home from NYC and literally drove all over town looking for the DVDs. None of my local rental places had it and neither did the two Border's or the Barnes and Noble near my apartment. Defeated, I went home and ordered it online. When I got it in the mail, I watched the entire season within a matter of days...and then proceeded to watch the whole thing at least two more times.

UPN was in the middle of airing the second season and at first I was not going to watch it because I had no idea what was going on. Then I found the website marsinvestigations.net and it gave awesome episode summaries. It also had character descriptions (even for the obscure people who were only in one episode), a time line of events, quotes from every episode, cultural references, mystery speculation and much much more. This is probably the best fan site I've ever seen, and I was soon brought up to speed on what was happening in season two.

Unfortunately, even though it was a brilliant show with an amazing cast (I heart Sheriff Lamb), it was canceled after the third season due to lack of viewers. There is a very slight possibility that they will make a movie, but it's not looking too good at the moment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though that Warner Bros will do the right thing (wink wink, nudge nudge).

The creator of Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas, has a new show called Party Down, which she has guest starred on, and is about a group of aspiring actors who move to L.A. and end up working as waiters. Sadly, I don't get Showtime and have not yet seen it. Although, I have heard very good things about it, and plan to watch it when it comes out on DVD. I mean, how can you go wrong when the main cast includes Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, Jane Lynch, Adam Scott and Lizzy Caplan?! Most people (at least my friends) are probably going, "Who are those people?" But if you check them out on imdb.com you should recognize at least a few of them...because they're awesome.

But I digress....

After becoming hooked on Veronica Mars, I watched her in Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical which is an awesomely hilarious adaptation of a 1920's anti-marijuana propaganda film. It also starred Neve Campbell and her brother, Christian, as well as, Steven Weber, Alan Cummings and Ana Gasteyer. This actually came out during the first season of Veronica Mars but I don't think it was ever in theaters...or at least only in limited release.

She was hilarious in Forgetting Sarah Marshall which was written by and starred Jason Segel as well as Mila Kunis and Russell Brand. And, of course, every fan boy needs to see Fanboys :o) She's also the voice of Gossip Girl, which I love, and was on Heroes for a short while. I was already watching Heroes when she joined the cast, however, I was starting to lose interest and actually stopped watching before she left the show.

I've also seen Fifty Pills and Pulse and then the few things I have not seen are in my Netflix queue...of course :o)

The next couple movies she has coming out are:

Astro Boy - an animated film about a young robot (voiced by Freddie Highmore) created by a scientist in the image of the son he has lost.

Serious Moonlight - written by Adrienne Shelley (who wrote Waitress) and directed by Cheryl Hines. It's about an attorney who duct tapes her cheating husband to the toilet just before their home is invaded by burglars. It also stars Justin Long and Meg Ryan and should be out at the end of the year.

Couples Retreat - written by Vince Vaugn and Jon Favreau. A comedy about four couples who go on vacation together and, while one couple is there to work on their marriage, the other three don't realize that the resort's therapy sessions are not optional. It stars Vaugn and Favreau along with Jason Bateman, Malin Akerman and Kristin Davis.




When In Rome - She plays a talented real estate agent who is unlucky in love. She travels to Rome to visit her sister and steals some coins from a supposed "fountain of love" and is consequently pursued by a band of wannabe lovers, including Josh Duhamel (not too shabby if you ask me).


When Veronica Mars ended her career totally took off. Which made me a little sad only because I feel like if people had been paying better attention, they would have discovered her earlier and VM would still be on. But I am glad that people are noticing her now because she's an amazing actress and, though I don't know her personally, I really do believe she deserves all the attention and success.

Now if only Kristen Bell and Ryan Gosling would do a movie together...

xoxo
c

ps. i started using the "xoxo" to sign all of my emails thanks to Gossip Girl