it's not life that matters but the journey...

Hi - I think I mentioned awhile back that I help put together a semi-monthly newsletter for my team at work - it's mostly just fun stuff like movie suggestions, crafts, facts about holidays, recipes and other fun ideas.

I'm in charge of the media section and the creative corner (arts, crafts, etc.), and our theme for February, of course, is Valentine's Day.

I'm not much of a fan of romantic movies (in fact, I don't like romantic comedies much at all), yet I want to come up with a list of good movie suggestions for Valentine's Day.
So that's where my friends come in:

Please post a comment with your favorite romantic movies, or the best movies you can suggest for Valentine's Day. These can even be anti-Valentine's Day movies (one that comes to mind is War of the Roses with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner), for those who hate the holiday! Whatever you can suggest would be great!

Also, if you're a crafty person, can you suggest any fun craft ideas for Valentine's Day - not necessarily for kids, but for anyone?

Thanks in advance!!!

Sunday night 8:45. Another weekend has bitten the dust. It wasn't a bad weekend, nor a very exciting one. Almost the same as usual. Friday night I watched a bunch of tv shows and drank some wine. Saturday I chatted on the phone with my mom for an hour, and my sister for an hour; and I also texted on Facebook with my friend Joie in Sacramento for almost an hour!
I had two private adult lessons - one in the morning and one after lunch -- and in the afternoon I went for an hour-long walk, which felt so good! The weather Saturday was nearly spring-like - I didn't even need a coat. After my walk, I watched the newest Supernatural , which I found to be quite - Interesting - for lack of a better word! ( my thoughts under the cut - for possible spoilers )

Saturday night I ended up watching The Social Network . My sister had mentioned wanting to see it when we talked on the phone - and I admit I've been curious about it too - and I have wanted to know what the buzz is all about ever since it won Best Picture at the Golden Globes. I had intended to just watch a little bit of it to see what it was like - because I really didn't expect to like it. However, once I started watching, I was totally and completely engrossed. ( my thoughts, here )

Well I think I had more to write about, but this has become an epic post. It's now 9:48 and I have to work tomorrow. so good night... and hope everyone had a good weekend, wherever you are.

While I'm waiting for some shows to download, I thought I'd do a quick post. My computer is quickly starting to overheat, so this may be brief...

The weather continues to be hot here. Next week is the first of October - isn't summer supposed to be over? Sometimes I feel like I'm being tested way beyond my limits of patience and perseverance. And I'm starting to crave foods that I can't get here in Fuji - foods like fish and chips, and ravioli, and lasagna and Thai and Indian food...

It's pretty easy to see that if I start to make lists of the pros and cons of living in Japan, the cons far outweigh the pros... of course at the moment, the pros are having both income and health insurance - things that I will lose the instant that I return to the U.S.

but I'm not here to bore you with my problems and my complaints. I'm here to discuss something far more shallow (but fun): TV and Movies!

First TV. I'm patiently waiting for all my favorite shows to start, meanwhile catching up on White Collar (which apparently is on hiatus until January), and watching the first season of Legend of the Seeker . And since I was bored, and caught up on most everything else, I finally watched the first episode of Chuck last night, and I'm already hooked! I know - I'm very very late to the party! But now I see why this show is so popular - it's brilliant!

And of course all my shows are starting at exactly the same time that I'm returning to work - which means that when I am home I will not only be making lesson plans, but downloading and watching about 5 shows a week, plus trying to watch the first three seasons of Chuck . But since I have no life, then I can live vicariously through my shows...

And now to movies. Of course being here in Fuji, I can't watch movies in real life either. I'm resigned to watching them when they have been released on DVD or somehow finding a download (usually some terrible cam version) on the internet. I'm still waiting for a decent download of Inception since I didn't manage to see it in the theater when I visited the U.S. this summer. I've been interested in some of the movies that are coming out soon, especially the following:

The Fighter - starring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg (and Amy Adams, who I adore). This looks really amazing, especially since Christian Bale supposedly lost a bunch of weight to prepare for the role (just like he did for The Machinist ), proving what an amazing method actor he can be!



Love and Other Drugs - starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway
It's a romantic comedy about the pharmaceutical industry (apparently Jake's selling Viagra!), and it looks a bit cheesy I admit... but Jake looks adorable. And it's good to see him with Anne Hathaway again (they were together awhile back in Brokeback Mountain). She's always a pleasure to watch.



The Tourist - with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie
I have to admit, I'm against this movie in so many ways, but I will still be intrigued to see it. First, I don't like Angelina Jolie. I'm sorry but she just bugs me, even if she has proven to be a good actress. I can't see her and Johnny Depp together in any way, shape or form - and especially not romantically. And second, Johnny has definitely seen better days - he is starting to look far too eccentric and haggard for my taste. Third, this movie just seems to be so unoriginal - it's definitely a rip off of North By Northwest and Silver Streak - both of which are about a man who meets a beautiful stranger on a train (or elsewhere), and who get mistaken for someone else and then have bad guys after them. It's been done before. I just wonder how good Johnny is at playing a plain old regular guy.



And finally, I'm very interested to see Woody Allen's new film called You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - it stars Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin. Woody continues to make quirky and original films even into his 70s, and I will always be a fan!
This one again deals with marriage, infidelity and divorce - territories Woody has dealt with often. But for fans, I'm sure it will be fun! (oh and it also has Antonio Banderas and Frieda Pinto - very interesting!)




Thanks for indulging me and sorry for all the clutter on your friend's pages... hope you enjoyed those trailers though.

I'm off now - gotta turn off my computer before it spontaneously goes up in flames!

Comment with “SHOWTIME!” and I will give you five actors and five actresses. Then post in your journal what your favorite film of theirs is and why.

winterdahlia gave me a very good list of actors and actresses, and she probably never expected me to spend nearly two days working on my answers. They turned out to be quite lengthy (I even went back and edited a bit to make them shorter), but I just love stuff like this.

So I hope you enjoy!

Here's my list:

ACTORS
Al Pacino
Cillian Murphy
Ewan McGregor
Jake Gyllenhaal
Johnny Depp

ACTRESSES
Cate Blanchett
Jennifer Aniston
Kate Winslet
Reese Witherspoon
Scarlett Johansson

Answers below ( this here CUT... ACTION )

Do play along if you wish.

in my effort to avoid all of the important things in life (exercise, studying, writing), I've been reading too much stuff on the internet. for all you Johnny Depp fans out there, I found this video slideshow of his adventures in gender-bending through the years. I've always loved him, and seeing all these clips makes me realize what a talented actor he really is. I haven't seen the movie Before Night Falls (though it was on my Netflix queue for about a year before I left the country). The only one of these I didn't like was Willy Wonka - Johnny went way over the top on that one, and his performance gave me nightmares! and of course on this slideshow they didn't include some of my favorite of his performances, like Donnie Brasco, Dead Man, Gilbert Grape, and Benny and Joon... (but I guess those were not considered "gender-bending"?)

I've decided that I don't want to see the new Alice movie. I'm sure that the whole cast is good in it, and I'm sure that visually it's very stunning... but I read this review on Slate's website, and it sounds like Tim Burton is taking WAYYY too many liberties with the story. I'm a purist - I can't see why people can't make movie adaptations that even slightly resemble the story, especially when you're dealing with something as classic as Lewis Carroll! And why make the Mad Hatter a love interest for Alice? there wasn't the slightest hint of that in the book.

I'm not trying to sound like a snob, but I wrote a paper on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in college. I really loved everything about those stories! It's like seeing the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet - or any of these modern adaptations of Shakespeare. they don't work for me.

I know many people will disagree with me about this, but film adaptations work only when they stay true to the original author's vision. Why else do we want to see the film except to see a broader view of what we've read and loved?

anyway, that's enough of my soapbox. I'm back to staring at katakana and kanji and wondering if I'll ever learn Japanese well enough...

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, post to your LJ and paste this as a note. Then, put +'s next to the films you've seen, add them up, and use your number as the header.

( cut for list )

note: I found this to be a very strange list of films, and had it been better films, my number would have been much higher. I would love to know who compiled this list, and why these films??... there doesn't even seem to be much logic to the order they're listed in... but anyway, I was curious, and I guess it's true confirmation that I have no life. oh dear!

I haven't really posted my thoughts on the Oscars, except in my thedailyactor community. So here goes: Overall, I thought the show was pretty good, though the awards were more often than not predictable, and the song and dance numbers were incredibly silly. Don't get me wrong - I love Hugh Jackman, and as host he was charming, gorgeous, funny and entertaining. But please - Beyonce, Zak Efron, Vanessa Hudgens??? why did we have to see them? and why was Miley Cyrus getting so much attention at the pre-Oscar red carpet shows?? Can she please go away?? Forever!!

Highlights of the show for me: the speeches by Heath's family (started me getting emotional), Kate's acceptance speech (she had me in tears - she's class personified - and wasn't her Dad adorable!?), Sean's acceptance speech (again had me laughing and crying - of course I also wanted Mickey Rourke and Frank Langella to win - a three-way tie would have been nice!), the acceptance speech by the Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (had me in tears too - he's so adorable), the little "performance" by tightrope walker Philippe Petit when the filmmakers accepted their award for best documentary Man on Wire (I can't wait to see that movie), and of course seeing all the adorable kids and the whole cast up there for Slumdog Millionaire ! I'm so happy for Danny Boyle and all the winners for that awesome film.

and now I still need to see Frost/Nixon - and I really want to see the Japanese movie that won for best foreign language film Okuribito (aka Departures). I have no idea when it will be out on DVD. But just read this synopsis - it sounds so good: (from imdb) Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of "Nokanshi," acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living. .

I'm sitting here watching the pre-oscar show and enjoying the gorgeous people - Marisa Tomei is so cute, and unbelievable that she's older than me and looks so hot! and Frank Langella, yummy for an old man! and I saw all the kids and the cast from Slumdog - so exciting to see them Meryl Streep looks gorgeous! Haven't seen Kate yet, but I saw Josh Brolin - he looks great too! And Sean Penn is there with Robin Wright - guess they are still friends, how sweet! I'm much more excited for the Oscars tonight since I saw two more movies this weekend, actually three, which have nominations!

Yesterday morning, I watched The Reader , and I thought it was a beautifully filmed, beautifully acted, and a very interesting story.

( more here )

In the afternoon yesterday I watched The Visitor , and I have to say, I enjoyed this film even more than The Reader .

( more here )

Today I watched Milk finally, and I loved it!

( more here )

well it's almost time to go and watch the awards. can't wait to see Hugh Jackman, though I'm not so keen on the musical numbers they are promising with Zak Efron and what's her name from High School Musical. and Peter Gabriel refused to perform his song from Wall-E because they limited him to 1 1/2 minutes. for a 6-minute song! oh well... the music is all medleys anyway. and it's part of the whole night - parts will be great and parts will be boring... so on with the show!

I have some very good news: My sister gave birth to a baby girl yesterday morning in Seattle.
My new niece, Shannon Dayle Dixon, weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces, and measured 19 inches long. Baby and mother are both perfectly healthy, and will be released from the hospital tomorrow morning. My mom and dad are staying with my sister and her family for the rest of the weekend.

I had meant to post about my niece yesterday, but my boss worked me like a slave, and then I had class until 9:00 so I was just dead by the time I got home!

So better late than never, please join me in welcoming little Shannon Dayle into the world! Pictures will be posted when (or more like IF) I get some from my relatives!!

thank goodness it's the weekend again!!

I've got so many movies to watch - one netflix dvd at home, which I believe is the James Dean biopic with my honey James Franco; three movies that I've downloaded, including The Reader which I'm gonna have to watch before Sunday night's Oscars; and I've just realized that I can watch The Visitor on instant play through Netflix. that one's got an oscar-nominated lead actor, Richard Jenkins - and I've heard the movie is quite good.

Problem is, I'm so damn tired that I can't even see straight. so I guess I'll toddle off to bed early, sleep a bit, and get up early and watch a movie or two...

then tomorrow night we're going to a church fundraiser at which my husband is playing with his band. free food and good live music - not bad!!


more later, when I'm not falling asleep on my keyboard...zzzzzzzzzzz

this has been a pretty uneventful weekend, as usual. Yesterday I went to the optometrist for my biannual exam and to get some new glasses. every time I go I realize my eyes are getting worse - and since I have full vision only in one eye, it's kind of imperative I take good care of it. I have a discount on exam and glasses, but still spent more than $300 for everything. but it is a necessity. Unfortunately, after the appointment, I had such a major headache (probably from all the drops and the dilation) I spent the afternoon resting my eyes. My husband had a gig last night in a suburb really far south, about 45 miles away, so I just decided to stay home and rest - I had absolutely no energy to go out - it's amazing how debilitating a headache can be. So I ended up watching three movies!!

In the late afternoon I turned on the television and started watching a movie on the Encore mystery channel called Fear X . ( more )

After this movie ended, I was cooking dinner and another movie started on the same channel, a movie called The Messengers with Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller. ( more on this movie )

The best movie I watched was the one I rented from Netflix. Yay I finally rented a good movie! It is called Death at a Funeral and it was one of the most clever and hilarious films I've seen in awhile. ( more )

I never did write reviews of the other films I watched a couple weeks ago which were Cassandra's Dream , the Woody Allen film with Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor, and Pineapple Express . ( cut for more reviews )

Well that's my movie reviews. Wow I'm tired. and I never did read my textbook this weekend and I have about 90 pages to read - but at least I have until Thursday. It's time for bed now - if the stupid kid downstairs would just turn down his music!!

hope everyone had a great weekend!