First Post of 2010

I don't really have any amazing things to say today. Just didn't want to let the first week of 2010 go by without posting. So here are a few misc. thoughts.

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I saw Avatar last Friday at the theater. It was visually amazing and you'd think that it just being visually amazing wouldn't count for much but it DID! It was so awe-inspiring just to sit there and watch the blue people running around and talking through the beautiful world. I was fascinated watching the blue people and all the creatures created for the Pandora eco-system. *sigh* It was just SO COOL!!!

On the downside, Avatar was (of course) riddled with propaganda. It reminded me of the Disney version of "Pocahantas" [correct spelling?]--evil men come to a place where "savages" live in search of an extremely expensive mineral, a native and the only non-evil man fall in love but there are obstacles for their love due to the differences their peoples have. Also, don't forget that the natives seem to worship everything around them or at least think they're all equal. And the evil military guy just seemed like a 2D character--pure macho-evilness!

So I definitely disagreed with the politics of the movie but Sam Worthington is adorable and it was visually appealing so...I'm conflicted.

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I guess this post is going to be about movies because I'm not going to list the movies I want to see.

-The Young Victoria--who knew that a movie could exist in which a husband and wife love each other dearly? Definitely something I want to witness so I can tell my children about. "Yes, Promise (possible name for my future daughter), there was once a movie in which a husband and wife loved each other very much and weren't having affairs!" This is groundbreaking stuff. ;)

-Surrogates--I love sci-fi!

-Daybreakers--I admit that it's yet another vampire movie but I still want to see it!

-The Lovely Bones--Looks very interesting--plus, Peter Jackson is doing it so I must watch it!

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Happy New Year, Everyone!

It might be lame but...

I want to see this movie! It's called "Seventeen Again" and it stars Zac Efron from the High School Musical movies. Despite the fact that he's in those movies, I think he's pretty cute and in the trailer he definitely looks like a better actor. :) Maybe it's just me.

Plus, I love movies where they do stuff like this [a 37 year old goes back to being 17 or a mom and daughter switch bodies]. I know it might sound weird but I find myself pondering those movies.

Anyways, the movie might turn out to be lame but I'd like to see it anyway. Here's the trailer.

Ooh! A movie

You've probably guessed what movie I'll be talking about today...PENELOPE!!! I've been wanting to see this movie for a long time and finally saw it this weekend.

It's about a rich girl [Penelope] who, due to a family curse, was born with a pig nose and pig ears. In order to break the curse she has to find love with "one of her own kind". When she's old enough, her mother hires a matchmaker and they start the impossible task of trying to wed her to a "blue-blood".

Men are brought into a room where Penelope talks to them through a one-way window or mirror or whatever it's called. All the men end up jumping out of windows when they finally meet her--that is until Max [played by the wonderful James McAvoy--as seen in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" and "Becoming Jane"]. Max seems to like her but refuses to marry her.

That night Penelope runs away [she's been kept hidden in her family's mansion since her mother decided to fake her death so the reporters would stop hounding the girl] to get out in the world. She goes to a bar where she gets PRETTY loopy and meets Annie [Reese Witherspoon].

(That's the only reason someone might not want to go see this movie--there are a couple scenes in bars, though nothing crazy is happening. Max is shown gambling repeatedly, though he does stop becase of Penelope--see we CAN change them! This movie is rated PG but I don't remember any bad words in it. It's probably one of the cleanest movies you'll find that isn't a cartoon.)

Anyways, it's a really sweet, fun movie. I liked it. James McAvoy, as always, is very dashing and you can't help but love him! Christina Ricci's character s very sweet and likable. The woman who plays Penelope's mom [Catherine O'Hara] is hilarious and would not be the mom I'd want if I had a pig nose. That leads me to another point--who knew a girl could look so cute with a pig nose?

I give this movie a big two thumbs up!

Cast:

Penelope...Christina Ricci [I've never seen her before.]

Max...James McAvoy ["the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", "Becoming Jane"--you may also have seen him in "Atonement" and "Wanted" with Angelina Jolie. I've seen neither of the last two movies mentioned above.]

Annie...Reese Witherspoon ["Walk the Line"]

Lemon...Peter Dinklage [you may have seen him in Prince Caspian as Trumpkin the dwarf]

Edward Humphrey Vanderman III...Simon Woods ["Pride & Prejudice" as Mr. Bingley--he even looks great WITHOUT the red hair!]

In the Name of the King

Wow. [<--in this case, it's not a good "wow".] I watched "In the Name of the King" Sunday and...I wasn't really impressed. I think the funniest thing was near the beginning. There's this dark stuff at the beginning and then all the sudden--hobbiton music and a father and son doing stuff in their garden! Okay, it wasn't the EXACT hobbiton theme from Lord of the Rings but there was a flute and everything! I couldn't believe it--it was really cheesy.

The movie was just kind of...weird. Characters would say things that were just WAY out of their character! Like the main guy's young son said near the beginning [maybe not exactly this but something close], "I'm glad Dad has a family now. I'm glad we're his family." Awww! *rolls eyes*

???

Then, later on, the older kind of tough guy says to the main guy's wife, "At the end of the day, all he needs is you."

???

WHAT? It just didn't make any sense!

That might even be worse than when in "The Day after Tomorrow" [a movie with an agenda about global warming, which is confusing because it's about a giant ice storm--go figure] this teenage guy says to Jake Gyllenhall's character, "Sam, just tell her how you feel." Who says that? Even better--what teenage guy says that?

"In the Name of the King" was just a weird movie that was funny--but for the wrong reasons.

You can find out more about this [wonderful!] movie here.

Your Slogan Should Be

Between Love and Madness Lies Catrina

The Slogan Generator

Expelled--No Intelligence Allowed

Today my family and I went to see "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". I thought it was a very well put together documentary [though I'm not a documentary guru or anything]. I think you should all see it.


At the beginning, it shows, in black & white footage, the Berlin wall being built. I loved how throughout the movie, footage from the Berlin wall was used as a comparison to the evolution vs. intelligent design situation.


SPOILER ALERT


my only gripe...

Near the end of the movie, the music starts to build up. During this time, they switch out between clips of Ben Stein speaking on a stage, other people who had spoken earlier, and President Regan speaking at the Berlin wall. It kept building and building. I knew that at the climax of the music, Ronald Regan would be saying, "...Tear down this wall" and then I'd be able to jump up and give a wonderful applause! Instead, it built up to part of the wall coming down, which was good, I guess. But I was REALLY wanting to hear "Tear down this wall"!!! It just seemed a bit anticlimactic. I was sad. :(


Other than that, the movie was very good and I highly recommend it.


I've also seen "I am Legend" and will hopefully have time to make a post about that soon. [I really liked it, just so you know.]


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Icon of the day:

I've seen "Becoming Jane"

Remember how I talked about wanting to watch "Becoming Jane"? [Click here to refresh your memory.]

Well, I don't recommend watching it at ALL. There was some definite inappropriateness [at the beginning mostly, I think]

Going into it, like I said, I knew the ending wouldn't be a wonderful happy ending but I still watched it. I knew I was asking for disappointment with regards to Jane Austen's relationship with Lefroy [played by the dashing James McAvoy]. Watching Becoming Jane gave me that dread in the pit of my stomach like other times when you know something bad is going to happen but hope against hope for good to happen instead. In the end, the bad thing happens anyway.

Okay, well, that's pretty much it. Here are the good things about the movie [besides the bits of humor that were sprinkled in]: James McAvoy is cute and I loved the costumes!

So...I don't recommend the movie at all. The new Pride & Prejudice is better--no inappropriateness that I can recall AND it had a happy ending [what a concept].

Yep, another dream...

Just got up a few minutes ago.

I had a dream that I was going to try out for a job at a nice office. I was sitting in line with some people when I realized I'd forgotten my resume. I said that aloud and the guy next to me [yes, there was a small line of people trying to get a job here] said it was okay because then I could talk about what I've done instead it just being on a piece of paper.

Okay, blah, blah, blah...

The point is, the woman I was going to try to get a job working for was Meryl Streep [like in Devil Wears Prada]!!! [Only, strangely, I don't think the office had anything to do with fashion.]

AHHHH!

Not sure exactly why I was having a dream that involved Meryle Streep but...I did.

There was more to that dream [not sure if I got the job but I think I was wearing a robe to the interview...huh] but don't think it's interesting enough for you to want to hear, or read, about it.

PRINCE CASPIAN TRAILER!!!! YAY!!!

Oh, how exciting! The trailer's finally come out! [I have it below the picture]

EEEEE!!!

Look, look, look what I found!

It's the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian teaser poster!

EEEEE!!! I'm so excited! I hear this film is going to be much darker than LWW [The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe]. I'm excited!!! I read that there are some Susan/Caspian moments [like maybe they have a crush on each other], which I don't much like--it doesn't seem right to have romance in the Narnia movies, at least, not between those two.

But I'm still excited and hope that it might be better than LWW--which disappointed in many ways.

EEEEE!!!

I just love how it looks so dark! [It makes me quite excited!]

Now, I just have to wait until May of next year. :(

"Super powers" in the Bible

Yeah, a weird topic, right?

I'll do some background info on this post. Being a Christian and a sci-fi/fantasy writer is quite an interesting mix if you think about it. In movies like X-men or Spider-man, they can just put weird super powers in there randomly because there doesn't really need to be a purpose--evolution is random.

But when you introduce God into the picture, things need to have more of a purpose. There needs to be a reason for a person to be able to do something "super".

So I started thinking about the Bible for any instances in which there are "super powers" that God gave to people.

I found several instances.

First of all [and I think the most obvious] is Samson and his super strength.

Superman and Samson

Then there's the prophet Elijah who ran faster than Ahab's chariot--let's call that "super speed"

The Flash and Elijah

There's also Philip:

"...Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea..."

So...wouldn't that be teleportation?

That's all I've found so far...anyone have anymore ideas?

Misc. and Becoming Jane

Well, I guess, I don't really have a whole lot to blog about. The weather has been really, REALLY nice. So nice, that it's been almost unnatural.

Hmm...I'm taking 2 tests tomorrow--one for history and one for biology. Then Thursday, I am taking a test for algebra 2. AHHHHH!!! Crazy. After I'm done with this post, I'm going to go study so maybe I should make this post REALLY long. LOL (I'll try to hold back.)

Ooh! I just thought of something to blog about. I've been wanting to see the movie called "Becoming Jane", starring Anne Hathaway (as young Jane Austen) and James McAvoy (as her Irish love interest). The story sounded kind of interesting, I guess, but I must admit that the true reason for wanting to see it was so I could see James McAvoy (he also played Mr. Tumnus--with some kind of fake nose thing and furry legs LOL).

[Side note: though, you may not care, I have lost that loving feeling with Anne Hathaway. I loved her in Princess Diaries. I somehow felt akin with her character. It was wonderful to have an actress who wasn't doing, well, slutty stuff and cussing and all that. Well, somehow I forgot to realize that the only movie I had seen her in was a Disney movie. After seeing the Devil Wears Prada, which was a pretty good movie, I have lost any respect I thought I had for her. That was the first movie where she cussed & her character was shacking up with her boyfriend. So...well, I guess, I just don't like her now and I find her annoying. Maybe there's not exactly any rational reason why but it's true. (I also, despised the sequel to Princess Diaries. :P)]

So here's the plot for "Becoming Jane" from IMDB.com

"A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman."

That's pretty deep right there. LOL I would have gotten the "full" synopsis but it said it had spoilers.

*****Spoiler Alert (well, kind of)******

Well, I watched a couple videos about the movie on Youtube and a couple trailers. Apparently, the romance never worked out between the two (probably because the guy felt pressured to marry someone wealthier). For me, that still doesn't justify it. 1. What a non-nice retard! [just shows you how smart I am. LOL] 2. Why would I want to see a movie about a romance where the two lovebirds don't end up staying together because one of them decided to marry someone they DIDN'T love? It's...retarded.

Also, in one of the videos I saw that was an interview with the James McAvoy, he said that Jane Austen had the letters burned that were sent to her by the guy and when she was about to die, she asked that all the others would be burned, too. On the guy's death bed, he was asked, who his true love [oh, this is just WONDERFUL] was. He said, "Jane Austen--in a boyish way." When the people asked James why the Irishman would say "in a boyish way", James replied, "probably because he didn't want to offend his wife."

Well, YEAH!

What a retard!? How do you think the wife felt? Can you imagine being married by a guy just for you money when he loved someone else? You had to spend most of your life with a guy who didn't consider you his true love? How terrible would that have been? [It did give me a wonderful story idea, though...] I told my Mom that and she said, "a 2nd-rate wife." Geez!

Well, I just didn't like that. I probably will still want to see Becoming Jane [though, I know it's retarded without even seeing it], if nothing else but for the lovely costumes and to see James in a top hat. LOL

Anyways, gotta go study,

Cat

My Thoughts on "The Last Mimzy"

Well, here are my thoughts on the movie the "Last Mimzy", which I saw while I was in Nebraska with Allie and her family.

The consensus was: it was retarded.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I saw one trailer that made it look like it was some kind of horror movie and another one that made it look like a lovely family film.

The movie had lots of potential but failed to live up to it. It was really cool at first but...it just got really weird...

******[SPOILER ALERT!]******

The sending objects back through time thing was really cool but it just got to mystical and weird. [Too mystical as in palm-reading, meditating, etc.--The palm-reading was when I REALLY started to feel wrong about it.]

The main characters are a young brother and sister who find some mysterious objects while on the beach near their parents house. The objects begin to have strange affects on them--giving them different abilties. The girl [a very cute little girl] says the stuffed bunny they found is talking to her and she is able to suspend things in the air--including herself--while the boy is suddenly a genius (he was struggling before). I thought, "Ooh, interesting."

Then they introduced some other characters--the boy's science teacher and his live-in girlfriend. It starts out with the girlfriend meditating on the floor--yeah, lovely, isn't it? The science teacher talks about weird dreams he's been having. They acted wacky enough that I thought maybe they'd just be some kind of wacky characters--but no, they were actually characters you were supposed to take seriously. The science teacher takes particular interest in drawings that the boy's been drawing in class of some kind of weird Tibetan thing--has to do with the science teacher and his girlfriend's religion and with the plot of the story as it pertains to the little boy and girl. Then the girlfriend reads the palms of the boy and girl--ooh, loveliness. Yeah, I don't think so....That's when I started being like, "What???"

Yeah, so it was a little weird...


The movie was completely based on environmental propaganda [using a two-headed snake as proof--makes you want to gag] and New Age-y stuff. UGH! I must say I was a bit [well, more than a bit] disappointed and weirded out. The ending was AWFUL and unrealistic [the government officials wouldn't just leave and say "yeah, sorry--oops!" and little children flying around in the future after having school among the fields of flowers???].

It was definitely unlike any movie I've ever seen--but not in a good way. Needless to say, I don't recommend it at all--I was VERY, VERY disapointed.

Did I mention that it was weird? Like, really, REALLY weird????

My thoughts on Spider-Man 3

Here are some notes I made after watching Spider-Man 3 last night...

"Allow me to jot down my thoughts before they are lost. Going in to see Spider-Man 3, I wasn't sure what to expect--I have heard good, bad, and "eh, it was ok"--but hoped it would be awesome.

Well, overall I thought it was awesome--edit: though, sometimes I wanted to laugh and wasn't sure if I was supposed to or not--! I had been looking forward to seeing Venom because of the pictures I had seen on IMDB.com . I had heard that he made but a brief appearance near the end of the film and I suppose 'twas brief but I was very glad and satisfied with what I did see. I think they could have done something better with Eddie Brock's character but I LOVED Venom! I love pointed teeth! [Please don't be freaked out--it's just an idiosyncrasy of mine.]

I thought there were several parts that were either predictable beforehand or afterwards I was thinking, "huh, what a coincidence!" [By the way, if I were Harry, I would want to kill the butler. Ooh, that made me so mad! "You idiot!"]

I really liked the guy who played the Sandman. His name is Hayden Church or something or other...

You know, I knew this in the first two Spider-Man movies but...Tobey Maguire [Spider-Man/Peter Parker] looks kind of weird when he cries [poor guy]. [edit: and he does a WHOLE lot of crying, if you ask me. WAY too much crying for a superhero or just a regular guy!] But he makes up for it when he is bad Spidey/Parker. I am pretty sure he was wearing eyeliner during that part. He just looked cool but he seemed to be freaking out the girls on the street [edit: come to think of it, I would be kind of freaked out, too, if I saw a guy dancing like that on the sidewalk! LOL] I REALLY laughed when he started to dance. Hee hee. But bad Spidey guy looked pretty cool.
Sometimes the way Tobey Maguire [Parker/Spidey] looks makes me want to laugh [have you noticed how tiny his lips are?].

You know how some people look better when they look serious or look better when they smile? [edit: such as how Tobey Maguire looks better when he's not crying?] OKay, well, I just LOVED it when Harry smiled! He has such a beautiful smile! Through the other movies he had been frowning pretty much the whole time [Geez, I wonder why?]...and he just looks better when he smiles! I love happy Harry! Alright, moving on...

I LOVE the music for the Spider-Man movies! [Except the part near the end when I thought I heard angels singing...hmm...] IDK [I Don't Know]. I just loved the themes and everything! [edit: The theme at the beginning was definitely darker than the others--I loved it. I also loved how they showed bits and pieces of the other movies to catch everyone up to speed. My friend, Allie--the one who will be taking me to Nebraska for 2 weeks--hadn't seen the other movies but went and watched Spider-Man 3 and loved it. Go figure.]

P.S.
Whenever you are walking out of a movie theater as the credits roll, do you ever feel like walking to the music? I feel that way pretty much every time I go [including when I saw Spider-Man 3 last night]. It's just a cool feeling.

P.P.S.
Overall, I think the movie was awesome--maybe it was just the ecstasy of seeing a movie I have been looking forward to seeing forever but I overlook its faults [mostly] and see what I want to see, I guess. It was dark, which I loved, and yet many times I found myself laughing...hmmm..."

So what did you all think of it? Any thoughts? I'm just curious...

HEAR YE, HEAR YE!!!

I am going to go see Spiderman 3 tonight!

House movie. AHHHH!! EEEEE!!!

Here is the trailer for the movie "House" based on the book by Frank E. Peretti and Tedd Dekker. I have high hopes!!! EEE! [I think this will be the closest I ever get to watching a horror movie--if I see it, which I really, really want to!]

Alright...

Well, I haven't posted in a while--sorry! I'm REALLY sorry everybody! Okay, now on with the show....

Mom tagged me to do "8 random things" so I shall do that now.

8 Random Things About Myself...

#1. I love brussel sprouts! [No, really I do--as well as beef strogonoff ;-)]

#2. I wear black shirts a lot...okay, maybe that's an understatement....hmmm

#3. Until I watched Casino Royale [which I loved by the way--and don't worry it was parent-editted. LOL] I had never seen a James Bond movie. But I do know that Sean Connery is the best 007--at least, that's what everybody says...

#4. I LOVE Tinker Bell!

#5. I love martini glasses--no, I didn't say I like MARTINIS, just the glasses. They're just fun! [Speaking of shaken, not stirred or whatever it is...] Okay, 5 down, 3 to go...

#6. I LOOOOOOOOOVE icons!

#7. A fantasy [or whatever you want to call it] of mine would be to go to a masquerade--a real one where everyone's wearing beautiful gowns/costumes and masks on sticks...*sigh*

#8. Okay, number eight...let me think...how about, I'll break out into song and dance whenever the mood strikes me? I didn't say that it's pretty...[You probably have already witnessed this if you have watched my "I love beef Strogonoff" video--the singing part anyway.]

Bye for now,

Cat

P.S. I tag...John if he ever gets a blog...ummm...I don't know anyone else who hasn't done this so...I guess it's just John--if he gets a blog sometime...

Also, I made an icon site [xanga] that I post icons on so...check it out... =)