So I watched it...

 Last night at work was busy...but a controlled busy. It was pretty much only busy for one movie...yes you can guess what it was. Alice In Wonderland of course! Guests coming in kept asking me if I had seen it or heard anything about it, and I had to keep telling them no. When the busyness really died down I looked to see if there was a 3D showing around the time I was getting off from work With my luck there was! I called Rob on my break to let him know that I would not be home till real late since the showing I was going to watch was the midnight showing. I then texted my friend to see if they were busy or even wanted to see a movie. I figured they would be busy, but they said they would meet there for the movie.


12am rolls around and the previews start. EEEE!!! I am so excited!! First time watching a 3D movie in the theatre that I work in. Yes, my theatre has had 3D capabilities since late last year, but I waited until now to experience the beauty of this type of technology. The previews for the upcoming attractions looked somewhat interesting. They are sadly remaking the original Karate Kid movie. I am already shaking my head with the movie as they are really changing up the story. I don't know...will just have to see when it comes out. The new TRON Legacy movie looks interesting. I remember seeing parts of the old one and so I would probably see the new one that will make an appearance later this year. Then of course Toy Story 3. I am a sucker for this movie series and will have to watch this movie as well.  There were a few other previews as well.

Then the movie started!!! I was so excited. I felt like a child on Christmas morning to open the presents that has been looking at for three or four months.  About thirty minutes into the movie I started thinking, "This is going to pick up once Alice falls back down the rabbit hole and enters Wonderland, right?" Well that happened...and I said, "ok...well it will pick up when Johnny Depp comes into the picture right?" Ok...so it did...but ehhh...I was let down. Almost like the same child who had been looking at the presents for three or four months to just keep opening up presents that were socks or other unwanted clothing with maybe one little cool thing that they kind of wanted which was ranked pretty low on the wish list. I walked away feeling let down.

I think that if the movie could have been PG-13 and been able to develop something more...then it may have been ok. Or had even a bigger twist and did a movie only on the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp's role). Anne Hathaway was annoying as the White Queen. She just bugged me on how she talked and did everything in the movie. Helena Bonham Carter who played the Red Queen was pretty good. Tim definitely had fun with this character's role in the film. Johnny Depp was good for what was given to him. He just was not given a major role in the film. If I had to choose between Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter or Willy Wonka...I would choose him as Willy Wonka. At the end of the movie there is a scene where you see Alice on a boat headed off for a new journey. As cheesy as the movie was getting I was almost expecting Johnny Depp to appear as Captain Jack Sparrow. It may have worked in some odd way.

Tim Burton...I think you failed on this one. Good try...but stay away from Disney next time you want to make a movie.

Cheap Movies!!

I am always looking for a deal, especially when it comes to movies. A couple weeks ago, Rob noticed that the Hollywood Video over by the grocery store had a "going out of business sale" going on. He went in and saw that the older movies (probably 6 months or older) were all on sale for a discounted price. The next day I went in with Rob and probably picked up nine or ten movies. A lot of them were 3 for $20. Well today when Rob went to the grocery store he noticed that there were new signs up at HV. This time everything was on sale, including all new releases. He called me up to see what he wanted me to pick up. Well it is hard to say what I want when I don't know what is there. So I told him to pick up a few and then I would go down when he got home.

I went down alone (probably a bad mistake!) to see what I could find. Well I came home with 24 movies. Yes...I did say 24 movies. So what all did I get? A little bit of everything. Some movies that I have not seen, some that I have seen, and some that I have not seen in a long time.

Here is a list of what was purchased today:
MILK
THE SOLOIST
17 AGAIN
DUPLICITY
GAMER (which I purchased for a friend)
A NATIVITY STORY
W.
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
FAME (2009)
CHRISTMAS VACATION
ENCHANTED
LOVE'S ABIDING LOVE
LOVE'S ENDURING PROMISE
LOVE'S LONG JOURNEY
CITY SLICKERS
3:10 TO YUMA
NICK & NORA'S INFINITE PLAY LIST
POST GRAD
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (2009)
STATE OF PLAY
BREACH
HOTEL RWANDA
JULIE & JULIA
CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (2005)
and a few more.

Rob told me today that is a sign. A sign that we will end up someplace cold where we can not go out of the house all winter and we will be able to sit and watch all of the movies that I just bought. I laughed and said, "No...this is the best time to pick up movies because it is cheaper than buying them online and paying for shipping and handling. :) Yay for an awesome deal today!

You're Late! Your Late, for a very special date!

This week there were only two new movies opening nationwide, but you would not know that since Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland" opened this weekend. The other movie this week was called Brooklyn's Finest. Below is the synopsis for both of these movies....

Alice In Wonderland - Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp - The Plot: 19-year-old Alice (Wasikowska) returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror. **Now you all know that I love Johnny Depp. I will be seeing this movie as I have been totally waiting for this movie. I am a fan of most Tim Burton movies as well. There are a few Tim Burton movies that I have not seen due to I was just not interested in then. But when it comes to Tim and Johnny working together I do like what I end up watching. I have not seen this new movie yet, but I will soon. Hopefully this weekend...but I may wait for the big hype die down a little bit. I don't know. I am not listening to what people are saying about the movie.** 

Brooklyn's Finest - Stars: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke - The Plot: In Brooklyn, New York, three veteran cops (Gere, Hawke, and Cheadle) struggling with their own personal and professional dilemmas dispatched to a notorious housing project, where they will each collide with destiny.**This movie looks interesting. I am curious about this one. Maybe because I like the actors in this movie, I don't know.**

Well that is what is out this week. Still popular at the box office is Avatar, Shutter Island, The Crazies, Crazy Heart, and The Blindside.

Cheating, I think not!!

Last night was the first night of my Social Welfare Policy class. Before class started, a classmate from my Human Behavior class from last trimester stopped by to hand me back an item that she had borrowed. I thanked her and I went back to my desk.

STOP THE TAPE....time out...let's refresh from a couple weeks ago...

Remember how last trimester my professor informed us that she was strongly encouraged by a full-time professor that the class should read Tuesdays with Morrie?? *shaking your head...right? lol* Now, remember how my own professor had told us to go out and get the book on cd/tape and listen to it so that we could discuss it on the last day of class. The full-time professor had expressed that some type of paper should included with the book. Well my professor decided since it was so late in the semester and a different paper was already assigned to not worry about a paper. 

ROLL TAPE...back to my original story...
When I got back to my desk I opened the cd case to ensure myself that all the cds were in there. I knew where my classmate was going to be just in case one of the cds was missing. The guy sitting next to me who is taking the Human Behavior class this trimester looked to see what I had. When he noticed that I had the "Tuesdays with Morrie" on cd he looked at me and called me a CHEATER!! I was mad that he would call me that with out knowing why I had that!! My response was, "How am I a cheater?" He responded with, "You have the book on cd!" and I told him, "This is what my professor asked for me! So how is that cheating?!" Oh I was upset!!! I was thinking in my head...this is not cheating even if I had to read the actual book to write a paper. It is not like I am reading the Cliffnotes of this book. The audiobook was the entire book and not an abridged version. I drive a ton so why not listen to the book, buy the book as well so that I have page numbers to refer to in the paper that is probably required?? If this guy was smart, he would go out to the Borders store this weekend, get the cds, listen to them and be done with the book!!

I was thinking that I was going to have to take an English Lit. class last term. When I told my advisor that I am a bit leery about taking the class as I am a slow reader. She said, "well maybe you could find the books on tape and listen to them while you are driving to and from work or to and from school." So obviously listening to books on tape is not a form of cheating if my own advisor is suggesting such a thing to help me in a class!!

I am ready to be done with this group of students. I wish I was in with the Seniors. Not because I want to be done with school, but more because I like the group of seniors for the social work department. *sigh*

Just eleven more weeks left of classes at Iona. I can do this. I will ignore what people may tell me to throw me off course...I will stride through and get what I came here to do.

New Carpet

Late last month, we had new carpet installed to our master bedroom. One would probably not consider our bedroom to be the master only because it is not the largest bedroom in the house. When we moved into this house I wanted to have the guest bedroom on the main floor near the main bathroom, and so that opted for Rob and I to have the second largest bedroom which is located upstairs.

A person would say, "Amy if you are selling your house, why did you have new carpet installed?" Well to answer that question we must step back in time to last year about this time. Rob and I decided to have a neighborhood party at our house to celebrate the opening day of the 2009 baseball season. We placed each of our dogs in a separate bedroom thinking that this would help eliminate so much barking during the party. Well come to find out after the party was over, Casey has separation anxiety issues!! She had tried to dig her way out of the bedroom by the door, and destroyed probably a 2 square foot area of the carpet. We pretty much just cut the ruined part of the carpet out which now showed the old hardwood floors which looked pretty beat up. Jumping back into this year...when we decided to put the house on the market we figured we would get new carpet for that bedroom, as a selling feature of the house. I am glad we did because I had forgotten how stained that carpet was before we moved in. Nothing like moving into an old teenager's room. Need I say more, I don't think so.

The new carpet looks nice and I wish we would have done this sooner, so that we could enjoy the carpet a little bit longer. We only did the room itself rather than the small closet and the walk-in closet as we wanted to keep it as cheap as possible. By looking at the carpet you would not know that it is a cheaper priced carpet. Gotta love how I pick something that is cheap but still looks good. ;)

Here are a few pictures of what we have now.

 

Picture of room looking from small closet

 

Picture looking from Walk-in Closet

 

Johnny Depp = Strange?

 Since March's blogging theme is "STRANGE" I thought that blogging about Johnny Depp. When one thinks about Johnny Depp one would probably say that he was a pretty strange person. He chooses off the wall roles in movies but yet suceeds in all the roles he plays. I have personally loved Johnny Depp ever since I was an adolescent. I think my first exposure to Johnny Depp was the movie Edward Scissorhands. Now that movie could be a whole blog "strange" topic of its own. As dark and kind of creepy as that movie is...I do still like it.

So why is he in so many Tim Burton films?? Well, they are best friends! Two Hollywood outcasts that felt like they knew each other. And yes...any movie that Tim and Johnny create together are very odd...but I think that is why I like them. Johnny Depp is one of those actors who will not let Hollywood type cast himself. He said that he will pick which roles he plays and that is why we have seen him play many different roles. Take Edward Scissorhands and the role that he had in that...then look at him in the role in movies such as Don Juan DeMarco, Chocolat, or From Hell. All three of these roles are very different, but were pulled off very well because he makes the character more than what it was ever written to be.

I find it funny when people tell me that the Pirates of the Caribbean were Johhny's first movies. I tell them, "Nope sorry you will loose this argument. Johnny has been around a lot longer than these movies! Try looking back before you were born! I would classify myself as possibly a Johnny fanatic like some people may classify themselves as a Twilight fanatic. I can not believe I just gave that analogy. Wow...but yes...I do love Johnny Depp. I have watched his biography on the A&E channel a couple of times. When I watch that I realize that I have seen just about all of his movies. Yes I will admit that I have not seen some either because they were too scarey for me or I just didn't know about them.

One of my favorite Johnny Depp movies of all time is "Benny & June". I just love him...as the character and how if this was played by someone else...the movie would have failed. I also like the movie "Blow" which is based on the big cocaine drug lord back in the 70s. I think he makes this movie only because he was kind of going through his own druggy, scummy period of his own life at the time of this movie was film. I do love him in the Pirate of Caribbean movies as I can not think of anyone else who could play Captain Jack Sparrow! Well and who else could play John Dillinger?? What a fine looking man Johnny is in every movie he is in.

And yes, I will be watching his new movie, "Alice in Wonderland". shhhhhh...don't tell me that it looks bad or wierd, or anything you have read about it. I want to go and see it with out hearing what people think or have heard. It is best for me to form my own opinion. Of course though...this movie will be weird and strange because it is Tim Burton AND Johnny Depp together again.

CBS: Undercover Boss

Anyone else watching this show: CBS Undercover Boss??? Each week this show goes to a big business and the CEO goes undercover in their own company to see how the front lines are now currently running. I didn't tape the first episode of this show, but I was told by a couple of people that I should check out the show.

The following week, Rob had taped the second show with out me knowing. What an interesting show!!! I think that each and every CEO should step down and remember how they worked in the entry level positions of the company that they may have forgotten how it feels to be in that position. If every CEO of every large company did this...then I think there would be a lot more happy employees working their every day job! I also think that if a company is purchased by a new CEO, that the new CEO should seriously work the front line to really see how the company that they were handed over really works. AMC Theatres had a change in the CEO just this past year (2009). I remember sitting in the conference call listening to all of this and hearing the new guy say how much he loves going t the movies and how honored he is to work for a great company for AMC. I remember him saying, "...and I will be personally coming by to visit every theatre that I can." I also remember thinking, "ya right...like you are going to come to the AMC up here in Danbury Connecticut!" As far as I know he has not came to visit our theatre.

I do like how the CEOs on this show look for how they can improve their companies by either improving the quality of life of the employees or even the efficiency of the company. One show I thought that a manger of a store would be fired due to how he was treating his female employees!! 

This show is great though! If you have not seen this show yet, please do me a favor. Just tape one episode of it or find it online to watch one episode. You will not be sorry!