The Perks of Being a Homemaker

When I think of the things that I appreciate about being the maker of all things home, I appreciate the "free" time I have from 7:10 until 2:50 each day the most.  Of course, free time usually means I am volunteering at school, working out at the gym, grocery shopping, errand running, laundry-doing, cleaning and generally running.  Every once in a great while, I take a nap.  And one Friday a month, I try to go see a matinee. (this frequency is increased during Oscar season.)  It's my two-hour escape from emptying the dishwasher for the 9000th time.

This week's movie was on the EW "Must List" and also coincided nicely with when I could be out in time to get the kids off of the bus.  I wanted to see Hermione in another role...I like it when Brits play Americans (see Robert Pattinson and the two dudes from True Blood).  Almost as much as I like it when Americans play Brits. (Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones and Madonna as Guy Richey's wife.)

The cutie main character, Charlie, is starting high school after a troubled year and some psychological problems.  He has no friends.  Not one person to sit with at lunch.  Nobody to hang with at the football game.  The cool English teacher, played by Paul Rudd, reaches out to him but no Freshman wants their only friend to be a teacher.  And then he meets the senior, Patrick, from shop class and gets welcomed into their gang- the island of misfit toys (a phrase I have used often.)

Charlie's new friend is gay, and his step-sister Sam (Emma Watson) is cool and smart and troubled.  These two smart and sympathetic teens are the perfect friends for Charlie...their crowd is artsy, outside, non-conformist.  They become the influence that rescues Charlie from his deep insecurity and depression.  Charlie easily falls for Sam but this story is not just a "Will he get the girl?" story.  It's really more about if Charlie will start to feel better in his own skin, and get past some of the things that seem to be haunting him from his past.

It didn't take long for me to to feel like I was back in high school again while watching the film.  In fact, it could have been my high school...the movie was filmed in Pittsburgh with some great scenes of going through the Fort Pitt tunnel into the city that I love.  It takes place in the early 90's (I was there in the late 80's) but the Smiths and David Bowie songs they played were still the soundtrack of my youth. 

I was transported back to that time when being alone was the worst thing in the world and making just one friend was the measure of a good day.  Moving from Pittsburgh to North Augusta for the start of my junior year was like moving to another world.  Except once I looked past the accents and the clothes, my new school was actually much like the old one.  People are people as the wise Depeche Mode told us.

The group of people that I befriended (or should I say befriended me?) were not the popular kids...no cheerleaders or football players in the bunch.  They were different...liked alternative music, were smart, artistic.  I will forever be grateful to Laurel and Erika, who took pity on the new girl or must have liked my John Hughes influenced wardrobe, and became my best high school friends.  I loved our little island of misfit toys.  There was one character in the movie, Mary Elizabeth, with the side of her head shaved and claimed to be a "Buddist Punk."  She could have been our friend Stacy, who used to give us all Flock of Seagulls haircuts (see below.)  Charlie told Mary Elizabeth in the movie, "You're going to regret that haircut when you look back at your senior picture."  He was right.  My favorite memory of Stacy occurred one day in the cafeteria, while wearing our way cool edgy clothes, we were asked in a very heavy southern drawl if we were punks.  Stacy replied, "I'm Punk, she's New Wave!" Brilliant!

So this quirky, heartfelt, funny, sad, exhilarating movie made me cry several times.  I want to make my teenage nieces and nephews watch it, and remind them that high school is just a short time in your life, and it does get better.  And that the different/artistic kids are so often the most interesting.  And be nice to people.  Always.  And when you have that amazing feeling of elation and invincibility, remember it. It's part of the magic of youth.

Ted vs. Magic Mike

Unless you are the one person who read this blog from Alaska, you know that the entire country is experiencing record high temps.  And what better way to beat the heat than the sub-freezing air conditioning of a movie theater?

Saturday night we had date night with our good friends Kim and Kevin.  I suggested Ted for after-dinner entertainment, having heard it was really funny.  Kim is the world's biggest Marky Mark fan and although some of her celebrity picks are questionable at best, I support the Mark Wahlberg choice.  Phil had watched the extended trailer for this movie and was very hip on seeing it also.

Ted did not disappoint.  It is laugh-a-minute funny, totally raunchy, completely wrong, and somehow heartwarming too.  The 9p showing we went to was packed and the audience was laughing so hard that we missed some of the hilarious dialog.  Ted is voiced by Seth MacFarlane in a PERFECT Boston accent that makes it that much funnier.  He smokes pot, picks up hookers (see above pic), swears like a sailor, and shares his best friend John Bennett's obsession with Flash Gordon.  When John starts getting serious with his girlfriend played my Mila Kunis, she is ready for him to get rid of his Teddy Bear.  

The four of us laughed almost the entire time and at one point I realized I couldn't stop smiling while watching it.  I'm calling it a must-see...and one that I'll probably get on DVD because there are so many more lines you pick up on second viewing.

Then Sunday night we had a planned girls night to go see the stripper movie, Magic Mike.  Channing Tatum is the star of this show, but many of the ladies I went with were more interested in Matthew McConaughey.  The hawt werewolf Alcide was also a draw.   I thought the best looking one was Matt Bomer, the only actor that is confirmed gay, but whatareyagonna do?

Matt McConaughey was appropriately sleazy as the proprietor of this male strip joint.  He looked pretty gross actually, with permed, slicked-back hair and kind of a greasy face.  I need to add that all of these guys were totally waxed, not a hair on their bodies.  They must have had a permanent waxer on the set during filming.  Did not think much of Channing Tatum before this but he grew on me and I loved his dancing.  Alex Pettyfer played the young kid who breaks into the biz (and also the lifestyle of women and partying that goes with it) with the help of Channing Tatum.  I found Alex to be the least attractive of all of them.  I hate that white kid thug look, like he needed a shave the entire movie, dressed in hoodies and t-shirts and high-top sneakers.  Eminem called and he wants his look back.  My nieces would probably disagree with me on this but I'm writing this from a 40 year old perspective, not 20.

As far as plot, it was kind of predictable.  Mike takes the Kid under his wing, tells his gorgeous and concerned sister that he is going to look out for him, and then gets him involved in the seedy world of drugs and slutty women.  The gorgeous sister helps Mike realize he is going nowhere fast and he decides to get out of the biz at the end.  I'm not feeling bad revealing the entire movie because let's face it, who is going to see this movie for the intricate character development and the fine acting?  We go to this movie for the same reason we read 50 Shades of Gray.  No need to say more here.

My friend Jody walked out of the movie complaining about the bad acting.  It should be noted that Jody falls asleep at every movie once the lights go down.  She did not fall asleep at this movie.  That should be testament enough.

So if you need some laughs, see Ted.  And if you need some eye candy and margaritas with girlfriends, see Magic Mike.  And starting tomorrow, if you need action, go see the new Spiderman!  Love me some Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.  Popcorn movies have their place after all...

Summer Lovin'

6 months into 2012 and I am finally updating the blog.  Let's just say I underestimated the fatigue that being a working girl can bring.  Glad I stopped all that and can focus on the important things, like who they are casting in the 50 Shades of Grey movie.

But here we are at my favorite time of year, Summa Summa Summa TIME!  What's not to love about summer?  No schedule!  Pool time!  Days without showering!  (perhaps TMI.)  It's also a great time of year to get caught up on your pop culture that you may have missed during the school year.

Last night we watched The Change-Up on one of our premium channels, on demand.  Pretty funny movie and it takes place in the ATL so it's fun to see some of the landmarks.  You have to have a willing suspension of disbelief about the premise (two high school friends now in their mid 30's, one a partying bachelor and the other married with kids in suburbia swap bodies...by peeing in a fountain together and simultaneously wishing they had the other's life) and some of the jokes are pretty outrageous.  But I laughed through most of it, and Ryan Reynolds and Justin Bateman are great, so I say rent it. 

I saw the chick movie What to Expect When You're Expecting a few weekends ago and though I cried (it's designed to make anyone who has given birth shed tears) I wouldn't say it was the best movie.  I found Cameron Diaz's character to be completely unlikeable.  J. Lo was decent.  Elizabeth Banks was hilarious.  Save it for a rental when your husband goes out with the guys.  It also takes place in the ATL- love all the movie biz that our city is getting!

Rock of Ages just came out in the theater...that is a must see.  And don't think for one minute I'm not planning a big girls' night out to see Magic Mike at the end of the month (see pic above.).  As far as kid movies, we just saw Madagascar 3 and I thought it was pretty funny on an adult level.  It's fun to see those kinds of movies with Phil, so we can chuckle to each other at the jokes that go over the kids' heads. 

Concerts: We are doing our first family concert in July for a tween-fest...Big Time Rush with two other youngsters opening.  We got lawn seats and I think the girls will enjoy it more than Jackson.  Definitely like the idea of a blanket on a lawn rather than the screaming of the Gwinnett Arena where we saw them last time.  For adult shows in outdoor venues, we just saw Foster the People (hugely fun) and have tickets to My Morning Jacket with Band of Horses.  And since Gaga is not coming for quite a while, had to get tickets to the freak show that is Nicki Minaj. :)  That will warrant it's own review, I'm sure.

Other: got the season passes to Lake Lanier waterpark this year, yeah boy!  (Please tell me if you want to go with us on a Tuesday or Thursday, we can get you in half-price.) 

If you are looking for a retro-day, head up to Exit 13 and check out a place called Slapshots Family Fun Skate Center.  My friend Jody and I used a Groupon and I was pleasantly surprised at the loud music, disco lights and overall 1984 feeling to it.  You can rent these walkers on rollers there for the little ones to help them learn how to skate.  Mia preferred the inline skates but Izzy and I kicked it old school with the quad skates (see pic above.)

Lastly, I think the simple pleasure of playing in fountains can't be underestimated.  Here we are at Piedmont Park (next time I will remember the bathing suits!) but you can hit a fountain much closer, at the Duluth or Suwanee town centers.  Come July, your kids will be getting tired of playing in the neighborhood pool and you'll need to change it up a little.  Just don't make a wish while peeing in it or you might be back in an 8 year old's body...

Goodbye 2011!

This time of year every magazine and newspaper gives their favorites, which are entertaining and helpful but sometimes don't relate to me. I don't have time to read a 1000 page book or make it to the independant movie of the year at the Tara arthouse cinema...so I will give you my suburban-living, minivan-driving, needs-more-time-to-watch/read/do mom opinion.

Favorite movie: Crazy Stupid Love was my favorite comedy. Or anything with Ryan Gosling. Yes, I loved Bridesmaids too. Favorite kids movie was the Muppets (our dad made us watch The Muppet Show every Sunday night in the 70's.) Best blockbuster that brought me to tears was the last Harry Potter movie. I'm behind on my Oscar viewing so I can't say actual favorite drama yet, but have high hopes for The Descendants.

Favorite TV show: I'm very behind on my DVR so I'm almost not qualified to answer this question. (There are 10 episodes of American Horror Story calling my name and I've been told I will love it.) But based on the shows I watch- True Blood was not great this year. No Mad Men to be had. I started watching The Good Wife and really like it. But my go-to shows are still Modern Family and Glee. IF I HAD MORE TIME: I'd watch Breaking Bad, Homeland, Revenge and The Walking Dead.

Favorite Song: Super Bass by the one and only Nicki Minaj (Cantilo Family unanimous decision. The twins especially love Sophia Brownlee's version http://youtu.be/C7hTAp6KrGY ). Really good albums were put out by the Foo Fighters, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Wiz Kalifa, Kelly Clarkson, The Warblers (from Glee :) In the country arena, I enjoyed Jason Aldean, Sugarland and Zac Brown. I used to be better about giving indy recommendations, and aside from The Black Keys and the Decemberists, I haven't had time to listen to a lot of good new music lately. Buzz is good for Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes.

Favorite Concert: Lady Gaga. Nothing else comes close to her songs or showmanship. Enjoyed the country sounds of Zac Brown and Sugarland. Had a great outdoor night seeing Death Cab for Cutie. Smelled the cotton candy air of the Katy Perry show. And got to experience my first boy band show at the age of 39...Big Time Rush. Not bad...but next time I'll bring earplugs for the screaming.

Favorite app: My kids would say Angry Birds. They also like Spy Mouse, Jetpack Joyride, Touch Pets and Don't Let the Pigeon Run This App. My most used apps are still Words with Friends, Shazam, Facebook and The Weather Channel (I am my father's daughter after all.)

Favorite book: This was my worst year for reading. I usually read about 2 books per month but I think I'm lucky if I read 10 this past year. If it wasn't for book club, I wouldn't have read half of those. I did enjoy The Paris Wife and Cutting for Stone that our book club selected. And Tina Fey's Bossypants was very funny. An avid reader friend turned me on to The Snowman by Jo Nesbo who has been compared to Steig Larsson. But it bears repeating the The Hunger Games trilogy were my faves of 2010 and the movie will be here in 82 days!!!

Favorite technology: Even without the newest iPhone and Siri, I still love it and really don't know what I'd do without a smartphone. I use my iPad for all of my reading now, from books to People magazine. And even though I started a commute (most time in the car by myself since 2008) there is nothing on local radio that can get me to leave my Sirius/XM radio.

SUMMARY: The overriding theme here is that I need more time to consume pop culture! So therefore my resolution for 2012 is to say "no" more...to volunteering and organizing, cooking and cleaning, etc. So please don't ask me to bake cookies for the fundraiser...I'll be busy watching past episodes of The Good Wife.

November days of Thanks...to Pop Culture Icons

There are so many things I'm thankful for. Obviously, the husband and kids are pretty high on the list. Amazing friends who support and laugh when needed. Health of course. The ability to buy really cute tall boots at the Michael Kors store with a discount card.

But this blog is not about that. So while listening to "Super Bass" this past weekend and watching my kids break it down, I said to Phil, "What would our lives be like without Nicki Minaj?" He laughed it off but seriously, she is such a talent! And some of her best work is when she is the "feat" artist...for a while you couldn't escape her on the radio with songs like Bottoms Up with Trey Songz, Check it Out with Will.i.am, 2012 with Jay Sean. Wikipedia confirmed this, saying she was the first artist ever to have 7 singles on the Billboard Top 100.

And my ringtone when Phil calls is "Your Love" which often prompts me to call him "Shawty" when calls (Shawty, Imma tell you this once, you da illest...)

Pink Friday (though I think every single song on there has an EXPLICIT label- had to get on iTunes and look for the clean versions) is very very good. I love Moment 4 Life and Right Thru Me. And really- who doesn't like Super Bass??

Gotta give it up to the girl for pure fashion weirdness too. Love her wigs and her Gaga-esque accessories. What's wrong with a little flair from the girl from Queens? Wiki says she went to LaGuardia High School in NYC (the Fame HS for performing arts) and actually went in for dance instead of singing b/c she lost her voice the day of the audition. Did you see her on SNL making fun of her mega-booty? VERY FUNNY.

So today's pop culture thanks goes out to one of the most talented and original female rappers, a staple on my mixes and DJ sets.

There are many hot Ryans out there...

But my new favorite hot Ryan is of the Gosling variety. Don't get me wrong- I love Ryan Kwantan's hot-and-stupid Jason on True Blood, and Ryan Reynolds could not be cuter (especially with Sandra Bullock in The Proposal.) Ryan Phillippe was cute before he cheated on Reese, and the hardest working man in showbiz, Ryan Seacrest, deserves some props.

But after seeing Crazy, Stupid Love last weekend and then Drive today (squeezed in a matinee before the kids got off the bus- don't judge), I have to say that my heart belongs to Ryan Gosling. He has the best swagger ever in Crazy Stupid Love and the best smoldering loner look in Drive.

Enough of my school girl crush: a quick movie review for those looking for some entertainment advice. At this point, you will probably have to catch Crazy, Stupid Love on DVD when it comes out, but I truly feel like this is a DO NOT MISS romantic comedy, from someone who doesn't even like rom com's. I don't like them usually because they are schmalzty and predictable, with actors who may or may not have actual chemistry. Phil (who missed his calling as a casting director) claims that there is a wheel in Hollywood that 10 actors and 10 actresses are on at any given time and when a romantic comedy script presents itself, the wheel is spun and voila! Katherine Heigl and...Josh Duhamel! Kate Hudson spins and gets...Matthew McConaughey! There are those that have fallen off the wheel due to age (Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks) but others are still on it after many many years of Rom Coms (Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock.) It's always exciting when a fresh new talent makes the wheel (Emma Stone)...And yet again, I digress.

Crazy Stupid Love is about a middle-aged man who is our new everyman ala Tom Hanks, Steve Carrell. He married the beautiful Julianne Moore, his high school sweetheart, but somewhere along the way, he lost the love spark. The movie opens to a scene where they are having dinner and while he declares he wants the Creme Brulee, she says she wants a divorce. Steve starts drinking his sorrows at a bar, and is observed by the uber-cool Ryan Gosling, a young 20 something who says he wants to help him. Steve Carrell loses his New Balance tennis shoes and buys some cool jeans ("Repeat after me...I am cooler than The Gap.") He learns to pick up women from his hot young friend and hilarity ensues. I won't give the rest of the flick away, but there are a few fun twists and though the happy ending was inevitable, it was also rewarding.

Drive was a darling at Cannes, winning the Best Director award. Perhaps I'm biased from his sexy smirk, but Ryan Gosling made this film. He gets a lot of comparisons to Steve McQueen, who was a little bit before my time, but I do know he was the definition of cool. This one looks to be on the surface an action film but it much more rounded than that. It was edge-of-my-seat thriller at times and also an understated drama. We don't know much about Ryan's character (we never even heard his name- he was called The Kid and Driver a few times) but he was still quite deep. The scenes between Ryan and Carey Mulligan (loved her in An Education) were filled with a palpable chemistry and such a sweetness. The only drawback (for me) was the EXTREME violence, which was so shocking and gruesome that I had to look away at least 3 times. The movie evokes a lot of feelings and a lot of adreniline.

CSL is more of chick-flick, though husbands will enjoy it. Drive is more of a guy flick, though wives will enjoy it. And if you haven't gotten enough Gosling from those two, rent Blue Valentine. Not the happiest movie about love and marriage, but two great performances from Michelle Williams and my boyfriend. And to think...he's Canadian?!?

Something Wicked this way comes...

Last night was opening night for Wicked at the Fox Theater, the first of a 4 week stint. I have been searching for discount tickets for weeks for this show (I really hate to pay full price but would've done it if I couldn't get a deal) and came across a new deal site specifically for tickets- concerts, plays, sporting events. So I must make sure my readers of this entertainment blog know about it...www.goldstar.com. You can sign up for their daily or weekly deals newsletter, similar to Groupon. They had a special for $50 Wicked tickets for Wednesday and Thursday only, so I grabbed two and texted the sitter and my bestie, Kim.

I moved from Manhattan in 2003, the year Wicked opened on Broadway, and didn't get to see it then. It has since been through Atlanta one or two times and I was busy with babies or some such. I tried reading the book and only got through about 1/3 of it...it was really dark and just not my thing. Now a few of the songs have made their way to popular culture (Rachel sang, "Defying Gravity" on Glee last season) and the two original actresses in the show have both had guest starring roles on Glee: Kristen Chenowith as April Rhodes and Idina Menzel as Rachel's real mom. But I didn't really know what the show was about.

At it's heart, it's a friendship tale. Elphaba was born green and unloved. Her heart was not wicked, but mostly misunderstood. Her sister, Nessarose, was the favored one and was wheelchair bound, for which Elphaba blames herself. She meets Galinda (who later shortens it to Glinda) at boarding school, who is blond and perky and everything Elphaba is not. She is such a funny character- her made-up words for things had me laughing out loud. (When she got to Oz, she declared it "Sooo Ozmopolitan!") But the two girls end up helping each other and becoming friends and drawing on each other's strengths. Elphaba's strength is her intelligence and natural gift of witchcraft, while Glinda wants to help her become popular (another hilarious song.) Elphaba becomes outraged at the way people begin treating the animals, by putting them in cages and not allowing them to speak, so she travels to Oz to get the Wizard's help. The Wizard turns out to be the one behind the whole silencing of the animals, and so Elphaba escapes and is declared by all of Oz to be Wicked. Glinda stays, lured by the popularity of being the right hand of the Wizard. I won't spoil the rest of the show for anybody who hasn't seen it...but it does such an amazing job with the songs, special effects, and very clever storyline of bringing in the tin man, cowardly lion and eventually the scarecrow too.

In the end, the two witches sing a song to each other called, "For Good" where Glinda says that she doesn't know if its true that people come into each other's lives for a reason, but she "knows I am who I am today because I knew you." And Elphaba tells Glinda that "whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend."

It couldn't be more fitting that Kim and I saw this show together. She was my first friend in our subdivision, we have shared 3 nannies (only 2 of them were crazy), the ups and downs of life and loss and love, and lots of laughs. She is such an amazing person- fiercely loyal to her family and friends- and one of the strongest women I know. When we moved to Texas, Kim and Em were our first visitors and when we had the opportunity to move back, Kim paved the way (how many friends would stand in line for you to ensure your kids' spot in preschool??). I cried with her when she lost her friend to breast cancer, and walked 60 miles with her on the Susan G. Komen walk. When I made the decision to stop working and stay at home with the kids, Kim was so supportive and never made me feel like my job is less important than hers (even though she is so accomplished in her career.) We would do anything for each other, and it feels so good to know that I have her on my side. Like Elphaba and Glinda, she has helped re-write my story by being my friend. (And if we have to pick which is which, she is so the super smart green witch and I'm on the one with a closet full of glittery shoes. :)

So you have almost 4 weeks to go see this show...it makes for a lovely date night but an even better girlfriend night. However you get there, I say just go!