Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (3D)

I saw Harry Potter in IMAX 3D over the weekend. Trying to squeeze the last bit of enjoyment out of my vacation before heading back to the grind. I have just finished the book before heading to the beach, so I had automatic comparison mode on while watching the movie.

You know how movies are never as good as the book? This is so true in the case of Harry Potter. There are so many details Rowling writes that get left out of the plot. So it may feel like skimming if you've read the book beforehand. But other than that, as always, it's a fun ride and you really root for the good guys here. You'll really like this movie, in 3D or not.

4 eggrolls out of 5

Staring is Not Polite

I don't know about you, but I still get stares in small town establishments. Take for instance, today we stopped for a banana split in Dover. The second we pulled into the parking lot, I saw old people staring out the windows at our car and watch us walk all the way in.

Then after ordering, I got stares as we found a seat to enjoy our frozen treat. I sat facing away from the old geezers but asked Joe if they were still staring. He said they kept looking over in our direction.

I reckon they must have been having flashbacks when they saw someone like me in their itty bitty ice cream shop. They must not get people like me in their parts too often.

Beach Reading List

Originally, I was going to take Harry Potters 5 and 6 with me to the beach. But Joe threw a wrench in the plan when he ordered me a novel from Amazon. So I'm reading Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix now and leaving The Half-Blood Prince for the beach.

I never read except for when I'm at the beach and I try to really cram it in. So aside from Harry Potter, I'm taking The Nasty Bits by Tony Bourdain and Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud by Jonathan Safran Foer. I really liked Everything is Illuminated (the movie, I never read the book) so I wanted to dabble in something else from Foer.

Now that I've started, I want to get through The Order of the Phoenix as quickly as possible so I can catch up to what's going on and not get spoiled by other people's commentary on the upcoming, and last, book in the series. Plus, the movie's out now and I want to see it. But not before I read the dang thing- it's 800 and some pages long!

My Most Brilliant Idea to Date

Yesterday, Joe and I went to Hoss's for lunch. During the middle of our meal the hostess was pulling a high chair to the booth right next us, readying a table for a family of four. But the father asked whether they could sit at a table further away so it would be easier to maneuver the high chair. And then I thought "Yeah, take your kids to the kids section! I don't want hear your baby cry!"

Then I realized I stumbled upon the greatest idea I've had to date. Now that Pennsylvania is slowly banning smoking in public areas, I thought restaurants should convert those smoking sections into kid sections. So people like me can enjoy their meal in peace. Hey, I'm not being mean and selfish here. Think of all those new couples out on a date and then think of how their date is ruined when a family of 6 is seated in their vicinity. I know you can see my point here, don't deny it.

But I also have to call out the poorly trained restaurant staff who don't recognize a date when they see one and not-so-smartly seat a huge party with 7 kids next to them. Look, I know your job is to evenly distribute customers among the waitresses and make sure people get seated promptly. But your job is also to make the experience enjoyable, so pay attention to what's going on and stop putting the loudmouths near my table!

If You Could Go Back and Change One Thing What Would It Be?

I answered this question in a MySpace Survey that I posted as a bulletin. My response was "I'd try to be friendlier". I thought a bit more about this and figured I'd elaborate on that.

I'd say my fatal flaw is that I start out hating people at first and then discover reasons to like them. Rather than the other way around like most other people. They start out giving you the benefit of a doubt and figure you're a nice person and then find your flaws and start disliking you as a result.

I don't really see this as a good idea at all. Why meet someone and assume they're a good person when they could be serial killer? I'd rather assume the worse and then be relieved with it's not true. Sure, you have less friends that way but who cares. I know for a fact I don't have psychos in my life. And frankly, I like it that way.

New Links

I've added 2 new links.

Posh Girl Vintage- I've been looking for a cute party dress for an outdoor wedding for the past few weeks. I did finally find one at Checkered Past for $12!!! It's a cute kicky yellow thing that looks Jackie-esque. It's sort of too bad, because I found this website that has the cutest vintage stuff I've seen. Yeah, it's a little expensive and the store is in California. But they pick good quality stuff and make repairs before they sell.

Things I've Bought That I Love- The actress/writer that plays Kelly on The Office has her own blog. She's fucking hilarious and actually does talk just like Kelly. You must check it out.

I Heart Smallville

If you love TV at all, you have to rent Season 1 of Smallville. It's the teenage Superman story before the Metropolis days. This show is so many things all wrapped into one.

As a teen drama, Clark Kent is a teenager in high school with a crush on a cute girl. He's super naive and awkward and it's totally great. Probably better than the other high school dramas out there. As a comic book/ superhero show, it's awesome in the way I hear that Heroes is awesome. It's real people with real problems and real gifts. Rather than looking at it as mutants with super powers.

Being only Season 1, it doesn't delve into major story arcs. The episodes don't have a plot thread, so you can pretty much watch them out of order. The reviews call this season the "Freak of the Week" season, as every episode pretty much introduces a new character that wreaks havoc on the small town of Smallville and resolves everything by the end. If you watch the whole thing in order, it starts out pretty good but by the "Nicodemus" episode, it's totally awesome.

Nicodemus is probably the best episode of the season. The Jonathan-Kent-crazy-driving scene is the most hilarious thing ever shown on the WB channel and there's a hot Lana Lang scene for the boys.

By the way, I should also note that all the major characters are pretty easy on the eyes. If you don't already have a thing for Superman-types (And who doesn't?), Lex Luthor is pretty smoldering. I mean who doesn't fall for the bad boy at times? Lana Lang is pretty much a babe. The Kents are a handsome couple. Whitney is the cute dumb jock. Do I need to keep going? I'm just saying. It makes this show easier and easier to watch.

Please please please, add this to your Netflix today! You won't regret it.

My Mom Invented Iced Coffee

Mother's Day. My mom tells us how she's been drinking iced coffees before anyone else has. How everyone had been thinking she was crazy for drinking cold coffee all along, and now they're paying $4 for one at Starbucks. So the joke is that my mom invented iced coffee.

The Best Summertime Treat

I love Maryland blue crabs in the summertime. Nothing like a mallet, a bib, and an ice cold beverage with a pile of steamed crabs.

My High Fiber Challenge

So, I've been on an exercise kick since the beginning of the year and I have a target. I'm still a little off my target, but I seem to have hit a plateau. Nothing's changed much in the last 3 or 4 months, so I figure that I have to start making changes to my diet.

First I decided not to drink all my calories. Which means I had to cut back on soda and iced tea. That started out being a pain in the ass but now I'm used to drinking water. I even have Propel packet mixes to help trick me into drinking more water.

Now, I decided to add more fiber to my diet. This has become a hot topic at home. Joe and I are constantly looking at the nutrition values in our food items and monitoring my bathroom activity. At this point, I'm adding 2 new food items to my meals that are high fiber:

- Roman Meal bread- the whole wheat type. 5 grams per slice.
- Dried Turkish figs- 6 grams for 2 pieces. They taste like Fig Newtons except not so doughy. Mission figs are disappointingly only 2 grams per serving.

So in just a slice of toast and 2 figs, I can get 11 grams out of the recommended 25 grams per day.

Also, I'm going to add a link to Calorie King which is a handy website to look up nutrition values of restaurant and fast food items. What's really nice, is that they also post exercise recommendations that offset the food you eat. It's a real eye-opener. For example, I looked up one of the fizzy malt liquor beverages I was sipping and discovered there was 225 calories in one bottle. That means I need to spend more than 20 minutes running on the treadmill to work off that beverage alone. I was shocked.

Random Shite #11

You know what's weird? Fan fiction. It's a borderline obsessive activity, don't you think? Who has time to think of new episodes or situations in their head beyond what's available on TV? But there's this huge population of boys (and girls) in their basements writing about new stuff going on with Jack Bauer after the show is over. It's just too much.

I'm on the East Coast. And it's humid. I call it "too-hot-for-pants" weather. So as you might guess, I've got no pants on.

English Premier season is over and I ended up ranked 348,254th out of 1,276,164. So I reached my goals of making the top half and beating Jules. I'm pretty psyched about it.

I'm listening to Tim Armstrong's new album and I've this song totally stuck in my head..."let's get movin' into action!!" I love it.

Can I Have the Definition Please?

I am currently watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I kinda get excited this time of year when there's news about middle schoolers spelling words the size of skyscrapers. I tend to search for spelling quizzes online this time of year too.

I was a speller in middle school. I have gone to Harrisburg to spell and even won one bee locally. Spelling bees have changed since my day. I notice they throw in lots of medical terms which are total hell to spell. You totally have to be into linguistics and foreign languages to decode English vocabulary.

I'm excited though, I'm going to test myself and see if I can spell the words before it shows up on the screen and see if I'm as smart as I think I am.

Super Cute!

I added a new link to the blog. It's just a site for lolcats called I Can Has Cheezburger? So super cute! Where have I been that I didn't see this sooner?

Movie Review: Spiderman 3

I saw Spiderman 3 this weekend on a bootleg DVD that wasn't half bad. The color was a little dark and the sound was sort of crappy though. After all the reviews saying it wasn't good, I have to disagree. I thought it as actually pretty good. Joe and I decided that we'd like to see it again in surround sound.

Plus, I noticed that "Evil Spiderman" has an emo haircut and eyeliner. So that was fun to follow throughout the movie. Keep an eye out for the tell-tale hair flip.

Spiderman basically fights 3 villains and works to keep his girlfriend, Mary Jane, from getting pissed off at him for being a superhero. He also battles his own demons when he gets that black gunk on himself (see my comment above about Evil Spiderman). You probably don't want to hear this, but his longtime friend, Harry, dies at the end. I was sad about that, it always seems that when someone comes around and understands the truth is when they get offed. The guy that plays the Sandman is good and the guy that plays Venom was really good. Sometimes I felt overwhelmed with all the people he was dealing with. It was about as convoluted and confusing as an emo song title. And you know what I mean.

I'd give it 4 eggrolls out of 5.

In This Corner

This probably sounds ridiculous, but when I was in high school, I wanted to be a boxer. Yeah, like I said, ridiculous. But when I heard about the results of the De La Hoya and Mayweather fight, it got me riled up again. There's just something about the ability to land a good punch.

Day 3: 5 Boroughs in 3 Days

Julie, Dan and I took the Staten Island Ferry. All the tourists were crowding on one side of the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty so we decided to move to the sunny side.

Once we landed in SI, we sought a vintage clothing store that Julie heard of. I bought a hat, a bandanna, and some super hippie dress that makes me look like a virgin that's standing in a meadow with a horse. It was an impulse buy.

Then we got Indian food for lunch on curry row. I had some super delicious chicken tikka masala, mmm!

Then we took the tram to Roosevelt Island. Dan thinks it's a creepy island in an old prison sort of way. But it's just some industrial turned residential area with weird generic stores.

We headed back for a nap and then decided on dinner and a movie. This time we ate at Flor de Mayo, which serves Peruvian and Chinese cuisine. I had the best pina colada and shrimp ceviche. Dan got this roasted chicken and fried plantains that were quite delicious. Then we headed to the movie theatre to see The Namesake, which made me cry. I'll write a review on it later.

Then we headed back and played a blank map game until it got late. I half snoozed until 5:30 the next morning to catch an early train back home.

The Guide:
Every Thing Goes - Staten Island
Spice Cove - Manhattan
Flor de Mayo - Manhattan
Paris Theatre - Manhattan

Day 2: 5 Boroughs in 3 Days

I read somewhere that this is the last season Coney Island will be open before they close for major renovations. Dan thought it was sad that they would try to change the creepiness factor to something modern and yet still creepy.

So we took the subway all the way to Coney Island and looked for a pizza place called Totonno's on Julie's recommendation. Let me just tell you, it's the best fucking pizza I've had. We hadn't eaten a whole pie since college and we did it again. Pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms. Best fucking pizza, seriously.

Then we walked on the boardwalk and then got a Nathan's hot dog. I felt gluttonous. After we had enough of Coney Island, we hopped the subway to Prospect Park and Park Slope. Then we ended up on the Promenade that faced Manhattan and considered the long walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I couldn't do it. It was too long and my feet started to hurt.

Before we made our way back to Manhattan, Dan suggested stopping at Jacques Torres' chocolate shop. We ogled the plentiful choices and each picked 4 truffles to try.
If you ever get a chance, you've got to try his chocolates!

We had plenty of time to kill before we met up with more friends for bowling, so we spotted some cute puppies in a window, got massages, and got chocolate chip cookie sandwiches.

The Guide:
Totonno's - Brooklyn
Nathan's - Brooklyn
Jacques Torres - Brooklyn
Bowlmor - Manhattan

Day 1: 5 Boroughs in 3 Days

I met Dan at Penn Station at 3:30 and we headed back to his apartment to drop off my bags. We made a list of places to visit during my stay and then grabbed dinner and a movie. We saw "Avenue Montaigne", a cute little French movie that sort of broke my heart. I'll do a full review later on that. And then we stopped for dinner at Cafetasia, which is some hip Thai restaurant with communal seating.

Dan notes that cafeteria-style seating is becoming the fashion in the newest eateries and I agree that it's definitely cool. They had electric candles hanging from the ceiling that looked like the dining hall in the Harry Potter movies. And we had an oil candle at our table that looked like it could have set my hair on fire. I ordered the pad thai, which I swear was refilling itself from the bottom. After eyeing down the dessert the next table ordered, we ordered our own fried mango ice cream in a flaming sauce. And yes, I'm responsible for giving Dan that taste of alcohol he hasn't had in over a year. Whoops, my bad.

The Guide:
Quad Cinema - Manhattan
Cafetasia - Manhattan

Fitness for Skinny People

Some people would think that skinny people don't have a reason to exercise or watch their diets. This is simply ridiculous. Skinny people huff and puff after climbing 5 flights of stairs. I should know. I guess I'm a typical skinny girl. You know the type- skinny all my life, never had to exercise, ate whatever the hell I wanted. In high school I weighed around 97 lbs. In college, I never got the "freshman 15", pigged out at all hours of the day, and still weighed around 97 lbs.

It wasn't until after I got out of college that I gained some weight. A few winters ago, someone told me that I looked healthier (I got up to about 117 lbs). I guess I looked unhealthily skinny back then (I couldn't donate blood for being underweight). But then I realized something. I might have looked healthier, but the fact was that I didn't feel healthier. In fact, I felt bloated all the time.

So now I'm on this health kick, working out regularly and wrangling in my eating habits (although I refuse to eat anything labeled fat free or go on those restrictive diets). I've even experienced that high I keep hearing about and it makes me want to work out more.

I started looking for articles online about fitness for skinny people like me, but wouldn't you guess...there aren't very many. So I guess I'm going to somehow become some role model for other skinny people who work out/exercise/diet, but can't stand the hissing stares from other women who think I'm being pretentious.

Mongolian Blue Spot

I was reading about some kid in Georgia that wrote a book with his mom about birthmarks. He has a port wine stain on his face.

Minutes later I found myself looking up my own birthmark online. Here's what I found:

- It's called a Mongolian Blue Spot.
- It's very common among East Asians. In fact, around 90% of infants get one.
- They typically disappear by age 13 (although that's not the case for me).
- Normally found on the lower back and bottom.

I kinda think it's cool.