oscar oscar

Posted on February 25, 2007 by Kel

My annual Oscar comments…

WTF was up with Ellen’s monologue? (Alright, she got A LOT better as the show went on).

Can Will Ferrell host the Oscars next year? Cause I totally loved his song with Jack Black and John C. Reilly.

Why so many montages???

Those shadow dancers. Seriously? Ok, they just did Snakes on the Plane. That was pretty funny.

OMG, I’m so jealous of Jennifer Hudson. George Clooney just handed her her Oscar. Oh, and I’m so glad she took off that awful jacket when she went on stage to accept her award.

Adored Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt (and Meryl Streep, technically) giving out the award for Costume Design. Their little Devil Wears Prada bit was great. And I was totally astounded by all the nominees for that category. Such gorgeous, gorgeous work.

First LOL moment for me came from Seinfeld talking about our “deal” with movie theatres… “When we’re finished, we just open our hand.” BWAH.

I’m kinda surprised that Dreamgirls didn’t win Original Song. It’s a musical! Was it just me or has there been backlash against the movie going into the show? Anyway, I absolutely LOVED Anika Noni Rose’s dress during their performance. Beautiful. And I seriously thought Jennifer Hudson’s boobs were going to pop out of her dress. Phew.

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s hair. WHAT WAS THAT?

Loved Forest Whitaker’s speech. Very touching. *sniff*

YAY MARTIN SCORCESE.

YAY DEPARTED.

That’s all I got. Watching the Oscars is so exhausting.

step up + smallville

Posted on January 21, 2007 by Kel

Eeek. I don’t know if anyone noticed but I had a bit of a domain scare this past week. I arrived home on Wednesday to check on my blog and found one of those dreaded domain placeholder pages. I forgot to renew my domain. !!! Luckily, my registrar let me renew it even if I was past the deadline. Phew. What a way to celebrate e-l.net’s 5th anniversary. YAY!

Anyway, I saw the movie Step Up recently and while it was mediocre (the dancing saved the movie for me), I must say that Channing Tatum is HOT and I would gladly watch this movie over and over just for him. It also had a pretty rocking soundtrack, mostly Pop and R&B songs. Here are a few of my favorites for your downloading pleasure –

Right click, save as…
username: cookie
password: monster

Ciara ft. Chamillionaire – Get Up
Petey Pablo – Show Me the Money
Samantha Jade – Step Up
Chris Brown – Say Goodbye (this one’s a “slow jam,” if you will)

I also watched the Justice Leage episode of Smallville and it was SO MUCH FUN. Cheesy but totally awesome. I haven’t watched the 4 episodes prior to this one (they’re saved on the Tivo) but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t really necessary to follow the storyline. The BEST part was when the Justice Leaguers walked away in slow motion from the explosion. SQUEE. I would totally watch a spinoff. (And apparently I’m not the only one — someone already put together credits for a JL-centric show). But does this mean that Oliver Queen/The Green Arrow is officially gone? I LOVE HIM. HE ROCKS. And he’s a big reason why I’m enjoying this season. Please tell me he’ll still be around. I don’t know if SMVL will still hold my attention without him.

john tucker must die

Posted on November 29, 2006 by Kel

We didn’t get our Christmas tree over the weekend since it started RAINING. We headed over to the tree lot on Sunday anyway but all the trees were *drenched.* GRRR. We’re going to try again this weekend… I want my tree already!

Rob is so obsessed with the Nintendo Wii… we even STOOD IN LINE at Best Buy last Sunday. Like those people you see on TV. THAT WAS US. We didn’t get one, though, since they only had 50 for sale and we were just too late (people had been waiting since 6am and we got in line at 9am). But seriously. We stood in line. For a video game system. That’s nuts, right?

I watched John Tucker Must Die yesterday. I enjoyed it, of course. Plot holes and all. But then, you guys know me by now… I love fluffy teen movies. And this one stars Brittany Snow and Sophia Bush! Brittany totally carries the movie — I miss seeing her on TV every week (I’m still mourning the premature cancellation of American Dreams). Fun way to spend an hour and a half.

Just finished watching America’s Next Top Model. I’m so disappointed in the top 3 finalists. BLAH.

happy feet + casino royale

Posted on November 19, 2006 by Kel

It was a movie weekend…

I saw Happy Feet yesterday. The penguins were so darn cute! I *loved* Baby Mumble and his tap-happy feet. The singing and dancing was so much fun. But honestly, I was a little disappointed with the ending.

I wasn’t disappointed with the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix trailer, though! SQUEE. Harry cut his hair! I hated that long hairdo in the last movie. It was a short trailer but there were some great sneak peeks of Sirius, Bellatrix, and the Harry/Cho kiss. It was pretty darn awesome. I CAN’T WAIT!

I also went to see Casino Royale today. Aside from the looooong poker scene in the middle of the movie, I thought it was a good movie. I didn’t think I would like Daniel Craig as the new Bond but I totally did. He had a refreshing take on the character. He wasn’t slick the way Pierce Brosnan’s Bond was; instead he was kind of rough around the edges. I also really liked Vesper Lynd (aka the “Bond Girl”) mostly because she *wasn’t* the typical Bond Girl. Go see it! It’s a fun few hours at the movies.

I caught the premiere of Daybreak this past week and really liked it. Taye Diggs gets to start each of his repeating days in bed. Topless. Seriously though, I thought it was a great twist that any injuries and bruises he sustains carries over into the next day. It seems to confirm that the repeating days are actually happening and Brett’s not dreaming or hallucinating. Anyway, I’m intrigued. And I’ll keep watching.

I’m SO looking forward to the short 3-day work week. Awesome.

paris day 3

Posted on November 12, 2006 by Kel

I want to go to Disneyland. I have absolutely no idea why. I just do. So just a minute ago, I took a look at the ticket prices online. HOLY MOLY. When did it get so expensive?!? $63! And that’s just for 1 day and 1 park. If you want to park hop or whatever, it’s $83 for 1 day. Oh well, I’d still love to go. Maybe when I’m in Southern CA for the holidays…

Had an okay weekend. I got a stomachache on Saturday so I spent a good part of the day in bed. Ugh. I caught up on The OC (really, really liking this season so far) and I watched The Break-Up. HATED IT. There were some funny moments and Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn were good but the whole storyline was… EH. I also went to see Borat today, which was pretty hilarious. I wouldn’t say I *liked* it, though. The highlight of my weekend was getting an iPod nano! Rob got me a 4gb red one as a belated birthday present. I’m going to use this one for the gym.

More Paris…
Sun, October 15: Day 3
After our Parisian breakfast of croissants and coffee (I must have gained about 10 pounds from all the bread I ate!), we were off to Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur. (Montmartre is the northern part of the city where many artists reside). We took the Metro (we’re total pros now) and got off at Anvers. I was actually hoping the Abesses stop would be open by now (it’s been closed for renovations). That was the Metro stop featured in the movie Amelie and I just wanted to see it! Maybe next time. We walked up a hill (huffing and puffing the whole time) that took us to the bottom of the steps leading to Sacre Coeur. We took a breather by the carousel and prepared ourselves for the stairs. I guess we could have taken the funicular up but we were feeling adventurous. As we headed over to the stairs, we were approached by the men who try and stop you to tie a bracelet around your wrist. If they happen to get you, you’re tied to them and have to give them money to be released. They try to convince you to take the bracelet by saying it’s free. We walked away from them quickly (though one of them totally grabbed Rob’s arm) and started the hike up the stairs. It took us a little while (we stopped every time there was a bit of platform) but it was worth it when we arrived at the top. The basilica is absolutely gorgeous and the view from up there was wonderful. We were overlooking all of Paris! We went inside and lit a candle for my mom and walked around admiring the statues and sculptures. As we exited, I noticed that they had those machines that make impressions on coins for souvenirs. Is it just me or is that the *last* thing you’d expect to see in a church? I’ve made them before but at an amusement park!

We walked down to Place du Tertre to check out the artists’ square. There were some absolutely gorgeous watercolor paintings of the Arc and the Eiffel Tower and I was incredibly tempted to purchase one but I decided against it since they were pricey (between 25-50 Euros) and I didn’t know how the heck I was going to take it with me on the plane. We continued our walk through Montmartre and into the Pigalle area (Red Light District) on the way to the Moulin Rouge. Since it was Sunday, most of the shops were closed (so weird to me!) but we did find one sex shop that happened to be open. We went in but there was nothing exciting. LOL. Just a few more steps down was the Moulin Rouge! It was so fun to see the famous dance hall and its iconic windmill.

Our next stop for the day was the Marais. We made our way there via the Metro. As we walked up to the street level, we found ourselves at the Place de la Bastille. There’s nothing left of the prison at all so there’s nothing to see. Across the street, though, stood the Colonne de Juillet (memorial to commemorate the deaths in the street battles of 1830) and also the Opera National de Paris Bastille. The Opera completely stood out because it’s made of glass… I actually didn’t like it at all. We continued walking over to Place des Vosges. It’s a beautiful park that’s perfectly symmetrical (nine houses on each side of the square). I just loved all the parks/gardens in Paris. They’re so well-maintained, gorgeous and peaceful.

By this time, we were so hungry. We spotted a Quick fast food restaurant (like the McDonald’s of France) and ordered Supreme Cheese burgers meals. It wasn’t really a very good burger (my all time favorite fast food burger is from In-n-Out) but it came with Coke! And it didn’t cost us $5! Heh. After lunch, we walked along the Rue de Rivoli down to Ile de la Cite. We sat in the Square du Jean XIII, which is a beautiful garden behind Notre Dame. I think I love the back of Notre Dame even more than the front. The flying buttresses are spectacular. Guh.

I wanted to pick up a book to read for the plane ride home so we looked for the English bookstore Shakespeare & Co, which I knew was nearby. What a great little store! It’s TINY. It felt so homey and the employees are really friendly and give you recommendations on books and things to do in the area. I picked up The Time Traveler’s Wife, which a good friend had suggested to me. (I finished the book on the plane and didn’t like it :/).

By this time, we were absolutely exhausted from all the walking so we bought tickets for a 1 hr. sightseeing cruise on the Seine. We sat on top of the boat for a good vantage point of all the sights. The boat passed many of the monuments (D’Orsay, Conciergerie, Notre Dame, etc) but once we got to the Eiffel Tower, our camera battery died after just a few photos! GRRR. I was a bit surprised to see that the homeless population of Paris have tents set up all along the river banks. Some of them looked pretty permanent too. Looking back, though, I’m not sure why I was so shocked. Paris is a big city and all big cities have homeless problems. Still, it was a nice trip down the river and we got to rest our poor feet. After the cruise, we picked up gyros and banana/nutella crepes for dinner and headed back to the hotel for the night.

Up next: the Louvre!

little miss sunshine

Posted on September 4, 2006 by Kel

Just got back from seeing Little Miss Sunshine. GREAT movie. It’s kinda sad and depressing but manages to balance out the mature situations with some absolutely hilarious moments. I particularly love all the times when the Hoover family had to push their VW van to get it started. Ahhh, that never stopped being funny. Highly recommended.

snakes on a plane

Posted on August 27, 2006 by Kel

The Emmys are on and I’m not watching (you know, the whole lack of cable issue). Waaahhh.

I’ve actually been procrastinating in getting cable installed again because it looked like we were going to be moving much sooner than we thought. Rob just got a new job in San Carlos (YaY!!!); however, it’s not close to where we live. AT ALL. It’s about a 45 min. to 1 hr. drive (one way!) at best. So we thought we should probably move somewhere that’ll be like “middle ground” for us since I’ll still be working in Oakland. That would lead us to the other side of the Bay Bridge… or in Bay Area speak, to the peninsula (the area south of San Francisco leading to San Jose). We took a drive this morning to check out the area… no luck. One apartment community we liked in San Bruno was WAY out of our budget so we kinda gave up. After much discussion, we decided to stay where we are, especially since we recently found out that we no longer have to vacate our apartment in 120 days like I originally mentioned in before. So yeah. We’re staying put. For now. AND WE CAN GET CABLE AGAIN.

Anyway. We also saw Snakes on a Plane today. Hehehe. Pretty bad movie but HIGHLY entertaining. I screamed out loud during a couple of scenes. Good times.

jury duty

Posted on August 5, 2006 by Kel

Argh, the dreaded day is almost here. On Sunday I have to call in for… jury duty.

ACK. I am SO not looking to calling in. I hope, hope, hope that I don’t have to report to court. I’d actually rather be at work.

Speaking of work, this is a handy site if you’re trying to disguise your internet activities from your boss. Hehehe.

Watched Hitch tonight and really, really liked it. I’m *such* a romantic comedy kind of girl. Plus, Will Smith is awesome.

So I never blogged about my cousin’s wedding last weekend. Despite the heat (I can’t get over how HOT it is in SoCal — I don’t remember it being that hot in high school?!!), I had a great time. I was in the wedding party as a secondary sponsor. I got to walk down the aisle and everything! I think this might be a filipino tradition but there’s a part in the middle of the ceremony where there are 4 additional wedding rites — coin, cord, veil, and candle. I was asked to do the veil. I carried a huge veil down the aisle and after my cousin and his wife exchanged vows and rings, the priest called my partner and I up to the altar and we had to pin the veil on both the bride and groom as a symbol of their unity. It’s a really pretty part of the ceremony.

The reception was at the Marina Hotel in San Pedro. It’s right on the water so it was absolutely gorgeous. Some pics…

The last one is of Rob, me, my favoritest cousin ever Riz (it was her brother who got married — she was a bridesmaid) and her boyfriend Josh.

movie weekend

Posted on July 9, 2006 by Kel

So in my previous entry I was eagerly waiting for Netflix to send out Entourage season 2 since Rob and I had just finished the 8 episodes of season 1. Weeeellll… the 3 discs arrived on Friday in the mail. And by Saturday afternoon we were done with all 14 episodes. Then after a short break while I had dinner with a friend, I came home and we caught up with the current season on HBO On Demand (this is so awesome!). EEEP. It was like an addiction. We couldn’t stop watching. Now that we’re caught up it’s pretty depressing, heh. Ari is officially my favorite character. Gawd, he’s freaking hilarious. And his relationship with his wife is one of my favorites. Jeremy Piven is amazing in this role. Congrats to him for scoring an Emmy nomination. He totally deserves it. I also love Johnny Drama more and more each episode. He has some of the best lines and he always has a classic lost puppy look on his face. I lurve him.

I did manage to leave the apartment this weekend to watch a couple of movies (possible spoilers ahead)…

The Devil Wears Prada
I LOVED this movie. I can’t wait til it’s released on DVD so I can watch it all the time. Meryl Streep was perfectly cast, the fashion/clothes were to DIE FOR (I especially loved the black tiered dress Andy wore in Paris when she walked away from Miranda), plus Adrian Grenier! He’s such a cutie. It’s been awhile since I read the book but I’m pretty sure they changed the entire story for the movie. Characters were given bigger and/or smaller roles and the ending (the final resolution/conflict) was completely different. I actually liked the movie better than the book. I don’t know if I’ve ever said that before.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Good movie. But LONG. Like, unnecessarily long, I think. I’m not completely sure how I feel about the story since the “real” ending won’t come until PotC 3. The characters, though, were still great. Captain Jack was pure comedy (Johnny Depp rocks). And I liked Elizabeth much more in this movie. She had more spunk than I remember. I’m really surprised that Elizabeth/Jack became a storyline. Not that I’m against it or anything — I actually think they make a really fun couple. But Disney seems to have fixed “ships” so I doubt the love triangle will amount to anything. I also really loved the fight scenes, particularly the 3-way swordfight (hmmm, that sounds a little dirty, lol!). The first movie was still far better, imo. But WOW… PotC rocked the box office. $55 million on the first day (I think that might be a record?) and $132 million for the weekend? That’s CRAZY.

It’s been a good summer for movies.

the past week

Posted on July 4, 2006 by Kel

Aaaahhh, it’s nice to be home. I feel like I’ve been “on the go” forever. But It’s been an awesome week. Here’s a rundown…

Fri, 6/23 – Start of Girls Weekend with my best friends. We went down to Palm Springs (115 degree weather! Crazy!) and stayed at the Miramonte Resort, which was fantastic. We spent Saturday relaxing, getting pampered (I had a massage… mmmm), and hanging out by the pool (well, that was me since I forgot to bring a bathing suit — I know, I know). I think we’ve pretty much decided to make Girls Weekend an annual (at the very least) tradition. I’m so looking forward to our next trip.

Wed, 6/28 – Trip to LA for work. Met a client for dinner at Roy’s Restaurant in downtown LA. I had the Ahi and then shared the chocolate souffle. Phenomenal food. Headed over to The Standard in West Hollywood to check-in for the night. This hotel is a TRIP. The lobby had shag carpet and bubble chairs and my room had floral curtains and an inflatable rubber chair. Pretty awesome. My co-worker and I decided to have a drink before heading to bed and while we’re sitting in the lounge, I see a friend of mine from high school that I haven’t seen in *years.* It really is a small world.

Thurs, 6/29 – Worked out of the LA office. Nothing of significance to report.

Fri, 6/30 – Drove down to San Diego for my friend’s wedding (Rob was a groomsman). Attended the wedding rehearsal and found out that I was in charge of distributing the corsages/boutonnieres to the wedding party the next day. Fun! I love being in charge of stuff. Then a bunch of us went out for drinks with the groom. I had my signature drink (Amaretto Sour), finished the entire thing (a huge feat for me), and managed not to become a giggling mess.

Sat, 7/1 – Mike’s Wedding Day! It was an absolutely *gorgeous* wedding (the colors were teal and brown – so pretty). It was held outside at the Prado at Balboa Park. The only drawback of holding the ceremony outside was the HEAT. OMG. It was close to 100 degrees and there wasn’t much shade. To make matters worse, I apparently thought it was smart to wear a black dress. The best part of the reception was the slideshow because Mike and Emma actually put together a karaoke video! HEE. That was SO awesome. The whole wedding was incredibly well-executed. And I had such a fun time.

Sun, 7/2 – After brunch with the newlyweds, we headed back to Cerritos. Tried to take a nap but it was too hot to sleep. Had dinner with my dad (and saw 2 more people from high school! Cerritos is *such* a small town) and then went to see Nacho Libre. Sadly, I was tired from the weekend and I fell asleep too many times to count. I watched about half of the movie, I think. What I saw was pretty freaking hilarious, though.

Mon, 7/3 – Flight back to the Bay Area. You know, after all the flying I’ve done in the past week and a half, I realized that there is seriously a TON of noise on airplanes. Usually I fall asleep right away so I don’t notice the noise but the past few flights, I tried to listen to my iPod and I had to turn the volume way up. I would LOVE to get some noise-cancelling headphones. Too bad they cost an arm and a leg. Anyway, when we got home, we headed straight to the TV to watch Entourage season 1. We rented the DVDs from Netflix based on recs from both online and offline friends. We breezed right through all the episodes, heh. My favorite character is Johnny Drama with Eric a close second. Can’t wait to get season 2. I also watched High School Musical. Absolutely adored this movie. It was so cheesy but SO GOOD. I have Breaking Free on repeat right now… go ~~here~~ to download the song (username: cookie/password: monster — don’t forget to right click, save as…).

Tues, 7/4 – Happy 4th of July! Slept in. Felt SO good to do that. Went to see Superman Returns. SUCH a good movie. And to think when the trailer was first released this time last year, I thought the movie would be horrible. I was so wrong. Brandon Routh (what a hottie!), Kevin Spacey and even Kate Bosworth (I was most skeptical about her) were great. Yay Bryan Singer! Did I mention Brandon Routh is hot? Cause he totally is.

OMG. I just found this link to the new light pink Nintendo DS. I WANT IT SO BAD. Guh. Too bad I’m trying to go on a “spending diet” so I can save money for a vacation. Maybe for my birthday?

UGH. I’m so bummed about going to work tomorrow. At least it’s a 3-day week.