memoirs

Got the Harry Potter track jacket! *dork*

😀

Last chance for holiday cards! 😀 I really should have written them this weekend but I got lazy. Anyway, if you’d like to receive a card from me, please send me an email! They’re going out by the end of this week, I promise.

I got the chance to see Memoirs of a Geisha last Friday and I really, really liked it (it’s playing in select cities and yay, San Francisco is one of them). I read the book months ago but from what I remember, they kept all the major storylines and characterizations true to the source.

Continue reading

rent rocks

I saw Rent today and absolutely loved it. It’s obviously not in the same league as the musical (which is my most favorite stage show ever) but it comes really close.

I was happily surprised by Rosario Dawson’s performance. Her voice sounded great… I have to admit that I had my doubts about her but she proved me wrong. I’ve never cared for Maureen but Idina Menzel is seriously amazing (she looked so cute in the catsuit on New Year’s Eve). I could listen to her sing all day. Tracie Thoms also blew me away… just WOW. Her voice is so powerful. I loved her version of Joanne. And who could forget Jesse Martin? I have a soft spot for him. But was it just me or did he play Collins as a bit of a drunk? I don’t remember the character being like that in the stage show… but then it’s been about 5 years since I’ve seen it so maybe I forgot? Whatever, Collins and Angel are still the best, and most meaningful, couple. *sob*

My favorite number was La Vie Boheme. Such a great group song. They’re all smiling, having fun, dancing on tables… such an awesome scene. My other favorite songs include Another Day, Without You, Finale B… and they definitely didn’t disappoint. All the songs were spectacular. I think the movie soundtrack has a much MUCH edgier/harsher sound to it than the Original Broadway Cast soundtrack… it sounds fantastic. I wasn’t planning on purchasing the movie soundtrack since I have the OBC but now I’m so tempted.

The one thing I was upset about was Benny’s diminished role. Again, maybe my memory is failing me but I remember seeing him more often in the stage show. Regardless, it was a GREAT movie (I’m so proud of Christopher Columbus). I highly recommend it. GO SEE IT!

I also bought my Christmas tree today. Whee! It’s so tall and fluffy and smells SO GOOD. Ahhh, the holidays rock.

hp4 review

First off… HAPPY BIRTHDAY Christie! Hope you have a fantastic day! 🙂

Second… YaY CAL for winning the Big Game this past weekend. It was the first time I’d ever been to a Big Game and it was lots of fun. My ears are still ringing, though, from sitting in the student section with all the screaming fans.

Too bad I also got sick and had to stay home from work all day yesterday. I’ve been pretty miserable for the past few days but at least I caught up on TV. 🙂 There’s always a bright side.

And now… random HP GoF thoughts.

Continue reading

hp4 first look

I caught HBO’s First Look on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire tonight.
SQUEE.

It was only about 10 minutes long but there were quite a few new and/or extended scenes… Mad-Eye Moody teaching a Dark Arts class, Dumbledore looking into the pensieve, the chaos at the Quidditch World Cup, Harry in the tub with Myrtle and the Golden Egg, Harry asking Cho to the Yule Ball… OMG, there was more and IT’S JUST SO EXCITING. You can download the clip from HPANA.

Awww.

I should go buy my movie tickets this week. I love watching HP on opening day. 😀

american dreams finale

I’m listening to Christmas music right now. LOL. I’m so ready for the holiday season… it’s definitely my most favorite time of the year. I’ve even started my Christmas shopping. HEE!

I downloaded all 13 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire clips from The Leaky Cauldron and NONE of them had sound for me. Grrr. I guess I’m not meant to spoil myself for the movie, hee. (And Sarah, you’re totally right — the movie comes out on Nov 18. I’m just too excited! I can’t wait any longer, lol).

I think I have a new favorite celebrity couple — Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. I had absolutely NO CLUE that they were dating until I saw the cute pictures of them grocery shopping. Aww. It’s like Noah and Allie come to life!

An entry wouldn’t be complete without some TV stuff (possible spoilers ahead)…

Am I totally out of the loop? Has Kitchen Confidential been cancelled?

Prison Break is getting another 2 hour Monday event tomorrow so it has me wondering…

Everwood 4.05, Connect Four
This episode made me so happy. I am totally back on the Amy/Ephram train. Not that I ever really stopped loving them… it’s just that after the end of last season, I haven’t actually liked Ephram, which makes it pretty hard to ‘ship them. But as soon as he revealed to Andy that he came back because he’s still in love with Amy, I just melted. That said, I also like Reid/Amy. I was smiling so big during their first kiss. It was so sweet. I’m still not sold on Bright/Hannah but I am beginning to like them. Is that weird? Like, I still feel like they have nothing in common but I can appreciate their scenes now, particularly the one at the end of the episode when Hannah looked so happy to see Bright and he gazed down at her with such a sweet look (aww). Or maybe I’m starting to like them because I foresee a painful break-up? I do love angst, you know. Anyway, my favorite scene of the episode was when Bright was talking to Ephram about breaking up with Hannah. Those two have come so far since last season. I’m so proud. Plus, I just love the way Tom Amandes directed that scene…. with the camera looking up at B/E and the gorgeous mountain backdrop. Soooo pretty.

Grey’s Anatomy
I thought I was all about Derek/Meredith but I’ve learned… it’s ALL about Burke/Cristina. At the end of episode 2.04, when Burke got into bed with Cristina and held her, I think I might have swooned. That was one of the sweetest and most romantic scenes ever. I’m serious. I want those two crazy kids to work out.

One Tree Hill
Haley better not have kissed Chris at the Halloween party. How could he have known Nathan was going as Batman anyway? UGH. So I downloaded Peyton’s podcasts from iTunes out of curiosity and they’re okay. Nothing exciting, especially since Hilarie Burton has kind of a monotone voice. It’s actually an interesting way of tying the show to real life. In the first one, she talks through her feelings about her current storyline with Ellie and in the second one, she talks about music as a part of her life. If you’re not a Peyton fan, I’d skip it.

And for American Dreams fans, there was a good update on the extended finale on Ask Ausiello this week (Thanks to Robyn for the head’s up!)…

Continue reading

no death cab for me

I woke up this morning to find out that the Death Cab for Cutie concert on 11/13 is sold out. WTF. The tickets went on sale at 10am and I logged on to Ticketmaster at 11:30. This sucks. I was looking forward to it — I haven’t been to a concert since Justin Timberlake and Matchbox 20 in 2003 (!!!). *sigh*

Oh well, at least there are other things to be happy about, like…

The new Harry Potter trailers!!! They are here and here. The Yule Ball and Triwizard Tournament scenes just make me incredibly happy. And I can’t help but fall in love with Viktor/Hermione. I adore the way he kisses her hand and twirls her around at the Yule Ball. SOCUTE. And seeing Harry all stutter-y and nervous as he’s talking to Cho Chang… SQUEE. I am SO. EXCITED.

The audio section of the official RENT site has been updated with clips of the entire soundtrack. YAY. I’ve been anxious to hear some of Rosario Dawson’s solos and I’m pleasantly surprised. Listening to the clips makes me want to pre-order the soundtrack. November’s going to be a great month for movies. 🙂

In TV news, I watched the series premiere of Everybody Hates Chris. There was a preview DVD in last week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly so I thought I would check it out. It is freaking HILARIOUS. The father is already my favorite character (he has the BEST lines) and the kid that plays Chris is a total natural. I hope the show does well — I would love to have a sitcom on my TV schedule again. Anyway, it premieres this coming Thursday so check it out!

I spent most of my Saturday watching my Popular season 1 DVDs. I think I watched maybe 2 episodes when the show was originally airing and I didn’t really care for it. But I got the DVDs as part of a free promotion almost a year ago so I thought it was time to finally take them out of the packaging. I popped the first disc into the DVD player and ended up watching 9 episodes… straight. It is *much* better than I remember. It’s funny, though, while I like the show, I don’t really love any of the characters. Well, maybe Harrison — he’s awesome. The girls are just so difficult to empathize with. Especially Sam (Carly Pope). I want to be on her side but then she does something so petty, I just want to smack her. She drives me crazy. Nicole (Tammy Lynn Michaels) and Mary Cherry (Leslie Grossman) are so awesomely bad, though. I can’t stand them but I can’t help but laugh at their antics. I read that the second season was a huge disappointment compared to season 1 (something about network involvement — stupid WB!). It’s such a great, campy show… it’s too bad.

Anyway, I’m excited for the Emmys tonight. I want to see Kristen Bell perform! Aww. 🙂

Forgot to mention that I added a few new wallpapers to Sour-Lemon.org last weekend. I finished those wallpapers *months* ago and recently found them on my hard drive. I really wish I had the motivation to make fanart. I haven’t made anything in ages. I miss it.

in good company

Why did no one tell me before that magazine subscriptions are so cheap on eBay? Holy cow. It’s like heaven.

In other news, I just finished watching In Good Company. And I really liked it. The movie is totally predictable (I mean, if you saw the trailer, it basically gives the story away) but Topher Grace, Scarlett Johansson and Dennis Quaid are all amazing. The ending left me a little dissatisfied but now that I’ve had a little time to think about it, I’ve changed my mind. I’m happy with the way it ended. Very true to real life. Anyway, highly recommended. 🙂

Doing another Top 5 request…

Top 5 Real Life Couples
I don’t really ‘ship real life couples (it’s a little strange since they’re actually real people and not characters) so here are the 5 couples that I think are/were really cute together…
1. Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody
2. Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson
3. Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe (they never dated — but the pictures of them at the various premieres of HP3 were *so* cute)
4. Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake
5. Kirsten Dunst and Jake Gyllenhaal

One more to do…

Have a great weekend everyone!

summer movies

Squee! New pictures from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are here and here. I especially adore all the pics of Harry (my Dan love is resurfacing). Aww. And I finally got my first look at an official WB photo of Cho Chang. Katie Leung (I think that’s the actress’s name) is totally cute but she’s just not what I envisioned Cho to look like. Maybe it’s just me…

In other movie news, I’ve seen a few in recent weeks (all of which are probably old news to everyone else, lol)…

Batman Begins
The best movie I’ve seen all year. Actually, the best movie I’ve seen in a LONG time. It was amazing. The talented cast (especially Christian Bale and Morgan Freeman — and yes, including Katie Holmes), the darker storyline, the gritty sets — everything just fell into place for this movie. A definite improvement from the cheesefest that was Batman and Robin (please no one let Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in another Batman movie). Can’t wait for the sequel!

Fantastic Four
Entertaining but not much else. The Fantastic Four aren’t developed at all as characters which made it hard for me to care. I definitely had trouble with Johnny Storm (Chris Evans’s character) — he was such a hothead and I never understood why. There was also some cringe-worthy acting (*cough*JessicaAlba*cough*) but I’ll overlook that because I adored Julian McMahon. Heh.

Wedding Crashers
Everyone needs to go see this movie! Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are freaking hilarious. Rachel McAdams is rocking (as usual) plus, you get to see Bradley Cooper (yum!) play a decidedly non-Will character. Good times.

I also saw a trailer for Dukes of Hazzard. WOW. Jessica Simpson absolutely cannot act. I was so embarrassed for her. EEK.

And last but not least, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Emma! Hope you have a great day! 🙂