A last look at February.

"I think technically, the girl of my dreams would have a bodacious rack, maybe different hair and probably be more into sports but umm truthfully, Robin's better than the girl of my dreams, she's real."
--Paul (500 Days of Summer)

This one is courtesy of Manu.

Buenos Aires!

So I am officially moved into my room in Buenos Aires, or "Baires" as the locals call it.  I am currently living in the dormitory for the girl boarders.  It's like being in college all over again, woo! Except that I'm not because I'm grown up, and I have my own bathroom, and I'm not very cool here, and I also don't understand half of what everyone else is saying.  But it's pretty good, everyone here is very friendly and welcoming, they are just very shocked when I correct them by saying I have just graduated from university instead of high school.  The administration here is super helpful too and takes pretty good care of us "gap students." About half the adults talk to me in Spanish and the other half in English.  I would prefer Spanish, especially since I'm required to speak English to the students, but apparently I don't look like I'm from the Argentine.  And apparently my Spanish isn't very good because last night I asked a waitress where the bathroom was - in Spanish - and she answered me in English. 

The weather here has been pretty for the most part, not too warm, it was probably mid 60s when I got here yesterday.  It's impossible to know for sure though because I don't speak Celsius.

The school is located about 15 minutes outside the capital city, in Quilmes, which is nice because it prevents me from spending all my money.  But Manu (EA's boyfriend) took me into the city for dinner last night at this local place called Cafe Piedra Dura.  Not really, but he did joke about it because it's the opposite of local, and EA gave him crap for it so, naturally, we settled for some "local" Irish instead.  Also, EA warned me he was a crazy driver, jokingly, but in all seriousness, I was scared.  These are the craziest drivers I have ever encountered.  Also, the widest roads I have ever seen.  Check it out.

Avenida 9 de Julio

That's 14 lanes, I think? It is a beautiful city though, and I can't wait to see more of it.  I plan on going to a soccer game with Manu tonight so I will let everyone know how it goes.  Hasta luego!

Traveling, finally!

So it's off to Denver to see Emma Galvin and then onto Breckenridge to tumble down the side of a mountain.  I've been told to snowboard first, then switch to skiing because that's apparently easier than vice versa.  Either way, I am prepared to fall down a lot.  And at least it will be in the presence of bookpeople!

Then off to Buenos Aires and the sweet, sweet summer :)  I probably shouldn't rock the Texas shorts because the Chileans made their flag way too similar to the Texas flag, and you know how those Argies feel about Chile.  Anyway, I will try to update this as frequently as I can to let everyone know what's up, down there.  I will also be available via Skype so let me know if you need my Skype name.  I'm always down for a good old-fashioned video chat!

Also, please, someone come get me if I disappear.

7 Overrated Movies

I finally got the virus off my computer.  So this if for you, Joe.  Please don't hate me.  They are not listed in any particular order.

1. Punisher: Warzone.  This movie, no matter how low its ratings are, will always be overrated.

Pros: You can make some pretty good drinking games to it.

Cons: Everything.

2. The Dark Night (sorry Joe).  Let me just preface this one by saying that it was in fact a good movie.  BUT, as awesome as this movie was, would it have done as well if Heath hadn’t died?

Pros: The Katie Holmes/Maggie Gyllenhaal character “Rachel” is dead.

Cons: Two-Face character was a huge disappointment.  What a waste.

3. Juno.  Sorority girls everywhere hate me.  Let’s be real though, no pregnant high school girl would act as nonchalant as she does.

Pros:  Hamburger phone.  Michael Cera.

Cons:  Annoying and unrealistic. Also, did anyone else think the creepy older guy hitting on her was unnecessary?

4. The Twilight Saga.  Vampires that don’t eat humans?  This goes against everything vampires are infamous for.  Mix that with some bad acting and Mercy Brown’s heart was ripped out for nothing.

Pros: There is a least one Muse song in every movie.

Cons: Muse allowed their songs to be put in Twilight.

5. The Pink Panther (remake 2006).  Sorry Katherine, let’s just hope they don’t remake all of the movies.  I think there are 7.

Pros: “Stop browbeating her! Can't you see she is sexy?”

Cons: There are just so many.

6.  Homeward Bound. The curse of my childhood was having to watch this at every birthday sleepover.  I hate this movie.

Pros:  You can’t ever be mad at Michael J. Fox. (Just disappointed…)

Cons:  Talking animals? There is nothing fun about this movie.  Why did kids like it so much? 

7.  Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World.  After all the anticipation building up to it, unfortunately it just didn’t live up to the hype. And yes, I know this movie was also in my underrated movies, but it was just so bad that it was good. 

Pros: “Don’t go into the long grass!”

Cons: “Mommy’s very angry.”

Last night I caught the last 20 seconds of the trailer for Gnomeo and Juliet.

I think Jason Statham has reached a new career low; and this is even after The Transporter 2 and Death Race.  I am just really curious who thought turning the famous play into a children's CGI movie with gnomes as characters would be a good idea.  And how did they convince Michael Cain to star in the movie? There are just so many unanswered questions...so, naturally, I have to go see it to find out.  Also, I'm real curious to see how they pull of the whole suicide scene at the end.  Creepy.  Here's the link for the trailer by the way. God help us.

On second thought, I think I'll wait until it hits Redbox. Shakespeare is probably rolling over in his grave.

Statistics

So my friend, Evan Brewer, showed me this little guy. 

Thinking it silly, I thought I'd add one of my own.


Charlie Kelly: abortion survivor.



7 Underrated Movies

Here are some movies that I think deserved a little more credit than they got.  And this is not necessarily for their quality of movie, but mostly for their entertainment value.  They are not listed in any particular order.

1. Waterworld.  The most expensive movie ever made at the time (1995), it was infamously a flop in the US box offices, and was also nominated for worst movie, worst actor, and worst director (Razzie awards). Pish posh, I Say.

Pros: “It’s Paper! Have you ever seen paper?  Look at it.”  Also, Kevin Costner has gills.

Cons: They came up with what is possibly the lamest name for bad guys: “smokers.” Even something as simple as “Pirates” would have been better.

2. The Fifth Element.  This was probably some of the best acting we have and ever will see from Chris Tucker.

Pros: The Supreme Being took karate lessons from Jackie Chan via internet.

Cons: This movie has no flaws.  My only beef with it is that the makeup applier does not exist in real life. What a tease.

3. The Saint.  Val Kilmer is a master of disguise.

Pros: This movie has Val Kilmer in it.

Cons: He disguises himself as one of those super sleazy 80s artists that are the love interests of 80s female movie roles. That was a bad character then and it is still a bad character now.

4. The Prince of Egypt. Although it did well, I just don’t think it got enough credit because even though DreamWorks made this movie, it is everything the old animated Disney movies used to be.

Pros:  Good music that hasn’t been found since The Lion King.  Val Kilmer is also in this movie.

Cons: Aaron is voiced by Jeff Goldblum.  And while he does do a good job, I just can’t hear his voice without thinking of Jurassic Park II, which just doesn’t seem to do justice for the brother of Israel’s liberator. But then again, if you look at the story of Moses (post-movie-plotline of course) Jeff/Aaron does screw over the chosen people via golden calf.  There we go, that’s the Jeff Goldblum I remember.

5. The Lost World: Jurassic Park.  The previous comment made me remember how painfully brilliant this movie was. 

Pros: “Stay out of the tall grass!”

Cons: Dr. Malcolm’s daughter stows away, after which we hate her for annoying us the rest of the movie.

6.  The Game.  I hope I never have to play this game.

Pros:  You never know what’s coming.

Cons: You never know what’s coming.

7. Paint Your Wagon.  Quite possibly the funniest movie ever made.  I mean, it’s a western musical comedy staring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood - and it just gets better from there.

Pros: There are just so many, ranging from Clint Eastwood singing to Lee Marvin notoriously getting into character while filming. Note* for those of you who haven’t seen this movie, Marvin plays a drunkard.  Also, this movie is referenced in a Simpson’s episode.

Cons: Probably that is does not quite make fun of Mormons enough.

Next up: list of 7 overrated movies.