Coming Out of the Cave

I am about to make a forced emergence from my cave. It's so much nicer in here--cozy, warm, quiet. I don't have any deadlines or obligations, no one counting on me for anything. It's a lovely place to be. But unfortunately, by spending time here I am letting down my husband and my children. They seem to be under the impression that they need things like an education, home cooked dinners, clean clothes, and an income. I may find all of those highly overrated but they don't agree.

Leaving is painful, dreaded even, but it's something I must do. My family is counting on me and I can't keep disappointing them. As the mom, I am the measuring stick by which everything else is measured. I set the mood for my children and how well they behave. I control the home environment and what my husband gets to come home to. I directly affect how well he can get his work done in order to support the rest of us.

Being selfish is so much easier, so much more appealing, but that's not what this life is about, is it? I'm going to break out of my cocoon, put myself on the back burner and remember that those closest to me are more important than anything else.

Movie Review: Bedtime Stories

Here is something you don't see very often--an Adam Sandler movie you can watch with your kids. Adam plays "Skeeter", a guy who works at a hotel his father started and has always dreamed of running someday. He agrees to watch his niece and nephew while his sister goes out of town for a job interview. In an effort to entertain the kids, Skeeter starts telling them bedtime stories the way his father always did. The kids, of course, have to add their 2 cents worth and the stories are played out on screen. The next day, events from the stories start really happening. Skeeter, of course, tries to find a way to manipulate the stories so he can eventually win the girl and his dream hotel.

Guy Pearce and Lucy Lawless are Skeeter's foils--Guy is Skeeter's competition for control of the hotel and Lucy is a mean hotel employee who is helping Guy. Lucy will always be Xena, warrior princess to me so it was odd seeing her in a concierge uniform. And seeing Guy Pearce, all I could think of was, "it's been a really long time since L.A. Confidential and Memento". If you've seen other Adam Sandler movies, you'll see some of the usual faces as well as Courtney Cox as his sis and Keri Russell as the other babysitter for the week.

Over the course of the week, Skeeter gets to know his niece and nephew and discovers he really enjoys them (How could he not? They're all on the same maturity level.), and he becomes friends with Keri Russell's character. Things work out pretty much as you expect them to but that's not necessarily a bad thing. This is a fun movie that I was able to watch with all 3 of my kids without any embarrassment. That's getting harder and harder to find. (****)

Movie Review: 17 Again

This is one of those movies that I knew would see at some point but was in no hurry to run to the theater. It's another in a long line of "do over" movies, which, with the exception of "Big" and "13 Going on 30", if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Of course, the same could be said about most rom coms too but I still keep watching those.

Matthew Perry is the bitter grown up who is convinced that if he could go back to one fateful day in high school and do it differently, his life would be so much better. He gets that chance of course, thanks to a magical janitor. Zac Efron plays the high school version of him. I'm too old to have jumped on the Zac Efron/"High School Musical" bandwagon and I haven't seen him in anything. I was pleasantly surprised, however, with his performance. He's a sweet kid and I could see the "adult" version of him trying to come through at times. He had a few mannerisms and way of carrying himself that you just don't see in teens.

He reverts to being a teen but in the present. As a teen, he hangs out with his son and daughter and gets to overhear his wife talking about their impending divorce. What he has to figure out is, is he there to change his life or his children's?

This movie is rated PG-13 because of frisky teenage themes. There is a teenage pregnancy, talk of birth control as the school hands out condoms, teens making out. The language isn't bad though so it was a nice change of pace. It was a good, sweet movie that you could watch with your teenage kids. (****)

Life Lessons

Howdy had a grand plan the other day. He decided he wanted to create his own version of a Pokemon game. We cut up a bunch of cardstock for him to draw on and color. He started out disappointed because he knew he wouldn't get the desired color effects he wanted with marker or colored pencil and he was a little leery of possibly making a mistake and leaving eraser marks but he took everything up stairs and got to work.

That lasted all of about ten minutes.

He came downstairs with tears in his eyes, frustration obvious. Here's what he said:
"Mommy, something keeps happening to me upstairs. I'm trying to draw but something is making my body not do it and it's making me lazy."

Welcome to perfectionism, son.

I've known for years that he's picked up that particular family trait from both his father and me, and I do my best to help him cope. What struck me about his words were how accurate a description they were. If you're not a perfectionist (do I even know anyone who isn't?) then let me explain. Being a perfectionist means that you don't just keep trying something until you get it right. It means it has to be right from the get go, it has to be PERFECT from the start. If perfection can't be guaranteed, why start? And so you procrastinate. There's no point in starting something if you know it will be less than you imagine or expect.

I am well versed in the trials of perfectionism. I had my first stress related ulcer in the first grade--I was 7. I am now 30-something. It's taken me years to identify my perfectionism, which areas it relates to (spelling, scrapbooking) and which it doesn't (housekeeping, cooking), how to keep it reined it as much as possible and how to let some of it go. It took a long time to realize that I am a procrastinator BECAUSE I'm a perfectionist, not in spite of. So to hear Howdy be able to put words to what he's feeling at so young as age, I'm heartened that we'll be able to help him deal with the things that come along in life.

Knowing that life doesn't have to be perfect and ISN'T perfect is a hard lesson to learn.

Movie Review: The Hangover

As I've said before, the older I get, the lower my IQ goes. That's the only explanation for the things I find funny anymore. Needless to say, I found "The Hangover" hysterical. 4 men(?) head off to Vegas for a bachelor party 2 nights before the intended wedding. They wake up the next morning with their $4500/night suite completely trashed, a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet and the groom is missing. Oh, did I mention the chicken? And the missing tooth?

The whole movie is them trying to find the groom while piecing together what happened the night before as no one can remember a thing. This involves a stolen police car, a stripper (this is, after all Vegas), and a gay Chinese kingpin...for starters. Is this movie crude? Yes. Is there a lot of foul language? YES, way too much. Is it funny? To my rotted brain and twisted sense of humor, yes.

If you avoid R rated movies, do not go see this one. If you want some junk food for your brain, entertainment with nothing to offer but a couple of cheap laughs? Try this one.

Movie Review: Gamer

Confession: I generally hate sci-fi/futuristic movies. Actually I usually steer clear of sci-fi and horror. But I made an exception for this movie for one reason and one reason only--Gerard Butler. *sigh* He's my current choice for movie eye candy. That's why this movie showed up in my mailbox last week.

It's a well used plot--criminals from the future can earn their freedom by participating in televised fighting. You survive, you go home. There's a twist to this one, though. The criminals are controlled by regular citizens. They are real life avatars playing in a real life Call of Duty. They use real weapons and lose real limbs. Blood, death and dismemberment abound. Gerard Butler is the most successful so far, having won 28 of the required 30 games to earn freedom. Of course, he's been wrongly convicted and he's got a wife and daughter on the outside to keep him motivated.

There is NOTHING redeeming about this movie, not even the sight of my favorite Scot could save it. Besides the "slayers", as the convicts are called, there are other people acting as avatars in the "Society". Imagine an R-rated version of the Sims and you're getting close to the idea. Fat, lazy, freaky people control these avatars and make them do everything they've ever fantasized about doing. Let me put extra emphasis on the fact that these people are FREAKY. Let's just say dress codes are a good thing and leave it at that.

Take it from me, you do NOT want to go see this movie. You will thank me for it. (*)

Movie Review: Duplicity

This movie seems to have everything. A-list stars? Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. Good plot? Two spies who are in love with each other but can't figure out if the other one is playing them or not. It sounds good on paper but really it was a big flop on screen. As I said, they are both spies--Julia for the CIA and Clive for MI6--who quit so they can be together. They plan the scam to top all scams so that they can run away with the money and live happily ever after.

The problem is, the movie keeps jumping back and forth between various past meets and the present without being real clear as to when you're back in the present. I pretty much kept up with the gist of the story but unfortunately the story was incredibly boring. There was a lot of "can she trust him" and "is she or isn't she playing him" that I think was supposed to keep you guessing but I found myself getting sick of the constant back and forth. All I came away with was, "Wow, he needs to find a new girlfriend."

Unless you're just a rabid fan of either one of the actors, I would say skip this one altogether. (**)