Saturday 22 August 2009

I think I've done it!

Did it work?

What I’ve Been Up to Lately

H’okay! So, this blog post, I have four, count ‘em, FOUR movie reviews for you. While I was with my aunt last weekend, we saw 3 movies, 17 Again, Julie and Julia, and New in Town. THEN on Monday, I went to Universal Studios, and after I came home, watched the movie Seven Pounds. I guess the easiest way to do this would be in the order I saw them in, so here goes!

17 Again
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Ohh no! Not that lame Zac Efron movie!!”, but before you dismiss it entirely, let me get on with the review. Now, yes, it has Zac Efron in it, and I dislike Disney stars as much as everyone else in the world, I have to say, Zac Efron is a better actor than I give him credit for. Now, of course, I love love LOVE Matthew Perry, also known as Ms. Chanandler Bong Chandler Bing from FRIENDS, but Zac actually did a very good job of playing a 33 year-old man (Assuming his daughter is 16) in a 17 year old’s body. A few of the scenes with Efron’s character and his ex-wife were awkward, because you’re thinking, even though you know he’s not REALLY 17, “Ew, ew, perverted teenager!”. I wouldn’t reccomend this movie for kids over 13. There is some swearing and sexual references. OH! And Neil, Zac/Matthew’s character’s best friend, is a TOTAL geek. I love it. He’s the kind of guy that is into Star Wars and Star Trek and LOTR. I actually used to have a small model of the Star Wars craft that was his bed, in the movie. Oh, uh, that wasn’t a part of the review, but, uh, moving on…
Anyway, this was a pretty good movie, all things considered. I’d give it three and a half out of five stars. ***1/2
—-
Julie and Julia
This one, we saw in theatres. Basically, this is a movie with TWO storylines, the first being Julia Child’s years after moving to Paris, going to cooking school, and then having a BIG hand in the making and publishing a French cookbook for “Serventless American housewives”. The second storyline is that of Julie Powell, who, in 2002 decided that she would cook her way through Julia Child’s famous cookbook in a year and write a blog about it (Hehehe…), now, I’m going to pause right here and get ready for a topic derailment. I love food (which is pretty obvious if I am not mistaken), and I love to cook, but no way in HECK would I ever even be ABLE to do this, I would weigh, like, a million more pounds than I already do, and can I just say: Pepto Bismol. I mean, really…
Okay, anyway, so that’s pretty much the movie, going through the rises and the falls of those time periods in Julie’s life and in Julia’s. The good and the bad. There was a lot more swearing than I would’ve thought. Didn’t know Amy Adam’s COULD swear, I mean, the last two movies I saw her in were Enchanted and Doubt, for goodness’ sake! I would say for this movie 11 and up. This movie gets 4 and a half out of 5 stars. ****1/2
—-
New in Town
This movie was better than I thought it would be, granted, I had no idea what it was about. Basically, this kind of stuck up successful chick climbing up the corporate ladder in Florida (Renne Zellwegger) is transferred to (wait for it..) Minnesota to help their company get more money, or something. She hates it there, and soon forges an emnity with Harry Connick Jr.’s character, who is the union rep or something and a widower with a teenage daughter. Eventually, she grows to like it in Minnesota, and she falls in love with HCJ’s character. It also has the guy who plays Juno’s dad in it as Stan, and that lady that’s in romantic comdedies and such.  Pretty much the stereotypes of Minnesota, the stereotypical accent, everyone in the town seemed to be “religious” despite the enjoyment of happy hour, and they were almost all of Scandinavian descent (I’m a Norwegian and I have relatives in North Dakota and Wisconsin, similar stereotypes exist there).
But all in all, it was a pretty good movie. A few sensual moments, but pretty kosher. 5 of 5. *****
And now,  for the bear of a movie I watched on Monday…
—-
Seven Pounds
Oh. My. Word. That is just about all I can say about this movie. Because it’s such an intense movie, and it’s the kind where you have to piece everything together as you go along, I’m going to try to not give any spoilers. It is one of those movies that is AMAZINGLY good, Will Smith and company did fantastic jobs in the movie, but the ending is one that will tear you into small pieces from the inside out, chew you up, swallow you, and regurgitate you on to searing white hot pavement, still living. I cried SO much during this movie. And I’m not talking about your typical girl crying at a sad movie, either, I was SOBBING, that’s how sad it was, and I remember wanting to scream, but I was crying too hard. This movie was legit, hardcore DEPRESSING. It was AMAZING, but it was SO depressing. My mom didn’t realize what the movie was about or how it ended, but she’d never have rented it had she known. I don’t regret seeing the movie, but I’m giving you a heads up if you see it, you WILL cry and the end WILL be painful to watch.
Seven out of five stars. *******

Well, that’s about it for me, I’m out. Reviews and opinions welcome!
-Christina

Summer days will soon be over, soon the Autumn starts…

Labour day. My last day of freedom.
I’m not sure whether or not I should be excited, or living in fear. My best friend, Isabella, has already started school, and told me all about her first day as a high school freshman. I’m so proud of her, really. I remember when we were little and it seemed like we’d NEVER get to this point, but we have, and even throughout the craziness of life, we’ve stayed friends and stuck together and hopefully we’ll continue to do that for the rest of our lives. It seems so funny, because when we were in elementary school, we would talk about middle school and how awesome it’ll be to be in 7th/8th grade, finally, and when we finally got to middle school, all we could think/talk about was when we would get to high school, and now that we’re both in high school, I know talks about college aren’t far off! Haha. It’s just so funny, because it’s like a never ending cycle. I’m sure once we’re in college, it will be marriage that will be the next hot topic, and after marriage, families, and so on and so on until we’re the crazy old grannies at the nursing home discussing our funeral plans! XD
But, I digress. Anywhoo, I’m somewhat excited for school, though I could do without the math, and can’t wait for Bible Studies to start up again, and I need to, hopefully, figure out FOR SURE what I want to do with my life. So, fall should be fun, and even though math makes me live in fear, I can’t help but me my nerdy, Hermione-like self and be excited for history class and literature and science and et cetera. And also, this fall, another milestone, not just my going into the half-way point of my high school career, will be reached…
October 20th, 2009 is not an important date to many, but to me, it’s actually more important than I wanted it to be. October 20th, 2009 will mark the 16th anniversary of the beginning of my (mis)adventures on this earth. In normal speak, it’ll be my 16th birthday. Haven’t got anything planned, it’ll probably be relatively low-key, as money is tight. Still, I feel like this is a significant age, and it would be understandable to want to do SOMETHING no matter how small, to mark the occasion. Anyone have any ideas of how to celebrate in a way that isn’t costly? I’d love to be able to celebrate in some small way, or at least not ignore it completely.  But yeahh…
Well, not sure what else to write. Summer camp was amazing, keyword: SQUID! Kind of disappointed that my team lost, but eh, what can you do? Umm, well, that’s about it for me, peace out, all!
-Christina

School’s OUT!

June 6, 2009


Another year, come and gone, another school year survived. It feels good to finally be a junior, to be THAT much closer to getting out of here, it's exciting! Not to mention, my whole family, Mom included, needs a break, so summer vacation is very much welcome here, right now.
But still, changes are in the air...
Another school year over and done with means I'm half-done with HS, as well as many of my friends. Still more of my friends are finishing their last and, come fall, will be banished going to college or whatever.  Possibly even more will be embarking on their last year of high school, and, this time next year, will be kicked out spread their wings and fly...
It's been nice knowing ya, guys!
Still, it's kind of intimidating, knowing that I'm a junior, now, my brother's are going to be in 8th and 5th, and my sister will be a 6th grader. Man, I remember when I couldn't WAIT to be a 6th grader, it wasn't all that great, really... and now look at me! My momma's right, you blink, and *enter number here* years go by!
Looking to the future...
So, since I'm a junior now, I get the feeling that these next few years will probably either crawl by or they'll go faster than initially expected, and I'm going to have to trust the Lord through it all, or I'll never get anywhere. God has gotten me this far, and I have to trust Him to guide me through the rest of my life, whether I have two more years, or five, or fifty, or one hundred years left.
I don't know how many people know this, but I can be a bit of a worrier, sometimes. Right now, the main worries are:
A. Getting out of school alive
B.  Figuring out what I want to do with my life
C. Being able to get into a half-way decent school
D. Being able to afford to go to college
E. Getting out of college alive
So, yeah, a little worried. At the moment,  though, A and B are the most pressing issues, as HS can be a challenge for me, sometimes. I normally get good grades (And my mom grades me kind of tough), and I'm not really a bad student, but math and I have been sworn nemeses' since the first grade, and I still struggle. And, yeah, it's one subject, but, apparently, you need to have enough of an understanding of algebra to graduate high school/get into college, so, there's that. Also, I have NO idea what I want to do once I get into the "real world", sure, I have stuff that I'm interested, but I keep changing my mind. Right now, I'm thinking that I want to be a lawyer (prosecution, thank you very much), but who KNOWS how long that one will stick. Just a few weeks ago, I wanted to be a missionary (And go preach the gospel in, hopefully, Utah). A year or two ago, horticulture was what I wanted to do. When I was 13, I was convinced I was going to be a dancer, and go to Julliard or Alvin Ailey, or something (Praise the Lord that I came to my senses!)
So, who knows what I'm going to end up doing? Only God, probably, I think I'm pretty much clueless.
Still, being a lawyer's a good idea, and I would love to be able to have a hand with putting criminals in their place, but I don't know. Lawyers aren't always the good guys, no matter whether they're prosecution or defense (Mark Geragos, in my opinion, is sickening, and Gloria Allred is annoying, but those may not be the best examples). I don't know all the details of all this law stuff, so I don't know how I would go about doing all this. That's to say if I ever got in and out of law school (from the impression I have been given, it's expensive, it kills you social life [Not that I have one] and it's takes forever).
But, I digress. God will lead me where I'm supposed to go, and that will have to be enough.
On a lighter note:
Congrats, guys, on another school year completed! Mission accomplished, for now.
-Christina
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAIKznMPXUk]
I love this song, it makes me happy, even when all I want to do is cry. When I hear it, I can't help but think, "God is good".
:-)

And the countdown begins…

The first week of June is the last week of school for mi familia. W00t! I’ll be a Junior.
Emotions: Happy, sad, scared.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, my tongue HURTS. Like, really bad. Ow.

Smallville Season Finale

So, the Smallville season finale just aired on the CW….
….
OH MY WOW!!!
AMAZING finale! AMAZING!! If you missed it, I absolutely PITY you, and as punishment, I’m going to SPOIL it for you. Is that mean? Maybe, but maybe next time you’ll watch it instead of being a silly goose!
Okay, so, tonights episode starts with Clark getting another ring from the future dude.  After the commercial break, back at The Daily Planet, Chloe and Davis are still MIA, Lois is freaking out in a Lois-like way. “I haven’t slept in days and I’m about to have a caffeine OD.” are her words, exactly. She chides Clark on not doing everything he can to help find Chloe, to which he replies, more gloomily than sharply, that no one wants to find her more than him. To which Lois retorts, “Except maybe ME!” Clark has, by the way, a word document up on his computer at The Dailey Planet, we get a brief glance at it, and see that it’s a goodbye note from everyone’s favourite “Red-Blue Blur”. This makes sense, since Clark is planning on fighting Doomsday (Who, if you haven’t noticed, is David’s Kryptonian side), and there’s a significant chance that he might die in the fight. Lois comes over, curious about what he’s writing, and he hurriedly closes the window, saying he doesn’t want her to see it. Lois makes a comment about “Another bullet off the impenetrable sheild” and goes to get coffee, at the same moment, Clark superspeeds out of the room and into a phonebooth and calls the phone on the desk, which Lois picks up, and Clark, disguising his voice, talks to her as the Red-Blue Blur.  He tells her to publish a letter, should anything happen to him, and superspeeds it to her desk. She reads it and becomes confused. “I thought you were invincible?” “So did I.”  Lois then says that she knows that if anyone can save Chloe, it’s him. She thanks him, then adds, “How do you feel about phone booths?” After giving a cursory glance at his surroundings, Clark/The Red-Blue Blur says they’re fine, to which Lois says she’ll be at one at midnight, she gives him the location and says she hopes that he’ll be there. They say their goodbyes and hang up.
I would give you the rest of the episode, play by play, but I don’t have that kind of an attention span, and I don’t have that stellar a memory. So I guess I’ll just have to give you the big, juicy, meaty, important parts of the episode.
1. Clark gets help from Bart (Impulse) and…The Black Canary (can’t remember her name)…to get to Chloe and Davis so he can split Davis and Doomsday and blow Doomsday up. Oliver shows up in the loft of the barn, he and Clark argue, and Ollie storms out.
2. Jimmy breaks into Tess’ office to find out the location of Chloe and Davis, and runs into Lois, who is under the desk. Jimmy finds their location and goes off to find them, telling Lois to call him if their location changes. A window pops up on the computer with a video and Lois finds out about Tess’s mysterious Orb. Lois goes downstairs where Tess finds her, knows she knows, and they get into a fight. During the fight, Clark’s time ring falls out of his desk, Lois picks it up, and is teleported somewhere that we do not know where it is.
3. Clark gets Davis and Chloes whereabouts and super-speeds there, where he meets Black Canary and Bart, where he realizes that they set him up, The Green Arrow shoots him with a Kryptonite-infused dart, and Clark falls to the ground.
4. Oliver and Co. (Lawl) get Chloe and Davis, and are planning to kill the latter, but Doomsday comes out and knocks them out, heading for Metropolis. Just before that, Chloe manages to separate Davis and Doomsday.
5. Jimmy finds Clark and pulls out the dart. He finds out Clark’s secret. Clark tells him that he was right all along and that he was the only one that had put it all together. He tells Jimmy that he’s going to take care of Doomsday, but that he needs Jimmy’s help, and that no matter what, he must get Chloe and Davis to safety. Jimmy gets confused, and Clark asks if he trusts him, to which Jimmy says he does. Clark superspeeds off with Jimmy watching. “That was so cool!”
4. Clark comes upon the knocked out group, he says he still needs Black Canary  to press the button and ignite the explosives. He goes off to find Doomsday, and saves a little girl from his grasp. A brawl ensues. Clark flies Doomsday to the building and barely manages to escape as BC detonates the building and Doomsday with it.
5. Jimmy, Chloe and an unconcious Davis are in a beautiful building. Jimmy explains that this was the wedding gift he was going to give Chloe. “You can see this place from anywhere in Metropolis. I wanted you to be able to look up and see our home and know I was watching over you.” They discuss giving the marriage another try and kiss. Davis stabs Jimmy with a pole, and the wounded Jimmy falls to the ground. Davis yells at Chloe, who explains that she wanted to save him, to which he replies that there was nothing to save and is about to kill Chloe, but Jimmy, a hero to the end, shoves into Davis who lands on a spear, which pierces him through the heart. Jimmy falls back to the floor, where he dies in a crying Chloe’s arms.
6. Jimmy’s funeral. Everyone cries. Jimmy has a little brother, who Chloe gives Big Jimmy’s camera to. Guess we know who’s going to carry on as Jimmy Olson at the Daily Planet.
7. Clark goes emo.
8. The end!
It really was a good episode. I want to see it again. I reccomend that you all go watch it…now!
-Christina

Psalm 23

Psalm 23

May 14, 2009

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
[I love this Psalm. This one, and Psalm 46:10 really catch my attention. Usually, I wouldn't put the KJV of a Bible verse, for the sole reason that I can't understand old English, but this version is so beautful, I just love it]
God bless,
-Christina