DATE NIGHT!

okay sooo i haven't really posted anything on my everyday life! i'll introduce my boyfriend Bartt to all my blogger ladies :)

quick history on us -- met in high school, been together for 3 and 1/2 years and couldn't be happier!

alright so we haven't spent much time out and about doing normal couple things this summer so far (stuck working on a project car and blah blah etc. i'll go into more detail w/ pics another time!) but finally finally FINALLY a date night! soo of course we had to watch Transformers2, but before that we did our first blogtv chat together! (THANKS TO ALL THAT WATCHED, AND I HOPE YOU GUYS HAD AS MUCH FUN AS WE DID) i'm so happy he finally agreed to that!


before the movie, we grabbed a mango smoothie at tropical smoothie which was new to me because i'm pretty loyal to my strawberry surfrider at jamba juice. but that mango smoothie was BOMMBBB! it was yummmy and sweet! unlike the nasty sour mangoes at grocery stores, makes me miss fruits in the philippines!

thanks goodness we came 30 mins early for the movie because that place was packed. but i know everyone came to watch Shia LaBeouf. (mmmmm!!) super long movie but plenty of action! so it was pretty good.


after movies we went to applebee's for a nice dinner. we decided to get little dessert shooters, they were like $2! i got the strawberry cheesecake and he got hot fudge sundae. mine was gross! i definately don't recommend it. yuck. and that concludes our night!

<3 Ann

AWAY WE GO: The Film Babble Blog Review

AWAY WE GO (Dir. Sam Mendes, 2009)

As a unmarried couple in their mid '30's, John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph roll with the punch of pregnancy without exaggerated comical reaction or cutesy comebacks. The same can be said for AWAY WE GO - Sam Mendes' follow-up to the cautionary tale period piece REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. Krasinski and Rudolph live like college kids who have just moved in together. Their home is a broken down one story shack in the woods with no heat and cardboard covering one of the windows. "We don't even have the basic stuff figured out", Rudolph pouts one dark cold night after their power goes off. Krasinski tries to console but she can't help but repeating: "I think we may be fuck-ups."

With a baby on the way, the couple desire to live near family. Rudolph's parents are both deceased so this falls to Krasinski's parents, living close to them in Denver, played perfectly by Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels. This safety blanket is pulled off abruptly when O'Hara and Daniels announce that they are moving to Belgium. "You're moving 3 thousand miles away from your granchild!" Krasinski exclaims. "I think it's more than 3 thousand," is his aloof mother's response. Rudolph proposes they travel to seek out a new home, preferably near family or close friends. With big white on black block letter titles telling us which destination is next continually ("AWAY TO...") we visit Phoenix, Tucson, Madison, Montreal, and Miami; each location introducing a bevy of curious characters.

Sure, there are obligatory quirks aplenty with such stand-outs as Maggie Gyllenhall's self righteous earth mother who refuses to put her children in strollers and Allison Janey's sobering examples of obnoxious parenting, but the film is always grounded in a realism rarely found at the movies today (especially in the blockbuster world of summer). Though I never expected Krasinski to make his patented 'did you get that?' look to the camera, his character is a lot like a bearded Jim from The Office - a well meaning, funny, and mildly neurotic guy who genuinely loves his girlfriend. Rudolph (known largely for being a long running cast member on SNL) shows layers she has never shown before but in movies like a lead in IDIOCRACY or lost in the ensemble in A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, how could she?

Even with its multitude of standard issue sun drenched shots, poignant close-ups, and acoustic singer songwriter balladry (provided by Alexi Murdoch), this is a superior indie film to most. It has very little in the way of plot point payoffs or forced comedic contrivances. It just asks us to spend some time with a few likable characters at a crossroads. Dave Eggers, whose 2000 book "A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius" I highly recommend, is new to screenwriting yet this (co-written with his wife Vendela Vida) is a confident and accomplished debut. Mendes clears the air from the disturbing and foul feeling REVOLUTIONARY ROAD effectively and we are left with this sweet diversion. An "indie sleeper" if there ever was one, AWAY WE GO is quite a keeper.


More later...

Statement From The Stones - The Varsity Theater Owners That Is

Just a quick note that the Varsity theater owners (Bruce and Mary Jo Stone) have released a statement about the theater's closing. Independent Weekly writer David Fellerath, who has diligently followed the story since the beginning, blogged about it with links to the written statements themselves:

Statement From Owners Of Varsity Theater (Yes, It's Closing Tonight) - Indy Week Blogs Jun 25 2009, 1:20 PM

If you live in the Triangle area you just may consider heading out to pay your respects. Neither THE HANGOVER or THE BROTHERS BLOOM are masterpieces, but they would still constitute a fine evening at a grand old theater.


The Varsity is dead! Long live the Varsity! (Such a cliché I know, but I just couldn't help it.)

At least there's still the Chelsea Theater (Check their site for listings, directions, etc.). Sigh.


More later...