Up!

Kevin and I went to see Up! in 3D this evening. What fun! As Kevin said when we were leaving: "I laughed... I cried... I laughed... I cried."

I really want a sweatshirt with the image of the house aloft with all the balloons overhead.I went to the official site and they didn't have any! DUH, folks!

This is a great movie. The animation is wonderful fantastic. The 3D is not essential, but it is fun to see it that way. And we honestly did cry, a couple of times. Not bawling, though there was one little one in the theatre who was sobbing when Kevin - in the movie - was taken away. We laughed lots. The movie is heart-warming, poignant, sweet, and silly. It's a win!

We also really enjoyed the short film before the film. Something about the clouds, but I can't remember the title. Very cute.

Go see Star Trek!

I saw the new Star Trek movie with Kevin on Friday and again with my mom today. WHAT A FUN FILM!!!!!

I was not sure what to expect and was concerned that it might be just some generic action adventure flick trying to make money off an established brand name, but it was not. I have seen the original show and Star Trek Generations and I have seen a couple of the movies (my favorite was the one with the scary borg bad guys), and my feeling was that this stayed true to the characters. Kevin also said he thought there were a couple of nods to at least one of the books, and he noticed that the computer voice was done by the same person who did the voice for previous Star Trek works.

This film also had lots of humor and some great references to the original television show - SPOILER ALERT - I knew when I saw that guy in the red shirt that he was going down and not coming back up. :)

I had not paid much attention to the advertising, so I was surprised at all the faces I recognized - Kirk's mother is played by one of the actors from House, Winona Ryder is Spock's mom, Eric Bana as the bad Romulan - love Eric Bana - and Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, just to mention a few.

I smiled almost through the entire movie. I laughed, I loved the action, loved the special effects, I even felt tension though knowing - obviously - the main characters will survive. Great great great!!!!!!! Highly recommended, lots of fun. See it!

And I'm not alone:

‘Star Trek’ Makes $72.5 Million, a Franchise Record

By Michael White and Dan Hart
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- “Star Trek” opened with $72.5 million in ticket sales, the best debut in the 11-movie franchise, as fans turned out to see a new, younger crew for the Paramount Pictures Film.

“Star Trek” topped the series’ previous high, $30.7 million in first-weekend sales for 1996’s “Star Trek: First Contact,” researcher Hollywood.com Box-Office said today in an e-mailed statement.

…“This was great marketing, and a great movie,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com Box-Office, in a telephone interview.

...“The trailer was incredible, and it got a lot of people excited about seeing the film. The film delivers on the promise of that trailer.”

Sarai Knits!

I finished the hat I've been knitting for my mom!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! I finished it all by myself, too! No knitter help on the final instructions (which, might I just add, the instructions for this thing were terrible!).

I did not knit it up in one night, as the knitting shop woman so optimistically told me I would be able to do. No, it took two knit-ins (7:00pm - about 1:00am), and a few hours of knitting at home to finish it, plus a bunch of false starts, but it's done! It looks GOOD! I am so proud of myself! :)

Take a look!



It's called an Interlock Hat. You knit a gray row first, then the red, then the gray, etc. Mom picked the colors.



I have such a Spears face. This is the same face my half-sister, dad, and aunt have, and the same face my Grandma used to have. I am also wearing no makeup, so I look a little wan. But you're supposed to be looking at the hat. :)



Is it not cute!!!!! Are you very impressed??? :)

Get Smart, End Hunger!

I am also sending this to be put in our staff newsletter Shameless Plugs section. I already have a link to it on the right, but it's such an awesome site! :)

Visit http://www.freerice.com/

FreeRice has a word game where you are given a word and four possible definitions. Pick the right one and the site will donate 10 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger. There is no penalty for guessing the wrong definition and if you get one wrong and keep on going, eventually the one you missed will pop up again so you have the chance to get it right! You can play as long as you like and there is no registration needed, no password to remember. And if vocabulary is not your thing, they also have art, chemistry, grammar, geography, math, and four foreign languages. A warning though - it is totally addictive!

From their site: Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time. It is everyone together that makes the difference. Thanks to you, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed millions of people since it started in October 2007. The rice is paid for by the sponsors whose names you see on the bottom of your screen when you enter a correct answer. These sponsors support both learning (free education for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry).

Sarai gets Stitches!

This is what doing the dishes by hand will do if you're not careful. A word to the wise - never insert your hand inside a glass to wash it.

The Big Move

Edith moved to a cute little house this weekend. Her friend Lizzy's grandmother was just moved to assisted living and her family is renting the house to Edith - at a great price, which I won't share because it would just make you sick to death.

The neighborhood is nice. I saw 5 people walking their retrievers and labradors while we moved stuff out of the truck. There were also joggers and groups of young adults. Someone stopped by and welcomed her to the neighborhood.

The house is great. There is a living/dining room, kitchen, breakfast nook, bedroom, bathroom, utility room (complete with extra, corner-fitted toilet), craft room, and a sun room that rocks. There is a fenced in back yard with some rose bushes.

The light fixtures are really over the top, and the wallpaper in the breakfast nook and the bedroom would drive me batty, but it also has these really awesome features like a toothbrush holder that hides behind the wall, glasstop stove, drawer dishwashers (yes, 2), a gas fireplace... Closets everywhere. It really is envy-inspiring.

There are also a few pieces of furniture left in the house until relatives come to take them, including a grand piano. But Edith's stuff has been moved in and she is making herself at home. She's very excited! :) Yaay!!!!!

This is why Romance has a bad name

So I was shelving fiction this morning and there seemed to be an unnatural number of paperback romances on the cart, and I happened to start noticing the titles. It was hard not to notice the titles. So I had to look more up over my lunch hour, because they were really too hilarious to ignore. A small sampling:


The Spaniard's virgin housekeeper
Marrying the virgin nanny
Desert prince, defiant virgin
The ruthless magnate's virgin mistress
Virgin for the billionaire's taking
Bought: the Greek's innocent virgin
The Spaniard's defiant virgin
The Greek tycoon's virgin mistress
The billionaire's virgin mistress
The sheikh's convenient virgin
The Spanish duke's virgin bride
The sultan's virgin bride
Taken: the Spaniard's virgin
The desert king's virgin bride
The Greek's virgin
Forbidden: the billionaire's virgin princess

Now, these are contemporary romances put out by Harlequin. (I guess I should not use the phrase "put out" after listing those titles.) And those are not all of the titles I found under the search. (Those are all from 2009 and 2008, by the way, lest you believe I am tainting the pool by pulling from books published in the 1940s.)

In reviewing the titles, I think it is clear that they played a name game to come up with them. Man = Spaniard, Greek, sheikh, billionaire, etc. Woman = virgin. For kicks, they would throw in a princess, bride, or mistress every now and again. Just to mix it up, keep it real.

I was gleefully horrified by the titles, so instead of searching for the search term "virgin," I typed in "Harlequin." Some of the other titles don't even make sense:

The Sicilian's ruthless marriage revenge

What does that even mean??? Is that a sentence?

These were some of the ones I found particularly horrifying/creepy. Enjoy:


The Italian's ruthless marriage command
Pleasure, pregnancy and a proposition
The Greek's million-dollar baby bargain
Housemaid heiress
The prince's waitress wife
The boss's bedroom agenda
The rancher's runaway princess
Bought for the Sicilian Billionaire's bed
Pregnant: father wanted
His mistress, his terms
The Mediterranean billionaire's blackmail bargain
Ruthlessly bedded by the Italian billionaire
Spanish doctor, pregnant nurse
Billionaire doctor, ordinary nurse
Bought for revenge, bedded for pleasure
The millionaire's inexperienced love-slave
Purchased: his perfect wife
Housekeeper at his beck and call
Promoted : Secretary to bride!


I just have to add: shame on you, Harlequin! What horrible titles! I don't even want to think about the books themselves! Ick!