We have our own Christmas Day tradition in our household. Movies. As many as we can possibly see at the cinema. This year the bill held three. Mona Lisa Smile, Paycheck and Something's Gotta Give. The timing allowed us the opportunity to take a break between each film and come home to spend a few minutes with Clyde so he wouldn't feel as if he'd been completely forgotten.
I was quite disappointed with Mona Lisa Smile. It wasn't the actual writing or directing of the movie. My grudge was with the editors of the film. I was so put off with the pacing and the choices that the editors had made for cuts from one scene to the next that I was never able to truly enjoy the movie. The movie itself had quite a few reminders for me of my own life. New England college steeped in tradition. Being a bit subversive. Learning that not everyone has to do everything your way in order for you to make a difference and make a change. Nice things. But the editors should not be hired for future films.
http://www.paycheckmovie.com/ was enjoyable as long as you didn't think too much and aren't put off by noise and explosions. It's John Woo. What else is there to expect? Boom. Bang. Car chase. Futuristic plot that allows for cool special effects. Ben Affleck didn't have to much more than look perplexed and a lot of running (chase scenes remember) so he did fine. My girlfriend Uma was completely wasted in this film and something horrible happened to her skin. Not sure what was going on there, but she looked like she forgot her sunscreen. As I said, it was fine for a Christmas afternoon when you're avoiding Christmas all together by spending it at the movies.
Something's Gotta Give was cute. Jack and Diane were obviously having a very fun time together and that was fun to see. It was also obvious that the writer/director of the film had a personal story she needed to purge. That's okay because she kept it light and entertaining and didn't make us hate anyone. I've been guilty of the same thing in my own playwrighting so I'm probably sympathetic. Jack played Jack. Diane did a great job, Frances McDormand was good and Keanu Reeves was given a role where he couldn't really annoy anyone. Again, it was good for a Christmas evening movie when you're avoiding Christmas all together.
We ate Thai food, lots and lots of Thai food, in between movies number 2 and 3. Our friends Matt and Lisa joined us again for this movie extravaganza and since this was the third year we all declared it is now a tradition. And a nice holiday tradition it is.
Last night was spent gathering with a bunch of online girlfriends for a small gathering in Sunnyvale. These are all women that I originally met online and have since met in real life. One of them just got married so there was loads of talk about her wedding and the guests and the presents and the honeymoon and the angst over changing her name.
Another one is pregnant with her first baby and due in February and there was lots of talk about babies and delivery and new borns and doulas. There was also lots of talk about sex. And bras. And more talk about sex. And underware. And again more talk about bras. And then back to sex again. And then Sassy's phone rang and because it was her new boyfriend calling and he's from Dallas her phone rang with the Dallas theme song. I told her I'd blog about that. She met him in Dallas on Halloween and he's still there and she's still here and the whole long-distance thing is happening and now the question is not if he'll move here but when and we heard last night that it might be March! Wow. For now though, her cell phone just ringsringsrings with the theme song from Dallas. I know she loves him, but that song would simply drive me nuts. I wonder if his phone rings with Do You Know The Way To San Jose whenever she calls him?
There followed a discussion about the purchase of Altoids, a visit to Fredericks for sleazy sexy attire and the celebration of New Years and two days following in a hotel room in Dallas. It seems a certain Cowboy, who doesn't have a horse, has never had a proper blow job. He didn't even know that girls will "complete" them. He's never been finished, as they say. Plans are in the works for this Cowboy to receive his first proper complete blow job complete with an Altoid tingly sensation to ring in the New Year properly. And yes, I told them I was going to blog about this.
For those of you that are curious, Fredericks of Hollywood sells the Extreme Cleavage bra. Victoria's Secret sells something called the Push-Up. The Extreme is cheaper than the Push-Up, but the Push-Up is a bit more comfortable. This according to those present last night who were wearing said bras. I don't wear push-up bras, personally, but am now intrigued. I also don't usually wear bras from Frederick's or Victoria's. But I want to go to Fredericks to try one of these Extreme bras since they seem to give such nice cleavage. Not that I really need cleavage...but sometimes a little cleavage can go a long way.
On the drive back home the discussion in the car turned to the hair down there. My eleven year old friend is sprouting it and asked her mother why it was necessary? I remember thinking the exact same thing when I was her age. What on earth was this hair? And why there? Gross. That's what I thought. Gross. I also decided that it was completely unnecessary and went into my parent's bathroom, took my father's very rudimentary razor and shaved it all off. More than once. Cut myself to bits, but that hair was all gone. I didn't want it and it kept coming back!
As we were discussing this last night during the drive home I realized that I still had no idea why it was necessary. Turns out it's left over from when we were hairy all over. And it's used to catch our sent and pheromones to send to the opposite sex for reproductive purposes. And to keep things warm. Lovely. I even learned that in Korea there are women paying to have more hair down there! I still am not all that thrilled with the hair down there, but I have stopped shaving it all off. Occassionally it's waxed, sometimes even into shapes to surprise Dave, but for the most part it's just nicely trimmed.
Which brings me to today. The baking is still not complete. That will hopefully happen today. The things I am making this year are all rather labor intensive and life keeps getting in the way. I had to make ginger syrup for the ginger cookies. The botched brownies required me to first botch the toffee and let it sit for 24 hours. The chocolate bourbon truffles...well...they're just taking longer than anticipated. But I want to be able to go visit folks tonight with a bit of holiday goodness.
With any luck, that will happen today. Unless life gets in the way again.