This is amazing, especially if you love dogs. This dog is one of the lucky ones.

Hello?

*voice echoes across Xanga wasteland*

It just so happens that two of my best friends are about to be first-time fathers soon, two separate friends have each gotten engaged, and one friend just got a new puppy! Change is in the air! Something will change for me too, career-wise, but that's a post for another day! Oh, and I just changed the dog food we usually buy (because the store I go to is closed for the holidays). They say you should change dog foods once in a while because certain brands are heavy or lighter than others in terms of specific nutrients.

THE BEST MOVIES OF 2009:

1. 500 Days of Summer – The best movie of 2009 is “500 Days of Summer.” It is a really poignant, funny, sad, heart-warming, sweet, finely written, wonderfully directed, adult story about a couple and the ups and downs of their relationship. Oh, and the soundtrack is kick-ass.
2. Departures – This was a Japanese movie about a man who is forced to make a career change and ends up working for a mortuary. Sounds gloomy, but it’s really funny and moving.
3. District 9 – A really unique science fiction movie about some insect-looking strange aliens, but where the humans are the real bad guys.
4. Star Trek – A really energetic re-imagining of Captain Kirk and the Enterprise. For the next movie, I hope they bring back more of that sense of exploration from the original series. This one was non-stop action, but the problem with that is there’s nothing really to distinguish itself as being from the “Star Trek” universe. Great action movie, but so-so “Star Trek” movie.
5. The Blind Side – the best performance by Sandra Bullock since, well, “Speed” I guess. This movie is based on a true story about NFL tackle Michael Oher and how he overcame adversity as a child to become a professional football player. It’s not really about football, so you don’t have to know the player or the game to enjoy the movie.
6. Up – a really fun and imaginative cartoon fantasy about an old man and a boy who go on an amazing adventure together. Just because it’s animated doesn’t mean this movie is any less heartfelt and memorable.
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. Extract - I really enjoyed this comedy much more than I thought I would. There were several scenes where the whole theater was laughing out loud. The plot is straight-forward (basically about the owner of a company having a mid-life crisis) but the performances were funny and the writing was pretty good.
9. Zombieland – very funny satire on what happens when zombies take over the earth. This movie stars Jesse Eisenberg, who is very good. I always get him mixed up with Michael Cera. (they both have that awkward-but-likable vibe going).
10. Adventureland – I thought this was going to be a somewhat raunchy comedy about zany teen-aged happenings at an amusement park, but it was actually kind of a straight-up coming-of-age drama. You should rent this despite the misleading advertising. This movie also stars Michael Cera…I mean Jesse Eisenberg.

Other Movies:

1. Away We Go – an eye-opening performance by Maya Rudoph (I’ve only ever seen her on Saturday Night Live).
2. I Love you, Man – very funny movie about a guy who needs to learn how to be a guy.
3. Tokyo Sonata
4. The Hurt Locker – very tense but intelligent drama about a bomb squad in Iraq.
5. Taken – basically Liam Neeson kicks ass for two hours. Awesome.
6. Angels & Demons – better than the DaVinci Code.
7. Public Enemies - ok, but could have been better. Didn’t really learn anything new about John Dillenger.
8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine - this film got pretty bad reviews, but overall, I enjoyed it. The original X-Men triology was much better but this movie had its moments.
9. Law Abiding Citizen – I’m sick of Jamie Foxx’s overacting.
10. Terminator Salvation - sorely disappointing due to the lack of a coherent plot and lack of structure in the storytelling. It's as if the movie was missing the "first and second acts" of its screenplay. The action scenes were enagaging and the acting was fine, but there is no sense that the characters developed or even accomplished anything of note in the movie.

The Worst Movies of 2009:

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – This movie was so bad that it was an insult to all robots.
2. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - if you were to go to Youtube.com and watch a series of 10 or so random action scenes in a row, you would probably have a more enjoyable experience than watching this movie. While the action scenes and gadgets in the movie were ok, some of the more important things like, oh, acting, dialogue, directing, editing, special effects, and screenplay were simply laughable. It's as if they didn't even try.

There are a few movies which I haven't seen yet, but which I suspect would have made one of my above lists. Let me know what your favorites were!

I think I've seen almost all of the film adaptations of "A Christmas Carol." Generally, they are all very good (although I didn't like the 1970 musical version with Albert Finney and Alec Guinness; in fact, it gets on my nerves!). There is an early version made in 1938 which I haven't seen, but I've seen the 1951 version with Alstair Sim; the 1984 version with George C. Scott; and the 1999 version with Patrick Stewart. In addition, there are the variations on Dickens' story such as "Scrooged" starring Bill Murray (which I love), the Muppets' version, and Disney's version with Mickey Mouse. Jim Carrey also has an animated version coming out very soon, which I will see if I can find someone to go with me.

Obviously, each film depends heavily on the actor who plays Scrooge. If I had to rank them, I would say: (1) Alstair Sim (2) George C. Scott and (3) Patrick Stewart. Not to say that any of them are bad, but Sim simply set the bar really high with his version. However, I like some of the other components of the other movies better than the 1951 version. For example, the ghosts in the 1984 version were the best:

And my favorite Bob Cratchitt is from the 1984 version:

But I like the Fred (Scrooge's nephew) and wife from the 1999 version:

I like the Belle (the one Scrooge let get away) scenes from 1999 the best also. Stewart's scenes are the most heartbreaking:

Also, there were some scenes in the 1999 version that were not in any other, as far as I recall. In the book, the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to see people in prison, at sea, and in a lighthouse. The 1999 version had these scenes, but the others did not. Patrick Stewart's Scrooge probably involved the most nuanced acting. Stewart's Scrooge gets better the more times you watch it.

If I had to choose an actor to portray Scrooge today, I would probably choose Jack Nicholson (although I wonder if he can do an English accent). This year, I read "A Christmas Carol" for the first time in a long time. It's an amazing book that still rings true today. It's funny how in the movies and in the book, they (i.e the Cratchitts) seem to make a big deal of how the Christmas pudding will turn out - it makes me want to try some!

On my drive to work I listed a Christmas song CD mix I made, when I get to work I listed to my "Christmas Music" channel on Pandora.com, and on the way home I listen to my CD mix again. Then I log onto the Internet and watch TV shows on Hulu.com...many of which are starting to have holiday themes. I'm not overloaded on holiday cheer...yet!

Bah! Humbug!

...wait, wrong holiday...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

This year instead of cooking we ordered a pre-cooked Thanksgiving dinner from Whole Foods. I'll let you know how it is.

Things are going to change soon. Yes We Can!

We had to submit our Christmas Card lists at work so the printer has time to prepare all the cards. It felt weird dealing with anything related to the holidays this early (it's not even Halloween!). Fall is my favorite time of year, although it doesn't feel like Fall here nearly as much as it did in Illinois. The trees here don't change color as much, other than Dead Brown, but they still sell pumpkin pie, fake gourds, and orange & brown decorations at the store. I love pumpkin pie, don't you?

p.s. can you hear the music when you come to this page? I totally forgot I had set it up and it surprised me when I logged on!

This film was released last year, but I just got around to renting the DVD.

It's been classified within the "horror" genre, but it's more of a coming-of-age story. I was never really scared when watching the movie, although there are a few shocking scenes. Not at all what I expected. I think it may be one of the most beautiful movies I've seen and some scenes are deeply moving. If I had seen this movie last year, I think it would have topped my "best film of 2008" list. If you haven't seen it I recommend you rent it this weekend.