Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a cartoon series about a world where select people can bend elements. Water, Earth, Fire and Air. They live within these nations (i.e. Fire Nation) and have done so in peace because of the abilities of the Avatar. The Avatar is the only person who can bend all elements, but, perhaps more importantly, is the bridge from the mortal world to the spiritual world. He can speak and receive guidance from the spirits when necessary. He acts as the mediator during times of trial and helps keep peace and order throughout all the nations. This series depicts the events that happen after the Avatar (in hiding for one hundred years) returns to an overzealous Fire Nation who is trying to take over the world and capture the Avatar.

It is so addicting! The story is complex enough to captivate an adult crowd (hence, Dustin and I are hooked, as are some very close friends of ours), but light enough for children to follow along. We watch it every evening and can't get enough!


So, we recently went to see the Hollywood take on this series. It was OK. I was bummed that they didn't follow the story line as well as I hoped and that it was mega-serious, but they did get the main points and expanded on the complexity of the story for a more mature crowd. They also had some fabulously accurate sets. All in all, it was worth watching and I'm excited for the next one.

My Blueberry Nights

Overall, the movie was good. Very artistic, but not in an annoying, 'am I still watching this,' kind of way. I just have a couple of problems with it.

First, recently, I saw an interview with Norah Jones (lead female) and she said that the three years that she spent touring with Come Away With Me and Feels Like Home, were the worst years of her life... BTW I saw her on that tour and she did great. She also said that she had her cake and ate it, so she didn't need to be famous anymore. The problem is, acting as a lead-role in a movie that did the independent circuit puts you out there to be famous... no?

The second problem might be nothing, but one of the songs from the movie that plays sporadically during the movie seems to be a knock-off of a Sarah McLachlan song. Last Dance is the last song on her Surfacing CD and follows the knock-off song note-for-note. Seems highly suspicious... Hopefully that didn't plagiarize.

I really liked the movie and was very impressed with Norah Jones. For never acting (EVER), she worked it.

B - I - N - G - O

Dustin rented some movies on Saturday, but we didn't get a chance to watch them until last night. He got a movie named Bingo (1991 and it shows) for the kids and some dramatic thriller for him... er, uh... I mean us? Well, in the middle of our movie, Reilly comes running down the stairs in tears! My initial thought was, 'What are you two fighting about this time?!' I was wrong! It was the movie. Apparently, it's about a dog that gets treated very badly by all of its owners. From the time he's a puppy, he gets abused from owner to owner (one is a ring-leader in a carnival). Anyway, she was crying because it was too sad for her! How sweet is she? It was adorable that she cares so much that this very poor movie got her to tears over the main character!

So I watched the end of the movie with her and really had a hard time seeing how she was so emotional about it. I think it may have something to do with Fiona moving. On Saturday, the reason we didn't watch the movies was because we helped Ian and Dianne move more stuff to their house. They moved all the crutial things: beds, kitchen, clothes, washer/dryer, etc. They are officially living there now, but will come back during the week and on Saturday to clean up and move the storage things. It didn't hit Reilly right away, but at about 3:30am on Sunday, she had a break down. She woke up and couldn't stop crying. Dustin went in to console her and talked to her a bit. Turns out that she's really distraught about Fiona not living right next door. She's never known anything but having Fiona there and I think this'll be a hard transition for the poor girl. :( She's going up on Friday to have a sleep over with Fiona, so I hope that'll help her out.

Made of Honor

Nina and I went to see Made of Honor and, I don't know about her, but I wasn't TOTALLY disappointed. I guess I like Patrick Dempsey more than I realized. It was very predictable, but just what I wanted to watch. Cutesy chick flick. We went to the dollar theater and that was perfect. I recommend going to the cheap theater or renting it. I liked it, though. :)

Prepare for ... awesomeness???

We just got back from watching Kung Fu Panda. Reilly has been begging me to go see it for the past two weeks. She says the title so funny! "Kun Fu Panda!" as fast as she can, over and over again. It's very Reilly.

Well, it was what I expected. Never laugh out loud funny, but good. Predictable, but entertaining. Jack Black isn't my favorite actor, but, thank heavens, I wasn't staring at him the whole movie. I didn't even get that Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan or Angelina Jolie were in it until the credits... again, not a fan.

So, my advice is, don't expect anything... it's nothing special.

The book's always better.

It wasn't terrible... it didn't RUIN the book... but it was still disappointing. Amir, the main character, was not at all emotional enough... here's my blogged impression of his acting.

1. He gets some terrible news about his childhood bestfriend = ahhh, dang it... hmmm...

2. He gets married = woooo hoooo... ??

3. He doesn't want to risk life or limb for anyone = can't someone else do it? no? okay... hmmm..

4. His in-laws make fun of his family = stop? I mean... stop?... *fork slams on plate*

Thank you! Thank you! You've been an absolutely wonderful audience! Good night!!!