Big

It is my Friday... well, my first friday.. cuz then Wednesday is my second Friday... and real Friday isn't really a Friday at all... So, yea.... Anyhoo.....

And I spent the morning at work, and kicked some dragons, then napped (cuz kicking dragons will take the punch out of one's self..) and then passed a languid 45 minutes at 1/2 priced books and came home to eat a lovely Betty Crocker's dinner prepared by mi Nana with Bluebell ice cream and strawberries for dessert. After watching Sleepless in Seattle the other evening for the first time, the subject of Tom Hank's looks got brought up and I asked if they remembered the movie Big he was in......Aaaaand the answer was a big fat "No" cuuuz, they'd never even seen it. (!)What!!??

So, as of this moment, we are almost done watching Big, about a kid that made a wish at a carnival that he was big. "Big" meaning "grown-up." And he just so happens to make the wish while playing an arcade game for 25 cents...And it comes true. It is sweet and a movie from my childhood interestingly enough. Need I say more?... Probably... But I am just going to leave you to discover it for yourself... Goodnight everyone. It's been fun...

Stranger Than Fiction..My Kind of Flours

So, here I am..... yes, again.... Blogging... and watching yet, another movie, and yet..... blogging about an entirely different movie I watched earlier. Again. So, Hello... Again....*chesire grin..* Seems to be my trademark look nowadays. Anyway, so, I am blogging about Stranger than Fiction while watching Sleepless in Seattle.

I might as well tell you now!! There are serious Spoiler Alerts in all these reviews...... hmmmm, may have to work on that later on........ But for now... deal with it. Trust me, if I'm reviewing it, it's worth watching. ... Moving on!!!!

So, being my last day off for the next four days (thank god it's not the next six days, ugh) I spent the morning doing my own thing, drawing, coloring, making ringtones, fiddling around with facebook and my facebook page (successfully and unsuccessfully,) and what else, but watching a movie (of course.) Inevitably, I always have a movie in the background. So, my parents had emailed me and said while watching a certain movie, they thought of me because the heroine of the story reminded them of me...

Whether it was the fact she works in a bakery, is for less government, or has a funky personality.. I'm thinking it was probably a collaboration of all those things. The name of its quirky self is Stranger Than Fiction. Starring, Will Ferrel, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, it packs a nice cast of characters that carries the unique script on a walk through the park. For all the famous actors boasted on the casting list, it feels like an indy film. It is about a man that measures everything by time, and more specifically by the time on his wristwatch. He goes to sleep at a certain time, wakes up at a certain time, brushes his teeth in so many strokes, jogs so many steps to the bus stop just in time to catch the bus, and arrives at his office building where he is an IRS auditor. Everything is kept short.... and simple. Not short and sweet, just short and simple. He begins to hear a woman's voice (Emma Thompson) that narrates everything he does (very much seeming like the voice of God from the sky... if God's voice were the voice of a woman of course.)

He is beginning to feel chaffed and on the verge of a nervous breakdown after spending days of listening to this voice only he hears (But Hey[!] he's not schizophrenic,) when one day he sets out from his computer desk to audit a woman that works at a small bakery shoppe.

Upon meeting her, he is infatuated.. no....entranced by her... And (of course) the woman narrating describes his feelings perfectly and he catches himself gazing at her in a fog of "love" at first sight. .... His life becomes not so short, and not so simple, but definitely sweet by the end once he has bavarian sugar cookies and the love of his life there feeding them to him.

He discovered, as did his narrator, that it isn't always about the "great" things in life so much as it is about the small things...The things that usually seem just o.k. And the baker girl learns that you can't make a difference in the world if you're locked away for being a fanatic..... Life shouldn't be about how everyone dies in the end.... I mean, c'mon... Everyone dies... But no one lives life the same way.. So, why shouldn't life be about...living life... Focus on life..

My favorite part of the movie, he shows up at her bakery when she is locking up to go home, and he is standing there with a box with about ten paper bags all with different colored labels and she looks at him a bit irritated and suspicious and asks, "What?!" He stumbles over his words and finally manages, "I brought you flours.... I thought you might like that....."

Freaking most awesome original line.....EVER!!!!!! *sigh of contentment*

So, the verdict.... The little things in life are what usually end up saving us in the end, so don't forget about 'em, o.k? Goodnight..........

17 Again

I am sitting here still enjoying movies that I have not yet watched. I am now watching Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, but that's not what I am reviewing at this very moment. While passing through the movie trailers to get to the dvd menu, I passed 17 Again. I just watched that for the first time two weeks ago. I was feeling low at the time. I was dwelling on the person I had been for the last few years and I dwell so much on pretty much everything from the fact that I haven't yet figured out how not to aka "let go." So, in my low mood of self-loathing, I popped in 17 Again, a dvd I found in a two dollar bin on Black Friday. I had never watched it after my "impulse-induced" stated had passed. But the black mood I was simmering in, was in dire need of fluffiness I was not yet acquainted with; Legally Blonde and Fred Claus would just not do the trick. So, I removed the crackling plastic off the cover, placed the dvd into my blu-ray player and wrapped my smug cloud cover over my head and tucked myself in its strangely cozy embrace.

I have become so used to analyzing feelings and my feelings and other people's feelings, that feelings aren't just "feelings" anymore that happen, that pop up at random... Feelings are reactions... And if you can predict or figure out what causes them... Then they make sense, they aren't random, they have reason.... But see... Feelings don't always make sense, or have reason.... So, in my pursuit of finding the root of feelings, I forgot what "feelings" mean. ... Enough about the "touchy-feely" talk.

The whole point is that seeing Zac Efron

dropping the basketball and running after his highschool sweetheart to ask her to marry him: touched me..touched my heart. I saw young love and it reminded me that .......well, when a guy loves a woman.. He shows up. Feelings can be "created" but it's like comparing diamonds and artificial diamonds... Not the same thing. The real thing is something that happens despite everything, and you wouldn't trade it for anything else. It made me happy to see them depict the real thing... The real feeling that is.....

.

*Breath of fresh air*

I have learned so much from those days... I wouldn't trade them for anything else. I wouldn't ask for them to come back, but I wouldn't trade them for anything else. Watching 17 Again is like falling asleep in a field of poppies...... You need someone to come along and save you. And on that note... Ghosts of GirlFriends Past is pretty cute. Pretty cliche.... But, it's got its own twist to Dicken's Christmas Carol. .... No pun intended... I think?.....

Curdled

It is a lovely Saturday morning, by definition, my day off; when in reality it is Thursday. I have spent the morning gloriously and deliciously doing nothing but what my heart desires.... Well, to a point, the point being the things what I am able to accomplish for my hearts desire... But Anyway!..

So, after a six day work week, I am now resting, thank goodness. My artistic soul is beaming and languidly basking behind this computer with markers and canvasses strewn about me.

I put on a Quinten Tarantino film a friend had lent me to pass the morning, and was pleasantly surprised. It had a very different feel than his other films. It is about a girl's fascination with murders that all started when a man fell murdered from the balcony above her mother's bakery. She began a scrapbook with articles in it accompanied by depictions she draws of the articles. She grows into a woman that quits a job at a bakery to work as a maid that cleans up after murder investigations.

The Mexican atmosphere and cumbia music nicely accentuate and liven up this dark, and what would normally be called morbid, film.

It somehow soothed my heartache at being a loner to watch Curdled. I did not feel so boring for my interests and boring habits after watching the main character, Gabriella. My thought was, "Well, at least I don't have that obsession!" There were numerous sweet details sprinkled about that caught my attention. The fact Gabriella's mother owned a bakery, that at home, she bakes gingerbread cookies and pipes icing on them, that she dances by herself to the pattern of the steps leading up to the victim's demise.

It was by no means sugary sweet, but it was more like pan dulce, just sweet enough to satisfy. That's what she said, and that's what I say, and now I want pan dulce.... And it's All Your Fault!!

Sucker Punch

It is another day in the world.. And it has taken me long enough to drag myself up to the computer and stretch my fingers over to the keys and across them to at least tap out a construction of a paragraph.... or two.. or three....

SuckerPunch: n.; adj. the moment a dream is rudely awakened into reality

Work is work. Life is life. . But what is love?... Some people don't like to discuss it. Some people enjoy mulling over the idea, while others constantly jump in head first and immerse themselves in it. I have a theory, and I am waiting to see it proven true. I propose that love is like a person: it has two sides to it; to understand it you must get to know and understand both sides before you can truly know it. There is a sad/evil/cruel side and there is a happy/good/compassionate side. And before you can really know just how wonderful the beautiful side is, you must acquaint yourself with the ugly side of it. Without one, the other cannot exist.

Up till now I have fished to the very bottom of the barrel of my soul and the world's soul to find "love." On the way down I passed some shiny apples, some gnarly apples, some sour apples, some sweet apples, some moldy apples, some abandoned apples that people had tasted and tossed aside to be picked at by desperate others only to be tossed aside again.... And I became acquainted and good friends with mostly the half eaten sticky cores. I stubbornly followed the optimism that there is good in everyone and I was determined to prove it. And yes, I still believe there is. However, I now realize, dragging my soul through the mud will not help those old gnarly moldy apples anymore than it will help my very own self. Faith is believing in things not seen, so maybe the whole time I've been trying to prove good exists in everything has been the wrong answer; maybe just having faith that it is there, deep within, regardless of whether anyone can prove it or not, is what I should have really been after.

I titled this post after the film Sucker Punch and I still have yet to mention anything about it. It is about a girl who had everything and lost everything: everything except for her soul and mind. But, her saving grace was finding a new purpose to live for after she found something worth dying for. On one level, I interpreted the characters all as individuals. But after pondering on it for a few weeks, I realize we have all those personalities inside of ourselves. We have the girl that has nothing to lose inside of us, protecting us and egging us on when we fear hurt or pain. We have that girl that ran away from home and ended up trapped with no way back. We all have so much potential and different possibilities and fate and memories speaking to us... And the most important decisions we make to shape our fate will be the hardest ones to decide: the decisions of letting go and sacrifice.

Whenever you come to a crossroads (and yes, here it comes, the crossroads speech....) you have to decide whether to turn right or left. One road usually leads to a scary undetermined path full of new sights and sounds that are unfamiliar, while the other holds no secrets, no fear... And it is this second path, devoid of fear and its brother hope that should be feared, because it is a shallow road that leaves many mere shells of the entire human they could and should be.

Do not be afraid to let go of the past..... Be afraid of not letting it go. Learn to let go of that girl that is numb and heartbroken. She has been there to protect the little girl in you this whole time and she is there to take the hit so that the innocent part of you is able escape and given the chance to grow again.

I suppose now that it's almost two in the morning I will get off my soap box and let you all continue snoring. goodnight.

Sucker Punch & Quills

Sucker Punch & Quills........

I finally propped myself up to blog. I am lounging with my feet up and contentedly tapping away at my keyboard. I may appear tired. And that is because I am dear readers. I have ended up closing at work every Sunday for the past three Sundays only to turn right around and open at 4 a.m. Thankfully this is the last week in that I have been given this detestable schedule; and, yes I am fully aware that "they can't schedule me that" lawfully...however, I am not up to fighting about it unless I am backed into a corner. And glancing around me, I am not in a corner at the moment. I am lounging...with my feet up... contentedly tapping away here on blogger.. That doesn't sound right. Moving on!

So! I had the pleasure of viewing some old and new movies recently which in entirement (did you see what I did there? Yea, that's right, I created a word there) include: Return to Oz, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Sucker Punch, and Quills. Return to Oz was a classic 80's film and for a woman that loves anything Wizard of Oz, what's NOT to love about this? The Rocky Horror Picture Show was ... definitely different. I could see its humor.... very weird though. I just have to ask... Tim Curry.... WTF? Why the Face?.... Susan Sarandon... Wow! That was a side I had never seen before, I'm used to her more "mature" roles like in Stepmom, but thinking about it that has been one of her more "tame" characters.... But, then, she never really plays "tame" women.. Oh! Nevermind. Anyway. So... Now. What I really want to blog about.... Sucker Punch and Quills. ..... And now it's time for me to get ready and go to work. But I Will Be Back(!) - thus quips the Katinator. Have a lovely day everyone. It's My Friday!!! Mwahahhahahahahahaha! Take that you evil fugly Monday!!!!

p.s. Yes, "Fear & Loathing.." I haven't forgotten about you. I will blog about you too, but you can't be put in a group discussion. You are definitely a blog All Your Own......

The Graduate; X-Men First Class; Mad Money..Donnie Darko...To Name a Few

Well, hello again, dear blogger. I have been completely and utterly neglecting you. I wish I could say I hadn't meant to... But I needed to organize my life a little. I'm glad you can forgive me.

With that out of the way! Here I am, still cracking jokes and punching things at work and mumbling cuss words at irritating customers... Oh, yes, alive and kicking! I half joked with a lady at work the other day and said, "I doooonnn'tt waaaa *sob* nnnnnttt to wooorrr *sob* kkkk!!!" She asked, "And who's going to take care of you?"... Now, in my head, I find it humorous to answer, "no one, I'll just shoot myself. *chesire grin*" Buuuut, no one else seems to think that's funny, and I can't say that I blame them. So, I just quipped, "Oh, I'll become a hobo with my little rat doggy and have a can begging for money on the side of the road."

I have to say, my thoughts these days are somewhat darker than normal, but I'm never going to apologize for them. I just may not voice them out loud in the moment, but then of course I'll hop onto blogger and shout them out to the world. Good plan, Katalin. Oh, yes, and I'll talk to myself. That's an even better plan.

Despite myself, good movies have managed to wander across my path or into my front yard and they have been a breath of inventive/creative fresh air. There have been so many movies I have not seen because of how I was raised and now that I am older, I have had the priviledge of viewing them. Example: The Graduate. I had heard the barest summary of it as a kid, "a college graduate has an affair with a married woman, and then gets with her daughter." Now... Out of context that seems a revolting plot to watch, interesting drama perhaps, but not something a generation would infamize*. (*and yes, I may have just created a word right there.. but deal with it.) However, upon finally gracing its cinematography with my very own eyeballs, I conclude that that miniscule summary does not summarize the film justly. I had never seen Dustin Hoffman as a young actor and it is always fascinating for me to see anyone I grew up with who was older than me, suddenly around my age in technical terms. Allow me to summarize more fairly: a confused young man is seduced by an older married woman who is friends with his family, but in time, he falls in love with her daughter and determines himself to marry her. There is nothing about this movie that doesn't win you over; I sympathized with his innocent/gullible character and cheered on his determination to get what he wanted. It was fantastic. The fact it is a movie from my parent's generation is another fact I enjoyed it so much. It seems that with some movies we are able to bridge generational gaps and share feelings that any generation can understand. *sigh of nostalgia*

I recently also got to see the movie Mad Money about three woman that decide to commandeer used money from the mint they work at. Aaaaah, yes, if only..... *sigh of resignation* One of my favorite lines is when Queen Latifah gets a phone call from Diane Keaton and she tells her, "Look, I don't want things I can't have.." Diane Keaton scoffs unbelievingly, "Do you live in America?!" Best line! hahaaa!!

Then I also got to see the newest X-men of the ongoing saga. I was reluctant to see it, afraid that that the new cast of actors would not be able to carry it well. I mean, come on! They have some big shoes to fill making this prequel! But despite my fears, it was a Freaking Awesome surprise. I love it when things I don't think are going to be good actually turn out to be great!!! Don't you just love that? I wish, not everything, but more things had that outcome. I know to have good, we have to have bad, but do we have to have sooo much bad?... Well, anyway. So, I have been pleasantly gorging myself on delightful movies popping up like dishes at the Hogwarts dining hall tables. ooooo!!! And I also got to see Donnie Darko! I now understand why people had a hard time describing it to me. Allow me: an emotionally troubled teen manages to dream/time travel the question "what if" the night a plane fuselage crashes into his bedroom and kills him. It also seems to say that whether we cheat death now or not, it will find us if it is our time to go.

Well, my language and grammar leaves something to be desired in this post, but meh... I have made a command decision blogging does not have to be about grammar or not about grammar. It's just about whatever the F*bleep* is running through my darn-cute little thought waves... Yea, see that one? It's Pink! *giggle* lalala And if you aren't convinced by the end of this I'm a weirdo, Hi! Glad you're a part of the club! Have an awesome day! I'll be investigating my next foray into the theater business. Woo-cha!