Red

I have been a huge fan of Bruce Willis since Die Hard came out (yes, I’m dating myself and no, I really didn’t watch him in Moonlighting).  I’m also a fan of Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren AND John Malkovich.  So, I was very excited for the release of this movie.  It did not disappoint.

When you see actors that are so closely associated with a character (that basically made them famous) in a different project, it hard to accept them in a new role.  A perfect example of this is Sean Connery in The Hunt For Red October.  There is no way that you would ever convince me that he was a Soviet submarine commander.  He is, and always will be, known as James Bond 007.  Of course the fact that he still used his thick Scottish accent didn’t help.  When I was watching this movie, I was able to disassociate my thoughts of these actors previous works from the character they were playing in this film.  When I saw Bruce Willis in this movie, I wasn’t thinking of John McClane.  I was seeing, and liked, his character Frank Moses.  I liked all the main characters in this movie.  The character of Sarah Ross, played by Mary-Louise Parker, was endearing.  I must say I didn’t quite buy the idea of her and Frank as a couple.  I don’t think the chemistry was quite there.  And I ADORED Helen Mirren’s character Victoria.  I want to be her in a few (read many) years!

The story had my attention from the first frame.  It is well written, well acted, and the humor was on point.  Mike and I were exploding in laughter consistently throughout the movie.

I left the theatre feeling good.  Entertained and smiling.  If this is what it’s like to become retired and extremely dangerous, sign me up!

The Social Network

This movie is a MUST SEE for anyone on Facebook, or anyone using any type of social networking...which today is just about everyone, thanks to people like Mark Zuckerberg.

This is the story of a nerd who made it big.  In a huge way, kinda like Bill Gates.  Mark Zuckerberg, along with his former best friend Eduardo Saverin, are the founders of  Facebook.  Is it ironic that a socially inept ubergeek creates one of the biggest social networking mediums in the world?  Absolutely.  Facebook is now so big it has it's own verb.

This movie is extremely well done.  The script is sharp, the acting impeccable, and the storyline engaging.  Jesse Eisenberg does a phenomenal job portraying the socially inept Zuckerberg.  I absolutely fell in love with Andrew Garfield as his best friend Saverin.  Kudos must go to the immensely talented Justin Timberlake who, without singing one word, was mesmerizing as Sean Parker, the creator of Napster and first president of Facebook.

Allowing for what I call “Hollywoodification”, it is a very interesting and compelling story of how Facebook was started and what happens when people ultimately choose between money, power, and friendships.

This is a movie I would pay full price to see again and again.

It's that good.

Technophilia

I am a confirmed technogeek - a gadgetgirl if you will.  If I were a superhero, my name would be GadgetGirl, with some kewl logo and outfit.  But I digress.

I love technology.  I Google about it (yes, I love that Google is now a verb), I am a member of a couple of technology discussion boards, and I even have a couple of bookmarks that go to sites that show celebrities with their phones.  I think this combines my love of technology and celebrity quite nicely.  The biggest thing I love about technology is just sitting down and figuring it all out.

I received my first cell phone back in about 1992 or so when I lived in Dutch Harbor.  I think I was one of the first ones on the island to actually have a cell phone.  It was fun.  I liked it.  When we moved to Anchorage, I had to habit of going down to the cell phone store at the mall and looking at the latest models on a weekly basis.  As a matter of fact, the sales people there knew me by name.  As funds would allow, I would upgrade to the latest and greatest.

This is a partial, but by no means complete, list of cell phones I have had in the past:  Nokia 5520; Nokia 3310; some small red Nokia; Motorola StarTac; Motorola V60; Motorola Razr V3; BlackBerry Curve; BlackBerry Bold; and finally an Apple iPhone 3GS 32g.

Up until recently, I was a pretty big BlackBerry fan.  I loved my BlackBerry.  In the big Blackberry vs Apple debate, I was firmly in the RIM camp.  I remember when I got my last BlackBerry, the very nice salesman, when I asked for the newest model, asked me “Oh, why don’t you want to get an iPhone?”  And I snarkily (and yes, that is a verb) said “Because I want a phone that works.”

Well, now I’m eating my words.

I don’t want to make this a big pro-Apple blog because my intent is not to sway anyone one way or the other (and I’m not getting payment from Steve Jobs either, so there is that).  But I will say this – I love my iPhone, and a lot more then I actually thought I would.

My love affair started like this:  It was time for me to upgrade my iPod.  At that time I was so adverse to Apple that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to upgrade to a iTouch.  Hubby got one.  I broke down and played with his for about 15 – 20 minutes, and that is all she wrote.  I was hooked – hook, line, and sinker.  The next day, or two, I went down to get one.  Since I found out that I could get an actual iPhone cheaper then I could a iTouch, I took the leap.  My only regret was that when he asked me if I wanted a white or black one, I said black.  I realized I preferred the white one, and solved the issue later by giving that one to hubby and ordering (another) one for myself on eBay (which is another blog post entirely).

Now since I’ve gotten my iPhone, I spend endless hours looking at discussion boards, downloading apps, and creating ringtones (my current one is the ringtone from the movie Orphan).  I actually use it as a checkbook, journal, notetaker, calendar.

And occasionally as a phone.