Horrible Bosses was not horrible...

Movie poster from Warner Bros.

I had an opportunity to attend a preview screening of the movie Horrible Bosses last night. Not bad for a comedic summer flick. I mean, sure... it's one of those mostly guy-centric movies, but there was plenty in it that I found funny as well.

The three main characters, each enjoyably well-played by Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudekis, have distinct personalities and issues caused by their respective employers. As for the bosses, no surprise that Kevin Spacey turns in another scathing performance as a raging asshole... he's done it so well before and doesn't disappoint in this role. Colin Farrell is convincing as an overindulged, degenerate cokehead son who inherits his father's business. But the real surprise is Jennifer Aniston as a debauched sexual harasser.

Jennifer Aniston has always had a somewhat wholesome image, so I could hardly believe the shockingly raunchy phrases she was uttering as her character... and that's what made it so funny! I'm not even sure it was TRULY funny, but her porn-star-worthy vulgarity was so comical and unexpected given that it was coming from her. I'm guessing there will be a lot of young men with completely new fantasies about her after viewing this film. (Or maybe not so new... I don't know what goes on in the minds of young men these days, and I'm not sure I really want to!)

I don't think any other actress could have pulled off that role successfully. Ms. Aniston, who has always exuded a bit of a "girl next door" charm, has also generally given the impression that she doesn't take herself too seriously. She always seemed to have an underlying current that hinted at a wicked sense of humor. I think that's what really gives her the edge in this role, and in it she is wicked, indeed! Kudos to her for taking on such a portentous role and working it with aplomb! 

Horrible Bosses is unlikely to be in Oscar contention, but it's worth at least a matinee ticket if you enjoy movies of this genre. It opens tomorrow (Friday, July 8th). Just don't bring the kiddies!

Aloha!

Hanging out in our backyard is almost like being in Hawaii.

Well, not really. But the plumeria is blooming, and it smells so good! And our pineapples are growing bigger. Can't wait to eat 'em!

Purty Flawrs...

I love it when these wild flowers pop up unexpectedly in the yard. I believe they are rain lilies. Evidently, they grow from bulbs, but we've never planted any rain lily bulbs. I also see them here and there around the neighborhood in odd places. They seem to just spring up randomly in the middle of grassy areas.











 I just read on tha interwebz that you can actually order bulbs for them, and that they're relatively easy to grow. Hmmm... maybe we should consider getting some and spreading them around like a smile.

Genius...

My better(?) half dragged me out bowling Friday night. While we were hanging out in the snack bar waiting for a lane, a guy comes in carrying what looked like a skateboard with a handle. Turns out it WAS a skateboard with not just a handle, but also a compartment that you can carry things in... like a skateboard briefcase. My husband walked over and chatted the guy up a bit, and found out he actually made it. It's such a cool idea.

Then I was watching the news Saturday morning, and lo and behold there's the guy with the cool skateboard briefcase featured in a story about USF leading the way in patents! Below is a link to the news story, and a link to the inventor's youtube channel that has a couple videos of the skatecase in use. Check it out. It's brilliant!

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/local_news/usf-among-elite-schools-in-number-of-patents
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSkatecase

Growin' stuff...

Grape tomatoes

Having been raised in the south, I feel like it's mandatory that I grow tomatoes in the summer. Of course, where I live, you gotta get the plants in the ground in late February or early March. By the time summer officially rolls around, it's too dang hot for blossoms to set. Luckily, I planted on time this year, and have enjoyed the actual fruits of my labor.

This year I planted two grape tomato plants, one Roma tomato plant, one Beefsteak tomato plant, and one that is supposedly cherry tomatoes. We got a few Romas, but not many, and the plant didn't do well. It was behind the Beefsteak plant, which blocked a lot of the morning sun. I didn't expect the Beefsteak plant to grow so crazy big! Most of the Beefsteaks cracked on the vine, but we've had some delicious BLT's from them. The grape tomatoes never disappoint... they always produce with little trouble.

"Cherry" tomatoes

Beefsteak tomatoes

The cherry tomatoes though.... I THOUGHT I got the same variety that I have in the past, but I've never had cherry tomatoes grow so big! They're smaller than, say, a patio tomato, but bigger than regular cherry or grape tomatoes. They are damn good though, and make a fine fresh sauce for pasta.

I also planted two eggplant... uh... plants and one Gypsy pepper. One of the eggplants didn't make it. The other one has given us several delicious eggplants!

So... from all this deliciousness, there have been a couple nights that I was able to make bowtie pasta with a sauce of tomatoes, eggplant, pepper and basil straight from the garden. Yum!

Unfortunately, we've been having quite a spell of really hot weather, and it's taking it's toll on the plants. The tomato vines are getting really brown, and our basil is pretty shriveled. Happily, the pepper and eggplant are still putting out blossoms. Fingers crossed they'll set and produce more edible treasures!

Maybe it's just me, but truly fresh-picked produce always tastes WAY better than that commercial grocery store stuff.

Father's Day

My dad was overseas in a combat zone when I was born. By the time he came home, I'm told I was a crying, colicky baby. Who enjoys crying colicky babies? So maybe we just got started on the wrong foot. There were also other issues that strained our father/daughter relationship during my childhood, and when my parents split, my dad moved practically half way around the world. Those were the days before tha interwebz and skype and e-mail... long distance communication was a lot harder then! I've only seen him in person two or three times since I was 10 years old, and the last time was over 20 years ago. So it was difficult to mend our fences, settle our differences and get to know each other.

We eventually buried the hatchet and presently have a friendly relationship, mostly via e-mail, but I still can't say that I know my dad REALLY well. I don't know what his favorite color is, or his favorite music, or his favorite meal, or what he'd do if he ever won a million bucks... all those little mundane things that close families know about each other.

But here's what I do know about him... he's got a genius-level IQ and photographic memory. He has perfect pitch, and can also play guitar really well. He's got a wicked sense of humor and a quick wit. That's not a bad gene pool for me to be swimming around in, and I'm fortunate to have inherited a little of his smarts and talent. I think the wavy curls in my hair came from him, too. Not sure about my stubbornness and fiery temper... there's a generous amount of those qualities on BOTH sides of my DNA!

I remember in second grade, he made a Kool-Aid cake for my birthday. And he used to bake cinnamon swirl bread sometimes (I still have the recipe). He made gorgeous stained glass terrariums in his spare time for a while. Once on a beach vacation, we kids had a blast when he'd toss us backwards into the waves.

So Dad, thanks for helping to make me the person I am today, even from afar. I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day!

WWJD? I think he'd laugh!

This was on a car parked next to me at the drug store yesterday... I had to take a picture. I know some people might be offended by it, but it's just about the funniest car bling I've ever seen!

One, Two, Cha Cha Cha

So do you guys watch those Dancing Kids (otherwise known as Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance")? The top 20 paired up and kicked off the competition for season 8 last night, and boy howdy are those kids talented! Every single one of them gave top notch performances, but when Melanie and Marko began the Travis Wall choreographed "Turn to Stone" number, it was clear we were all watching something truly special. It was stunning! Such a beautiful piece.

The official SYTYCD clip won't be on the show's official site until Sunday or Monday, but I found this youtube clip that someone posted if you want to check it out. (I'll try to remember to switch it to the official clip when it's available.) Absolutely breathtaking.

If you're a fan of the show, you already know that Travis Wall was a contestant and the runner-up on Season 2 of the show. It's great to see him grow into a world class choreographer. He is an amazing young talent!

What I love about So You Think You Can Dance is the range of styles it explores, introducing so many people to dance forms they may not otherwise ever be exposed to. It's so cool to watch a B-boy or hip-hop street dancer, who never had a formal lesson, learn to master classic ballroom styles, while contemporary and jazz dancers get their groove on learning to krump or pop. Every season it seems like the level of talent in these kids moves up a notch. (Unlike some other celebrity-studded dance themed shows that I can't stand to watch.)

The downside? Two of these fabulous dancing kids will be eliminated each week. The first elimination show will be tonight... I can hardly bear to watch! (But if I don't watch, I'll probably miss some amazing dancing!)

And now, back to our program.

Has it really been a week since the last post? Hope my hiatus didn't disappoint you loyal readers. (All two or three of you! LOL!) I was somewhat incapacitated, and in no mood to blog.

Remember a few posts ago when I thought my neti pot had saved me from a sinus infection? No such luck. I've been battling the mother of all sinus infections for a couple weeks now. Finally gave up and headed to my ENT's office last week. The antibiotics he prescribed seem to be working, slowly but surely. I'm beginning to feel like a human again. This thing really kicked my ass!

I'll tell ya what though... I now realize that I never TRULY understood the real meaning of the word "putrid" until last week. Putrid is a near-perfect description of the toxic sludge that I was blowing from my nose. Vile, disgusting and foul are other appropriate words for it. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the smell was similar to the trunk of Casey Anthony's car. (Eeeewwwww!) That was almost harder to bear than the rest of the symptoms! I was beginning to think my brain was actually dissolving and draining through my sinuses. Thankfully, that part of it has improved dramatically. Now I'm blowing out *mostly* normal gunk. (I know y'all were just dying to know that, right?)

Here's hoping the improvement continues... the upcoming posts will be MUCH more pleasant than today's topic! So check back soon, if you're so inclined.

At least the glasses LOOK cool...

We recently went to the movies to see them thar pirates. It was okay... some light summer fluff. Nothing to write home (or blog) about but a fun romp nonetheless. However, I DO have a gripe about 3D.

Don't get me wrong... 3D can be fun to watch (How To Train Your Dragon and even Despicable Me benefited from 3D effects), but if the film is in 3D just for the sake being in 3D, it's just not worth it. Unfortunately, it seems almost every new release is in 3D these days, whether it actually adds to the film or not. Most of the really 3D bits in the new Pirates flick seemed gimmicky and trite. Oooh... a sword is pointed right you. Oooh... some rifles are pointed right at you. Stuff like that, which seemed almost like an afterthought. It's as if Hollywood mandates that there be some 3D content in all new movies or something, so the producers and directors oblige with some easy run-of-the-mill comin'-at-ya schlock. Not only that, but with the 3D glasses on, the images on the screen looked pretty murky, especially in the darker, shadowy scenes. I found myself frequently lifting the glasses up away from my eyes so I could see better. It was really kind of annoying. Wonder if they can come up with 3D glasses that aren't tinted... maybe that would help with the whole dark and murky thing.

We only opted to see it in 3D because the non-3D version had a later show time. We won't make that mistake again. Why pay an extra $4 or $5 for the 3D glasses when the effects are kinda cheesy and it makes the overall image quality so much worse? Kind of a rip-off if you ask me.

Sorry, Green Lantern... we'll be seeing in you in regular ol' 2D, thank you very much. Same goes for you, Harry Potter.