May 30: Two thumbs “Up” (see what I did there?)

We had decided our weekend plans would not include the new Pixar movie, Up, but y’know what? It was really hot today. Vic and I worked outside until we couldn’t take the heat anymore, Katie was at a friend’s house, and Jack was bored to the point of annoying the hell out of us, so when he suggested going to a movie this afternoon, we jumped on it.

One of the big things about Up is that it’s Pixar’s first movie presented in 3-D. Our nearby cinema is showing it in “regular” format and 3-D, and we chose a 3-D show. It was pretty cool, but I can’t say it was worth the extra $$, nor was the movie improved necessarily by the 3-D-ness. In fact, I think the coolest 3-D effect—besides the awesome glasses, of course—was the Disney logo at the beginning and end. ‘Course, we ooh and aah over any picture with a Disney theme park castle in it, so don’t go by us.

The movie, though, is fabulous—much more so than I expected after all the previews, trailers, and sneak peeks I’d seen. The story is sweet and adventurous. The characters are lovable and fun. The animation is stellar. It’s hard to believe they can improve over some of their earlier work but Pixar has done it again, folks. This one’s a keeper.

Upon leaving the theater, Jack said, “That was the best movie EVER!” That’s definitely five stars’ worth from him; remember, he’s the kid whose ratings system goes like this:

nonstop fart jokes = 5 STARS
songs or anything resembling art/culture = 2 THUMBS WAY, WAY DOWN (AND UNLIMITED FART SOUNDS)

I don’t remember any fart jokes in Up, but it was still a huge hit with Jack. He hasn’t stopped shouting “Squirrel!” in the middle of conversation all night.

And OH DARN, Katie’s going to want to see the movie too… we’re gonna have to go again. Shoot.

After the movie we went for a late dinner to California Pizza Kitchen. The last time we were there they gave us two of these contest things to use on a future visit. They’re all worth something—10% off your bill, a year’s worth of frozen pizzas, trips, cash, etc. The envelopes have to be opened by a manager, and tonight ours had the magic touch because both of our envelopes had $40 dinner vouchers in them. True, that’s no trip to Cancun, but it’s better than a punch in the face. And since we love that restaurant and go there (way too) often, we’ll use them. Maybe even tomorrow.

Apr. 22: Ketchup

I haven’t blogged much lately. No reason, really, except that I’ve not been feeling like there’s much to say. I know, you’re wondering what one has to do with the other.

So rather than individual posts about a bunch of different topics like I usually write, I’m going to smash everything I haven’t said for the past several days into one post to get caught up. Totally cheating, yes.

Movie

For Manullang Family Movie Night on Friday, Jack chose Monsters vs Aliens. We went to the cinemas and approximately $467 later, enjoyed a very, very funny movie. I was pleasantly surprised. The voice talent was good—Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Stephen Colbert (as the president!), Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, just to name a few—and the story was sweet. Not Pixar-caliber, but still good, and deserving of many alien thumbs up from the Manullang Fam.

Concert

Lori and I went to Unwigged & Unplugged at Keller on Sunday evening. If you enjoyed the movies This is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind, you should punch yourself in the nuts if you missed this concert. It was Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, appearing as themselves, and incredible—it’s amazing what those guys can do; they play several instruments and create some awesome harmonies. And their lyrics—oh my word, they are talented! They did songs from all their movies and albums, interspersed with film footage of various types and a couple special treats, like 3-D effects for one lucky audience member and a dramatic reading of an NBC censors’ memo. The crowd was enthusiastic and that made it even more fun. Lori and I loved it.

My friend Chris also went, and even got autographs before the show. Is this the coolest?

He left me a very strange and amusing message on my Facebook wall yesterday:

I didn’t look closely to see what was available at the merch stand, but I saw the green skeleton t-shirt on several audience members. If only I’d known they had “Big Bottom” spandex Speedos! They’d be perfect to wear at the Lassens’ housewarming pool party!

Illness

Jack stayed home from school today. He said his stomach hurt but we weren’t altogether sure he didn’t just want to stay home and play with his Nintendo DS. Still, he was moving pretty slow and I didn’t want to get to work and then get a call from the school saying he needed to go home. I stayed home with him and babied my little guy, which I loved much more than he did.

He seems to be feeling better; right this minute he’s sleeping on the couch with his hand in his pants.

New bed

Our new bed was delivered Saturday morning and I could hardly wait to go to sleep that night. I was disappointed that I slept terribly, though—it was one of those nights where I felt like I just tossed and turned and never really fell asleep. A nap a few hours later went fine, but Sunday night was more tossing. Of course, I wasn’t ready to return the mattress quite yet, but I was frustrated at it being less than perfect. As I said before, I had unreasonably high expectations in that bed.

Monday and Tuesday nights, I slept much, much better. Like a baby, even. Now I think I’m loving it. My back pain is gone. GONE!

Victor’s been sleeping just fine, as snore-y as ever.

pto

It’s official: I’ve been nominated for the PTO board. Next month they vote. I’ll probably be the VP of Student Programs, which means I’ll coordinate a bunch of the events that are supposed to make the kids smarter. Because of my responsibilities, I think a more appropriate title would be VP of Central Intelligence. Not sure when I should propose that revision…

Many homes in our neighborhood are now well-represented by the PTO board and active members, and more than one person has called us a gang because of this. This is thrilling because I’ve never been in a real gang before. When do I get to kill someone for looking at me the wrong way? Soon, I hope, because I’ve already got my eye on someone.

iPhone

My favorite iPhone applications so far are twitterific, Huff Post, and Scramble. Scramble is like Boggle, and you can play against other people. Sometimes I rock at it and sometimes I think I must be playing against that guy who wrote the dictionary himself.

My fat fingertips are getting used to the teeny-tiny keys on the keyboard, and although I’ve not received nearly as many texts as I had been promised (ahem!), I’m getting better at texting too. Yay.

The lack of my custom ringtones still pisses me off. Boo.

Bad guys

I ran into a friend of mine yesterday whom I hadn’t seen in quite a while. Her 26-year marriage is ending and the reasons why are completely depressing to me. It was really good to see her again and catch up a little, but she’s planning to move soon to get away from all the bad stuff and that was the saddest news of all (for me). I don’t blame her for wanting to move; I’d want to too. Strange how you think you know someone and then realize how much they’ve kept from you all along. Gah. Makes me mad.

Also, some people’s exes are just jackasses extraordinaire, or so they tell me. Makes me mad.

EmCityGuy’s wife Bryan got hit by a car while riding his bike yesterday. He’s alive but hurtin’. The idiot who hit him wasn’t paying attention because she was “rushing home to relieve her au pair.” (I’m sorry, Ma’am, but you have a babysitter. You can call her an au pair, but you’ll sound exactly like the moron you are.) I’d like to hit HER with a car! Stupid woman shouldn’t have a license. Makes me mad.

I’m like the Hulk (if he was in a gang)

And you should not make me mad. Remember, I’m in a gang and we are BAD ASS.

Feb. 19: Another Oscar pick

The Lovely Lori, Curt-D (like Ice-T) and I saw a matinee of Milk yesterday, and if I remember correctly (sooooo much booze…) we gave it an enthusiastic six thumbs up. I thought it was very well done. The story moved at a fast pace and I liked that there was a lot of real footage mixed in with Sean Penn’s fake hairline.

As most of this story occurred before I turned ten years old, I had forgotten how evil Anita Bryant was back then. On her web site, which I am not going to provide a link to because she is still quite evil, her profile states: “Anita liked that she will always be remembered as a witness to and defender of the Truth in the twentieth century. A real heroine.” Oh, yeah. She’s somethin’, alright. Love your fellow man, my arse. “Christians” that incite fear and hatred over things they don’t understand? How are they heroic? Apparently the poor woman has gone through some bankruptcies and other difficult personal trials. Sing with me now: KAAARMAAAA! (Or is this the very definition of schadenfreude?)

Although I found the story captivating and liked that it filled in the gaps of what I already knew about Harvey Milk, it was incredibly heartbreaking at the same time. Not just because of his assassination—of course that was sad—but because I see how little we’ve moved forward in his cause. Yes, Milk made some huge strides, but until homosexuals have all the rights that heterosexuals do, his work is not done. The movie made me want to march!

Not having seen too many other Oscar-nominated films this year, I don’t know what Milk’s chances are for winning, but it certainly deserves the nominations it got. Here’s an official Oscar ballot for you to track your picks as you watch the ceremonies Sunday night.

BTW, it was all I could do not to make the title of this post “Got Milk?” You’re welcome.

Aug. 3: Movie Time with Jen

Jack and I finally saw WALL•E this past week. We both thought it was worth what movie tickets cost nowadays. Jack’s review: “WALL•E almost died lots of times!”

The short shown before the feature was Presto, in my opinion one of the best Pixar shorts in a long time. WALL•E and Presto, along with another new short (à la Jack-Jack Attack and Mater & the Ghostlight) called BURN•E will be released on DVD in November.

If you love Pixar films like we do, here are some entertaining and time-killing sites to check out:
The Wikipedia page of Pixar film references
Upcoming Pixar news
Pixar Wiki

One of the previews shown before WALL•E was for Beverly Hills Chihuahua. That one is going to take a tranquilizer or 16 for me to sit through. In fact, I think I already feel a migraine coming on that day.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year comes out in theaters October 24. You can see the new trailer here. I just wondered aloud to Victor, “Will Troy and Gabriella finally get it on? Or maybe Ryan and Sharpay?” Vic was appalled: “Ryan and Sharpay are brother and sister! This is Disney, and they’re not the Osmonds.” (I know, Kath, I can’t believe he said that either. But you have to admit, that Donny-&-Marie-making-out sketch is one of SNL’s best and if I could find a clip, I’d put it here.)

Yesterday my friend Cassie suggested that since we all have to see HSM3 anyway—Disney’s already worked every kid into a frenzy over its release—we should go together and pass flasks of wine up and down the Moms’ row. I’m not dreading the movie all that much, but I’d never pass up an afternoon of booze and spittle with the girls.

And, until I set foot in a theater again—which will probably not be until October, sadly—that’s it for Movie Time with Jen.

June 21: Suck it, Deepak

Katie and Jack are gone for the weekend. Vic and I decided to work on another house project or two—this party’s coming up soon—but last night was our free night. We went to a movie. In a theater. I know, I can hardly believe it also.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a first-run movie in a theater, much less on its opening day. With my purse chock-full of Hot Tamales, we went to a late showing of The Love Guru, starring Mike Meyers.

If you did not appreciate the Austin Powers movies, do not see The Love Guru. You will hate it. If, however, you have a decent sense of humor and a little extra patience with excessive fart jokes, you will enjoy the movie.

There are plenty of celebrity cameos and stars from The Daily Show. Loads of winks to other movies. Silly sutras and Indian names. Gratuitous pop song performances on a sitar. A urine mop fight I will, unfortunately, not soon forget. And did I mention the excessive fart jokes? But in spite of its thin plot and general silliness, we loved The Love Guru. It was entertaining. Or maybe it’s been too long since we’ve watched a good comedy.

Oh, and I am more in love with Justin Timberlake than ever, I think. He is surprisingly funny, and he’s got to be a good actor, because how else could a person’s devotion to Céline Dion be that believable?