Movie Review: The Other Woman

The Housewife (Leslie Mann), the Lawyer (Cameron Diaz), and the Model-Type (Kate Upton) all have one thing in common: they're seeing the same man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, aka Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones). After finding out about each other, they team up to get back at him, and hilarity ensues.

There are certain movies that come along, that are by no means "amazing" or "though-provoking", and yet, you could watch them over and over.

The Other Woman is definitely that kind of movie. It will never win any awards. It is not life changing.

And yet I would gladly go see it again (in the theater even!) if someone asked me to go.

Why?

Because I laughed so hard in so many scenes, and it was like a great work of Chick-Lit ("Great work of Chick-Lit"? Is that an oxymoron?) for my eyes and I didn't even have to use my brain to comprehend what was happening.

This sounds like a terrible review so far, but believe me. It's not.

Sometimes as a mom, you need a little break where you don't have to think about anything. No one begging for cookies after they've already snuck three, or screaming because they don't want to take a bath to wash off the cookie evidence that is ALL OVER them, or even more screaming because they don't want to get out of the bath.

This is, in a sense, the perfect 2 hour vacation for us moms, who just need to do nothing for anyone else, and relax, though it could also be considered a great ab workout, considering how much I laughed! Especially at Leslie Mann, whose physical comedy style is very similar to Lucille Ball or Carol Burnett. She really makes this film. I don't think it would be nearly as funny without her.

My only regret is that I didn't see The Other Woman in the "fancy" movie theater, where they have 21+ showings where they actually serve YOU. Things like chocolate desserts and cocktails, are brought to you IN the theater by waiters, right to your over size, super plush, leather recliners.

Although, I wouldn't want to risk spitting my $13 drink out from laughing... Ain't nobody got money for that!

The Other Woman is rated PG-13 for adult situations, drinking, mild language, and sexual references. No sexual acts actually occur onscreen, but they are definitely alluded to, so I would only recommend it for somewhat-mature high schoolers, maybe ages 15 and up.

I say somewhat-mature, because apparently I'm part 12-year-old boy and found the poop jokes hilarious!

I give The Other Woman a B+.

Mommy and Me Movie Review: Maleficent

As the school year comes to an end this week for the schools in our area, summer movie time is just beginning!

My daughter, Sophia, and I decided to get a head start on our summer movie viewing yesterday afternoon, after a day of shopping and lunch together, when I surprised her with a trip to see Disney's Maleficent.

We both LOVED it!

Angelina Jolie is breathtaking and perfect as Maleficent, and the special effects, sets, and makeup are beyond amazing. The rest of the cast does a phenomenal job, too. And how cute is Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter Vivienne as toddler-Aurora?! Adorable!

There are a few "holes" in the script, I thought, where things didn't just flow, seemed like they were added as an afterthought, or felt a bit rushed, but I loved that it was a twist on the story of Sleeping Beauty that we all know so well, similar to what Wicked did for the Wizard of Oz story.

 Sophia, who is 8 years old, wrote her own review too, which included tidbits like "Maleficent is a fairy that is human size. She has wings that drag on the ground. Maleficent can not be next to iron. She has a crow that she can turn into animals that are bird like..." and then she goes on to give away the whole movie, so I won't print it here, so as not to spoil it for everyone.

But she gives it an A.

 

 

There are some pretty dark and violent moments (for a PG rated film), so I would recommend Maleficent to kids ages 7 or 8 and up, but there were kids in the theater much younger than that had no problem with the somewhat scary elements, so just use your own judgement, as you obviously know your kids better than I. Overall I give it a B+.

So if you combine our ratings, we give it an A-. Not bad Disney. Not bad at all.

And, just for the record, we'd totally see it again.

Fun Times at the Star Wars West Coast Tour!

Author Jason Fry with the Star Wars Cosplayers (Photo Credit: Carlsbad City Library)

Our local libraries have been a really great source of fun and entertainment for my kids lately, having after school events about the Titanic, Shakespeare, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

But today's event takes the cake.

The Star Wars West Coast Tour came to one of our library locations in Carlsbad this afternoon, and it was so much fun for kids of all ages (and adults too... there were MANY adults fanning over the Storm Troopers and the Tuscan Raider !)

We started off by getting our Galactic Passports, and from there there were all kinds of fun stations with activities to complete for stickers.

There was the Yoda Soda station, with old Ewoks cartoons that I remember from Saturday mornings when I was, like, 4 years old.

Sippin' Yoda Soda, watching some classic '80's Ewoks cartoons.

Then there were Lego X-Wing Fighter building contests, and coloring and activity pages galore. And adorable Yoda origami!

Outside, in the beautiful children's garden area, they had a "Feed Jabba the Hut" beanbag game, with more stickers and prizes.

Feeding Jabba

The whole time there were cosplayers walking around taking pictures with the kids (And the fun, geeky adults that tried to play it off that they were there just for their kids...). They were fantastic, and great with the kids.



Posing with some Mandalorian Mercs...

Storm Trooper love...

We also got to meet author Jason Fry, who has written the Lego Visual Dictionary books, as well as other Star Wars reference books, and also a few novels for young readers (Including the non-Star Wars related The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra, which looks kind of really awesome, like a Steampunk pirate adventure. It's been added to my to-read list, even if it is aimed at the 8-12 year old crowd.)

Meeting author Jason Fry, and getting our new book signed.

It was a really great afternoon for both my 4 year old son and 8 year old daughter.

And I'll admit, I was kind of fangirling myself... those costumes were really cool!

I know I for one am looking forward to the summer reading program at our library, with events like these, as well as prizes for reading books, all summer long.

You should check your local library for fun events such as this one (which are always FREE at our libraries! Yay free fun!), or summer reading programs. And if they don't already offer these kinds of things, suggest that they do, or even volunteer to lead one about something you or your kids are interested in. It's a great after school activity opportunity, where kids (and maybe even parents) have fun while learning something new.

Book Review: Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day  by Davis Sedaris

This collection of short stories and essays by David Sedaris, is, for the most part, hilarious. He's one of those authors that seems to remember every part of  his life perfectly, and can convey it to the reader with so much humor, that you think "How did all this happen to this poor guy?!" My favorite of his stories in this book are the ones about his sister, actress and author Amy Sedaris, wanting a fat suit, and not being able to afford the whole thing, and the one where his father wants all of his kids to play instruments and form a family band, like "The Partridge Family". As an added bonus, this book makes one of the best audio books, because the author reads it himself.

I give this one a B+.

If you liked this book, I suggest Naked, also by David Sedaris. You also might want to check out some of his readings on YouTube.

A Day in Nerd Heaven With My Daughter...

Let's just start off with saying: I am not above bribing my kids to get them to do well with something.

It seems that even though my husband and I are HUGE bookworms, our 8 year old daughter struggles to share our enthusiasm sometimes. It's not that she doesn't like to read, because when she's into a book, she enjoys it. It's that she's an 8 year old who feel like she has better things to do, and gets lazy about reading.

Her school uses the Accelerated Reader, or AR, program, to test kids on reading comprehension, and each test rewards kids with points that accumulate throughout the year. The school sets a certain goal for each grade (The 3rd grade goal is 35 points for the school year, which in my opinion is really low, but I think it's so that it is achievable for all the kids. Most books are worth 0.5-3.0 points, but the bigger the book, the more points it's worth.) and when the students reach their goal, they get a t-shirt and are entered into book an prize raffles at an end-of-year assembly.

So we've started setting slightly higher goals for my girl, and she gets to choose what rewards she wants. When she reached 100 points, I took her shopping and to lunch at the mall. At 125 points, she got to go to an awesome locally owned paint-your-own-pottery place, called Missus Potts.

So for reaching 150 points, she said she wanted to go somewhere to eat that was fancy. She chose The Cheesecake Factory.

And since her earning 150 points coincided with the most awesome Doctor Who craft boutique ever hosted by Whimsic Alley in Los Angeles (brought to my attention by my good friend Kit, owner of Kit's Designs, who was vending there), I decided to take her to the Cheesecake Factory at The Grove in LA, about a mile from Whimsic Alley.

My girl and me, in our Disney-Who mashup shirts.
Mine is Rapunzel and the TARDIS, and hers is Merida and the TARDIS.
They're Karen Hallion shirts. Karen Hallion shirts are cool.
Also notice the TARDIS necklace, made by Kit's designs...

Even though we're still trying to instill that love of reading in our daughter, she's already a lover of all things geeky, especially Doctor Who and Harry Potter.

And, oh my, this store is HEAVEN for us nerdy types!



Whimsic Alley

Geeky T's! Love me some Firefly!

You walk in, and it's like you're walking into Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter series.

It. Is. AMAZING!

There are all kinds of small shops inside, like a "robes" shop with clothes...


Robes Room!

And a wand shop...


The wand chooses you....

She's been chosen.

And shops themed after Game of Thrones and Sherlock and Doctor Who.

Then you walk through a T.A.R.D.I.S. door, and IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE you guys!! It leads into the great hall, which is a large banquet room that looks like the Great Hall from Hogwarts, and is available to rent for parties and such. They even have a Yule Ball at Christmas, and a Time Lords Ball.

And even though the place was super busy, partly because of the Doctor Who boutique/craft fair going on, and partly because people just like to shop there, the staff are all super friendly, and knowledgeable, and just really cool.

Mommy in the phone booth....

Calling The Doctor...

This is the kind of place worth taking a road trip to LA for, even if it's just for the day.

Ready for flying lessons!

About to get a running start onto Platform 9 3/4!

And if you do get a chance to go to Whimsic Alley, check out the little cookie bakery right next door called Milk Jar. Best cookies ever, served with farm fresh milk, in a milk bottle-shaped jar no less! You can even choose whatever 2 cookies you want (and they are huge!) and they will make you a custom ice cream sandwich with their own homemade ice cream.

Talk about a fantastic day trip, making sweet memories with my girl who is growing up way too fast.

We'll so be going back!!

Book Review: Twenties Girl

 

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

In Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella, Lara Lington begins to see the ghost of her Great Aunt Sadie after attending her funeral.  Sadie takes Lara on quite the adventure to find her missing necklace and Lara learns the importance of family along the way.

I love that Sophie Kinsella’s books are light, romantic, fluffy and enjoyable and they don’t take long to read.  This book doesn’t disappoint in all those areas and even throws in a little mystery as well. I found the book perfect for the beach or unwinding after a long day. It's by no means an amazing, life-changing piece of literature, but it's a fun bit of escapism.

I give this book a B.

If you liked this book, I highly recommend Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic series, which, in my opinion, is Kinsella's best work.

 

Book Review: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

 

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

After a bad breakup, Jane Austen super-fan Courtney Stone wakes up one morning to find herself transported back to early 19th Century England, and in the middle of an Austen-like life.

Being a Jane Austen fan myself,  I was really hoping to love this book. It has some really good elements, like a romance similar to Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, and of course traveling back to Jane Austen's  time. But the author's writing was a little vague, especially in the end, and I was left wanting a little  more from the story.

I give this one a C.

If you liked this book, or Jane Austen's work in general, I highly suggest the British television mini-series, Lost in Austen, which I discovered at my local library. It was really good!