Monday, October 27, 2008

Seriously... when am I going to get better?

Evil "death illness" has now turned into a lingering chest and head cold... complete with dribbling nose. SOOOO attractive. I feel better though- perhaps sleeping all day over the weekend helped, rather than just making me feel like a bored shut-in loser. Thanks to big brother and sis-in-law for having me over last night! Chicken Kiev! woo! Though I think Jenny Craig would probably frown on deep fried chicken swimming in a garlic butter sauce. It was so f-ing great though.

Winehouse Watch has an update! Naturally. I really want to see the E! True Hollywood Story for her... maybe a Lifetime Movie? Having re-enactments of her nightmare would be simply delightful. So what's new on the Winehouse Watch? Miss Amy was checked into the hospital again- rumors are for rehab (from which she escaped after two days last time), but her publicist says is for a "chest infection" (READ: her lungs have actually turned into Crystal Meth).


That being said, I watched some great movies on Netflix Round-up. I watched Penelope (a sadly under-developed story about a pig-faced girl... something about self-esteem), The Good Night, a convoluted story about dreams vs. reality, written and directed by Jake Paltrow (Gwyneth's bro), The Band's Visit and, courtesy of big bro and sis-in-law we got a freebie, Smart People.
The two most worthwhile films were The Band's Visit and Smart People, two movies about isolation and the necessity of human interaction, something that really resonated for me this lonely, quarantined weekend.
The Band's Visit, a Cannes Film Festival winner, is a short film about an Egyptian police band that gets lost for a night in the wrong town in Israel. The town is tiny, isolated, and completely devoid of music and art, the things that create, as the story is stressing to point out, life. Housed for the night by some quiet, reticent Israeli families, people from these two cultures are forced to interact, and humanity prevails. yay!
Smart People, featuring Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page and an increasingly severe-looking Sarah Jessica Parker proves that no man is an island, no matter how hard he tries to push people away. Quaid and his daughter, Ellen Page, cover up their grief over losing their wife and mother through intellectual snobbery. Their snide remarks and percieved intellectual superiority are a safe and off-putting way to avoid interaction with just about everyone, until Quaid's adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church), an eternal slacker, and love-interest Sarah Jessica Parker shows up and forces the family out of their ivory tower.
While I appreciate the fact that this movie did NOT go for stereotypes (Stick in the Mud professor falls for Free Spirit doctor!), some relationships weren't wholly developed, and Quaid's son in the film seems to be present merely to advance the plot. Still, both movies were well worth watching, and make you feel all warm and fuzzy.

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