Definitely, Maybe

Movie: Definitely, Maybe

Like/Don't Like: Definitely, Maybe Don't Like

Boy, does this movie have some pretty people in it. And songs from the 90s. And Rachel Weisz (who, incidently, is up on my fridge because she happens to be in a print ad with a very fetching Ioan Gruffudd) wears the most adorable dresses in it. And for a romantic comedy, it was made of brown sugar and honey as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. Meaning that it had a lot more depth than most in its genre. People break up and some end up in the hospital and Bill Clinton gets elected. You know, serious.

But about half-way through I realized that I had been watching this movie for about 18 hours. Nine of which I had to go to the bathroom. And we still had 18 more hours to go. What I'm saying is that it seemed really long. Longer than Gone With the Wind kind of long. It was only two hours, but what with all the is it going to be her, or her, or her, or back to her, but maybe it's her, although the other one was nice but she's prettier and laughs at the good jokes but I think finally it's going to be her, but maybe not - well, you get it. Long.

It's one of those movies that if I were home sick and it happened to be on ABC Family I would probably watch it, but only during commercial breaks from Little House on the Prairie.

Under the Blacklight

Album: Under the Blacklight
Artists: Rilo Kiley
Like/Don't Like: Like, mostly.

Poor Rilo Kiley. I got their newest album the same day I picked up the Allison Krauss/Robert Plant album. Tough break - because that album is MAGIC and I couldn't seem to bring myself to take it out of the player. So Under the Blacklight has been sitting on my stereo, waiting to be listened to for about a month now.

I finally gave it a real shot yesterday and I like it. Mostly. Catchy songs that I can sing along with always score high with me and this album has plenty of them. But it's pretty thin lyrics-wise. One of my biggest pet-peeves in songs is when lyrics are repeated over and over again. Nearly every song on this album suffers from this. I got bored with a lot of the songs because, even with the catchy tunes, I couldn't get past hearing the same phrases repeated a dozen or so times. I don't think this will be a problem for a lot of people, but it was for me.

But aside from that, it had a real quirky and fun vibe that I liked a lot. It won't go down as one of my go-tos but it certainly will be one that now and then I'll be driving along and get tired of the radio and will want something different and will flip through my cds and stumble across it and pop it in and remember that I liked it.

Oh, and one of the added benefits of listening to Rilo Kiley is that you can have Troop Beverly Hills quotes running through your head. Bonus!

The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton

Movie: The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton
Like/Don't Like: Like

I put this on my Netflix because 1.) It was a Masterpiece Theater that I had not seen yet 2.) I'm 80 and 3.) It had the guy from Northanger Abbey who was so adorable.

I'm glad that it gives you the ending at the very beginning because otherwise I would not have liked it nearly as much. Let me just say that she does not die of consumption like I had hoped. No, not consumption.

I believe it's a true(ish) story. Mrs. Beeton was a wife of a publisher who wrote a very popular cookbook and home management handbook back in the 1860s (I think it was the 1860s. Don't quote me on this.) This chronicles how it came about and how she convinced people that she should do it. While it was a little sad at times, I really enjoyed how it portrayed her as a very real woman with very real domestic problems while creating this image of perfect domesticity in her book.

And the guy from Northanger Abbey was very cute. I run pretty deep here.

Miss Austen Regrets

Movie: Miss Austen Regrets
Like/Don't Like: Like.

What with quitting my job and thinking about quitting my job and trying not to throw up over my job it completely slipped my mind to review that lastest Masterpiece Theater Jane Austen offering.

Sadly, it is well past the 3 day point I have in my brain for remembering crucial things about movies. Things such as why I liked it. But I remember that I liked it. Really, I did. Um...I liked the actress who played Jane. And, er, it was a nice movie. Wait, I can do better than that. I can recap. It was about Jane Austen near the end of her life. And...let's see...it included a bit with her niece and a former suitor and getting Emma published. Blast. I'm useless. Oh, just take my word for it and put it on your Netflix queue.

This weekend begins the A&E Pride and Prejudice. I'll just give you two words to let you know how I feel about it: piano scene.