Aquarius (1/20-2/18)

There’s no reason to continue letting this thing bother you. You have things to do and people to see — and not nearly enough time to squeeze it all in. Let go of your nagging concern. Focus on the pleasant things going on in your world, and let someone else do the worrying. You’ve done enough of that lately. Think of this as a day off — no, make it a week.

Aquarius (1/20-2/18)

You never know what the universe will toss your way today, but it’s definitely not going to be a routine, run-of-the-mill afternoon. Instead of worrying about coulds, woulds and shoulds, help those changes along. When surprising news arrives, jump right in, get on board and go with the flow. It’s time to expand those horizons and see what’s out there waiting beyond the expected.

I’m standing here! Bring it on!

Aquarius (1/20-2/18)

Your intellectual and verbal skills are always sharp, to say the very least. But at the moment, you should probably paste a warning label on your forehead, allowing anyone foolish enough to challenge you to a debate to back out while they still can. If they’re not bright enough to step away once you’ve issued your disclaimer, though — well, you can only do so much.

Technorati Tags: 2010, horoscope February 20

My new favorite Food Network Show is Chopped. I think it’s actually a true challenge—blows away Iron Chef as a competition of chef versus chef. I would rather see Iron Chef work the same way.

Basically, Mano y Mano everyone gets the same ingredients, no Sous Chef—20 minutes, make it happen! One show, three elimination  rounds, one winner! Appetizer round, Entree round and then finally dessert round. My understanding is that at the end all the winners of the individual shows will then compete against each other—fantastic concept!

Also, the judges are much sassier than in other chef competitions. The judges are welcomed—I enjoy their commentary! They might even be a little, dare I say, IRASCIBLE… They all give compliments and if anyone is happy about their compliment they quickly follow up with something negative to wipe the smile off their face—classic!

Do you have what it takes or will you be chopped? I think the humble iChef would do well in this competition…

You can watch Chopped episodes free online!

Technorati Tags: Chopped, cooking competition, food network show, iChef, Irascible, Iron Chef

I went to the movies the other night. It was jam packed, I think it was the opening night for Julie and Julia anyway it was packed and the elements of this movie should keep it packed for a long time.

Sidenote before I begin:  Let’s just say I can’t stand trying to get a seat after the movie starts—it’s dark, it’s hard to see, hard to find seats, if you’re meeting someone on the inside, you have to battle all the above difficulties to find them—it’s full of anxiety for me.

It can be difficult when you go to the movies with more than one person and you need to get seats that are all together, but when you’re late to a popular movie this can be an almost impossible task—more likely than not you and your guests will all wind up sitting in the front row like professional contortionists requiring a massage after the movie.

The advantage of braving the movie by yourself thing is you will find a single seat even on the opening night of a popular movie. No one will even know you’re by yourself if you do it right!

However, I was outed this night! No, I wasn’t late, but yes it was a packed house—no problem I was alone and as I looked around there were plenty of single spots to choose from. Poor schlubs walking in that needed 2 or more seats together… I found my spot, picked my spot and made my move.

Me: Excuse me sir, is there anyone sitting next to you?

Man already comfortable in his seat: No, it’s only one seat, but it’s open.

No move was made to let me in and the just-two-seconds-ago, noisy waiting-for-the-previews-to-begin, crowd was all quiet and focused on the going-to-a-movie-by-himself-guy.

Me: sir, can I get in?

Man already comfortable in his seat: There’s only one seat…

The crowd crunching popcorn watching a live preview of your humble narrators every word.

Me: But, I am only one person.

Man already comfortable in his seat: Oh, sure you can sit here.

*Why not just yell fire and get it over with already!*

Now that I was seated, now, one with the crowd, accepted, no one able to define me, I was able to relax and I was getting excited about the main event.

Julie and Julia… OMG fantastic! Meryl Streep is possibly the best actress ever. First being a foodie as a child who grew up on shows like the Galloping Gourmet and Julia Child, I never cared for Julia Child—Not her accomplishments, not the sound of her voice, nor the quality of her cooking shows. This movie, Streep’s acting made me fall in love with this woman, her accomplishments, her love of food and the craft, and I dare say the sound of her voice!

Amy Adams pulled her weight as well as I loved her role as blogger, foodie, and champion of perseverance.

The relationships that both Julie and Julia with their husbands was wonderful and really fun to watch the interaction. Julia Child husband was played by Stanley Tucci who really has great chemistry with Streep.  And Julie Powell’s husband played by Chris Messina did a very good job, he loved to eat Julie’s food! Also, Julia Child personal life is a side of her that I had no idea about and am now very interested in.

One part of the movie that didn’t have complete logic continuity, which was probably cut out for one reason or another, was the fight Julie had with her husband. I won’t go in to the specifics, but there was no build up, no prior irritation that led to a reaction that appeared (in what the showed us in the movie) unmerited.

Nora Ephron wrote and directed one hell of a movie! Julie Powell wrote the book based on what became a very popular blog The Julie/Julia project that I’m interested in reading. Julie Powell’s blog.

If it’s true that Meryl Streep put on all kinds of weight for the role—kudos to her, I’m sure nobody likes to have to gain weight that they will eventually have to try to lose. Again a credit to her craft.

Very creative way of telling two separate stories, at two different times that are intertwined to perfectly.

Any foodie would love this movie as they should have enjoyed Ratatouille. The enthusiasm for food, great food and the dining experience. Watching other people show love and enthusiasm for the joy of food just inspires me.

This movie is an inspiration to cooks, chefs, writers, bloggers, people with dreams—I loved it!

I grew up with Micheal Jackson on the radio, live on TV, as well as the cartoon version. He helped us get our groove on when we were children, made us cringe when we were too cool to be a public supporter, but came back and turned our world upside down when we were in HS when it became cool again to love his talent.

You couldn’t have a party when I was in HS unless you had a copy of Thriller.

He did change before our eyes many times over the years, but I like to remember him making us smile inside with his music. A fond memory of Michael Jackson while in College was his Jackson Family Tour back in 1984 (I’m pretty sure that was the year.) He toured the world with his family. It seemed like a way for him to give back to them some glory, success, and money that he was lucky enough to have had over the years.

My friend got like 20 tickets on the floor and I’m not ashamed to admit that it is still one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. We had our hands in the air, singing ABC with Michael Jackson and his family! Our girls were dancing on the tops of the wooden floor chairs as we held on to prevent them from flying off.

When the several hour concert ended we continued the party in the Meadowlands parking lot waiting for the traffic to clear, the drinks to be finished, the girls and guys to finish whatever it is they were doing in those cars, and the vibe that Michael Jackson brought us to settle down…

Thank you Michael! I don’t care what anybody says when you were good you were sooooo good!

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Remembering Michael Jackson By Michelle Malkin

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Michael Jackson suffers massive heart attack, in critical condition; TMZ: Jackson dead Jun 25, 2009 5:25 PM by Allahpundit

Technorati Tags: Jackson family world tour, Meadowlands, Michael Jackson, Obituary

Farrah Fawcett Dead at 62...

Technorati Tags: Farrah Fawcett, Obituary

These are the voyages of the Star Ship Enterprise.

Full Disclosure:

I’m a fan of Star Trek, the original series from the late 60’s. I used to watch the reruns on channel 11 WPIX when I got home from long nights of work and the inability to go to sleep from the dinner rush when I got home. I can do the Vulcan peace sign and raise either eyebrow to signal a myriad of different emotions, questions, or expressions. I own the original series on VHS tape that I recorded with and without commercials. I believe the creator of the series, Gene Roddenberry, is a genius for his vision, his predictions of the future, and dealing with ground breaking (at the time to deal with) subject matter: interracial relations, political opinion, space travel and meddling in other cultures and civilizations, etc.

I’m an original Trekkie, not a costumed fanatic, but a fan who knows and cares a lot about the original series. I couldn’t wait for the Next Generation to come out when it was on the horizon and as I affectionately refer to it as The Degeneration, you know how I feel. I couldn’t have been more disappointed by an old man (french no less) Captain Jean Luc Picard, replacing the coolest, baddest, green girl getting—Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner.

Lets talk about JJ Abrams and his Star Trek. Lets just say JJ has issues with time and space. Okay I already hate his use of time and space in LOST (and when I say “hate,” I mean I hate it so much I can’t wait for each and every episode to come on so I can try to figure SOMETHING out!) Dude—you have issues with the past, present, and the future!

Things I liked: the characters—they did the original cast proud! James T. Kirk scruffy scrapper with balls of titanium, Spock nicely done and he gets a smoken hot Lieutenant Uhura, Scotty by Simon Peg a surprise to me and I liked it, surprise of surprises was Bones—excellent job with dialog, mannerisms, and swagger. I also liked the more-than-just-a-cameo by Leonard Nimoy. Honorable mention goes to Chekov!

Things I didn’t care for: The story line. What’s with fucking with the original story? This was supposed to be the backstory, not the revised story! Not to mention a very much a convoluted revised story. Overall, I enjoyed the movie for it’s concept, characters, and future potential.

Things I look forward to: the future of the new (old) Star Trek movies series with the (new) original crew. I liked the characters so much and potential future of story lines.

I enjoyed the movie and recommend it!

Yankees Team Report

Yankees Team Report May 30, 2009 from Yahoo.

A quartet of holdovers from the dynastic Yankees helped return the franchise to its familiar perch atop the AL East on Friday.

Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada had two hits apiece, and Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera combined on the win and the save for the record-setting 58th time as the Yankees edged the Indians 3-1 in the opener of a four-game series in Cleveland. The win, coupled with the Red Sox’ 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays, put the Yankees in first place by a half-game, the first time they have held sole possession of the AL East lead since the final day of the 2006 season.

MLB Standings

Wolverine…

I have to say after the first X-Men movie I wasn’t really thrilled. I had no prior knowledge of the comic book series or the storyline which is okay. My belief is that a movie needs to be able to stand on it’s own regardless of the series number or sequel. INDEPENDENT. That being said I watched the second and third and I think my favorite is either number 2 or 3—I liked the blue hairy guy Dr. Henry ‘Hank’ McCoy / Beast played by Kelsey Grammer. The X-Men franchise has been growing on me steadily with each sequel.

Not knowing the back story, personally, I needed more information to give the movie more umph! Or just start the series in a logical order—which, in a sense, breaks my belief of the need to stand on it’s own.

Well, this latest iteration—the BACKSTORY on Logan / Wolverine let’s us in on all that background I’ve been jonsing and I really enjoyed it! Hugh Jackman is Wolverine/Logan and again rocks the part!

I liked the storyline, I liked the characters, I liked the violence, and I liked the girl… Kayla Silverfox

I’m wondering if they could make any of the other characters origin story as interesting (I know they’ll try!)—after all they did introduce a bunch of the other characters from the previous X-Men movies which made this movie fun and interesting.

Hugh Jackman is hot, Lynn Collins is hot in the movie (having trouble finding her hot off screen though), the story is hot, how can you go wrong…

******

Other Voices:

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Press Conference – The Cast and Director Gavin Hood

Technorati Tags: Beast, Dr. Henry 'Hank' McCoy, Hugh Jackman, logan, Lynn Collins, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, XMen