Recently in Entertainment Category

A couple of months back I saw the book The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks at the grocery store.  I was actually in need for a book to read, it was 40% off, and I liked the other Nicholas Sparks stuff I have read, so on a whim I bought it.

II read it fairly quickly, and I really, really liked it.  I didn't want to put it down.  It is probably my second favorite of all his books I've read, after The Notebook.  So I was quite excited when I saw the movie was coming out.  Even though I am quite a homebody, and am almost never the one to initiate an outing, I quickly sent out feelers to a couple of girlfriends to see if they'd be interested in seeing it.  I knew there was no way I was going to get my boyfriend to sit and watch this movie, let alone actually pay to see it.  Then I checked rottentomatoes.com.  And I kind of panicked for a moment.  It was given a rating of 13%.  13%!  I was embarrassed that I had started this thing in motion, and now people were going to hate it. 

I had one friend in particular that I thought might like to see it with me.  She was actually very interested, even though she hadn't read the book yet.  I let her borrow the book and she read it in a weekend.  She loved it as much as I did.  And she still wanted to go see the movie even though the ratings were pretty abysmal.

So I'm heading out shortly to go see it.  I'm thinking we'll still enjoy it, despite the critics.  We know it's not going to be winning any Oscars, and we've set our expectations accordingly.

Disclaimer: links are affiliate links to amazon.com

Are you a fan of Nicholas Sparks?  If so, what's your favorite of all his books.  Have you see this movie?  If so, what did you think?  Have you ever organized and outing or an event that was a complete bust?!

Do you believe in ghosts?  Demons?

I'm not sure that I do.  I'm not sure that I don't.

I do know I love watching those paranormal/ghost hunter type shows.  So when I heard about the movie Paranormal Activity I definitely wanted to see it.  My boyfriend didn't really want to see it (he isn't a fan of scary movies) but he acquiesced and we added it to our Netflix queue.  It came in the mailbox last Wednesday but I couldn't watch in until Friday night.  Once we told a friend of ours that it was in the queue he said he would be very upset with me if we watched the movie without him.

I really enjoyed the movie, although I can't say the same for the two men I watched it with.  I really enjoyed the progression and the suspense.  I loved wondering what was going to happen next.  I loved the premise of a couple making their own video of the strange things happening in their home.  I think that particular aspect of the movie made it that much more interesting than most other movies.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that based on the way my boyfriend had described the movie to me, I thought the movie was actually 2 people making a video of actual things that were happening to them.  It seems a little silly now, but I thought that throughout a good portion of the movie.  Probably right about up until the point where that thing happened with the ouija board.

Lots to discuss...  Have you seen this movie?  What did you think?  Do you believe in the supernatural?  Do you have any personal ghost stories to share?

Last night my boyfriend and I, along with a few other friends, went and saw Avatar.  If I am completely honest, I didn't really have a ton of interest in watching this movie.  I decided to go just because everyone else was and I figured it was something to do.  I didn't really know anything about it other than there were some odd looking creatures that were blue and like 8 or 10 feet tall.  Seemed a little weird and maybe a little too out there for my liking.

But, I am SO glad that I went.  Yes, the movie was long, but it wasn't too long.  It kept me captivated and interested from the very first minute to the very last.  I was in awe with all the stunning visual effects.  In fact, I am still in awe thinking about it a day later. 

If I had to do it all over again I would have gotten popcorn and I would have arrived at the theater earlier in order to get better seats. 

If you don't already know about the plot you can read more about the movie here: http://www.avatarmovie.com/index.html.  I am not going to say anything more about what the movie is about though because I thought going in knowing next to nothing about the storyline enhanced my experience that much more.

In my opinion, it was worth every penny of the $12.25 it cost to see it.  I think this is one movie you defintely do not want to miss out on.

Have you seen Avatar yet?  If you have, what are your thoughts on it?  If you haven't seen it, are you planning to? 

I was recently going through a bunch of my older cds and there is a lot of great music that I haven't listened to in quite a while but still really love.  I am not sure how popular these will be in the thirty-something crowd, since most people I know that are around my age have never heard of thes bands.  I am very curious for your feedback though, should you have any.  I am also very curious as to what you are listening to these days.

* the links to the albums and dvds in this post are amazon affiliate links

1.  Andrew McMahon.

Instead of saving the best for last I am going to jump in head first.  Andrew McMahon is one of my absolute favorite artists.  He has been ever since I was introduced to him back in 2003 or 2004.  He is the front-man for two bands called Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin.  I own all of his albums as well as his 2 dvds.  I don't know what it is, but this kid really speaks to me.  Although it is hard to choose, I think my favorite song is one called Konstantine.  The video clip below is a video of him and his band Something Corporate playing the song live.  I really think you should view it.  I will warn you that it is long, almost 9 minutes long, but it is totally worth it.

Something Corporate Albums:

Leaving Through the Window  

North

Jack's Mannequin Albums:

Everything in Transit  

The Glass Passenger

DVDs:

Something Corporate - Live at the Ventura Theater

Dear Jack -- A documentary about Andrew's fight with Leukemia.  I just received this for Christmas and have already watched it twice.

2.  Bright Eyes.

This is another band I was introduced to right around the same time as Something Corporate.

Here is a video of one of my favorite Bright Eyes songs, Bowl of Oranges.

The three Bright Eyes albums I own:

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

Digital Ash in a Digital Urn

3.  Plain White T's.

Check out their myspace page to listen to a sampling of their songs.

Click the following link to see the video for my favorite song by them (youtube wouldn't let me embed): Hey there Delilah

The albums that I own:

4.  The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie. 

I lump these two together because the lead singer for both is the same, Ben Gibbard.

My favorite Postal Service song is "Such Great Heights" from the album Give Up.  A favorite Death Cab song is "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" from the ablum Plans.

The Postal Service MySpace page.

Death Cab for Cutie MySpace page.

The albums I own:

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So if you actually had the time and desire to listen to any of the above, what did you think?  What are some of your favorite songs/artists/albums that you're listening to right now?

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More things I love:

Food Edition, Letter 'M' Edition, Winter Edition