Movie review: Hop

Since I didn't really want to sit through Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules, I elected to take my daughter to see Hop. I'm glad I did. While the critics have mostly panned the movie, I found it to be funny and enjoyable. Is it the best kid movie ever? No. But it's a lot better than sitting through another Barbie animated movie.

Russell Brand lends his voice to E.B., the son of the Easter Bunny. Unfortunately for his dad, E.B. doesn't want to be the new Easter Bunny. He wants to play the drums in a band. When it comes time to hand down the title, the young bunny runs away to Hollywood. He winds up meeting Fred, a (human) son that also wants more than what his father has planned. The two dodge an elite force of ninja bunnies as they try to find their place in the world.

To be honest, I really like Russell Brand. I was very surprised to hear that he was going to be in a family-friendly film. (Maybe Katy really has mellowed him.) Amazingly, I even liked him toned down. James Marsden, though, takes a little bit of getting used to. It's OK for a cartoon rabbit to mug for the camera. It's not so cute when it's a grown man. I didn't let him get in the way of enjoying the movie though.

I suppose this is a movie that completely depends on your mindset going in. If you are going to to see a funny animated movie, you'll probably like it. If you're going in looking for the best of everything, you won't find that here. It's just a cute feel-good movie.

Favorite Friday

Wow. It's Friday already. Well, it's snowing here, which sucks. (And no, that's not an April Fool joke.) For today's video, I'm giving you "E.T." by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West. We've been playing around with it in my dance class for the past couple of weeks. I think the plan is to use it for our recital song next year.

A New Look

Since winter is over and spring has supposedly sprung (though you'd never know it around here!), I am giving the site a new look. I kinda like this one but I'm not sure I love it. Of course, this means there may be a few different looks before I settle on one. Feel free to give me your opinions on this theme. If you think you've found a better one, put the link in a comment. I'll be sure to check it out!

JDorama review: Manhattan Love Story

Title: Manhattan Love Story Broadcast dates: 10/9/03 - 12/18/03 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Romantic Comedy Cast: Matsuoka Masahiro, Koizumi Kyoko, Oikawa Mitsuhiro, Morishita Aiko, Matsuo Suzuki, Sakai Wakana, Funakoshi Eiichiro, Tsukamoto Takashi Plot: A rag-tag group of customers that frequent a cafe called Manhattan fall in and out of love with each other. What is good: Matsuoka can be hysterical as Tencho, the owner of Manhattan. What is bad: The show doesn't really get good until about episode 4. Letter rating: C

This show both annoyed and amused me. Parts of it were absolutely awesome. Unfortunately, most of the beginning episodes are terrible. Also, the show could have ended at episode 7 with no problems. Instead, they dragged it on for another four episodes. The ending was still surprising and funny but it seemed tacked on. Would I watch it again? No. But I'm definitely going to try to track down more of Matsuoka's dramas!

The boring part of work

There are few things worse than a conference call. I keep getting stuck in these calls about some new computer software that the company is thinking about purchasing. As if conference calls weren't bad enough by themselves, these are extremely boring and usually most of the conversation doesn't relate to my job. We'll hit on one or two topics that pertain to me then the rest of the conversation is about something completely different. I will be so glad when the higher ups finally make a decision so I can get back to working.

A new jdorama review on Monday!

I will be watching the final episode of Manhattan Love Story today. (I'm glad I remembered my media player. Now I don't have to sit through commercials telling me to buy term life insurance for someone over 60.) A full review will be posted sometime Monday. If I'm not too busy, it'll be up first thing Monday morning. Now I have to figure out what to watch next. I'm not sure I have anything ready! Eep!

Favorite Friday

Yes, it's Friday. Here is a very terrible song with "Friday" as the title. The song is so bad that it will inevitably show up as hold music or ambient music in some franchise soon. I just know it. I'll be standing there, waiting for my french fries when suddenly....."It's Fryday, Fryday." Hey wait....that might be cool. (And yes, her overprocessed voice makes Friday sound like Fryday. There's just a little too much emphasis on the 'i' sound.) Here you go. You tell me what you think:

Collectibles generally aren't worth much

I don't understand why people would buy silver bullion bars or those "collector's" coins you see on TV. You know, the [booming voice]Obama Gold Coin[/booming voice] or whatnot. These things aren't going to go up in value. If they do, they still won't be worth very much because the companies tend to mass produce them. They are a lot like Beanie Babies. (I bought Beanie Babies but I bought them because they were cute, not because I thought I'd make a fortune off them.) I just imagine these people showing up on Hoarders with piles and piles of collectible plates. At least you can snuggle a Beanie Baby!