So, I've been keeping a nail art album on my Picasa site for a while now, but hadn't updated it since December and it didn't have any color notes on it. Well, the other day I worked hard to update it AND put comments on the colors on each picture. There aren't any personal comments (very, very, very few of them) because that'd take even longer and isn't really necessary, but it's got most of the manis I've done in the last year in there. I might have missed a few, but it's got a lot in there! I did NOT add all my swatch photos, which would probably add in a couple dozen more, but those never stick around and are quick color on, color off moments. The album is also not necessarily in order. I think only the first and last photo are accurate in time sequence of when I completed the mani. Meaning, it's the first mani photo I took and the most recent mani I'm wearing. :P
You'll probably notice two things if you look at the photos:
1) I like glitter. Most of my manis somehow end up with glitter on them or a shimmer of some sort. It's true, I don't prefer cremes. I find them boring and tend to like to glitter-fy them or stamp over them. I like shimmers the best because it's understated, but not plain. Glitters are nice and fun, but they have their downsides too. They do make it easy to "change" a mani, though.
2) I like accent nails. Accent nails is one of those trends in the nail world this year and I like it. It allows me to do something a little different, but without the work of having to do them on ALL my nails. Sometimes I just don't have the time, other times not the patience, and sometimes I just like the color too much to cover it up. Hence, my love of accent nails allow me to be lazy, but not fully lazy!
With that said, at least there's no color trend. ;) I, in fact, own more blue/green polishes than any other color, which totally surprised me when I swatched my collection. I thought I had more purple, but that wasn't the case. In general, I seem to have a LOT of clear based glitters, though! I know before I really got into doing my nails that I had the most pinks, but I seem to have tapered off on the pink buying.
Well, with that...Here's the album: Picasa Nails Album
I suspect I'll only update it on the random occasion, but we'll see.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Cha-cha-changes!
Believe it or not, but this will be a life update post! Well, maybe I'll throw in a nail photo or two at the end, but mostly life update with an abundance of work-related stuff.
So, I had hinted in my last post that things at work were sort of up in the air and I would update when things settled down. Well, things have settled down. The outcome? I am now assistant manager! Long story short, a manager position became open at another store and our manager decided to take the position. Our assistant manager became our manager and then the assistant manager position was open. The other lead and I applied for it and I got the position! I should say, from start to finish, this all took about 1.5 months. It did, however, feel significantly longer than that. It's not fun being down a person and not having a manager around (before she officially became the manager at the other store, she was filling in). Not to mention we leads and (former) assistant manager had no idea how the outcomes would all turn out either (our (now) manager also applied for the manager position at the other store) and it was all rather "who knows?" for a long time. Instability is never fun and it was pretty stressful for a while. I do dearly miss our former manager as I really liked her, but there's not a whole lot I can do about that! I do like our assistant manager turned manager and get along with him so that's good. :)
Now it's mostly me getting used to the idea that I'm now the assistant manager. Not much really changed for me, but we do now have a lead position open that we'll have to fill. That is sort of a whole other can of worms that I can't really discuss, but I'm not too worried about it either. It will be nice to have the 4th keyholder so one of us leads or above can be sick and not have to pull a 12-hour day or pull overtime or something. It'll also be nice to have our missing employee back too. We're fine with the numbers we have (we've gotten used to it), but it will be nice to have another full-time person to help round out the days.
Other than the leadership thing, work is okay. We're currently full-swing into Halloween and are currently drowning in the excess of costumes. A glitch in shipping happened early last week and we received 19 boxes of costumes instead of 4. That is a HUGE difference! We just aren't selling enough to keep up with our 4-boxes a day shindig. We'll likely have to remove some of our normal clothes to fit in more Halloween, but we'll see. I'm sure once the end of Sept hits, it'll be pretty chaotic. Halloween is the Christmas equivalent for Goodwill. It's nuts and they save and stash stuff away ALL year just for Halloween. We won't keep getting new things the entire lead-up to Halloween, but I think we'll get a ton of stuff till early October (maybe even late Sept). I've heard horror stories about Halloween last year, so it'll be really, really interesting!
We've been having an unfortunate amount of sticker-switching lately. It's been an epidemic, it seems. Yesterday seemed like it was the case of the $0.99 stickers. It was like, for a time, everything was coming up to the registers with $0.99 stickers on them and, to be frank, not that many things are $0.99! We all wanted to know where they were finding the stickers! I've also had some rather temperamental customers about discounts the last few days too. I get it that people want to be frugal and I get it that you may be struggling so you want deals, but some of these people just want to be difficult to be difficult for a $1 or $0.50 even!
Examples...
I had this guy want a student discount on Friday. Student discounts (10%) are only on Saturday and Sunday with an ID. This guy wanted to talk to me (after talking to my coworker at the register) because he wanted his student discount and wanted to know if I can do anything for him. I told him, no, we can't give him the discount and it's only on the weekend. (Side note: unbeknownst to him, but if I gave him the discount, it sends up a red flag to our loss prevention (LP) guy and I could be in BIG trouble over giving discounts on a day I'm not supposed to.) He looks at me and says, "When does the week END? Not Saturday, but Friday." I look at him in total disbelief and go, "No, Saturday and Sunday are the week end. Mon-Fri are a week DAY." It was a poor comeback, but, come on! Then he tries arguing back to me and I cut him off and go, "It's on the calendar that the discount is only on Sat-Sun. I can't do anything about it. Come back to tomorrow." So he goes, looks at the calendar, comes back and goes, "But I'm not a student on Sat-Sun and I'm a poor student." Oh.my.gosh. I really wanted to do something bad so I just said, "Sorry, I can't do it" and walked away. I felt bad leaving my co-worker there to finish with him, but I was going to lose it if I stayed there! As is, he couldn't really argue since the calendar said Sat-Sun. As it is, I think he bought less than $5 worth of stuff. Really? Was it worth all that hassle for $0.50 savings? I guess the argument for some is more important than anything else.
Another example is the senior discount (55 and older). I know a 10% savings is better than no savings, but people hold onto that senior discount like it's a lifesaver or something. Our senior discount days are Mon-Wed. It's not everyday, but it's 3/7 days of the week. That's not too bad. Well, I can't tell you how many times people will say to us, "Oh, I'm only old those days?" Really, people? You're going to complain about that? Aren't we nice enough to even GIVE you a senior discount at all? Do you go to the movies at 5pm and complain that senior early birds are only in the morning and not all day? Well, probably, but still. I think we get more complaints over the senior discount days than when we lowered the discount on clothes from 50% to 25%. So silly.
My least favorite customer dealings are the regulars who, every time they come in, try and barter with you. On one hand, they're regulars so you somewhat know them, but, on the other, I shouldn't have to go around-and-around with you that no, I won't sell this to you for a lower price and no, I can't exchange it for you and, no, I can't do a damage discount. We have this one customer who comes in once or twice a week and CONSTANTLY tries to get you to reduce the price for an item. Today he wanted an item for $2 instead of $2.25. Every time, we stand there and go around-and-around about 3 or 4 times of "No, no discount. It's this price..." before he finally just gives us the money for the item. Did I really just expend that energy for him to buy it at said price? *sigh of disbelief*
So, last (last) Saturday, I went to Del Mar Racetrack! It's the last of the "Big 3" SoCal racetracks I haven't been to. I got in free through a friend who works at the racetrack. Man that track is small. I had no idea it was THAT small. I almost think Hollywood Park is bigger than Del Mar. It's no wonder everyone says that there is no way that Del Mar could host the Breeders' Cup! It was good to go, though. The tracks all have a different piece of history and culture attached to them so it's fun going to see how they look and feel. I find I still love Santa Anita the most. It's a kind of deep seated instant love. It's also the most handicapper/race fan friendly of the tracks. Hollywood Park is slated to be bulldozed and turned into apartments, but the economy has stalled the project. I think they're still trying to save it too, but it's, so far, pretty imminent. Del Mar is probably upkept the best of them all, but it's definitely got the dazzle of money being poured into it to keep it's very Spanish influenced paddock in shape. Santa Anita is, by no means, run down, but it's not as "pretty." It has a simpler taste and luxury to it that stems more around its layout and its many, many bronze statues and fan accessibility. In other words, Santa Anita feels "homey" while Del Mar feels "richy." To be fair, there's nothing wrong with Del Mar, but it just can't compete with my love of Santa Anita.
The racing was good, though, and the people were fairly nice. It has a little bit more of a "fair" feel to it, but I'm not sure if that was because the beerfest was there too. They also have more eateries on the premises than Santa Anita. Santa Anita has a cafeteria-like eatery and maybe a restaurant or two, but Del Mar had all sorts of things other than the food tents. I got to see my first Grade 1 race in person! I have always had to leave or missed it before. So that was exciting! Most of the races at a racetrack are claimers, maidens, etc so when you get a graded stakes race, it's more exciting because the caliber of horses in the field are much better. The handicapping is much more exciting, in my opinion, in those races. They do tend to be a little easier to handicap also. Claiming races and maidens are hard to handicap sometimes because the horses have had such a varied number of races and such. Course, that might also be because I'm used to keeping up with graded races more than the claimers so I find the claimers harder to handicap. Who knows. I usually hypothetically bet each race, but the heat at Del Mar and everything got me lazy after the 3rd race. I will say, I called the 3rd place winner of the first race and the horse was 23-1!
Anyway, here are some photos of the track I took (along with some other photos of my weekend): Del Mar Racetrack (Mostly)
So, movies...I haven't seen any movies since my last post. Not much out right now and I haven't had time to go see the Bourne movie with Jeremy Renner. Maybe this week I'll get to see it.
Now, nails...
Been a while and I'm still changing about twice a week. Typically one mani lasts around 4-5 days and the other lasts about 2-3. Not too bad! I need to trim my nails desperately, but I always need a good frame of mind to do that since trimming is sort of tedious and I dislike trimming. :P Here's a few backlog of photos, though!
The photo on the right is also by Smitten Polish and is called Mint Chip. Can you guess why? This polish had me craving mint chip ice cream so badly! I could almost taste it as I was painting my nails! It's also a great fun and opaque glitter by Smitten. Smitten is pretty much my new favorite indie!
My current mani is pretty plain and is just Rescue Beauty Lounge's Oriental Poppy (now called "Poppy"). The shimmer in it is really hard to see and it's a pretty bright coral-red color. On my long nails, it's kind of stereotypical for long nails. :P I need to stay away from glitters for a few changes, though. The glitter removal is wrecking havoc on my poor nails so I'm banned to shimmers and cremes for a little!
Well, with that, after this loooooooong post...Time to go rewatch Hunger Games and/or read and get ready for my 7th day of work! Yes, that would be my 7th day in a row I'll have worked tomorrow. I get Tues off and then work another 2 days and get Friday off and then I work 6 days in a row and then get 2 days off. After that, I should be back to 5 days and then 2 off. Phew!
So, I had hinted in my last post that things at work were sort of up in the air and I would update when things settled down. Well, things have settled down. The outcome? I am now assistant manager! Long story short, a manager position became open at another store and our manager decided to take the position. Our assistant manager became our manager and then the assistant manager position was open. The other lead and I applied for it and I got the position! I should say, from start to finish, this all took about 1.5 months. It did, however, feel significantly longer than that. It's not fun being down a person and not having a manager around (before she officially became the manager at the other store, she was filling in). Not to mention we leads and (former) assistant manager had no idea how the outcomes would all turn out either (our (now) manager also applied for the manager position at the other store) and it was all rather "who knows?" for a long time. Instability is never fun and it was pretty stressful for a while. I do dearly miss our former manager as I really liked her, but there's not a whole lot I can do about that! I do like our assistant manager turned manager and get along with him so that's good. :)
Now it's mostly me getting used to the idea that I'm now the assistant manager. Not much really changed for me, but we do now have a lead position open that we'll have to fill. That is sort of a whole other can of worms that I can't really discuss, but I'm not too worried about it either. It will be nice to have the 4th keyholder so one of us leads or above can be sick and not have to pull a 12-hour day or pull overtime or something. It'll also be nice to have our missing employee back too. We're fine with the numbers we have (we've gotten used to it), but it will be nice to have another full-time person to help round out the days.
Other than the leadership thing, work is okay. We're currently full-swing into Halloween and are currently drowning in the excess of costumes. A glitch in shipping happened early last week and we received 19 boxes of costumes instead of 4. That is a HUGE difference! We just aren't selling enough to keep up with our 4-boxes a day shindig. We'll likely have to remove some of our normal clothes to fit in more Halloween, but we'll see. I'm sure once the end of Sept hits, it'll be pretty chaotic. Halloween is the Christmas equivalent for Goodwill. It's nuts and they save and stash stuff away ALL year just for Halloween. We won't keep getting new things the entire lead-up to Halloween, but I think we'll get a ton of stuff till early October (maybe even late Sept). I've heard horror stories about Halloween last year, so it'll be really, really interesting!
We've been having an unfortunate amount of sticker-switching lately. It's been an epidemic, it seems. Yesterday seemed like it was the case of the $0.99 stickers. It was like, for a time, everything was coming up to the registers with $0.99 stickers on them and, to be frank, not that many things are $0.99! We all wanted to know where they were finding the stickers! I've also had some rather temperamental customers about discounts the last few days too. I get it that people want to be frugal and I get it that you may be struggling so you want deals, but some of these people just want to be difficult to be difficult for a $1 or $0.50 even!
Examples...
I had this guy want a student discount on Friday. Student discounts (10%) are only on Saturday and Sunday with an ID. This guy wanted to talk to me (after talking to my coworker at the register) because he wanted his student discount and wanted to know if I can do anything for him. I told him, no, we can't give him the discount and it's only on the weekend. (Side note: unbeknownst to him, but if I gave him the discount, it sends up a red flag to our loss prevention (LP) guy and I could be in BIG trouble over giving discounts on a day I'm not supposed to.) He looks at me and says, "When does the week END? Not Saturday, but Friday." I look at him in total disbelief and go, "No, Saturday and Sunday are the week end. Mon-Fri are a week DAY." It was a poor comeback, but, come on! Then he tries arguing back to me and I cut him off and go, "It's on the calendar that the discount is only on Sat-Sun. I can't do anything about it. Come back to tomorrow." So he goes, looks at the calendar, comes back and goes, "But I'm not a student on Sat-Sun and I'm a poor student." Oh.my.gosh. I really wanted to do something bad so I just said, "Sorry, I can't do it" and walked away. I felt bad leaving my co-worker there to finish with him, but I was going to lose it if I stayed there! As is, he couldn't really argue since the calendar said Sat-Sun. As it is, I think he bought less than $5 worth of stuff. Really? Was it worth all that hassle for $0.50 savings? I guess the argument for some is more important than anything else.
Another example is the senior discount (55 and older). I know a 10% savings is better than no savings, but people hold onto that senior discount like it's a lifesaver or something. Our senior discount days are Mon-Wed. It's not everyday, but it's 3/7 days of the week. That's not too bad. Well, I can't tell you how many times people will say to us, "Oh, I'm only old those days?" Really, people? You're going to complain about that? Aren't we nice enough to even GIVE you a senior discount at all? Do you go to the movies at 5pm and complain that senior early birds are only in the morning and not all day? Well, probably, but still. I think we get more complaints over the senior discount days than when we lowered the discount on clothes from 50% to 25%. So silly.
My least favorite customer dealings are the regulars who, every time they come in, try and barter with you. On one hand, they're regulars so you somewhat know them, but, on the other, I shouldn't have to go around-and-around with you that no, I won't sell this to you for a lower price and no, I can't exchange it for you and, no, I can't do a damage discount. We have this one customer who comes in once or twice a week and CONSTANTLY tries to get you to reduce the price for an item. Today he wanted an item for $2 instead of $2.25. Every time, we stand there and go around-and-around about 3 or 4 times of "No, no discount. It's this price..." before he finally just gives us the money for the item. Did I really just expend that energy for him to buy it at said price? *sigh of disbelief*
So, last (last) Saturday, I went to Del Mar Racetrack! It's the last of the "Big 3" SoCal racetracks I haven't been to. I got in free through a friend who works at the racetrack. Man that track is small. I had no idea it was THAT small. I almost think Hollywood Park is bigger than Del Mar. It's no wonder everyone says that there is no way that Del Mar could host the Breeders' Cup! It was good to go, though. The tracks all have a different piece of history and culture attached to them so it's fun going to see how they look and feel. I find I still love Santa Anita the most. It's a kind of deep seated instant love. It's also the most handicapper/race fan friendly of the tracks. Hollywood Park is slated to be bulldozed and turned into apartments, but the economy has stalled the project. I think they're still trying to save it too, but it's, so far, pretty imminent. Del Mar is probably upkept the best of them all, but it's definitely got the dazzle of money being poured into it to keep it's very Spanish influenced paddock in shape. Santa Anita is, by no means, run down, but it's not as "pretty." It has a simpler taste and luxury to it that stems more around its layout and its many, many bronze statues and fan accessibility. In other words, Santa Anita feels "homey" while Del Mar feels "richy." To be fair, there's nothing wrong with Del Mar, but it just can't compete with my love of Santa Anita.
The racing was good, though, and the people were fairly nice. It has a little bit more of a "fair" feel to it, but I'm not sure if that was because the beerfest was there too. They also have more eateries on the premises than Santa Anita. Santa Anita has a cafeteria-like eatery and maybe a restaurant or two, but Del Mar had all sorts of things other than the food tents. I got to see my first Grade 1 race in person! I have always had to leave or missed it before. So that was exciting! Most of the races at a racetrack are claimers, maidens, etc so when you get a graded stakes race, it's more exciting because the caliber of horses in the field are much better. The handicapping is much more exciting, in my opinion, in those races. They do tend to be a little easier to handicap also. Claiming races and maidens are hard to handicap sometimes because the horses have had such a varied number of races and such. Course, that might also be because I'm used to keeping up with graded races more than the claimers so I find the claimers harder to handicap. Who knows. I usually hypothetically bet each race, but the heat at Del Mar and everything got me lazy after the 3rd race. I will say, I called the 3rd place winner of the first race and the horse was 23-1!
Anyway, here are some photos of the track I took (along with some other photos of my weekend): Del Mar Racetrack (Mostly)
So, movies...I haven't seen any movies since my last post. Not much out right now and I haven't had time to go see the Bourne movie with Jeremy Renner. Maybe this week I'll get to see it.
Now, nails...
Been a while and I'm still changing about twice a week. Typically one mani lasts around 4-5 days and the other lasts about 2-3. Not too bad! I need to trim my nails desperately, but I always need a good frame of mind to do that since trimming is sort of tedious and I dislike trimming. :P Here's a few backlog of photos, though!
The photo on the left is my favorite mani of the past 2 months and it was the one that only last 24 hours! Crushed me! the white base is Rescue Beauty Lounge Bella Donna (now called "Bella) and it's a great off-white color (sort of a beigey white). The glitter on top is Lynnderella Snow Angel. This photo does NOT do this justice at all. It was really pretty in person. It definitely screamed "wedding" mani, but it was just really pretty. It had a class and sophistication to it that I loved.
The center photo is Smitten Polish Confection. She created a collection centered around Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and this is one of them. It's a really fun polish! I like how it's white, but not a really "bright" and "harsh" white. The glitter is mixed into the white color and it's opaque in 2 coats! Opaque glitters are kind of rare in the indie polish world. Most glitters (3/4?) are clear based glitters (so top coats that need a base). I really like opaque glitters because it cuts my work down on trying to pair them. On the other hand, clear based glitters are nice to mix-and-match too.
The center photo is Smitten Polish Confection. She created a collection centered around Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and this is one of them. It's a really fun polish! I like how it's white, but not a really "bright" and "harsh" white. The glitter is mixed into the white color and it's opaque in 2 coats! Opaque glitters are kind of rare in the indie polish world. Most glitters (3/4?) are clear based glitters (so top coats that need a base). I really like opaque glitters because it cuts my work down on trying to pair them. On the other hand, clear based glitters are nice to mix-and-match too.
The photo on the right is also by Smitten Polish and is called Mint Chip. Can you guess why? This polish had me craving mint chip ice cream so badly! I could almost taste it as I was painting my nails! It's also a great fun and opaque glitter by Smitten. Smitten is pretty much my new favorite indie!
My current mani is pretty plain and is just Rescue Beauty Lounge's Oriental Poppy (now called "Poppy"). The shimmer in it is really hard to see and it's a pretty bright coral-red color. On my long nails, it's kind of stereotypical for long nails. :P I need to stay away from glitters for a few changes, though. The glitter removal is wrecking havoc on my poor nails so I'm banned to shimmers and cremes for a little!
Well, with that, after this loooooooong post...Time to go rewatch Hunger Games and/or read and get ready for my 7th day of work! Yes, that would be my 7th day in a row I'll have worked tomorrow. I get Tues off and then work another 2 days and get Friday off and then I work 6 days in a row and then get 2 days off. After that, I should be back to 5 days and then 2 off. Phew!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
So much for regularity...
Not only did I fail in continuing to post nail photos regularly (since the 4th of July, I've had 15 different manis, including my current one -- that's about a little more than a change twice a week), I got behind on movies (I've watched 9), and my work atmosphere is totally up in the air. Work is probably the hardest to deal with right now. It's an 8-hour day of draining energy where I come home and just want to not think or do anything. At any rate, the work story is for another day when things do or do not change.
As for the lack of nail updating, I blame it on the books. I've been in book reading mode (read 18 books since July 1st - about 3 a week). I also had a stint in mid-July where none of my manis were cooperating and I was changing them almost daily for about 4 days. Since then, things have leveled off and I'm changing more like twice a week. I had one of my all time favorite manis during the one-day cycles too, which was rather crushing when it didn't make it through 24 hours. I loved it! My nails or my methods or whatever seemed to have been fixed, though. Either that or I'm just not minding as much when a chip happens! I'll post pictures of some of the better ones at some point.
On to movies...Nothing fantastic and I had a few days where I just felt like I needed to wash my brain or something.
Safe House (Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds) - Apparently it didn't make of an impression on me because I couldn't really remember it and had to look up the plot to even remember! It's your basic spy vs spy type of film where Reynolds is the housekeeper for a safe house and Washington is a CIA agent who everyone is after. Washington is brought to the safe house, Reynolds ends up (after a series of events) having to trek around with him and then you find out that Washington is wrongly accused of his information and it's all because he has information that can expose corrupt agents all over the world. It's not a new script and as good as Reynolds and Washington were in their acting, the script is flat. Grade: C
Flowers of War (Christian Bale) - This movie is about the Nanking Massacre that stars Christian Bale in an otherwise foreign actors and produced film. It's a good film and Bale does an excellent acting job, but it was kind of weird having an American be the star of the film. It wasn't really needed, but I assume it had some to do with trying to get more recognition for the film. It's a mix of English and Chinese subtitles and it got across the impact the massacre had on the survivors and the fear they lived in. It is a movie, though, so it has that cinematic feel and effects to it (a little stylized, I suppose), but it was good. The children actors were excellent and the end really pulls at the heart strings. I think I was in a state of panic, shock, fear, or tears through most of it. It is a little graphic, but war isn't a PG film either. Grade: B
Wanderlust (Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston) - Watched this film right before Flowers of War and both films needed me to wash my brain and memory a little before going to bed for drastically different reasons. This film I do NOT recommend in the least. It might be up there with the worst films of the year I've seen. There is nudity in it that, seriously, I didn't need to see (old men and women running nude? Gahhhh!) and it was just a stupid film all around. Yes, I should have known better given it's an Aniston film, but I was curious! I'm not sure there is anything even really redeeming in it other than Rudd was true to his marriage even though they had agreed to go with Wanderlust's "sharing" attitude and Aniston's character slept with one of the leaders. I will say, there were some funny parts, but not many... Grade: D
Friends with Kids (Adam Scott, Jennifer Westfeldt) - Interesting film that's somewhere along the lines of "Friends with Benefits," but more in line with friends with benefits that have kids? Two good friends decide to have a kid together without the ties of marriage as they've seen their friends who are married have kids and seen what it does to their marriage and personal lives. The female could have an unknown donor, but figures...Why not her best friend who also wants a kid in an abstract sense of just wanting one? One of their set of friends ends up not working out and the other ends up being okay, but, in the end, of course, the two main characters end up together through their trials and difficulties. It's a mostly silly premise, but it is a different sort of rom-com than I've seen before. I don't particularly like Westfeldt, but she works in the role (she also wrote and directed it, I believe) and I liked Scott. Not your best rom-com, though. Grade: C
Lockout (Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace) - All I could think of was, "MIB:3!!." To be fair, this movie came out before MIB:3, but I saw MIB:3 first. Future world where there's a space station that is for realllllllly dangerous criminals. They're put into a sort of cryogenic tube so there is minimal needs from them. The President's daughter decides to visit to check out one of the prisoners and the rumors going around that the sleep-stasis they're put into alters their brain/emotions. Long story short, a man who was going to be sent to the station is, instead, given a chance to redeem himself and save the President's daughter before harm comes of her when things go wrong and all the criminals are released for their stasis. I can't say it's that original, but it was interesting. It reminded me of The Rock a little because it's supposed to be sort of impossible to infiltrate and all that. Grade: C
Wrath of the Titans (Sam Worthington) - Was it better than Clash of the Titans? Erm, I don't know. It's been so long since I've seen Clash of the Titans and I can't find my review (did I review it?). Was it what I expected it to be? Yes. It wasn't fantastic and some of the CG is grating. Also, as much as I like Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades, their portrayals don't really work for me. The film was okay. It's not really memorable, which is what the first one is like. It wasn't totally bad, but nor was it really good either. In all, I'm glad I didn't see it in theaters and I'm also glad I saw it just to see it. Grade: C/C-
The Amazing Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone) - I know they wanted to do the origin story again because it's a new man playing Spider-Man, but, gosh darn it, I'm TIRED of seeing the origin story! Move on to something else! I did like Garfield as Spider-Man. He sort of aligns to what you think of Spider-Man as being (tall, gangly, nerdy, etc). Emma Stone as Gwen was also good. I did like having Gwen instead of MJ (just to be different). They also changed the origin just a little. With that said, I'll probably see the others, but I'm not sure if I really like it better than the Tobey MacGuire ones. I think I like it just a little more, but it's almost par. Grade: B/B-
Dark Knight Rises (Christian Bale) - It's a good film, but it is FAR too long. There is a lot in it that didn't need to be in it to make it shorter. I kind of call it the King Kong syndrome with Peter Jackson where the studios give the director, pretty much, free reign to do whatever they want and the director makes a long winded film that didn't need to be that long. There were also holes in things and Bane, as good as he was, was sort of stripped of his identity at the end for a twist ending that sort of belittled who Bane was. Tom Hardy did an EXCELLENT job as Bane, though, and he was an amazing villain till the end. That whole end...*sigh* It felt a little bit like a cop-out. Nolan is such a great director and he likes those twists and turns that make you go, "huh?" and this one had a weak attempt at it that just felt a little contrived to me given it was Nolan directing. The one thing I liked at the end was of Joseph Gordon Levitt's ending, which was neat, but whether they'll do anything with it, that remains to be seen. I also liked Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. I thought they handled her portrayal well and it was farrrrr better than Halle Berry's. I liked how they snuck in the whole "ear" aspect without going costume-y and it was subtle. I do think Catwoman was a little bit of an unnecessary role and they sort of threw in her origin story in the movie, but oh well. I also liked how it went full circle back to the first movie. Overall, I liked it and it did feel shorter, albeit it was actually longer, than Spider-Man so I guess that's a plus. I just wish it was executed just a little better. Grade: B
Total Recall (Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel) - Having not seen the original, I can't compare it to it, but I liked this version. Bill Nighy had a REALLY short roll and it reminded me of Liam Neeson's Unknown, even though Total Recall is older than Unknown. Not much to say about it other than I thought it was a good film. Nothing really deep in it or anything, but I enjoyed the special effects and thought the acting was good. Grade: B
With that, my movie count is up to 65. I haven't rented a movie in about 2 weeks now. Not sure when I'll rent again, but the Lorax and What to Expect When You're Expecting come out in Sept and Hunger Games comes out soon. So...we'll see.
As for the lack of nail updating, I blame it on the books. I've been in book reading mode (read 18 books since July 1st - about 3 a week). I also had a stint in mid-July where none of my manis were cooperating and I was changing them almost daily for about 4 days. Since then, things have leveled off and I'm changing more like twice a week. I had one of my all time favorite manis during the one-day cycles too, which was rather crushing when it didn't make it through 24 hours. I loved it! My nails or my methods or whatever seemed to have been fixed, though. Either that or I'm just not minding as much when a chip happens! I'll post pictures of some of the better ones at some point.
On to movies...Nothing fantastic and I had a few days where I just felt like I needed to wash my brain or something.
Safe House (Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds) - Apparently it didn't make of an impression on me because I couldn't really remember it and had to look up the plot to even remember! It's your basic spy vs spy type of film where Reynolds is the housekeeper for a safe house and Washington is a CIA agent who everyone is after. Washington is brought to the safe house, Reynolds ends up (after a series of events) having to trek around with him and then you find out that Washington is wrongly accused of his information and it's all because he has information that can expose corrupt agents all over the world. It's not a new script and as good as Reynolds and Washington were in their acting, the script is flat. Grade: C
Flowers of War (Christian Bale) - This movie is about the Nanking Massacre that stars Christian Bale in an otherwise foreign actors and produced film. It's a good film and Bale does an excellent acting job, but it was kind of weird having an American be the star of the film. It wasn't really needed, but I assume it had some to do with trying to get more recognition for the film. It's a mix of English and Chinese subtitles and it got across the impact the massacre had on the survivors and the fear they lived in. It is a movie, though, so it has that cinematic feel and effects to it (a little stylized, I suppose), but it was good. The children actors were excellent and the end really pulls at the heart strings. I think I was in a state of panic, shock, fear, or tears through most of it. It is a little graphic, but war isn't a PG film either. Grade: B
Wanderlust (Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston) - Watched this film right before Flowers of War and both films needed me to wash my brain and memory a little before going to bed for drastically different reasons. This film I do NOT recommend in the least. It might be up there with the worst films of the year I've seen. There is nudity in it that, seriously, I didn't need to see (old men and women running nude? Gahhhh!) and it was just a stupid film all around. Yes, I should have known better given it's an Aniston film, but I was curious! I'm not sure there is anything even really redeeming in it other than Rudd was true to his marriage even though they had agreed to go with Wanderlust's "sharing" attitude and Aniston's character slept with one of the leaders. I will say, there were some funny parts, but not many... Grade: D
Friends with Kids (Adam Scott, Jennifer Westfeldt) - Interesting film that's somewhere along the lines of "Friends with Benefits," but more in line with friends with benefits that have kids? Two good friends decide to have a kid together without the ties of marriage as they've seen their friends who are married have kids and seen what it does to their marriage and personal lives. The female could have an unknown donor, but figures...Why not her best friend who also wants a kid in an abstract sense of just wanting one? One of their set of friends ends up not working out and the other ends up being okay, but, in the end, of course, the two main characters end up together through their trials and difficulties. It's a mostly silly premise, but it is a different sort of rom-com than I've seen before. I don't particularly like Westfeldt, but she works in the role (she also wrote and directed it, I believe) and I liked Scott. Not your best rom-com, though. Grade: C
Lockout (Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace) - All I could think of was, "MIB:3!!." To be fair, this movie came out before MIB:3, but I saw MIB:3 first. Future world where there's a space station that is for realllllllly dangerous criminals. They're put into a sort of cryogenic tube so there is minimal needs from them. The President's daughter decides to visit to check out one of the prisoners and the rumors going around that the sleep-stasis they're put into alters their brain/emotions. Long story short, a man who was going to be sent to the station is, instead, given a chance to redeem himself and save the President's daughter before harm comes of her when things go wrong and all the criminals are released for their stasis. I can't say it's that original, but it was interesting. It reminded me of The Rock a little because it's supposed to be sort of impossible to infiltrate and all that. Grade: C
Wrath of the Titans (Sam Worthington) - Was it better than Clash of the Titans? Erm, I don't know. It's been so long since I've seen Clash of the Titans and I can't find my review (did I review it?). Was it what I expected it to be? Yes. It wasn't fantastic and some of the CG is grating. Also, as much as I like Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades, their portrayals don't really work for me. The film was okay. It's not really memorable, which is what the first one is like. It wasn't totally bad, but nor was it really good either. In all, I'm glad I didn't see it in theaters and I'm also glad I saw it just to see it. Grade: C/C-
The Amazing Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone) - I know they wanted to do the origin story again because it's a new man playing Spider-Man, but, gosh darn it, I'm TIRED of seeing the origin story! Move on to something else! I did like Garfield as Spider-Man. He sort of aligns to what you think of Spider-Man as being (tall, gangly, nerdy, etc). Emma Stone as Gwen was also good. I did like having Gwen instead of MJ (just to be different). They also changed the origin just a little. With that said, I'll probably see the others, but I'm not sure if I really like it better than the Tobey MacGuire ones. I think I like it just a little more, but it's almost par. Grade: B/B-
Dark Knight Rises (Christian Bale) - It's a good film, but it is FAR too long. There is a lot in it that didn't need to be in it to make it shorter. I kind of call it the King Kong syndrome with Peter Jackson where the studios give the director, pretty much, free reign to do whatever they want and the director makes a long winded film that didn't need to be that long. There were also holes in things and Bane, as good as he was, was sort of stripped of his identity at the end for a twist ending that sort of belittled who Bane was. Tom Hardy did an EXCELLENT job as Bane, though, and he was an amazing villain till the end. That whole end...*sigh* It felt a little bit like a cop-out. Nolan is such a great director and he likes those twists and turns that make you go, "huh?" and this one had a weak attempt at it that just felt a little contrived to me given it was Nolan directing. The one thing I liked at the end was of Joseph Gordon Levitt's ending, which was neat, but whether they'll do anything with it, that remains to be seen. I also liked Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. I thought they handled her portrayal well and it was farrrrr better than Halle Berry's. I liked how they snuck in the whole "ear" aspect without going costume-y and it was subtle. I do think Catwoman was a little bit of an unnecessary role and they sort of threw in her origin story in the movie, but oh well. I also liked how it went full circle back to the first movie. Overall, I liked it and it did feel shorter, albeit it was actually longer, than Spider-Man so I guess that's a plus. I just wish it was executed just a little better. Grade: B
Total Recall (Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel) - Having not seen the original, I can't compare it to it, but I liked this version. Bill Nighy had a REALLY short roll and it reminded me of Liam Neeson's Unknown, even though Total Recall is older than Unknown. Not much to say about it other than I thought it was a good film. Nothing really deep in it or anything, but I enjoyed the special effects and thought the acting was good. Grade: B
With that, my movie count is up to 65. I haven't rented a movie in about 2 weeks now. Not sure when I'll rent again, but the Lorax and What to Expect When You're Expecting come out in Sept and Hunger Games comes out soon. So...we'll see.
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