"Eh" for Elizabethtown?

A pal who's seen the three hour (yes, three hour) version of Cameron Crowe's upcoming heart-string-tugger Elizabethtown says it's...unimpressive. There are few however who love it so much they don't even want it edited down. Sounds like another Almost Famous--bored me to tears, couldn't make it through it, yet there are those who dote on the additional scenes on the DVD.

This pal says it's Orlando Bloom who's mostly to blame. Apparently when out of his warrior tights, he can't pull off every day young man.

I have seen the preview about a million times, and Orlando doesn't have the gravitas or sparkle that his costar Kirsten Dunst has in droves. There's just...something missing. It'll be a big test for him since Kingdom of Heaven didn't do so hot, and that actually looked good.

THINK, people

1%? Are you kidding me?

I don't know what's going on with people, but I think Americans can be dumb, dumb, dumb. I've struggled mightily to find a lucrative, and steady career that I actually ENJOY, and paid for it by not being able to save nearly as much $$ as I'd like. Nonetheless, I have enough stashed away to get me by for 5 or 6 months. And a wee retirement account on top of that. Still hardly anything, and I was getting really tough on my self, when I've been reading lately that:

A) The average household debt in America is around $4,000, by some estimates, and I've heard worse.
B) The average household saves *less than 1% of their monthly income.* 1%!!!

What do these people think they're going to do when it comes time to retire? I don't know about you, but as much as I enjoy my job, I'm just pounding away until one day I can sit in front of the telly and eat bon bons. Ain't no work for me after 55, no matter what it takes. And I know with kids it's damn hard to save too, but somehow my parents managed to pack dough away here and there, even if it meant we had to go to --horrors!--state schools.

And here's a few real genuises, as quoted in the LA Times, about the housing equity craze ("Equity Is Altering Spending Habits and View of Debt," August 28th):

"If you paid your mortgage off, it means you probably did not manage your funds efficiently over the years. It's as if you had 500,000 dollar bills stuffed in your mattress.... [It's] very unsophisticated."
That's David Lereah, chief economist of--guess who!--the National Association of Realtors (or Really Disilusioned)

I see...so taking out a huge loan to take a vacay or buy a big telly is "sophisticated?" Adding on to already albatrossian loans with more debt? Smart homeowners already have managable mortgage payments (i.e., they didn't stretch themselves to buy in this overheated market) and use the equity to invest smartly in other properties, or to make home improvements that will add appreciable value to their home, or even use the new, low-interest/tax deductible debt to wipe out large credit card debts.

Luckily a Ms. Sandi Bandfield, interviewed in the LA Times article, got the memo about renting out property. Otherwise these anti-Mensa candidates woulda been screwed:

"Last year, the couple began talking about retirement. "We don't want to work forever, and someone's got to pay for this house," Bandfield said. "We have a nice life, but nothing in savings to speak of. I saw us relegated to a dinky gray condo in Las Vegas if we didn't do something."

Stocks? "I dabbled. I think I made $26 last year." Social Security? "It's piddly. Who wants to live like that?"

This woman is 55 years old, and is part of a two income household. She and her husband have "nothing in savings to speak of." WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING WITH YOUR MONEY???

Turns out the Bandfields bought properties and rented them out. Not for the faint of heart, but when done with thought and enough time to spare, a very wise way to have retirement income.

If they hadn't? They wouldn't be able to retire.

PEOPLE!!!

Kelly, Kelly, Kelly

I kept switching back and forth between various Law and Ordi and the VMA's, and found reruns of L&O far more interesting. Even the various cognescenti in the audience were ennui-istic.

Thank god I tivo'd it, however, because I'm quite sure that R. Kelly's bizarre interpretive rendition of his vanity piece, "Trapped in the Closet." And he really is in the closet, it seems like, which is fine, as I know all about the "down low" culture, and in fact am obsessed with it (and indeed this culture was on an episode of...Law and Order! [SVU]).

So score points for gay pride, but uh, it sounded like a car wreck. So of course I can't wait to watch it.

However, I am very happy that Ms. Kelly Clarkson won twice, and that she was able to cap off the boring events with a show-stopping rendition of "Since U Been Gone," her hit single. I did actually go through the trouble of watching this at work (headphones on), and enjoyed it. It was a little rough--she had to go to three different stages for whatever reason, and was rained on--but so full of vigor and growling, powerful vocals that I just can't tolerate the other non-talents on display so often on MTV. And here's a girl, average, pleasant looks, not super skinny, with amazing charisma and phenomenal talent--and AMERICA chose her. American Idol may be cheesy, but it goes to show how real talent WILL actually get you somewhere with, yes, the mainstreamest of audiences.

And Clarkson has done something extremely notable: Reinvented pop stardom for herself. She's added producers who can sear rough edges onto pop ditties for a sound that Avril Lavigne already introduced to radio, but more for adult ears, and I am so glad she came on the scene. Pop has to lean more towards rock if it wants to evolve as it always does. Clarkson is totally on the right track. I do love that Kelly. (And maybe I will love the grotesquerie of R. Kelly as well. But I will wait to see that one.)

V for Very Quiet

I receive a calendar every Thursday that has changes in release dates. It's canon at my workplace, so I trust it.

So when I inquire about V for Vendetta from someone 'in the know,' imagine my surprise when I learned that it was pushed back to March!

And there it is, on Yahoo.com/movies, the words "March 2006" silently glowing at me beneath its title. So it's all out and about, but no big news. Of course, I don't troll all the major film sites every day, but it isn't on Hollywood-elsewhere, it isn't on AICN, or Chud--on the main pages, anyways. Well, I guess problems continue for the film.

I liked the comic book all right, though I wanted a continuation of the story. I don't know how it'd work as a movie if literally translated, however. There needs to be more meat in some ways; or maybe Acts I and II be the first and last halves of the book, then a full resolution to the political issues at hand. If you've never read the comic, this will make no sense, but, there it is.

Time will tell!

Red Eye

I'm loving Rachel McAdams. I find she's the only actress around most days who doesn't seem like she'd be annoying and high-falutin in real life. Plus, she can actually act. Fancy that!

So I treated myself to a movie and saw Red Eye. Loved it. Great flick. So trim, so linear, and no, I didn't think the plot was that all fantastical. And throughout it, there were funny moments, even during the most nearly tragic action scenes.

I also, and I hate to sound like an overearnest college student, thought it was just the tiniest bit feminist. I mean, at one point, a villain is felled by a stiletto heel jabbed in his calf. Obvious, but delightful!

See it, love it.

I HAVE A TV.

When I first started working production, not even two years ago, I was a grizzled 27-year-old who, while holding down soul-sucking corporate jobs to fund my oddessey to be an actor (which was even MORE soul-sucking--at least I got promoted at the other jobs!), was longing for an actual CAREER I loved.

So I chose production after I got laid off from the last corporate gig. I was a lowly PA and I was trolling the offices of the first place that hired me, I noticed: Everyone had a t.v.! I thought: This is a great career for me! Where watching t.v. while working was CONDONED!! Hot damn!

When I finally landed a string of staff positions at a particular company, no one got a cable-enabled telly.

But at this new job--I just started yesterday--I have one. EVERYONE, including P.A.'s, have one. OMG, it's big too!!!

A friend here told me she doesn't have one by a fluke, but she's afraid if she did she'd never get any work done. For me, I work well with a T.V. softly murmuring in the background. My new job entails some paper edits and writing, and when I get stuck or need a break, I just turn, see Dr. Phil or Marlena from "Days of Our Lives" speaking earnestly to the screen, and, comforted, I turn back and write dilligently.

I have made it. I have a T.V. at work!!!!

My Ecstasy

So, I have been drinking this coffee, a particular brand, and I swear to god, it's like doing uppers.

It's Don Francisco Hawaiian Hazelnut, it's been sitting in my pantry for a year, and in desperation I cracked open the can. I don't know what's in this shit, but once I have a couple sips, I feel like I'm freaking president of the united states. (Not Bush; Clinton.) The hazelnut flavor is sharp and real, as opposed to the cloying, almost buttery tinge of other hazelnut coffee; and it's STRONG, even when I make it supposedly weak.

Anyhoo, it's a good way to start the day, but I'm afeared I've become addicted: I think about it a lot, and once even had some at 10pm!! It was when I wasn't working the next day, but, still.

All in all, though, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than some people's habits. Don Francisco is like $5 for a can!