Mr. Brooks

Kevin Costner

A surprisingly solid and suspenseful film. Solid acting all around by William Hurt, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, and even Kevin Costner.

Rating: Matinee

Australia

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman

Watched Baz Luhrmann’s Australia on blu-ray this weekend. The movie seemed to be two movies in one. The first part was light and breezy. The second half had a more serious tone. Fair acting by most of the cast. Some of Nicole Kidman’s hysterics were getting on my nerves though. The film is beautifully shot, with gorgeous scenery throughout the film. If you watch it in HD or blu-ray you may enjoy it more.

Rating: Cable TV

Nights in Rodanthe

Richard Gere and Diane Lane

Fair acting, but a weak story. Not exactly a memorable movie.

My Rating: Neutral

Quantum of Solace

Solid action

Solid action from beginning to end. But the story falls short of the superb Casino Royale. The Bond character doesn’t develop as much as he did in the previous movie. Daniel Craig still kicks butt though.

The Women of BSG

Grace Park has only mentioned once in this article:

Other strong women on the show include Grace Park (pictured, right), who plays Lt. Sharon “Athena” Agathon and various other incarnations of Cylon Number Eight,….”  

Even Lucy Lawless has a full paragraph devoted to her.

25 Films for 2009

Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds

Of the 25 films listed, I’m looking forward to “Inglorious Basterds” the most.

Gran Torino - Quick Review

Have Gun - Will Travel

Eastwood’s solid acting skills are on full display in this movie. The other actors, some apparent first-timers, are not so great. The movie moves at a brisk pace, with a mixture of humorous and dramatic moments. Eastwood’s character is more William Munny than Dirty Harry.

Grade: B+

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Quick Review

On a previous version of janella.com…

…when I would write a movie review it would be long. Time is short, so my new movie reviews - when I have a chance to watch a movie - will be short. It won’t be extremely insightful, but it will convey what I feel about the movie.

For The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Brad Pitt grows young while Cate Blanchett grows old. Acting done well by both, and Fincher’s direction was spot on. But the ending left me unsatisfied.

Grade: C-

Happy 60th Birthday and Happy Retirement

Cake!

Happy 60th Birthday and Happy Retirement

My iPhone Contacts Disappeared!

No contacts!

My iPhone Contacts Disappeared!: While I was out and about today, my iPhone contacts disappeared. I noticed this when I received a text message from someone on my contact list, which showed their phone number instead of their name. I’m guessing my over-the-air sync with Mobile Me was the cause since I have seen this sync problem before but only with my iMac and dot Mac. But when I got online, my Mobile Me account and my iMac contacts were fine. At this point I don’t know what happened. It sucks to lose your contacts for no apparent reason when you’re out on errands. I wonder if this has happened to anyone else?

Handsfree

Beginning in July, California went ‘handsfree’. Now, I don’t talk on my cellphone often while driving but Farrah does. And so I did some research on a solution that would work for her.

The iPhone comes with a nice standard headset for listening to music and taking phone calls. It can be used in the car as long as you only use one earbud while driving. I do this often, but it can be uncomfortable, and I think Farrah finds this so as well. Farrah also finds Bluetooth headsets uncomfortable.

I heard Leo Laporte speak of the BlueAnt’s Supertooth Light Bluetooth Handsfree Speakerphone as a good solution, and so I ordered it from Amazon and let Farrah give it a try.

BlueAnt’s Supertooth Light Bluetooth Handsfree Speakerphone

The unit charged quickly, with Farrah being able to try it the next day. The main unit attaches by magnets to a metal clip you can fit into your car’s visor. Having the clip allows you to easily move the unit from car to car, or simply detach it from the clip to hide the unit in your glovebox. To activate the unit, you extend the mic boom.

The sound quality is very good. I was able to hear Farrah very clearly while she was driving, and she was able to hear me without my yelling. The unit also comes with a built-in ringer so you won’t have to hear your cellphone ringing unless you have the BlueAnt turned off. The BlueAnt holds a very good charge. We’ve only had to charge it twice since having it, but people who talk often may have a different experience. The only negative experience we’ve had with the unit is when pairing it with two different phones. The unit appears to forget the first phone it was paired with, but works fine with the second. If you are the only one using the BlueAnt, then this will not be a problem. Overall, Farrah finds the BlueAnt solid and reliable, as do I.

There is a newer unit available, the BlueAnt Supertooth 3. I think this unit has a voice-activated calling feature, but I have no personal experience with it. You may want to read the reviews on that unit, but it does cost about $30 more.

Belated Congratulations to Lotte and Angche!

Lotte and Angche's Wedding Website

I don’t know how I forgot, but I did.  Angche proposed to Lotte at her birthday celebration several weeks back.  You can relive the moment on their wedding web site (or my almost similar video.)

Congratulations to you both!

Welcome Timothy!

Yen, James, and Timothy

Yen and James welcome Timothy into this world. Congratulations!

Update: I just posted the photos we took.

The Sidebar

I’ve incorporated, once again, RSS feeds into the sidebar of the page.  This should give my many visitors - I say this smiling - access to our friends’ blogs, as well as updates to my found Tumblr page.  You can simply click on the link to view the blog entry. The sidebar should update as they post more (hint hint!). 

Ketchup with Pepper

Ketchup with Pepper

I don’t know when Farrah starting putting massive amounts of pepper on her ketchup when we have fries, but now I can’t eat fries any other way.

When I met up with some friends at Yahoo! for lunch at the local In-N-Out, I notice Gloria did the same thing to her ketchup. I forgot to ask her where she got the habit from. I’m curious, who else do I know that does this? If you do this too please leave a comment and tell me how or why you started doing this? I’m just curious.