Juli's Blog

Updated my favorite movies of all time list

2011-06-20T12:40:00.002-04:00

A week ago I went through my favorite movies list and decided to turn it into two lists: A Top 25 Favorite Movies of All Time and a Top 10 Favorite Foreign Movies of All Time. The original list I had before this was just a big list of 89 movies. I felt it'd be easier to remember my list if I had two shorter lists rather than one big list, and anything I left out still rates the same as it did before, it just didn't make the top 25.

Juli's Top 25 Favorite Movies of All Time

1. Schindler's List
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Citizen Kane
5. Casablanca
6. The Godfather
7. The Godfather Part II
8. The Green Mile
9. Inglourious Basterds
10. Forrest Gump
11. Psycho
12. To Kill a Mockingbird
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey
14. Lawrence of Arabia
15. Vertigo
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark
17. Jaws
18. Star Wars
19. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
20. Pulp Fiction
21. Raging Bull
22. The Shining
23. Slumdog Millionaire
24. Taxi Driver
25. A Clockwork Orange

Juli's Top Ten Favorite Foreign Movies of All Time

1. La dolce vita
2. The Good, the Bad and The Ugly
3. City of God
4. The Pianist
5. The Seventh Seal
6. The Grand Illusion
7. 8 ½
8. The 400 Blows
9. The Lives of Others
10. The Counterfeiters

You may be wondering why The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and The Pianist are included in this list. I consider these foreign movies as they were made by foreign born (born in countries that don't have English as their main language) directors and made outside the United States.

This is a separate list because had I ranked them they would not have made the cut for the Top 25. I wanted to honor them so I made a list just for them.

~ Juli

Dream: Winning the RedBox Lottery

2011-03-07T16:12:00.000-05:00

I had this dream early this morning:

Dad came knocking on my door to tell me that we were leaving for Myrtle Beach very soon. He informed me that everyone would be going as Trish was now able to come. I was very happy that the whole family was going. I gathered my clothes and packed as fast as I could, and then we all got in the car. Soon we were on our way to the airport.

At the location were the Dogfather Hotdog truck usually is there was a RedBox (in my dream this was normal). I noticed the RedBox machine flashing its lights indicating that there was a disc in there that had not been removed. I yelled at Dad to stop the car so I could take the disc out of the RedBox machine (in my dream this was the equivalent of someone leaving a disc in the Wii – it bothered me just as much). Dad agreed to stop the car even though we had to be to the airport soon. My sisters were all a little upset with me telling me that I shouldn’t worry about it.

I got out of the car, walked over to the RedBox machine and pushed the flashing button that was supposed to release the disc from the machine. Instead of a disc coming out a roll of quarters came out. The light was still flashing so I pushed it again and another roll of quarters came out. Dad noticed that it was taking me a little longer than expected so he came out. I explained to him what was happening so I kept pushing the button and rolls of quarters kept coming out. The button stopped flashing after the fourth roll of quarters came out.

I then noticed that other buttons were flashing so I pushed those and different rolls of coins came out – dimes, nickels, and pennies. After all the buttons stopped flashing, I counted my money. I had $40 in quarters plus a few dollars in other coins. I don’t remember exactly how much I got but I felt like I won the lottery.

I got back in the car and after my mother and my sisters heard what happened, they were excited for me and said that it was a good idea to stop and check out the RedBox machine. Later I learned that this story made the national news and that I was in the newspaper for this. I was pretty surprised because it was only a little under $50 that I got from the RedBox machine.

~ Juli

Dream: Meeting Steven Spielberg

2011-02-18T11:50:00.000-05:00

I was at St. George Church for some sort of function and Steven Spielberg was involved with the function somehow. He was in the room where they usually hold the elections. In my dream this was normal that Steven Spielberg helped out in this room every week. I had met Seven Spielberg before at this function but he was unwilling to sign an autograph for me so I never really considered it meeting Steven Spielberg even though I had. This time I decided to try again. I asked Mom if it would be alright if I went to that room and talked to Steven Spielberg. She said that was alright and said she would be waiting for me outside.

I found Steven Spielberg standing near a table. I didn’t bring any pens, paper or anything for him to sign so I had to find them in the room. There were two pens on the table, a red ballpoint pen and a black roller ball pen. I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to get an autograph but I asked anyway. I explained to him that I wanted him to sign this small piece of paper so I could carry it with me as like a token of good luck. He decided that was good enough reason to sign so he signed me an autograph. He used the red ballpoint pen to sign it. I then asked if he would inscribe it to Juli. He was willing to do that too. Since there was a nice black pen I decided to see if he would sign another one for me so I could keep one in my collection as well. He was very kind and signed another one for me with the black pen and it was on some kind of church bulletin that opened up once. He signed it in the inside in the middle of the page on the right. He also inscribed this to Juli. It looked nicer than the one signed in red ink because that was on a small piece of paper ripped off from something. I then thanked Spielberg and he let me give him a hug. I didn’t have my camera with me so I was unable to take a picture of him.

I then left the room to go outside to find my mother. However, it was raining outside so I had to find a way to make sure the autographs didn’t get wet. I immediately put the one signed in red in my wallet since that’s where I planned to keep it so I always had it with me, and then I had to fold the one signed in black since the paper was too large to fit in my pocket unfolded. I was a little sad about folding it but I knew I would rather do that than have it get wet and have the ink run. I then got in the car and took it out to see if it got wet. I was very glad that it didn’t get wet and the signature looked fine. I was very happy.

~ Juli

My Dream

2011-01-15T12:42:00.002-05:00

Winning The Lottery

I was at a Connections Club meeting. I believe Bethany and Brian were among some of the few members that were there. Since there were only five of us at this meeting, Ms. Beauregard decided to give us a scratch ticket. It was a $10 scratch ticket. As I was scratching my ticket, I expected not to win anything so I wasn’t really paying much attention to matching up the numbers. The meeting was almost over and I didn’t want my mother to be waiting for me.

After we all scratched our tickets, Bethany double checked each of our tickets to see if anyone won. Mine was the last one she looked at and to my surprise she announced that I had won $8000. At first I thought she was joking, but then she showed me my ticket. The last number in the “winning numbers” column was 16 which matched the first number in the second column of “your numbers.” Under that number 16 said the prize was $8000! I was shocked and thrilled. I couldn’t believe I didn’t notice this the first time, and I was so happy Bethany double checked our tickets otherwise I don’t know if I would have left my ticket at the meeting thinking it was a loser.

I then noticed it was 9:27pm and I was supposed to be getting my ride at 9pm. I was worried Mom would be very upset that she had been waiting all this time for me. I then thought maybe winning that $8000 would make up for it. When I got outside to look for Mom’s car, to my surprise, I noticed she was actually running quite late. She arrived with Trish in the car at 9:30pm. I was surprised to see Trish as she isn’t around all that often. I thought it would be fun to tell her how I won $8000. I thought about how her $500 win last December was a lot less than my win. I also thought she might be jealous but instead she was happy for me. Mom was also happy for me.

As we were driving home, I noticed a Honey Farms was open and it looked like the kind that cashed big winning lottery tickets. Since my win was under $10,000 I knew they would cash it. I told Mom to please stop so I could cash it. She allowed me to go in and cash it while she and Trish waited in the car. I warned them that it would take a half hour and they said that was fine.

As I got in the store and showed the lottery ticket clerk my $8000 winning ticket, she called to get some other people and they took me to a special room upstairs where I was to fill out all sorts of paperwork so that they could cash my ticket for me. This took a while, and I was starting to get nervous that Mom would be upset at how much longer she had to wait and my iPhone was dying so I couldn’t call her and warn her that it would be longer than I thought. It turned out I got my money right after, and I was able to get back to the car within the 30 minutes I told Mom it would probably take.

I was on time, and I had my $8000. I was thrilled. I then thought about what I would spend the $8000 on and decided that I would be buying an Abraham Lincoln signature and a George Washington signature since they cost about $4000 each.

~ Juli

Winter's Bone

2011-01-07T20:40:00.002-05:00

Since I got $4 as a bonus to use on Amazon's Video on Demand I decided to use it renting Winter's Bone.

Winter's Bone - 7.5/10 - I thought this was a pretty good movie but I didn't think it was good enough to get nominated for Best Picture. I liked the acting and the setting of this film. What I didn't really like was that it wasn't as thrilling. The story was still pretty interesting, but not as exciting as most good thrillers tend to be.

~ Juli

2010 Movies I've Seen and What I Rate Them

2011-01-06T15:52:00.002-05:00

Since 2010 is now over, I decided I would go through what I have seen from that year. I will update as I see more 2010 movies. As of yet, I have not seen any new 2010 titles since seeing True Grit in December 2010.

Shutter Island - 7.5/10 - I expected a lot more as this was a Scorsese film. However, this movie was still pretty good and I did enjoy it for what it was. It had an interesting plot with an interesting twist that I sort of figured out halfway through the movie. When I saw this I had a massive headache so that may have played a role in how I rated it. I probably should give this another view without having a headache.

The Ghost Writer - 8/10 - I thought this was a very good thriller. It also has a twist, but this one I did not see coming (unlike Shutter Island's twist). This was a very entertaining movie and Roman Polanski always makes excellent films.

Alice in Wonderland - 6/10 - I saw this because it was a Tim Burton film with Johnny Depp and this movie looked very interesting as it had one of the best posters I had ever seen. However, I didn't really expect much knowing that remakes aren't usually better than the originals and the original to me was a 7/10. This was also in 3D so that was also another sign that it wasn't going to be a great movie (3D movies tend to focus on effects more than story). In any event, I wasn't disappointed because I got what I pretty much expected - a movie that is okay to see once and never again.

Hot Tub Time Machine - 7.5/10 - Enjoyable comedy. My sister saw this and told me she loved it, so I went to see it despite having the impression this was a stupid movie based on the trailers I saw. My sister was right and this was quite an entertaining movie. Nothing great but a lot of fun.

How to Train Your Dragon - 8/10 - I did not see this movie until it came out on DVD. I really did not think I was going to like it and I had this prejudice that this movie was bad because it wasn't Pixar. I had not seen a good DreamWorks movie since Shrek (2001). Even after hearing all the rave reviews about this movie when it first came out, I still failed to see it. It wasn't until it came out on DVD and noticed it was still on the IMDb 250 that I decided to see it. I expected it to be a 6/10, so I was VERY pleased not only to like it, but to really like it. This was a very cute movie with an excellent storyline and characters. It was just as good as any Pixar movie, and it regained my faith in DreamWorks.

Kick-Ass - 8/10 - This was a very enjoyable movie and I really enjoyed the characters. Even though I am sick and tired of superhero movies, this one was refreshing because it kind of made fun of them. It was also quite a different take on the superhero movie. Hit-Girl was my favorite character and her scenes reminded me of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill character but with an 11 year old girl.

Iron Man 2 - 6/10 - I only saw this because I saw it with a group of people that were into these kind of movies. I have given up on these sequels and CGI fest type movies since seeing Terminator Salvation and realizing that they were a waste of time and money. That being said, this movie wasn't bad and it was somewhat entertaining, but I would never see it again.

Robin Hood - 7.25/10 - I liked this movie because I liked the way it looked and I like Russell Crowe. This movie reminded me of Gladiator but was far from as good as it. The story was a little slow but at the end it got better. I was a little disappointed in this movie as I was expecting an 8/10 or more especially since Ridley Scott directed it.

Toy Story 3 - 9/10 - My favorite movie of 2010. After hearing such good reviews I was expecting a lot, and surprisingly this movie still exceeded my expectations. I liked it just as much as the other two Toy Story films which I did not think was possible but I guess Pixar can do anything. The ending was a great way to end the series, so I hope that they don't try to make a fourth one.

Inception - 8/10 - I was expecting this to be good and it met my expectations. The movie isn't perfect in the artistic sense but it was a very good attempt at trying to make a masterpiece. The only reason I think this fails to be a masterpiece is because the stories within the dreams aren't that great. The concept of this movie is fantastic, and I really like the visuals used and the characters. The only thing I have a problem with is that this movie is a little confusing (but that can be good thing) and the stories used for the dreams don't seem all that significant to the greater concept of the movie.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - 7/10 - I felt this movie was very overrated but I can see why people would love it. The effects were interesting but that was about it. The storyline is very plain (Scott Pilgrim has to defeat the "seven evil exes" of the girl of his dreams to win her) and there is not much plot development. It mostly focuses on defeating each of the evil exes while at the same time making it look like a video game. It was an interesting concept but it failed to impress me.

Animal Kingdom - 7/10 - I heard from the critics halfway through the year that this was their favorite movie. I rushed out to see it and I was quite disappointed. It didn't do anything new or different than most gangster movies. It wasn't even that entertaining. It was an average movie to me.

The Town - 8/10 - Unlike the above, this movie was very entertaining and well made. The only fault was that this kind of movie has been made many times before.

The Social Network - 8/10 - This movie was very well made and very original. I am surprised at how David Fincher was able to make a good movie out of the Facebook story. I didn't think it could be done, but it was. I wouldn't be surprised if this got nominated for Best Picture as I think it deserves it.

Secretariat - 7.5/10 - This kind of story has been done a million times before, but I enjoyed it anyway. It was fun to watch this with my friend Dori and her ten year old daughter.

Hereafter - 8/10 - After seeing this, I was surprised anyone gave this less than a great review. I thought this was a wonderful film directed by Clint Eastwood. The story was very well told, and I really liked how they tied the characters together. I'm sure this film will be overlooked when they announce the Best Picture nominees as no one has been talking about this film. Such a shame.

127 Hours - 8.5/10 - Excellent film. I loved the story and the way it was told. Danny Boyle is an amazing director. This should get nominated for Best Picture.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - 8/10 - Best Harry Potter movie yet. I can't wait to see the finale.

Tangled - 8/10 - Disney goes back to it's fairytale roots and makes a great film. This movie was as good as the Disney princess movies I fell in love with as a kid - Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin.

The King's Speech - 8/10 - An excellent movie made about a King with a speech impairment. I love true stories, and this movie had great characters, great costume design, and a great set. I won't be surprised if this gets nominated for Best Picture. It was very well done in every way. Colin Firth was excellent. He will get Best Actor.

Black Swan - 8/10 - The closest thing to a masterpiece I have seen all year. Everything was great - the characters were brilliant, the storyline was excellent and the way it was directed was fantastic. Natalie Portman will win Best Actress, and I wouldn't be surprised if Darren Aronofsky wins Best Director (honestly he deserves it more than anybody this year). I personally think this was the best movie of 2010 (even though I liked two films better).

The Fighter - 8/10 - Very well made movie, but this type of thing has been done before. I enjoyed it very much and really liked Mark Wahlberg's character.

True Grit - 7/10 - Because I have seen the original, that may be why I am not rating this as high. The original was better in my opinion and as a result it may have reflected in how I liked this remake. There were many changes, but I thought the Coen Brothers did a pretty good job with this one.

I think that's all of them. If I missed anything please let me know and I'll edit this post and include it.

My favorite movies of 2010:

1. Toy Story 3
2. 127 Hours
3. Black Swan
4. The King's Speech
5. The Social Network

My opinion on what I think were the best movies of 2010:

1. Black Swan
2. The King's Speech
3. The Social Network
4. Hereafter
5. The Ghost Writer

There are a few 2010 titles I have yet to see including Winter's Bone.

~ Juli

2011 in Movies

2011-01-02T14:49:00.002-05:00

The first movie that I have any interest in seeing that comes out this year is Unknown (February 18th). It stars Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger. From IMDb here's the basic plot line: "Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one -- not even his wife (Jones) -- believes him. With the help of a young woman (Kruger), he sets out to prove who he is." I hope this turns out to be as good as Taken was. I love Liam Neeson and I hope this is one of his good movies.

There are many sequels/prequels this year including ones for Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars, Transformers (yuck!), and X-Men. I am really getting tired of all these sequels to not so good movies (well Cars was good, but the last installments of Transformers, X-Men and Pirates of the Caribbean were not good). They keep bringing in money and thus they keep making them. I'm surprised people spend their money seeing these yucky movies. As for Cars 2 I will probably go see it as it's a Pixar movie and Pixar has never made a bad movie (all got at least a 8/10 or higher rating from me). I am upset that Pixar is starting to make sequels to their movies. With just Toy Story that was fine (and I hope Toy Story 3 is the last one), but now they are doing it wth Cars and Monsters Inc. and who knows what else after that. I liked it a lot better when they made original movies, but it looks like they are joining the sequel game. :(

In July we get the Tom Hanks movie, Larry Crowne, but seeing as it's a comedy that stars Julia Roberts I don't have a good feeling about this one. I just realized today that this movie has Julia Roberts in it. That makes me sad because lately all her movies have been very bad. I know Tom Hanks directed, wrote and stars in this movie, but that doesn't mean it's going to be good. I will probably give it a try anyway just because my favorite actor is in it but I don't know if I'll like it.

Then we get my most anticipated movie of 2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. I hope it's as good as Part 1 (that was my favorite Harry Potter movie of them all) and if I'm lucky, it may be even better than Part 1. We shall see.

So far that is all the movies that interest me that are coming out between January-September 2011. They have not announced what movies are coming out October-December 2011. Usually those late in the year movies are when the good movies start coming (last year that was mostly true as there were like only 3 good movies until October, then starting with the Social Network in October there were a bunch of good movies).

~ Juli

Super Megafest a Success!!

2010-11-20T18:59:00.008-05:00

Today (November 20th, 2010) I went to Super Megafest. I arrived at 9:00AM. Since I bought my ticket early I was allowed in at 9:30, whereas people who bought their tickets at the convention got in at 10:30.

My biggest goal was to meet Christopher Lloyd and get his autograph. When I got to the signing area and noticed that he had not yet arrived, I met a few other celebrities just to say hi and shake their hands. I met Frank Avruch (Bozo the Clown) and Caroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch) and shook their hands. I also met Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) before meeting Lloyd. I talked to Peter Mayhew a bit. First I was thinking he would be taller but with him sitting down I realized he was as tall as his character – 7 feet tall! I then asked him what it was like working on the set of Star Wars and what the cast and crew was like and he told me it was great. I also asked what it was like wearing the Chewbacca suit and he admitted that it was a little warm. I didn’t buy any autographs from him.

I then saw Christopher Lloyd’s handler so I went over to find out what Lloyd would be charging for autographs. He told me it was $40 for an autograph if it was on your own item, or $45 on his 8 x 10 photo. If I wanted a picture with him it was an additional $45 (luckily I was able to get a picture with him as someone I talked to while waiting in line agreed to snap a picture of me while I was up there getting an autograph). It was the only picture I got of me with any of the celebrities because all of them charged to have pictures taken with them. I was very lucky I got away with that and no one noticed him taking the picture. I got in Lloyd’s line at 10:00 and didn’t get Lloyd’s autograph until a little after 12. So I waited for at last two hours! When it was my turn to meet him, he was in a hurry so I didn’t have a chance to say much to him other than tell him that Back to the Future was one of my all time favorite movies and requested if he could write a quote on the photo he was signing for me. He was very reluctant to do it as his handler said that there was a very long line and he didn’t have time for that, but the handler told him if he wanted to he could. He decided to write “Great Scott!” as the quote. I was very lucky as I later met someone who also made the same request to have a quote written and they didn’t get it. After I got my autograph and discovered that the man behind me in line was successfully able to get my picture taken, I remembered that I wanted to tell Lloyd about how much I loved the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by saying “Cuckoo’s Nest is one of my top 25 favorite movies of all time!” and something else like “you are a really great actor” but I didn’t really get any response as he was too busy with other people.

I then went over to see if Linda Blair showed up but she still wasn’t there, so I decided to see who else I could meet. I met a few Music legends including Peter Tork from the Monkees. He was VERY nice. Since no one was in his line I had a little conversation with him about meeting/knowing the Beatles and how his band came to be. He even let me take a picture of him for free. I thought that was so nice of him.

I then met Gary Lewis (famous for signing “This Diamond Ring”) and Ron Dante (“Sugar, Sugar”). I pretty much just told Gary Lewis that I really liked his song “This Diamond Ring” and shook his hand. Ron Dante talked to me a little more. After I told him that I liked the song “Sugar, Sugar” he showed me a cute picture someone drew of him in the Archies, and I told him that I really liked it. It was a really neat picture and looked like a caricature. Unfortunately he charged for his autograph so I didn’t get it, but he seemed so nice it almost seemed he would have signed for free. Later on when I was in the hallway going back to the celebrity room after getting some food, Ron Dante remembered me and said “hey Juli.” I was very pleasantly surprised. He told me that he would be performing tonight in the Come Together concert. I asked what he’d be singing and he said he’d be performing Sugar, Sugar as well as a cover of the Beatles song Eight Days a Week (he joked saying it was easy to remember, and I said that all Beatles songs are easy to remember).

I then looked around the dealers/vendors for a bit noticing that Linda Blair STILL was not there. I found a few reputable autographs dealers (I was actually familiar with two of them from knowing them online) and from one of them I was able to get an autograph I was unable to find on a certain photo. It was a Tom Hanks autograph on a Green Mile photo. I had never seen one available for sale, so when I asked the dealer if he had anything signed by Tom Hanks I expected him to show me the usual photos Tom Hanks signed. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was from the Green Mile – exactly what I was looking for. The price wasn’t bad either ($50) so I bought it. He told me that he had gotten it in person from Tom Hanks himself in California. He also had a bunch of other cool autographs but they were either too expensive or not exactly what I wanted.

Another autograph dealer was selling vintage autographs of stars from old movies and TV shows. He was very interesting to talk to and look through what he had. Mostly everything he had was too expensive for me to buy, except a check signed by Shelley Duvall (Wendy in the Shining) which I bought for $10. He gave me his card so whenever I do have more money I can stay in contact with him.

I then went back to the celebrity room and found that Linda Blair still hadn’t arrived. I was very surprised. It must have been at least 1:00 by the time she did finally show. I had this white rose for her that I got from a guy I was waiting in line with before entering the Megafest at 9:30. He was very nice to me and said I could give it to one of the celebrities inside as that was his plan for the other roses he had. I thought that was an excellent idea and I decided Linda Blair might like it. I had to hold onto that rose from 9:00-1pm. I had it for a while, but luckily it didn’t get ruined.

While waiting in Linda Blair’s line it wasn’t until about a half hour later that she arrived. When she finally arrived, I tried to get a few snapshots of her but her handler kind of yelled at me saying no pictures were allowed at all. I found this odd because with everyone else it was only if you were in the picture with the celebrity that they charged for pictures. I was able to sneak a couple but they aren’t very good. One is of her signing where you can’t see her face entirely and the other she was getting ready to put her hand over her face because she saw that I was taking the picture. I almost got it in time, but you can still see the hand. When I got to meet her I gave her the rose and she thanked me saying it was nice. I also shook her hand and told her that the Exorcist was a very good movie and that (picked up a picture of her as possessed Regan) this picture always scared me. She then handed me a flier about her charity. I then asked if “would you mind signing this for me?” thinking she might since she gave me something (celebrities had never have given me things before without buying anything) but she said that she couldn’t because it was all for charity.

After meeting Linda Blair, I decided to meet Caroll Spinney to ask him to do Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch’s voice. I heard that he did this for another fan so I decided to go see him again. I then remembered on my way over to his table that I wanted to meet James Tolkan. He was famous for playing the disciplinarian Hill Valley High School principal Gerald Strickland and calling people slackers in Back to the Future. I wasn’t going to get his autograph because he was a minor character and was charging $25. He also didn’t allow picture like Linda Blair so I didn’t try taking any. I shook his hand and told him that Back to the Future was one of my all time favorite movies and asked him what it was like working on that film. He told me it was great and that Michael J. Fox was great to work with in the film as I had specifically asked about Michael J. Fox. I then noticed he had pre-signed a stack of photos on his table and asked why he did that, and he said “I didn’t know what I was doing, but if you want one, I can still personalize it to you for $25.” I didn’t want one so I just told him the photo was a nice picture.

I then went to see Caroll Spinney who now had a little line. I waited about 15-20 minutes. I then asked him a few questions and he did the voice for me which was really cool. After that I remembered that Norman Reedus had recently arrived (He was very late in coming like Linda Blair) so I got in line just to say hi and tell him that I liked the new TV series the Walking Dead. He thanked me and said that he would like the Walking Dead even if he wasn’t in it, and then I shook his hand. The person ahead of me in line gave him a gift (it was some sort of photo key chain thing) and the person who gave it to him said it was her birthday, so Norman Reedus wrote Happy Birthday on her DVD that she had him sign. I thought that was pretty cool.

I went outside at one point and saw a few cars from famous movies and TV shows. They had the DeLorean Time Machine from Back to the Future, General Lee Charger from the Dukes of Hazzard, the Batcar and Batcycle. Those were all really cool.

I then walked around a bit and met my friend who was having a raffle of Star Wars stuff raising money for Autism Speaks. I bought $5 worth of raffle tickets to help support the cause. I’m guessing I didn’t win (didn’t expect to) as I haven’t heard the phone ring and the drawing was at 5:30. It was still great to see my friend raising money for a great cause.

All in all I had a great time. I probably missed some stuff because I was there until 4pm, but these are the biggest things that happened.

~ Juli

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

2010-11-19T22:08:00.002-05:00

I saw a movie tonight in the movie theater with a friend from my previous job. She was so nice to me and it's the first time we have hung out together outside of work. The movie we saw was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - 8/10

This is definitely now my favorite Harry Potter movie of them all. I really liked the storyline and the suspense and thrills in this film. It was well written and well acted. It was nice to have a few funny moments (a kind of comic relief) in a mostly a dark movie. I really enjoyed this film and I can't wait to see its conclusion in Part II.

It may come as a surprise to many of you that I have only read the first Harry Potter book even though I have seen all the films so far. I think seeing this film is going to make me at least read the 7th book because I am dying to learn what happens in the second half. This is the first time a Harry Potter movie has gotten a higher rating than the other Potter films (all the others were 7/10).

~ Juli

Favorite Movies, DVD Want List and Damaged Discs

2010-11-03T13:21:00.007-04:00

I have a new list of favorite movies. As you will notice there are now less than 100 movies on the list. That's because I got rid of quite a few (many of those movies I had only watched once and realized I didn't like them enough to watch them again). If you wish to compare my current list with the previous list, please look here (the favorite movies list is after the IMDb list).

Here is my list of Favorite Movies as of November 3rd, 2010:

1. Schindler's List
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Citizen Kane
5. Casablanca
6. The Godfather
7. The Godfather Part II
8. The Green Mile
9. Inglourious Basterds
10. Forrest Gump
11. Psycho
12. It’s A Wonderful Life
13. To Kill a Mockingbird
14. 2001: A Space Odyssey
15. Lawrence of Arabia
16. Vertigo
17. Jaws
18. Raiders of the Lost Ark
19. Gladiator
20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
21. Pulp Fiction
22. Raging Bull
23. The Shining
24. On the Waterfront
25. Star Wars
26. A Clockwork Orange
27. Sunset Blvd
28. The Wizard of Oz
29. Blue Velvet
30. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
31. Kill Bill Vol. 2
32. 12 Angry Men
33. Apocalypse Now
34. Taxi Driver
35. Goodfellas
36. Slumdog Millionaire
37. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
38. City of God
39. The Pianist
40. The Seventh Seal
41. The Grand Illusion
42. La dolce vita
43. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
44. The Sting
45. Rain Man
46. Dirty Harry
47. Unforgiven
48. The Departed
49. Rear Window
50. North by Northwest
51. Fight Club
52. Life of Brian
53. The Bridge on the River Kwai
54. Toy Story
55. Toy Story 2
56. Toy Story 3
57. Cool Hand Luke
58. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
59. 8 ½
60. The Thing
61. The 400 Blows
62. Some Like it Hot
63. Rosemary’s Baby
64. Back to the Future
65. The Sound of Music
66. Reservoir Dogs
67. The Philadelphia Story
68. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
69. Frankenstein
70. Million Dollar Baby
71. Angels & Demons
72. Roman Holiday
73. The Lives of Others
74. The Third Man
75. American Graffiti
76. The Gold Rush
77. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
78. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
79. The Lion King
80. Intolerance
81. Fantasia
82. Dog Day Afternoon
83. Halloween
84. Do The Right Thing
85. The Counterfeiters
86. The Diary of Anne Frank
87. A Christmas Story
88. Road to Perdition
89. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

***

As a result of my updated favorite movies list, I have a new DVD want list:

In anamorphic widescreen: On the Waterfront (currently only fullscreen DVD), North by Northwest, The Thing, Halloween, Do The Right Thing, The Counterfeiters and The Diary of Anne Frank.

Not widescreen movies: The Grand Illusion, Roman Holiday, The Third Man, The Gold Rush, Intolerance, and Fantasia

***

About a week ago I experienced my first DVD that was unrepairable by the DVD resurfacer I own. It was a library DVD. The people who borrow these discs must handle them pretty rough. The movie was Howl's Moving Castle. The back of the disc looked fine, but when I was watching the movie it started to skip a little 20 minutes into the movie. I decided to continue watching the movie thinking that was the only skipping there would be. It turned out there was plenty of skipping throughout the movie, but I wasn't going to give up on the movie because it was now getting interesting and I wanted to see how it ended. I decided to take the disc out and resurface it. I thought this would have solved the problem but it changed nothing. The damage of the disc must have been scratched on the label side which is unrepairable damage and not noticeable from the back. All the skipping throughout the movie made the movie not as enjoyable. It was very annoying each time it skipped. It caused me to miss a few scenes, but I had no other way of seeing the movie and I was already way to interested in it to just give up on watching it.

The other day, I got the movie Shaun of the Dead from the library. When I looked at the back of the disc, it had lots of scratches. Just seeing this I knew it wasn't going to play and the type of scratches on the disc were of the kind that my DVD resurfacer couldn't fix. I decided to try it in my DVD player anyway just to be sure. I was right, it was a skipper. When I took the disc out of my DVD player, it had moved out of the tray in my DVD player. This made me realize that some of the damage to the disc had to do with the disc no longer being perfectly flat because it wasn't able to spin around smoothly in my player. I was lucky that this disc didn't break my player.

Before returning this disc to the library, I left a note inside it because I didn't want someone else to get this disc and have the misfortune of not only having the movie skip constantly, but also because the disc might damage their player. I hope the library discards the disc (instead of trying to fix it which it can't be fixed) and hopefully replaces it with a new one. I am very sad that I wasn't able to watch Shaun of the Dead. I hope to find a way to see the movie without spending too much money on it.

~ Juli

Rock and Shock

2010-10-16T16:09:00.005-04:00

I went to the Rock and Shock Horror Convention today. It went very well, except for waiting in two lines for a while. The line to get in was about an hour wait which was unusual because last year it was like a 15 minute wait.

When I finally got in, I went right to the Celebrity Room. I mainly came to Rock and Shock to meet Dee Wallace and get her autograph if she had a photo I liked. She was the mother (Mary) in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (one of my all-time favorite movies). Dee Wallace was VERY friendly. She had some really good pictures to chose from so I got one with her and E.T. in it. She also shook my hand twice (before she signed my autograph and after) and allowed me to give her a hug!

I then went and looked around at the other celebrity guests but the others I wanted to meet had lines that were much too long, so I went to the vendors section and looked around for a bit before going back into the Celebrity Room to see if the lines got smaller. I bought a Christoph Waltz autographed Inglourious Basterds photo for $25. This was the only thing I bought other than autographs from the Celebrity Guests.

When I went back to the Celebrity Guest room, the lines actually got longer. I was sad about that, but I was able to meet Eileen Dietz since her line was very short. Eileen Dietz was the demon face in the Exorcist - a very small role, but still pretty noticeable if you've seen the movie. I wasn't planning on buying an autograph, but when I saw that she had greeting cards for $3 I decided to get once signed. She was very friendly. I asked her what is was like working with Linda Blair and if she was nice. She told me Blair was only a kid then but sweet nonetheless.

I then decided to go into George Romero's line even though I was just going to say hi to him. I was out of money so I didn't want to buy his autograph (He was charging way too much anyway). While waiting in his line a few of the celebrity guests went to the bathroom so we saw them walk by. One of those guests happened to be Dee Wallace. When she walked by to go to the bathroom people tried taking pictures of her, and she said something like "I'm just trying to go the bathroom" but in a friendly fun way. Most of the other celebrity guests that walked by ignored us and ran quickly so no one could get a picture. Dee Wallace was so friendly that she went out of her way and allowed someone to get a picture with her for free by saying something like "I don't usually do this, but for you okay." I thought that was so nice.

When I finally got up to George Romero he had to go to the bathroom (ironically) and I was the first person in line when he returned so that kind of worked out well for me. His handler was kind of famous as he was in Survival of the Dead and Land of the Dead (small roles though). He was really friendly and let me have a free autograph of his. He told me of another lady who was also in the same two movies and allowed me to have my spot held so I could get out of line to get her autograph. When I went to meet her she was surprised when I asked for her autograph, and she kindly signed one for me. I thought that was cool.

I then went back to George Romero's line and as I did, Romero had just returned. Even though Romero's line was long it was worth it to meet him and shake his hand. I told him that I was amazed at how well he directed Night of the Living Dead. I asked him what is was like directing it and he said he enjoyed making it and that he was real lucky it came out good even though he didn't get paid for making it (the copyright was accidentally removed from the title card in the film, so as a result it wasn't copyrighted). I then shook his hand and thanked him. After that I was about to leave, so I called for my ride to come pick me up.

I then noticed Zoë Bell and remembered that I wanted to meet her since she was in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof and I wanted to ask her what it was like to work with him. She was busy with another customer, so as I was waiting I noticed that Adam Green next door was signing for free. I was surprised, but very glad. I got in his line and decided I'd see Zoë Bell later. I was able to take a picture of Adam Green and got a signed Hatchet II poster for free. He was very friendly. I was thrilled about this but getting nervous I'd miss my ride. I then went back to Zoë Bell to say hi. She told me about Quentin Tarantino and said that he "loves to make movies" was his attitude. I was glad to hear this. She also told me she did a stunt double for the two female leads in Inglourious Basterds. She was charging $25 for the cheapest autograph so there was no way I'd get one, but she was still very nice to me. After that, I left and I did not miss my ride so I was happy.

I thought I did pretty well this year. It was sad that everyone was charging so much money for their autograph and their lines were long, so I only ended up buying myself two autographs and got three for free (the two small roles in Survival of the Dead/Land of the Dead and Adam Green).

~ Juli

Destruction of History

2010-10-14T12:47:00.000-04:00

Many people get autographs and other historical items framed thinking it will be nice to have on display. Many items of historical value are displayed in museums but they use expensive means of protecting the items so that displaying them won’t hurt their condition. While it’s nice to display certain historical items in private homes, I strongly feel it is much better to display quality reproductions instead of the originals because most people are unable to afford the necessary protection for their framed items.

Autographs are often items that people display in frames. Signed photos are perhaps the most common signed item that is displayed, followed by signatures on a piece of paper. Although not all autographs are historically important, many of them are. I am not too concerned about a photo signed by the Twilight cast fading, but I am concerned about a photo signed by Dick Winters fading.

Many people do not know that sunlight and florescent lights are bad for signed items. Sunlight causes ink, paper and color photos to fade. The pigments in the ink and color photo are instable and when they are hit with the UV rays that are in sunlight they fade. Paper also deteriorates when exposed to UV radiation as paper often has acid in it, and that acid get activated quicker when it’s exposed to sunlight. It is often stated that the item should be displayed out of direct sunlight, but that is not enough. The item should also not be near sunlight. If an item is displayed in a room where no sunlight comes in, then you have to remember that florescent lights are also bad. Florescent lights are almost as bad as sunlight. A lot of people are not aware of this but it is true. These florescent lights are often found in offices where people often hang framed items on their office walls.

Many people are not aware that the frames you buy in the store do not protect the items against sunlight or florescent light. Even if you get something professionally framed, the glass is not fade resistant even if it says UV protected as it is only UV protected to a certain degree. The professionally framed item is NOT safe to display in areas where there is sunlight or florescent lights.

I have seen a faded 8 x 10 photo that New Kids on the Block signed (good thing they aren’t historically significant). One of the band members signed it in red, another in blue and the other three in black sharpie. The photo was a glossy black and white photo of the band. This photo was displayed in direct sunlight for a few months after the owner originally got it signed in person in the 1980s. The red signature had completely disappeared after three to four months, the blue signature still looked fine, and the black signatures were a shade or two lighter. This was only after a few months! The owner took it off the wall after realizing that the signatures were fading. Some people may have autographed items displayed and even after noticing the signatures are fading, they don’t know that the fading is caused by sunlight so they remain on the walls and fade more and more.

What is very unfortunate is that many people who own historically important documents don’t know that displaying them can ruin them. Such historical treasures can include a letter handwritten by Dick Winters about his experiences in World War II or a Casablanca movie photo signed by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Even though people have the money to buy these items, they often don’t have the knowledge about how to protect them. A lot of times signed items are inherited and recipient thinks “cool, I should frame this Abraham Lincoln letter up” only to find out a few years later that nearly all the writing on that Lincoln letter about Gettysburg has faded and is barely readable. I am sure similar situations are occurring all over the world. I am very sad to even think about it, but it is true. The more these items fade, the more we lose history. I strongly recommend that if you own a signed item, that you display a reproduction of it, and hide the original in a safe dark place. When the reproduction fades, you can always replace it with another.

~ Juli

Movie Updates

2010-10-09T21:19:00.002-04:00

Since my last post dealt with watching the IMDb Top 250 I figured I would give you an update as I watched two more of those films.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - 8/10 (Library DVD)

This was a very good movie and I really found it fascinating to watch. I didn't realize there was a book until after watching to film, so I am going to be reading it soon.

In Bruges - 7/10 (Library DVD)

This film was good but not great. I enjoyed it for what it was but saw nothing that made me think this was more than an average film.

*****

I watched a couple films in the theater this week, so here is my report on those.

The Town - 8/10

Very entertaining and a very good film. I really enjoyed this one. I really like that it took place in Boston and it even had a Fenway Park scene. I liked the characters and sequence of events in this film. It was a lot of fun to watch the chase scenes and the dilemmas in which the characters were involved. I hope this gets nominated for Best Picture.

Animal Kingdom - 7/10

I heard Oscar buzz about this film and also thought the storyline sounded interesting so I had to go see this. I expected this film to be at least 8/10 but I was disappointed. I think the reason this film felt average to me was that I didn't care about the characters. When bad things happened to them I didn't feel any symphony for them. I also felt this film was a little dull. It had a good story but I felt it could have been more entertaining/interesting. I surely hope this does NOT win Best Picture because there were at least 5 films I saw this year that were definitely better than this.

*****

I also saw Night of the Living Dead (yes, the George A. Romero 1968 Black and White film). I was going to watch this on Library DVD but before the library had it ready for me, I discovered it on TV. It was on one of those channels that plays movies complete without commercials. I wanted to see this film because George A. Romero is going to be at a convention that I'll be going to in a week. If this was an excellent film then I would decide that it was worth buying an autograph from George A. Romero when I met him. It turns out this film was good, but not great.

Night of the Living Dead - 7/10

As an independent film, this is very good. Compared to movies in general it is average to me. I enjoyed it for what it was, but there were many slow moments in it. It was only scary for jumps and this film probably wouldn't give one nightmares unless they were little kids. Being a movie about zombies, this is a very good effect. It it very difficult in my opinion to make a decent movie about zombies. This is among the best when it comes to zombie films.

~ Juli

What I thought the Holocaust was when I was twelve years old

2010-10-05T11:17:00.000-04:00

The first time I ever heard of the Holocaust was when I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. at age twelve. I went with my family and we were each given an ID card of a person who was in the Concentration Camps. The card gave the story about the person and on the last page it told you if that person survived or became a victim of the Holocaust. I remember the person giving us the cards telling us that most of the people died. The cards had 4 pages. You read the first page on the first floor of the museum, and then when you got to the second floor of the museum you read the second page. The final floor was the fourth floor and that was when you found out if your person died.

On the first floor we saw these drawings. When I heard the term Concentration Camps I thought it was a place where children went to camp like American children who go to camp in the summer. I thought people died in the camps because they got sick like sometimes one gets sick at summer camp. I also thought it was optional for these kids to go to camp. I was surprised at how many children died during the Holocaust (1.5 million) and thought about how come they didn’t just send the children home from camp after they started dying. In reality these drawings were the Children’s Tile Wall which was created as a memorial for the children who died in the Holocaust. When I saw these drawings I thought that the children in the camps drew them as an arts and crafts project.

I also remember seeing a pile of shoes. I was curious why they had so many shoes and why people took them off and piled them up. I figured they just collected them before the kids went swimming and forgot to give them back. I thought that this camp the kids went to wasn’t that much fun of a camp and I kept thinking about how come they didn’t send the kids home.

It never crossed my mind that adults also died in the Holocaust (except perhaps the few councilors and people that would work at a summer camp). I thought it was all mostly children. I never knew that about 11 million people died in the Holocaust all together. I just knew about the 1.5 million children.

I remember when we went to the Holocaust Museum we all got very bored by the time we were on the second floor because none of us knew what the Holocaust was or what it was about. My father was the only one who wanted to see the rest of the Museum so we all went back down to the first floor and waited until he was finished. We all looked at our cards and the person I got died. I think only one person in my family got someone who had lived. After we looked at our cards, we really wanted to go back to our hotel, but Dad was still looking around. To us this seemed to be an hour of waiting.

This is what I remember from the first time I heard of the Holocaust. I didn’t really learn anything about it that day. The first time I actually learned about it was about a year later when I was in 7^th grade and we read the Diary of Anne Frank.

~ Juli

Flea Market Stories

2010-10-03T20:46:00.003-04:00

Today I went to the indoor flea market. I got there as soon as it opened so that was good. Overall I spent $19.50 and made $53 selling some of my stuff. I was at the flea market for about one and a half hours.

The first thing I did was sell some of my coins/currency to one of the coin dealers. He wasn't interested in my Confederate currency, but he did buy my loose coins (two silver dimes and wheat pennies) for $3 and a $1 Hawaii note for $20. I was pleased since the loose coins were all found in change over the years, thus obtained for only face value. I paid $18 for the Hawaii note so I made $2 on that. Overall I made $5 profit from this dealer.

I then went to the other coin dealer who was interested in my Confederate Currency. He bought all of it except one that was in really worn shape. I paid $25 for the $10 Confederate note, and had the three remaining Confederate Bond Coupons (I already made a $10 profit on these last time I sold one at a flea market). He gave me $30 for all of it. So I made a $5 profit.

I went through the whole indoor flea market and only bought one thing indoors and that was a paperback copy of The Diary of Anne Frank (my favorite book of all time) for $1. I then saw that they had some outdoor dealers so I went outside to the outdoor part of the flea market. I found some foreign currency. I got a Japanese 1000 Yen note in almost uncirculated condition and a Morocco 100 Francs 1943 note for my personal collection. I also got a French 1939 note, an Algerian 1942 note, a Military Italian 1944 note, and an English 5 pound note which I am currently selling on eBay. I paid $15 for all of the foreign currency.

I tried to sell the guitar and record player but both dealers were not at the fleas market today. I was a little sad about that.

Before I left the flea market I met a World War II veteran there. I could tell he was a World War II veteran because he had a hat that said World War II veteran. He was not only in World War II, but also the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was a very nice man. He told me that he was in the Army Air Corps during World War II and was stationed in Europe (He mentioned England, France, Belgium among others). I asked if he was involved in the D-Day invasion and he told me that he was. He was also involved in the Battle of the Bulge. He was a Colonel in the 514 Bomb Squad. I asked him for his autograph and he was very kind to give it to me. I was so happy to have met this hero. I told him that he was a hero but he didn't believe he was, so I said that he was my hero and that he's a brave man for fighting for our country. He allowed me to give him a hug and I shook his hand. I'm very glad to have bumped into this man today.

~ Juli

The Social Network

2010-10-02T14:07:00.002-04:00

This was my first time back in the movie theater since two months ago when I saw Inception for the second time. So it was nice to finally get to see a movie I actually wanted to see. This whole summer I've only seen two different movies and they were Toy Story 3 (seen twice), and Inception (seen twice). Let's hope the Fall brings more movies that I go see.

The Social Network - 8/10

I hate to admit this, but I sort of expected this to be at least an 8/10 because of all the excellent reviews it got. I really like movies based on true events so that was one thing that made me want to see this. I also really admire David Fincher so I knew this had to be good because I have never seen a David Fincher movie that was less than 8/10 for me. I was right, this was very good. If it was anything lower I would have been quite disappointed. With that being said, I am pleased that it turned out to be a very good movie.

This movie as many of you probably know is about the people who created Facebook. I knew very little about the story, so going into this movie made the story all new to me. All I knew previously was that Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin were in college when they developed Facebook and made over a billion dollars on the idea. This movie definitely made for an interesting story as Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin had some trouble getting along with each other. I heard that Mark Zuckerberg in real life did not like the idea of this movie being made, and after seeing the film I can see why. I can definitely see this movie getting nominated for Best Picture.

~ Juli

The Titanic

2010-09-29T12:32:00.002-04:00

I have a great interest in the Titanic and its history. The Titanic has always interested me since learning about it in third grade. I learned that in 1987 the wreck of the Titanic was found in the Atlantic Ocean a few miles below. It broke into two pieces when it sank. The stern section is in very bad condition because as it sank it was still full of air so it sort of exploded into pieces. The bow section is in much better shape because it was already filled with water as it sank.

Something that has always bothered me was the fact that if they just leave the ship down in the ocean it will all turn to dust within the next 100 years. I don't want this great piece of history to go to waste. Some people argue that it's a memorial site and it's sacred. However, many shipwrecks where people died have been brought back to the surface to be persevered so that future generations can learn about them and see them. They also make these museums into memorial sites so we can remember the victims.

I think what they should do is find a way to get the Titanic to the surface without causing too much damage to it. I heard that this is very difficult but with the technology we have today it can be done if people are careful and know what they are doing. Once they raise the Titanic, they should clean it up and place it in a museum. The contents of the Titanic will be placed in the ship where they most likely were when it sank. They will restore the ship as best as they can to the condition it was in right after it sank. It will still be broken into two (rather than put back together) so that people can see how it sank, and the area that hit the iceberg will be left alone so people can see the impact. What will be done is cleaning up all the dirt and junk that got on it from sitting under the ocean for the past nearly 100 years. This way future generations can see this great ship and what it looked like in person. They can also see the types of items people used on the ship.

Having a museum ship (also known as a memorial ship) for the Titanic is a really great way to learn about history and what happened. It also better preserves the memories of those lost. Saving the ship will allow people to remember it better than if it all just turned to dust and all we had were just pictures of it. Admission can be charged to go to the museum so that the cost of raising the ship can be paid off.

I would certainly pay to go to this Titanic museum. I really hope they decide to do this and not let the Titanic root to nothing.

~ Juli

My Dream – September 24th, 2010 between the hours of 6:00AM-8:45AM

2010-09-24T09:56:00.003-04:00

It is Sunday and I notice in my room that all my movie posters have started to fall down. My Schindler’s List poster tore as it was falling down. Everything else on my walls did not start to fall down and I found that odd as I used the same tape to tape everything up on my walls. I tried putting the posters back up on my walls and then I decided to go outside to the front yard. I had some stuff I wanted to get rid of and decided to set it up on a table for a potential yard sale in the future. As I was getting stuff on a second table, people already started showing up asking me how much stuff was. Originally I was going to tell them it was not ready but I figured if they were already here I should try to get rid of some stuff. It didn’t hurt to sell some of the stuff before the yard sale. Then more people started coming and there was soon a swarm of people. What was weird was that we didn’t advertise this yard sale at all as we were not planning to have it until the next Saturday. I wasn’t even sure if we were going to have it. I was just cleaning my room and decided to set stuff up and then later ask Mom and Dad if we could have another yard sale. The yard sale was so crowded with people. I then left and went to my room to see how my posters were doing. They were fine. I was just sad my Schindler’s List poster had a tear in it.

I was now at the mailbox at around 5pm and got out of Dad’s car to go check the mail. Dad was nice enough to drive me as I was annoyed with walking down and finding no mail in the mailbox. I was very surprised and excited to see the mail truck finally at our mailbox. There was this other truck in front of the mail truck. It was a light brown truck and appeared to look like a moving truck. It turned out to be the truck with the mail and mail carrier. The lady at the mailbox (she’s met me a few times before, so she knew who I was) handed me a package and said “here you got something” and when I looked at it I knew it was the Band of Brothers single film cell that I had ordered on eBay. I was very happy at how quickly it came. She also had a package for a relative of mine (I think it was Aunt Jennifer) and she mentioned it to me, but since Aunt Jennifer doesn’t live in our neighborhood she had no need to give it to me because it was her job to deliver it to Aunt Jennifer. What was weird was that all the mail was in this other truck and not the regular mail truck behind it. The regular mail truck seemed to have nothing to do with the mail other than follow this other truck. It was kind of like one of those inspection guys who follow the mail truck but instead the mail truck was following the other truck. I then asked her about my regular mail and she said it was getting late but she appeared to be going through it. I asked her if she would deliver my mail but she didn’t answer me. The lady told me to sit with her in the back of the truck as she was sorting the mail. There were two other people in that truck, a guy and another lady. The other lady also was in the back of the truck and the man was the driver. This truck was like a small moving truck with nothing but two bins full of mail in the back of the truck and two seats.

I originally was sitting in one of the two seats in the back of the truck with the lady who handed me my package. The other lady was sitting in the front next to the driver. All of a sudden the doors closed and we began moving. I asked the driver where we were going. He would not tell me. I told him that I need to be home because my parents would be worried about me. He said nothing. I then tried talking to the lady who sat next to me. She seemed somewhat helpful by suggesting that I try calling them. I took out my iPhone but found out there was no service even though we were on the same highway I go on to getting to my work. I was very surprised and very sad. I was thinking that perhaps I had no service because of the metal exterior of the truck covering us up. As I was looking at my iPhone I noticed that I suddenly had an iPad. I thought this was odd but it made sense because iPads cannot call. I tried checking the internet but I realized that wouldn’t work since there were no Wi-Fi hotpots around. I then found my iPhone and it turned into a calculator so it was useless.

As we were riding along the highway I got up front and sat next to the driver. The other lady went to the back of the truck and sat where I sat. I think we went to a gas stop and that was why I was allowed to move. As we started driving again I again asked the driver if he could please take me home and asked where we were going. He refused to answer me. I then told him about how upset my father would be since he was a cop. He didn’t seem to care because he said that I was the one breaking the law by getting inside the truck. I then reminded him that the lady in the back told me to get in the truck so I could get my mail. He said that it didn’t matter and that I was going to jail. I was very scared because I thought of how upset my parents would be that I got involved with all this. I then realized in the end my father would get me out of jail because I did nothing wrong and he knew how to fight it in court. I was still very nervous because I had no idea where I was going and what was going to happen to me.

After about a 15-30 minute ride we arrive at some building. During the ride we went past Kohl’s in Millbury so I knew we were a little far. I was in a room now with just the driver. I was locked inside with him. He was sitting there doing work. I sat there wondering how I was going to get home. I tried talking to the guy asking him if I could go home now. The guy told me that I could not go home. I asked him what he needed me for but he didn’t answer. I was very sacred now.

Then the lady and the other lady who was now a man came into the room. I got a little hopeful thinking that they would be a little friendlier than the driver. I talked to the lady and asked her if she could bring me home. She told me that only the driver could drive the truck so she could not bring me home. She was nice though so I thought perhaps she’d let me get my mail. We were now in the back of the truck again. I asked her why she didn’t finish delivering my mail and she told me because they had to go. I asked if she knew where we were but she did not know as we were not at the main post office as we were supposed to be. She told me that the mail likely would not be delivered today as it was too late and that it would probably get delivered tomorrow. I asked her if she could get me my mail and she said she would look for it in the two bins. The truck started moving again and the driver and the other lady who was now a lady again was in the truck. I was now sitting in front with the driver and the nicer lady was in the back with the other lady. She told me that she would look through the bins and hand me each mail piece that was addressed to my last name. She had to give it to me beside my seat so the driver didn’t see it. As she was looking through the bins she handed me some dog chew toy that was shaped like a hamburger. I found this odd but I accepted it. She then handed me something else random and then after that she told me that she could not find my mail. She only looked through one bin and I told her it was likely in the second bin but by that time we stopped and went inside to another building. It was very similar to the other one so I didn’t know if the driver drove all around for nothing and came back or if we were at another location. I was getting really nervous as I had no idea where I was.

We went inside and I was now in a room with windows with the two ladies. The nicer lady suggested trying again to call my parents to see if I could get a ride. I told them that they would be worried sick about me. I also told her I had no idea where I was. I took out my iPhone and it was now an iPhone rather than a calculator. I forgot that my iPhone could tell me where I was located so I called home not even thinking about seeing where I was first. Luckily I had service now. I tried calling Home first by dialing the number using the number pad forgetting that I already had it in my contacts. It was not a success so I tried calling Dad next and as I was dialing his number using the number pad I realized that I had everyone in my contacts so I went into my contacts and select Dad to call him. I realized right after I selected the number that I called his work rather than his cell phone. It turned out that is was alright because Dad picked up. I was surprised that he was still at work. I told him that I was under house imprisonment and at some place about 15-30 minutes away from home. I told him we went past Kohl’s in Millbury. He then started telling me about something about finishing his farm [which made no sense because my father does not have a farm] and then I remembered to ask him about the yard sale and how it went. As soon as I did that I lost him. I then woke up and was thrilled to find out this was all a dream.

~ Juli

2010 - Is this the worst year in movies?

2010-09-23T14:01:00.002-04:00

At least for the time I've been going to the movies, there have been probably the fewest "good" movies in 2010 than any other year for me. For the fun of it, I'm going to go through the past ten years and list films that I rate a 9/10 or higher and also list the films from each of those years that I rate 8/10 or higher.

2010 – (1) Toy Story 3 (9/10)
(3) Inception (8/10)
Kick-Ass (8/10)
The Ghost Writer (8/10)

2009 – (2) Inglourious Basterds (11/10) + Angels & Demons (9/10)
(11) The Hangover (8.5/10)
The Hurt Locker (8.5/10)
Moon (8.5/10)
Up (8/10)
(500) Days of Summer (8/10)
Star Trek (8/10)
Zombieland (8/10)
District 9 (8/10)
A Prophet (8/10)
Watchmen (8/10)
Sin Nombre (8/10)

2008 – (2) Slumdog Millionaire (10/10) + The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (9/10)
(12) The Dark Knight (8/10)
Let The Right One In (8/10)
Taken (8/10)
Gran Torino (8/10)
The Wrestler (8/10)
Changeling (8/10)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (8/10)
Frost/Nixon (8/10)
Milk (8/10)
Doubt (8/10)
The Reader (8/10)
Revolutionary Road (8/10)

2007 – (0) No film from 2007 rates 9/10 or higher (I'm surprised to learn this after looking at my favorites list)
(5) No Country For Old Men (8/10)
There Will Be Blood (8/10)
American Gangster (8/10)
3:10 To Yuma (8/10)
Zodiac (8/10)

2006 – (2) The Departed (10/10) + The Lives of Others (10/10)
(6) Pan's Labyrinth (8/10)
The Prestige (8/10)
Children of Men (8/10)
Letters from Iwo Jima (8/10)
Little Miss Sunshine (8/10)
Cars (8/10)

2005 – (1) Munich (9/10)
(1) Brokeback Mountain (8/10)

2004 – (2) Kill Bill Vol. 2 (9/10) + Million Dollar Baby (9/10)
(5) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (8/10)
Downfall (8/10)
Hotel Rwanda (8/10)
Crash (8/10)
Collateral (8/10)

2003 – (0) No film from 2003 rates a 9/10 or higher. Also surprised to find this out.
(3) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (8/10)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (8/10)
Love Actually (8/10)

2002 – (3) City of God (11/10) + The Pianist (10/10) + Road to Perdition (9/10)
(2) Catch Me If You Can (8.5/10)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (8/10)

2001 – (0) No film from 2001 rates a 9/10 or higher. Very surprised to learn this as I have lots of films that rate 8/10 or more from 2001.
(7) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (8/10)
Amelie (8/10)
Donnie Darko (8/10)
Mulholland Dr. (8/10)
Monster's Inc. (8/10)
A Beautiful Mind (8/10)
Shrek (8/10)

2000 – (1) Gladiator (11/10)
(3) Memento (8/10)
Requiem for a Dream (8/10)
In the Mood for Love (8/10)

This is not a complete listing of every movie that I rate 8/10 or higher as I'm sure I forgot a few, but everything that rates 9/10 or higher is complete.

Looking at the list, 2005 and 2003 are actually worse than 2010 as 2005 only had two "good" movies overall (one 9/10 and one 8/10) and 2003 had three "good" movies (all 8/10). 2000 had four "good" movies (one 11/10 and three 8/10) and 2010 also has four, but instead of an 11/10 there's a 9/10. So technically 2010 is worse than 2000. As a result, this means 2005 is probably the worst year when it comes to number of “good” movies, followed closely by 2003.

The best years are 2009 (13) and 2008 (14). Perhaps seeing two really awesome previous years made me think 2010 was a very bad year rather than an average year for “good” movies.

***

Now for the flip side, let's see how the past ten years were for movies I rate a 6/10 or lower. I try to avoid seeing movies I don't think I'll like, so there may be less “bad” movies I’ve seen in the last couple years. As a result I’ve added a list of movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them.

2010 - (2) Iron Man 2 (6/10), Alice in Wonderland (6/10)
(20) Some movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them: Eclipse, Shrek Forever After, The Karate Kid, Clash of the Titans, Grown Ups, The Last Airbender, Sex and the City 2, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Dear John, Eat Pray Love, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, The Bounty Hunter, The Last Song, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Why Did I Get Married Too?, Tooth Fairy, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Step Up 3D and Legion just to name a few.

2009 (2) – X-Men Origins: Wolverine (6/10), Terminator Salvation (4.5/10)
(12) Some movies I know I would have liked had I seen them: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Monsters vs Aliens, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, 2012, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, G-Force, Hannah Montana: The Movie, Knowing, Hotel for Dogs and Madea Goes to Jail to name a few.

2008 - (6) Twlight (6/10), The Incredible Hulk (6/10), Bolt (6/10), Duplicity (6/10), Eagle Eye (6/10), Yes Man (I saw a good portion of it - 6/10)
(16) Some movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them: Horton Hears a Who!, Sex and the City, Mamma Mia!, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Journey to the Center of the Earth, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, 10,000 BC, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, What Happens in Vegas, The Day the Earth Stood Still, 27 Dresses, Fool's Gold, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, The Happening, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall just to name a few.

2007 - (4) Spider-Man 3 (5/10), Shrek The Third (6/10), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (6/10), Superbad (6/10)
(7) Some movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them: Alvin and the Chipmunks, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hairspray, Evan Almighty, Norbit, Why Did I Get Married?, and TMNT to name a few.

2006 - (3 including 1 very least favorite) THE DEATH OF A PRESIDENT (2/10)!! Click (5/10), The Holiday (5/10)
(9) Some movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them: The Break-Up, Failure to Launch, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, The Pink Panther, You, Me and Dupree, Big Momma's House 2, Step Up, Madea's Family Reunion, The Shaggy Dog just to name a few.

2005 - (6) Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (6/10), King Kong (saw enough of it to know 5/10), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (6/10), Yours, Mine and Ours (5/10), The Longest Yard (6/10), Monster-in-Law (5/10)
(3) Some movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them: War of the Worlds, Fantastic Four, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 to name a few.

2004 - (1) Mean Girls (4/10)
(1) A movie that may have been my all time least favorite had I seen it: Barbershop 2: Back in Business

2003 - (5) Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (6/10), Cheaper by the Dozen (5/10), Anger Management (6/10), Bringing Down the House (5/10), Daddy Day Care (4.5/10)
(13) Some movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them: Bad Boys II, Hulk, Something's Gotta Give (I may have seen this but can't remember), Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, Scary Movie 3, The Italian Job, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, American Wedding, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Cat in the Hat, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Kangaroo Jack, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen just to name a few.

2002 - (7 including 1 very favorite movie) BARBERSHOP (1/10)!! Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (6/10), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (6/10), The Santa Clause 2 (5/10), Mr. Deeds (5/10), Maid in Manhattan (5/10), Two Weeks Notice (5/10).
(0) There weren't too many movies listed for 2002 that I did not see that I know I would not have liked.

2001 - (4) Pearl Harbor (6/10), Vanilla Sky (6/10), Legally Blond (6/10), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (saw half of it at a drive-in 5/10)
(10) Some movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them: The Mummy Returns, Jurassic Park III, Planet of the Apes, Dr. Dolittle 2, Spy Kids, Cats & Dogs, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Scary Movie 2, The Wedding Planner (I may have seen this but can't remember), The Animal just to name a few.

2000 - (7 including 1 very least favorite) LITTLE NICKEY (2/10)!! How the Grinch Stole Christmas (6/10), What Women Want (5/10), Meet the Parents (6/10), Big Momma's House (4/10), Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - Rugrats II (I have no idea why I saw this, 4/10), Snow Day (5/10)
(11) Some movies I know I would not have liked had I seen them: Dinosaur, Charlie's Angels (I could have seen this instead of Little Nickey and although I doubt I would have liked it, I have a feeling I would have liked this better than Little Nickey), Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Miss Congeniality, Me, Myself & Irene, The Emperor's New Groove, Road Trip, Bring It On, 102 Dalmatians, Coyote Ugly, and Next Friday just to name a few.

As far as worst movies go, it looks like 2002 and 2000 win for most “bad” movies and both years contain one of my all-time least favorites. Between the two years, 2002 would be the absolute worst as it contains my all-time least favorite of them all: Barbershop! As for least amount of “bad” movies seen 2004 (1), 2006 (3), 2009 (2), 2010 (2) have the least.

Looking at the "good" and "bad" movies put together, 2000 is the worst year overall for both "good" and "bad" movies as it had among the least amount of good movies (4) and the most amount of bad movies (7).

However considering that the last couple years I have been trying very hard to avoid bad movies, the numbers for ones seen are low because of this. If you look at potential "bad" movies then 2010 (20) and 2008 (16) have the most. Given that it puts this year at the lower end of the scale. 2000 would probably be among the top, then 2010 and 2003.

Sorry for the super long post but I was bored, so I figured I'd write about the past ten years in movies.

~ Juli

Flea Market Stories

2010-09-12T11:26:00.002-04:00

Mom was very nice to bring me to the flea market today. I was surprised that it was not as busy as I had expected. This weekend was a big weekend for yard sales, so I thought the flea market would be full of dealers but there were some empty tables. There were plenty of customers though.

I didn't buy very much, but I did get three DVDs - Duel (Steven Spielberg's first film), The Birth of a Nation (the 1915 silent film by D.W. Griffith) and Once Upon a Time in the West. Each DVD was $3 - so I spent a total of $9 today.

I had a couple pieces of currency I wanted to sell. First was a Confederate Bond Coupon Note (one of the four notes I bought a few weeks ago). I paid $10 for the set of four notes a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd try to sell one and see what I could get. I was able to get $20 for it. So technically I made $10 and got the other three notes free. I also had an 1899 Black Eagle $1 note. I went to a few dealers to hear their offers. Only one dealer was interested in it as the other dealers dealt more with silver and gold. That dealer gave me $60 for it. I paid $45 for it so I made $15 on it. All together I made $25! I am thinking of maybe selling some other currency/coins in the future seeing as I did pretty good today.

Things I saw that I thought were interesting:

One guy was selling lots of KISS memorabilia including autographs. Since I am interested in autographs I thought I'd ask what he wanted for a photo signed by all four. Right as he was telling me that he wanted $130 for it I noticed that the signatures were actually printed with the photo even though he said that he got it signed. He had one other (signed by Guns N' Roses) but they also appeared printed. I asked if he had anything else signed and he did but it wasn't out for display so I didn't get to see if it was real or printed. I didn't bother to ask to see them as he wanted too much for them anyway. I also noticed he had a rare Elton John record but he wanted way too much for it ($125). I knew it was a rare record because it was white and one of those promotional records. I would have only bought it to resell for profit as I'm not really into records.

This guy had an old movie poster from the 1940s from a film called 'Neath Canadian Skies but unfortunately it had already been sold for $30. However, he told me he had another poster at home that he would sell me. I got his contact information so he could send me a picture via e-mail and he told me he'd be willing to send it to me in the mail if I buy it. I am excited about this.

I saw a cool Godfather Cadillac 1940 Fleetwood Series 75 (Black) 1:18 Diecast Car Model in mint condition in box but I didn't really have a place to put it if I bought it, so I didn't buy it. He wanted $25 for it.

A few people had some Star Wars figurines mint in their packages (the modern 1990s ones) and I was looking for a Luke Skywalker but no one had it. They were only $3 each so I was kind of disappointed. They did have a lot of the good characters (Darth Vader, Han Solo, C3PO, R2D2 among others) but they were ones I already had.

I found out about the rocks I had since I was eight years old. One is worth $25 and the other is worth only $5. It was neat to finally learn a little about them.

I also saw a couple people selling exclusively Christmas stuff. I asked one of them about the Baby Jesus (blow mold) and he told me that they can be found at yard sales for $10 but if you buy it online it's like $60. I asked why they go for so much online and he told me since the Baby Jesus is small it is the first to get covered in snow and get ruined, therefore everyone is looking for a replacement.

~ Juli

Flea Market Finds and Story

2010-08-29T10:12:00.004-04:00

I spent even less money today at the flea market than I did the last time I went. This time I only spent $19 and I was there for 1 hour and 40 minutes, which was the shortest amount of time I have ever been there. I think the reason for this was simply because the summer is coming to a close and as a result there are less dealers and less business at the flea market.

First I was able to get two more DVDs off my want list. Those two were The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly ($3) and Alien ($3). I also got the movie Cars which is the only Pixar movie I have not seen so I figured I would buy it to watch, and sell it on eBay for a profit if I decide I do not like the movie enough to keep.

I then went to this coin dealer. He didn't have anything of interest except this set of four Confederate Bond Notes. These are notes which one would buy at a certain value ($4 for example) and then later exchange them for more money at a later date ($100) after they have gained interest. Kind of like a a United States Savings Bond but these were what they used during the Confederacy.

The dealer was originally asking $30 for these Confederate Bonds but as I was looking at them he told me he'd let me have them for half price ($15) and I told him that I didn't really want to spend that much money on them so I was getting ready to put them back. As I was doing so he told me he would let me have them even cheaper at $10 so I bought them. When I bought them he told me he was happy to have made a sale today.

At the same dealer, some lady had an error note she found in her change that she wanted to know if it had any value. The note was a $1 bill in Extremely Fine condition. The back of the bill had the face of a one dollar bill completely printed over the back. The front of the bill was normal. I offered the lady $20 for it before she asked the dealer about it, but she said she wanted to hear what the dealer said before she considered my offer. After a few minutes the dealer found the listing in a book and told her it was probably worth $150. She had no idea how to sell it so she asked the dealer. This dealer happened not to be interested in error currency so he referred her to the other coin dealer at the flea market. It will be interesting to see if I see the error note at that other coin dealer's lot next time I go to the flea market.

~ Juli

Noise at 3:30AM

2010-08-26T12:46:00.000-04:00

Last night at 3:30AM I heard my father wake me up by saying “Juli, are you awake?” I must have woken up as I was not in a deep sleep. So I responded to Dad by saying “yes” since I was now awake.

Dad asks me if I was opening drawers, and I told him I was not. He then asks if I was making noise of any kind or doing anything that makes noise. I told him I was not and that I was just lying there in bed. He then told me Mom and he heard some noise and it sounded like someone opening drawers.

I was very scared that someone else was in the house. Dad left and I fell back to sleep with some trouble. I then had a dream.

In the dream it was now morning so I asked Dad if he found out what that noise was or if he saw anyone in the house. He told me that the noise occurred again at around 4:00AM and that he saw an elderly man named Jim in our house. He sent Dad a text on his phone which said something like “Jan [my mother’s name] and Juli - I am out to get you both. You will not get away. Jim” and Dad showed me this text on his phone. Not too long after I read the text, I heard some noise. I saw Jim. He looked like the Hunchback from Norte Dame. At first I seemed a little less scared of him thinking he was slow and weak. I was proven wrong when I ran into my room with him catching up to me. He grabbed me and strangled me in my room. When he got off of me after Dad helped, Jim attempted to do the same to my mother. However Dad was able to get him out of the house, but he was still around so he could easily come back. I was very scared since I knew the locked doors didn’t keep Jim out. He knew of some secret way to get into the house, but none of us knew how he did it. I then woke up.

In real life, Dad told me he did figure out what the noise was. Right after he asked me if I was making noise, he went downstairs and discovered that the power had gone out and just came back on. As a result, all the electronic appliances going back on made lots of different noises. When I went into Dad’s office this morning (the place where Mom thought she heard someone opening drawers) I discovered that the printer in his office had printed a test page so the noise of the printer is what the “opening drawers” sound was. I was surprised these noises did not wake me up, and Dad’s voice was what woke me up.

~ Juli

Flea Market Finds - August 15th, 2010

2010-08-15T11:05:00.004-04:00

Today I did good at the flea market for a few reasons. I only spent $32 and I was able to go through the flea market in 2 hours. I also found a few great deals.

The best deal I got was probably finding this Universal Horror set - it came with the DVD sets of Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man which include the original movie from the series plus its four sequels (each cost at LEAST $20 separately in the store), AND the busts from Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man. I got this stuff all brand new in the box (the dealer told me he received it as a gift a few years ago but never used it so he was selling it for $10). This stuff would have cost at least $100 in the store. I decided to take the stuff out of the box so I could display the busts in my display case and put the DVD sets with my DVDs.

I then found this dealer who was selling newspapers reporting about the day Elvis Presley died. The newspapers were all the same, and each one was $8. Since they were Memphis, Tennessee newspapers (place where Elvis died) and the day after the event (August 17th, 1977) I knew it was a good buy for $8. I picked the one I felt was in the best condition. The guy that was selling them told me he had the Memphis Times at one time reporting Elvis' death, but that they all sold. Only two papers were issued in Memphis in 1977, this one and the Memphis Times.

I then found this from a lady who was selling stuff from someone who served in the Navy. She told me there was a man and a women - they both served in the Navy and one of them even was in a submarine (the guy). I saw this patch and liked it so I asked them how much and it was $2. I then noticed the discharge next to it, so I was able to get that with the patch for $3 total. The discharge states that the man was done with active duty in 1967 (Vietnam War era).

I also got two books. I was FINALLY able to get Carrie by Stephen King ($1) and I also got Christine by Stephen King ($1).

I got four other DVDs other than the Universal Horror sets. They were A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More (one set) for $3, Downfall ($2), Changeling ($2) and A Beautiful Mind ($1).

I felt I did very well today. I am going to have to investigate that Navy patch to see what war it's from (if any war) and what it may be worth.

~ Juli

Flea Market Finds

2010-08-01T13:18:00.003-04:00

I did pretty well at the flea market today. It must have been busier today because it took me an extra half hour to look through everything. I spent two and a half hours there today. I usually only spend two hours there. I also spent more money than usual. I came in with $217 and came home with $75 - so in total I spent $142!

I bought 20 DVDs today at the flea market.

Off my want list I got The Sting (Legacy Edition) for $10 in like new condition, Life of Brain 2-Disc set for $5, Taxi Driver ($3.50), The Deer Hunter ($3.50), True Romance ($3.50), and City of God ($3.50).

I got the following other DVDs: The Usual Suspects ($3.50), The Sandlot ($3), Monty Python and the Holy Grail ($3), A Bug’s Life ($3), Taken ($3), District 9 ($3.50), Gran Torino ($3.50), Flags of our Fathers ($3), Memento ($3.50), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ($3), Easy Rider ($3.50), Paths of Glory ($4), and A Clockwork Orange (white cover) ($3.50). I also got The Simpsons Season One for $3.

For other items, I got a 1978 15 inch Darth Vader (missing lightsaber) for $10 and a 1977 Luke Skywalker Kenner figure (also missing lightsaber) for $10.

I also bought a 1909 Indian Head Penny (MS-64 Brown graded) for $45. Originally I had purchased a 1909 wheat penny graded AU55 for $30, but I decided five minutes later since I already had one like it (except mine was not graded) I decided to go back and exchange the 1909 Wheat Penny plus $15 for the 1909 MS64 Brown Indian Head Penny.

~ Juli

Lesson to be learned

2010-07-21T21:37:00.001-04:00

When I was at the flea market I met this dealer who had two John Lennon autographs for sale. One was on a photo which was also signed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and the other was on this piece of notebook paper just signed by John Lennon. When I first saw these autographs my first instinct was that they were fakes. They did not look right to me. I asked to get a better look at them and when I did I started to think “MAYBE I’m wrong and they aren’t as fake as I had first thought” so that made me want to take a picture of them so I could study them more later just for my own interest. The dealer told me that he has a policy that no pictures are allowed of anything in his tent. I asked him why he had such a policy and he told me that he didn’t want anybody to have an example of an “authentic John Lennon autograph” to compare with questionable signatures they had. He also gave me the reason that he had always had this policy so he wasn’t going to change it regardless of the reason for someone wanting to take a picture. I told him that I had a friend who was looking to buy a John Lennon autograph and that I wanted to take a picture of it to show him so maybe he’d come and buy it if he was interested. The dealer said that people say that all that time, but that if they want to take a picture they should buy it and take a picture of it then. He said if the friend is interested he should come to see it himself or I buy it off him and then resell it to him.

The John Lennon autograph I really wanted to take a picture of was the one on the notebook paper as the photograph was an obvious forgery because the Paul McCartney signature looked very drawn and deliberate. The Ringo was perhaps the only authentic one on there. I am thinking someone got it signed by Ringo and forged the other two. They left off George Harrison so that it would more likely pass off as authentic. However the Lennon and McCartney were way off. Both the photo and notebook paper were $1200 each. If these were both authentic, the photo should have been far more expensive as it was a photo and it was signed by three of the Beatles, not just one. I asked him about why they were the same price and not the photo being far more expensive and he said that he sells them not to be greedy but to just get a little more than what he paid for them. I found that to be quite interesting as most people would sell it for what it’s worth.

The notebook paper autograph had a story with it. It sounded like a good story but I was also a little suspicious as the person who got it didn’t even know John Lennon – just knew him as a “beatlemaniac” and someone he saw on TV. The autograph read “To John Best Wishes and Good Luck to a true Beatle-maniac John Lennon 8-31-75.” What raised a few red flags was the fact that the writing did not remind me of John Lennon’s handwriting (but I felt maybe I was not remembering it since it had been a while since I looked at handwriting samples) and that I had never seen him write the phase Beatle-maniac. But I wasn’t 100% certain it was faked. I was thinking “maybe” so I really wanted to look into it more thus really wanted to get a quick picture of it.

Before I left I asked him how he knew it was authentic, and he said that he only buys autographs from people that say they got it in person from the celebrity themselves and that when he looks them in the eye they don’t look away and they give a good story. This made me think that I was probably right in my thinking that his Lennon autographs were fakes.

Later that day at home I decided to do a search for John Lennon autographs. It just so happens that the John Lennon autograph on notebook paper was pictured online. It even had the story scanned with it as it was being sold at auction. It sold between $1500-$2000 (the man was selling it for $1200 – that should raise a red flag there!) I was thrilled when I found this. I was after all able to do the research I wanted to do on it. So after looking at it, I found out it is indeed a fake as it looks nothing like John Lennon’s signature did in 1975. I also took a closer look at the scanned story which the obtainer signed and I noticed his handwriting (his name was John) looked a bit like the John in the autograph. My guessing is that the flea market dealer bought this for $1500-$2000 thinking it was authentic, then found out later it was fake, so he decided to get his money back by trying to rip someone else off by selling it for $1200.

~ Juli

Flea Market Finds and Stories

2010-07-17T20:10:00.007-04:00

Today I went to Brimfield and spent 5 hours there looking for treasures. Today was the first time I have been through the entire flea market. I learned a few things today. First I learned that if you want to be a dealer it cost $400 to set up! I was shocked when I heard this from a guy who was selling a collection of World War II letters with torpedoes on them for $500. When he saw my reaction of surprise I told him that I was expecting them to be $100 at the very most, and he explained to me that Brimfield was more of a "show" than a flea market and that people know their stuff and don't sell it cheap. I knew he was wrong because I had found deals there before and heard of people finding the deal of the century there because some people there don't know what they have while other people know exactly what they have and charge a premium for it.

The second thing I learned today was that they made 101st Airborne patches after World War II and they have the same look. One of the dealers was kind enough to tell me how to look for a World War II patch and that people often try to sell non-WWII ones as WWII ones for a quick buck. It makes a big difference - a WWII one (which is the one I'm wanting) cost $100 whereas a current one made for today's military cost $20.

***

The first purchase of the day was an E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial two-disc DVD set in widescreen. I bought this to replace my fullscreen set (you'll be sure to see that fullscreen one on eBay in the near future).

Next I saw this beautiful Roman Holiday movie poster in someone's tent. I fell in love with it. Unfortunately it is not original but it only cost me $15 and it looks beautiful on my wall.

I then found this dealer a while later that sold autographs. I love when I find other people who collect autographs. This guy had 3 binders full of autographs. I decided to buy just two of them as the others were either too expensive, I already had them, or I didn't want them.

This is the Alec Guinness signed 8 x 10 photo I bought. It was only $20. I was very happy to get this as he was actually one of my most wanted autographs. This same type of signed photo goes for $75 on Autograph World. I was glad to get it cheap. I am confident it is authentic because it matches up with other known examples.

I took a gamble on this one, but for good reason. This here is an early Al Pacino signed photo. Al Pacino only signs scribbles as his signature and has been doing so for the last twenty years or so. In the 1970s he signed more fully. This is supposedly one of those examples. I can tell that this is not the typical secretarial signature one gets though the mail, so I figured it was worth the gamble at $25. It is also inscribed, which is something forgers don't tend to do when they forge autographs and it is on a vintage photograph so that lead me to believe it may be authentic. The jury is still out on this one as to whether or not I am right about this being authentic.

Next I found this really old French letter. It was written in 1693. This was the oldest letter I have ever seen so I had to get it. The dealer told me he had no idea who wrote it or what it says due to he doesn't know French. I asked him what he wanted for it (I expected he was going to say several hundred) and he said $75. I was interested in buying it but before I did so I tried to see if I could get it cheaper. I offered $50, and he said "how about $60" and I said okay and made the deal. I have yet to research this letter further. I need to find someone that knows French pretty well so hopefully they can translate it for me and I can get an idea who wrote it and what's it about.

I have an interest in these old Howdy Doody toys from the 1950s. I remember them being too expensive for me to buy off eBay, so I never got any. I saw a lady who was selling Dilly Dally and Princess Summerfall Winterspring for $25 each. I really wanted Howdy Doody himself and not so much the other characters. $25 was also a little too steep for me anyway. A few hours later I found this Howdy Doody one in someone’s display case. It has a broken mouth lever but it's all there and one wouldn't be able to tell the difference from it being displayed. He wanted $15 for it. I offered him $10 and he said he'd give it to me for $11 so I agreed to that.

I bought a few other items which I am not going to show images of here since they aren’t as interesting. I bought a few pieces of Confederate currency (two pieces in much worn condition for $7.50 each, and one really nice $10 Confederate note for $25), I also bought a Roman coin for $7, and a scrapbook which included newspaper articles and photos about the Hindenburg disaster for $5. I later removed those pages from the scrapbook to keep them with my collection. I didn't care about the rest of the scrapbook as it was all stuff about a high school in Connecticut - things such as programs to graduation, and plays the school held.

Overall I spent about $200. I think I got some very neat stuff so it was worth it.

~ Juli

Inception

2010-07-16T22:27:00.002-04:00

Inception - 8/10

I thought this was an excellent movie. It was very complex and made me think a lot which was a good thing in this case. I really liked the look and feel of the film. It had some very cool effects which I felt actually improved the film with its excellently written screenplay. I usually find that films that use lots of special effects tend to focus on mainly the special effects (for example Avatar). I am very glad that this film came along to prove that other elements in a movie are just as important if not more important than just the special effects. I hope this film gives other filmmakers like Michael Bay and James Cameron the hint that they should also be focusing on the other elements that go into making a film.

~ Juli

Toy Story 3 T-shirts

2010-07-06T13:33:00.006-04:00

I have a friend who works at the movie theater who occasionally gets me movie posters, trailers and promotional items.

Toy Story 3 as you may know is now officially one of my all time favorite movies.

Yesterday my father told me he saw some Toy Story 3 t-shirts near his desk. I was very excited about them but he told me he wasn't sure if they were left for me from my theater friend or if they were left there accidentally by someone else who visited my father's office. He told me he would find out the next day (today). I was really hoping they were for me but Dad told me that my theater buddy never has left stuff on his desk, but always given it to him in person, and that if he were to leave anything on his desk it would have a note saying it was for me. Dad told me not to get too excited as he really wasn't sure if the shirts were for me. I tried very hard not to get my hopes up but I was really hoping the shirts were for me. Promotional t-shirts are very rare. Not all theaters get them, so that means there are less than 5000 out there as there are 5000 theaters.

Today good news arrived - the shirts were indeed for me! A note was left but it fell on the floor, and Dad did not notice it until today. Dad also saw my friend and he confirmed that the shirts were for me. He told him that the shirts came from a theater in New York as my theater did not get them, and the manager at my theater who knows me contacted the New York theater manager and was able to get me the shirts.

So today when I got home from work, I saw the shirts at my door. I was thrilled. The shirts were better than I had thought from Dad's description. One of the shirts is a child's shirt which has Lotso on it (Lotso just so happens to be my favorite new character from Toy Story 3) and the adult shirt has all of the main characters on it. The backs both have the famous Toy Story 3 logo. The adult shirt has a bonus with the IMAX logo added under it. I know that this is an even RARER shirt as it was from an IMAX theater and there are not too many of those in the US. I presume about 1000 - so that means only 1000 of these shirts exist! Here are pictures of the fronts of the shirts:

The Toy Story 3 adult shirt with Toy Story 3 and IMAX logo on back.

The Toy Story 3 child shirt with Toy Story 3 logo on back.

I am very happy to be able to add these rare shirts to my collection.

~ Juli

Flea Market Finds

2010-07-04T09:34:00.005-04:00

I found some interesting things today at the flea market.

First I bought a DVD that was on my want list - Dances With Wolves in widescreen for $4.

I then came across a dealer who sold all sorts of rocks, bones and fossils. I asked if he had any dinosaur bones. He had a few different kinds. He had a piece of a large leg bone from the Jurassic era but he wanted $100 for it, so I passed on that. He had several dinosaur bones from the Cretaceous Period so I took a look at those since they were smaller bones and cheaper. I found a caudal vertebrae (tail bone) bone from an Edmontosaurus. He wanted $40 but I was able to get it for $38.

This is the dinosaur bone and the documentation. Click for a larger view.

This is a picture of the dinosaur. I got a piece of the bone from the tail.

I then found this really neat E.T. tray from 1982. It was only $5.

I got The Shining by Stephen King in paperback for 50 cents. I've been wanting to read this.

I then came across this really cool Scarface DVD box set. It comes with Two-Disc Anniversary edition DVD of the 1982 movie with Al Pacino, and the original 1932 Scarface on DVD. The box set also comes with a gold money clip (I doubt it's real gold), eight lobby cards and a really really cool box. I got all this for only $15!

Finally I bought two DVDs that I will be selling on eBay - they are the Jungle Book and The Stand (which is out of print and rare).

I felt I did really good today at the flea market. The guy who sold my the dinosaur bone told me he might be getting some smaller bones from the Jurassic Period so I may be buying one of those in the future.

Also of interest at the flea market was this photo album someone had that had a real photograph of Adolf Hitler in it. Unfortunately they would not sell me just the one photo and they would only sell me the whole album which was $100. I passed on it since I didn't want to spend that much.

~ Juli

WWI letter find at flea market

2010-06-27T15:04:00.005-04:00

I went to the flea market today and found a letter written during and about World War I. I was able to get this for $5. It included the original envelope and two four page handwritten letters - one dated 1916 and the other dated 1917.

I read both letters and they both have some very good World War I related content with the 1917 one being a little stronger in WWI content. Both letters were written by Jane Hutcheon (I may have it wrong). These letters were written in the UK and sent to the United States. One of the people Jane Hutcheon knows went off to fight in WWI. She mentions how she wants the war to end but also hopes the outcome of the war is an Allied victory. She also mentions a few of the changes in regular daily life that have been made because of the war - things such as shortages of bread and war bonds. She also mentioned something about an air raid/bombing in London. The letters were a little difficult to read. Jane Hutcheon wrote them to Annie J. Walker, which appears to be her niece. The envelope has a label on it which reads: "Opened By Censor" which means that because it was war time, censors had to open the mail to make sure no information in them got out to the enemies by accident.

Here are pictures of the letters. To view them larger just click on them. Each letter is four pages long on two pieces of paper.

~ Juli

Flea Market Finds - DVDs

2010-06-27T14:53:00.003-04:00

I got some more DVDs today at the flea market. Here's what I got:

A couple Tom Hanks movies I needed (Sleepless in Seattle $3 (new) and Charlie Wilson's War $3). I got Big for $2 but it turned out to be Full Screen so I listed it on eBay.

I finally was able to get Braveheart $5 (new).

I know I bought this before but I found Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier Dual Feature edition which is out of print for $8 (new). I decided to list the other one I already have on eBay. I liked this one better as it have this neat envelope looking cover which holds the DVD case in it. The other one I got was just the case with no envelope looking cover.

I also got The Sixth Sense ($3), The Goonies ($3), The Dark Knight ($3), Brokeback Mountain ($3) Requiem For A Dream ($3), and Die Hard ($3).

I also found Schindler's List on DVD for $1 (without the case, just the disc).

~ Juli

Academy Won't Move Up Next Oscar Show

2010-06-25T16:06:00.000-04:00

So I saw this today and it got me thinking about a few things. Take a look here: Academy Won't Move Up Next Oscar Show; Here's Why - Thompson on Hollywood

I would love to have the Oscars in January. I understand why it would be difficult, but I hate how they are like two months later than most of the award shows. The time the Academy nominations come in is the same time the Golden Globes announces their picks. People lose interest in the Academy Awards if they have to wait nearly two months after most of the other awards shows have announced their awards. Another idea could be to push all award shows to March so that way it all happens at once, and the Academy can still have their awards in March.

Something I don't really like is how the Academy Awards decided to have ten Best Picture nominations last year. I liked it much better when there were only five. It made it much more interesting and fun. With ten slots, especially this year, movies that aren't that good will get nominated. So far this year I've only seen one excellent movie (Toy Story 3) and a few pretty good movies (Kick-Ass, Shutter Island and Hot Tub Time Machine) and one movie I have not seen but heard was very good (How to Train Your Dragon). So half the year's gone by, and I can only think of 5 movies that are even good. There has been only one that I feel actually deserves to be nominated for Best Picture (Toy Story 3). The others are the only other movies I really liked this year (except How to Train Your Dragon which I have yet to see). Everything else that has come out this year is totally undeserving of the nomination.

As for the rest of the year this is all that looks good to me: Inception which comes out in a few weeks, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I which would really be sad if it has to get nominated for Best Picture. It's just not Best Picture material, but a film series that is good. Of course there could be a few really good movies that come out that no one is foreseeing and will become great surprises. They are the only hope to prevent mediocre films such as Alice in Wonderland from getting nominated.

~ Juli

Toy Story 3 officially on my all time favorite movies list!!

2010-06-21T18:49:00.003-04:00

After seeing Toy Story 3 again yesterday with my sister Trish in 3D I have now decided to officially add Toy Story 3 to my favorite movies of all time list. Nothing on the list has changed other than adding Toy Story 3 right under Toy Story 2. So that makes Toy Story 3 #105 on my list. (My favorite movies list now has 109 movies on it. I couldn't keep it down to 100, so I let it overflow).

Since I have had time to think more about Toy Story 3, here are some more thoughts on the movie. Please be warned there are major spoilers. Only view them if you have seen the movie.

(click to show/hide)

Some things that were too funny: The comment Woody makes about "those guys from the Christmas decorations". When Molly gets rid of her Barbie and Hamm says "Dibs on her Corvette." When Mr. Potato Head moves all his parts onto a tortilla and that tortilla is eaten by a bird so Mr. Potato Head has to move all his parts onto a cucumber. When Buzz gets set to Spanish Mode. There were some other funny things in the movie I liked but I am not recalling them at the moment.

I liked the idea they had with Ms. Potato Head losing one of her eyeballs and how she could see with the lost eye which was left in Andy's room.

When the toys seemed to have safely made it to the garbage area I thought everything was going to be okay until Lotso and company showed up suddenly. I was like NOOO! and very sad that happened as they almost made it.

When the toys were on the conveyor belt getting ready to enter the incinerator, Lotso is asked to go up to an area to stop the conveyor belt, but instead he decides to let the toys get melted in the incinerator by not pushing the button and walks away. The second time I saw this I realized a possible flaw - how come the toys couldn't get up to the area where Lotso was asked to shut down the belt as there was plenty of room for all the toys to get up there and walk safely back outside as Lotso had.

I thought it was clever to have the three alien toys move towards "The Claw" once they got to the landfill. The writers totally made me "forget" about them after Woody seemed unable to save them. I assumed that they were gone. When Woody and company are in the incinerator I thought they were going to be destroyed and thought that was the way the series would end. But as the scene was happening with them holding hands I was like "there is no way they would let that happen" and I was right as the aliens saved the toys by using "the claw." I had no idea how the toys would escape the incinerator. Very clever writing I must say.

The last scene where Andy gives his toys to Boonie was sad and emotional. When Bonnie found Woody, I could tell Andy initially didn't want to give him up but after seeing how attached Bonnie was to Woody, Andy had a change of heart and decided that Woody should stay with the rest of the toys, which I agree was a good idea. Woody would have been all alone if he went to college with Andy, and the other toys would miss him too much. I'm glad they kept them together, but I also felt sad that Andy had to give up his favorite childhood toy.

~ Juli

Wish this dream would come true

2010-06-19T10:10:00.002-04:00

I was at work and I noticed it was 5:32pm, 32 minutes after I was supposed to be off of work. I went to see Martha and asked her if I decided to stay an extra 28 minutes if I would get paid for the extra hour. She told me that the extra hour would go on my record and that I'd get paid for it after my initial 6 months was up. I was a little disappointed with that so I decided I was going to get going.

However, when I got back to my work area some guy had just brought in a bunch of old stuff he had. Ann asked if I wanted to do this extra job which was to go through the stuff and separate what was valuable from what was not valuable. The stuff that was valuable I was to list on eBay. I totally wanted to do this job, so I got to it right away forgetting that I was supposed to be done for the day.

As I was going through the stuff at first none of it looked of any value until I found some signed 45 records. One was signed by John Lennon and another signed by Buddy Holly. I then noticed more 45 records but they had fake autographs on them so I put them in the junk pile. Then there was an album signed on the cover by Elvis Presley and an early Beatles album signed by John Lennon.

Next I came across a pair of letters stapled to each other at the top. They were both typed letters, but signed with real signatures. The first one was signed by Yoko Ono and John Lennon. The other one was signed by Elvis Presley and John Lennon. When I saw that I knew it was rare as I have never seen or heard of anything signed by both Elvis and John Lennon. I decided I wanted to make a color copy of this for myself as it was just so interesting. While I was doing that I thought of making copies of some of the other stuff I had found.

After I made the copies I noticed the clock and it said 3:00. I thought that meant 3:00AM in the morning so I had to hurry out because I was concerned about my mother waiting for me. I found Mom waiting for me, got in the car and I apologized to Mom for having to wait so long but she told me she was just sleeping. I asked her why she didn't try calling me to find out what was going on, but she said she did call me. I looked at my iPhone and saw several missed calls. I told Mom that I had my iPhone shut off on silent since I was at work.

I then asked why she didn't go inside to find me, but she told me that she knew I'd come out eventually. I noticed it was daylight so it couldn't be 3:00AM. I then saw that it was 3:00pm on her clock and asked Mom what day it was. She told me it was Friday. This made me realize that I had been working 22 extra hours! From 5:00pm Thursday until 3:00pm Friday. I then realized that I had forgotten to take my copies with me that I had made of the letters and other items. I was so excited to go back to work on Tuesday to finish the job.

~ Juli

Toy Story 3 in 2D

2010-06-18T20:21:00.003-04:00

So I saw Toy Story 3 in 2D today. Here are my initial thoughts:

Toy Story 3 - 9/10

I thought this movie was excellent. I can definitely say it has been the best movie I have seen in the theater this year! I'm not sure how I compare it with the other two Toy Story movies exactly but I like them all about the same I think. I gave Toy Story and Toy Story 2 a 9/10 as well so they all rate equally.

(click to show/hide)

I plan on seeing this again on Sunday in 3D with Trish. It will be interesting to see how it compares from 2D to 3D. It will take some time to digest this film to give it a more detailed review.

~ Juli

If you are up for watching a movie...

2010-06-16T18:38:00.003-04:00

watch Plan 9 From Outer Space or Battlefield Earth. :D

These have been considered the worst films ever made. I have not yet had the guts to watch either of these films. I'm really curious to hear what people think of these movies that have actually seen them.

According to IMDb.com these are the lowest rated movies:

Bottom 100 movies as voted by our users

Rank	Rating	Title	Votes
1.	1.4	Night Train to Mundo Fine (1966)	3,253
2.	1.4	Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)	10,019
3.	1.4	Monster a-Go Go (1965)	2,811
4.	1.4	The Skydivers (1963)	1,997
5.	1.4	Daniel - Der Zauberer (2004)	7,679
6.	1.4	Pocket Ninjas (1997)	1,790
7.	1.5	The Starfighters (1964)	1,692
8.	1.5	Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)	19,658
9.	1.5	Ben & Arthur (2002)	4,423
10.	1.5	Zaat (1975)	2,142

Have you ever seen any of these films? If so what did you think of them?

~ Juli

Toy Story 3

2010-06-10T15:47:00.003-04:00

I can't wait to see Toy Story 3. This is the most anticipated film of the year for me. I plan to see it in both 2D and 3D. If it turns out to be good (rates at least a 7/10 for me) I will be buying it when it comes to DVD. I am so excited for this movie. The first two Toy Story movies are among my favorite movies of all time.

To get ready for Toy Story 3 I will see if I can get a hold of a copy of the original Toy Story on DVD. I saw a good portion of Toy Story 2 on TV recently so I don't need to watch it again to get prepaired for Toy Story 3.

I wish Burger King would come out with Toy Story toys again but none of the fast food chains are doing them due to some conflict with Disney/Pixar. I loved the toys Burger King came out with in 1995 for the first Toy Story - they are just classic! I still have my original Woody in the package from the 1995 line. I also have a bigger Woody (not in package) that I got at a yard sale. I think it's from the second film and from the 1999 line from Burger King. I never did get any of the McDonald's toys from 1999.

~ Juli

World War II Show

2010-06-05T15:42:00.005-04:00

The World War II show was a success!!

When I first got there, the Band of Brothers had not yet showed up so I was walking around in the tent where the famous WWII veterans were signing autographs. I saw Mae Graybill and Kay Bentley who were "Rosie the Riveter", they both signed my index card for free. I then went back to the table where the Band of Brothers should be, and the guy there told me to get in line if I wanted their autographs. The line was fairly long, but I was toward the front of the line. The line later got really really long. I was glad I noticed it when I did because I had to wait in it for at least two hours.

I was able to get the Band of Brothers autographs that I needed. I got Donald Malarkey, Bob Noody, "Buck" Compton, Bradford Freeman, Ed Mauser, Babe Heffron, and William "Wild Bill" Guarnere to sign a few photos for me, as well as one index card each and Donald Marlarkey and Bob Noody signed my Easy Company Soldier book. When I first met Donald Marlarkey I told him that I had a few items for him to sign and asked if that was alright. He told me he couldn't hear very well, so I got up closer to him so he could hear me. His handler also helped repeat what I had said. I also tried telling him that I really admired him and thanked him for serving our country. The line was very long and busy behind me, so I didn't really get to talk to him or the others.

I saw Bob Noody, "Buck" Compton, Bradford Freeman, and Ed Mauser next and talked hardly at all to them as the line was moving. When I got to Babe Heffron and William "Wild Bill" Guarnere they commented on my index cards asking what they were. I asked them that I would like them signed. They looked at it as odd as if they never signed an index card before, and Guarnere requested that I please not sell it. I told him that I wouldn't. They went ahead and signed my index cards after signing my two photos.

After I got Guarnere to sign my index card I remembered that I wanted to take pictures of these men as another lady nearby was taking pictures. I was able to get Heffron and Guarnere's picture as well as an overall picture of the seven men signing.

I then noticed that I had an 8 x 10 photo that I wanted all of them to sign but I was at the end of the line so I asked the handler for the Band of Brothers veterans if he could have them all sign it as I didn't want to get back in that awful long line that was now even longer. He obliged and had them all sign it for me. After Guarnere signed it he insisted that I do not sell it. He was very concerned that I would sell it, so he said that if I did that he would "haunt me." I told him that I wouldn't sell it and that I was just collecting.

I went to get into the line for the Pacific veterans and realized that I wanted a picture of Don Marlarkey, so I got out of that line for a few minutes (a man was kind enough to hold my spot) to see Marlarkey again. I went back and got Malarkey's picture.

After getting pictures of Malarkey, I went to get autographs from those portrayed in the Pacific - Sid Phillips and R.V. Burgin. I also got two others who were involved with the Pacific War - James Young and Katherine Phillips (sister of Sid Phillips).

After that I got a lemonade and went back in to get Richard (Dick) E. Cole after a man suggested that I get him as he was the most famous Doolittle Raider left. I also considered getting another autograph of Guarnere on this very famous photo of Eisenhower speaking to the troops before D-Day. It was $20 and I had already spent almost $200 so I held off on getting it. The only other thing I bought was a program for $5.

After getting the autographs, I walked around the show and saw some reenactors and recreated 1940s buildings. I also saw part of a Skirmish in the French Village (A village recreated to look like WWII France). I saw several planes and tanks. I took some pictures of these. I also saw some planes flying, especially more of them towards the afternoon. There were a lot of people dressed up in military uniform representing the different branches and different countries. I thought this was interesting. There was a man named Skip Adams who was dressed in a very nice uniform of the US Marines. I talked with him a bit and he was very friendly. I then went to get a hot dog and a bottle of water.

I found out that the Band of Brothers were holding a thing nearby the signing location at 1pm. I wanted to check this out. The thing started very late - at 1:30 but it was worth the wait. It was all the Band of Brothers and the Pacific veterans getting together so we could get a nice picture of all of them. They were introduced by name and type and then they had to go back to the signing area, so they told us if we had any questions or wanted to talk to them that we go see them in the signing area. I decided to do this.

I watched for a little seeing people get autographs from the Band of Brothers, then I tried talking to Donald Marlarkey. I wanted to thank him again and shake his hand which I didn't do the first time and remembered that he was hard of hearing when he told me he couldn't hear me so his handler helped me out again. I also told him that he was my hero.

After that I went and looked around some more. There were more uniforms (ones you could buy if you wanted) of all sorts and kinds. There were also more reenactors. I then decided to get going as I found the exit.

I had an excellent time at the show. I got a little bit sunburned as I didn't think to bring any sunblock. But it was all worth it seeing these great heroes and getting their autographs!!

This was a dream come true!!

You can view pictures I took at the show here

~ Juli

Dream Come True

2010-06-04T16:01:00.002-04:00

So it's really happening. I'm going to the World War II Air Show and I'm going to be meeting lots of famous World War II veteran heroes!! I can't wait!! I'll tell you more about it tomorrow after it happens - who I meet and what autographs I get, and whatever else I do there. I know I won't be going on any WWII plane rides as they are $600 (min) and I don't have that kind of money. I did see some WWII planes flying on our way here. It will be interesting to see them better tomorrow when I'm there.

~ Juli

Flea Market finds

2010-05-16T14:15:00.004-04:00

Today I went to the Flea Market again, and found this guy who was selling his autograph collection. He told me this was the first day he brought it to the flea market as he quickly grabbed it from under his bed before he left today. If I had gotten there earlier today I would have gotten "the deal of the century." He had this document from Desliu Studios in his autograph binder which made me ask him if it was signed by Lucille Ball. He told me it wasn't as I was looking through it, but told me he had four items signed by Lucille Ball, all sold this morning to one person at 6AM (which leads me to believe it was another dealer as customers aren't allowed in the flea market until 6:30). One of the Lucille Ball's was a signed check (full signature) he sold for $20. He also sold 3 documents/receipts for $35 for the lot. The only other autograph he sold before I came was an Art Carney (which he still had two more of, so I didn't miss anything on Art Carney had I wanted him). I was lucky though because I was able to pick up the following autographs: Andy Griffith signed check ($20), Eve Arden ($20), Bette Davis ($15), Virginia Mayo ($10), and Charlton Heston ($10).

If I had come any later, I'm afraid I wouldn't have gotten any of those autographs. I was out of money and wasn't able to afford the autographs I wanted. Luckily he accepted a check as long as I paid more than half of the total with cash. It cost me a total of $75. Luckily I had $40 in cash, so it worked out perfect. He had a lot of other autographs I would have wanted but being short on cash, I could only get so many. I then considered making him an offer for the whole book, and borrowing the $100 my mother had in the car but I knew $100 was much too little to buy the whole book, so I didn't even try. I asked for his number so that I could call him later and he told me that he would be seeing the lady who sold him the Lucille Ball autographs this week, and that perhaps he could get more autographs from her to sell to me. I told him I'd call Friday. I'm hoping he is able to get more autographs, and I can buy a Lucille Ball, and perhaps other good autographs I want.

I also picked up some more DVDs today at the flea market. I was finally was able to find both the Da Vinci Code ($3) and The Departed ($3) in Widescreen that I previously could only find in Fullscreen. I also got Apollo 13 ($3), Ghostbusters ($3), Platoon ($3), Apocalypse Now which has both versions ($5), Kingdom of Heaven which was nearly new ($5), Unforgiven ($4), Tropic Thunder ($3), and Dr. Strangelove (new) ($3).

~ Juli

Movie Updates

2010-05-15T10:41:00.004-04:00

I will report my recent movie ratings.

Robin Hood - 7.25/10

I enjoyed this film, but it really could have been better. There isn't really anything "bad" about it, it's just I felt it was "lacking" in ways where there is room for improvement. I liked the setting and costumes very much. I also enjoyed seeing Russell Crowe play this role.

Sherlock Holmes - 7/10

Watched this very late at night thinking it needed to be returned the next morning at 9AM, so I was a little tired as I was watching it. I probably would have enjoyed it much more if I watched it today when I was less tired. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting film. It was fun to watch and actually kind of reminded me of Angels & Demons in parts.

~ Juli

My Dream Last Night

2010-05-14T09:02:00.000-04:00

Odd dream last night. It started out with hearing the news that Anthony Hopkins had passed away. In my dream I had heard he had been sick the past few days, so I knew he was going to die soon. He was 78 when he died in my dream.

Later a UPS truck drives by my house and I'm hoping for a package. I wasn't expecting anything but was hoping for one anyway. I asked the guy who seemed to stop right in front of my house if he had anything for my house, and he said no. As I was getting ready to go back inside the house, the UPS guy got out of his truck, walked toward our house and started talking to my sisters and I. He seemed to be an odd fellow but he wasn't violent. He seemed like a pervert. He was looking in every room of the house, making everything messy. He would pick something out of a room and tell us a weird story about it. As he was going through the downstairs, I ran upstairs to lock my door. Next I went into the bathroom and locked myself in it. I tried calling my father about this guy because he seemed weird and I didn't want him in the house, even though he wasn't being violent but I was afraid he would turn violent. Dad didn't pick up the phone, so I kept trying until I had to get out of the bathroom and go with my sisters to this place with this odd fellow. He took us in the UPS truck, and we went to a funeral. It was set in a church, and it was a funeral for Anthony Hopkins. I had my iPhone with me and tried calling my father again. I then woke up.

~ Juli

Do you watch your movies distorted?

2010-05-05T14:04:00.003-04:00

Nearly all movies made before 1954 were made using 4:3 aspect ratio (or 1.33/1.37). In the old days when you had the more squarish TVs, these films fit the TV entirely. Now that there are wide screen TVs, these films, if watched correctly, will have black bars on the left and right of the screen. I have noticed though that people watch these films (probably unaware) stretched out to fit the new wide screen shape of the TV. I figured I'd show you a little demonstration of the correct and incorrect way to watch pre-1954 films.

This is the WRONG way to watch pre-1954 films. The image is distorted.

This is the correct way to watch pre-1954 films. The image is not distorted.

Most people have their TVs set to wide screen which is alright when watching most post 1954 movies. Some people are not aware that aspect ratios are different on these old movies and they watched them distorted (stretched out) with not realizing it, or if they are aware it's distorted may not realize that it can be corrected just by changing the aspect ratio of the TV to 4:3 or full screen.

Thought this was an important lesson to those who watch old movies on wide screen TVs.

~ Juli

Sad Dream

2010-04-29T09:00:00.002-04:00

I had a very sad dream last night. I will tell it as best as I can remember:

I was getting the mail, and saw the mail truck at the end of our street so I knew it would soon be at my mailbox. Paul, our regular mailman was driving it and waved "hi" to me. I waited for a lot longer than I expected and when the mail truck finally arrived at my mailbox it was a lady I knew driving the truck. I asked what happened to Paul and said that I just saw him so I knew it wasn't a complete sub day...he was there but then all of a sudden he was replaced by a sub. She told me that Paul had a heart attack and died. I didn't believe her, but she was being very serious. I was very sad but couldn't believe it, so it didn't really hit me until later.

When I got home, Mom told me that she got a call and told me that Dad had passed away. I didn't believe her and said "How could they know if he's in Myrtle Beach?" and Mom reminded me that Gary (who was with him) called to tell us that he was having breathing problems and then was found dead. I asked if she was sure and really couldn't believe this because of what I just heard about the mail man. I kept asking her are you telling the truth and she kept telling me if was true. So I didn't believe this was true until I was at the funeral with my sisters. I was still very shocked and in disbelief as this was so sudden and unexpected. I was wondering how my father could die so quickly, I knew he smoked but so did his father and he is still alive at age 80. I then remembered that the mailman smoked so thought "oh maybe it's because they smocked so much that they died so early." I was very sad, but at the same time I was in such shock that I didn't know what to think. At the funeral my sisters and I were discussing who would get the condos in Myrtle Beach and Florida. Since Trish already had a place, she was decided as being the person to handle them since she's done it before and knew how. Later that day, we found a book/journal that Dad left for us that he wrote to be read after he died. As we were reading it, I woke up.

I then fall back to sleep. I was shocked over this, and asked Mom "was that a dream I just had or is Dad really dead?" and Mom confirmed that Dad was dead and I saw the death article from the newspaper.

I woke up and fall asleep again. I think this time I asked about it again, still not believing it, but having Mom confirm it was true.

Finally the last time I fell sleep, I knew it was a dream, so I had everyone in my family gathered in the living room at our house to tell them this dream. Dad was there. As I was telling it, by the time I got done with the part about the mailman, one of my sisters left, and I said "no, stay, it's not over, the most important part is next." She reluctantly stayed and I finished telling the dream as I was waking up again.

~ Juli

Former favorite #1 movies

2010-04-27T11:07:00.001-04:00

On a forum I belong to, a topic came up about favorite movies. I posted my list of 108 favorite movies that I have now, but I also got thinking about what favorite movies I've had in the past. Here is what I posted:

As for former #1 favorite movies (some which still remain in my list of 108) I liked the following at these ages:

When I was eight, my favorite movie was The Sandlot, followed by the Lion King and Aladdin.

When I was 11 my favorite became Grease after we rented it for the first time in 1997.

When I finally was allowed to see Titanic at age 13 (late 1998) that became my favorite movie. Between late 1998 and 2001, Titanic and Grease switched places from time to time.

In April 2002, I saw Rain Man and that became my favorite movie followed by Gandhi and Yellow Submarine (I don't even like Yellow Submarine now).

Then a few years later in 2004 after seeing It's A Wonderful Life a few times, I've decided that was my favorite movie. This remained my favorite movie until April 2009 when it became Schindler's List.

I have kept a detailed list of my favorite movies ranked since April 2009. Before that I only had one or three favorite movies at a time.

~ Juli

Last Night's Dream

2010-04-27T08:43:00.001-04:00

I just had a dream last night that I was riding along with someone in a truck and on the way I saw Jack Nicholson. He waved at us, and then we continued driving. Jack Nicholson was walking and so I waved my hand to get him to come to me. I asked the driver to stop, and Jack Nicholson came on over. I got out of the truck and told Jack Nicholson how much I liked him and asked if it was alright if I could hug him. He allowed me to hug him and as I was doing so I told him that he was one of my favorite actors and that I really liked him in the Shining and Cuckoo's Nest. He thanked me, and before I left, I asked for his autograph. I had a receipt from a bookstore that was on blue paper. I ripped half of it off (it was a long piece of paper) and asked if he could sign the back of it. As soon as I handed it to him he handed it back with lots of writing on it. I didn't realize until I got back in the truck that this was a different piece of paper that wasn't at all signed by Jack Nicholson, but instead some sort of handwritten receipt. It had nothing to do with Jack Nicholson. I was a disappointed that Jack Nicholson had pulled a trick on me.

~ Juli

Un prophète (A Prophet)

2010-04-23T22:38:00.001-04:00

I went to see a film at the theater tonight. Here is my report:

Un prophète (A Prophet) - 8/10

I really liked this film. It was an interesting film to watch and I was kind of surprised about the ending.

~ Juli

Kick-Ass

2010-04-16T21:38:00.002-04:00

So I went to see Kick-Ass tonight at the theater. Kick-Ass was a very fun film. I especially liked the scenes with Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz). She was awesome! This movie reminded me of Kill Bill and Quintin Tarantino which was good for me because I LOVE Tarantino. It was also fun because it kind of made fun of superheroes. I rate this 8/10.

~ Juli

My Dreams

2010-04-13T18:48:00.002-04:00

I had a few odd dreams last night so I thought I'd post them here.

I was at the IMAX theater and there was some sort of party going on. I saw Uncle Mike and I decided to talk to him. I asked him if he sent the Red Sox tickets yet and he told me he sent them last Monday. I was very concerned because I still hadn't received them in the mail and they should only take one day to get to me, two days at the most. I asked Uncle Mike if there was any way I could still go to the game without the tickets since it wasn't my fault they got lost in the mail. He told me I needed the tickets to get in. I was very upset and even more upset that I lost the $95 paying for them. I was thinking of buying a new pair of tickets to another game but then I don't remember the rest of this dream, or if it ended there.

I was at the flea market (similar to the one that I went to this past Sunday), and I spotted a Stephen King book. It was his book "On Writing." It was in brand new unread condition. I looked to see if it was signed and to my surprise it was signed on the back of the last page. It was dedicated to someone and had a line or two in his handwriting, then it was signed "Stephen." Even though it wasn't a full signature, I was very happy to see this and when I asked how much it was, the dealer told me it was $20 because it was a new book. That was fine because it was signed and I was willing to pay $20 easily. I bought the book and was then back at the IMAX theater where I saw Uncle Mike. I believe I either continued my conversation with Uncle Mike about buying new Red Sox tickets, or was just waiting there. While I was waiting, I looked at my book again and noticed that it had been used, but I wasn't upset because the signed page was still in perfect condition.

I was then heading into the theater room where the movie was to be screened, and as I was doing so I saw someone wearing a white bathrobe with signatures all over it. I asked the person wearing the bathrobe who signed her bathrobe, and she told me it was all of the Red Sox. The signatures were real as I got a closer look at it. I then thought about how it was going to be going in the wash and the signatures would wear out. I laughed really hard.

I then woke up.

~ Juli

Hot Tub Time Machine

2010-03-30T21:51:00.000-04:00

Thanks Trish for the recommendation!

Hot Tub Time Machine 7.5/10 I really enjoyed this movie and thought it was funny. This is a movie I might watch again but I wouldn't pay to see it again. There were some good laughs and it was worth seeing.

~ Juli

You asked for it: more sequels to poorly made movies

2010-03-30T15:50:00.002-04:00

There is talk that they are going to make a sequel to the blockbuster Independence Day.

Now when I saw this movie for the first time over 10 years ago, I admit I really liked it. It was entertaining and fun. When I watch it now, it reminds me of when I was young and that's the only good thing I have to say about it now. I will watch it now, only when it comes on TV, because it brings back happy memories of 1996.

Looking at Independence Day I now realize the story is very unrealistic (yes, I know some will argue "aren't all sci-fi movies like that?") and not well written. It's a MESS. Will Smith is fun to watch but come on, his character and others in this film are not believable and make me laugh. They are very cheesy. This movie has a lot of silly things in it. And of course it has the one must have ingredient for what makes a blockbuster today: explosions

Now after nearly 15 years, they thought "remember that movie Independence Day with all those awesome explosions?" and the other people at the studio responded "yeah, we could make that so much better today with all the new CGI and 3D today" and then they said "you know what? That's an awesome idea, let's make it a sequel instead! Everyone will go to see this. It''ll be the new Avatar!" and now they are in the works of making another effects driven movie that is sure to make at least a half billion dollars.

This is how it goes these days. They are looking at ways to make money. They don't care for good story telling or good acting or the other important elements that makes a movie work - they only care for the spectacle - the colors, the 3D images, the explosions and other neat special effects.

The more time goes by, the more studios are adopting this method of producing movies. They see things like the Hurt Locker making next to nothing ($15 million it made at the box office) so they think "we're losing money when we make these so called "good movies" let's go back to making our Transformers." The irony in all of this is that is actually costs more to make these special effects driven movies, yet they seem to be the most profitable. Once in a blue moon, a low budget movie will become a blockbuster and make tons of money. This is the only hope we have in the movie industry today that will save good movies.

~ Juli

Ever make this annoying mistake?

2010-03-29T15:34:00.002-04:00

I refuse to own/watch movies that are fullscreen (pan & scan) and always want the widescreen version. The only time fullscreen is okay is if the movie was originally presented in that aspect ratio which include most movies before 1954.

When I buy used DVDs I typically check three things: to see if the disc is free of scratches/defects, to see if the DVD is widescreen and make sure it's legit (not a bootleg, knockoff or fake). When a disc is sealed I don't have to check for problems on the disc because it was never used. Sometimes I forget to check for widescreen when the disc is sealed because I'm now most concerned with if it's a real DVD as a lot of sealed DVDs tend to be those fake Chinese imports.

Yesterday I made the fullscreen mistake with a DVD purchase. Someone had a bunch of sealed/unopened DVDs for sale at the flea market for $3 each. The first thing that came to mind was are these authentic Region 1 DVDs or fakes of some kind. I took a general look at them all and they all seemed good to me. I then forgot to check or even think about widescreen because I was thinking "these are authentic DVDs and they shouldn't have scratches/defects because they are sealed."

I picked up Love Actually (luckily I only bought one from them, otherwise there may have been other unwanted fullscreens accidentally bought) and was happy until I got in the car and noticed it was fullscreen. I couldn't have returned it then even if the seller would accept returns because it would have cost me $2 to get back in the flea market so it wasn't worth it. I only wanted this movie because it had Liam Neeson in it and it was pretty good, but not a must have like the ones on my actual want list. I would be fine if I never have it in my DVD collection. I would have been much more upset if it was a movie that was on my actual want list, thinking I finally got it, then being very disappointed when I saw the fullscreen.

I am usually so careful when it comes to these things and notice them fairly quick when I am about to make the mistake. I noticed this only 5 minutes after I bought it. Usually I notice right before I buy it as I double check everything, and when I see fullscreen I'll put it back and think "that was close." I have not made this mistake in ages but I guess I still forget to check. The thing that was even more upsetting was that FULLSCREEN was written in big letters on the front of the DVD cover. I'm shocked I didn't notice this before I bought it. Many DVDs do not have the aspect ratio written in big letters on the cover and it's usually on the back somewhere where you have to look carefully.

Does this ever happen to you, or you don't care at all about the fullscreen/widescreen formats?

~ Juli

What's popular isn't necessarily good

2010-03-25T19:29:00.006-04:00

This is especially true when it comes to movies.

Avatar is simply not a well made movie, but more of a special effects fest. Sure it may be entertaining but it lacks a lot of artistic elements which makes a movie good. The only thing that is actually good about it is the fact it's entertaining for about the first half of the movie because of all the visual effects and 3D. If you take that away, you are left with nothing but a mess. I hate when people try comparing this to the classics that are the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars. Yes, the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars both transformed special effects in movies, but they are classics not just because of the special effects, but also because they have well written scripts, great characters, great acting performances, and well composed film-making. The music in both of those movies is legendary. I didn't find Avatar's music all that great, but it was acceptable enough to still be entertained when it was present during the special effects scenes.

Twilight is another example. The only reason why this thing is so popular is because it's based on the popular book series (I like to call it the inferior Harry Potter). The Twilight books aren't all that great either, but they have more story to them than Avatar. The movie itself is just weak overall. It's watchable once and that's it. You never really get into the story or characters, but if you are a Twilight fan that doesn't matter because you are already obsessed with it and will automatically like anything Twilight. They are coming out with the third one, and the fourth one will be made into two movies so they can get more money out of Twilight fans. This is definitely a fad and they are taking full advantage of these young girls that go see these awful movies that have yet to realize what true cinema is. Later they will regret that they ever liked these movies. It's kind of like when Spice World came out, young girls liked the movie because they liked the Spice Girls but after the Spice Girls lost popularity, the people that used to like the movie realized what an awful movie it was.

Now let's take Transformers. This is another one of those special effects fests. It may be entertaining to watch for the explosions and whatnot, but if you were to take them away, you are left with nothing but a pretty girl (Megan Fox). A pretty girl does not make a movie good. Megan Fox does not have the talent required to become a good actress, she just has a pretty face. Transformers lacks pretty much everything when it comes to looking at a movie from an artistic standpoint. They decided since the first one was so popular they made a second one. A lot of people actually hated it, but those die-hard Transformers fans ate it right up and went to more screenings. This caused the sequel to make over $400 million domestically. As a result, they are making number Transformers number 3. I'm sure this movie will be no better than the second one.

Popularity is what is causing the studios to make all these bad sequels, and special effects fest movies with no plot/story. It's really sad that what most people like is not good art.

There are the few movies that happen to be both popular and well made. Such an example is Star Wars (the original trilogy only). The studios took what they thought was popular about this series and applied it to their movies, and forgot about the plot, characters and story because it was too much work to make the movie good. They just cared about the money so they took what they knew fans would pay to see (special effects was the thing that stood out about Star Wars, but not the only thing).

Luckily not all popular movies do this, and there are the few that happen to become popular that are very well made and have all the artistic values well represented (not just the special effects). Examples of last year include Inglourious Basterds and Up. Pixar is one of the few studios that still focuses on making quality movies and makes sure everything is well represented. However, with the news of them making sequels to Monsters Inc. and Cars. I fear they may join the bandwagon and be like most other studios by focusing on getting more profit (save money by only hiring talented special effects artists) rather than making quality films.

~ Juli

The Ghost Writer

2010-03-19T22:21:00.002-04:00

I just got back from the movies. I saw the Ghost Writer and I was surprised at how good it was. It turned out to be better than I had expected. I was hoping it would be a 7.5/10 but was thinking it would probably be a 7/10...turned out it was an 8/10 for me.

I thought the story was very well developed and I really liked the build up to the end. It was like a thriller towards the end of the film and I thought that was very good. I really liked the ending.

Great movie from a great director. Polanski does not disappoint.

~ Juli

So happy the Hurt Locker won Best Picture

2010-03-08T14:13:00.001-05:00

So I watched the awards last night, and was very pleasantly surprised when I heard the Hurt Locker as the winner for Best Picture. It also won Best Director along with 4 other awards. I was so happy. Avatar only won 3 awards, which were the small technical awards. I am so glad a good movie won the award. I would have preferred Inglourious Basterds, but the Hurt Locker was the next best choice.

Here is a list of all the winners:

BEST PICTURE
Winner: The Hurt Locker
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
James Cameron (Avatar)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
Lee Daniels (Precious)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

BEST ACTOR
Winner: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
George Clooney (Up in the Air)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

ACTRESS
Winner: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Matt Damon (Invictus)
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Mo'Nique (Precious)
Penelope Cruz (Nine)
Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The winner: El Secreto de Sus Ojos - The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina)
Ajami (Israel)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Un Prophete - A Prophet (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman (The Messenger)
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (A Serious Man)
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy (Up)

BEST ANIMATION
Winner: Up
Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire)
Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell (District 9)
Nick Hornby (An Education)
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche (In the Loop)
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air)

BEST ART DIRECTION
Winner: Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

BEST SOUND MIXING
The winner: The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

BEST SOUND EDITING
The winner: The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Winner: The Weary Kind (theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart by Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett
Almost There from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname from Paris 36 by Reinhardt Wagner, Frank Thomas
Take It All from Nine by Maury Yeston

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner: Up (Michael Giacchino)
Avatar (James Horner)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)
Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

BEST COSTUMES
Winner: The Young Victoria
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The winner: The Cove
Burma VJ
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Winner: Music by Prudence
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Rabbit a la Berlin

BEST FILM EDITING
The winner: The Hurt Locker
Avatar
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

BEST MAKE-UP
Winner: Star Trek
Il Divo
The Young Victoria

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Winner: Logorama
French Roast
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
A Matter of Loaf and Death

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Winner: The New Tenants
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

~ Juli

Avatar crosses $700 million mark & my dream

2010-03-01T13:04:00.004-05:00

A few days ago Avatar crossed the $700 million mark. This is the first movie to ever do this domestically. It is said that it is expected to make at least $750 million by the time it's finished in theaters. I heard it will be getting a re-release sometime this fall/winter, so it very well could pass Titanic's all time adjusted gross.

I had a dream last night that I went to buy tickets for Alice In Wonderland a few hours early on Friday, March 5th (the day it comes out) for the 6:45pm showing. I got there around 4 and they told me the tickets were sold out. I asked if there was a later showing, but they told me those were also sold out. I was very sad. I then went back to the car to tell Mom and she said something about having a surprise for me which I figured was tickets to Alice In Wonderland because she seemed glad that I couldn't get tickets. Later on I went back in and tried again, and they let me get this ticket that would let me in the movie, but it was not specific for that movie, just a ticket saying I paid the money it would cost. I got a ticket saying $5 paid and 3 $1 paid tickets which was odd. I was happy though because that meant I could get into the movie. When I went to see Mom she acted okay with this, so I found out the surprise was not tickets to see this movie after all, but some sort of cocktail thing after the movie (which was really weird) that lasted 20 minutes after the movie ended.

~ Juli

Pixar's doing the sequel thing :(

2010-02-26T13:16:00.003-05:00

So I heard that Pixar is going to start the sequel thing. I really liked Pixar because they were known for producing original movies each year - things that have never been done before. This is what made Pixar unique and good in my opinion. I know they made a sequel to Toy Story, but seeing that Toy Story 2 is just as good as the original Toy Story I have no problem with a third. It was a rare event where the sequel was good or better than the original. If you look at Dreamworks (no offense to Dreamworks Studios intended) the only good movie they had was Shrek. This studio is known to milk their movies by making many sequels, and their movies just aren't that good.

Pixar is looking to make sequels to Monsters Inc. and Cars, and who knows what else. The thing that concerns me is usually sequels are not as good as their originals. And when they make a so-so sequel, then make another sequel to that so-so movie you are tired of it and don't care about it. For example take Shrek. When you had the first one it was awesome, then they made a sequel and you were like "okay, cool I'll check that out" and the sequel was pretty good, but not as good as the first one. Then comes along Shrek the Third. Not such a good movie, but still made a lot of money and because of this, they are milking Shrek even more by coming out with a fourth. I am like "enough!" and I'm tired of Shrek now because they have ruined it's originality by making all these sequels. I am afraid Pixar might fall into this trap. I really hope that Pixar doesn't become what Dreamworks has become.

~ Juli

Bad Headache & Shutter Island

2010-02-19T21:51:00.000-05:00

I had a headache coming and it was around 5:00pm. I thought of taking some Advil but I had forgotten. I went to see Shutter Island for the 6:50pm showing, and it wasn't until 10 minutes into the movie that I realized that I really should have taken that Advil. My headache was getting worse. I had it the entire time I was watching the movie. When I got home I took some Advil, ate some pizza and drank some milk. After I finished and was getting ready to finish my milk over the sink, I threw up. I think this headache is just making me feel lousy. Hoping it goes away soon.

As far as the movie here's what I thought without giving spoilers. The movie made me think and it was creepy. It gets into your head. It was what they call a psychological thriller. This movie reminded me of the Sixth Sense in a way, but it was not as good as that movie. It also kind of reminded me of Doubt as it's ending is left to the viewer as to what happened. Again, not as good as Doubt either. I am leaning towards a 7.5/10. There were some moments in this movie that were good, and others that were "not surprising." The twist wasn't shocking as one could go "but couldn't it be this..." as they are watching it as I had a little before the twist was revealed. I came back to update this blog entry as I'm been thinking about it more, and I think I figured out the ending. So it's not as ambiguous as Doubt, I don't believe.

I am planning to see this movie again with two of my sisters, so I can ask them what they thought of the ending and what they make of it.

~ Juli

My Dream last night

2010-02-16T16:31:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, I met Malcolm McDowell last October at the Rock and Shock. Well last night I had an interesting dream:

I was at some convention and Malcolm McDowell was also at this convention signing autographs for a fee of $25. I thought it would be cool to meet him again so I waited in his line and right before it was my turn, the lady before me paid Malcolm McDowell in British Pound notes rather than dollars. He accepted these, but I knew she was getting ripped off because 25 British pounds is nearly $40. I told her and McDowell that 15 pounds would be enough to cover the $25 fee. They agreed and instead of giving the extra 10 pounds back to the lady, they gave it to me. The lady who it belonged to said I could have it. I was very happy. It was two five pound notes and I thought they would make a nice addition to my foreign currency collection. It was now my turn to get McDowell's autograph. I realized that I didn't have enough money and only had $10. But since I had the 10 British pounds, I ended up being okay. I gave them $10 and 10 pounds and got the autograph. After getting the autograph I thought "how come I got another one? I already have two" then though "oh well" and realized it was mainly so I could meet him again.

Later Malcolm McDowell was sitting at a table and I was one of the people allowed to sit down with him. The lady who got McDowell's autograph with the British pounds was also sitting at the table with us. I was talking to McDowell and he gave me his e-mail address saying that I could e-mail him and he'd e-mail me back. I thought this was cool as he had handwritten the e-mail address and it had part of his name in it, so it was sort of an autograph. Afterward, that lady handed McDowell a self addressed stamped envelope and McDowell said that he would send her a handwritten letter. I then asked McDowell if I could have that instead of getting an e-mail, and he said no and explained that it wouldn't be fair, even though it didn't make any sense. I was a little sad about that, but was still happy that I got to be part of this special discussion.

I then woke up.

~ Juli

Scary Dream

2010-02-12T13:12:00.000-05:00

This is the dream I had last night, and I will try to tell it as best as I remember:

I was in the truck with Dad and we were driving. I asked Dad where we were going and he said that we are moving to a new house and were going to it now. This new house was a distance away from our current house, like as far away as South Carolina. I asked what would happen with my stuff. He said that the movers went in my room and boxed up all my stuff for me. I was very sad and anxious about what I just heard and was very worried they ruined some of my stuff when handling it. We were moving on a very short notice so that was why I wasn't able to move my stuff out my room myself. I then asked what they did with my collectibles that I keep in my special cabinet. He told me that the movers were unable to carry it out, so they left it. I knew that we had left the house empty and the doors were wide open. I wanted to go back and get my cabinet but it was too late because we were pretty far from the "old" house. I was angry and said that all that stuff was very hard to get and would take years and thousands of dollars to replace, and also mentioned how some stuff I could never replace as it was one of a kind. I was very very angry and yelling and screaming. I then woke up.

I was very relived that it was just a dream. I hope this doesn't ever happen in real life.

~ Juli

Which Best Picture Nominees have you seen, and how did you see them?

2010-02-08T14:47:00.001-05:00

I thought it would be interesting to hear what Best Picture Oscar Nominees you have seen and how you saw them. If you saw any more than once, and/or saw them different ways, please specify.

Here I go. I have seen them all:

Avatar Movie Theater in 3D - once
The Blind Side Movie Theater - once
District 9 Movie Theater - once
An Education Movie Theater (cheap, second run theater) - once
The Hurt Locker Movie Theater - once
Inglourious Basterds Movie Theater (two times in regular theater, once in cheap theater) and DVD (once) - four times total
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Movie Theater - once
A Serious Man Movie Theater - once
Up Movie Theater (once in 3D) and DVD (once) - twice total
Up in the Air Movie Theater (in Boston) - once

If there are some you didn't see, you don't have to mention the name of the movie. Only mention it if you saw it and how you saw it.

Thanks.

~ Juli

What movie do you think will win Best Picture Oscar?

2010-02-05T23:05:00.000-05:00

Just want your opinions. Please leave what movie you think will win Best Picture in the comments. You don't need to explain your answer if you don't want to.

I personally think it will be Avatar (unfortunately).

~ Juli

The Blind Side

2010-02-02T21:50:00.000-05:00

I just saw the Blind Side today. Here is my rating:

The Blind Side (2009) - 7.5/10 I thought this movie was well made and it had a very good story. However I felt some parts of it were a little slow. I was expecting this to be a 7 so I was pleased that it exceeded my expectations.

Now that I have seen The Blind Side, I have now seen all 10 of the Best Picture nominees.

~ Juli

$7 Million away & the Academy Awards

2010-01-31T13:38:00.001-05:00

Avatar only has one more record to break, and that is the all-time domestic gross. It is currently $7 million away from beating Titanic.

Academy Award nominations are going to be announced on Tuesday. I really hope when it comes time to picks winners in March, Avatar does NOT win Best Picture or Best Director (crossing my fingers it doesn't even get nominated for those categories but I doubt that). I really think the Hurt Locker deserves both of those awards. If Avatar should win any awards, it should only be the special effects and technical awards. I feel there are at least 10 movies better than Avatar that came out last year, thus I don't believe it deserves to even be nominated for Best Picture.

If it were up to me, these are the movies I'd nominate for Best Picture:

Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Invictus
Up In The Air (even though I think it's an average movie, it's a heck of a lot better than Avatar)
Up
(500) Days of Summer
A Serious Man
The Road
District 9 (I normally wouldn't nominate a sci-fi movie, but this one was original and well made)

If it were up to me, I'd vote for Inglourious Basterds to win as it's my favorite but the Hurt Locker is the movie I feel actually deserves it most.

~ Juli

BIG NEWS!!

2010-01-26T22:18:00.000-05:00

This just in -

According to the Hollwood Insider, Avatar is now the biggest grossing movie of all time worldwide! - "Twentieth Century Fox announced today that Avatar has crossed Titanic's worldwide box office gross of $1.843 billion on Monday and now holds the global box office record of $1.859 billion." and not only that but - "Avatar still needs another $45 million to cross Titanic’s domestic gross of $600 million, a feat that will be achieved in the next two weeks."

Now my opinion on all this. I'm not a fan of Avatar, but it amazes me that Cameron is the person of all people to top his own movie. I just find that kind of strange and funny. Almost like fate or something. I do know that much of this box office success is due to the added cost of 3D, 80% of the gross are from 3D showings, according to the Hollywood Insider.

Now I really hope that Avatar does NOT win Best Picture at the Oscars because seriously, this movie is not that good. It's a gimmick. The only thing good about it are the visual effects and they wear off halfway through the movie. Everything else is below average. I think it's possible that these numbers that they are reporting may not be the truth, and just exaggerated by 20th Century Fox to get people to go to this. Afterall it is them reporting the numbers. I mean I have talked to people and most have not seen Avatar. But then again, it could be the same repeat viewers. Who knows.

Avatar Beats Titanic

~ Juli

Old Stuff

2010-01-21T21:02:00.000-05:00

So I was thinking about things people used to do and the fact that a few people still do them today. One example being watching movies on VHS. I was thinking so yeah this isn't that old, but then realized some people still listen to record albums. I wonder how long it will be until no one ever watches VHS, or will there always be the odd few that watch those old VHS movies. I think record albums are different because some people actually feel they are better than CD, whereas you never hear people argue that VHS is better than Blu-ray or DVD.

Another thought crossed my mind. It was common place that one would wear an Nsync shirt in the late 1990s, but seeing someone wear one today is laughable. It's because I know someone that did! I was then thinking, that was only 10 years ago, and it seems so out of place already. I then thought how it's only laughable because it's no longer popular or "in." Whereas if I see someone wear a Beatles shirt, that is totally normal. Now if you go back farther and someone wore a Frank Sinatra shirt, would that be looked at as funny? How about a Beethoven shirt?

Also will people still be watching films made today in a 100 years from now? how about a 1000? When I look back and think of the oldest feature film I can think of, A Birth of a Nation (1915) and think of how that is very rarely watched (and the fact that is a very famous film, not just the average movie of its time), that may be what becomes of movies like Avatar in 100 years from now. I wonder what people in 1000 years would think of our movies. Will they find them "boring" and feel that 3D is so black and white.

Last but not least, what's after blu-ray? How will films at home be viewed in 100 years from now? or a 1000? Will the final stop be via the Internet/online? I'm sure discs will be a thing of the past, and all movies will be watched on TV either through cable or a special service that you buy where you can stream/download movies via the Internet. I'm sure movie theaters will change too as in how they show films. They already are converting to digital where all films are sent to them via the Internet and they show them on a projector from a hard drive/computer. 35mm film is already becoming a thing of the past for theaters.

~ Juli

Bare bones if you rent it

2010-01-16T19:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I experienced my first stripped down to bare bones DVD rental. The reason I had not previously experienced one is because I rarely rent new movies.

I rented the movie Up, and when I put it in my DVD player it had no menus, special features or even subtitles/closed captioned. It was just the movie and a few trailers - just like you'd find on an old VHS tape...nothing more. One of the trailers said "If you buy the 2-disc DVD in stores you will get..." and mentioned all the awesome special features they stripped from the rental. I was quite disappointed because I was looking forward to seeing the short Partly Cloudy since I didn't get to see it in my theater. I also wanted to check out a few special features as Disney always has interesting ones. The weird thing is I recently rented Mary Poppins and Pinocchio and they had full menus and everything. My thinking is they are only doing it to movies made 2008 and newer, rather than DVDs made 2008 and newer since both of those DVDs were made last year, but the movies were made in 1964 and 1940.

I was surprised to learn that they make these bare bones DVD for rentals. I did a search online and found out that they made two versions of the DVD - one for rental and one for retail. If I bought it in the store I'd get the DVD menu with chapter listings, all the neat special features, closed captioning, subtitles in foreign language and alternative audio (Spanish, French etc.). I learned they rolled this out in early 2008 because the studios were getting hurt by less DVD sales. In an effort to increase DVD sales, they decided to punish renters by providing them with nothing but a bare bones DVD of the movie and absolutely nothing else (you can't even rewind or fast forward through the movie as the menu and chapter buttons are disabled). They also just recently signed on and renters can no longer get new DVDs until a month after they are released for sale. I think this totally stinks because I have had the Hangover and the Hurt Locker on my DVD Queue for over a month with it saying "very long wait." I definitely do not want to wait another month for new releases as I have to wait at least that for them already.

Before 2008 you got the same DVD that was sold in stores that has all the special features. It was good in those days, I wish they hadn't made things worse. They also got cheap on how retail DVDs are packaged (and its only getting worse), but that's another story for another day.

~ Juli

An idea I had

2010-01-13T23:31:00.000-05:00

Some of you may be familiar with the site Where's George, where you enter in the serial number of a dollar bill and see where's it been before, and where's it's heading to next.

I think it would be really cool if someone made a website called where's the Netflix DVD. They have serial numbers on their sleeves so that would be the number you'd enter. The person who entered it in first would say that they had it and report if they liked it or not, and where they are located. The next person to get the DVD would see that post and add their own. This would also keep track of how fast that DVD gets to a new person. After the DVD gets sent to a new person, the people who have entered the serial number into the system would get an e-mail saying someone has added a new entry after you.

I know this might be a little harder to implement because of Netflix possibly suing and being upset about this idea, but I think it'd be awesome if there was a system like this.

~ Juli

How do you watch movies?

2010-01-12T18:08:00.001-05:00

Since I am not getting a lot of comments, I'm going to make a post where I'd like you to answer the question by posting a comment. I really want some comments.

How do you watch movies?

In a movie theater, on VHS/DVD/Blu-ray (be it rented, borrowed or bought), on the Internet through download or streaming, on TV edited with commercials, and/or on pay-per-view/premium cable? and/or Other?

I'm sure we all watch movies more than one way, so please select all the ways in which you watch movies, with the most frequent way listed first.

~ Juli

Edited movies on TV

2010-01-11T19:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is one thing that really annoys me. As you probably know, when they show a movie on TV on basic cable and broadcast they have this disclaimer "This film has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit this screen and edited for content." That means you are not seeing the movie the way the way it was intended to be seen. I can not stand movies that are edited and hate the thought that some people watch them this way and never see the real versions.

I have noticed that in other countries, including even Canada they show movies unedited and ask for a password so that kids can't watch. The only times you find edited movies in other countries is that if they are on American TV stations like AMC or FX.

Luckily there is this station called Turner Classic Movies which never shows edited movies. They always show them in their correct aspect ratio and uncut. They also show them commercial free. The only thing is they only get to show old movies, so if you want to see a more recent movie, you're stuck with the edited version unless you get it on DVD or find it on a premium cable station like HBO.

I have watched some of the edited TV versions just for laughs and there are some really ridiculous edits. It's really sad to think that this is the only way some people have seen the movie.

The biggest issue I have with this is that I feel it's against the 1st amendment and I feel if they have to show the movie edited, it should be all or nothing. If they don't want to show the movie unedited, then don't show it at all, and show movies that don't require editing such as the animated Disney movies. If their concern with showing the movie unedited is that kids might see it, then have it be a requirement to have a password so that only adults can view it. That's what they do in the other countries, why not here also? I believe people would watch TV much more often and the stations would make more money if they showed the real movie.

Another thing I noticed is that on airplanes, they show edited versions of movies. In this case they can't require a password so kids on the plane will see it. In this event I think they should show movies that don't require editing and are safe for children to watch such as the animated Disney movies. Or they can chose not to show movies at all, and show TV shows or other programming that is appropriate for children.

I just saw recently the edited version of No Country For Old Men now exists on TV. I think it's very sad that this is being allowed. I think there should be a rule, show it uncut or don't show it at all. If there is concern that kids may see it, require a password that kids can't figure out. It seems after two years, the movie ends up on edited TV. I noticed that many newer movies are on the premium stations where they are uncut/unedited then are moved to the edited stations. I wish they stayed on these stations so that people would see the real thing.

~ Juli

An Education

2010-01-05T18:30:00.001-05:00

Since this is a 2009 title, I am going to rate and explain my rating just like I did in my other post about 2009 films.

An Education - 7.5/10 This was a very nice film and better than average but not enough for me to say I really liked it. I liked it pretty much and I would probably watch it again. This movie has its up and downs and is a nice story. I would not be surprised if this got nominated for Oscars.

If I see any other 2009 titles, I will post them here so that everything that is 2009 is included.

~ Juli

2009 films I've seen and what I think

2010-01-04T11:51:00.000-05:00

I thought since 2009 just ended I'd go through and rate and discuss all the films I've seen that were released in 2009.

(500) Days of Summer - 8/10 This movie was very enjoyable and I really enjoyed the story and characters. The ending was a little disappointing but after giving it more thought I realized it's more like reality so now I can accept the ending. My first reaction after seeing the end was "ahh, that just ruined the movie" but it turns out it did not because I realized the movie moves more like it would in reality.

Adam - 8/10 This movie was at my theater for only one week, but I was lucky to catch it. It is a romantic drama where the lead male character is Autistic and falls in love with a neighbor living in the same apartment. I thought it was very well done. Not many people went to the showing, but when I walked out I heard someone say that they only went to this movie to laugh at it. I was surprised at how unpopular this movie was because I thought it was a very good movie.

Adventureland - 7/10 This comedy was fun to watch and enjoyable. I liked the characters and the setting of the 1980s. This movie wasn't anything special to me, therefore it get a 7/10.

Angels & Demons - 10/10 The reason I rate this so highly is because I saw this movie not to long after I came back from visiting Italy where I spent the best days of my life. That trip was just so awesome. So when I went to see this, the movie takes place in Rome and a lot of the sites Tom Hanks (my favorite actor) visits were some of the same sites I visited when I was in Rome. This really brought me back and made me feel so good thinking that Tom Hanks was there (I knew this move finished filming before I went). As for the quality of the movie, it is weak but better than the Da Vinci Code in terms of quality. Being the Tom Hanks fan that I am, I like these movies much better than most people like them.

Avatar 3D - 7/10 The first half of this movie was amazing in terms of beauty. I loved the 3D and the world of Pandora Cameron created, BUT toward the end comes a part I did not like (reminded me too much of the CGI fest known as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). I also had issues with the story and characters as they were not well developed. I feel you need to care about the characters and have a well written story for a movie to be good, special effects can't do it alone.

A Christmas Carol 3D - 7.5/10 I saw this twice, once in my regular theater and once in IMAX. The IMAX experience was far better. I enjoyed the movie and there was a sequence in it I loved that comes right after the Ghost of Christmas Present comes. However, the Ghost of Christmas Future scene wasn't that good. I didn't like the way he was animated and the part where Scrooge gets small is unnecessary in my opinion. I later saw parts of the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol on TV and saw the Ghost of Christmas Future scenes and thought they were far better than what Zemeckis gave us.

Drag Me To Hell - 7.5/10 I really enjoyed this film when I saw it in the theater. It had a good amount of jumps (however some that I thought were unnecessary to the story and stupid). I really enjoyed some of the scenes in this movie where they mix comedy and horror very well. I was one of the few that did not figure out the "twist" at the end, but a little bit after the movie ended I realized it was a very simple story and could easily be figured out. I was surprised I didn't figure it out because I actually figured out the twist in the Usual Suspects halfway through the movie!

Duplicity - 6/10 Originally I gave this a 7/10 but looking back on it, I lowered my rating because I feel it's a pretty forgettable movie and would not watch it again unless I had to. There wasn't anything in this movie that stood out for me and it was alright to watch once.

The Great Buck Howard - 7/10 This is one of the few 2009 titles I saw on DVD because it never came to my theater. This movie was okay but since it had Tom Hanks in it for 10 minutes and his son as the lead chracter I boosted my rating to a 7 rather than a 6.

The Hangover - 9/10 I wasn't planning on seeing this movie until it got this really awesome reviews. So I figured I'd go check it out. From the trailer I thought it would just be an average comedy with one or two laughs, but was wrong. This movie had me laughing non-stop. I couldn't believe how funny it was. I really enjoyed this and plan on watching this again soon.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 7/10 This movie was enjoyable and the characters were likable as is true with the other Harry Potter movies, but this one I felt the end was a little slow. This was not as good as the previous three movies before it. Looking forward to the last two Harry Potter movies.

The Hurt Locker - 8.5/10 This movie was very good. I really like the story, the characters and the look of the film. This movie has moments of suspense that made it really good. I plan on watching this again because I have a feeling I may up my rating. I feel this movie could easily win Best Picture.

The Informant! - 7/10 I felt this was an average movie. It did not do anything for me but I enjoyed it and Matt Damon's character.

Inglourious Basterds - 11/10 My favorite movie of the year, and in my top 15 favorite movies of all time. I extremely enjoyed this movie and absolutely love every second of it. I saw it three times in the theater. With this movie, you either will love it or hate it. The trailers made this movie to look like it was only about Brad Pitt and his Basterds killing Nazis...in the movie that's only one scene. I was glad it was actually what it was instead of what I thought it would be, so I was extremely pleased in every way.

Invictus - 8.5/10 Another excellent movie from Clint Eastwood. If Eastwood had not directed this, it would have jsut been another average Sports movie. However, with Eastwood's directing, he made this movie into something very emotional and very good. I also enjoyed Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela.

Precious - 8/10 Great movie, great characters and great story. This movie was very emotional and very sad. I really felt for the lead character and the relationship with her mother was very well written. However I thought this movie was going to have a very sad ending, which it did not. I was very pleased with this movie and can easily see it winning Best Picture.

Public Enemies - 7.5/10 I love movies based on true events but this one came as a bit of a disappointment. I did not really like the way it was directed or Christian Bale's acting but being a fan of Johnny Depp and movies based on true stories (especially gangster movies) I gave this 7.5/10

The Road - 8/10 I really liked this movie as it was well written and you could relate to the characters. This movie was very sad and made me cry a few times. I however had only slight issues with this...the ending was a bit ambiguous.

A Serious Man - 8/10 I thought this movie was very well made. It was different but really neat in that way. The ending was very clever as it made it clear the theme of the movie. I really liked that. I really enjoy the Coen Brothers.

Star Trek - 8/10 I saw this twice, once before seeing anything Star Trek, and once after watching the fist four Star Trek movies. Seeing this originally I was surprised at how much I liked it never being exposed to Star Trek. I really liked the characters, the story and the photography. After seeing the first four Star Trek films and watching this again, I liked it even more because I got a few of the jokes I would not have caught before. This movie was very refreshing to see the first time because I had seen two bad movies before it.

State of Play - 7/10 I originally rated this 8/10 because of Russell Crowe being in it, but have since changed my mind. This movie was average and enjoyable to watch and that's about it.

The Taking of Pelham 123 - 7/10 I wasn't expecting much after seeing the superior original. I was surprised at how good this remake was. I enjoyed John Travolta and Denzal Washington. Being a remake I thought this was very good. Being a movie, it was average in my opinion especially if one has not seen the original.

Terminator Salvation - 5.5/10 YUCK! I originally was not going to see this based on the trailer but someone told me to see it anyway and showed me a scene from the movie (the only good scene in the movie it turned out), so I went and saw it. It was a Terminator movie after all and thought maybe they have improved on the 3rd one. I was wrong. Not only is it my least favorite Terminator movie, it is my least favorite movie of the year. This movie would have gotten a lower rating if it was not for one enjoyable chase scene in this movie I had already seen on the computer before going.

Up - 8/10 This was very good. I am so glad I saw it the day it came out. I saw it in 3D and it was amazing. I loved the animation, the characters and the story. There were a couple scenes in it that actually made me cry. I plan to watch this again, but I doubt I can ever experience it again the way I did in the theater in 3D.

Up in the Air - 7/10 A little disappointing, but not really. It got a lot of hype, but then my sister and her boyfriend went and saw it and they reported back to me that it was good, and not great. I was hoping they were wrong and it's be more than good. It turned out to be a fun movie but nothing more than that. There was a scene that happened that totally came unexpected to me and I found it very disappointing for the main character.

Watchmen - 8/10 This was the first movie I saw when I returned from my trip to Italy. I'm glad it was a very good one. There were reports about how this movie took on the challenge to fit the original source all into this three hour movie. They said it could not be done without losing a lot. I never read the original source, but I was able to understand the story and be able to follow the characters. I really liked the way this movie was directed and the way it was designed.

Where the Wild things Are - 7/10 This movie started out so good, but halfway though it it got slow and tedious. I was disappointed with the second half but very pleased with the first half, so it gets a 7/10 overall.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - 6/10 Thinking back on this I don't know why I saw this (I had not even seen the other X-Men movies at the time...I later watched them all). I went in expecting the movie to be bad because I heard many bad reviews. As a result I was not disappointed because I knew it wasn't good. This movie was alright to watch the one time, but never again.

Zombieland - 7.5/10 I wasn't going to see this but after hearing so many good reviews, I decicded to see it. I really thought I wasn't going to like from what I saw in the trailer, but boy was I wrong. This movie was VERY enteraining and enjoyable. I really liked the chracters and the actors that played them.

According to Wikipedia's list of 2009 titles, I have seen 29 of them. That's not too bad. I recall last year around this time I saw around 22 of 2008's titles. That may have changed as I may have watched a few on DVD since January 2009.

~ Juli

DVDs

2010-01-03T22:45:00.000-05:00

I love movies, so it comes as no surprise that I collect DVDs particularly those of movies I love. Some DVDs come in nice packaging and don't have icky things about them, and others can have bad packaging and bad presentation.

Things I don't like

Double-sided DVDs - There are a few kinds 1. those with full screen on one side and wide screen on the other 2. those with movie on one side and special features on the other 3. ones with the movie continuing on the other side (my least favorite of all) and 4. ones with DVD on one side and HD-DVD on the other or Blu-Ray on the other. I don't like double-sided DVDs because they are more prone to damage and when I put it in the player I seem to always mess up on which side I want to play. Universal is bringing out this "flipper disc program" for its blu-ray releases by having the blu-ray on one side and the DVD on the other. I am very sad about this because Universal has a few of my favorite movies and when they come out on blu-ray, it's going to be double-sided :(

Eco-cases - These cases have recycling signs cut into them so it's easy to poke the disc and artwork when handling the DVD package. DVDs nowadays tend to have these a lot, especially ones from Sony and Fox. I got eco-cases when I bought Slumdog Millionaire and Angels & Demons. It's not as big of a problem because it's fixable. I just switched the cases out for regular ones.

Anti-piracy annoying ad - This was something found on many Sony and Fox discs made in 2005. It's that annoying anti-piracy ad that starts "you wouldn't steal a car." There is no way to skip it or avoid it and it's not a fun ad to watch. Luckily they don't do this anymore and it's only on DVDs released between 2004-2006 mainly from Fox and Sony studios.

Good things (bonuses)

Inserts - Inserts do not come in DVDs anymore, but a few years ago inserts were common. You would get at the least a chapter list. Sometimes you'd get a cool little booklet or some other goodies like postcards or movie related replicated item (like in Pulp Fiction you got a menu). I have noticed that DVDs that normally came with inserts but bought recently no longer have them. I have this awesome Pulp Fiction DVD set (bought brand new), and it had no inserts but a spot for them. I thought it was odd there were none. A few days later I see the same DVD at someone's place and their copy has two awesome inserts - a booklet and a menu. I was very sad I got gyped. They must re-print DVDs with the same designs and artwork, but decide to skip the inserts.

Slipcovers - These are nice and I thought the one I got with Inglourious Basterds was particularly nice. Sometimes they have stickers on them and they don't come off easy, but other than that, slipcovers are really cool. Just makes the DVD seem better.

2-disc sets with second disc being special features - These are fun when you get the movie DVD and then a whole disc of extras. Sometimes they have these "2-disc sets" but the second disc is a continuation of the movie (much preferred over double-sided, so nothing wrong with those) or a digital copy. I only consider a 2-disc set a plus if the second disc is special features.

Now those are the main things that are negative and positive when it comes to DVDs.

One thing I want to ask my readers - when you play DVDs on your DVD player, does the DVD get warm after being played? I know in some players they do not and other players they do. My regular DVD player does not make them warm at all.

Thanks for reading.

~ Juli