Retro Review: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

Please welcome the first review of one of my Top Ten Movies.

Now, I should start by telling you an interesting fact about this movie and I. I absolutely hated it until maybe two years ago.

I'm one of those people who hates a classic until they actually see it. *Cough* The Godfather *cough.* Okay, well I did see it before, but I was rather young and if you have seen this movie, you can understand how it may scare a 7 year-old (ya know, men wearing astronaut suits barging into a house, a creepy looking alien, etc.). But I decided to give this movie a second chance, because I love Steven Spielberg and everything he does. I mean... four movies on my Top Ten list are directed by him.

Anyway, so that was my relationship with this movie before giving it a second chance. I watched it on HBO (it was the 20th Anniversary Edition with the new visual effects and delete scenes). The day after I watched it, I purchased the 2-Disc Limited Collector's Edition DVD for forty dollars (I had to buy it from a collector since the 'limited' time was long over).

I loved the movie so much. And I cried. And to this day, I cannot watch that movie without crying at the end.

I was watching an exclusive about War of the Worlds and in it they took notice to the fact that my lord and savior Steven Spielberg normally does movies about kind aliens like E.T. and the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I had never realized it. When you think about it... most movies featuring aliens portray them in a negative light (i.e. Mars Attacks!, Monsters vs. Aliens, the Alien series, the Predator series, etc.). That's one thing that I like about this movie... E.T. is the protagonist and he is the hero of the story while 'the Man with the Keys' (Peter Coyote) is the antagonist. We're rooting for E.T.

The cast is amazing! The boy who plays Elliott is an amazing young actor (well not so young anymore) and no offense to Elliott, but Drew Barrymore is the one who makes the movie as the little sister Gertie. She is just so freaking cute as a young child. The rest of Elliott's family, Dee Wallace as his mother Mary and Robert MacNaughton as Elliott's older brother Michael, are also terrific. Michael's Yoda impression is hilarious.

The special and visual effects are really fun to watch to. I usually

have a hard time realizing that the movie I'm watching is from years and years ago, but Steven Spielberg always seems to pull it off. At no point in Jurassic Park do the dinosaurs look fake. I think the scene that I enjoy the most is watch the kids get chased on their bikes. When they're approaching a barricade of cops and E.T. takes over and they start to fly, I get goosebumps. It's such an epic scene. One of my favorites.

In the 2002 re-release version with the occasional CGI E.T., I'm still uncertain on whether I like his CG (computer generated) version or not. This was back when CG was rising to its peak and you can tell that E.T. is not really there. But you have two choices: a puppet or a CGI. The puppet, I think, works best... not with all scenes and situations, but it's what I'm used to. The puppet version is slower and at time jerky whereas the CGI will randomly do things smoothly and quicker. I understand that that is why they put the CGI in, but you can't change his speed on me. E.T. is slow, cautious, and curious. You can't take him out of that character.

Kind of a random discussion there. Ha.

What's great about this movie is that it's so heartwarming. How lame does that sound? But I'm not kidding. I will love this movie even when I'm old and I'm sure that if I wasn't such a scared little kid, I would've loved this movie then too. They aren't kidding when they say it's great for the whole family. Aww.

And that's why Steven Spielberg is a true genius. How many directors (minus James Cameron, who'd I'd say is a close second to Spielberg) can put out the most classic, iconic, ground-breaking movies? Jaws was his first step, and E.T. was his second...

I love it.

Strike 2 for Target!

After work today, I drove around town for an hour trying to find season four of Brothers and Sisters which came out today. My first stop... Target. Why? Especially after this.

Well, like I said in that post, Target is way more convenient in my area (I have two Super Targets within ten minutes radius of my house) and it's 150% cleaner than our only Walmart.

Well, guess what? Target didn't have it. And I don't understand WHY! They've carried season 1 through 3, but when I went in today, I couldn't even find those. Thanks to my iPhone, I was able to go to Target's website and I found that the DVDs are now only available online! Once again... why?

Then, pissed off and upset, I drove over to Walmart. They had more of a selection than Target did, but still did not carry Season Four (or the other seasons regardless). I went to their website. They don't seem to carry it at all.

At this point... I'm furious. I then drive all the way on the opposite end of town to Best Buy. Thank god Best Buy, they had it. BUT they were charging $10 more than Target online and Amazon were. It was the most frustrating day. Plus I was in a car with no air condition driving around back and forth. Add that into the equation.

Dumb.

DVD Tuesday! New releases! 8/31

-Marmaduke

-Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?

-Harry Brown

-Brothers & Sisters: Complete Fourth Season

-FlashForward: The Complete Series

Brothers & Sisters is the only thing that matters here. FlashForward would matter if it weren't cancelled. Haha.

Anna Faris' Top 5 Funniest Performances!

We all love Anna Faris. She is a very talented actress and is most notable for her comedic roles. So I've decided to count down what I think are her funniest performances. I'll note that I'm judging her performance in these movies, not the movies.

Number 5: Hannah Lewis in My Super Ex-Girlfriend

This is why I made that note about judging her and not the movie. This movie sucked ass, but Anna was really funny... especially when she too because super with Uma!

Number 4: April in The Hot Chick

Rob Schneider is pretty much the focus, but Anna the next in line. This is one of her first acting roles in a major motion picture and naturally she portrays the best friend April. "Can I see it? Come on, it's not everyday that my best friend grows a penis."

Number 3: Cindy Campbell in The Scary Movie series

This was her first major hit. The one that launched her career. She plays the lead character Cindy Campbell (based off Sidney Prescott from the Scream series) who, along with her group of friends, is being stalked by a killer. She is the only character (minus the amazing Brenda) who returns for all four movies as the lead. She'll be also in the 5th movie coming out in the relatively near future.

Number 2: Shelley Darlingson in The House Bunny

This is pretty much the first movie where Anna Faris is the headlining name. She is the only big-named lead actress in the movie. Emma Stone (an up and coming star) and Colin Hanks (only famous by his father) co-star. Anna is a Playboy bunny thrown out on the street who becomes a house mother for an unfortunate sorority. She was perfect for this role. She is so fine as a Playboy bunny! Very hot!

Number 1: Samantha James in Just Friends

And number one goes to Just Friends where Anna plays a stuck-up pop star. A total airheard, dumb blonde. She plays her perfectly. And although she is not the leading character (she's behind Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart), she stands out significantly. Check out a couple clips from the movie below.

Rihanna's New Album is coming in November!

All I gotta say is thank god.

Rihanna's 5th album will be released November 2 of this year! It's currently untitled.

Her last album, Rated R, was released only a year ago (Nov. 20th, 2009 to be exact) and... for me... it was a flop. It was so dark and depressing, which I suppose is understandable after the Chris Brown incident.

The only songs I liked off of her last album were Russian Roulette, Rude Boy and Hard (my fav). 3 songs out of a 13-tracked album... that's pretty shitty. They say for her next album she will be going back to her poppy roots, but given her look and songs lately... I doubt it. Her red hair is so lame. Her hair is red and it's like bowl cut. I want her back to her hott and sexy bob cut. And she's been the 'featuring' girl meaning she's always featured in songs lately. Such as Love the Way You Lie with Eminem, Run This Town with Jay-Z, Live Your Life with T.I., and If I Never See Your Face Again with Maroon 5. Instead of releasing her own material.

Come on Rihanna, I miss the old you! I'm excited for your album, but I'm really not gonna get my hopes up! :/

Movie Review: The Back-Up Plan

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

I must say I was disappointed watching the first time, but when I rewatched it, I thought it was so much better and so much funnier!

J Lo. really does make decent romantic-comedies, but she's not always the one that brings all of the laughs. She brings most, but not all.

In Monster-In-Law, Jennifer, Jane Fonda, and Wanda Sykes all sort of shared the comedic spotlight. In this movie Jenn and her leading man shared the spot, but he didn't have quite as many funny scenes as she did. In this movie, the minor characters like her BFF and her 'Single Mothers and Proud' group replace Jane Fonda and Wanda Sykes.

The movie had a lot of funny scenes. My favorites were the birth scene (obviously), anything involving the Babies 'R' Us girls (aka Jan Brady from the Brady Bunch movies), Anthony Anderson's scenes (surprisingly), and Jennifer's BFF. They were all so funny. The birth scene still makes me laugh.

And here's something that bothers me!! What's with TV shows or movies where the woman is having an ultrasound and when the doctor says, "I see three legs" they automatically repeat it as if their baby is deformed? Why don't they just think... hmm... maybe there's a SECOND BABY! Ugh. In this case it was "I see two heartbeats" because they went down there... in the vagina. Vagina, vagina, vagina, vagina! (I'm not being crude... it's in the movie.)

So, this movie is really enjoyable, but it's no Monster-In-Law! But still good. Still good.

Umbridge voted McCain/Palin!

Hahaha.

The Denim Guide

After looking at this, you'll constantly find yourself looking at other peoples asses to see where they got their jeans from! Just you wait!

All brands have a signature stitch on the butt pockets. Well, the good ones do. Here's how to tell which jeans are from which store.

There are plenty of others. Delias and Levi also have one. If the butt pocket is just plan, it's possible they purchased their jeans at Old Navy, Gap, or Banana Republic since their pockets are blank.

Click on the image to see it larger and clearer.

Movie Review: The Joneses

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

I'm surprised by how much I liked the movie.

What turned me on to the movie in the first place was the story behind it. A group of salespeople who pose as a family and walk around showing off their crap so other people want to buy it. Genius right? And so simple. Does this really happen in real life. I feel like it would.

Anyways, that's the story. I thought that it was an indie-comedy when I rented it, but there really wasn't anything funny about it at all. Definitely a drama.

I love who all of the characters had their own subplots. Steve was the newest member of the team and he wasn't that great of a saleman, Kate was the leader of the family, Mick was in the closet, and Jenn was simply a whore.

Mick and Jenn's individual stories came out of no where! All of a sudden, right in the beginning of the movie, when we don't even know much about her, she takes her top off and tries to sleep with her fake father. And then Mick you think is somewhat in a relationship with this one girl, but then all of sudden leans in to kiss her brother while he's drunk and gets his ass kicked. But don't get me wrong, I loved their side stories! They just came right out of left field.

In my opinion, the movie would be much better if it was longer and it was backed by a major studio. If the movie was longer, they would be able to explain how their jobs work, like how they are selected, and there would be a better ending than the lame indie-type ending.

I definitely recommend seeing this movie. It's worth a watch!

Movie Review: The Losers

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

Awesome movie!

I haven't seen A-Team yet, but I'm pretty sure it's exactly like it. A group of extremely awesome military people are framed and they get revenge.

The cast was awesome! Most notable Zoë Saldana! She is soo hot! I also liked Chris Evans... he was funny. Then, the actors who play Clay and Cougar were cool too!

The action was good, the twists were good (although some were disappointing), and I think the comedy was perfectly integrated into the action. Chris Evans was a good comedic release.

Sadly, the movie made almost $29 million with a production budget of $25 million. So they only made $4 million dollar profit, so essentially it's a failure at the box office. What's worse is that they never caught/killed the movie in the bad guy, so there needs to be a second one! But with the failure at the box office, I doubt they'll make a sequel. That makes me sooo madddd!!!

But all in all, it was a great movie! So much fun to watch! And once again... awesome!

DVD Tuesday! New releases! 8/24

-The Back-Up Plan

-Dorian Gray

-Abandoned

-Lost: The Final Season

I want to see the Back-Up Plan and I wouldn't mind seeing Dorian Gray.

Deathly Hallows screen tested in Chicago today!

And I'm majorly jealous.

Why the hell wasn't I asked? And I don't believe Mugglenet.com creator Emerson Spartz's claim that he and his friend were walking out of a movie and a man asked them if they wanted to preview a movie before it hits theaters. He's like the Harry Potter king! Someone most likely went to him knowing he was the Harry Potter king.

Anyways, Mugglenet.com did a MuggleCast (their version of a Podcast) on it. They didn't reveal too much, but then again I'm someone who wants to know.

To listen to the broadcast click here.

Just so you know, this is what Emerson and Eric will reveal: their thoughts of the movie, the length, character deaths, where the movie will split and how it ends, Bill and Fleur's Wedding, "The Seven Potters," the Hedwig debate, and more. It's only a 22 minute web show, but I'm just advising you that you may not hear what you want to hear.

If you don't want to watch, just know that they thought the movie was amazing.

Now, my thoughts on what they said. So from here down is going to be me talking about what they talked about. So, I warned you.

They say that the movie is about 2 1/2 hours long. Good. The Harry Potter tradition continues. They also said that the movie may be PG or PG-13. Boo. I want a definite PG-13... or, if necessary, R.

The scene in the trailer where Voldemort is shooting the Elder Wand into the sky is the end of the movie. Which I think will be a great cliff-hanger ending.

Outside of the broadcast, I heard that Part I would be very dark and depressing while Part II will be epic and triumphant. That's good. My source (whatever it was) said that Part I would be like a refugee movie... like the trio are loners... which they are.

Some scenes they said were done perfectly was the Ministry of Magic scene, Bill and Fleur's Wedding, and "The Seven Potters."

Ahh! I'm so excited for this movie. But I don't want to hear anymore spoilers. Don't want to ruin too much. ;)

I Knew This Would Happen.

I knew something like this would happen. And I'm glad it did.

Star Tours Revamp!

If you're not a Disney World fan like I am, then you probably don't know that they're closing Star Tours at MGM Hollywood Studios (and all it's other locations). But don't worry. It's coming back!

Star Tours II: The Adventure Continues will feature new locations. It currently flies around the Death Star and you help the Rebels destroy it like in the first movie.

Now it plans to fly to other locations and explore. I'm not sure what is true but I've heard many different locations including Hoth (the snow planet), Tatooine (the desert planet), the Moon of Endor (the forest moon), the Dagobah System (Yoda's exile planet), Bespin (the Cloud City), Alderaan (Princess Leia's home planet), Naboo (Queen Amidala's planet), and Coruscant (the planet where the senate is and whatnot). That's eight locations. You obviously can't visit all eight in one 5-minute sitting. But like I said, I've heard/read from separate sources claiming that those locations will be shown.

However, in the Disney-posted clip below, Bespin, Alderaan, and Endor will be shown. What would be cool is seeing a different location every time you ride the attraction. That'll get people to ride it more. But I'm glad they're redoing it. It's about time.

A Lord of the Rings Theme Park... Really?

Why?

After the success of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal is looking into possibly making a Lord of the Rings themed land or park. The news and possibility of this has also been floating around Disney's forums.

Disney or Universal... I say no! Lord of the Rings may be more mature and may have won more Oscars than Harry Potter, but a theme park would just be a horrible idea.

The Lord of the Rings movies came out 7 years ago. And until The Hobbit movies come out, it's a dead subject. And the only thing that is popular when it comes to LOTR is its movies. The books are a difficult read (I know... I've tried) and they were released over 50 YEARS AGO!

And the movies have always been for more mature teens and adults. Kids may be amused by the fighting, but otherwise nothing would interest them. At least Harry Potter is fun for all ages and it's still a hott thing. The movies are still being released and we are still in the Harry Potter generation. Harry Potter's been around for about 12 years and it's still amazing to everyone.

The only thing potentially cool is seeing the structures they can build. Like the towers and castles. Otherwise nothing. And rides? What would you do? Fly on the eagles? Ride an over-sized elephant? Nothing.

I just think it's a terrible idea that won't rake in much money. Not like Harry Potter at least.

Something that's NOT California Gurls!

Here's a new Katy Perry single that I fell in love with. It's called E.T.

Just in the nick of time. I can't stand 'California Gurls' anymore. That's the downfall with Katy Perry, they over play her songs and they're shoved down our throats!

The Target Problem

Oh... have you not heard? Well, you're in for a treat. Here's the background information...

Bradlee Dean, the frontman of a Christian rock band in Minnesota called You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, recently said that Muslim countries that execute LGBTs are "more moral than even the American Christians," plus some mouth-foaming about gays engaging in abominations and child molestation. Ugh. So what's the Target connection? Well, Bradlee's ministry received money and support from Tom Emmer, an anti-gay Minnesota Republican running for Governor. And Tom Emmer's campaign got a boost from Minnesota Forward, a PAC running TV ads on his behalf. And Minnesota Forward got $150,000 -- which amounts to about a third of all of their donations -- from Target. So, to follow the money:Target gave $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, which bought TV ads for Tom Emmer, who says "I believe marriage is the union between one man and one woman," and who hangs out with a guy who thinks killing gays is moral. (Source)

Basically I stole that paragraph from another website because I thought it described the situation best. Oh, and if you didn't understand what's going on from that, here's a picture...

This is all appalling. And it's so horrific that it's from Target. I company that I love. It's bullshit. And Target (and Best Buy) stands by their contributions. Click here to view Target's CEO's letter to employees regarding the issue.

I would join the boycott of Target in a heartbeat, but that would mean shopping at Walmart which I find worse (if you lived by me and knew about our disgusting Walmart, you'd understand). So sadly, I will continue shopping at Target. BUT I WONT LIKE IT!

I don't even know what the company was thinking. It's like something you love supporting something you hate. Like seeing Mickey Mouse doing the Nazi salute. It's terrible!

This issue is a few weeks old, but it still has my stomach curling. It's just so awful! It's hard to say this, but... down with Target!

Hilary Duff got married!

Omg. I'm both super excited and super depressed. I wanted to marry her, but I'll be fine I suppose. She's in good hands. And I'm glad she found someone other than Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, although I supported their relationship too.

And don't think I'm just finding out about this now. She got married over the weekend and I knew. The last time I posted about Hilary it was announcing her wedding date which was much much later than this weekend. It was supposed to be months from now. But I didn't report that they moved it up because I've been very busy this past week. And I'm not positive of the reason why they did. ...I mean Hilary called me and told me about it, sadly I couldn't make an appearance because I was in Florida... ;)

So ya. Hilary Duff married Mike Comrie this past weekend. Hope she doesn't put her career on hold. For my sake. ;)

Isn't it funny to think that Lindsay Lohan went to jail while Hilary Duff got married? I hope Lindsay got a wake up call from that. She could be getting married too if she wasn't an idiot. Hell, she could now marry her ex-girlfriend Samantha Ronson in California!

DVD Tuesday! New releases! 8/17

-The Last Song

-Furry Vengeance

-One Tree Hill's Complete Seventh Season

The Last Song for sure!

Awesome Pole Dancing

I could make some comments but I'll just leave it as it is for certain reasons. I guess I'll just say one word as to why I'm not making comments: India.

But this is pretty cool.

New Trailer: Love and Other Drugs

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway? Yes!

What I think is great is that they also played a couple in Brokeback Mountain, but obviously it didn't work out and they played an unhappy couple. Now we get to see them as a couple actually in love. :)

My Official Review of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Welcome to my official review of the new Harry Potter area of the Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando in Florida. To review this, I'll split it into separate categories and talk about it.

Be warned... I will be spoiling everything I can. Haha.

The Layout

There are two entrances to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I suggest going the longer way through the Jurassic Park side. Either way, you need to wait in line. Yes... you read correctly. There is a line to get into the Harry Potter area. And it's a pretty long wait. Since the Jurassic Park way is a less direct way of getting to Harry Potter, it's a shorter wait AND you enter the area right next to the signature attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. So once you get out of the line INTO the land, you can just swerve directly into the line for that ride.

The other entrance allows you to walk through Hogsmeade before going up to the castle.

The two three roller coasters are off to the side and Hagrid's Hut is someone near them. We never saw it. We didn't even know it was there. I found that dumb. That area needed it's own map. We just heard people talking about it, but didn't have time to go visit. Apparently, there's an animatronic Buckbeak back there that is badass! But... I wouldn't know.

The Castle

Looks incredible. It's definitely a smaller scale, but it still looks pretty good. They make it seem like the castle is higher up to make it look like it could potentially be huge.

Close up to the castle, the walls of the towers look fake so I was a little disappointed with that.

Inside the castle is pretty awesome. A lot of iconic statues, rooms, and... people are in there. You see the entrance to Dumbledore's Office, the One-Eyed Witch statue, the Mirror of Erised, the Pensieve, the Grand Staircase, the Green Houses, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Dumbledore's Office, and the portrait of the Fat Lady. While the line weaves through Dumbledore's office and the Defense Against the Dark Arts you see Dumbledore and the trio explaining what you need to do on this 'Journey.'

If you didn't already know... the main attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, is housed inside the castle. The picture on the right is one of the biggest disappointments of the castle. You can see a HUGE white building to the side behind the castle. Yes, this building houses the actual ride, but you'd think they'd do a way better job of hiding it. Many of the rides in the Magic Kingdom (The Haunted Mansion, it's a small world, and Pirates of the Caribbean for example) are housed in large buildings behind what you think is the building that is the ride. But Disney hides that stuff really well! That was a huge disappointment for me.

Hogsmeade

The village around the castle is pretty realistic. There are shops all around... well it seems like there are a ton of shops. In fact, there are only two shops around Hogsmeade. Zonko's Joke Shop and Honeyduke's are combined into one, which, I suppose, makes sense. And the second gift shop is Ollivander's Wand Shop.

Ollivander's Wand Shop is also half an attraction. If you're willing to wait AN HOUR AND A HALF, you can observe a child choosing his wand. It's really nothing special. The kid waves the wands around and little things happen. Once he finally picks the correct one, a light shines above his head. Nothing special.

Be prepared to wait in line for any shops. I'm not kidding. If people were to freely walk in, the stores would be too full. There was even a line for butterbeer and the outdoor wand station. When looking for a wand, I'd suggest the wand station wagon thing that's just outside of the Forbidden Journey. In Ollivander's, the wands are located in a small wall that is right in the middle of a walkway to the other half of the shop. It's in the most inconvenient place. Whoever designed the shop was an idiot.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey: The Ride

It's not bad. But I should really start with the line and go from there.

The line is long. We went right away in the morning and the wait was 75 minutes. When we went again in the afternoon, it was 60 minutes. We suggest everyone to go in the afternoon like Universal suggests. Everyone goes right away, so naturally it's busy.

So there are two lines to the ride outside the castle. One is for riders without bags and when I say bags I mean bags, cameras, backpacks, fanny-packs, drinks, hats, etc. There is no place to put anything on the ride. If you didn't have to walk through a line for an hour, I'd say put your flip flops in there too because the ride is suspended and you can lose your flip flops. With that said, the second line (and majority of the wait) is for the locker rooms. There is a locker area in the castle were you can lock up your things while you ride. It is free for an hour and a half and your key is your finger. You can your finger to unlock your locker. It's pretty cool, but horrible inconvenient and it smells and it's crowded. So it's like a real locker room. Haha.

If you're a Disney World person and want to know what it's like. Imagine Haunted Mansion, Dinosaur, and Soarin' all mixed into one. I'm saying this now because the Haunted Mansion aspect kicks in with the line.

The boarding process is much like Haunted Mansions. You walk onto a moving platform and board your doom buggy Enchanted Bench. Because of this, the line is pretty continuous and you don't stay in the same spot for more than a couple minutes. This is good and bad. Good because you want to get on the damn ride already. And bad because there's so much to see in the castle that you can't stop long enough to see it all. When you see Dumbledore and Harry, Ron, and Hermione you want to stay and listen to them because they're trying to explain what the Journey is, but the line keeps moving so you can't stop and listen to them.

The ride is pretty fun and pretty scary. You launch up and fly out of the astronomy tower into a circular screen just like Soarin' and fly around with Harry and Ron where you run into the Hungarian Horntail. It chases you into a set area (meaning not the circular screen anymore) so like Dinosaur and you're looking for the dragon. Well guess what! It pops out right in your face like Dinosaur. It's wonderful... not.

You then move into an encounter with the Whomping Willow. Then you ride around the Forbidden Forest and run into Aragog and his family. Guess what! The giant spider also pops out in your face.

Then you move back into the screen where you fly around the Quidditch Pitch during a game. Slytherin vs. Gryfindor naturally. Then, dementors attack and chase you around the pitch. You move off screen and move around a dark area where dementors randomly pop out. They're not that scary... they look very fake and huge, but the initial popping out is what's scary.

You're back in the castle and are moving down the the Chamber of Secrets and dementors are still popping out. There's an area where you KNOW that you're in the Chamber of Secrets and you're expecting the Basalisk, but I'm not positive if it's actually there or not... I closed my eyes. SHUT UP! Haha.

After I felt it was okay to open my eyes, a dementor appears but this one has a camera in it's mouth and what it does is take a picture of your face. Then as you move backwards away from the dementor, you go through a wall of mist or steam where the picture of your face (which is one of terror) is projected onto the mist/steam. It's pretty cool. Then you move back to the screen where Harry casts Expecto Patronum and rids the place of dementors.

Then you fly back to the school as everyone cheers because you save the day and then the ride is over.

O. And FYI. When the dragon appears in your face, a picture is taken. But when you get off the ride, the screens aren't showing your pictures because it's just so busy. So we never saw out pictures.

So the ride is pretty fun, but it can at times be jerky and have you on the back.

The Butterbeer

...is vile. It was very disgusting. Erik claimed in tasted like tapioca. We got the frozen version because we heard it was better. I can see how others may like it, but we just didn't care for it. We threw out 3/4 of our cup of it.

The Rest of Islands of Adventure

I have never been to Universal before. So I just thought I'd say what I thought of it. We only went to the Islands of Adventures because it is so FUCKING expensive to do just one. A one day, one park ticket costs $82 and it's not worth it. What a joke. Disney can probably get away with charging that, but Universal didn't have much to do in my eyes.

We did Harry Potter, then Posiedon's Fury (30 minute wait) which was interesting, then a ride in the Suess area (30 minute wait). Then we went to the Hulk (6o minute wait) and the 3D Spider-Man ride (75 minute wait). The day was pretty much spent waiting in line. We were there from 8am to 5 pm. Add 75 minutes and 60 minutes for Harry Potter's main ride, 75 minutes for Ollivander's and 10 minutes for Butterbeer. That's 415 minutes or 6 hours and 55 minutes waiting in line. We were there for NINE HOURS! 76% of the day in lines. And I didn't even add in the line to get INTO The Wizarding World.

I have to admit that the Hulk was pretty badass. Spider-Man wasn't terrible either. I remember when they were marketing that ride back in like 1999. They over exaggerated it. Although I guess for back then it was pretty cool.

Overall, Harry Potter was pretty cool. I feel it was one of those been-there-done-that things (especially at $82 a ticket). I also feel like Disney could've made it a thousand times better. More interactive and whatnot. I'm not one of those morons that thinks Disney is god and they do everything right always, but in this instance, they may have made it bigger. I mean, Universal took two failing, existing rides and slapped a coat of paint on, changed the name and made them Harry Potter themed. Kind of bogus in my opinion. But then again, Universal only has so much room to work with. But still... it was fun. I'm glad I went and I had a good time! ;)

P.S. - Funny story... After we got out of the Ollivader's attraction we were in front of this family and this little boy wanted a wand the dad was like how about this one and showed his son. The son got really upset and said "No, Dad! The wand chooses me!" This kid no-joke thought that the wand would choose him. It was so funny. What a wake-up call that would be.

Movie Review: Date Night

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned.

Tina Fey was so FUCKING FUNNY!

The movie was very funny and I really enjoyed it. But for some reason I fell completely in love with Tina Fey. The two stars are the show.

I also enjoyed the cameos from Marky Mark, James Franco, and the fucking-sexy Mila Kunis. Although I wish my beloved Mila was in it as much as Mark was. James was eh. He doesn't do much for me.

The funniest scene for me was when they went back to the restaurant as friends of will.i.am and they were like foreign. Tina is amazing with voices.

Ahh. I'm just in love with Tina. (But refuse to watch 30 Rock... dumb!)

So the movie is pretty hilarious. A must-see.

So Lauren Can Dance! Good!

So... for the record, I have not watched an episode of this show before tonight ... but I'm so happy that Lauren won.

Erik and I watched last night's episode and then tonight's finale tonight and from what I saw, Lauren had my vote.

I feel as though everyone was expecting Kent to win, and he was good and all, but I didn't really care for him as much as I did Lauren.

And then there was Robert. You know that feeling that you get when there's three finalists and hype around certain ones create this expectation. For example, when the latest season of Dancing with the Stars had it's finale, people knew it would end up being between Nicole Scherzinger and Evan Lysacek which put Erin Andrews in third and that's exactly where she landed. Same happened here, in my opinion, with it being between Kent and Lauren for the top spot and Robert getting the third spot.

I'm also not used to the layout of this show. I'm just used to Dancing with the Stars. I thought it was interesting that they were taught choreography, occasionally danced alone, and were given more freedom with their dancing (like use of props).

It was just a completely different area for me and I feel as though the show is more "loosey-goosey" while Dancing with the Stars has elegance, class, and seriousness (minus anything involving Kate Gosselin. Ha!). But that's just my opinion...

Maybe I'll watch next season. I haven't decided yet.

It's Friends and Family Time!

Click the image above to enlarge so you can print. And you NEED THE BARCODE if you do in-store. If I get one more effing customer that thinks we can input the promo code for online purchases on our computers and give them the discount... I'll stab them.

DVD Tuesday! New releases! 8/10

-Date Night

-Death at a Funeral

-The Joneses

Need to see Date Night and the Joneses. Chris Rock is in Death at a Funeral, so that's a NO!

It's A Trap coming December!

Yay!

Sooner than I thought, which makes me nervous.

"Family Guy: It's A Trap", the parody of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, will be in stores December 21st.

I hope it's amazing. "Blue Harvest" (episode IV's parody) was amazing, I thought, but "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" (episode V's parody) lacked... something... for me.

Two comments though...

1. I think it's HILARIOUS that Joe is Jabba the Hutt, but then again, it's also kinda random. I don't think his voice will go well, but then Jabba doesn't have legs soo... yeah.

2. Who is that character that is the ewok? At first I thought it was Brian but then I remembered he was Chewy. Is that that stupid bear from The Cleveland Show? That kinda pisses me off. We don't need that trash ruining Family Guy's movie. Ugh.

Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan as a Couple?

Check out Eminem and Rihanna's new music video featuring Megan and Dominic.

The Truth About the iPhone 4

I have owned my iPhone 4 for a week and two days now and I just wanted to let everybody know about the problems I've been having with it...

I've had absolutely no problems.

The only problem I'm having (that technically has nothing to do with the phone) is putting the screen protector on without having dust fly and stick on the cover. Now I have a couple of little air bubbles that are driving me nuts.

Other than that... it's perfect.

For 4 days I went without having a case which means that if I held it in the 'death grip' it could potentially lose bars. ...This is true. But it NEVER interfered with what I was doing whether I was on the phone (never lost the signal or dropped the call... minus when my cheek hit the end button), texting, on Facebook, etc.

People are just complaining that the bars drop. Big deal. As Apple demonstrated in their press conference, all smart phones have a death grip and lose bars.

Now that I have my case the bar to not drop as drastically. Really, quit worrying about it. People just need to shut up. I'm in love with my phone and I would be lost without it at this point.

I'm still just getting used to the keypad... Damn that 'return' button!!

Quote from the Governator

“Today's decision is by no means California's first milestone, nor our last, on America's road to equality and freedom for all people.”

- Arnold Schwarzenegger, on overturning Prop 8.

Ya, a Republican who supports gay marriage. Why can't we have more Republicans like him?

And this is why I LOVE Seth MacFarlane...

Stand Up to Cancer with Dakota!

And Zac and Vanessa and a bunch of other celebs.

Just A Reminder...

Just a reminder to you all...

It's Shark Week on Discovery Channel.

Make sure you watch! Unless Dirty Jobs is on, in which case don't watch... Their Shark Week editions suck!

DVD Tuesday! New releases! 8/3

-Kick-Ass

-Diary of a Wimpy Kid

-The Ghost Writer

-After.Life

-Heroes: Season 4

Buy Kick-Ass fo sho!!