Monday, April 06, 2009

Movie Review - Monsters Vs. Aliens

I loved this movie. That being said, the posters really ought to have "Warning: this film is best consumed by nerds" plastered on it. References to Star Trek, The Fly, Darwin, and other such things fly at a mile a minute; I loved it, but if you aren't even a little plugged in to all of that, it'll dampen the experience big time (also great; the quiet reference to Legally Blonde). Also skewing my opinion was the cast. Reese Witherspoon, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Colbert (!!), Rainn Wilson. To my mind, this movie was practically guaranteed to be hilarious.

The plot is pretty straightforward: a "normal" girl Susan gets...irradiated...by meteor on her wedding, turns giant, is taken to a monster compound, saves the world from aliens, and realizes her now ex (he dumped her because she'd get all the attention) is a loser, and lives happily ever after saving the world from other monsters and aliens. This isn't particularly deep stuff, and it doesn't seem like the makers were aiming for a particularly affecting experience, either. Susan's development is far less involving for the audience than Reese's Elle in Legally Blonde (and love that movie as I do, I don't claim that it deserved an Oscar by any means). But it's the first movie in a long time that kept me consistently and completely entertained throughout the film. No lulls, no long monologues, no thinking about what I needed to do the next day. AND Stephen Colbert voices the President. Amazing.

A note on the 3D: it was fun, but besides one extremely well-done scene involving a ball and paddle, wasn't that noticeable. Going to see it in normal format would by no means kill the film. It would however prevent you from seeing rad people like myself, XC and her boyfriend all wearing sizable 3D glasses over our glasses. Sexy.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Fully Loaded!

My emergency fund is now at $10,000, which is where I've decided to hold off funding it any further for now.  $10,000 is a comfortable cushion, and the money that would go there can now go to my apartment fund and toward my retirement savings goals.  The retirement savings is particularly important, as that's flying at the low low sum of zero dollars right now (yikes).  I'm hoping by the end of the year I can get it to $10,000.  If I can stay employed, then I think I can do it.  If not...well, it'll be tough.  But hey, anything is better than zero!

I feel like I should redefine my goals, since where I am now, financially, is so different from where I started out.  So here they are:

Retirement Savings (not including TFSA)
(2009) Goal = $10,000
Now = nothing

Apartment
Goal = $7,000.00
Now = $4,668.91

Travel
This one I handle a bit differently.  It's definitely a short-term savings account, in that I save for specific trips.  My goal is to have saved (and travelled) about $2,500 worth per year.  Right now it's at $1,000, but I go to California in a week, so it'll be nosediving soon.  But that, at least, is guilt-free!

And the new one....Down Payment
(Lord knows when) Goal = $30,000 at least (sigh)
Now = zippo (SIGH.)

I have a long way to go.  But I'll never reach a goal I don't set, so hey, 1 step's already done!

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Beyonce is a Goddess

I even forgive her for this "Sasha Fierce" conceit.  I went to her conert last night, and it was incredible.  Apart from the fact that she can sing, she has great stage presence, the costumes are amazing (I want her jaguar/wonderwoman ensemble.  I would wear it while hosting dinner parties and doing laundry and any time I feel an injection of fabulousness would be helpful.  ie. All Of The Time), and damn but she can dance.  She also had a great band backing her, made up completely of women, and her backup singers "The Mamas" were an utter joy.  I want to be best friends with all of them.

Now all I want to do is blast Beyonce and dance.