The 5-sentence review

Without even realizing it, over the past week I've watched three Oscar-nominated movies. Happily, I was surprised at how much I liked all of them. I don't always get some of the award-nominated movies (Avatar, anyone?), but they definitely got some right this year.

They told us in school that pithy is good; Lo and behold, the 5-sentence review! I'll even try to refrain from making longer sentences with fancy punctuation!

1. Up in the Air

Well done, George Clooney! A romantic plot, yes, but definitely not your typical rom-com - there's a twist, and it's a doozy. Anna Kendrick is superb and most certainly deserved the Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Vera Farmiga (also nominated) was good, but not that good. If you want a neatly wrapped ending, you might not like it as much as I did.

Grade: A (solid)

2. The Hurt Locker

I haven't seen all 10 of the Best Picture-nominated movies, but I can definitely appreciate why this won the award. I heard people disagreeing with the pick after the Oscars and had to see for myself. Hands down, one of the most stressful movies I've ever seen - very intense, suspenseful scenes and not a huge amount of dialogue. I'm so impressed that a woman made this movie. A very poignant, realistic look at terrorism in Iraq.

Grade: A+

3. The Blind Side

I'll say up front that the cheese factor is a bit high here (not that I didn't cry...). Nevertheless, it's a fabulous, really emotional movie. Sandra Bullock is downright tremendous, though the rest of the acting is more like mediocre. I even didn't mind the Nick Saban and Phil Fulmer appearances. A bonus factor for this UK fan is how much Sandra's character hates the Vols!! :)

Grade: B+

I quit my job last week.

Some of you already know this, but I have given notice at my job and will be leaving next month to go back to school at UK. This is probably neither here nor there for most of you, as I increasingly get the feeling that no one really knows what I do.

I'll be taking some undergraduate English courses in the spring so I can apply for UK's Masters with Initial Certification in English Education program. Long story short - I'm going to become a high school English teacher. I am very excited, and while the transition has little to do with my current job, which I like for the most part, there are certainly a few things about the 9-5 world I will not miss. Alas, my first top 10 list:

1. Sitting no less than two feet from my boss' office so he has a direct view of everything I'm up to, and vice-versa.

2. Pursuant to said view, constantly being reminded that my boss spends about 80 percent of the work day on facebook.

3. Witnessing the naps that take up the other 20 percent of his work day.

4. Also pursuant to said proximity to boss, being known as the de facto secretary of the editorial department. I DON'T KNOW where he is, what meeting he's in, where he went to lunch or what color shirt he's wearing. Be gone.

5. Break room nazis. You know who you are. If I wanted your opinion on how my Brussels sprouts smell or the fat content of my pulled pork sandwich, I would've asked for it. And yes, the artificial sweetener I use in my coffee and the Diet Coke I drink on occasion may be burning holes in my brain, but I do not care to hear about it from you, break room nazi.

6. Hearing 12 versions of a certain co-worker's entire weekend, from what time she went to bed last night to her emotional breakdown after losing a plant to the first frost. I am not making this up.

7. Motivational signs and slogans. And not your typical motivational materials, probably purchased at Office Max or someplace similar. No no, my employer has made up its own slogan and subsequent artwork/posters/etc: "Be the one." I don't know what it means.

8. Having to pretend like I give a rat's arse about the newest projective capacitive touch technology or Coinstar's earnings per share or the next kiosk-industry tradeshow. Couldn't. Care. Less.

9. Being forced to travel with my boss, meaning I am not only editor and secretary, but also travel assistant, which in this case essentially amounts to babysitting a middle-aged man (e.g. holding his coffee and backpack while he ties his shoes in the middle of the airport terminal.) Seriously should've been getting commissions the whole past year and a half.

10. One word: Cubicle. Homey, organized and well-decorated as mine may be (that's Van Gogh on the wall), there is just nothing creativity-inducing about working in a roughly 6 ft. by 4 ft. space for eight hours a day. Makes me feel a little crazy sometimes.

Again, though it may not be totally evident from my list, I do like my job for the most part. I just can't get over how true-to-life shows like The Office are ... my boss is Michael Scott. Not sure who that makes me, but the point is ... I just don't think I'm cut out for the corporate rat race. So, I'm really looking forward to walking UK's beautiful campus again and to helping mold the minds of our youth! Onward and upward!

Also ...

I guess I must be pretty fired up ... never done two posts in one month, let alone two in 48 hours. After finishing the politically themed post yesterday, I read what I think is a really well-written commentary in the Louisville paper by a local doctor regarding the healthcare issue. It's a little long, but very interesting.

A doctor's perspective

While I'm not sure I buy everything he says (Sorry, but I do not believe most doctors work 80-hour weeks. I've had to reschedule appointments too many times because Dr. DowhateverIwant decided he's only working on Wednesday mornings now.) ... I do respect his point. Why should politicians be able to vilify those who've chosen to care for others as a profession, with a highly respectable skill set that they either paid a whole lot of money or went into a whole lot of debt to obtain? They provide a service, and they deserve to be paid for it, and there's nothing wrong with that. Of course, that's oversimplifying a much larger issue, but ... I'm just saying that I hadn't thought about it that way, and I'd be pretty P.O.'d if I were a physician, too.

Lastly ... I saw a statistic yesterday that said 45 percent of physicians say they will consider leaving the profession if the U.S. adopts a system of governemnt-run healthcare. That alone is a good enough reason to abandon it, if you ask me. Even fewer doctors than we have now to care for millions and millions of new patients. Sounds good, right?

Time to get it together

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the state of political discourse in America and how, frankly, it's so screwed up. So, fueled by an uncharacteristic desire to have my opinion heard (hehe), I signed up on the Republican National Committee's website. I'm not really sure what all that entails, other than the opportunity to volunteer to register voters and help with campaigns. One thing it does involve, though, is receiving e-mail newsletters from RNC chairman Michael Steele, which I discovered today. This is the e-mail I recieved:

Dear Caroline,

In another stunning example of hypocrisy, congressional Democrats wasted taxpayers' time and resources on a legislative measure to censure Congressman Joe Wilson so they don't have to talk about their exceedingly unpopular health care plan.

If we are going to march Members down to the well of the House to apologize, Joe Wilson is going to have to get in line behind Nancy Pelosi, who attacked the intelligence community who protects us, Charlie Rangel who cheated on his taxes, Jack Murtha - a walking scandal, and we all know how the Democratic leadership tried to protect convicted felon William Jefferson.

Check it out:

• First, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) accuses the CIA of lying though an intelligence report indicates that she was briefed on the use of harsh interrogation tactics in 2002; contradicting her previous statements.

• Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is under investigation for misusing rent controlled properties, avoiding taxes, and using U.S. government letterhead to raise money.

• Reps. John Murtha (D-PA) and Peter Visclosky (D-IN) have been linked to lobbying firm PMA, which has been raided twice by FBI agents.

• Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) has refused to subpoena Countrywide Mortgage documents to investigate possible sweetheart loans; Towns received two loans from Countrywide.

• Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) forced aides to perform personal tasks against ethics rules and had them work on "several local and state campaigns including his wife's failed bid for a seat in the state senate."

Heard any apologies from these people? Where are the outcries of the Democrat leadership?

The truth -- the Democrats don't want an apology. They want a side show -- something to shift the focus away from their government-run experiment on health care.

The Democrats don't seem to listen, so we'll send them our thoughts. Go here to add your voice to the call for an end to their political games. Sign our Petition to "End the Side Shows and Get to Work."

After you sign the petition, I hope you'll make a contribution to support our media efforts to get our message out nationwide. If we don't stop the Obama Democrats' disastrous health care takeover now, we'll all be facing the end of health care choice and endlessly rising taxation very soon.

Let the Democrats know you've had enough of the circus acts. It's time to end the side show and the experiments. Please help today.

Sincerely,

Michael Steele
Chairman, Republican National Committee

Now, listen. I'm as fed up as the next conservative with what I believe is some serious deception and hypocrisy on the part of the Democrats in Washington. But let's be honest here. There are no fewer Republicans out there doing ridiculously immoral and hypocritical things than there are Democrats, and the constant blame game is really making me tired.

How much more productive would it have been for Michael Steele to spend his time writing a newsletter urging conservatives to ask their elected leaders to contribute something meaningful to the healthcare debate, instead of running around berating their opponents? Or to get involved by trying to properly educate those who don't understand what we're getting ourselves into if we adopt a system of nationalized healthcare? I, for one, would have been inspired to join the conservative effort to reform healthcare in a democratic, American way. (And saying that there even is a conservative effort is probably being too generous.) Instead, I feel even more annoyed with the Republican party than I already did.

One lesson I was always taught growing up is that you can't control what others do; you only can control how you react to what others do. What good can it possibly do for Michael Steele and the RNC to react to hypocrisy with more hypocrisy? The DNC could easily send out a nearly identical e-mail urging its members to tell Republicans in Washington to "stop the scare tactics and misinformation" and listing all the Republicans who have attacked whoever or misused funds for whatever. What's the point? It only perpetuates a cycle of blame and inaction that is going to eat American democracy alive if we let it.

Why doesn't anyone in Washington, Republican or Democrat, seem to realize that at this point, no one really cares to hear their bickering. There are a lot of Americans who feel they are not being heard, and childishness like this newsletter is one reason why.



We all know Nancy Pelosi tells lies and has crazy eyes and just generally sucks right? Here's an idea ... Let's grow up and move on, m'kay?

Some pictures

Nothing too exciting today, just a few pictures to share ...



It's a little blurry, but this is Sean's newest nephew - Alexander Winfield Jemley, born June 19. Isn't he precious? I had never seen an actual just-born baby before him ... so teeny tiny!

And this is Alex with Sean this past weekend, at his brother Luke's flag football game. Still pretty teeny. He was so cute and just sat in everyone's lap watching the game the whole time, cool as a cucumber. I guess that sort of comes with the territory when you have three older siblings!





















Our cat Joey, who loves to lay around showing off his belly. Joey hides anytime anyone is over to visit, leading some people to doubt his existence, so I thought a picture might be nice.





And this is what my fruit/vegetable bowl looked like yesterday after a trip to the farmer's market. So pretty ... I'm so sad summer's almost over!



That's all folks ... have a wonderful hump day!

cold turkey

It's official: I'm giving up Perez Hilton. For those of you who don't know, I have been mildly obsessed with this gossip blog for some time now. While I couldn't disagree more with most of his idiotic social and political beliefs, I don't think you have to agree with everything you read habitually, and he really does get the scoop, which is why I read his blog in the first place, right?

So, the whole Carrie Prejean controversy is played out, for sure, and while the names he called her and the violent threat he made were despicable, it really didn't bother me all that much because I'm not crazy about her either. However, a couple of his recent posts have sealed the deal. And please understand that I, in no way, am a homophobe or dislike gay people. This may come as a shock to some of you, but I really don't even think I'm against gay marriage. But that's neither here nor there. Now, to the offending posts ....

First, it was this a couple of days ago:

(and a quick disclaimer here ... I do not endorse his vulgar language, and the only reason I'm linking to the posts is because I don't want to get sued.)

Soap Star Quits Because Of Gay Kiss

Filed under: Gay Gay Gay > Z List

Lame!

Young & the Restless newcomer Chris Engen has up and left the series due to a shift in his character's orientation.

According to reports, the actor quit the soap this week because he allegedly did not want to kiss a male co-star.

Sources confirm that the actor has been absent from the tapings, calling in sick very frequently, and has been having meetings with the head honchos of the show. And they aren't too happy with him.

Since he is still under contract with the show, they might take legal action against him.

Seriously, you're an actor for crying out loud. You're not a writer. This is your job!

[Image via CBS.]

Posted: May 21, 2009 at 5:15 pm

And today, Perez has followed it up with this:

Homophobe Recast

Bye, bitch! Serves you right!

We mentioned yesterday about the douchebag actor on the Young and the Restless who refused to do a man-on-man kiss. He thought the shift was uncharacteristic and he held meetings with the heads of the program to get it changed.

When they didn't, Chris Engen up and quit.

Don't let the door hit you in your fat ass, buddy!

With integrity to stand by their storyline and two of their openly gay cast members, the show let the bastard walk and quickly hired a new fella: Michael Muhney from Veronica Mars

We wish Michael a lot of luck and hope Chris likes his new job as a kid's party clown!

[Image via CBS.]

Waaaait a second, lemmegethistraight ... a person is a homophobe simply because he refuses to be forced to make out with someone of the same sex? PLEASE! Hopefully, you all see the idiocy of this ... Would a homosexual actor be fired if he was uncomfortable with making out with someone of the opposite sex? If he did, that employer would have one hell of a lawsuit on its hands!

So, I've decided I'm tired of this little unintelligent peon's close-minded, vulgar and discriminatory ranting ... I'm done. buhbye perez!

Time to start packing ...

As of today, I am officially back from vacation, and I must say ... it does a body good. A trip to the beach was wayyyyy overdue (I firmly believe in going to the beach at least once a year.), and if there was ever a time when Sean and I need to get away and relax a little, this was it. We were fortunate to go to Destin, Fla. with his parents and stay (for free!) in a timeshare owned by some friends of theirs. I've been to Destin before, but the beach was more beautiful than I remembered it. Plus I was so in need of some relaxation that a trip to the North Pole probably would have done the trick. It's kind of like when you've sworn off sugar and then get a taste of that first cupcake ... it's that much sweeter! A funny thing happens every time I get out of Kentucky (or Tennessee, for that matter) and go somewhere warm and close to the ocean ... I find myself asking why I voluntarily live in a place that is either freezing or raining literally half the year. It never fails that I feel like moving the second I get back to the boring old bluegrass. So, one of these day I just might have to!

Anyway, we had sooo much fun and it was really great to just relax and sit on the beach for hours on end with a good book. On Friday, we visited Seaside, Fla. (about 20 mins. from Destin). I have also been there before, but this visit definitely topped the first one. If you don't know about Seaside, it's one of the coolest places I've seen. It's a planned community (I think one of the first in America), and you honestly feel like you're on a film set when you enter the town. Pastel-colored homes line the cobblestone streets, separated by the most perfect little white picket fences. The cutest shops you have ever seen all sit in a little circle in the middle of the town, and there is an open-air market basically on the beach. SO fun! But the best part was yet to come ...

So, one thing about Seaside that is really cool is that the movie The Truman Show was filmed there. If you've not seen the movie, it's basically about this guy Truman whose whole life has been filmed without him knowing it. They create this perfect little world called Seascape or something like that, with all these perfect people and perfect houses, etc. etc. And that's Seaside ... perfect! So, we were driving past the "Truman House" there on Natchez in Seaside on Friday, and this roofing guy who was doing some work on the house invited us in for a little tour! It was so fun to see all these rooms where they filmed the scenes, and we went home that night and rented the movie and picked out all the things we had just seen! A little corny, but it was fun. And, of course, there was lots of material for some great photos!

The front of the house, and the cute little sign on the cute little picket fence.

Here we have the Truman kitchen and living room. It's hard to tell here, but the tiling on the fireplace and floors perfectly matches every inch of pastel upholstery in that house ... amazing!

The back of the house .... love it!

Lastly, the adorable widow's watch on top of the house, and the view of beautiful Seaside!