Movie Review: What Happens In Vegas

Saw this for a little bit of light entertainment with a friend from work. I've had a major headache all weekend and just couldn't concentrate on anything for too long. Cameron & Ashton mesh so well together. I especially liked the scenes when they were each trying to stop the other from getting to the counsellor's appointment.

Plot: Two strangers awaken together to discover they've gotten married following a night of debauchery in Sin City, and that one of them has won a huge jackpot after playing the other's quarter. The newlyweds devise ever-escalating schemes to undermine each other and get their hands on the money – only to find themselves falling in love amid the mutual backstabbing.

At Peace

We found out at work today that an old colleague of ours had committed suicide last week.

This makes the fourth person from our floor who has died in less than 12months, with 2 in the last week alone.

He had been there for as long as I have (over 7 years) and only recently left a few months ago.

He had previously been a tennis umpire and once told me about his run-in with John McEnroe when he was an umpire on the net.

Johnathan, we hope you are finally at peace.

Movie Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles

I have been meaning to see this for some time but didn't get around to it until today.

It was great to escape into a fantasy with goblins, elves and a boggart. I'm glad they compressed all the books into one movie, however, as often is the case when adapting books to film, some things were left out and some things were invented and put into the film instead.

Even with that, it was still a great movie and great value too for only $5.

Plot: Peculiar things start to happen the moment the Grace family (Jared, his twin brother Simon, sister Mallory and their mom) leave New York and move into the secluded old house owned by their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. Unable to explain the strange disappearances and accidents that seem to be happening on a daily basis, the family blames Jared. When he, Simon and Mallory investigate what's really going on, they uncover the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and of the creatures that inhabit it.

Movie Review: 21

I've just gotten home after dragging Ace off to see a preview of this tonight for which I had won tickets. It's predictable but the best part was the previews before - Will Smith's & Adam Sandler's new movies. They look entertaining!

Plot: Ben Campbell is a shy, brilliant M.I.T. student who – needing to pay school tuition – who finds the answers in the cards. He is recruited to join a group of the school’s most gifted students that heads to Vegas every weekend armed with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds at blackjack in their favour.

With unorthodox math professor and stats genius Micky Rosa leading the way, they’ve cracked the code. By counting cards and employing an intricate system of signals, the team can beat the casinos big time. Seduced by the money, the Vegas lifestyle, and by his smart and sexy teammate, Jill Taylor, Ben begins to push the limits.

Though counting cards isn’t illegal, the stakes are high, and the challenge becomes not only keeping the numbers straight, but staying one step ahead of the casinos’ menacing enforcer: Cole Williams.

The Bitch Is Back

My sister is back in my mother & stepfather's lives after 7 and a bit years.

She disowned the family and told my mother that she would never see her grandchildren.

When my Grandmother was dying, she refused to come and see her and didn't even bother turning up to the funeral.

Now I have to put up with her and her 4 kids on Mother's Day of all days. At least I won't have to put up with her husband.

I think I'm going to sleep in until lunch time tomorrow...

It's Raining... Crash!

The rain today was ubelieveble! It rained non stop for at least 5 hours. And we've already exceeded our average rainfall for April!

This happened just up the road (the Carramar one). It is one of my biggest fears because we are on a corner block and there is a bend in the road just behind where our fence is and there are always cars hooning around on that bend. If someone was ever to lose control there, the car would end up in my room, on my bed.

I actually had a close call some time ago - someone did lose control and ended up mounting the kerb and came within 2 metres of my bedroom. It actually woke me up because I could hear the car engine. I went out the next morning and you could see on the lawn the tyre marks and also on our garden bed, where the edging had been moved and all the plants were squashed against the fence. Scary stuff!

Random Facts 21

1. The mechanical shark in ‘Jaws’ was nicknamed Bruce.
2. Fish can get seasick.
3. Rats can swim for a kilometre without resting. They can also tread water for three days straight.
4. Sugar was added to chewing gum in 1869 by a dentist, William Semple.
5. Mosquitoes have teeth.
6. A ballet enthusiast is called a ‘balletomane’.
7. The tulip actually originated in Turkey, not Holland.
8. The 50-metre long wall that gave New York’s Wall Street it’s name was only 3.5 metres tall.
9. The highest temperature on record was 57.78 degrees on 13 September 1992, in Azizia, Libya.
10. On average a cow produces 40 glasses of milk daily.

Computer Crash

I've had to get a new hard drive because mine crashed - taking everything I had with it. Nothing was able to be recovered. NOTHING!!

I lost all 4000+ of my songs for my Ipod and all my funny pictures, slide shows and movies people had sent me over the years - gone! And worse of all... my favourite websites!

I am slowly getting all my songs back onto the computer but it is a slow process. It's actually turned out to be a bit of a good thing because I had some songs that I had downloaded for a friend (which cost me money but they never offered to pay anything towards it), most of which I didn't like.

I think I'm going to have to back up my computer from now on so it doesn't happen again!

Movie Review: Jumper

Ace and his wife drove up to my place so we could go see this together.

It's actually a pretty good movie. I must admit it is a bit of a chick flick, but there is some really cool fight scenes - especially the one where the bus is involved! Hayden Christensen is hot in this. It's great that he won't be typecast after doing Star Wars.

Definitely one I will be buying on dvd.

Plot: David Rice always believed he was perfectly ordinary --- until he accidentally discovered he possessed a "talent" that is nothing less than extraordinary. David is a “JUMPER” who can teleport himself to the streets of New York and Tokyo, the ruins of Rome, and the summit of Mt. Everest. He can see twenty sunsets in one night, whisk his girlfriend around the world in the blink of an eye, and grab millions of dollars in a matter of minutes. But David’s global odyssey takes a deadly turn when finds himself relentlessly pursued by a secret organization sworn to kill Jumpers.

Forming an uneasy alliance with another Jumper, David becomes a key player in a war that has been raging for thousands of years. As these world-changing events unfold, David begins to discover the secrets and mythology behind his incredible ability.

A Surprise Birthday

I got a call from Ace at about 8 o'clock last night inviting me to his daughter's 5th birthday party for today at the children's playground in Kings Park. He said it was fairly easy to find. As I pointed out to him, I haven't been to Kings Park in over 20 years so had no idea where things were located.

It started at 3 and I only planned on staying for 2 hurs but didn't end up getting home until 9. I thought he meant the children's adventure playground but apparently there's a newer one on the outskirts of the park which is where they were.

At one point his son who is almost 3 couldn't be found. Ace and I went looking for him. I found him and we all headed back to the party for some food and games. But he disappeared again so I checked around the playground and then thought I would check the children's toilets just in case.

He was sitting on the toilet and was literally covered head to foot in you know what! I found Ace and told him his son needed him in the toilets (well, he's not mine so it's not my job to clean him up!)

30 plus minutes later out he comes, clothes soaking wet. Guess who had to keep him entertained in the sun while he dried off? You guessed right!

We didn't end up leaving until almost 7 and I helped them take all the presents back to their place and stayed while they were unwrapped - the kids were too hyped from the sugar and weren't really interested in opening the presents at the party.

It was great fun. Now they get to do it again in a few weeks for their son!