The Post That Keeps On...

...posting? Perhaps that's not quite it. Anyway, every now and then I get a comment on my post from last fall regarding a credit card transaction for "PNL Advertising" that I was sure was fraudulent, until it turned out to be for a B-52's ticket I bought from Philly Dealyo (the Philly.com version of Groupon). It seems I'm not the only one who can't remember what I purchased when their billing is listed with such an obscure name. Come on, Philly.com, fix this. Better yet, don't, since it helps me get blog hits.

Granted, it probably doesn't get me as many pics as Fake Jake...

Quick Reviews: The Lincoln Lawyer, Source Code

Because of laziness, procrastination, and other things, I've been slacking off here. So here are two movie reports in one post.

"The Lincoln Lawyer" is fun. Matthew McConaughey plays the title character, a criminal defense lawyer who does a lot of his work out of the back seat of his Lincoln while being driven all over Los Angeles. He gets a big case in which a spoiled rich overgrown kid (Ryan Phillippe) is charged with beating the crap out of a prostitute. While working on the defense, the lawyer and his investigator find similarities to another case they worked on, and things take a more sinister turn. It's predictable at times but the actors do a nice job. It's nice to see McConaughey doing something that isn't a romantic comedy -- or worse, "Surfer, Dude." My grade: B.

"Source Code" starts out with Army helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) waking up on a commuter train heading to Chicago, having no idea how he got there (last thing he remembered, he was flying a mission in Afghanistan), and seeing another man's face in a mirror instead of his own. Then a bomb explodes, and he wakes up alone in a small room where he's informed via video monitor by an officer (Vera Farmiga) that he's part of the "Source Code," a program that can send one's consciousness into someone else's body for the final eight minutes before the other person's death. Stevens' mission is to find out who planted the explosive on the train so the military can prevent an even worse attack that would kill millions. So, why only eight minutes? What happens to the other person's consciousness when your brain takes over his body? And why is Stevens spending time falling in love with, and trying to save, a passenger (Michelle Monaghan) instead of doing more to find the bomber? He's on the train. He's back in the room. He's on the train. He's back in the room. And so on. Not that bad, but I expect better from my boy Jake. My grade: C-plus.

Shum? Yum.

He's no Jake Gyllenhaal (then again, who is?), but "Glee" cast member Harry Shum, Jr. looks mighty fine in his own right in this video of his Yellow Magazine cover shoot...

How I Celebrated Valentine's Day

I made the photo that is in this post my new desktop wallpaper, replacing fake Jake. Although it's not nearly as revealing as fake Jake (and I still want to know whose body that really is), this photo of Darren Criss is from Out.com so it's 100 percent legitimate. I have to say I'm concerned about this little storyline in an upcoming "Glee" episode, though.

The fact that this is what I consider to be my celebration of Valentine's Day tells you all you need to know about my single life. I didn't even get to use my IHOP Buy One Entree/Get One Free offer. And I would've liked some pancakes, if only to preview Lady Gaga's next awards show outfit. (Don't know who came up with this joke first, but I saw it so many times on Twitter last night...)

And now, to finish off my night, I'm going to watch RuPaul's Drag Race, featuring a whole bunch more people who have more reason to celebrate Valentine's Day than I do. That, or this episode of "The Simpsons." (So...do you...like...stuff?)

Quick Review: No Strings Attached

There may be a new trend in movies: romantic couplings in which the guy gets all gushy and falls in love with the girl, but she just wants sex. There was "Love and Other Drugs" a couple of months ago with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. Coming up later this year is "Friends With Benefits," starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. Right now there's "No Strings Attached," with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman as the two friends, Adam and Emma -- actually, it doesn't seem they're very close friends at first; the film starts with flashbacks which seem to be the only times they've met prior to arriving at the present -- who have sex and afterwards agree to keep having sex without dating or anything romantic. It's Emma's doing, although there's not as specific a reason as Anne Hathaway's character in "Love and Other Drugs" had. She's just a standard commitment-phobe. Sure enough, Adam starts falling for her and tries to win her heart. It was better than I expected, and Portman shows she can do comedy, although it has a sappy and predictable end. It's rated R and, besides some raunchy language, features a sighting of Kutcher's bare butt. Between that and how much skin Gyllenhaal showed in his movie, Justin Timberlake has to step up. Also, "No Strings Attached" was titled "Friends With Benefits" before production began, and Kunis and Portman went at it in "Black Swan," so it seems to me that, with so much already in common between the films, Kutcher and Timberlake should have a sex scene in a movie as well. My grade: B.

Fake Jake Has To Go

It seems that the picture shown here keeps bringing hits to my blog. So why not find yet another excuse to run it?

There's a problem, though. I've decided that I need to replace it as my desktop wallpaper. As pretty an image as it is, it's fake. It's not the real Jake Gyllenhaal, so it has to leave my screen. But I need a replacement for it. If you have any suggestions for what I should use as a replacement, please let me know. I want something new. If it's another man, or even it's a real picture of Jake, I need something as hot and sexy as this, except it can't be photoshopped. It has to be real.

There are no prizes. (Wouldn't that be fun, if I could give away an Amazon gift certificate or something? Oh, to have a few extra dollars around...) If you suggest something that I deem worthy, I can only offer you my thanks. Unless you're Jake Gyllenhaal or someone who looks very much like him, in which case we can make other arrangements...

MixBlog 1-23-11

Lately I have really been kind of in a rut, even more than usual. The weather is not helping. I hate the cold to begin with, but this winter has been borderline ridiculous. My house is drafty, which makes it worse. I've always thought I'd never really consider moving away from Philadelphia but right now I'd love to just ditch this place and move somewhere warm. I don't know how I could possibly make that happen, with my finances being what they are. Tonight's forecast is for the coldest overnight low yet...

  

...and Wednesday may bring us more snow (or possibly rain). But hey, check out the bottom of that screen cap -- at least people with migraines will feel better today.

Just finished watching the end of the Flyers game. In their first meeting since last year's Stanley Cup finals the Flyers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1. They are so much more consistent this year (despite a loss yesterday to New Jersey, a team that's having the same type of disastrous year that the Flyers did in 2006-07). The win puts the Flyers' record at 32-12-5, and their 69 points leads the entire league. That, of course, means little when it comes to the postseason, but the consistency combined with their depth is a very good sign. Hiring Peter Laviolette as coach was a genius move on the part of GM Paul Holmgren.

Meanwhile, in the strange recesses of my mind, I got to thinking about Taylor Swift earlier. Really.

It's Fake? NOOOOOOOOOOO!

I've used this photo of Jake Gyllenhaal (my future ex-husband) a couple of times on this blog, including one post which is now the most-viewed post on my blog since the Stats function was added by Blogger.
It's also, for obvious reasons, my desktop wallpaper.

Sadly, it's apparently a fake. Jake's head has been photoshopped onto someone else's photo.

The strange thing is, I'm curious as to who is actually in the picture, but every time I click on the link to the Tabloid Prodigy site that exposed (ha!) this fakery, or just type in the URL of their home page, I keep getting redirected to Facebook. Extremely weird.

And now I also have to decide whether to change my wallpaper. It's still a lovely photo, but knowing that it's not my future ex-husband has tainted it.

On The Other Hand...

Unlike James Franco, Jake Gyllenhaal can come out of the closet any time he wants, especially since he broke up with Taylor Swift. I never thought that was real, let alone that it was going to last a while. She strikes me as a perpetually lovestruck 14-year-old even though she's 21. He's 30 now. The age difference isn't the issue. The maturity difference is. She should go back to Taylor Lautner, if you want my opinion. And Jake should come out and declare his eternal love for me, or at least stop by for a night...oh, what the hell, let's run this picture again...

By the way, perhaps because of this picture, somehow my "Love and Other Drugs" review has nearly caught up to my second nearly-naked Pat Burrell post as most-viewed on my blog since Blogger added their new Stats feature.

Speaking of coming out, did you hear that Johnny Weir is gay? Most of the commentary today revolves around the utter lack of surprise at this, since by his actions and attitude he'd done everything but make it official. I had my own joke line about it when I tweeted earlier ("Water wet, fire hot, Weir gay; or: time to sell some books!"). But this story at EW.com gives a more nuanced view of why he wanted to come out on his terms.

P.S. In part this post was a test to see if Blogger solved the problem that was disrupting things last night. It seems like it's back to normal. I have 2 movies, 2 weeks of comics and the NFL playoffs to write about, so I'm glad it's fixed!

Quick Review: Love and Other Drugs

As you know, I've been anticipating this movie for a while now. "Love and Other Drugs" reunites Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway, who previously played a married couple in "Brokeback Mountain." Of course, in that movie Jake's character had other, ummm, interests. Not here, though. Gyllenhaal is Jamie Randall, a salesman for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. He's basically a horndog, and uses that to his advantage. He meets Hathaway's Maggie Murdock at a doctor's office; she's dealing with the early stages of Parkinson's disease. They have a quickie and decide to keep seeing each other. She only wants sex -- not a relationship. It develops, though, in fits and starts. It's strained because of the way she wants to deal with her illness, and also by his success once Pfizer comes up with a new drug that he gets to sell: Viagra. At times the movie wants to be seen as a commentary on the big drug companies spending (and earning) mucho dinero on drugs to help a guy stay erect while people continue to struggle with real diseases like Parkinson's. During some scenes, often when Jamie's brother (Josh Gad) is in the picture, it devolves into a more lowbrow comedy. But the real heart of the story is the chemistry between Gyllenhall and Hathaway. And unlike so many movie romances, the obstacles placed between the couple are more realistic and mature. (Even the amount of nudity in the film fits. It's not nudity for nudity's sake.)

And now I'm going to say something that I've never said before about any woman: Anne Hathaway might be the one woman on the planet who could get me to go straight for a night. It would really help if my future ex-husband Jake were also in the room, however. My grade: B-plus.

My Week In Comics 11-17-10

Okay, so I have to decide tomorrow (later today, since it's after midnight when I begin writing this) whether I have enough time to see "Love and Other Drugs" (with Anne Hathaway and my future ex-husband Jake Gyllenhall) and get my comic books -- or choose between one and the other. This is what passes for an Infinite Crisis in my life. Oh, and also as I write this the John Williams main title theme to "Superman: The Movie" came up in my iTunes! Hmmmm...

Batman: The Return 1 (of 1)
Batman, Incorporated 1: I tie these two together because the "Return" one-shot leads right into the new ongoing Bat-series. The actual return of Bruce Wayne coming in that muddled miniseries and in Batman and Robin #16 dilutes the story here a bit, but "Batman: The Return" sets up what is a very interesting premise for the future. That would be "Batman, Inc." -- with Bruce publicly announcing (again, this moment actually happened in B&R 16) that he's funding Batman's war on crime, and Batman's recruitment drive for an army of crimefighters, all working under the Batman brand. Bruce is now focused on the big picture -- not just on stopping crime in Gotham City as vengeance for the murder of his parents, but on fighting evil worldwide. And he's having some fun doing it, which we haven't seen in ages. The new series is one that I might keep buying.

Superman 705: Continuing his Trudge Walk Across America, Superman takes on a case of domestic violence. Something I recall he did back in the day, just before he temporarily died at the hands of Doomsday. This storyline has turned disappointing, after a nice start. Should have turned around in Philly and walked back to Metropolis, Supes.

Supergirl 58:

Red Band Trailer: Love and Other Drugs

Ohhhhhhhhhh, I want to see this so freaking bad! This is the "red band" trailer for "Love and Other Drugs," starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, which is out on the 24th. If you're not familiar with them, red band trailers are explicit, and you have to be over 18 to see them, unlike the usual, safe for all audiences, green trailers. So obviously the video is NSFW.



Sigh...

Oh, and for my friend Kurt: it was filmed in Pittsburgh!

Quick Review...Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I had no real expectation that I'd enjoy "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," a movie based on a video game. I admit, I only went to see it because I like Jake Gyllenhaal. Unfortunately, he spent very little time with his shirt off, and he spoke in a silly British accent (as does pretty much everyone, because we all know that back in the day everyone spoke the King's English). The story is about how Prince Dastan (my Jakey) has to keep the Dagger of Time, which has magical sand that reverses time, from falling into the wrong hands. There's more to it than that, but I don't really care. Not that it's a bad movie. It was just average at best. All I cared about was seeing Jake, though. Let's hope next time it's more like the scene below... My grade: C.

Quick Review: Brothers

We've seen many movies that in some way deal with our current wars come and go very quickly from the multiplexes. People haven't wanted to watch movies about the military conflicts Iraq or Afghanistan, no matter how good they may be. The latest is "Brothers," in which the siblings in question are played by Tobey Maguire and the super-adorable Jake Gyllenhaal. Maguire plays Sam, a Marine headed back to the war zone for his fourth tour of duty, leaving behind his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and two young daughters. His brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) is just out of prison. When Sam's copter crashes and he's presumed dead, Tommy steps up as a father figure to Sam's girls and becomes closer to Grace. Then Sam is rescued and returns home, traumatized from his time as a prisoner, and problems ensue as a result. The biggest problem with this movie is the fact that the trailers told most of the story. I almost didn't bother going to see it. Other than that, it's a solid movie, and it's doing decently at the box office. And did I mention that Jake Gyllenhall is super-adorable? As we see here, he bulked up for his role in the upcoming "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time." In "Brothers" there's one scene where he's wrapped in a towel after showering. Did I mention how super-adorable he is? My grade: B.