More Dorking Around: What Tarot Card Are You?

Here's some fun from Heather:

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

The Ex

We all know I heart Zach Braff. I also heart Jason Bateman. Did you SEE him in Dodgeball? And of course, there is Arrested Development. And goodness, I also have love for Amanda Peet. They are ALL TOGETHER in The Ex. A quick glance shows some other heavy hitters in the cast. I do not know how this movie could go wrong. I would be in shock if it did. I think it will be my Mother's Day gift to myself to go see this film the weekend it comes out. Here's the trailer:



~t

A fellow ZB lover

Man, I gotta stay on top of my friend, Zach Braff. This dude actually GOT to his #1 MySpace space. (Is that how you say it? Is that like saying "a.m. in the morning"? Or "ATM Machine?") Anyway, Zach's always got something funny and or cool going down at his space. But check out this ode.

We are an exceptional lot, we ZB lovers.



~t

The Ultimate Gift

If you've been reading my blog at all, you know I dig movies. I also seriously believe in doing good in the world and in supporting non-profit organizations in that mission. Of course, I also worked for a non-profit for 8 years. Add to that, my passion for spirituality and personal development, and you'll see why I love this new movie, even though I haven't seen it yet.



I just watched the trailer for The Ultimate Gift, which opens March 9th, and it gave me goosebumps. It's got love, money, romance, family, a cute kid, sweeping panoramics, star performances, and a message that doesn't seem to hit you over the head. It seems to make sense.



The movie is based on a best-selling book by Jim Stovall, and the message of both is "The only way you can truly get more out of life for yourself is to give part of yourself away.” It's a simple idea that's been around forever, but it's always the simple ideas we need help and inspiration to implement isn't it?

Not only does it look like a great movie, but it's already inspired a new teen philanthropy initiative (raiseahand.org), school curricula, and over $5 million dollars in charitable donations. This is the official site of the movie "The Ultimate Gift" and the grass-roots movement its starting to help charities and give to others.



One of my favorite quotes was, "He's weird, isn't he?"

"He's a good weird."

~t

More about the Soaps

Are you the kind of person that likes to know things before everyone else? Or maybe you just look ahead and read the last page of a book before you even start it? If you are, or you simply cannot wait to find out what's going to happen to your favorite soap characters, Soap Opera Spoilers is the place for you.

Soaps.com seems to have it all together. They know about the soaps. They know what happened on the soaps. AND, they know what's GOING to happen on the soaps. As I said in my previous post about Days of Our Lives, I think they have a good thing going. I like the layout of the site, the sheer quantity of the writing, and the great amount of photos. I think they are on the right track.

I think that perhaps that best improvement they could make would be to expand to more shows. As they are only 5-6 months old, I imagine that will happen in time. Stay tuned!

~t

Like Sands Through the Hour Glass

Bo and Hope. Steve and Kayla. Billie. Max. Sammy. Chelsea. Stefano diMera. If these names sound familiar to you, you could be an old school fan or a new one. If you're a fan and you miss an episode, there is a great site with fabulous Days of our Lives updates.

For soaps fans, soaps.com is great. They give daily updates on all your favorite shows. Not only do they get pretty in-depth with paragraphs upon paragraphs of juicy details, but they also have screen shots from the episodes, and a good number of them per update. I loved that. In addition to the daily updates, you'll find spoilers, message boards, tons of photos, cast lists, and so much more.

It's an attractive and well-laid out site. Plus, where else are you going to find people in comas, under spells, buried alive, carrying mystery babies, having amnesia, and the like. Check it out!



~t

Valentines Schmalentines

Valentine's Day is allright, but the really important thing is that the Sports Illustrated magazine Swimsuit Issue comes out on that day. Normally, I wouldn't be so into it, but remember when I took off for the islands that week and it was all secret? Well, this is what came of it:



Lookin' good, right? Ok, ok, I'm not really in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. But lots of great supermodels are! This issue is jam-packed with famous babes like Molly Sims, Carolyn Murphy, Victoria's Secret model and Project Runway star Heidi Klum, and tennis star Maria Sharapova.

It's especially cool that this year, Sports Illustrated is multi-media with the swimsuit issue. You can download cell phone wallpapers of your favorite pics night or day. These are the same beautiful photos straight from the magazine, available for only $1.99 for all major wireless carriers. They include over 50 supermodels for download. SI mobile users can also get extra goodies like video clips from the photo shoots, "video ringers" (ringtones with video), animated screensavers and more.

What I didn't know until now was that this is the 43rd annual swimsuit issue! That means they started the swimsuit issue back in the 60s. They've had it as long as I can remember. This is history, people. Check it out!

~t

Another Movie Review from Me: Batman Begins

I should probably read up on the proper way to write a movie review. I love movies. I love to watch them. I love to talk about them. But I tend to feel like a dolt when I get on line and try to tell you sweet readers why you should or shouldn't watch a certain movie. However, it hasn't been stopping me. Maybe I'll come up with my own special movie reviewing angle. I'll have to think about it. For now, here's another crappy review by me.

Batman Begins. I liked it very, very, very, very, very much.

Ha, just kidding. I did like it. Not sure I liked it that much. I'm also not THAT bad of a reviewer. Kevin has been ordering obscure, bizarre foreign films from Netflix. I picked this one. I'm glad I did.

The mood of the film was somewhat dark, but it fits with the characters and the story. I love Christian Bale. He made an excellent Batman, in my opinion. As the title says, in this film we get to see how Batman became Batman. I think that's a pretty tall order, but I felt they lived up to the franchise. It was interesting, large in scope, and well done. Liam Neeson as his mentor was a bit type cast (ahem...Star Wars). Katie Holmes was, well Katie Holmes. She was definitely cute, but I have a hard time not thinking of her as Tom Cruise's wife. Oh well. She did a fine job with the role, even if she was slightly unbelievable as a D.A. Gary Oldman was gold, as usual. I loved him as Gordon. Morgan Freeman, ditto. Michael Caine was proper without being cold and warm without being overly sentimental. He was like a good wink. An actor I had never heard of played the Scarecrow, and he was great. Cillian Murphy, I believe was his name. He was very creepy.

The scene where Bruce Wayne and Rachel are supposed to be teenagers came off as false for both Kevin and me. They very distractingly just tried to use the actors' hair to make them appear younger. Sorry, I think Christian Bale is hawt, but he is definitely not 17. Maybe because he is hot, he cannot play 17. And Katie Holmes, well, maybe she just does look 17 and the weird hair made her look 12. I couldn't concentrate on the scene due to the ridiculousness of it. They maybe should have had teenage actors. I don't know.

Overall, the effects were great, and it had a good pace. Some of the car chase type stuff went on a little long for me, but it would probably be ok for most. The action was crazy fast-paced, but I kept up with it for the most part. The humans were belieavable and likeable, unless they weren't supposed to be. I find it interesting that the villain also had a valid point for his villainy. That's a relatively new and fascinating angle in movies--good and bad aren't so cut and dried. We can understand what is "bad". It's more real. I like it. The sets were fabulously gothic and yet somehow somewhat modern.

Thumbs up. It would be worth having to put my kid back to sleep a few times and sneaking away back downstairs. That's how I have to rate things. "Is this worth taking the chance that he will wake up when I sneak away, and I'll have to start all over again?" Batman Begins was.

~t

The Devil Wears Prada

I dug this movie. It was the perfect "everyone's-gone-to-bed-and-I-have-the-living-room-to-myself" movie. I think I even got to watch it in one sitting. Holy heck, somewhat unheard of. I don't really understand why Anne Hathaway always has to play the ugly duckling, but I guess it works. Maybe it's in her astrological chart? This was just fun. I mean, there was a little bit of a message and all, but mostly it's girl fun with clothes and accessories. Which is not to say the story wasn't good. It was. It definitely kept me interested. And I just liked watching what they kept doing with Anne's bangs. Yes, I'm feeling very deep these days.

And for those of you who still read books: (I love to read books, just have a hard time doing it these days!)



~t

Hear New Music First or Be Discovered!

This is such a cool idea. There's a new site that showcases Unsigned Artists. This way, the listeners get to hear new music first, and the artists get listeners and a chance for signing and a lot more listeners.

Unsigned.com is a brand new site, just released January 8th, so it's still in Beta, but they've got some big plans. Right now, artists can register, listeners can preregister, anyone can browse artists by genre.

They're also working on some great upcoming features for the full release.

Be one of the cool kids. Check it out. I mean it.



~t

You, Me, and Dupree

We DVR'd this last night. I've been having a really crappy few days, and this was a nice light movie, more or less. It was fun, I enjoyed it. Your basic romantic/comedy/buddy movie with a little bit of a twist? Well, I guess not so much a twist, just a little better than most. A little different. Not totally predictable. With a cast like Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, Matt Dillon, and Michael Douglas, you have to expect it to be a little better than average. Hey, and that dude from 40-year old virgin was in it. I have to figure out his name. Seth Rogen. He's cool. It was worth the $3.99.

~t

The 40-Year Old Virgin: Better than I Thought

Ok, this does not mean that I bedded a 40-year old virgin. This is not the University of Terri. Not to mention that I'm married to a not-yet 40-year old hottie myself. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Kevin ordered this movie recently. I was just dorking around online while he was watching it. I really had no intention of watching it and even thought I might have to leave the room because it would be annoying, but it sucked me in. This is actually not only a funny, but a sweet movie. I was quite pleasantly surprised. The cast was great and worked well together. I was also surprised that Catherine Keener was in it--she tends to do quality work, so that made me think twice about it. It was a pretty quality movie as it turns out.

I mean, don't get me wrong. It was silly as all get out and certainly not for children. And my friend Loretta was right to wax poetic about the ending. But my time is pretty precious to me, and I thought it was worth watching. I even had to put Zane back to sleep at least 3 times and come back down to finish the movie. That says a lot, because I often just give up and go to sleep instead of bothering to get him back to sleep and sneak away without waking him. So, it was a three-sneaker. Check it.

Oh, and I couldn't resist this, when I was at Amazon...



Too funny!

~t

Fave Movies Meme

My friend Deb over at Surviving NJ tagged me to talk about my favorite movies. Confused by the two different links? Well, Deb's a Gemini. She's the twins. She's got two blogs. What can I say? She's also very talented at making money online and she's written a book! You should go buy it. Now.

Ok, on to the movies. I guess I'm supposed to pick 5. That is tough. I'm going to try not to over think this because that could take me all day.

1. Garden State.



I love Zach Braff. I have written him a few glowing "I love your movies" messages on mySpace. Apparently, he's really busy or something. Zach wrote, directed, and starred in Garden State. It is great in the details and great in the structure, something hard to come by. I kept waiting for it to get dull. It didn't. Zach also has excellent taste in music, so the soundtrack is awesome. It's mellow enough to nurse your newborn to for weeks.

2. Legends of the Fall.



Ok, this is sorta a chick flick. I don't mind that. I'm a chick. It's a classic in my opinion. Brad at the top of his game. Never hotter. Love the store. Dramatic, majestic, romantic, mythic, beautiful, meaningful, sad, and epic. And don't you just love to imitate Anthony Hopkins saying, "Screw the guv'ment. SCREW 'em!" We like to.

3. Cold Comfort Farm.



Kate Beckinsale plays an older orphan who goes to live with her weird relatives in order to find fodder for her work as a writer. In the process, she makes over the whole weird place. It's very charming and funny and unique. "I saw something nasty in the woodshed." They keep playing it on BBCA, so check it out.

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Interesting idea. Well done. Quirky people. Great story.



5. The Princess Bride. Another classic. We've been talking about this on one of my forums. It may seem like a fantasy film, but it's mostly comedy. It's brilliantly hilarious and feel good, too.



Other Movies that came to mind:

• Shopgirl
• The Muppet Movie
• Dead Again
• Moulin Rouge
• Almost Famous
• Thelma and Louise
• Pulp Fiction
• S.F.W
• When Harry Met Sally

I'm sure there's a ton more. I have to stop now because Kevin is helping me brainstorm and he's just getting ridiculous. He just suggested Leprechaun. Puh-lease.

Allright. I have to tag some people. I'll tag Heather, Suni, and Loretta.

~t

Magazines, Magazines, and More Magazines

Imagine a nice quiet house where the children are finally back in school. Perhaps a dishwasher is running after a little bit of cleaning. The baby is napping and so is the puppy. Ahhhh...me time. I'm imagining this because I'd like to experience it one day. I have hopes. At any rate, what do you do that that point? You pick up your favorite magazine, of course.

And now you can feel even better about your favorite magazines, because with this site, you can get subscriptions at the lowest authorized prices. They have a great selection as well. I searched for a little while, looking up all the magazines I could think of that I might like, and they were all there. InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Real Simple. They also have plenty of choices for home and garden and different hobbies. If you order a gift subscription, they'll mail the recipient a beautiful handwritten greeting card. That's nice.

~t

Idol Me

I admit it, I haven't been as into American Idol in recent seasons as I was in the beginning. Kevin's favorite part is the beginning when people are so bad. He loves the humiliation. I'm not as into the humiliation aspect, but it's hard to feel bad for them sometimes because there is often such an amazing level of cluelessness that you tend to feel they get what they deserve (assuming they even understand that). And it's always fun to find other people who watched to jaw about the whole experience. Personally, I loved the one early in last season, I think it was, where that crazy woman just went off on Paula Abdul for no reason.

If you can't get enough American Idol, this is the forum for you. When I knew they were looking for reviews of their forum, I really expected to find a new, somewhat empty forum. This is not the case. When I popped in there, they just happened to have 52 people in the forums right then. Not only that, there are over 2000 threads, over 2700 members, and over 30,000 posts. Plenty of chatter for those who can't stop getting their Idol on.

The sections of the forum have a nice mix of recent seasons, past seasons, international idols, spots to get to know other members, and off-topic discussions. You always need that spot on a forum, or it will take over the threads. The threads themselves are loaded with information about the show and every little obsessive detail about the idol-wannabes. And wow, they have a lot of information about Taylor Hicks.

The design of the forum isn't particularly lovely, but seems well-organized. More importantly, the place seems well-moderated and friendly. If it's one thing I don't like to be a part of, it's a place with a lot of negative energy. Although there's a lot of gossip going on, obviously, it seems done in a light-hearted manner. Go check it out. Tell me what you think, and have fun!



~t

Pimp My Nutcracker & Zach Braff

I find the funniest things over at Julie's blog. She found this at The BenSpark. It's called Pimp My Nutcracker. People are doing the funniest things for the holidays. Here is my pimped nutcracker...




And, while I was at The BenSpark, I heard about a new Zach Braff movie!!! Quoi? I must be slipping. I heart Zach. With JASON BATEMAN (hi-larious) and Amanda Peet (Awesome). Could I be more excited? Did you see Jason Bateman in Dodgeball? OMG, too funny.



Ok, I basically just copied The BenSpark post. I didn't mean to. It was just that the post I was looking to site had the other info that thrilled me! What do they say about copying and flattery? I gotta help out my man, Zach. (Funny, after I did all this, I just noticed that ZB has it on his site, of course!)

~t

Being up early makes me want to post news

How odd. That's not like me. Well, I'm hearing all the news on GMA.

Peter Boyle died. He played Raymond's dad on Everybody Loves Raymond. He was pretty annoying in that, but I think that was the point. He was Frankenstein's monster in Young Frankenstein. I did not know that! Now, that's acting.

Dear GAWD, we are supposed to have more high winds. We are looking at gusts to 89-90 mph. Kevin said, "What have we DONE to this place, Terri?" It's true. Since we've been in Olympia, we've had record heat and little rain this summer, record rain in November, snow when there usually isn't any, and now these crazy winds. What's left of our fence has been a casualty. And we think we may have lost a shingle from the roof.

Mistletoe hats. I do have to say that I am PRO-Mistletoe. Kissing rocks.

Ummm...Angelina Jolie is so pretty. I suppose her name is Jolie (literally French for pretty.) I have resisted blogging about celebrities. I figure they have enough written about them. They are talking about Princess Di this morning and stating that her death is officially an accident now. That was when I decided I should try not to be taken in by celebrity gossip. But it's so fun. But I feel bad for them. They should have some privacy. I do love Brangelina, though. I love Jen, too. I was sad for the breakup. Brad and Jen were my and Kevin's celebrity counterparts. (Sagittarius and Aquarius, Sagittarius and Aquarius.) Of course, they are kinda ugly compared to us, but you can't be perfect.

Anyway, it was nice to hear about Brangelina's family, and that they seem to have come to their senses a little about how many kids they are going to have. At least she has. I was beginning to wonder about them. But then you figure, hey, if anyone can take care of them, they can. They try to be really hands-on. It cracks me up when people applaud the rich and famous for taking care of their own kids. I mean, I guess they don't have to, but it still cracks me up. I would like to see Babel. Because today, that seems to be the theme. I'm a babbler today, obviously.

I guess that's the news for now. Zane is still asleep! Without me. Whoa.

~t

(You're welcome, GMA, I'm sure you needed all those links from me.)

Rockstartup.com, Episode 3

Nope, it's not in movie theaters, people. It's right here online. I don't get out and I've become so completely internet geeky, I rarely see TV unless it's toddler placation. So now, I get my reality tv fix online.

Yes, folks, if you've been paying attention, we've been watching the stellar beginnings of startup PayPerPost, where you Get Paid to Talk about the Things You Love. (Check my referral button in the sidebar.)

I talked about my love for the beginnings of Rockstartup in an earlier post. Well, episode three kept me just as interested. Here, we see the drama unfold as the PayPerPost crew moves out of cramped space they had been sharing into their brand spankin' new own colorful offices. As most of us know, the course of construction and moving an entire office rarely runs smoothly. It is especially fun and nostalgic for me to watch this develop, as it reminds me so much of my experience working for Ten Chimneys as a startup. Anyway, check out episode 3, right here, on my blog. It doesn't hurt that their staff is so darn cute, either.



~t

All Hail Dora

Dora the Explorer, of course! Zane loves Dora. When there is any mention of Dora, he says, "Dora, watch." In fact, I think that he is either psychic or can read, because he just said, that to me as I started writing this. That was weird. Dora is my best friend lately, too. He will just sit and be very calm and watch everything that happens on Dora. I feel a little bit like that bad mom I would never be, using the TV as a babysitter. But, as Heather noted, parenting is so much easier for the childless (love that). And I didn't know I'd be working from home, either. Challenges, challenges.

Now, he is bombarding me with the "Dora, watch." Must go put it on for him, so I can write my next blog post!

~t

Cool People, Part 2: Kevin Smith and Zach Braff

I feel a little bad now. Like what if Kevin Smith Googles himself and finds my review? I mean, I like him enough. Maybe people seem to think he's brilliant. And even I kinda think he's brilliant. I'm sure if Kevin Smith Googles himself, my blog will be the first thing that comes up, right? See, I'm giving him some link love. Because I'm sure he really needs it. And really, I like him. But no, my site didn't come up on the first page of Google. Whew, right? HEY! It's not on the second page either? WTF? Ha ha.

Plus, Kevin Smith is friends with Zach Braff. And Zach Braff, ladies and gentlemen. Well, Zach Braff. He's just so cool. I think I have a cool theme going on right now. I have another one for you in a second. But I just saw that there is a clip available for the Scrubs Musical...



~t