I'm Alive!!!!

I'm alive!! I don't know if you guys noticed or not, but I've not been online for awhile. At the end of January, I got strep throat, and that really sucked. I was better for about 4 days and then I got bronchitis which turned into pneumonia. I believe it was on Catherine's birthday that I started feeling crappy again and the next day I completely lost my voice, like seriously lost my voice. My voice was barely a whisper with a squeak here and there. My voice was gone for about 2 weeks! I was put on major antibiotics and that awesome cough medicine with codeine. Love that stuff. you only need like half a teaspoon and it knocks you out! And you don't feel groggy when you wake up. Anyway, I had to take a short leave of absence from work so I could get better. And in the middle of all this, Cam and I moved. So, needless to say, I've been sick and busy lately. I'm back to work now, and feeling good. Oh yeah, and my friend's husband died on Valentine's Day. (He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in October). So, 2011 begun.....well, let's go with interesting.

I still haven't hooked up the internet, so I'm doing this at work. Frankly, it's been kind of a nice break. I haven't been on Facebook for a month, and I haven't missed it either. I'm planning on getting all that done in the next few days. So what did I do while I was sick in bed and had no internet or cable you ask? I watched movies and read books! I thought I'd give a little run down of what I've watched and read. Let's start with the movies.

Red- Let's get this one out of the way. I actively hated this movie. The trailer looked great, the cast is great. Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis and John Malkovich. The idea is good, a bunch of retired CIA agents are brought back together to investigate a case. How could this not be a good movie? I don't know what happened, but this movie sucked diddly ucked. The plot was bad and the acting was just horrible. These are all actors I really like a lot! Morgan Freeman did the only decent job. Mary Louise Parker is also in the film, I don't like her acting, so I wasn' surprised that she was bad. I think the biggest disappointment was John Malkovich. He is an actor that I will go see the movie just because he is in it. The way he played his character was just awful. I think he was just trying to do something different, but it didn't work with me. His character was the "hippy" of the group, did a lot of drugs in his past and always had this real doofus look on his face. I think he was channeling Harpo Marx. Anyway, enough said. If any of you saw this movie and liked it, we should talk about it. I'm interested to hear the opposing side.

Cyrus- I loved this movie so much I watched it twice in the same day. Cyrus is played by Jonah Hill, he is a 22 year old who lives with his single mom, Molly, played by Marisa Tomei. Molly meets John played by John C. Reilly, at a party and they start dating. Cyrus is not happy about sharing his mom and makes like difficult for John. Molly and Cyrus have a mother and son relationship that borders on creepy. Jonah Hill is so great in this movie. I picked this particular movie poster because I love the way he is looking at John. There is one scene in particular that I love. It's the first time John and Cyrus meet, they are at Molly and Cyrus' house and Molly is not home yet. Cyrus is an aspiring musician and has several synthesizers in the living room. He asks John if he would like to hear one of his songs. John says yes, and Cyrus starts playing one of the songs and just stares at John the whole time. It is so funny and uncomfortable. After awhile John says "Sounds like Steve Miller" and Cyrus says "No it doesn't". That made me laugh so hard! I recommend this movie. It is rated R, which is lame, because I really don't know why.

Social Network- Liked it. It was about what I expected it to be. I really like Jessie Eisenberg. I have to say after this and "Zombieland" he is probably my favorite young actors. Kind of seems like a good kid too, so I don't think we need to worry about him going all crazy and messed up. Nothing much more to say. Cat did a good review on this movie and I have nothing to add except I liked it.

The Other Guys- This movie was pretty funny. I'm a sucker for Will Ferrell though. I like Mark Wahlberg too. I have to admit I watched this movie while my fever was highest and I was about to text all of you saying it was good to know you and I'll see you on the other side. (It would have to be a text because of the whisper voice with the occassional squeak thing). I don't really remember much about the movie, I remember laughing and Cam said I liked it. I'll have to instant Netflix it and watch it again with a clearer head.

The Kids Are All Right- I loved this movie! Lesbian couple played by Annette Benning and Julianne Moore, each give birth to a bably from the same anonymous donor. The kids become teenagers and decide they want to meet their biological father. Mark Ruffalo plays the father. He is becoming one of my favorite actors too! He is so great in this role, and got a much deserved Oscar nom so did Annette Benning. But, I think Julianne Moore was better than Benning. I'm a big fan of Julianne Moore and I think this is her best role.

Winter's Bone- Holy Crap! This is the best movie I've seen in a long time! Everything was good about this movie. The story, the filming, the acting. Oh man, the acting! the story is about a big, extended family that lives in the Ozarks. The family is divided and feuding. Kind of like the Hatfield and McCoys. And most of them are on crack! Hillbillies on Crack! Makes you want to run out and just buy the movie right now, right? The story focuses on 17 year old Ree Dolly, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who is fantastic. Ree has a little brother around 10 and a little sister around 7. Their mom has had a nervous breakdown or something, she is mostly catatonic throughout the movie, so Ree runs the house. A bail bondsman shows up and tells Ree that her dad missed his court date and he put the house and property up as collateral, so unless Ree can find her dad in the next few days and get him to court, she looses everything. John Hawkes plays her uncle "Teardrop", and he is fantastic too! Where did John Hawkes suddenly come from? He totally looks like he could be Harry Dean Stanton's son. I just checked his movie list. I've only seen two movies he's been in besides this one, and looks like they were very small roles like "store clerk". He got a much deserved Oscar nom, as did Jennifer Lawrence. Another great character was like her aunt or cousin or something played by Dale Dickey. They picked the perfect actress to play that role! Dale Dicky totally looks like she has smoked crack her entire life! I don't think she has, I'm pretty sure it is just her bone structure. Anyway, highly recommend this movie. It's based on a book. I'm definitely going to read that soon.

That is it for the movies I watched. I liked 5 out of 6, that is not bad. My shift is over, so I will do the books tomorrow. Wait, I have tomorrow off, 40, ugh. I'll add the books Friday. Talk to you later!