Tale of Two Movies (Playing for Keeps & Anna Karenina)

in the past 2 days I have been to 2 sneak previews. I have another one tonight but don't think I'll be posting about that one for while. 

PLAYING FOR KEEPS is about a "down on his luck" former soccer player, unsurprisinly played by Gerard Butler.......in pretty much the same role he played in The Ugly Truth and The Bounty Hunter. depending on who you talk to, he has moved to Virginia to connect with his son or to try and win back his ex-wife......... who is played by a Jessica Biel that was made as homely as possible but conveniently engaged and just a few weeks away from being married. Playing is a completely by the book romantic comedy. I had hoped for just a few surprises or twists, but was denied.......thus making this the perfect movie if you want an excuse for a girls' night out or a reason to sit in the dark and eat popcorn. for me, this would be a great movie for a cold rainy afternoon where I am too lazy to grab the remote and change the channel.

ANNA KARENINA is at the opposite end of the cinematic spectrum. beautiful and lyrical, this movie is written like a ballet with characters and scenes flowing together and through each other. with a story that had been told so many times before, they obviously knew they needed an unique approach and I think they found it. in fact, I kept waiting for someone to break out in song.........ala Moulin Rouge. but, this take obviously hasn't set well with several of the "real" critics........and there were a couple of people who walked out of the screening. perhaps this version is a bit too artsy for the main stream movie goer? and a few of the actors seemed to be a bit mis-matched to their characters..........I believe a certain blond hair blue eyed gentlemen was cast more for how great he looked against the backdrops than for his skills as an actor.......and pretty much anyone short of Kristen Stewart could have played the title character. the stand out performance for me was Jude Law. he was elegant, tortured, dignified, and understated as the cuckolded husband. end result: unless you really truly dislike anything other than the normal teen age boy humor, car chase, sci-fi kind of flic that is generally being offered, this is a must-see-in-the-theater movie. and if it tells you something.......hubby came out of the theater impressed.

I saw you walking in the rain.....

at least I hope that is what you would say if you were driving around while I was walking Dolly last night. and now I hope you are humming this good ol' song too.....

okay.....back to my point.......it was dark when I got home and before I had gotten out the front door it had started to drizzle. but, after a few days of no walks and bad weather forecasted for the next few days, Dolly needed a walk! I needed one too. the dark was a bigger problem than the rain. I had yelled (from the privacy of my closed window car) at several bicycle riders with no lights and wearing dark closes all week. so what to do?!?!

I grabbed a couple of these Blackburn Click Combo Lights from the family's bikes.....................hey, I'm a resourceful kinda gal! I attached one to Dolly's collar (over her raincoat) and the other to the end of the lease at my end. I set hers to blink and mine to a solid light and we headed out the door. not a perfect solution but it was going to get us moving.

our walk was about a mile and a half. for most of the walk it drizzled. for part of the walk it poured. I think the lights worked. no one ran us over. but then again, in mid-day with full sunlight we have had our share of near misses, so I don't know if that is really a way to judge if the lights worked. I can tell you that my raincoat didn't.............I ended up with a few wet spots. that was not fun. Dolly's raincoat (she won't wear a rain hat) worked, but that didn't keep her from shaking constantly.

I have no clue what we are going to do in the coming rainy months. two days of no walks and Dolly runs an Indy 500 through the house.......usually as we are trying to go to sleep. the lights aren't a long term solution but they worked.

how do you exercise your dog in the bad weather? 

oh, and btw, after that cold wet walk, Dolly is still bouncing off the walls and all over me!

RANT Update!

last month I got a little upset on my blog about people driving around schools, kids, busses, etc. well.....I have an update for you!

the stupid woman (I really want to use another word here.......you know the one......feel free to use it in your head) was sentenced to two hours over two days of standing out in the cold with a sign that reads "Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus." now, while I am an absolute fan of making the punishment fit the crime, I don't think two days is enough time. and, based on the fact that she showed up smoking a cigarette and wearing earphones (and was checking her cell phone during her first day), I don't think she really got the point. what would have been a more appropriate punishment? oh........working a school crosswalk where she can be on the front lines of dealing with idiots like herself that don't have the patience to not run over little kids. and I would make it a couple months of time so she really gets the picture.................hopefully with lots of rain and snow.

as for the two boys struck in a crosswalk, no update there. I am guessing/hoping in this case that no news is good news? the woman is in jail courtesy of her being dui and without a drivers license. (go figure) I have no clue what happened in court last week. I will note that I drove by the intersection this weekend and improvements are still being made to the crosswalks and sidewalks, similar to the ones that are driving me crazy by my park. supposedly the work will all be done before the end of November. I am not holding my breathe.......though Dolly may be. it is totally putting a cramp into her walking schedule.