50/50 Challenge Update

I'm in double digits now for movies seen. Too bad "Safe Haven" pushed me over to #10. Don't get me wrong, I understand the formula of Nicholas Sparks-based movies going in, but sometimes I just hope that they aren't so incredibly dull. You can read my full review of disappointment for the movie here.

I also finally made it to book three of the challenge by finishing Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I hate wordy book titles, but this story was an interesting one. It was slow in parts but very descriptive. I learned later that this actually is a young adult book, but the story is a bit haunting for a younger audience. It's about a teenage named Jacob who follows his grandfather's past to a unusual island filled with yes, peculiar children who have the same kind of powers as sideshow acts. There is a twisted element that is a hard one to wrap the head around and is reminiscent of a movie that came out last year with (semi-spoiler to the book) Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

The creepy visuals in the book are actual photos the author collected and rumor has it that it is indeed going to be made into a movie directed by none other than Tim Burton. That will be an interesting one for sure.

I'm more on pace to about a book a month, so not quite sure how I'm going to work up to fifty by the end of the year, but who knows what could happen.

Movie #10: Safe Haven
Book #3: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

50/50 Challenge: The Need for Speed

For movie #9, I saw a classic for the first time: "Top Gun." I have seen bits and pieces of the movie over the years, but it's always been the same parts: the bar scenes, the motorcycle drives, but I never saw the movie from beginning to end. That is until last weekend when AMC was showing it in IMAX.

IMAX is something that I find expensive and unnecessary, but in honor of the movie and nostalgia factor for my boyfriend, I agreed to go. I liked it. I knew I would. Tom Cruise - he was such a good-looking, just smooth guy. I loved him in "Cocktail" too and he always be that movie star to me. The best part of the movie though has to be the soundtrack. Who doesn't love the 80s? Plus, I've been to KC BBQ where some of the scenes were shot as well as Miramar's base.

They're also going to show another classic this spring in IMAX: "Jurassic Park." I also recently just saw that movie (last year) and mentioned how cool it would be see it 3D and now it's happening. From the preview, it looks pretty awesome. So I'm almost to double digits with the movie part of the challenge and have another movie that I should've seen years ago crossed off the list.

#9: Top Gun

50/50 Challenge: Almost But Not Quite

I've knocked two more movies off my 50/50 Challenge list. "Identity Thief" starring one of my favorites, Jason Bateman, and Melissa McCarthy looked so promising in the trailer, but then fall sadly flat. You can read my full review here.

On the opposite end of the movie spectrum is "Side Effects" which is a dark thriller from Steven Soderbergh that looks at the insides of depression and side effects of medication. That's an understatement to the actual premise because the movie has a lot more twists than that. I can't reveal them all without giving away the entire thing, but if you've seen it, let me know if you liked it. You can read that full review here.

I feel my movie reviews are more - "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" - and less an in-depth analyzing of every detail. I am working on making them more detailed, but sometimes I just liked to read why someone did or did not like the movie.

#7 - Side Effects
#8 - Identity Thief

Eight movies in, not too shabby. I'm seeing "Top Gun" in the theatre today. That'll be my #9. I've never seen it the whole way through! Shameful, I know.

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Happy Sunday!

A Future in Money

I went to a psychic yesterday and she told me that next year I will receive a large sum of money. She didn't say how much but she did say that it wouldn't come from work and I wouldn't be robbing a bank so...I'm winning the lottery? Or, maybe I am going to finally publish my novel which will immediately become a bestseller. Which of the two is more likely to happen? I feel it's about 50/50.

She also said that in the next one to two years, my income will grow enormously. This is all well and good, but my main question is HOW? Will I switch jobs? Get a raise? Get a big raise? Who knows, but really a psychic can tell almost anyone that they will be increasing the amount of money they get in a year and who will really remember?

For me, I feel like it's less a premonition than a kick in the ass as to really get it in gear with the big dreams I have. Who says that by this time next year that I couldn't have a New York Times Bestseller? Who says that this couldn't result in a large influx of money with which I will have nothing to do but roll around gleefully in it?

The psychic also said when I receive the money to act surprised. Too bad there isn't a guarantee with what she says and I can back to her to collect if it doesn't end up coming from another source.

If I won the lottery though, I already know how I would spend it. I play that game - "When I Win the Lottery" - often.