Mary's Top 10 Anticipated Films for 2008

1. Sex and the City: The Movie
I own the entire series on DVD. I've watched every episode at least 10 times. I've memorized the lines and the clothing. Need I explain more why this movie is Numero Uno on my list?

2. Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Indiana Jones trilogy is one of the best in film history, but this 4th installment of America's favorite fedora-wearing, whip-lashing archeologist took nearly 2 decades to develop and produce. TWO DECADES! The anticipation!

3. Wall-E
Pixar has yet to make a bad movie (although Cars was merely "good", as opposed to "excellent").

4. The Dark Knight
Batman Begins was a good film, but I have feeling this will be even better, especially with Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
I liked the "Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe" a lot. Hoping this matches the quality of the first.

6. The Forbidden Kingdom
Dude! Jet Li AND Jackie Chan together in a martial arts movie!

7. Mamma Mia!
I am a sucker for any musical film. I am also a fan of Abba music. Combine the two . . .

8. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
See this film, I must.

9. TBD

10. TBD


As of 2/14/2008

Mary's Top 25 Fashion Pet Peeves

There was an interesting post on the "Manolo for the Big Girl" blog (linked from shoeblogs.com) about what fashion fads should just die. There were many varied responses. Being obsessed and opinionated about fashion myself, I wanted to share my response on that blog but I was concerned that being NOT plus-size (for whom that particular blog is catered towards), my opinions might cause the other readers to chase after me with pitchforks and torches.

And so, here is my list of fashion pet peeves (in no particular order):

1. Crocs
2. Uggs (an abomination, and there should be NO reason to wear them when it's 90 degrees outside)
3. bubble-hem skirts
4. distressed jeans (why would you want to pay extra money to have your jeans looked like they've been worn by someone else?)
5. thongs
6. high-waisted jeans
7. puffy jackets/coats
8. pointy-toed boots
9. platform shoes
10. anything showing your midriff
11. booties
12. pants with anything written across the butt
13. puff sleeves
14. cheap shoes
15. sequins
16. anything from Wal-Mart
17. knit-fabric gauchos
18. blouson shirts
19. stonewashed jeans with matching jacket
20. oversized slouchy sweaters
21. animal prints of ANY kind
22. trucker hats
23. fake/counterfeit bags
24. anything furry
25. 80s-styled Ray-Ban sunglasses

Eh, turns out I have more than just 25 pet peeves (will be continually updated as I find that just disgust/astonish/dismay me):

26. exposed bra straps
27. oversized handbags
28. dyed hair (yes, you heard me, I don't liked dyed hair--it's very fake)

Blizzcon

I just recently went to one of the biggest videogame dorkfests conventions, Blizzcon. Since I am a huge, huge fan of "World of Warcraft", I couldn't pass up the opportunity to drive down to Anaheim and spend 2 days in a roomful of overweight, anti-social males who hadn't take a shower in a week (kidding! Well ok, I'm actually not kidding about the overweight and stinky part). But seriously, I had never been to any sort of convention like this before, and I was interested in listening to the developer discussions about the game and other stuff. Plus, they were handing out awesome goody bags for each attendee, which included a code to redeem an in-game murloc costume and a beta key for a future Blizzard game (yes I am a nerd).

Quite a few people at the convention decided to dress up (presumably for the costume contest). Here's a picture of what I thought were the most impressive costumes:


Aside from the discussions, I also bought myself new WoW soundtracks, played the WoW trading card game, listened to some awesome orchestral WoW music, and endured the apparent un-funniness of Jay Mohr--I'm a bit too old for potty humor. The convention had a lot of computers set up for game play, so I got to try out a little bit of the newly announced WoW expansion and the unreleased Starcraft II, where I learned you should never go up against 13-year-old boys (because you will lose).

This sh*t is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A!

I saw Gwen Stefani in concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre last night! It was awesome! Of course, it would have been more awesome had I been able to get better seats, but oh well.

Gwen performing "Wind It Up", her homage to The Sound of Music's "Lonely Goatherd". Yes, unfortunately, I was *that* far away :(




Near the end of her set, she got carried by two bodyguards (or whatever you call them) from the stage to the section I was sitting at (yay!), and then she performed "Cool" right there!

It was a good show overall, but while I like Gwen's music, I love No Doubt even more. She said that her next album was going to be a No Doubt album. Definitely something to look forward to!

Nail clipping on public transit--why???

I was sitting on a Caltrain on my way home from work yesterday, reading a book and minding my own business, when I heard a sound behind me that shattered my peace--the sound of fingernails being clipped in public.

People clipping their fingernails on public transit is my number one pet peeve. Why?

1. The incessant "clip-clip" is so annoying.
2. Fingernail clippings go flying everywhere, no matter how careful you are.
3. Lots of germs and dirt reside under fingernails--I do not want to be sitting in your germs and dirt.

In short, it is disgusting and downright inconsiderate. Apparently, some people don't seem to realize this. What is it about a train or bus ride that compels them to pull out their clippers and start giving themselves a public transit manicure?

It took all of my will power yesterday to not whirl around in my seat and tell the woman behind me to STOP. But perhaps I should have, I would have been doing the public a favor.