Serious Moonlight

What do you do when your husband is going to leave you for his mistress? You duct tape him to the toilet of course, or at least that’s what Louise thinks.

 The movie Serious Moonlight cues off with a nice taxi drive through the countryside with some old jazz tune playing. The rest of the soundtrack is actually quite unmemorable so there isn't much else to say about the music selection. The scenes are fitting and believable. One may argue that the actors help play a big part in that though. This movie directed by Cheryl Hines stars Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell, and Justin Long. They all fit their parts so well.

Louise, a 40-something-lawyer- work-a-holic, decides to surprise her husband, Ian, by driving to their country home a day early in order to meet up with him for the weekend they had planned together. She calls him and says she’s at the office, he tells her he’s going to a meeting. The moment she walks into their countryside house, the surprise is on her.

There are flower petals on the floor, multiple vases filled with roses of different colors, and of course her husband upstairs. Ian, had arrived in the taxi from the opening scene to set up this lovely scenario for his mistress. He was in the middle of writing her a letter about how he was going to leave her. When Louise finds Ian, he stops her from feeling all romantic like as if he had done the romantic scene for her. Like a coward he gives her the note, a simple note making sure to include that she should remember to feed the fish and not an actual conversation of termination. Ian’s actions give insight to just how irrational the characters are.

A few moments into the argument, Louise throws a vase at him and duct tapes him to a chair. When he wakes up, she tells him how she won’t let him go until he loves her again. She sounds rational to any wife that’s been cheated on but to the rest of the world, she seems psycho. Where does the knives and torture begin? Unfortunately for some, it’s not that kind of movie even if it involves duct tape.

Just like their wedding day he promises her something, this time it’s that he won’t run away if she lets him use the bathroom. Why she believed him, who knows but he didn’t get far. Louise knocks him out with a vase yet again and this time tapes him to the toilet. At this point anyone in the audience can’t help but smirk in admiration to her crazy dedication to make their marriage work.

The mistress, girlfriend, Sara, whatever you want to call her arrives at the house only to be greeted unexpectedly at the door by the wife. Sara is roughly twenty years younger, blonde and attractive. Louise comes up with an idea. Here’s where the typical wife-girlfriend movie scenario is just as irrational as the characters. They don’t get into a fight or start being all crazy. Louise manages to convince Sara that Ian is staying the night to work out details and will be flying with her to Paris in the morning as planned. As she leaves, Louise throws up. To those with more testosterone than estrogen, it may make you want to do the same not long after.

The movie never really starts to get predictable. Louise keeps coming up with ideas to get Ian to love her again like showing slideshows, baking cookies and serenading him. When Louise is out in town a lawn care guy just happens to hear Ian’s cry for help. Trouble begins; turns out the lawn care guy is actually just a robber. Ian gets a few punches and a lecture about how he is failing at love and life since he cheated on his wife. Everyone get’s the urge to root for the bad guy at this point. Louise gets home, she runs into the robber who knocks her out all the while Ian is hearing all the smashing sounds of furniture and begging that he doesn’t hurt her. The sympathy begins, the love that he has left for her starts to show.

While Louise is passed out, Ian starts to recall memories and talk to her as if she may be dead, pleading for her to talk to him. He sheds a tear and apologizes to her for being such a loser. For being duct taped to the toilet, it’s about as romantic as it can get.

When she wakes up they talk and work things out for the moment. Morning comes and Sara arrives pissed off that she’s not on the way to Paris with Ian at that point. Once again, the robber encounters the victim, duct tapes her and throws her in the bathroom with the other two. Who said things couldn’t get interesting? When wives, girlfriends and husbands are in the same room, it might as well be on Jerry Springer. Although being duct taped sure changed things. The women don’t get far with trying to hurt each other while their hands are taped up.

Things take a turn for the better when the robbers finish the partying and leave. Sara still has her cellphone in her pocket, which they use to call 911. Everything is gone from the house but other than that everything seems to be fine. The marriage on the other hand, you just have to watch for yourself to see what the husband’s final verdict is.

The movie is funny, romantic and gives a bit of hope for those who have determination to do whatever it takes to save their marriage, even if it involves duct tape and a toilet.

Jenna

Jenna Mourey is at nearly half a billion views. Some may recognize her more as Jenna Marbles. The youtube celebrity is growing in fame weekly as more videos are being made. Mourey creates videos every Wednesday and posts them on various websites. The websites include youtube, facebook and twitter. The content posted varies on not only what she wants to talk about but also what the fans input on topic ideas are. Usually the "talks" are more to the tune of a rant. Several of her videos rant about specific people as well including "White Girls At The Club", "What Bitches Wear At The Airport", and "My Neighbor Is A Bitch." One thing that doesn't change though is her profanity use, which is almost a vital part of her personality. Her first video uploaded was about her dog Marbles, taken from what seems like a cell phone camera. As time passed and her videos became more popular she added an opening screen to her videos which labeled her as a blogger and entertainer. The video then upgraded to seem staged to be like from a laptop camera but the quality seems a tad bit too good for that. Also, the laptop idea wouldn't work out for scenes where she is driving and out of the house. At the end of every video she has a habit of telling everyone about how she makes new videos every Wednesday, telling everyone to subscribe to her channel and saying bye to objects that are in the camera view while holding her dogs. One of which is named Marbles, half the reason the series was named Jenna Marbles. The mix of routine things such as the greetings and the new with every episode ideas keep people interested. Jenna provides a very blunt opinion on things, which most people find entertaining. Her video on "Sluts on Halloween" is a prime example of her no bullshit rants. The background scenery, her room, is usually the same but changes every now and then to places like her living room, kitchen, and even car. Most of which are quite nice and would make true followers remember that she does have a Masters degree which must help pay her bills. Speaking of bills, the latest video posted, "I Hate Being A Grown Up" is right on target with that one. Jenna rants about all the things she is now forced to do since becoming a "grown up" such as paying bills. This episode is a little off key with the humor in comparison to previous videos. It follows the style of her "What Girls Do In The Bathroom In The Morning" video minus all the extra funny bits. The videos also vary in length depending on how much she has to rant about but they average about 5 minutes which is perfect for the typical online procrastinator. One can only presume that if she keeps producing these videos for more years to come that they keep getting better and not start lacking in the humor that got her famous in the first place. Please subscribe to her channel, she posts videos every Wednesday, bye laptop, bye lamp.

Vampire Diaries

The scene starts with a dark road in the wilderness, fog, mysterious voice speaking and a vampire attacking. The only thoughts that come to mind is who decided to watch Twilight and when do the werewolves come in? Unfortunately, it’s not a mistake and it’s not Twilight.  This pilot belongs to the Vampire Diaries and it’s just the start to a failed attempt at the next big vampire related release.

Starting off with a nearly typical horror scene, the low soft voice speaking just doesn’t seem to fit. A guy and girl end up hitting someone, whom we interpret as the vampire that attacks them. The attacks show up on the news as animal attacks, yet another coincidence with Twilight. In the small, quiet town of Mystic Falls everyone get to know about everyone. Stefan, the owner of the mysterious intro voice, tells us that he needs to know Elena. Elena is the girl everyone just has to ask if she’s alright now at the start of the new school year since she lost her parents prior to the summer. She writes in her diary everyday and keeps up with what she hopes to accomplish as far as trying to move on. Living with her young aunt now and junkie brother, she relies on her best friend. Elena’s best friend is Bonnie, a psychic. When Stefan comes to enroll at the school Bonnie predicts him to be from Seattle, yet another thing they just had to tie up to Twilight.

As more typical junk goes, the predictable complicated love story is introduced and the vampire stereotypes are on point, except this time, they don’t sparkle. Stefan can’t enter Elena’s house without being invited in, he can’t be in the sun without his ring, and he nearly loses control when she gets hurt, starts to bleed and he smells it. A bit boring but his eyes do change to the ones like the vampires from 30 Days of Night. That means minus one point for the girly aspect of it all.

That’s where most of the typical stuff ends though. The writers attempted to get more creative by adding plot twists such as a conflict between Stefan and his brother and multiple other love triangles. At a party a girl gets attacked by another vampire and ends up in the hospital. Meanwhile, Elena spawns the start to the next episode by inviting Stefan into her house.

This series seems to be right on track for all those on Team Edward. The lack of substance besides twisted love triangles makes it an easy show to nap to. The casting was done decently; Elena at least has more facial expressions than Kristen ever did in Twilight. Although one could argue, you’d be better off wasting 2 hours rather than watching this for 2 seasons. 

Aqua

Have you ever seen vertical puddles? The Aqua building in Chicago is an innovative way that water now appears towers 82 stories into the sky. The architectural design makes the building’s windows look like puddles in comparison the balconies. Aqua is located in the New East Side neighborhood of Chicago, close to Lake Michigan. Its located at 430 East Waterside Drive.  In 2006 construction began on this creative project.  By 2009, the building was completed and awarded #22 on Chicago Magazine's list of the Top 40 Buildings in Chicago in 2010.


Among being awarded the placement in Top 40 buildings, it was also awarded as the 2009 Skyscraper of the year by Emporius. Aqua was the sole U.S. structure nominated for the 2010 International Highrise Award sponsored by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum of Germany. It also has been nominated for the prestigious 2011 Prix Residential High-Rise Award from the International Real Estate Federation. It is top 10 tallest building in Chicago and top 50 tallest in the U.S.


One of the main reasons this building got so much attention other than for the design and architecture was that it was created with a female lead architect. Jeanne Gang, of Studio Gang, an architecture firm in Chicago, is the woman responsible for this work of art that towers into the sky. It is the tallest and only skyscraper in the world designed and led by a female architect.


Jeanne, James McHugh Construction Company, and Magellan Development worked together to make this building possible. They managed to make a luxury building with green features as well. The wave inspired balconies not only serve as a form of artistic elegance but they also help to create shade for the rooms and thus lowering the cooling costs in the summer. The design is also bird friendly since the etched glass and organic shape helps birds to dodge flying into the building’s windows.


Unlike most buildings, Aqua has a unique mixture of window surface and balcony surfaces. Each floor has concrete balconies that vary in size all the way up to 12 feet in depth creating a wave-like appearance. It is an oddity to consider that that the overall look of the building changes based on the time of day, the angle of view, and the distance from it. It is a remarkable sight and one that can never be given justice with just words.


Every side of the structure is unlike the others. The gray concrete in contrast with the seemingly blue windows make the water illusion that much easier to grasp.  The smooth and fluid design fits right in with Lake Michigan nearby.  The floor to ceiling windows accentuate this feature by allowing for magnificent views both from the inside looking at the lake and from the outside looking at Aqua.


While comparable to the Spertus Institute, also here in Chicago, with the different views depending on the location, time of day and distance from the building it differs since the Aqua doesn’t just have windows creating an intriguing surface. Some would argue that the balconies take away from the “clean” look that only glass gives buildings but others would argue that it gives the main “character” to the building and makes it unlike any other.


819 feet isn’t easy to ignore, especially when the building doesn’t look like the ones around it but Aqua still manages to keep some of its charm to those who can find it. It is in plain view from Millennium Park’s concert area but from down the street, it gets tucked behind some of the more prominent typical buildings.


Although remarkable and innovative, some may argue that Aqua just isn’t impressive but they just probably haven’t allowed the time to let the structure to move and flow into the various views it can show throughout the day and prove its magnificence.  Award-winning, towering and sculptural, Aqua is not only a well-known building now a days but it’s also a work of art. Just as water leaves its mark on things it comes in contact with, Aqua is sure to leave its impression on you too.

Black Dogs

Creative, witty, and thrilling are just a few words that come to mind after you finish the book Black Dogs by Jason Buhrmester. It tells the story about "classic rock's greatest robbery" and exactly how it got to that point. Set in 1973, it explains the story behind Led Zeppelin's safety deposit box at the Drake and the robbery scandal that went down. Buhrmester's comical additions and attention to detail make this story so realistic you can almost imagine it as if it really happened.

The chapter titles are cunning and at times amusing such as "Jimi The Bear" which is a play on a detail mentioned in the chapter. Most of the other chapter titles follow this as well, being named after a funny or important detail told within that chapter. The easy read makes you forget what time it is and how many pages you've turned. The characters are all entertaining and the author gives them each a chance to show their personalities throughout the story line. The author has you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole book with different plot twists and surprises. Thrilling scenes with snakes, money, jail, cops, rare guitars and stealing are only a few of the reasons why you will love this book.

Patrick, the Black Sabbath fanatic, fled town after his last experience with breaking the law and ends up living in New York. He's working with a caterer and gets to be backstage at many concerts. After a while he comes across a band manager one night at work who got paid a whole lot of cash for the band playing that night's show. Turns out it was Led Zeppelin's manager who had just gotten paid for the band. He tells Patrick that the band always gets paid in cash. Ideas start turning in his head and soon it's too good for him not to give in. Patrick comes back to town as Alex gets out of jail to offer him  an idea for the biggest scam ever. Alex hesitates since he's the one that did the time for Pat's last scam. Keith and Frenchy, the other two of the group, are clued into the plan once Alex agrees. Keith is all about the tech and the mastermind to breaking in. He installs and uninstalls stereos as a way to make his money. Frenchy, also known as Pete, is the music lover to another level.

Once they figure out how to make their plan work and go to take the first step of action it automatically turns into a mess. One wrong turn after the next in their oh so perfect plan keep the boys on their toes as they try and fix the issues while they pile on. One of the major fights of the book happens at a carnival and leaves one of the characters, Patrick, in the hospital. He gets visited by a crooked cop and it only causes more interest in the item they stole from one of the town's biggest threat, the crazy motorcycle gang member Backwoods Billy. Backwoods Billy is the leader to the Holy Ghosts. The boys had to break in and steal from Billy's pawn shop in order to make their plan try and continue to work. It was going well until Danny, the knucklehead who always seems to screw up plans, once again screwed up the plan and decided to try and steal Backwoods Billy's safe too. Danny gets even more people involved by taking the safe to get cracked open by a group of guys who really never get a name but are led by Boogie. The crooked cop that visited Patrick is involved with Billy as well. The tangle of problems just keep growing.

Near death experience after the next, it just makes the boys even more determined to accomplish their goal of robbing Led Zeppelin. They end up in Led Zeppelin's hotel in New York with their last chance to make the plan work. Things seem to go smoothly, only do they end up that way? An ending you'd never suspect adds to the charm of this story. Take a few hours and let this book take you on a wild trip.

Princess: A Modern Fairytale

Once you've seen a story about a princess, you've seen just about them all. Or have you? The movie "Princess: A Modern Fairytale" is all about the cliches, just not in all the ways expected. Modern twists such as starting off the dialogue with "We hold these truths to be self evident" almost makes you want to double check what movie you clicked to watch but the opening scene of the castle's exterior with all it's beauty and features reminds you that you are in fact watching a princess movie. "Princess" which is an ABC Family movie, brings the cliche story about a princess who ends up falling in love to a whole new level. This princess, Princess Ithaca, is a healer. No sob story about her parents, no wicked witches, but plenty of mermaids, pixies, unicorns and bigfoot. Princess Ithaca holds a ball every year to raise money for the endangered species, as far as details go, they're kept secret just like what's kept inside the castle. William is not a prince, he is not financially stable, he is although the cliche of charming and attractive. He wins a date with the princess by placing the highest bid, all the money he has, but she mistakes him for "the searcher" because of the pickup line he attempted to say to her. The main plot of the story is not all like the others in search of love, it is a quest to find the next healer princess, whom Ithaca has seen in her dreams and whom "the searcher" is to find before the week is over or "bad things will happen." Of course it has to include the basics such as the care giver of the princess, dragons and beasts, and the time when the princess is in distress. Distress like being faced with a 3 headed dragon not just the casual "pea under a mattress", another cliche line used within the movie itself. Princess Ithaca falls and becomes unconscious shortly after finding the next in line, Calliope. William takes Ithaca and Calliope back to the castle just as time is running out to save the creatures and transfer the powers. Hold on, the most important cliche at all has not been omitted though. You know the one about the princess and true love's first kiss? Yeah, that one. Well with all the twists and turns this movie gives to the typical story about a princess, it's a chance you just might have to take and watch it yourself. The movie finishes with the same lines it started with, still with the twisted ending to the quote, "and at some point in her life, every girl has wanted to be a princess" which will cue you back into your own fairytale dreams as the movie gives you the storybook "The End."

Homesick

Ready, set, sing some pop-punk verses and bring in the… metal? A Day To Remember’s Homesick album is just as confused as their style or attempt at a this so called pop-punk metal genre. A band that starts the album off with a song called The Downfall of Us All that includes some repeated tones and goes into a typical hardcore scream can only be confused when they throw some soft songs in the mix such as the song Have Faith in Me and If It Means a Lot to You.  The repeated melodies, fast drums and predictable sing-a-long verses makes this nearly as bad as Rebecca Black’s song Friday to get out of your head, if not worse since it’s to the tune of Jeremy McKinnon’s vocals. The lack of progression in the band’s creativity since the first two albums towards songwriting is repulsive and hardly understandable as some of the hardcore metal sung verses. However much, if at all, entertaining, catchy and honest this album is to some, it’s not because of the talent. ADTR fans who like the style will think this is just another album to die for, while the rest of the people that aren’t them would consider this an inconvenience and a loss of their time to listen to it. As far as the album title is concerned, that’s one thing they made easy to associate with the album. Homesick is named after a track on the album and it ties all the tracks together by identifying the theme about being on the road. Coincidentally, the stress of being on the road is what made Tom Denney leave the band after this album, although it can be argued that he jumped ship before it sank. This album didn’t even hit top 20 on Billboard’s Top 200. Songs like NJ Legion Iced Tea make me believe that without further question. It starts off sounding like something Fall Out Boy would write except with less musical talent. Creativity isn’t far behind as far as lacking is concerned. They further demonstrated this by naming the song I’m Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of? after a line in the children’s movie A Night In the Museum. Certainly the track has no relations to anything about it after that. You Already Know What You Are is a song that nearly every listener would be tempted to just hit skip after the first 3 words since they’re hardly even recognizable as words in the first place. As the album goes on and tracks keep playing, they start to blend together and you no longer know if you’re in the middle of a track or at the start of a new one. However, if you manage to make it to the album’s shocking mellow ending track If It Means A lot To You the last few verses of “La La La La La La La…” are suitable to describe and conclude the album, that’s if you’re still attempting to distinguish what’s going on.