The Adventures of Mrs.Movie Snob

When I was about 12 years old, I remember my Mom saying to me, "I think everyone should have to work in a restaurant at least once." Having never really gotten my hands dirty, pockets padded with babysitting money, I thought, "Nope" and just shrugged my shoulders. Four years later, I'd be saying "Yep" to my first job as a seating hostess at Red Lobster. As first jobs go, it wasn't a bad one. "How many?...Right this way...Do you need a highchair?...smoking or non-smoking?" (The good old days) Easy. Honestly, I don't remember how long I held this job. Maybe a year or so. For the most part, the customers were civil, even nice but mostly forgettable. I only saw them for a few minutes, after all. It wouldn't be until years later, that I would cross the threshold from seating to serving. ("Welcome to Thunderdome, Bitch!") That's when the real fun began -- my crash course in human nature. It's amazing what people ca...

I've been in this parenthood game now for 4 1/2 years. I like to think that I have a few things figured out. Mostly, I realize (daily) that I still have a lot to learn and all of those preconceived notions I had about children, parents, good vs. bad kids and milestones were ill-conceived or just plain wrong. The most surprising to me is that my feelings toward other people's kids hasn't changed all that much. In my mind, I thought once I gave birth and received my Mommy card, the enigma that is a child's personality would become much more clear. I would just get it. And they would just get me. Some magical aura that is only visible to children would suddenly shroud me and they would be drawn to me - comfortable with me. There's no aura. There's no clarification. To be clear, I understand my kid perfectly...well, most of the time. And she is a wonder to watch as she navigates a still new-to-her world. I know I'm supposed to love her but luckily, I like he...

American Sniper Director: Clint Eastwood Oh Mr. Eastwood, I knew you had it in you. After your last few directing endeavors (Jersey Boys, J. Edgar, Hereafter), I was starting to get a bit worried. Even before that, your style, more often than not, left me feeling a bit depressed. (Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby) While it's obvious you can tell a story, usually a heavy-handed one, we as the audience only have so much emotion allotted per film. And while American Sniper also deals with heavy subject and raw emotion, the direction here is done with a more gentle touch and greatly aided by the performance of Bradley Cooper who is, to put it simply, brilliant. Cooper plays Chris Kyle, a man touted as the most deadly sniper in U.S. history. Having served four tours in the Iraqi War, he had 160 confirmed kills. There is no doubt he saved countless lives and his actions actually earned him two monikers. To us he is "The Legend", to the bad guys he became known a...

A while ago, my laptop died. There was no warning, no clue that something was wrong. As suddenly as it had come into my life, it drifted away and with it, my blog, my therapy...and a little bit of my sanity. There it sat in a drawer mocking me. With every intention to get it fixed a funny thing happened - life. You know, that thing that occurs while you're busy making plans? And just like that it was forgotten ... until a few weeks ago. A friend said, "Let me take a look." And here we are. The best Christmas presents are those that are already paid for, aren't they?! So now I find myself a few years later, a little older, hopefully a little wiser, most definitely a little more tired thinking of trying this blogging thing again. It seems so appropriate that it should start at the beginning of the year. I know, I know... all aboard the bandwagon . I'm not into resolutions, really. But if I'm looking at this as a new beginning, I guess I can set some goals, rig...