Monday, December 26, 2005

A couple of stars and a bag of popcorn

Movies, movies, movies. Here's what I've seen recently:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire *****
This was a terrific movie for Potter fans. Ralph Fiennes is oh-so-wonderful as the baddest bad guy in the wizard world.

King Kong **
There's no plot, just special effects. Could have been better. An idea: Give the characters some dialog. Another idea: Give me a reason to care.

Memoirs of a Geisha **
Poor girls. All dressed up and nowhere to go. At least in the book we learned about the intricate hair and makeup ritual and the many layers of clothing worn under the kimono. The movie was boring and the actors' accents made the dialog difficult to understand.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ***
Weird, very weird. But in a good way. I still love Johnny Depp.

Elizabethtown *
Boy oh boy. Bad. Very bad. There were at least three different movies here, none of them very good. Were Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom even filmed in the same room with each other? Only one scene in the entire movie worked for me -- the one where the Paula Deen character took Orlando into the bedroom with all of the family pictures on the wall. That felt true and real Kentucky-like to me.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Radio hell

I am sick of hearing Christmas songs on my public radio station. I wrote them to tell them so.

On the other hand, I was thrilled to hear that my least favorite radio personality is leaving town.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Dott Comments Guide to Holiday Gift Giving

Welcome to the 2005 edition of the Dott Comments Guide to Holiday Gift Giving.

I will remind all of you that MONEY MAKES THE BEST GIFT EVER. A small ($5 or $10) donation to one of the organizations on this list will go a long way.

All are near and dear to my heart and I promise that I personally know someone who works at every organization listed here.

Appalshop
Bridgehaven
Hospice
Just Solutions
Fairness
Kentucky Foundation for Women
Pleiades Theatre Company
Urban Spirit
Walden Theatre

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Babycakes goes "home" for the holidays

Babycakes left for Israel this morning.

I "helped" her finish packing last night (after we made one more trip to Target for extra socks) by figuring out how to adjust the bright blue ARZA WORLDWIDE strap to fit the luggage. (I think it should just read "Hey! Jews traveling here!" but nobody asked my opinion.) She should arrive in Tel Aviv at around 2 a.m. our time.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Holiday shopping suggestion

I'm sure there are many people on your shopping list who would enjoy this.

The World's First Bible on DVD -- from one of the many testimonials: "After everything had settled down from a busy day, My Wife and teenage sons watched the book of Matthew. We were mesmerized. We then watched the Holy Land Pictures."

Monday, December 12, 2005

Emotional roller coaster

I'm up. I'm down. I am giddy. I am despondent.

Sorry people, that's how it's gonna be.

Check back with me in January.