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Something Magnificent

Last night around 10 pm Clark came into my office where I've been stationed for the past eternity prepping for next week's final jewelry showdown in my hometown. (I've been thinking I need to hang a sign over my desk that says, "Welcome To The Pit" - but that's another post for another time.)

Anyway, he said simply, "Wanna see something really cool?"

Um... yeah!

So he marched me out our front door and showed me this...

For those of you who care.... this was shot with my 50mm lens at 1/60 sec, f/4.0, 800 ISO and used a flash.

And yes, I took 76 pictures of it hoping to get something respectable. I'm on the bottom end of the learning curve when it comes to taking pictures in the dark. As in, I'm in the "every blind squirrel finds a nut" camp at the moment. I think I just need to add the words "natural light" to the word photographer on my business card and hopefully I can ride that out awhile.

At any rate,this thing was magnificent. And the spider was HUGE and orange and very scary, but the web was so beautiful and perfect, I got as close as I dared despite my fears. I just kept thinking... this masterpiece is not only nearly free floating in the middle of the yard (yes it was attached at the top to a long branch on the pear tree behind it... but the bottom was attached to the ground in several places and I was looking up at it) but it's only probably been here for two hours or so. It amazed me that something so complicated could be created in such a short time frame.

It was just too cool not to share. I hope it's still there when I wake up so I can show Macho that Charlotte came for a visit. He'll totally dig it.

And to think - I was going to bore you with details of my proposed Friday night of packing for my week at home and the fact that the season 10 premiere (the final season I might add, SNIFF) of Smallville will be on at 8pm EST on the CW. I'll be tuning in during all the multi-tasking.

I'll be sure and thank Charlotte on behalf of all of you if I see her again in the morning for saving you from that hellatious post.

I smiled and wiggled in my seat.

Sorry I was MIA yesterday. I've been just consumed with work the past few days. Lucky for me I'm able to casually "catch up" on some TV time while I work. I usually throw a movie in and "listen" while I work on jewelry, or edit photos, or work on design projects...

I had a goodie on yesterday... again, from my beloved Netflix.

Call him bizarre... weird... misunderstood... tortured soul... or - a musical genius. He was just so so so.... undeniably

original.

No one could sing the way he could. No one could MOVE the way he could.

It was mesmerizing. And the dancers in his show! Sick.

It was impossible for me to not sit with a big smile and bob my head, and wiggle in my seat while he did his thang.

It was a Thriller, baby. 

Highly recommend.

P.S. Wish me luck... This weekend I'll be shooting my very first wedding with Miss Fabulous. A big deal for me. I'll keep ya posted.

Movie Review: Remember Me

I do the Netflix thing. I love it. I like to put a bunch of titles in my queue and then forget about them completely so that when the little red envelope arrives in my mailbox - it's a surprise. I love surprises - even though I'm so stubborn, many times I spoil them. But that's another topic for another time.

Last week this was my surprise movie.

Yes, I will fully admit. I chose it for my queue because I was curious to see Robert Pattinson in a non-Edward role. Period. I really had no expectations of it. I had seen the trailer a few months back -

and I thought, what the heck... After seeing the trailer I was like, "Ok... troubled boy meets girl, blah blah." Again - it seemed rather Indie-ish to me - so I managed my expectations accordingly.

I just love it when that happens. Low expectations are met with an impressive storyline - and you are left thinking about it for a few days. Such was the case here.

Here's the truth: Even as I was watching it - early on and even mid-way into the film I kept thinking... "Yeah, this is kind of depressing. These people are all in a bad place in their lives. It's like watching one struggle on top of another." And I'm a feel-good movie kind of girl. But I kept watching - I was working on my laptop at the same time...

But then it happened... I reached the last two minutes of the film and my mouth just hung open the entire time.  The one thing that made it all come full circle happened and all the hurt and pain that these characters felt for each other, now became personal to me. And I would venture to guess that it will become personal for each and every one of you too.

And what's more - this element of the movie - this "Sixth Sense secret" - a crucial and pivotal thing - was closely guarded. It was not revealed in the trailers. I did not hear about it from others who saw it.

And it blew me away. A mediocre film became really good to me - all in the last 3 minutes. And I've been thinking about it for several days now.

Here's another kicker... R-Pat was an executive producer. Didn't see that one coming! Way to go Rob. This was a good pick on your part. 

And a great surprise for me in nearly every way. Now hurry along and go put it in your queue - or do the Redbox / Blockbuster thing. Two thumbs up from moi.

Rekindling an Old Flame

For quite a few years (early to mid 2000's) this was my show...

Yep, I can admit it. I'm HUGE Smallville fan... Is it SO hard to see why?

Actually, I was a fan of the Christopher Reeve original Superman movies. I'm an 80's kid afterall. Smallville was just a natural extension of that for me. In my personal DVD library are Seasons 1 through 3. I was a FAN - atic....  and then, for reasons I really can't identify, I just fell away from it.

Our falling out happened around the time that the show switched networks to the CW and got a new time slot and all that. At the time I was moving around a lot myself. I just didn't make time for it or I kept missing it when it was on. I guess that's neither here nor there. 

Since then, I would catch snippets of episodes here and there and would be like, "What?" "Jonathan Kent is dead? Huh?" "Lana is married to Lex? Huh?" It drove me crazy. I had to put a stop to it. I needed to connect the dots.

Enter: Netflix in all it's wondrous glory. Oh, how I love love love Netflix.

I've been barreling through Season 4's discs over the past couple weeks and things are starting to fall into place... Mind you I have a LOT of catching up to do as Season 9 is currently on-air, with a Season 10 just confirmed on March 4.

All I can say is, YIPPY SKIPPY to that little announcement. I'm just getting my groove back and I'm amped to know that just as I've started to fan the flame again they aren't going to end the darn thing and break my heart!

 

If I really think about it... this was like my first Twilight obsession. Hmmmm. Supernatural teenage angst anyone? Love triangles anyone? The battle between good and evil anyone?

Hey, I'm just sayin'. Girls, if any of you out there ARE Twilight fans and you haven't introduced yourself to this little program - it may just be a good fit for you.

Smallville airs on Friday nights at 8pm on the CW. For more info click here.

Love her...

Sandy Bullock is exquisite. (I call her Sandy because in my mind, we're BFF's :) )  Here she is in a gorgeous Marchesa gown at last night's Academy Awards. When she was on stage, this dress glittered even more. Like liquid silver.

_[Reuters]

Here's what I think of her in just a few choice words. wildly talented, poised, down to earth, stunningly beautiful, humble, witty, sensitive, and super famous even though she doesn't act that way.

For those of you who missed it, here's her acceptance speech. She won for best performance by an actress in a leading role for her work in, The Blind Side.

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock

It was worth staying up for. By far, the best speech of the night. And while what she said was great, the best moment for me was when the camera panned to her husband, rough-neck Jesse James, who had the teeniest of lip quivers. That clinched it for me. I just love it when a guy like him melts into a puddle of lovey goo for a girl like her.