Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance movie review

This film was just a feel good romp.  The premise of good versus evil and fighting the evil within is as old as time, but it always works.  I think that is largely because we all fight similar battles every day.  You can say what you will about Nicolas Cage and many do not favor him as an actor, but I really love his narrative. He's not your typical leading man, and I have heard it said he's not great and only gets roles due to his familial connections. I have to disagree, at least about the acting.  His role in this is not complex, but he makes it believable, well as believable as make believe can be anyway. Johnny Whitworth is awesome as one of the anti-heroes Ray Carrigan who the devil played by Ciaran Hinds also curses with the power to disintegrate everything he touches. There is plenty of action and a little bit of mystery that carries the viewer along right up to the climactic end.  For those that aren't familiar with the Ghost Rider movies.. the ghost rider Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) is cursed by a deal he made with the devil.  Without warning or control he becomes the ghost rider and must exact the devils vengeance.  He is recruited by Moreau (Idris Elba) to save the life of a young boy Danny (Fergus Riordan) and in return can be free of his curse.  Violante Pacido is convincing as the boys protective butt kicking mom.  I can't really say much more without ruining it.  The movie is very enjoyable. Who doesn't want to see a bad ass flaming skull head on a motorcycle kicking some serious butt? So on the Heart Chart... Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance gets three out of five hearts ♥♥♥

Dani's private collection and a word about Crocs

Lately I have noticed that Crocs seem to have a bad rap when it comes to fashion.  Sighs... well you can say what you will about the fashion statement that these little gems make or don't make...but they have saved my feet big time and  I ....live in them.  About 7 years ago I had foot surgery to have a bunion removed and I couldn't wear regular shoes for some time... I guess that's when I discovered Crocs.  With their roomy fit and light weight very supportive material I was in heaven.  My feet had never felt so good.  They are waterproof, washable, colorful... and anyone who knows me knows how important colorful is, and they grip.  Yay.  So today I did a photo shoot with my private collection of Crocs and I am going to share it with you. If you haven't taken a look at Crocs lately.. you might be surprised.  They are no longer just beach wear.  They have an entire line of Crocs dedicated to those that have to be on their feet all day, and they look pretty smart if you ask me, but you can judge for yourself.  http://www.crocs.com/home/homepage,default,pg.html
I am so excited about the new sexi sandal.. it is very gladiator looking. I can't wait to order it.

This is my signature collection..

the Crocs I wear everyday. 

 Anyone who loves Crocs knows you have to have 

Croc bling (Jibbitz)

Of course I had to have the purple heart bling. 

So now on to my work Crocs. 

I use to lease apartment homes for a living.  As you

might suspect that involves a crap load of walking

and you would be right.  These Crocs made the

walking part of my job bearable.  There are a 

whole line of Crocs for the medical field, and

the restaurant industry.  They are closed toed,

and slip resistant, and they look pretty snazzy, but 

they still have that signature Croc comfort built

right in.  

And last but not least... Wedding Crocs.

Yes you heard me right.. Wedding Crocs. smiles.

Underneath this dress... smiles I

was wearing these...my wedding Crocs.

 and I danced and karaoke'd in perfect comfort.

So there you have it..my Croc story. winks. I hope

if nothing else this makes you take a second look

at the incredibly durable and comfortable Croc.

Okay so I got the new sexi sandal and just had to
include pics here. WoooHooo.. I love them

Phoebe in Wonderland movie review

Elle Fanning doesn't disappoint in her spot on portrayal of Phoebe, a young girl with special needs doing her best to navigate difficult societal waters.  I felt the overall theme of this movie was tolerance, but I have to say I found it a bit implausible.  Having raised a special needs kid myself, I know that society is neither tolerant nor accepting of those that don’t fit the cookie cutter mold of the majority.  Children in particular can be especially cruel and often are.  I did appreciate the movie’s tone of compassion through education and its overall willingness to illustrate candidly the feelings and viewpoints of those that surround Phoebe.    Felicity Huffman was a scene stealer as Phoebe’s mother/advocate trying to pave a way for her daughter’s growth and acceptance.   I found her characters denial of her daughters issues disappointing and counterproductive but exceedingly realistic.  Patricia Clarkson captivated me in every scene she appeared in, with her even tone and unexpected dialogue she very appropriately made oddity riveting.  Bill Pullman was very convincing as the loving father who just wants to do the right thing but is frustrated by his lack of understanding.  The cast rounds out with exceptional performances by Campbell Scott, Ian Colleti, Bailee Madison.  From an artistic standpoint… I loved the film.  I hope as a society we reach a point where all are accepted and included and I think that is the main point the film tries to get across.  So on the Heart Chart… Phoebe in Wonderland gets four out of five hearts. ♥♥♥♥

Gluten free brunch with the Hearts

 The egg, cinnamon, cream, and pecan coating

 Organic sprouted bread from Trader Joe's

 Organic, cage free, eggs

 The french toast masterpieces

 omg yummmmmy

All gone!  

Some of the best meals we ever have we make right 

here at home.  This was definitely one of those meals.

Thanks for joining us. 

Best & Worst

Best:  Our L House reunion get together.  So good to have our original girls together again.  Lots of fun, laughter and horsing around. Having a blast writing at Expats Post and Expats Poetry.  Love love love all the new friends I have made there.  


Worst:  Sent the defective laminator back and haven't procured a new one yet... not too high on the priority list at the moment... sighs..  summer is finally setting in and with it the heat that I so dislike...ah well.. not as bad as some places... still counting my blessings. :)


Funniest:  Our L House groping pics... no those did not go on facebook. ;)  What happens at the L House stays at the L House. 


What I learned:  that Gillian Michaels is a lesbian.... always suspected.  

The Hunger Games movie review

I enjoyed this movie as I think most will, however if you have read the trilogy and are a fan of the books you will find some discrepancies in the story line.  There are always a few when attempting to make books into movies.  The one in this movie that most disappointed me was how Katniss receives the mocking jay pin.  I think who it belonged to and where it came from is a semi important detail and it is completely disregarded in the movie version.  Jennifer Lawrence is awesome as Katniss Everdeen. As a woman I must say I am quite pleased with the amount of female heroines there have been in movies of late.  We root for her from the very first chapter as she has stepped up to fend for her family in the absence of her father.  I love the casting in this movie, but must point out another discrepancy from the book in that the characters from Katniss's district save for her mom and Prim are supposed to be olive skinned and none of the actors hired to play the characters have olive skin.  Maybe this is not important, but I certainly noticed having read the trilogy.  I felt Woody Harrelson was  perfectly cast as the cantankerous drunkard, previous victor Haymitch Abernathy.  The premise of this film is as old as time I suppose.... there are districts of people that are starving that work themselves nearly to death under police state supervision and control to support a greedy rich capitol district where people live in the lap of luxury, going to endless parties where they feast until they are so full that they must induce vomiting so that they can do it all again.  It is hard to miss the correlation to what is going on in our society today.  We do have people starving and working long hours and struggling just to get by, albeit not under police state conditions, and we do have uber wealthy people making great gobs of money off the labor of those working so hard to get by.  Just look at the Wall Street scandal, the Enron scandal, the state of our healthcare.   I would have to say that the release of this trilogy couldn't have come at a better time or be a better wake up call.  I am in no way asserting the authors intentions, just espousing my own opinions.  So continuing with the premise, each year the capitol district visits each of the subordinate districts  and draws the name of a boy and a girl starting from age 12, (reaping) to go into an arena where they must fight to the death, and the sole survivor gets to live in luxury accommodations and have food a plenty back in their own district for the rest of their natural life.  They call this barbaric practice The Hunger Games and they televise it like an olympic sport.  Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson play the two love interests of our heorine and the cast rounds out with notable actors including, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentlley, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitx, just to name a few.  Definitely worth the price of the ticket, and "May the odds be ever in your favor".   So on the Heart Chart The Hunger Games gets four out of five hearts. ♥♥♥♥

Snow White and the Huntsman movie review

Firstly, I have to say that this movie is visually stunning. The cinematography is outstanding.  The parts are very well acted and the casting was superb.  All that said... I also have to say that I felt the characters were under developed.  Although I enjoyed the movie visually and it is always cool to have a female heroine, it did not capture my heart.  I know it is a fairy tale and there is not a whole lot of story-line to work with so I'll have to give it credit for being what it is.  Charlize Theron is exquisite as the evil sorcerer queen Ravenna, and Kristen Stewart as Snow White has the victim turned heroine thing down to a tee.  Her on-screen transformation from vulnerable innocence to determined courage is palpable.  She is always the unlikely heroine and that is why we love her.  I won't waste too much time going into the premise since most of us know the story of Snow White.  For those of you who don't... The evil queen must kill Snow White before she comes of age and steals the title of fairest of them all.  Unable to kill Snow White she instead gets her to eat a poisoned apple that will keep her in coma forever unless she is kissed on the lips by someone professing true love.  Enter Chris Hemsworth who plays the huntsman and Snow White's true love.  The movie is definitely worth seeing, just don't expect a lot of depth.  So on the Heart Chart Snow White and the Hunstman gets 
3 out of 5 hearts ♥♥♥

Best & Worst

It's been a while since I have done Best & Worst, and it is long overdue.  There has been a lot going on recently so here goes. :)


Best:  Went wine tasting with our good friend Joyce on Memorial Day.  We had a lovely picnic on the winery grounds and a very relaxing day.  Our C.j. sunshine just had a birthday BBQ here at the L House and it was a blast.  More drunk karaoke, (like there is ever enough of that) :).  One of our original L girls will be coming for a visit soon and it will be good to see her, more drunk karaoke...lol.  I wrote my first article for Expats Post a site I have joined recently and it was well received.  I am very excited and looking forward to writing more for this site.  I also just wrote a new poem after a little dry spell, and that's a good thing cause I really want to release my next book late this year, and time is running out. LOL  We have a rafting trip planned next year with some of our favorite girls. We are so looking forward to that.  A couple of weeks ago a bunch of us girls had dinner with a friend in Burbank and played some very fun bad-mitten.  Now that was a sight to see.  I have signed up to go to a conference in Utah for my Essential Oils.  I know I am going to learn a lot, and it will be a lot of fun.  I have never been to Utah.  I will pick up doing my movie reviews again, now that I know about blog tags. lol  I figured out what was making my cat hork, and I have fixed the situation. Yay.  She is such a sensitive girl.  Saving the BEST for last.... it has been rather cool so far this year, and anyone who knows me knows how happy that makes me.  I am so not a fan of the heat, and it can get pretty hot here during the summer and it is an uncomfortable heat.  The last few summers we have been so lucky. :)


Worst:  I have been having some nagging back pain, but I have to say the Deep Blue essential oil really helps.  I think I must be sleeping wrong or something..., the hangover from C.j.'s birthday BBQ...omg, my laminator took a crap and I have to get a new one..wait (not entirely sure that's a bad thing...it was 10 plus years old)..but I was in the middle of a project and now I have to wait for mail order because it is so so much cheaper than purchasing it at a retail outlet. sighs... :)  So my partially laminated sheet waits.... and waits... lol  


Funniest:  My wife not being able to sleep after C.j.'s birthday BBQ cause of all the jack & cokes I made her.... and the visual of her sitting up watching tv drinking jack straight from the bottle. lol


What I learned:  The definition of piquant.  Well I am not going to tell YOU, if you don't know you need to look it up too. LOL Then you will have something to put on your what you learned. LOL

Mystery Meat (soylent green)

About 8 months ago... (I don't buy ground sirloin that often), I noticed a difference in the taste of the ground sirloin in particular that I purchased from my grocers meat department.  It happened on more than one occasion, so feeling concerned... I asked the meat department manager one day when I was shopping.  She informed me that ground sirloin is nowadays purchased from other countries and shipped in. That it had been a recent change... and was probably the reason I noticed a taste difference.  She told me I could purchase a whole steak and have her grind it there for me and then it would be US ground sirloin.  She showed me the label where in very tiny print it says... product of , and I kid you not, US, Canada, Australia, New Zeland and Mexico. 

 I was completely shocked and horrified!!!!!  I had purchased and eaten meat from another country and was never told.  Regulations from other countries are not the same as in the U.S. !  http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=60382  Yes, technically it is on the label but so small that you would never see it unless it was pointed out to you.  So now I read the labels... and very often... they do say from other countries. I will not buy meat from other countries ever again.  Why in the heck would we ship meat in from so far away???? Well my guess is.. because in those other countries they don't have to abide by the regulations in regards to what they feed and what hormones and additives are used in the diets of the products they are selling.  So it's cheaper, and probably poisonous.  Let me tell you about the taste difference I experienced... the ground sirloin that I ate a couple of times..tasted like goo. Forgive me folks... I am not usually at a loss for words..lol It had a pasty bread like consistency (not usually associated with meat) unless it's meat loaf.  I just didn't like it. It was gross.  The scary thing is... had it not been a noticeable difference in the taste and consistency I might never have been the wiser.  This is alarming on so many levels.  Meat case labels never use to say things like made in other countries in small print, so it never occurred to me to look for that, and I am sure it doesn't occur to most people.  It's a new thing.. a sneaky, shady new thing.  Buyers beware.... your very own health is most definitely at stake.  In this day and age we are facing many unnatural products at our grocery stores.  Our fruits and vegetables that we have long been able to count on as being natural and healthy, can now be genetically altered and not labeled to inform us.  How is that even possible... if it isn't 100% natural, how can they not be required to tell us they have fucked with our food!!!!???? If you are interested in knowing what's going on in the food industry today... and you should be..here is a link to an awesome documentary that will shock and enrage you, but hopefully make you more aware of how to make better choices about what you eat.    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/   Thanks for listening. :)

Best & Worst

Best:  Our C.j. sunshine has come back home to the L House.  We are so happy to have her.  My oil business is gaining some momentum and every new oil I try .. I love.  They really are the bomb. Noelle and I have started walking on the hamster wheel and we love it.  Walking is the best exercise.  Noelle and I have discovered gel nails. They are so cool and not damaging to your nail bed. It is really just a gel polish but it doesn't crack and lasts 3 to 4 weeks for us. Yay.  Noelle couldn't wear acrylics cause they would lift and come off of her in only a week. Now with gels our nails look good for a long time and it doesn't break the bank. :)  I found an artist (TJ Lubrano) who is going to do illustrations for me for a chapter of poems in my next poetry book. So excited that her drawings will help my work come to life.  We are seeing a good friend this weekend that we haven't seen in a while.... it will be very therapeutic. 


Worst:  We are having to do our first eviction here at the L House.  We have one girl who is really bringing down the mood and doesn't follow the rules.  Sad... but it is what it is.  So we move forward. It's all we can do.. and we know things will go back to normal once she is gone.  I have been having random breakouts over the last couple of months... and I have no idea what is causing them. sighs....  


Funniest:  Telling Victoria about the Butt Bomb remedy amidst ours and C.j.'s roaring laughter.   


What I learned:  That there is a mixture of Essential Oils  (Butt Bomb) that when placed in a capsule and inserted in one's behind can cure lung infections. Wow. Sounds pretty extreme to me...lol