BABEL

Babel is an excellent movie. The end.

I mean, being a Brad Pitt fan I know that anything that he signs up for is gonna be good. He picks great movies. And this one is not an exception.

Also starring Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Adrianna Barraza & Rinko Kikuchi (I know alot of these names are unfamiliar to most, but after you see this movie you'll remember them for a long time) Babel is a seriously touching picture. Imagine "Crash", if you will, but more intense & political. I mean, I was on edge for most of the movie.

In a nutshell, Babel is about 4 different families in four different parts of the world whom are connected to each other in ways they couldn't fathom. Brad & Cate are a married couple vacationing in Morocco, where a family just bought a gun to keep rascals away from their animals & the children got a hold of it. Brad's children are being watched by a nanny who takes them with her to Mexico for her son's wedding because she couldn't find anyone else to watch them. And the last family is a widowed Japanese father & deaf-mute daughter trying to connect & re-established their relationship after the mom commits suicide. And in one way or another every one of their actions affects one another's even though they've never met.

Like I said, this movie had me on edge the ENTIRE time. I've never had a movie make me so tense & concerned about the characters; I felt like I was a part of their family. My eyes were wide, heart beating fast & sometimes I held my breath for longer than a person should before they start suffocating. And they broke so many movie "rules" and boundaries that it's crazy & exhilarating at the same time. You see the human body exposed in a completely different way, the realness & intensity of people's struggles, and how one stupid decision can alter your life forever.

Wow, my heart is racing again just talking about it. They definitely didn't win an Oscar for Best Motion Picture for nothing I tell you that.

Go watch this if you haven't. It's incredible.

Love,
Akanke

BABEL


It's almost new. Three hundred cartridges. The guy who gave it to me said you can hit as far as three kilometers.

I'm deaf, not blind!


They look at us like we're monsters.


What about you? How many wives do you have?
Anwar: I can only afford one.


This is your fucked-up country, it's your responsibility!

ALONG CAME A SPIDER

Along Came a Spider. Hmm. Even the name is intriguing. If the name is intriguing than the movie must be too right? Of course! No sarcasm there! Maybe I'm biased but anything that Morgan Freeman stars in is going to be great. Well, except for "Guilt by Association." The title is full of LIES! All you need to know is that he's only in the movie for at most 15 minutes and it's a horrible & deceptive title because it has nothing to do with the movie. I don't fault him though, it wasn't his fault that the rest of the movie sucked. He did them a favor by being in it but even Morgan couldn't save that horrible independent venture.

But anyways, Along Came a Spider was fantastical! It's an older movie (2001) but still has substance & style. Adapted from James Patterson's novel, ACAS stars Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross & Monica Potter as Jezzie Flannigan. Cross is a distinguished detective who gets pulled into a well-planned game by Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott.) Soneji abducts the Senator's daughter in hopes of topping Charles Linbergh's kidnapping (his son's kidnapping was THE kidnapping of all time.) As he leads Cross in cat & mouse chase across Washington D.C, time runs low & people reveal their true intentions.

I must say the ending caught me off guard in a good way; I can usually tell what's going to happen but not for this movie. I love Morgan's character: Cross is incredibly smart, thoughtful & compassionate. He could play those roles forever & I wouldn't be tired of 'em. I actually jumped for joy when he won the Oscar for Million Dollar Baby (which I haven't seen yet & shall put on my QUEUE.) He deserves every award that he receives!

Along Came a Spider: a genius story accompanied by incredible actors. Thumbs up! If you haven't seen it, you already know... better sign up for that Total Access! :-D


~ Akanke

Alex: Wow. Imagine the patience... the dedication...
Jezzie: You sound like an admirer.
Alex: Well, he's like a spider. I happen to like spiders.

Gary Sonjei: I am living proof, that a mind is a terrible thing.

Gary Sonjei: They say that when I die, the case will die. They say it will be like a book I close. But the book, it will never close...

Alex: You do what you are Jezzie.
Jezzie: You mean you are what you do.
Alex: No, I mean, you do what you are. You're born with a gift. If not that, then you get good at something along the way. And what you're good at, you don't take for granted. You don't betray it.
Jezzie: What if you do, betray your gift?
Alex: Then you betray yourself. That's a sad thing.

TOTAL ACCESS TO MY QUEUE

By the way I just signed up for Blockbuster Total Access so I get unlimited rentals & stuff. Very excited about this! Oh and guess what?! You get to see my queue. lol. Why does that sound so dirty? Well it's not, and you illegal song downloaders should know what a queue is :-p. In case you're not familiar with Total Access you basically go online & search for movies that you want to see & drag it to your queue (basically a list of pending movies.) They then send the 1st movie on the list to you & when you're finished you send it back to them & they send you the next movie on the list. Pretty simple process...

And so I've added a little section at the bottom of me page so you can look at my actual queue list of movies that I'm going to watch. It'll give you an idea of what movie I'll be blogging about next. And it also gives you a synopsis, cast & awards (if any) info and everything about each movie. I think it's pretty cool. Yay!

I'll try to blog about each movie as I finish but I'm pretty sure I'll watch faster than I write. I mean, I do have a job & a boyfriend, and a... life. So yea, I'll try my best to write every time I have time.

Enjoy!
Akanke

Random P.S.- I like renting but I love buying movies more so this whole Total Access thing is just a bonus goody. Trust me, when I'm done I'm gonna need a whole room in the house to store all of my DVDs :-D (Yes I've already thought about a floorplan for my built from the ground up house. More on that later)

:-D

BORAT

So we finally saw Borat. hahahahaa. It's the most funny, gross & highly controversial comedy ever! lol! Oh my God! He is soooo crazy!

If you guys haven't seen it, which you need to go rent RIGHT NOW, Borat is THE political & funny movie. Sacha Baron Cohen (Talladega Nights, Da Ali G show) is supposedly a reporter named Borat from Kazakstan traveling across the U.S. and A (Yes that's how he says it. Not USA. U.S. and A. Holla) doing a documentary on the people & culture that he meets along the way. Well, that's what he tells the unsuspecting victims anyway. hahahaha. He's an idiot!

The people that he meets are real people & he messes with them soooo bad. They're trying to be all professional in front of the camera but Borat is an asshole & asks provocative & highly inappropriate questions. He interviews people all across the spectrum, from driving instructors, dinner etiquette teachers, college students to guys on the block (just to name a few.)

No for real, ya'll have GOT to see this movie. Not only is it so incredibly entertaining, it is serious as it reveals how people really feel about certain subjects, such as sexism, racism & slavery.

And there's tons of deleted scenes that couldn't make it into the movie so the bonus features are packed with greatness. haha. Go rent it! Oh, and look for him in the new movie Sweeney Todd with Johny Depp. Can't wait to see it!

~ Akanke


BORAT

You telling me the man who try to put a rubber fist in my anus was a homosexual?

What kind of car can I buy that attract woman with shaved vagine?
Car Dealership owner: That would be a Corvette. Or a Hummer.

Does Jesus love my neighbour, Nushuktan Tulyiagby?
Church Pastor: Yes, Jesus loves everyone.
Nobody like my neighbour, Nushuktan Tulyiagby.

Sometime my sister, she show her vagine to my brother Bilo and say "You will never get this you will never get it la la la la la la." He behind his cage. He cries, he cries and everybody laughs. She goes "You never get this." But one time he break cage and he "get this" and then we all laugh. High five!

My name-a Borat. I like you. I like sex. Is nice!

THE YELLOW ONE

~ The weather's been great for the past 3 days; it feels like springtime. I mean, it's literally like mid 70s to low 80s. It's good & bad because I'll take springtime weather anyday, but it's two weeks from Christmas & I was hoping for snow. haha. Yea right. Wishful thinking...

~ By the way, our tree IS 8 feet tall. Whoot whoot! I went home & stood next to it & since I'm 5'2 & the tree boldly overshadows me by a clear 3+ feet, I was like yea... You're so not 7 feet buddy. We decorated it on Sunday too; Actor's brothers & his dad helped us. There were some complications but it turned out nicely; it's beauuuutiful!

~ Visine is getting so much money out of me. My contacts have been bothering me for the past couple of days & my eyes have been literally drenched in the stuff. Are you making my eyes drier? *mugs*... Oh but I'm getting my new contacts today so, yippee! No more Visine!

~ Why was I extra slow yesterday? I didn't get enough sleep so was kinda dragging all day. Then I got hungry & went to Mickey Ds for lunch & boy was I a retarded customer. So I ordered & paid & drove to the second window right? I got a grilled chicken sandwich & some fries & wanted some sweet & sour sauce to go with it. So I'm like "Can I have two of your sauce?" The lady (couldn't speak much English, had a thick accent, so we both couldn't really understand each other) looks at me like... "Ok, you're gonna have to help me out here, we've got like 8 million kinds of sauces." And for the life of me I couldn't think of "sweet & sour" for nothing! My mind was racing & I'm thinking of all types of complicated sauce like "bbq, honey mustard, bourbon, teriyaki (knowing damn well they don't have either of the last ones. lol)" and mind you, 10 seconds have probably gone by & I'm just staring at her, zoned out in my own little mind trying to think of the name of the sauce.

"The yellow one." lol. After 15 seconds of thinking, I said "the yellow one." Standing ovation for the retard please! She says "Sweet & Sour?" "Yes! That's the one! Sorry!"


She gave me 2 packages & I drove away in shame...

TELL ME WHY...

Tell me why...

1) The trash people at my job don't replace my trash bag? They just empty the bag... That's gross. I had this sticker that I threw in the trash like a week ago & it's still there, stuck to the side of the bag. Grosssss. I mean, I can see how you would do that if it's just paper, but how do you know unless you rummage through it? Which would also be gross. Case in point: change my bag pls!

2) I don't realize that I'm missing an item that I ordered (from a fast food drive through) until after I'm long gone from the place? Ughhh. Irritating. Like today I didn't get my drink & completely didn't notice it till I got back to work. Boo. I really wanted it too. I upsized to a large. lol. Double boo.

"Why don't you just go back Akanke?" you might ask. Well, that depends on numerous factors: 1 being if I even notice that I didn't get something (cuz sometimes I'm too hungry to check or just trust that the person got my order right.)
2 being if I'm already out of the parking lot. If I am then I probably won't come back.
3 being what the actual item is: if it's just some fries or a drink I'd probably just leave it. If it's a burger or similar then I'd probably go back but wouldn't want to.
4 being how long the line is once I get there. If the drive through is long I'd probably just leave cuz I don't feel like getting out of the car. lol

3) They sentenced Vick to 23 months in prison? I mean, why don't you just make it an even 2 years. Gosh. I mean, not that I want him to spend more time in jail, it's just why do people make stuff so complicated? Why can't everything just be an even dollar? or number? You know? Stuff that are $9.99 irritates me. lol. Just go ahead and put $10. My God! Do you really think changing the number from 10 to 9 will make me think that I'm saving a whole dollar? You only took a penny off! Ughh.

And about the whole dog fighting thing? Blah. Maybe I'm biased because I've never had a pet (except for some goldfishes but they all died. I dunno, I don't really count them as a pet) but damn, I don't think it's that serious. People cock fight, hunt deers, etc. all the time! Who's to say one animal is better than another? If that's the case then why don't everybody become a vegetarian & not eat ANY meat. I just feel that they overblown the case cuz he was famous & they wanted to make an example out of somebody. Leave people alone! And before you PETA people starting throwing paint on my door, I don't condone or encourage mistreatment of animals. I just don't think that one animal should be regarded higher than another.


That is all.

Akanke

*INSERT YOUR FAVORITE CHISTMAS SONG HERE*

I'm excited about Christmas! Yay!

That about sums up how I feel about the upcoming weeks: I can't wait for Christmas to come. We just bought our tree last night. It's huge too! I'm guessing it's 7-8 feet cuz it's literally an inch away from my ceiling (According to me assuming that our ceiling is 8ft. It could be 9ft, but I'm pretty sure that the tree isn't 9 ft. so I'm assuming that my ceiling is 8ft. Confused yet?) But anyways, yay for the tree! This is my second real tree & Actor's zillionth, but we are excited about it like it's our first time. hehe.

We're probably gonna decorate it tonight or sometime this weekend. Bought some extra boxes of lights in case our old lights decided to give out... We have cool stocking holders & everything. I'm putting them on the bar counter since we don't have a fireplace like we did last year. Actor & his brothers still have their stockings that I decorated for them last yr. They're dope; I decorated them with glitter gel pens & drew things that reflected each person's favorite things on there. Speaking of I gotta find mine; it's in one of the Christmas boxes that we packed away somewhere...

We're having Christmas dinner at our house this year. This is the second year but will be the 1st time that his parents are joining us. And his mom is cooking too *drools.* I'll be helping her but she's doing all the important/main dishes. I'm probably only gonna do the sides & etc since I haven't really ever cooked holiday dinner & don't wanna mess it up. haha.

I've gotten each person at least two gifts already (well, Actor like 5+) but haven't shopped for his mom yet. I wanted to get her this beautiful necklace & earring set but Actor said that she probably wouldn't like it so... I digress. Gotta regroup & find something else to get her. I love her by the way. That's my second mommy :-)

On another note, I'm so tired of Christmas music! Oh my god! Everywhere I go everyone is playing Christmas music: radio stations, elevators, stores, EVERYWHERE! I love the music, but you know the saying: two much of anything is bad. It gets to the point I'm sitting there driving & I start to sing a Christmas song for no apparent reason. It's like it's injected into my skull or something. Yuck! And plus everyone shouldn't remake/ have a Christmas album ok? Give it up. If you can't sing a normal song then a Christmas song isn't gonna sound better. LOL at country Christmas songs btw. They're funny...

All in all, I love this time of year. Family, friends, presents, food, joy, love, and everything inbetween. Yay! Oh & plus everything is so close together it's like our holidays never end: Christmas is on the 25th, then New Years, then my birthday is Jan. 7th, so yea... The party never stops for us.

I've already decided what restaurant I'm going to for my birthday, but haven't decided if I want it to be just us two, close family & friends, or an all-out every we know kinda deal. Hmm.... oh the possibilities. I'll let you know what I decide... later.

Toodles for now (wow I haven't heard the word toodles in ages, but it's a fun word to use)
:-)
Akanke

*HAPPY HOLIDAYS*

MY EYES ARE SMALL BUT MY APPETITE IS NOT

I'm feeling greedy & hungry today so I've decided to dedicate this blog to my favorite things to eat. I'll hit all of the highlights as I know that I love to eat any & everything so there's no way that I'll remember everything or have enough time to list them all, so... And oh yea, I guess I'll categorize them, one cuz it'll make it easier for me to think of foods in the same category and two cuz I want to. So here goes...

*Appetizer*
~ Calamari. Dipped in the right sauce that is. Everybody can't make the right marinara.
~ Spinach, artichoke & cheese dip. Yum
~ Any appetizer from Friday's, notably the sesame jack chicken strips & fried mac & cheese. Did I mention that that is one of my favorite restaurants? Everything on their menu is good. I don't think I've ever had a bad meal from there. Ever.
~ Egg drop soup. My dad makes the best. He puts crab meat & bamboo shoots among other goodies in there....

*Main Entrees*
~ Anything Italian: pasta, spaghetti, ravioli, lasagna... etc.

~ BBQ: chicken, ribs, etc. I think everything tastes good with BBQ sauce. haha. Oh & my favorite store-bought is the Kraft brown sugar one. My favorite restaurant sauce is the Jack Daniel's from Fridays. It's the greatest. I swear I'll dip anything in the Jack Daniel's sauce.

~ Turkey burgers

~ Asian food. I like stir fried, lomein, & certain exotic dishes. I ate it all of my life growing up so only have a craving for it occasionally. Same goes for Actor with BBQ stuff. I don't like sushi though. Naw to raw. lol. The only sushi I'll eat is California rolls & maybe tempora. But it's fried so it doesn't count...

~ Steak. I'll eat a steak almost anywhere I go. If they have steak I'd probably try it. My favorite steaks are: Ihop's Top sirloin steak (believe it or not, theirs is on my top 10) Golden Corral's steak & bacon wrapped steak and when I make mine at home with A-1 NY steakhouse marinade.

~ Soul food. Man do I love me some soul food. I'm glad I got a black boyfriend. lol. (Before you start marching on me, me & Actor make racist jokes toward each other all the time. It's part of our humor. So chill out. haha) But yea, I love me some greens, corn bread, sweet potato pie, and everything inbetween. I can't wait for Christmas. More on that in another blog...

~ Jambalaya. I like California Pizza Kitchen's & mine. Just made some last night. Yay.

~ A dish we get at a this restaurant ("Pho Dai Loi" look them up!) It consists of white vermicelli (noodle), shrimp, cut up egg rolls, grilled pork (Actor's favorite part), peanuts, fried garlic & you pour fish sauce over it. Yummy.


*Desert*
~ Banana pudding
~ Sweet potato pie
~ Brownies
~ Cake & ice cream
~ Combine the previous two & you get: *drum roll*....Brownie Sundae!!! The best! Especially if the brownie is warm. "Up the Creek" has the best one.
~ Peach cobbler *drools* (Peaches are my favorite fruit & is now my favorite color. My former color was yellow.)
~ Cheesecake. With good strawberry topping. Not the extract crap. Ihop has good strawberry toppings. I get it on my French Toast combo. But I've never eaten the cheesecake thingie there... Hmm, I have a mini mission now. Off to Ihop!
~ Fried banana with ice cream. The best. Ru Sans has it.
~ This Vietnamese thingie, I shall call it wine marinaded rice cuz I have no idea what it's called. Tried to google to no avail... But anyways, it's basically rice balls in wine juice. I dunno, hard to explain but it's delicious. Has a sweet & tangy taste.

Well kids, that is all for now. I shall post my list of favorite fast food items in an upcoming post.

Till next time,
Akanke

P.S. - For other favorite restaurants & food CLICK HERE

MR. BROOKS

Mr. Brooks... After you watch this movie you'll definitely remember his name.

An easy-going, smooth, yet very terrifying thriller, Mr. Brooks is THAT movie. Kevin Costner is the man himself, joined by William Hurt as is alter-ego, Dane Cook as a menacing witness & Demi Moore as the detective out for his head. Mr. Brooks is a devoted family & businessman by day and an uncontrollable serial killer by night. He doesn't kill because he enjoys it. He kills because he HAS to. Nicknamed the "Thumbprint killer" he poses his victims in the nude & takes polaroids of them as a keepsake. He then put their thumbprints in blood on the night stand lamp shade. After Mr. Smith (Dane Cook) blackmails him with pictures of his latest murder, Mr. Brooks & Mr. Smith become partners in crime... or do they? hehehe.

Filled with intense mind-boggling events, twists, turns, deception, family, love, alter-egos, shoot outs, kidnapping & much much more, Mr. Brooks is definitely a thriller lover's must see. It has a great balance of mental & physical torture. William Hurt is an incredible Actor & Demi Moore kicks ass. Dane is serious yet still hilarious in his own right & Kevin Costner is the truth. Mr. Brooks is the truth.

Go rent it! It's great!


Love,
Akanke

MR.BROOKS

Would it bother you to kill a woman?
No. No, an asshole's an asshole.

Don't worry. If I were here to kill you, you would already be dead.

No. You never kill someone you know. It's the easiest way to get caught.

I don't enjoy killing, Mr. Smith. I do it because I'm addicted to it.