Write 'Em Down...

One of my friends blogs her goals every week. I'm finding myself having a little difficulty sticking to certain ones, so I'm going to give it a try. Writing them down always seems to make them more concrete. Revealing them to the world at large adds the embarrassment factor. I'll report on Friday. :)

* Exercise every day
* Follow summer cleaning schedule (basically, one room per day)
* Edit minimum one chapter per day
* Finish professional editing job
* Complete any additional editing jobs that come in from ongoing clients

There, that's the basics.

I saw two movies this weekend. One was expected to be mediocre, but was surprisingly excellent. The other was expected to be mediocre, and fell a little short.

I rented Wedding Wars because Sean Maher (Simon from Firefly was in it, and the premise didn't sound horrible. But what a movie! It was a TV movie originally, and it faded to black at odd places. Number One watched it with me, and she was indignant it never got the attention she feels it deserved.

The whole cast was good, from John Stamos (in the best role I've ever seen him in) and Eric Bana to James Brolin and Bonnie Somerville. And, of course, Sean Maher, in a slightly looser role than Simon was.

Even better was the writing. It acknowledged stereotypes while expanding on them and then mixing it up a little... Oh. I should explain that the core of the story was gay marriage, with John Stamos playing the gay brother of a man who works for the governor and is about to marry his daughter, shortly before re-election. When the governor (and brother) announce support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, the gay brother (and wedding planner) goes on strike.

The story is a self-professed fable, with things that would never happen in real life (people really going on strike). And it mostly avoids preachiness, making entertainment come first, and letting the issue serve the growth of the main character and the relationships involved rather than vice versa.

The thing I liked best was that there were no villains, only people. Some of them did stupid things, and some of them were wrong, but they were all sympathetic characters and none of their actions seemed unbelievable or over-the-top. At the end, there is no grand resolution, only a better understanding of each other and plans to move the battle forward.

Can I just tell you how much I love my daughter? Absent any level of brainwashing or forced opinions, she voices extreme disgust that there is even a debate about same-sex marriage. Love is love, she says, and that's all anyone needs to know.

The other movie we saw is He's Just Not that Into You. I've seen worse. The acting was mostly fine, the cast many of my favorites. It was cool seeing a totally unglam Drew Barrymore, and a laid-back Ben Affleck. Sometimes I really liked Ginnifer Goodwin, sometimes I really wanted to slap her hard (I blame the writing and direction). All in all, I didn't feel my money (matinee rates) was wasted.

There was a trailer for an upcoming movie with Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper. A dream cast! It also has Thomas Haden Church. I'll see it, because I love all of them and the producers did two other very good romantic comedies (Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice), but Sandra Bullock appears to be sporting a horrible wig or haircut while offering up a very slapstick, silly performance. I'm bracing myself for disappointment.

What did you do this weekend?