We've been dying to go to Costa Rica, so much so that we've got a stack of travel books about it on our bedside. Here's our chance (and yours!) to win a 5 day/4 night trip to a Costa Rican all-inclusive resort complements of the Travel Channel. It includes a trip to a volcano and a tour through the jungle canopy. We just entered, now it's your turn!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Win a Trip to Costa Rica from Travel Channel
We've been dying to go to Costa Rica, so much so that we've got a stack of travel books about it on our bedside. Here's our chance (and yours!) to win a 5 day/4 night trip to a Costa Rican all-inclusive resort complements of the Travel Channel. It includes a trip to a volcano and a tour through the jungle canopy. We just entered, now it's your turn!
Monday, July 7, 2008
the rig is up
It is a well-known fact that one of the sides comprising the equilateral triangle that represents the best television shows in the history of ever is the new Battlestar Galactica (the other two sides being, of course, Melrose Place and Dallas).
Wow, writing that sentence totally got me jonesing to do some alg/trig, what with all the letters and formulae and angles that are involved. Scalene triangles are the best triangles, don't you think?
Wait, I mean I hate math! Christ, I keep forgetting that I'm a girl. Damn this moustache!
The point is, when one loves Battlestar Galactica as if the show is one's own child and one is browsing at Video Hut and one spots a movie called Ghost Rig (2003) and one notices that the words "Jamie" and "Bamber" are emblazoned across the top of the box, one gets very excited and one brings Ghost Rig home. Jamie Bamber, see, plays Apollo on Battlestar Galactica, and Ghost Rig is ostensibly a horror movie. A squared + B squared = 2 great tastes tasting great together, my mathemagical friends!
In Ghost Rig, a bunch of environmental activists occupy an abandoned oil rig that's about to be demolished. Believing that the "artificial reef" formed by the rig debris will do more harm than good, the crazy kids of "Action Planet" intend to stay on the rig until...until...uh, I guess until the government promises not to destroy it. You know, they use the strategy of those folks who sit in trees to protest the chop-chop.
After what seems like 453968 minutes of activists walking around with flashlights, we learn that the rig is not, in fact, abandoned! There's someone on board, though whether corporeal or otherwise it's unclear. This someone's intentions are perfectly clear, however, and soon the someone makes with the Black Christmasing of an unlucky activist.
After the body is found, the group is divided into two factions: those who want to stay and those who want to split. The stayers outnumber the splitters so the activists decide to keep...activisting.
Captain Action Planet decides this is a good time to casually mention to the group that the rig was quarantined before their arrival. Nothing like a little exposure to unknown viruses and the such to liven things up a bit!
At this point, Ghost Rig becomes the rig-ified baby of John Carpenter's The Thing and that movie I've seen ten minutes of about seven times, Fallen. The virus ain't a virus per se, but rather it's a...demon of sorts, and the possession is passed from person to person and therefore no one can be trusted. The ragtag group of activists must overcome their differences (Captain Action Planet is an a-hole! Jamie Bamber is totally a double agent, which kind of doesn't make any sense!) as they fight for survival. Will they be able to?
People flip out and whale on each other with hammers, wounds heal via dodgy CGI, there's a 'demon voice' which proves that Mercedes McCambridge is the only person who could do a believable demon voice and she didn't need any fucking help from a computer thank you very much, there are corpses tucked away in the walls, and the activists piece together what happened on the rig before it got all possess-y, starting with the discovery of a giant devil's hopscotch.
By the way, the term "devil's hopscotch" reminds me of Devil's Hopyard, which is a state park near where I grew up. Obviously it's the best name for a state park EVARRRRRR. It also has the coolest legends of any state park I've ever encountered, which, as you can imagine, fueled wee Final Girl's imagination:
But! Now is not the time for southeastern Connecticut's geological history. Now is the time for mediocre horror movies, so back to Ghost Rig.
I must admit, just when I was thinking that this movie was a let down, Apollo or no Apollo, Ghost Rig surprised me with a twist ending that was interesting, satisfying, and undoubtedly the best part of the movie. I'm not going to give anything away here because not only was the ending completely unexpected, but it's also complicated and I'm too lazy to type all that shit out. Suffice it to say, when Ghost Rig ended I had to give it a begrudging "Not bad, kid...not bad at all." Then Ghost Rig gave me a Coke and I threw my shirt at it*.
So. Should you seek out Ghost Rig? Well, if you're anything like me, then perhaps yes. "Anything like me" means that you want to make out with Battlestar Galactica so badly that you even consider rewatching Halloween: Resurrection, a movie that opened with fifteen minutes that made you want to kill yourself and the entire world the first time you saw it, just because Starbuck is in it. "Anything like me" means that a movie about a haunted oil rig is something that makes you genuinely go "Ooh, hey, this could be good". "Anything like me" means you would buy an algebra workbook just for fun, but I suppose that's sort of beside the point.
*I realize that there are plenty of you out there who have absolutely no clue what I'm referencing here, so voila. Great Caesar's ghost, I've dated people who are younger than that commercial. How is this possible? In related news, does Coke really add life?
Wow, writing that sentence totally got me jonesing to do some alg/trig, what with all the letters and formulae and angles that are involved. Scalene triangles are the best triangles, don't you think?
Wait, I mean I hate math! Christ, I keep forgetting that I'm a girl. Damn this moustache!
The point is, when one loves Battlestar Galactica as if the show is one's own child and one is browsing at Video Hut and one spots a movie called Ghost Rig (2003) and one notices that the words "Jamie" and "Bamber" are emblazoned across the top of the box, one gets very excited and one brings Ghost Rig home. Jamie Bamber, see, plays Apollo on Battlestar Galactica, and Ghost Rig is ostensibly a horror movie. A squared + B squared = 2 great tastes tasting great together, my mathemagical friends!
In Ghost Rig, a bunch of environmental activists occupy an abandoned oil rig that's about to be demolished. Believing that the "artificial reef" formed by the rig debris will do more harm than good, the crazy kids of "Action Planet" intend to stay on the rig until...until...uh, I guess until the government promises not to destroy it. You know, they use the strategy of those folks who sit in trees to protest the chop-chop.
After what seems like 453968 minutes of activists walking around with flashlights, we learn that the rig is not, in fact, abandoned! There's someone on board, though whether corporeal or otherwise it's unclear. This someone's intentions are perfectly clear, however, and soon the someone makes with the Black Christmasing of an unlucky activist.
After the body is found, the group is divided into two factions: those who want to stay and those who want to split. The stayers outnumber the splitters so the activists decide to keep...activisting.Captain Action Planet decides this is a good time to casually mention to the group that the rig was quarantined before their arrival. Nothing like a little exposure to unknown viruses and the such to liven things up a bit!
At this point, Ghost Rig becomes the rig-ified baby of John Carpenter's The Thing and that movie I've seen ten minutes of about seven times, Fallen. The virus ain't a virus per se, but rather it's a...demon of sorts, and the possession is passed from person to person and therefore no one can be trusted. The ragtag group of activists must overcome their differences (Captain Action Planet is an a-hole! Jamie Bamber is totally a double agent, which kind of doesn't make any sense!) as they fight for survival. Will they be able to?
People flip out and whale on each other with hammers, wounds heal via dodgy CGI, there's a 'demon voice' which proves that Mercedes McCambridge is the only person who could do a believable demon voice and she didn't need any fucking help from a computer thank you very much, there are corpses tucked away in the walls, and the activists piece together what happened on the rig before it got all possess-y, starting with the discovery of a giant devil's hopscotch.
By the way, the term "devil's hopscotch" reminds me of Devil's Hopyard, which is a state park near where I grew up. Obviously it's the best name for a state park EVARRRRRR. It also has the coolest legends of any state park I've ever encountered, which, as you can imagine, fueled wee Final Girl's imagination:Another tale focuses on the potholes near the falls, which are some of the finest examples of pothole stone formations in this section of the country. Perfectly cylindrical, they range from inches to several feet in diameter and depth. These potholes were formed by stones moved downstream by the current and trapped in an eddy where the stone was spun around and around, wearing a depression in the rock. When the rock wore itself down, another would catch in the same hole and enlarge it. We know this now, but to the early settlers the potholes were a great mystery that they tried to explain with references to the supernatural. They thought that the Devil has passed by the falls, accidentally getting his tail wet. This made him so mad he burned holes in the stones with his hooves as he bounded away.Stupid, awesome, superstitious settlers.
But! Now is not the time for southeastern Connecticut's geological history. Now is the time for mediocre horror movies, so back to Ghost Rig.
I must admit, just when I was thinking that this movie was a let down, Apollo or no Apollo, Ghost Rig surprised me with a twist ending that was interesting, satisfying, and undoubtedly the best part of the movie. I'm not going to give anything away here because not only was the ending completely unexpected, but it's also complicated and I'm too lazy to type all that shit out. Suffice it to say, when Ghost Rig ended I had to give it a begrudging "Not bad, kid...not bad at all." Then Ghost Rig gave me a Coke and I threw my shirt at it*.
So. Should you seek out Ghost Rig? Well, if you're anything like me, then perhaps yes. "Anything like me" means that you want to make out with Battlestar Galactica so badly that you even consider rewatching Halloween: Resurrection, a movie that opened with fifteen minutes that made you want to kill yourself and the entire world the first time you saw it, just because Starbuck is in it. "Anything like me" means that a movie about a haunted oil rig is something that makes you genuinely go "Ooh, hey, this could be good". "Anything like me" means you would buy an algebra workbook just for fun, but I suppose that's sort of beside the point.
*I realize that there are plenty of you out there who have absolutely no clue what I'm referencing here, so voila. Great Caesar's ghost, I've dated people who are younger than that commercial. How is this possible? In related news, does Coke really add life?
How many calories are in that latte?
New York City’s ban of trans fatty acids has been in effect a week now, and it is affecting us in a way we never would have guessed. Along with trans fats, chain restaurants are now required to list calorie counts on the menu. So now when we go into our favorite neighborhood Starbucks, we can see exactly how many calories are in everything they serve—you don’t have to search for the number, it’s right there listed in the case next to that pumpkin bread (380 calories); classic coffee cake (430 calories) or blueberry scone (480 calories). That black forest ham, egg and cheddar on an English Muffin sounds like a veritable calorie bargain (380 calories) or try a bagel with no cream cheese for plain bagel (330 cal). Who woulda thunk?
We’ve never even come close to having an eating disorder, but this could put us in a tailspin. Who wants a 400 calorie snack? Those numbers are making us think twice about what we put in our mouth and then some (JSG are normal sized girls.).
The good news is that we hardly ever eat the food at Starbucks, unless we’re at the airport. Looks like we’ll be doing a better job of packing those healthy snacks in our carry on. We always love apples and nuts. And we’ll never assume pumpkin (a healthy, nutritious veggie on its own) anything has less calories than a ham sandwich.
And that lattte? Hope’s tall skinny one logs in at 100 calories while Annie’s full fat latte has 180. If we paired it with a baked good, we would have one-third of our recommended daily calories. Excuse us while we go throw up our lunch!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Update to Swimsuit Sale
Last week we told you about our unsuccessful swimsuit shopping outing--our second attempt was a success! On Thursday afternoon, we faced holiday traffic on the Beltway to drive to Tyson's Corner at Bloomingdale's, which was touting its 40 percent off sale. Which would have been worthwhile, had they had more than five swimsuits there--not so much.From there we walked through the mall to Nordstrom's, but none of its suits were on sale yet--we're not about to pay full price in July!
Next we got back in our car to drive to Saks at Tysons II. First off, we saw the Shoshana coverup that we hadn't been able to get out of our mind since Monday and decided that we had to have it. It wasn't the smartest $122 we've ever spent, but it sure is cute!
We bought the above suit. It won our approval because it's A) Marc Jacobs. We didn't even know he made suits B) Like all Marc's clothes, it straddles the line between cute and sexy perfectly. C) The color is flat out gorge. D) Unlike Saks in NYC, the Saks at Tyson's is not overrun with European tourists, so shopping was far more pleasant. E) It was $109.
Gwyneth Paltrow at Bloomingdales on Tuesday, July 8
We're not the type to stalk celebs, at least not with the same energy and gusto we would search for, say, a pair of Jimmy Choos on sale. But this invite landed in our in box and we're seriously tempted to go--and we don't even like perfume very much. It may just be worth to spend the $60-whatever on the new Estee Lauder Sensuous to see Gwyneth Paltrow in person at the NYC Bloomingdales. She has been our style icon for years now--we grew our hair out after seeing her in Great Expectations (which had some seriously underrated outfits, btw). Could she possibly be as gorgeous in person? More? Could some of her ultimate chicness rub off on us if she shook our hand?
Not to mention that Carolyn Murphy, Hilary Rhoda and Elizabeth Hurley are thrown in with the deal! No wonder Bazaar devoted the entire July issue to these ladies!
Here's the deets: buy a bottle of the new Sensuous perfume and you can meet the four ladies who will sign your bottle--no personal items allowed. Get there early!
Friday, July 4, 2008
awesome movie poster friday- the 1975 edition!
Posters for the other notable 1975 films Beyond the Door, House of Exorcism (aka Lisa and the Devil), and Shivers can be found in past ampf editions: ampf #4, Mario Bava part 2, and David Cronenberg.
the friday wednesday
Greetings one and all. You have my sincerest apologies regarding the lack of updates around here, but I'm only just now emerging from the grip of a serious blog ennui...bloggui? I haven't touched my computer in days- in days, I tells ya- so consider this humble offering a step, at least, in the right direction.
It's not as if I've been watching all these awesome movies and not telling you about them, believe me. In fact, I have no idea what I've been doing with myself for the last week. Where have I been? What time is it? What is that doing there?
Well, no matter. A thousand pardons if this is old news, but AMC posted another of my columns this week. This effort is an admittedly cracked-out treatise on shark movies other than Jaws, and shark movies I'd like to see. It's groundbreaking!
Ahem.
It's also Ghostella week, hooray! Go forth now and watch Ex, a slasher film of sorts about one woman's long night dealing with her ex-girlfriend...and ex-girlfriend who really wants to get her lamp back. Or does she? Mua ha ha!
I don't even know if that make sense. The point is, watch it and see if you can spot my thrilling homage to Friday the 13th Part 2! First person to find it gets a virtual high five, which will make you the envy of all that you meet.
Speaking of being the envy of all you meet, check out what I picked up!
There is SO MUCH about this to love! Look at that cast! It's a sky full of stars, baby: Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, William Shatner, Keenan Wynn, and Ida Lupino? Please. I'm all over it.
Note the grammatically incorrect tagline. That apostrophe in "Devil's" ruins the whole thing. If they mean that there will be a bunch of devils, like, raining down, then there shouldn't be an apostrophe. If they mean we should all watch out because the devil's rain can, like, melt your face off or something, then they need to complete the thought. "Heaven help us all when the devil's rain falls, because it will, in fact, melt our faces!" No, it's not catchy, necessarily, but it's more grammatically delightful.
What's best about this, however, is the bold declaration "The most incredible ending of any motion picture ever!" Sure, you may be shaking your head as if to say "Really? Really, The Devil's Rain? Ever?", but bear in mind that this film hit in 1975, meaning that Killer Workout, which can, in fact, boast the most incredible ending of any motion picture ever, was still 11 years away.
I can't wait to watch this. It really is a video treasure!
It's not as if I've been watching all these awesome movies and not telling you about them, believe me. In fact, I have no idea what I've been doing with myself for the last week. Where have I been? What time is it? What is that doing there?
Well, no matter. A thousand pardons if this is old news, but AMC posted another of my columns this week. This effort is an admittedly cracked-out treatise on shark movies other than Jaws, and shark movies I'd like to see. It's groundbreaking!
Ahem.
It's also Ghostella week, hooray! Go forth now and watch Ex, a slasher film of sorts about one woman's long night dealing with her ex-girlfriend...and ex-girlfriend who really wants to get her lamp back. Or does she? Mua ha ha!
I don't even know if that make sense. The point is, watch it and see if you can spot my thrilling homage to Friday the 13th Part 2! First person to find it gets a virtual high five, which will make you the envy of all that you meet.
Speaking of being the envy of all you meet, check out what I picked up!
There is SO MUCH about this to love! Look at that cast! It's a sky full of stars, baby: Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, William Shatner, Keenan Wynn, and Ida Lupino? Please. I'm all over it.Note the grammatically incorrect tagline. That apostrophe in "Devil's" ruins the whole thing. If they mean that there will be a bunch of devils, like, raining down, then there shouldn't be an apostrophe. If they mean we should all watch out because the devil's rain can, like, melt your face off or something, then they need to complete the thought. "Heaven help us all when the devil's rain falls, because it will, in fact, melt our faces!" No, it's not catchy, necessarily, but it's more grammatically delightful.
What's best about this, however, is the bold declaration "The most incredible ending of any motion picture ever!" Sure, you may be shaking your head as if to say "Really? Really, The Devil's Rain? Ever?", but bear in mind that this film hit in 1975, meaning that Killer Workout, which can, in fact, boast the most incredible ending of any motion picture ever, was still 11 years away.
I can't wait to watch this. It really is a video treasure!
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