movie review: Happy Endings

i like to check out http://www.rottentomatoes.com/ when i'm thinking about going to see a movie, largely because it seems to have no standards as to the reviews it compiles. Rotten Tomatoes doesn't only care about professional, learned reviewers with an edumacation. no siree, there's Joe Blow's Movie Reviews Dot Com right there next to Filmschool FancyPants, Ph. D.

i like the inherent socialism of that system very much.

anyways, i wasn't initially interested in "Happy Endings", in part because of a poor Tomatometer rating, but then i saw Maggie Gyllenhaal on The Daily Show, and swooned, and changed my mind. i said "hey, it'll suck, but who cares?! cute girl!"

i am here to officially tell you that the Tomatometer has failed! this movie is great!!

"Happy Endings" is adorable without being mindless, every single last person in it is nice to look at in a way that doesn't make you feel bad about your own reflection, and it's hilarious without a single joke or pratfall. i highly recommend it.

do i think it needs an oscar? not particularly, but "high art" isn't the only worthwhile kind of art. this movie is smart and interesting and fun to watch, and you leave in a better mood than when you came in.

now, that said...
Jason Ritter is disturbingly identical to his late father, and it was continually alarming to me to hear someone else's voice come out of a face i've been looking at for 30 years. he's an excellent young actor who shares NO similarities to his dad but his face - it's just i've had a lifetime John Ritter, and only 2 hours of Jason.

usually, i am so good about this.

if i even get a whiff that i am on the stick end of a friendship imbalance, i start detaching myself. my emotional framework is simply too weak to handle liking people significantly more than they like me.

i spent so many years genuinely believing that if i was there for someone and cared for them, they would do the same in return, and it just plain does not work that way. you can't make someone love you, no matter what you do. but that isn't going to stop most people from taking what you give without reciprocation. perfectly nice people, too; they don't mean to hurt you - they're just not looking out for you because they don't care. that's not a crime.

i got burned over and over and over again, and at some point i knew i couldn't do it anymore. i cannot emotionally invest myself in people who aren't going to do the same. it isn't an option.

i've never really had a problem falling for The Wrong Guy(tm), but apparently i have a real tough time with The Wrong Friends(tm). so i thought i'd try the same strategy: with men, i just don't care about people who aren't going to treat me fairly well and stick around. if i think they will, and i find out i'm wrong, it's really not very difficult for me to stop caring about them.

i also don't jump off high places, drink and drive, shake my ass in military bars, do drugs, or vacation in the middle east. because these things are very likely to get me hurt, so i don't like to do them.

but then sometimes one or two slip through, and i just feel so goddamned stupid for caring.
:(

yackety yack

the little girl i nanny for is going through this phase she goes through about every 5th or 6th week. she starts talking INCESSANTLY.

i don't mean she talks a lot. i talk a lot. talking a lot i can handle.

i mean speaking, literally, without ceasing. yammering on and on about nothing until it becomes like playing a record backwards. at first, it's just a droning gibberish, but after a while you start to hear satan telling you to do bad things.

today, she suddenly turns to me and says, "kirsten?"
"...kirsten? kirsten? kirsten?"
"WHAT."
"i think i know how come i've been talking so much this week."
"is that so?"
"well, every time i have a thought, like maybe about how my dad asked to put away my socks this morning and i did it, after i have the thought i just say it. "
"uh-huh..."
"so every single thing i think, i say out loud!"
"that's a lot of thoughts."
"yeah. that's a lot of talking."
"...maybe you could try only saying those thoughts that require an answer, like, f'rinstance, maybe if you thought about your favorite something and wanted to start a conversation and asked me if i had a favorite thing, that kinda stuff. or if it was something important you really, really wanted to share... "
"yeah...kirsten, i really wanted to share about how my dad asked me to put away my socks this morning, and i did...*giggle*."
"that's funny. you know, satan suggested that i duct-tape your mouth shut. what do you think about that?"

okay, so the last part only happened in my head.
so far.