Boyfriend School movie review

While I am yet to watch it, several of my Japanese friends filled me in on a remarkable tale from Japan: the story of the Train Man (Densha Otoko). This movie, supposedly based on a true story of a Japanese otaku (nerd or geek, especially if obsessed with anime, manga, or even computers/video games) who resembles our 40 Year Old Virgin. Knowing what the Internet is capable of, he gets enormous help from his online buddies on 2Channel, a bulletin board in Japan. These friends help him all the way from making the first contact with the woman he likes all the way to going on a date and making love. My friends tell me that they think that the guy is real because they know people like him (despite never-ending speculation in the country).

The "Boyfriend School" (also called "Don't tell her it's me") is a similar story. With no A-list stars, it is a romantic comedy that is fun to watch, even if you don't like Harlequin romance books. Gus Kubicek (Steve Guttenberg) is a nerd who has had extensive radiation therapy. He doesn't look or feel great but his sister Lizzie Potts (Shelley Long) wants him to date a journalist Emily Pear (Jami Gertz), who is really not interested in a guy with poor manners and no hair on his head.

Lizzie, who is writer of those trashy romance novels, is convinced that she could use her imagination to transform Gus into a stud. With The Swan type makeover, Gus is now Lobo, who has long hair (apparently he got hair extensions), rides a Harley Davidson, speaks with an Australian accent, and instead of pleading with women, has a huge attitude that makes Emily lose sleep over him. Like most chick-flicks, it has a happy ending.

Some think that the original book by Sarah Bird is so much better. I found the movie to be funny but there is nothing outstanding or remarkable about it.

Little Black Book movie review

If you had seen only one movie of Holly Hunter - The Piano - you would have no idea how she talks and how she acts when she can use her voice too as part of her acting. That is why, while "Little Black Book" is all about Brittany Murphy, but you also get to see Hunter in a remarkable role.

We all know that reality television is actually not truly "real" and if my life is any indication, life often imitates art, or should I say, it isn't rare that I find that my life is no different than one of those reality television "actors."

Something similar happens in this movie in which an associate producer, Stacy Holt (played by Brittany Murphy) for a reality TV program, ends up learning a lot more about her boyfriend Derek (played by Ron Livingston) than she can handle, especially when she gets hold of his Palm Pilot. Hunter plays the role of Barb who then puts everything on daytime television.

The movie is meant to be a romantic comedy/chick flick so don't expect a whole lot of profound acting and/or drama. It is a very light movie that will give you a few laughs and some tips on how you should not put your life in an electronic device.

Christmas eve dinner menu and recipes

Like all of our meals, we relied heavily on use of organic, fresh vegetables and tried to keep the calories to a minimum for our dinner.

The appetizer was zucchini rolls. They are very easy to make. Simply cut thin stripes of zucchini and then grill them till they are soft. You can stuff them with anything you like but we used goat cheese with salad greens. Simply role it up and insert a tooth pick to hold them in place. here is how they look.
The salad was also made from grilled vegetables (Japanese egglplants and bell peppers) and greens. We also sprinkled some walnuts and fresh mozzarella cheese.
The soup was made from mushrooms (like the cream of mushroom but without the cream - added just a little bit of milk). We added chestnuts puree for added flavor.
The main dish was shrimp with vegetables in a light, creamy sauce. We ate it with focaccia bread.
The dessert was pears poached in red wine. Here is the recipe for pears in wine. I like it chilled but you can also serve it warm.

Art at Jade Seahorse hotel in Utila

Lorena and I love to go to Honduras and this time our destination was Utila, a tiny tropical island in the Caribbean. It's not easy to get there but if you plan well, you can either land in Tegucigalpa or San Pedro Sula. From there on, if you can afford it, the best thing to do is to fly on one of those really tiny planes. Alternatively, you can drive to La Ceiba and from there take a ferry.

We chose to go to Utila instead of the more popular Roatan because it is still not commercialized. There are no massive resorts, the beaches are deserted, and the prices are very low. We stayed at a place called the Jade Seahorse. It has some eclectic decor. As you can see the pictures above, the owner (and the artist) uses a lot of waste material to create art.

iVision video eyewear review

Like most people I cannot imagine watching video (unless it is a very short clip that I must watch) on a cell phone or iPod or even a laptop with a small screen. To do that, I prefer a high-quality LCD or plasma television. Then there are other occasions where you would like to have a bigger screen but can't, for instance, when playing video games.

A new technology is allowing us to have large virtual display (as much as 48 inches) almost anywhere. i-Vision video eyewear is about 3-4 oz and costs just a few hundred dollars (I expect prices to drop in the future) and works with Xbox 360, Wii, iPod Video and Zune.

Wouldn't it be cool if we would carry one everywhere and there would be no need to use a projector at all.

Best men movie review

Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore starred in a movie called "Wisdom" in which the two embark on a cross-country bank robbing spree and turn themselves into a modern-day version of Robin Hood. The whole country loves them but the FBI is after them. Even as they rob banks, the bank employees applaud them. Emilio Estevez (playing the role of John Wisdom) is taking his frustrations out with the system - he wouldn't get another chance after a felony conviction. The movie ends in the death of both after a tragic turn of events in which the two are just miles away from the Canadian border and can't cross.

"Best Men" follows a similar plot. Jesse (played by Luke Wilson) is marrying Hope (played by Drew Barrymore) after serving time. On the day of the wedding, he and his friends are headed to the wedding when Billy (Sean Patrick Flanery) excuses himself for a moment. When others go looking for him, they realize that Billy is robbing the local bank. Now the rest, ex-Green-Beret Buzz (played by Dean Cain), ex-lawyer Sol (Mitchell Whitfield) and Teddy (Andy Dick) join them. They try to negotiate with the sheriff, who also happens to be Billy's (bad) father. Since Billy is on the FBI's most-wanted-list, they take over the operation. After a lot of drama in which their hostages and the locals treat them like heroes, Jesse and Hope are able to escape to Mexico, the same way Salma Hayek and Pierce Brosnan escaped in After The Sunset (that's right; all the way from Independence,Iowa) on a chopper while the others are shot dead by the FBI.

The movie is entertaining and even funny at times but somewhat senseless. Why would anyone rob a bank to settle score with a dad who didn't love you? Is that the only way to get attention? The idea apparently is to show the frustrations of young people with the system which fails to understand their emotions and challenges. However, the approach definiely does not elicit the empathy of adults like us, though that's not how it plays out in the movie.

Latest fashion trends

It doesn't matter how much research you do on fashion, it changes so fast that you can barely keep up. So as professionals, both Lorena and I have enormous respect for other professionals. Expert like Laura Davis and Stephanie Rosanelli of the Newport Center, for example. Here are some of their favorite picks:

Diamonds, metallic handbags and anything else that sparkles.

Stuart Weitzman evening sandal adorned with Swarovski crystals give you an idea. Just don't forget the pedicure.

Black is anything but basic.

Cocktail dresses. Leather bags. Even denim. Go for a Chloe empire waist sleeveless top and black Chloe pants to match at Neiman Marcus. Or a Diane von Furstenberg wide belt around a black wool jersey dress at Bloomingdale’s. Also, you can’t miss with supple black leather gloves with coordinating cameo bracelet at Juicy Couture. For the men, Rosanelli suggests a black Original Penguin polo shirt (think Seth on The OC or Brad Pitt) matched with a pair of dark denim Original Penguin jeans.

Pamper your pooch.

Your puppy had better be as primped you are. Bring the bling to Buffy with the faux crocodile collar with crystal details. Juicy offers Silverstone dog tags, t-shirts and whipstitch leather dog collars.

I like the Umbrella Draining Solution

While I may not be the etiquette expert like Kathy Hilton, but there is something that bothers me: when people walk indoors (on inside my car) with their wet umbrella, they mess up everything. They wet the floor (even spil a good carpet), leave stains, and make the floor dangerous for others to walk.

The Japanese have a system to deal with it. When you visit someone's home or an office, there is a place next to the door where you can park your umbrella. By the time you are ready to get out, your umbrella is dry.

In public places like department stores or malls, you will notice a contraption next to the door. It looks similar to the plastic bag dispenser in the groceries section of the supermarket. You insert your umbrella and it is now wrapped in a plastic bag that collects all the water. When you are ready to go back into the rain, just throw the plastic bag in the garbage. Safe, polite, and convenient.

Now one company has come up with a very clever solution to this problem: an umbrella draining solution (UDS). I also like this design because it fits so nicely in your car too. I feel like mailing it as a gift to some of the biggest offenders I know.

Air Force One movie review

We know very little about the security procedures for the president of the United States and even less is known about all that goes into keeping Air Force One safe and that is the way it should be. But it also allows creative movie producers to come up with all kinds of interesting details and that is why this movie is so engaging.

US President James Marshall (played by Harrison Ford) is returning from a state visit to the (former) USSR but Air Force One is hijacked by Kazakhstan neo-nationalists who are demanding that the president use his influence to release Gen. Ivan Radek (the dictator who was earlier captured by US and USSR in a joint operation). While the Secret Service tries to use an escape capsule so that the president can sneak out, things don't work out that way and the president is the only one stuck in a corner of the plane with no one to protect him. Everyone on the plane has no idea that the president is still on board, while on the ground no one can find him either - until the president manages to find a satellite phone in his luggage and call the White House to let everyone know that he is alive, but not really safe.

In this movie, the president is not just the head of state, he is also an action hero, who outperforms his Secret Service staff on most occasions. Of course, in stunts that would thrill any lover of action movies (particularly the action mid-air), the first family and most staff members are eventually safe on the ground, the bad guys are dead, and Gen. Ivan Radek is not released and shot dead.

The movie is full of action and there is never a dull moment (compared to, say, The Piano) and as long as you can believe that what the president does in this film is not humanly possible, you will love this thriller.

Playing God movie review

I used to like David Duchovny in X-Files though he never did so well in the movies. "Playing God" is one of his better movies despite the fact that there is way too much violence - well, what can you expect? It is movie about gangsters.

Due to his drug addiction (supposedly acquired because of his desire to do good by working as much as he could to "save lives"), Dr. Eugene Sands lost his surgeon's license. Since he is a good surgeon but unable to practice, he ends up working for counterfeiter Raymond Blossom (played by Timothy Hutton), operating on gang members who get hurt during all kinds of gang violence. As anyone knows, it is not easy to leave the criminal word but Dr. Sands does and gets the girl (Claire played by Angelina Jolie) too.

I wasn't impressed with the movie nor with Angelina Jolie or Timothy Hutton. David Duchovny is the only one who has acted extremely well and comes across as a powerful actor. So if you are his fan, you might like it. And if you are wondering about the origin of the name, well, it is not a religious movie (the way "Defending Your Life" is not); it's just that at some point in his life a surgeon starts to confuse his role in saving lives with that of God.

Grave of the Fireflies movie review

Many, many years ago I was dating a woman and in one of those "get-to-know-you-better" moments, I asked her What was the worst thing in the world. Her answer surprised me. "War," she said. While it made perfect sense, it was not an answer I expected but as I learned more about her, I found out that her family's life (and her's as a little girl) had been torn apart by a war.

I have never experienced the trauma of war directly but this movie made me think of her words. Hotaru no Haka ("Grave of the Fireflies") is based on the novel by Akiyuki Nosaka and tells the story of two orphaned children in Kobe, Japan during World War II. No war movie is entertaining - think "Black Hawk Down" - but when told through the eyes of children, it is even more painful. The two kids experience hunger and illness, resulting in the death of four-year old Setsuko. Eventually, her brother Seita dies too due to starvation.

While the movie was marketed to children and is recommended for anyone 3 and up, I feel that it should be rated R. It is just a terribly sad and depressing movie and I do not think children need to be exposed to the horrors of war so early on in their lives (I recommend movies like Spirited Away or Kiki's Delivery Service or Shrek or Harry Potter). The movie was not successful at the box office and I can understand why. It literally makes you cry.

The movie also presents the Japanese version of the context of World War II and at some instances it almost seems like propaganda, but if we watch it merely as a movie that tells us how war affects children, this is a very emotional film.

Sono pazzo di Iris Blond Review

I find the Italian movies extremely funny because just the gestures of the Italians make me laugh (and I am glad that they retained the original Italian dialogues, rather than dubbing it, which is so unnatural). After watching "Life is Beautiful," this is another beautiful Italian movie that I have watched and I strongly recommend it.

Sono pazzo di Iris Blond (also translated as "I'm Crazy About Iris Blond" and "Mad About Iris Blond") is the story of a Italian man, Romeo Spera (played by Carlo Verdone), going through mid life crisis. A tarot card reader tells him that he will meet women whose names will mean flowers and they will be creative. First, he ends up with a Marguerite, a Belgian singer, who loves her dog more than she does him. Frustrated, he falls in love with a much youngr waitress, Iris (played by Claudia Gerini, who also composes as a hobby and sings in a church choir). Seeing a lot of potential in her, Romeo, who is an excellent musician, trains her and eventually forms a band with her: Iris Blond and the Freezer. Their music is not only hip, they also choose to sing in English (Romeo thinks that English is more musical language and you can get away with racy lyrics in English).

The band is a big success but Iris gets an offer from a European music company. They want her but have no need for Romeo. He expects that Iris, who was a mere waitress before he turned her into a singer, will never take that offer, but she does.

It is a hilarious movie and Claudia Gerini is not only pretty, she is full of life in this romantic comedy. If you love foreign films, this is a good one to watch.

Femme de chambre du Titanic review

I have spoken previously about Pedro Almodovar. Another director (and fellow Spanish) that is so much like him is Bigas Luna. If you can, please do watch this movie with someone you love. The sensuality, the seduction, the old-fashioned romance is incredible in Femme de chambre du Titanic (The Chambermaid on the Titanic). While the Titanic was made for the masses, this one is for the rest of us.

One of the things that I have "mastered" as a management consultant is to tell stories. That is what keeps the meetings on strategy and business model transformation interesting. Yes, that's right. Even the smartest people in the world, who run multi-billion dollar businesses, have the attention span of a 5-year old when it comes to strategy. Only anecdotes and stories keep them interested.

That is exactly what Horty (played by Olivier Martinez) does to keep his audience coming back for more juicy details about his one night romance with Marie (played by Aitana Sanchez Gijon), a prostitute who is also a chambermaid on the Titanic. He had traveled to England to witness the sailing of the Titanic after winning a contest at his work in a foundry in the north of France. While much did not happen that night in his hotel, Horty has no choice but to embellish his story as his friends bug him (and offer him free drinks at a local watering hole) for more details after seeing a photo of beautiful Marie. Eventually he tells the story with so much conviction (and adds even more erotic details) that he starts believing it too - good for being an actor.

After being fired from his job at the foundry, he now starts telling his story as an actor in a small traveling theater and gains so much popularity that he starts to perform in a real theater. I am not sure if Martinez was as good as an actor as, say, Jack Lemmon but Aitana Sanchez Gijon is remarkable in her depiction, first as a passionate woman and then as a prostitute who wants her share of the pie after she finds out that Horty was making a living off their one night in Southampton.

Photos of sand sculptures

Like everyone else, lots of my wonderful friends keep sending me jokes, video clips, photos, and links to interesting stuff on the web. Some of it is worth my time, while a lot of it is just junk. Here is a collection of pictures that I received of these beautiful sculptures made from sand (from what I can see). Lorena and I were wondering how did the artist make it so stable.

Saks Fifth Avenue Christmas window displays

A trip to New York City this holiday season included lunch at Rosa Mexicano, appreciation of the Christmas decorations at the Rockefeller Center, and window-shopping at Cartier. But there is another place to look at the windows, not necessarily for window-shopping: Saks Fifth Avenue store, which is famous for its holiday decorations. Take a look at the story that unfolds below.

Kim Basinger is great in Nadine

There are movies that you can watch to explore more complicated aspects of life, for example, The Piano or Defending Your Life, but there are others you can watch just to entertain yourself. Movies like Shadows and Fog, or View From The Top or After The Sunset. Nadine belongs to the latter category. I also chose it because Kim Basinger is a beautiful woman to watch.

Kim Basinger plays the role of Nadine who is ready to get her divorce from Vernon Hightower (played by Jeff Bridges). In the midst of doing the paperwork and moving on, she wants to retrieve some of her photos (the kind that you don't want to see on the Internet) from photographer Raymond Escobar (played by Jerry Stiller). There is a mixup as they try to get the photos: they get drawings of a highway while real estate developer gets her sexy photos.

Looks like everyone wants to make a quick buck and they are all running from each other and the cops. Lots of funny moments and a whole bunch of laughs later, the couple realizes that they like each other more than they think they did. Recommended when you just want to be entertained.

Review of The Piano

I have never been convinced of the meaning of arranged marriages but it seems that there was not much choice in 1800s (and I hear that in certain parts of the world, arranged marriages are still the norm). The Piano is set in the 1800s when a mute Scottish woman (Ada McGrath played by Holly Hunter) arrives in New Zealand to join her husband Alisdair Stewart (played by Sam Neill) along with Flora (played brilliantly by Anna Paquin), her daughter (we never see her father, but both mother and daughter talk about him a lot in private).

When Stewart comes to pick them up on the shore, he refuses to bring along Ada's most precious piece of luggage: a piano. Eventually, a neighbor George Baines (played by Harvey Keitel) rescues it and Stewart sells it to him. Naturally, Ada is disappointed but she can have it back if she comes to George's house to give him lessons. She does not like the arrangement, her relationship with Stewart is not going anywhere, she is generally unhappy living in a forest, but George and she develop an intimate bond.

The movie has a happy ending but with a lot of traumatic moments prior to that. Holly Hunter has done a remarkable job playing the mute Ada and deserved the Oscar she received. The movie was given the best picture award at Cannes. The movie is extremely slow-paced but definitely worth the wait.

Defending Your Life movie review

So what happens when you die? The reality is that no one has a %#!@ clue. Our current body of scientific knowledge simply tells us that once we are dead, we turn into (biodegradable) junk. But it doesn't hurt to entertain ourselves with such ideas as afterlife or judgment or rewards/punishment or even more exotic concepts like hell/heaven.

In the movie Defending Your Life, almost all the action happens in the so-called Judgment City. It is supposedly a waiting area where the dead are put on "trial" and decisions are made regarding their future: back to earth or forward (no one knows what that is except that people tend to use more of their intellectual horsepower there than on earth where we use less brain power, deal with all kinds of idiotic fears, and worry too much). No wonder then that Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep actually fall in love there.

The Judgment City, which reminds me of a Florida on a beautiful day, is a place where you lose all your inhibitions and you can eat all you want without the fear of gaining weight (you are dead by the way).

Three things attracted my attention:

1. We spend way too much of our time and energy on fears (jobs, money, family, etc.) and don't have enough fun.
2. We can be at our best if we become fearless.
3. It is painful to look at your past (at the trial in Judgment City, they play videos of your life to show you how you were such a fearful person and how little brain power you used).

It is meant to be a fairly entertaining and light romantic comedy but with a serious message: Discard your fears and you might live a better life.

Review of After the Sunset movie

It is a movie that looks like a James Bond movie but isn't. While Pierce Brosnan acts very much like 007 but the movie does not have all the juice. I watched it because Salma Hayek is a role model for Lorena.

Briefly, Pierce Brosnan (playing Max Burdett) and Salmay Hayek (playing Lola) are diamond thieves and have decided to "retire" in the Paradise Islands in the Bahamas. Lola wants them to enjoy their wealth and stay away from crime. An FBI agent (played by Woody Harrelson) still wants to catch them though and almost does. You can watch all the action-packed drama played out mostly on the beautiful tropical island and in the Atlantis Resort.

I would not call it a masterpiece but if you like action-packed movies and love watching curvaceous women, you will enjoy it.

Review of Frigidaire refrigerator

Once our 10-year old refrigerator started to make a little more noise than we liked, we knew it was time to change. What I expected to be a rather simple process of placing the order and being done with it turned out to be a complex exercise with trips to retailers like Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears, and Ikea.

Once we started to look at the choices, we realized that it was not going to be just a simple replacement of what we had. We actually were tempted by the stainless steel options. There was a catch, though - we wanted the one with stainless steel on all three sides since we do not have a built-in spot for a refrigerator (we can actually see one side from our family room). The most beautiful model was from Samsung but it was an inch taller than the space we had and the other models had only white or black on the sides (that looks so ugly). There were a few that had a faux stainless steel finish on the side.

We waited for a few more weeks and continued to make rounds of the stores until we found one from Frigidaire at Lowe's. It had everything that we wanted and it fit. It is home now and we like it, though, it does make a little more noise than we like. I guess some day we will have truly "silent" fridges.

Hellogoodbye music video clip

One of the often told stories about the success of MySpace is that of the music bands that have found a wider audience there. Yes, it is true. One of the best things for people like us seeking something "new" is to search on MySpace. Today someone pointed me to a band out of California called Hellogoodbye. Now I don't know if I should call them an unknown band (considering that they have close to half a million friends on MySpace), but they have some really cool music. Check this clip out.