Whatever: Ok, I meant starting tomorrow

No sooner do I swear off celebrity gossip when suddenly I come across some unbelievable photos of Kevin Federline.



Apparently, Mr. Popozao cleans up nicely. I can't even bring myself to call him K-Fag right now. *Ironic side note - when you spell check Federline, the first suggestion is "fatherliness."

Whatever: Overcoming Addiction

My name is Daria, and I'm a celebgossipolic. The good news is I've been clean for about one week.

The recent onslaught of celebrity babies has, for me, been the climax to my recent obsession with celebrity gossip. I'm officially over it. I don't give a crap what happens to Alien Cruise or Brangelina anymore. I don't know if it's because nothing interesting has happened lately, or if I've lost my taste for juicy gossip altogether. Now, if droopy-face Holmes leaves Tom and ends up on Oprah spilling the beans about her captivity nightmare, I might have a relapse...

Music: Mike Patton and Imogen Heap

New Must-Have Album: Peeping Tom

One of my favorite albums of all time is by Lovage, a brief but amazing collaboration between Mike Patton (Faith No More), Nathaniel Merriweather (AKA Dan the Automator), Jennifer Charles (Elysian Fields), and Kid Koala. Their album, Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By, is unlike anything I've ever heard before. As is usually the case, I discovered it a few years after it had been released, and so the founding collaborators had long since gone their separate ways.

This morning, much to excitement, I signed onto Myspace to browse the music scene, and on the home page there was an ad for a new band called Peeping Tom. I saw Mike Patton's name an immediately went to the band's page. His new album is described as Experimental/Ghettotech, but Patton describes it as his version of pop music. It sounds great so far, and even more exciting is that it features collaborations with several great artists, including some of the gang from Lovage!

Peeping Tom's debut album includes contributions from a mind-boggling variety of artists, including Amon Tobin, Bebel Gilberto, DubTrio, Nora Jones, Kid Koala, Dale Crover, Rahzel, Dan the Automator, Jel, Odd Nosdam and Dose One of hip hop collective anticon.

The entire album is streaming on Myspace-- you NEED to check it out. I'm planning on pre-ordering a copy from Amazon. (It comes out May 30th)

Speaking of albums that I've discovered late in their existence, Frou Frou's Details is beautiful. I only knew their song "Let Go," from The Garden State Soundtrack, and I loved it so much that it went on my wedding cd. But I was skeptical about the rest of the album being as good. IT IS. The vocalist from Frou Frou, Imogen Heap, released a solo album last year called Speak for Yourself, and I want it.

Movies: F the Da Vinci Haters ...and F Adam Sandler

You know those annoying, elitist movie critics? The ones who over-analyze even the most superficial films and berate you for enjoying Adam Sandler movies? Well, that's usually me. If the trailer begins, "In a World..." I vomit into the aisle. I scoff at those who rave about Mr & Mrs Smith. It makes me physically ill when I realize that I have wasted hours of my life watching steaming piles of turd like Charlie's Angels.

So while I generally find myself in agreement with the critics, I am baffled and
angered by their unreasonable reaction to The Da Vinci Code. I saw the movie on Sunday night, having just finished the novel earlier that day. First, let me admit that while the novel was a somewhat poorly written low-brow thriller, I was very entertained by it. When I wasn't reading it furiously I was heading to Wikipedia to decipher historical fact from fiction. Like I mentioned in my last post, I love historically based fiction, even if it's more fiction than fact. History fascinates me, and reading stories that bring up myths like the holy grail only make me want to research the truth. Dan Brown isn't the most sophisticated writer, but like Stephen King, he can tell a good story.

Before I saw the film, I read all the scathing movie reviews, and I started to worry. What if the novel doesn't translate well? What if I am distracted by Tom Hank's hair?

But honestly, the film was pretty good. I liked it. Sometimes when I walk out of a theater and start ranting about crappy dialogue and implausible plotlines my husband tells me, "Relax, it's just a movie." Now I know what he means. In fact, I think it's an injustice that this movie has been given such a bad rap.

The critics are just way off on this one, and it's mostly because they have deep-rooted issues with what most Americans find entertaining. I think they either A) had not read the book, and in that case I can understand how the movie is harder to digest, or B) read the book and hate that it is so popular with most people because it's not a literary masterpiece. It's my belief that bitter movie critics have an automatic aversion to anything that the masses approve of, and in this case they were so disgusted by the success of what they felt was an inferior novel that they took it out on the movie.

Here's what pisses me off though-- I have read about 5 reviews where people say that at the climactic moments they felt the urge to burst out laughing because the dialogue was so bad. Not once did I have that type of reaction while watching it. The dialogue was NOT that bad. My other main beef is with the critics who have a problem with the movie because it's not historically accurate. UM, since when is it logical to judge fictional stories on how accurate they are? HELLO, that's why it's called fiction. It's made up! It's absurd! It's fantastical! GET OVER IT! I didn't hear anyone complaining about F-ing Mel Gibson's Jesus movie, and it's impossible to know how accurate that was. Not to mention that from what I've researched, some of the fundamental ideas in The Da Vinci Code DO have a historical basis. So just for this once I say to the critics (haters) F U.

Now, if I can step into my sarcastic movie critic point of view for a moment -- I know I'm not alone when I say that Adam Sandler should die and go to hell for making a movie about a magical remote control. I like Billy Madison, and Happy Gilmore was kinda funny...but since then Sandler has been flinging more poo at movie-goers than Michael Jackson's chimp. Seriously Adam, F U.

Music: Nelly Furtado's Promiscuous Comeback

It's time for some booty-shaking fabulosity!
Check out Nelly Furtado's new video.

Movies: How much does Poseidon suck?

Whatever Floats Your Boat... Poseidon

If you're wondering why I actually paid $10 and sat through Poseidon -- I have a valid excuse. It was chosen, along with brunch at the fabulously ghetto Hometown Buffet, by my mother-in-law for her Mother's Day excursion. I was expecting her to choose Mission Impossible 3 (and dreading the thought of spending two hours staring at Psycho Alien Cruise) so when she revealed that she'd already seen that one and wanted to check out Poseidon, I was actually relieved. And Josh Lucas is pretty hot -- so, there's that...

First let me get the obvious out of the way-- it was a cheesy, absurd, pointless remake. But you probably already knew that. Overall, I think the critics' negative reactions were a bit too harsh, because looking at it objectively I think it will satisfy the type of audience that goes to these big-budget disaster movies. The special effects were realistic and frightning, especially if you've ever gone on a cruise. And it does manage to create a decent level of suspense--if you can forget for one second that the non-expendable characters will undoubtedly survive the most perilous situations by way of some ridiculously convenient plot line. The fact that one of the bigger stars in the movie sacrifices their life to save the others (gag) didn't surprise me-- but the one thing I was disturbed by was that the hispanic characters seem to be the only expendable ones... *plot spoiler ahead* Why did the waiter and his undocumented stow-away both have to die? And yet the old guy who was on the verge of suicide anyways survived? (Seriously, Richard Dreyfuss is getting REALLY OLD- he should have gone down with the ship)

P.S. I'm currently listening to The Da Vinci Code audiobook...and it's quite an engaging thriller! I resisted it for a long time -- "best sellers" evoke the same reaction as cheesy blockbuster movies -- but I am hooked. It's not the most literary novel, but there's something about the new wave of loosely-historical fiction that I absolutely love. I guess it's my guilty pleasure...Last summer I read The Historian and couldn't put it down. With Da Vinci on the brain I can't help but gleefully anticipate Ron Howard's upcoming film adaptation (can't go wrong with Tom Hanks, right?). To my dismay, it appears the critics have already panned the movie...

Movies: Aslan vs Hobbits = No Contest

Overdue Review: The Chronicles of Narnia


I saw Narnia a few weeks ago, so here are my belated impressions. I have to say, at the risk of inciting violence, this movie kicks The Lord of the Rings' ASS. Narnia was such a refreshing alternative to the over-dramatic self-indulgent too-aware-of-itself-as-epic picture that was Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy. The best thing about it was the lack of annoying hobbits who call each other Mary (WTF?).

Granted, with LOTR I was at least able to lose myself imagining a Viggo Mortensen Orlando Bloom sandwich. But what Narnia lacks in hotties it makes up for in overall entertainment value. The storyline, characters, pacing, music-- the film itself was, IMO, executed more successfully. I'm not saying that you have to like one or the other; most people probably loved both. In my case, I was dreading disappointment with Narnia because LOTR drove me nuts. So it was a lovely surprise to find out that there is a right way to do this type of movie.

Shopping: Moms Rock!

I don't have much time to blog today, but in the spirit of Mother's Day, I give you UncommonGoods.com, a site that has unique and fabulous gifts. This is the perfect site to visit when you are shopping for someone that has everything. Not only will you locate that one-of-a-kind gift, you might even find some things for yourself!

Fashion, Art: Accessories and Art

Accessories can make a plain outfit look like it comes from the closet of a Hollywood superstar. If you know how to accessorize your outfit, you don’t need a big fat bank account to look fabulous. Match a $10 tank with a nice pair of jeans and unique looking shoes that compliment a cute little purse or interesting piece of jewelry. That doesn't sound too hard to achieve right?! Remember mama always says that if you don’t try too hard, you will look just fine.

Last night I was working on my TASP project and I came across ETSY. If you like handmade products/Art/One of a kind stuff, look no further. This is the heaven of craft chics! Oh and boys too!
My favorite piece has to be from Theblackapple. Her works are so adorable.

Movies: Notorious

The Notorious Bettie Page

One word for this movie: CUTE! I loved the soundtrack and the authentic 50's look. Gretchen Mol is absolutely gorgeous, and I thought she did a great job in this role -- particularly in the scenes where Bettie took acting lessons and she basically had to pretend to be a bad actress. During the photo shoots Mol really seemed to channel Page's energy.

While it was visually appealing and fun to watch, overall I felt the movie left many lingering questions about this elusive icon. One thing that bothered me was that the movie did not make a connection between Bettie's history of sexual abuse and her nonchalant attitude towards posing nude. Maybe that's because she felt one had nothing to do with the other-- but if that's the case then I don't understand why the director chose to highlight Bettie's possible subjection to child molestation and a pretty horrible gang rape.

I don't want to over-analyze the film because for the most part I enjoyed it very much. But it did leave me wanting more. Most Bettie Page fans already know about her life up until the Senate investigation, and yet that is where the movie ends. I still want to know what the heck happened to Bettie Page!! Her story has the potential to be a much more complex and intriguing film.

Music: Pandora can read your mind

I'm very fond of my Yahoo Launchcast radio station because it's turned me on to some pretty great artists I was unaware of. But sometimes the recommendations seem pretty random and I end up skipping song after song...

Today I stumbled upon Pandora, created by the Music Genome Project, and it is absolutely amazing! Not only do you get the convenience of streaming music online, you also get recommendations based on advanced analysis of songs that you love. You can create multiple stations to fulfill your every mood, save your favorite songs, and share stations with friends. The free version does include advertisments, but for an annual fee you can your tunes commercial-free. It's a great way discover new music.

Movies: A sequel to The Dark Crystal??!! Can it be true?

Apparently the answer is yes, as Brian Henson discusses in his interview with Now Playing Magazine. He also talks about future projects related to Labyrinth... Can you hear that sound? It's your inner child exclaiming with glee.

Whatever: Hottie of the week: Jonathan Rhys Meyers

I have a thing for brit boys...Please don't stop me on the street and ask me why..

Movies: Evan Rachel Wood is old enough to kiss Edward Norton

If you watched that indie movie 13 a couple of years ago, you probably recognize this hippy turn crazy girl in that film. Her name is Evan Rachel Wood and she is now 18 years old. I think she was like 13 years old when she made that movie. I think she did a good job in that movie. Then I heard and read about Pretty Pursuasion late last year but I was not really crazy about it. Now Evan is all grow up and ready for the sex scene with hottie Edward Norton in Down in the Valley. I am looking forward to rent this movie. Cowboy in a present time and Edward Norton in tight jeans..hmmm..Well, I like Edward Norton since the first time I saw his smile in Primal Fear...I have a weak spot for a guy with creepy smile.

Shopping: Bag Lady

I am a bag lady and I tend to turn myself slight to the left so I can be closer to to beautiful and chic bags.Jill Serra is a illustrator and a graphic designer who just comes out with her own bag line...Am I going to own one of her bags? Definitely maybe..

Whatever: Battery Art

Spending a buck and something on one battery for the sake of art?!! These batteries are way cool that you can actually use it and then when you are done with it, you can turn it into art. You can also put it in your purse and carry it with you everywhere. So that way you can pull it out and use it to strike up a conversation with that cute geek that you sit next to on the subway or at a coffee shop.

Battery-Art-Love Cupid are all in the price of $1.25.

Dead Batteries

Movies, DVD: This post goes out to film freaks

I finally found my way home. I have to blame all on the nookie. I just can't imagine working like this for the next 25 years....Since my partner in crime encouraged me to make our blog posts shorter but juicer, I will try my best to make them as short as possible.

Here we go...

Criterion DVD Collection

The Criterion DVD collection is the ultimate guide to every obsure film freak should check out. I found out about this site 3 days ago. Since then, I have been wanting to own over 10 titles so far. They release cool art/indie films from all over the world every month. It just hurts me that I can't afford to own all of them at once!!! My fave pick?? The Red Shoes.

Synopsis
A glorious Technicolor epic that influenced generations of filmmakers, artists, and aspiring ballerinas, The Red Shoes intricately weaves backstage life with the thrill of performance. A young ballerina (Moira Shearer) is torn between two forces: the composer who loves her (Marius Goring), and the impresario determined to fashion her into a great dancer (Anton Walbrook). Criterion is proud to present The Red Shoes in its DVD premiere.

Movies: BRILLIANT! (In my best Guinness voice)

This weekend I took a stand. My significant other was intent on sitting through another video game adaptation/horror film, and I was intent on keeping my dignity. Luckily for both of us, Silent Hill and Thank You for Smoking were playing at the same time. I have to admit that sitting solo in a movie theater is quite liberating. The only downside is that afterwards there's nothing to talk about, unless both parties want to give half-ass summaries of the film they just sat through--which I really didn't feel like doing.


Thank You for Smoking, a satire centered around a tobacco lobbyist, was nothing less than brilliant, and the fact that I was saved from having to watch Silent F-ing Hill made it that much more enjoyable. It's hilarious, smart, and extremely well cast. Director Jason Reitman does a great job presenting the story with style. In fact, the film is so clever that any attempt I could make at describing it would only serve to emphasize my inferior wit.

My only very small and somewhat irrelevant complaint has to do with Katie, er-excuse me, Kate being-held-hostage-by-aliens Holmes. My problem is that the movie keeps referring to her character's "spectacular tits." First of all, spectacular they are not. Secondly, you wouldn't know one way or the other from watching the film because her character is always completely covered in high-collared shirts. It just struck me as odd that an entire scene would be dedicated to discussing her rack, but during the few moments she is on screen the audience doesn't even get so much as cleavage. Plus, her sex scene was very disappointing to say the least. Granted, this is coming from someone who has despised droopy-face-Holmes since the days of Dawson's Creek-- but honestly this film was her chance to redeem herself. I do have a bit of sympathy for the girl now that she is being held captive by a madman.