Various reviews
Sep. 13th, 2003 10:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenAs my PSA for the day let me say that if you haven't seen Once Upon a Time in Mexico yet and intend to, do not read Ebert's review of the movie. Having seen the film I can say that he includes something in that review which, while not a spoiler in the same way as the ending to Sixth Sense is a spoiler, it's still not a thing you'd want to find out in a movie review.
Beyond that I can recommend the movie. A bit different than Desperado. I had to get used to the fact that it wasn't an El Mariachi movie as much as a movie that had El Mariachi in it (it's an ensemble piece, in other words) but otherwise it was fun and definitely to be recommended. Besides, there's tons of Johnny Depp so that more than evens out the lack of Antonio in every scene.
In other news about fictional things, I'm reading The Devil Wore Prada. I picked it up this week because I had a long hair appointment yesterday and I wanted something totally frivolous to read while I was there. Plus I'd heard that if you liked The Nanny Diaries then you'd like TDWP and I liked TND so there we were.
I didn't get to read as much as I thought I would since I spent a lot of time talking with my hairdresser, but I made it 7 chapters in and I wanted to share my thoughts with anyone else who might have read the book.
Okay is it just me or do you hate the protagonist? Because I hate her. Seriously. She's a whiny, annoying, pretentious little snot and I cannot stand her. I mean okay, she's 23, possibly this is good characterization for a girl who's that age but - GUH! Hate. Her.
What threw me first was how frikkin' put upon she was about her first day of work. Like how dare they ask her to show up on Monday. Excuse me? It's a job, sweetheart and it's your first job. You say thank you and show up when they ask.
I mean I get that she needed to find a place to live and all but I'm sure her friend would've understood her needing to crash for the extra week while she found a place or even her boyfriend, since the only problem there was that they weren't ready for full time commitment. So what was wrong with her crashing with him for a week or two as long as it was understood that she was going to find her own place as soon as possible? It's not like she'd be the first human on earth to need to go apartment hunting while holding down a full-time job. Hell, if she felt so entitled to order her new employer around re: her schedule why not at least compromise and ask for half-days while she trains so she can go apt hunting in the afternoon?
Then she was all whiny about her apt prospects. Now this I gave a little leeway to because if you haven't seen Manhattan apartments before this can be a culture shock. But, still, I felt she was more whiny than necessary. And since she'd been living with her friend presumably she'd actually had an introduction to Manhattan living so - huh?
Then comes her first day of work, when she takes the subway and then gets bitchily lost. Now I'm willing to spot her on the subway. Manhattan subways can be confusing. But it's not the subway that throws her. It's walking two blocks from the subway stop to get to her job. And she's lost. What? Hon, Manhattan is in a grid and most of the streets are numbers. It's not that hard to figure out especially when you're told it's only two blocks. If you're on 60 and you need to get to 59 this is going to be a very easy thing to figure out by picking a direction and trying it out.
And you get even less sympathy from me when you already have the direction of "west" to go in. Because even if we somehow feel sympathetic for the fact that for some god-unknown reason you couldn't be bothered to look at a map all the times you were running around town to find an apartment and therefore found out that there's a huge fucking park that helps to orient you which is really easy to see period, let alone when you're in the 60s there is also a large, bright, burning thing in the sky which rises in the east and sets in the west so if it's morning and that mysterious light is coming from one direction then it's a safe bet that you need to be going in the other.
But nooo. It's this big huge put-upon deal for her. Like we're supposed to be sympathetic that she couldn't be bothered to prepare?
Still, I give her a chance. I tell myself maybe I'm being too harsh on her. After all, I grew up in the city. Maybe it's not so scary for me as it would be to a newbie. Granted this is a newbie who traveled around the world so I'm not understanding how she got around in countries where they don't speak English yet America is throwing her but, again, I try to be fair.
Doesn't work. Because she continues to be a snot. Not enough people speak English (again, this from the world traveler) to suit her. Taxi cab drivers dare to have body oder. She's far too persistant in reminding us that she's going to work for the New Yorker someday because she's better than these fashionistas, get it?
Plus she's way too full of herself whenever she doesn't know something. Okay, granted, the fashion industry does not cure cancer. But if you're looking at someone who's a big name in the fashion industry then you're looking at someone who's managed to carve out a successful career for themselves in a highly competitive business. You on the other hand, are a little kid just out of college. Try to at least fake some respect, could ya? Ignorance isn't something to be proud of. I couldn't name you all the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies either but if I worked in the financial industry damn straight I'd take the time to learn it. Not knowing something does not make me better than someone else. Same goes for you.
It was the scene with her brother in law that finally did me in. That was when I realized there was no hope for this girl. Everything else I could sort of spot her on, but for fuck's sake this is the person her sister is obviously in love with. But our dear Ahn-dre-ah has to spend paragraphs letting us know how her sister has thrown her life away by moving to a "Third World nation" that is Houston, Texas so she can live with this "redneck" - a man who gets that classification because he dares to be so rude as to have a Texas accent. WHAT?
And then Ahn-dre-ah has to make sure to let us know how, in spite of her urge to "stuff a tennis ball in his mouth" - again for the crime of daring to be from Texas and have a Texas accent - she manages to be nice to him anyway.
To which I'm sitting there like Chris Rock regarding people who proudly proclaim they've managed to stay out of jail: "You're SUPPOSED to, God damn it! What do you want, a cookie?"
I mean wow - actually managing to be nice to her brother in law, in spite of the accent. Clearly this girl is a saint in our time.
Sheesh.
So there we are. 7 chapters in and I hate the protagonist. She's a pretentious, stuck-up little snot and I can't imagine how on earth we were ever supposed to like her. I'm still reading it, though, because I bought it for the behind the scenes look at the fashion magazine industry and so far that part is fine. It's just that now instead of sympathizing with her, as I did with Nanny in TND, I'm looking upon all her hardships on the job as her karmic payback. Possibly by the end of the book she'll learn some humility.
In other news - am I the only person who think that Hugh Jackman sounds really spectacularly bad in those radio ads for that new musical? If I were the producers I wouldn't actually be advertising those sound clips. Yipes.
Beyond that I can recommend the movie. A bit different than Desperado. I had to get used to the fact that it wasn't an El Mariachi movie as much as a movie that had El Mariachi in it (it's an ensemble piece, in other words) but otherwise it was fun and definitely to be recommended. Besides, there's tons of Johnny Depp so that more than evens out the lack of Antonio in every scene.
In other news about fictional things, I'm reading The Devil Wore Prada. I picked it up this week because I had a long hair appointment yesterday and I wanted something totally frivolous to read while I was there. Plus I'd heard that if you liked The Nanny Diaries then you'd like TDWP and I liked TND so there we were.
I didn't get to read as much as I thought I would since I spent a lot of time talking with my hairdresser, but I made it 7 chapters in and I wanted to share my thoughts with anyone else who might have read the book.
Okay is it just me or do you hate the protagonist? Because I hate her. Seriously. She's a whiny, annoying, pretentious little snot and I cannot stand her. I mean okay, she's 23, possibly this is good characterization for a girl who's that age but - GUH! Hate. Her.
What threw me first was how frikkin' put upon she was about her first day of work. Like how dare they ask her to show up on Monday. Excuse me? It's a job, sweetheart and it's your first job. You say thank you and show up when they ask.
I mean I get that she needed to find a place to live and all but I'm sure her friend would've understood her needing to crash for the extra week while she found a place or even her boyfriend, since the only problem there was that they weren't ready for full time commitment. So what was wrong with her crashing with him for a week or two as long as it was understood that she was going to find her own place as soon as possible? It's not like she'd be the first human on earth to need to go apartment hunting while holding down a full-time job. Hell, if she felt so entitled to order her new employer around re: her schedule why not at least compromise and ask for half-days while she trains so she can go apt hunting in the afternoon?
Then she was all whiny about her apt prospects. Now this I gave a little leeway to because if you haven't seen Manhattan apartments before this can be a culture shock. But, still, I felt she was more whiny than necessary. And since she'd been living with her friend presumably she'd actually had an introduction to Manhattan living so - huh?
Then comes her first day of work, when she takes the subway and then gets bitchily lost. Now I'm willing to spot her on the subway. Manhattan subways can be confusing. But it's not the subway that throws her. It's walking two blocks from the subway stop to get to her job. And she's lost. What? Hon, Manhattan is in a grid and most of the streets are numbers. It's not that hard to figure out especially when you're told it's only two blocks. If you're on 60 and you need to get to 59 this is going to be a very easy thing to figure out by picking a direction and trying it out.
And you get even less sympathy from me when you already have the direction of "west" to go in. Because even if we somehow feel sympathetic for the fact that for some god-unknown reason you couldn't be bothered to look at a map all the times you were running around town to find an apartment and therefore found out that there's a huge fucking park that helps to orient you which is really easy to see period, let alone when you're in the 60s there is also a large, bright, burning thing in the sky which rises in the east and sets in the west so if it's morning and that mysterious light is coming from one direction then it's a safe bet that you need to be going in the other.
But nooo. It's this big huge put-upon deal for her. Like we're supposed to be sympathetic that she couldn't be bothered to prepare?
Still, I give her a chance. I tell myself maybe I'm being too harsh on her. After all, I grew up in the city. Maybe it's not so scary for me as it would be to a newbie. Granted this is a newbie who traveled around the world so I'm not understanding how she got around in countries where they don't speak English yet America is throwing her but, again, I try to be fair.
Doesn't work. Because she continues to be a snot. Not enough people speak English (again, this from the world traveler) to suit her. Taxi cab drivers dare to have body oder. She's far too persistant in reminding us that she's going to work for the New Yorker someday because she's better than these fashionistas, get it?
Plus she's way too full of herself whenever she doesn't know something. Okay, granted, the fashion industry does not cure cancer. But if you're looking at someone who's a big name in the fashion industry then you're looking at someone who's managed to carve out a successful career for themselves in a highly competitive business. You on the other hand, are a little kid just out of college. Try to at least fake some respect, could ya? Ignorance isn't something to be proud of. I couldn't name you all the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies either but if I worked in the financial industry damn straight I'd take the time to learn it. Not knowing something does not make me better than someone else. Same goes for you.
It was the scene with her brother in law that finally did me in. That was when I realized there was no hope for this girl. Everything else I could sort of spot her on, but for fuck's sake this is the person her sister is obviously in love with. But our dear Ahn-dre-ah has to spend paragraphs letting us know how her sister has thrown her life away by moving to a "Third World nation" that is Houston, Texas so she can live with this "redneck" - a man who gets that classification because he dares to be so rude as to have a Texas accent. WHAT?
And then Ahn-dre-ah has to make sure to let us know how, in spite of her urge to "stuff a tennis ball in his mouth" - again for the crime of daring to be from Texas and have a Texas accent - she manages to be nice to him anyway.
To which I'm sitting there like Chris Rock regarding people who proudly proclaim they've managed to stay out of jail: "You're SUPPOSED to, God damn it! What do you want, a cookie?"
I mean wow - actually managing to be nice to her brother in law, in spite of the accent. Clearly this girl is a saint in our time.
Sheesh.
So there we are. 7 chapters in and I hate the protagonist. She's a pretentious, stuck-up little snot and I can't imagine how on earth we were ever supposed to like her. I'm still reading it, though, because I bought it for the behind the scenes look at the fashion magazine industry and so far that part is fine. It's just that now instead of sympathizing with her, as I did with Nanny in TND, I'm looking upon all her hardships on the job as her karmic payback. Possibly by the end of the book she'll learn some humility.
In other news - am I the only person who think that Hugh Jackman sounds really spectacularly bad in those radio ads for that new musical? If I were the producers I wouldn't actually be advertising those sound clips. Yipes.
