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Some short reactions to movies I’ve watched recently. Keeping in mind that I never get to go to the theater anymore (and that’s harsh for someone who used to go at least once a week), these are all movies I’ve watched on cable.

The Dark Knight (2008): Wow, talk about overrated. The way people reacted to this film last year, you’d have thought it was the greatest thing since Star Wars, sliced bread, and online shopping. I was really underwhelmed. The plot was all over the place and just didn’t make any sense, chronologically or otherwise. The editing was painful, an assault on the eyes and brain that left me with a headache and a vague sense of nausea. Christian Bale apparently decided to play Batman as a caricature, which is the only way to explain the gravelly grunting and growling that passes as his dialog throughout. The only bright spot is, sadly, Heath Ledger as Joker. The character is refreshingly ambiguous, and we never really understand his backstory or motives, making him a true agent of chaos. Ledger’s performance is fascinating and the only reason to watch this movie at all.

Juliet of the Spirits (Giuletta degli spiriti) (1965): I try to catch Fellini films whenever they’re on cable since I’ve seen so few of them. I watched this not knowing what to expect, and went away from it frankly scratching my head. It’s a surrealist work, but I feel like watching a film in a foreign language sets you up with an element of surrealism to begin with, at least subconsciously, which made seeing and understanding “Juliet” a bit difficult for me. Short summary: beautifully shot, intriguing, and confusing. Made me wish I was stoned.

America’s Sweethearts (2001): I think I actually saw this movie when it came out, in a theater, but it had been several years since the last time I saw it. This is one of those films that seems to get panned by everyone, but I thought it wasn’t that bad. Certainly there are some hokey elements, many of them having to do with Billy Crystal’s character, but John Cusack is adorable, as usual, and it was fun to see Julia Roberts in a fat suit and Catherine Zeta-Jones playing such a bitch.

The Governess (1998): Another one I originally saw on the big (well, not so big, since it was an art house) screen. Featuring Minnie Driver and a amazingly young Tom Wilkinson, it’s a classic fish out of water tale. Minnie is a Jewess who pretends to be someone and something else in order to take a job as a governess in Scotland, where she gets involved in surprising and destructive ways with her employer. In the end she gives up the charade she’s involved in, but the nice thing about this story is, she grows into something much more than she had been in the end. She gets a happy ending, though not the one she initially imagines for herself. I really liked this film.

Why Did I Get Married? (2007): A Tyler Perry film, which might ordinarily send reasonable people screaming if they’re only aware of Perry’s strange “Madea” series. The slapstick is absent here and the broad humor considerably toned down. There are lots of cliches in this examination of four marriages, all of them troubled in one way or another, but I’ve seen worse. Fun for comparing the singers who can act (Jill Scott) with the ones who can’t (Janet Jackson).

Penelope (2006): I really wanted to like this – the cast is great! But alas, it’s so hackneyed and ridiculous, and I couldn’t get past the cheese factor. It’s not terrible, really, but trust me – don’t go out of your way to see it.

More impressions as I get them…

A few weeks ago (heck it might be a few months ago now, I honestly can’t remember), I saw something on one of the many organizing blogs I frequent about The Butler Bag. What is it? It’s a really, really organized purse. I did a little research and decided to order one, and that’s how my Butler Bag adventure started. This post is a general summary/review of the Butler Bag products I have seen and owned.

First a little background: you can read about the history of the Butler Bag here on the main website. Basically, it was invented by this Jen Groover chick who’s kind of an inventing/entrepreneurial genius of some kind. The idea with the bags is simple: inside, instead of just an empty space where your purse’s contents mingle in chaos, there’s an organizer. The organizer is like what you might use to organize a drawer or your makeup collection. It can be hard-sided or soft, depending on what kind of purse you’re looking at.

(All pictures used in this post are copyright Jen Groover and the Butler Bag; I am using them for illustrative purposes only. Please don’t sue me!)

The first bag I got was a Hybrid bag in Red Licorice. It looks like this on the outside:

As you can see, it’s a slightly-shiny red leather bag. The quality of the leather is actually very nice, although it’s kind of stiff (that fact comes into play later). Here’s the best part though, here’s what it looks like on the inside (imagine it in red, not black):

I know…wow! Now, even though I didn’t cram mine quite as full as this one is, you can see the advantages. You could pretty much dump anything you wanted into this bag and find it again in seconds, without having to go digging around in the bottom, in the dark. (Part of the appeal, I have to say, is the very wide opening of the bag, which makes it easy to see where every little compartment is located.) I dropped keys, sunglasses, cough drops, pens, thumb drives, whatever into the bag and could locate them again easily. SUPER organized, and I loved it!

Except…there are some drawbacks.

1. The bag is very large (which doesn’t bother me so much) and WIDE (which does). Meaning that it’s very bulky sitting under your arm. Now if you were only going to carry it by the straps in your hand, it wouldn’t matter, but I like to carry my shoulder bags on my shoulder.

2. It’s also hard, because of the hard-sided organizer inside and the rather stiff leather. This can make it a little bit painful to carry on the shoulder.

3. The worst problem by far was the straps, which are just as stiff as the rest of the bag, and constantly fell off my shoulder. SUPER ANNOYING and really the only reason I’m not still carrying this bag every darn day.

Overall, I like it for keeping organized when I need to carry a bunch of stuff. But you have to keep the drawbacks in mind, also. I wonder if I might have been more comfortable with the smaller, “Classic” size rather than the tote-sized “Hybrid” that I picked. In any case, both are available at the main site linked above, or you can buy from the sample sale (which is how I bought mine). Prices at the sample sale site are a lot more reasonable (only $95 for the large Hybrid). It mentions that samples may have small imperfections such as scratches or inconsistencies in the leather, but mine seems pristine.

The next bag I bought was from the limited edition styles site, a small tote in black. You can see it at that link – I got the small tote, not the croco one. It’s PVC, not leather, but very nice. Much softer than the leather bag, and even though I’ve only carried it around the house and not actually used it yet, I can tell it will be more comfortable. The organizer insert is a little softer as well – it doesn’t feel so much like heavy, fabric-covered pressboard as the organizer in the Hybrid bag. However, the opening on the tote is nice and wide and the organizer still works great to keep track of everything.

Finally, I did some research on, but did not buy, the Butler Bags that are available at KMart. You can see them here. I went and looked at them in person at a nearby KMart store. The store I went to didn’t have the “straw” styles but it did have most of the others. I have to be honest – I didn’t think they were very nice. They were all manmade materials, of course, but also the organizer insert is soft-sided and not much more useful than one of those fabric purse insert things you can buy (see here, or here, or here, or here). They certainly wouldn’t be as helpful in keeping me organized as the more sturdy inserts in the two Butlers I did buy.

As far as aesthetics, I don’t like either of the genuine Butler Bag purses that I bought as much as I like my Kenneth Cole Reaction purple hobo (which I can’t find online ANYWHERE, or I’d link it), or my new Guess Chance Hobo (which I really love, and you can see here), or either of the B. Makowsky bags that I bought last year. All of which had me scheming…I decided that maybe I should buy one of those cheaper Butler bags at KMart, forcibly remove the organizer from the bottom, and use it in my favorite bags from other brands! Brilliant idea, except that the cheaper bags, as noted, don’t have the sturdy organizer. They have a soft-sided and sort of useless organizer thing that wouldn’t really stand up well to being removed and repurposed.

I guess if I get crazy enough, maybe I’ll tear apart my Hybrid and re-use the organizer. Not sure if I feel quite that crafty yet though.

I’ve only watched “Jon & Kate Plus 8” a little bit over the last few years, but I’ve seen enough to get the gist of it. The recent media obsession with the Gosselins has been more than a little annoying, but I went ahead and watched the entire episode last night.

So I’m going to take out a position here that seems like it will be unpopular, but whatever: I’m on Kate’s side. Here are some of the reasons why:

- I can really sympathize with Kate. Is her hair ugly and ridiculous? Yes. Is she perfect? No. But does she deserve the way she’s been slandered and villified by the tabloid press and her own relatives? “Hell to the no!” as another reality star would put it. She’s dealing with a difficult situation, and everyone seems to think they could do a better job. Don’t bet on it. She may come across as bitchy but as another mom, I can see that she’s trying to do the best for her children above all.

- Jon is a pathetic sap. Seriously. A big, whiney, annoying crybaby. He whines that for 10 years, “Kate ruled the roost” and now he’s “finally standing up for [him]self.” Oh yay, congratulations on finally growing a spine, you cringing little bitch. He’s the classic passive-aggressive type, playing the victim, refusing to make decisions or take responsibility himself, then acting all put-upon when someone else steps up the plate and does it for him. By the way Jon, what was it that finally helped you discover your self-esteem and act like a man? Was it when you cheated on your wife and betrayed your family? Yeah…I thought so.

- A lot of people have criticized Kate for being bossy and controlling, but I contend that she really didn’t have a choice (see above). And if things were really bothering Jon and he felt like he wasn’t getting the respect he needed or deserved, he should have talked to her about it – off camera.

Overall, I think those kids are adorable, but it would be better and healthier for everyone – kids and parents alike – if this show just went away. Watching it made me feel a little dirty and gross, to be honest. Even though I was really feeling for Kate in this situation, that didn’t make it at all pleasant.

I can guarantee I won’t be watching it again.

About once or twice a week, I look in the spam folder of my Gmail and delete everything. I was about to do that last night, but I paused. Some of the subject lines were just…hilarious! Here’s some highlights of my spam folder from this week:

- Your difficult situation

- Bring photos, please

- Open it or get constipation

- Have Joe’s number?

- I’m ill, won’t come, sorry

See? You could put them together and make a haiku, or something…

I have a new TV obsession, and it’s on Showtime, of all places. Nurse Jackie! Starring Edie Falco, best known until this point as “Carmela” on HBO’s The Sopranos. This show is AWESOME.

I admit, when I first saw promos I wasn’t all that interested. But after the first episode aired (which I didn’t watch), there was a good buzz about this show. Reviewers seemed to like it. One evening, I caught the second episode on Showtime, and that was it — I was hooked. I quickly watched the first episode (and the third) on On Demand, and now I’m obsessed. The show is SO GOOD, and Edie Falco is AMAZING. I always thought she was great as Carmela Soprano but seriously – this performance blows that one away.

Here’s the home page for the show at Showtime’s web site – warning, page seems to be pretty messed up today. Here’s a summary page at Hulu which shows all the clips that are available online (including the entire first episode) – if Showtime’s site ever gets its shit together. If you have Showtime, you have GOT to watch this show. If you don’t have Showtime, but you have FiOS, check the On Demand menu for premium channel previews – sometimes Showtime makes episodes of their original shows available for free. You can also get the stuff that’s on Showtime’s site (a bunch of clips, the first episode, and behind-the-scenes stuff) for free on iTunes, just search for “Nurse Jackie.”

If you don’t want to read spoilers, stop reading now.

So what is it that makes this show work so well? I think it’s the unexpected twists and quirks that make it really interesting. Jackie is a nurse, and anyone whose been unfortunate enough to spend lots of time in a hospital can attest that nurses are just about the most angelic human beings on Earth. Patient, understanding, tireless…Jackie is all of those things, but she’s also flawed. She’s mean and impatient with doctors and other nurses, even though she’s always patient, professional, and understanding with her patients. She has a drug problem – a SERIOUS drug problem. For real – Jackie’s drug adventures make House’s look like small-time stuff. She’s a vicodin/percocet/oxycontin fiend! Also, she’s having an affair with a co-worker, she steals from patients (only those who deserve it though), and her best friend is a (hilarious) doctor who doesn’t seem to give a shit about anyone.

It’s really surprising that the show is only a half hour. A lot happens in roughly 29 minutes and it’s all compelling. The characters are well defined and interesting, and I find myself really anticipating the next episode. I can’t wait to see what happens next! Some people will no doubt be turned off by Nurse Jackie. It’s a little intense for those who want to pretend that medical professionals are somehow above the fray and not susceptible to the human failings that the rest of us deal with. And it’s not a procedural like CSI or ER; the medical stuff is there, but it’s a backdrop to the human interactions, and not the main or even B plot. But if you give it a chance, it’s really worth it. Besides, what do you have to lose – it’s only a half hour!