Movie Review: The Hunger Games

Did you hear about THE HUNGER GAMES yet? Well, I guess I've lived in a cave, OR am just not young enough, because I only heard about this movie in the past couple of weeks. I didn't even know there's three BOOKS out there on THE HUNGER GAMES. Hmmm... I guess I HAVE been living in a cave!

From what I've read, the first book came out in 2008, written by Suzanne Collins. The second published in 2009; the third, 2010. This first movie just came out, and the second movie in the trilogy is set to come out in November of 2013. I also heard that this past weekend, the film made $155 million in it's opening weekend. WOW.

Anyway, I went with a friend to see the movie, THE HUNGER GAMES yesterday. I had absolutely no idea what it was about, so I went in fully open to the story. I did get the gist that it was about a future catastrophic world, where there are annual 'games' where kids/teenagers fight to the death. For something... food for their town, fame, whatever.

So as you can see, I went in blindly! I don't want to tell you any more, in case you were considering seeing the movie and don't want to know anything.

I must say that I truly enjoyed the movie. I was not bored for one minute of the film, the acting was very good, and the story very engrossing. I DID go in with the idea that it would be a BIG theatrical thing (and certain parts of it were, which did entertain: crazy outfits, blue hair, pink hair, big crowds, computer animation, digital design). BUT I was surprised that most of the movie was more on an individual-character-type storyline.

Again, I don't want to give too much away. Those who are visiting here and have read the book(s) will know what to expect. Those of you, like me, who have no idea and haven't read the first book will be pleasantly surprised with the story, I believe. I think if one knows nothing going into a film, the better. Hell, maybe one's expectations will be less and you'll enjoy it more!

The young stars of the movie were not known to me; again, I guess I am living in a cave and/or I have to admit I am not young anymore. ;)
But there were were a lot of actors you will know: Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci. They each did a fantastic job.
Here are some photos, via thehungergamesmovie.com

You can see below, on the left, what I meant when I said there are some crazy outfits. ;)



All in all, I can say that I can recommend your seeing the film. I enjoyed it so much I now want to read the book(s). AND: If you DO see it, or HAVE seen it already, please leave me a comment and let me know!

Best,
Gloria

P.S. I linked this post to Pam's/Be Colorful's MOTIVATED MONDAY! Click to visit! AND I linked to Kaleigh's Spring Fling!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 17th!
ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Just wanted to wish all of you a great St. Patrick's Day! I wish each of you the Irish blessing I've posted. I'm hoping on it for myself also. ;)

Have a great weekend too! xxoo

Best,
Gloria

Note: The Irish blessing is something I pinned on Pinterest, so go to the link below if you care that much to see the source! LOL!
http://pinterest.com/pin/135319163773720014/

p.s 'Comments' have been disabled -- use your time to make a wish on a Leprechaun.

Daylight Savings Time this Weekend!

Reminder...
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS -- "Spring Ahead, Fall Back"
It happens on Sunday, March 11, 2012, at 2 a.m., so don't forget to change your clocks! We have to move them ahead one hour... which is great because then we will get one more hour of daylight each day! However, we also lose that hour of sleep. Oh well... at least we will have longer days. Hooray, Spring is almost here!

I haven't been blogging lately, so I apologize for not visiting too many blogs these days. But I hope you have all been well, and I hope everyone enjoys the warm Spring days that will be coming our way soon. Have a great weekend!

Best,
Gloria

Credit for photo: Father Steve Planning takes care of Gonzaga College High School's 19th century manual clock. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

FUN! A quiz for you!!

Greetings! My very first blogging buddy, Susan at Between Naps on the Porch, has a great post today! I woke up really early and was delighted to see her post -- it was a fun Quiz! So I left a comment for her giving my answers, and included in my comment that I would do a post on it too. (Check hers out!! Click on her name above to see -- BUT, please finish reading THIS post first because I want to see your answers to the quiz!)
Note: 'Quiz' image at right courtesy of www.crustysocks.com

OK, here's the questions/my answers...
And then see below that... please copy the blank questions and then paste them in my comments section and then fill in YOUR answers! Can't wait to hear them! :)
Isn't this fun?! Thanks for the idea, Susan!
Oh, and you will see that there's a "Southern Theme" here some of with the questions, since this was Susan's idea and she is indeed in the South! ;)

Gloria's Answers:
1. Favorite Cocktail: Seagrams 7 and Coke
2. Favorite Getaway: Martha's Vineyard or NYC/Midtown
3. If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be? Vivien Leigh (actress)
4. Daydream of the moment:? Doing a tablescape one day ;)
5. Your personality in one word? Difficult
6. Are you more garden or gun? Gun!
7. If you were road-tripping, what's the one album you'd take with you? Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (by Elton John)
8. What are you reading? The Wedding (by Dorothy West)
9. What do you want to do when you grow up? Sadly, I still don't know...
10. What is your greatest extravagance? Guilty Pleasure? Cigarettes
11. Favorite Southern Food? Mac & Cheese
12. Most treasured possession? Two little Gien plates my son bought me when he went on a school trip to Canada when he was in middle school, he used his 'spending money' on me, instead of himself
13. Favorite Southern name? Scarlett
14. What talent would you most like to have? The talent of being a patient, calm person
15. What's your current state of mind? Paranoia

OK, it's your turn! Please copy and paste this into "leaving a comment" below and fill in YOUR answers!!

1. Favorite Cocktail:
2. Favorite Getaway:
3. If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be?
4. Daydream of the moment:?
5. Your personality in one word?
6. Are you more garden or gun? .
7. If you were road-tripping, what's the one album you'd take with you?
8. What are you reading?
9. What do you want to do when you grow up?
10. What is your greatest extravagance? Guilty Pleasure?
11. Favorite Southern Food?
12. Most treasured possession?
13. Favorite Southern name?
14. What talent would you most like to have?
15. What's your current state of mind?

Looking forward to reading your answers!

Best,
Gloria

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Just a little post to say:
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
I hope each of you have a lovely day today! Whether you are giving a Valentine's kiss to your spouse, your child, a loving parent, or a beloved pet, I hope you all have great day and celebrate the love in your life. I am grateful for my son as my Valentine -- even though he has a nice young lady now who is HIS Valentine! :\
Well then... Hey, I will celebrate the inanimate love of my life: my television! (Oh, and my laptop too...) LOL!!! ;)

Best,
Gloria


Note: Unfortunately, I cannot give credit for the cute posters... They were in an email I received, that did not give the location for them.

Super Bowl XLVI - Go Giants!!!

New York Giants: 21 ~~~ New England Patriots: 17

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NY GIANTS!

Although I am a born and bred New Yorker, and I certainly am happy the Giants won, I DO feel badly for the Patriots, especially since I am in Connecticut now!
BUT, a plus for me with the Giants win is that my son and I made a bet: He chose the Patriots to win, so then I took the Giants. Whomever won the bet would get the other person to be their 'servant' for a day.. Ahhhhhhh... looks like I will be having a nice day in the near future.
Thank you, Giants! ;)

(smiling Ahmed Bradshaw)

(NY Giants Quarterback, MVP, Eli Manning during practice)

Best,
Gloria
Note: Photos courtesy of ESPN.

REVENGE Repeat!

Just a short post to say: I'm sorry! If any of you watched "REVENGE" tonight (Wed), after catching up on the shows online at ABC.com, and saw it was a repeat, I hope you are not mad at me! I did NOT know it would be a repeated episode! I mistakenly thought last week they said it was going to be a new show tonight.
They DID say tonight that next week (Wed., Feb. 8) will be a "NEW" show. Do you believe me? Well, if you don't trust me, I don't blame you... :(
My apologies!!
Best,
Gloria

REVENGE

Hello to all of you visiting here! I was supposed to do a post on food photos (as I mentioned in my previous post) but I saw something to remind me that I wanted to do a post on ABC's show: REVENGE for quite a while. Anyway, to continue! REVENGE: It's on Wednesday nights, at 9:00 PM (8/Central). Oh my word, this is the BEST SHOW. If you haven't seen it, try to catch up on it. It's a show that when the episode ends, you say to yourself: "Oh, that was SO good, I can't wait for next week." Please, trust me on this. Seriously, as the episode is ending, and you look at the clock and see the show has five minutes left, you say: "Oh man! This show is SO GOOD!" ...you don't want it to end. (And THAT usually, is the time when my son decides to walk into the house from being out, or walk out of his room after being in there for God knows how long, and wants to tell me a story, and I am a MEAN mother and I say: "God, WHY do you come in at the last five minutes of a show????!!!" Yes, I am a MEAN mother! Or maybe some of you also experience this?! It just always seems that he has some 'profound' thing to say five minutes before the end of ANY show! OK, yeah, I'm rotten. I guess I should listen to my son before a stupid show!)

Anyway, to start out, before anyone is up in arms about my using photos without giving the source: All photos have been obtained from ABC: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/revenge/photos Also: It will be easier for me to explain the show through an Overview, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) comes to the Hamptons for the summer, renting a home next to the Grayson family to enjoy a bright summer. However, it's clear Emily has been to the Hamptons before as a little girl. In reality, Emily is Amanda Clarke, whose father was framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison for life. She was permanently separated from him and never saw him again. Now, she's returned to the Hamptons, intent on getting revenge against those who wronged her and her father, the top of that list being Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe), matriarch of the Grayson family and the woman who her father loved and who, in the end, betrayed him. As Emily sets her plan (for "REVENGE") in motion, Emily tries to navigate the upper society to destroy those who betrayed her father. But the further she goes, the more her emotions get involved and the more she questions her motives and the moves she makes.

Emily Thorne:

Victoria Grayson:

And my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE character is: Nolan Ross...
Per Wikipedia:
Gabriel Mann as Nolan Ross, genius software inventor and Emily's ally in her plot for revenge due to his loyalty to her father.

Oh, good Lord, this actor, Gabriel Mann, is THE BEST. I cannot understand, for the life of me, why he is not more spoken about in the acting world. Well, maybe he IS, but I just miss it. But I DO think he deserves some Emmy or SOMETHING. He is a very talented actor. I LOVE him in the show and, if not for him, I truly don't think the show would be as great. He's supposed to be gay in the show, I don't know if he is in real life. I actually "googled" to see if he was gay or straight, and I was actually happy to see that he's kind of an enigma... I didn't really investigate far... the info given was questionable, as to whether he was gay or not. To me, that means he is a GREAT actor if one cannot tell. Don't you agree?? Plus, it really doesn't matter anyway. I guess I am just a curious fan. If he is gay, I love him; if he is straight, I love him; but he wouldn't want me anyway if he were straight... I think I'm too old for him. Well, I'm SURE I'm too old for him. BUT, if I weren't a little too old for him, I am SURE he would want to date me. ;)

Well, I hope you check out the ABC show, REVENGE. Again, it's on WEDNESDAYS at 10 PM (9 PM Central). If you don't see any of the first repeats on TV yet (I can say, for a fact, that the first show of the series has NOT been repeated on TV so far), you can always go on ABC.com and try to find it.
You can go here: http://abc.go.com/watch/revenge/SH55126554
or here: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/revenge

And if any of you guys out there are a fan of REVENGE, please do let me know!!!!
Best,
Gloria

Funny Photo from Pinterest

Hi, all. I saw this and re-pinned it on Pinterest, but had to show it to you all, it's so funny. There's more cute pics you can see at the original page: http://www.buzzfeed.com/lilyboo/pictures-that-will-make-you-say-awwwwwwwwwwww)
But is this not the FUNNIEST thing??!!! It reminds me of the ladies when I was little, walking with their purses on their arms like that. And the caption that the person put on Pinterest is just so matter of fact. LOL!
Anyway, thought you'd all get a kick out of this. (Plus, look at the guy in the background, with his arms folded, watching the dog pass. THAT makes me laugh too!)

Chihuahua with it's bear purse

Is this not the funniest thing???!! LOL!

Well, I am hoping to be back later or tomorrow. I want to post some food pics. I always take photos of things I make, then never wind up posting them!

Best,
Gloria

Victoria Magazine Giveaway Win... Plus, Lovely Blogger Gifts

Happy Monday to all, I hope you all had a good weekend. I am actually writing this post late Sunday night... I am a night owl! I wanted to give a big THANKS to of Willow of the blog: http://myirishcottagehome.blogspot.com/
I won her blog giveaway a while ago: a subscription to VICTORIA MAGAZINE. I received my first issue recently, and on this snowy weekend here in New England, it was a very much appreciated past-time, to curl up and read such a lovely magazine. Thank you again, Willow, I appreciated my win. Here's Willow's link to her blog in case you'd like to visit: http://myirishcottagehome.blogspot.com/ She and her husband just redid a bookcase into a TV console and they did a fabulous job! Stop by to check it out if you'd like
.
I also wanted to include in this post an additional thank you to another of my blogging buddies, Lilybets, for a couple of gifts she sent to me this holiday... I will explain more below...

But, for now, here's some nice photos from Victoria Magazine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The other part of this post, as I mentioned, is for raving about a sweet little package I received for Christmas from Lilybets - from the blog: http://nelboscodililybets.blogspot.com/ (Please click on her blog name to visit!) Lilybets lives in Malta, and she is one of the loveliest people that I have met in my 'blog travels.' She is very kind, loving and is good to animals!! (I know she will visit here and will smile when she reads that!) The next two photos are what Lilybets so generously and lovingly mailed to me from Malta. I will always treasure them...
A pretty felt Santa, complete with Jingle Bells!
And here is a cute little 'kitty' notepad...
And last, but not least:
I am also including a photo of this "G" below -- it is a special Christmas tree decoration that one of my very absolute favorite blogger friends sent to me last year, among a few other things. I will not name her, she is "quite shy" and wouldn't want me to give her any praises! But I must say that to get something like this (and the other decorations I received, of course), I feel are the most special things that one can get because one will ALWAYS remember the person, and the story of how they received what was sent, every time these mementos are taken out for the holiday every year. Isn't that the most precious thing for each of us to have when looking at our decorations? To pick something up, as we decorate, and look at it and remember the person and the circumstance of receiving it? I think that's one of the BEST parts of the holidays!
To leave you with one last photo, here's my house the night before last, when it started to snow... my son took the pic -- this is his "thing" with taking a photo with the 's-t-r-e-t-c-h' of light. I think he is quite talented. But, then again, I'm his mother. ;)
Best,
Gloria