At The Movies - Prince of Persia

 I have been meaning to see Prince of Persia for a while now.  But for some reason, I always ended up seeing something else.  Well, I finally saw it, and I'm glad I did.

This one is from the producer who brought us Pirates of the Caribbean.  It stars a very hot and buff Jake Gyllenhaal, as a free spirited Persian prince who finds himself battling an evil conspiracy to unleash the sands of time.  The prince must join forces with a mysterious princess from a mystical empire to protect an ancient dagger - the key to releasing the magical sands.  If the dagger gets into the wrong hands, it can be used to turn back time and rule the world.

Prince of Persia is one of those fairy tale type adventure movies that takes us to different times and distant lands.  When this type of movie is done well, we can immerse ourselves in the magical story and enjoy the ride, without trying to tease apart the possible from the impossible.  And Prince was done well.  The special effects are excellent, the many action scenes are well choreographed and smooth, and the actors have good chemistry.  Sure there are some cheesy lines, and some corny scenes, and a certain degree of predictability.  But isn't that why we love fairy tales in the first place?  Because while times may be tough, and there are certain lessons we must learn the hard way, good always triumphs over evil, and there is a happily ever after. 

This would be a good one for the whole family.  Even though there are a good number of fight scenes, there is very little gore.  Great for a matinee on a day that is just too darn hot and humid and sticky to be outside without dehydrating and burning to a crisp.

How to Shape Your Brows

 Eye brows frame your eyes.  They are very important.  Yet shaping your brows is extremely difficult.  I have read countless articles and forum posts about what NOT to do.  We naturally notice, and comment on, poorly shaped brows.  But how the heck do we get our brows off the DON'T list?

Here is everything I learned about eye brows in my quest to tame my own bushy brows.

To determine where your brows should begin and end, as well as where they should arch, you will need a chopstick, or pencil, or straw.  To determine the START of your brow, hold up your chopstick from the bottom edge of your nose to the inner corner of your eye.  Your brow should start where the chopstick touches transects your brow.  Similarly, hold the chopstick from the edge of your nose to the outer edge of your eye, to determine the END of your brow.  Use your chopstick to indicate your brow's ARCH by holding it from the edge of your nose to the middle of your iris.

When shaping your brows, the most important thing to remember is that the part of the brow before the arch should be one thick line.  That is, if you draw a line at the bottom of your brow, and another line at the top of the brow, those two lines should be parallel.  Since my brows are quite thick and bushy, I use brow scissors to trim the top of the brow to give me that straight shape.  A common mistake is to over-pluck the bottom area in an attempt to emphasize the arch.  This leads to the 'comma brow', where you get a bulb at the inner end, and then a thin brow from there.  I sported one of these for quite some time.

Past the arch, your brow should taper.  It's best to just follow your brow shape here.  I usually don't mess with this part of my brow.

Also remember these brow shape guidelines when you're filling in your brows.  Sometimes our brows just don't grow all the way to where they should on the ends.  So use a pencil or an eye shadow that matches your brow color or is slightly lighter, to lightly feather in any sparse areas.

Accept your brows for what they are.  Some people have naturally high arching brows, others don't.  I have almost no arch to my brows.  And the more I tried to fight that shape, and the more I tried to give myself an arch, the worse my brows looked.  About a year ago, I stopped fighting it, and went with the flow.  It took forever for my brows to grow out.  But I'm so much happier with their shape now.

We hear this over and over.  And yet we still are tempted to make this number one brow mistake. We pluck and we pluck.  STOP!  Don't do it!  Step away from the tweezers.

I was recently watching GossMakeupArtist on youtube talk about the way we unnecessarily age ourselves.  Over-plucking was near the top of his list.  He also made a very good point I never considered before:

 Ever notice that the princess has nice full brows, and the evil queen has over-arched, super thin brows?  

So next time you're shaping your brows, remember that you're the princess, and not the evil queen!

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Quick Kitchen Tip: Preventing Fruit Flies

Having fruit flies in the kitchen can be such a pain.  They can be especially bad in the summer months, because they like the heat and the humidity.  But there is a way to prevent them from ever coming into the house in the first place.

When it comes to fruit flies, bananas are your worst enemy, because in the supermarket, fruit flies preferentially lay eggs on bananas.  When you bring your bananas home, the flies hatch, and you have a problem.

The easy solution - rinse your bananas thoroughly when you bring them home from the store.  Voila!  No more pesky flies.

New Fall Shows I'm Intrigued About

 The last installment of the TV week series.  I looked up the new shows that will be coming up in the fall.  Here are a few that look interesting.  We shall see...

Body of Proof

Dr. Megan Hunt (Delany) was in a class of her own, a brilliant neurosurgeon at the top of her game. But her world is turned upside down when a devastating car accident puts an end to her time in the operating room. Megan resumes her career as a medical examiner, determined to solve the puzzle of who or what killed the victims. Her instincts are sharp, but she's developed a reputation for graying the lines of where her job ends and where the police department's begins. It turns out her career isn't the only thing that will need to be rebuilt; Megan's family has taken a backseat to her ambition, and now she's discovering there's a lot of work to do when it comes to dissecting her relationships with the living. - ABC

Criminal Minds spin-off

 

Forest Whitaker will play the dynamic, mysterious, and charming father figure on the spin-off, who will take the reins as leader of the new group of profilers who work outside the FBI bureaucracy.  Look for it to start mid season. - CBS

Friends With Benefits

An honest look at the complexity of finding "the one," and the things one must do to survive along the way.  And when dating is hard, it's good to have friends around who are easy. - NBC

No Ordinary Family

 The Powells are about to go from ordinary to extraordinary. After 16 years of marriage, Jim and Stephanie's relationship lacks the spark it once had, and their family life now consists of balancing work and their two children, leaving little time for family bonding. During a family vacation set up by Jim in an attempt to reconnect, their plane crashes into the Amazon River. But this is where the fun starts for the Powells, as they soon discover that something's not quite right. Each of them now possesses unique and distinct superpowers. But saving and savoring their family life will be equally important, as they try to find purpose for their new powers and embark on a journey to find out what defines and unifies them. The Powells are a totally relatable family who happen to be a little bit amazing. - ABC

Love Bites

Irreverent and poignant, Love Bites pulls back the curtain to expose modern romance - in a way you've never seen before. - NBC 

The Whole Truth

 Kathryn Peale, the product of a New England background and a sheriff father, is the Deputy Bureau Chief in the New York State District Attorney's office. Jimmy Brogan, born and raised in Hell's Kitchen and a friend of Kathryn's since their days at Yale Law School, is one of New York's rising criminal attorney stars. Buoyed by their respective teams, these evenly matched lawyers—each with a strong streak of competitiveness, a fervent belief in their clients and an equally intense passion for the law go about creating two different stories from the same set of facts. As this up-close, behind-the-scenes look at the legal process mirrors the excitement of a championship match, it becomes evident that truth has nothing to do with innocence or guilt—at the end of every trial, the only thing that matters is what the jury believes. - ABC

What say ye?

TV Week - The Best of the Worst - Reality TV

Let's face it - reality TV is trash.  But it's also a bit irresistible, isn't it?  You know you shouldn't, but you watch it anyway.  TV's guilty pleasures.  I'll show you mine.  Will you show me yours?

Ok, your turn...

TV Week ends tomorrow with New Shows I'm Intrigued About.

H204K9 Water Bottle - Part Deux

 

Meet our replacement H204K9 water bottle.  I got one of these bottles a while ago, and the dogs loved it.  And I loved it.  And I reviewed it.  And then someone adopted it as their own.

Well, the nice people at H204K9 sent us a new one.  And I got to choose from all of the available colors.  Of course I chose pink.

I have been using this bottle for the girls for over a month now, and I absolutely love it.  So check out The Friendly Pooch for a more thorough review and pics from our latest dog park and hiking adventures!

Have a good weekend everyone!  Get out there and enjoy the sunshine.  And don't forget your water and your sunscreen!

At the Movies: Killers

I have to interrupt TV week to tell you about this movie I just saw.

Tonight was one of those spontaneous movie nights.  Because sometimes it's fun to see a really late movie.  Too bad we had already seen all the popular picks- Sex and the City 2, Robin Hood, Letters to Juliet, The A-Team.  So we were debating between Prince of Persia and Karate Kid (hey, don't judge!), when I came upon Killers.  This sounded like an action/lots of guns kind of movie to me, so I never paid any attention.  But tonight, for whatever reason, I clicked on the title, and read the synopsis, and decided to go see it. 

Jen (Katherine Heigl) is on vacation with her parents after a break up.  When she gets there, she meets Spencer (Ashton Kutcher), who is everything she (and every girl on the planet) ever dreamed of - handsome, confident, and incredibly sweet.  They fall in love, get married, and live a quiet suburban life.  The only problem is that three years into their marriage Spencer finds himself in trouble.  People start trying to kill him.  Assasin people.  It turns out that Spencer used to be a spy and a professional hit man, and he never bothered to tell his wife. And when the truth comes out, Jen has to decide if Spencer's love and their marriage were ever real.  That is, if the assassins don't get him first.

I don't know how I hadn't heard of Killers before.  I somehow missed the previews, or there weren't any.  But I'm glad that I went to see this movie.   It was really funny.  Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl had great chemistry and are both masters of the quirky humor.  There were so many awkward moments between Jen and Spencer - funny because they were such dorks, and because the dork in all of us can relate.

Killers is not an Oscar contender.  It is not deep.  It will not blow your mind and make you think about life's deeper purpose.  But it was a lot of fun. It's the kind of movie where you just sit back and enjoy being entertained.  And I also have to tell you that even though I'm not normally an Ashton fan in the looks department, he was really hot in this movie!   I guarantee Killers will make you laugh.  Maybe even a lot.

  The comedy and the guns in Killers is enough to keep your other half entertained, while the romance is so sweet and real (read: quirky and dorky) it will melt your heart.  So it's a great date pick.   

Anyone else heard of Killers?  See it?  What did you think? 

TV Week - Returning Shows I'm Excited About

I've enjoyed my stroll down TV memory lane.  But now back to the present, or more accurately, the not too distant future.  I'm looking forward to catching up with these favorites again in the fall.

What will you be watching this fall?

TV Week continues tomorrow with The Best of the Worst - Reality TV.

TV Week: Shows That Ended Much Too Soon

There are some shows that I fell in love with only to see them canceled too soon.  I hate that.

What were some of your favorites that ended too soon?

TV Week continues tomorrow with Returning Shows I'm Excited About.

TV Week - TV Shows I Miss

I love TV.  I really do.  I have not had time to watch as much TV as I used to, so I have to be very selective in my old age.  But I can't imagine life without TV.  So welcome to TV week all my fellow junkies!

Since TV has been sucking lately, I have been re-watching some of my favorites.  Yes, some are cheesy, but I really enjoy them, even now.  Here are some TV shows I really miss - why don't they make TV like this anymore? 

 

Anyone else watch these shows?

What TV shows do you miss?

The rest of TV week will be:

Shows That Ended Much Too Soon

Returning Shows I'm Excited About
The Best of the Worst - Reality TV

New Shows I'm Intrigued About

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