Sarah Reviews Romeo + Juliet

The first time I saw the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo + Juliet (1996) I thought it was brilliant.



It seemed interesting and innovative and modern.

Of course that was probably 12 years ago.

Because I just watched it again and it made me twitchy. I was yelling at my tv - "Take it easy with the MTV edits!"

Either this movie got old quickly or I did.

Because it Makes Me Happy

I completely forgot about this video, but it makes me smile every time I watch it.

By Scapegoat Wax - Aisle 10 (Hello Allison)

Sarah Reviews Totally Random Things in Rapid Sequence

Pace Salsa Verde - surprisingly tasty for a mass produced jarred salsa.

K-Mart - They never have anything I am looking for. How are they still in business?

Best Buy Customer Service - One giant fail. I went there to buy an iMac and I couldn't get the attention of a sales person. I called the store (from inside the store on my cell phone) and nobody answered even though I could see the staff hanging out with each other talking about personal things. I finally stopped someone as they were walking by, she went and got a girl (whom I had been making eye contact with and who had completely been ignoring me).

I walked out, right after I explained to a manager why I would be spending my $1,700 (I needed accessories too) elsewhere.

I bought it at Micro Center. Those guys were really nice.

The Kite Runner

Sometime in late 2003 we were visiting my husband's parents.

My father-in-law handed me the copy of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini that he just finished and said it was excellent and I should read it.

I brought it home and put it on my bedside table.

It has pretty much lived on my bedside table for five and a half years.

Between then and now I would say no less than 20 other people have recommended The Kite Runner to me. They even made a movie out of it. I kept thinking, I'll read it next, I'll read it next.

This week I read it.

It was a heart wrenching tale. You've probably already, but if not it is a story about the trials of an Afghani boy who becomes a man in very difficult times. It is a story about deception and redemption.




I don't want to give the plot away - I can't stand that type of book review, but I will say this - all those people who told me what a wonderful book it was were telling the truth. Once I got through the first couple of chapters, Hosseini sucked me in and kept me reading.

I should have read it six years ago.

Charity Can Be Fun

See? Charity work doesn't have to be all work and no play.

Devra, Chef Spike and I joined the Quaker Go program yesterday and we went to the Capital Area Food Bank to do some volunteer work.

Along with Quaker, we helped the food bank organize the food to go out to Washington D.C. area pantries to help feed the hungry.

For once I was working too hard to take pictures, but if I get some better ones from Quaker I will let you know. In the mean time, behold the glow of my reflective zipper.

Death Metal for Kids

Fine, I admit it. I listened to Death Metal. Occasionally I still do.

As my husband is fond of saying - "You can take the girl out of Tampa...".

A while back I asked a good friend of mine to make me a mixed cd of songs for kids. ( I have a point here, I swear) and I was not at all surprised when my son decided he loved this song.



The Thunderlords bill themselves as The First Metal Band for kids. They might be right.

And nobody asked me to write this or gave me anything for free (except Erin, but that is different and it was also several years ago) but I have suddenly become popular with the under 5 car pool crowd and I thought I'd throw the rest of you a bone.

Because I rock.

*flashes you all the devil horns*

Searching and Winning

If you read my regular blog you may be aware that I am hopelessly addicted to search engines where you can win stuff just by searching.

I use blingo and winzy and several others, but I just came across a new one called swagbucks.

Here is what I like about swagbucks:

1) It is actually a pretty good search engine. It gets its results from Google and Ask.com. Sure, Google is still better, but you can't win any prizes or money searching on Google.




2) I win relatively frequently. I rarely won anything on Blingo or Winzy but I usually win at least one or two Swagbucks each day. Then you can buy things with your swagbucks.

Cool, huh?

This Is SO GOOD!

If you like Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (and I do) you may also really, really like:

Sierra Nevada Extra IPA - they call it The Torpedo.

And no - Sierra Nevada neither paid me to say this nor gave me free beer, but they should strongly consider it in the future.

Get Game Smart

I love my XBOX 360, but sometimes I worry that I let my kids have too much "screen time". Fortunately the people selling us the video games are worried about it too.

Do you want to learn more about parental controls? Do you want to win some prizes while you are at it?

Check it out.

Is This Thing On?

It is national delurking day. That pretty much means that I am asking you to come out of the woodwork and leave a comment just so that I know I am not talking to myself.

Or am I?