Nim's Island - worth it for Gerard Butler in a leather jacket!

I took my eight year old to see Nim's Island yesterday and breathed a huge sigh of relief... FINALLY someone in Hollywood made a GREAT movie for kids. It was the perfect blend of interesting story, imagination, laughs, a wee bit of tension/danger, more laughs, and Gerard Butler in a leather jacket and fedora...

Okay, that last part was all about MY needs.

Jodi Fosters 'part-agoraphobic' writer was played to comic perfection, without being OTT.

There was no overt violence, sexual innuendo, or graphic content that I'd have to explain to The Boy afterwards. It played to KIDS, and wasn't full of sexual innuendo or pop-culture references that only I would understand, as we see in so many 'kids' films these days.

Gerard Butler played a dual role -- Nim's father and the adventurer Alex Rover, who lived in the imaginations of both Nim and the writer, Alexandra Rover. The only weird thing here was he used both his natural Scottish accent while playing Alex (ah... perfection) and an awkward American accent for his Dad role (but still,... his lips were moving so that's okay).

In a nutshell: Widower-marine-biologist father and 11-year-old daughter live alone on an island in the South Asiatic Sea. Dad takes the sailboat to a reef to see some special phenomenon while daughter stays home to tend sea turtle eggs (girl is friends with the animals, her only playmates). Storm hits -- Dad's boat in trouble, he doesn't get home. Girl get's injured.


Meanwhile... Alexandra Rover is suffering writer's block. She decides to correspond with FATHER, whose article she read in National Geographic, but ends up exchanging emails with the injured and alone Nim. She overcomes her agoraphobia to get to the girl. And what an adventure she has in her travels!


Nim thinks Alex Rover is The Alex Rover, the character in the adventure books she loves, so when she finally meets Alexandra Rover, the author, a woman!, she is disappointed.


Both the girl and the author 'envision' Gerard Butler as Alex (yum) who appears to both and becomes the source of courage and strength.


If you have kids, I would highly recommend this fun movie.
***




Books - I read Sex, Straight Up by Kathleen O'Reilly. A Harlequin Blaze, I was able to finish it off in one sitting. A very satisfied one-sitting! It had the requisite amount of passion, pain, and sex. I saw that Smart Bitches gave it and A- and though it was enjoyable, there were a few things that bugged me about it so I'd go for a sold B.

Plight of the MANcold

There's nothing as cleansing as a spring rain! It's pouring down in my neck of the woods today and I'm glad because it's washing away all remnants of the nasty winter -- including the salt and sand they had to spread all over our roads after the countless snowfalls we *ahem* enjoyed this season.

But with spring comes the change-of-weather illnesses. My youngest, Sweetness (aka 3 yr old) has been struggling with a cold all week. Despite being a tad more tired than usual, he's not letting it bring him down -- he's still riding his bike, going to school, and being the little whirlwind of activity he normally is.

Hubby, on the other hand, has a *MANcold. This isn't your typical cold virus... it only affects grown men. In order to combat this tough Y-seeking strain of the common cold, one must take extra MANhealing measures, such as... leaning back in the chair and closing eyes after coughing. This position needs to be held for no less than five minutes and is essential in recovering from a MANcough. Gravitating to the couch at frequent intervals, especially when helping your wife put groceries away, is essential for restoring one's MANergy.

In order to combat MANaches associated with the MANcold, a scolding hot bath is recommended. My own hubby made his MANbath so MANhot that he was only able to sit in it for 2.4 minutes, and really, it doesn't matter than an entire soaker-tub of water was wasted because it was for a very good cause. MANaches are a serious thing, requiring doses of NyQuil and couchnaps whenever possible.

All other activities - playing with children, helping with dishes, fixing the lock on the front door, putting a new roll of toilet paper out - should be suspended for the duration of the MANcold.

*MANcold post inspired by my friend Tracey V whose man has experienced this horrible debilitating malady ... Video link sent by Suzanne H. Thanks ladies ;)

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm going to my RWA chapter meeting -- yes, the same one that I THOUGHT was last week, but I had the date wrong. On Sunday I'm going to take my 8 year old to see Nim's Island. I'm pretending to take him because it's a good kid's movie, but really, I'm going for Gerard Butler ;)