Friends With Benefits

I really didn't expect to love this movie, but it is my new favorite romantic comedy. So much so that after I rented it I actually bought it too, and I haven't purchased a movie for myself since Netflix was born. It's a cute, funny, lighthearted - but not stupid, New York movie to put on when you are feeling blah or just need some familiar background noise. I've already watched it three times.

Probably doesn't hurt that I love Mila Kunis and JTL. This photo shoot they did for ELLE is one of my favorites:

Rome 2010

Kirsten

love her, and her short dark nails here. [found via]

Pismo Beach

Wild pelicans covering the hills on our road trip a few years ago:

Elizabeth

I finally finished reading Elizabeth I, and the end was actually pretty gripping - I couldn't put it down until I finished! In honor, I watched (for the first time) Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age as part of my epic movie weekend. I enjoyed both, although the second one was more historically inaccurate, and actually pretty unbelievable. (If you watch these, at lease read the movies' wikipedia sections on dramatic license for a brief rundown of what is and isn't true in each film.)

Cate Blanchett is genius as the queen. The casting for her favorites, Dudley and Raleigh, was great - I liked them much more in the movies than when reading the books. But I hated the way Mary, Queen of Scotts, was cast and portrayed.

Joseph Fiennes as Robert Dudley

Clive Owen as Walter Raleigh