Europe is a Fattie

"I will not stand around and let you abrogate my plans. You will rue this day. *pause* Well go on! Start rueing!" - Stewie, Family Guy

Looks like people in Europe have already started rueing the day they made fun of Americans for being fat. It turns out that their children are headed towards an alarming obesity problem. One in three children in Southern Europe are clinically obese! In response, the European Commission is asking fast food vendors to voluntarily tone down their advertising or else the Commission will do it for them. I just think it's funny how karma works out that way. I do hope, however, that they manage to fix this problem because I remember how much it sucked to be fat and how hard it was to lose the weight. It's so easy to gain weight as a child because you don't have anything to worry about and no girls to chase.

It turns out that Audrey Tautou, of the movie Amelie, has been cast as the female lead (Sophie Neveu) in the Da Vinci Code movie. It turns out that she beat out some other great actresses, including the lovely Sophie Marceau (from The World is Not Enough), for the role and I think she'll do great. I'm not terribly far in the book, but it is quite compelling. In other movie news, it turns out that Wes Bentley has been cast as Mephisto in the upcoming Ghost Rider movie. I always loved the Ghost Rider comics and I hope the movie turns out well.

I mostly chilled for my first Friday night in Austin of the new year and ended up watching Bride and Prejudice.



Does anyone have any idea how Aishwarya Rai has green eyes? She's Indian! She should have brown eyes. I'm pretty sure they're not just tinted contacts. Anyway, I had heard bad things about the movie but I enjoyed it. It's not an A+ movie by any means, but it was entertaining. I'd probably give it a B-. The plot was actually believeable, there weren't too many long-winded songs, and it had some funny dialogue here and there. I wish it wasn't Aishwarya's first crossover movie to the Western Hemisphere though because I think she's more talented than the movie shows. Anyway, see it if you get a chance but don't kill yourself if you miss it. It won't come stateside for a few months yet.

And now for the Saturday Six:

1. Which of the following is your favorite store and why?
A) Wal-Mart
B) Target
C) K Mart
D) Sears
Sorry, but I have to say Wal-Mart. Target and K-mart abandoned my neighborhood long ago and Sears just blows. I don't do all my shopping at Wal-Mart, but at least I can buy some of the stuff I need affordably (including jeans).

2. How far does your closest friend who's not in the same town as you live, and when was the last time you saw them in person?
If I consider myself as living in Austin, I'd have to say my friend Ketan who goes to Rice. I actually saw him last week before I came back to Austin because I hadn't seen him since before the fall semester had started.

3. Have you ever gone on a date with someone you met online? Would you?
I have not and I may consider it. I'd rather meet someone in person if it's possible because going online is cheating! You don't have to face the fear of getting rejected face to face and so you lose the confidence you'd get from an acceptance.

4. What is your favorite novel and what makes it stand out for you?
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. It was the first book I read that I literally couldn't put down. I had withdrawal symptoms when I did put it down because it's the first book I've actually enjoyed more than being lazy and just watching television. It was so funny and had such a powerful message to it.

5. You get snowed in at your home for three days. You have power and telephone service, but no way to leave the house. How will you amuse yourself?
Not the way you'd think you perv! I'd probably just play guitar and video games for three days. Maybe I'd finish some Stephen King books also.

6. A fellow journaler you consider a friend disappears from J-land. Visitors leave comments in the journal but they get no response. You send the journaler an E-mail to make sure everything is okay, and despite the fact that you see that it has been read, you get no reply. What do you do?
E-mail bomb him? Either that or I try for the awkward phone call.