If you look at my Christmas Countdown ticker at the bottom of the right sidebar, it’s 31 days until Christmas. So I suppose mathematically, that’s four weeks plus a few days, but the way I look at it, there’s this whole week (Monday to Friday), and then four more weeks of Monday to Friday until Christmas. Okay, it’s weird math, but it’s MY weird math, LOL.

So, has anyone else started shopping for gifts? I’ve had three text documents saved since the beginning of last month, one for Kaitlyn, one for the boys, and one for Chris, and in each one, I make a note each time any of them say “you know what I’d like for Christmas?” Of course, Kaitlyn’s list changes pretty much daily, so anything she only mentioned once gets deleted from the list. The few things she’s mentioned over and over got bumped up to the top.

Last night I went to bed at about 11:30, and at 12:45 AM, I was still laying there wide awake. I realized that what I was thinking about was all of the people I’d like to give Christmas presents to, family as well as close friends. I was trying to think of a way that I could accomplish two goals: 1. find Cheap Christmas Gifts and 2. not have to run around to multiple stores dealing with huge crowds. What works best for me is coming up with one gift that works for everyone. So there I am at 12:45 in the morning, and I realized I had just thought of the PERFECT gift that works for everybody!

So, I jump out of bed, turn on the lamp, put on my glasses, pick up a pen off the floor, find a little notebook on my dresser, get back in bed, and start making a list of the families and friends I want to give gifts to.  I made that list, then I made a list of people to make sure to send Christmas cards to. I was done in about fifteen minutes, and when I finished, I put the pen and notebook down on my nightstand, took off my glasses, turned off the lamp, and fell sound asleep!  Apparently, all I need to be able to sleep is to write down all the thoughts swirling around in my head in a notebook!

Have you made your holiday gift list yet?  Done any shopping? Tell me in a comment what’s going on with you!

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Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, who wrote the stories that were turned into Blade Runner, Minority Report and Total Recall, Paycheck stars Ben Affleck as Mike Jennings, an engineer who invents a machine but then agrees to have his memory erased in exchange for a $90 million dollar paycheck. When he “comes to”, he finds that he has mailed himself an envelope full of seemingly random objects, and has a girlfriend Rachel that he doesn’t remember (played by Uma Thurman). And, he learns he also turned down the $90 million dollars, so he turns to his friend Shorty (Paul Giamatti) to help him figure out why.

The man who hired him to invent the machine, played by Aaron Eckhart, doesn’t want Mike to remember what he invented, so he has guys chasing Mike and Rachel trying to stop them from learning the truth. There’s lots of dodging of poorly-aimed bullets, some very cool futuristic technology, and great action from director John Woo.

The special features are a commentary by John Woo, a commentary by screenwriter Dean Georgaris, a featurette about designing the future world that the movie takes place in, a featurette about the stunts, and extended/deleted scenes. Visually, the colors are bright and the sound is excellent, I don’t own the movie on regular DVD so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it seems like a good choice for a Blu-Ray collection. Pick it up on Amazon.com or in stores.

It’s been a long time since I saw a truly scary movie. It seems like the horror genre has become dominated by movies that call themselves scary but are really just gory (the Saw movies, the Hostel movies, etc.).  I love scary movies, jump outta your seat, hands over your eyes peeking through your fingers SCARY.  I can’t ride rollercoasters and I freak out if a fly gets trapped in the bathroom with me, so I get my adrenaline rush watching scary movies.

The Uninvited, which came out last week on DVD and Blu-Ray is a SCARY MOVIE. As in, prepare to keep your hands glued to your face (which might possibly be pressed into your husband’s shoulder as well).

The Uninvited is the story of Anna (Emily Browning, “A Series of Unfortunate Events”), a young girl who is just getting out of a 10-month stay in a mental institution after attempting suicide. Her bed-ridden mother had died in a fire, and when Anna is released by her psychiatrist with the suggestion that she “finish what she started” (he means working through her feelings about her mother’s death but boy do those words take on a different meaning), she learns that her father has become romantically involved with Rachel (Elizabeth Banks, “Scrubs”), the nurse who was caring for Anna’s mother.

Anna is also reunited with her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel, “The Grudge II”) who is one year older and her best friend. At first Alex is upset about Anna going away and leaving her there to deal with the horrible Rachel, but they quickly resume their close friendship.  Rounding out the cast is the always terrific David Strathairn (“The Spiderwick Chronicles”) as their father Steven, who is just trying to resume his life and find some happiness after his wife’s tragic death.

So the question presented to viewers is this- is Rachel really a dangerous person trying to sabotage the family? Was Anna’s mother’s death really an accident?  Don’t watch the behind-the-scenes bonus feature before you’ve seen the movie, it’s got major spoilers. This bonus video clip courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment won’t give anything away, I promise:

I liked this movie, the DVD itself was sorely lacking in extras, though. Besides the “making of” feature (which is interesting), there are just four deleted scenes and a short alternate ending. I would watch this DVD again if there was a commentary track to listen to.  It would have been nice to get a look at the original Korean film and see how the two movies compare and contrast.  Nevertheless, I recommend The Uninvited on DVD or Blu-Ray for lovers of scary movies.