Jenny from the Blog

Apparently, promotion test is traumatic these kids!
Third-graders tested & tried
Daily News

Told for weeks that their future is on the line, the city's 80,000 third-graders battled their nerves and tackled Mayor Bloomberg's high-stakes reading test yesterday.

Under Bloomberg's tough new promotion policy, third-graders have to pass the standardized reading exam - and next week's math test - in order to move to fourth grade.

"It was easy," said a relieved Gibralter Stevens, 8, as he left Public School 125 in Harlem. "We studied hard, so it wasn't bad."

Tatianna Lawson, 9, said she broke into tears when she got near the end of the test and realized that most of her answers were marked B. "I thought it had to be wrong," she said outside PS 156 in Brownsville, Brooklyn. "I thought I'd failed."

A girl at a Chelsea school got so nervous she threw up during the test,

Andre Cook, 9, of PS 135 in Springfield Gardens, Queens, had an asthma attack in the middle of the test and had to stop. "He just broke down," said his mom, Claire. Andre was featured in Monday's Daily News describing recent nightmares in which a book was chasing him.

When Brooklyn dad Ruddy Mieses, 37, asked his daughter Kilvis, 8, a third-grader at PS 156, what present she wanted for studying so hard for the reading test, she had only one thing in mind: "To pass the math test."

I had never regretted what I had done in my life until this news came to me that I could have seen Natalie Portman by paying just $101... I do not care who the hell John Kerry is;(

At Kerry's fund-raising party
Daily News

John Kerry's 34-year-old stepson killed Wednesday night when the Democratic nominee-designate brought him onstage at the Chelsea club Crobar, the scene of an SRO $101-a-head fund-raiser.

Wearing a stylish gray suit with pegged pants, he popped all over the stage like a hyperactive child and did impressions of Bill Clinton ("I don't want to steal your limelight!") George Bush the Elder ("Stay the course!") and even Arnold Schwarzenegger ("I can be President after you!").

On hand to show their support were Marisa Tomei, Natalie Portman, Blink 182's Tom DeLonge and "Sopranos" star Steve Buscemi - who Sen. Chuck Schumer called "John Buscemi."

Kerry proved to be less adept at comedy than his stepson. His clunker - "I found out that Natalie Portman was too young to be vice president, and no, you can't have her phone number" - elicited groans.

Movie Review 21
Kill Bill Vol.2 (Rating: 4)

I am wondering how Tarantino was planning to show Vol.1 & 2 in one movie. The split was successful because they are clearly very different. Vol.1 was more active, bloody, and Tarantino-ish, while 2 is more humanized, developed, and less Tarantino. 1 was more Japanese yakuza movie, while 2 is more Chinese kung-fu and Western movie. Effectively, both movies made up each other after all.

As predicted (of course), Uma's journey or adventure or whatever you call to revenge Bill continues. After she has chopped off Lucy in 1, she comes back to Texas, where she keeps her eyes on her next target, Budd (Bill's brother). As she is facing his enemy, the movie also shows some flashback of Uma such as Texas wedding massacre and her kung-fu master.

Although Vol.2 is completely civilized, there is one pretty or cute scene (related to Elle's eye). Anyway, it's not so freaky as Passion. Above all, Uma's training with kung-fu master Pai Mei is funny and cool. That might make you feel like starting kung-fu, seriously. If you see Shaolin Soccer, you might also feel so.

So, Tarantino said he was thinking of Vol.3 (in 15 years). Another trilogy.

Hiro's 10 Greatest Movie Characters

1. Natalie Portman of Star Wars
2. Keira Knightley of Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Liv Tyler of Lord of the Rings
4. Julia Roberts of Notting Hill
5. Naomi Watts of Ring
6. Nicole Kidman of everywhere
7. J.Lo of Maid in Manhattan
8. Christina Ricci of Sleepy Hollow
9. Wynona Ryder of Edward Scissorhands
10. Scarlet Johansson of Lost in Translation

Premiere magazine's list of 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time
Check it out!

1. Vito Corleone of The Godfather
2. Fred C. Dobbs of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
3. Scarlett O'Hara of Gone With the Wind
4. Norman Bates of Psycho
5. James Bond (Sean Connery's version) of Dr. No
6. Annie Hall of Annie Hall
7. Indiana Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark
8. Ellen Ripley of Alien
9. Jeff Spicoli of Fast Times at Ridgemont High
10. Gollum of Lord of the Rings
11. Margo Channing of All About Eve
12. Charles Foster Kane of Citizen Kane
13. Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird
14. Randle McMurphy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
15. Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs
16. Robin Hood of The Adventures of Robin Hood
17. Dorothy Gale of The Wizard of Oz
18. Carl Spackler of Caddyshack
19. Rick Blaine of Casablanca
20. Virgil Tibbs of In the Heat of the Night
21. Susan Vance of Bringing up Baby
22. Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver
23. Eathan Edwards of The Searchers
24. The Little Tramp of Mabel's Strange Predicament
25. Gordon Gekko of Wall Street
26. E.T. of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
27. Marge Gunderson of Fargo
28. Captain Quint of Jaws
29. Daphne/Jerry of Some Like it Hot
30. King Kong of King Kong
31. Norma Desmond of Sunset Boulevard
32. Holly Golightly of Breakfast at Tiffany's
33. Ratso Rizzo of Midnight Cowboy
34. Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde
35. Dr. Evil of Austin Powers
36. Alex Forrest of Fatal Attraction
37. Jake Gittes of Chinatown
38. Willy Wonka of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
39. Michael Dorsey/Dorthy Michaels of Tootsie
40. The Terminator of The Terminator
41. Jane Craig of Broadcast News
42. "Dirty" Harry Callahan of Dirty Harry
43. Forrest Gump of Forrest Gump
44. Jules Winnfield of Pulp Fiction
45. Mary Poppins of Mary Poppins
46. John McClane of Die Hard
47. Mrs. Robinson of The Graduate
48. John "Bluto" Blutarsky of Animal House
50. Blondie of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
51. Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street
52. Howard Beale of Network
53. Ninotchka of Ninotchka
54. Frank Booth of Blue Velvet
55. The Dude of The Big Lebowski
56. Alan Swann of My Favorite Year
57. Tom Powers of The Public Enemy
58. Phyliss Dietrichson of Double Indemnity
59. Lt. Kilgore of Apocalypse Now
60. George Bailey of It's a Wonderful Life
61. J.J. Hunsecker of Sweet Smell of Success
62. John Shaft of Shaft
63. Carrie White of Carrie
64. Rocky Balboa of Rocky
65. Edward Scissorhands of Edward Scissorhands
66. Navin Johnson of The Jerk
67. Inspector Clouseau of The Pink Panther
68. Alex DeLarge of A Clockwork Orange
69. Terry Malloy of On the Waterfront
70. Judy Benjamin of Private Benjamin
71. Rev. Harry Powell of The Night of the Hunter
72. Lloyd Dobler of Say Anything
73. Norma Rae of Norma Rae
74. Tony Montana of Scarface
75. Dr. Strangelove of Dr. Strangelove
76. Tony Manero of Saturday Night Fever
77. Annie Wilkes of Misery
78. "Mad" Max Rockatansky of Mad Max
79. Hans Beckert of M
80. Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon
81. Aurora Greenway of Terms of Endearment
82. Jack Torrance of The Shining
83. William Cutting of Gangs of New York
84. Darth Vader of Star Wars
85. Stanley Kowalski of A Streetcar Named Desire
86. Melanie Daniels of The Birds
87. Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
88. Raymond Babbitt of Rain Man
89. Sandy Olsson of Grease
90. John Malkovich of Being John Malkovich
91. Mrs. Iselin of The Manchurian Candidate
92. Dil of The Crying Game
93. Harry Lime of The Third Man
94. Rose Sayer of The African Queen
95. Oda Mae Brown of Ghost
96. Tommy DeVito of GoodFellas
97. Ace Ventura of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
98. Antoine Doinel of The 400 Blows
99. Kevin McCallister of Home Alone
100. Roger "Verbal" Kint of The Usual Suspects

Movie Review 20
Dogville (Rating: 5)

Interestingly, the movie is filmed on a huge stage, where houses, streets, and even dog are not physically existing, but written by white chalk. Therefore, people are basically acting by pretending as if there were some buildings and doors. I knew this is that kind of movie, but I was kind of bored until Nicole Kidman showed up on stage. (One audience couldn't wait for Nic, and left, murmuring "I can't stand this..." Eventually, it turned out to be a great story although I have seen critics' reviews were clearly divided.

Grace (Nic), who has run away from gangsters, arrives to a small town called Dogville. Thomas Edison Jr. (nothing to do with the real, I suppose) is convincing Doggie people to hide her. She starts to work for them in exchange for the shelter, and gets befriending them and kids. However, after a cop comes to the Dog to search Nic, people are changing. The ending is surreally surprise!

All the actresses and actors are impossibly great. Since it's almost like a play, their acting were essential for the movie and indeed made it. Especially, Nicole and Paul Bettany (Tom Edison) were superb. The only sad thing is their way of treating Nicole. At one point, I found it too much, which reminds me of Talk to Her. Having said that, while I can never accept Talk to Her, Doggie is much more like classic novel.

April 1st's top 23
Poll anoints most foolish

According to "Most Foolish American" survey (by Opinion Research Corp., Inc.), a ranking of America's 23 greatest fools:

1. Michael Jackson, top fool for a second straight year,
2. Janet Jackson and Martha Stewart, tie
4. Britney Spears
8. Paris Hilton
10. George W. Bush
11. Bill Clinton
16. Howard Dean
18. John Kerry