61. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

listened on Libby

352 pgs.

2024
Adult RomCom
Finished 7/6/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.14
My rating: 3.75
Setting: Contemporary exotic island in the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean

My comments: Somewhat typical Christina Lauren, where there's a decent story, quite a bit of sex, and everything - including quite a bit into the future - is all wrapped up tidily. There are a couple of thigs that I did not like...the protagonist's pink hair didn't work for me.  The other is the insistence of Liam to not be completely honest with Anna about what had happened 11 years previously.  It seems so stupid because de seems a pretty honest person.  Watching the indulgences of the super, ultra rich vs. the poverty of people tat don't have enough money for medical assistance just truly drove me crazy.  But it sure was an entertaining story.

Goodreads synopsis:  Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

MOVIE - Isn't It Romantic

PG-13

Wide release 2/13/19

Viewed date at 2/18/19 with Ella in Carlisle

IMBd:  6/10

RT Critic:  70  Audience:  51

Critic's Consensus:  It follows as many genre conventions as it mocks, but Isn't It Romantic is a feel-good rom-com with some satirical bite -- and a star well-suited for both.

Cag:  3/liked it

Directed by  Todd Strauss-Schulson

New Line Cinema

Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, Adam DeVine, Priyanka Chopra

My comments:  Very cute movie, wish there was more singing and dancing.  The finale was great, a song a dance number in the middle of an empty midtown street in New York City.  Ella love it.

RT/ IMDb Summary  New York City architect Natalie works hard to get noticed at her job but is more likely to be asked to deliver coffee and bagels than to design the city's next skyscraper. And if things weren't bad enough, Natalie, a lifelong cynic when it comes to love, has an encounter with a mugger that renders her unconscious, waking to discover that her life has suddenly become her worst nightmare -- a romantic comedy -- and she is the leading lady.

MOVIE - Home Again

PG-13 (1:37

Wide Release 9/8/2017

Viewed Opening Night (just a coincidence) at Carlisle 8
IMBd: 5.8/10

RT Critic: 34   Audience:  64
Critic's Consensus:  Home Again gathers a talented crowd of rom-com veterans on both sides of the camera -- all of whom have unfortunately done far better work.

Cag:  6/Awesome  5/Loved it  4/Liked it a lot  3/Liked it  2/It was okay  1/Didn’t like it

Directed by Hallie Myers-Shyer

Open Road Films

Reese Witherspoon, Candace Bergen, Michael Sheen

My comments:  A really lighthearted comedy that could happen to absolutely anyone as long as they're gorgeous, rich, have famous parents, beautiful children, and unlimited money so they don't really have to work.  Cuteness abounds.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  HOME AGAIN stars Reese Witherspoon as Alice Kinney in a modern romantic comedy. Recently separated from her husband, (Michael Sheen), Alice decides to start over by moving back to her hometown of Los Angeles with her two young daughters. During a night out on her 40th birthday, Alice meets three aspiring filmmakers who happen to be in need of a place to live. Alice agrees to let the guys stay in her guest house temporarily, but the arrangement ends up unfolding in unexpected ways. Alice's unlikely new family and new romance comes to a crashing halt when her ex-husband shows up, suitcase in hand. HOME AGAIN is a story of love, friendship, and the families we create. And one very big life lesson: Starting over is not for beginners.

MOVIE - Ruby Sparks

R (1:44)
Limited Opening 7/25/12
Viewed at Crossroads Theater Monday 9/17/12 (by myself)
RT Critics 80 Audience 82
Director:  Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Fox Searchlight

Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan

This movie sparkled.  It was clever and totally believable, even though its premise was that of a magical fantasy.  Calvin Weir-Fields is Mr. Average American young man, nothing spectacular to look at (sorry Paul), shy, a writer living in LA whose first (and only, so far) novel was a huge, HUGE hit.  Now he's finally got a new idea, one that came from dreams he has of a girls that he considers perfect for him, and he begins to write on an old typewriter.  And magically, this dream girl becomes real and enters his life.

He has a brother who, although married and with a baby, is always around to help and lend advice. Hmmm.  I love the scenes that include his funky mother and step-father (played by Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas) who live in extremely cool digs in Big Sur. Zoe Kazan, who also wrote the screenplay, is Dano's real-life girlfriend and their chemistry is huge and really impacts the film.

It was a blast.  I'd go see it again. There's a great NYT article here.

MOVIE - Hope Springs

PG-13 (1:40)
Wide release 8-8-12
Thursday 9-13-12 at El Con with Sheila
RT Critics 74 Audience 67
I liked it a lot.  I laughed a lot.  Much needed.
Director:  David Frandel
Sony Pictures

Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carrell

This movie was a riot...also sweet and poignant and fun.  How Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep could do some of those scenes without guffawing out loud is totally beyond me.

They play a married couple who have slept in separate bedrooms for a number of years.  There relationship is caring but anonymous.  They are devoted to each other, but there's no "relations" in relationship.  Kay coerces a very negative Arnold into accompanying her to Maine to a psychologist who specializes in helping put "oomph" back into marriages.  And what follows is just wonderful.

Most/much of the film was set in Hope Springs, Maine (which, I think, was actually Connecticut).  When they were out and about on the streets of this quaint little town, I wanted to be there, too.

I've always known that Meryl Streep is an awesome actress, and I've always enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones.  I MORE than enjoyed him in this film.  A Steve Carrell played the straight-man-psychiatrist really well.  Very cute and sweet movie.

MOVIE - The Five Year Engagement

A real treat (though a bit long) 

Wide release 4/27/12

I saw it Saturday 5/26/12 at Century Kolb, alone

R (2:04)

RT Critic:  62 Audience: 64

I liked it a lot....4.5

Director: Nicholas Stoller

Universal Pictures

Jason Segel (who co-wrote and produced), Emily Blunt (both were superb)

Good comedy - a touch of seriousness, all worked together well.  

MOVIE - Midnight in Paris

Charming and delightful!
Released 6-10-11
PG-13 (1:34)
6/18/11 at El Con by myself (Saturday afternoon, packed theater)
RT:  92  cag:  98 (my highest rating in recent memory)
Director & Writer:  Woody Allen

Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates & a series of great actors doing quick spots as famous writers and artists that lived in Paris in the 1920s and 1890s.

Owen Wilson was PERFECT in the role of Gil, a Hollywood screenwriter who wants to finish his first novel and be considered a serious writer.  His fiancee, Inez (McAdams), is not enamored of the idea.  She feels he should stick with the known.  They are vacationing in Paris with Inez's parents, who are there on business.  Neither Inez or her parents really care for Paris.  Gil loves it. 

When I went in to the movie I really didn't have a clue what it was going to be about.  I loved that I didn't have a clue...it was so delightful finding out what was going to happen.  I usually loved previews, but I'm SO glad I didn't see one for this!  So if you haven't seen the movie, perhaps you might choose to not read on. 

When the young couple meet up with another couple, one that Inez knows and likes and Gil doesn't care for,Gil's idyllic Paris vacation takes a nosedive.  The pretentious, "pedantic" Paul drives Gil crazy. So he wanders off alone...and at the strike of midnight is claimed by a group of people driving a 1920's car.  He is soon meeting Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, Dali,  Cole Porter, and Gertrude Stein, played wonderfully by Kathy Bates.  I just loved it!

There are many references to writers, artists, and playwrights of the 20's.  I was happy to know who almost all of them were, but there was one guy I still need to look into.

Yearning for another time.  Nostalgia.  Learning to live  your own life in your own time.  Finally understanding your time, your life, you goals, what will bring you happiness.  Good story.

MOVIE - Bounty Hunter

Stupid, predictable, fun to watch
Released 3-19-10
PG-13 (1:50)
RT: 7 cag: 55
Directed by Andy Tennant
Gerard Butler, Jennifer Aniston, (Siobhan Fallon does a great job with a small part as the bail bond secretary.)

I've waited too long to review this, I've seen too many movies since. Gerard Butler has become a bounty hunter and is out to find his ex-wife for a silly violation. She is an investigative reporter working on a lead that is dangerous. At least that's the outline of what I remember. The stpry is silly, but entertaining.

MOVIE - Just Wright

Predictable romantic comedy with the wonderful Queen Latifah
Released 5-14-10
PG (1 hr. 51 min.)
July 2. 2010 at the Cheap movies on Kolb (not cheap popcorn and soda, though)
RT: 49% cag; 72%
Director: Sanaa Hamei
Queen Latifah
Common - a rapper from Chicago, he's been in a couple of movies including Date Night. Beautiful man.

Queen Latifah's plays Leslie Wright, a physical therapist who works in NYC, lives in NJ, has bought a fixer-upper that her adoring father (played wonderfully by the head doctor on Grey's Anatomy, James Pickens Jr.) helps her fix up (well, sort of), drives a clanking, old, dented pale yellow Mustang, and is a huge basketball fan. She "bumps into" the handsome star basketball player of the New Jersey Jets at a gas station, who ends up asking her to his birthday party. Mmm Hmm. Enter her gorgeous godsister, who is a player, and who sets out immediately to get her man.

Well, there's not one surprise in the plot. You know exactly what's going to happen, but you enjoy it anyway. This was a super way to spend a very hot Friday afternoon. I'd watch Queen Latifah in anything!

MOVIE - Letters to Juliet

A sweet, feel good, predictable love story
Released 5-14-10
PG
5-15-10 at El Con, by myself, on its opening weekend
RT: 44% cag: 76%
Director: Gary Winick

Vanessa Redgrave, Amanda Seyfried

I've never been a big Vanessa Redgrave fan. Perhaps it's because I've never seen her in many movies, but she is one classy actress. And the young protagonist, Amanda Seyfried, was smiley and sweet and bubbly and and cute-as-a-button and a dreamer. So yes, this was a soapy, sappy movie, but the kind you need once in awhile to feel good, to enjoy the scenery, and to know exactly what's going to happen all the way through. You leave the theater with a little smile on your face.

The opening credits are pretty cool. We see painting after painting of couples kissing. Tender, sweet lovers. I totally enjoyed the art show.

Sophie and her fiance, Victor, leave for a "pre-honeymoon" to Verona, Italy. He is a chef, about to open a fancy Italian restaurant in Manhattan, she is a researcher for New Yorker magazine, and a wannabe writer. When they get to this incredibly romantic place, he spends all his time on the phone, then spending days on the road to attend a wine auction here, get a cooking lesson there, and tour a cheese-making venue somewhere else. So Sopie is on her own.

She unwittingly meets a group of volunteer women who answer lovelorn letters that are left daily on the wall under Juliet's (of Romeo and Juliet fame) balcony. She unloosens a brick and finds a 50 year old letter written my Englishwoman, Claire, (Redgrave) telling how she abandoned the love-of-her-life because of nerves. This is all in the previews, so I'm giving nothing away. Well, the expected happens....after Claire writes back (as Juliet), Claire and her cutesy grandson come to Verona immediately to try to find the 50-years-lost Lorenzo Bartellini. Charles is totally agains it, and the relationship he has with Sophie at first is extremely strained. Yadeeyadeeya.

The scenery is beautiful. Italy - Tuscany - is gorgeous. The streets are pristine, everyone is nice to each other, there's no traffic anywhere, but the ending is one of those stupid ones that I hate. It celebrates older people loving each other, holding hands, still having passion. And this is a very cool thing. (Made me a little sad and jealous, as usual, but I'm getting used to it.)

MOVIE - She's Out of My League

Very funny and really quite sweet
Released 3-12-10
R (1:44)
5-5-10 at Crossroads, alone in the theater....
RT: 54% cag 84% (total entertainment)
Director: Jim Field Smith

I've been on a streak of watching silly comedies, but this one had more to it than just 'silly'. Well, the ending had some stupid sillniess in it (why do so many movies save this for the end), but I laughed loudly in many places. I was alone in the theater - I believe this is the first time ever that happened - and just laughed away. Guffawed in places. This is a sweet - though not quite believable - love story of a geek and a gorgeous, suave, unpretentious hottie. Jay Barachel plays Kirk, a really nice guy who works as a TSA in the Pittsburgh Airport. He has three best friends who give him varied advice. Alice Eve plays Molly, whose acerbic best friend (and her relationship with Kirk's friend Stainer) is more than a hoot. Kirk's family situation is ridiculous, but also very, very humorous. Other than the ending at the airport (you know what I mean....the climax between the two star-crossed lovers is watched by half the world), this story is sweet, funny, and really quite cleverly tied together.

It was a perfect movie to completely "take me away."

MOVIE - The Back-Up Plan

Alex O'Laughlin is adorable, but other than that.....
Released last Friday, April 23,2010
PG-13 (1:38)
4-26-10 at El Con with Fran
RT: 22% cag: 40%
Director: Alan Poul
Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Laughlin

Don't expect any surprises in this cute story that seems to go on...and on...and on.... It's very predictable, but it certainly has lots of laughs. J-Lo ("Zoe") and O'Laughlin ("Stan") meet moments after she is artificially inseminated. They fall for each other after a week or two of coincidental meetings, then become an instant couple. Some of the biggest laughs come when Zoe joins a single mom's group. Bizarre, quite ridiculous, not a whole lot of chemistry going on, but not awful. It was sad to see an ANCIENT Linda Lavin play Zoe's grandmother. It made me feel ancient, too - but she was super. Oh, and Stan was a cheese farmer, owning a goat farm, just outside the city. Mmmmhmmmmm.

MOVIE - Leap Year

Adorable...but so predictable....
Released Jan. 8, 2010
PG (1:37)
1/19/10 alone at El Con
RT: 18% cag: 63%
Director: Anand Tucker
Amy Adams Matthew Goode

Ireland! What a gorgeous, green place.

This is a simple, predictable, extremely cute and fun story. A feel-good romantic comedy. You can put Amy Adams anywhere and she is always wonderful. And Matthew Goode....be still female hearts! Move over Colin Furth. Dark-haired, accented Brits...hm..

Amy Adams is a successful Bostonian who has been dating a (very nice, very ordinary, very boring) cardiologist for four years. When she thinks he is finally going to ask her to marry him, she is disappointed once again. Her father (John Lithgow) reminds her of an old, romantic Irish tradition that a woman can ask a man to marry her on Leap Day - which, of course, only comes once every four years. And guess what - her doctor boyfriend will be at a conference in Dublin! So she packs her Louis Voutton rolling suitcase and takes off. Needless to say it becomes a comedy of errors and she falls in love along the way. Fun and cute and predictable and feel-good. It'll be in the cheap theaters quite soon, I'm sure.

Gotta check out some other Matthew Goode movies: A Single Man (WITH Colin! ! !) Watchmen, Brideshead Revisted, The Lookout, Copying Beethoven, Imagine Me and You, Match Point, Chasing Liberty, and South from Granada. Netflix, here i come!

MOVIE - It's Complicated

Cute with some good laughs
Released Dec. 25, 2009
R (1:54)
1-6-10 with Sheila at ElCon
RT: 50% cag: 86%
Director: Nancy Meyers
Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, John Krasinski

There's been a lot of talk about this movie, that every woman over 40 should see it, that audiences laughed like they had't in a long time, etc. Okay. Well. It was a very entertaining movie with some definite laughs. It was fun to watch. I'd recommend it. But it didn't live up to its "hype" for me. Maybe because I was never divorced? I'll have to ask some divorcees about what they thought. Because that's the premise of the whole movie.

I love the three major actors, and they were wonderful. But the most fun for me was John Krasinski, as the son-in-law-to-be. He was wonderful in a super role. He was made for this part. I don't watch "Office," which is the tv show he's on, but I might just have to now. This guy's got it down!

Streep and Baldwin divorced after almost twenty years of marriage, Baldwin started messing around with a younger woman. Now, ten years later, he's married to her. His relationship with his first wife is civil but strained. But now, his current marriage is souring and he becomes attracted once again to Streep. They travel from Santa Barbara to NYC to the college graduation of their son, and, after drinking too much, get together. And on it goes. Steve Martin, who is the architect for Streep's anticipated addition, becomes attracted to Streep, too.

So. Go see it. It's fun. Downright enjoyable. Well acted. Good laughs. Things to think about. Tell me what you think.

MOVIE - Sabah, A Love Story

Delightful - my kind of movie
Released 2005, Canadian Indie
NR (1:30)
Netflix
RT: Not Rated cag: 88%
Director: Ruba Nabba

A wonderful, heart-warming movie about an Arab-Canadian family that is learning that to hang on to their Muslim culture does not mean that they have to abandon the life and norms that they've found in Canada. Sabah, a 40-year old unmarried daughter stays home and "takes care" of her mother. Her sister, no husband that we see, is raising an 18-year old daughter that wants to CHOOSE her husband, not be set up with one by her family. Her brother is the "boss" since her father died many years before. His marriage (which, coincidentally, is one of love and not match-making) looks rocky.

And then Sabah meets Stephen, a Canadian furniture-maker, a really decent, good-looking guy. Slowly she lets her guard down enough to talk to him, and they discover they really enjoy each other. It's a wonderful, real, slow-moving courtship, which it would be in reality, which makes it totally believable. You hope against hope that all will work out for these seemingly star-crossed lovers, but good sense and good humor make this work work work. I really enjoyed it - a lot. (And yes, it had a wonderful, feel-good, giggle-out-loud-with-relief ending.....)

The Canadian actor who played Stephen, Shawn Doyle, was wonderful - and adorable. It looks like he's been a somewhat-regular on HBO's Big Love.

MOVIE - Up in the Air

Completely enjoyable, gives you a bit to think about.
Released limited 12-4-09
Released wide 12-25-09
R (1:49)
12/25/09 at Bangor with Fran and Christine
RT: 90% cag: 90%
Fandango: 83/100
Director: James Reitman
George Clooney

This movie has gotten lots of hype for awards this year...it's already been nominated for a number of Golden Globes. It was good...the perfect role for George Clooney. Cool, debonair, a slight dimpled-smile ever-present on his face. Ahhhhh, yes. Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, carefree with no family or romantic ties, at least until this movie begins. He works for a company that goes into firmss and fires the employees during downsizing. He's good at his job. He loves to fly and travel and knows every in and out to get the best of car rentals, room upgrades, and first class and priority flying. Until a young, just-out-of-school psychology major comes up with a way to cut costs, changing Ryan's life and job forevermore. And then there's the family wedding in northern Wisconsin that he has to atten - wheterh he wants to or not. No ties. No baggage. He gives motivational talks about emptying out your personal "back pack."

So it's easy to figure out what's going to happen. He falls for someone. He gets a little reconnected with his family and roots. He thinks about what his life really holds for him. The movie doesn't have the standard "pat" happy ending, but the ending works in the way it NEEDS to work. It feels okay. It was a good movie. I thought about it all night long, and that doesn't happen very much.

Know for the $64,000 question. Is it worth all the awards it's going to be up for this year? I'm going to have to see a few more of its competition to figure that out, I guess.....

MOVIE - The Ugly Truth

40% silly, 30% cute, 30% hilarious
Released: July 24, 2009
R (1 hr. 35 min.)
Harrisburg Regal Theater with Laura
RT: 15% cag: 55%
Director: Robert Luketic
Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler

Cute but silly, lots of snickers and one tears-streaming-down-the-face scene that was worth watching the whole movie.....

Katherine Heigl is the ultra controlling producer of a Sacramento morning news show that has low, low ratings. Gerard Butler is a raunchy "womanizer" that thinks he has all the answers to get to a man's heart. Their antagonistic relationship, of course, changes into friendship and then more. Gerard Butler talks like he has a wad of food in his cheek? Does he always do this? Is this how he controls his accent?

Fun and mindless. Not as good as 29 Dresses (it could actually be any number, I can't remember and I'm pullin' at straws here) or Knocked Up. Oh well, can't have it all.

MOVIE - The Brothers Bloom

A suspenseful romantic comedy with a "sweet" touch or two....
PG-13
1 hr. 49 min.
Released May 15, 2009
Dollar Tuesday at the Grand, alone
RT: 62% cag 92% (I really liked the acting/chemistry/characters of Brody and Weisz)
Directed by Rian Johnson
Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo

Brothers Stephen and "Bloom" Bloom were sent from foster home to foster home when they were young boys. Mischievous might be a way to describe them. But when they are 13 and 10, we discover Stephen's penchant for creating intricate "stories" that they act out, step by step, toward a reward of some kind. They are con men.

25 years later, Stephen is still writing the "stories", they are aided and abetted by an almost-silent female sidekick nicknamed Bang-Bang, and Bloom has had it. He wants out. He wants to live a "real" life, not a story. Stephen convinces him to pull one last con. By now they are international con men, playing for big stakes. This one will be tricking a peculiar heiress, played by Rachel Weisz. And now it starts getting really good, trying to figure out what's con (most of it), what's not, and watching the relationship grow between Bloom and Penelope. That was my favorite part, watching those two characters interact.

Great sets and scenery, this was filmed in four places - Serbia, the Czeck Republic, Romania and...darn, I can't remember.

Fun, fun, fun.

MOVIE - My Life in Ruins

A waste of time
PG-13
Released Jne, 2009 (Last week -it won't be in the big theaters long)
RT: !3% (Guess I should have paid better attention to this rating)
cag: 25%
Richard Dreyfuss
Director; Donald Petrie

I needed to be "taken away" for an hour or two, but I almost walked out of this one after the first 20 minutes. The woman who wrote and starred in My Big Fat Greek Wedding starred in this. She cannot act, or overacts, or does something that really did NOT connect with me. Her lipstick was too red and she was always too well put together. She was snotty, uptight, and above everyone, and then Richard Dreyfuss helped her make a total turnaround in about two hours. "Georgia" became hip and "with it" and fun and even funny in the snap of the fingers. Give me a break! Every single character was a stereotype - and not a good one. Bad acting, bad writing, Blech! It's not even entertaining, it's just boring. Okay, during the last half when some of the quirkly (of course) people on her tour started endearing themselves to me I wasn't complete loathing it, but.....

MOVIE - Gigantic

Quirky and wonderful - a new favorite
Viewed 6/2 at the Loft with Sheila
Released 4-3-09 (Limited/Indie)
R (1:39)
RT: 36% cag: 95%
Zooey Deschanel, Paul Dano, John Goodman, Ed Asner
Director: Matt Aselton

Brian Weathersby (Dano), a 28 year-old, college-graduated, Swedish bed salesman living in New York City falls for a lovely young woman (Deschanel), who has tried five different occupations in five years and lives with her odd, wealthy, hypochondriac father (Goodman). Fantastic characters, wonderful acting, and a quirky storyline worked superbly for me. Don't read any of the reviews - or if you do, don't believe them, go see for yourself. It's really fun. Yes, it does leave a few questions, and Sheila and I tried to figure out answers for them afterwards. Why GIGANTIC? Who/Why/What is going on with the "homeless" stalker? And why is it Brian's obsession to adopt a baby from China?

You've got to see the way John Goodman travels around Manhattan!

Rotten Tomato consensus: "This overly quirky, incessantly whimsical indie is too self-conscious for its own good." NONSENSE! It's quirky and whimsical and wonderful. And what do they mean, too self-conscious? Trying to be intellectual? What are they REALLY trying to say? Come on!