IMHO

Which stand for, “In my humble opinion.”  Because writing out a whole phrase is sooooo 1995.

Tip Of The Day:  My not-so humble opinions on various and sundry things, such as books, DVDs, and the Greatest Cleaning Product of All Time.

Tip For Tomorrow:  Cheap Resolutions, or Resolving To Be Cheap.  What simple and small changes can you make today that will save you big in the year to come.  Oooooo, the suspense must be KILLING you.

Further Elucidation Of My Cheap Deal:  I am replete, filled up, and BURSTING with reviews.  Stuff to watch, stuff to not watch, stuff to read (with certain precautions), stuff to clean with, and stuff never to put in your hair on the pain of death.  And no, I’m not talking about bubble gum (a warning that goes out to Boo-Boo, my god-kiddie who will put things on her head, and then cut them off.  And then pretend that it never happened.)

What To Watch:  More than likely, I am the last person on Earth to have seen Iron Man.  Ma and I finally got around to watching it this New Year’s Eve and Oh. My. God.  It is the greatest movie made since Peter Jackson finished the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

What makes it so good?  Number one, Robert Downey Jr.  Number two, Robert Downey Jr. wearing tight T-shirts.  Number three, Robert Downey Jr. filling out those tight T-shirts.  Number four, Robert Downey Jr. filling out those tight T-shirts, and then getting all sweaty and dirty in them.  In a word, YUM.

It’s also well-written, well-acted, and well-cast.  For once I could watch a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, and I didn’t want to slap her.  Everyone wins!

What Not To Watch:  More than likely part two, I am the last person on Earth to have seen The Dark Knight, which Ma and I also watched on New Year’s.  Yeah.  Not so much for me, folks.  I understand the writers and director want to take the franchise in a more dark, gritty and realistic direction – and try to undo the havoc that Joel Schumacher did wreak upon it.

However.  They have managed to suck all the joy out of the series.  The Joker?  Never once told a joke or did anything remotely funny.  Yes, I KNOW he’s supposed to be a chaos-inducing psychopath, and yes, Jack Nicolson’s portrayal was too light-hearted.  But still, couldn’t you compromise and make him darkly, sickly witty, like Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs?

As for making it more realistic – it’s a movie based on a COMIC BOOK.  A comic book in which the lead character is a young, handsome gazillionaire, sneaking around town in a rubber suit, thwarting bad guys, while using gadgets snitched from government labs.  How realistic can it BE?

Also – although his performance was terrific, but I don’t think Heath Ledger should win an Academy Award (dead or not), the gravely voice Batman used was necessary and not annoying (hello, he was trying to disguise who he was, people), and Aaron Eckhardt has not received the accolades he should for his outstanding performance as Harvey Dent.  And thus concludes my rant.

What To Read.  Maybe.  In my quest for a healthier lifestyle, I’ve begun raiding the diet and exercise shelves at my local library.  Which is where I found this – How To Eat Like A Hot Chick, by Jodi Lipper and Cerina Vincent (yes, THAT Cerina Vincent, star of Cabin Fear and… not much else).

This book is silly, snarky, badly-behaved, and even worse-ly written.  And yet, I kind of love it.  When you read it, you feel like a dorky kid elevated to a new social level by the cool chicks, who are letting you in on how to be like them.  They think YOU’RE fabulous, and that everyone else (like Paris Hilton and Mary Kate Olson) sucks.

It also contains some useful information, like the whole 2,000 calorie food pyramid thingee.  They put the smackdown on the FDA Food Pyramid, which all food label information is derived from.  Why?  Because, as the girls point out, if most women were to eat 2,000 calories a day, they will gain a GREAT DEAL OF WEIGHT.

Bottom line, read this book if you want a few laughs, a few helpful hints, and a quick read.

What to Clean With.  I’m in love with Lemi Shine, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.  After dealing for YEARS with spotty, white-limned, nasty-looking dishes, I finally found something that will get rid of hard-water deposits.  No longer do my dishes look worse after going through the dishwasher.  They are now clean and shiny and normal-feeling – not all chalky and gross.

Best of all, Lemi Shine is readily available at Target, costs only $3.69, and smell like (dur) lemons.  It is the greatest cleaner of all time, and that is NOT an exaggeration.  Much.

What To Never Put In Your Hair Again.

Dear Sunsilk,

After being a faithful consumer of your products for several years, even when you have sorely tried my patience, I am forced now to throw in the towel.  Your latest and least-greatest formulation of Anti-Flat Plumping Crème is so god-awful, I’m actually throwing it out the half full (or rather, HALF EMPTY, as you’ve made me all pessimistic) bottle.  Which is wasteful and un-frugal.  Jerks.

What’s wrong with it?  Oh, I’ll tell you what’s wrong:

a.  It smell even worse than before, if that’s possible.

b.  If you use more than a smidge of it, your hair turns into a tacky, nasty-feeling, oily-looking mess.

And c.  It makes my hair look MATTE and FLAT – not cute.

Thank you for destroying my favorite hair care product and breaking my heart.

Sincerely,

The Cheap Chick