Renee Zellweger plays Betty Sizemore, a small town Kansas woman who spends her days thinking about the nurse she could have been. A Reason to Love takes place in a hospital and Dr. Ravell, played by Greg Kinnear, is every female fan’s heartthrob. Throughout the movie, scenes from the show appear, and the film’s director Neil LaBute does an outstanding job with his made-up soap opera. It contains every aspect of cheesiness that I expect from a soap opera: handsome men, vicious women, lots of cleavage and make-up, and plenty of generic characters. Kinnear, with his soft eyes and ‘80’s-styled hair, fits the role of Dr. Ravell convincingly. The plot is strange, but the movie is tightly knit with its script. I found no scenes that I could comfortably laugh at without feeling like a jerk, for the movie is funny, but in a dark sense of funny. Don’t expect a rib-busting comical assault from Chris Rock, because he plays an evil madman who holds no regard for others lives. Rock’s performance caught me completely off guard, but I like what he does. It unveils another facet of his talent. Freeman, well, he is as always superb. No need for further expansion there.

Ah, and then there’s the lovely Zellweger. Her dainty innocence and small town looks fit well in these strange sorts of movies. She starred alongside Jim Carrey in last summer’s hit "Me, Myself, and Irene" and looked natural beside that oddball Carrey. LaBute was right on the money when he named Zellweger for the role as the quirky and naive Betty Sizemore. It’s a great movie, but don’t take a date unless you have been seeing that person for a while. The violence doesn’t occur frequently, but when it does, it’s gruesome. Put it this way, do you remember the overdose scene in Pulp Fiction and the wood chipper scene in Fargo? Well, Nurse Betty has its disturbing trademark scene as well.

You’ve heard it before, "Don’t judge a book by its cover." Well, sometimes it’s how appealing the book cover is that makes one pull it out from the shelf, and how intriguing or how disturbing the summary is on the jacket. Most of the times, that’s how I stumble on my finds, and my very first encounter with Tim Farrington. If you’ve ever been in a relationship, especially if you’re a female, and the love of your life cheats on you, then you might find some insight from Tim Farrington’s "Blues for Hannah." Farrington attempts to justify love and lust as interchangeable, and his naive perception about relationships is evident in this novel.

The novel begins when Jeremy Mason, a struggling painter, receives a long-distance phone call from Nebraska in an ungodly hour to identify the body of Hannah, his former lover. On his journey from San Francisco to Nebraska, Jeremy reminisces back to his college days in mid-1970s where he met the blues-singer Hannah, and how his attraction for her tests his devotion to his college sweetheart, LeeAnne. In a series of break-ups and make-ups, of torn love and heated passion, Jeremy ultimately comes back to LeeAnne, and marries her only to be separated from her when their marriage falls apart as they struggle with their careers. Unmistakably, Jeremy returns back to Hannah and their union produces a love child unbeknownst to Jeremy. When his relationship with Hannah drifts apart, he crawls back again to the ever-forgiving LeeAnne. When Hannah escapes the demands of motherhood to chase after her dream, she leaves the child, Sammy, to Jeremy and LeeAnne. Farrington’s sentimental and simplistic novel on the dimensions of love could irk readers who have different views. Jeremy’s character is not in the least likable. He is weak and self-absorbed, while LeeAnne’s saintly character is equally annoying. Despite the seductress, almost-a-villain-character of Hannah, she doesn’t come across as the "bad guy." Quite contrary, she’s depicted almost like an enchantress whom everybody wants to love. If anything, "Blues for Hannah" will perhaps find a sympathetic audience in males generally than it would in females. And if your partner is a chronic cheater, by all means, do yourself a favor, RUN!

In elementary school I knew a girl with dirty blonde hair named Charity. I don’t know why her parents named her that because she wasn’t even nice much less charitable. You have to be very careful in how you name something. False advertising is a serious no-no. And I am sad to say that Friendly’s on Military Highway has made that same offense. A few months ago when Friendly’s opened its doors for the first time it welcomed the Mayor of Norfolk, plenty of balloons, and two of my co-workers, Marshall and Rob. I didn’t get to go on that faithful day, but I heard a lot about it afterwards. From what I could tell the experience had not been a pleasant one. I’m still not really sure what happened but I do know that it involved an unfortunate incident with a waffle iron and Marshall’s shrimp fried rice.

With this in mind I had my expectations very low, but Friendly’s surprised me. When I talked Rob into going back with me a few weeks later the food was tasty and reasonably priced and there were no sudden accidents involving Asian food of any sort. We ate our chicken sandwiches, got some ice cream, and paid our $20 check without any problems. Although our waiter was strangely manic-depressive in an Eeyore type of way. By dessert I started worrying that maybe his little grey tail with the pink bow had fallen off and I was going to have nail it back on for him. The decor for Friendly’s is extremely welcoming and mildly cool. It sort of looks like Denny’s but with plants and carpeting. There is a large 50s-inspired ice cream counter at the front of the restaurant where diners can sit on swivel stools and eat a sundae. There is even a child station that provides card games and coloring books to keep those little buggers busy until the food arrives. The parking lot has signs in several of the spots that say things like "Reserved for the Person Having the Worst Day," or "Reserved for the Dirtiest Car." The last time I went to Friendly’s I spent ten minutes trying to squeeze my Buick LaSabre into the "Best Looking Wheels" reserved spot.

That girl Charity in the 5th grade might not have been very charitable, but Friendly’s encourages its customers to do their part. By the entrance is a large wooden box with two holes cut into the top. A sign asks patrons to donate cans of dog food or people food to help feed the needy. Friendly’s gets a big thumbs up for this. The food is classic, simple and very pleasing providing hamburgers, dinner platters, chicken sandwiches and an entire menu devoted to ice cream. I went for a grilled chicken sandwich with honey dijon while my friend, Rob, swears by a fried cod sandwich called a Fishamajig. I believe him when he says that it’s the best thing he’s ever eaten, but I also remember that once he said that Nine Months with Hugh Grant had to be the funniest movie ever. I was so impressed with my first visit that I decided to take my friend, Vegetarian John there a few days later. Suddenly Friendly’s became very unimpressive and I started to have a flashback of the whole fried rice incident. Right away, John got into a tiff with our waitress because she wouldn’t let him have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich off of the kids’ menu.

John was arguing that he couldn’t eat meat and there wasn’t anything on the adult menu for him. The waitress, keen to John’s sideburns and six feet of height and muscle, determined that he was no longer 12 and officially ineligible for the kids’ menu, vegetarian or not. In the end a grilled cheese sandwich saved the day, but not before a few other mishaps. Our fries were burnt, our food was chewy, our service slow and rude,and a glass of spilling water caused quite a stir, all before the night was over. Even the family of mullets sitting a mere 2 inches away seemed to be having a definitely UN-Friendly experience. The Happy Ending Sundae almost saved the day. No doubt the best thing on the menu, the Happy Ending is a two-scoop sundae that is added to your meal for only a dollar and some change extra. It even comes complete with whip cream and a cherry and you can usually find a coupon for a free one in Sunday’s paper. All seemed to be going well with my mint chocolate chip with hot fudge dessert until our waitress and another one had a blowout over who should bring it out. We finally got the sundae but sadly with no spoons to eat it with. Luckily, one of the mullets passed me a spoon. Of course, leave it to John to point out to the manager that things aren’t too friendly at Friendly’s, just two minutes before he stole a yellow smiley face beach ball and walked out the front door to the best looking wheels in the parking lot. But I’m not willing to give up on Friendly’s yet. For every time I go and have a crappy time I go back and things are better. Plus I love that ice cream. If I get bad service I’ll just make excuses. Besides they’re not being unfriendly, it’s just PMS.