April Fools!

It’s April Fools Day! Over the years, I’ve gotten some pretty good pranks played on me. The most overused one has been the ‘OMG there’s a bug on the ground!’ one, playing off of my immense fear of bugs. But as of late, I’ve been wondering, exactly where did this holiday spring from?

The best assumption that I could gather from the internet is that it may have derived from 16th century France. Back then, the start of the new year was observed on April 1st. In 1562, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar where the new year began on January 1st.  Some people didn’t hear about or observe the change and were still celebrating the new year on April 1st. People would make fun of them, playing tricks on them, and send them on “fool’s errands”, calling them April fools.

It seems plausible. I wasn’t there to confirm these facts however. 

I know that many of you may participate in the Fool’s Day fun. What are the best/funniest pranks that you’ve pulled, seen pulled, or have had pulled on you?

Do You Let Movie Reviews Pick the Next Movie You See?

Many times, if a movie catches my eye in a preview, I try my best to see it. I like to judge things for myself, instead of listening to what others may think. Often times, when you go into a movie theater with someone else’s opinion in your head, they unconsciously influence your decision on how you view the movie.

I’ve also noticed that this happens a lot when people depend on the validity of movie critics and movie reviews on the internet. If a movie receives a grade less than a B, someone may not see a film. For example, I recently read a review for Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston’s new film, “The Bounty Hunter”. Now, I’m a fan of romantic comedies, and this one seemed to take a different spin on the whole “guy meets girl, girl hates guy, big love declaration in the rain, guy and girl get married” plot line. These two really seem to hate each other. It makes me want to see how things will end between the two. The fact that I’m a huge Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler fan doesn’t hurt either.

Well, the review that I read gave the movie a ‘C’. If I remember from my school days correctly, a C isn’t really a great thing. It’s somewhere it the middle; not bad but not good either. That is, unless you count Organic Chemistry II and III. That’s when ‘C’s count as ‘A’s’ in my book.

But if I were to make my decision to see the movie based on the movie review, I probably wouldn’t pay to see the movie. Either that or I’d just wait until it made DVD release. I’m not going to let this review deter me however. I think I just may see “The Bounty Hunter” this weekend. Anyone want to join me?

Do you let movie reviews pick your next movie?

Photo courtesy of CNN.com