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How do we know what's fate and what's coincidence? I am one of a small group of Americans that is of pure Greek ancestry (all four of my grandparents were born and raised there). By some act of fate or coincidence, my older brother is engaged to a girl of... pure Greek ancestry? Yes, he is. No, it does not make life any easier for his three siblings who probably won't find partners with any, let alone ALL, Greek blood running through their veins. It doesn't bother us that we won't marry Greeks ourselves but his luck (or coincidence, or fate, or secret hidden arrangement, whatever it is) sure has made our parents realize how possible it is, and if it's possible and the American Melting Pot still allows for pure Greek unions then why aren't we jumping on the bandwagon?

Do we choose who we love or is it all predetermined by the Man (or Woman) upstairs? I don't know, not even a little bit. What I do know is that this wedding will be massive. Oh, did I mention that my brother's fiancee's family is from the same town in Greece as my maternal grandparents? This wedding will be recognized in two countries with two families rallying the troops for an all night bash of My Big Fat Greek Wedding proportions (yes, much of the movie is accurate and no, the country of Greece does not recognize Windex to be the end-all-be-all of cures).

Is it a coincidence or fate that I made a My Big Fat Greek Wedding reference on the same weekend that Nia Vardalos, star of the film, had a new Greek-oriented movie released? Actually, the reference was choice, but it wasn't up to me how well My Life in Ruins would perform. As it turns out, the result was as poor as her other post-Greek Wedding attempt, Connie and Carla. Let's chalk that one up to fate, since she's proving to be a one-hit-wonder.

Something else was released this past weekend that audiences avoided in droves, Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost. I'm more inclined to chalk that failure up to coincidence, since Will usually brings home the bacon and the dinosaur subject matter seemed to have appeal. After the coin was flipped, it landed on "Failure of Bewitched Proportions", which is sad because his promotional stints leading up to the release were quite funny, namely the Saturday Night Live season finale and teaming up with Bear Grylls for an episode Men vs Wild. Or maybe something else prevented it from becoming a breakout success...

The big winner of the weekend was The Hangover, a comedy that relied on laughs instead of big name stars and digital effects. Initially I would have said the bachelor party flick wasn't fated to be a hit, since most people couldn't recall anything about the production other than a funny trailer. Bradley Cooper has been on my radar since Wedding Crashers and Justin Bartha has been on it since National Treasure but the general public is only just now remembering them. Their time has come and they've paid their dues. These men deserve to be stars and have the smiles to back it up.

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