A Few of My Favorite Things

Truth. My family loves movies.

Growing up, when a particular situation comes up and a great movie line goes with it, my family is GREAT at pulling from the memory banks as we have all seen so many movies.

Truth. Most of my favorite movies are oldies. Is it nostalgia? Is it the connection I have with my family members? Is it the fact that older movies had less to work with and therefore were forced to create a better story? I think it could be a little bit of all of those. There are a few new movies that I particularly like as well.

A list of my favorites:

Mulitiplicity – Maybe it’s just the great lines, the great acting or the combination but I love this story. It makes so much sense, in a totally unrealistic kind of way. I really get a kick out of Three every time he says ANYTHING! I love to laugh and this movie can put me in stitches. Micheal Keaton is a hoot. Check out his performance in Much Ado About Nothing.

The Tourist – Maybe just because everyone is so beautiful in this film. But I was a bit surprised by the ending. I loved the story. I actually liked Angenlina Jolie but best of all… JOHNNY DEPP! Need I say more?

 

Benny and Joon – And speaking of Johnny Depp… Even a crazy Johnny Depp is an awesome Johnny Depp.

The Emperors New Groove – A kids movie with the best lines EVER! Kronk. Seriously. If you want to watching something with your kids, get this one.

The Amazing Spiderman – I never read the credits of a movie so carefully until I had a friend in them. I do love this movie but the stunts were AWESOME! Yep, I know the stunt double and I’m not above bragging about it. It’s pretty cool.

The Sting – Great Story. Young Robert Redford. Nuff said.

French Kiss – Meg Ryan. She is so damn cute and the comedic timing in this movie is AWESOME! Kevin Kline is great in this movie as well. He’s kinda hit or miss for me. Sometimes the projects he chooses are… iffy. However, this one is a total winner.

I.Q. – More Meg Ryan. What can I say? When I’m in a mood and I want girlie, she is my go to. I tend to love pretty much anything with Walter Matthau.

Charade – More Walter Matthau. I originally watched this to see if he ever looked young. He didn’t. I keep watching it just because I love to hear Audry Hepburn talk. And I love her clothes… and I love her… and the plot is quite interesting.

Roman Holiday – More Audry. My dad and I went to Italy and did Rome and it was awesome and I see our trip all over again every time I watch this movie.

The Man from Snowy River – Is it the accents? Is it the overt manliness? Is it the sweat, the tears, the fact that I can feel like I’m in the outback with horses and dust and dirt without the smell, clean up or ever having to get out of my PJs? All of the above. I love this movie. I love the story. I love the landscape. I love Kirk Douglas. It’s kinda awesome. Don’t see the squeal. It doesn’t live up.

The Scarlett Pimpernel – Sad that Anthony Andrews never did anything else of note in film. He is a remarkable actor. As a child I envied the beautiful curls of the young Jane Seymour. The whole movie is full of great lines and the love story is so cute. I can hardly stand all the great plot twists. I find myself watching it with first timers and pausing it every ten seconds to say, “Did you get that? Do you know what’s going on?” I’m a wierdo like that. My husband has a shock collar for me for just such occasions.

The Princess Bride – One of my all time favorites. Of course. Who doesn’t love this movie? It’s witty, it makes fun of itself and the book is just as awesome as the movie. Who hasn’t said at one time or another, “You killed my father. Prepare to die.” Mandy Patinkin has to HATE that line by now but it was one of the best ever uttered. There are a multitude of one liners in that movie that make for a great plug in real life. Mom says, “Stop it now, I mean it.” Your response, “________________________.” (Come on. You know you totally said it.)

Bring it on. What are your favorites and why?

I’m a Mom… Perfect and Real

I read a lot of blogs. I used to have my own blog but since I became a working mother, I only guest star on my husband’s blog. I am on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

I get bombarded by “PERFECT PARENT” blogs all the time touting suggestions on how to save time when making meals, how to save money on groceries, how to make your own clothing, grow your own food, save on your energy bill… You would think mothering was a study in living off the grid!

HOWEVER, I also read blogs from people who are “REAL PARENTS.” These people also apparently read a lot of blogs and somehow, someone elses’ success at grocery shopping or feeding their child only organic food or homeschooling the next Einstein makes these REAL PARENTS feel inferior. They write with a bit of a chip on their should confessing to yelling at their children and locking themselves in the bathroom to cry over a failure to be the PERFECT PARENT. The PERFECT PARENT will then retort with an angry tirade about how the REAL PARENT should be more grateful to even have their little brats at all!

Let me just say something about all of this. I love the REAL PARENT. I also have the feeling that if I don’t become an alcoholic, I won’t make it to my kids graduation day alive. I have been known to stand with the refrigerator door open and spray whipped cream into my mouth as a coping mechanism for whining.

I also love THE PERFECT PARENT. I love reading about some parents epiphany about how to make a single shopping trip last all month, how to make pillowcase dresses in 20 minutes, and look at pictures of smiling kids happy and healthy in a loving home.

I get both sides of the aisle because I don’t think there is an aisle. Yes, there are angry parents who will tell you that if one grain of sugar passes the lips of your child’s mouth, all their teeth will fall out and you will be responsible for their autism if there is mercury within a 500 mile radius of your home. There are people who never wanted children and had them by accident or because of social pressure and now don’t know why they ever did. However, this is not the norm.

We are all excited when we (even if it’s just one month out of the year) are able to do stuff with our family that makes something in our life easier or better. We all revel in the acclaim we receive when someone says, “Wow! How did you do that?” We want to share our knowledge and learning with other parents who are as desperate as we are to make life just a little bit smoother. Isn’t it nice to take that one extra step one day we have more energy so we can rest on one step the next day when our child decides she is going pee every 5 minutes ALL DAY LONG?

We also all have those times when we need to take a time out and say, “OK, what the hell is that thing in the highchair that just spit my homemade baby food in my face? SATAN?” And take a bath, and get a babysitter and spend the night in a motel crying and come back a better parent after.

So let’s not hate. Let’s not allow someone sharing something awesome they have discovered make us feel like less of a parent if that particular exciting bit of step-taking doesn’t fit into our life. Let’s not get all up and upset when someone feels like their only outlet for feelings of failure that day as a parent is to confess on a blog or Facebook. Let’s not participate in the freak out! Let’s encourage each other because damn… these kids didn’t come with an instruction book and we all need all the help and encouragement we can get.

AM I RIGHT? Can I get an AMEN?!

The Thing About Penn

I love movies and TV. I have admired the “looks” of actors and been in favor of one or two above the rest for their acting skills alone. However, I have always known that actors are just that – actors. They are acting for the world and we never see the real them so I never got to attached to any.

Then there was “reality TV.” I was a skeptic of this as well as far as getting to know the person and their personality and how they would be in real life. They can edit those things however they want and although that makes for an entertaining hour at the end of a long work day, it’s not like I get attached to any character in particular or feel like I know more about them.

Then there was Penn.

Oh, Penn Jillette. Finally someone I get. Someone I believe actually puts himself, his real self out there. I don’t know if I’m right about him but I hope I am. He’s awesome. He’s real in a world of make believe. He’s just what I want when I’m feeling annoyed at that man that keeps telling me to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Penn throws the curtain back and says, “Here I am in all my geeky, freaky glory. I’m not going to change. I’m not going to dumb it down. I’m not going to lie. I’m me and I’m on TV.”

When I’m asked who I would most like to meet in this world, who is still living (and excluding Jesus Christ), I say without hesiation, Penn Jillette.

Using the same rules stated above, who would you most like to meet and why?

Pine Cone & Frost

Purple Aster