Tag: Things I Like

Get back to your needlepoint, little starling. Craft, craft, craft…craft, craft, craft.

Reason 1,234,567 I can’t wait until the house is sold: I get to put up all my inappropriate decor.

I don’t have super-awesome stuff like electric chairs or cobras fighting mongooses, but I have plenty of off-kilter things and things that don’t get your house sold that we can’t have out right now (a homemade ALF planter I found at a flea market, Tom likes to display his big ol’ AT-AT from childhood, etc.),

With the rapid reduction of dog rescue work I do, I’ve found time to do things I used to do, like a little bit of crafting.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I finally got to make what’s been bouncing around in my head for over five years. But, now it has to go in a box, waiting for a time when a cross-stitch inspired by Silence of the Lambs can be displayed in my bathroom without weirding out potential buyers, just regular visitors. So, for now, I will hang it in this blog post to enjoy.

I Once Pulled a Muscle Being Versatile

Yelling Near You and Thoughts Appear were kind enough to award me this:

The rules are:
1. Show the award on my blog
2. Compose a short dedication to the persons who awarded them the award
3. Write a list of five things for their readers that detail things about themselves their readers don’t know, and then
4. Pay the love forward to five bloggers that they feel deserve to receive the Versatile Blogger Award, too.

Number one, done! Must fight typical “I need to take a celebratory break from getting so much done!” reaction and move on. So, two great blogs:

Yelling Near You (Mark and Bitsy, Bitsy and Mark) is great for many reasons:
– Mark is the resource for all of your Canadian advertisement needs.
– He also believes that “mid-season finale” is as idiotic as I do.
– They have an adorable big orange dog who gets his picture taken a lot (and gets his teeth brushed with Mark’s toothbrush).
– Bitsy hasn’t lost her sense of humor despite a cast, medication, acne, and sweating.

Thoughts Appear’s Blog is also great for many reasons:
– She is the resource for all of your Pop Tart information needs.
– Thanks to her, I don’t have to watch Children of the Corn 7 and many other movies which she has bravely endured and passed on the pertinent facts from.
– She just got back together with her boyfriend, squeeeee!
– She found a mysterious hole in the woods and didn’t go see what was in there, which probably saved her life, but also left a mystery we will never know the answer to.

Things you don’t know about me but now do:
1. My lack of a sense of a direction has left me in tears on multiple occasions, and one time, because I missed an exit on the highway, I ended up going on a Christmas hay ride with my aunt and uncle, who had to rescue me and didn’t have time to get me home.
2. One time as a teen I got the two family cars stuck together while trying to back out of the garage. It was amazing.
3. I was born in and have always lived in the South, and I can’t stand humid heat. When I went to the Utah desert July of last year, I realized that there is such a thing as “dry heat” and became very jealous.
4. Tom and I have owned three houses (not at once), and our current house is for sale, in anticipation of hopefully moving back to N.C. and owning our fourth fucking house.  Every time we know we’re going to end up in a new house, we convince ourselves that this time we will become responsible, capable adults who get shit done. It didn’t happen the first three times but I KNOW this time will be different.
5. When I get hungry and my blood sugar drops, I become a black hole that sucks all joy and fun out of the immediate area. That person’s nickname is Scarrie. She is the reason Tom sometimes says things like “we need to feed her,” which once offended my neighbor on behalf of me, and I assured her, there’s no offense to be taken, because that’s how bad it is. The fear of encountering Scarrie has also caused my sister to not be willing to give her husband a granola bar she had because she knew I’d need it later. And I did need it later, and catastrophe was averted that day.

And five nominated blogs, all of which I’ve had the pleasure discovering from blogging (and Twittering):
Our Daily Escape
Guapola
My Blog Can Beat up Your Blog
Ach du Lieber, Jayne!
Going to Mensa

Now, I really need to eat something…

I Can’t Believe I like Grease 2

Grease 2. Man, what a bad movie. But for some reason, every time I’m flipping through the channels on TV and it’s on, I have to stop and watch at least some of it. Why it’s on TV all the time is a different issue. This movie is directed by the choreographer of the original Grease; I looked in the credits, and this is just a theory, but maybe the problem with Grease 2 is that it was not choreographed by the director of the first Grease. Whatever the reason though, boy does it stink, but it’s one of those bad smells you get used to after awhile. The main reason I like this movie so much is because it is very nostalgic for me, I saw it on HBO tons of times when I was a kid. You know, back when HBO would play a movie over and over again within a month (that was a joke, they still do that). I would have never been cool enough to be a Pink Lady, not even a Grease 2 Pink Lady. Grease 2 gave me a chance to get a glimpse into a world that doesn’t exist in the first place. The first Grease does that too, but it wasn’t on HBO twenty times a day when I was seven.

Grease 2 picks up where the first one left off, and all of the most endearing and beloved characters from Grease are back: Eugene, Frenchie, the Coach, and that teacher with the drug problem. Out of all the returnees, there is one that I think everyone can agree is the most touching: that fifty year old guy with the acne scars that for some reason still has a rivalry with high schoolers. With these oldie but goodies are the new sets of T-Birds and Pink Ladies, and Michelle Pfeiffer plays the lead Lady, Stephanie. She bites into this juicy role with the enthusiasm of someone making ends meet by being in a sub par sequel.

For the first five minutes, everything is okay, but then a newcomer arrives and shakes up the delicate balance that the Birds and the Ladies have worked so hard to achieve. That newcomer’s name is Michael, and he’s…..British. He also has glasses and wears sweater vests, which just add to his instant nerd status. You would think that since he is related to Sandy (from Grease), he would get a free ride, but you would be sorely mistaken. He does have a connection, Frenchie, who takes him under her pink wing to explain to him the rules of a world he could never know. You see, Michael sees Stephanie, played by Michelle Pfeiffer (in case you still don’t believe it), and falls for her instantly. But that match made in heaven is not to be, for as Frenchie tells us, Michael is far too homely to become a T-Bird, which is a prerequisite for being the boyfriend of a Pink Lady.

Luckily, there is a light in the distance: for somewhere in this legal mumbo jumbo, it states that above mentioned A (Michael) can become acquainted with, and pursue a romantic partnership with above mentioned B (Stephanie), if and only if the subject of the first party agrees to overhaul his/her personality in exchange for acceptance of his/her advances by the subject of the second party. This can be summed up by Stephanie herself: “I want a Cool Rider.” I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I will just say that Michael does indeed become a Cool Rider, and he and Stephanie end up happily together.

You may say: “This sounds exactly like the plot of the first Grease.” Well, let me just tell you smarty pants, it’s not. One, Sandy was Australian, Michael is BRITISH. Two, Sandy was a girl, Michael is a GUY. Grease 2 happens a couple of years AFTER the first Grease, and there are completely different songs in Grease 2. And, if you still have your doubts, may I remind you that Grease 2 was directed by the CHOREOGRAPHER of Grease, so therefore is a lot WORSE than the first one. So, it is very easy to see why this movie holds such a special place in my heart, and I highly recommend it if you have nothing else to do, and liked it a long time ago when you were a little kid with bad taste.

What guilty pleasures do you have?

Pop Culture Roundup – What My Eyeballs Have Been Watching

In my ongoing effort to not have to read books or visit art museums, I’ve been continuing to revisit some of my favorite movies because local theaters keep deciding to show them on the big screen. I’m a sucker for this gimmick.

There’s also been a few things that I hadn’t seen before that I enjoyed. So, without further ado, here’s what I saw in the last week or two:

Things I Hadn’t Seen Before:

1. Army of Darkness – I loved this movie. I had seen the first two Evil Dead movies, but not this one. So, at first, in the theater, I was surprised to hear that someone had brought their approx. 10 year old kid with them. Then, I realized, this movie is perfect for 10-12 year old boys, which is also pretty much my maturity level. Bruce Campbell is the awesome. It’s silly and snarky and not too gory.

2. West Side Story – I somehow had managed to not see this movie before now. It was a special Fathom Events release celebrating the movie’s 50th anniversary/Blu Ray release. Fun facts: Russ Tamblyn, who plays Riff, played Dr. Jacobi on Twin Peaks – that blew my mind. And, he’s Amber Tamlyn’s dad (she’s from Joan of Arcadia – just for reference, I didn’t watch that show). Also, I really want Maria’s stain-glass french doors:

These doors are pretty, oh so pretty

3. Attack the Block – (Saw this one on DVD) Aliens invade London and a street gang has to defend their turf. Edgar Wright, who directed Shaun of the Dead, produced the movie, and Nick Frost, who starred in Shaun of the Dead, is also in it. As I love Shaun of the Dead, I figured I would like this movie, too. I did (not as much as Shaun, but that would be extremely hard to do). The aliens are visually interesting. I had a dream about them. My brain completely ripped off the movie to make it.

Things I Had Seen Before:

1. The Great Muppet Caper – I wrote about going to see the first one. Last weekend was The Great Muppet Caper, this weekend will be Muppets Take Manhattan.This movie is funny. It’s so, so great.  Here’s one of my favorite scenes:

2. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure – I love this movie. Tim Burton’s first feature-length film. I saw this movie in the theater when it came out. Large Marge truly startled me when she went bug eyed – it’s so silly now, but back then I jumped in my seat. This movie is about a boy (ok, man-child) and his bike. There’s pretty much nothing about this movie I don’t like. It’s funny, it’s from the 80s, AND it’s retro within that time frame – perfect. And, it has one of the best scenes ever about responsibility, life, getting shit done, and being a good person. How many of us have searched for their own basement in The Alamo only to find out it doesn’t exist?

The big difference with seeing this movie in the theater the first time and now is that this time I got to drink a Margarita while I watched it this time. Nice.

Anybody else seen something for the first time they liked or revisited a favorite movie lately?

 

Even if you’re stealing my underwear and making fun of me and my belongings, it’s worth it.

Hotels. I love hotels. Most likely this is due to really only staying in them when doing fun things. Whatever the reason, I think what it comes down to is coming back to a made bed. There is really nothing like leaving the room with a messy bed or two, and then coming back to made beds, re-folded towels, and new soap. I love not having to do things, and making the bed is way up there.

And I’m sure the cleaning crew have to power to do all sorts of things, particularly involving underpants and abscondtion (a word I just made up) involving anything in the room, but dammit, the power of a made bed is too irresistible. Since I’m currently at Disney, I’m just assuming the whole thing goes down magically, anyway. They keep throwing that word around, so I just apply it to everything, including my swirled, messy sheets.