Movie love

Voilà, ma petite Amélie, vous vous n'avez pas les os en verre. Vous pouvez vous cogner à la vie. Si vous laissez passer cette chance, alors avec le temps, c'est votre cœur qui va devenir aussi sec et cassant que mon squelette. Alors, allez-y...*

After much of my raving of what a great movie it was, Gina rented Amélie and we watched it last night. I'm not sure that she loved it with all of the crazy enthusiasm that I love it, but I think it's a little hard when you have to read the whole movie. Which is why there are no Japanese films in my top ten list (well, the language thing, and there are other reasons too...).

At the moment, the above line is my favorite, although there are some others that are also genius and may soon win out new favorite status. Just writing it above doesn't do it justice - you need to hear the crouched old man with his slow, gravelly French voice saying it for the full effect.

I was wondering why I like it so much. Maybe because part of me identifies with Amélie - dreaming is often easier than doing. But then the moral of the story is, without doing, you don't get Nino. And I also have a big ol' movie crush on Mathieu Kassovitz, so, you know, lesson learned.

*My attempt at a translation: Look, my little Amelie, you don't have bones of glass. You can take life's knocks. If you let this chance pass by, with time your heart will become as dry and brittle as my skeleton. So then, go...!

Does THIS make me an adult?

So I may have found a new threshold in my search for what makes one a grown-up:

I, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life, owe money to the IRS. That's right, OWE. No refund. Dammit.

Some fashion pointers

Following a night at the Kennedy Center:

-It is never acceptable to wear pantyhose and open-toed shoes. Ever. It's difficult for me to believe that some people still didn't get this memo, but there were a lot of people in sandals and hose. Not okay. At all.

-I still don't really believe that it's okay to wear white after Labor Day or before Easter. However, there are apparently some women (Yankees...) who want to stretch this fashion "don't." I'm okay with that. I am not, however, okay with stark white pumps. I mean, really. So unattractive.

-If your suit is made of some odd fabric, say velour or animal print or suede, it's not really a suit. Just so you know.

Further proof that DC is still the ugly step-sister of the fashion world, I suppose.

Ode to Old Movies I Used to Love*

I'm a little bit tired today. This may or may not be due to the fact that I stayed up past midnight watching "The Parent Trap" on the Hallmark channel. I didn't even have plans to watch any TV last night, but when channel scrolling I hit the Hayley Mills classic, and lo and behold, spent the night eating some chocolate that Gina gave me for Christmas and enjoying the nostalgia.

I used to love Disney movies like that. I really hadn't thought about them in ages, but watching the old school version of "The Parent Trap" got me to thinking about others I must have seen at least twenty times each in my childhood. Some favorites, in no particular order:

Swiss Family Robinson:
What girl wouldn't want to race a zebra or live in the coolest treehouse EVER?

Pete's Dragon:
Not only is there a cool cartoon dragon that doesn't really talk but is quite funny, it also has Helen Reddy singing "I'll Be Your Candle on the Water." Aww.

Babes in Toyland:
It's unclear to me how this movie and the many very different story versions are related to each other, but it's still fun.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People:
First learned what a banshee was from this movie. About scared the pee out of me when I was six. I'm sure it's not scary at all though. Now, anyway. It also apparently starred Sean Connery. Who knew?

Pollyanna:
Maybe I just really wanted to be Hayley Mills. I thought the cake at the fair looked SO tasty. Yum. The whole falling out of the tree was quite tragic, and in un-typical Disney fashion, it's not particularly well resolved at the end.

I think I'm going to hit the video store this weekend, and spend the rainy cold weather on the couch and finish my chocolate. Oh, and don't even get me started on the classic cartoons!

**A la Misty.

Advice: To give or not to give?

Last night I was catching up with a friend who was recently married. I got all of the dish on the wedding, the planning, the parties, etc. In the course of conversation, she mentioned that she had had a bit of a tiff with a friend of hers from college. Apparently this friend had questioned the fact that she was getting married. My friend (let's call her K, to avoid confusion) didn't think that the friend brought it up very nicely and felt a bit attacked. In the friend's defense, the wedding was planned in a rush and the couple have only known each other since June or so, but K (quite obviously) and many other people see the reasoning behind the quick planning (and no, it isn't a baby...). Not to mention he is a really great guy and they are super-cute together.

But this whole conversation got me to thinking: is it possible to offer similar advice or opinions and have them well-received? Eb and I have definitely had this worry: if one of us was pretty serious about a guy that the other saw some fairly red-flag sort of issues with him, would the other one accept those opinions gracefully or would she get and stay mad? I have already had one friend get married to a guy I was less than excited about, but I only hinted at it, because I absolutely knew that she was going to marry him anyway, whether or not my worries were well-founded. I think most of the time we choose to keep our opinions to ourselves because we know our friends will pick the boy over us. And yet if we're right (even just up to point) and we let our friend marry a man that will make her life so much harder than it needs to be, or a man that won't love her like he should, or a man that is clearly not able to take care of himself much less another person (or people!), are we liable to some degree? I know that it will ultimately be the friend's decision, but still...

So here's my question: does anyone know of an actual situation in which someone was deadly serious about a not-so-good guy and then her friends told her their worries and she actually listened? Because I sure don't know of one, but deep down I really want to believe that it could happen. And I also want to believe that, should the circumstance arise, I would listen too.

Give 'Em Hell

My favorite quote from the game:

"Vince Young out to look for some real estate around here, because he OWNS this field."

Damn straight.


The eyes of Texas are upon you...

Yay Longhorns!

Why early flights should be illegal

Scene: Approximately 6:00 am this morning, at a baggage security checkpoint in the DFW Airport.

Random TSA guy: Miss, do you have in firearms in your bag?

Me: [Blink. Blink. Blank stare.]

Random TSA guy: Uh, miss? It's not you, I have to ask everyone that...

Me: Um, what was the question? Oh...right. Yes.

Random TSA guy: Yes?!

Me: Yes. I don't have any guns.

Lucky for me I look about 12 years old with no makeup and the hair in a ponytail, otherwise I probably would've been cuffed and face down on the tile floor. Sigh.

You know all of those online sites like facebook, friendster, etc.? Well they always ask who you "would like to meet." I suppose this is for those who use such sites to meet people (which I am not against, just not for myself, thanks). After a week at home on vacation, I'm tempted to write in the blank:

"Someone who finds the ability to do crossword puzzles and sudoku incredibly sexy. Especially in flannel pajamas, with a huge cup of coffee."

Because really, what could be a better morning than that?

When you're stuck with day, that's gray and lonely...

Or all of the bad news just starts to get to you:

www.happynews.com

Enjoy!

The first step is admitting you have a problem

I'm a little embarassed to admit it, but I REALLY like that Howie Day song "Collide." You know, it's the one they play as a promo for practically every movie coming out that involves romancy stuff (including Pride and Prejudice, however inappropriate the tune is for period piece love stories).

Perhaps it's my inner 13-year-old that digs the cheesy tune and lyrics.

Ew

Tonight I learned something I could have easily gone my whole life without knowing.

There are these little bugs. They're called fungal gnats. They like to eat plants. Specifically, a mum that I had moved up to my room to keep it out of the way of the guests at our holiday party. That last detail is important.

When I went into my room tonight, there was an actual infestation of gnats all over my curtain and on the wall up by the ceiling. I was (and still am) understandably grossed out. It was not so bad at first; bugs don't really bother me. But after going through three strips of tape on my lint roller that emerged covered in little tiny bugs, well...it's starting to get to me. So I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. I can't handle the thought of sharing my room with the gnats. I will strip and clean everything tomorrow. In the meantime, there's a bowl of red wine vinegar and baking soda diluted with water, which according to the internet will trap and drown the little bastards.

My nose itches. And my collarbone. And my ankle...it's going to be a long night.

Winter Wonderland

We had our first snowfall in DC the other night. Now, this obviously is not my first winter here, but it is my first winter with a car. I knew there would be some differences, but wasn't particularly worried about it.

So yesterday when I came out to drive to work at my usual time, I stopped and thought, "Crap, there's a lot of snow on my car." And then I thought, "Hmm...I wonder how I'm going to get it off." Because, you see, in just sort of anticipating the fact that it would be cold and snowy and such, it never actually occurred to me to buy stuff like ice scrapers or brushes or whatever other accessories one might need to clean snow or ice off a car. In Texas, when there is snow or ice or really just light snow flurries, EVERYTHING shuts down and people run for their lives to get the essentials from the grocery store because it could be a WHOLE DAY before you get to move around again. And really, crazy as it seems, this is how it should be. When the weather is that gross, I think we should all be able to stay in our warm pajamas and fuzzy slippers and watch daytime TLC or whatever Christmas shows are on the family channel. We should not have to pile into galoshes and heavy coats and dig our cars out and slide along to a day of non-essential work that could be accomplished another time.

So the end of my first attempt at digging out my car: I got to work twenty minutes later than normal (not anticipating, once again, the extra time it would take to do the digging) and I shredded up this magazine thing that had been on the floorboard of my car for who knows how long. It doubled very nicely as a shovel of sorts.

Evil Personified, coming in next month's Vogue!

I find it strange that every time the news media report on the Saddam Hussein trial, they also give a detailed account of what he was wearing at the time.

Fair Warning

So with the holidays, I've seen so many spots focusing on St. Jude's. Now, don't get me wrong, I am certainly not complaining. I think St. Jude's does incredible work and also think that it's important to spotlight such things, especially during the holidays where the main focus, while probably unintentional, tends to focus on materialism and decadence. But I digress.

The only problem with these spots is that they make me tear up. Or downright cry. But one of the two ALWAYS happens. I can't watch them - even the one with the actors reading the words of parents - without getting a little weepy. And it appears that these spots are going to continue for the rest of holiday season. So this is just a heads up to let anyone who might come into contact with me: I will probably be an emotional wreck by the end of December.

But if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should check out the work they do - I'm okay with giving into the weepiness if it's a worthy cause.

Why...

do people clap at the end of movies? It's not like the actors are there to hear you, or take a bow or anything.

do people feel the need to say things like "oh, that song is about..."? The whole point of music is that you get to interpret it for yourself.

do I always wonder when I'm singing along to music (with my headphones on) in my car, "This would sound pretty terrible if my phone accidentally dialed someone and they heard me singing this rocker song a capella right about now..."? Like that would ever really happen.

A Review

Oh, and the new Harry Potter movie is fantastic. You should go see it. I think Gina and I are going again today, it was THAT GOOD.

Hey guys, I know it's been awhile.

The other night E and Gina and I went to this WEIRD dance thing. Now, I would like to believe that with a fairly extensive arts background, that I could appreciate just about any form of dance. But this thing was strange. And I kept thinking, am I missing something? Are these people around me just more intellectual and in touch than I am, and for some reason does this relate to them and not to me? But no, I think they were all just faking it for the sake of being trendy. The dance troupe had gotten good reviews from other people (who I also think were faking it) and no one wants to appear stupid - I mean The Washington Post liked it, so we should too!

The "dancing" mostly consisted of strange posing to odd noises...some of which were music, others were spoken word, others involved some loud and rather grating ululating woman. There was a beautiful violin solo, but the dancer didn't really do anything with the music. And the most frustrating thing was the fact that the dancers looked like they could do incredible things if they wanted to - they were muscled beyond belief, not an ounce of fat. So I was hoping for BIG JUMP! and all I got was weird pose after weird pose, and oh wait, that was an awkward pose. Something to change it up I guess.

But the good news: I only spent $15 for the ticket. And I got a night at the Kennedy Center and dinner in the Terrace Cafe with two friends. Totally worth it.

Oh, and as a side note, one of the dancers had in her bio that her hobbies were minimalism and existentialism. Doesn't she sound like a barrel of laughs?!

Prelude to the best Ali G interview yet

This just kills me.

I'm sorry, people that are making the new Pride and Prejudice movie, but I just don't approve.

No matter who you cast (and as an aside, why did you choose Keira Knightley?) no one will ever be as hot as Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. No one. You might as well stop now.

Perhaps there is just a cold dark hole where my heart should be

But I didn't find the dramatic scene in Desperate Housewives at all sad last night. (In case you missed it: lady runs into street wearing wedding dress and begs boyfriend not to leave her, he drives off leaving her screeching in the middle of the road). Actually, I'm not the least bit sympathetic to her - she lied like crazy and this are the consequences. I know how I was supposed to be reacting, but not so much. Good try writers, but this one didn't even hook me a little bit.