Becky's Greatest Hits Vol. II

I thought we would love this flick.  Me, because I love rom-coms and find Andy Samberg cute on SNL.  The hubs because he loves him some Rashida Jones.  But neither of those likes were enough to like this dud of a film.   Just a little too sad and not cute enough for a feel-good flick.  Kinda the same way I felt about Bridesmaids .  All psyched up for a good laugh but instead got a big let-down.

In the long tradition of television's "will they or won't they?" plot, I have to wonder how long this will go on with Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler?  I mean, I love this particular sitcom plot, I do!  But after Ross and Rachel, Jim and Pam and way on back to Joannie and Chachi, I'm not sure how many more I can take!

Believe in me Help me believe in anything 'Cause I, I wanna be someone who believes..... 

And on a similar note, it was a fact not lost on me at all last night when one of the Key & Peele sketches was an extremely over-the-top gay man inflicting his lifestyle on his cube mate who also happens to be gay.  Comedy Central So you see, baby girl, it takes all kinds.  And it takes patience on all sides. 

So I don't think I'm entirely to blame when I'm stuck waiting for my delicious and deadly hot dog at Sonic and this here song is playing: It's also not my fault that it is completely catchy and cute.  And that I might actually like it.  Oh, shit.

The world is loaded, It's lit to pop and nobody is gonna stop...

Aaah, Christmas music.  I love it and I hate it.  At first, it's fun to hear.  Then it becomes the never-ending repetition of hell!  I read an article that said the reason not everyone likes Christmas music is because a lot of it is so sad and heartbreaking that it brings up a lot of bad and bitter feelings in people.   Ye-aah.  That, and the fact that it plays from November 27 until January 3rd! But all of that being said, there are still some really good Christmas/holiday songs out there.  And even though I'm not religious, I still have a few picks that are both secular and non-secular. And Merry/Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Ramadan/Winter Solstice/Day of Your Choice to You!!!! I'll Be Home for Christmas                                        ...

Boy, I'll tell you....I didn't know how scary deer could be until a big ole buck jumped in front of my car last year during rut season.  Rut season, btw, is just a hunter's way of saying "deer getting busy" time.  I learned later that male deer are so wild with the need to reproduce that they will go for days hardly eating or sleeping but simply, literally, chasing tail.  This is what makes them act with wild abandon and not always see or care about the vehicles they are leaping in front of. I do feel kind of bad for deer and other wildlife as our neighborhoods have encroached on their long-held dwelling places. I'm not a hunter, but I don't criticize others who do it and actually use the meat for food.  I could never be into it myself as I think the idea of shooting something for sport is odd and disconcerting.  And besides that, I sometimes feel sad when I see a little fawn or doe peaking from the roadside.  They do look so gentle and majestic. B...

I wouldn't touch you with a Thirty-nine and a half foot pole!

With an 11 year-old boy with autism, Christmas shopping is always a little bit tricky and sometimes downright disheartening.  Last year, he played with the few toys he received, I believe, exactly twice.  I am hoping for the best this year with an Angry Birds building set and game.  We'll see what happens.....

When Great Trees Fall by Maya Angelou When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken. Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existe...

If there is a way not to love Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, you just tell me how.  This movie was nothing like what I expected and every bit as good as I imagined.  It really makes you stop and think about how only a few choices can change lives, alter destinies and affect many more people than you ever realized. 

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train And I's feeling nearly as faded as my jeans.

I'm not sure how a movie with such a weird and uncomfortable plot can be so utterly forgettable, but it is.  I expected more from you, Hugh Laurie.....

In support of those living with. In support of those caring for. In support of those researching. In support of those fund-raising. In support of those educating. In support of those discussing, never forgetting, not overlooking, surging onward, moving forward. In memory of all those lost. And those particular to my heart: Tommy, Tina, David, Binky, Michael and Doug.  

Just another Saturday at our favorite place in town, Schiele Museum of Natural History

What do you do when you son is away with his dad for Thanksgiving and you and your hubs don't really care so much for boring-ass turkey?  You go to the movies, of course! You know I have to really care about a movie to not wait for it on Netflix, right???? This movie was even more awesome than the first.  And if you know the movies and the books, I don't need to tell you what's up.  But if you don't know them, you need to GET TO KNOW THEM! I won't go all into explaining the plot or revealing any spoilers, so I will talk about the actors. First off, how cute is little Josh Hutcherson?  I have loved him since the sweet lil flick Little Manhattan .  I can't help but adore the goofiness and sweetness of Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson.  And the addition of Jena Malone, who is excellent in Saved! but who I have loved since Contact , is stellar.  And of course, the effervescent Jennifer Lawrence.  I just love this girl.  This movie...

Since this sequel is coming out this weekend, us slow-to-the-theater folk found this to be the perfect time to catch the first installment of this all-the-talk franchise. And we really did like it.  It had a little bit of 1984 , a lot of Lord of the Flies and even a hint of Romeo and Juliet .  And I know a lot of people have probably said this repeatedly, but it is nice to see a strong female lead with a moral compass and strength who cares about her family and doing the right thing and not so much about her lip gloss. E-Roc had noted that these books and movies didn't seem to get the backlash that the Twilight franchise has gotten even though they have a lot of the same readers.  My guess is that these books and movies are just a little bit, uh, smarter.  The Hunger Games makes you think about societal pressures, our celebrity-obsessed culture, the fracturing of delicate childhood, social inequity, etc.  Twilight makes you think about, uh, vampires....

So we finally got around to seeing Lincoln . And I can't even believe I took this long considering how much I lurve all that is Daniel Day-Lewis.  (And FYI, his wife's name is Rebecca which makes me wonder if he calls her Becky and if so, I need to, at some point in time, hear him saying "Becky" just so I can store it in my memory bank and replay it at will.  Not unlike the very quick moment in Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason when Colin Firth says "who is it, Becky ?" when coming to the door and I immediately melted into a puddle on the dirty theater floor.  But I digress.  I digressed quite a bit there.....) So anyhow, this movie.  It wasn't bad, but I didn't really love it.  I guess the story of Abe Lincoln has been told so many times that this one had to go the way of telling one particular part of his story, i.e. how he fought hard for the abolition of slavery.  And that is a good story, but I thought it was a little too long, a little too b...

Lord knows I am all for Movember .  Hell, anybody that knows me knows I am for Movember AAAAAALLLL year long! But I do have some problems with this list here citing the best mustaches of the 1970's.  It's not that it's a really bad list, I think it's just the wrong decade.  Now show me list of the awesome 80's staches, and I'm on board......  Sam Elliott Tom Selleck Eddie Murphy Freddie Mercury

When I heard about this article this morning claiming that parents sing more pop songs to their kids than traditional lullabies, I was immediately on board.  Little Boy was rocked to sleep by a variety of The Beatles, Sam Cooke, Indigo Girls, James Taylor and more.  And a very big bonus of all that is that your kid grows up loving way more than just Barney.  To this day, Little Boy loves Wonderwall (number 7 on this list, btw) so I must have done something right! TOP POP LULLABIES 1. Bruno Mars - Just the way you are 2. Adele - Someone Like you 3. Rihanna - Umbrella 4. Robbie Williams - Angels 5. Rihanna - Diamonds 6. Guns n Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine 7. Oasis - Wonderwall 8. Taylor Swift - I knew you were Trouble 9. Christina Aguilera - Beautiful 10. McFly - It’s All About You 11. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You 12. Labyrinth feat Emeli Sande - Beneath your Beautiful 13. Bryan Adams - Everything I Do, I Do it for You 14. Emeli Sande - Next to...

This was definitely one of those old shows I had been wanting to re-watch but had to wait for a night when the Hubs was out for the evening because he's not really down with old sit-coms that only mean something to my childhood.  And it was so cute and fun to watch!  I understand why it didn't catch on and become a big hit though.  It was just a little too edgy and not enough mainstream for the grown-ups at the time to get it.  And even though I was too young and shouldn't have gotten it myself, that edginess appealed to me.  It's funny how I latched on to Amy Linker more than Sarah Jessica Parker.  I remember my sister and I had a Dynamite magazine with an article about her that I read over and over.  Wonder what ever happened to her?  Well, it's off to Google I go, I suppose! Anyhow, a fun way to spend Saturday night....drifting down memory lane and remembering a time when Valley Girl speak and New Wave weren't just pop culture references ...

I haven't finished this book yet, but I have to say that anyone as interesting as Cyndi Lauper is definitely worth my time!  I have always been interested in all things NYC in the 70's: Patti and Robert, Lou, The Ramones, Max's Kansas City, The Chelsea and all the rest, so Cyndi definitely fits right in.  I have a feeling that once I finish this book I'm going to be very sorry to not have tickets for her current show ...... Reading this book makes me stop and think about all of the great music Cyndi has made in the past 30 or so years.  Of course, who doesn't love "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" but how about her sexy cover of Roy Orbison's "I Drove All Night"?  I also love "True Colors" and "Change of Heart" but "Time After Time" almost makes me too sad to listen to it.  I remember once hearing Alan Hunter introduce it on the 80's satellite channel and saying that whenever someone requested that song he knew...

This new radio station in the Charlotte, NC area is the bomb-diggety.....as in "I like the way you work it, no diggety!" because it is all about the old school R&B hits of the 70's - 90's.  It is awesome fun to listen to and really makes you think back.  Read here about DJ Eddie Owens and also these sites that tell you a little more about it and name drop enough artists to get you to tune in.  Just when you thought local terrestrial radio had gone belly up......

Every now and then I can go in for a good action flick, and this is definitely worth the time.  E-Roc is a fan of Daniel Craig as 007 and I like Judi Dench as M myself.  I also love the intrigue of these types of movies with their exotic locales and snappy fashions.  The story is good, if not predictable, and Javier Bardem is always a fantastic villain.  At 2 hours and 20 minutes, it clocks in a little long for us but doesn't really drag either.  I like how the 007 franchise has kept all the things that keep it cool: the action, the gadgets, the suave leading man and even a great theme song by Adele.  All in all, a great popcorn flick!

You know how you wait for so long for something that you know it could never measure up or be nearly as great as you built it up in your mind? This was not one of those times. Because last night, my long-time love affair with the band of my youth finally paid off.  And missing all those other tours and never managing to make one single Lollapalooza suddenly didn't matter.   First off: the songs. You can look at the setlist and see that it left nothing to chance.  A band with this many great songs and so many die-hard fans has a lot of people to please, and I could tell by the folks around me that they didn't fall short.  For me, I was super excited to hear the new "Sirens" but loved my all-time favorites "Alive" and "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" and "Not For You". Second: the sound.  Was awesoooooome.  I had some doubts about how a voice like Eddie's would hold up after all these years, but how could I ...

Bout to head outta here and go get ready for my date with Eddie Vedder.  Oh, and my husband.

Bus stop, wet day, she's there I say, please share my umbreeeeeela!

A parrot, a donkey, a dog, a bone Some of us never had a home and If we did we left it long ago And didn't know we were loved.....

After having caught part of this film on the TV Guide Channel, I decided I needed to just give in and watch the whole unedited thing.  Besides, what is my movie taste known for if not some 10 to 15 year-old modern classics?  And it was okay.  Not transcendent.  Not life-changing.  At least not for me.  But I can see why many middle-aged and older men might like it.  And just like the man of few words as the title character, that's about all I can say about it.

I have never been let down by any of Tom Perrotta's books.  Maybe left feeling a little uncertain....and a little uncomfortable.  He really makes you think.  This book is no different.  It tells the story of people in small New England town after a Rapture-like event that becomes known as the Sudden Departure.  And just like the Left Behind series of books, you're left scratching your head about who went and who didn't.  It's not a religious book by any means and contains Perrotta's witty and sometimes scathing sense of humor that repeat readers would expect.  But it does make you think.  Think about what your life would be about without the rush, rush of oh so many commitments.  How you would feel if everything you believed and considered important was suddenly turned on its ear.  And then the biggest question: what do you do now?

Little Boy is a Gold Medal winner in Bocce Ball at the Special Olympics.  I am starting to think I may need to change this "Little Boy" category sometime soon....

I used to treat you like a lady, now you're a substitute teacher......

This is a pretty funny movie, but there are a few warnings.  It is not for you if you are easily offended by: a) religious, end-of-times jokes b) guys who really like being guys I thought it was a pretty good movie, but I cannot stress enough how much this is a GUY movie complete with many, many dick jokes and an overuse of the word "rapey".  The best part of this movie is the concept that the guys are playing themselves (kinda) and have no problem making fun of themselves and pointing out their own douchey qualities.  My husband laughed a lot, so I think it gets a pretty big E-Roc thumbs up! Footnote: The final big outing of Michael Cera being a huge tool was also priceless.  I knew it!!!!

 Now anybody that reads this blog knows I do an s-ton of reading.  But I must say, in all honesty, that I can't remember the last time a book impacted me like The Handmaid's Tale .  It was just simply astonishing.  It's another novel I'm kicking myself for not reading years ago.  This book makes you think very long and hard about what gender and religious politics could and are doing to our society and our world.  I've read so many dystopian novels, especially as a student, but this one seemed so probable that it scared me.  And it should. Now the movie was okay, but not nearly as good as the book.  (When are they ever?)  However, I applaud a good bit of the effort toward authenticity, but I still had to keep pointing out to my hubby the things that weren't in step with the book.  The biggest difference was the ending which disappointed me quite a bit.  I definitely recommend the book highly and plan to read more Margaret At...

It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

Now since I'm the one weirdo of my age group who didn't love this book , I didn't hold out much hope for the movie. And I was right. Did I miss the whole Dean/Mary Lou/Sal love triangle in the book?  Because apparently this was pretty much the only important plot point to the movie.  Oh, that and the misunderstood love between Sal and Dean.  Am I crazy, or did anyone else think On the Road was supposed to be about creativity, freedom and exploration?  My bad. My very, very bad.

Click here here and here for previous years......

These days everyone loves Peter Dinklage for Game of Thrones. Which I don't watch but I hear is pretty fantastic.  Well, so is this little indie flick.  It's sweet and touching and every bit worth all the indie hype I've ever heard about it.  The thing I love about going back to see great movies that flew under the radar is the opportunity to stay away from all the high-flying over-priced over-budgeted films of today.  This movie is perfect for that.

I think I've written before about my love/hate relationship with Jen Lancaster.  (And when I read reviews of her recent books, I realized I wasn't alone.)  Here's the thing.  Jen is crass.  Jen is mean.  Sometimes she is an all-out bitch.  But she is also hilarious.  And even though I can hardly relate to any of her life (and definitely to NONE of her politics) I still can't help but think I'd want to sit at her table at any given ladies luncheon. Her blogs and memoirs have given me varied opinions, but I found this book really entertaining and charming.  If you lived any during the 80's, you will probably love it even if you don't relate entirely to the story.  It's a fun read and not at all serious, and sweet jebus, don't we all need that sometimes? And yes, the title is a reference to the Whitesnake song.  You. Are. Welcome.

Given that I am always behind the times, it makes perfect sense that this movie came out in 2001 and I am only just now seeing it!  And I hate that I waited so long.  It was so simple and cute and beautiful.  I may even add it to my girlie multiple viewing list!