Becky's Greatest Hits Vol. II

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 had her showing muc

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.  Sparkly 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 Me 15. U

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 but a way of li

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!