Thursday Movie Picks-Rescues

I'm sorry I haven't been around much to visit like I love to do. August has been blecchhhh actually. I have often been seeing 6 people per day at work, falling behind as a person was on a vacation and another suffered a heart attack. I consider the lady who had the heart attack a friend. It was mild but it was not the first nor will it be her last, according to her Dr. The worst was that my mom was taken to the hospital on Sunday and has pneumonia. Now, the great news is she is back at her long term care facility and her oxygen levels are back to what they were before she became ill and she is beginning to eat. My brother really was there for my mom but she did suffer a delirium state Monday morning and it left him shaken. She couldn't breathe and was scared, anxious and angry and would not settle down. She had bouts of this and we did our best to calm her down. I had to work since I am the only one to see clients but then would see my mom afterwards. I came home exhausted and now I need to be near a bathroom as my tummy is not happy. It's just been....sad.

So, in a little honour to my mom, who lived through WW2 and was part of the German Resistance, gave food every day to a man behind a fence at some "work" facility and, right after the war, her parents took in a Jewish man, gave him clothes and food even though they were also starving, I am picking 3 films that took place during WW2. It is all about the rescue this week and one could go in so many directions. Head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to see what the others have chosen...

1. THE PIED PIPER-1942

I have not seen this film in a long time but would love to revisit it. It also stars one of my favourite actors, Monty Woolley as a man who got stuck behind enemy lines during WW2  and wants to get back to England. A couple request he take their 2 children with him to safety even though he hates kids. He agrees and before he knows it, he has more children in tow trying to get to freedom. His hard heart softens as he realizes the children depend on him. Monty is great and was up for an Oscar for this role. A great gem that has been forgotten.

2. THE BIG LIFT-1948

I bet few remember the aftermath of WW2  and  the nightmare that followed when the Russians took over a large part of Germany. My mom remembers to this day and says that was when her true hell began. This broke Germany up into 2 parts East and West  and the centre was Berlin. Russia tried to starve the city of Berlin to take over the city. The States, realizing that this was a key to keeping the world free plus could not abide the German people from starving after already suffering multiple bombings during the war, rape, murder and pillage by the Russians, started an air lift program. US bombers flew over the city and would drop food so the city would not starve. One man, seeing the small children at the Templehof airport, started "Operation Little Vittles" dropping chocolate and candy. My mom's best friend, Brigitte, was 10 years old and was one of those kids who waited for the candy. Due to the U. S. etc, Berlin was not totally taken over and Russia did not take all of Germany. This film is about this airlift and also threw in romance and intrigue. It's a very good film and worth watching. Sorry for the more history less film plot but the 2 work together.

3. WALLENBERG: A HERO'S STORY-1985

I had never heard of this man until I watched this TV movie (Yup, I'm cheating) that was shown in 2 parts. This is one man that I consider one of the most admirable and heroic people ever! Richard Chamberlain played Wallenberg, a Swedish man from a rich family, who took it upon himself to rescue tens of thousands of Jews by issuing faked documents, bribing officials and at, one point, literally jumping onto a boxcar handing out documents to the Jewish people held inside the boxcar, opening the car and letting them walk while gun fire was shot over his head. The Arrowcross men never stopped him and were stunned by his courage. The sad part is the Russians took Wallenberg after the war and never disclosed, to this day why except some feeble attempt to say Wallenberg was a spy. They say he died in 1947 but many prisoners from the Soviet Gulag mentioned a Swedish man held prisoner until the 1970's and even the 1980's. I consider this an excellent movie and hope you can watch it one day. I had to choose this man whom I truly admire and consider him a hero.

I feel guilty for not choosing Schindler's List which is also heroic. What rescue films would you choose?

Thursday Movie Picks: Summer Blockbusters

I remember when the shit hit the fan back in the 1970's when the summer blockbuster began and never looked back. Some great movies came out in the summer and some real crap came out as well and either made a ton of money or sank like a dead weight. It will be interesting to see what the others have chosen this week. Head on over to the brainchild of this weekly series, Wandering Through The Shelves, to see what movies have been chosen this week. Here are my 3...

1. JAWS -1975

This is the film that started it all and I remember all the brou-ha-ha that this film generated. People were really freaked out to the point that sharks were being hunted more than usual. In fact, I was scared to ever swim in the ocean...and still am but I have met that fear and won...although I will never swim in any waters in Australia. This is about a big shark that seems to have a yen for human flesh and has come to the waters off  Amity IsLand (Martha's Vineyard) right around the July 4th weekend.   The sheriff, who hates the water, wants to shut down the beaches much to the Mayor's chagrin. Finally, he, a marine Biologist ( not George Costanza) and a weathered fisherman, played wonderfully by Robert Shaw, go out in Shaw's old boat to kill the shark. This film packed a punch, set one's heart a racing and was well acted. Despite all the issues the film crew had with the shark, nicknamed Bruce, the shark looked real and still looks real to me today.

2. Jurassic Park-1993

I can't believe this film is over 20 years old because these dinosaurs still freak me out and look very realistic. This is about a nutty old fart who has a dream to clone dinosaurs and create a park for people to come to. He invites scientists to review his new park and, although they are in awe of what they see, they are also concerned...rightly so. Well, as all blockbusters go, things go very, very wrong and these dinosaurs are on the loose. It has me still on the edge of my seat especially when the kids are eating ice cream. Great effects and edge on your seat viewing make this a fun flick. I have to admit my favourite character is Jeff Goldblum.

3. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY-2014

I really enjoy watching this movie because it is clever, cheeky and quite entertaining. The hero is a boy taken by aliens and grows up in the cosmos with alien pirates. He becomes an unwitting hero along with a green, smoking hot girl, a brick house of a man, a tree and a demented raccoon. They must save the universe from a raging loon who is hell bent on getting this orb that the hero stole. This is well written with some great tunes and full of humour. Although I love the raccoon my favourite is the bald headed dude, Drax.

Bonus...

STAR WARS-1977

There is no way I can not speak about this film that has launched 7 more films and counting. It cemented the summer blockbuster as we know it and changed the way the executroids view films for the summer. In fact, I believe this film is what started the McDonald Toys plus all the other collecter stuff out there never mind nerds around the globe dressing up as their favourite hero/heroine. I had stickers all over my door of han Solo et al, but My brother still has his...with the wrappers. We know the plot....young man wants to leave his dusty old town, meets an old dude with special powers and along with a hot dude and his hairy friend, embark to find the Princess with Laurel and Hardy aka R2D2 and C3P0. They find her and the evil Darth Vader and must battle forces that seems impossible. Flash Gordon, eat your heart out!

Which would you choose

Busy Gal!

I had a busy visiting weekend and it was great! I have not seen my half sister in a very, very long time and we finally got together. Great food and great company. The next day, we saw a  great friend whom we have not seen in a while. In between seeing people, I cleaned, made dinners, snored, visited my mom...you know, the usual. I am happy to say I made some cards

Flower Challenge- background Stamping
Color Throwdown-use mint green/aqua, light pink, lavender
Crafty Creations-Anything Goes
Fusion Challenge- a sketch and use pastels(or picture shown on their site)
Butterfly Challenge-You Choose and/or color Wedge wood Blue

This is a birthday card for my friend. I chose pastel colours to create this card. The left side I used distress inks that I sponged on. The right side, I used an old stamp that was embossed with white. I used chalk for the base colour and tombow makers to colour in the flowers. Stickles, fancy scissors, sizzex machine for the butterfly and some glue helped create this card

Happy Little Stampers:Anything Goes with Dies
Glitter-Monochrome
Dream Valley-Anything Goes

Really loved making this card. I stamped the lady long time ago on a distress ink background I did. At first I didn't care for her that much but she grew on me and I love the look of an outdoor sculpture covered in moss. I mixed dark blue paint with  paste and stenciled the paste on and then added glitter. The other background is done with colour burst. I stamped the background, added the saying and added the flower crystals.

Winter Wonderland-Use Ribbon, Twine or Lace
Christmas Cards All Year Round- Use Yellow
Eclectic Ellapu- Anything Goes
CHNC-Anything Goes Christmas

This is minimal for me. I just used the sizzex for the star cutout and the cuddlebug for the embossed backgrounds. I added glitter in the middle, ribbon and the cut out saying...basically just a white and yellow card. I was going to add snowflakes in yellow but yellow snow is just....wrong:)

Thursday Movie Picks-Crime Families

It's August! Wowzers!! Let's picture flowers, hazy days and crime families:) This week it is all about the bad families. Now I could have made it easy and just picked The Godfather 1, 2 and 3 but I am not picking this biggie at all. Sorry guys, but I am just not a lover of these films even though they are rated incredibly high in film land. In fact, they are not even my favourite and I can't stand Goodfellas. I know, I know how can I? Well, I can't stand Ray Liotta in this film nor do I care for any of the people, the violence or the F word every 2 seconds. I am all for the fun language but not to this excess. Head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to see what the others have chosen. Here are my 3....

1. PRIZZI'S HONOR-1985

OK this film has the language in it but not to excess. It is directed by the great John Huston who has constructed a clearly sweet, diabolical, nasty love story. Jack Nicholson plays a loyal hitman to the Prizzi family who is seeing the daughter (Angelica Huston, daughter of the director) of the Patriach of this mafia clan.  The Prizzi family hire another hitman...er woman, Kathleen Turner and this is where the fun starts when these 2 lovable hit people fall in love. It is a clever comedy with some romance and violence thrown in....thrown is the word for this film. Great anecdote- John Huston directed his dad, Walter Huston in Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and they both won Oscars. John Huston and Angelica Huston were both up for Oscars for this film but John didn't win..his daughter did though.

2. HEARTBREAKERS-2001

Talk about a sweet mom helping her daughter through life. Sigourney Weaver plays the mom to Jennifer Love Hewitt conning men out of their fortunes. Sigourney marries the old coots and Jenny seduces them with her mom catching them in the act. Sig proceeds to take her husband to the cleaners wiping them out before proceeding to the next man. They don't count on Ray Liotta's character tracking them down nor does Jen count on actually falling in love with a poor, nice guy. Hijinks ensues while they all try to con one another. It is not a great film by any means but it is fun flick and one  feels the stars had fun making this film too.

3. THE FAMILY-2013

Talk about a dysfunctional family! Robert De Niro (who else) is married to Michelle Pfeiffer and they have 2 sweet (HA!!) teenage kids living somewhere in France. They are on the run with the help of the FBI headed by Tommy Lee Jones since De Niro's character will be spilling the beans on the mob boss he had been working with for most of his life. Of course, the mob is trying to get to them and wipe them all out. They have no clue what this family is all about. Yes, there is violence and bad language and I love it because it doesn't bother me in this movie as it does in Goodfellas. Even though they are so screwed up you would never want to know them, they love each other and you realize the FBI men like them also. I consider this an enjoyable movie to watch.

Aside from the Obvious (Godfather movies and Goodfellas), what films would you choose?

Vacation Time

"Ah, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you..." For any old movie fan, you will know this number by MacDonald and Eddy. Today is my first day back at work and I truly feel relaxed. I think the one gal I work with must think I took at least 6 valium:) My hubby and I took off to Quebec since his Aunt and Uncle live right on the Richelieu River about an hour south of Montreal.  They have a small but beautiful home located right on this river. We did shop for some clothing at this great bargain place and bought some great cheese at the Kaiser farms and we bought fruit and corn. By the afternoon we settled in watching the boats and yachts go by along with mamma duck and her 16 ducklings. The only 2 issues we had was sleeping on a bed that was so hard my ass felt numb for 2 days after we came back and these tiny little black potato bugs that pinch. Of course I had one of these buggers fly down my top and start pinching me in my boob area. Since I have lost any embarrassment issues I just looked down my top and crushed the little bastard between my fingers while the Uncle and the neighbour were right there.

Last week, I just spent sleeping because, for some reason, even restful trips seem to take a lot out of me.  That was just one day since I am not Rip Van Winkle, I also saw my best friend and helped her through another tough week of her divorcing a narcissistic sociopath. Seeing my mom, groceries and trying to get rid of dust was the rest of my time off. I did create a couple of cards and will show them later...probably next week. Here are a couple of pictures and a very short video for your enjoyment:)

Isn't this relaxing looking?

That is not a hummingbird but a woodpecker who loves the sweet juice.

Now if you see this video...great and if it is upside down...well, it's because I had no idea to make it right side up since i mailed it to my work here. Oh well, still relaxing to see

Thursday Movie Picks-TV Edition-Non English TV Shows

I don't know any...I really don't except I recall watching Bonanza in German...that was fun. Does that count?? I also saw Friends in Italian...No?? Oh well...Let's see what everyone else has chosen over at Wandering Through The Shelves.

There is no reason...I just love Benny Hill and if I could find that clip of Benny Hill playing all the parts of the Ponderosa gang and speaking in German, I would have put this in:)

Thursday Movie Picks-The Chosen One

I am writing this quick since I am at work and will be leaving tomorrow. OK this week it is all about the Chosen One. I would have chosen some film about Jesus but I haven't seen one in a very long time so here are my picks. Head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to see what the others have chosen.

1. THE 10 COMMANDMENTS-1956

Moses, Moses, you incredible fool you! I love Anne Baxter and the whole gang in this very long but highly entertaining film. Iy is Cecil B DeMille in full bible power as only he can do it and he has Chuck as the great Moses. Moses is the chosen one to lead his people out of bondage to freedom. These people are so happy but keep needing to  see something neat...like the parting of the red sea. The Angels of death that come the night before the freedom exodus still freaks me out. Good flick!

2. THE LIFE OF BRIAN-1979

I love Monty Python and this caused quite the stir with the bible nuts who saw this as blasphemous. I found this hilarious since it is all about a case of mistaken identity and poor Brian just wants to be left alone. Remember we are all individuals...well, I'm not...shhhh. OK sing with me "Always look on the Bright Side of Life..."

3. EVAN ALMIGHTY-2007

This is silly but fun to watch. Evan, now trying to gain a foothold in the government asks for God's help and Morgan Freeman, whom we all know truly sounds like God, hears his prayer and says he has chosen him...for what..not sure but Evan soon figures out he must build an ark. He starts to build running the risk of losing his job, his family and his respect. It is sweet with not much to take home except some funny moments.