Thursday Movie Picks:TV Edition-High School

It`s TV time again and it's all about high schools which I hated being in. I was bullied and have little happy thoughts going to a Catholic high school. I always said the teachers were typical, it was the students but now I wonder. You see, one teacher, I used to call him Father Feel-Up( real name Father Foley), went with the mayor of Welland, Mayor Stranges, to Buffalo and picked up 2 male hustlers. Feel-up and Stranges were found, naked, tied up and robbed. Oh and Father Feel-Up and the Mayor stole over $20,000 from the lottery that was run at my high school. I found out that my former principal was charged with child porn back in 2013. Ahh what wonderful memories... I wish I was making this up. Ok, on to tv shows and let's celebrate shows that one wishes would be reality. Head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to see what the others have chosen.

1. WELCOME BACK KOTTER-1975-1979

I used to watch this religiously and got a kick out of Horschak. This show made John Travolta's career believe it or not because it helped him get his starring turn in Saturday Night Fever. It starred Gabe Kaplan as a nice teacher who tries to teach inner city kids, the worst being  5 delinquents. You laughed at their shenanigans and enjoyed the teacher and his wife. It was fun for its time.

2. READY OR NOT-1993-1997

Even though I was already in my 30's when this came on, the Canadian TV show appealed to me. It was about 2 friends, one who loves boys, pink and everything girly and her best friend who could care less about things like this and had a strong independent streak. It dealt with many issues girls go through but in an intelligent, sensitive and thought provoking way. I really enjoyed this show. Oh..and yes, that is Ryan Gosling with the freaky eye brow

3. FREAKS AND GEEKS-1999-2000

I really loved this show because this one I could relate to because I felt, and still feel, I am a freaky geek and proud of it. It takes place during the high school years centering on a young girl and her brother, with loving parents, who becomes friends with both sides-she, with the freaks and her brother, with the geeks. It once again touches on the trials and tribulations that kids face. This is one show that was cancelled way too early and it is now considered a true gem of the TV industry.

Which ones comes to your mind?

A gardening experience

Hi everyone.....I'm now sick so I can't see my mom. We had a brief scare yesterday as she was sent back to the hospital, but they did the tests and she is aok and back at her home. I think, due to her difficult breathing, she will soon be in a wheelchair. It is too difficult for her to walk down the long hall to her room. The good news is that someone does exercises everyday with the people.

I have read some experiences people have had with animals and thought I would add my own. This took place back in the 80's ...I think the late 80's but my memory is turning menopausal. My brother's first wife started a garden and after a year, stopped, so I decided to take it over. The first year went well except for my mom stealing all the lettuce leaves. I thought it was a rabbit or a deer but I caught my mom who was the true varmint. I covered the garden with an old pool tarp so I would have little weed pulling the next spring.

That spring, I put my rubber boots on, my garden hat and went out to start the garden. I started to take the tarp away when I heard this swishing sound. My curiosity was aroused and I moved the tarp again and saw something move underneath it. I was hooked and felt like I was in some jungle ready to find some rare animal. I pulled the tarp back and there lay this large black ugly snake. It was fat and it was long, I would say it was about 5 ft...I'm not kidding. I had never seen it before but I knew one thing...it was ugly. I was used to garter snakes but this was no garter snake.

Did I run? Oh no, I was thinking I was Marlin Perkins from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdomor rather Jim, the poor doofus who always did the hard crap. I took my rake and started to push the snake, let's call him Herman, to see what the snake would do. Can we say "Dumb Ass!" I nudged Herman again who suddenly, reared his head in an upright position looking at me. Now I, let's call me idiot, thought I was far enough back (I was) that he can't strike me so I nudged poor Herman again. Quicker than you can say blonde bimbo idiot, he struck so fast that any notion of working with anything wild evaporated.

I ran, with my arms and hands outstretched like the blonde twit that I am, my rubber boots almost falling off, towards the house, got inside and breathed a sigh of relief. I escaped Herman and his unhappy view of this blonde idiot. I called my neighbour who came with his tractor and looked all around but Herman was gone. I had never seen this type of snake before or after but my ex, who is a snake lover, said it was probably a rat snake since we had a creek behind our home.

So went my adventure between Herman and the Idiot. Geez, rereading this you would think I was writing some porn film.

Thursday Movie Picks: the Stage.

Just so all of you know...my mom is back to her "norm" and has no recollection that she was in the hospital nor that she had pneumonia. Dementia, in this case, is a blessing as who wants to remember this crap. Everyone is back to work so I can breathe and try and catch up on my own work. Thank you so very, very much for all your kind words, prayers and best wishes, I was very deeply moved. Now that life is back to norm( Ha!), the eclipse is done, and the freaks have hid themselves away, I can talk about the stage because we all know the world's a stage. This week at Wandering Through The Shelves, it is about the stage and I picked 3 films that, I believe, is a theme within a theme and I wasn't even going for that. It will be interesting what the other film nuts have chosen so head on over and check it out. Here are my 3....

1. THE BLUE ANGEL-1930

This is the film that made Marlene Dietrich famous but it was not her first film as she always liked to say. It stars the leggy Dietrich with Emil Jennings( he won the first actor Oscar) as the hapless professor who falls under her spell. The professor is angered by his male students being captivated by this cabaret star rather than wanting to study. He finally goes to the Blue Angel to catch the boys and over a few visits falls for Lola Lola. You see his slow decay as he succumbs to her, um, charms. It is directed by Joseph Von Sternberg who was Dietrich's Svengali. A great expressionist German film showing the decadence of Berlin. It is worth seeing how this decadence and a place that looks like garbage( what his students call him) seduces and ruins a man. Great film.

2. CABARET-1972

I love this film that has the Kit Kat Club as the centre for all that is going on in the lives of the people involved. You have Sally Bowles, played by Liza Minnelli, who loves to wear shocking nail polish, as the main headliner at the club. She meets the young student/writer, played by Michael York, who rents a room from the same place she is living at. They become romantically entwined and meet a rich Jewish lady, a young German man who falls for the Jewish lady and comes out as also being Jewish and a rich German playboy who likes to swing both ways. Decadent Berlin has never been shown better than by the MC of the Kit Kat Club, played by Joel Grey who showcases life that is happening outside the club. You not only have romance but horror. Bob Fosse brought horror with 2 musical pieces that I found shocking. The Gorilla skit and the young boy singing in a beer garden. The Nazi party is gaining ground and there is no way to stop it.

3. MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS-2005

I just watched this a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It take place during WW2 with Mrs. Henderson, played by the great Judi Dench, as a widow who is very, very wealthy. On a whim she buys a derelict theatre, fixes it up and starts having round the clock shows. It becomes such a success that other theatres adopt this which brings her finances for the club down so she starts having shows with women...naked. People are aghast and upset but she pulls it off and it becomes a hit. She loves the theatre, the girls and the people who work there. It is a thoughtful, fun and an entertaining film based on a true story.

What films would you choose?

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