Thursday Movie Picks: TV Edition-Journalism

 

The last week in September....WTF??? Before you know it, Christmas will be here where we can only Zoom with our family. I am giving a shout out to one strong, beautiful lady, namely Ruth Beta Ginsburg who fought an uphill battle when there were nothing but men, fighting for women's rights and our rights to be heard. I hope, someone, similar to her way of thinking, will take her position she had to relinquish. OK, now onto the wonderful world of Journalism and let's see what the others will chose so head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to find out what everyone has chosen. Here are my 3...

1. ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN-1952-1958

I Loved watching this TV show when I was a kid, in reruns, as I am not that old yet:) You have mild-mannered Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet with Lois Lane, a star reporter, whom he has the hots for, and Jimmy Olsen as the kid photographer, whom he does not have the hots for. This newspaper is run by the curmudgeon Perry White who sends these 3 out to find  the scoop especially anything about Superman. Of course, they never guess that those stupid glasses Clark wears, hides Clark's true identity...Superman! Of course, Lois and Jimmy get into hot water and Superman must save the day whether from the Mole Men or some really bad guys. It's fun, corny and I love every minute of it. Lois Lane is an early female character where she is an independent woman with a "man's" job. This, during the time when women were to be a perfect homemaker greeting her husband in a nice dress with high heels, pearls grateful that he brings home the bacon(blecvhh). One has no idea how huge this show was back in the day to the point that George Reeves hated his alter ego. What a shame that George Reeves was murdered...yes, not a suicide. 

2. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW-1970-1977

This show does not age and is just so funny from the get go. You have a young woman who decides not to marry but strike out on her own, move away from her family and friends and take a job in a newsroom as an associate producer surrounded by men. Her boss, Lou Grant, is an old school newsman who tries to run a tight ship with head writer Murray and the ultimate goofball egomaniac in Ted Baxter who gives new meaning to the word stupid. The show is rounded out by her soon to be best friend, Rhoda(friends in real life too), her landlady, Phyllis and, later on, Sue Ann Nivens, the horny, happy homemaker who has the hots for Lou as well as sweet Georgette who dates and, later, marries Ted. You see them at work, at Mary's parties that always go wrong and the News Awards. Some famous episodes are considered the best ever like "Chuckles The Clown Bites The Dust". My sides hurt from laughing so much when I watched this episode.

3. MURPHY BROWN-1988-1998

Candace Bergen played this character to perfection as a recovering alcoholic who is an acerbic, intelligent, powerhouse who, like a Barbara Walters type, is an excellent investigative reporter. She is the head of a major news show with her best friend, Frank Fontana, a highly respected wooden Jim Dial, The young yuppie trying to run this crew, Miles Silverberg and the quirky, annoyingly happy former beauty queen, Corky Sherwood. Each week we see poor Murphy having to deal with another dreadful secretary along with these people who surround her. They often meet up at a bar run by the gruff, Phil before Murphy comes home to Eldin, the painter who never leaves but offers many philosophical thoughts. This show brought up many controversial topics of the day from breast cancer to becoming a single mom. The latter created a huge political issue when dumbnut Vice President Dan Quayle derided Murphy Brown for taking away family values because she chose to raise her child without marrying the father of her baby. Later, Quayle visited a school and corrected the kid for spelling Potato by informing the kid that it was spelled potatoe. Yup....even if this was on a cue card, you would think Quayle would not have gone through with what was spelled on the cue card. The show created an episode called, "You say Potato, I say Potatoe". It is brilliant.

Which 3 would you choose?

Thursday Movie Picks-The Band

 

I am starting this right off without much talk because it’s late and I need to write this up. Wandering through the Shelves has created the themes for each week and this one is all about the band. This is another fun one so here are my 3...

1. STRIKE UP THE BAND-1940

This is a very fun  movie starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland who were quite the dynamos and were life long friends. They star as boyfriend and girlfriend team who love singing and putting on a show. She believes in her drumming ADD boyfriend who dreams of conducting his own dance band and meets his idol Paul Whitman . They need to make enough money to get to Chicago to win the contest but they just don’t have the money so they need to raise it somehow. 

2. ABBA:THE MOVIE-1977

Anyone who knows me knows I love, love, love ABBA. I have all their albums and know almost all their songs. Funny moment..I pleaded with my mom to see ABBA in Toronto for their Voulez-Vous tour since my brother had already seen The Who, The Rolling Stones etc.... My mom refused and I asked why, "There will be drugs there." I looked at her blankly and said, "Mom, it's ABBA." I didn't go. I had no clue there was a movie about them until a few years ago and I watched it  enjoying every moment. It’s pretty simple, a journalist is trying to get an interview with them while they travel around doing their gigs. It’s fun, engaging and you get to see all their terrible outfits...Voulez Vous outfits and all!

3. I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND-1978

I saw this and thought it was so much fun to see. It really engages you and it made me realize, for the first time, how crazy it was for the Beatles. These teen girls and a couple of guys all want to get to see the Beatles in concert. They go through some antics with one ending up in their hotel room. It is very funny with all the gals taking centre stage. I recommend this movie highly.

So, which 3 would you choose?

Peaceful, Happy and a Hatchet

 

Twofer Card Challenge-Trees  see below for each description:)

Cute Card Thursday-No Patterned Paper

Crafty Creations Challenge-Anything Goes

My anniversary is tomorrow and we will have been together a short 14 years but they are glorious. No Patterned paper here and I rarely use that paper for card making. I missed Color Throwdown again...story of my life. I took these trees and stamped them in brown but not before taking my distress inks and, using a spongy thingy, I swirled the colours down in orange, golden yellow and a darker red to create a vibrant sky. I cut out a moon/sun shape(using a shotglass as the base) and took some more distress inks to create the last shimmer of the sun. I tore up some paper and, once again, used some brown distress ink for the colour of some rolling hills. I stamped the birds in brown and place this on some cream cardstock followed by this rich gold. I used my sizzex and the die cuts to make the letters. I coloured the gold stickers in red to add the final border. I hope my hubby will like it.

Christmas Card Throwdown-Use colours, Orange, Black and Gold

Stamping Sensations-The Great Outdoors

CHNC-Used Anything Goes

So Now Twofer Card Challenge will see that I used the same set of trees but, this time, I used them multiple times to great a scene of serenity amid a beautiful sunset(no forest fire thoughts please even though a warped mind could go there...like mine). I stamped almost everything in brown except for the deer. I had a larger stamp with these deer and I coloured them in a black tombow marker. Once everything was stamped I adhered this to the same gold cardstock as the Anniversary card and finished it in stickers I actually coloured in brown but it looks red here. 

The Library Challenge-Forty Whacks

Now on to something completely different. This is a challenge blog I love but keep missing which bums me out. This time the book chosen is about Lizzie Borden who took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41. I took my red distress ink and patted it down on some kraft paper that can be wiped up. I spritzed it with water and placed the whit cardstock on top making sure the red bled down. I took my gal stamp, stamped her in versamark and used my blush perfect pearl colour and dusted it over the clear versamark which brought this image out. I sealed her with some hairspray otherwise the powder comes off in your hands. I tore the paper and dabbed on white on the edges. I drew an axe, coloured it with my tombow markers and fussy cut it out making sure the axe has plenty of blood on it. Finally, I stamped the words and embossed them with black sparkle. This was a fun one to do and made me think of the TV movie about Lizzie Borden starring Elizabeth Montgomery as the legendary axe gal.  Here is the book...

Thursday Movie Picks-Foreign Language Films

 

Ahh, the wonderful world of the foreign film where one might be forced to watch a bowl of fruit for 15 minutes before you see the words, "Fin". Hahahaa, ok, they are not that bad and, in fact, many are quite good, excellent actually, but I don't see that many in my humble town I live in and I wanted to "bend" the rules because I love doing that. Wandering Through The Shelves is a weekly blog post where anyone can join and choose 3 films that suit that theme. Here are my 3...

1. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI-1920(I THOUGHT IT WAS 1917)

Post war German film exploded where we can see the effects of the German expressionism to this day. None shows this better than this film with all the jagged cuts, wonky lines and a great way to use black and white. The film industry was poor to say the least so they used inventive ways to create a story and film it. This is a great film that is shown in every film class and with reason. You have Francis telling the story to an older man about how he met the beautiful Jane at some fair. At this fair, they are "entertained" by Dr. Caligari who shows them a somnambulist, played by Conrad Veidt, who is at the complete control of the doctor. Soon enough, murders start happening and Jane is in mortal danger. This is a must see in my eyes with an unexpected ending that left me gobsmacked. I just realized this flicker is 100 years old!

2. THE LAST LAUGH-1924

I watched this film only this past year and I loved it! This German film is directed by the great FW Murnau(of Nosferatu fame) and stars Emil Jannings as a proud doorman of a prestigious Berlin hotel. He is proud of his position as it holds high esteem but his employer believes that younger blood is needed and demotes him to a lower level bathroom attendant. He is so humiliated that he keeps up the charade where he lives and with his daughter. It shows the slow decline of a once proud man to one who hates to look in the mirror. Jannings often played these types of characters and he did it well. Murnau hated the fact that he had to tack on a happy ending and, even though it looks contrived, I don't mind it.

3. DIE NIBELUNGEN-SIEGFRID-1924

Oh those Germans and there sagas. I actually read the book and wrote an essay on this of which I got an A-...for this C student, I was tickled pink. This is like the Tales of King Arthur but German with a cast of thousands. The hero, after killing a dragon and getting the horde of gold from the dwarf King,  is asked by his king to win the beautiful Brunhild's hand in marriage. With help from some magic, he wins and Brunhild marries Gunther while Siegfried marries Kriemhild(ughh, these names!). Let's just say Brunhild is suspicious and things don't end well. You see, Siegfried defeated the dragon Fafner and bathed in his blood to become invincible not realizing a leaf fell on his back making him susceptible in this one spot. There is a second part to this film but I have not seen it yet but would love to. This is a pretty good retelling of this legend and, once again, I enjoyed watching it. I am a sucker for silent films.

Have you seen foreign films? Let me know...

A Few Cards...

Christmas Card Throwdown-A Sketch

Crafty Creations-Anything Goes

This was a quicky but I enjoyed making it. I just took 2 pieces of cardstock with the inner one ribbed for some texture. I took a snippet of paper scrap for the background of the Merry Christmas stickers. I took snowflake stickers and adhered them to the paper. I took sticker borders to wrap it up and, finally to finish it off, I placed some crystals on the snowflakes.

The Fairy & The Unicorn-Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday- Anything Goes

I created this for last week's Color Throwdown but, as per norm, I missed the deadline. This was fun because I got all inky with alcohol inks on this shimmery cardstock. I used blues, greens and a lighter green but it shows up yellow which is fine by me. Squirting Alcohol solution down made the colours swirl. I used a stencil to place on some swirly parts but hard to see it here. I stamped different foliage in dark blues and purple to create an underwater affect. It looks better in person. I stamped and cut out the mermaid and coloured her with sparkle pens. I stamped the saying and added sparkle plus added the sparkly stickers on the border. I think this turned out well.

Christmas Crafts All Year Round- Use 2 things that begin with the letter S

Again I created this for another challenge and missed it...such is life:) I had this mirror card in silver and, once again, used alcohol inks in blues, pinks and purple to create this night sky that makes me think of the Aurora Borealis. I used my sizzex to cut out the tree, the village(twice) and the snowflake. I tore a piece of blue cardstock and glittered it up for a snowy scene. I coloured the village and added sparkle to the tops of the houses. Finally, I glued everything in place and added these tiny small silver stickers to create the image of snow. I have snow and a scene...I think it looks quite pretty.

It is cooler here... thank goodness and I can enjoy this weather much more. Wishing you a great day and rest of the week.

Wandering Through The Shelves-Domestic Thrillers

 

September is here already and the days are getting shorter. To be honest I cant wait for cooler weather and I don't care much about the evenings getting shorter in daylight but I don't like getting up in the morning when it is still dark. Oh well, I wouldn't trade where I live...scratch that, yes, if I could live in an Alpine village, I would go there but other than that, I love Canada. This week is much easier because it is all about domestic thrillers and, no, I am not talking about toothless Bertha and her hubby/cousin Bubba belching beer, eating roadkill a la carte shooting off one of their 6 guns, misquoting the bible and thinking that hoarders was how to style their shack, but about non-marital bliss. Wandering Through The Shelves picked a good one for this week(well, almost always, they are good picks) I don't think I can keep it to 3 so here are my chosen not so few.

1. SUSPICION-1941

A classic Alfred Hitchcock film starring Joan Fontaine as the suspicious wife and Cary Grant as the, possibly, murderous husband. Young, rich Joan meets this man, Cary, who sweeps her off her feet and they marry and move into a home that has "rich" written all over it. Cary is always into some scheme or another and has a good friend, played by the likeable Nigel Bruce(of Dr. Watson fame from Sherlock Holmes movies of the same time period) who is with him on his schemes. Soon Joan begins to suspect all is not what it seems with her dashing husband and when she becomes ill and he brings her some milk, she is not sure how to get around to not drinking it. This is quite the uneasy film because you don't know what is true and what isn't. I love how Hitchcock made the milk light up to make it look more ominous. It is worth taking a look at this gem.

2. LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN-1945

I did speak about this film quite a while ago but it is worth a revisit. Cornel Wilde plays a writer who falls for the mysterious but very beautiful Ellen, played by the very beautiful Gene Tierney. She has a mom and sister but Ellen was always daddy's girl, where nobody could come between them. Well, the hapless writer marries Ellen who loves him to the exclusion of everyone. She can't abide anyone sharing his love with someone else so his much younger brother, who is disabled, must be dealt with. When Ellen finds out she is pregnant and realizes the baby will take attention away from her, she will not abide this. The writer soon finds out he is not married to a hapless waif. This is an excellent film that makes you shudder at the depths this girl will go to to keep attention on her. Gene Tierney gave one of her best performances in this role and it is worth watching.

3. DIAL M FOR MURDER-1954

Grace Kelly, in her first Hitchcock film, plays the wife of  a tennis player, played by Ray Milland. Good ole Ray has decided to want out of his marriage and arranges for her to be killed but he doesn't think that his wife is good with scissors. Grace is often called the ideal Hitchcock lady and he loved working with her and vice versa. This is actually a film done in 3D and you can see where some of the images were to be put to this effect but it does not distract from the story. Good ole Grace, who loved loving her leading men had quite the affair with Ray Milland to the point where Milland's wife used Grace's name with the lawyers but, the affair cooled and Milland went back to his wife. 

4. BLACK WIDOW-1987

This is a gem if you can find it because it is a real cat and mouse game with the women playing the strong parts and the men the hapless victims. We meet Theresa Russell(where is she now??) as Catherine newly married to an older, rich man(Dennis Hopper) who dies and not by accident. We soon realize that Catherine is a killer of men after she marries them for their money. An FBI agent, played by Debra Winger, knows this women will kill again and goes on the hunt for her and tries to outsmart this sexy evil bitch. This is a real cat and mouse game with the women in power, rare to find in film.

5. DOUBLE JEOPARDY-1999

Ashley Judd is happily married to a wealthy man and has a young son with him. One eve, they take out their small boat even though he does not know how to handle the boat but believes in his wife. After a night of passion(or 10 minutes), she falls into a deep sleep and when she wakes up she  finds blood everywhere. She is promptly arrested, tried and found guilty in the death of her husband. In prison, scared, she soon starts to make friends with the other women and one day, when she calls her best friend so she can speak to her son, she hears her her son call out, "Daddy!" Can we say PISSED! She finds out she can't be charged twice for the murder of her husband since he is, supposedly, dead. She gets out after 6 years for good behaviour and meets her parole officer, played by Tommy Lee Jones. Little does he know she is on a mission to find her husband so, when she breaks her parole, Tommy is hot on her trail. This is quite a fun flick with one strong woman in Ashley Judd and Bruce Greenwood, who is such a good actor, plays her slimy husband. 

I could have written more but there are my 5.  Which would you choose?