Some Kind of Wonderful

Warren and I went to an outdoor movie at the local coffee shop. "The Shop" is a converted garage with a huge parking lot and a wall with a movie screen painted on it. A few weekends ago we went to Big Trouble in Little China and this weekend we went to Some Kind of Wonderful, a John Hughes film. I had never seen it before and thoroughly enjoyed it. Warren did not enjoy it that much. I think that might have something to do with the fact that he has not seen as many 80's movies as I have and might be forgetting what it is like to be an angsty teen. Either way it was less entertaining and silly than the Kurt Russell vehicle but still satisfying.

It got me thinking about just how much I love John Hughes movies. Here is a complete list of them. I bolded movies that I have seen and starred the ones I love the most. Did you know that he wrote some movies as Edmund Dantes? I would highly recommend watching/rewatching some John Hughes. I think I might.

Delta House (1979) (TV)
National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982)
At Ease (1983) (TV)
Mr. Mom (1983)
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
Nate and Hayes (with David Odell) (1983)
Sixteen Candles (1984) (also Director)*
The Breakfast Club (1985) (also Director)*
National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
Weird Science (1985) (also Director)
Pretty in Pink (1986)*
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) (also Director)*
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) (also Director)*
She's Having a Baby (1988) (also Director)
The Great Outdoors (1988)
Uncle Buck (1989) (also Director)*
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Home Alone (1990)
Career Opportunities (1991)
Only the Lonely (1991) (Producer Only)
Dutch (1991)
Curly Sue (1991) (also Director)*
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Beethoven (with Amy Holden Jones) (1993) (as Edmund Dantes)
Dennis the Menace (1993)
Baby's Day Out (1994)
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
101 Dalmatians (1996)
Flubber (1997)
Home Alone 3 (1997)
Reach the Rock (1998)
Just Visiting (with Christian Clavier and Jean-Marie Poire) (2001)
Maid in Manhattan (2002) (Story Only) (originally titled "The Chambermaid") (as Edmund Dantes)
Drillbit Taylor (2008) (Story Only) (as Edmund Dantes)

I also found this article about how much women in their 20s and 30s are in love with the idea of Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles. It is pretty funny.

Jake Ryan article

August? Already?

August is the time when I have to start gearing up. I have decided that I will allow myself to think about school (I am certainly not ready for that quite yet). Warren's birthday,the beginning of 2L, and duh duh duh, my birthday. This year I will be turning 30. I will be honest I am feeling a little apprehensive about it (although I think this cupcake is being a little dramatic) but I still have most of the month prepare. My brother-in-law, Ian, suggested I celebrate by remembering my Twenties.

"The Last Twenty of my Twenties" - each day I will celebrate by doing things that remind me of being in my twenties. **Please note I did not do these things all the time just on occasion (in case my mom is reading this).

1) Listen to Dave all day (If only I hadn't gotten rid of that wall sized poster I had of him)
2) Drink Margaritas made with varying grades of tequila, cheap to expensive
3) Spend hours analyzing a phone call my friend received from a guy
4) Spend an entire day watching "Sex in the City" in my pjs
5) Spend time obsessing about my career and the state of education
6) Wander around Seattle (might have to be Spokane)
7) Spend the day in a coffee shop (There are two I really like here)
8) Pull an all-nighter stressing about something (but what should I stress about?)
9) Go for a long run (might have to walk some of it)
10) Drink a flaming drink. I love those! ( I think they bring you closer to the Gods. It is like touching the heavens and I might have referred to them as "the truth and the light" a time or two.)
11) Smoke a cigarette (So bad for me,sorry body!)
12) Buy a cd
13) Go to Mexico (I can't really do this one so I will have to put it in the bank for another time.)
14) Eat Papa John's Pizza
15)
16)
17)
18)
19)
20)
21) (Remember I can't go to Mexico so I need an extra one)

Uh oh. Not quite there? Any suggestions? I would love to hear any terrific ideas you might have, especially healthy ones, most of these seem to be things that are hard on my body/full of calories/involve me sitting around.

Nerd Tested; Nerd approved

I am a sci-fi nerd, there I said it. This is something my husband didn't even know about me until the new Star Trek came out and I was giddy. Here are my two new nerdy pursuits both combine post-apocalypse and human drama.

Battle Star Gallatica:
Yep I guess people(nerds) have known about it for quite some time but I am just now watching it. All I can say is that I love it. It is so amazing the way it connects to culture and yet has created a world all it's own. I can't even begin to tell you anything about it because I will ramble on and on and it will seem like crazy nonsense. Suffice it to say a) watch it and b)talk with me about it when you do.

Hunger Games:
Late to the party again on this one. This is supposed to be the new it book in young adult fiction, the new HP or the new Twilight. There are supposed to be making it into a movie. It is a quick read and it is so interesting. Here is the general idea: In a post apocalyptic world two kids from every district have to participate in the games which are a real life Survivor for television viewers. Do you love it all ready?

Both of these make me wonder why I don't have a creative enough brain to write and come up with amazing ideas like these.

Just Like on TV

Sad news for Kristin Cavallari, her fiance/quarterback for the Bears, just backed out of wedding plans. They were only engaged for 2 months and had just had an engagement party last week. Sadly, she also just bought her expensive designer dress. I feel bad for her. Warren also informed me that he had a questionable injury and quit on a playoff game. So he is now notorious for quitting when things get scary or tough, at least notorious to me. If only she were still on reality tv so we could hear and see her dealing with this news. Finally the push I needed to get back to blogging. At least some good has come out of this.

Paris, I want to go to there.

This week we went to Midnight in Paris, the new Woody Allen film. I loved it. Not just because I enjoy many of the actors in the movie (Rachel McAdams, Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, etc) but because I love reading/thinking about the writers and artists who lived there in the 20s. My favorite book of all time is A Movable Feast. I love the way that Hemingway writes and enjoyed getting to see him. Although he seemed a little too dark and brooding, different than I had imagined him to be. I mean yes he was an alcoholic and depressed a lot of the time but I felt that this portrayal overdid it. I also am now really interested in reading more about the Fitzgeralds. I know they were quite an interesting pair and I want to read more about their wild lives.

This also tied nicely with the book I just finished, The Paris Wife. It was about Hadley Richardson (Hemingway's first wife) and is historical fiction. I devoured this book and could hardly do anything else besides read this book. I love the idea of what life must have been like for her (and other wive's of successful creative types). I also really enjoyed both of the books written in this style about the ladies in Frank Lloyd Wright's life, Loving Frank and The Women: A Novel. I much preferred Loving Frank but enjoyed both. It is a great way to write because you don't have to know all the facts and can make up a cool/interesting story and feelings for the people we know so little about.

These two things have made me very excited for travel in general and made me wish, again, that I could plan a trip to Paris/ time travel to the 20s.

Author, educator, politician; a legacy to leave behind

I was looking at Wikipedia, for a reason that is too complicated/stupid to tell the whole story (I will tell you that tv's Chuck is a singer and has a duet with Katherine McPhee/had a girlfriend who is an alternative songstress who performed at SXSW), and ended up looking at the page about Beverly Hills High School (made famous on Beverly Hills 90210 and the recent employer of a friend of ours) and was looking at the list of famous alumni. After each person's name there was a descriptor. Some had one or two descriptors but the one I really liked was this one "Max Rafferty, author, educator, politician." I want this listed after my age on my wikipedia page someday. A close second, in my mind, would be to have it say "rapper/actor, basketball player" which is what it says after Lil' Romeo's name. I mean I do play basketball and I like rap music but I don't think it will ever happen for me. And I am 2/3 there, educator check and author (blog I know is pushing it but close enough) check.

Have you seen...

You know that I am fascinated with the end of days so Robbie, my brother in law showed me this.



A few comments about this video. First of all I really enjoy this song and the video is interesting although I don't really get what exactly is happening during most of it. I hate Chris Brown's blonde hair (and am still mad at him). I love Justin Bieber and his swagger coach is totally worth the money. Seriously, I have a little crush on him.

Get out your dancin' shoes...

and get excited for October.


Warren just showed this to me. (Isn't he the best?) Footloose is happening again. I am so excited about this. The kids still want to dance but this time they get a little freaky and there appears to be some kind of bus fight. Also Dennis Quaid is the dad and Julianne Hough is the preacher's daughter. I can't wait.

Away we go

I absolutely love the movie Away We Go. It makes leaving everything you love and know to have an adventure seem a little less daunting. The actors in it our spectacular and it was directed by the American Beauty director. I would highly recommend it.

My All-time favorite television shows

In an effort to keep things light I will follow rant posts with happier/less serious posts. A while ago I wrote about Castle, one of my new favorite shows. It got me thinking about which shows would be on my all time favorite list. Here it is in no particular order:

Weeds

Castle

Ghost Whisperer

Seinfeld

Arrested Development

30 Rock

Honorable Mention Category :
Glee, Parenthood, Parks & Rec, The Hills (I didn't forget where I came from), Veronica Mars

Another reason to love Kate Winslet

As if Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind wasn't enough.


I found this on moveon.org.(Love this site but take it's postings with a grain of salt) It really makes you think. I love seeing untouched photos with the actual published ones. It is so disturbing. How can we encourage children to grow up and love and accept themselves when we can't do it as adults or as a culture? Downer.

But on the bright side Kate Winslet is an amazing human. I wish all celebs would take a page from her book.

A feeling of...

Do companies have a moral obligation to the places where they make most of their profits?

I was looking at moveon.org and found out that there is protest planned in Apple stores on June 4th. I have no idea what this protest would look like (how many people there will actually be) but was telling Warren about it mostly because I liked the suggested protest chants (“I can sync my iPhone with my Macbook. Why can’t I sync it with my values?” ouch! biting.) and because they knew how to spark my ire/interest linking unpaid taxes to schools and police men. (I find this to be especially interesting because there is always a Spokane Policeman sitting in the Apple Store when I walk by it.) Warren does not trust the validity of the info on move on so I did some looking around on the internet. Does Apple really want to be a part of this so called "tax holiday"?

Here is what I found.
Apple along with many other big name/big money companies (including Microsoft, Cisco, and other tech and big pharmaceutical companies) are a part of this lobbying group called Win America (sweet name!). Their mission being to influence Congress to "pass legislation to offer an immediate reduction of taxation on income earned overseas by innovative American businesses to allow that money to be brought home and invested in the United States." Now mind you there is no law stating that they can't bring the money back themselves but they are hindered by the fact that they want to make as much money as is humanly possible and not lose any money to taxes. This 60 Minutes report byLesley Stahl helps to shed some light on why the companies choose not to return to the US and keep more of their profits. I like when someone calls the tax lawyers maneuvering, "shenanigans".

Now, I am far from an investigative journalist but I am glad that I was able to find more information and educate myself. I am also left feeling a little hopeless because it all seems so crazy. Trillions of dollars, so much money that I don't really even have a concept of it, money that could really be helping people in the U.S. ( I know that one could also argue that this money would just go towards the military budget which is insanely large and towards politicians wacky agendas). But that money is just a percentage of what these companies made just last year. It is mind-boggling.

It is all so frustrating and leaves me feeling perplexed and a little mad at my iPod. Perhaps instead of protesting on June 4th I will just make a conscious effort not use my iPod. Take that Apple.

The Hills/ Laguna Beach News

Kristin Cavallari is getting married to Jay Cutler, the Chicago Bears Quarterback. Why didn't anyone tell me? I really enjoyed reading about it because after his name they wrote "quarterback" and after her name they wrote "actor?" Sadly that doesn't change the fact that she is famous. I have seen some pictures of them and I don't want to sound shallow (but I will) it seems like she might be getting less good looking by association. I mean despite my feelings about her I think she is generally pretty cute.

Have you ever noticed?

I was reading this article about how teachers are not impressed with Arne Duncan or President Obama. I really like how people are running around talking about the disconnect between one thing and another. Buzzwords are the best!

Baller

Yes, I am a nearly 30 year old woman and yes my husband and I played a two on two basketball game with High school boys in our neighborhood today. Needless to say we lost, however we hung in there for a while. It was fun. I really enjoyed the chance to play again and made quite a few jump shots of which I am quite proud. Every day since
Warren has been on break I have rushed home to hang out with him. I love being on break but warren on break is the best. He is so fun to be around these days he seems so light hearted. I love it.

Life in the Adirondack

I have recently become obsessed with Adirondack chairs. I found cute wooden ones with a matching footrest at Costplus World Market (I love this store. I frequently go there for retail therapy when I have had a bad day) but they were way too expensive. Instead I bought some cheap, plastic ones at Shopko in the same lovely turquoise color. The fit perfectly on the back porch. Now I just need the weather to be a tad warmer so that I can properly enjoy them.

Something Borrowed

My friend Kate loaned me this book and I have been devouring it. I am still in the middle of reading The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (It was nominated for the Booker Prize, blah, blah. Let me just say that it is no Possession) but I feel that I need a small rest from these "chunkster" books that I have been reading. My thinking behind this is that you can't eat cheesecake every night after dinner (despite how much I might like to try) it is just too rich. Similarly you can't read thick (let's be honest) boring books all the time. Sometimes you need a little lighter fair, and this book is perfect for that.

Allergies

I

love spring. It is wonderful to be in the sunshine, despite the fact that it is making my Kindergarten friends a little nutty, unfortunately it also brings back my old nemesis, Pollen. I am already being bested by the outdoors. Any suggestions for fighting hay fever (a term Warren claims never to have heard before. He called it "another farm disease", which I thought was pretty funny.)? I tried the Neti pot but I hate that feeling of going swimming without actually having gone swimming. I find it to be disappointing and I worry that it is making my sinus unable to work properly by themselves (although that is kind of already the problem).

Castle

So I am not sure if you know this but I think that Castle is one of my all-time favorite television shows. I just finished watching the season 3 finale and it was amazing. I had to tell Warren a synopsis of the entire show (he doesn't care and wanted to watch basketball but he humored me) because I was so excited about all that happened. This show is witty and funny and you get to try to solve a mystery, need I say more. I just love trying to find the answers before Becket and Castle do. Did I mention that there is a love between the characters that hasn't yet come to fruition? This makes for interesting and exciting anticipation and banter. Seriously get on board. You will not regret it.

Hot Yoga

I have been enjoying Hot Yoga at the local yoga place. It is 5 minutes from my school and I love it. They have a killer introductory offer and I am so excited to try to stick with this exercise kick. I went after school one day which was great because it made me extra efficient with my time and forced me to leave school at the end of my contracted day. That was the second time that had happened all year.