Holiday Classics

Would you believe I saw The Miracle on 34th Street

for the first time the other night?  

The holiday classics hold special nostalgic feelings for me . . . 

they capture a place in time that was so magical.  

The movie took me back to the days when we would go with my Nana to visit her sisters and brothers on Thanksgiving morning.  I remember the smells of Thanksgiving dinners being prepared and tables of pastries laid out on tables in the dining rooms.  The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was always playing in the background.  I felt so special joining the adults in a cup of cafe con leche to go with the pastries.  Great memories I will never forget!

It also made me think of how the world would react if Santa came to us as a real person as he did in the movie.  Would we be skeptical or believing?  Since I was devastated to find out he didn't really exist, it always made me think of how awesome it would be if he were real and imagine what he would be like as a person.  The movie pleasantly helped to fill in some of those gaps.

It made me sad to see Natalie Wood as a sweet little girl, knowing her life was cut short by a horrible accident.  She was so beautiful, even as a child!

Although I love the old movies, the animated holiday cartoons of my time really bring back the warm and fuzzy Christmas magic.  Rudolf and the Grinch That Stole Christmas were my favorites, although I still love them all.  The Grinch always reminded me of my dad . . .

Happy Holidays!

The Death of the Clothesline

My mom and I were having a good laugh about the dogs in our past and the crazy little pranks they pulled to drive us crazy.  She was telling me about one of the many dogs of her youth that loved pulling the laundry off the clothesline and scattering them all over the yard.  Hilarious now, but I'm sure not so funny back in the day for my grandmother, who had to gather them up and start all over again.

My thoughts were taken back to the days of my youth, where one of my jobs was hanging the laundry out on the clothesline.  While many homes enjoyed the convenience of having a clothes dryer, we didn't.  My dad did not embrace new technology and he held on to the conventional ways of doing things.  Poor mama didn't have a microwave oven until after daddy died.

Anyway, the job of hanging out the laundry to dry and bring them back in was mine . . . one that I was not fond of.  It was a particularly frustrating job here in Florida during the summertime, when we get the afternoon storms like clockwork.  Procrastination meant more work when the storm hit before the clothes came in.

It is amazing how something that was so much a part of every housewife's  life has just disappeared from life as we knew it.  The clothesline just died in our society . . . or I am assuming that it has. 

Now that I think of it, I have a new found gratefulness and appreciation for my trusty clothes dryer.

The poles that housed the clothesline at my house now hold up plant trellises.  As a working young adult, I had no time or desire to hang the clothes out to dry.  Taking the clothesline apart was one of the first things I wanted to do when we bought this house.

I'm also grateful that I was born after the death of the washboard . . . what a workout that must have been!

Romantic Movies . . . The Bodyguard

One of my favorite romantic movies!  It is one of those movies that I have seen many times and will watch many more times.

It was Whitney Houston's acting debut as a stalked music superstar tormented by death threats who hires an ex-Secret Service Agent to protect her, played by Kevin Costner.  

The romantic-thriller was the second highest-grossing film of 1992 and was nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning three, including Album of the Year for its soundtrack album.  CNN reported that Whitney Houston's film album for "The Bodyguard" was "one of the top 10 best-selling albums of all time" according to Billboard.

The movie was written by Lawrence Kasdan back in the 1970's, originally intending the leading roles for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross.

Warner Bros. announced in 2011 that a remake of the film is in the works in order to update the movie to reflect the Internet world.  The rumor is Brittany Spears is up for the lead role.


RIP Whitney Houston . . .

Romantic Movies . . . The Notebook

The Notebook is my favorite

 romantic film of all time!

Social differences in the early 1940's separate a poor, passionate young man and a rich young woman who fall in love.  Their story is narrated from the present day by an elderly man telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident.

The Notebook is a 2004 romance film starring James Garner, Gena Rowlands, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. 

This movie is a must-see for hopeless romantics!

Check out the trailer for the movie :)

Valentine Series . . . Favorite Romantic Movies

In celebration of Valentine's Day, I'll be featuring some of my favorite romantic movies from the past . . .

What are some of your favorite romantic movies?

Music From Another Room is one of those romantic comedies that I love best . . . a story of love, romance, fate and destiny. 

This entertaining movie released in 1998 follows the adventures of Danny (Jude Law), a young man who grew up believing he was destined to marry Anna, the baby girl he helped deliver as a five year old boy when his neighbor went into emergency labor. Twenty-five years later, Danny returns to his hometown and finds the irresistible Anna Swan (Gretchen Mol) and falls madly in love with her, but she barely notices him since she is already engaged to Eric (Jon Tenney). 

In pursuit of Anna, Danny finds himself involved with each member of the Swan family including blind, sheltered Nina (Jennifer Tilly), cynical sister Karen (Martha Plimpton), big brother Bill (Jeremy Piven) and dramatic mother Grace (Brenda Blethyn). 

The movie follows his fight to prove that fate should never be messed with and passion should never be practical. 

Click here for a video trailer of the movie . . . it is an awesome movie . . . check it out sometime if you love romantic comedy movies.

Christmas past and that silver Christmas tree

This is an older Christmas post!

As the Captain and I have the Christmas boxes in from the storage shed, going through my collection of Christmas stuff and anticipating decorating for Christmas, it got me to thinking back on Christmas past when I was a child.

Although I have always had a fascination of everything sparkly and flashy, I was never too keen on the silver tree with the revolving light, making the tree seem to turn colors.

In fact, I hated that tree.

How did that fad catch on anyway?

Yuck!  It was an awful looking tree!

There is something about a green tree with tinsel, flashing lights, homemade popcorn garland, and the toy ornaments that did  something for me.  That silver tree felt cold and sterile.

Something that bugged me about that silver tree is that it just didn't go with the nativity scene and the little houses that were lit up at the bottom of the tree.  And the sweet little plastic glittery deer I loved to  play with were not welcome at the foot of that silver tree.  It was a different "Christmas look."

The "normal" green Christmas tree was a tremendous fascination for me, I loved all those festive little things that were banished from the silver tree . . . I could sit on the floor by the tree  and be entertained for hours . . . but not the silver one.

We had a Christmas tradition that involved the neighbors . . . stringing popcorn garlands for everyone's Christmas trees. This was done every year . . . a total of three families got together with lots of bowls overflowing with popcorn to eat and string. It was loads of fun sitting around stringing popcorn after dinner, drinking hot chocolate and singing along with the Christmas music playing. The party was always hosted by our next door neighbors who never had one of those awful silver trees.

Funny thing about this annual party . . . we also helped decorate their tree . . . it was part of the festivities.   The next door neighbors had no children, so they kind of adopted us neighbor kids and loved to spoil us throughout the year. The funny thing . . . and looking back in the real world as an adult, not really funny, but sad . . . anyway, Tom (the next door neighbor) was a serious drinker who insisted on putting the topper on the tree AFTER it was decorated later in the evening when he was a bit lit up himself from way too much booze. The problem was that he would always fall into the tree and come out laughing . . . then everyone helped to tidy it back up.

It was also traditional for him to fall into the shrubs putting the outside lights up.  The neighborhood men always made sure to be around to help him back up when he would holler for help.  He never failed to end up there!

LOL He was quite a character!

Those Christmas memories of my childhood are rather sad since almost everyone involved have passed away or moved away, a time in place that has truly moved on.  However, I fondly think of them every Christmas and smile at the thought of Tom's big butt hanging out of the tree.

Happy Holidays!

Cat In the Hat ages . . . can you relate?

We are all getting older every day . . . but we don't

usually consider getting older from the perspective of

a timeless creature we all know and love . . .

The Cat In The Hat.

You know you are reaching the "Golden Years" if

you can relate to the poor cat's woes.

Dr. Seuss is turning in his grave . . .

The Reader’s Digest name is one of the most recognized and trusted brands in existence today. The Reader's Digest Store gives you access to our great selection of unique books, music, and DVD & video products to entertain and inspire people of all ages!

Remember the Shake 'n Bake television commercials?

 This is one of those commercials that we had so much fun with by being silly and mocking it endlessly. Actually, I had forgotten about this commercial until The Captain made the statement along with the accent . . . "and I helped" . . . and we took off with it being silly for the longest time as I remember doing back in the day. 
 I love these type of commercials that you can goof on endlessly!
In my opinion, Shake 'n Bake was the worse thing to happen to chicken . . . it was awful stuff even though the concept was a good one.

Shake 'n Bake is particularly noted for its television commercials in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The most popular in the series featured the children helping make Shake 'n Bake with their mothers, enthusiastically exclaiming "And I helped!"

In 1998, a new commercial was tried with a different catchphrase . . . "I made Shake 'n Bake, and Mama helped". This was on aired a few times and is the least recognized commercial.

Source:  Wikipedia

Gidget . . . The Taco Bell Dog

When I think about some of my favorite television commercials of all time, The Taco Bell Dog is in my top 5 . . . could possibly even be my favorite.

Since Gidget died and Taco Bell changed their television marketing, their commercials just aren't special anymore.

This is my tribute to Gidget . . . The Taco Bell Dog.  Miss you!

Babyboomer Weddings

The Captain and I finally made it legal and got married . . . hopefully we can now get back to the business of writing about the way things were back in the day and pop culture in general.

Babyboomer weddings . . . most are untraditional since it is usually not the first marriage.  Many of us want something totally different than the first time around.  

What we really wanted was a hippie-style wedding on the beach . . . but we settled for a tropical theme with everyone wearing casual beach attire.  

My niece discovered the old record player and LPs from way back in the day . . . we partied to everything from Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii to Paul Revere and the Raiders.

We conducted our own wedding ceremony . . . it was special and so meaningful for us.  Nothing traditional for these two babyboomer free spirits!

I'd love to hear about 

other babyboomer weddings!

An update for Babyboomer Flashback

My apologies for not being very active with this blog!

I've had so much going on . . . not only projects on and offline, but I have been busy planning my wedding.  So I guess you could say that instead of feeling nostalgic, I've been thinking about the future.

After things calm down a bit, my cute pirate (Capt Black Eagle) and I will be collaborating on this blog . . . we have so many awesome ideas that are coming up for this blog.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward ~ Hollywood Magic

“Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades,

 but to be married to a man who makes you laugh

 every day . . . ah, now that is a real treat.”

Joanne Woodward . . . 

married to Paul Newman 45 years

Falling Skies Episode 2

What is new in Episode 2?  Well we get a closer look at how the aliens use the kids they have captured, a new character is introduced along with a complication to personal relationships that it brings, and a bit more insight into the intelligence level of the aliens.

Every work of fiction requires us to suspend our rational selves to accept certain elements of the plot.  This work of fiction is a bit more intelligent about it. Some of these elements are as follows.

1. The aliens kill the adults, but use a spinal like device to control the children.  They are used by the aliens to carry out tasks like gathering scrap.  Now my question is this...why?  Wouldn't an advanced alien culture be able to construct machines to do the same job faster?  Then again a ready made expendable organic work force might be better?  That is something worthy of discussion.

2. In one of the first scenes, the character played by Noah Wyle organizes a group to try and free some of the kids, primarily his own son, exposes another good point for discussion.  If you had invaded and defeated an enemy that you consider inferior, what precautions would you take in guarding your captives?  The aliens only used a few mechs and skitters to protect their captive work party. Does this mean the aliens are spread thin?  Maybe they are so convinced of their own superiority that they don't feel they need more?

3. During the attempt to rescue some of the kids one of the rescuers sees his own son, and in true movie fashion he screws up the plan by dashing out to save him.  This sets in motion a series of predictable events and also gives us a little more insight into the aliens.  During the ensuing short battle, the rescuers save the man's son, but at the same time two of the rescuers are taken prisoner by a mech.  Later, some of the kids drag off one of the rescuers to do who knows what to her, while the other rescuer is left behind.  A mech is guarding him when a group of captured children are lined up and then shot by the mech.  The rescuer is set free to tell the others of what will happen if the resistance continues to resist.  This is straight out of World War II tactics by Nazi Germany.  It didn't work for the Germans...of course it will not work here. But would it work in today's world?

Those are some interesting things to ponder.

A new character is introduced...I remember this guy from the show "Wings" even though I seldom watched the show.  I also think he was in the movie "Hamburger Hill"...good movie. The new character is a doctor who says he can remove the mind control device from the kids.  We will see how that works out.

The main charcter (Noah what'shisname) captures an alien and now we will probably learn a lot more about these skitters in the next episodes.

The premier had way too many commercials...this time out in a 60 minute show there were ~20 minutes of commercials.  Commercials can be annoying..but they do make TV possible.  I will say that they planned the breaks in a fairly artful way.

This is only the second episode, will it keep me for the third?  Yes.  However, I do reserve the right to go fishing for the 4th.

Falling Skies Episode 1

My first impression of the movie was the promo image...suddenly I found myself doing the flashback thing to the original series "V".  I sort of watched "V", but mostly didn't.  So, I went into this experience with a prejudiced view of what I would see.

As with many shows there is, or at least should be some sort of plot.  If my conjecture of what I will see in future episodes is correct, I think many of you will be surprised.  I know I will be if I am right.  So let's start at the beginning.

WARNING SPOILER ALERT

If you have not seen the 2 hour premiere...read no further

The show starts with action...action is good.  Within just a few minutes you know a great deal of the background story...Aliens have invaded earth and destroyed the military...taken most of the cities..and are enslaving children.  A group of humans have formed a resistance movement to oppose the freedom sucking aliens.  If that is the story then this will bore me to tears...I don't think this will be the case...or shouldn't be...this story line has potential.

Noah Wiley (no clue who he is) and Dale Dye (I know who he is) along with some other (I don't know who they are) make up the resistance group.  The acting is...pretty good so far...so I will not be annoyed at people who are reading their lines.  Now lets look a little deeper into this whole storyline thing.

Noah Wiley makes references to the resistance movement style of the American Revolution.  He had to dumb it down for the younger people he was talking with by making sports references...I actually liked that they took the time to do some teaching in the world of reality.  

There were references to religion...neither in favor or opposition..just the statement of fact that people are religious.  Again a nice neutral approach to a touchy subject...bravo.

There were some other plot elements added that I think are exciting...and could make for some decent TV...but the biggest clue to a plot twist is what I call the "Inverse V". During two spots in the premiere clues were given about what I think will be an eventual plot twist.

The first is where children are gathered around an old man who is teaching them biology.  He tells the kids that we need to find a way to kill the "skitters".  The Skitters are the organic life form that are the aliens.  They have the required ugly heads, and 4 legs.  They are almost tripod-like in appearance.  The second alien form are the "Mechs".  The Mech's are two legged robots.  One of the characters asked about why the Skitters that have four legs and the Mechs have two.

Now...What if.  The Skitters are not the actual mastermind aliens (maybe they are more like dogs..or lemurs).  Since we humans make our robots to look like us...would it stand to reason that the actual mastermind aliens create Mechs to look like them?  If you remember in "V" the aliens disguised themselves as humans...what if in Falling Skies...the aliens do look human?  This could be fun.

Based on the premiere I am interested enough to watch the next installment on Sunday at 10pm Eastern.  Can they keep my interest?  We will see.

Falling Skies

For those of you who follow me on The Crows Nest, and Cosmic Chili you know I do not blog about entertainment, much less Television Shows.  There is a reason for this.  I have very limited time to watch TV.  I reserve my television gazing time for History or Science shows.  When it comes to mini-series it will be things like a nice Ken Burns documentary, or the Hanks/Spielberg series like Band of Brothers, or from Earth to the Moon.  So what possessed me to even dedicate 2 hours of my time watching a show about fiction?  Marketing.

I am as cynical as can be when it comes to marketing ploys.  I am oblivious to most marketing attempts.  When the commercials come on my mind goes somewhere else.  In this case the marketing came out of nowhere.  For a reason I can not recall I signed up for a site called Klout. You can read more about it at the link.  They sent me an email that offered some free stuff just for saying I want the stuff.  Although they said I didn't have to do anything (which is totally true), I thought I would conduct an experiment.  I would participate as best I could with what limited time I have.  This blog is part of the participation...as well as some tweets.  It got me interested in the Movie, and TNT in general ( still regard Ted Turner as a total ass). This is what brings me to the movie.

Over the life of this series I will comment on the Movie, what I like and what I don't.  I will be upfront with you...I am not a professional movie critic.  I am, however, very good at observing those around me, and describing what I like.  Stay tuned as I give my impressions of Falling Skies.

DISCLAIMER

The Rose Tattoo / Anna Magnani and Burt Lancaster

The Rose Tattoo is a 1955 film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play by Williams and Hal Kanter and directed by Daniel Mann, with stars Anna Magnani (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress),  Burt Lancaster, Marisa Pavan and Jo Van Fleet.


 

The Rose Tattoo tells the story of Serafina Delle Rose, an Italian-American widow in Louisiana who has allowed herself to withdraw from the world after her husband, Rosario Delle Rose is killed by police while smuggling, and tries to force her teenage daughter to do the same.

Serafina is tortured by rumors of Rosario's affair with another woman.  In the dramatic scene on the following video, Serafina confronts Father DeLeo and asks him if anyone had confessed about having an affair with Rosario.  The priest insists that he cannot divulge this information, but the look on his face says it all for Serafina.  She insists that her husband did not "put the horns" on her as she is mocked by her female neighbors.

Ahhhhh but wait . . . along comes Alvaro, a handsome Italian truck driver who enters her life . . . you'll have to see the movie to see what happens!







The Rose Tattoo is one of my all time favorite movies that I didn't discover until  the 1980's . . . it reminds me of my family . . . dramatic italians, what can I say?  The way everyone is dressed and everything about this movie makes me nostalgic for the days of my childhood.

The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show

There were millions of kids at the airport, which nobody had expected. We heard about it mid-air. There were journalists on the plane, and the pilot had rang ahead and said "Tell the boys there's a big crowd waiting for them." We thought 'Wow! God, we have really made it.' I remember, for instance, the great moment of getting into the limo and putting on the radio, and hearing a running commentary on us: 'They have just left the airport and are coming towards New York City...' It was like a dream. The greatest fantasy ever."  Paul McCartney

Source:  The Beatles

February 1964 . . . they had arrived!

For as long as live, I don't think I will ever experience such a happening as the Beatles' first visit to the United States.  

As a elementary school aged music lover, all the hype was so exciting.  Their music had a different sound, they had a totally different look.  Prior to the Beatles, the excitement was all about Elvis Presley . . . but he was of another generation, my parents' generation.  The Beatles were all about my generation . . . they belonged to us and we identified with them.

For the first time in my life, I wanted my hair cut in the Beatles mop top style . . . and I got my first haircut.  All of a sudden, the boys at school dumped their crew cuts and started letting their hair grow out.

By the time The Beatles arrived, the hype was at a fevered pitch and their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was all we could talk about with friends.  The only things I would spend my allowance on were those associated with The Beatles . . . and I had it all.

My parents watched The Ed Sullivan Show with me . . . in horror . . . they felt the winds of change as I sat directly in front of the television, totally mesmerized . . . a new world was born for my generation.

They are timeless in my opinion . . . their music has stood the test of time and they remain one of my favorite groups of all time.

Drive-In Movie Theaters . . . great memories!

Whatever happened to drive in theatres?

Some of my fondest childhood memories involved going to the drive-in movie theatres with the family.  We would pop massive amounts of popcorn, fill the cooler with drinks and sandwiches, gather pillows and blankets and off we would go for a night of watching movies at the drive-in.

The movie wasn't always the main attraction for us kids.  Most drive-in movie theaters in my area had massive playgrounds.  The sound of laughter from the kids at the playground and the smell of food from the refreshment stand would hypnotize us into wanting to watch the movie from the playground area.  My parents usually took lawn chairs and would indulge our desire to hang out at the playground area with the other kids.  It was euphoric for us . . . it was such a festive atmosphere buzzing with people everywhere.

How about those intermission clips featuring dancing popcorn and soda?  I loved those intermission clips!  I can't believe that we loved that nasty pizza from the refreshment stand . . . it was more like cardboard with tomato sauce and melted cheese!



My parents didn't have to deal with not being able to take us to R-rated movies . . . they didn't exist.  It was an innocent time and we were able to be kids without having sexual innuendo in our face 24/7.  It was simple family fun and we went often.  The only problem we had was keeping the mosquitoes away!

As I approached high school age, the drive-in movie theaters were the big hang out on the weekends.  Seems like we kind of chased the families away and took over.  There was a theater in particular that we shared with three other high schools as the cool hang out.  Those were great times!

Movies started changing and became sexual where it didn't have to be, in my opinion.  A good story is a good story without the sex.  Those movies embarrassed me . . . especially since we hung out in mixed company.  Not that I'm a prude or anything, but I was so very innocent . . . but you know, I feel like most of the time it is just not necessary, even now.  The movie makers love to shock us, although we have become desensitized and are no longer shocked.  I would not like to be a kid growing up in today's time . . . this is their "normal".

Little by little, we lost interest in going to see movies outdoors . . . and during the 70's and 80's, thousands of drive-in movie theaters closed.  Malls became popular and the single movie theaters turned into multiplex theaters.  I guess with lowered attendance and revenue, drive-in movie theater owners found that they could make more money by selling the land to developers and get out of the business.

It is sad . . . I often think of those times and how cool it would be to see a movie outdoors and relive those times for just a night.  However, in my area there is only one left that I know of and it is in a bad part of town . . . but I don't think I would feel safe in a drive-in movie theater in these crazy times of high crime in the best part of town. The times have drastically changed since those simple, innocent times that I loved so much.

What are your memories of drive-in movie theaters?

  

Do you still go to them or would you go if they were available in your area?

Learn more about the history of drive-in movie theaters, 

find a theater in your area and much more . . .

DriveInMovie.com

Drive-Ins.com

Photo credit:  Date: 8/19/1961; Artist: George Hughes; Title: Drive-In Movies; Copyright: 1961 SEPS. All rights reserved.