Express Yourself: Holiday Movies

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

The question for this week is: What Holiday themed show/movie/book are you most looking forward to? Don't celebrate the Dec. Holiday-then name something you're watching/reading this month.

As a kid, I always watched It's A Wonderful Life, and if I don't watch it at some point, it doesn't really feel like Christmas.  I've always had a soft spot for Jimmy Stewart movies, so that probably has something to do with it.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is also a must.  Gotta have a few laughs, after all.

Also, my husband and I agreed on a new tradition within the last couple of years.  We have to watch Die Hard every Christmas.  It does take place during Christmas, after all, so it totally counts.

What holiday themed show/book/movie are you looking forward to?

Express Yourself: Movies

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme was created by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

Here's this week's question:

What are the last two movies you saw?

I'll just go with the last two movies I saw in the theater, since those are the ones I can remember for sure.

My husband and I saw Star Trek Into Darkness two weeks ago, and we saw Warm Bodies for Valentine's Day.  I found both movies quite enjoyable, and that's what you hope for when you get a chance to go to the theater.

Most of the time when we're at home, we watch TV shows like Game of Thrones, Falling Skies, and other things along those lines.  If it's science fiction or fantasy, we'll give it a try.

What movies have you watched lately?

Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest

When the Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh hosts a blogfest, I have to join in! This one is quick and easy.  The Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest is self explanatory.  Just list your ten movie favorites!

My movie favorites will change on occasion.  You never know when a new movie will come along and blow you away.

10.) Gattaca

9.) Aliens

8.) Terminator 2: Judgment Day

7.) The Man From Earth

6.) Cloud Atlas

5.) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

4.)  Deep Impact

3.)  The Shawshank Redemption

2.) Contact

1.) Harry Potter (the entire series)

      Don't say this is a cheat, because it's a continuous story line.  So, yeah.  I'm using all eight movies as my #1 spot.  I think it works.

Express Yourself: Favorite Love Scene

Jackie at Bouquet of Books and Dani at Entertaining Interests would like to know more about their favorite bloggers.  This week they want to know about your favorite love scene from a book or movie.

I enjoy love scenes of all kinds.  Yet, one scene from one film best exemplifies love of all kinds, at least for me.  That movie is Deep Impact.  It's an all around great movie, and it will probably always be one of my favorites.

However, the entire final act is full of love and touching moments in addition to the action.  An astronaut who was blinded in the course of trying to save the world says good-bye to the newborn son he'll never get to meet.

Leo goes back for his young wife Sarah, who was stuck with her family on a jam-packed freeway in a hopeless attempt to get away from the tsunami they know will come just after impact.  She says a tearful good-bye to her parents, and with her infant sibling in tow, the three of them ride off on a motorbike in search of high ground.

Remaining behind, Sarah's parents stay together until the end.  They know they will die, but they're together and they know their children have a chance at survival.  This knowledge brings them a sense of peace as they wait for the end to come.

Jenny Lerner, who gave up her chance at survival for a mother and her young daughter, goes instead to find her father.  They reconcile before the wave hits.  They die, but not before dealing with the things that are really important.

After finding safety on higher ground, we see Leo, Sarah, and the baby.  They are young, scared, and facing a world of uncertainty, but you can see plenty of love and hope in this moment.  Everyone has suffered losses, but those losses also bind the survivors together.

Now, let me end this post with speech that brings the film to a satisfactory close. Yes, I know this part isn't a love scene, but it's Morgan Freeman and it's awesome! That's good enough reason for me to use it.

Some Geekdom to Start Out My Week

My husband and I got to go to the movies and out to dinner this weekend.  It was a lot of fun.  We saw Warm Bodies.  Whoever would have thought you could have a movie about romance between a human and a zombie?  Vampires may be dead in a technical sense, but they don't rot.  Zombies rot.  Even so, I quite enjoyed the movie and I'm glad I got a chance to see it.  This story is obviously a twist of Romeo and Juliet, complete with similar names and a balcony scene.  Yet, it's also quite unique in many ways, and well done (at least in my opinion).  I also know it's based on a book, which I may have to add to my TBR pile.

After the movie, we stopped by a bookstore and picked up a couple of gems. This first one is something that my husband and I both knew we needed to get.

We play Trivial Pursuit all the time, and we've memorized so many of the questions from all the versions of the game we own that we had to turn to a new source of trivia.  So here it is.  We played last night, and it was nice to have a whole new batch of questions we'd never seen before.  How long this book will last us, it's hard to say.

This second one is for me.  I love debating philosophy, and I love watching Doctor Who!  How could I pass this one up?  I've already read a couple of the essays in this book, and I'm loving it!

Wherever my muse takes me this week, I have no doubt it will be inspired by the geekdom mentioned in this post!  I could scream so loud with excitement that I might bring down the house.  So I'll put this here instead.

From GifBin

Express Yourself: Movie Madness

It's time for another post for the Express Yourself Weekly Meme.  Thanks to Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests for creating this fun way to get to know our fellow bloggers!

The question this week: What movies do you watch over and over so that you can practically quote them word for word?

Jurassic Park

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Star Trek First Contact

Contact

Forbidden Planet

Deep Impact

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

I love a lot of movies, but these are only a few where I find myself silently reciting the lines along with the actors.  I can't do it aloud, because I would drive my family crazy!

Express Yourself: Oh, the Anticipation!

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by the always amazing Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

This week's question is . . .

(drumroll)

Are there any books, movies, or music you're anticipating for in 2013?

Every year brings something great to the world, and I'm sure this year will be no different.  There's one book I cannot help but anticipate.  As an avid Neil Gaiman fan, I was excited to hear about his upcoming adult novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane.  He always manages to whip up amazing tales, so this is one book I know I'll have to read.  It comes out June 18th.

As far as movies go, there are two I'll mention here.  They are Star Trek Into Darkness and Catching Fire.  I've seen these two movies on lists already, but that's hardly a surprise.

Music is a different story.  I'm not eagerly awaiting the release of any particular album.  Instead I'll listen freely to what comes out.  As always, I'll come to love new songs in the coming year, and there will also be new ones that will rub me the wrong way.  Such is life.  

What are you looking forward to this year?

Genre Favorites Blogfest

Welcome!  

It's time for another fantastic Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh blogfest.  He has a way of engineering truly epic blogosphere gatherings, and a ton of equally groovy people have signed up to participate.  How could I resist taking part in this?

The objective is simple.  To quote our host:

One blogfest, four favorites!

List your favorite genre of:

Movie

Music

Books

And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories!

Movies, books and guilty pleasures!  Oh my!

Movie Genre: Science Fiction

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I love movies!  When it comes down to it, I like quite a few genres.  I enjoy a good action flick, provided of course that it has a solid story, and a strong female character always helps!  However, my all time favorite movie genre has to be science fiction.  In the end, it's no contest.  I love the diversity involved in sci fi, like otherworld settings, character background, and conflicts that arise with the use of technologies we can only dream of at this point in time.  There's also a lot of adventure, and a lot of complex questions.

The visuals can also be fun!


Music Genre: Rock

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Music is something that can be particularly hard to pinpoint.  There are so many genres and subgenres to choose from.  However, in general, I tend to like more rock music than any other. Whether it be indie rock, hard rock, metal, or rock of the softer persuasion, I'll give it a chance.

I grew up with classic rock as a kid.  That was the music my parents listened to.  During the weekends, my dad would work outside with classic rock blaring over the radio, and later on we would grill out to the same radio station.  I guess it was inevitable.


Book Genre: Science Fiction

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For those who know me, this is an obvious choice. My love for science fiction has been a consistent factor in my life.  I grew up watching it, and I grew up reading it.  My home was packed full of sci fi gems, because that's what my dad read.  Any time he loved a book, he recommended that I read it.

Again, as it is with movies, I love science fiction books because of the questions they raise.  And there's a wide range of questions to be asked. That's part of why I write within the genre.  I like to ask those questions that deal with the nature of humanity, and with where we might be going as a species.  I also love creating exotic and fascinating worlds that I could never see in person.

Guilty Pleasure Movie:  Bad Movies

Okay.  I don't really feel all that guilty about admitting this.  Again, I grew up watching the bad B budget movies that everyone made fun of.  I watched MST3K religiously for a good reason.  I enjoyed making fun of these movies.  While I didn't consider many of them good, I thoroughly enjoyed watching them.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Maybe that's the essence of a guilty pleasure. You know it's not good, but you enjoy it in spite of that knowledge.  It doesn't change the fact that you love it.

I enjoyed watching old Godzilla movies with my dad, even though I knew they had their ridiculous elements and inconsistencies.  I am also an Ed Wood fan. Yes, I admit it.  I like Ed Wood movies.  They may be bad, but I find them fun.

And for the record, Plan 9 From Outer Space is a bad movie in many respects, but I know for a fact I've seen worse.  If I can enjoy watching something, no matter how badly made or conceived, that alone earns it some points with me.

Friday Fun Time!

May I share something funny?


Well, I can't promise it's funny, but I created a fun little illustrated poem to usher in the weekend.  I won't lie, I had Dr. Seuss in mind when I wrote it.  That's what happens when you write something after reading to your children.


So it's Friday again, and it's time for some fun!


Let's go and chill with some friends in the sun!

 

Get on your groove, forget your pride.


Let's hop on my bike and go for a ride!



Who knows where we'll go, or what we'll see?


Even our most brooding heroes have to get jiggy!



But please, don't let your fun get out of hand.


The hospital isn't the destination you might have planned.

 

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

First Loves Blogfest!

Welcome to my blog, where I will tell you about my first loves.  It seems a bit intimidating to open myself up to you this much, but I'm up to the challenge.

First up: film.  It's safe to say I love a lot of films, and there are those I loved as a child, but the love didn't last over time.  I decided to choose one that I loved from childhood, and continue to love to this day.

The Dark Crystal (1982)

I was born in 1985, so this came out a little before my time, but it was a film that my dad always loved.  We've watched it together many times over the years.  The story is the classic good vs. evil, but the sets are so beautiful and strange that I can't help but immerse myself in the experience.  To me, it doesn't come across as a 'been there, done that" movie experience.  The music is also phenomenal.

Next up, is favorite song or band.  I'll briefly share both so I can demonstrate the odd spectrum that represents my musical love.  There are some kinds of music that I simply don't get into, but the ones I do love are all over the place.  My first favorite song was Joy to the World by Three Dog Night.  It's upbeat and happy, and hearing it always put me in a good mood.

My first love as far as a band goes was Metallica.  They have a great sound, and I just plain love their stuff.  During my middle school years, they were my favorite by far.  The Metallica song Nothing Else Matters was the first song my husband and I danced to at our wedding.  Ah, memories.

I still love Metallica to death, although I also have a profound love for The Beatles too, and they may well be my favorite nowadays.

So much great music, so little time.

The first book I remember loving as a child was The Night Book by Mark Strand and William Pene Du Bois.  The illustrations were well done, and there's never been a time when I didn't love the night.

The first adult novel I ever loved was Jurassic Park by Micheal Crichton.  I read it when I was eleven.  Though I was a bit too young to understand the more scientific parts of the novel, I felt so grown up reading it, and I absolutely loved the story.  I mean, come on.  Dinosaurs!  How could you go wrong?

Now, my first love.  The answer would depend upon the kind of love you mean.

If puppy love is an acceptable answer, that takes me back to Kindergarten.  Yes, many people might not count their Kindergarten boyfriends, but you don't understand.  This was special.  This little boy named Adam used to chase me around the playground, and when he caught me, he would kiss me.  He even asked me to marry him when we were in first grade.  Come to think of it, we never officially got un-engaged.  Hmmm . . .

And he only kissed two other girls (that I know of) while we were together.  Let's face it, that's better than some full grown men do.

Then came Jerry O'Connell in Sliders.  My first celebrity crush, and my first glimpse of what puberty meant.  He was cute, and he played Quinn Mallory, a geeky science genius who traveled through dimensions. How could I not fall for that?

Anyway, the first "I can trust you with anything, I know you'll always be there for me" kind of love would have to go to my husband.  He is, after all, the father of my children for a reason.  He's geeky in all the right ways, and I also think he's cute, though he playfully insists he's not.