You're the Best Friends Anybody Ever Had: Clueless

 

 

When everything is handed to you whenever you want it it's hard to see you not get your way. Cher, was born with a golden spoon in her mouth. She had everything that she could ever want and she new how to run the school to conduct everything in perfect harmony for her. When she is not getting good grades she uses her wonderful powers or persuasions to be able to get them changed. If the argument doesn't work she changed tactics until something gives to what she wants. No one ever questions how she lives her life until her ex-step brother Josh comes around. Josh is just starting college and really enjoy hanging out with her former legal family so he comes over to Cher's and her father's our a lot. When he points out to her just how shallow, selfish and clueless she really can be. 

Shockingly, I never have seen this movie before having Angela pick it out for me. It's one of those movies that I knew about the ending, I have seen some of the famous scenes, and just knew that it was this charming and memorable film from when I was growing up. I am really not sure how I have lived this long and not seen it before now. It was super cut, but really cringey. However, it's not cringey in the way that you don't want to look. Charming Cringe I guess you would call it? Anyways, this movie did catch me off guard a little bit. I wasn't expecting it to really be a great film or one that really focused of friendship and self discovery in the way that it did. 

Cher is someone who had friends and cared but she didn't really realize how much she did care until she had a moment of realization. It's when she starts putting other people before herself that she sees just how great her friends are. She starts to really see those little things that really make them shine as humans. A great example of this is when she is talking about how one of her guy friends wants everything to not only be beautiful but you can find the beauty in everything. That her friends treat others around them in sweet and wonderful ways. That even the people in her school that she thought that she would not get along with, because of a million different reasons, were also really kind and wonderful people who had drive and ambition. 

I think that is what I liked most about this movie is that it really shows a person in high school really starting to come out of their shell and see what the world has to offer. What I love most about that is the in this movie it wasn't money, or places or things. It was what do the other people on this planet have to offer and what can I add to it and help them? I think that is something as we grow older that we loose a bit. When we become the people that are responsible for our own lives we get really focused on ourselves. That's not because we are selfish rather it's because we forget to take a small step back and look around at the people that helped us to get there. The ones that we have supported and are supporting us. I think we would do better has people if we all took a moment at each new phase in life and look around us again to remember what we all have done for each other. 

Now that we had a great theme for the movie it's time to discuss the great theme for the month! The month of March's theme is Adventure! I have talked about lots of adventures in my day on here. However, I run in to the problem again of money. I can't take everyone on an adventure even though I want to. So, how to give everyone an adventure that is cost effective? Well, some of the greatest adventures that anyone has ever been on are the ones that a person reads. I bought everyone a $10 gift card to a book store that is near them. I wanted them to go on an adventure that they would enjoy, or one that they would want to take their kids on. I also really liked the idea of this too because if someone didn't want a book they could get a movie, or an audio book. It worked out because those all can also be adventures. I really hope that they enjoy whatever adventure that they choose to go on.

I was also able to do another bonus gift this time around! This one was inspired by my mom, Margie. One of the items on her list was "Rich and Generous". Now, I try to be when I can however, money is fickle thing. I can't afford to just throw money at my friends every month like I would like too. However, I was able to do this because I gave them chocolate coins! They are money-ish and I was able to give them to everyone! The great thing about the time of this was that all of the people that I would have had to send chocolate too in the mail all came into town! Beth and I went to Kentucky for a few days so I got to see her in person. Nikki and I went to Nashville for a few so I got to see her. Then Angela came in from out of town for a visit! So, I got to give everyone their chocolate without running the risk of it melting in the mail!

Now, I have to go an prepare for April's gift! 

You're the Best Friends Anybody Ever Had: Angela

The month of March beholds the celebration of not one of my longest friendships but we also celebrate her birthday this month! I am very excited to introduce to you one of the most positive, awesome, and kindest people I know! She is someone who is always looking you for you and supporting you not matter what and I am glad that I get the chance to show her off to the world in some small way! 

I present to you the lovely, talented and brave Angela Mooney.

So, when talking about your best friends I have come to learn that most people's best friends are usually not some of your oldest friends. I have to say that this is not the case with it comes to Angela. We met way back in the year 2000. We were in the 3rd grade and had teachers in the same suite. All of those classes went outside at the same time and that he how we met. We ended up finding out that our other oldest friend, Nora, and the two of us all loved PowerPuff Girls. We played PPGs almost everyday on the play ground for that whole year. I don't think the three of us would have ever have thought the 21 years later we would still be the best of friends. 

One of the best things about Angela is that she is one of the bravest people I know. When we all graduated from High School I just went to work. I didn't want to go to college or really had a plan. Angela did. She had a plan and made it happen! She moved across the entire state to gain the knowledge that she needed to do what she wanted to do. She work very hard in her career and then moved to a completely different city to be around more of the stuff that she enjoys. The my friends is more bravery than I have ever possessed at any point in my whole life. 

Angela is also someone I love betting advice from. She is not afraid to tell you when you are being a moron or kick you in the pants when you need one. However, she is always willing to talk about the problem or what is going on. She doesn't just say that someone is being stupid and then movie on. She tells you what she thinks but also allows you to talk so that you can get what needs to be said out too. She is also a laid back person when it comes to meeting up or hanging out. Everything doesn't need to have a plan and enjoys going with the flow. However, she is also someone that has a plan of what she is doing in life and is always on the lookout for new challenges and experiences. She loves to travel and stay at home as well. She is very well balanced in her life all around!

Angela is also someone is willing to give anything a try. She isn't afraid to try new foods, go new places, or try new career ventures. She always has something going on that it's hard to keep up! Yet, she always makes time to see us when she is in town or try and go on trips together. She always has some fun new stories of her adventures when she comes into town. She also loves hearing about what we are doing in life. Even if we don't have some crazy amount of stuff going on she is always interested and asks questions. She always has a passion for whatever she is doing, even if it's sitting on the patio talking until 10pm with me and Nora. 

If you do not have someone like Angela in your life then you are really missing out. There are not many out there like her. She is loyal and will do anything she can to help you. She is someone you know that if you are down can make you laugh, or bury a body with if you needed too. You also need someone who is curious to keep you on your toes so life is always an adventure. She is a great advice giver and is also a wonderful and well rounded human being. I love her and everyone needs someone like her. I thank God for her and I pray God send you someone like her!

Up Inside the Cyclone: March

When I first came up with how to do this concept I didn't think it was going to go so well. I thought people would forget or I would be doing some repeated plot twists. I know that we have only been doing this for three months but I am very impressed with my friends! They have had some fun and interesting ideas so far and I can't wait for the rest of the year to happen. This month Angela got to have her way with my life for a few days. However, we should talk about this movie watched first.

Let me break the first and second rules of Fight Club here and tell you about it. This movie is about a man who is stuck in a dead end job, without sleep, without loved ones, without emotions. However, he starts to find some emotions when he starts going to support groups.... even though he suffers from any illnesses or ailments that the groups are about. He seems to be feeling better cause he is able to sleep. That is until this girl walks into his life. She is doing the same thing where she is going to all of the groups. However, his life spins more out of his control when he meets Tyler Durden. Tyler is this whole philosophy that the only way to feel anything is to feel pain. That is how fight clubs begins. It's starts to become an underground secret society. However, it doesn't take long until they of the clubs join together to create mayhem with Tyler leading everyone. The question then becomes who really is Tyler Durden? 

So, here is something that I not thought would happen. the movie with the plot twist plot twisted me. What do I mean by that? Well, I thought that this was going to be an action movie that had something crazy happen at the end. However, what I ended up getting was the ridiculously slow paced movie. It dragged on and on and on and on and on and.... you get the point. I mean I have never seen the movie until this point and it's a modern classic film that everyone has quoted at least once in their life. However, it's by far on the most uninteresting movies that I have ever seen. I wish I had picked something else but I did not. 

However, I guess that is what a good plot twist is right? Well, thankfully my good friend Angela had some good twists of her own. See I would think that most people would take the opportunity, like I would, to embarrass me to to do something totally wild. However, Ang took a little bit of different route. She decided to make me do "un-Daisy like" things. Which she accomplished in a way I would not have originally thought!

 

Her first plot twist came during the first week of the month. 

I am not 100% sure why I thought that after she made me do that I would be free from exercising but I was very wrong. Angela sent me this next plot twist when I was having a very busy week. I was planning on being out of town for a few days so I had to make it work.

 

The last one also came doing a busy week because I wound up going out of town twice in the same month... and she got me on both weeks. So, I had to make this one work too. However, this one comes with a little bit more of a story.

Ok, so the Macbeth project that I was talking about in the video is actually a High School Project that Angela and I had to do our Senior year for an English Class. It's such a funny memory to look back on and it's also a very awkward one too. However, you also get to enjoy the project too down below1

 

So, thank you Ang for giving me stuff that I was not expecting to be given. Also, that for pushing me to find this video again so that I can watch it and embarrass both of us. I will say that even though this was not what I was expecting, it still was a lot of fun!

No Place Like Movies at Home: The Barkley's of Broadway

 We are here at the end. Well, the End of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Collection. It's sad to see it come to an end but I am excited for what is coming up! 

I do have one issue though. Regal Movies Theatre just announced that they are going to be re-opening their theatres again on April 2nd. There is only one in our area that will be opened and I am hoping that I can get back into the routine of going to the movies on Mondays with my pass. We will see though cause the one theater that will be opening will the the one that is the furthest away from my job. However, if I can make it work I will because I love going to the movies. My issue is that I have been watching two movies that I have own a week and it will more than likely go back down to one. I know that doesn't bother anyone but me but It's been nice watching two a week. Hopefully, I can try and keep up but we will see. 

Anyways, let's get back to the movie at hand, The Barkley's of Broadway.

Josh and Dinah Barkley are a husband wife comedy Broadway performers. They are at the very to p of the careers. They are also at the very top of their annoyances with each other. They have been fighting about the show for months and it's becoming apparent that it seems like the marriage becoming for the show only. During the after party , Dinah meets a very serious French director who is writing a new play. She is in love with the trading in her dancing shoes for a chance to do something that she has never thought that she could do before. When he offers he the part Josh is outraged. He tells her that she can not do the part and that it would be a terrible career move. She then takes the role herself and offers him a new title of ex-husband. Josh goes on with working on a new show without her while she is working on her new role across the street from the theater Josh is in. Josh curiosity gets the better of him with he walks to see the rehearsals. They are not going well because no one know Dinah like Josh does. They don't know how to get a great performance out of her that way he does. So, Josh starts calling Dinah after the rehearsals impersonating the director to give her tips. However, things start to go wrong when she starts falling for the man she thinks she is talking on the phone.

Everything that I have read about this movie says that in real life this is how Mr. Astaire and Ms. Rogers were to each other in real life. Except for actually being in love. I could be wrong I think that did date for a very short period of time but nothing ever came from after that. However, Ms. Rogers wanted to be more than and song and dance girl but Mr. Astaire didn't. He had lot of great co-stars and lots of great dance partners in his career but he never had the same success that he did when he was with Ms. Rogers. I enjoyed re-watching the movies because it gives us the other side of "happily ever after". Marriage is crazy and hard sometimes. You don't have the wedding and then everything else work out for the rest of your lives. I think that this shows how hard it can be is you stop rally paying attention. Even though this movie was shot 10 years after their last film they still had the same great chemistry and charisma as well. I think that they really did enjoy and love spending time together. It's a funny, sweet, and cooky movie that you will love if you ever have the chance to watch it. 

No Place Like Movies at Home: The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

I don't know where to begin...

I own over 350 movies. I have seen well over 1000 films in my short life. I have laughed, loved, clapped, cheered, and cried to all of these movies. I have lost the number of times I have re-watched a movie, and frankly, I don't want to know what that number could be. I will tell you that in the 29 years, and 1000s of movies, I have lost count to the number of tears I have shed to the watching of films. I don't know how many times movies has stomped on my heart and broken it. However, I can say that with every movie that has torn my hear inside out, or made the tears run dry, it happens once in the first viewing and doesn't bring that same reaction ever again. No movie has ever made me cry with each and every viewing of a film... except..... for one..... 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. 

This is the love and life of Vernon and Irene Castle. They were a dancing team that became an over night sensation in Paris. They met when Vernon Castle (Astaire) was trying to win the heart of a fellow actor. When he planned to meet her on the beach he ended up meeting Irene (Rogers) instead. They soon fall in love and get married and try to become a great dancing team with the show Vernon  was with. However, they don't want a dancing team. Some other producers from Paris meet them backstage and tell them that they want to hire them for their show. However, when they get to Paris they find that the show got set back several week and are not going to be paid during that time. When it's discovered that they were hired not a dancing team but for Vernon's slapstick comedy bit he had been doing on tour for several years. Disappointed they go back to their hotel and try to figure out what to do. That's when they meet a great manager by the name of Maggie Sutton. She gets them an audition at Café de Paris. When they take the audition they become the talk of the town. They quickly skyrocket to fame! They decide that they are going to take a break and move to the country. Not long after they find that England has gone to war. Vernon, being from England, is having a very hard time not serving his country. It's not long after, against the wishes of Irene, he signs up to be part of the Royal Flying Corps. 

This is my second favorite movie that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers have done together. It's also the one that I have seen the least. This is the only movie in history that I cry to during each and ever viewing of the movie. It's not even just a few tears and it's done. It's a full on sobbing event. The first time that I watched the movie I balled my eyes out. I thought I was safe. Nope. The next several times I cried before the sad part at the end. Then I would cry like 10 minutes before the sad part. Then it was 20, then 30. I had to stop watching this movie cause I knew it was only going to get worse.

I was not prepared for this viewing at all. I didn't realize it was going to come on so fast. I just wasn't paying attention that it was going to happen. This movie is 93 minutes long. It took an hour to watch the first 20 minutes because I kept pausing it because I knew I wasn't ready. I kept trying to distract myself, or not think about the movie while it was playing. None of it worked. I finally had to tell myself to watch it and be done. I was good after that..... for 10 minutes...... 

At the 30 minute mark of the movie I was already crying. Just a little. At the hour mark I was balling. Then the last 30 minutes of the film was dread, mixed with grief, and a half used box of tissues. I was sobbing so hard that I was desperate to keep myself quiet. I was very worried that my neighbors were going to call the cops for a wellness check. If you have never had a movie emotionally destroy you you really wont' understand. No one ever should cry this hard at any movie. Yet, there I was emotionally destroyed sitting on the couch. The truly sick thing of this is.... I loved every second of it. 

That's right I loved it! They story is so good and it's so well done, and the dancing is always amazing! Ginger Rogers does some of her best acting in this film. I know that I have a, somewhat, unhealthy relationship with my movies. I know that I single movie should not have this much power over me and my emotional state. Does any of this change these facts at all? No, not one single bit! I love the crying, and the sadness, and the emotion. I love that a movie, no matter how many times you watch it, is going to make you feel things that powerful. If that were to ever change I would be more heartbroken than that movie would have made me! 

Will I ever be able to watch this movie without feeling like I am being torture? No, but I will always be mesmerized by the emotions that it will makes me feel. 

No Place Like Movies at Home: Carefree

 This next movie is my personal favorite of Fred Astaire's and Ginger Rogers' movies. I was so excited when I finally got to their collection that I almost made this the first one that I did, I resisted. However, I am very glad that I get to share Carefree with you all now!

Tony Flagg (Astaire) is a psychiatrist who works with the subconscious mind. Tony's friend, Stephen, is engaged to the beautiful girl named Amada Cooper (Rogers). They have had an one and off engagement for a while because Amanda can no seem to stick with the idea of getting married. After asking for his help, Tony decides to meet with her and try to get to the root cause of her not being able to commit. Amanda comes to his office and is asked about what she dreams of at night. She tells him that she doesn't dream. He decides to try and fix that. However, the plans are cut short when a misunderstanding leads to her leaving the office in anger. Tony is then asked to conveniently run into them at the club so that he can try to diagnose her again. When he finally gains her trust, he asks her to eat this weird food in order to try and get her to dream. However, her dreams prove to be more than they bargain for when she finds out that she is in love with him!  He tries to make her see reason and hypnotizes her so that she can be in love with Stephen. However, he regrets it as soon as she leaves. Can he win over her mind, and her heart, to get her back?

There are so many reason as to why this is my favorite moves but I one of the biggest reasons is Ginger Rogers' deadpan laugh in this movie. She only does it two or three times but it's by far one of the funniest things she has done! I really love this whole movie because of Ms. Rogers' comedic timing alone. Mr. Astaire is great, and is always charming, but Ms. Roger's does have a lot of different types of acting in this film this time around. She really is the one that runs away with the show this time around. Nothing against Mr. Astaire at all, but Ms. Rogers is the one that caries the film this time around. She sings, dances, acts like she is hypnotized. I mean she is even the one that has to act like she gets punched in the face when everything is said and done. 

This is one of the movies they do that makes me wish they did well more than 10 movies together. It's also the type of film that's so wonderfully perfect, because of their history, that I am also glad they didn't do much more for this gem to be buried under the rest. 

No Place Like Movies at Home: Shall We Dance

I can't believe that we are at movie seven of 10 of these lovely people! They are one of the biggest reasons that I have fallen in love with Classic films and I am sad that we are almost done with their impressive catalogue of movies. However, we will enjoy these last few moments that we have together with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. 

Let me introduce you to Shall We Dance.

We are introduced two half of this wonderful duo in Paris. Petrov, AKA Peter P. Peters (Astaire), is a well known ballet dancer who has a love of tap dancing. He also has a love of the beautiful Linda Keene (Rogers). He is dying to meet her and would love to one day dance with her, and marry her. However, their first meeting goes sideways when she is unimpressed with him. She wants to leave the stage and have her own life. She decides that she is going to get married, but in order to do that she had to travel back to the states via a ship. Peter's over hears her plan and books passage on the same ship going to America. He goes to let him manager know what is going on when he finds his manager talking to a former dancer with her company. However, she has a plan of her own. She is still after Peter's and doesn't intend to let him go. Peter's tell his manager to get her to leave by any means her can. Thinking that he is safe, he gets on the ship and tries to win the affections of Ms. Keene. Everything is starting to come up roses when a rumor is quickly spread that Peter's and Keene are secretly married and are expecting a baby! Come to find that old flame of Peter's was told this by the manger and she spread the rumor! She is now they have to find out how to get publicly divorced from a fake secret marriage in order to marry the original fiancée. All while trying to figure out if that is what they even want in the first place. 

When I first bought this DVD collection I watched all of these movies back to back over a few days. However, I am just now learning that many dance numbers, songs, and bits that I have loved and remembered from these movies all mushed to make me believe that they are all in the same movie. However, that is so far from the truth! There are so many of the best jokes, dances, and gags that I had somehow erased this movie from my mind. In reality this has the roller blading dance scene that I love so much. I mean who else can tap dance on skates like they can! 

I am here to say that I loved rediscovering this movie, and ashamed that I had to rediscover it.