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Dec. 30th, 2007 11:14 pm.i. gift advice
When giving a small child clothes as a gift - always a risky move, because don't we all remember the dismay that accompanied that rectangle-shaped box, which we always knew had to house some totally boring sweater? - spend the extra two or three bucks for a wind-up toy or small stuffed animal to go in the box next to the clothes. I did this for the first time this Christmas, and you guys, the reaction was INSANE! My cousin's daughter Abby went THROUGH THE ROOF when she saw the totally inexpensive stuffed kitten I put in the box with her corduroy skirt and long-sleeved shirt. She screamed and grabbed the kitten and waved it at everyone in the room, like, "LOOK! LOOK AT THIS AWESOME SURPRISE!"
It was so totally great, and something I recommend to others. It even worked for my cousin Emma, who is ten and therefore, I thought, immune to the trick. But I put a wind-up dog that flipped itself over in the box on top of her gift, and she loved that, too.
.ii. movie news and movie pollage
I went to see I Am Legend over the weekend and man, it scared the crap out of me. I almost had to leave the theater. I was flailing all over, waving my hands in front of my eyes like a crazy person, sobbing at the flashback scenes - basically a basket case. Which I guess means the movie did its job.
As to the pollage!
[Poll #1113507]
.iii. yet more youtube clips
I am still on an Astaire/Rogers kick. Today's clip is from the movie Roberta, which is one of the movies they made where they were the wacky comedy relief to another couple's primary love story. Irene Dunne is the female lead in this one, so it's generally more successful than the other movie that follows this pattern, Follow the Fleet, but I still would rather have had Fred and Ginger front and center the whole way through. Also as in Follow the Fleet, Fred and Ginger play former dance partners who reconnect over the course of the movie after a long absence from each other, which allows for a nice dynamic between them.
I love this routine because it's so loose and fun - there are a couple of points in the sequence where you can actually hear Ginger laughing, which is lovely.
Too Hot to Handle
The Royal Tenenbaums was on Comedy Central this weekend, and even though I own the DVD, when I came across it while channel-surfing on Saturday, I still ended up sitting down to watch the whole thing. I love that movie, for reasons even I can't fully understand or articulate; why does it work so well for me when something like Pushing Daisies, which seems similar to me (stylistically at least) in a lot of ways, really does not? I don't know. Two things I can think of as possible reasons: (1) Gene Hackman's performance, which is incredibly awesome, and (2) it makes me laugh.
One of my favorite parts of the movie is its opening sequence, which I found on YouTube here:
The Royal Tenenbaums opening sequence
When giving a small child clothes as a gift - always a risky move, because don't we all remember the dismay that accompanied that rectangle-shaped box, which we always knew had to house some totally boring sweater? - spend the extra two or three bucks for a wind-up toy or small stuffed animal to go in the box next to the clothes. I did this for the first time this Christmas, and you guys, the reaction was INSANE! My cousin's daughter Abby went THROUGH THE ROOF when she saw the totally inexpensive stuffed kitten I put in the box with her corduroy skirt and long-sleeved shirt. She screamed and grabbed the kitten and waved it at everyone in the room, like, "LOOK! LOOK AT THIS AWESOME SURPRISE!"
It was so totally great, and something I recommend to others. It even worked for my cousin Emma, who is ten and therefore, I thought, immune to the trick. But I put a wind-up dog that flipped itself over in the box on top of her gift, and she loved that, too.
.ii. movie news and movie pollage
I went to see I Am Legend over the weekend and man, it scared the crap out of me. I almost had to leave the theater. I was flailing all over, waving my hands in front of my eyes like a crazy person, sobbing at the flashback scenes - basically a basket case. Which I guess means the movie did its job.
As to the pollage!
[Poll #1113507]
.iii. yet more youtube clips
I am still on an Astaire/Rogers kick. Today's clip is from the movie Roberta, which is one of the movies they made where they were the wacky comedy relief to another couple's primary love story. Irene Dunne is the female lead in this one, so it's generally more successful than the other movie that follows this pattern, Follow the Fleet, but I still would rather have had Fred and Ginger front and center the whole way through. Also as in Follow the Fleet, Fred and Ginger play former dance partners who reconnect over the course of the movie after a long absence from each other, which allows for a nice dynamic between them.
I love this routine because it's so loose and fun - there are a couple of points in the sequence where you can actually hear Ginger laughing, which is lovely.
Too Hot to Handle
The Royal Tenenbaums was on Comedy Central this weekend, and even though I own the DVD, when I came across it while channel-surfing on Saturday, I still ended up sitting down to watch the whole thing. I love that movie, for reasons even I can't fully understand or articulate; why does it work so well for me when something like Pushing Daisies, which seems similar to me (stylistically at least) in a lot of ways, really does not? I don't know. Two things I can think of as possible reasons: (1) Gene Hackman's performance, which is incredibly awesome, and (2) it makes me laugh.
One of my favorite parts of the movie is its opening sequence, which I found on YouTube here:
The Royal Tenenbaums opening sequence
