moving pictures

When Words Leave Off, Music Begins

2010-10-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

When words leave off, music begins. ~Heinrich Heine

I love the show Grey's Anatomy.

I have seen a lot of good TV in my life. I grew up during the last golden years of broadcast TV, the 1970s. That decade set the standard with pioneering shows like M*A*S*H* and Mary Tyler Moore, not to mention classics like The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie. While I was still growing up, and before the advent of cable, television outdid itself with shows like Hill Street Blues.

Those simpler TV times were followed by some television shows that few productions can hold a candle to, including:

The X Files
Friends
Sex and the City
Firefly
Sports Night
The West Wing
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Despite that kind of company, I am tempted to say Grey's Anatomy is the best television show of all time. It deals with the deep issues of life, which I am a sucker for. It has complex characters who face issues and personal challenges just like me and people I know do--like problems with current relationships that stem from bad parents or abuse, like PTSD, like addictions, etc. These are flawed characters who have rocky friendships and relationships. I like the realism of the portrayal of relationships and the weaknesses of the people on the show.

And, probably my favorite feature: it begins and ends every show with a voiceover that introduces and wraps up the theme of each episode. These themes are often profound and philosophical. Watching Grey's Anatomy and listening those voiceovers has solved problems I have had in my own life. I wish I could paper the walls of my house with those voiceovers, they are so wise.

As with any great event (which I consider Grey's Anatomy episodes to be), there are unexpected blessings you didn't expect, but receive anyway. With Grey's Anatomy, that unexpected blessing, for me, is the music.

I stopped listening to popular music somewhere after college. So I am hopelessly unhip, especially when it comes to music. Grey's Anatomy uses a lot of popular music throughout each episode. As a result, I am exposed to songs I would not normally hear. And these are, to me, some great songs. Below are some of my favorites. Thanks Grey's Anatomy!

You Wouldn't Like Me
From Season One, Hard Day's Night: Life is Short
From Season One, The First Cut is the Deepest: Sister Kate (No one can be sad when listening to this song. It's also good for cleaning.)
From Season One, No Man's Land: Where Does The Good Go?
From Season One, Shake Your Groove Thing: Sparkle Me
From Season One, If Tomorrow Never Comes: Never Leave Your Heart Alone
From Season One, Self Destruct Button: Suitcase
From Season Two, As We Know It: Homebird (one of my favorites!)
From Season Two, Superstition: Gabriel and the Vagabond
From Season Two, Losing My Religion: Chasing Cars
From Season Three, Time Has Come Today: All I Need

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

He who sings scares away his woes. ~Cervantes

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. ~Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name

Music is what feelings sound like. ~Author Unknown

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

Music's the medicine of the mind. ~John A. Logan

Music is what life sounds like. ~Eric Olson

When words leave off, music begins. ~Heinrich Heine

Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life. ~Jean Paul Richter

Music is well said to be the speech of angels. ~Thomas Carlyle, Essays, "The Opera"

Seven Pounds

2010-08-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

This movie is my new religion. I am serious. I have probably watched this movie once a day for the past three weeks.

I am so glad this movie exists. I seem to, for the past 9 months, get to a place in my life so dark, that it is the place Will Smith is in this entire movie. And when I am in that dark place, watching this movie enables me to go on.

It's odd the hope this movie gives me. This movies gives me a hope that DOES NOT say, "everything in your life will be allright. You will become happy in the future." This movie gives me hope that says "Your life has brought pain and unhappiness to yourself and others, but it is within your power to change that. Your death could even the score. Your death could put you in the black (cosmic accounting wise).
It speaks volumes about how black my outlook is that this movie gets me through the day.

On the other hand, I love the questions of this movie. I am sure some would say he should not have killed himself. He had seven lives to make up for. He had donated his lung, liver, kidney and bone marrow. He adds to these four his heart and eyes after his death. He donates his house to another woman. But he could have remained alive and donated parts of his intestine and pancreas. Also, you can donate bone marrow multiple times. So he could have paid his debt without killing himself.

But I have to say, his selfless determination to pay his debt is what makes this movie speak to me. It is that which causes me to return to it again and again. It is his dogged pursuit of such a painful and yet noble plan that is like a shot in the arm to me. I often start watching this movie in tears, hopeless. By the time I am done, I have a resolve in my heart to go on.

Like Will, at the beginning of the movie, when he gets off the phone after having abused Woody Harrelson...will starts repeating the names of the people he killed in the car crash. He repeats them until he is yelling them. He is trying to convince himself to keep going with his plan, even though it causes him pain. Watching this movie is my version of yelling names. This movie deepens my resolve. And in a 9 month period where I have been virtually alone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week--literally--(I speak to someone on the phone for about 5 minutes a day and someone else emails me a couple of times a week. Other than that, the only contact I have with humans is about once every three weeks, I have a friend I go to a movie with.) Will Smith is my companion. Will Smith walks beside me and yells his names and I can keep going.

So it's not just a movie to me. It is my Bible. It is my Talmud. It is my I Ching. It is my life preserver in a very stormy sea.

To me, starting with the last moment of the movie (his calling in his suicide to 911) at the very beginning of the film HAS to happen, narratively, because it is the hook.

And to me, all the flashbacks have to happen because they establish... his state of mind--deep deep grief and guilt.

And in terms of only seeing the story through is eyes (until after he dies that is), to me that is what makes the movie emotionally powerful.

If it is were told by an omniscient narrator, in order...and possibly in past tense....well then I don't think the movie would speak to me the way it does.

Also I love the title:

"The reference is from "Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare. A "pound of flesh" is required for penance for wrongdoing. Seven people were killed in the car wreck that he feels he is responsible for, thus he owes... seven pounds of flesh."

Furthermore, the total weight of all human organs available for transfer equals seven pounds. I love the symmetry of the title.

Finally, seven is a HUGE number for me. I feel like they maybe made this movie just for me. This movie is my own personal miracle.

"Then You'll Know" from Criminal Minds

2010-08-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

"Ask yourself 'what kind of [person] do you want to be?' Then you'll know what to do." - Rossi

W.S. Gilbert wrote: "It's love that makes the world go 'round." And if that's true, then the world spun a little faster With Haley in it. Haley was my best friend since we were in high school. We certainly had our struggles, but if there's one thing we agreed on unconditionally, it was our love and commitment to our son, Jack. Haley's love for Jack was joyous and fierce. That fierceness is why she isn't here today. A mother's love is an unrivaled force of nature. And we can all learn much from the way Haley lived her life. Haley's death causes each of us to stop and take stock of our lives. To measure who we are and what we've become. I don't have all those answers for myself, but I know who Haley was. She was the woman who died protecting the child we brought into this world together and I will make sure that Jack grows up knowing who his mother was and how she loved and protected him and how much I loved her. If Haley were with us today, she would ask us not to mourn her death but to celebrate her life. She would tell us... she would tell us to love our families unconditionally... and to hold them close, because in the end, they are all that matter. I met Haley at the tryouts of our high school's production of "The pirates of penzance". I found our copy of the play and was looking through it the other night, and I came upon a passage that seemed... appropriate for this moment.
"Oh, dry the glistening tear
That dews that martial cheek;
Thy loving children hear,
In them thy comfort seek.
With sympathetic care
Their arms around thee creep,
For oh, they cannot bear
To see their father weep!"

Good Romantic Comedies

2009-09-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

Obviously the big four (Sleepless in Seattle, Pretty Woman, You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally).

Other than that here are my favorites:

27 Dresses
Both Bridget Jones pics
Failure to Launch
The Family Stone
Fool's Gold
Fools Rush in
Hitch
The Holiday
Serendipity
Sex and the City: The Movie
What Happens in Vegas
While You Were Sleeping
The American President
Love Actually
Sabrina
Legal Eagles
Kate and Leopold
One Fine Day
No Reservations
Rumor Has It
Fever Pitch
The Mirror Has Two Faces
French Kiss
Joe vs the Volcano
About Last Night
10 Things I Hate About You
Keeping the Faith

Merry Christmas

2009-09-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

This post has been on another website of mine since Christmas 2008. I am just moving it to this blog.

"Christmas day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp." - Dr. Seuss

For me, Christmas is a collection of moments.

Some moments are from my Christmases past--the Christmas my mother gave me handmade doll versions of all my favorite characters from my favorite book, Little Women, and others almost as magical. We all have these moments in our memories. But I think, as the big day approaches, we have expectations of Christmas that are way too high. Because looking back, it wasn't ever a whole twelve or twenty-four hours that was wonderful and magical. It was really just five minutes or even thirty seconds here and there: five minutes spent unpacking cherished ornaments, thirty seconds spent running outside into a rare Christmas snow.

So this Christmas, I wish for you lower expectations and simply a moment or two of Christmas magic in your day.

And while in our lives Christmas magic is all too fleeting, there is one place where all the amorphous goodness and warmth and magic we associate with Christmas is captured securely for all time and can be revisited as often as we want: the movies. So I have a few more wishes for you this holiday season:

May you always know the magic your life has brought to others, like George in Its A Wonderful Life.
May you always know that love is more important than beauty, like Charlie Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
May you always know that everyone, no matter how different, has a unique and valuable gift, like Rudolph in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
May you always believe, like Susan ultimately does in Miracle on 34th Street.
And may your heart always be big enough to hold Christmas, like the Grinch's ultimately is in How The Grinch Stole Christmas. (The entire film version of the video was removed from Youtube and so only The Who song (look on left hand side to play song or for a not original version click here) and The Grinch song are available.)

Merry Christmas!

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” - Norman Vincent Peale

The Best Movies of All Time

2009-08-30T04:24:00.001-07:00

I make lists of movies I like all the time. This isn't that. This is one of those AFI lists. This is a list of movies that are works of art in the objective sense. In the world of film scholarship, there are things that make a movie truly exceptional. The following films, in my opinion, have those things. Those things are a weird combination of technical expertise, art, and enduring story. I could defend the following films as being the best films of all time in a room of film scholars. (This is not true of MY favorite films...the ones on the lists I always make. Pretty Woman (always number one on a list of my favorites), is, I admit, in no way exceptional, except to me.)

For example, Citizen Kane is often first on most of these lists, like at AFI. While I hated almost every moment of Citizen Kane, I can defend, quite skillfully, why its on those lists. It did new things, things that had never been done before, technically. And in addition, it employed a unique method of storytelling. It deserves to be on those lists and Orson Welles is a true master. (I would argue that Citizen Kane doesn't deserve to be number one on those lists, but I digress.)

So, here are, in my opinion, the best films of all time:

Honorable Mentions:
The Usual Suspects

There are other films that I think meet most of the standards of truly great films. But they have something that holds them back. Maybe they haven't aged well. That is, sometimes they feel like movies from a period (in a bad way that makes you groan.) Blade Runner is on that list.* Or maybe the story isn't quite universal or powerful enough. Chinatown is on that list.

* Ridley Scott is a master. And Philip K. Dick has ideas that blow my mind. But I don't love a post-apocalyptic world in any way, so in terms of Philip K. Dick, I prefer Paycheck. But although I love an action movie more than most, let's face it: John Woo is no Ridley Scott.

Horror Movies I Like

2009-08-09T05:51:00.000-07:00

This blog post is driving me a little crazy, because Google keeps eating more and more of it.

I have come late to the horror genre. I am easily scared. I mean it. Once, in college, I saw a thirty second commercial for the movie Misery and had extreme trouble sleeping for over two weeks. It doesn't take much. I can sleep in the dark now, but only because I have a night light that actually dispenses fragrance. I bought it for the fragrance, but that night light is handy, lol.

Anyway, its just been the last few years that I have been actively, purposefully watching horror movies. And turns out, they aren't that often super scary. I think I kind of figured that if I survived The Ring (over which I literally got not one minute of sleep for three solid nights) I could handle anything.

I started with Stephen King's movies. Funny enough, I hate, with a fiery passion, Stephen King's novels. Reading even the first page of any Stephen King novel causes a black wave of depression to wash over me so deeply that I would rather kill myself than turn the page. But his movies? I love them.

So I saw Stephen King's movies and I saw way more. Fast forward to this morning when I was wanting to recommend a horror movie I saw last night (The Haunting in Connecticut). I wanted to say, this was the movie Exorcist should have been. But that comparison wasn't right. So I wanted to compare it to another horror movie. And I couldn't think of other horror movies I had seen.

Hence, I created this blog post. Here's the horror movies I have seen:

Stigmata
The Seventh Sign
Underworld
30 Days of Night
Sleepy Hollow
Mimic
The Prophecy
The Shining (1997)
Exorcist: The Beginning
Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Omen 666 (2006)
Underworld: Evolution
From Hell
Lake Placid
The Shining (1980)
Thinner
The Ring
1408
Rose Red
Quarantine
The Tommyknockers
Alone in the Dark
Scream 2
The Omen (1976)
The Ring Two
Scream
It
Salem's Lot
The Haunting
Deep Blue Sea
Needful Things
The Fog
The Lost Boys
The Langoliers
28 Days Later
Carrie
Interview with the Vampire
Night Flier
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Silver Bullet
Final Destination
From Hell
Vacancy
The Haunting of Molly Hartley

By the way, that was all the movies I have rated in Netflix, that Netflix categorizes as in the horror genre, that I have rated three stars or above (up to 5).

The following are ones I have seen that I rated two stars or below:

Event Horizon
Resident Evil
Pet Sematary
Island of Dr. Moreau
The Reaping
Children of the Corn
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Salem's Lot
Silent Hill
The Craft
Psycho
An American Haunting
The Grudge
Graveyard Shift
Ted Bundy
Dahmer
Fear Dot Com
The Mist

And the following is a list of films Netflix categorizes as thrillers that I rated three stars or above (up to 5). Some of them, I think, should be categorized as horror. I have marked the ones I think are horror movies in red. I have marked serial killer movies in purple:

I Am Legend
The Bone Collector
Jennifer 8
Disturbia
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Watcher
Se7en
The Silence of the Lambs
Arlington Road
In the Line of Fire
Eagle Eye
Hostage
Red Eye
Hannibal
Black Widow
Playing God
Frality
Identity
Fight Club
Snakes on a Plane
Criminal Law
The Bourne Supremacy
No Way Out
What Lies Beneath
Outbreak
Spy Game
Zodiac
The Usual Suspects
Jaws
Shining Through
Deja Vu
Dead Again
Sneakers
A Perfect Murder
Primal Fear
Copycat
Lost Souls
The Interpreter
Enemy of the State
Malice
Taking Lives
The Bourne Identity
Insomnia
Enough
High Crimes
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Devil's Advocate
Fracture
Vantage Point
Along Came a Spider
The Jackal
Dead Calm
Chain Reaction
Fatal Attraction
Rising Sun
Hannibal Rising
The Da Vinci Code
Out of Sight
Disclosure
Eye for an Eye
Presumed Innocent
The Skeleton Key
Witness
Jaws 3
Suspect
Twisted
The Haunting in Connecticut
Basic Instinct
Storm of the Century
Double Jeopardy
The Order
The Invasion
Rendition
The Cell
Cleaner
The Pelican Brief
Lady in the Water
The Vanishing
Just Cause
Final Analysis
House of Games
Don't Say A Word
Instinct
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
Conspiracy Theory
Bless the Child
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
The Uninvited
The Number 23
The Skulls
Dream Lover
Jade
Dreamcatcher
Knowing
Gothika
Runaway Jury
Unfaithful
88 Minutes
The Bodyguard
Thunderheart
White Noise 2
Red Dragon
Blink
F/X
Internal Affairs
The Eye
The Brave One
Michael Clayton
Breach
Ghost
Nick of Time
The Dead Zone
Jagged Edge
Deceived
Murder 101
Untraceable
Hide and Seek
Jaws 2
The Rick Man's Wife
Godsend
The Presidio
Shattered
Rear Window
Body of Evidence
The Recruit
The Village
First to Die
Flawless
Basic Instinct 2
The China Syndrome
The Sentinel
Mercury Rising
Snake Eyes
The Gathering
Fallen
Dolores Claiborne
The Marsh
Trapped
Scarface
Mirrors
Virtuosity
Fifteen Minutes
The Net
The Contract
Deception
The Others
Mind Hunters
Obsessed
Kingdom Hospital
Stir of Echoes
Awake
Perfect Stranger

Thrillers I rated with two stars or lower:

The Strangers
The Ninth Gate
Manhunter

Art Saves Lives

2009-02-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

When you read this because you clicked on the link Facebook's blog sync app posted to my profile, this post will be incomplete.

I was inspired to write this for two reasons:

My friend Tarehna's threat to post this on her blog: "Watch It Wednesday: Top 20 Fever continues with my favorite 20 movies from the last 20 years." That made me think of what my own movies would be for specific years. Tarehna is always so inspirational.
Then my long lost friend Michael did that 25 things meme (here's mine) that has been going around. One of his was: "Jeff Dodge belongs in the above category. He gets his own line here because in my darkest hour, Jeff came over with his four-track and didn’t leave until my despair had been transmogrified into the pinnacle of my artistic endeavors. It took 2 ½ days."
I loved loved loved how he put that. It reminded me of the Good Will Hunting quote in my last incomplete post. And it made me think I should blog about the art that has saved my life over the years.

Here are the rules. (Self-imposed, of course. Aren't all rules self-imposed?) :D You look at the box office results for the year (only 25 in the 70s, 50 in the 80s and 90s and 100 in the oughts) and pick the movies that affected you most deeply. Then you write why. :D By the way, these are not necessarily my favorite movies, just ones that affected me deeply, and in some cases, they are art that saved my life.

1975: Jaws
1976: Rocky
1977:
Star Wars
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1978: Grease
This is kinda the first movie I remember being somewhat obsessed with. I saw it in the theater MANY times. I bought the soundtrack (still have it)--my first one--and it became an unshakable habit. I memorized all the songs.
This is also the first movie I remember going to with my friends.
Also, I affect an Australian accent, ala Sandy, all that summer. The only other time I pulled that off was when I saw Out of Africa in college. Bless all of you, my college friends, for continuing to be friends with me during that period.
This art saved me because it gave me Sandy, who I was so much like. In the years that would follow, it gave me permission to be two things:
1) innocent and loyal. Like Sandy, I am hopelessly devoted.
2) But then, it gave me permission to embrace my high heels and black wearing, smoking self (I am putting all this very nicely). The fact that she finds that other side of herself in the end of movie, in service of love, wrote on my heart, for sure. It would come in handy during all the years I spent in hopelessly puritanical parochial middle schools, highschools and colleges. Seriously: when I was a freshman in college, I came home from a date and a bunch of my floor mates piled into my room to hear about it. When I described what a good french kisser the boy was, one of the girls listening to story seriously ran screaming from the room. Seriously. Good thing I had Sandy in my head to save me from a life a Christian frigidity.
1979:
The Electric Horseman
Superman
1980:
Ordinary People
Caddyshack
1981:
On Golden Pond
Stripes
1982:
Tootsie
An Officier and A Gentleman
1983:
War Games
Mr. Mom
The Big Chill
Uncommon Valor
1984:
Footloose
The Natural
All of Me
1985:
Out of Africa
White Nights
St. Elmo's Fire
1986:
Aliens
Legal Eagles
About Last Night...
Nothing In Common
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Heartburn
Crimes of the Heart
1987:
Fatal Attraction
Moonstruck
Lethal Weapon
Dirty Dancing
Broadcast News
The Princess Bride
Baby Boom
Black Widow
1988:
Big
Working Girl
1989:
Batman
Dead Poet's Society
When Harry Met Sally
Turner & Hooch
Always
1990:
Pretty Woman
Joe vs the Volcano
Postcards from the Edge
1991:
T2: Judgment Day
Silence of the Lambs
Sleeping With The Enemy
JFK
Dead Again
Soapdish
1992:
A Few Good Men
1993:
Jurassic Park
Sleepless in Seattle
Dave
1994:
Little Women
1995:
Sabrina
French Kiss
1996:
Independence Day
Twister
Jerry Maguire
A Time To Kill
The First Wives Club
Michael
1997:
Titanic
Kiss The Girls
1998:
Deep Impact
You've Got Mail
Stepmom
The X-Files: Fight the Future
Practical Magic
1999:
The Matrix
The General's Daughter
Stigmata
2000:
Cast Away
What Women Want
The Family Man
2001:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Hannibal
Bridget Jones' Diary
Shallow Hal
Moulin Rouge
Serendipity
Someone Like You
2002:
Signs
Red Dragon
Enough
2003:
Something's Gotta Give
Love Actually
2004:
The Day After Tomorrow
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Event
Along Came Polly
13 Going On 30
Taking Lives
2005:
Hitch
The Family Stone
Serenity
2006:
The Devil Wears Prada
The Holiday
The Guardian
2007:
P.S. I Love You
No Reservations
Fracture
Zodiac
2008:
Sex and the City
Mamma Mia!
27 Dresses
Fool's Gold

Best Dance Scenes from Movies

2009-01-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

Almost all my best blogging ideas come from Tarehna. :)

Love Actually (Hugh Grant dancing to "Jump")
Footloose (Final dance scene)
13 Going on 30 (Thriller)
Blast from the Past (Brendan Fraser takes your breath away to "Mr. Zoot Suit")
True Lies (tango)
Center Stage (scene when Jody takes an outlaw dance class--its the first three minutes even tho the video is longer)
Dirty Dancing (Final scene)
What Women Want (Mel Gibson riffing on Gene Kelly)
Chicago ("All that Jazz", "Cell Block Tango", "All I Care About", and "We Both Reached for the Gun")
Moulin Rouge ("El Tango De Roxanne" and Nicole Kidman riffing on Marilyn Monroe and Madonna)
Flashdance (god knows why its this scene in the strip bar I prefer to the final scene where she gets into dance school, but I do.)
Singin In The Rain (classic Kelly)
West Side Story ("When You're a Jet" because there is no better oxymoron than "dancing gangster")
Cabaret (the better song is "Life is a Cabaret", but "Mein Herr" is the better dance.)
Summer Stock (Judy Garland inventing a classic costume effect in "Get Happy")
White Nights (if I ever had a crush on a celebrity before Robert Pattinson, it was Mikhail Baryshnikov)
The Wizard of Oz ("If I Only Had A Brain",

New Movie Quote Guessing Game

2008-12-21T07:03:00.000-08:00

On Facebook, a friend posted the following game:

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb/Wikiquote and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses which movie the quote came from correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Don't be a cheater--no googling/using IMDb search functions.
6. No judging and/or mocking my poor taste in compulsively quotable movies.
7. Don't be a know-it-all.

I added another rule:
8. In order to be on the list, I have to be able to quote the movie perfectly without going to IMDB to get the quote. That's how I narrowed down the list. I started with 31.

Some of you will already know my love of the movie quote game. So I was so excited about this. Just the fun of determining what my 15 favorite movies sounded fun.

Its been a few days and a few of these movies I think me and three other people in the world saw, so for the ones not guessed yet, I have added a second quote. This is the way Scott and I used to play the movie quote game. I would quote a movie and if he couldn't guess it I would give him a second quote from the same movie. (When quotes are dialogue between two characters, one character's lines are always italicized.)

My Top 15 Favorite Movies (by their quotes)

"I think you have a lot of special gifts."
Oh no folks, Melissa is on deck now. Look out. She, of course got this one: Pretty Woman
"It must be nice to always think you know better. To always think you are the smartest person in the room.
No, its awful."

"A lot of alliteration from anxious anchors placed in powerful posts!"
B
"Just steal the car and go."

"That one is a strange ranger.
Quinn said she was a crackpot. He forgot to mention pill-popping juicehead, hyperventilating, agoraphobic asshole.
I thought she was sweet.
Rueben, honest to God!"
"So there's really only one question: What would you do?"

"I know what you're gonna say. You don't have to. We've had our differences. I've said some things I didn't mean, you've said some things you didn't mean but you're happy that I stuck with the case. And if you've gained a certain respect for me over the last three weeks that you didn't have before, well, of course I'm happy about that, but we don't have to make a whole big deal out of it. You like me. I won't make you say it.
I was just gonna tell you to wear matching
socks tomorrow.
Oh. Okay. Good tip."
"There are signs everywhere."

"No. You let yourself off the hook...You denied your heart and lied to the man you love. Why? ...You will never know love unless you surrender to it."
"I killed the president of Paraguay with the fork. How have you been?"
Matty guessed it: Grosse Pointe Blank
"Would they have you back, you think? The FBI? Those people you despise almost as much as they despise you. Would they give you a medal, Clarice, do you think? Would you have it professionally framed and hang it on your wall to look at and remind you of your courage and incorruptibility? All you would need for that, Clarice, is a mirror."
Matty guessed this one too: Hannibal
"Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this--they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave."
Tarehna got this one: Serenity
"Where are they Caroline?"
As I knew would happen, only Scott got this one. I fall on the floor laughing just thinking of it. Good job baby! (The Ref) (If you haven't seen this, rush right out!)
"Anyone who spends a significant amount of time with me finds me disagreeable."

"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part."
"I'm a silly girl, Ed. I think you're living proof of that."

"You did love me, didn't you? I couldn't have been wrong.
You weren't."
"People will say we're in love."

"Who can say. Best thing for him, really. His therapy was going nowhere."
"That was the night that I died and someone else was saved. Someone who was afraid of water but learned to swim. Someone who knew that there would be one moment when he wouldn't be watching. Someone who knew that the darkness from the broken lights would show the way."
Woo hoo! Annette came through on this. I was beginning to wonder if ANYONE was going to get it. (Sleeping With The Enemy).
I realize I'm not a young woman; however...could you PLEASE point out to our new costume designer whose name I don't quite have yet...that I don't feel quite right in a turban. What I feel like is GLORIA FUCKING SWANSON! What am I, 70, David? Am I 70? Why don't you just put me in a walker? Buy a goddamn walker and put me in it!"
Brandon surprised me and got this one (Soapdish). I thought only Scott would get it.
"Go! Go now!"
Melissa, of course got this one too. The X Files: Fight the Future

(I chose these fifteen, because I always want to see them again, every moment of every day. They are alphabetical, except for the first one, which had to go first, as its my all time favorite movie. Interestingly, the movies I love also contain some of my most favorite quotes. I am sure that is no coincidence.)

The Honorable Mentions

"You do what I am telling you!"

"Men are unbelievable. I give and give and give and it's like wallpaper to you. You just walk right past it. Then you make one effort and you think we're equal. It only looks like a big effort because you never made one before."
"That's not good enough for me."
Mel got this one too: Bridget Jones' Diary
"And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?"

"First thing it's two minutes, then four, then six, then the next thing you know, we're the U.S. mail."
"Worst fears realized."
Hitting it out of the park again is Melissa: Cold Comfort Farm. This is impressive. Again, I thought only Scott or my mom would get this one.
"Make something of yourself."

"She says you took her breath away.
Well, it ain't hard to do--she's all breath anyway."
"He's good. He's fast. You want me to get these pansies out of the pool? This is fun. We will pass out trophies later."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that he was so qualified. I mean, you set records in a pool? That's amazing. I'll bet it was like, what, eight feet deep in the deep end? What if your nose plug didn't work? What if another swimmer had cut into your lane? For the love of God, you could've been killed."
"Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave!"
I am actually surprised none of the boys got this one. Mel pulled it out: Iron Man.
"I never did mind about the little things."
Once again, Scott comes through with Point of No Return!
"I will always come for you."
A classic. Props go to Mel again: Princess Bride.
"You have had a lucky escape."

"I bought three packets. Two in a packet - that's six. You can tell from six."

(When I started this, I put down four movies without thinking. For the rest, I had to go through my Netflix movie rating history, looking at all the movies I have given five stars to. I ended up with a list of 31. Some I was able to delete just because they are great but not all time favorites. But the ten movies that are honorable mentions (also listed alphabetically) just begged to be listed: great movies, great quotes.)

Sliding Doors

The Collection

2008-12-20T11:47:00.000-08:00

Over the last year, I have gotten rid of a lot of TV and movies I used to own. Now my collection (all in tiny round, colorful cases) fits into two small leather boxes--one for movies and one for TV...oh, and I have one shelf for TV series that are in their own boxes that don't irritate me (most do--those ones that unfold endlessly--I hate that.) Here is The Collection:

Television

The Best of Friends, Volumes 1 & 2
Bones, Season One
Dharma & Greg, Season 1
Firefly, The Complete Season
Friends, Season 1
Friends, Season 2
Friends, Season 3
Friends, The Series Finale
Grey's Anatomy Season 1
Grey's Anatomy Season 2
Grey's Anatomy Season 3
Grey's Anatomy Season 4
Medium Season 1
Medium Season 2
Medium Season 3
Medium Season 3
Sex & the City, The Complete Series (Thanks Mel, Andy, and Lex!)
Sports Night, The Complete Season
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Complete Season
Supernatural Season 1 (Thanks Mel!) & 2
What Not To Wear, Best of
The X Files, Season 1
The X Files, Season 6

Movies

13 Going on 30
Alien
Along Came Polly
Blast from the Past
Bounce
Born Yesterday
Bridget Jones' Diary
Bridget Jones' Diary: Edge of Reason
Center Stage
Charlie Barlett
Chicago
Copycat
The Day After Tomorrow
Dead Again
Devil's Advocate
The Devil Wears Prada
Double Jeopardy
The Family Stone
A Few Good Men
Fired Up
First Wives Club
Fools Rush In
French Kiss
Frosty the Snowman
The Fugitive
If These Walls Could Talk 2
Iron Man
Its A Wonderful Life
Hannibal
Hanging Up
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
High Crimes
Hitch
The Holiday
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (animated, live action)
The Jane Austen Book Club
Kate & Leopold
Groundhog Day
The Guardian
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Little Black Book
Lost Souls
Love Actually
Nothing in Common
Ocean's Eleven
An Officer and A Gentleman
Ordinary People
Pirates of the Caribbean (Black Pearl)
P.S. I Love You
Practical Magic
Pretty Woman
Pride & Prejudice
Red Dragon
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rumor Has It
Sabrina
The Santa Clause
The Santa Clause 2
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Serendipity
Serenity
Se7en
Sex & the City: The Movie
Shall We Dance
Silence of the Lambs
Sliding Doors
Soapdish
Taking Lives
Titanic
Tootsie
Twilight
Twister
Underworld
Underworld: Evolution
What Happens in Vegas
What Not To Wear
What Women Want
When Harry Met Sally
When a Man Loves a Woman
While You Were Sleeping
Wizard of Oz
The Women
The X Files: Fight the Future
You've Got Mail

Silver Bells on the Silver Screen

2008-12-15T21:47:00.000-08:00

These are the movies, etc. that I love that are about Christmas in some way, shape, or form. These are just my preferences, not an exhaustive list, and they are in no particular order:

Fools Rush In (opens at Christmas)
Serendipity (opens at Christmas)
Love Actually (ends at Christmas)
Die Hard (takes place on Christmas Eve)
Lethal Weapon (takes place in the days leading up to Christmas, ends Christmas Day)
Its A Wonderful Life (needs no explanation)
Miracle on 34th Street (needs no explanation)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated) (needs no explanation)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (live action) (needs no explanation)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (needs no explanation)
Santa Claus is Coming to Town (created by the same people who created Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, explains the origins of all the things we believe about Santa)
A Charlie Brown Christmas (needs no explanation)
The Year Without A Santa Claus (created by the same people who created Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the story of the two warring sons of Mother Nature)
Frosty the Snowman (needs no explanation)
"How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" episode of The X Files (takes places Christmas Eve, a riff on A Christmas Carol)
The Santa Clause (Tim Allen's wonderful addition to our beloved stories about Santa)
The Santa Clause 2 (The second installment of Tim Allen as Santa, this time centered on Mrs. Claus)
Holiday Inn ("White Christmas" was written for this movie and first performed during the film by Bing Crosby himself)
White Christmas (a follow up to Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby again)
The Family Man (takes places Christmas Eve, a riff on Its A Wonderful Life)
Elf (Will Farrell's addition to Christmas movies)
The Ref (takes place entirely on Christmas Eve, a fabulous comedy starring Kevin Spacey, Judy Davis, and Denis Leary)
Meet Me in St. Louis ("Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" was written for this romantic comedy and first performed during the film by Judy Garland)
Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn's wonderful addition to our beloved stories about Santa, this time about Santa's brother)
The Holiday (takes place over Christmas)
The Family Stone (takes place over Christmas)

Shining Through and Getting Through

2008-11-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

I have tried Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature today for the first time. After watching a movie in my queue instantly, I searched through movies in my rating history (that I had given the maximum of five stars to) for another movie to watch. (I have been sick this fall and have had a small relapse this weekend and so am trying to rest. Movies help that when I am bad at resting and easily bored.) In reviewing my five star movies, I found several that seemed appealing and then happened upon Shining Through. I knew immediately that Shining Through was the film I wanted to watch.

As it began to play and the music filled my studio apartment, memories of it washed over me like a wave.

I moved to Portland in 1996, about 12 years ago, almost exactly. After a long romance with the love of my life had come to what seemed like a final end, I moved across the country to get out of the city I had come to know with that love. It seemed, as I mourned, that every road led to his house and that every restaurant I passed I had eaten at with him.

And then I saw the movie Sabrina. (To be fair, the remake with Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear, and Julia Ormond.) On the screen I saw myself: a girl obsessed with a boy with whom it was obviously not going to work out. That girl moved to Paris and changed her life. And sitting there in my grief, it seemed like a good idea. And it seemed I had nothing to lose. So I moved. I choose Portland, admittedly less exotic than Paris, but both cities start with "P".

That was a hard fall, alone in a new city where it rained near constantly. I had not only left behind the love of my life, but more than 30 good friends. I had spent 23 years of my life in the Twin Cities and in leaving it, I left a part of myself.

When I moved, I brought little with me--only what would fit in my Honda Civic hatchback. Clothes, a futon and frame, a chair, a television, and movies. Lots and lots of movies. Among them was Shining Through.

I watched it night after night, and cried myself to sleep as it played. Although Shining Through stars Melanie Griffith and Michael Douglas (not known as acting heavyweights), the nobility and romance of the story--set in my favorite era (World War II)--as well as the courage of Griffith's character in the face of heartbreak got me through that long winter.

And so it is that, even now, as the music of Shining Through plays, I am awash in memories of that time. I remember facing the heartbreak each night. I remember waking up each morning, vowing to try again. And now, 12 years later, I hear the music and realize that just as Griffith's character was able to move beyond her grief to do something great, I have built a new life. My choices aren't brave and world-changing like hers--after all, this isn't Nazi Germany. But I have a job that makes the world a tiny bit better I think. And that is its own sweet melody as winter settles in again.

"Bloodlust" (Review and Quotes)

2007-11-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

So basically one of the only reasons to blog about this show is to catalog all the funny lines in one place.

This episode isn't one of my favorites either, basically because I don't like Supernatural's lore about vampires. First of all, vampires should have two fangs, not a mouthful. I don't know--these vampires just seem wrong to me. They don't seem elegant like Lestat or Jean Claude. They seem trashy and shabby.

Funny Lines in this Episode

Again, for being an episode I don't like very well, it has great lines.

Sam and Dean are on their way to the case and Dean is very happy to be driving the newly restored Impala:
Dean: "Woo! Listen to her purr. You ever heard anything so sweet?"
Sam: "You know if you two wanna get a room, just let me know Dean."
Dean: "Ahh...Don't listen to him baby. He doesn't understand us."
Sam: "You're in a good mood."
Dean: "Why shouldn't I be?"
Sam: "No reason."
Dean: "Got my car. Got a case. Things are looking up."
Sam: "Wow. Give you a couple of severed heads and a pile of dead cows and you're Mr. Sunshine."
Dean and Sam stand in morgue, wearing lab coats, examining the head of a dead girl who has been beheaded.
Dean: "Maybe we should, uh, look in her mouth. See if those wackos stuffed anything down her throat. You know, kind of like the moth in Silence of the Lambs."
Sam: "Go ahead."
Dean: "No, you go ahead."
Sam: "What?"
Dean: "Put the lotion in the basket."
This is one of my favorite scene in the series!
Sam and Dean enter a local bar, hoping to find some information about a group of vampires from the bartender.
Dean: "How's it going?"
Bartender: "Living the dream. What can I get for you?"
Dean: "Two beers please."
Sam: "So, we're looking for some people."
Bartender: "Sure. Its hard to be lonely."
Dean and Sam are looking for the vampires and meet, Gordon, mistaking him for a vampire. Once he proves he is fangless and a fellow hunter, the following conversation takes place:
Dean: "You check out that ...farm"
Gordon: "Its a bust--though they could kill you with that patchouli smell alone."
Dean: "Where's the nest, then?"
Gordon: "I got this one covered. Look, don't get me wrong--its a real pleasure meeting you fellows. But I have been on this thing for over a year. I killed a fang back in Austin--tracked the nest all the way up here. I'll finish it."
Dean: "We could help."
Gordon: "Thanks, but I'm kind of a go-it-alone type of guy."
Dean: "Oh, man, I've been itching for a hunt."
Gordon: "Sorry. I hear there's a chupacabra two states over--go ahead and knock yourselves out."
Reminds me of the _X Files_ episode "Bad Blood". ;)

"Everybody Loves a Clown" (Review and Quotes)

2007-11-25T10:07:00.001-08:00

One more warning, since I posted these first two almost simultaneously:

This post is my detailed comments about an episode of second season of a television show called Supernatural. I plan to post one for every show, so skip down to the next post once you lose interest, 'cause posts prefaced by the title Supernatural will just go on and on in the same vein.

First of all, this is about my least favorite episode in the series thus far.

Second of all, that clown, standing just off the road in the forest, late at night, waving to that little girl, is just creepy. Really creepy.

At the beginning of each Supernatural episode, there is a little synopsis. A sort of bringing you up to date on events. It is a complicated show I suppose for really only having two characters--since it is about supernatural creatures, demons, and the like--there is a lot of lore and rules and history you have to remember and keep up on for things to make sense. So this show does a synopsis every episode. Its different just about every time. And a lot of time it is long and set to music. Its different music every time--the only song that has made an appearance twice is "Carry On Wayward Son" (a particularly relevant and touching song in this series.) Anyway, for this episode, the synopsis is long and set to "Time Has Come Today." They do such a good job on these synopses. In this one, they take advantage of slow ticking in the song and as the synopsis ends, they slow the ticking way down and intercut it with important scenes and facts. Its like a three minute movie and it about takes your breath away it is so well done. Its another thing this series does better than any other series I have seen.

(Also, nice red master shot at the beginning--shot through a red ballon at a carnival that is then popped. The guys who make this show are so good--its the little touches like that that really make it over-the-edge excellent. A lot of the producers did some X Files work, which is maybe why I like it so well.)

Now seriously though--what is wrong with the little girl in this episode? She wakes up in the middle of the night, sees a clown in her front yard and is just all smiley, runs downstairs, and lets him in??? Has this girl never seen any movies? Never heard any "don't talk to strangers" speeches? I mean, come on.

At this point, I have to say, I have seen websites where people comment at length on each episode in a series, I generally think: "oh my god--get a life." So I am slightly embarrassed to be doing this. But I am workaholic with no real life, trying to recover from being a workaholic and this, sadly, is part of my attempt to get a life. Pathetic--but you have to start somewhere. And how can you not be just madly, head-over-heels in love with Dean? He may be better than a real boyfriend because he is so cool. I swear characters like Fox Mulder and Dean Winchester have ruined me for real men. No real guy could possibly be as cool as them. ;) Okay...Scott is that cool.

I have a theory about Sam and Dean, by the way. I think there are two types of people in the world: people who are like Sam and people who are like Dean. And if you are like the character, you find them a little irritating, but really like the opposite character. I find Sam a little irritating. I love Dean. ;)

Funny Lines in this Episode
For being one of my least favorite episodes, it has a lot of funny lines. ;)

This is the first episode since Sam and Dean's dad's death and throughout the episode Sam prods Dean about not dealing with their father's death. Sam's first such comment in the episode takes place as Dean works on repairing the Impala:
Sam: "How's the car coming along?"
Dean: "Slow."
Sam: "Yeah. Need any help?
Dean: "What? You under a hood--I'll pass."
Sam: "Need anything else then?"
Dean: "Stop it, Sam."
Sam: "Stop what?"
Dean: "Stop asking asking if I need anything. Stop asking if I am okay. I'm okay. Really. I promise."
Sam: "Allright. Dean, its just...we've been at Bobby's for over a week now and you haven't brought up Dad once."
Dean: "You know what? You're right. Come here. I'm gonna lay my head gently on your shoulder. Maybe we can cry, hug, maybe even slow dance."
Dean and Sam go to the Roadhouse in this episode--a bar for hunters that will figure prominently in the second season--and meet Ellen, her daughter Jo, and their employee, Ash (played by Chad Lingberg, who I think is hysterically funny in this series). When Dean and Ash first meet, as the scene ends:
Dean says to Ash, who is sporting an incredible mullet with the back being so long its down past his shoulders, "Hey, man..."
Ash: "Yeah?"
Dean: "By the way, I dig the haircut."
Ash: "All business up front--party in the back."
As Sam and Dean drive to the carnival to investigate the case they are about to work on, Sam is telling Dean about the case (parents dead in a grisly way, little girl alive, and reporting a clown did it).
Dean: "I know what you are thinking, Sam--'why did it have to be clowns?'."
Sam: "Give me a break."
Dean: "You didn't think I remembered, did you? I mean you still bust out crying whenever you see Ronald McDonald on the television."
Sam: "Well, at least I am not afraid of flying."
Dean: "Planes crash."
Sam: "And apparently, clowns kill."
Sam and Dean have arrived at the carnival. Sam and a dwarf clown are staring at each other in the middle of the thoroughfare of the carnival. Sam looks quite scared and finally the dwarf clown walks away. Dean walks up to Sam at that moment, looks at Sam, looks at the dwarf clown walking away and says: "You get her number?"

Laughing out loud.

(By the way, I don't know anybody who loves a clown.)

"In the Time of My Dying" (Review and Quotes)

2007-11-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

I preface this post by saying two things:

A) Its my detailed comments about an episode of second season of a television show called Supernatural. I plan to post one for every show, so skip down to the next post once you lose interest, 'cause posts prefaced by the title Supernatural will just go on and on in the same vein.

B) I shut my cable off over two years ago, and in general, I am not a huge fan of television. I think there is an alarming amount of bad television made and an even more alarming number of people watching it. But, I have to say, when I truly love a piece of media, it tends to be television. Don't get me wrong, I love more than my share of movies, but its my favorite television shows that I watch over and over again--far more often than I watch movies over again. For those of you who know me, you know that's a lot of watching over and over again. So, despite my general disdain for television today, I am in love with Supernatural and think it is some of the best television ever made. Its my current favorite, so right now I think its better than Sports Night, better than Firefly, better than X Files, better than Sex and the City, better than Friends, better than West Wing. Again, for those of you who know me, you know that is saying a lot. It does kind of give me nightmares, but it is still my favorite.

Supernatural Season Two: "In the Time of My Dying"
So first off, I have to say, how much I marvel at the amazing use of music in this show. This episode takes up where the first season left off--Sam, Dean, and their father (and the beloved Impala) just having been slammed into by a semi-truck. As the episode begins, we are at the crash scene right after the accident, and the only sound we hear, aside from radiator hiss, has the effect of sounding like a car radio, still playing after the crash. Its playing quietly, but you can just hear "Bad Moon Rising" as the truck driver/demon steps out of his truck. Nice subtle sound hint, and like most of the music of the show, vintage 70s.

At this point I have to pause in deference to my friend Melissa, and mention the funniest website I have ever been to (http://www.kissthisguy.com/): The Archive of Misheard Lyrics. Laugh out loud funny. One she and I laughed particularly hard over was the misheard lyrics of "Bad Moon Rising": one of the main lines of the song ("there's a bad moon on the rise") is evidently misheard as "there's a bathroom on the right." This site has ruined this song for me, because now "there's a bathroom on the right" is all I can hear whenever I hear the song. But I don't mind so much, because it is so funny--it sounds so much like that is what is being said.

By the way, I hate that reaper girl in this episode. She is on my last nerve.

Also, about Sam and Dean's dad, John Winchester--played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan...well you know how throughout most of The Matrix, Keanu Reeves looks shocked and confused and says "Whoa" a lot? And you know how after seeing Keanu Reeves in a bunch of movies, you begin to think his main talent is looking shocked and confused and saying "Whoa"? Well I think Jeffery Dean Morgan's main talent is silently looking at his sons with a sad, knowing, loving smile on his face. That is his main function in this series and he does it better than anyone I have ever seen. His eyes are so expressive, and he embodies the love and loss he feels about his life and his boys so well, and with no words. He would have been a great addition to the silent film days. I am not saying I don't think he's a good actor. He may be. But his part is small in this series. And he mostly just looks silently at his boys with a sad, knowing, loving smile. And I marvel at how expressive his sad smile is.

Funny Lines in this Episode

Dean is--for most of this episode--a sort of ghost, caught in between dying and living. So while he is really lying in a hospital bed dying, he is also walking around, talking, etc.--but no one can see or hear him. In one scene, he is in his father's hospital room, witnessing his father and Sam fighting. He is yelling at them, trying to get them to stop fighting--his life long role with the two of them--but they, of course, cannot hear him. At the peak of his efforts to get them to stop fighting, he--ghost or not--knocks a glass off a tray. Sam and his father, of course, see and hear the glass shatter as it hits the floor. They are suddenly silent, obviously wondering about how the glass was knocked off the tray. Dean himself is a little awestruck and says "Dude, I full-on Swayze-ed that mother." ;)

Stick It (Review)

2007-11-25T09:52:00.001-08:00

Since this blog is about movies and television, my first post is a comment on Stick It, a movie I just saw (about gymnastics.)

This movie falls into the "inspiring story of a lone dedicated athlete" genre, along side films like Invincible, Ice Castles, and Cutting Edge. Now, I am a sucker for this genre, having been raised by an obsessed athlete who also loved movies. Also, I spent my childhood watching the likes of Nadia Comaneci, so this movie had special appeal for me.

Stick It showcases Missy Peregrym who I hadn't seen before, but evidently has done some television. She reminded me of Jim Carey. Now bear in mind, I love Jim Carrey and think he is amazingly talented--so this is high praise from me. I loved Missy's performance and hope she becomes a star--she definitely has the talent for it.

Corny though it was, I have to say I thought Stick It was a fabulous movie, because of how it made me feel. It was definitely a story about girls being empowered, making choices about their own lives for the first time, and having courage. Don't get me wrong--this movie is no Casablanca, its no Citizen Kane, its no Godfather.

But sometimes--actually most of the time--that's not what I want in a movie. I want a movie that inspires me. I want a movie that tells me a story of someone I identify with. I want a movie where that someone I identify with does something braver or harder than what I have done. Movies like that make me stand a little taller, make me reach a little higher...they help me be the best version of myself.

So in my book, Stick It was a great movie.

(If you decide to give it a try, look for the beam routine near the end done to rap by Nikki Soohoo, a relatively minor character. I felt it was the high point of the film--showing courage and individuality--and was just fun watch...made you move your hips with her and clap your hands for her.)