Can You Hear Me Chewing?

So this post concludes the 30 Day Film Challenge. To be honest it made me question how I watch films. Do I really watch them? Do I just watch just to be able to say, okay, I've seen that one time to check it off my list? Am I suffering from partial memory loss because I cannot remember some of the other movies I know meant a lot to me in the past? When I eat chips at a movie theatre is my chewing really that loud? Are most movie theatres required to keep their floors slightly sticky? Why do parents bring babies inside the theatre?

White Lies break!!!



Day 24 Favorite Animated/ Children's Film

Beauty and the Beast. I too conversed with various pieces of furniture as a child. We once had a dinner party. The jello mold hosted.

Day 25 Favorite Documentary

I recently watched Which Way Home. It was very powerful.

Day 26 Favorite Foreign Film(s)

All About My Mother and Volver

Day 27 Favorite Independent Film

Brick made quite an impression on me. And that soundtrack was beautiful.

Day 28 Most Obscure

If by obscure you mean not many people saw it, maybe, Carnival of Souls, the 1962 version. But if by obscure you mean just mysterious or weird, then Eraserhead wins.

Day 29 Favorite Film as a Kid

The Goonies. I vaguely remember a reenactment with friends.

Day 30 Favorite Film This Time Last Year

Inception.

Bleak Squawk

And that was exactly what I told my wayward laptop when it had the audacity to get infected by a virus!!! I was doing my thing one afternoon. And by thing, I mean working. And by working I mean checking myhabit for any $10 deals. Just kidding. But really, I forget which site I was in. I vaguely recall trying to find better pictures so I can see some celebrity's outfit better. A pop-up opens. Threat detected, move to virus vault. Next thing I know anything.exe won't open.

So I started feeling cold sweat all through my body. I began searching for fixes on tech forums but I couldn't even get past the first 3 steps. Cue even more cold sweat, add a dash of tears starting to pool in the corner of my eyes, why not throw in a little shit-my-pants vibe. Long story short, I had to take it in to a place that rhymes with Bleak Squawk, or Cheek Guackd, or Eeek Buaqd, or Ahg;kjahdglrdsd where let's just say... Actually I don't want to say. I don't want to be reminded of it. No more wallet-related memories that torment my soul, please.

There really was a sort of freedom, being computer-less. I felt light without it always tugging me toward its screen, without it telling me to check this, and check that! Work on this! Write that!

Oh, all right. I was only partially computer-less. I borrowed my sister's And yes, I admit. I was already halfway out the door when I got the call from Bleak Squawk to come pick it up.

Shall I continue where I left off on that 30 Day Film Challenge?

Day 11 A Film By Your Favorite Director

In my usual fashion of not committing to just 1 favorite, I will say Hitchcock is one of my favorites and I'm always delighted when Rear Window is on TV. And how anyone could possibly reject Grace Kelly is just, I mean, just crazy talk.

Day 12 Least Liked From Your Favorite Director

That one by Hitchcock with Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. But, can I just say, a young Paul Newman - hotness.

Day 13 A Guilty Pleasure

Excess Baggage. Aayee! That Benicio del Toro!

Day 14 A Film that No One Expected You to Like

By no one, I mean me. 17 Again. Maybe because it was supposed to be this Disney kid trying to be in a movie. But Zac Efron wasn't bad. Not bad at all. Pretty good, actually.

I'm skipping Day 15 because I don't have an answer.

Day 16 A Film You Used to Love But Now Hate

Can I think on this? No, really, that was the title, Can I Think On This? Just kidding.

Day 17 Favorite Drama

I know I can always count on Steel Magnolias to get the tears flowing.

Day 18 Favorite Comedy

The Philadelphia Story. and that scene where Jimmy Stewart answers the phone with, this is the Voice of Doom calling..

And, ah, remember that Phoebe Cates movie, with Rik Mayall? Drop Dead Fred. Don't judge.

Day 19 Favorite Action Movie

The first that comes to mind is Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Such a satisfying ending!

Day 20 Favorite Romantic Film

An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. If only cruise ships were still like that. Now it's wobbly sunburned drunks, eye disease outfits, and stroller brigades.

Day 21 Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen! More on the sci-fi side, Abre Los Ojos.

Day 22 Favorite Horror

Hands down, The Exorcist is still the scariest for me.

Day 23 Favorite Thriller/Mystery

Long but worth it: The Secret in Their Eyes.

Catch Up, Ketchup!

I've been horribly behind as far as the 30 Day Film Challenge Goes. Come to think of it, I'm also behind on other things. Thankfully other things do not include credit card bills and a tetanus shot. It does, however, include modes of transportation (anyone care for a lift in my carriage), physical exercise (shall I pop in a bit of Jane Fonda), and cleaning tools (A Swiffer? How amusing!).

Now, where were we? Day 3: A Film You Watch to Feel Good

I'm a sucker for Home Alone 1 and 2. I've seen it a bunch of times but everytime the Wet Bandits get tortured I can't help laughing.

Day 4: A Film You Watch to Feel Down

A Japanese film called, Nobody Knows. Typing the title is making me sad. Let's move on.

Day 5: A Film that Reminds You of Someone

The movie Toy Soldiers will always remind of my older sister, in her early teens, pining for a post Stand by Me Wil Wheaton.

Day 6: A Film that Reminds You of Somewhere

Paris When it Sizzles always reminds me of our tiny one bedroom, Capitol Hill apartment from when we first moved to Seattle.

Day 7: A Film that Reminds You of Your Past

Oh gosh. Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet immediately brings high school back.

Day 8: A Film You Can Quote Best

You mean, aside from The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast? Probably Interview with the Vampire. What? Who can resist Anne Rice and a vampire-y Brad Pitt? 1791 was the year it happened. I was 24, younger than you are now...

Day 9: A Film with Your Favorite Actor (Male)

My current favorite actor is Michael Fassbender. MICHAELFASSBENDER&%!!! He has such an effective ass... Oops. Slip of the tongue. I mean he was such an ass in Fish Tank. Such an effective ass...

But, but, but, I also love I Confess where I thought Montgomery Clift was at his most tortured, brooding, and beautiful.

Day 10: A Film with Your Favorite Actor (Female)

I'm not sure if I have only one favorite actress but, I could probably watch Ingrid Bergman for hours and not get tired of her face. So, in honor of Ingrid Bergman, I would have to say Hitchcock's Notorious.

Moving Pictures

So my BFF sends me this 30 Day Film Challenge which she just completed. I'm on Day 2 which is Least Favorite Film. The first thought was the remake of The Fog with Tom Welling. I just remember repeating to myself during and after watching it that that was an hour and a half which I will never get back. I could have baked 2 loaf pans of banana bread, let it cool and eaten it all myself. Yes, that's right. Myself.



Speaking of movies, I just watched Animal Kingdom. That was intense. And that skin-prickling scene with the musical score and All Out of Love playing over each other? Wow.

Another movie I just watched was Midnight in Paris which was delightful. As a bookworm, oh what? Wait, I guess I'm more worm and less book. In any case, it was such fun to watch. And Adrien Brody's Dali was fantastic.

I also saw Insidious. The entities were definitely scary. I was trying so hard to like it, I really was, and I think I kind of like it but I was just overwhelmed by how much like Poltergeist it was. It was, right? Wasn't it?

I also watched a series of gruesome Korean movies. From most-liked to least, they were: I Saw the Devil, The Chaser, Lady Vengeance, The Man From Nowhere. Although, that man from nowhere was pretty cute. There was also H but that's another 2 hours which I will never get back.

Finally, and completely unrelated to the subject of movies, Sublime with Rome, or no Sublime at all?





Animal Kingdom poster from: The Cinema Source

Shooping

That was indeed what my cousin suggested as we talked about what to do after our Mediterranean dinner. Shooting, and then pooping -- shooping, for short. She might even have said shooting poop. It's best to keep in mind that this came from the same person who knows all the words to the song, Smell Yo Dick.

We ended up doing neither as the shooting range idea fell apart after we found out no one was going to come in and give us a little orientation. We were expected to just start shooting on our own. And everyone in our party, except one, has never been to a shooting range, and can hardly aim. And I mean, where do I point the remote control when I change channels? Do I aim for the TV, or the cable box? It's a mystery. When I drink any beverage I aim for my mouth but why is my shirt always wet afterwards? Just kidding, but really, don't ask me to throw you a candy bar or a bottled drink because if I aim for your outstretched hands I will hit your face, and if I aim for your face I will hit your neck, and so on and so forth.

What we did do was circle Bellevue until we ended up at this shady looking strip mall. But, surprise! Inside was a fantastic and cheap karaoke bar, Where you not only get a lesson in counting in Korean, you also get disco lights, outlandish accompanying videos (it's a car crash... no, look, ninjas) and a tambourine!!! It was so much fun the only thing missing was Riskay's Smell Yo Dick on the song list!



Photo: Traderstruthrevealed.com

Fashion Tape Tales

My friend and I were talking over coffee the other day, and the subject skedaddled over to past crimes of fashion. You know, those moments where you thought you were so best-dressedglamorousflossyflossy, but really, and only after time has passed, do you realize how much of a hot mess you were.

Listen, when I was in college, the cropped pant, or jean just started coming back. So, I thought, hey, why not fashion tape (and when I say fashion tape I really mean masking tape) my jean's hem and make it look cropped?

Good idea, right? Wrong. It was the hem version of Parallax error. I mean, what was I thinking? The length I chose didn't make my jeans look like I bought them cropped, it made them look like I was wearing a pair I got from when I turned 11 years old.

And you know when the tighter the tee, the better, was the in thing? Yeah, let's just forget that happened.

And how about another jean DIY. So I had this look in mind where I wanted my jeans to look lower on the waist than they actually were. You know what I did? I belted the bottom of my shirt, just the exact bottom, to create the illusion of a lower, belted pair of pants. Like anyone's going to believe my zipper was only an inch long!

Our pre and early teens don't count, of course. I mean, it was my mother who made me wear tops and pants in matching print (after I asked her to buy them for me), and she made me put on those blouses with shoulder pads (she did, really), as well as the tent-like trapeze dress in a dizzying Pucci-wannabe pattern (that was all me). And, the black bicycle shorts with the hot pink stripe in the sides(still me).

And while we're at it, I also get a pass for that horrid shaggy haircut that looked like two haircuts in one, I mean, welcome to the ground floor, oh, wait here's the top deck! I also wash my hands clean of cargo pants, chunky shoes, and lace hem leggings.

Finally, this song has been around for a while but it is stuckstuckstuck in my head:

Boob Gesturing

I watched X-Men: First Class recently. I'm telling you now just in case my fingers start typing MICHAELFASSBENDER&#! out of nowhere. Now that that's out of the way, here are more random tidbits.




I wore a pair of low-heeled t-strap shoes to work the other day. My co-worker unwittingly gave me a backhanded compliment by admiring them and then asking, are they soft? To which I replied, they are! The sole has some comfy padding to it.

And then she clarified and asked, I mean are they Sofft?

Really? Is it bad that I felt slightly offended? I mean, no offense to Sofft but I might need to be limping before I start wearing borderline orthopedic shoes. MICHAELFASSBENDER%$33

I was at Nordstrom the other day, on the hunt for the Nu Bra to go underneath the bridesmaid's dress for my cousin's upcoming wedding. I was on the phone with my uncle, the designer, who was telling me which undergarment would go best with the dress. So there I was, in public, asking if it's individual cups, or a whole bra, and where are the adhesive strips, or if it's fabric, and naturally, my hands were gesturing of their own accord.

Then I realized, I had one hand cupping my boob for most of the conversation. Can you imagine what it would have been like if the conversation was about which panties would be best?

I had a haircut recently too. This may sound odd but it's been years since I've set foot in a proper salon. Most of my haircuts have been expertly done by a lady who either comes to me, or I go to her apartment. In any case, I tried Seven at Pacific Place. On a side note, is that how it is in salons these days? A live DJ? What's next, a scissor-themed dance party? Back to hair, I love my haircut. It's that collarbone-length that I've wanted for a while now.

A nice, young lady already done had herses. Sorry. That was Ru Paul talking. I mean, a nice, young lady (who must have had a degree from the School of Small Talk) did my hair and I really like the results. Although when I woke up this morning you'd have thought I did my hair with dynamite. MICHAELFASSBENDER+=?/<


Photo: Gossip Boo Crew