Am I the only one who didn't notice this?

Thor

Captain America

via Recalibrate Your Statistics

Pepper Pots in her own Iron Man suit?

photo via Wyjeb.pl

That would be so cool!

SDCC Marvel Panel Teases Pepper Potts In Iron Man Suit For Iron Man 3 | The Mary Sue: "During the Iron Man 3 panel, Favreau revealed that the possibility of Pepper getting her own suit has been kicked around more than once by the production team: “We almost did it a few times; we talked about it a lot. I think we all share your enthusiasm for that, and we all want to see Gwyneth kick a little ass,” he said.

Today's Google "doodle" honors drive-ins

Today's Google doodle is a short video honoring the 79th anniversary of the first drive-in theater. Like any good film, it has rewards for those who pay attention.

A few fun things I spotted:

• A Google doodle within the Google doodle
• The ubiquitous Wilhelm scream
• A little Android guy in a grass skirt on a dashboard

Were there any other interesting things you noticed? Share in the comments!

Happy Buffyversary!

Fifteen years ago today, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" premiered on TV. 

And I don't think I watched it. 

Even though "Buffy" eventually became my favorite show, when it first aired I was just appalled that anyone would take one of my favorite funny movies and try to turn it into a teen drama. The horror! But, as it turns out, it was awesome. I have since learned to trust in the wisdom of Joss Whedon and he's never steered me wrong.

Here's a fan-made "trailer" of season one:

Thanks to the Buffy Facebook page for the heads up!

Cut! Costume Exhibit, or Encountering Fantasy in Reality

My daughter and I visited the Cut! Costume and the Cinema exhibit at the Durham Museum during her Christmas break. It broke my heart that we weren't allowed to take photos, but I came across this video last night which lets you get an idea of how amazing some of the costumes are:

 


I have to admit the costume that took my breath away wasn't the most spectacular or elaborate. I've always loved the movie Howard's End - E.M. Forster is one of my favorite authors, I've had a long-standing obsession with Merchant Ivory films and I just lurve Emma Thompson - so encountering a dress Emma Thompson wore in that film (below) made me tear up just a little bit. That emotional response was surprising. I think it was a result of encountering such a familiar item from fantasy unexpectedly in reality. I even considered snapping a clandestine picture of the dress, but didn't feel confident in my sneakiness, so I didn't. Maybe I'll have to go back before the exhibit leaves, just to visit Margaret's dress one more time (and to check out Captain Jack Sparrow's outfit, as well. You know, as long as I'm there).

via  Enchanted Serenity of Period Films: Howard's End (1992)

If you can't get to the exhibit, but would like to see some of the costumes in more detail than what is in the video, I just found a Flickr set by annesstuff  which shows many of them when the exhibit was in another venue.

Life moves pretty fast...

Ferris Bueller's Day Off  is one of my favorite movies, so I was super excited to see this commercial. Part of me wishes it was a whole movie, but in a way, this is enough and having more might ruin it.

Does the movie of your life need a new writer?

Photo By Hal Dick

An interesting read:

"If they made a movie about your life, would it be titled, It’s a Won­der­ful Life? Or would Speed, You've Got Mail, or Nightmare on Elm Street be more fitting? Unfor­tu­nately, too many peo­ple are liv­ing lives like those movies that come out every sum­mer. You know, the over­hyped ones with big bud­gets, lots of action — and tired sto­ries with thin plots. Just because a movie costs a lot of money and has a lot of things going on doesn’t mean it’s a very good story. The same is true of your life...If you’re less than thrilled with the direction of your story, it is time to hire a new writer: YOU."

Check out the whole post here: How To Live A Better Story | Jungle of Life

Hobbit Countdown: 360-ish days and counting...

I've been waiting patiently for the first installment of The Hobbit to come out. Of course, the realization of the movie mostly seemed like vague reports and imagination to me, and I could handle that. And for some reason, I thought it was coming out this summer. No problem. I could wait perfectly well for that.

Then hubby sent me this trailer this morning, which both took away any patience I had and informed me that I have to wait until NEXT DECEMBER 14th to see it!


On the bright side, this gives me plenty of time to re-read the book, which I haven't read since high school.

And this just showed up in my RSS feed: Waiting for Bilbo: Comic: The Hobbit Trailer (just so you know, I wasn't one of those people. Really. I'm serious. Why don't you believe me?)

Movie Night: Your Highness

We watched Your Highness last weekend. I had pretty low expectations for this movie, and even those weren't met. I love screwball comedy, but when it seems to have been written by a bunch of horny 14-year-old boys, that just doesn't cut it. Done right, this could have been something like the Spaceballs of the sword-and-sorcery genre, but it was just a bunch of  bad accents, puerile jokes and sexism hung on a flimsy plot.

Normally, if I don't like a movie, I can still see where someone would enjoy if they were "into that sort of thing" like war movies, horror movies, or whatever other genre I don't usually go for. I can usually pull some redeeming value from even the worst movies, or at least come away with a "well, they tried, it just didn't work" sort of attitude. But with Your Highness, I really just want those 102 minutes of my life back. I really can't recommend that anyone rent it.

I wrote this review on Sunday, but let it sit for a few days to see if I still felt this way before publishing it. Yep, still do, even though I think said review has a "You kids get off my lawn" feeling. Maybe I'm just getting old, but man, I was really disappointed in this movie.

Friday Fun: Augmented Reality Cinema

I've got my money in hand for when this app comes out...someday. This would be soooo cooool:


Video Link

Website: Augmented Reality Cinema

What to do if aliens attack today...hey, it could happen!

Happy Fourth of July!

I wanted to post a video of fireworks today, but what I shot came out pretty lame, and what I could find on the internet didn't impress me enough to post, so I decided to go another way. After all, one of my very favorite alien movies is Independence Day (see what I did there?)

So here ya go. Enjoy, and I hope you learn something you can use, too. :)


Video Link

Stay safe tonight, whether you're shooting fireworks or fighting aliens...or both.

UPDATE: This just landed in my yard!

Emily Blunt totally looks like Felicia Day

We watched Gulliver's Travels last night and this hit me midway through the movie:

Via bonika at cheezburger.com

I'm a big Felicia Day fan, but the only other thing I've seen Emily Blunt in was Young Victoria. It wasn't until Princess Mary (played by Blunt) lets her hair down (in many ways) in Guliver's Travels that I noticed the resemblance.

Some quick inspiration for your Monday morning

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

It's Groundhog Day...again?

Photo by Robbert van der Steeg

I know Groundhog Day is over (or is it?) but I didn't come across this until late last night as I was about to go to bed, and I didn't have a chance to read all the way through it until lunch (and I read the WHOLE thing - feel free to skip to the end if you want), so here it is, better late than never: 

Just How Many Days Does Bill Murray REALLY Spend Stuck Reliving GROUNDHOG DAY? (via /Film)

I'm just glad it was Simon Gallagher, and not me, who spent all the time it would take to figure this out. Phew!

How do you do Buffy without Joss???

Warner Bros. Rebooting Buffy; Joss Whedon Has "Mixed Emotions":

"I always hoped that Buffy would live on even after my death. But, you know, AFTER...I don't love the idea of my creation in other hands, but I'm also well aware that many more hands than mine went into making that show what it was. And there is no legal grounds for doing anything other than sighing audibly."

At least he has a little sense of humor about it: 

"This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths—just because they can't think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself."

But, seriously, no Joss Whedon, no Sarah Michelle Gellar? I doubt I'll be seeing this movie. I don't see a link yet at IMDB. Can we hope Warner Brothers is not that far along with the project and could still decide not to do it? I'm crossing my fingers.

Disclaimer: Back in the day, I was a big fan of the original Buffy movie and was horrified the WB was going to make a TV series out of it. I had the same "Get your hands off!" reaction I'm having now. So, I might be surprised in the long run, but I will remain doubtful for now. I don't think they can manage to turn me around twice.

Want to mutiny against your teachers? Call on Capt. Jack Sparrow!

Cute story! I wonder if Captain Jack would help me start a mutiny at work (not that I need or want to, but, hey, if it'll get ol' Jack to show up...)

Captain Jack Sparrow to the rescue as Johnny Depp arrives at Greenwich school: "When nine-year-old Beatrice Delap wanted to organise a mutiny against her teachers, she knew who to call on. And it took just one letter to enlist the aid of the world's most famous pirate: Captain Jack Sparrow."

Snowed-in Netflix: Lost in Austen

Being snowed in, I should be getting a lot done. [Insert maniacal laughing here] The truth is, I've spent most of my energy trying to excavate my driveway. After several attempts each day, more than a third of it is still buried in a four-foot drift that refuses to be moved by my measly shovel (Santa, I want a snowblower). When I come back in from shoveling, I have no ambition left for anything else but to collapse on the couch and turn to Netflix.

Yesterday, I discovered Lost in Austen had been added to the titles available for streaming. I've had this one in my DVD queue for some time (ironically, it was finally second in line) so I was excited to sit down and watch it at last.

In Lost in Austen, Amanda Price is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, and would generally rather spend her time re-reading the book than living her life. When Elizabeth Bennett turns up in her bathroom, Amanda trades places with Lizzie and proceeds to completely muck up the story. She fails to help Jane and Bingley reveal their love for each other, causing Jane to marry Mr. Collins, and things go downhill from there. Through it all, Amanda tries to make sure that Darcy falls in love with Lizzie, which is difficult when he's never met her.

If you're a fan of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries, you'll probably enjoy this scene as much as I did (heck, if I met Mr. Darcy, I'd probably ask the same favor from him)



If you're unfamiliar with the earlier miniseries, this scene may help clarify Amanda's request (or there's the link if you just want to watch it again...over and over. I won't tell).

As a writer who has often had a character do something unexpected and then gone "Where did THAT come from?" I'm sure Jane Austen would have the same thought if she ever watched this. When a couple characters act particularly, um, un-characteristically, Amanda can't help but comment:

"Hear that sound? Duh-uh-uh-uh! That's Jane Austen spinning in her grave like a cat in a tumble-dryer"

and 

"Goodness. Jane Austen would be fairly surprised to find she'd written that!"

The whole show was a fun romp, kind of the ultimate Jane Austen fanfic. I highly recommend it!

Friday Fun: So I Married an Axe Murderer

Allow me to go a little, okay, a LOT fangirl here...

Before he was Austin Powers, before he was Shrek, Mike Myers was Charlie Mackenzie. So I Married and Axe Murderer is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's up there with The Princess Bride as one of those movies I love so much I can recite them by heart. Or as some people I know would put it (and you know who you are), it's my Galaxy Quest.

Charlie's a poet, and several of my favorite poems ever (or at least ones I recite a lot, to the annoyance of all around me) are in this movie, especially the one that begins "Harriet! Sweet Harriet! Hard-hearted harbinger of haggis." My absolute favorite poem from the movie is in the opening scene, but you'll have to watch in order to hear it - it's better that way.

Multiple viewings have also given me a sort of Axe Murderer Tourettes Syndrome: I will randomly shout "Head! Pants! Now!" or "Two words: therapy" or any of several other quotes at odd moments just because they popped into my head, and it makes life goood. (Yes, I'm strange. Hadn't you figured that out already?)

So, even though Hulu took away Dr. Horrible, it seems they gave me So I Married an Axe Murderer in return, so life can go on. You can watch it here. Go! Do it now! You won't regret it. (sorry, Hulu wouldn't let me imbed it).

I keep hearing this over and over...

As posted at FlickFilosopher: Question of the day: Is ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ too dangerous for children?: "I wondered in my review of Where the Wild Things Are whether the film wasn’t the beginnings of a shift away from overprotecting children from themselves and the world. After all, it offers a very dark portrait of the most secret workings of a child’s imagination, and it fully embraces of the fact that children are people and that they can be angry, resentful, and bitter." (You can read the rest at the link above)

My answer: As with any movie, I keep saying "You've got to know your child." LilGirl was watching the Lord of the Rings movies when she was three and was fine with those (and proceeded to explain the Balrog to her uncles one day). She also liked Hellboy, but when we watched Hellboy II (on video), she excused herself about 15 minutes in because "It's creeping me out." I have to admit I was a little surprised by that reaction, but I noted it. Besides the cost, we tend not to go to many movies in the theater for exactly that reason. At home, she knows if anything in the movie is too scary we can talk through those parts, or she is free to go to another room and find something else to do (this happens if the movie just bores her, too).

If we do see something in the theater, it's generally something we know is pretty innocuous, or something we have familiarized ourselves with enough to attempt to prepare her for "the worst." We tried to do that for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but a classmate had already revealed the Big Bad Moment to LilGirl, so when we mentioned it she waved it away with "Oh, I already know about that." Occasionally there will be something we didn't know about or that she reacts to unexpectedly, but the key is to keep an eye on her reactions throughout the movie. Most of the time, just an arm around her shoulder is enough. Once or twice, a well-timed "bathroom break" was a good idea.

Obviously, this is just my experience of what works with my kid. Every kid is different. You have to think about YOUR kid, not kids in general, when choosing a movie to see. This is Basic Parenting 101, folks, which is part of why the whole "Is it too scary for children?" thing bugs me.

All this said, I'm still on the fence about Where The Wild Things Are. I don't think it will be too scary for her. I have heard it may be a bit depressing, and that worries me. Scared is one thing, brokenhearted is another. But I think my biggest hang-up may not be about LilGirl's reaction at all. It's about mine, which I've blogged about before.

Photo by  http://www.flickr.com/photos/uaeincredible/ / CC BY 2.0

Where the Wild Things Might Be

I don't know how soon I'll get to the theater to see Where the Wild Things Are but I'm half holding my breath. It's one of my favorite books and I soooo want the movie to be good, but there's always that fear that the filmmaker's vision is nothing like your own.

I came across an article in the LA Times which talks about how different from other children's books Where the Wild Things Are was when it came out. I figure I probably first encountered the book 12-15 years after it was published, at which point it seemed (to me) to have always existed, to always have been accepted, and I was initially surprised now to hear that it was considered controversial when first published.

I think director Spike Jonze "gets" the book, at least, and seems to come at it from a similar childhood view of it. In the LA Times article, he says

"How crazy is it that he invented those monsters?" Jonze asks. "Those creatures seem like they always existed. They seem like they were always there."

and

"As a kid, you gravitate to things that feel true. I didn't know what it was about, but I knew what it meant."

Exactly.
 

I hope against hope the movie will be good, that I won't sit there seething that the filmmakers "ruined" the book. Sadly, the best I'm even hoping for is a solid "Eh, it was okay." I'm not even remotely expecting that my reaction will be "OMG that was sooo good!" (That would be a nice surprise, though. Here's crossing fingers, toes, eyes and anything else I can.)

Maurice Sendak rewrote the rules with 'Wild Things' -- latimes.com (Posted using ShareThis)