Remembering Memories Never Had and Times Forgotten

So it is kind of a running joke among my family and friends that I take a ridiculous amount of photos of my baby. Yes my baby is cute, and yes I am a first time mom so naturally I'm going to get excited about every little thing she does, but this doesn't really get to the heart of why I take so many pictures. I live close to 200 miles away from my parents, my nearest relative. My husband's family is in San Jose, my brother lives in New York (though he was in Italy this past semester), I have uncles living in Maryland and Sacramento and Washington state. I have friends in Missouri and Texas and New York and none of them has ever met my baby. So in part I photograph for them. I want those closest to me to get to know my baby as best as they can given the distance and difficulty/ expense of travel. I want my cousins to be able to know her even if they can't hold her and I want my parents to see how much she grows even in the month between visits.

But mostly I don't photograph for other people. I photograph for myself. I photograph for myself because I worry that if I don't take pictures that the memories will pass me by. That I will forget how much she liked to eat her toes or how silly she looks when she kicks her legs to bounce herself in her bouncy seat. I need to capture that time she laughed or looked silly because I might never see it again. And I really might not. She used to be obsessed with making raspberry noises. She spent a full hour in the evening one time making raspberries and getting her self covered in saliva. It was adorable. Haven't seen it since. Does she do it all the time? Truthfully, I wouldn't know. I'm away from my baby 11 hours a day Monday-Thursday. I miss out on a vast majority of my child's life. On Mondays and Thursdays when i come home at 8:30 most of the time she is already asleep. I haven't seen her since I dropped her off at 9:45 that morning and I just get to nurse her in the middle of the night when she wakes up and play with her a bit in the morning before I have to drop her off at 7:40 the next day. The other day, day care sent home a picture of her holding hands with another baby. I don't know this baby's name. Apparently they play all the time, but its not one of the kids I see in the morning when I drop her off. She looks so happy in the picture. But I wasn't there. Now that she can sit up kinda, they tell me they like to sit her in this little toy corral they have and kind of prop her up with toys. She loves it. I've never seen it before. They don't have a picture. In the few minutes I have with her in the morning when I drop her off I don't have the opportunity to see her really interact with the other kids, and my husband is the one who picks her up. When I ask how she is, his frequent response is, "What do you what? She had a good day. She spit up on herself so she's in her change of clothes and they put her hair in pigtails." They put her hair in pigtails a lot. I love that they do it because its so cute, but I wish I was the first one to style my daughter's hair and not somebody else. I have done with my child what I frequently cannot do in the rest of my life: relinquish control. When my husband has her in the evenings before I get home from work he sometimes lets her cry herself to sleep when he knows she needs a nap instead of rocking her. He gave her applesauce without me being there. They have a game they play when he changes her diaper that I've never seen. He makes a face that makes her laugh but I can't copy it. At day care they played with bubbles the other day and she apparently really liked it a lot and I wasn't there to see the expression on her face. I wasn't there to remember it. And of course, my baby won't remember it when she's older either and she can't tell me how she felt when she saw the bubbles pop. It was a memory that just went away.

The common expression is: if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around, does it make a sound? I guess a more appropriate expression in this case is: if a baby laughs and her mother isn't around, who will remember it. Her father will if its one of the times he's with her by himself, but he doesn't really take pictures of things like I do. The women at day care will for a time before new kids come along. But somehow I suspect that every little moment isn't quite as important to them. It is to me, though. Because those are moments that will never come again. Sure they will be replaced by new memories, but I still feel like something is lost. One day she genuinely laughed for me for the first time while I was changing her diaper. It was a real hearty chuckle not just a squeal. I don't know if that's the first time she laughed. I guess I'll never know. Sure if she rolled over for the first time at day care they would have told me (thankfully she saved that for me: even her dad was in the bathroom, it was just a moment between the two of us). But would they really know if that was the first time she laughed? You could say that it doesn't really matter, that she can do it now and first times are often forgotten. But it matters to me.

So I take pictures. I take probably a dozen pictures a week. Many more if we go on trips or visit with family. I take pictures of her in various poses, I take video of her making silly noises. I take picture after picture trying to hold on to the moments I do have with her before I have to go back to work and be away from her again. If I could be with her all the time, I think that I would miss the sense of satisfaction I get helping people at the library. But if only I could be with her MORE. Unfortunately, I can't. Right now working any less than I do isn't a financial possibility and now isn't exactly the time to turn down work. So I take pictures. And I look at them when I'm pumping milk in a storage closet. And I think about the memories I can make when I'm with her again on the Fridays I have off. And the memories my husband and I can make with her when we are all together on the weekend. And the memories my parents and family and friends can make with her when they see her too. And it makes those moments all the more precious.

And I thought talking about politics was hard...

So it seems appropriate not having blogged in quite some time that my latest blog post is a follow up to the last one. In my previous post (baby pandas) I discussed my insistence that blog/ facebook posts only be about non controversial topics like pandas and kittens as opposed to politics. In the intervening 6 months since that post was written, I have had a baby. This, I thought, is the ultimate panda-like topic that everybody can get behind. Everybody loves babies, right? Unfortunately what I've discovered is that people are even more opinionated about babies and children than they are about politics. Being off work for a while in the beginning of this year and being inundated with all things baby through my professional work I became what I never thought I would be: a "mommy." Let us be clear. This blog will NEVER become a "mommy blog," but I feel I need to give myself one opportunity to get a lot off my mind. Being a mom is different than I thought it would be. Lets leave the whole "oh my god my baby is the cutest thing that ever lived" factor out of it, and focus on the real substantive issues. I knew about poop and lack of sleep and all that day to day stuff. What I hadn't anticipated was an overwhelming obsession with being "right." What do I mean by this? There are probably more books about taking care of babies than there are taking care of plants or animals or cars combined. (not a scientific fact). I've had personal experience purchasing a lot of them for the library with the money we received from our Family Place grant. On top of all these books there are websites, mommy blogs, groups, etc that all have their own opinions and ideas about what is the correct age to start solids or putting babies to sleep or what color their poops should be or whether they should be breastfed and for how long. As it turns out pretty much every mom has their own opinions about these issues and actually tend to get kind of defensive when you disagree with them. As a new mom, especially a reader who likes to read everything, I knew that I would consume a lot of information about babies. What I didn't realize was how difficult and exhausting consuming so much information could be.

Before I had my baby I used to laugh off "granolas" who would talk about organic this or chemical free that or cloth diapers, etc. Then when I became a mom I became so inundated with opinions that I started to question myself. My whole life I have been a bit of a perfectionist, but I didn't realize that I'd be the same way when it came to my baby. If I never read anything I'm sure that wouldn't be the best thing in the world, but reading so much and so many conflicting opinions made me so unsure of anything that I became obsessed. Every week, sometimes every day, I will check websites to confirm that my baby is developing "normally." Oh no, her arms don't seem as strong as her legs. Oh no, she hasn't rolled over yet and she hates tummy time. Oh ok so she rolled over, but she hasn't done it in a while. Did she forget how? Is she regressing?. My god, I put my baby in day care at 7.5 weeks. What if have "ruined" her forever? She seems a bit fussy after her last round of shots. What if I really should have delayed her vaccinations? What if I've poisoned her forever and she'll never be the same? I'm not able to pump enough breastmilk at work and I need to start supplementing with formula. MY GOD! Don't do that! Breastmilk is the holy elixer and cure for all childhood ailments! You have to continue waking up at 5am just so you can pump before your baby wakes up and yes its good that you come home after a hard day and have to pump again just to maybe get enough for the next day instead of relaxing with your husband and baby. If you can't pump enough why don't you get some breastmilk from other people because even someone else's breastmilk is better than... dum dum DUM.. FORMULA. In fact, just the other day I posted this anguished note on facebook about this latest breastmilk debacle and actually did ask for breastmilk from both a friend and perfect strangers on this mommy group page I belong to.

And then one morning I woke up and took a look at myself in the mirror and realized something. I've been a fucking crazy person. Who the hell was this person questioning her fundamental beliefs and being so intent on getting it "right" that she didn't see how wrong she had been. Who is this person reading "mommy blogs" and posting on a breastfeeding support group in the first place? This isn't Joanne Center, librarian/nerd. This was some other strange Joanne who is a "mommy." I make fun of the person I've become, a person who is defined by her baby. Looking back on my facebook posts and my recent conversations they entirely revolve around my child. She did this, she did that, she didn't do this, do I have enough milk to feed her. But where am I in all this? My daughter is important, that goes without saying (though I just said it, didn't I, thus rendering that phrase meaningless) but you know what else is important? Doctor Who. Not saying that it is as important as my baby, but jeez could I think about something else for 5 minutes for a change? Babies have been born and thrived living in poverty without the benefit of a mother who's a librarian and a father who can fix pretty much anything. Babies have been born to mothers who couldn't breastfeed at all or who never saw their fathers because they were away at war. And babies end up ok.

I think this obsession with books and mommy blogs, etc.. is a nationwide obsession that stems from the fact that when it comes to parenting, nobody seems to know what to do. Everybody is so intent on finding out answers that they end up with no answers at all. And the real truth is whether you breastfeed your child or not, or work or stay at home or vaccinate or don't vaccinate there is no guarentee that your child will be all right. Some children develop dibilitating illnesses. Some children are hit by buses or die in plane crashes or are abducted by strangers. Some children who never slept on their tummies to protect them from SIDS died when they fell from the monkey bars at age 6. This is not to say that there is nothing you can do to try to prevent some of these things from happening, but sometimes things just happen. I truly believe that people are just so desperate to do the "right" thing that they lure themselves into a false sense of security. If I only stay at home and wear my baby in a sling 6 hours a day and use cloth diapers and only have wooden toys with no plastic and I only serve them organic foods and don't vaccinate them and don't let them watch tv until they are in high school my child will be "safe" and will learn to read by age 2 and will go on to Harvard and won't get cancer. Sorry to offend, but... actually no I'm not sorry at all. Suck it up.

And really, why wasn't I supposed to supplement with formula again? Its like allergies or something, right? Or something to do with childhood obesity. Like more formula fed babies are obese? I mean she's already in day care, so any of that "protect her from illness" crap is kinda out the window. And her mom is a person who constantly gets sick whereas her dad is someone who gets a cold about once every 2-3 years and he CERTAINLY didn't have this ideal granola early childhood that everybody is talking about. Plus its not like I've stopped breastfeeding entirely... See what I mean? I got myself all worked up and crazy about not breastfeeding exclusively and I can't even tell you why. Only "those people said so." What is up with that?

So I am resolved to chill out a little bit more and to realize that sometimes, truly, there is no "right." I know this will go against many of my friends' beliefs, but I really think it is true. Do what's best for you? Do what's best for the baby? I don't think those are mutually exclusive. You can't go out and say that wearing a baby a majority of the day is best for the baby when it causes the mother back pain. You can't say that breastfeeding exclusively is best for the baby when the mother can't even enjoy the time she spends with her child. You can't say that a mother staying at home is best for the baby if she is resentful of giving up her career. Cuz let me tell ya, folks: bitter mommies are not happy mommies. Now obviously there are best practices like reading aloud and play and love and affection and all of that. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that anybody who has ever read a mommy blog loves their baby. The rest of it... I think all these super defensive mommies online need to give all the rest of the mommies a bit of a break.

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Baby Pandas

So I've started to realize lately that my Facebook posts come in 2, and pretty much only 2 varieties: either they are little anecdotes about my day to day life or they are links to pictures of baby animals and/or neato geeky articles or hilarious news stories. This was not always so. I think that I used to be far more political with my Facebook posts, and my journaling in general, but that has pretty much gone by the wayside. I can't tell you the last time I've written about wanting to punch Glenn Beck in the face, not because I don't still want to (who doesn't, really?) but because I genuinely feel that my time is better spent looking at baby pandas.

Now my husband on the other hand, LOVES politics. He spends much of his free time watching MSNBC, or flipping to watch Fox News to find out "what the enemy is thinking." I've told him time and again that this is a fundamentally unproductive activity, that his time could be much better spent on watching the panda cam or going to Cute Overload or any other far more pleasurable entertainments. He says the reason he watches TV news and listens to NPR is so that he can have some facts to counter individuals he comes across who have certain beliefs on the subject of, say, Don't Ask Don't Tell, without any clear evidence to back up their opinions. I question the soundness of that rational, not just because the news media only provides cursory background information on complex subjects, but because I fundamentally don't believe that arguing with people about politics/religion/vegetarianism/vaccinations/gay rights, even rationally, has any affect whatsoever. You might think that this is pessimistic of me, and I suppose it is, but I don't think that it is incorrect. Now, there are certain cases where you might be able to persuade somebody to come to your side on an issue, but I'd say that these are probably minor points on which you deviate, though you hold the same fundamental opinion. For example, you might be able to argue rationally with somebody who is for repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell but doesn't think that it is a pressing issue that Congress needs to spend its time on that it IS in fact an issue that needs to be dealt with immediately and that people's lives and liberties are at stake. But you aren't going to convince a vegetarian that they should eat meat and you aren't going to convince me to become a vegetarian (cuz, guess what? Meat is yummers).

Which brings me to baby pandas. Who doesn't like baby pandas? Liberal and Conservative, gay and straight, Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist; we all like pandas. There was some study done years ago that I recall that tried to explain why it is that we love baby animals (came down to disproportionately large heads and round bodies) but I don't think we really need a study to tell us that fluffy baby animals are cute. They are soft and fluffy and make you think about holding them, which releases endorphins in your brain and makes you happy. The End. It's science. The only argument that could really be caused by baby pandas is whether some diety created them simply for us to find them adorable or whether the forces of nature and evolution conspired to develop the cuteness (or that our brains evolved to find poofy fat things cute). But this argument can easily be diffused by looking at more pictures of baby animals in hilarious poses and all the water is under the bridge. A vegetarian might ask, "But Joanne, if you love cute animals so much why do you want to eat them?" To which I would respond, "Well I don't want to eat THAT particular piglet in the little rain boots, and I highly doubt my bacon came from him" and then before they have time to counter that unreasonable argument, I can show them another picture of a giant pile of baby pandas and all is forgotten. This is the power of baby animals.

So I ask you, friends. What purpose does it serve to start heated political arguments on a site like Facebook? Do you genuinely believe that you will ever convince nonbelieving friends to your side through posts sandwiched between Farmville requests and "What Harry Potter character are you?" quizzes? Or are you simply trying to induce a sympathetic response from friends who already hold the same opinions as you, in which case, yeah, we get it, Sarah Palin is dumb. I say why bother at all. There are so many wondrous things in this world like organisms that can digest arsenic and space planes and dancing dogs. Maybe if you spent even half the time you would have been getting angry and just look at all the wonderful things around you that you might live a happier life. Because, lets face it, the dumb people out there (no matter who you think those people are) aren't going to go away any time soon. So relax. Take two pandas and call me in the morning.

My Favorite Movies

I'm the worst blogger on the planet. Ok, maybe not the WORST... Still, I really need to start updating this thing more than once every 2 months.

Anyway, so I've been thinking about movies lately (when am I not?). There are certain movies that you love for no other reason than because you are supposed to love them (I'm thinking here of classics and prestige pictures that don't really have any personal significance but sound nice to name as your favorite films. Also you specifically say that they are among your favorite "films" not "movies" because you think sounds classier but really makes you sound like a tool). There are also those movies that are your favorite of the year or favorite of the decade or favorite of a particular genre. But picking all time favorite movies is actually sort of difficult. Can a movie you saw last year REALLY be your favorite movie of all time? Does anybody REALLY love "The Dark Knight" THAT much? I mean... maybe. It is entirely possible that there are movies that you see and immediately decide that they are personal favorites.

For me, I think a truly favorite movie is one of those movies you almost know by heart, and remains in your high esteem even after you've grown up or changed in your circumstances. Also, significantly, your association with this movie needs to be an emotional one. I've seen "Zoolander" plenty of times, and can quote a ton of lines, but by no means is this a favorite movie, or even an almost favorite. A favorite movie for me is something different, something special. Sometimes favorite movies change. I know mine have. Back when I was in college a favorite of mine was "The Apartment." I still love that movie. It is well acted, its funny, its dark. But, the "me" today is different from the 19 year old girl that loved that movie. I used to say that the Lord of the Rings trilogy was among my favorites. I still love them, I still watch them on TNT even when they repeat them 3 times in the same weekend (three chances to watch!), but I just can't say that they are my favorite of all time anymore.

Ok... so with all that being said, on to my 5 favorite movies (for now). This list isn't ranked. Trying to figure out which is my 3rd favorite or 4th favorite is pretty pointless. The majority of the movies on this list have been my favorite since I was about 13. That, I think, is another sign that they are really my REAL favorites and not some fly by night movie that sneaks in under the radar. So in no particular order:

The Princess Bride

This is really a perfect movie in a lot of ways. It has the brilliant simplicity of a well crafted fairy tale, but is also subtly (and not so subtly) subversive of the fairy tale/ adventure genre. It has humor without being overtly crass. There is a timeless quality to it, even though it was made in the 80s, because it lacks the pop culture references of, say, "Shrek," though its sensibilities are decidedly more modern than an older adventure story. Sure, ok, Fred Savage's video game and bedroom are a bit dated, but that's such a minor part of the film as a whole. The special effects for a fantasy are decidedly minimal and unobtrusive. A film like "Willow" which came out only a year after "Princess Bride" has aged far worse in my opinion. Maybe it was never really as good a movie, but some of the "badness" is certainly because of the glaringly 80s special effects. It is more watchable than "The Labyrinth," another "almost favorite" of mine, mostly due to the fact that it is so darn well written, and while its cheekiness is akin at times to a Mel Brooks movie, it never crosses the line into full parody and so remains charmingly innocent and self aware at the same time.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

My favorite of the Indiana Jones trilogy (I will NEVER accept Crystal Skull as part of the real canon). While Raiders of the Lost Ark had a stronger female lead and no "Jesus stuff," Last Crusade will always win out in my mind entirely because of the chemistry between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. It made the movie. In fact, just seeing them on screen together bumbling about would be a movie I would watch, even if it didn't have Nazi killing and secret passages and my favorite library scene in a movie of all time. Funny, exciting, just plain brilliant. If real archaeology was like this, I would have actually done something with my major in college instead of becoming a librarian. Escapist? Yeah, sure. As much as I enjoy "Inglorious Basterds," this is THE Nazi killing film, even more so than "Raiders." Oh and have I mentioned how much I love Sean Connery? This is the ultimate movie to watch if I'm bored on a Saturday afternoon, and I will never get tired of watching it.

The Philadelphia Story

Simply put, the best romantic comedy of all time. I seriously can't stand modern romantic comedies because they glorify romance or satisfy some bored housewife's wish fulfillment. Philadelphia Story does neither. It is so well written that you forget that people actually used to be able to speak so articulately even when they were drunk. Also Cary Grant is just a dream. C.K. Dexter Haven is by no means the ideal man, but neither is he the boorish lout that the leading lady eventually "changes" for the better or loves unconditionally, ignoring all his faults. He is a flawed man, and Tracy is a flawed woman and together they make a flawed couple that you couldn't possibly manage not being married to each other. Here I show a bit of bias. I've always enjoyed the Hepburn/ Grant pairing (also seen in "Bringing up Baby" and "Holiday") far more than I ever enjoyed Hepburn/ Spencer Tracy. In part I think this is because I really love the flighty, silly Hepburn more than the characters she plays in films like "Woman of the Year" and "Desk Set." Of course Jimmy Stewart is just wonderful and you can't forget the supporting characters like Dinah and Uncle Willy. So well acted, so well written... I wish they still made movies with this caliber of performance.

Muppets Take Manhattan

So I actually just added this one onto my favorites list after watch it again the other day. While the first "Muppet Movie" is the more iconic, and more beloved I think in its quirkiness and down right oddity, I've always enjoyed "Muppets Take Manhattan" more because it already has established the group as a family and you don't have to get bogged down by origin story. You already know who all the Muppets are, you don't need introductions and so you can move along to a truly sweet and heartfelt story of dreams and disappointments, separation, self discovery, and ultimately, love. I've also found that the celebrity guests are far less gimmicky than in the original Muppet Movie, and not as obtrusive. I can understand that people who are big fans of the Muppet Show might not like "Muppets Take Manhattan" because in some ways it does "neuter" the characters, rendering them all so charming and earnest, even Miss Piggy, whereas on television there were a bit more subversive. But I like it better for that, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

WALL-E

Hah! Look I just broke my movie that came out 2 years ago rule, but in this case I have to make an exception. I freaking love" WALL-E." I love it to pieces. I love that its a romance about robots, I love that the first like 30 minutes are basically a silent film, I love that its a message movie without being TOO heavy handed (though it is at times). I love the closing credits! I love the little cockroach! I love the big floating squishy people, though I actually would have been happier if the movie was 100% robot with no people at all. Anyway, here is one of those movies where my emotional association will never, can never be separated from my viewing experience. You see, I saw this movie opening weekend. More specifically, I saw this movie with my parents and my brother and my future husband the day before we were married. My memories of my wedding weekend will always be associated with this movie. When I got nervous, or just wanted to connect with Jesse throughout the wedding, and still to this day, I would make my hand into a little robot claw and he would hold it like WALL-E and EVE. It was hands down, the most perfect movie to see at that particular moment. Though it has its flaws, and what movie doesn't, it is still a timeless and beautiful classic. It also doesn't hurt that I love "Hello, Dolly" too.

So what have we learned? I'm a romantic and a kid at heart. Sue me.

On the Nature of Celebrity: or... OMG!!!
Wow, it sure has been a while. I apologize. Actually, it is sort of fitting that my last post was about Comic Con because this one is sort of similar.
So the other day I hung out with Leonardo DiCaprio. Yep, we are total BFFs now. If by BFFs you mean I followed him around the California Science Center trying to take covert pictures of him without him noticing and stood next to him looking at fish for 10 minutes. But now we are just arguing semantics. So I could get into more detail about the encounter: he was with his girlfriend Bar Rafaeli and some older bald gentlemen who I think might have been her father and some weird guy with longish salt and pepper hair and oversized glasses. They took pictures of moray eels with their cellphones and posed for pictures together in front of the fish tank. Then they went to the gift shop and Leo bought something. Oh... and when we thought he couldn't hear us, my friends and I were talking loudly about Inception and he turned and looked at us. Later on when we were walking outside we were giggling about how random it had all been only to discover he was walking right behind us to get to the Natural History Museum.


<===== If I actually got a picture from the front it might have looked liked this
So the interesting thing about this whole incident was that A) it was totally something that could only happen in LA, B) it was the first time that I've ever just chanced upon a celebrity in a non celebrity-meeting-type-place environment (ie, Comic Con, book signing, etc), C) I completely wouldn't expect Leonardo DiCaprio to go to something so touristy, but now thinking about it maybe he was entertaining Bar's dad or something because all the gossip sites say they might get married but her dad wants Leo to convert to Judaism... not that showing this dude a bunch of fish will make him give the go ahead, and D) I realized just how completely and totally lame I am around famous people.
My husband used to work for private jet companies refueling planes. He has met TONS of celebrities. He refueled Harrison Ford's plane for goodness sake. He is completely unfazed by celebrity. Me, on the other hand.... Actually, what is really funny about this whole day was that none of us: not my friends, not me, not anybody else at the museum who totally knew it was Leonardo DiCaprio, said anything to him. Sure, we looked at each other with knowing glances, we kind of followed him around a bit at a discrete length, we giggled about being in the precence of somebody "other," but nobody said anything to him, asked to shake his hand, took obvious pictures of him, or anything. All of us tried the best we could to respect his privacy. After all, he's just a normal person, we said to each other. How much does it suck that he has to wear a baseball cap and sunglasses inside just to avoid being noticed, we asked. But he isn't a normal person, and that's the honest truth. If he was a normal person, I would have pushed him aside to get a closer look at the tank. If he was a normal person, when I saw him struggling to take a picture of himself and his girlfriend doing one of those backwards hand things, I would have offered to take it for him; conversely I would have asked him to take a picture of me and my friends. Instead I kept my distance from him, not even so much as brushing against him to get by.
I like to think of celebrities as ordinary people because, after all, they are. They simply do a job that gets seen by a lot of people and thus attain a level of popularity that causes people to become interested in what they are doing. What's strange is that I follow a lot of celebrities on Twitter, mainly sort of B-listers like Chris Hardwick, Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion, Joel McHale, Neil Gaiman, and the cast of Mythbusters, and I honestly believe that my interaction with them online (as limited as it may be) has made me less star struck when I see them is person, which I did at Comic Con. Somehow reading what they are doing every day, laughing at jokes they make or clicking the links to hilarious videos they want me to see, has humanized them. I would not feel at all uncomfortable going up to Chris Hardwick and telling him how much I like his Nerdist podcast. I might get a little tongue tied around Nathan Fillion because... COME ON the dude's awesome, but I think I'd say something at least. Perhaps what was so unusual about seeing Leonardo DiCaprio, what was so... i dunno... awe-inspiring is the wrong word... is that he is notoriously private. You dont' see Leonardo DiCaprio at Comic Con, you don't see him on Twitter or on a reality show or making fun of himself on SNL. So maybe my shyness around him wasn't so much to do with the fact that he was a celebrity, but rather that he was a certain type of celebrity that doesn't exactly invite attention. In fact, recently he filed a restraining order against some woman who was stalking him, so that might have something to do with his attitude.
Anyway, with all that being said, I've started to think about those celebrities who I would completely feel comfortable saying something to, and those celebrities that I would be... yeah I guess in awe of is the only phrase I can think of at the moment. Since I've seen a bunch of people at comic con, I'll limit this to only people I've never been in relatively close proximity to before (RDJ and Angelina were all the way across Hall H when I saw them). I'll divide them into Cool (say hi) and Too Cool (hide behind a post just to watch them chew gum). Looking at the list it seems like a lot of the "Too Cool" people have a reputation of being complete assholes in real life, so maybe its a good thing that I wouldn't say hi to them. Also a bunch of them are crazy good looking and I might get all twitterpated. Another thing is that my list of cool people is completely dominated by comedians. Is there something about comedians that makes them seem more like regular people? Also a lot of them are known for nerdy/ genre TV shows/ movies. Am I under the impression that nerdy people are nicer? Actually.. you know what? Nerdy people ARE nicer. Except for those like uber-nerds that dont' think you are nerdy enough.

Cool:
Jon Hamm
Betty White
Tina Fey
David Tennent
Matt Smith
Eddie Izzard
Jon Stewart
Craig Fergeson
Simon Pegg
Elijah Wood
Jeff Bridges
Tom Hanks
Seth Rogan
Steve Carell
Ian McKellan
Neil Patrick Harris
Patrick Stewart
James Franco

Too Cool:
Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt
George Clooney
Al Pacino
Matt Damon
Quentin Tarantino
Winona Ryder
Robert Downey Jr
Jude Law
Samuel L Jackson
Johnny Depp
Edward Norton
Bill Murray
Colin Farrell
Salma Hayek
Antonio Banderas

Questionable:
Alan Rickman
Gary Oldman
Christina Hendricks

Comic Con Recap

or... a return from Nerd-vana

Hey all. Well comic con is over and I'm home safe and sound (not shanked in the eye with a pen, unlike SOME people). It was an exhausting weekend, but a lot of fun. I certainly wasn't able to see all the things I wanted to, and I definitely don't need to go for a few years, but it was well worth the trip.

Friday:

We started off Friday bright and early, though not as early as I would have liked, got to the convention center at around 8:15 (and just sort of milled around waiting in line for the exhibit hall). The line for Ballroom 20 was crazy long, but we figured that those people were there for Caprica and Stargate Universe and that we didn't need to be waiting in line for the Big Bang Theory panel (which didn't start until 12:45) just yet. We were wrong. More on that. Anyway, so we went down to the exhibit hall as soon as it opened, got on line for the Warner Brothers booth and got some interesting swag like bags, mugs, and then got to see some cool stuff from Harry Potter like the Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows. The floor wasn't completely packed yet since it was early, so we were able to wander a bit and see some random stuff/ celebrities. I had originally wanted an autograph from LaVar Burton because I loved Reading Rainbow, but all the TNG people were charging WAY too much for signing and the guard guy wouldn't even let me take a picture OF him, let alone with him. Lame-o. We saw that at 11am, Felicia Day and the people from The Guild were going to be signing things so Jesse and Dan waited in line for that while I went upstairs to start waiting in line for Big Bang Theory. Keep in mind this was like 10:30. So I get a pretzel and go upstairs to start waiting in line and I see that the line for Ballroom 20 is like wrapped forwards and back in and out for like a mile and half. Still, I figure, maybe they are just there for Stargate or something. Plus the room is really big. But no, I waited in that line for over 2 hours and didn't even get in. Worst of all, Dan came to join me after his signing while Jesse went to get a hot dog and they wouldn't even let him back outside with his hot dog! We had to wait till we got all the way inside for me to be reunited with my poor husband again. :-(.

We ended up getting in after Big Bang Theory for the "Bones" panel, which is a show I don't watch, but looked kind of cute. David Boreanaz I liked from Angel and he was very funny so it wasn't a total loss. Jesse and Dan left after that, but I stayed for the Joss Whedon panel, which was just Joss rambling around on stage with no moderator talking about who knows what. It was pretty disappointing. The only cool thing was at the very end when they were taking questions a guy came up and asked Joss who his favorite actor he worked with was and the guy asking the question turned out to be Nathan Fillion with a fake mustache and a hat on. Then Joss introduced him as the next Ant Man, which apparently was a joke, much to my disappointment, but it sure didn't seem like an "obvious joke" as Nathan tweeted later in the day. After those disappointments I pretty much spent the rest of the day wandering around the exhibit hall. We saw a bunch of random stuff for sale, I got to meet Malcolm McDowell which was way cool, and we got to get some things drawn by a few of the Flight comics artists and webcomic people like Cyanide and Happiness and Something Positive. I also just happened across the Tor booth and met Patrick Rothfuss which was probably the highlight of the entire day. I completely geeked out on him, but I don't think he really minded it that much because he geeks out on people too. We took a bunch of silly pictures together and I gave him a hug and got a copy of his new picture book signed. It was way cool to just be able to go up to him and chat casually without a line of people or security or anything. I bet that was what it was like to meet Neil Gaiman back in like the early 90s before he had handlers. That was pretty much my day. It was nice to have Dan and my brother there, though Nat kind of wandered away on his own to see some panels. I sort of wish I just went with him, because he got to see the trailer for Super which looks pretty rad. Didn't go crazy spending money, but got to meet and see some cool people. Still, it was somewhat frustrating that I couldn't get into the one panel (Big Bang Theory) that I really wanted to see.

Saturday

So Saturday morning I was feeling like crap, but managed to pull it together to go to the con and everything. We arrived a bit earlier than we did the day before because I REALLY wanted to get in to see the Warner Bros panel with Green Lantern and Harry Potter. Waiting in line for that panel in Hall H was so much better than the Ballroom 20 one because we were outside on the grass under the tarp and we could sit down for long periods of time. It made it feel more like we were having a little picnic than we were waiting in line for the Matterhorn. Anyway, even though we weren't the first in line, I knew that Hall H was huge enough that we would definitely get in, and we did. They gave us some nice stuff at the door, which was cool. We got a really nice bag with pockets that was so much better than this ginormous thing we got the day before. Like seriously, you could fit a midget or a 5 year old child inside this bag. Anyway, inside the WB bag was a really cool Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows T-shirt and a Green Lantern comic. Seriously though, it was totally worth it just for the bag, because it was 20x easier to carry around. On to the panel...I didn't really have any preconcieved expectations for Green Lantern, but was pleasantly surprised by what we saw of it. They appeared interested in keeping it light and fun, and I hadn't realized before that the director was the same guy who did Zorro with Antonio Banderas, which I think was the perfect blend of adventure and humor. If they can keep the same sort of tone for this movie, I'll be all over it. He also did Casino Royale, which was a little long, but hopefully he will be trending more toward the fun side than the broody dark side. Ryan Reynolds was really likable, especially when this little 6 year old kid wearing the full Green Lantern get up asked him what it was like to recite the Green Lantern oath and Ryan said the whole thing like pretty much just to this kid. It was a super cute and tender moment and made me really like Ryan Reynolds more than I had in the past. Anyway, then we got to see the Harry Potter clips which were really long and got me completely pumped for the movie. They showed like a full scene from the first film and tons of extended clips, which were fantastic. Oh and Tom Felton showed up. Then we sat through a trailer for Sucker Punch which looked like a complete bloody mess of a film. It is directed by Zach Snyder the same guy who did 300 and Watchmen, so it shouldn't be a surprise that this looks totally terrible too. Plus it has like that chick from High School Musical in it. Ugh. Lame.

We pretty much cut out of that panel early and headed down to the exhibit hall again to wander and look at crap. Jesse and I happened across this booth which was supposedly going to allow you to get Natalie Portman autographs if you answered questions from this trailer of this really dumb looking indie movie she made. Then you got a ticket and had to come back and wait in line. Jesse loves Natalie Portman so he did the whole thing, but the lines were a complete mess and the security had no idea what was going on, and we didn't feel like waiting in this clump. Got a peek of her, though. I went by the G4 booth and spotted Nathan Fillion again, who also seems like a way cool person. After the whole Natalie Portman disappointment, we were kind of burned out from the floor, so we went out and just got in line for room 6bcf where Dan was. I think I saw Jerry O'Connell walking down the hall, but it could have been somebody else. Stopped by the autograph booths briefly and got a pic with that one creepy guy who played the puppetmaster on Heroes, who was sort of desperate for attention it seemed. Given that the put him in the way back next to like an old WWF wrestler's table, I couldn't really blame him. Also spotted James Marsters who still looks good at 50 or however old he is. Anyway, we got into room 6 and sat with Dan for a bit for panels that I didn't have the slightest knowledge about like Warehouse 13, Eureka, Human Target, and the new show Nikita. We actually got to see the full trailer for Nikita, which actually looked pretty sexy and kick ass. Warehouse 13 also looked pretty cute, and I might just start watching that. Basically, the only reason why we were in the room in the first place for like 4.5 hours was because of the Mythbusters panel at 7:15. There was NO way I was not going to get into that panel, so I figured I might as well just wait in the room for it. After each panel we were able to move closer and closer, so when the Mythbusters finally came on we were only like 5 rows back.

As I expected, the panel was awesome. Definitely the best panel of the whole weekend. I love Chris Hardwick from his Nerdist podcast, and I had heard Adam Savage on his show a few weeks ago, so I knew that they had a rapport. The whole panel was very conversational in tone and Chris is a really good interviewer. They should really give him his own tv talk show. I think he is almost as good as Jon Stewart for getting good interviews out of people. Anyway, everyone was very funny and seemed very much like how you would expect them to. I wanted to ask a question of Kari Byron (how the heck did she manage to keep working doing all the crazy stuff they do on the show while pregnant?) but they stopped taking questions after the guy in front of me in like (who, to be fair, was like a Jaime Hynaman impersonator). Oh well. We still got to sit really close and I got a bunch of great pictures of the group.

So that was comic con. Sunday we didn't go to con, but I did got to a reading/ signing with Patrick Rothfuss, Brent Weeks, and Brandon Sanderson. They did this neat thing where they each read stuff from the other authors. I got to hear a section from Wise Man's Fear, the sequel to Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss (as read by Brent Weeks) which was incredibly funny and just made me more excited for that book. I don't know what I'm peeing my pants about more: Wise Man's Fear or the last Harry Potter movie. Both will be completely epic. I think Wise Man's Fear has me in a tizzy more because I don't know what happens. Or maybe I'm more excited about Harry Potter because I DO know what's going to happen and I just want to see it play out. In all it was a super geeky weekend, but I'm totally done with Comic Con for a while. I mean, firstly I'm going to have a kid next year so that makes things a bit problematic, but also the whole thing has just gotten too big and crazy. I remember when I went in 2003, they still had big name people, but I didn't have to wait in line for 3 hours just to hear the voice actors from the Simpsons. Even last year, I got in for the Where the Wild Things Are/ Sherlock Holmes panel in H without waiting for THAT long. Also I guess there just isn't anything that i'm THAT excited for coming up. Plus with twitter, etc you find out about the really big important news pretty quickly. I mean its cool to be one of the first people to see a trailer for a movie that isn't coming out until next year, but is it so cool that I have to subject myself to endless hours of waiting? So yeah, I'm done.

Still, I always love being surrounded by other nerds. It is such a wonderful feeling to not be out of place, to see other people more geeky than you, to be able to ramble on about various characters with other people who could totally be your friends if you lived in the same town. I chatted with so many random people at Con this year, from the dad who brought his two little girls, to the chick who was super cool and gave me her extra Dexter shirt, to the group of lesbians in matching Wonder Woman shirts. Its like everybody that you would ever probably be friends with decided to show up in the same place. If only life were really like that. Where are these people the rest of the time so I can be friends with them? Jesse says they are in their parents' basements, but I'm not really talking about THOSE types. Mostly just the regular nerdy folks to waited to listen to the authors panel on Sunday with me. Where do THOSE people hide? Maybe someday I'll find them.

Things that I Read

This Week: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Grade: B+

It is very rare that a book actually makes me cry. I cried when Sirius Black died (I'm such a 10 year old girl inside), I cried when I read The Diary of Anne Frank (ok, I WAS actually 10-11 at the time), and I cried while reading Tigana, the first book that really moved me in a very long time. The premise of the story is relatively simple. 19 years ago the Peninsula of the Palm, which is loose confederation of provinces, was invaded by two rival sorcerers from abroad: to the west, Brandin, King of Ygrath and to the east, Alberico, a warlord from the empire of Barbadior. The people of the Palm, fought valiantly, but ultimately failed. There were some victories, however. For example, in an act of defiance and sheer willpower, the Prince of Tigana, one of the provinces, managed to defeat and kill Stevan, the son of Brandin. Unfortunately, this was to be the state's downfall. Distraught and consumed with rage, Brandin summoned all of his magic to erase Tigana from the face of the earth. Not only did he have all the great buildings leveled after he was victorious, but he erased the name "Tigana" from the memories of all those who were not born there. The remaining refugees from the province, Lower Corte as it was now called, had to suffer not only the humiliation of defeat, but the fact that all their nations achievements had been completely excised from history. The story follows a handful of those refugees, children of the forgotten land, as they strive to reconnect with their countrymen and work toward downfall of both Tyrants.

The book is as much an epic fantasy as it is a parable about memory and the horrors of war. In his afterward, the author mentions on of his influences was a piece he read about Czechoslovakia where an individual who had been accused of being a traitor was completely removed (replaced by a potted plant) from a photograph of a Communist Party gathering in later publications. It doesn't take magical powers for people to be "disappeared" all record of their existence removed. Think about how many Jews converted in the wake of the Inquisition, and how many children grew up never knowing their true heritage, or Native Americans who never knew their language or culture. This is not just the stuff of fantasy and science fiction, certainly. What I really loved about the book was that the magical elements were kept to a minimum and only used when absolutely necessary. For the most part, the story was about reconnecting with self and country. I particularly liked the character arc of Devin, the young virtuoso singer who knows nothing about his heritage until he discovers that other members of his troupe are from his home. The scene that really got me was when Baerd teaches Devin the secret behind his missing past, culminating in Catriana singing the beautiful song about Avelle, a great city in Tigana of old, that Devin had only known as a wordless childhood lullaby. But the story does not only follow Devin and his compatriots. It also shifts in perspective to Dianora, a beautiful concubine in Brandin's court, who is also from Tigana and originally came to court to kill the king, but over the intervening 19 years has come to care for him. I really loved her inner conflict and her struggle to distinguish from loyalty to her forgotten people and the new memories and life she has made in the years that followed Tigana's downfall.

The book asks some really powerful questions for what I thought initially was a light work of fantasy. Are we defined by our ancestry and our past, or can we truly stand on our own merits? Is cultural annihilation more painful than physical subjugation? I really found it interesting how Devin, not knowing he was from Tigana for all of his life, reacts to the new information. He jumps right in and pledges his loyalty to the old cause, breaks down in tears at the mention of the life that was stolen from him. Unlike the decedents of a converso who might later in life discover he is from Jewish origin, the pain here is very raw and deep. Devin, one who had no memory of the old country, also finds the revelation of the past history as additional insight into the mind of his father who, though he never spoke of Devin's dead mother or the life they left behind, sang to his son the lullaby of a lost land. Strangely, I found it to be an interesting parallel to Art Speigelman's "Maus" books in that the traumas of the past are unknowable to those who did not live through them, but can be just as painful to the children who might not understand the hidden pain of their parents. I really think that Alessan's toast to his fallen country says it all: "Tigana, may your memory be like a blade through my soul."

As a side note, Guy Gavriel Kay is himself Jewish and Canadian, which may well have influenced this work specifically (Canadians are particularly sensitive to their past oppression/ obliteration of Native American/ First Nation peoples). Truly, this is the most complex and interesting work of fantasy I've read in a very long time. I also think that because it lacks a heavy dependence on magic, except in a few key scenes, that it is definitely accessible to non genre readers who enjoy complex storytelling, adventure stories, and historical fiction. This is the first book by the author that I've read, though Amazon has been telling me I "May also like" him for years. I definitely will be reading more in the future. I find his writing style to be meaningful, evocative, and thrilling. My only complaint about the book was that the ending came a bit too abruptly, was a bit too magical and improbable, and brought up more questions than it really answered. Not that I necessarily needed an ultimate face to face confrontation between all the major players, but... no wait, you know what, I kind of did. The whole book was like a solid A for me except like the last 50 pages. I'm giving this one a B+ only because I think the lackluster ending irritated me. Also the whole Night Walkers and Baerd stuff was just like a random side plot that kind of did nothing either. It reminded me of the scene in the movie version of Two Towers where Aragorn falls off the cliff and they build this false tension whether or not he will return. So unnecessary. Anyway, great book overall, well worth reading, and certainly brings up issues that can be discussed in the future.

Books I've Read So Far This Year

So, I know I haven't been particularly good with the blogging. I've been keeping a journal for my future offspring, so at least I'm getting things down, but blogging has been sort of lacking. Mostly in my free time I've been watching crap on TV and reading instead of writing (including my fictional stories that I've been neglecting) so I figured I might as well let you, my audience of 3, know what I've read so far this year.

From January 1-July 8 I have read/listened to a total of 40 books or graphic novels (48 if you consider that the Walking Dead Compendium contains 8 full sized graphic novels)

- The Gates

- I am America and so can you (audio)

- The Man who loved books too much

- The Gunslinger (audio)

- Secret Dead Men

- Dragonbreath (children's)

- Kingdom of Ohio

- Name of the Wind (reread)

- Half the Blood of Brooklyn

- Wolverine: worst day ever (children's)

- Every Last Drop

- Northlanders v1 (gn)

- Northlanders v2 (gn)

- Y the last man: cycles (gn)

- Y the last man: one small step (gn)

- Walking Dead compendium (v1-8) (gn)

- Y the last man: safeword (gn)

- Ignition City (gn)

- Captain Swing (gn)

- Resurrectionist (audio)

- Drawing of the Three

- Any which wall (children's)

- Y the last man: Ring of truth (gn)

- Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

- Night Watch

- Fantastic Mr. Fox (children's)

- Spellwright

- Confetti Girl (children's)

- Girl Genius (gn)

- Calamity Jack (gn)

- Johannas Cabal: Necromancer (audio)

- Waste Lands

- Spirit Lens

- Night Fairy (children's)

- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (children's)

- Dune (audio - reread)

- Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death

- Soulless

- Boneshaker

- Strange Case of the Origami Yoda (children's)

Best adult book I've read so far:

Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Best children's book I've read so far:

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Movies that Make Me Cry

This Week: Toy Story 3

Grade: A

::Spoiler-filled review::

Holy Cow did I bawl my eyes out at the end of this movie! My husband was seriously laughing at me as I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my sweatshirt and cleaned my glasses like 4 times, but my god how could you NOT cry! I think my husband didn't have the same reaction because he has only seen the Toy Story movies very recently. Recently as in I only showed him Toy Story 2 like last week, and he only saw Toy Story 1 maybe 2 years ago. There is always something tricky about introducing somebody to a beloved childhood movie later in life (not that I was exactly a child when the first Toy Story came out, I was already 13-14 at the time). Anyway, I wouldn't let my husband's mocking dissuade me from weeping like a little girl when we finally said our goodbyes to Woody and the gang. The closest thing that I can compare it to is that episode of Futurama where the dog waits outside the pizza parlor for Fry for like 10 years until he dies. Ack my heart hurts.

Pixar has a very interesting business model. They have made this executive decision to make very adult and complex stories through an animated medium without sacrificing the silliness that kids enjoy. How any movie can combine the tragedy of death and infertility with the nonsense of dogs in biplanes ("Up") or the destruction of the Earth with whimsical dancing robots (Wall-E) or the painful feelings of abandonment with a Mr. tortilla head (Toy Story 3) just boggles the mind. So often movies for children go for base humor, talking animals, and pop culture references, or they try so hard to please adults that they end up pleasing nobody (see: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Where the Wild Things Are). Pixar on the other hand, makes movies that are both marketable (they just slap Toy Story characters on just about anything these days) but not soulless. This is the real key to their success I think. My only complaint with this film, and it is really minor, is that I think in trying to raise the stakes they might have gone a little too far with the action. I mean, in the first story, we were afraid that Buzz would be blown up by Sid, but the menace was never really that scary I don't think, even for small children. In Toy Story 2 the worst thing that could happen would be that Woody ends up behind glass in some Japanese museum. The "dramatic" fight scene with Zurg was just ridiculous not truly frightening. Contrast this with toys being forcibly cruel to other toys and the terrifying scene in the garbage dump where our heroes were being pulled into a fiery inferno and I think I can safely say that while the first two movies were appropriate for younger children, I think this movie is definitely more in Incredibles territory than, say, A Bugs Life. I mean don't get me wrong, the first movies had their share of complexity, but this movie was definitely written for the younger children who have grown up, or for slightly older children who can appreciate the plight of the toys a bit more. That being said it is a truly terrific movie, and well deserving of my "A" grade.

While I was sad that the movie sort of dispensed with all the other toys in Andy's room offhandedly, I wasn't actually sorry to see that they were simply reduced to the core group. I was also very pleased that with the addition of Barbie and the increased roles of Mrs. Potato Head and Jessie (not to mention the lady triceratops) that there were actually some females in the group who did things. I had always been somewhat bothered by the lack of female toys in the first movie (except for Bo Peep who... did what exactly) and this increased female presence was definitely welcomed. They even gave Mrs. Potato Head a pretty crucial role by having her eye back at Andy's so her presence wasn't just superficial. I also liked that it was a little girl who ended up with the toys and that she was able to play and appreciate all of them, even those which were not gender specific. They totally could have gone the easy route and had Andy find another little boy to give his toys to (one that even looked like him or something), but little girls can have space ships and battles and things too. Pixar, much as I love them, still does struggle with creating meaningful female roles and characters. I do think that this film is a step in the right direction, but I still would like to see a Pixar movie where the primary hero is a girl who knows how to save herself.

The scene that made me cry was obviously the final scene with Andy and the little girl (whose name escapes me) playing with all the toys in the yard. You really appreciate how special the toys are, how much meaning they have for Andy as he describes each one and hands them over. The tears came not from sadness, but more from nostalgia. It's like crying when looking at old photographs of dead relatives or laughing at yearbook messages. It comes from this warm, deep place inside you that sort of forgets things until you see them again and hold them in your hands. Now, that being said, I still think the film could have ended with Andy a hipster with a bunch of toys on his bookshelves (um.. yeah I so have a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Etch a Sketch, My Little Pony, Care Bear, and Slinky sitting on my shelf). He totally wouldn't be out of place with a Buzz Lightyear on his desk in college; I imagine it is like the equivalent of 20-somethings running around wearing Power Rangers T-shirts. I'm sure a bunch of his buddies would be like "Oh dude, that's a Buzz Lightyear! I totally remember playing with mine while eating Fun-Dips and playing Super Mario 64 at my cousin's house. That's so cool you still have yours." Why the film has to reinforce this notion that grown ups can't have toys is sort of unfortunate. Still, we knew all along that the film was about saying goodbye, and it did so expertly. I really like the touch of Andy wanting to take Woody alone with him to college (he was his number 1 toy after all) and Woody's decision to stay with the group rather than be parted from them. Brilliant stuff.

Of course I can't ignore the humor of the movie, and there was plenty of it. The aforementioned Tortilla Head was the funniest thing I've seen in a movie all year. The cucumber was kind of spoiled in the trailers, but the tortilla came as a delightful surprise. There were a lot of new toys in the movie, but I don't think that there were TOO many or took away from the essential plot. I was actually surprised that the Pricklepants guy played by Timothy Dalton didn't have a bigger role, since they were sort of plugging him with the marketing. The whole Ken thing was a bit much, but he didn't detract from the film at all, and did get in a few cute sight gags. I did like the scene when Barbie is walking in Ken's space suit and the book worm notices the high heels and just does a little shrug. Cute stuff. The whole Spanish Buzz was also funny, as well as Jessie's reaction to his advances, though one would think that, given their bit of flirting at the end of the second movie that they'd have thought to become an actual item in the intervening 10 years.

Bottom line: I'll definitely buy it when it comes on DVD. It is one of those movies, one of those essential memorable films, that can be enjoyed in multiple viewings. I also think, frankly, that its the best movie I've seen all year. That isn't really saying too much, because this year has been, thus far, fairly disappointing in the movie front with the exception of How to Train Your Dragon, which I think will be Toy Story 3's biggest competition come Oscar time.

Things I Absolutely LOVE But Few of My Friends Have Heard Of: Hope and Glory

Here is another new segment on Tales from the Gloop I'll call "Things that I absolutely love but few of my friends have ever heard of"

Today I'll be talking about one of my all time favorite movies. Now it's funny, but when I think of movies I've seen more than 4-5 times, there are a lot of classics (The Adventures of Robin Hood, Mark of Zorro, Casablanca, Philadelphia Story) on the list, and a lot of the traditional geeky stuff (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Princess Bride). However there are some movies that I don't really think of as my favorites when asked to make a list, but that I've seen so many times and enjoy so much that I have to give them proper consideration in some way. Case in point: Shawshank Redemption, which is on TNT practically every day of the week, or Good Will Hunting which I would never think of as being a favorite, but I've certainly seen it more times than I've seen Citizen Kane. There are also a few movies that make like the second/third tier of favorites that most people don't seem to like as much as me: Billy Elliot, October Sky, Dune, Silverado. However, there is one movie I've seen enough (about 5 times) to consider it "my absolute favorite movie that few of my friends have heard of."

That movie is Hope and Glory

For those of you who haven't seen this movie (and I'm guessing that there probably are a lot of you) it tells the story of an English schoolboy during the Blitz and how he experienced the war. One of the reasons I enjoy this movie so much is because it really "gets" kids, particularly boys, of a certain age (10-11). Upstaging each other with curse words, firing off stray bullets in abandoned, bombed out houses, secretly spying two teenagers having sex... maybe you haven't experienced all these things first hand, but you can certainly imagine what they were like through Billy's eyes. The movie captures joys of childhood, as well as the very real problems associated with living in a war torn country with humor and warmth. There have been many a day that I've wished I could go out rafting on a quaint country river and be home in time for tea and sandwiches. Which is not to say that the movie glorifies worn torn England, but...well... yeah it kinda does. Since it is a semi-autobiographical film, I'm going to assume that life for kids at that time really was that wickedly fun. Really what it does though, is show the resilience of a normal working class family, and the strength of children in difficult circumstances.

Its hard to find another movie to compare it to, because there have been so few movies made about relatively functional extended families in an historical setting: Radio Days maybe, or Avalon. Certain elements definitely bare resemblance to Empire of the Sun: wartime setting, children, mostly on their own, finding creative uses for destroyed objects, but it lacks the darkness of that film and, most obviously, is about a loving family. Hope and Glory is, if anything, an uplifting film. The final, gleefully satisfying scene makes me giggle every time. It totally needs a jumping freeze frame shot of happiness. So if you have the time, add it to your Netflix queue or (::gasp::) go to an actual video store and pick it up. It is really hard to be disappointed in this movie because its just so damn lovely.