Fifty Fifty Movie Round Up: Movies 11-15

I haven't updated this in a bit, and since I'm at home I figured why not?

11.  Lincoln (11/17/12).  SO GOOD.  OH MY GOD.  It's a quiet movie that says a lot and is riveting.  There's no crazy action scenes and the only special effect is good acting.  Daniel Day-Lewis is pretty much a shoo-in for Best Actor and he deserves it.  Ricky loved watching all the political wheeling and dealing.  It's also great that a book like Team Of Rivals can get a movie deal.

12.  She's Having A Baby (11/21/12).  Very sweet and cute.  It's a weird movie at times, but I enjoyed it.  The end credits is pretty much made for John Hughes fans.  I loved young Elizabeth McGovern, especially since we're in the midst of our Downton Abbey watching.

13.  The Last Waltz (11/25/12).  This movie has been on my mental queue for years, but I wanted to wait until we had a bigger TV.  Well that finally happened so I rented it.  It's really beautiful and good, a loving tribute to some of the best musicians from the 70's.  Oh, and so much coccaine.  Soooo much coccaine.

14.  Miracle on 34th Street the 1947 version (12/21/12).  Neither of us had seen this movie, so during our Christmas movie stretch we made sure to watch this.  I liked it, a lot more than the remake from the 90's.  The end feels a little rushed.  It's great seeing what parades and deaprtment stores from the 1940's looked like.  And the guy who played Santa Claus... I'm pretty sure he's Santa in real life.  He was that believable and filled with mirth.  I read that Natalie Wood thought he was actually Santa, and was disappointed that he was not.

15.  Les Miserables (12/26/12).  Day after Christmas we made our pilgrimage to the Salem Cinema to see this movie.  Ricky enjoyed it, but me being a fan of the musical enjoyed it.  Yes, some of the performances were bad (Russell Crowe) and he used too much upclose and didn't mix it up at all, but I had realistic expectations and they were met.  This won't win Best Picture or even Best Actor, but it was enjoyable.

Holidays

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and is enjoying their Boxing Day.  Ricky and I have been tidying up, enjoying our new gifts, and are off to see Les Mis at the (newly funded by Kickstarter so it doesn't have to close!) Cinema Salem. 

Above is some star lights that were on my aunt's porch that I thought were pretty when I was leaving their house the night of Christmas.  I though they were pretty against the blue and black.

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 12

Christmas Eve!  This has been fun, albeit often done in bulk.  Tonight, we're featuring one of my favorite songs of not only Christmas but probably of all time.  That'd be True Blue Miracle from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.  It's such a beautiful happy pretty song, and I love the idea that all the Sesame Street gang takes the subway to a different area of the city to get Christmas trees and go ice skating, then have to take the subway back to town.

Ricky and I have spent the last few Christmas Eves watching Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.  It's been a fun way to prepare for Christmas... and this special is so nostalgic and fun.  I strongly recommend it.

I hope you enjoyed this mini series.  It's been fun talking about what festive things I've done and thinking about what songs I like.

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 11

Yesterday I continued on my tour of old friend Christmas parties by heading to Worcester to embrace my college days.  Tim has been teaching at HC and living across the street from the campus, and he held an egg nog party for his friends.  It was really fun getting together and laughing about crazy old stories.  When we were getting into our cars, though, Jess and I both agreed that we wished that this was 7 years ago and we lived across the street from an off-campus party and didn't have to drive over an hour home.  Alas.

I asked Ricky what Christmas song he wanted, and that was Robert Smigel's Christmastime for the Jews, which was featured on SNL a few years ago.  It made him laugh so hard he cried.  Not a traditional Christmas carol, but definitely a good one for this.  And it's clay animation... who doesn't love that?!




Christmastime for the Jews from Bix Pix Entertainment, Inc. on Vimeo.

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 10

It's been a crazy weekend, so I am woefully behind on this.  Saturday night was Friendmas.  Friendmas is the annual Christmas get together my friends from high school and I have every year to get together and catch up.  We have a Yankee Swap and play weird games.  It's really fun, and as we've all been pairing off and settling down it's been nice having the spouses be a part of it.

This song doesn't have anything to do with Friendmas, but I wanted to talk about it for a moment.  This day, I thought I'd take a moment to talk about a favorite one of mine from the 80's.  I am of course talking about Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC.  It ends Die Hard (a Landry brother Christmas movie favorite) and it always makes me laugh. 

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 9

Tonight was one of our favorite Christmas traditions:  decorating stockings!  For the last few years, Ricky and I have been painting stockings for ourselves and the pets.  It was very nice to have some egg nog, paint, and watch Bob's Burgers.  I will post our stockings soon.

Speaking of pets, can we just take a moment to appreciate this photo of President Obama shopping with and for Bo at a Petsmart?!?

HOW CUTE IS THAT?  He's picking out some snacks for his dog Bo.  How great is that?  There are also photos of Bo meeting a poodle named Cinnamon.  Worth checking out.

Anyways, back to Christmas music.  We watched a favorite of mine for the last 20 (!!!) years:  The Muppet Christmas Carol.  I've loved this movie since it first came out in theatres, and no season is complete without a viewing.  In honor of that, here's my favorite song from it, It Feels Like Christmas.  Keep your eye out for the cutest mouse Muppets ever, which Ricky loves.

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 7

Wednesday I managed to get a lot of Christmas wrapping done!  Is there anything more satisfying than getting almost all of you wrapping done?  I locked myself in the bedroom and wrapped almost everything and organized it.  Only a few things left that need to arrive in the mail, to find where I put a calendar for someone, and then I'll be done.  In the craziness of the last few weeks, I was nice to have a night to catch up and checking things off my list.

In honor of Christmas wrapping... It's Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses.  I've always thought this song made me feel like I'm working seasonal help at The Gap, folding sweaters.  I have a feeling if I actually worked at The Gap, I'd be really sick of this song, but since I haven't I'm cool with this song still.

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 6

Tuesday was another holiday party, but this one was for the entire college.  It's nice to get fancy, have some drinks and tasty food at a swanky club, and look at fancy paintings of famous people.  The desserts weren't as good as last year, but it's okay.

For Tuesday, let's play Someday at Christmas.  I often feel like Stevie Wonder's lyrics leave little to be desired, but after the events from last week it's been on the brain recently.  I also am a big fan of the background singers and blasting this song on high.

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 5

Monday began a very busy week of holiday events.  My department had a holiday lunch downtown, and we did our Yankee Swap.  I managed to luck out and being a wine and a weird sushi kit and come home with wine and beer.  Huzzah!

Today let's highlight a favorite of mine, though I know somewhere my mom is groaning.  I've always loved the marriage of styles and generations when David Bowie and Bing Crosby came together to sing The Little Drummer Boy.  The opening is insanely cheesy, but I do love the arrangements.  (I found a version that skipped most of the opening, which is probably for the best)

I tried to purchase it on iTunes for a Christmas mix I made for a friend, but unfortunately you can't get it on iTunes.  WTF, iTunes.

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 1

I decided to do a little project this year to get ready for the holidays.  12 Days of Christmas Music!  If the food network can promote cookies, I can promote some songs.  This is in no particular order of my favorites, just a collection of songs I like. 

Today let's start with Step Into Christmas by Elton John, which seems appropriate to "step into" this themed series.  I put this song on a mix for Ricky for Christmas last year.  Gotta love some old timey, squeaky-voiced Elton John.  And to borrow from The Muppet Show... he looks like a stolen car.