SURPRISE. Drum roll please. It is once again HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY. Yes, you read that correctly. HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY is back on Thursday. For those of you unfamiliar with the once again weekly HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY posts, I bet you're wondering what is going on. Well, peeps, let me give you the skinny on this event...
This is a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays. The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.
Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.
On Monday Alex J. Cavanaugh gave me, and a few others, an award. I think that I thanked him adequately enough, but maybe not. If not, I just want to take a moment to say that I truly do appreciate his thinking of me when he was passing out the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Quite frankly, I am not sure what he found so inspiring in this little arena of the blogosphere, but I am NOT going to quibble. I am simply thankful that there is something to find!
As many of you know, Alex also hosts Movie Quote Wednesday. Last week I did a big ol' spread on When Harry Met Sally for Romantic Comedies. It turns out that Alex wasn't ready for the event, but I was, and so I just went with it. Well... Alex caught up to me this week, so everyone else is posting movie quotes from their favorite Romantic Comedy today. Turns out I can go again.
"I'm sorry. You're right. That was a stupid, glib, chauvinist remark and I
apologize. It *is* your ass they're after, and it's my job to see to it
that... I get there first." ~Tony Carlson, Foul Play
Foul Play: the first Goldie Hawn/Chevy Chase pairing in a romantic comedy with suspense served up on the side. The supporting cast was outstanding. It included Burgess Meredith, Brian Dennehy, and Dudley Moore. Foul Play marked Dudley Moore's transition from television to movies. Even though his role was very "supporting," he was outstanding in every way. I think this movie really launched his career. This film also solidified Goldie and Chevy as the acting goldmines that they are. They are just funny people.The same is true for Burgess Meredith. Of course, by this time his place as an acting icon was already assured.
Naturally I trolled YouTube in an attempt to put on this blog "the best" scene from the movie. And my problem lies in the fact that the entire movie is FANTASTIC. All of the scenes are great.
This scene with Dudley Moore is hilarious. If you haven't seen the movie (you really need to get it on Netflix, buy it somewhere, or just watch it on YouTube), Goldie has just foiled some potential kidnappers, and is on the run. She picks up Stanley (Moore) in a bar. She is just looking for a safe haven. But they are totally on different pages about what will happen after they leave the bar. Hilarious. Whenever I hear the song Stayin' Alive I think of this scene.
This scene with Burgess Meredith is another favorite. Honestly, I don't know who is my favorite person to watch: the fighters or Goldie and Chevy watching the fighters. And that, my peeps, is great acting. If you are more interesting sitting there doing nothing but WATCHING and still stealing the scene... you are freakin' awesome. Although, Burgess Meredith rocks, too. But no one is boring in this one!!!
This might be my favorite scene of the entire movie. Some call it the Infamous San Francisco Car Ride in Foul Play. My favorite thing is Goldie's expressions... That and the various passengers, particularly the Japanese couple. *Kojak. Bang. Bang.* Whenever I need a good laugh, I just watch this movie. By the time I am done with this scene, my sides hurt.
The great thing about Foul Play is that even with all of these "extras," I know I missed tons of great scenes from this movie. What is your favorite scene in Foul Play? Do you have a favorite quote from this movie? Or maybe another movie? What is your all-time favorite Romantic Comedy Movie Quote?
I watched the last hour of the Oscars last night. I have been in bed with a mind-bending migraine. As in literally in bed for days. I turned on the TV Sunday night just to break the monotony. Did anyone else find Seth McFarlane not funny? As in not funny at all? I thought maybe it was just me and my migraine until Daniel Day-Lewis received Best Oscar for his role as Lincoln. Now he was hilarious in his acceptance speech. Maybe they should consider Daniel Day-Lewis as a host for next year's event? I stumbled onto a recap of the event that was fairly enlightening about all things Oscar.
Alex J. Cavanaugh hit me up with an award. ::The Very Inspiring Blogger Award:: I must say I was shocked. Alex's page is where I go to get all of the news for everything that is happening in the Blogoverse He is very much In The Know about Blogfests, New Book Releases, Challenges, pretty much if it's happening Alex knows about it. So, it always surprises me when I see my name in the "content" part of his blog. It is like getting a hard knock in the solar plexus. Yep, that is me. I am the person who was just reading at their computer who is suddenly gasping for air.
Now that I am back down to earth, I have to come up with seven things you don't know about me. Alex cheated and only coughed up one.
1. I am allergic to shellfish, potatoes, beef, and I choose to eat pork in small quantities.
2. I also don't drink any alcohol because it makes my migraines worse. I don't smoke either; it completely clogs up my sinuses.
3. I don't own a camera. I never converted to digital. It has been on my "must buy" list for a very long time. I think it is getting close to a decade now... (Yes, it is tiresome always having to borrow my mom's camera.)
4. For the most part, I heartily dislike Reality TV. Where is the reality????
5. I had a difficult time mentally making the transition to the Kindle. I love books. However, once I did it, I discovered that I loved it. I still have books, but e-book buying is so much easier, and they take up so much less space!
6. I just moved back to Florida with my mom. I bought a house and it feels like our lives are caught up in the whirl of renovations. By the time this is done, this house house should be energy efficient AND easier to cook in:)
7. I just had an appointment with a new Primary Care Doctor here. She seems to have some new ideas about my migraine headaches AND some new ideas about how to get rid of them. I am very excited to start working with her. She meets all of my qualities for a good doctor: she actually listens, she thinks outside of the box, and she doesn't think a prescription is a one-stop solution for everything. In other words, she actually believes in correcting the imbalance in the body and getting the person WELL. It is innovative thinking. I can actually see myself getting better under her care. Yay!!!!
I get to pass this award on to three Very Inspiring Bloggers...
SURPRISE. Drum roll please. It is once again HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY. Yes, you read that correctly. HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY is back on Thursday. For those of you unfamiliar with the once again weekly HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY posts, I bet you're wondering what is going on. Well, peeps, let me give you the skinny on this event...
This is a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays. The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.
Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.
Normally, Alex J. Cavanaugh hosts Movie Quote Wednesday today. In fact, the designated theme for this week: Romantic Comedy. This was supposed to go off last week (I think it was intended to coincide with V-Day), but Alex was so log-jammed that it didn't happen. Ironically, the poor guy had so many things on his plate this week that Movie Quote Wednesday came and went and totally missed his blog. However, I have been putting in BRAIN TIME trying to come up with something for this event, so I am still playing.
"All I'm saying is that somewhere out there is the man you are supposed
to marry. And if you don't get him first, somebody else will, and you'll
have to spend the rest of your life knowing that somebody else is
married to your husband." ~Marie, When Harry Met Sally
This Rob Reiner movie is funny, but it also taps into every single person's greatest fear: staying single forever. In fact, this line is coming directly from that place of fear. Isn't that every person's nightmare? Meeting someone, thinking he might be the one, and then having him marry someone else because you didn't act quickly enough? Or be good enough, right enough, or just enough? Whatever that is?
I honestly had a difficult time choosing a Best Line from this movie. The writers Spread the Dialogue Love around. Oftentimes, the writers fall in love with one character and give that character all the Best Lines. Not in this film. Everyone got The Love. Here's another Beauty:
"Right now everything is great, everyone is happy, everyone is in love
and that is wonderful. But you gotta know that sooner or later you're
gonna be screaming at each other about who's gonna get this dish. This
eight dollar dish will cost you a thousand dollars in phone calls to the
legal firm of That's Mine, This Is Yours." ~Harry, When Harry Met Sally
Billy Crystal is fabulous in this, if for no other reason than he is an unlikely leading man in a Romantic Comedy. He is not particularly good looking. But, he is funny as all get out. He is horribly un-PC in this movie. And he has just stated out loud THE PROBLEM in most relationships that no one wants to say out loud. People get married because they are hooked on a feeling, and when the feeling goes away, they end up in Divorce Court. So, you better label your stuff and be prepared to spend thousands over an eight dollar dish. Why? Because you RUSHED INTO MARRIAGE YOU IDIOTS. But, you're my friends so I can't call you an idiot, per se, so I am telling you to label your books, so you will know how to divvy them up later...
One of the best things about this movie is that these two characters, Harry and Sally, actually become good friends in this movie. Ironically, they do this in spite of the fact that Harry states at the beginning of the movie that "men and women can't be friends." It turns out that he is wrong about that. They continue to meet up over the years, and after Harry goes through a very painful divorce and Sally is dumped by her long-time boyfriend, they do, in fact, become friends. At that point, they have no interest in a relationship. They just want to put themselves back together, and they discover that they genuinely like one another. Of course, the best "relationships" are grounded in friendship, as they will ultimately discover. But, then anyone who sees the movie knows this... and anyone who hasn't should know it is coming. It is a Romantic Comedy.
I think this is one of the Best Dialogues of the Movie:
Harry Burns:
There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance. Sally Albright:
Which one am I?
Harry Burns:
You're the worst kind; you're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance.
Sally Albright:
I don't see that.
Harry Burns:
You don't see that? Waiter, I'll begin with a house salad, but I don't
want the regular dressing. I'll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but
on the side. And then the salmon with the mustard sauce, but I want the
mustard sauce on the side. "On the side" is a very big thing for you. Sally Albright:
Well, I just want it the way I want it.
Harry Burns:
I know; high maintenance.
I think that this conversation might have been the invention of the High Maintenance-Low Maintenance "thing." In fact, it is terminology that I don't hear much anymore. Frankly, I don't think that there is anything wrong with being High Maintenance. Sally is right: she wants it the way she wants it. However, Harry is right, too. She is the worst kind for not recognizing that she is High Maintenance. The great thing is that he feels perfectly free to call her out on it. That is being a good friend.
Another sign that they are moving into the best friend zone, which is the perfect place to launch a relationship from if both people are so inclined... You feel free to show true, genuine emotion in front of that person. In other words, you can "ugly cry" in front of them. Let's take a look:
"Yeah, but he was too old to pick them up." Hahahahaha. This scene reminds me of why I like this movie so much. Loving someone is about more than falling in love with them. It is actually loving them. Those are two very different things. Good to know.
The Madlab Post Blog, which is written by Nicole, who is a host of the A to Z Challenge in April, is also putting on a weekly Monday Challenge that takes you to the movies. This is always stimulating. It makes a person put on the memory cap and dig around in there for appropriate movie material.
I have actually devoted a full hour to thinking on this subject already. I know. The subject matter for today is Between Friends. The goal is to find a movie that has a theme in it or a plot device that has two friends divided by someone's decision. That decision alters the nature of the friendship, either forever or for a while. In either case, it set them at odds and puts a real strain on the friendship. It is that not-so-gentle reminder that we do not live in a vacuum, and people can and will respond to what we do. In other words, our decisions do have consequences.
Some of the movies that came to my mind were plausible for this theme, but I hadn't seen them in so long that I didn't feel comfortable discussing them in a blog. It was a reminder that I did need to watch them again, though.
So, what did I choose? X-Men: First Class.
If you have watched the X-Men movies, then you know that The Professor and Magneto are Enemies in the later movies (or the original movies... yeah, it gets confusing). This is despite that the fact that they both have Powers, or are Mutants. Whatevs. X-Men: First Class is the movie that goes back to the beginning to when they were friends and shows how that relationship disintegrated. It really was devastating.
The Dilemma
Charles, later to be known as the Professor, always believed that Mutants and regular old human beings could co-exist. He thought that there was good in most people, and that the ones who were evil were the exception, rather than the rule. He didn't see the War as being between Mutants and Humans. It was more of a Good vs. Evil thing. You fought Evil wherever you found it, whatever Face it wore. Eric, later to be known as Magneto, had a very difficult childhood. It was so much easier just to hate Magneto on principle before this movie...:sigh: He watched his mother die in a concentration camp BECAUSE Shaw, another Mutant, suspected he was a Mutant and wanted his abilities to come out for exploitation purposes. So, Eric was raised by Evil. Meeting Charles was his best shot at ever coming out on the side of Good. However, his judgment scales were always a bit tipped the other way. In his mind, it was always Class Warfare with Humans on one side and Mutants on the other. His finger was always on the trigger. On the one hand, he liked the idea of Charles, but what he really wanted was to sway Charles to his way of thinking. If Eric could make Charles see that he he was right, then his Rightness was Assuredly Right. The problem was that Charles was never going to believe that it all boiled down to Humans vs Mutants, and Eric was never going to believe that in the end it was anything but Humans vs. Mutants.
The Boiling Point
At the end of the movie missiles were bearing down on the Mutants. In Eric's mind, this all served to prove his point: It really was Humans vs. Mutants. Charles made the argument that "someone" gave an order and a person on the ship followed an order, but that didn't mean thousands of people needed to lose their lives. This was when everyone had to choose up sides. Eric, with his power of moving magnetic objects, could easily do what he wanted with all of those missiles. (Stupid order.) After he made his choice is when chaos erupted among the Mutants that changed not only the direction of the friendship between Eric and Charles, but Mutant Interaction for years. Instead of solidarity, Mutants would spend the remaining years fighting each other to come out on top and garnering power.
What movie scenes have YOU seen where a disagreement between friends changes the nature of their relationship going forward?
Yesterday I made this mistake regarding names on someone's blog (you know who are). I read something in the comments leading me to believe that this person actually went by their middle name in real life. That was actually not the case. It was just a crazy coincidence. Yeah, I don't much believe in those, but they do happen. Sometimes.
I might not have even connected those dots but for the fact that my father was one of those people that lived his entire life going by his middle name. It was a constant source of crazy in our house. There was a fairly ongoing stream of letters and phone calls that came to his FIRST name instead of his REAL name. It became apparent quickly that these were either junk or very important. There was no middle ground. I also decided that it was a real pain as I got older, and made a mental note to never do that to my child. It turns out that I never had any kids to do that to, but I always thought I would, and it was in my plan not to stick them with a middle name for a primary name. It just gets confusing.
As many of you know, my father was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer several years ago. When my mother and I cleaned out what was left of his apartment, while he was staying with my brother, we found some OLD photo albums. So, one of the things that I wanted to do with him was go through those pictures and get them labeled. I looked through them and didn't know who most of those people were. Egads. You realize in situations like this that when your dad passes that all of that information goes with him.
Cancer is such a destructive thing. Not only is it life-taking, but it is also memory-cancelling. I am not sure that people are aware of that. That is actually an early warning sign of cancer. If your loved one begins to exhibit memory loss, get them tested. The best way I can describe it is that your brain is like a computer and cancer starts pulling out wires to various memories. They just cease to exist. It was an exercise in frustration for dad and me going through those photo albums, and I keenly wished I had known about them, and we had labeled them years earlier. He would have known who the people were and not struggled so hard with it. As it was, the people were familiar, but he just couldn't place them. In other words, he knew he should know them, be he didn't. Uggghh.
Getting back to the "name thing," there were other people he knew by nicknames or what turned out to be their middle names. Apparently this middle name thing ran in the family. I also found a directory that someone created, and my dad bought, for his father's side of the family. Someone went to a lot of trouble to track down anyone that they could and put a phone number to them. If they were deceased, they indicated that as well. They weren't so great about indicating how people "belonged" to each other, but you can't have everything. Anyway, I was trying very hard to look up everyone my dad could remember. Well, he remembered people by their middle names and they were listed by their first names. You can imagine how that worked out. I finally found his father's obit, and it had his siblings and parents listed with their FIRST names. Then dad and I got into an argument about what their names "really" were. I said, "Daddy, I am reading their names off of the obituary. What you are recalling is their middle names. You know how you go by YOUR middle name? Don't you think it's possible that they did, too?" And then it clicked for him. Argument over. It finally made sense.
Parents: For the sake of future generations, stop calling your children by their middle name. Your ancestry will be impossible to trace. It just makes it confusing. And fathers and daughters will spend their final days in frustration over pictures and obits. So, for the sake of all that is good and loving, I ask you while they are young, call your children by their first names. Their children will thank you later.
SURPRISE. Drum roll please. It is once again HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY. Yes, you read that correctly. HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY is back on Thursday. For those of you unfamiliar with the once again weekly HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY posts, I bet you're wondering what is going on. Well, peeps, let me give you the skinny on this event...
This is a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays. The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.
Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.
I don't know about you, but I am still reading fairly frequent posts and/or articles about Gun Control. For the most part, there wasn't much changing in the dialogue.... until today. Today I read this post. Did that shock you? As for me, I had to google it to see what I could find on the subject.
Apparently there are people out there who think that taxing guns and ammunition is THE SOLUTION for curbing gun violence. Of course, the only people who will be taxed are registered gun owners. The criminals who have unregistered weapons, and commit almost all of the crime, will not be paying any more tax than they already are. But this isn't figuring into anyone's thought process.
What is figuring into the thought process is what I read here: since gun ownership is a PRIVILEGE, imposing the tax will make many people rethink their love of firearms. It will work much the same way it has with all SIN items, like cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling (aka casinos). Say what? Has the writer of this article ever read our Constitution? The ownership of firearms is not a PRIVILEGE. It is a RIGHT. It is called THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS. It is the 2ND AMENDMENT. HELLOOOO. There is no mention of protecting smokers, drinkers, and gamblers from being overly taxed. Although, I personally think gauging someone just because you can is wrong. At this point, we all know that cigarettes cause cancer, too much alcohol kills, and if you gamble excessively you can lose everything you have. However, I believe in personal responsibility. Until you own your own stuff, you can't fix it. Getting back to the point... comparing Gun Ownership by Law Abiding Citizens to Sin Items is Outrageous.
Moreover, if the government decides to go down this road simply because they cannot win their Gun Control Agenda any other way, it could have terrible consequences (aside from guns). Let's face it, they are losing the gun argument Big-Time. The more they try to push Gun Control, all that happens is that gun sales and ammo skyrocket. I said it before, but I will say it again, "Our President is the best gun salesman ever." To counteract that, the only thing this Administration can think to do is TAX the bejeesus out of what they have done an excellent job of selling.
I need everyone to stop and think for a moment.
Let's remove Guns from this equation. Let's just say that the Government has the power to impose regulations on the size of Anything you own. Anything larger than {insert object of your choice} is a SIN ITEM ( according to the article above like cigarettes, alcohol, and casinos) and should be taxed. For instance, all cars beyond a certain horsepower will be taxed above and beyond other vehicles. I do believe that this has already happened in some other countries. I vaguely remember reading about car confiscations from border checkpoints in Europe due to nonpayments of taxes. They were related to horsepower of the vehicle. Absolutely insane. Another idea... Henceforth, no one can own more than 300 sq ft of house per person. If your house is larger than that and you don't have enough people to fill it, than you pay the tax. If you did have enough people, but someone dies, than you have to start paying the tax to cover the loss of that person. You can also only have 1/4 acre lot. If you have more than that, you will from this point forward pay a tax on it. You are taking up more of nature than your Fair Share.
Once you allow your rights to be infringed and the 2nd Amendment to be taxed, be prepared. They will not stop there.
SURPRISE. Drum roll please. It is once again HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY. Yes, you read that correctly. HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY is back on Thursday. For those of you unfamiliar with the once again weekly HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY posts, I bet you're wondering what is going on. Well, peeps, let me give you the skinny on this event...
This is a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays. The best (or worst) part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of footage off of youtube and connected it to you. And then I will tell you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol. Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.
Also, this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side), click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.
I wasn't paying attention last week and completely missed it. What did I miss?
Movie Quote Wednesday. Alex J. Cavanaugh posts the theme each week, so you have a whole week to decide on a quote. Two weeks ago, I totally bailed on the theme and just did my own thing. Yeah, I know... it was a totally "Me" thing to do. Additionally, I planted it in front of another post. I had a LOT to say that day. Moving on...
The following Wednesday, I totally forgot it was Wednesday. Missed the entire Event. This is my life.
So, this week the theme is Crime Thriller. Next week it is Romantic Comedy. I do keep up... contrary to popular opinion.
If you are wondering why the name sounds familiar, Alex J. Cavanaugh is the same fellow hosting the 10 Top Movie Blogfest in March. And he is also a person helping out with the A to Z Challenge. He also runs the Insecure Writers Support Group. That happened today for all of those people throwing out their work. That isn't me. Do I need to work on my novel? Yes. Have I worked on it at all? Not even remotely for over a year. It is like the inspiration juice drained out of me. I find even thinking about it annoying. Reading what I write on this blog annoys me. When I can put words together in such a fashion that they sound like music, even if it sometimes sounds off-key, then there will be something worth reading. Until then, not so much. However, I love the things that Alex does on his blog. If you are a writer, it is an excellent place to go.
For the record, I did sign up for the A to Z Challenge. Please note the badge in my sidebar. I will talk about this more in a later blog. I also signed up for the Top 10 Movie Challenge. I committed. My list of movies just gets longer and longer. I am beginning to think that maybe a decade is the way to go here. 80s maybe? I don't know yet. I have yet to figure out how I am going to pull out 10 of Anything out of this list. However, here is one of my Favorites for Movie Quote Wednesday. It could still end up on my Top 10 Movie List, depending on how they get weeded out.
"You went down thirty years ago, pal, you just don't know it yet." ~Frequency
Are any of you planning to participate in the upcoming A to Z challenge?
I have been dragging my heels about adding my name to the list. I have been following the updates to the main page like a zealot. And still... I have chosen my theme, have an ongoing list mapped out A-Z and am vigorously trying to fill in a subject for each letter. It is something that is getting ongoing mental pushes on a daily basis. I am down to the letters O and X. They stare at me like two redheaded stepsisters that remain dateless for the Big Dance. I glare back. "I have NOTHING for you," my brain screams. And until I do I can't commit to The List. Gah. She bangs her head into the wall behind her desk. Check that. She only thinks about it. The migraine already hurts enough.
If this is the first you have heard of the A to Z Challenge, it is a daily writing challenge for the month of April. The sign up is now so that you have plenty of time to prepare. The idea is that you write on a Themed Subject so that your readers get used to your topic. (You don't have to write on a theme if you don't want... you can write on anything and everything if you so choose.) It is every day but Sunday. You can prepare all of your writing before April so that your time is spent reading and commenting, so that it isn't overwhelming in April. The intent of the challenge is for you to meet new bloggers who are writing about things that you are interested in reading, and vice versa.
So, let's flip to another page in the notebook. Alex Cavanaugh is going to host a challenge on his blog in March, in the guise of Blog Hop, to list your Top Ten Movies of All-Time.
Are you freaking kidding me???? Can't we pick a genre, a decade, something? Ergo, I have a running list that gets longer by the day. Each movie that I think to add to the list triggers another movie.
Does anyone remember THE PLASTIC JOY AWARDS????
If you are scratching your head over that shout of frustration... that was an award intended to be fun (and OMG it was... so so fun) regarding fictional crushes. However, I have this love of YouTube that is unmatched. I maintain that they have laced it with visual crack cocaine. Don't know how, but it's there. And this award got slightly out of control. I think you were supposed to choose five fictional crushes. I think I chose 30. Whatevs. And it went for 3 days. Again, it is the JOY of the award. And no one says you HAVE to do it a certain way. I mean the rules aren't set in STONE. No one flogs you or anything if you go outside the boundaries. A little. Or a lot. Moving on...
I think my quandary lies in the fact that I am not really known for following rules very well. I am already looking for work-arounds with the Top 10 list. Seriously... if there is a movie series... you should be able to count the entire series as ONE movie, right???? If not, I am thinking of panning them all. I can't choose one movie out of a series and skip the rest. Do you feel me?
So, what do YOU think?
So, am I the only person who would have trouble picking 10 All-Time Favorite Movies? Does this Blog Hop sound like fun to You? What about the A to Z Challenge... are you participating? Does it sound like something you want to investigate further? Do you prefer the idea of writing within the context of a theme or would you rather just fly by the seat of your pants? Do you feel like you need to have all of your letters covered BEFORE you enter or are you ready to enter NOW?
If this seems familiar, I dedicated a similar video to Everyone on a HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY post a while back. Okay. Waaaay back. So, you would have to be a long-time reader of this blog to recall it.
It is the flip-side inspirational good stuff to yesterday's ramblings. Delicious, no?
It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game.
I have had this saying rattling around in my head for more than a week now. I have even written a blog on the topic, more than once, in my head. Usually it was while I was lying in bed, desperately trying to go to sleep. Yeah, that wasn't working out so well. Anyway, all of last week went by and no blogs were actually committed to type, and this little gem is still rattling around my brain. I decided to look it up on google and see if I could source an author for it. Turns out it is one of those mysterious ones for which no one is leaping to take credit. Author Unknown. Hmmmm.
I did, however, find it among some Motivational Sports Quotations. This was one them: "It doesn't matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again." ~Charles Kettering. As an aside, I like this quote ever so much better. But, it isn't what I am actually here to talk about. This isn't the quote that has been buggering my brain. So, moving on...
The first quote (the one at the top of the page) is simply not true. I know that the intent is designed to be true, but it is not true. I do believe that it matters how you play the game. If you don't play the game with integrity, then it doesn't matter if you win. Even in winning, you lose. But that first part is what I take issue with, because it matters. We all care about winning. I would say that it is a stigma isolated to this country, but is NOT. And if you doubt me, look at how all of the countries that train for the Olympic World Games. Competition is a fierce thing. Medaling is important. At the end of the day, it is all about who medaled. What country has the most Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals. What individual has broken World Records in Medals. It is about Winning. They do not devote talk time for Losers. It does matter if you win or lose, and no one cares how the lowest scoring person played the game. Sorry. They don't. This is all about Winners.
Frankly, this quote is another lie we perpetrate onto ourselves and our children when we LOSE. I do believe that I have used this one as a salve when I didn't win at something. And it made me feel better for about ten seconds and then I all I wanted to do was either practice harder so I would be better next time, or quit because it wasn't my "thing." Ergo, I really needed to move on and find my talent so I could stop wasting my time on something I didn't enjoy all that much. Failure makes you decide how badly you want something. Failure is a good thing. We all should fail at something at least once. And we should not relax in idiotic phrases like the one above to enjoy it. If we played our best game, or did our best, then we can satisfy ourselves with that. It is all about HOW you played the game. Did you enjoy the game? Is it for you? Do you want to keep on playing? Do you want to push yourself to do better?
It's always about whether you win or lose. Winning and losing help us navigate this thing called Life. And if you think that it doesn't matter, that only tells me you've never won anything.
