Sunday, March 31, 2013

A IS FOR ARCADIA

In this case, Arcadia is about the short-lived, but amazing, TV show Joan of Arcadia. For regular readers of this blog, you see clips of this show frequently on my HERE'S TO YOU dedications on Thursday. I think there is actually a lot of crossover between it being a Passion of mine and a place where I have learned many Life Lessons.


If you missed out on this incredible show, and have no idea even of the premise, Joan is a teenager girl that God chooses for "missions," if you will. As you can imagine, that first conversation didn't go over particularly well or easily. And God is pretty much exactly how you would expect: God is a lot more tell and a lot less explain. LOL. Notice how God didn't do a lot of explaining in The Bible, either. It was a lot of "do as I ask." Eventually Joan came to see how there was a Greater Plan in play when she simply did as God asked, but she never had an easy time of it.

One of the things I really liked about this show is that I always liked to imagine how much easier MY LIFE would be if I could actually talk to God and all things would be revealed. That show was an excellent reminder that God simply doesn't work that way. If God did work that way, we would all have direct phone lines straight to the Creator. Those phone lines don't exist NOT because God isn't CAPABLE of making them; instead they don't exist because we are meant to muddle our way through. It is the *point.*

This is one of my favorite clips from the entire series. God takes on many "forms" when he/she appears to Joan, so you never know precisely what God will look like. The assignment at the beginning of this episode (for Joan) was to convince her friend Adam not to put his art in the school Art Show. She failed at the task and he won first place. The clip begins with Joan and God. Joan is headed to school. It is the day after the Art Show. I love the part in the clip where God points out that it isn't faith if everything is explained. And pretty much everyone who has faith ~ at some point ~ also experiences a crisis of faith. In this blog, I have referred to my own crisis of faith as a meltdown and a literal shout-down match at God on several occasions. It kinda sorta looks ridiculous when you are all by yourself having this break. But, if you have ever been there and done that, I know you know what I mean! Incredible scene...



That clip always makes me cry. Actually that episode always makes me cry. I love the phrase that God uses: a failure of imagination. Isn't it horrible with irony that God warns Joan about having a failure of imagination, and then she goes and does it AGAIN? She already had done it once, and God called it what it was. And then she turned around and did it again, just far more epically and terribly. The ripples of that failure are felt for a long time. It takes a long time to heal the damage it does to her friendship with Adam. Even things done out of love can be so very hurtful. Of course, because the hurt was so deep the episode on Forgiveness that comes later in the season is also Epic, and will make you weep until you hurt. These two things walk hand in glove.

Joan of Arcadia:  A Passion.  And chuck full of Life Lessons. Like so many things, you came to an end way before your time.


image found in photobucket.com


What did you think of the clip?  Did it make you cry?  When you make lousy decisions in the future will you now think of them as a failure of imagination?  Have you ever had a crisis of faith?

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Are You Ready for A to Z?

I posted something a while back announcing my participation in this year's April A to Z Blogfest in April.  I have even started writing posts and saving them in Word.  If I were truly On The Ball they would ALL be completed.  Since I am not, as of right now, I have written through the letter "G."  Yeah, that is a bit of letdown to me, too.

However, I can break the news on my theme.

Throughout the month of April you will be getting a Daily Dose on the topic of (drumroll) Passions, Phases, and/or Life Lessons.  Each one of these things started out as a Passion, but may have turned into a Phase, or Life Lesson.  I wanted to choose something that would be good Getting To Know Me stories AND would be interesting reading day after day due to the variety in subject matter.

I don't know if I will be able to work in the weekly Thursday posts on top of the A to Z posts or not.  We shall have to see how things work out.  So, kids, brace yourselves.  In April, it is going to be something here every day but Sunday.


Saturday, March 23, 2013

FEEL BILLIE THRILLER

Many of you have indicated that you are interested in seeing the return of Inspirational Song Saturday. Well, okay. I am going to cheat a bit and do a repeat of one of my VERY EARLY posts to give you an idea of what you are in for with these Saturday posts.  If you like them, I might post a list of all the bands/singers that have already been "done" and you can Search those posts if you want to go back and read them.

The way this post goes down is with one song at the beginning that is feeling Inspirational to Me Right Now. That means it is one song hitting me in my Happy Place right this very minute. It is not limited to any decade. So, while the rest of this post is a feature of 80s music and MTV, and how these two things are meshing, or maybe not meshing, though I haven't really gone there yet, but I am sure that I will, that has nothing to do with this first song.

 I actually dedicated this song to Jasmine a couple of months ago on my Thursday post. However, I love love love it. Back in December, I felt like I was dying inside. Or maybe I was already dead. I don't know... just hollow. It felt like all the good things were gone and were never coming back. I had to very deliberately change my life, and what I was doing, so that I could start feeling again. It was a glorious thing to feel after months of not. So, when I heard this song it almost felt One Republic wrote and sang it just for me. It is one of those songs that I could listen to repeatedly. Every time I hear it I want to play it again. Yep. It's one of those.

Do you have songs like that, or days like that, or moods like that? When I get like that, I just sit on YouTube and keep hitting the repeat until it is out of my system. So here goes:


Well I took two trips; I almost went a third time, but I decided that this blog wasn't going to write itself. So, I decided I better stop watching and listening and grooving - and get back to the writing. How many times did you hit the repeat? I warn you that is the BIGGEST PROBLEM with these posts. Especially with the upcoming music if you are an 80s lover... you are about to watch videos you haven't seen in FOREVER and you are going to fall in love all over again. So, don't say you weren't warned...

Okay, now let's get down to business.

You can't talk about the 80s, MTV, and NOT talk about Michael Jackson. Unlike some other musicians, Michael Jackson wasn't an unknown in the industry. He was part of the Jackson 5. He was the youngest member of the Jackson 5, but the one that spent the most time in the spotlight. So, one could safely argue that he was the most talented member of the Jackson 5. In 1982, something phenomenal happened. Something that hasn't happened again. THRILLER was released. Would it have been the success that it was if not for MTV? I don't know. However, the combination of MTV and Michael Jackson was magic. And THRILLER set the music industry ablaze and the public went wild. I don't think Michael Jackson knew what hit him. THRILLER was not his first solo album, but it might as well have been, because nothing could have prepared him for what was to come. To this day, THRILLER is the best selling album of all-time. Let that sink in. (best selling album of all time) There were nine tracks, and all but two, hit the charts, which is unbelievable! Here they are:

1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" Michael Jackson 6:02
2. "Baby Be Mine" Rod Temperton 4:20
3. "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney) Michael Jackson 3:41
4. "Thriller" Rod Temperton 5:57
5. "Beat It" Michael Jackson 4:17
6. "Billie Jean" Michael Jackson 4:54
7. "Human Nature" Steve Porcaro, John Bettis 4:05
8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" James Ingram, Quincy Jones 3:58
9. "The Lady In My Life" Rod Temperton 4:58

Let's take a look at what had the fans in such a frenzy.



Do you remember when I talked about how some stars knew how to rock a video and some didn't? Michael Jackson knew how to rock a video. People watched that and their jaws hit the floor. It wasn't just that the concept was awesome, there was some story there, the singing was incredible, but how cool was the dancing? He hit you in every sense you had. In fact, it was sensory overload. You wanted to call MTV and ask them to play it again. Please, pretty please play it again. Just two or three more times. Billie Jean knocked it out of the park. Michael Jackson understood the power of video. Video and song. They fed each other. You could do a video of yourself in concert, but why would you? So, he didn't. And he hit one homerun after another while everyone else stood around with their mouths hanging open wondering, "How is he doing that?"

I found this video looking for other videos and it isn't a song, but more of a "what they were thinking back then" video. I thought it was really interesting. If you find it tedious. You know where the stop button is. You can move on...



Of course, the last song has to be Thriller. The video is 13 minutes long and people couldn't get enough of it. We waited for Thriller to come on. Even me. And the only other thing I waited on was Duran Duran videos. So, that should tell you something. It was like a mini-movie. If this doesn't indicate that Michael got the connection between video and music, nothing will.



The only two videos I picked were from the Thriller album. That doesn't mean that Michael Jackson's career ended there. In fact, one of my favorite songs of his is Man In The Mirror.

It made me really sad that Michael Jackson died so early in his life. It made me even sadder that he felt the need to change his appearance so dramatically. I like these videos, not just because it is Michael in his prime, but it is because Michael when he still looks like himself. Just because you have the money to lighten your skin and have all kinds of plastic surgery to make yourself look different, (in his case, more Caucasian) doesn't mean you should. If I could have given him one thing, it would have been simply loving what he saw in the mirror.

RIP Michael Jackson. You are one of a kind. There will never be another musician like you.

Did you notice how much more important it became to be a good dancer or to have good dancers after Michael Jackson and MTV?  What is your favorite song by Michael Jackson?  What is your favorite video by Michael Jackson?

Friday, March 22, 2013

HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY

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.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:


This one is for The Blue Grumpster at The Blue Grumpster...well, usually...:


This one is for klahanie at klahanie:


This one is for Manzanita at Wanna Buy A Duck:


This one is for Mark at Left and Write:


This one is for Christine at A Deliberate Life:


This one is for Liza at Middle Passages:


image found at www.weheartit.com

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Blaze of Glory (MQW)

"You know, Sir, I do admire you, and I sure would like to touch the gun that's gonna kill Billy the Kid."                       ~William H. Bonney, Young Guns



"I'm gonna make you famous."       ~William H. Bonney, Young Guns

Today is Movie Quote Wednesday over at Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog.  The movie genre for today is Westerns.  I obviously chose Young Guns.  And, as usual, have more than one quote that I find particularly tantalizing and memorable.  Sigh.

As you know, Young Guns was a movie from the 80s.  If you have been following this blog for a REALLY LONG TIME you might be able to reach way back into your memory reserves and be able to recall when I had a regular Saturday post featuring 80s music.  That post was actually all about how MTV and videos launched videos and (some) singers and bands into an orbit of celebrity and fame that they would not have achieved had it not been for the medium.  Videos, music, and movies all of a sudden were riding in tandem with one another for mutual moneymaking success.  If a movie played its cards correctly and put out a good soundtrack, along with a dazzling video, each one of these mediums could stairstep one another to greater and greater success.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if I shouldn't start writing that Saturday blog again.  I actually enjoyed that little fluff piece each weekend.  Hmmmm.  Well, that is something to think about.  Let me know YOUR thoughts.  If you want to know what those look like, I tagged them as Inspirational Songs.

One last quote before we shut this one down:

"It ain't easy having pals."         Charley Bowdre, Young Guns


Monday, March 18, 2013

Top 10 Movies and Any Love Is Good Love.

Today is the day of Alex's Top 10 movie list.  Gah. I have had a running list ever since he posted this Challenge over a month ago.  No one would believe me if I told you how long this list ran.  I worked up this list repeatedly trying to whip it into shape by genre.  That was a No Go.  Finally, I decided to pare it down by letter, using the formula that a first word of "The" didn't count.  What letter finally made it as "the letter" that I could fit into 10 slots?

The winner is....B.  Yep.


So, here are my Top Ten Movies that start with the letter "B":

1. The Big Easy
2. The Breakfast Club
3. The Bucket List
4. The Blind Side
5. Bridesmaids
6. Bull Durham
7. Big
8. Boys on the Side
9. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
10. Back To The Future

Movies are not listed in any particular order.  And I probably will forgot a movie that I absolutely adore, even after the massive list effort.  I know someone will post one in the comments and I will smack my head into the wall.  Not literally.  That would hurt.  But figuratively, I will smack my head into the wall.




In other news, we have been in Augusta the last few days and it has been all Drama since we have been here.  My uncle, who I have adored since I was a kid, has broken my heart.  My aunt died last year of cancer, as many of you might remember.  He is now 80 years old and lonely.  My aunt willed him all of her assets to be divided among all of the children when he passes.  He has gotten involved with a woman younger than I and is totally besotted.

This woman is controlling, bossy, and has a need to be right about everything.  In turn, this makes YOU wrong about everything. She also has an alcohol problem.  The very first night she met me, I could not say even ONE thing without her correcting me very rudely about how wrong I was. Honestly, I was flabbergasted.  I had never met anyone with these kind of stones.  Even my ex-husband, who I thought was the master of verbal abuse has nothing on this woman.  She also let loose on my mother repeatedly.  I watched her lay into her own son.  I even watched her criticize my uncle over trivial crap, but his hearing aids were likely clogged and he couldn't hear her.  He misses a lot.  He didn't seem to get that he was being hammered verbally.

I would like to think that she was just having a bad night, but she was like a bad penny and kept turning up.  The second day we were at my uncle's she launched her next assault.

As an example of the verbal warfare she employs, I offer up this exchange.  Everyone was leaving except for me.  She puts the dog in the laundry room.

Me:  Why are you putting the dog in the laundry room?

Her: Because no one will be here to watch him.  Bye.  ::Pointed Look on the no one::  (Saucy Wave as she leaves.)

After they leave, I just sit at the table stunned.  Brain is spinning.  I think that b*tch just called me no one.  No, I know that b*tch just called me no one.  She is doing her best to bully me and make me feel invisible.  Like a non-person.  I can sit her and let her win or I can let the dog out.  I got up and let the dog out.

It was all worse from there.  She lit into my mother before the night was over.

The next day my mother had a talk with my uncle.  Turns out She and Her Son were coming back over to spend the day.  My mom said that she wasn't up for more abuse and my uncle said that he didn't know what he could do about it.  My mom said it was about priorities.  Clearly she meant more to him than his family.  He didn't deny it.  So, we had to pack up our stuff and find another place to stay.  And that was that.  Since then I have had this song running through my head.  For some people, I guess any love is good loving.  And you'll take what you can get.  But I know that he ain't seen nothing yet.




image found at www.weheartit.com

Thursday, March 14, 2013

HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY

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.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:


This one is for JJ at The Disconnected Writer:


This one is for Shoes at Red Shoe's Chronicles:


This one is for Yvonne at Writing My Life Away!:


This one is for Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out:


This one is for Manzanita at Wanna Buy A Duck:


This one is for Jasmine at A Yellow Rose of Texas:


This one is for Alex Cavanaugh at Alex J. Cavanaugh:


image found at www.weheartit.com

Thursday, March 7, 2013

HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY

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.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:


This one is for Judy at Life...Minute by Minute:


This one is for Pam at Empty Nest:


This one is for DiscConnected at BACK IN THE USSR:


This one is for Gini at The Big Fat Gini Blog:


This one is for The Blue Grumpster at The Blue Grumpster...well, usually...:


This one is for Shoes at Red Shoe's Chronicles:



image found at www.weheartit.com

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

I can only tell you what it feels like.

I haven't updated you guys with a Personal Post in a while.  I guess that it is time.

Most of you know that my mom and I moved back to Florida at the end of last year.  For months it was all about the settling in.  Now we have moved on to various renovation projects, as it has become apparent that some are sorely needed.  We are about to be in the middle of a kitchen demolition and remodel.  I have never done that before, but I am anticipating that it will be fun fun fun.  We are also doing several things to make the house more energy efficient given that nothing has been done since it was built in 1976.  So, it is perfectly up-to-code for a house built in 1976, but not so much for a house in 2013.  Let me put it like this: the air flow is terrible.  Since it has been winter, I have been loving it because I LIKE it cooler, and all of the rooms where I spend the most time have *terrible* air flow.  However, when the weather gets warmer, this is going to be a real problem.  So, the entire house needs to be reducted, sealed, and the insulation in the attic needs to be brought up to code.  And that just gives you an idea of what we are doing here.

A friend of ours (from when we lived here several years ago) referred me to a doctor that she found who turned her world upside down and made everything right in her world.  She became very ill after we left.  So ill that this doctor was the 17th doctor she saw in Florida in her effort to get well.  Man, do I know this feeling.  Anyway, we shall call this doctor of the female persuasion Dr. M henceforth.  Dr. M is an M.D., but she is definitely an outside the box thinker.  She ran a Nutritional Analysis on my friend to discover what her problem(s) were.  Once they started treating those, my friend got much better.  She now thinks Dr. M is a miracle worker or something like that.  Anyway, my friend was absolutely insistent that I see the infamous Dr. M when we moved back here.  So, I did.

My appointment was supposed to be at the end of March, but was moved up to mid-February thanks to a cancellation.  I was impressed by how quickly I was seen.  As a person who is well versed with doctors and waiting, shock is actually a better word.  I never even made it to my chair in the lobby before I was called back.  Say what???  Once I got into a room, I never even opened my book before the woman herself... yes, that would be Dr. M. walked in.  I gasped due to disbelief.  I might have even said, "I can't believe it's actually you."  I am sure it sounded totally idiotic... whatever came out of my mouth.

She said, "I am on time today."  Like this is normal.  What universe had I landed in?

She then preceded to take my ENTIRE history dating from when my migraines began.  That would be back in January 2003.  She wanted to know about everything.  My personal history, the nature of the headache, how I had been treated (medically), who had treated me and what they had done.  It was a lot of talking.  She also wanted to know about any new developments in my health, which unfortunately there were.  And she took a look at my most recent lab results.  And then I waited.

Her diagnosis: My migraines were not the primary problem and would never go away using pain medication or migraine medication.  Tell me something I don't know.  So she did.  The migraines are actually a symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that was brought on by the constant barrage of  abuse by my ex-husband.  Woah.  You could have blown me off the chair with a feather.  The good news is that it is treatable with counseling from someone who specializes in PTSD counseling.  Not treating it will just cause my body to continue to break down.  My immune system is functioning on high levels right now.  As she put it, "Your body is working overtime just to stay alive.  And in the process it is killing itself."  Yeah, I get the irony.

So, while my body has been working overtime to stay alive I have become hypoglycemic, developed fibromyalgia, am chronically fatigued, and have numerous auto-immune issues.  I have other antibodies that are on the verge of flipping to auto-immune if my body doesn't stop working so hard at trying to stay alive.  In addition to this counseling, I now have to eat way more healthily and often.  The health food store and I are becoming fast friends.  Do you have a Whole Foods in your town?  Awesome store.  Wish ours was closer.  Moving on...

She also immediately took me off all pain medications.  Yep.  Saving the hardest part for last.  Every doctor has always said that the pain meds cause Rebound Headaches.  Well, that may be true, but you have a headache all the time, with or without the pain meds, and it is a whole lot worse the first few days without.  Especially if the doctor in question doesn't prescribe the RIGHT thing to help combat the symptoms.  Dr. M. prescribed phenergan in a suppository (I am not explaining that one) because she thinks I probably have leaky gut (not explaining that either), and I don't digest or absorb like I should.  Those first few days with no pain meds were MISERABLE.  I was in bed praying for death with the axe.  Does anyone remember those posts?  Me imagining how I could lop off my head with the axe, but not able to figure out how I could effectively wield the thing one-handed, and get the job done?  Well, I was right back there again for almost three days.

And then the cloud lifted.  And just using the phenergan was fairly equivalent to how I did on the pain medication... just without the pain medication.  Hallelujah.  Yes.  I literally was ready to sing the entire Hallelujah Chorus.  Or play it.  Whatevs.

Since then, mom and I have actually been out and about.  Running errands.  I actually feel better.  I have had two sessions with the therapist and have a sense about how this therapy works.  I feel hopeful for the first time in what seems like... forever.  I am even driving again.  For anyone who has been reading this blog, you know what a HUGE step that is.  I am not so disoriented and dizzy that I can't drive.  It feels great.  It feels like freedom.  It feels like hope. 


image found at www.weheartit.com

Monday, March 4, 2013

Up In Smoke



Has anyone not seen the movie Grease?  Well, maybe some people.  For me, it holds the distinction of being the *very first movie* I ever saw at the movies with my friends.  That means my parents dropped me off and picked me up, but I got to watch the movie with my friends.  In other words, Grease made History in my Personal History Book.  I loved it so much that I saw it two times at the theatre, bought the record, and my best friend and I choreographed a dance routine to Greased Lightning and took 3rd place in the local talent show.  Yeah, that movie is a Stand Out for me.  I do believe that I posted early on about my love for Cher as a young person.  I loved her songs, her hair, and even pretended to be her with the help of a towel (for my hair).  I pretty much felt the same way about Olivia Newton-John after Grease.  

Nicole, over at The Madlab Post Blog, is back at it with her regular Monday Feature at the movies.  Today she is asking everyone to think about characters who smoke in the movies.  This is not a brain bender.  Of course, everyone smoked in the movies in the 1950s and 1960s... just like so many people were doing in real life.  It was still fairly prevalent in the 1970s.  All kinds of smoking go for this meme... that means cigarettes, cigars, and even weed.  

I am choosing Grease because it is a movie done in the 1970s about the 1950s.  Of course, almost everyone smoked.  The smoking was a "sign of the times."  Cigarettes were not known by any of their current monikers.  No one called them cancer sticks, for instance.  In fact, the opposite was true.  Smoking was considered classy and sophisticated.  In the 50s, the marketing was still working fabulously.  Who smoked?  Rich people.  Successful people.  Movie stars.  Who didn't smoke?  Naive people.  The unsophisticated.  In other words, smoking didn't have any negative social stigma attached to it yet.  And no one had an inkling that it HARMED you in any way.  

I love this clip of Sandy attempting to pull off her her show of joining the club of the elite.  She is "moving on up."  She is about to nab her man and let him know that she is no longer a naive little girl.  First up in her bag of tricks: I have mastered smoking... sort of.




This is an excellent use of smoking as a plot device because it works.  She has no idea what she is doing and it SHOWS.  She is completely out of her element with that cigarette.  And that is how every movie should use any prop, be it a cigarette, or anything else... deliberately.

For the record, Danny loved Sandy before she was all big hair, skin tight black clothing, and a smoker.  When the furor dies down he will still love her.  He loved the girl from Summer Nights.  She is the one who is real... even though this is a great song.  And Olivia Newton-John totally pulled off the outfit...

What movie can you think of that used smoking as a plot device really well?  Did you see Grease and love it or hate it?  Was there a movie from your youth that goes down as a Stand Out for you?