26 Years and other randomness

'Tis be Friday again! For most people Friday is the end of their work week....For me it's just the beginning. I'm hoping that this week is a little bit better at work than the last two weeks have been. It's been a little bit rough for me....We're waxing the floors at work and the smell from the wax and floor stripper gives me migraines. Toss in being treated poorly by a supervisor and a fellow team member two times in two weeks and you have me being pretty miserable. This two shall pass and I can hardly WAIT!

Yesterday was my parents 26th wedding anniversary. It was a pretty nice day too. Weather was decent....minus the wind. But we were still in the low 50's which is better than the last couple of days around here, where it's been pretty dreary.

I joined another Favorite Things Swap....Seriously, these bloggy swaps are a TON of fun. Now that I've done one I have a little bit better idea of what to expect. Flying by the seat of your pants isn't always the most fun. If you want to participate, please click on the words "Favorite Things Swap" to go to the post with all the instructions in it.

I'm still waiting on Spring to actually show up and stick around. I'm pretty tired of this one or two days here and there. That sucks pond sludge.

Yesterday, I posted the "100 Movies You Must See Before You Die" according to Yahoo. I'm in the process of coming up with my OWN list of movies that I think you should see before you die. You might be pretty surprised to see how ecclectic my taste in movies really is.

I've been doing some "studying" on some of my money saving blogs that I've added to my blogroll recently and will of course continue to study until I find/figure out a system that works for me to help me save money on my everyday needs in this rather "shaky" economy. Of course I'll be sure to share with all of you so that you can test these idea's out for yourself if you'd like.

I'm coming up on my FIRST ever blog giveaway. I can hardly wait!

Ms. Laci went to the groomer yesterday to get her Spring 'do done. Is it sad that my dog has her own stylist? She said that Laci was a good girl until she tried to trim around her face...then not so much. I thought that Laci would give her grief when it came time to brush her teeth but according to the groomer she actually enjoyed having her teeth brushed.

Well there it is....My week in a nutshell....Complete with a few blessings thrown in too. Have a great weekend for me!

Jamie

100 Movies to see before you die

I got this off of Yahoo....I'll admit that I've only seen a handful of these movies...Guess I'd better get a move on!

Movie's I've Seen

The Yahoo! Movies editorial staff has created this handy checklist to track the 100 movies you must see before you die.
0-9
12 Angry Men (1957)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
400 Blows (1959)
8 1/2 (1963)
A
The African Queen (1952)
Alien (1979)
All About Eve (1950)
Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
B
The Battle of Algiers (1967)
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Blow Up (1966)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Breathless (1960)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid (1969)
C
Casablanca (1942)
Chinatown (1974)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon (2000)
D
Die Hard (1988)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Duck Soup (1933)
E
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
F
Fast Times At Ridgemont
High (1982)
The French Connection (1971)
G
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Goldfinger (1964)
The Good, the Bad, and the
Ugly (1968)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Graduate (1967)
Grand Illusion (1938)
Groundhog Day (1993)
H
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
I
In the Mood For Love (2001)
It Happened One Night (1934)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
J
Jaws (1975)
K
King Kong (1933)
L
The Lady Eve (1941)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Lord of the Rings (2001)
M
M (1931)
M*A*S*H (1970)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Matrix (1999)
Modern Times (1936)
Monty Python and the Holy
Grail (1975)
N
National Lampoon’s Animal
House (1978)
Network (1976)
Nosferatu (1922)
O
On the Waterfront (1954)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest (1975)
P
Paths of Glory (1958)
Princess Mononoke (1999)
Psycho (1960)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
R
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Raise the Red Lantern (1992)
Rashomon (1951)
Rear Window (1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Rocky (1976)
Roman Holiday (1953)
S
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Schindler’s List (1993)
The Searchers (1956) - One of my ALL TIME FAVORITE MOVIES!
Seven Samurai (1954)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs (1937)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Star Wars (1977)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
T
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Third Man (1949)
This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Titanic (1997)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Toy Story (1995)
U
The Usual Suspects (1995)
V
Vertigo (1958)
W
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Wings of Desire (1988)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Women On the Verge of Nervous Breakdown (1988)
The World of Apu (1959)

Twilight!

So Twilight was released on Saturday....That was pretty exciting. When I got off of work Saturday morning and ran over to Walmart to pick up a couple of essentials....There weren't very many copies of the movie left in ANY format. When I got to work Saturday night we had exactly 1 copy of the movie in Blue-ray disc format. I can hardly wait to watch this movie! I've been re-reading Twilight the past few days and everybody at work has been giving me crap about "sparkly vampires."

Australia Review

NOTE: I updated and rearranged my "Favorite Posts" so please check them out.

Yesterday I viewed the movie Australia with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. I loved it...At first I was a little leery of seeing it because I hadn't heard much about the movie other than what my friend from work had told me about it. She's a big Hugh Jackman fan and could even his worst movie sound like the best thing since sliced bread....Does Hugh have a bad movie? I really don't think he does.

Usually, I'm not a real big fan of Nicole Kidman but she was really good in this movie. She was a very believeable as an English aristocrate, Lady Sarah Ashley, who's husband owns a cattle station, Far Away Downs, in the Northern territory of Australia, near Darwin. Well Lady Ashley come's to Australia assuming her husband is up to no good, only meet up with Drover (Hugh Jackman) and learn some shocking things about what has been going on at Far Away Downs. While at Far Away Down's she meets up with an Aboriginal child named Nullah and they all embark on a cattle drive across some of the harshest country in Australia, because the contract to supply the Australian Army with beef is on the line (this movie takes place when the world is on the brink of WWII). Not only do they have to contend with the elements but there are certain people who don't want this team to succeed and will do anything to see that they don't.

Because I don't want to give away too much of the movie I'll stop there.....But I will say that as great as the movie was, there are a few obvious CGI moments, but I didn't let that detract from the rest of the movie. Then there is the fact that Hugh Jackman looks pretty dang good on a horse....almost makes you wish you were the horse.

Here's the movie trailer:

Wordless Wednesday and a little note

Twilight!

Guess what?!?!?!?! Twilight is being released on DVD on March 21, 2009! I can hardly wait! I never did see it in the theater....being without a reliable mode of transportation most of the winter and all. I read the whole series in a little over 2 weeks (unfortuante things like work, eating, sleeping, etc. took away from my reading time.) and I LOVED it! Guess who's going to be investing in her own personal copy?!

P.S. Click on either of the pictures to go to Amazon to pre-order your 2-disc Special edition.

Is it wrong....

That I'm jealous of Ree over at The Pioneer Woman? I LOVE her webpage and wish I had one like it too. I know there's a whole lot of marketing stuff that went into making her webpage the way it is today but I'm still jealous. Is it sad that I've considered e-mailing her and asking the secret to her success? Now that I've put that out there lets move on....

I went out and purchased a crap ton (in layman's terms, LOTS) of yarn to start working on knitting gifts for next Christmas already. I can hardly wait to start on my next project! But first I have to finish my scarf and get pictures of it posted so you all can see it. I SO have to get better about finishing one project before I start another.....I am SO bad at that right now.

I find this pretty unusual....Usually I watch A LOT of TV/Movies but in the last week I've watched MAYBE 2 or 3 hours TOTAL. I've been doing A LOT of knitting and blogging in that time. Since I'm not really going anywhere for a while with the current state that my vehicle is in I guess it only makes sense...But I still find it odd.

Can anyone tell me why Blogger felt the need to "eat" both of my blog lists? That does NOT make me happy! I've got a couple added back in but I MUST get something other than blogging done today, so I'll probably be working on it over the next couple of days, so please bear with me.

Well I think that's pretty much it for now at least.

Jamie

Hi my name is....

Jamie and I have never seen the movie A Christmas Story. Yup, apparently according to some people I know that makes me a mutant or something but I have remedied the situation....I purchased myself a copy of A Christmas Story this morning and it's now on my list of things to do today.

So what is your favorite Holiday movie? Personally, mine are National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (the squirrel scene is a classic!) and Miracle on 34th street.

For all the Twilighters out there....

Here is a link to a store where you to can invest in your "official" Twilight apparel: http://shop.cafepress.com/twilight-movie?cmp=KNC-G-HIT-RP-EdCullen




Here are some of my favorites (for some reason I am unable to upload the actual photo, so below are the links, with a little teaser....I don't want to give too much away!):

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/30813288 (Edward is a BAD BAD boy!)

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/31383989 (The Lion and the Lamb)

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/31528352 (What do you live for?)

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/31347778 (Don't Make Me...)

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/31094884 (Be Safe..)

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/31213147 (Not Real?)

http://bumperstickers.cafepress.com/item/sticker-bumper/338817305 (Shiny Volvo)

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/30115059 (feathers)

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/31031564 (Young, dead and Sparkly)

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/31408128 (Bella)

That's just a few...There are like 10,000+ different designs to choose from.

The X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer

I never was a comic book fan myself but a couple of friends from work said that I should see a bunch of movies (transformers, ghost rider, x-men, etc.) that were originally comic books and now I'm hooked. I can hardly wait for this movie to come out!

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

I haven't ever mentioned this on my blog before but I am a BIG TIME fan of The Princess Bride. It’s one of my ALL TIME favorite movies. I love that it’s a story in a story and that good triumphs over evil. So this morning I went out and bought the book….I can hardly wait to get reading.

Also while I was out spending money at my local Barnes and Noble I purchased my first Jane Austen novel….Pride and Prejudice. I can hardly wait to start reading about young Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy! :)

Now I'm off to crawl under my nice warm blankets and do some reading. We're getting our second snow storm in three days right now and I'm cold.

Happy Trails Hans - Repost from old Wordpress blog

I’m a BIG fan of Die Hard and Live Free or Die Hard. Die Hard was on TV last night and I was EXTREMELY pissed off that I had to go to work. The upside to going to work is I’m making money….the downside is I miss out on all the “good” movies that are on during the weekends.

So back to Die Hard and Live free or Die Hard….They are a couple of my favorites because yet again good triumphs over evil. Though I’m usually not a very big fan of “blood, guts and gore” movies I do enjoy these two movies a lot. There is plenty more going on besides all the “blood, guts and gore” to keep me amused for 2 hours…There is a little bit of humor to keep things interesting and there is more than enough pyro (have I mentioned that I come from a long line of Pyromaniacs?) to offset the “icky” stuff. Ok, and there is some “foul” language as well but even I can over look that.
Doesn’t Bruce look good for being 52?! Any way…..Here are some of my ALL TIME favorite quotes from these movies:

Matt Farrell: You just killed a helicopter with a car!
John McClane: I was out of bullets.
Live Free or Die Hard

(Hans)So who are you then? Just another american who watched too many movies as a child. Another guy who thinks he’s John Wayne, Rambo?

(McClane)I was always kinda partial to Roy Rogers actually, really liked those sequined shirts.(Hans)Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy.

(McClane)Yippee kay yay mother fucker.
Die Hard

-This time John Wayne does not walk off into the sunset with Grace Kelly.

-That was Gary Cooper, asshole.
Die Hard

The Searchers

The Searchers movie poster


I am a HUGE fan of John Wayne and John Ford movies. First, I’d like to say if you haven’t seen this movie, The Searchers, I highly recommend it. You get the chance to see John Wayne play his most complex character yet…. Ethan Edwards. Though I must warn you that there are a LOT of complex racial and sexual issues dealt with in the content of this movie.


The Searchers Trailer

"In ''The Searchers'' I think Ford was trying, imperfectly, even nervously, to depict racism that justified genocide; the comic relief may be an unconscious attempt to soften the message. Many members of the original audience probably missed his purpose; Ethan's racism was invisible to them, because they bought into his view of Indians. Eight years later, in ''Cheyenne Autumn,'' his last film, Ford was more clear. But in the flawed vision of ''The Searchers'' we can see Ford, Wayne and the Western itself, awkwardly learning that a man who hates Indians can no longer be an uncomplicated hero." Robert Epert


John Wayne as Ethan Edwards

Ethan Edwards is an ex-Confederate soldier who never really surrendered after the end of the war between the states. For a couple of years he just wondered around the country, he may have even been an outlaw, nobody really seems to know. Then he decides to head for his brothers ranch in Texas. Ethan has a HUGE problem with indians and his adopted nephew Martin Pauley is 1/8 Cherokee, which causes some problems along the way. Then comes the massacre at his brothers ranch, where his brother's family is slaughtered and his two nieces are taken captive (one of which is later killed also.) Which brings us to the 5 year quest to find his youngest niece that was captured by the Comanche's who massacred his family. At first it was a mission to rescue her and bring her home but as time wore on it became more a mission to find her and kill her because "Livin' with Comanche's ain't being alive."

One of the most famous scenes from the movie....this photo really doesn't do it justice though...you'll have to see the movie to truly appreciate why it's so famous.

"Ethan Edwards, fierce, alone, a defeated soldier with no role in peacetime, is one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created (they worked together on 14 films). Did they know how vile Ethan's attitudes were? I would argue that they did, because Wayne was in his personal life notably free of racial prejudice, and because Ford made films with more sympathetic views of Indians. This is not the instinctive, oblivious racism of Griffith's ''Birth of a Nation.'' Countless Westerns have had racism as the unspoken premise; this one consciously focuses on it. I think it took a certain amount of courage to cast Wayne as a character whose heroism was tainted. Ethan's redemption is intended to be shown in that dramatic shot of reunion with Debbie, where he takes her in his broad hands, lifts her up to the sky, drops her down into his arms, and says, ''Let's go home, Debbie.'' The shot is famous and beloved, but small counterbalance to his views throughout the film--and indeed, there is no indication be thinks any differently about Indians." Robert Epert

If you listen and watch closely you will also see that John Ford was a VERY crafty man. Though there are A LOT of racial and sexual issues dealt with in the content of this movie, there are also A LOT of "religious" and "faith symbols" used in this movie as well. I don't want to say too much but in the end this is a story of redemption against almost "impossible" odds.

The shot at the end of the movie

Cast

John Wayne: Ethan Edwards

Jeffrey Hunter: Martin Pawley

Vera Miles: Laurie Jorgensen

Ward Bond: Capt. Rev. Samuel Clayton

Natalie Wood: Debbie Edwards

John Qualen: Lars Jorgensen

Olive Carey: Mrs. Jorgensen

Henry Brandon: Chief Scar

Ken Curtis: Charlie McCorry

Harry Carey Jr.: Brad Jorgensen

Antonio Moreno: Emilio Figueroa

Hank Worden: Mose Harper

Lana Wood: Debbie as a Child

Walter Coy: Aaron Edwards

Dorothy Jordan: Martha Edwards

Pippa Scott: Lucy Edwards

Robert Leyden: Ben

Patrick Wayne: Lt. Greenhill

Beulah Archuletta: Look

Jack Pennick: Sergeant

Peter Mamakos: Futterman

William Steele: Nesby

Cliff Lyons: Col. Greenhill

Chuck Roberson: Man at Wedding

Ruth Clifford: Deranged Woman at Fort

Mae Marsh: Woman at Fort

Dan Borzage: Accordionist at Funeral

Away Luna: Comanche

Billy Yellow: Comanche

Bob Many Mules: Comanche

Exactly Sonnie Betsuie: Comanche

Feather Hat Jr.: Comanche

Harry Black Horse: Comanche

Jack Tin Horn: Comanche

Many Mules Son: Comanche

Shooting Star: Comanche

Pete Grey Eyes: Comanche

Pipe Line Begishe: Comanche

Smile White Sheep: Comanche

Jamie/BITRCountryGirl

Movie Posts

I like to share my favorite movies with my friends out there in the blogging community, that is why I do my movie posts. The best thing about doing movie posts is that I have a very eclectic taste in movies. I love all sorts of different movies which is the more fun for you the readers in the long run. I just posted my first movie post on this blog a little bit ago, about one of my many favorite movies.

The Searchers

Jamie/BITRCountryGirl