Facinating

Whenever I hear the name Temple Grandin it piques my interest. Not only because I've been extremely interested in the whole autism spectrum since I did an internship in a special needs class way back when I was at CSU, but also because she's now a professor at CSU. This movie is extremely well done and acted, but mostly it's a fascinating look into how a person with autism sees the world. It's unreal how similarly both Temple Grandin and John Elder Robison (from the book I mentioned some time back called "Look Me in the Eye") describe some of the traits they share.

What an amazing woman and life.

"If I could snap my fingers and become nonautistic I would not do so. Autism is part of who I am." ~Temple Grandin

Thank you Starz

And HBO and Showtime because like one blog I read said, "Hollywood is on life support." Yes, it's a movie post, if you aren't interested skip to the picture. I like good movies, or in this case, good TV. Anyway after fast forwarding my way through "Sex in the City 2" (seriously on my Top 10 list of horrible movies) and quitting half way through all the Twilight movies (I liked the books, but wasn't age inappropriately gaga over them), I have now turned to TV for quality entertainment. And look, I'm not a snob. Remember not so long ago my favorite quotes were coming from "Zombieland."

Anyway, for all of you that have read Ken Follett's "The Pillars of the Earth" you need to check out the miniseries on Starz. It follows the book and is extremely well done. I'm bummed because I'm caught up and now have to wait for the next episode.

From HBO Kenny and I are watching "The Pacific" and although it so far hasn't lived up to "Band of Brothers" it's still great. It's also timely given that I discovered BOB when we first moved to Europe which sparked my passion to learn about and visit every WWII site we were remotely near. Now with the miniseries about the war in the Pacific I'm learning about a different battlefront which we happen to now be living near. On a funny side note, this reminded me of when we went to the Battle of the Bulge commemoration near Bastogne and met one of the men who was briefly portrayed in BOB and he told us the series was a load of "B.S." He was as feisty and cocky at around age 90 as he probably was back in the 1940's.

The best TV series I'm currently watching is from Showtime and it's "Nurse Jackie." I heard Edie Falco was up for an Emmy, so hopefully it will or has been renewed.

Anyway, had to get that off of my chest. Especially the "Sex in the City 2" part.....quit screwing with a good thing. Samantha + menopause ≠ funny. In my next life I'm coming back as a chef/travel agent/movie,tv, book reviewer. Side note...I just finished reading "Look Me in the Eye" - great book.

Nugget's current favorite art medium....his face and the countertop.

Great documentary featuring two of my favorite groups of people

That would be the military and the youth-challenged - that's a p.c. way of saying older folk because you know I'm all about being p.c. In fact, I've been thinking of doing a weekly blog post about ridiculous p.c. words/phrases I've heard lately.

Loved, loved, loved this documentary, but I watched it on the treadmill and was tearing up so much I fell off. It was touching, honest, heartwarming, inspiring, sad, and patriotic all rolled up in a thought provoking film. Don't call me sappy though....I find that term very offensive. I prefer heartlessly challenged.

"Time to nut up or shut up." ~ Tallahassee

This is my favorite new saying from my current favorite movie, "Zombieland:"

A couple others I can't quit quoting:

Columbus: "Are you one of those guys who has to constantly 'one-up' everyone else? "
Tallahassee: "Hell, no! I knew a guy once who was a lot worse at that than me."

Columbus:[after his neighbor changes into a zombie] "You see? You just can't trust anyone. The first girl I let into my life and she tries to eat me."

Columbus: "Somebody's ear is in danger of having hair brushed over it."

I'm probably completely behind the times and everyone was quoting this movie a year ago, but I thought it was hilarious and if you disagree with me, "wanna feel how hard I can punch?"

Surprisingly good, words to live by & stream of consciousness (in no particular order)

In my race to the Oscars I came across a critically acclaimed film that I was SURE I wouldn't like, but turned out to surprise me. I feel after age 40 you can be relatively sure of what you love, like, dislike and hate. I HATE science fiction movies. "Star Trek" - didn't like. "Star Wars" - *gasp* didn't like. "Avatar" - what's the big deal? Other than being colorful it's about two groups with different goals/values/DNA. Throw in a love story (for the ladies) and fight scene (for the men).... It's all been done before and this same old story took over 2¾ hours to tell. Thank goodness I watched it at home. It bums me out that this is probably going to beat out some genuinely good movies. "District 9" - again, huh? I made it through all but the last 20 minutes when I decided I'd wasted enough of my time. My dislike of sci-fi runs so deep that I can honestly say I didn't like "ET." I know I'm in the minority, bring on the haters, it's just my opinion.

Typing that first blurb reminded me.... while I'm in such a positive mood and you sci-fi lovers out there are cursing me, I might as well just completely change the subject, rile up a few more people and declare that when I turned 40 I decided to quit trying to make myself like the beach. I HATE the beach. I hate to just sit there and sweat, I hate salt water, I hate having sand where the German doctors want me to put honey, I hate trying to force myself to do nothing. But I digress. There's a glimpse of how my mind works....writing about sci-fi, end up spouting off about sand in my arse.

Anyway, going against my "you know what you like by 40" theory (which also falls under my other words to live by, "never say never"), I really liked the movie "Moon." I think for me to like sci-fi there has to be a sense of "maybe this could happen" in it and with all the recent developments in cloning my mind could grasp that the premise of this film is within the realm of future possibility.

And by the way, I loved "Inglorious Bastards." "Coco Before Chanel," (warning: in French with subtitles) and "Up in the Air."

Someone please suggest a comedy

I'm going to have to pursue a Zoloft prescription if I don't watch something humorous soon. After watching the following films I've been either in a funk or freaked out.

"World's Greatest Dad"

"Broken Embraces"

"An Education"

"In the Valley of Elah"

"My Sister's Keeper"

"Paranormal Activity"(had to sleep with the lights on last night)

I tried improving my mood by watching "I Love you Man" and it had moments, but in general my mood-o-meter went from depressed to bored. "500 Days of Summer" was pretty good, but the best thing I got out of that movie was the awesome soundtrack. On the subject of soundtracks, I have to plug the one from "Away we Go." That's all I've been listening to lately (along with the best of MJ - grumble, grumble).

To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, I also watched "In the Loop" which was a HIGHlarious especially if you like British humor.

While I'm channeling Gene Siskel...

Here are a few more movies I've recently watched:

The Hurt Locker - 2 huge thumbs up from both Kenny and I. I also loved that this critically acclaimed movie was directed by a woman. It's about a bomb disposal team in Iraq and for once seemed like an unbiased look at the war there (maybe someone who's been there would have a different opinion).

I love documentaries so these next two appealed to my inner nerd.

Food, Inc. - interesting, held my attention, but not quite sure what to make of it all.

Anvil, The story of Anvil - loved it, the movie follows a Canadian heavy metal band who were "almost" huge in the 80's and have never given up on their dream.

OK, I promise to quit boring you with my thoughts on movies and get back to boring you with with kids, dogs and travel (unless I watch a really good movie).

My annual race to the Oscars is on

Each year prior to the Oscars I try to watch most of the movies that had even the tiniest bit of buzz (positive or negative). Since Kenny is basically out of town for the next four weeks, my film festival has commenced. How, you may ask, does a work widow, in Germany, with three small children get copies of movies that are still in theaters to watch at home after kiddie bedtime? Can't say, but I hope my "connections" hold up in China.

Anyway, last night's showing on the big screen:

I can hear my Dad grumbling from over 5000 miles away and he will henceforth be referred to as "grumble, grumble" in this post at points where I know my Mom is actually hearing his complaints about "kid's music" while reading this over her shoulder. Ultimately this will lead to his rhapsodizing about the "good ole days with singers like Johnny Cash".

I hadn't been a fan since the early 80's and the only thing I knew about this movie was that it was a documentary of the rehearsals for his upcoming tour. WOW! I had goosebumps for the two hours during the movie and for two hours after (grumble, grumble). He was truly a crazy, musical genius (grumble, grumble).

After he died, I watched an interview he had done with Oprah where he said something about how he feels every part of the music and this translates into his dance moves (grumble, grumble). I could see and feel this when watching the movie. It was like he was a part of the music and the music was a part of him. It just oozed from him and this was apparent to even someone who doesn't have a musical bone in her body. I don't know how a man who was supposedly so drug addicted functioned at that level. Most of us have seen the pictures/videos of musicians falling down, slurring, faces covered in blow, a la Amy Winehouse and Boy George. Maybe it was a part of his magic in some sad way, or maybe it dulled his full potential.

Anyway, I really wish I would have gone to one of his concerts (grumble, grumble) and this prompted me to make a list of musicians/bands I wish I had seen or want to make a point of seeing (you know even if they are "retired" they'll need a payday sooner or later) before it's too late. I came up with this list quickly, feel free to give me input for consideration. Music genre isn't a factor. I didn't include U2 because we saw them in the 90's, or DMB because anyone who knows us knows pre-kids we saw them any chance we had.

Too late:

MJ

The Rat Pack

Elvis

Added to the life list:

Madonna

The Boss

Rolling Stones

Elton John

Love ya Dad! (grumble, grumble).

Loved this movie