My Favorite Quotes in 2011

"Truth is, I've always been thirsty." - Edward Bloom, Big Fish



"We're done with you. Go back to the golf course and work on your putz." - Dark Helmet, Spaceballs

"Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death." - R. D. Laing

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die." - Mel Brooks

"Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering." - Paulo Coelho



"Whatever I did, I did without rules of other people. I did it because I wanted to do it." - Herb Vogel



"Maybe if I hadn't of seen so much hard feelings, I might not could have felt other people's." - Woody Guthrie (from "Another Man's Done Gone")

“Fate loves the fearless.” - James Russell Lowell

Things That Make Me Happy

I had a damn good weekend. I spent lots of time with good friends, new friends, old friends, family... and after my stressful week of mid-terms, this was just what I needed. I was going to blog all about this weekend's events, as they were all pretty fantastic, but instead I'm going to share something I found the other day (and just in the nick of time, I might add). I found a list I made on February 8, 2010, of 33 things that make me happy.

I wrote it one day at Alexandra's house, after a rough couple months of boy problems and depression. At that time, I felt like I had been overlooking all the good things in life; I needed to remind myself that there were plenty of reasons to smile. It hung on my fridge at my old house, and now it's hanging on the fridge at my new house, right where it belongs. Here it is, uncensored:

1. music
2. coffee
3. sunshine
4. stretching
5. exercise
6. breakfast
7. Weight Watchers
8. bike riding
9. reading
10. cleaning
11. clean clothes
12. Sunday phone calls/emails
13. doing my hair & make-up
14. matching underwear
15. sex
16. parties (especially theme parties)
17. dressing up
18. drawing
19. singing
20. practicing instruments
21. watching movies
22. dinner with friends
23. museums
24. swimming
25. painting nails/toenails
26. going to the movies
27. Chicago
28. crafting
29. kids
30. car coffee
31. massages
32. painting
33. dancing
34. showering
35. going out for coffee
36. poetry

What makes you happy?

6 Movies in 2 Days

I have two rooms in the flat that I share with my roommate, Sarah. One is my bedroom, and the other is my art-music-media room, which I recently cleaned and rearranged. Since it houses my overwhelmingly large VHS collection, I created a cozy little video-watching area that's getting a lot of use. I've seen five movies since yesterday afternoon - while doing other productive things. I swear.

1. Half Baked
• It always makes me giggle.
2. Se7en
• Brilliant story, brilliant acting. "What's in the box?!"
3. Milk
• It was my first time seeing this one, and I loved it; a funny, inspirational true story that had me emotionally invested to the extreme. It even made me cry a little, which is tough for a movie to do. I highly recommend this to anyone who's interested in political activism, gay rights, contemporary history, and/or emotional biopics.
  
4. Office Space
• I watched this one twice in a row. Seriously. 
5. Friday the 13th
• Slasher classic.

...and I'm currently watching a 6th: The Squeeze, on VHS. It was still in it's original shrink wrap, which was pretty exciting to tear open. The cover sold me, with its classically corny 80s style and a tagline promising a "comedy thriller," starring Michael Keaton, no less. Unfortunately, I'm 10 minutes into watching it and can already tell it's not going to be as fantastically bad as I expected; it's going to be "mediocre bad," which is the worst.

Oh, the horror!

Over the last week, the temperature in my part of Illinois has dropped from 90° to 60°... basically, Illinois warp sped from summer to fall, seemingly overnight. Every year, as the weather starts to get chilly, I get a hankerin' for some good ol' fashioned horror movies. I began the cinematic descent into blood, demonic possessions, deep psychoses, and deranged villains last night, by re-watching The Shining for the umpteenth time. I'm not a big Kubrick fan, but I adore The Shining. I saw it for the first time when I was 13 or 14, and at 28, it still manages to give me the chills.

Here's the beautiful and terrifying original trailer:

And, just for fun, a romantic-comedy re-cut someone did with scenes from The Shining. Hilarious!

The next movies I plan on re-watching are Rosemary's Baby and The Omen, two more of my favorite horror classics. Did you know that The Omen includes one of Hollywood's first, and, arguably, BEST, decapitation scenes? I have long been toying with the idea of making a VHS "Decap Comp" of all my favorite movie decapitation scenes, and this one from the original Omen would definitely open up the tape:

I have a list of some of my other favorites, and if there are any that you'd recommend, please leave them in a comment below. I'd also like to know what your favorite horror movies are, so I can add some more must-sees to my watch list. Some of mine, in addition to the few already mentioned, include: Dead Snow, Cabin Fever, 28 Days Later (I love you, Danny Boyle!), House of 1000 Corpses, The Good Son, Jaws, The Exorcist, Carrie, and Teeth (don't trust the shitty trailer - trust me). And the next horror release I'm really looking forward to is Hobo with a Shotgun (see the teaser trailer at the bottom of this entry). I found the link to this through a blog I just discovered this morning - Greatest Movie Deaths of All Time. Total Google score!

Happy horror-ing, guys and gals. I finally have a working internet connection again so I should be blogging more frequently. Subscribe. Stay in touch.

"Oh, go on and cry. You'll pee less."

 I'M STRESSED OUT.

I've been wound up like a spring for the last two weeks, and each time I think all has fallen back into a sensible order, it's crisis time again. It's like I'm trying to file a bunch of papers, see? But there's an army of little men who live at the bottom of the filing cabinet drawer, and they just can't wait until I tuck something away so they can tear it to shreds. Party. Confetti. Life's a beach, man.

As of yet, my patience has been serving me well, but it's running thin tonight. Luckily, I'm somehow still smiling and the shinola continues to outweigh the shit. But I'm stressed, damnit. Why don't I have that Valium prescription anymore? Time to count to ten.

I watched Postcards from the Edge for the first time tonight. Great movie, containing the awesome quote that inspired this whiny post. It seems that I will be peeing a little less after this.

Recommended Viewing

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

"I didn't bring your breakfast, because you didn't eat your din-din!"

This movie has been on my "To Watch" list for a long time, and I finally saw it a couple weeks ago. It's a MUST SEE! If you're anything like me, you'll be rooting for crazy Baby Jane for the duration of this deliciously demented film.

Love Me If You Dare (2003) 

"Being an adult means to have a speedometer that marks 210 and not driving over 60." 

This one is about a boy, a girl, and an absurd game... oh, yeah, and a most fucked-up kind of love. Love Me If You Dare was personally recommended to me by a close friend, based upon a specific experience I had with a former love. If you've ever trusted someone who you knew you couldn't trust in the least, then I think you'll enjoy this one. Also, it's shot beautifully, reminding me of the same dreamy, fairytale feeling that's conveyed in two of my other favorite films, Amélie and Big Fish.

Good Dick (2008)

'If I wanted to have sex I'd go out and find someone who was actually sexy." 

Just a few things that made me love this movie: an amazing female director/writer/lead (see: Marianna Palka), unabashed stalking, and Jason Ritter. I suggest going in without any expectations, and just enjoying the characters for who they are. Also, order a pizza.