The Life and Times of a Midwestern Movie Addict

Ok, so I had every intention of writing this this past weekend but I was pretty busy with the show I was doing and trying to entertain my loving and ever so patient boyfriend...so I simply didn't have time to open ye old notebook and write.  It's probably appropriate that I chose to focus on my special guy rather than other things at hand though, because the film I chose to write about this week was one in which the lead characters do just that.  The importance of loving someone, being loved back, and giving that person your focus is something our cynical world would rather tease and make fun of than to take seriously (heck, I do it myself) and so "Yucky love stuff" becomes something of an embarrassment.  However, I think that films such as this help to remind us of the simple importance of love and can unite large audiences in a way that no other medium can.  I dunno if my guy will appreciate that I'm using him along side this, cause he doesn't care much for ...

Still feeling like talking about going back to school, I got to thinking today about how....while I don't dislike the job....I do hate the hours (getting up at 5:30 every day BLOWS) and sometimes there are co-workers (read: children) I could do without.  Most of these issues are solved on inservice days, or rather days that we teachers come to work and the students don't.  Usually we have these so we can have important meetings or attend seminars and the district is kind enough to give us work time to accomplish this rather than making us do it on our own time (though I'm sure union contract language has more to do with it than the district's goodwill).  Anyway, we had one of these inservices last week and it was downright delightful.  I didn't have to be at work until 8am, I got to spend time with my co-workers and friends without any student interference, and I didn't have to worry about any of those hoodlums that give me more gray hairs as the days go by.  It...

Well, it's the end of our second week of school and I don't know about anyone else but I am exhausted.  I was given a new program to add to my numerous assignments this year, Broadcasting and our News show, and even though we're only in the planning stages for the program I am already beaten down by the stress.  It's a bit unnerving to teach a class that you're pretty sure you know the stuff for, but you want to be sure you don't make a mistake because there are kids in the class who have been doing it much longer than I have and know as much or more about it than I do.  On the plus side, having that class prevents me from teaching a second grade of language arts this year so now I only have to prep for Freshmen, which I think I prefer.  They're still pliable at this age and much more receptive to learning than upperclassmen who have since decided that they are closed off to anything new.  To be honest, I meant to write this blog last week when we started s...

Writing about Bedknobs and Broomsticks this week and comparing it to Mary Poppins reminded me of how long it had been since I had last seen it (at least 5 years).  I decided this was a crime somewhere and so I popped it in on Tuesday night...wow, what a difference several years of removal can make.  Some films do not age well over time and when you watch them older and wiser than you were before they are like eating a piece of day-old pizza.  Some of what you loved about it is still there, but mostly the excitement has faded and what you're left with is a bland and largely flavorless reminder that sometimes the moment makes the memory rather than the quality.  Some films, however, stand up to age and scrutiny and manage to constantly offer new nibbles of enlightenment for you to nibble on as you grow and change.  Mary Poppins is one of those films and it is with deep pleasure that I present it to you today. Stormy weather is brewing at Number 17, Cherry Tree ...

So yeah....I have no good excuse as to why I haven't posted in a while aside from the fact that I recently began re-reading Stephen King's Needful Things and I have been enjoying that during my Study Hall periods.  In fact, it had become so much a part of my daily routine during the shows (when I elected to completely stop writing in my blog) that I never stopped and thus forgot to keep posting after that first one.  But worry not friends, I have returned with a bit of the past to share with you.  This past weekend I went camping with a much-too-short-lived new friend and while we were canoeing he kept yelling song requests at me (because I have such a melodious voice, don'cha know) and when he had me sing "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins I remembered a little known fact about the film I'm going to examine today.  It seems that there was a section in Poppins which focused on a magic compass and in one of the scenes they all went to the bottom of The Beautif...

Yep, I purposefully have not written in several weeks because I simply have not had the head space for it what with the pressures of the musical, getting the end of the year things done in class, and various other small pressures.  I figured it would be easier and less stressful on me if I just ignored it and came back to it once the show was over...and here I am, right on schedule.  It was a very good show, for any of you who are interested, and was enjoyed by all (even though our crowds were smaller this year).  Now I'm in this weird mood that is probably something along the lines of 'completion depression'.  I literally have nothing but work to focus on until June 1st when school ends for the summer and that is taking a negative toll on me it seems...making me feel empty I suppose.  It doesn't help either that I was not selected as part of the cast for this year's Chillicothe Civic Theater production, though it doesn't surprise me either...since I have two fu...

There's something wonderful about the beginning of April.  Maybe it's the knowledge that June and summer vacation is a mere two months away now (a stone's throw compared to what it was back in January), or perhaps its because all the lovely plants are in bloom, or maybe its due to the fact that I have only one day of work left until a much needed 5 day Spring Break (after a winter of no snow days, me and my students are one bad day away from murdering each other).  Either way, things are feeling fresh and new again and it puts me in a great mood.  There are several early April traditions I usually take part in during these early days...one is to begin getting back out to the movies (the summer blockbuster season keeps starting earlier and earlier and this year it was The Hunger Games which jump started it), another is to begin wearing more colors, and another is watching a sneaky and subversive little film from the 1980s.  Most holidays have been immortalized as a ho...