I don't know what to do with my hands.....

So I think that none of us really know what's happening with the weekly questions so I'm just going to slap one up here since I have an idea. I recently saw the movie Holmes and it had a line that made me laugh out loud and honestly I want to remember and quote it for the rest of my life. I should set up the scene for those who haven't seen it yet: Holmes makes fun of the police inspector constantly for being an idiot. So at this point in the movie the Lord Blackwood has come back from the dead and the police are inspecting his grave. Holmes asks the inspector if they've brought up the coffin yet and the inspector replies "We're in the process of doing that right now." Holmes then looks around and sees about 6 officers just standing there looking scared. He then delivers my favorite line: "At what stage in the process are you exactly? Contemplative?" Oh man I loved it, so funny and applicable in SO many situations. And it got me thinking about all the movie lines I use in my life that I shamelessly stole and have adapted to many different situations. So the weekly question is:

What movie quotes have you seamlessly transitioned into your everyday vocabulary and are you favorites??

Cory: So many I probably use and don’t even remember where they are from.

Umm” Fine” I yell this at people at the top of my lungs if they are pestering me with the same questions over and over. From America’s Sweethearts.
And this one is a quote from a kid from a Dr. Seuss movie. “I’m So Excwited.” Like that not the other way. I have never seen said movie but I know this kid very well.
And there is this whole scene from Big Trouble that my whole family quotes,”well I know we are arriving at the aiport but we are departing from here so do we go to arrivals or departures?” Total misquote but imagine a dirty Johnny Knoxville and you get the funny.
We also all quote the entire scene from one of those Griswold movies where they are at the Hoover Damn “You can take as many damn pictures as you would like. You can purchase as many damn souvenirs as you wish. They are many damn visitors each year.”
Most of the other ones just float around in my head and pop up at certain moments when things remind me of them. Like yesterday I saw this Southern Guy and suddenly all I could think of was Sawyer quotes from Lost. Or like Heidi when I see incompetent people I don’t think of the Holmes scene, although now I will. I think of the scene in Departed where Marky Mark says ” I am the guy doing his job, you must be the other guy.“

Kara- There are so many, I'll probably keep adding to this one for forever! Nice question, Heidi, well done! But, off the top of my head, here are two:

1- Ruh-tard. I challenge anyone to see "The Hangover" and not start calling people "ruh-tards." Can't be done.

2- "Why didn't they just build this city on the effing sun?"- In "Fools Rush In" Matthew Perry actually says the real word, not effing, but I'm a good girl like that and really can't even bring myself to say that word even if I'm quoting someone. Also, he says this about Las Vegas as he sits on the leather seats of his black convertible, but I've found at least daily uses for this quote living in Phoenix during the months of April-November.

HEIDI - Ha okay I finally get to it. I had so many floating in my head I had to remember where they all came from. And now that I sit I've forgotten most of them...
* Totally second Kara's Ruh-tard. Love it.
* "You stay classy San Diego" - most often I am being sarcastic and never talking about San Diego but this quote just fits SO often it's hilarious. Will Ferrell in Anchorman.
* "Oh no words are comin out. OH NO!" This is way funnier when Brian Regan is saying it and I'm not typing it out but I say this often...because I say things I shouldn't.
* "Well" Okay this one is from Horton Hear's a Who and it's Carol Burnett and just they way she says the one word is fantastic. Like totally resigned to the situation and whenever I say 'well' now I say it like that.
And I really can't remember any more.... I'm sure they'll come to me soon. BTW the "I don't know what to do with my hands..." comes from Will Ferrell in Talledega Nights when he first does an interview and it's so awkward. I feel this way often.

2 Books and A CD

The Help By Kathryn Stcokett
This book is set right on the edge of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, and it follows almost the entire way through. It is written from the point of view of Abileen an African American Maid who cares for mostly children and tends to leave before they are old enough to get mean with her. Minny another maid who has a mouth and mind for sassing but also a hard life and a lot to offer. And Skeeter a white Southern girl just returned from college, to hang out with her league friends and is really useless because not married.
There are so many reasons I would recommend this book I really identified with Skeeter because like her I have just graduated from College and really the displacement you can feel, and for so many other reasons. Plus to peek into this time and place was amazing, and not even because of the obvious differences pre -Civil Rights Movement. The way people dress, entertain, live it is so different from now (at least here). Although there are a lot of horrible stories in this book you really feel it is hopeful. And for each sad story there are stories that make you believe in the good of people, even fake people. Their stories are written very well, her voice is good and I was quite surprised when I read the back cover to see it was her first book. The Author herself had a maid and talks about the problems she faced writing this book. It is something she is not supposed to talk about but at the same time her maid meant so much to her.

Belle Isle by MoZella
This CD I love (well you know that otherwise wouldn’t take time to talk about it). I can’t even describe it is pop but I feel like it is the new version of that 60’s throw back we had recently. Once you hear it you get what I am saying. Mozella’s voice carries the CD though, the entire way through. OK the best way I can think of how to describe it is to compare it to other stuff. Jason Mraz’s first CD that fresh, happy feel even in slower songs it has that. Mozella her voice reminds me of Duffy who sang Mercy, it is strong. Let me just say this if she was a drink she would be a cold 7-Up refreshing and light. As for my fave songs I really love all of them so go give it a listen. But I will say Four Leaf Clover is my Current ringtone.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
This is a book about a cooking class each chapter is another class and another member of the class and their story. The food descriptions are scrumptious, and in fact the way she describes everyting made me think I was sitting there in the class. Usually a book of a bumch of tied together vignettes has a lot of issues with continuity but this one does an amazing job. At the end it feels like one of the recipes in the books put together perfectly in just the right way. It is a short book and I read it in a few days a nice little detour.

Back in the Day . . .

I've never tried embedding anything on here yet, but its quite fitting that my first attempt would be from "The Daily Show." In my course reviews from last semester, the top two things students wrote in as being their favorite things about my classes were something to the affect of she's funny (I make fun of myself a lot, that's basically what they mean there) and "she uses awesome clips from The Daily Show."

But anyway, as a professor of history, I often get irritated when people start talking about "the good old days." I'm telling you, there weren't any good old days. I don't mean to sound totally pessimistic here, but the adage "Life is hard and then you die" has always been true, but in the past life was really, really hard in super sucktacular ways, and then you died. Usually early, and of some horrible disease that we don't have anymore. Or, for us women, childbirth- its no coincidence that women didn't start outliving men until medical advancements made childbirth about a million times safer. (And its still super risky- this spring one of the doctors treating me told me that when he started practicing 20 years earlier, they would've lost me after the abruption I had with Emma. He said he's only seen 7 abruptions as bad as mine- and those moms were drug users, of course- and I'm his sole survivor.) So for me, even 20 years ago would have sucked (although I was alive then too, but not able to have children yet.)

There are other reasons why the good old days never existed either, particularly in America. I'm usually appalled when people ignore things like civil rights when they talk about simpler times. It truly was only about forty years ago that this country started letting African Americans VOTE- 1964, people! And even then, it took awhile to actually be put into practice. There were no good old days, we've just traded lynchings for terrorists (and there's definitely an argument to be made that lynchings are a form of domestic terrorism.) There's always a downside, and life never was, and never will be, idyllic.

So, I laughed OUT LOUD when I saw this clip on "The Daily Show." John Oliver is my current favorite correspondent (although Asif Mandvi does some great stuff too), and this helps prove why.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Even Better Than the Real Thing
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I have absolutely no idea who's turn it is to get the weekly question rolling again, but since I thought of one I was going to make my own post about, I decided to reinstate it. Here we go, first question of Oh Ten (I'm using Abbey's name for this year. I like it.)

Its a variant on a question I've done before actually, but as I thought about my answer to it, I realized that its pretty revealing about what I've been through in the past year (because I think we're all pretty aware that my family and I are rather thrilled to say "good riddance!" to 2009. May we never see another year like this one again.) So, the question is:

What songs define 2009 for you?

(I'm still compiling my list, but thought I'd put the question out there before I'm ready anyway. Heidi finished her abstract today, so we all know she's itching for something to fill her time . . . :) )

HEIDI - When I first saw this question I thought well this will be easy I'll just pick the songs I listened to the most this year. Well wrong because those songs are pretty much just the ones with the best beat not the ones that I truly feel define my mindset/experiences/attitude. So here they are and please know they are in no order. I don't think I could do an ordered list...
* Broken - Lifehouse - My absolute favorite line in this song is "I may have been lost now, but I haven't forgotten my way home." There have been many experience this past year and my whole life where I've felt lost. But I've been thankful to always know my way home so to speak, to find myself again. Love it so much.
* Come Back To Me - David Cook - This song is of course about a girl leaving him, but I like the principle much more. She needs to find herself but he'll always be there waiting for her. For me it's about being there for people; friends, family, anyone when they're trying to find themselves. You'll be supportive and just so happy when they come back.
* Someday - Rob Thomas - "Maybe someday, we'll figure all this out, put an end to all our doubt. Someday." I guess we can only hope to someday figure every thing out. But until then we'll just stick together.
* If I Can't Have You - Kelly Clarkson - This song illustrates the many crushes I had this year, boys and otherwise, that burned bright and burned out quick. Haha if I can't have you, then I don't want anyone....until I change my mind again. : )
* Never Gonna Be Alone - Nickelback - Truly I got amazingly sick of Nickelback this year so I don't even own this song. But I do love the words about all the things I wish I had told you, and I hope you know you're never going to be alone. I really like this sentiment because when I moved to Michigan I realized how much I had taken for granted with respect to my relationships. I didn't tell the people in my life that I love them enough. So I tried the rest of the year to tell them often. Probably so they're sick of me but I don't care. I miss them and I love them.
* Leave Out All the Rest - Linkin Park - "Help me leave behind some reason to be missed." I think this is such a good way to live your life. I just want to treat people well and not have regrets about what I've done.
And some honorables that perhaps didn't mean as much but ones I just totally loved: Falling Slowly - Kris Allen. Life After You - Daughtry. And finally 99 Times - Kate Voegele.

Cory-So Heidi (yeah You) always has to have a meaning and for me sometimes I am just about the music, not the lyrics and some of these were just all over the place this year so I had to include them.
1. Tik Tok, Ke$ha- I have to add this one I know completely ridiculous but if this song is playing on my clock radio I actually do get out of bed instead of hitting snooze. Which if you know me quite the big deal. It is awful and pretty much if I knew this girl I would find her annoying but in song form I love her for some reason.
2. Countdown, Jupiter One- This song was on one of my fave shows Greek pretty early in the year and since then heavy in rotation on my iPod. But the reason I love it besides the fact that it is just great is I felt like a lot of this year was waiting, waiting for graduation, etc. And then after all the waiting there is the other part of the song which screams wake up at you.
3. Don’t Be So Shy, Boomkat- This song sums up my feelings about all boys throughout the year, do not flirt and then no follow up action. I get the shyness but come on!
4. Hate on Me, Glee Cast- Well umm I love Glee and the music. But this song was my fave and really go ahead Hate on Me when you stop caring what everyone you don’t really care about thinks of you, it is really much easier to be happy in your life. Especially since like in this song it is about them not you. So thanks for that P-S-Hey Glee.
5. Matt & Kim, Daylight-This song was everywhere, and really lovely, I still dig. Plus when a song starts with “we cut the legs off our pants, we walked into the ocean,” you really got me because of the gorgeous pic you just stuck in my head.
Oh and all of these too!
Running Up that Hill, Placebo another song I kept hearing everywhere, it just I don’t even have words, its intense give a listen. Say Hey (I Love You), Michael Franti great fantastic song. Empire State of Mind & Run This Town, Jay-Z so good I don’t even care he calls himself the new Sinatra. Use Somebody, Kings of Leon it was their huge year and I enjoyed hearing this song everywhere and still do.

Paper Heart

First off I love these cute little quirky movies because I know I can definitely be quirky if not just plain weird. But let me lay it out for you Charlene Yi thinks she is incapable of falling in love and sets out to find out if it is true. She interviews countless people on the subject all over the country including Albuquerque. Here is where this movie is different though, during the filming she starts to date Michael Cera (yes that cute, adorable, sarcastically awkward funny pocket size Michael Cera) and the director Nick wants to tape it since it is now part of her journey. And when the interviewed couples tell stories from their relationships they are acted out with these handmade dolls- this sounds creepy but is actually really original and these dolls are some fun art.
This movie is a short little treat which ends like you want it too and is filled with heartwarming moments. From the little Southern gentlemen answering questions about love on the playground who is far wiser than his years, to other hilarious scenes like Nick and Charlene running towards a fireworks shop shouting Fireworks. If you do rent it make sure to watch the deleted scenes I found myself wondering why some were not included in the movie. Overall I would definitely suggest it in fact this and 500 Days of Summer would be a lovely double feature. These are the kind of movies that leave you happy and hopeful.

New Years Greetings!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year and share my excitement for things to come!!

A few of these things:
*Sherlock Holmes (which of course has already come out but I have not yet had the time to go)
*New season of Chuck - I'm just in love with him
*Alice in Wonderland - Crazy but I just can't wait
*Lost - I'm still lost but I'm considering trying again....
*Harry Potter - I think the first one of the last book comes out this year?
*Eclipse - because I just have to


Love you all and hope you're excited too!!! 


Also as an added New Year's BONUS I'll throw in a book review. On the plane home I was able to read one and a half books (not more because I get sick). The first was The Alchemist. Fascinating read I must tell you. It's about a boy who is trying to fulfill his 'personal legend'. It puts a really different spin on destiny. I recommend it highly (especially since it only took me 45 minutes to read). But, definitely read the foreword by the author before reading the book, it helps explain things a lot and lets you get more out of it.
The second one I'm almost through with is Mitch Albom's newest book Have a Little Faith. Love it just as much as I love his other books. It's about him being asked to give a eulogy for his Rabbi. There is also a story about a man who I believe becomes a Priest but I haven't gotten there yet. I already know though that I love it and I recommend it too!

This is reality....Right?

Okay I don't know how I can top last week's question so I'm not even going to try. Maybe this is too easy but I liked thinking about the answer. So in honor of Survivor's four hundredth season or whatever it is (never liked/watched the show honestly) I would like to know everyone's opinion on their favorite reality show. Now this is not reality like game show kind of think like Jeopardy or anything like that, this is cuthroat, drama-filled off on a island with no tv REALITY show. Haha but we won't go into how reality it is.... So there we are:

What is your favorite reality tv show?!

Heidi: My choice for this is definitely going to be Real World/Road Rules Challenge. I can not get enough of this show. And even though they seem to always have the same people on and the same drama I love it. I mean they breed the drama; endless supply of alcohol, no television, basically the only thing for them to do is drink, hook up, and fight with each other. Which they're awesome at. But the part of the show that I truly love to watch are the challenges. They are so original and more puzzle like than any I've seen. I really really enjoy watching the relatively unintelligent people solve puzzles where they have to spell words or drop 100 feet into the water. It's priceless. And the physical challenges are fantastic because they guys are so macho that they get so unbelievably into the competition. It's fantastic and I just love it. Each round gets more awesome. Well except for the survivor style one, I wasn't that into that one. And they get super hosts to come in each season, like TJ Lavin who although he looks like a total bore to be around, he's still nice to look at.

Cory: Well Heidi kind of stole my answer but then I was thinking about it and I can’t stand when all the guys are like oh the girls, we don’t need the girls and then they hit the puzzle and 9/10 times it is the girl solving it. But since Heidi is a big fat thief! Here is my new choice pretty much any of The Housewives shows I find them hilarious and ridiculous and well they make me feel very normal. For example I find it very funny when a character says when I was 27 I only needed 1 Botox shot and now that I am 32 I need 2 shots. When in my head I am thinking you got Botox when you were 27! That is only a few years older than I am right now! Full of priceless moments like this from all over the country. I can’t even describe why I find it so funny. But that is my choice because I tune in every week.