Mark It On Your Calendar

DailyCandy, I love you for letting me know about fun things around the city! (and for employing my hip friend, Jen, so she can keep me in the loop from afar ;-) I'm super excited to check out the movie and wine tasting night at the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins hotel. Every Tuesday night, from next week through early September, the hotel will play a classic movie at Top of the Mark Lounge. All of the movies were filmed in or around the hotel; the first showing is Vertigo, and it looks like the rest of the lineup is amazing as well! What more could you ask for than complimentary wine tasting, old movies and a spectacular view??

"Why can't you just be happy for me, and then go home and talk about me behind my back like a normal person?"

This movie was HILARIOUS. I didn't stop laughing the whole time, but the airplane scene might be my favorite.

"Maria, you're incorrigible!"

So...not to make this a blog devoted entirely to 80s movies (although, what an AMAZING thought), but last night I watched Bonfire of the Vanities, which technically came out in 1990 but was clearly filmed prior to that, and it was so much fun! I only knew that Tom Hanks was in the lead role as Mr. Sherman McCoy, but as the movie rolled on, it became a parade of famous faces looking like their original, pre-surgically enhanced selves. Cue Bruce Willis...Rita Wilson...Kim Cattrall...Melanie Griffith...Kirsten Dunst...Morgan Freeman...the guy from Frasier who plays Daphne's fiance...all directed by Brian De Palma.

You have politics, race, 1980s excess, old school computers and 80s workout wear, and the Bronx depicted as a war zone. I will admit to attempting to read Tom Wolfe's 700+ page novel, but I couldn't get through it, and the movie version offers a much simpler solution. I'm sure they left out plenty of details in the film version, one of which was (thankfully) Bruce Willis' character's British accent, but there is still plenty of entertainment to sustain the two-hour run time. Of course, I was recently told that I was way off the mark with my opinion of Bull Durham...so maybe you won't want to listen to me again. But, I hope you do!

Photos from here and here.

"It's how you play the game."

As all of my friends in grad school are dealing with the stress of finals right now, I've been preparing myself for the onslaught of wedding season (beginning with two bachelorette weekends in a row, followed by a wedding the next weekend) by watching as many sappy, romantic movies as possible. In doing so, it has come to my attention that SEVERAL of my friends (and you know who you are!) haven't ever seen Bull Durham.

Okay, let me start by saying that anything with 1980's Kevin Costner is a must-see. But when you couple that golden fact with baseball, an awesome 80's soundtrack, Susan Sarandon + Tim Robbins (hello, they met on the set of that movie, may their relationship rest in peace), baseball-centric philosophic musings and a tagline that reads: "Romance is a lot like baseball. It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." how could the movie NOT be amazing?? Do yourself a favor, and watch it.


I've probably seen this movie a dozen times, and it hasn't gotten old.
Photos from here and here.

Farewell

I think I need to have an Elizabeth Taylor movie fest in honor of the legendary leading lady. Last summer, Vanity Fair had a big article on her and Richard Burton's on-again-off-again love affair...maybe I'll dig that up, too.



I've actually had this picture on my desktop for a long time and I can't remember the photo source!

When that little red envelope moves in with you...

Sometimes, the best-laid plains are foiled by Mother Nature. Or by laziness. Either way, all I know is that I wasn't able to mark my workout calendar with a smiley sticker yesterday, and I somehow managed to get a splinter in my lip from a popsicle stick. This is the definition of fattydom in the making, and I blame Apple. And the constant rain. But ever since purchasing the Apple TV last week, I have had serious and ongoing arguments with myself about the importance of leaving the couch to rejoin the outside world. But everything I could ever want to watch is right there at my fingertips! Scratch that - somebody at Netflix or Apple needs to make a major case for Frasier and The Golden Girls, asap. But other than that, I've got nonstop television and movie entertainment EVERY SINGLE DAY!! All of this, combined with the super rainy weather we've been having, and I may not make it back out there until summer. Or until I've watched all of the movies on Netflix, whichever comes first...

Happy | Thank You | More | Please

With the weather so rainy, today was the perfect day for a movie! HappyThankYouMorePlease is completely adorable (although the writing was, admittedly, a little cheesy at some points), and I totally identified with some of the characters. I think the movie does a a really good job of capturing that sort of late 20s dilemma my generation seems to be trademarking. You know, the sort of thing where we kind of turn into angsty teenagers, leaving our parents to wonder when we'll ever grow out of our emo phase? Some people seem to have escaped that phase altogether (although it remains to be seen whether it will surface later, hello midlife crisis), while some people seem to manifest it in career indecision and others struggle with it in relationships. I guess the dilemma I'm talking about can really best be summed up in one word: choices.

Fortunately, we haven't had to grow up immediately after college, at least not in the sense that one might have thought of "growing up" thirty years ago. We travel the world, live abroad, follow our dreams down this road and the next, and are always on the lookout for the next best thing, for something better. I think this movie does a good job of singling out some of the pitfalls and indecisions that can arise from having so many choices. I mean, I'm all for choices, and I know I'm just as guilty as the next Gen Y-er when it comes to indecision in certain areas of my life, but I think that every now and then it's good to see some of our idiosyncrasies reflected back at us. And besides that, it's just a really fun movie!