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Way Back Wednesday - Corpse Bride

Corpse Bride is a 2005 musical "stop-motion-animation" film directed by Tim Burton. It is set in a fictional Victorian era village in Britain and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.

Johnny Depp was the voice of Victor Van Dort and Helena Bonham Carter voiced Emily (the Corspe Bride). When a shy young Victor fails to recite his vows properly at his wedding rehersal to a complete stranger Victoria Everglott (voiced by Emily Watson), he flees to practice his vows in the woods.

But in typical Burton fashion, when Victor finally gets his vows correct, he accidently places the ring on the finger of the Corpse Bride and ends up in the afterlife known as the "land of the dead."

While Victor tries desperatly to get home, he finds out that his wife-to-be will be marrying someone else to save her family from the poor house. The man she is being forced to marry is the evil Lord Barkiss, who is only after Victoria for her money (not knowing that she and her family are now completely broke). When Victor and the rest of the dead finally get to the land of the living, a shocking discovery is made which reveals how the Corpse Bride died.

This is a charming comedy with interesting twists and turns.

Favorite quotes:

Victoria Everglot: Hildegard, what if Victor and I don't like each other?
Maudeline Everglot: Hmpf! As if that has anything to do with marriage. Do you suppose your father and I "like" each other?
Victoria Everglot: Surely you must, a little.
Maudeline Everglot, Finnis Everglot: Of course not!

Victor Van Dort: I want some questions! Now!
General Bonesapart: Answers... I think you mean answers.
Victor Van Dort: Thank you, yes, answers. I need answers.

The Corpse Bride: Isn't the view beautiful? It takes my breath away. Well, it would if I had any.

[Bonejangles creeps up behind Finnis; his eye falls into Finnis' bowl]
Finnis Everglot: There's an eye in me soup.

The Corpse Bride: [about Victor's dead dog, Scraps] What a cutie.
Victor Van Dort: You should have seen him with fur.

[Victor has snuck away from the Corpse Bride to find Victoria and listens to the arguing Everglots]
Finnis Everglot: If ever I see that Van Dort boy, I'll strangle him with my bare hands!
Maudeline Everglot: Your hands are too fat, and his neck is too thin. You'll have to use a rope.

Victor Van Dort: I've got a... I've got a dwarf, and I'm not afraid to use him!

The Corpse Bride: [about Victor] He's not my boyfriend, he's my husband.

S'more make the world go 'round

Saturday night, while most people were glued to big-screen televisions watching the Wildcats play, my family and I were gathered around a backyard bonfire roasting marshmallows for s’mores. Yummy!

With our hurried and hectic lives, we sometimes feel like we are moving on three separate tracks and it’s hard to find the occasional intersections. I currently work two part time jobs that keep me away from home, plus I’m working on a book project that takes many hours a day of my “home time.” My hubby works long hours and has a long commute daily from Lexington, so it’s usually late when he finally gets home. My youngest is still plugging away at homework while trying to finish up scholarship applications for college.

Meals at our house are always a late night affair and it is not unusual for us to sit down to supper at 8pm most weeknights. Granted, Christine and I could always eat earlier, but I hate cooking early and then having to warm it up for hubby – after a hard day of work, the least I can do is offer him a hot meal. So, mealtimes are late, but it is the one time of day when we are all three together. We talk about our day – many times, it’s complain about our day – and discuss what we have to do throughout the week. Who is going to be late on which nights, who will be cooking supper, are there any special meetings – these are just a few of the questions we have for each other at our night meals.

Even though you may feel your family is running on different tracks, make time for the little things throughout the week. It doesn’t have to be a big celebration or even a planned event, sometimes just an impromptu bonfire and s’mores is all it takes to recharge your family battery.

Bearded Iris are starting to come up all across the Bluegrass: http://ping.fm/JNMwg

Bring spring into your home: http://ping.fm/2uIIs

Way Back Wednesday - Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands is a 1990 fantasy film directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. This is a suburban fairy tale of an artificial man named Edward (Johnny Depp), who is an unfinished creation with scissors for hands. Edward is taken in by a suburban family and falls in love with their teenage daughter.

An Avon lady, Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest), discovers the half-finished experiment, Edward, of a mad scientist (Vincent Price) living in the neighborhood's old abandoned castle. The scientist died before replacing Edward's large shears with real hands. When Peg attempts to bring Edward into her suburban world, to live with her husband (Alan Arkin) and daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder), her gossipy neighbors have a field day.

Edward's hands are dangerous, yet capable of creating beautiful topiaries from ordinary garden shrubbery. This film is full of awkward, funny, and poignant situations and is a story about tolerance, difference, and creativity as much as it is a story of a young man's coming of age.

Favorite quotes:

Kim: Hold me.
Edward: I can't.

Peg Boggs: The light concealing cream goes on first. Then you blend, and blend, and blend. Blending is the secret.

Jim: [after seeing Edward accidentally cut Kim] Hey! Now you've done it!
Kim: It was just a scratch Jim, really!
Peg Boggs: What's going on?
Jim: Call a doctor, he skewered Kim!
Kim: He didn't skewer me!

Bill: Sweetheart, you can't buy the necessities of life with cookies.

Jim: Forget about holding her hand, man. Think about the damage he could do to other places.

Bill: Soup's on!
Edward: I thought this was shish kabob.

Jim: I'd give my left nut to see that again.

Edward: Goodbye.
[Kim kisses Edward]
Kim: I love you.

Kim: You see, before he came down here, it never snowed. And afterwards, it did. If he weren't up there now... I don't think it would be snowing. Sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it.

Daffodils are spring up all over the Bluegrass: http://ping.fm/4Ccyt

Eclipse

It's finally here - the trailer for ECLIPSE - based on the 3rd book in Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT series. The movie opens June 30, 2010.

Spammers, Hackers and Thieves ... Oh My

What perverse pleasure do some people get out of hacking into a stranger's Internet account and wrecking havoc?? I guess some people just don't have enough to do, or else they are just sick, cynical bastards.

Case in point, I have been an obsessive blogger for over 2 years now and I love reading comment that others leave me. But in recent months I've had to install the "comment moderation" feature in order to screen comments from spammers and hackers. I hated having to do this because I find it aggravating when comments are moderated on other blogs I visit - now I know why other blogs use it!

There are 2 main themes for these spammers and hackers - porn or pharmaceuticals. No, I don't care if your girlfriend of 2 years cheated on you and you're getting your revenge by posting her nude photos. No, I don't want to buy your cheap, generic Cialias or Viagra. No, I don't want to open your YouTube link because I've learned the hard way this is how you spread your infection. And no, I don't understand your foreign language, so if it's not in English, I'm not even going to think about opening you or clicking on you.

Now this disease has spread to social networks and it is driving me crazy. I'm a huge Facebook user, but it seems like every day I'm getting messages from my "friends" that turn out to be spammers or hackers waiting to infection my computer or steal my private information. It's sickening and I'm getting very fed up!

People - get a life! And leave other people's lives alone!!

Spring time means - Asparagus: http://ping.fm/HJAeq

Burton in Wonderland

(Photo copyright Disney Productions)

My hubby and youngest daughter, Christine, have a weekend tradition that I occasionally join in on. They are both HUGE movie buffs and plan their weekends around what movie they want to go see. I enjoy movies, too, but I really hate to be in crowded places, so it has to be a special movie to get me out of the house.
Tim Burton’s "Alice in Wonderland" was the movie that got me out of the house this weekend.

I have been an avid Burton fan since the short film, "Frankenweenie." Released in 1984, this was the first in a long-line of Burton movies I have enjoyed. Others include "Beetlejuice," "Edward Scissorhands," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Plant of the Apes," and "Corspe Bride."

There has been talk of Burton remaking "Frankenweenie" into a full-length movie, which I think would be cool. However, the project I’m most looking forward to is next year’s "Dark Shadows." "Dark Shadows" is one of my favorite shows, and even after being off the air for almost 40 years, I never get tired of watching the shows on DVD.

Burton is also going to take on the classic story of "Sleeping Beauty;" only he will be taking a different angle. He wants to tell the back-story of Sleeping Beauty from the view point of Maleficent, the Witch/Dragon in the story. Should be interesting.

So, as my hubby and daughter plan what movie they will see this coming weekend, I'll catch up on my writing and think long and hard about the next movie I want to go see.

Crocus herald in spring: http://ping.fm/3yq88

Burton in Wonderland

Need I say more ... ??

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Part #4 of building a backyard wildlife habitat: http://ping.fm/TSLiZ

Way Back Wednesday - Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books - I even did my college thesis on Alice from Alice' Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. With the highly anticipated release of Tim Burton's version of Alice on Friday and my youngest daughter suggestions of Disney movies for Way Back Wednesday, I'm highlighting the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland.


Alice in Wonderland is an animated movie produced by Walt Disney, first released in 1951. Based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, this film was made under the supervision of Walt Disney himself and is often regarded as some of the finest work in Disney studio history.

Most of you know the plot of this movie: Alice is resting on the bank of a river, listening to her older sister read aloud. Alice nods off to sleep and dreams of living in a world of nonsense. The next thing you know, she is following a talking white rabbit down a rabbit hole and ends up in the nonsense world of Wonderland.

Once in Wonderland, Alice meets all types of characters: the Caterpillar, the DoDo bird, Tweedledee and Tweedledum (who are actually in the book Through the Looking Glass), the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Red Queen, just to name a few.



Favorite quotes from the movie:

Caterpillar: Who... are... you?
Alice: Why, I hardly know, sir. I've changed so much since this morning, you see...
Caterpillar: No, I do not C, explain yourself.
Alice: I'm afraid I can't explain myself, you see, because I'm not myself, you know.
Caterpillar: I do not know.
Alice: I can't put it any more clearly, sir, because it isn't clear to me.

Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
Cheshire Cat: Oh, you can't help that. Most everyone's mad here.
[laughs maniacally; starts to disappear]
Cheshire Cat: You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself.

Tweedle Dum: If you think we're waxworks, you ought to pay, you know.
Tweedle Dee: Contrarywise, if you think we're alive you ought to speak to us.
Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum: That's logic.

Alice: Oh, pooh. I'm not afraid of you. Why, you're nothing but a pack of cards.

Alice: Curiouser and curiouser

Alice: I'm sorry I interrupted your birthday party. Thank you.
March Hare: Birthday? My dear child, this is NOT a birthday party.
Mad Hatter: Of course not. This is an unbirthday party.

Queen of Hearts: I warn you dear child, if I lose my temper, you lose your head. Understand?

The Rose: Just what species or, shall we say, genus are you, my dear?
Alice: Well, I guess you would call me... genus, humanus... Alice.
Daisy: Ever see an alice with a blossom like that?
Orchid: Come to think of it, did you ever see an alice?

Where Forth Are Thou, Spring?

Today is supposed to be the first day of meteorological spring, but in essence, spring won’t really be here until March 20th. Spring is always a time of renewal, and after autumn, is my favorite season.

I’ve always been a cold-natured person, but the older I get, the more I’m growing to dislike cold weather. I could never understand why all my grandparents complained about the winter months. I thought playing in the snow and being out in the cold, frigid air was great. I hated to wear a hat or gloves or a scarf – they just got in the way of my fun.

As I’ve gotten older, the cold weather makes my joints ache. I have never had any problems with knee pain until this winter. If I sit too long, I feel like I’m 100 years old when I stand up. It takes me a few minutes to get everything moving again. At night when I’m trying to sleep is the hardest part. The big joints are what hurt the most – knees, elbows and spine. Ben Gay and ibuprofen have become my friends.

Hurry up spring – not only am I ready to start working in the garden, but I’m ready for my joints to loosen up and quit hurting. I keep telling my kids, I’m too young to hurt so bad!