For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
April 18th is National Pinata Day in Mexico
P is for Piñata. It is also for Picture. Here are a number of pictures of piñatas from Wikimedia Commons.
Today's Song of the day is Play Game from Tik Tik Boom
16 songs and what do you get?
An incomplete playlist that's not over yet
I still have to finish from Q to Z
I owe 10 songs for this menagerie.
I just published letter O about 15 hours later than I usually do. To make up for it I am publishing this now rather than wait until tomorrow.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
The third Wednesday of April is One More Time and you Get a Parade Day.
As today's letter is a vowel, it is another opportunity for me to make up a new holiday. Many holidays come with traditions, games, or events that go along with them. Easter egg hunts, for example are believed to have originated in Germany in the 16th century. The first Turkey Trot (a race taking place the morning of Thanksgiving) took place in Buffalo New York in the late 19th century. One More Time and you Get a Parade Day may be the first holiday that was started to celebrate a tradition rather than the other way around .
My wife and I have been playing a game I invented around the time we got engaged called "What A Thing to Say". It started as a game to play when we were in a social setting that required a lot of mingling. I believe the original occurrence was at my Grandfather's wake. I gave my fiancé a thing to say, I believe it may have been The Almighty Dollar. Over the course of the event she had to work in the phrase into ordinary conversation 3 different times with 3 different groups of people.
Some of the original "what a things to say" besides the almighty dollar were, The Stevenson Expressway (A Chicago road), People don't floss like they used, to, and one of my favorites, I don't like blank (whatever person , place or thing just mentioned) they supported the war movement.
It's a totally random game that when played well is oblivious to all but the player, and when played poorly is a staple of group conversation for a very long time.
"What does this have to do with parades?" you might ask. A few weeks ago I was subbing in one of my favorite classes. It was the class in fact, that I had been a long term sub in for the 1st semester of the 2022/2023 school year. I have a great deal of familiarity with these students and they have a great deal of familiarity with me. The class is comprised of 6th graders and 7th graders and one of the 6th graders tends to sneeze 5 or 6 times in a row on a frequent basis. On this particular day, after the 3rd or 4th sneeze I responded with the quip, one more time and you get a parade.
I'm not sure how that phrase came to me. True, I just made it up, but, I was definitely thinking something along the line of when you do something multiple times you get a prize. I don't think I was remembering the below scene from A Few Good men, it is in my collective unconscious .
One way to celebrate One More Time and You get a parade day is by playing a version of What a Thing to say with your friends, family, classmates or co-workers. This could be done virtually or in person. Each person writes one phrase down and then they are distributed. Then each person has to use that phrase in a conversatToday'ion throughout the day. Another way is to try to make up your own expression and use it in the course of the day.
April is a month that starts with foolishness, but One More Time and You get a Parade say insures that foolishness doesn't end on the first.
Today's Song is Off Again On Again Love By Allen Levi
I generally put a video on of the song, but as far as I know there are no videos of this song, so here is a link to it on Spotify.
With this song, my playlist is now up to 15 songs.
It is already 9:15 P.M. in Chicago and this is the latest that I've posted in the challenge so far this year. I now must go, and work on tomorrow's. When I finish this one, I might not get a parade, but I will be caught up. That is certainly something to turn a phrase about.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
I think the best way to talk about this day is to use FAQ format. I used to do this quite a bit in the early days of my blog. The last time I did so was here back in 2012 when I was blogging about the A t0 Z challenge. .
The FAQS of Life: Micro-volunteering in Frequently Asked Question Format
Q: Do you know what today is?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you going to tell me?
A. Perhaps if you asked me, rather than asked me if I knew.
Q: What is today?
A: It's International Micro-volunteering Day.
Q: Is Micro-volunteering a thing?
A:It must be, if it wasn't, it wouldn't have a holiday.
Q: When did it become a thing?
A: it's been a thing for almost 20 years. The term was first used in the U.K. In 2006 and had migrated to Spain by 2008.
Q: What is Micro-volunteering?
A:This answer is from ot's Days of The Year Page, The idea of micro-volunteering is simple: individuals take convenient, bite-sized actions in support of a good cause and often perform their activities or service from home.
Q: How did the day start?
A: Well the day started a minute after 11:59 p.m. Some people were fast asleep, some were well on their way, others were working 3rd shift jobs, still others, ...
Q: When did International Micro-volunteering Day start.
A: 10 years ago it began when the day was created and promoted by the Help from Home Foundation.
Q: Como se dice International Micro Volunteering Day en Espanol?
A: Día Internacional del Microvoluntariado.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for micro-volunteering?
A: Yes
Q: Are we back to that joke again?
A: Yes
Q: What suggestions do you have for micro-volunteering?
A: I thought you'd never ask. One suggestion is to volunteer doing task that you already know how to do, so there is little to no training involved. Another is to keep your activities to things that can be done in thirty minute to 2 hour chunks. One examples are to volunteer to read at a school, or day care center, or nursing home. When my daughter was homeschooled, she would volunteer on a weekly basis for about an hour and a half a week, working at the P.B.I.S (Personal Behavior Incentive System) store at my wife's school. Children would earn a kind of currency for following the code of the school and then would be able to trade that currency in for prizes. As a full time substitute teacher, I would imagine there are boundless opportunities for micro-volunteering?
Q: What are some suggestions that could be done from home?
A: My daughters both crochet. One is in a crochet club. Some members of her club crochet hats at home for premature babies or people having chemo. People can have baking parties on the holidays and find organizations to donate their creations to.
Q: Do you know why IMVD (International Micro-Volunteering Day) is on April 15th.
A: No, but it is the same day as Tax day here in the U.S. and if I were choosing the day, I would choose April 15th because micro-volunteering is not meant to be taxing.
Q: Did you think of that yourself?
A: Yes, Yes I did. And before you ask yes, that is a Phineas and Ferb referemce.
Today was a lot of fun, no question about it. Micro-volunteering can be fun as well. In the comments tell me some things that you already know how to do, that might be great as a micro-volunteering opportunity.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
April 11th is Dave and Amy Roller's wedding anniversary.
I was trying to justify not pulling a random holiday from the April 11th list and just writing about my wedding anniversary when I realized there is no justification needed. The 3rd sentence in the above paragraph says it all, " Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day." My anniversary is an event taking place today and my titling the post Just Married (26 years ago), I have, in the words of Paul Hollywood, ticked all the boxes.
Yesterday morning my daughter was getting ready for her writing class at the same time I was getting ready for school. She went towards the door and then came back saying, she had forgotten her glasses. Before I could stop myself I blurted out the line, "He can't see without his glasses".
This is a line from the 1991 movie "My Girl". My son recites this line quite a bit. A, because he like's to make fun of it and B, because it annoys his sisters. If you've ever been a brother or a sister you don't need me to say, not necessarily in that order.
As I was driving to work, while ruminating on that film, a memory popped in my head from almost 33 years ago when that film was in theatres. At the time I was in a long distance relationship, and because it was the winter Holidays we were both in the Chicago area where our families both lived .
We went to the Woodfield Mall to see the aforementioned film. After the film I remember telling her on an escalator talking about the film and in that context said something about wanting to grow old with her, (my girlfriend). I don't know which direction we were on in the escalator, but things started going downhill after that. Because, shortly after I made that comment to her we were broken up, and I'm not sure but I don't think I even saw her again after that.
I remember going back to my parents house and calling up my best friend and spilling all the sordid details. You ever have a friend you could tell anything, do anything with, share your secrets and keep theirs? That's what I had with my best friend back in January of 1992. 26 years ago today I married her.
Lots has changed since I saw My Girl with someone who out turned out not to be my girl at all. Woodfield Mall no longer has movie theatres, My parents no longer live at my boyhood home, I no longer need to use a landline to call my best friend, cause quite often we are together and when were not I just tell my phone to call her.
But Amy and I are growing old together. As Rowlf the Dog sang so eloquently in 1979, "The urge was righteous but the face was wrong." But in my case something better didn't come along, she had been there all along.
Amy and I love movies. We watch them, re watch them, quote them, and watch them again. One movie we enjoy is The Wedding Singer, a movie about friends who fell in love, like us. In the final scene he confesses his love in a song he wrote called "Grow Old With You."
Songs also play a part of our friendship. When I was living in Russia, I once wrote her a song about our friendship which is really a love song, we just didn't know it yet. I wrote her another song and sang it for her as I proposed. I wrote another song and a choir from our church sang it as we walked down the aisle after we had just been declared man and wife.
.
Our marriage is not perfect. A few years ago we read a book together, called "When Sinner's say I do". The basic premise imperfect people cannot have a perfect relationship. I certainly am not perfect. She tells me she's not perfect, so I believe her. She is certainly the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. This August we will celebrate 34 years of friendship. Each day I grow older with my dear friend Amy is worthy of a celebration. Not just a celebration, but each day with Amy is a Holiday in itself.
Today's song of the day is Jack and Jill Part II by the Gray Havens
I chose the songs for the A to Z playlist this February and March, and just decided today that I was going to write about Amy and Myself for J. So I didn't really plan a connection between the holiday and the song of the day. It turns out there is one, but it's very slight. After Amy and I were married for a couple years, we moved into our first house and preceded to have our 2nd and third child. During that time we were attending a church that met at Crystal Lake South High School. I don't know if you've ever attended a church at a school before. I have on several occasions. One thing that happens is all the accoutrements of the school for the most part stay right where they are even on Sunday. So over the years we saw many homecoming posters and other things on the wall of our "church building". One such poster was celebrating the fact that one of their seniors had just made it into the top 20 of Season 5 of American Idol.
This young man, David Radford, would later become part of the folk duo, The Gray Havens along with his wife Licia. Like I said it's a slight connection. The Spotify playlist is big enough now to have a top 10.
Yes as far as Holidays are concerned, the anniversary of the day I married my best friend is a pretty big one. Feel free to comment and tell me about your love story if you care to.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
Today's Holiday: National Film Score Day
April 3rd is National Film Score Day. It is held every year on this day to commemorate the release of the Jungle Book in 1942. According to National Today that day was chosen because Miklos Rosza's score was so transformative that they chose the date of the "release of 'The Jungle Book' to mark the first time film scores acquired importance.
Here is the trailer for the Jungle Book which features some of the score.
The reasoning for the choice is date is a bit of an exaggeration. Film scores had already acquired importance by 1942. I know this for a few reasons one is that by the mid 1930's The Academy of Motion Picture Sciences was already giving out Academy Awards for best Score. In1939, for example Erich Wolfgang Korngold won the Academy Award for the score for The Adventures of Robin Hood.
I don't have a top 10 list of film score composers, but it sounds like a kind of thing I should have. That list would almost certainly include the composers of some of my favorite scores of all time like the aforementioned Korngold (Adventures of Robin Hood), Dimitri Tiomkin (High Noon), Vangelis (Chariots of Fire), and John Williams (Star Wars).
In addition, The 2006 rom com The Holiday has a great scene in it where Jack Black who is playing a film score composer is in a Blockbuster and is explaining as only Jack Black can how great film scores can be. It also features a killer cameo by Dustin Hoffman and I have it all queued up for you, so enjoy.
To see a longer clip of the same scene click here. (The longer scene includes some plot points and may be confusing to those who have not yet seen the film.)
Today's song of the day is Coast to Coast by Noel Paul Stookey & Bodyworks.
That brings the number of songs in the Leap of Dave 2024 Blogging A to Z Playlist up to 3.
Note: If you look at theses posts any time after the day they drop, which is certainly fine and encouraged, the playlist will go up to the date you are looking at the post.
So that ends the film on the letter C. I think you know the score. (I made the exact same kind of joke at this point in yesterdays post. If you don't remember, o don't believe me you can always click here. Before you go , feel free to leave a comment. Do you like movie scores? Do you have a favorite?
Oh, speaking of comments, here is an unabashed plug. Feel free to check out some of my other posts from before the challenge began. I don't get a lot of traffic on the blog outside of the challenge, and while I mostly blog for my own amusement, and enlightenment. I wouldn't mind amusing and enlightening a bigger audience. So check out of my previous posts, here is the last one I did before the challenge began. If you do check them out maybe you can leave a comment there as well. Thank you very much. This way if you like what I'm cooking, you can continue to join me after the challenge.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
In many of the Special Ed classes I sub in they have what is called Fun Friday, an enjoyable activity in the last couple of periods of the day. Often this is a kids movie. In February the class I was subbing for watched Sing, an animated film from 2016. Because of my previous job at a local movie theatre, I had seen quite a bit of it's 2023 sequel Sing II. But since I didn't work there until 2019 and did not end up taking my own children to it, I had never seen the original.
Matthew McConaughey at the premiere of Sing. 2016 Toronto Film Festival ,
A Stagecoach West bus leaving Gloucester bus station on route 30 to Coleford. It is a Scania N230UD with Alexander Enviro400 body, registration mark MX08 GHY, fleet number 15451.
I would give Sing a rating somewhere between 2.75 and 3.25 stars. Matthew McConaughey lends his voice to theatrical producer Buster Moon who is in fact a koala bear, (All of the characters are animals) in this film which is part Zootopia and part High School Musical. Moon's theatre is about to be repossessed by the bank, and he needs to put a successful show to avoid losing the theatre. He decides to put on a singing contest, and the rest of the film centers on the contestants and Moon reevaluating and achieving their dreams. Taron Egerton, Reese Witherspoon, and Scarlett Johansson all voice contestants. I really liked the musical numbers in the film. The animation and the music blend together beautifully. If the film overachieves in it's musical numbers, it certainly underachieves when it comes to plot and overall direction of the film. Sing II is a good film that could have been a great one, if the plot would travelled on a more interesting trajectory. If you like musicals about musicals and movies with animated animals, Sing could well be your jam.
When It comes to placing content on this blog I continually am reminded of the Peanuts comic strip. Lucy would hold the football for Charlie Brown to kick it and then pull it away from him at the last second . He would fly through the air and land on his back. Lucy always seems to be able to convince Charlie Brown that this time it will be different and each time it ends exactly the same.
In my blog I have these ideas for recurring posts and quite often I start them but then never get to finishing them. One of these actually predates my blogs and that is the idea of watching 12 movies I have not seen before in a year. Of course I complicate this simple plan by stating that the films must be from different eras. Each year by April or May I have forgotten which new movies I've seen and I don't meet my goal. I thought blogging about them might help me keep track, but it only ends up documenting my failure . In some ways I am both like Lucy luring me to try again each year and like Charlie Brown convincing myself that this time I'll be different falling flat on my back when the football is metaphorically pulled from my path.
My wife likes to say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. But that same wife once co wrote a song with me entitled I'm insane, you're insane, who's gonna win. So since I already am (I won) sanity challenged, trying again this year isn't that bad of an idea. Maybe this time I'll at least make it to AAUGHust.
As I said I try to split the films up so they are not all from the same era. I try to choose 4 films that are older than me and 8 that have come out in my life time
This year I plan to see 2 new to me films from each of these 6 eras
I. 2009 to 2023
II. 1994 to 2008
III. 1979 to 1993
IV. 1964 to 1978
V. 1949 to 1963
VI. before and including 1934 to 1948
I have already watched 2 new movies this year.
The first was the 1949 film In The Good Old Summer Time. I have wanted to watch this one for a while, and actually was reminded of it when I shared a YouTube video here earlier this month.
I would give this movie a rating between 2 1/2 and 3 stars out of 5. The film takes place in the early years of 20th century Chicago featuring Judy Garland and Van Johnson as two music music store workers who are also engaging in a mail correspondence not realizing that they know each other in what will be called " IRL" more than a century later. This musical is based on the 1936 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo which has spawned 2 other movies and one Broadway musical. One theme from the film is that circumstances can effect the way we view the world especially how we evaluate people. I really enjoyed the performances by Buster Keaton (Sherlock Holmes, Jr.) , and S.Z. Sakall (Casablanca) as the shopkeepers nephew and the shopkeeper, respectively. Their presence helps bring out much of the films comedic elements. One aspect of the film I did not enjoy was that many of the musical numbers, although entertaining on their own merit, did not really go with the story that was being told. This led to kind of an uneven feel to the film, which led to my mediocre rating. I would definitely recommend this film to fans of Garland and to those who like to watch different adaptations of the same source material.
I just saw this on You Tube and thought it was worth sharing. It makes me want to watch Shop Around the Corner, Good Old Summertime and You Got Mail back to back to back. I have seen the 1940 Jimmy Stewart Classic multiple times. Have never seen Good Old Summertime and believe I have only seen You've Got Mail Once.
I really liked this glimpse into the storytelling process of filmmaking.
Have not posted for awhile. More on that later. Now that I'm back, let's get righ to it with this Brady Bunch Avengers parody which is just a little bittersweet as it includes the late Chadwich Boseman. Just a little in the box thinking from the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Amy was reading to me about our upcoming trip to Greece. We are doing some hiking and she was reading about the two poisinous snakes that are in Greece. It summed it up by saying "don't put your feet or hands in crevices without looking first". And all I could think of to say was ...
If you are not familiar with that scene in Ghostbusters you can see it by clicking here.
2016 was a big year at the movies for Walt Disney Studios. According to Box Office Mojo, they had 5 of the top 7 grossing films released in that year. It was also a big year for animated children's movies with 3 of the aforementioned top 7. Zootopia was 7th on the list grossing 341.3 million in the U.S. alone.
By gkaidan - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42701886
Zootopia - Disney Enterprises Inc.
Zootopia features Ginnifer Goodwin (Once Upon A Time) and Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) as the voices of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde a bunny on the Zootopia police department, and a fox, a hustler, and a condog (a male fox is called a dog, look it up.).
This movie follows the standard buddy cop movie plot. A by the book, play by the rules cop is partnered with an informant who flaunts and plays fast and loose with the laws. As they learn to work together they go deeper and deeper to uncover a vast conspiracy.
This plot also underlies the main theme of the movie that biases and prejudices don't really show what the true heart of a person, or in this case an animal is.
Positive Tomato: Sure to speak to kids d grown-ups alike, Zootopia unfolds a poignant lesson about how prejudice can hurt people, but also how it can be overcome. And it does all this in a wonderfully fun film. Kristy Pucko - Pajiba
Top 100: I enjoyed this film quite a bit, but it is nowhere near my top 100, I doubt it would even make the top 200.
A to Z Connections: Bonnie Hunt who voices Judy's over-protected Mom also appears in Dave as a very eager White House tour guide. She co-starred, co-wrote, and directed Return To Me.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another. With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 1 more time this month.
Film: You Can't Take It With You (1938)
Director: Frank Capra
You Can't Take It With You is your standard issue 1930's screwball comedy with the Frank Capra touch. The below video does a great job in 9 minutes of recapping and reviewing the film.
The son of a Wall Street banker falls in love with the granddaughter of the person blocking the banker's money-making scheme. Stars Edward Arnold, Lionel Barrymore, Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur.
Positive Tomato: It's one of the most amusing and satisfying pictures to be seen in months, and certain to be an enormous hit with audiences. Edwin Schallert - Los Angeles Times
Negative Tomato: It may be disappointment that any Frank Capra comedy should be heavy and overdone which makes You Can't Take It with You seem such a dud. Otis Ferguson - The New Republic
Resiliency: You Can't Take it with you is the oldest movie on this list. It is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. That its themes would still resonate with audiences today shows how resilient film can be.
Top 100: This is one of those movies that I would tell you I think it would be my the top 100 and then wind up with 125+ films on my list. It is definitely worthy of consideration and may end up making my actual list.
A to Z Connection: This is the third film featuring my favorite director Frank Capra in the challenge along with Arsenic and Old Lace and It's A Wonderful Life. It is also the 3rd film featuring my favorite actor Jimmy Stewart (It's A Wonderful Life and Vertigo). Speaking of 3s, it is the third film along with the aforementioned Arsenic and Old Lace and A Man For All Seasons to be adapted from a broadway play. This is the 5th and final Academy Award winner for Best Picture on my list. The other 4 are A Man For All Seasons, Chariots of Fire, Ordinary People, and The Kings Speech. The Kings Speech has also been produced on Broadway, but in this case, the play was adapted from the film, not vice-versa.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another. With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 3 more times this month.
Film: When A Man Loves A Woman (1994)
Director: Luis Mandoki
Positive Tomato: Here is a wise and ambitious film about the way alcoholism affects the fabric of a marriage. Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun-Times
Negative Tomato: Does her husband notice her addiction? How could he not? Does he care? Who knows! Jonah Koslofsky - The Spool
I've decided to alter the format of today's entry a little bit. I'll still tell you a brief synopsis of the 1994 Rom Dram but after that I'm going to type a transcript of a conversation I had with my wife earlier this week about the film. The movie stars Meg Ryan and And Garcia as a working couple with 2 children. Ryan has a drinking problem and the film examines the couples relationship as she seeks treatment and he copes with the aftermath of her addiction.
Dave: Amy we've talked a lot about qualities that movies my top 100 list would have and one of them is re-watchability. You definitely think When A Man Loves A woman is rewatchable. What makes it that way?
Amy: It's a really good movie. It's a good depiction of both an alcoholic and an enabler and how those two things together make a storm.
Dave: How does that make it rewatchable?
Amy: Watching the pain get resolved. The dual depiction gives it a unique perspective.
Dave: What do you think of Andy Garcia's character?
Amy: We see him as a tough guy at the beginning of the movie who has to help Mag Ryan and realize that he is as powerless as she is in rectifying the situation.
Also, watching the way he loves his children and communicates with them is very beautiful
Dave: Do you believe that this is a Meg Ryan vehicle, and that the title is a little misleading?
Amy:No, I think they beautifully create a movie where there are two equal stars. I think Andy's story is just as gripping as Meg's.
Dave: Were you a little surprised that I didn't have When Harry Met Sally as my W?
Amy: Yes! You like that movie a lot more than this one. But then again, I don't fully understand your selection process.
The conversation veered to different paths from there.
Resiliency: If I would have asked Amy about the theme of resiiency in this film, I think she would have said something like that this movie examines the resiliency of this marriage through the lens of addiction and recovery. I didn't aske her, so we may never know.
Top 100: This movie would definitely be in Amy's top 100. I like the film and enjoy watchingit with her, but at this point I would not consider it for my top 100.
A to Z Connections: Like Ordinary People, this movie depicts a family in crisis. Vertigo and Gattaca along with When a Man Loves a Woman were all primarily filmed in california.
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another. With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 5 more times this month.
Film: UHF (1989)
Director: Jay Levey
Weird Al's Apartment in UHF By Mountain Mike Johans…, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47260199
I love parodies. I grew up listening to one of the greatest parodists of all time, Allan Sherman. My Mom and Dad would send out a Christmas Card each year where they would write our family's annual exploits to the tune of a Christmas carol. I myself have written a number of parodies and have posted many in my blog.
I even wrote a parody last Saturday to publicize my S is for Silverado post and put it on my Facebook page.
(Sung to the tune of Desperado by The Eagles)
Silverado, you are in my top eleven.
You star two great Kevin’s
Plus one Glenn, and one Glover
You’re a western
But so much more than your genre
Which is why I’m so fond a
This joy I’ve discovered.
But with no disrespect to Alan Sherman, my parents, or myself, my favorite parodist is Weird Al Yankovic.
When Weird Al first started out he would send his songs to Dr. Demento who would play them on his syndicated radio program. My favorite of which, and my all-time favorite Weird Al Song, is It's Still Billy Joel to Me, performed to the tune of It's Still Rock and Roll to Me by (Wait for it ....) Billy Joel.
I mean Weird Al had the audacity to rip Billy Joel's music while performing Billy Joel's music. I was impressed. In 1989, Weird Al set his sights on television and the movies at the same time by starring in and co-writing UHF a movie about a t.v. channel.
At the time most network television was broadcast on VHF (Very High Frequency) and most independent stations were broadcast on UHF (Ultra High Frequency). While some might argue about the quality of these frequencies. The quality of the programming was generally regarded as infinitely better on VHF.
Positive Tomato - The individual parts may be greater than the sum of the whole, but man, are those parts funny. Austin Trunick - Under The Radar
Negative Tomato - This is the dreariest comedy in many a month, a depressing slog through recycled comic formulas. Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun-Times
If I were to give UHF a 6 or less-word film review it would be: Walter Mitty meets SCTV. The film is essentially a bunch of parodies with a plot sandwiched in between them. The movie begins with a pretty good Raiders parody.
Resiliency: Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) is the best part of this movie. He plays Stanley Spadowski who shows resiliency after being fired from the best t.v. station in town where he worked as a janitor and ended up getting hired as a janitor at the station Yankovic manages to host a wildly successful children's t.v. program.
Top 100: This movie straddles the fence between so dumb it's funny and so dumb it's dumb. It has many fine moments, but it is nowhere near making my top 100.
A to Z Connection: This is the 2nd film in the challenge about television (Quiz Show).
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another. With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 11 more times this month.
Film: Ordinary People (1980)
Director: Robert Redford
Robert Redford has long been one of my favorite actors. Through the decades he has been in one outstanding film after another, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1973), All The President's Men (1976), The Natural (1984), and Sneakers (1992), just to name a few. It is very surprising to me, therefore, that I admire Redford more for his work behind the camera as a director than his work as an actor. In 1980 Redord made his directorial debut in Ordinary People, the film version of the 1976 Judith Guest novel.
Positive Tomato: Ordinary People is rare moviemaking and easily one of the best films of 1980. But to spurt volumes of superlatives would not do it justice. Redford's film is deceptively quiet and subtle. Dann Gire - Chicago Daily Herald
Negative Tomato: The movie is about the harm that repression can do, but the movie is just as repressive and sanitized as the way of life it means to expose, and it backs away from anything messier than standard TV-style psychiatric explanations. Pauline Kael - New Yorker
The movie features Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Timothy Hutton as the Jarretts, an "ordinary" suburban family still caught in the wake of a series of tragic circumstances. Judd Hirsch also stars as the psychiatrist who works with Conrad Jarrett (Hutton) to work through those circumstances.
Resiliency: While there is much to be said about resiliency in this film, much of this movie's strength comes from showing a family failing to find that resiliency. This scene shows that lack or resiliency in what should be just a simple family photo.
The direction by Redford is top-notch. Each of the 4 main stars is arguably in the best role of their careers. Mary Tyler Moore is known for playing vibrant and loveable characters. She is amazing here as a woman seemingly incapable of loving her family when they need that love the most.
The film was nominated for 6 Academy Awards and won 4. Mary Tyler Moore was nominated for Best Actress but lost to Sissay Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter). Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton were both nominated for Best Supporting Actor. As seen here Hutton prevailed over Hirsch. Hutton makes one of the best and briefest acceptance speeches I have ever seen.
Redford won for Best Director. Ordinary People also took home Oscars for Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Top 100: I'd like to take a moment to correct some things I've said recently in other A to Z Posts. Last week when talking about It's A Wonderful Life, I mentioned it was my all-time favorite film. The truth is, I have 3 all-time favorite films that are pretty much in a virtual tie. It's A Wonderful Life is one of them and if pressed I'll sometimes say it's my favorite. Ordinary People is another one of those three. So obviously it's in my top 100. The third film that shares the top spot will be featured sometime next week.
In yesterday's post, I made a comment about Northwest Highway saying that I can't really expect a film I don't watch very often to really be in my top 100. After I wrote that I realized it's been a long time since I've watched Ordinary People. This is because of some of the subject matter in the film, and also because of some family situations over the past few years. However, this does not diminish my feelings for this movie. My wife and I love this film and do hope someday to be able to sit down as a family and be once again captivated by this story.
A To Z Connection: Cary Grant's (North by Northwest) last film was Walk, Don't Run (1966). One of Grant's co-stars in the film is Jim Hutton, the father of Timothy Hutton. Ordinary People was the younger Hutton's first feature film.
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another. With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 12 more times this month.
Film: North By Northwest (1959)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock<
By Ante Brkan - Dr. Macro, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14857139
Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite movie directors. So, it's no surprise that one of his efforts has ended up here in the challenge this month. If you are not familiar with North by Northwest, here is Hitchcock, himself to introduce it for you.
Positive Tomato: It is consistently entertaining, its excitement pointed by but never interrupted by the jokes... But it is on Mr. Grant's own performance, intent, resourceful, witty, as always beautifully timed, that a large part of the pleasure depends. Dilys Powell - Sunday Times (UK)
Negative Tomato: Hitchcock apparently hopes that his fans will laugh off the glaring lack of dramatic nourishment in this concoction on viewing the hilarious and impossible situations In which he throws the long-suffering Grant. John Vosburgh - Miami Herald
By Mike Quinn, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45941549
This painting depicting a scene in North by Northwest is part of a mural in the Leytonstone (The section of London where Hitchcock was born.) Tube station
As an homage to the scene where the airplane is spraying bullets at a frenzied Grant, I will now spray you, the reader, with bullet points about the film its director, and some of the cast.
The above painting depicting the aforementioned scene is part of a mural in the Leytonstone (The section of London where Hitchcock was born.) Tube station.
Alfred Hitchcock featured the motif of the "wrong man" in several of his films.
Hitchcock and Grant collaborated on 4 films from 1941- 1959. North by Northwest was the last of these films.
North by Northwest was Hitchcock's 2nd highest-grossing film 2nd only to Psycho. It was Cary Grant's highest-grossing film.
Leo G. Carrol (who was in 6 Hitchcock films) plays the head of a secret international counterespionage and law-enforcement agency in the film and essentially plays the same type of role in the 1960s television phenomenon The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Resiliency: Hitchcock directed 53 films in 51 years. Grant was in over 70 movies in a 35-year span.
Top 100: I do not have a ready answer when asked what my favorite Hitchcock film is. I sometimes think it might be this one. If that turns out to be the case, I won't have any Alfred Hitchcock movies in my top 100. That's not a slight against this film. It's an enjoyable well written, superbly acted thrill ride of a movie that sits on my D.V.D. shelf more than a top 100 film should.
A to Z Connection: This is the second Cary Grant film in the Challenge. Arsenic and Old Lace led off the alphabetical review of films, and North by Northwest gets us started on the 2nd half of the alphabet.
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another. With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 13 more times this month.
Film: A Man For All Seasons (1966)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
By w:Robert Bolt - Scanned by uploader, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54061906
A Man For All Seasons is based on the play of the same name. It is the story of British Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More. According to Wikipedia More in addition to having served as Lord Chancellor was also an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. More is one of my heroes, which is odd because He was a Roman Catholic opposed to the Protestant Reformation and I am a former Catholic who is a big fan of the Protestant Reformation.
The reason why I am such a fan or More and A Man For All Seasons is that More was an exemplar of standing up for your faith with dignity, grace, and intellectual integrity.
The plot synopsis for A Man For All Seasons in IMDB is so rock solid I will just quote it here rather than bore you with a lesser synopsis...
Thomas More (Paul Scofield) is at odds with Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) over the kings wish to divorce his wife, Catharine of Aragon; so that he may marry Anne Boleyn. More understands that from the standpoint of the Roman Catholic church, the king would be heretical.
More , the appointed Lord chancellor, is so highly regarded that his outspoken unwillingness to break with Rome makes Henry VIII look and unreasonable and the king is furious. As the king's wrath rows, he tries to discredit More by attempts at legal trickery, but the attempts fail. More feels the heat being turned up and determines it best to resign his post to retire to private life. Unfortunately, because More's resignation speaks so loudly of the kings intended impropriety, the kings will stil settle for no less than More's approval of the divorce. More, however refuses to relent.
Henry now has legislation passed that establishes himself as having supreme power in English religous affairs, breaking with Rome and, thereby, establishing the Church of England. He then has legislation passed establishing it as treasonous for any member of the king's court to refuse to sign off on it. More's refusal to sign off dooms him to be beheaded, but he will be remembere as a deeply principled "man for all seasons."
This clip is proof that you can make a great movie and a bad trailer for it.
Positive Tomato: Such a film as A Man For All Seasons makes the silly efforts of avant-garde and "new" picture directors look raw and hideous. This film combines so many qualities of excellence that it stands alone as an example of what a motion picture can be. Marjory Adams - Boston Globe
Negative Tomato: Despite the awards which have been extravagantly heaped upon it and the cool brilliance of Paul Scofield's performance, it remains a costume drama which adds nothing to our understanding of the times, or indeed of men. Craig McGregor - Sydney Morning Herald
This film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won 6 including Best Actor, (Paul Scofield), Best Picture, and Best Director (Fred Zinnemann). While I agree with all of those selections, I think the award that highlights the greatest strength of this film is the Oscar for Best Cinematography going to Ted Moore. Moore gives us a gorgeously filmed picture from beginning to end.
Resiliency: Paul Scofield won a Tony award and an Oscar for his portrayal of More.
Top 100: I sometimes am questioned about whether my list of top 100 films is for technical excellence or for how much I enjoyed the film. I have yet to land what I would call a satisfactory answer to that question. I will say this, the excellence of the Zinnemann direction, Moore cinematography, and the Scofield portrayal of More are 3 reasons why this film resonates so much with me and why it is certainly in my top 100 favorite films.
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other a to z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another. With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 22 more times this month.
Film: Dave (1993)
Director: Ivan Reittman
Presidential movies were all the rage in the 1990s. (The American President, Air Force One, JFK, Nixon, Absolute Power). In this one, a presidential body double makes the most of what was supposed to be a temporary job.
Dave (Official Traier)
Positive Tomato: A genial, expertly played political comedy proves that the spirit of Mr. Smith still lives. Richard Schickel - Time Magazine
Negative Tomato: As Kline begins to take his presidential duties seriously, the comedy seeps out, a listless civic-mindedness drifts in like the fog off the Potomac. Leah Rozen - People Magazine
If you've never seen this film. the 30th anniversary is a good time to jump on board. This may be Kevin Klines best film and with a resume filled with hits gems like Cry Freedom and Silverado that is certainly saying something. Charles Grodin is in only a few scenes but does a great job of showing the uniqueness of a guy like Dave.
Resiliency: The balancing the budget subplot of Dave is a great snapshot in Resiliency.
In the film, Dave visits a homeless shelter with the President's wife. When the homeless shelters are stripped of funding, Dave is told by the President's draconian chief of staff (played ever so malevolently by Frank Langella) that he can keep the shelters by adding 650 million dollars to the budget.
In the next few scenes, Dave attempts to do just that and even brings his accountant, the aforementioned Grodin, to help him with the gargantuan task.
To watch this scene and read more about its resiliency factor click here.
Top 100: One of my criteria for top 100 films lies in its rewatchability. I remember enjoying this movie increasingly upon every viewing. For that reason alone, I cannot imagine a Top 100 film list of mine with Dave, not on it.
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