30 Day Song Challenge: Day 27

Day 27: A song you wish you could play.

Again, that would be every song ever. But I am going to go with "Fantasies Come True" from Avenue Q, because it's one of my very favorite showtunes but it's a (kinda) serious one that's sung by one of the more obnoxious puppet voices, so sometimes I try to show it to people and they can't get past that. BUT if I could play it, then I could just play it and sing it for people and they'd be like, "Oh, why, you're right, that is a nice song!"

...Well, maybe they still wouldn't like it. Maybe I'm just the only one in the world who loves this song. But at least I'd have tried all my options.

(And, if you're curious, here it is with lyrics. Original Broadway cast.)

iCheckMovies Commenters Are Interesting

I have already shared one story of iCheckMovies commenter entertainment on here, but let me share a few more.

On most movie websites, people post lengthy reviews or brief but uninteresting comments ("OMG so good LOL"). And there are certainly those on iCheckMovies as well... but there are also some very entertaining comments.

A few examples:

Au Revoirs Les Enfants

Commenter 1: A great film. The ending made me hate the Nazis very, very much.

Commenter 2: I used to think the nazis were swell guys but the ending changed my opinion, very much.

Evil

Commenter 1: Very good movie, all the injustice made me really angry!

Commenter 2: The injustice made me really satisfied. Break the weak!

Splice

adrien brody ADRIEN BRODY AdRiEn BrOdy ardienbrody ADRIENBRODY adrienbrodyadbrodadirbrydoabdndaybiiradbroyadriendby

Buried

Ah ah ah ah... buried alive, buried alive.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 26

We're nearing the eennnnndddd, guys!

Day 26: A song that you can play on an instrument.

*blink*

But... but I can't.

I can't play anything on an instrument.

So I guess I'm going to have to choose "Star Wars (John Williams Is the Man)" by Moosebutter, because it is acappella and I can sing. And also, it is awesome.

Ghost in the Darkness vs. Dinosaur

Although the picture is a little small to see it properly, FlickChart is making me choose between... apparently, two eyes that reflect things. Do I choose the demon lion eye that reflects humans coming to kill it, or the CGI dinosaur eye that reflects other dinosaurs?

If they put these two eyes side by side on the same poster, it could be an Alien vs. Predator-looking thing. Or possibly even a Jekyll and Hyde-looking thing.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 25

Day 25: A song that makes you laugh.

So hard to choose! But I really think I absolutely must go with "Love Is My Legs" from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Some background first, before you play it.

If you're familiar with the movie, you know this story. Two con men (polar opposites - a suave older gentleman, and a vulgar younger man with no class) are fighting over the same turf, so they decide to compete to swindle $50,000 from a certain woman. Whoever gets the money first, wins. Freddy, the younger man, has the idea to pretend to be someone suffering from a psychosomatic disease that leaves him unable to walk, who needs $50,000 for an operation for his grandmother.

Somewhere along the way, the older man develops affection for the girl and wants to call off the bet, but Freddy convinces him to instead change the bet, instead making it about whether or not he (Freddy) can get the girl to sleep with him.

In this scene in the musical, Freddy goes to the girl in his wheelchair and confesses that he thinks if he knew she loved him, he might just have the will to walk again. He tells her in this wonderfully over-the-top and cheesy and ridiculous song that makes me laugh every time I hear it.

I've included two versions here - one that features much clearer audio but has silly girls lip-synching to it (do ignore them), and a clip from the live version which gives some context, but is sometimes very difficult to hear. Listen to whichever one you want, or both.

Clearer audio:

Live version:

Faith are the toes attached to your feet,

So I'll be your feet completely!

Always there to strive in your socks,

Alive in your socks,

No longer dejected,

To feet resurrected,

Connected to legs - which is love!

If you don't follow me on Twitter...

...here's what I've been posting about this month.

Re: rapture, a friend says: "It's actually the rap-tour. Jesus is out spittin' rhymes to churches full of frowning old people right now."

[retweeted from @chibchenko] Is it just me or does anyone else find pressing F5 refreshing?

Mom: (Reading a book to the kids) "'She swallowed her own mouth, going dry...'" (Pause) "No. 'She swallowed, her own mouth going dry.'"

I love snarky reponses to iCheckMovies comments:

Comment 1: "Very good movie, all the injustice made me really angry!"

Comment 2: "The injustice made me really satisfied. Break the weak!"

[retweeted from @cpat71] If social media isn't helping you build a more engaged audience, try building a more enraged one. It's only one letter different.

16yo: "Which do you want me to make, brownies or dark chocolate cake?"

Me: "Cake!"

16yo: "Please say brownies."

Also, if you haven't been following my Facebook, which is fewer of you, and that's why I put this in the second part... this is what's been happening there.

For the last couple days, any time my littlest siblings ask me what movie or TV show I'm talking about, I say, "The Office." This means they now think The Office regularly features a baby and serial killers, and Jeremy Irons is in it. Someday when they watch the actual show they're going to be so disappointed.

So I was reading Conservapedia's list of "Greatest Conservative Songs." "Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees was listed because it is "pro-people and pro-staying alive." Yeah, The Bee Gees were the conservative heroes in an era of crazy pro-dying liberals, cleverly hiding pro-staying alive messages in their song titles.

Me: I am hiding behind your door RIGHT NOW, ready to jump out and yell at you.

Josh: Which door? Closet or room?

Me: The one you least expect.

Josh: REFRIGERATOR

‎Elizabeth: "When I'm napping and I'm half awake, half asleep, I'm still always aware of what other people are saying and thinking. Uh... well, not what they're thinking. I can't read minds while I'm sleeping."

Rejected Mao rule: If you play a joker, you have to do the Joker's pencil trick to someone at the table. (Especially helpful if you have too many people playing.)

Looking over my philosophy notes, I just found this: "Weirob's objection: Blue River case. River has same characteristics, but not same water. Pocahontas says you can't step in the same river twice." That's right, I derive my philosophical arguments from Disney lyrics.

I talked about how I probably wasn't going to be sleeping tonight, and Anna (whose mother is driving her to her far-away class tomorrow) responded, "I'm probably gonna crash in the car on the way to my class." I sure hope she doesn't. Unintentional pun ftw.

Reading tomorrow's Religion & Theater play. It joked about misspelling "Klaatu barada nikto"... and then DID misspell it, with only one A in "Klaatu." This bothers me because I. AM. A. NERD.

I left my jacket in someone's car yesterday. When I got it back today, I discovered that my iPod had been playing the whole time in the jacket pocket. I was 537 songs through the "shuffle all" playlist.

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Just some end-of-the-month wrap-ups. Because it's 4:30 and I don't feel like finishing watching Buried yet.

The Hannah Movie Awards: May 2011

I watched a TON of movies this month. A lot for me, anyway: 32. So we'll see what kinds of awards I get to give out.

Best Acting Overall

- In the Bedroom

- Megamind

- Sex, Lies, and Videotape

- Tangled

Although I enjoyed all these movies, this one has to go to In the Bedroom, hands down. Near perfect performances from everyone involved, and that's really hard to achieve in a movie. Usually there's at least someone who drags it down. That just wasn't the case here.

Best Actor

- Color Me Kubrick (John Malkovich)

-

Dear Frankie (Jack McElhone)

-

The Detective (Alec Guinness)

-

Evil (Henrik Lundstrom)

-

Rabbit Hole (Miles Teller)

-

Tangled (Zachary Levi)

-

Water for Elephants (Christoph Waltz)

-

Water for Elephants (Robert Pattinson)

-

Wilde (Stephen Fry)

Wow. Some of these people obviously deserve this more than others (what are YOU doing here, Robert Pattinson? You were just acceptable, not award-worthy). It's worth noting that three of the people here played children or young teenagers - kudos to McElhone, Lundstrom, and Teller for not making me hate their characters. But this award obviously has to go to Stephen Fry, who was so perfectly cast as Oscar Wilde.

Best Actress

- ‘Night, Mother (Anne Bancroft)

- ‘Night, Mother (Sissy Spacek)

- Tangled (Donna Murphy)

- Tangled (Mandy Moore)

Well, I enjoyed Tangled, but obviously one of the two from 'Night, Mother should have this one. Although it's awfully difficult to choose which one, I think Sissy Spacek ever so slightly gets the edge in this one. Very well played.

Best Adaptation

- ‘Night, Mother

- Lolita (1997)

- Lord of the Flies

Awarding Lolita anything for adaptation feels ridiculous, as I haven't ever read the original novel and have nothing to base it on. So I think I'm going to disqualify it and give it to 'Night, Mother instead, which was really well done.

Most Cliched

- Something’s Gotta Give

- Tangled

Not even a contest. Tangled only had a moment or two of clichedness, while Something's Gotta Give had nothing BUT cliches from beginning to end.

Best Dialogue

- ‘Night, Mother

- Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Er, well, while I feel like I'm just giving everything away to this movie, I'm pretty sure this has to go to 'Night, Mother again. Everything just works.

Most Disappointing

- Color Me Kubrick

- Wilde

I think the more disappointing of the two was probably Wilde, which I was so looking forward to, and then it just ended up being kind of... meh. I didn't have such high expectations of Color Me Kubrick, so it didn't disappoint as much.

Most Enjoyable

- Do You Like Hitchcock?

- The Detective

- The Tourist

OK, I know it got huge amounts of flak... but I liked The Tourist. It's complete nonsense, but it somehow got me to have a good time watching an action movie, which is rather an enormous achievement. Although I liked the other two pretty well, I enjoyed The Tourist from beginning to implausible end.

Most Entertaining

- Caddyshack

- Do You Like Hitchcock?

- Tangled

- The Lost Skeleton Returns Again

- White Nights

Ooer. This is kind of a tough one for me. I think of these five, Tangled was the most consistently entertaining, although Lost Skeleton is a close second. So... Tangled takes it. (Good job, Disney.)

Best Final Scene

- Au Revoir Les Enfants

- Lord of the Flies

...Two movies about kids. Who'd'athunk it? I'm pretty sure Au Revoir Les Enfants takes this one, though, because it's the ending that really turned it into something special rather than a nice generic little boarding school movie.

Most Moving

- ‘Night, Mother

- Au Revoir Les Enfants

- The Virgin Spring

OH THIS IS A DIFFICULT CHOICE. Okay. Au Revoir Les Enfants is out. I saw 'Night, Mother more recently so it's fresher in my mind, but I really liked The Virgin Spring. And I really do feel like I've been giving awards to 'Night, Mother left and right. Not that that should be the thing to sway my judgment... But I'm torn enough on this one to let it make my decision. Take it, The Virgin Spring. You deserve it.

Most Surprising

- Dear Frankie

- The Virgin Spring

I think this one has to go to Dear Frankie, which really did surprise me. I expected to hate it and, turns out, I didn't.

Least Funny

- Color Me Kubrick

- Something’s Gotta Give

NO QUESTION, it's Something's Gotta Give. CMK made me chuckle a couple times. SGG just made me stare at the screen and go, "Really? Really?"

And those are the awards this month. I'm a bit saddened that my other favorite movie of the month, Evil, wasn't nominated for anything it could win. I guess that's what happens when you make the nominations based on rather weird rationale. :-)