Top 5, Bottom 5: Alfred Hitchcock

I watched The Lady Vanishes earlier this month, bringing my total number of Hitchcock movies I've seen up to 20. There aren't a lot of directors I've seen 20 movies from. I've seen 37 by Woody Allen (only missing four) and 19 by Billy Wilder, another prolific director I love. But besides Allen, Hitchcock just might be my most-seen director.

Top 5:
1. Rear Window (1954, #9). Not only Hitchcock's best, but one of the best of all time. A perfect blend of mystery, suspense, romance and unexpected humor.
2. Psycho (1960, #103). I love how Hitchcock spends so much time building up the story, unlike modern horror flicks, which fill their movies with pointless jump scares and ominous foreshadowing. When the horror actually does happen in Psycho, it's even scarier because everything had been so okay up to that point.
3. Rope (1948, #107). This movie is one of the best one-room dramas ever, with excellent writing and interesting characters.
4. Strangers on a Train (1951, #125). This is hardly ever anyone's favorite Hitchcock, but it's one of mine. It's a wonderful premise and does an excellent job of portraying someone caught up in something far beyond their control.
5. Dial M For Murder (1954, #189). Like Rope, this one also follows the murderer rather than the hero, making you wonder if he's going to get away with it. It's a wonderful mystery with very interesting characters.

Bottom 5:
1. Shadow of a Doubt (1943, #1572). The premise isn't a bad one, but the writing and acting feel completely unnatural. I know many people love it, and I've heard it was Hitchcock's favorite, but I just don't get it.
2. Rich and Strange (1931, #1488). I'll tell you, I just can't remember much about this movie. It's probably ranked a little low, but that's what happens to movies that never grip me enough for me to actually remember.
3. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956, #1399). I'll take the original version over this remake any day. I think it's the endlessly repeated theme of "Que Sera Sera" that doomed this movie for me. It's been at least six or seven years since I saw this movie and I'm still sick of that song.
4. Saboteur (1942, #1369). Another one that I don't remember being bad so much as just being unremarkable.
5. Rebecca (1940, #1368). I've meant for awhile to give this one another shot. When I saw it, I remember being bored, but it's been probably ten years and I feel like I might enjoy it if I watched it now. Right now it's still low on my list because of my negative memories of it, but it might jump back up if I tried watching it again.

What are your favorite and least favorite Hitchcock movies?

Movie Reviews by Jessie (Part 3)

Oh, we still have more Jessie. So much more Jessie.

Good Will Hunting - Matt Damon!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh i am so much more than positive that i have heard this name before. i am sure that he was in a really good moviei saw like earl harbor or something like that. 

Earl Harbor was the less successful sequel, I guess.

Tom and Jerry: The Movie - well i really thought that for a cartoon movie it was quite original and really good. anyway i rreally thought that they had a good plot about the little girl getting stuck with her mean aunt and her dad being away or lost was it? i am not quite sure but once again back to the good plot. 

"Back to the good plot that I can't remember anything about. It was awesome. I wonder what it was."

Little Man Tate - Oh my geez. i am such a fan of Jodie Foster. her performance in all her movies is always riveting and she puts you on the edge of your seat when evr she opens her mouth to say something in most of the suspencing scenes she just happens to always be in. well anyway i think that this movie will be quite good 

do you know what really makes me ponder though. she is such a good actress at acting like a mother i have no dought that she would make an excellant mother off camera. well how come she has NO KIDS. i mean she is pretty and i am sure she could have a commited relationship in a SNAP. so once again i ask why the heck JODIE FOSTER is NOT married and has NO kids. she would be so excellent at being a mother and it makes me so mad to think that she may not ever have the chance. SHE DOESN"T HAVE ANY KIDS DOES SHE? if she does well good for her. i am almost completely sure she does not though.

I really hope she applies this same logic to all actors. To use another Jodie Foster flick for comparison:

"Anthony Hopkins is such a good actor at acting like a serial killer i have no dought that he would make an excellant serial killer off camera. well how come he has NO KILLS. i mean he is famous and i am sure he could lure people into his apartment in a SNAP. so once again i ask why the heck ANTHONY HOPKINS is NOT a serial killer and has killed NO people. he would be so excellent at being a serial killer and it makes me so mad to think that he may not ever have the chance. HE HASN'T KILLED ANY PEOPLE HAS HE? if he has well good for him. i am almost completely sure he has not though."

At First Sight -  i really think that i will be quite fond of this one. i mean look at thecover he is laughing and i love movies that make you laugh and since his actions are helping my opinion i think this movie will be

Sometimes I just stare at the screen and scratch my head when I read Jessie's review. I'm not really sure what else to do.

The Adventures of Huck Finn - i have a new likeness for elijah wood as well because he is doing a program to save the penguins that are effected by oil spills. the only problem i have with that is the fact that he is probably just doing it to get a jumpstart on his acting career even thpugh he totally doesn't need it because he has been in more than 17 movies and he is only what 18 or 19. that it is good to me.

Yeah, that silly Elijah Wood trying to further his acting career by saving the penguins. If I had been in 17 movies, I wouldn't be doing any of that nonsense.

Cheaper by the Dozen (the original version) - i think that i would like this movie in particular because the up to date one was a classic and i have no dought in my mind that this will be any less enjoyable. 

So I was laughing at this first paragraph and the confusing phrasing at the end and the notion that the Steve Martin remake is a classic, and then I read the next section of her review:

i would reccomend either one of the cheaper by the dozen movies to anyone who is a fan of classics and it is a family movie so it is nice to have afamily to watch it with. but you better hurry because there are only a few of them left. sad but sure.

Quick! Go find a family to watch this movie with! They're being killed off one by one! It doesn't need to be your own family or anything. Any family will do. See if you can get them to come out of hiding to watch this movie with you, because, really, you should be watching it with a family.

Gandhi - Oh my gosh . i had to watch this in my social studies class and although i am sure there is a lesson worth knowing i do not know it!!!!!!!!!
this movie was so boring i fell asleep. yeah i did not feel like i was going to fall asleep i actually did. i mean seriously i understand education is education and it is meant to be boring, stupid, useless, and mind boggling but i mean come on can they not spice it up just a bit.
JUST A LITTLE BIT AND MAYBE THEN WE WILL STOP SPITTING IN THE COFFE MUG YOU JUST HAPPEN TO LEAVE OPEN ON YOUR DESK, WHEN YOUR BACK IS TURNED.

OK, it's reviews like this that make me think Jessie might be more part troll than I like to admit. But I'm pretty sure I also know people who think like this in real life. So I'm going to continue to believe she is real.

Meet the Feebles - this movie looks good and i really think that i would enjoy watching it. well What exactly do you think? yes i thought so. well we are not as judged as we thought we are.....now are we.

Well, that'll tell 'em.

On her review of Surviving Christmas, she gives us a lengthy plot synopsis and ends it with this:

it is nothing likw what i can see is flashing through your brain but it is one of the most enjoyable holiday movies that i have ever seen.

"Your puny little brains cannot even begin to comprehend the glory of the magnificent plot!"

Getting Even With Dad - well this is a first i must say. i really thought that my comedy hat was full to the brim and then i could tip it over but i was wrong. 

Is that what one does with hats that are full?

Duma - Oh my Geez. this movie was such a classic i do not even think a laugh is neccesary.

I have this image in my mind of someone watching, say, Some Like it Hot with Jessie, where she constantly reprimands them for laughing. "Oh my geez, Samantha. This movie is a classic. I do not think a laugh is necessary." Or maybe "neccesary." I can't decide whether that should be pronounced "neckesary" or "nechesary."

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas - i love any chistmas

Jessie's thoughts on Christmas movies, summed up in four words.

The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course - Oh my gosh. this is totally defacing. these people should be ashamed of them selves. You do not put a movie with a guy that just died and was a world renound hero on the site. its MADNESS>

Jessie seems to think that Flixster should have removed the Crocodile Hunter DVDs from their entire database after Irwin's death. Surely that's the best tribute to those who have passed away. Erase their existence from our websites!

Joseph: King of Dreams - I still have this movie because my grandmother says it it is nice to have spirtial movies every day you run out of chocalate. She is so weird sometimes.

Well, at least we know where Jessie gets it from now.

We're still not done, because this section covered a pretty tiny selection of reviews. There were just so many that needed to be quoted. The next one might be the last one (I think we're nearing the end) but I just don't know anymore.

Sunday Scriptures

This week was not so good at having regular times with God. I'm still struggling to find a good time of day to do it when I can regularly get into it and not get distracted. Hoping next week will be more productive. In the meantime, have one Bible verse.

Monday - Psalm 106:15
He gave them exactly what they asked for—
    but along with it they got an empty heart.

Top 100 Showtunes: 100-91

Several years ago, on my Facebook, I did a countdown of my all-time favorite showtunes. Since then I have discovered quite a few new shows and new songs, and I figured it was time for an update. So for the next several Fridays, I'll be counting down my all-time favorite showtunes from #100 to #1.

Before we start, first of all, I'm only including songs that came from musicals that were produced on the stage. As much as I love the musical numbers from Singin' in the Rain, Moulin Rouge!, and the vast selection of Disney movies, they belong on a different list.

Secondly, I want to quickly give some honorable mentions... er, mentions, to the many shows that are very solid (and have solid cast recordings) but never made it onto this list because they didn't have any songs that really blew me away on the level of these other songs. My sincere apologies to Bat Boy, Bye Bye Birdie, Cabaret, Camelot, Catch Me If You Can, The Evil Dead, The Fantasticks, Fiddler on the Roof, In the Heights, Into the Woods (I'm as surprised as you are none of the songs quite made the cut), Miss Saigon, Oliver!, Once On This Island, Promises, Promises, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Side Show, Sweeney Todd, Urinetown, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and 1776.

All right. All that being said, and all those lovely musicals having been acknowledged... On to my top 100!

(* after a song title indicates there is adult language in the song.)

#100. "Through the Looking Glass" from Wonderland. I've said before that my love for this show is very, very difficult to explain, so I'm not going to work too hard. There's just something about the music here that is very moving to me. I enjoy triumphant battle cry type songs, and even though this is a very mellow poppy kind of battle cry, it still makes me smile every time I hear it. But I can't really justify my love for it, so it chills out here at the bottom of the list.



#99. "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked. Even though my love for this show has waned a little bit, I still really enjoy it, and I still think this is one of the quintessential unrequited love showtunes. (The others will all be in my list later.) I really enjoy the simplicity of the tune, and I like that it stays stoic instead of getting melodramatic. Elphaba chooses to ground herself in reality, trying to remind herself that she's just not that kind of girl and never will be... as much as it hurts.



#98. "Just One Step" from Songs for a New World*. The first of many songs by the phenomenal Jason Robert Brown on this list. It's a hilarious, furious song sung from the POV of a spoiled rich woman protesting that her husband won't buy her a fur coat. The music is fantastic, and it is ever so fun to sing along to. The version I present here is excellently acted but the piano often drowns out the voice, so if you want to hear it more clearly, this is the cast recording version.



#97. "Transylvania Mania" from Young Frankenstein. This musical is based on the movie of the same name. At this point in the show, the villagers have come to investigate Frederick Frankenstein's house, worried that he's building a monster just as his infamous grandfather did (which he is). Frederick's helpful assistants Igor and Inga try to distract the villagers with a sudden dance sequence, and it almost works, until the end. Besides the fact that it's so creative about rhyming words with "Transylvania" and "mania," this song is just fun to watch, listen to, or sing along with.



#96. "Legally Blonde" from Legally Blonde. There's an upbeat reprise of this song later, but this one is just gorgeous. Based on the movie, it tells the story of blonde, flighty Elle Woods' journey to law school, initially to win back her ex, but then she discovers she actually loves studying law and thinks she might be good at it. In this scene, she's just found out that she only won a prestigious internship because the professor wanted to sleep with her. She's devastated and thinks maybe she was never cut out to be anything important anyway, maybe she should just go home and hang out on the beach with her friends and be mindlessly pretty forever. It's the flip side of "I'm Not That Girl" - a heartbreaking song about resigning yourself to what seems to be your destiny and not trying to push for anything else.



#95. "Ol' Man River" from Show Boat. My taste in showtunes leads toward the modern, and a lot of the classic musicals or songs from them just don't move me that much. This song, however, is incredible. It's sung several times throughout the show, using the Mississippi River as a metaphor in its commentary on oppression and hardship. The melody and lyrics are both absolutely haunting. Such a beautiful song.



#94. "One Knight" from Wonderland. And to follow up that deep and poignant song, we have this, one of the silliest songs on this list. It's a boy band parody sung by the White Knight to Alice, asking her to let him be her guide through Wonderland. The thing is... I have such a weakness for boy bands. I love them. A lot. And even though this song is deliberately ridiculous and cheesy and the choreography is hilarious... as I'm giggling at it, I'm also a little melted by it. This song was definitely one of my obsession songs in 2012, and although I'm sure this will eventually slip out of my favorites list, for now it still belongs.



#93. "Screwed-Up People Make Great Art" from Striking 12. And here we have the first of many entries by the band Groovelily, many of whose songs are impossible to find on YouTube and I'll have to link you directly to their own music page for an audio-only experience. This song is from their New Year's Eve-themed show that creatively tells the story of The Little Match Girl, interspersed with the story of the depressed guy reading about her. This song gives us a little background on Hans Christian Andersen as the author of The Little Match Girl. It's funny, clever, and entertaining... and it taught me all sorts of fun facts about how twisted poor HCA's life was.



#92. "Bye Room" from john & jen. john & jen is a fantastically interesting musical about a woman's relationship with her brother and then her son, who is named after her brother. This song features her and her son as he is getting ready to head off to camp for the first time and is saying goodbye to everything in his room. I love the song's cheerfulness and playfulness and it's still one of my favorite songs to listen to.



#91. "Terminal Illness" from 13, which starts at about 2:42 into this clip. I've always had a fondness for cheerful-sounding songs about terribly morbid things, and this one certainly is that. The plot here is a bit complicated, so let's just say that the main kid singing is Evan, who is the new kid at school and is trying to do everyone favors to get on their good side. Right now he needs to get a bunch of tickets to an R-rated movie, and he recruits Archie, who has muscular dystrophy, to play on his illness to get the tickets. The song cheerfully suggests that if you have a terminal illness, you can get away with just about everything, because "no one says no to a boy with a fatal disease." The video below is from the Broadway cast but the audio is sometimes terribly muddled, so once again, here's a clearer audio-only option.



Next Friday: #90-81! Nine more weeks to go!

4 Things I Can't Handle Watching In Movies

I have an acceptable tolerance for gross things in movies. I'm not terribly squeamish, although I don't particularly like excessive gore. But there are a few things I just can't handle watching on screen. So here is the tiny, weird list of gross things I can't watch in movies.

1. Throats being slit.
For some reason this is the absolute worst of all gory things for me. Heads and limbs being chopped off is fine, blood spewing is fine, but I cannot watch throats being slit. I just can't. I closed my eyes during large portions of Sweeney Todd.

2. Vomit.
All other bodily fluids can show up in gross-out comedies and gory movies, but this one just... ugggh. I can't watch or listen to other people vomit in real life without being a little sick myself, and I can not handle scenes where, for example, someone falls in someone else's vomit. Even just thinking about it is making me nauseous. Note, however, if somebody's mouth is spewing something that is clearly not vomit, that's not a problem. So whatever weird milk products all the deadites from Evil Dead were constantly leaking from their mouths is just fine. Well, I mean, it was disgusting, but at least it wasn't vomit.

3. People brushing their teeth.
I have no idea why this one grosses me out. It's not a staple of horror movies because it doesn't gross anyone else out, which means it shows up in random movies all the time and I have no warning. There's something about seeing somebody else's foamy spitty toothbrushing lather that makes me gag a little.

4. People's big toes being hurt.
This is perhaps the most specific item ever on a list. I remember an early episode of House where a kid had a nightmare that his toes were gangrenous and had to be amputated, and I was completely grossed out and couldn't watch it. Some of it has to do with the fact that I frequently feel sympathy pains for people and it makes my own toes hurt, but my toes aren't particularly sensitive, so I have no idea why this is so specific to my toes and, even more specifically, the big toe. The rest are uncomfortable to watch being hurt as well, but I can handle it. Fingers can be gangrenous and amputated, that's fine. But not the big toe. Also, stabbing or shooting scenes where somebody's big toe is stabbed or cut or shot off. Can't.

Honorable mentions (the things that I can watch without feeling sick, but I sure don't like them)

People being stabbed in the eyeball - Missing eyes don't really bother me, but I don't like seeing things go through eyeballs.
Flesh being pulled back - Another kind of weird one, but it really grosses me out if I see someone cut a layer of flesh and then just peel it back. There are a lot of medical hospital scenes that make me go, "Ew, yuck."
Limbs being bent in directions they shouldn't be - It's always disconcerting to me when I see a dead body in movies that has its arms or legs bent in the wrong direction. *shudder*

Do Introverts Need to Learn to Speak Up in the Classroom?

This article by New Hampshire teacher Jessica Lahey has been making the rounds on the Internet. In it, she talks about how she has debated her class participation grade but decided that it's important to keep it because:

As a teacher, it is my job to teach grammar, vocabulary, and literature, but I must also teach my students how to succeed in the world we live in -- a world where most people won't stop talking. If anything, I feel even more strongly that my introverted students must learn how to self-advocate by communicating with parents, educators, and the world at large.

She continues, saying that introverts need to learn to speak up and articulate their needs, concerns and thoughts to succeed in life.

I am not challenging Ms. Lahey's decision to keep class participation as a part of her grade. I'm an introvert who is passionate about education and I absolutely support including class participation. I do think there is one aspect that needs to be considered in the introvert vs. extrovert participation debate, though, and one that was not addressed in this article.

Many introverts hate speaking up at all, but I have found that they overwhelmingly hate impromptu or spontaneous speaking up. The difference between these two is vast. I am comfortable articulating my thoughts and I am comfortable with my knowledge of most subjects, but if you suddenly turn to me in the middle of a lecture and ask me a question about what I've just heard, it catches me so off-guard and makes me so uncomfortable that, even if I absolutely know the answer, it takes me a few seconds of awkward filler words until I get back on my footing and can respond intelligently.

As an introvert, I have found that the times where I need to answer something instantly and unexpectedly are actually very seldom. Times when I need to speak up nearly always fit one of the following categories:

• It's at a time when I know I am going to be expected to speak and have some idea of what I'm going to be asked about. (Job interviews, jobs I've had)
• It's a casual enough situation that I can openly say, "That caught me off guard. I didn't know you were going to ask me something. Give me a second, let me think," and then I can get my bearings. (Social interactions with friends)
• I have the time to craft what I want to say and can tackle it in a one-on-one situation. (Questions/answers that are sent via email, concerns or thoughts that don't need to be dealt with immediately. I was the person who approached professors after class to quietly ask them a question I hadn't figured out how to say publicly in class yet)

Introverts being quiet is not always a matter of not being willing to speak up. Sometimes it's a matter of not having anything to say yet. We take time to think things over. We process things slowly. If you tell me I need to find something to say quickly, I can do it, but it won't be interesting or important or, probably, representative of whether I've actually learned or not.

So how do you encourage classroom participation for people like this?

Well, it's simple. You give them an idea of what they'll need to say. I was always grateful for teachers who said things like, "Do the reading and come to class with at least 2 thoughts or questions. If I call on you, you will share one of them with the class." This lets classroom introverts plan ahead. If they are called on, there may be a momentary panic of "they need me to talk," but they have something to fall back on.

Another possibility is to structure classroom participation so that it lets the introverts some control over when that happens. "I expect you to ask at least ten questions this quarter." "You need to offer constructive criticism on at least one student's project throughout the semester." This makes it much more likely that they will speak up when they do have something on their minds, as they know they have to speak up at some point anyway, but they don't have to do it on command.

Learning to articulate your thoughts is absolutely an important skill. Learning to spontaneously reveal your unformed opinions and unprocessed thoughts in front of a crowd of your peers is less vital.

I'd be especially interested to hear from any of my education major friends who disagree with me on this or are much stronger on the "you must speak up in class!" idea than I am. What do you see as the essential value of pushing students to speak up publicly? Do you think any of that is undercut by encouraging speaking up preparedness? Do you agree that the way I'm phrasing these questions is awkward and terrible?

Sunday Scriptures

OK, since Sunday Sims is on indefinite hiatus (its resuming depends on me being able to figure out where exactly I put the Sims 2 disk once I got Sims 3), I want to do something new.

I've been having difficulty finding motivation to do my individual Bible/prayer times lately, so I decided I'd do something a little bit more public with it. I am in the middle of reading through the entire Bible. I read until I find something that jumps out at me, even if I can't quite figure out why, and then I underline it and pray about it. In Leviticus and Numbers, I frequently read chapters at a time, while now as I'm in Psalms I've occasionally stopped every other verse.

So every Sunday, I am going to post the verses or passages I was struck by throughout the week. No comments, just the verses themselves. Right now I'm reading through it in the Message version, just as a fresh take on it, so that's the version that will be posted.

Here goes:

Tuesday - Psalm 104:29-30
If you turned your back,
    they’d die in a minute—
Take back your Spirit and they die,
    revert to original mud;
Send out your Spirit and they spring to life—
    the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.

Wednesday - Psalm 105:5
Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
    be alert for signs of his presence.

Friday - Psalm 106:4a
Remember me, God, when you enjoy your people.

As you can see, I was not as good about doing this faithfully as I hoped, but that's part of the reason I'm doing this. Here's to next week!