Movies That Make Me Happy

                My family and I love watching movies together. It’s definitely one of our favorite things to do together besides camping, hiking, or otherwise anything fun outside. My dad sometimes even goes out and randomly buys a film just so we can check it out. We don’t go out to the theaters much but we have a fairly large TV at home and a killer sound-system from the 70’s that makes it all pretty awesome. Sometimes, we pop a little corn and make a delicious treat out of chocolate chips and cashews! It really is a blast.

                Well, recently, I got my dad the movie Cowboys and Aliens as a gift. We decided to watch it last night since it was a Friday and early enough so as to not disrupt our natural sleep pattern (yes that is a real reason my family uses to keep ourselves from not staying up too late). And boy, did we enjoy it! At least, I totally did. You really can’t go wrong with Harrison Ford, especially when he’s tag-teaming with Daniel Craig! I pretty much had an action-hero-overload-of-pure-awesome. Sure, some of it was fairly predictable and even a little cheesy but I thought, as a whole, the movie worked; the story was fun, the characters were believable (except Olivia Wilde’s Southern accent; ugh!), the graphics were amazing, and the music was fabulous! It was great! I even think my dad – a big movie critic – liked it, which is saying something of today’s movies.

                As movies go, I enjoy most kinds except horror; I still get nightmares, and that’s just not cool. Rom Coms are usually predictable but mostly enjoyable, if not a bit silly, and I will frequently go for a classic comedy from the 70’s – 90’s. I tend to not like many comedies made now-a-days because they just aren’t written with the same ingenious humor like they used to be; it’s all inappropriate jokes and repeated clichés. The kind of comedy I like is classy slapstick, punchy one-liners, and witty banter. Sometimes I find a comedy of today that makes me belly laugh but mostly I just quietly giggle to myself. As for action and adventure, I’m pretty much up for anything that has massive explosions, robots, hot men, spaceships, sci-fi elements, and epic graphics and fight scenes, or any combination of said things, as long as the film has a semi-decent plotline. I enjoyed The Expendables but it was definitely targeted at those who don’t really care about plot and just want explosions. This being said, I still loved seeing all of my most memorable action heroes all in one place.

                Now, I have some friends here at college who have not seen some of the movies that I say are some of the best ever made, and a couple of them are film majors. Imagine this; a film student who hasn’t seen the original Star Wars or any of the Lord of the Rings movies, films that are cinematically genius and pioneering in their field. So, taking this is to account, I decided to compile a list of the films I personally think everyone should watch before they die. Keep in mind that I myself haven’t seen every film ever made, and some would say that my list is incomplete, but I’m just basing the whole thing off of the films that I have seen. If you have more movies you think should be on it or you think that I should take some off, go make your own list.

                Here it goes, not in any particular order:

-          The original Star Wars trilogy

-          The Lord of the Rings trilogy

-          The original Indiana Jones trilogy

-          Donny Darko

-          Blazing Saddles

-          Waterworld

-          Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

-          The Postman

-          Monty Python and the Holy Grail

-          The original Planet of the Apes

-          The Charleston Hesston Planet of the Apes (“Get your hands off me, you damn dirty ape!”)

-          2001: A Space Odyssey

-          Disney’s The Jungle Book

-          Robin Hood (live action)

-          Robin Hood: Men in Tights

-          The Princess Bride

-          The King’s Speech

-          Pride and Prejudice

Well, that’s all I have now for that list. I enjoy a ton of movies but these are definitely my top films of all time. I hope you’ve seen most, if not all, of them! If not, GO DO IT NOW. They are all wonderful in their own aspects, and they all have flaws too. But they are films that I will be watching till I’m old and decrepit, sitting in my nursing home drinking prune juice (yuck!). Also, if you haven’t been keeping up on your classic Disney animated feature films, you should get on that, because they are ALL awesome.

Tell me your favorite movie! Maybe I haven’t seen it yet! And I’d sure love any recommendations if you think I’d like it. Thanks!

Stay classy.

xoxo

Why Our Music Industry Isn't What It Used To Be

                Okay, first off, let me get something straight; I am not dissing on any specific genre, or artist. I am simply picking songs that are examples of what I’m talking about. If I pick a song or artist that you really love, and you are somehow offended by what I say, please don’t get angry; I mean no harm! Well, not really.

                Who am I kidding? Say what you want, I don’t care.

                Now, I can’t be the only person who has noticed a serious lack of writing skills in the music industry lately. I mean, some artists are just getting lazy! Come on Beiber; you can do better than, “Baby, baby, baby, ooooh.” You’ve got it in you, I know you do! And ‘T-swift’? I admire you for your skills as a performer and the fact that you write your own songs and design your tours and such, but you need to seriously start changing up the topics of your songs! The world can only take so many songs about break-ups and ‘true love’. For real. Country music is full of that stuff anyway. And Patriotism.

                AMERICA!

                I can’t help but notice that songs ‘back in the day’ were written at a much higher standard than they are now. I’m sure there were some silly songs then too but the mass majority was pretty stellar. Take for example one of my favorite songs, The Sound Of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel:

”Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence”

                SO GOOD!!! The lyrics are so poetic, and they speak of public issues with such grace. They don't express their main point directly or outright but you definitely get what they are trying to say. Plus, the tune of it is absolutely to die for. My personal favorite line is “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls”. Possible tattoo idea? I think yes!

                Anyway, if you look at these lyrics and compare them to a popular song of today’s lyrics, you’ll notice a sad decline in not only poeticism but a true deeper meaning. Gone are the days when artists wrote songs about injustices and true feelings. Today is the era of selfishness and over-done clichés! Hurrah!

                Let’s look at the facts; the top five songs of 2011 as picked by Billboard’s Critics are as follows:

5) Motivation by Kelly Rowland featuring Lil Wayne

4) N***as In Paris by Kanye West and Jay-Z

3) Till The World Ends by Britney Spears

2) Someone Like You by Adele

1) Super Bass by Nicki Minaj

                Holy crap. Nicki Minaj got best song of 2011??? I can think of hundreds of songs more deserving of that title! Yes, the song is catchy in that its beats make you want to dance, but the lyrics are just silly! And Kanye West’s and Jay-Z’s song? I think the title explains it all. To me, the only song on that list that truly deserves to be there, both musically and lyrically, is Adele’s Someone Like You; that is a truly beautiful song that speaks to the way lyrics used to be written. The list itself is 20 songs long, and I suggest you go check it out for yourself. Just Google ‘top songs of 2011’ and pick the link to Billboard’s website.

                I feel as though song-writers need to step up their games a bit and start producing works of art like they used to. Bring back the words of Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Led Zeplin, and good ol’ Simon and Garfunkel! Musical poetry, that’s what they produced, and that’s what we need to bring back into today’s music. So I challenge all of today’s artists to write a song – just one, really – that showcases your lyrical skills. Go for it! You’d be surprised as to what you can come up with.

Stay classy!

xoxo