7 fun musical movies (that are not necessarily movies that are musicals)

Here’s a list of some great musically-oriented movies. Not musicals, necessarily. (Where I define a musical as “a movie or play where the characters up and sing a bunch of their lines, and dance around randomly in a way that has nothing to do with the plot.”) So, not musical movies, but music movies, I guess. These are about singing and playing music. (I’ll get around to the dancing later.) (Not that I’ll be doing any dancing. Or at least not that I’m willing to share. But I will make a list.)

7 fun musical (though not musical) movies

  1. This is Spinal Tap (1984)
    This movie goes up to 11. Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer totally rock in this heavy metal mockumentary. Okay, the music is bad. Deliberately bad. (With song titles like “Lick my love pump.”) In spite of the bad music, this early Rob Reiner-directed movie is lots of fun. And you just gotta love the Stonehenge scene.
  2. The Commitments (1991)
    A group of unemployed, underemployed and otherwise down-on-their-luck Dubliners put together a band to sing soul. The music is great, the story is entertaining, and the music is great. Plus, the music is great. (It’s actually a fun and funny movie, too.) Features an excellent, talented, but largely little-known cast. Maria Doyle Kennedy sings an excellent cover of Aretha’s “I Never Loved a Man.”
  3. Bob Roberts (1992)
    This movie is possibly more scary than fun. Not scary in a blood-and-guts nail-biting edge-of-your-seat sort of way. Scary in a too-close-too-home political sort of way. Tim Robbins plays a liberal-bashing manipulative politician. Who sings.
  4. Little Voice (1998)
    Jane Horrocks (perhaps best known as Ab Fab‘s Bubble) can sing like others like no other. Borrowing the songs (and voices) of such folks as Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey and Marilyn Monroe, Jane Horrocks lights up the movie with her incredible range and talent. (Michael Caine also plays a memorable role as a skeezy talent scout.)
  5. O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000)
    Bluegrass music is one of the stars of this Coen brothers film. The other stars, George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson, play escaped convicts in the 1930’s deep south. Among the other adventures on their odyssey, they record an old-time song that becomes a radio hit.
  6. A Mighty Wind (2003)
    The brilliant minds and faces of Best In Show, Spinal Tap and Waiting For Guffman get together again. The amazing Christopher Guest directs. This time, the mockumentary is about folk singers. The music is fun, the dialog (improvised, mind you) is funnier. (“There was abuse in my family, but it was mostly musical in nature.”)

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This post is being warbled, crooned, chirped, yodeled and otherwise sung for the 3rd //engtech group writing project. Earplugs not included.

all roads don’t lead to Ikea

We had grand plans for the day: to go to Ikea and buy a kitchen table and an itty-bitty table for Phoebe. It’s a bit of a trek to get there, so that was pretty much the agenda for the day.

We planned to leave home by 10:00 a.m., and were happy to make it out of the house around noon.

Before leaving, I checked the directions online, and they looked pretty straightforward. We’d been there twice before, after all, so I didn’t bother to write them down. As you can guess, things were not as straightforward as I remembered. We didn’t get “lost,” exactly. We just had some difficulty finding what we expected to find. At one point, we drove down a street that looked vaguely familiar and I ever-so-briefly saw the Ikea sign poking its head up above a large building. But the end of the street came, with no sign of Ikea (or sign of the sign, for that matter). So we looped. We explored. We meandered and roamed for a bit. We marvelled at how so large a thing as an Ikea store could be so very thoroughly hidden in a rather small Massachusetts town.

Eventually, I realized that we had a road atlas in the car, and as I attempted to get us back to the main drag, we passed a street sign (an unusual thing to see in many parts of Massachusetts) that said “Ikea Way.” We took this to be a very good sign.

Soon after, we found our hidden prize. It was as if we found that Easter egg, albeit one the size of several city blocks. Our cheaply manufactured blue and yellow pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This felt like accomplishment. It was as if we had completed a quest. I ask you, can one feel such a sense of accomplishment by merely following directions? Pshaw.

(Oh, and we did get a kitchen table. And a table and 2 chairs for Phoebe that are really frickin’ cute, and that John’s already taken over for his laptop. Plus a kitchen clock. And a basket for the laundry room. Oh, and some tongs. And a huge stuffed orca, 2 rats, 4 bats, a crab, a turtle, some finger puppets, a wooden gear toy and really, we did try to show some restraint. We could at least fit all our purchases in the car at the end of the trip. Without even resorting to strapping Phoebe’s car seat to the roof of the car.)

my mom is cooler than your mom

Seriously, my mother is amazing. I’ve been meaning to write about my mother for a while. I’ve been working on a post, but somehow, I haven’t quite been able to finish it yet. And then I thought, “hey, I’ll post something for Mother’s Day.” But then it was a hectic weekend. And then I thought, “hey, I can post any time I want.” Because there’s never a wrong time to say something nice about your mother. Especially my mother. Because, as I mentioned, she is one cool individual.

For one thing, my mother is an artist. How cool is that? Check this out:

about me, about time

As of yesterday, I’ve now been at this blog for 6 months. And as is my trend, I’m running behind in the things I’ve been meaning to do. For example, I meant to have some sort of “about” page. Possibly more than one. So that poor unwitting souls who stumble across my ramblings can have some sort of idea what they’re in for.

For some reason, I’m resistant to writing a blurb about myself, though I’ve done pretty boring-ass ones about the blog for places like blogher and technorati. So instead of writing another blurb, I offer to you a test. But don’t worry. It’s multiple choice.

  1. I am a ______-year-old _______.
    a) 12, squid
    b) 35, woman
    c) 1, party game guaranteed to please the crowd
    d) blue
  2. I am currently in _____.
    a) grad school for linguistics
    b) a box
    c) really big trouble
    d) all of the above
  3. I am ______ ______.
    a) usually tired
    b) happily married
    c) wearing pajamas
    d) all of the above
  4. I have a ______ ______ named _____.
    a) one-year-old daughter, Phoebe
    b) sewer alligator, Fred
    c) big toe, Philippa
    d) false
  5. I think ______ is a funny word.
    a) pants
    b) pants
    c) pants
    d) a and b, but not c

Okay, and here’s a picture John took of me:

alejna_and_fish.jpg

spam spam wonderful spam

Here’s a post about spam to follow up on all of last week’s cheese.

WordPress has a pretty decent comment spam filter, and not too many spam comments see the light of day. (According to my stats page, over 2500 spam comments have been caught by the spam filter in the 6 months I’ve had this blog.) I do still sift through my caught spam periodically, just in case something legit has gotten trapped. Often, I’ll see boring lists of links for hotels or celebrity photos, or prescription drugs, or drug scandals about celebrities who share names with major hotels. Sometimes I see links for porn sites that I really, really didn’t want to know existed. (I’m greatly disturbed by the non-consensual ones…) Anyhow, spam, when it’s not disturbingly offensive, can be downright dull. But lately, I’ve been seeing a trend that makes the task of sifting through the spam box a bit more entertaining: some spam that makes me laugh. I thought I’d share a few with you, though without the links to whatever it was they were trying to sell, and a few of my thoughts in response. (Mind you, these are supposedly left as “comments” on posts. Generally the “comment” has nothing whatsoever to do with the post it’s left on.)

Some spam comments that made me laugh

hot old babes

Hey, I’m not that old. Am I? But thanks for calling me hot.

bangers booty fat intro article

Yes, I’m starting some research on bangers booty fat, and I feel I need a good overview on the topic.

Books about spy cam upskirt.

Ah, yes, those would be in the spy cam upskirt section, which is between the section on booty fat and the books on hot old babes.

wholesale interior door intro

It’s definitely the way in. All the way in.

Fresh news on bag laundry.

Wow! I can hardly contain my excitement!

News about skinny big boob.

Not just big, but skinny big. I can just see the headlights headlines.

Good information source for tushy massage movie.

Wait, are we talking about a feature-length movie of butt-rubbing? Or just a short? I guess that’s why we need a good information source.

Variants of sweet ass.

I’m writing a poem for my true love, and I don’t want to overuse the expression “sweet ass.”

Fresh information about naruto hentai wallpaper.

All the information I can find on naruto hentai wallpaper is so damn stale, and I want to redecorate my dining room with an anime porn theme.

big gay bear introduction

I always suspected that there was more going on between Yogi Bear and Booboo than just stealing pic-a-nic baskets.

Good information source for bowling party bag.

Thank god I finally know where to go for this!

Actual news on car rental toyota category.

Yes, this is the news the masses crave. Hasn’t FoxNews stepped up to the challenge?

Hhgghhg kdfgdg sdgfgt sd gdsgdgsdg gd sdgdgsdg

I found this one to be a bit…gdtfgdgd cryptic. You know what I gsgsf?

:) Hi everybody! Does anybody know what is propecia? What a shirt? I go crazy about this!
I found it here:

Can I just repeat, “What a shirt?” What the hell does that mean? I go crazy about this!

Hi
You are The Best!!!
Bye

As for this one, I was sorely tempted to let it pass through. Gosh, thanks!

——————-

And here, in case that wasn’t enough spam for you, have another helping of spam, spam, spam, python and spam:

requited

I wanted U
I hoped for U
I waited for U
Time after time
I looked for U
But U passed me by
U went to others
I thought U would never come to me
Then when I had given up all hope
That I would ever be able to hold U
U appeared
U came to me
Finding U fulfilled a need
Because without U
I might well have finished
Forlorn, distressed and clutching
That little tile
Imprinted with
The letter Q

speaking of mice and men

Actually, I guess we were speaking of mice and cheese. (We were also speaking of “Of Mice and Cheese“.)

What I’m talking about now are those best-laid plans. As in “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” And here’s something I learned about this quote.

The saying is adapted from a line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”

Anyhow, various schemes have gone a-gley, as it were.

John had a scheme that we would go out to dinner to celebrate mother’s day, but that didn’t work out. John’s dad has had a couple of rough days, leading us to conclude that John’s mom wouldn’t want to take the time away from visiting hours.

Our original plan was to head home last night, however the roughness of the days for John’s dad led us to decide to push back our departure till today. I had my violin lesson scheduled for Monday at 5:00, so the plan was to be on the road by noon.

Our revised plan for the evening was to get take-out, and enjoy the feast at (John’s parents’) home. However, my grand scheme to eat food from my favorite restaurant in the universe has been thwarted. Those cruel folks are closed on Sundays! Noooo! (I at least got some enjoyment from reading the menu, and making plans for our feast before making the discovery of the restaurant’s startling lack of openness. Perhaps later I will post what we were going to order.)

John’s dad had an even rougher afternoon than anticipated, and has been transferred to another hospital as of yesterday afternoon. So John and his mother’s plans to be home in the middle of the night and get a good night’s sleep were somewhat adjusted, and replaced with a revised plan of waiting around in an emergency room, and not returning home until 3 in the morning.

The resulting lack of sleep led us to revise our plans for departure a bit, and I have rescheduled my violin lesson plan for later this week.

Happily, John’s dad has responded well to the treatment in the new hospital. So our new plan is to head out this afternoon, stop by the hospital and arrive home late tonight.

a small laughing matter

Phoebe is making great strides in her walking skills. Also singing. And tickling. I have a few movies from earlier this week that I can’t help but share.

First, the tickling! Phoebe found a hole in John’s sock:

Second, Phoebe walks forward on cue, retracing her steps of 3 weeks earlier:

Third, my favorite. Phoebe starts off strong with singing (or possibly trying to communicate with dolphins), and showing off her stellar hand-eye coordination. But just look out for the dramatic finish.

(That last bit makes me laugh every time I watch it. As it did the first time I saw the little topple. John says that Phoebe will some day resent me for that little laugh of mine that can be heard at the end of the movie. Perhaps she will resent me, or perhaps she’ll realize that she could have a career in vaudeville.)

Anyhow, we’re down in NY once more for the weekend visiting the in-laws. The drive down was looooonnnnngggg. (So long that I am inspired to use additional non-standard orthographic elements to represent my exaggerated lengthening of the word.) Traffic was slow, leading to a 4 and half hour trip, when it usually takes 3 and a half. One extra hour doesn’t sound toooo bad. But, somebody no longer falls asleep in the car. (Oh, except for the last 5 minutes of the drive, leading her to wake up cranky and howling upon our arrival.) She (it’s Phoebe we’re talking about here, by the way, not me) seemed to need constant entertainment the whole way down. I generally sit in the back seat with her. And I sang, I danced (well, the belted, seated kind of dance), played games, recited stories, soothed, talked, sang, talked in silly voices, sang, counted toes. (Did you know that Phoebe has 5 toes on each foot? I counted them several times to make sure.) When I’d stop, we’d get screaming. (Not me, mind you.) Let me tell you, we had some Quality™ time.

But, we arrived, tired, but generally with some sanity left intact. Though my voice is feeling a bit strained today.

And here we are. John and his mother are out hunting for a new microwave, and Phoebe is napping. Later, we’ll go visit John’s dad in the hospital. (It’s a sub-acute care facility. He’s been in and out of many, many hospitals of various types since he rebroke a hip last summer.) It’s good that we’ve been able to get down here pretty often.

There’s a particularly bright star on the horizon. We are (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully) going to get to go to my favorite restaurant in the universe. It’s a little place about 40 minutes away from John’s parents’ house in a town called Pine Bush. The restaurant is called Pure City, which leads me to regularly call it Sin City. (Not to the proprietors, though.) I keep meaning to write about it. However, it may not make it’s way into this week, since this is Cheese Week. And this restaurant is 100% cheese-free. Aside from some tofu cheesecake. Does that count?

dances with cheese

Yes, it’s cheese week here at collecting tokens. Because I apparently just can’t get enough cheese.¹

Anyhow, inspired in part by the pants game (wherein a word in a known quotation, expression or title is replaced by the word pants) and in part by a post² I came across on adding the word cheese to movie titles, I offer up my own list of movie titles. (I got all these movie titles, or at least a previous version of them from the AFI’s 100 years 100 movies page. So these are high quality films that I’m making a cheese mockery of.)

Classics of Cheese Cinema

  • From Cheese to Eternity (1953)
    Passion. Betrayal. Cheese.
  • Bonnie and Cheese (1967)
    Partners in crime, partners in cheese.
  • Apocalypse Cheese (1979)
    A dark and dangerous mission of cheese.
  • A Streetcar Named Cheese (1951)
    Glimpse the cheesy underbelly of New Orleans.
  • Rebel Without a Cheese (1955)
    Trouble’s coming. And it’s bringing crackers.
  • Wuthering Cheese (1939)
    A haunting tale of star-crossed young cheese lovers.
  • Gone with the Cheese (1939)
    An epic saga of love, war and cheese.
  • The Wizard of Cheese (1939)
    If ever a wonderful wiz there was…wait, would that be the CheeseWiz?
  • It’s a Wonderful Cheese (1946)
    A sentimental film that shows a glimpse of a world without cheese.
  • 2001: A Cheese Odyssey (1968)
    The awe and mystery of a cheese unlike any other.
  • Raiders of the Lost Cheese (1981)
    When they find it, they really don’t want to smell it.
  • The Silence of the Cheese (1991)
    Is the cheese quiet now, Clarice?

    • —————
    ¹It has occurred to me that I must consider cheese to be a funny word. Much like pants, squid, banana, duck and monkey. However, I don’t see any mention of cheese on the Wikipedia inherently funny word article.

    ²Really, I promise to stop this daily linking to Words for My Enjoyment. What’s funny is that I first came across the blog via my takehome final, as mentioned previously, but then found it again totally inadvertantly and coincidentally while doing a google search for “cheese” and “movies”. (Did I mention that there’s aren’t too many cheese movies?) It was almost as if it was written in the cheese…Wait, “Written on the Cheese.” I think that’s a movie, too.