Twelve Movies of Christmas....

  On the FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...
                                       
                                      

The best Christmas special ever! A classic T.V. special first aired in 1966. Best Christmas dog ever, Max, tipping forward when the Grinch ties the antlers on his head. Still make me giggle internally!

On the  SECOND  DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

a really foul but kind of funny movie. The cat, the tree....the squirrel,  it worth all the "undertones."

On the THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

a very appropriate movie for the whole family...."Sisters, Sisters, their were never such devoted sisters..."

On the FORTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

with many, many English Christmas scenes including Colin Firth in a reindeer sweater. 

On the  FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

any HARRY POTTER movie with Hogwarts covered in snow and festive in lights and evergreen. 

On the SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

a shoot 'em up , blow 'em up caroling, Ho Ho Holiday offering.

On the SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

gave me another one.

On the EIGHT DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

What is it about England and Christmas and Beverly Hills, a peek into a world so different then Christmas in the West.

On the NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

a family filled festive holiday offering.

On the TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

a sappy through the season, great New Years, running through the streets of a snowy New York ending.

On the ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

The first, 1938 and probably the best of all the versions.

And On the TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS my true love gave to me...

And we end on a one legged lamp in a snow window and a BB gun.

Pick Our Version, thank you very much...

Hold on to your seats, this post starts with two "hunks" you probably know and ends with one, you will thank me for introducing you to.
In rapid ascension two movies came out about....pretty much, no actually almost entirely the same story line- a not so likely bodyguard saving the president, the country and well, blowing up the White House in the process.

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN, ( March 2013) the first to be released and the more serious of the two has Gerard Butler, as bottom of the totem pole, doesn't follow orders very well Secret Service agent, who as the last man standing saves the day.

WHITE HOUSE DOWN, released in the same year (June 2013) is a mix of action and comedy, since Jamie Foxx plays the president and is the story of how Channing Tatum, not even good enough for the Secret Service, defeats the bad guys and saves the day and like in OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN, pretty much blows up the White House.
Now... one has to wonder when the makers of each movie found out the other had a similar idea brewing, why one did not pull the plug? Chalk it up to another headscratcher question coming out of Hollywood.
And they are not the first repeat offering Hollywood has dished up.
Here are two more and guess what, yup, back to Washington D.C, but they are not stories about a Secret Service agent trying to save the president, no... this time the Secret Service agent is keeping his daughter safe.

FIRST DAUGHTER, (September 2004), has Katie Holmes as the only dear daughter of the President who desperately wants her freedom and thinks she gets it going to college, way, way across the country. Problem is, the guy... the hot guy she thinks she meets by chance, well, he actually is a Secret Service agent.

And here is a side track-
Director of FIRST DAUGHTER, Forest Whitaker must really like the inner workings of the White House, last year he starred in a little film about this time...

But back to "First Daughters", 2004 saw another movie about well, a first daughter wanting some freedom and this time trying to get it on the back of a motorcycle, "backpacking" through Europe...

Yup and again that "guy" is a Secret Service agent, there to protect her, while she thinks she is having the grand adventure.
CHASING LIBERTY stars Mandy Moore, and yes the similarities still do not stop...

because Mandy Moore is the voice of Rapunzel in Disney's TANGLED and no, the story is not about the only beloved daughter of  a president but this time- the King and Queen- who desires adventure and goes on a journey with a "hot guy", who isn't a Secret Service agent by name, but pretty much gets the girl back to her parents, who happen to be the leaders of the world, so kind of a like a President.

Now we are almost full circle, remember the promise of intro of a new "hot guy", well that would not be...

Flynn, though I think Zachary Levi is pretty great, see post here

Nope, go back to Mandy Moore's non- animated movie of her running through Europe with her secret service agent, played by Matthew Goode...

And he is oh so  good, well he is actually English, so he has that, he just has to talk, but he also has that cool cumber thing going that is, well kind of English and he can do the "Irish" thing pretty well too...

Where Goode is "the guy" who takes the girl, this time Amy Adams across Ireland, to help her on a quest that in the beginning, he isn't the reason for, but by the end, so IS the reason.

And a little "coda" for the end of this rambling post, Matthew Goode will be starring in another  new version of a very old story, actually, more of a second chapter.
THE BBC ONE is airing the holiday offering of DEATH COME TO PEMBERLEY...

from the mash up novel by J.D. James...

It has all the old characters, including Mr.Wickham, played by Matthew Goode. Ahhh, such a nasty guy played by a well really "hot" guy- will have to see how that all works out when DEATH COMES TO PEMBEREY airs over there on December 26th. Info here . When it gets to the US or is available to download, I will let you know. Just hope I can come to like Mr. Wickham in it, cause I so like Matthew Goode.

There is love and then there is LOVE...

"Boy meets girl" is my favorite kind of story. Add in "boy and girl can't be together until they save the world or the universe", and you have a really fun ride with romance, a lot of action with everything and everyone at at risk.

Two of the best such high stakes series are both from the SyFy Channel.

 HAVEN, comes out of the brain of Stephen King, not so much the horror side of his brain, but more the odd, unusual and disconcerting side, where the residence of Haven, a sea side fishing hamlet in Maine are conflicted with "troubles" in bad times, such as being stalked by their now alive taxidermy animals or the whole community being affected by their stormy moods...

and the only one who can save them is Audrey Parker,or Lucy Ripley or Sarah, all played by Emily Rose
(ER, JERICHO) ...

The true "Haven Saver" has had many identities over the years and  each has had a great lover that has fought along side her but  in the end had to let her go back to where she came to end the troubles, until now, when Nathan Wuornos, a local cop, played by Lucas Bryant, in his first starring role...

decides not to let Audrey go, sending Haven and the world spinning, all in the name of love.

Now in its fourth season, Colin Ferguson (EUREKA) has joined the cast to stir things up a little bit more, claiming he is actually Audrey's true love and she is not really the "savior" everyone thinks she is.

In the name of love, also defines the now completed SyFy series, FARSCAPE...

A Buck Rogers-esque story..

In this take of the classic comic strip, John Crichton, testing a new maneuver, is slingshot from our galaxy to one far, far away and a whole lot weirder, often defying and reinventing the laws of physics and convention and  Crichton often making references to BAYWATCH, BUFFY and classic movies such as HARVEY...

Coming out of the mind of Rockne S. Bannon, the series came to realization thanks to the Jim Henson Company, creator of THE MUPPETS, his son Brian a producer on the show with two of the main character being basically puppets...

Like HAVEN, FARSCAPE centers on the love between Crichton and Aeryn Sun, a peacekeeper deserter who in the first episode, Crichton inspires to "be more". It takes about three episodes for the two to "fall" for each other, but then will be kept apart through four season by well...aliens, warring factions and a worm hole weapon of mass destruction that everybody knows resides deep inside Crighton's head, along with his black leather version of "Harvey". 

Yes, FARSCAPE  is that weird and yes, you either love it or hate it, much like HAVEN. Both shows are asking you to suspend your understanding of the universe as you know it. 

Right now you can view the whole series of FARSCAPE on hulu.com...

and on tor.com you can read episode commentaries with a lot of pics,  by FARCAPE expert, Scott K. Andrews.

HAVEN is also available on hulu.com, but it is delayed a few weeks in the episodes you can view. You can catch a few current epido on the SyFy Channel's HAVEN website , along with pictures and behind the scene stuff. Seasons 1-3 are available on netflix.com Like I do often, not good at waiting, I bought HAVEN season 4 on amazon.com and now get the current episode right after it airs. 

The Missing Link: Dsylexia and Creativity

October was Dyslexia Awareness Month and HBO featured the documentary, THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA, on the much misunderstood learning disability.

The film was directed and  produced by the son of Robert Redford, James Redford, and features the journey from high school into college of his son, Dylan, along with the journeys of many others now excelling in their lives and fields, despite their early struggles with the learning disability, including Charles Schwab, the investor, who has set up a foundation for kids with dyslexia  and Richard Branson...

creator of Virgin Records and a few other enterprises

THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DSYLEXIA, screened at the 2012 Sundance Film Fest, not only features the struggles of Dyslexics and their families, it also gets into the science of this different learning style with interviews by Drs. Sally and Bennett Shaywitz, co-directors of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, who discuss how advancements in brain imagery has brought to light  the " hidden disability" and illuminated  the other side of the coin- Dsylexics also have strentghs such as  "higher critical thinking and creativity".

Having the disability myself, I know the battle of starting out in the "parking lot" of dyslexia and having to run to catch up with my peers who were already on the track when it came to learning and reading.

I survived school solely  by finding creative ways to learn and finding  refuge in the Arts- Visual Art, Music and Theater are not filler activities, they are much needed for the 1 in 5 students, according to the documentary, who has some degree of dyslexia- it can be moderate to severe.

Like many in the film, it was not my school who gave me the diagnosis. I was just told I had a learning disability and made to walk on a balance beam, in the Resource Room, apparently I am not the only one subjected to such things as a kid.
I diagnosed myself, in college, while studying for my Art emphasis of  Child Development and Education Psychology, but I didn't find that answer in my textbooks, nope, I read an article in a gossip magazine, on...

Tom Cruise.

 

And guessing on the years I was in college, it probably was this movie...

 

COCKTAIL (1988), that was being prompted...

 

I could probably show you where I was sitting in the college library, dyslexics have a strong memory recall of such things, but instead of studying I was reading People Magazine when I found out Tom Cruise was dyslexic and read quite a detailed paragraph on how he mixed up his letters, didn't know right from left, had a hard time reading. There was enough there that the bell went off and I then went looking for some info in the books surrounding me, but back in the late 80's, there wasn't much even in the Education Department. 

 

I brought the idea up to my Educational Psychology professor, who cut me off, declaring that Dyslexia was only a difficulty in reading, nothing more, emphasizing his point by writing the word on the board with his chalk.

 

Twenty years later, researchers like the Shaywitzs are now declaring  something different and new technology in brain scanning is proving the new ideas have some validity- that dyslexics learn and process information differently and that while dyslexia is most certainly a disability to overcome, there is some pluses to the negatives like being able to think 3 dimensionally, ability to notice patterns and commonalities  and having a strong internal narrative that sends those with dyslexia to fields in the Arts, but there are also many a lawyer and writer that has dyslexia.

 

And now today, there are many, who had to deal with the stigma of being lazy or deficient as kids while they literally reinventing the wheel to learn, who are standing up and sharing their stories- I am glad to do the same if it brings some light and helps a kid, today, not have to walk a balance beam or get a big R and L written in marker on their hands and drilled, thinking that more practice is all we, dyslexic need to learn.   

 



And you are "defiantly....defiantly"...

to quote from another of Tom Cruise's movies...

 

 reading this blog- ON POPCORN AND MOVIES: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CINEMA AND CULTURE.....because I have dyslexia and have weirdly noticed  patterns and commonalites in T.V. , in film and cinema's connection to our culture for years and have been entertaining my friends and family... or annoying them. I was an Internet Movie Data Base, (imdb.com) before there was one.

 

Interestingly, one theory and there are many, discussed in the book, The Dyslexic Advantage...

 

 

Is that Dyslexia is the opposite of Autism...

 

An Autistic brain, with its own interesting sets of talents, like counting all the toothpicks on the floor or raking it up in Las Vegas, has tightly packed mini columns of sensors, where dyslexics have loose min columns of sensors, with the ability to make long connections across the brain. Autistics focus on each tree, Dyslexics see the big picture, the forests, the other side of the planet but have a hard time finding the tree.

 

if you are interested...

 

HBO's page for THE BIG PICTURE, RETHINKING DYSLEXIA,

( which airs again in December and the page has links to other resources)

 

THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA's home page

 

Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity

 

and you can rent or buy THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA on amazon.com

 

 

 

 

A GRIMM prediction...

The new season of GRIMM, Fridays on NBC, is into its second week and is still largely stitching up...

story lines from last season, but also setting up new interesting one for this season. Thank goodness, but also irrigating-ly, lots of questions are still unresolved- keys, coins, Royals in Europe with great concern for what is happening in Portland and are we going to see Nick's bad ass mother again, who is played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio...

Kevin Costner's Maid Marian in ROBIN HOOD:PRINCE OF THEIVES back in 1991...

Back to GRIMM, I've watched the two first episodes several times,  peering into my crystal ball and making my own prediction of where this "modern fairytale is going.

The "real" Nick, played by  David Giuntoli, is still in Portland, saved by the gang...

 

 

thwarting  the Royals attempt to "bag" their own Grimm, but can the "Town Crier" actually proclaim, "All is Well..."?

It seems, with how many times all action on the screen stopped to make sure we, the viewer,  heard ...

"The Zombie infection works differently on a Grimm"

 

And it did,  wearing off too soon in the plane, to the demise of the Baron and Nick needing two doses of the antidote.

I think we have not seen the last Zombie in Portland. Nick's altered state  might  be the running theme for this first part of the season, like Juliette being poisoned in Season 2.

Now the questions is, if Nick is not entirely cured of being a "walking dead," what does that mean?

Thinking about it, seem to me, it could go two ways. Nick, like Peter Parker, bitten by a spider...

 

might have added abilities, like him being able to  hear from a far, after the "whole bugs in his eyes" episode, yuck!

But not sure how many actual zombie characteristics will prove to be beneficial,  unless he needs to travel  the distance of the sea bed and breathing is inconvenient, like the sentient zombies...

in Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

 

It seems more likely for Nick...

having a certain amount of zombie organism, alive and well inside him, will prove to be somewhat of a hindrance...

Perhaps a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde sort of hindrance?

 

Because in an episodic series there always has to be something keeping those who love each other apart...

Believe me if I am right, I will declare it from the rafters.....if I am wrong, I probably won't mention it again, that's how I roll!