I’m so sad

Patrick Swayze died yesterday. He was one of my all-time favorite actors/famous person. There was something I absolutely adored about him, and truth be told, I soooo wanted him (or his twin) to come take me away. He’s a great definition of a man. A supreme definition of a man. And in Roadhouse when he is shirtless working out by the lake…oh man, be still my heart. I know Roadhouse is cheesy, but it’s always been one of my favorites. And the way he moves his hips in Dirty Dancing made my eyes melt. Yeah, hawt!

When I was watching Anderson Cooper last night, they gave a startling statistic…only 4% of people who get pancreatic cancer beat it and live. That’s such an amazingly low number. They said by the time it’s found, and it can only be found through a CAT scan, it’s already metasticized into the liver and such. And they also said that the symptoms are practically non-existent, which is so scary. The main one to watch for, though, is sudden, unexplained weight loss. Now I know that sounds great to many of us out there, lol, but medically, it’s not, which is pretty obvious.

It’s weird, but I’ve reached a point in my life where stars passing away is actually starting to affect me. Never really bothered me up until this year, and then it’s like “Wow. I grew up with them.” No, we don’t “know” them, but it’s amazing how much a part of our lives these people become. I was completely floored when MJ died, and so sad for Farrah and now Patrick. One of the first movies I really watched when I was a teen was Dirty Dancing, the first music video I ever watched was “Thriller”, and Farrah always reminded me of my mom (same hair back in the day).

My Movies from A to Z

My fave movies. You’ll notice some of these have two and some of these have none. I wasn’t going to pick between movies I like equally and only have one up there, and I wasn’t going to come up with movies for letters that don’t have any, since, um, I don’t have any faves that start with those letters. =P

A- 1) American History X, 2) American Beauty = 1) I remember when this one came out, the uproar there was about racism and all that nonsense. I even remember it being taken out of the movie theatres because people were so offended by it….and the people who were offended by it were the ones that only watched the first half. If you don’t watch the second half, you don’t even get the movie at all and walk away with completely the wrong impression. This is such a powerful movie with such strong characters. 2) I love all the little plot lines in this one and all the little surprises. I think almost everyone has seen this one though, so I don’t think I really need to go into why I like it. =)

B-Backdraft – Classic. Without a doubt. I used to date a fireman for about a year when I was a Junior in high school, and needless to say, he and all of his buddies had this one memorized. =) Plus, it takes place in Chicago, which is one of the places I grew up. South Bend was only an hour away, so I spent a lot of time there. Heck, I even when with that fireman boyfriend and did a tour of all the Chicago firehouses.

C-Cannonball Run – Comedy, cars, speed? What more could you ask for? And for those of you who don’t know, there really is a Cannonball Run. It’s something my hubby and I have always wanted to do, but the fee to race in it is pure craziness. I can’t remember off the top of my head how much it is, but it’s pretty high. We’re talking thousands upon thousands of dollars. Plus the car. We have a couple of cars we could use, but we’d have to do some work on them to make them Cannonball worthy, which would take more moola. =P

D-Days of Thunder – Ah, Tom Cruise when Tom Cruise was awesome. “Rubbin’ is racin’!” I don’t really have to say anything about this one, either. Lol Classic. Simply classic.

E-Empire Records – I adore this one. Especially because at time I first saw this, when I was in high school, I could relate to sooo much of it. And FYI, G.I. Jane’s Demi shaving her head scene was stolen from this movie. =P

F-1) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 2) Four Rooms – 1) Ah, Fear and Loathing. I watched this when I was in high school, when I used to do all that crazy shit. My husband can’t freakin’ stand it, but I still love it. 2) Classic Tarantino. One hotel, one bellhop, four rooms, four stories. Lots of big names in the movie, too. Madonna, Bruce Willis, Antonio Banderas, Quentin himself, Tim Roth (the bellman). I love Tim Roth in this movie and all of his outrage/surprised spluttering. And the stories in it are just WHACKED! Then again, it is Tarantino. Would you expect anything less?

G-Ghostbusters – “Who ya gonna call?” Well, probably not the Ghostbusters, but still. I used to have the theme song set as the ringer on my old cell phone. =P And, for Halloween this year, Myles and I are going to dress up as Ghostbusters. LOL Me in a girly version of it, and Myles in the classic version of it. I remember watching it over and over at my uncle’s house when I was little and when I see it on the Cable guide, I go to it every time.

H-1) Half Baked, 2) Hancock – 1) When I saw Half Baked, there were times I was laughing so hard that my friends had to pause the movie until I stopped laughing, or rewind it because they’d missed something because I was laughing so hard. And yes, I said rewind. It was on VHS. =P I L-O-V-E Dave Chapelle, so yeah. 2) Hands down, the best super hero movie I’ve ever seen.

I-NONE

J-1) Jersey Girl, 2) Joe Dirt – 1) I love Kevin Smith movies, but other than Clerks 1, this has to be my fave. Some of the lines are priceless in it. And it’s just a damn good story/movie. 2) Seriously? Do I need to explain this one? Really?

K-K-Pax – I love Kevin Spacey, as this is his second movie on the list. There’s just something about this one I adore.

L-(The) Little Mermaid – My favorite Disney cartoon/movie of all time, hands down. One of my very first memories of seeing a movie in the movie theatre was seeing this movie with my mom and dad and brother. I remember when it got to the part where Sebastian says “Teenagers…You give them an inch, dey swim all over you,” my brother and I laughed so hard we cried. =) Now I have a couple of “nieces” who like to watch it, and I’ll still cuddle right up with them and watch every bit of it, even when they “rewind” the songs they want to hear again. =) If I have a little girl, she WILL like this movie, dammit!

M-(The) Mothman Prophecies – This movie gives me the creeps every time I see it, and I’ve seen it quite a few times. I know that one the reasons I like it so much is because it’s based on a true story, and I love “ghostie” stories based on real life events.

N-Natural Born Killers – Oh, dude. Love it. It goes perfectly with my twisted mind. =) The violence, the crazy mind trips…and you can’t mean to tell me that you’ve never once entertained the notion of just completely going off. The two of them are just evil genius at its best. Without a doubt one of my all-time top ten movies. Plus, who wouldn’t want to be as kick ass as Mallory?

O- 1) Ocean’s 11, 2) Office Space, 3) Old School = 1) Only Ocean’s 11, though. When you watch the first one, you have absolutely no clue there’s going to be the crazy ending there is. That’s taken away from the following two, because after seeing 11, you’re expecting it in 12 and 13. Not to say those two aren’t good, you just don’t have the same “OMG!” moment you do with 11.  2)  And what’s not to love about Office Space and the red Swingline stapler, huh? FYI, did you know the red stapler was made specifically for that movie and they only made them after the movie because the demand for them was so high? 3) Old School is classic. Simply classic. Then again, I love Vince Vaughn. I think he’s freaking hilarious, as well as Will Ferrell. Pure comedy. And one of my fave lines comes from that movie…”We’re goin’ streakin’!”

P-Pulp Fiction – Anyone know what the Band-Aid is for? I do!!! And what’s in the briefcase? I do! He sold his soul to the devil, and in some ancient myths, when you sell your soul to the devil, the devil takes it through a hole in your neck. And do you know what’s in the briefcase? His soul. =)

Q-NONE

R-1) Roadhouse, 2) Rudy – 1) I love me some Patrick Swayze, and I love how hot he is in this one. Plus, it’s just a kick-ass movie. 2) I’m from South Bend, grew up within walking distance of Notre Dame…need I say more? And yes, I can look at the credits and see people I know that were used as extras. And yes, Corbys is a real bar, and yes, I’ve been there. Though it’s in a different location now.

S-1) Smokey and the Bandit, 2) Slingblade – 1) Ah, Burt Reynolds when he was freaking awesome. Another classic movie I could watch over and over and over. And it’s where Daryl Waltrip gets “Boogity, boogity, boogity” from. Cletus says it. (By the way, when I get preggers, I’m gonna call the kid “Cletus the Fetus”.) 2) I love Billy Bob Thornton, except for his weird Angelina stage, and this is one of my fave movies with him in it. “Mmm hmmm. Mustard and biscuits.” And it’s also just a really good strory.

T-1) The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 2) Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby – 1) RHPS is probably my all-time favorite movie, hands down, no doubt about it. I’ve seen it too many times to even count, and people hate watching it with me because I have it memorized. Yeah, it’s that bad. 2) I mentioned before that I love Will Ferrell, and what’s not to love about this movie? “Sweet baby Jesus…”

U-NONE

V-Vanilla Sky – This one was done right before Tom went off the deep end into couch-jumping Scientology land. I love the fact that when you think about it and how far technology has come, this could be an option in the future. And it just goes to show, that even something that’s supposed to be perfect can go horribly wrong.

W-Wedding Crashers – Ah, the hilarity of this movie. Love it. As I stated above, I love Vince Vaughn, and I love him and Owen Wilson together. They’re a match made in heaven. And the scuba-diving sign language scene? Priceless.

X- NONE

Y-Young Guns – There’s something about these movies that I just love. I can’t even lay out a bunch of reasons for you, I just like them. =) But then again, I’ve always been an Emilio Estevez fan for some reason.

Z-NONE

Gran Torino

Myles and I watched this movie last night. It had been in our Netflix queue since we saw previews for it, but I moved it up when I heard some friends at work talking about watching it and how much they loved it.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have a habit of watching movies and critiquing them how I would read a book, and I habit a habit of reading books like I am editing them. =P It has to be a really good book for me to be able to shut down my editor switch. With Gran Torino, I pretty much forgot I even had a switch so I could “turn” on my editor self.

The movie was phenomenal. I loved Clint Eastwood’s character, Walt. Watching him develop was great, not to mention his attitude. He’s a complete ass, but some of the crap that comes out of his mouth, you just can’t help but laugh at him. I think a lot of people probably watch it and see how hateful he is to Asians and how racist he is toward them because f his time in the Korean War, but if you pay attention, he’s a derogatory ass to EVERYONE. He just cracked me up. I sooo want to be like that when I’m an old fart.

The movie seems a bit slow in the beginning, but you still don’t want to just turn it off, like I have done before with other movies without a second thought. I’d have to say that it’s one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. And for those of you who know me, you know I don’t cry at movies. NEVER. I honestly didn’t cry at the end of Marley and Me. I’m the only person I know who didn’t, but I cried at the end of Gran Torino. Yup. Amazing.