Romantic Country Music, Sexy Rock

Well, I finally feel a true appreciation for older country music. I realize I love the romantic nature of it. Some songs make me cry but most of them are about love. Really enjoying John Anderson, Clinton Gregory, Merle Haggard and George Strait lately. Especially Clinton Gregory and John Anderson. Don't know why Clinton Gregory isn't as famous as George Strait, etc. I prefer his beautiful voice and style over Merle, George and about everyone else. Every song sounds like a number one hit.

Heart of Gold

Oh my, listening to Neil Young on Youtube, singing Heart of Gold. Wow, brings tears to my eyes. Part of my youth, part of my heart. I ask myself what the tears are for and I imagine they are like the tears a child cries when they see a loved one they were very close to after a long absence. The music of the 60's and 70's was so full of love and idealism. It makes your heart swell, makes you feel so full, so much more than your everyday life. It takes you beyond the earthly bonds, you become one with the sky, the sun, all life.
I wonder how the successive generations have been able to develop their souls without that kind of music. Of course, many of them still listen to our music of 40 years ago. Just heard Stairway to Heaven on the local town radio this morning. That was nice. I usually have to search all the rock stations until I find some Led Zeppelin. Fifty-eight now, and I still love Led Zeppelin more than any other music. But, all my other favorites like Neil Young, are right up there and have the ability to bring the tears. The beauty is just so intense. Thank God, the idealistic heart is still to be found.

The Adjustment Bureau. Matt Damon always delivers!

Who would have thought that The Adjustment Bureau would be a love story?  It had all the suspense of Matt's other movies like, The Bourne Identity, etc., but it was due to his need to be with the one he loved in spite of the threat to have his mind "reset" by the higher-ups who keep the life plans of people running smoothly.

It was non-stop suspense, but, I still found myself wanting to fast forward through it a little.  Kind of long in order to flesh out the details of this "adjustment bureau."  They kind of worked like one of the solitaire games I play that tells you whether the game is winnable or not winnable after each move you make.  They make adjustments to people to be sure they stay on the correct course planned for them so they can make the correct contributions to the world.  Matt and his love are not supposed to meet and be together.  It will change the future planned for them.  But, in the end a love worth sacrificing everything for, wins out.

That Old Feeling

Ahhh, this movie is so much fun!  I saw the last part again of That Old Feeling with Bette Midler and Dennis Farina (who I love), last night and remembered what a great movie it is.  I have seen it several times and love it just as much each time.  A bride's divorced parents, now remarried to other people, come to her wedding and find they still have that old feeling and can't resist each other.  They are all over each other, sneaking away to the parking lot where they steam up some car windows. The daughter marries a straight-laced young politician and, with her parents' help, realize they don't really love each other.  She falls for the photographer who follows her famous mother around after her mother and father lock them in a hotel room together overnight.  Lots of bedlam and hilarious hijinks throughout the movie as the mother and father try to run away from everyone.  Directed by Carl Reiner, the cast is perfect.  I have always liked Dennis Farina.   Would love to see him in more romantic/comedy roles. This is my favorite Bette Midler movie, too.  Always laugh throughout this movie and love the ending.  Even with two people who have trouble getting along with each other for more than five minutes, it is nice to see love win out over all else in the end.  

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. ATTRIBUTION: The Mourning Bride by William Congreve

A note explaining some of the music choices, like the perky version of Dixie or the marches.  I was searching you tube for videos on metal detecting and came across this one in Kansas that had a fabulous version of Dixie.  It is so lively and fun to listen to and always improves my mood (I am from the North, but I love Civil War history and respect the heck out of the people who fought on both sides)!  The tune was a popular minstrel song before the South adopted it as their anthem during the Civil War.  But, hey, they picked the best tune for getting the tired, disheartened soldiers going again.   I also liked the John Phillip Souza march of Dixie. Really, you can kick your depressed mood by listening to these versions of Dixie and soon be whistling along!

Some of the others are just favorites from my youth like Quicksilver Messenger, In the Country by Three Dog Night, Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Moody Blues, Wishbone Ash, David Crosby, etc.  I would have more videos of Led Zeppelin, my number one all-time favorite band, and some other favorites but they tend to be removed from youtube more due to copyright issues.

The others are just favorite songs I have found over the years.  My partner and I got to know each other over Soulful Strut by Hugh Masekela.  An old boyfriend who was a good bluegrass guitarist always said Windy and Warm by Doc Watson was my song.  I liked the way my boyfriend played it even more than Doc Watson.  It was a little slower which allowed a little more emotion to come through, I think.  I heard Glen Campbell sing I Remember You about the time I was getting married and I fell in love with it.  It is still my favorite version and we played it at our wedding.  (I saw an interview recently with Glen Campbell talking about his recent diagnosis of Alzheimers and he still looks great and sings great at 75). Yeah, marriages don't always last but often the friendship does.  I appreciate them all!

I have lots more favorite songs and artists but haven't loaded them on the player, yet.  Oh, I've added another big favorite, Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo!

The movie clips are either favorites from movies I have posts about or are to show how sexy or romantic some actor is or some song or scene is!  That is why I have Elliot Cowan who played Mr. Darcy in Lost in Austen, Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black, Brendan Fraser, the hottest Tarzan, in George of The Jungle.  And I only put Christopher Lee on there as Dracula to illustrate how he was the hot vampire in my youth like the hot vampires in the current phase of vampire and fantasy movies.

I recently added the song and video for You and Tequila, by Kenney Chesney and Grace Potter.  It is hypnotic and they do it so well.

Music transports me to lovely places and times.  Hope you find some you enjoy.

Hereafter with Mat Damon

Kind of a nice, quiet movie.  I like that even though his psychic ability interferes with his ability to have a normal life or relationship, he finds in the end that it doesn't prevent him from finding the "one" he is destined to be with.  The one who is of like mind, the one who understands without saying a word, the one who is part of his soul.   I like that idea.  Hope it is true.  Nice to think that no matter how screwed up any one of us are or our lives are, we might still have a divine plan for our lives that puts everything right.  Let's hope so!

Embrace the Chaos! Hot Tub Time Machine!

Had a blast watching this movie!  The pace was good and the "fairytale" story was what anyone would want-a chance to do your youth over and come out with a perfect life and perfect love.  We laughed a lot but really enjoyed the story.  You know that great place in time you go to when you are just having fun, maybe at a party, at the lake, in your backyard, and you forget everything else and actually live in the moment for a while??  This movie does that for me.  It takes me away and lets me live in the moment just laughing and having fun and forgetting everything else for awhile.  Very therapeutic.

The opening scene has John Cusack listening to a mean message on the answering machine from his ex-girlfriend who has moved out and taken almost everything in their home with her and is rubbing it in.  He hates his life and ends up being thrown together with 2 old friends from his youth when one of them nearly dies after passing out in his car while listening to Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue with the car running while parked in a closed garage.  They decide to all go away to a ski resort that was a favorite party place from their younger days, hoping to help their depressed friend.  When they get there, they all get in the hot tub, drinking, smoking and laughing all night.  They wake up in the 80's of their youth.  Silly idea or not, it is still hilarious!

As usual, this Led Zeppelin-loving old hippie discovered some really fun music (not a lot, though-it was the eighties after all!).  I am a fan of "Let's Get It Started" as done for the movie by Craig Robinson.  Will add it above to my youtube video player.  And, I will be listening to more Motley Crue!

I have to admit, I found John Cusack's drug binge after an old love breaks up with him, hilarious.  Clark Duke, the young, nerdy guy, is hilarious and is trying to keep the other guys from doing anything different to change the future, to ensure that he will still be born.   He finds John Cusack sitting in the dark in the hotel room binging on alcohol and drugs and Clark grabs a bag of psychodelic mushrooms and says, "Mushrooms?  You are eating mushrooms?!"  John says, "I was hungry."  When Clark storms out of the room, John picks the bag up and eats some more!

Loved all the actors and have always been a fan of John Cusack.  His future love in this has a great line, "Just embrace the chaos ."  I think she added, "and see what surprises life brings,"  or some similar sentiment.  I like that.  Love the idea of giving up the need to control and obsess over every detail of your life.  Just let it go and keep trying to do and be better, without all the guilt and emotion.  We, like the characters in the movie, before they went back in time, are a product of our negative expectations about ourselves and our potential.  Try starting with a clean slate, at least with your own attitude, each day, believing that you can do anything and BE OPEN TO WHATEVER GRAB BAG OF SURPRISES THE UNIVERSE GIVES YOU!

Leap Year-A touch of Irish Magic!

Maybe it is not the most believable story, but we want to believe it.  It is very romantic, particularly the premise of the love story, that two people can meet and fall in love very quickly, in spite of what they had planned for themselves,  then take that leap and commit to a lifetime together because they suddenly "KNOW" it is right.  Somehow, being set in Ireland, it seems all the more believable.  I get the feeling that the Irish make passionate choices and stand by them for a lifetime.

Anna, Amy Adams, has been dating her cardiologist boyfriend, Adam Scott, for four years and is buying an apartment with him, so, when he is seen leaving a jewelry store, she assumes he is going to propose to her at their special dinner the night before he leaves for a convention in Dublin.  To her dismay, he has only bought her diamond earrings.  So, her father suggests she could go to Ireland and take advantage of an old Irish tradition of the woman proposing to the man on the 29th of February, Leap Day of a Leap year.

She decides to do just that.  Although, Leap Day is a few days away, she encounters heavy storms and her best efforts to get to Dublin leave her stranded at a small pub/restaurant/inn, still a ways from Dublin.   The owner, Declan (Matthew Goode), is in a financial pinch and decides he will drive her to Dublin for money to pay off his restaurant debt.  They are at each other's throats from the beginning and as they leave for Dublin, one of the pub regulars remarks to another regular that they will kill each other.

Of course, they have many mishaps and delays but, have to cooperate with each other some of the time, getting to know each other a little better in the process.  They are forced to stay in a bed and breakfast and pretend to be married as the owners are very definite about what is right and readily show they are still mad about each other after 44 years of marriage.  Anna and Declan try to ignore a growing attraction to each other, but, it is getting pretty obvious by the time they get her to Dublin and her waiting boyfriend.  Her boyfriend proposes to her almost as soon as he sees her and Declan watches a moment, then turns and leaves.

She accepts her boyfriend's proposal and at a house party in their new apartment learns that he proposed because the apartment board had called him in Ireland and hinted that they preferred to sell to a married couple.  He said to a shocked Anna and two of their friends, "why the hell not!"  Declan had asked her once what was the one thing she would grab if her home was burning.  Suddenly Anna seems to know that she is not really that important to Jeremy, her fiance.  She sees the fire alarm and pulls it, watching to see what he considers most important to grab in that 60 seconds before getting out of a burning apartment.  He is grabbing his laptop, remote controls and business stuff.  He calls to her to get something for him, but she is gone.  She is on her way to Ireland.

In front of a full restaurant, she proposes to Declan that they agree to make no plans and see where this thing is going.  He walks away, she assumes, in rejection of her, but as she ends up at the cliffs, staring at the sea, he comes up behind her saying he had to get something.  He says he rejects her proposal to not make plans, because he wants to make plans with her, then he asks her to marry him as he holds out his mother's ring, the one thing he said he would get in his 60 seconds if his home was on fire.  She accepts, of course.

What is great about this movie, is Amy Adams ability to portray great emotion, in spite of a contrived script, and Matthew Goode's ability to portray with his expressions, alone, that he is a man of deep convictions who, once he commits to something, will stand by that commitment all his life.  Amy Adams is always worth watching no matter how silly the movie is.  She can tell a beautiful story without saying a word.

We are so used to being able to choose what we want from one moment to the next, that, we tend to have a difficult time making those kinds of commitments.  That is what I love about this movie.  You can actually believe that they are able to make such a deep and lasting commitment and you wish you could experience that kind of commitment in your life.  (I have run from commitment all my life!  My partner and I have been living together thirteen years!)

I have been working on an Irish-American family tree for an Irish man and woman, Mary and Patrick Hogan, who came to America,  met, married in Michigan, moved to Kansas, raised a large family, sticking it out through many hard years in Kansas and living into their 80's.  I wonder if they were madly in love and chose a life together, never once re-thinking that decision.  I suspect they did.   I bought a box of stuff at an auction many years ago, in Central Kansas and found an interesting wooden cylinder with a hidden, hollow area inside.  It has some carved decoration on it and the ends look solid, but, one of them comes off when you turn it.  Inside were Hogan family records of births, deaths and the actual marriage record made by the pastor who married them in about 1863 in Michigan.  I was so charmed by this family history that I have tried ever since to find relatives who would treasure it as I am sure the original family treasured it.  Maybe Patrick made it himself.  This movie makes me wonder if it is an Irish thing, to commit so fully.  Or, is it a thing of the past, when life was short and difficult and people didn't have the luxury of a lot of choices and had to be more decisive?  Much as I have always feared being trapped in a bad relationship, I envy that kind of commitment.

I watched the movie three times and saw new things every time.  You have to pay attention and listen closely for those little comments that Declan makes under his breath.  Many of the little things you might have missed, tell the story of the growing feeling between them.  And, I have been craving a "Hang Sandwich" all day!

Three Days and Counting

 Counting the days until the 27th when It's Complicated comes out on video so I can buy a copy and just wallow in it until I have had enough!  I think it is a babyboomer thing.  Going back to the scene of the crime (our youth, or things that allow us to relive some small part of it)!  I enjoyed all of this movie and can't wait to get it.  I only wish my life had turned out as successful as theirs!  Jeez-I guess I just didn't plan well!!  I was too busy just living.  Oops.

Date Night, Tina Fey and Steve Carell

  Hey, movie pickin's are getting slim lately, what with all the rush to vampire love and fantasy!  Ok, I am old, I admit it.  There was a time, when I was young and just developing my romantic tastes that I kind of got the hots big time for Christopher Lee after seeing him as Dracula.  He was the best and the sexiest of any I have seen.  Later, saw Frank Langella in Count Dracula and he was also pretty good, but Christopher Lee is my favorite.  Just looking him up online, I saw a photo of him with white hair, probably in his eighties, but he looked just as sexy as ever!  I will try to find a clip to add to the video player.

Okay, I see that younger people today, have very little in the way of romantic ideals to turn to, so, I can see why they might love the vampire and fantasy movies.  I have no interest in them, though.  We did go see Date Night with Tina Fey and Steve Carell.  It was funny all the way through and, being babyboomers, we could relate to them just wanting to have a little romance in their life after a week of taking care of children and work and seeing their friends split up because they have become just "really good roommates."

Anyone who has been in a longterm relationship can relate to that.  Which, made me wonder if being really "good" roommates, or "partners" isn't what marriage has ALWAYS been about.  Isn't that the real purpose of marriage?  Isn't that the best you can expect?  Then, when you have a little more free time, you begin to enjoy that comraderie, that comfort of knowing what you like and don't like, sharing inside jokes, laughing at each other when you get into little arguments because you no longer let them bother you?  Well, I kind of think that is pretty neat. 

Tina and Steve seemed to come out of it all with the same idea, I think.  Oh, they did explore one good idea.  That partners seem to pigeon-hole each other into certain stereotypes after years of living together, and that they need to just stop and allow their partner to be in charge once in a while and show that they can handle whatever if you let them.  Tina seemed to think that Steve could not possibly come up with a successful plan to solve their current dilemma and he called her on it and said, for once, just let him show her he can.  And he did.  She was pleasantly surprised.  Makes me wonder how much we all make those close to us live up to our negative expectations of them by contstantly reinforcing them in our minds and in theirs.  Just start with a fresh slate everyday, show some respect for your partner and let them be capable and competent masters of their world.  Negative expectations are no good for anyone!

Honeymoon and That Hagen Girl

  Well, I keep looking for a movie to go to and am just not seeing any that appeal that much.  So, will talk briefly about another couple of old Shirley Temple movies I saw today on TCM, both made in 1947.  The first one, Honeymoon, also starred Franchot Tone and Guy Madison.   It was fun, with a silly story about a young couple that can't wait to get married because the groom to be, Guy Madison, is in the service and about to be shipped off somewhere, so Shirely Temple lies and says she is married so she can follow him to Mexico and get married.  They involve the American Consulate, where Franchot Tone comes in.  It has exotic locale, romantic comedy and the always great Shirley Temple, who can make the goofiest stories interesting.  All I can say is, it seems that true love is just a matter of choice and committment, fooling yourself into believing it is true love, then working hard at maintaining that belief for the rest of your life.

The next Shirely Temple movie that came on, That Hagan Girl, was about small town gossip and how it can ruin people's lives and prevent them from ever becoming something in life.  Ronald Reagan was very nice in this and so was Shirley Temple.  Rory Calhoun was handsome and believable as Shirley's high school suitor.  It makes me think that the people who are willing to let their parents influence who they marry, especially the guys, are really not that in love or worth being in love with.  I remember the shock I felt, when a boyfriend told me his parents disapproved of me because my mother was divorced.  Thank God I was raised by an independent, open-minded, single mother who taught me by example to look beyond that kind of prejudice.  Good riddance to the worthless guy, too!

The Accidental Husband and The Only Thrill

We rented a few movies this weekend and The Accidental Husband was one of them, along with The Only Thrill.  In The Accidental Husband, Uma Thurman was a radio relationship counselor all set to marry Colin Firth, the man she judged to be the sensible choice.  She advises a caller who happens to be about to marry a local firefighter to break it off with him right before the wedding.  The firefighter is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan who was pretty sexy and charismatic.  I have never seen him before, but he was perfect for the part.  He has a very direct, honest, in-your-face kind of approach to love and life and sets out to cause the relationship doctor the same kind of grief she caused him when she advised his fiance to break off the wedding.  He lets his landlord's teenage son, a skilled computer hacker, insert his name on the doctor's marriage license so she is unable to get married until she resolves this seeming glitch that has a different man's name already listed as her husband.  She tracks him down so they can correct the marriage license.  He begins to like her and tries to drag out the process of correcting the license and they end up in love.  I am not crazy about Uma Thurman, but, Jeffrey made the movie fun and interesting.

My take on this one is something I have thought for years - you can't find love by tallying a compatibility list and deciding someone is a good choice.  Compatibility is nice if you are not so alike that you are more like twins or siblings, but, it just does not make up for the chemistry that I feel needs to be there.  I believe you have to meet someone face-to-face to feel that connection.  And, I know how that chemistry thing can end up being nothing but a physical chemistry, but I still believe you can't REALLY fall in love on the internet, or through letters, or whatever.  You can think that you love each other and have everything in common but that feeling you feel when you look into each other's eyes, can't happen on paper or a computer screen.

The Only Thrill was also interesting, but a little long.  It starred Diane Keaton, Sam Shepherd, Diane Lane and Robert Patrick.  The moral of this story was, when you love someone, tell them and get them to stay with you.  I can relate.  I am patient.  I tend to think that when I think I feel something compelling for someone but it is not so easy to act on it, I will just wait, even until the next life!  Anything to avoid having to put myself out too much.  In the movie, Sam and Diane Keaton missed out on a life together but always loved each other.  Life has a way of slipping by rather quickly and Sam lost his chance to be with Diane.  Sam saw his son and Diane's daughter doing the same thing so he made his son go after her.  I thought it a little strange that someone like Sam's character would be so reluctant to commit to the woman he obviously loved.  He must have been a really repressed man.  The same with the son-why did he always avoid trying to get his love to stay with him?  As far as real life, I think it is more a question of being able to find that "love of your life" rather than not being able to tell them you love them.  

Romantic Places-Sedona, Arizona

 I have to mention my other favorite place on Earth, Sedona, Arizona.  It is so gorgeous and a wonderful place to get away for a romantic weekend.  I say "other" favorite place because the Kansas prairie is my favorite romantic place, with beautiful sunsets, sunrises and sunny, wide open blue skies you can see from every direction.  To me it is mysterious and beautiful.