It's Hoppy!!!

I'm making my christmas wish lists. (Yes, I said Christmas and Lists.) And I realized that I have a lot more moody music than anything, which I think is a bit odd when you consider the kind of music that I really like to listen to. So...I need some Hoppy Music suggestions. Hoppy = happy music that you can hop, skip and twirl too. The best example that I can come up with is The White Stripes. So please, suggest, SUGGEST, whisper in my ear, send me a myspace page link. Please!

Currently on the list: Best of David Bowie, "Love Actually" soundtrack, The Donnas, The Beatles and U2.

BTW, I love the nod to the movie in this Buffy quote.

Better Than a Giant Toothy Rabbit

I'm not sure what was going on with me yesterday. Possibly a sugar imbalance. Perhaps this quote from "Defending Your Life" describes it best.

Daniel Miller: Where were you? I'm just curious.
Bob Diamond: I'd tell you, but you wouldn't understand.
Daniel Miller: Don't treat me like a moron. Try me.
Bob Diamond: I was trapped near the inner circle of fault.
Daniel Miller: I don't understand.
Bob Diamond: I told you...

The link on yesterday's post has been fixed. That song is very much in my head. It has almost pushed out that one horrible, yet horribly funny, engrish song (track number one here since it was left off of the soundtrack) from "Lost in Translation" that was heard at Club Orange.

See? Getting my groove back.
I love wet umbrellas. I love it even more that I typed out forty poems that I wrote so many years ago into book form. Yes, I rolled my eyes more than once. Now the editing can begin! Sorry, no samples yet. Although, I'm hoping that this weekend will bring a couple more postcards so that I can take pictures of them and post here. I got a beautiful watercolor last night.
That reminds me...Halloween is approaching! I'm almost considering dressing up as a giant rabbit. Anyone want to take a gander as to why? (Clue: BTVS)
Buffy Quote:
Buffy: I didn't say I'd never slay another vampire. It's not like I have all these fluffy bunny feelings for them, I'm just not gonna get way extracurricular with it.

The Kitty Cat Song from G-Shack

Lollipop!

I just found this cd and it has me in giggles.

Yippie-ky-ai-aye!

For most people, Chuck Norris does it for them. Not me. I'm a Bruce Willis girl. He cracks me up, but the best part is that his characters are always tangible; there's that part you can always connect with. Hudson Hawk, Death Becomes Her, The Fifth Element, The Jackal, The Whole Nine Yards, Sin City...he's been great in all of them whether he's a cop or a crook. (In fact, I think if they did a remake of "Thief" they wouldn't know which side to put him on.) And last night I saw "Live Free or Die Hard" and guess what? It was great. Below are spoilers, not too in depth, but enough if you hate to hear anything about the movie beforehand.



SPOILERS:
PROS: Bruce Willis got bloody really early in the movie - when it happened I almost said out loud "But...that's not supposed to happen until the last scene!" Did this mean the end for John McClane?
The movie didn't hinge on that 'one thing' that so many other movies love to pull out during the climax. (E.g. some trifle fact in the beginning of the movie is the ace in the hero's pocket at the end of the movie when at any other time he would have lost the game.)
Kevin Smith playing...well...Kevin Smith. I bet he crapped his pants working with Bruce Willis. I know I would. (Just like in that scene in Ocean's Twelve...what? You forgot Bruce Willis was in Ocean's Twelve? Go! Watch it now!) I'm a bit surprised that, in the end, Kevin Smith didn't ask John McClane "Is she hot?"
I giggled every time someone said "Armageddon" to Bruce Willis - definitely something to drink to. By the third time I expected him to roll his eyes and then start singing "On a Jet Plane". Because, if Armageddon were to happen, then who would you rather have getting $h!t done than Bruce Willis?
Amazing stunts. Typically today's stunts are about the bigger and better explosion, whether it's a train, car or baby carriage, expect a big boom. In Live Free or Die Hard, there were plenty of places where they could have put huge, forced explosions, but didn't. Thank gods! Be sure to check out the scope of the 'traffic' stunts near the beginning of the movie.
McClane's daughter TOTALLY could have kicked the villian's @$$.
Two words: Senior Detective.



CONS: I didn't like the main villian. Mostly because he suffered from WLB (Whiny Little B!tch) Syndrome. I wanted to hand him some tissues thru out the movie. And policemen's daughters don't just ask to see the badge, they call in the damn badge number!
Apparently all of the tech/hacker stuff was wrong.
Not as much interaction with local workers like there was in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. Like, remember the aquaduct scene?
The techie finally fires a gun...AND HE ONLY USED ONE HAND! I'm pretty sure he closed his eyes too.
I'm surprised he didn't kick that pilot.
For a second, the actress playing the daughter looked like Jena Malone. But it wasn't.
Seeing McClane lost in all of the technological mumbo-jumbo. Like the expression 'don't bring a knife to a gun fight'...well...don't bring an old, toughened cop to a 01101110 01100101 01110010 01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 01100110.



*COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO THE MOVIE: This song is stuck in my head.

"Rainbow Connection" by Sarah M.

It's the Sweater

A local radio station keeps playing the Mister Rogers "Proud of You Song". It's stuck in my head. And it makes me happy.

Thanks for Making Us Happy

Don Ho.

He was my reason for wanting to go to Hawaii. Now, I guess I will have to surf. Go here and listen to him sing while you read the news article below.

'Tiny Bubbles' Singer Don Ho Dies at 76

By JAYMES SONG

Associated Press Writer

April 15, 2007, 1:18 PM EDT

HONOLULU -- Legendary crooner Don Ho, who entertained tourists for decades wearing raspberry-tinted sunglasses and singing the catchy signature tune "Tiny Bubbles," has died. He was 76.

He died Saturday morning of heart failure, publicist Donna Jung said.

Ho had suffered with heart problems for the past several years, and had a pacemaker installed last fall. In 2005, he underwent an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart in Thailand.

Promoter Tom Moffatt said he attended Ho's final show Thursday and Ho received a standing ovation. Afterward, Ho reminisced about his many years in Waikiki and talked about how Judy Garland sang with him one night.

"Don was in great spirits," he said. "He was fine."

Ho entertained Hollywood's biggest stars and thousands of tourists for four decades. For many, no trip to Hawaii was complete without seeing his Waikiki show -- a mix of songs, jokes, double entendres, Hawaii history and audience participation.

Shows usually started and ended with the same song, "Tiny Bubbles." Ho mostly hummed the song's swaying melody as the audience enthusiastically took over the familiar lyrics: "Tiny bubbles/in the wine/make me happy/make me feel fine."

"I hate that song," he often joked to the crowd. He said he performed it twice because "people my age can't remember if we did it or not."

The son of bar owners, Ho broke into the Waikiki entertainment scene in the early 1960s and, except for short periods, never left. Few artists are more associated with one place.

"Hawaii is my partner," Ho told The Associated Press in 2004.

Donald Tai Loy Ho, who was Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and German, was born Aug. 13, 1930, in Honolulu and grew up in the then-rural countryside of Kaneohe.

In high school, he was a star football player and worked for a brief time in a pineapple cannery. After graduating in 1949, he attended Springfield College in Massachusetts on an athletic scholarship. He grew homesick, returned to the islands and ended up graduating from the University of Hawaii in 1953 with a degree in sociology.

Inspired by the U.S. military planes flying in and out of Hawaii during World War II, Ho joined the Air Force. As the Korean War wound down, he piloted transport planes between Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu and Tokyo.

When he returned home and took over his parents' struggling neighborhood bar, Honey's, he put together a band and started performing at his father's request.

"I had no intention of being an entertainer," Ho said. "I just played songs I liked from the radio, and pretty soon that place was jammed. Every weekend there would be lines down the street."

Honey's became a happening place on Oahu, with other Hawaiian musicians stopping in for jam sessions. Ho began to play at various spots in Hawaii, then had a breakout year in 1966, when appearances at the Coconut Grove in Hollywood helped him build a mainland following, and the release of "Tiny Bubbles" gave him his greatest recording success.

Soon he was packing places such as the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Stars such as Lucille Ball, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra were known to be in the audience for Ho's shows.

Ho also became a television star, and hosted the "The Don Ho Show" on ABC from 1976-77. One of Ho's most memorable TV appearances was a 1972 cameo on an episode of "The Brady Bunch."

"I've had too much fun all these years," he said in the 2004 interview. "I feel real guilty about it."

Gov. Linda Lingle said Ho created a legacy that will inspire future generations of musicians in Hawaii.

"Hawaii has lost a true island treasure," she said. "He laid the foundation for the international prominence Hawaii's music industry enjoys today."

Besides "Tiny Bubbles," his other well-known songs include "I'll Remember You," "With All My Love," and the "Hawaiian Wedding Song."

In the final years of his life, Ho's heart problems couldn't keep him away from the stage. He was back performing at the Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel on a limited schedule less than two months after his heart procedure in Thailand. His final performance was Thursday, Jung said.

Ho is survived by his wife, Haumea, and 10 children, including Hoku, who sometimes performed with her father. Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

Songs for My Peeps in Pictures!

For VJ.
For Jen.
For Rezzie.
For Joy.

Mountain Trip to Old Japan

By the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players.
Please note that Trachtenburg is the last night of the actress who played Dawn.
That is all.

Retriever Dancing to You're the One that I Want

I love dooce.com

Found this at Dooce.com. It's the Indian version of Thriller.

Video Day

We borrowed Katamari Damacy from a friend and had to get a copy for ourselves. This is a video of Colleen on Katamari Damacy.

An actual video clip from the game.


Kitten toygers playing. Watching this video makes me remember Howl and Sophie playing last night. Howl was in a pouncing mood. At one point, Sophie new that he was behind her down the hall way, when she felt him make his leap at her, she crunched down and Howl leap frogged right over her.


"It's a Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys with video clips from the series Neon Genesis Evangelion. I listened to this song repeatedly about seven years ago.


When sperm whales attack.


Llama song.


Imagine if you left your home. Would you go to Burma? Would you sit among the natives as they gathered for a sing along? What song do you imagine them singing?


"Speak Slow" music video by Tegan and Sara.

Today's Musical Number is...

Cool Rider!

*They didn't have a vid for the Talent Show.

A video to go with Sarah MacLachlan's version of "Rainbow Connection."

Mutiny on the Mistletoe

My skin is a-leaking! Technically, my eyes. Holiday allergies have run amuck! AMUCK! So lets cheer us up by listing off Col's favorite Christmas movies!

• A Charlie Brown Christmas: a pathetic Christmas tree, a sad song and annoying friends and relatives. What could be better?
• The Grinch: a green guy steals presents from the fairie folk and then ends up slicing everyone turkey.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas: it's Halloween and Christmas mixed into one!
• A Christmas Story: annoying little brother, bullies, bunny suit, dead duck, turkey eating dogs, a dag who could fix everything, a leg lamp-jealous mother. But best of all is that it usually runs 24 hrs on Christmas and you still end up watching it about five times that day 'just because.'
• White Christmas: random songs, patriotic-fatherly love, comraderie, annoying partner who will never let you forget how he saved your life, and a really fast foot tapper.

Expected? Typical? But I think Christmas should always be classic. The only thing missing are pirates.

Happy Feet

I just watched Happy Feet. There should have been a bit more dancing and singing in it, but really you should recycle. That's what I walked away thinking. That, and there should be more Prince music in this world. Oh, and white people really should not dance on the ice because they look even dorkier. I kinda want to make a Penguin Shaman though. Although I don't know what I would do with all of those stones.

The Steven Banks Show

I found it! Back in like 1990 I saw a little sketch called Steven Banks Home Entertainment Center. It was an ADD, one-man act that was superb! I couldn't find it anywhere, except now on You Tube. :D That was the first installment, the rest are below ;) Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven

Shimmy Fest 2006

The colors were vibrant, music inspiring and all around you heard the soft 'ching-ching-chinga' sounds of women walking around and picking up costumes to try them on. It started with a zaghareet and people were pulled out of the audience to dance with the ladies.

The audience was of all ages, including several children. Before I attended the event, I mentioned that I would be going to a bellydance workshop and I noticed several people got a strange look on their face. It seems that, at least in the rural south, there are still some negative connotations attached to bellydancers.

Women of all ages danced. There were Isis wings, flame dancers as well as the swords.

Sadly my pictures of the candle dancers didn't turn out so well, and from what we were told by the announcer...it was an especially good show, especially with all of the hairspray the dancers wore.

Several troops and dancers came to the event. Desert Fire, a local troop. My favorite dancer name still has to be Al'seea Al'soon. Very Arkansas.

Mirage from Russellville performed quite nicely as well.

The final performance was by Princess Farhana, straight out of Hollywood. (She told me later that she loved my kitty cat purse!)

I really wanted this outfit. This one would have been nice too. I just couldn't afford it...this month. Yes, yes, Glenn was sad. Although I am tempted to learn how to make my own costumes.

Halloween Movie Pick #5

The old favorite, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Someone was upset that I didn't post it yet, so I must do it now. First and foremost, I highly suggest that for your first viewing of the show, that you watch it alone. Don't let yourself be dragged out to the theatre and definitely do not let yourself be wrangled into watching it with a highly-over-hyper-sugar-addict. I guess you can compare fans to RHPS to fans of the Boston Red Sox. They can be pretty extreme. There is even quite a bit of competition when it comes to live performances at theatres. But I get ahead of myself (yes, I blame it on the sugar).

Richard O'Brien had a vision, and now audience members throw toast at it. No one is sure exactly when or where it happened but over the years of showing RHPS in theatres, audiences across the United States started 'participating' in the movie.

For example, during the wedding at the beginning of the movie, it is customary to throw rice. People also bring water guns to create rain in the following segment of the movie. And during the big dance scene in Time Warp, you guessed it, the aisles are filled with Transylvanians dancing along. There are theatres who have regular casts that perform the movie on stage while it plays behind them.

This show tells the story of two clean cut kids, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, who run into car trouble and seek help at the site of light down the road. Little do they know it's coming from the place where Dr. Frank N Furter is in the midst of his maniacal experiments. The play is a rock musical, a spoof of science fiction movies, and a bizarre story of seduction and sexual confusion..(for some)

For those of you who want a tamer version, go watch the bunnies perform RHPS in thirty seconds. You can also watch most of the movie on You Tube. Some wish that it would disappear, but for others it is a staple. My favorite number in this has always been Sweet Transvestite just because Tim Curry always knows how to make an entrance.

This movie was never about sex, to me. It was about open-mindedness, self discovery, and the realization that a movie could take you anywhere (fully exemplified by the end when Dr. Frank-n-Furter says that it's time for the floor show. Floor show?). This is the perfect Halloween movie because it represents our modern Halloween. The one time of year that you can dress up as a cuckoo, have fun, and no one minds. Did I mention that Meat Loaf is in it? That post was for you Mom! Love,col