You might have noticed...you might have not - who knows who actually reads this anyway...but I have not been exactly faithful about keeping my blog up to date. I must do better. No - scratch that...I WILL do better.
Returning soon will be Mindless Fact Monday's!!!!! I know you are all on the edge of your seats! Or maybe it's just one of you and it's just one seat. Oh well. Also coming will be more movie reviews and posts about the origins of some of our favorite sayings.
I know...you can hardly wait. ~I sincerely hope you can read the sarcasm dripping off of my keys.
As a measure of good faith - I will post a daybook - which I haven't done in ages:
Outside My Window...Sunshiny sunshine. I love it.
I Am Thankful For...My husband. This is his birthday weekend ((and Mother's Day, lest anyone forget)) and I sometimes don't take the time to appreciate all the things he does for me.
From The Kitchen...Nothing from our kitchen tonight, although we are taking food to someone else's kitchen. Headed over to some friends house tonight for a little b-day fun.
I Am Wearing...Is it sad that I have to look?? That I don't know what I'm wearing off the top of my head? lol Anyway, jeans and a red/white Wally-world shirt that I've had about 3 years too long.
I Am Reading...A Walk in the Snark by Rachel Thompson. She is a blog writer that I found a free kindle book for. It was free - doesn't mean it was good. The jury is still out on this one.
I Am Hoping...Jordan has a great time on her choir field trip tomorrow and she doesn't miss the bus and get left somewhere in Kentucky!
I Am Hearing...The click-clicky-ness of my keyboard.
Around The House...Must attempt to attack Mt. Laundry at some point this weekend - and I think we might at this point have more cat hair than carpet...so vacuuming is a must.
One Of My Favorite Things... Did I mention the sunshiny day??
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...Dinner with friends tonight, maybe watching the air show tomorrow if it doesn't rain - church on Sunday. Normal stuff.
Here Is A Picture Thought I Am Sharing With You...They are actually videos today. Both kids are in ball leagues and Myles' season has already started and he is the home-run king! He hit 3 at last Friday's game and 2 more on Saturday's game. Jordan - who has been a bit intimidated ever since she moved to fast pitch - has been doing great. And even though her season hasn't started yet - here is a practice preview.
Jordan, my 14 year old daughter (for those that don't know), decided Monday night that we needed to do a whole post dedicated to hot guys. Because, as we all know, that is what most 14 year old girls think about. So, to satisfy her needs...and because it honestly sounded like cheap fun...we created this list. Most of the guys were mutual decisions by the two of us but you may notice that some of these choices are very influenced by said 14 year old.
Enjoy...discuss...throw out your suggestions for your favorites. :)
I had never heard of Jason Momoa until I stumbled on a short-lived show called North Shore back in 2004. I didn't hear much about him after the show was cancelled until recently when I learned he was cast in the 2011 remake of Conan the Barbarian.
Fun fact...In his mid-teens he became the youngest lifeguard in the history of the Gulf Coast.
Casey is a Days of our Lives cast member. He plays Chad Peterson DiMera. Only acting since 2009, he's managed to snag roles on the 90210 reboot, Wizards of Waverly Place and Body of Proof as well as his role on Days.
Random fact...He was an avid skateboarder for 10 years and competed at the age of 17 in the 2004 Vans World Amateur Competition. A severe head injury forced him to take some time off from skateboarding.
Kodjoe was born in Vienna, Austria to a German psychologist father and a Ghanaian physician mother. He went to Virginia Commonwealth University on a tennis scholarship. He still has the 9th best record in the school's history with 75 wins. A back injury ended his tennis career and he was quickly signed as a model with acting following soon after.
Milo is probably best know for his role as Peter Petrelli on Heroes from 2006-2010. He's been doing mostly voice work since it's end as Logan/Wolverine in the Wolverine anime series.
Random fact...Milo has been a lacto-vegetarian since birth. (A lacto-vegetarian is one that eats a vegetarian diet that includes milk, cheese, butter, yogurt etc., but excludes eggs.)
Ok...most of you probably don't know who this is - so I'll let you in on a little secret...he's on Days of our Lives as Rafe Hernandez...probably one of the most perfect men on daytime TV. *swoon*
Galen moved to New York City at age 18 and work as a model while going to NYU. He moved to Miami and finished his college at the University of Miami with honors while filming the now-cancelled Passions. He's been a part of Days of our Lives since 2009.
Fun fact...Galen used to play Pro-Am beach volleyball.
We haven't heard much from Colin Farrell in the last few years since his wave of movies in the early 2000's in films like Minority Report, Phone Booth, S.W.A.T, and Miami Vice. He's still been making movies - just ones that, it seems, no one is watching.
In 2011, he had a much talked about performance in the comedy Horrible Bosses and is starring in the re-make of Total Recall which is in post-production.
Shemar is probably most well known for starring as Malcolm Winters on The Young and the Restless from 1994-2005. He since moved into prime-time with a co-starring role on Criminal Minds as Derek Morgan from 2005-present. He was also a the third permanent host of Soul Train from 1999-2003. He has also had a very successful modeling career.
Fun fact...Shemar's name is a combination of the first 3 letters of both his father's and mother's names. Sherrod - his father and Marylin - his mother.
Orton is a WWE Smackdown regular. He is a third-generation wrestler following his grandfather, Bob Orton and his father, "Cowboy" Bob Orton. He signed on to WWE in 2001 and had his first official appearance in 2002. Orton is known for his signature move, the "RKO", a jumping cutter named after his initials.
Fun fact...Randy was the youngest World Champion in wrestling history winning the WWE Raw Title at 24. Also, in high school, he was a straight A student.
Zachary first starting acting in 2000 - but became a sensation during his run as the serial killer Sylar on Heroes. He has since gone on to play an eerily similar resemblance to Leonard Nimoy as a young Spock on the big screen reboot of Star Trek.
Fun fact...Zachary is the only person to appear on the cover of Entertainment Weekly two weeks in a row.
This is definitely one of Jordan's picks. Although, I must say, I don't disagree with this one.
Mark started acting in 1996, but focused mostly on his music career and released a solo album in 2008. He was cast as Noah Puckerman on the instant hit show Glee in 2009.
Random Fact...Mark is a member of the James Hunter Wildlife Rescue charity.
No matter how many movies he makes - or Sexiest Man Alive covers he wins - he will always be Will Tippin to me. :) I absolutely loved him on Alias. Disheveled and determined...he was just too adorable.
Harry plays Mike Chang on the hit show Glee. He is an unbelievable dancer! He has also been in several dance movies such as Stomp the Yard and Step Up 2 and Step Up 3D.
His mother is a native of Hong Kong and his father hails from Guangzhou, China. His parents moved to Costa Rica where Harry and his two sisters were born. They moved to San Francisco when Harry was six, which actually made Spanish his first language. He also speaks English and Chinese.
Harry is also a member of the dance troupe LXD (League of Extraordinary Dancers). Here's a sample:
Fun fact...Harry is one of the iPod silhouette dancers.
Statham is known for his kick-boxing and martial arts skills. This has enabled him to perform most of his own stunts in movies like 2002's The Transporter. He was a model for French Connection before being cast in Guy Ritchie's 1998 movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Probably his most well-known roles are from the Transporter series and the muscle-tastic film The Expendables that featured the best of the best of action stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, and Terry Crews.
Fun fact...Before his acting career, Jason was an Olympic diver and was once ranked #12 in the world. Also, while most divers begin training at around age 4 or 5, Statham didn't start diving until he was 15.
Most people will wonder why he isn't up higher on the list...and well, I don't know. ((remember, I compiled this list with the aide of a 14 year old.))
This was one Jordan and I had no trouble agreeing on.
As rough and tough as Diesel looks, he actually enrolled in Hunter College as an English major but left after 3 years to attempt to further his acting career. After struggling in Hollywood for a year, he returned to New York and wrote a short film based on his acting experiences called Multi-Facial in 1995 for $3000.00. Multi-Facial was accepted at the Cannes Film Festival where it was screened to a standing room only crowd. Steven Spielberg saw Multi-Facial and wrote a role in his Saving Private Ryan especially for him, giving Diesel his first major film role.
As if you don't know, Beckham is a world-famous soccer player from London, England. He currently plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He also has a very lucrative modeling and endorsement career. He is known almost as much for his fashion sense and changing hairstyles as his soccer career.
The movie Bend It Like Beckham refers to him as the main character is a girl in love with the game. In the movie, she even uses his poster on the wall as a confidante. Beckham and his wife even have a cameo in the film.
Random fact...He wears a new pair of shoes for every soccer game.
Tatum was cast in the Ricky Martin video She Bangs in 2000. By 2002 he was modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch and Armani. He was soon filming television commercials, landing national spots for Pepsi and Mountain Dew. He had his first real acting job in 2004 on an episode of CSI: Miami and decided to pursue acting full time. His first film role came in 2005's Coach Carter with Samuel L. Jackson.
Boo-ya baby!! He was so unbelievably close to first place - it was practically a tie.
Johnson is an actor and professional wrestler with with WWE. I still refer to him as "The Rock" even though he's a "legitimate" actor now, starring in movies like The Scorpion King, Race to Witch Mountain, and Fast Five.
He was a football player at the University of Miami and a member of the 1991 national championship team. He, like Randy Orton (#13), is a third generation wrestler like his grandfather, Peter Maivia, and his father, Rocky Johnson. With his 16 championships, he is widely considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He continues to wrestle today and is one of the few that has transitioned between wrestling and acting successfully.
Fun fact...His $5.5 million paycheck for The Scorpion King earned him a place in the Guiness Book of World Records as his salary was the highest for anyone with top billing for the first time.
The Rock and Vin Diesel's Fast Five co-star is, quite possibly, one of the best looking people have ever seen. And...I don't usually go for blondes, but he is just purty. Those ice blue eyes are pretty darn mesmerizing.
His career started early. As a toddler, he appeared in a Pampers commercial. He began modeling at age 2 and by 8 was appearing in TV shows like Highway to Heaven and Who's The Boss?. Although his film career began in 1986, it wasn't until 2001's The Fast and The Furious that he had his breakout role.
Walker has since gone on to film 5 more Fast and the Furious movies with the latest one to be released in 2013. Although the Fast series is definitely his most popular, he has had success with other movies such as: Joy Ride, Into The Blue, Eight Below and Flags of our Fathers.
Fun fact...He auditioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker but was too old for the part. He has said that was the only role he's ever really wanted. (((Didn't I tell you he was perfect?? Great looking and a Star Wars fan!)))
Of course, that's not everyone. We had a few more so, in the "Close but not Quite" category, we have these for you:
Today is such a special day for our little family. Just 4 days before his 7th birthday, Myles told me tonight - right after I told him it was time for bed - that he wanted to ask Jesus to come into his heart!!!! We sat on his bed and he took my hands in his and - after thanking God that his Grandpa is out of the hospital - he asked Jesus to live in his heart!!!
As many in church will notice, Myles has been taking communion for a while now. Those that don't go to our church probably don't know that we don't have a "set" age when people can take communion. As long as you profess to have Jesus as your personal Savior - you can take communion in our church.
I had talked to Myles about this before he ever started taking communion and he said "I did that with Mama Jean!" ((his babysitter/teacher/other mother)). I didn't want to doubt him, so I let him take communion. I made sure to talk with him virtually every Sunday, talking him through what the bread and the cup represent. He knew all the answers, which always made me feel good.
So, I don't know if he's actually done it before or not...but since I know he asked to pray with me tonight...I know it for sure now!! I am so unbelievably proud of him and happy for him. I know that his life is secure in the love of Christ!
But to all who have received Him - those who believe in His name - He has given the right to become children of God
This was another easy one. I just googled all the films that were released in 2010 and this one popped right out at me. And - it gave me an excuse to add these films in my list. :)
I don't watch a lot of obscure films. I'm pretty mainstream in my movie choices - other than my horror movies. I picked this movie because it was originally a Swedish horror movie and was a remake. It only made about $12 million - so I'm guessing a lot of people have never seen it. It wasn't bad. A bit slow - but the cinematography was really good.
I honestly didn't know what consituted an independent film versus a regular film. So, I googled "Independent Films" and just thought I'd see if I'd seen any of them. Luckily, not only had I seen several of them, but one of my favorite movies was on the independent list.
Great movie...and if you haven't seen it - a twist that you will never see coming.
Like the Romantic and Documentary catagories, I don't watch a lot of foreign language movies. I can actually only think of 2 movies I've watched over the past 10-15 years that are completely spoken in a foreign language...not just subtitles when the Hispanic or Japanese character comes on the screen. One of them is The Passion of the Christ - which is an amazing movie - but it's not my favorite...probably because I ended up sobbing through the last half of the movie and I tend to watch movies to enjoy them...not to be distraught by the end of it. So...the winner is...
Interestingly enough...both foreign language films that I have seen are Mel Gibson movies. Just noticed that one... Great film though.
I don't watch a lot of documentaries but I will watch just about anything having to do with nature or animals. I absolutely love the National Geographic series that they have put out. This was not a hard decision.
Day 24 - Your Favorite Animated or Children's Film
I was thinking that they had once again combined two genres into one catagory. But, they have put that one little word "or" in there. So, there is no reason to pick 2 movies for this one. I just have to decide if I like my favorite animated movie more than my favorite children's movie or vice versa.
Again, like Day 21 - they have combined 2 genres into one catagory. And, again, I will split it into two movies. Thrillers and Mysterys are not the same thing so I think they should be treated separately.
Favorite Thriller
Like The Professional, I don't think a lot of people saw this movie. I think this is one of Kurt Russell's best movies. Also, it showcases the late J.T. Walsh. An unbelievable actor that was known more by his face than his name.
Favorite Mystery
If you haven't seen this movie...you should. Great movie with some great actors. How many times do you get people like Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier and Ben Kingsley in the same movie. Watch.It.Today. You won't regret it. :)
This one was a hard one for me. I have seen a.l.o.t of horror movies. Some great...a lot that weren't so great. I have definite requirements for what makes a good horror movie. I'm not into all the nudity that many horror film think they need to add, I'm not usually into a lot of gore. I like a really suspensful movie that you just don't know what's going to happen next, when things jump out and scare the snot out of you. Paranormal Activity was a really good movie like that.
I thought about the first horror movie I ever saw - Nightmare on Elm Street - that really freaked me out...but I was only about 12 when I saw that one.
This movie was the first one in a while that really freaked me out. They are gory - don't get me wrong (and I don't usually like that) but it also really kept me on the edge of my seat.
Not really fair on this one. Sci-Fi and Fantasy are two different things that, unfortunately, often get lumped into the same catagory. So, because I can do this challenge however I want...((see Day 15))...I have decided to split this into two different catagories and list two different films.
Anyone that knows me will know that I am notnot not a romantic movie type of gal. I am much more of an action/thriller/horror type of person. But, that being said...I really loved this movie. When it came out I was hooked. The love that the two main characters had was undeniable. It's rare that there is such chemistry between two people on film.
Not a lot of people have seen this movie. I mean, it's not unknown - but it's not a Die Hard or an Independence Day or something like that.
Unbelievable performances...it's not hard to see why Natalie Portman has gone on to have the career that she has. I'd never heard of Jean Reno before this movie and his performance was understated and perfect.
