"Baby, You're the One"

Is there a better movie than Dirty Dancing? Yes, in fact several come to mind...like The Wizard of Oz, so perhaps I should rephrase the question! Is there a better, more quotable, funny, goofy, movie about dancing than Dirty Dancing? If you answered a resounding "no," to the second question...then in my book you are positively correct!

I caught this the other night on cable, mind you, I own it on DVD and it's available on PPV...but instead of watching it from the beginning I just started watching from the scene where Johnny Castle is teaching Baby how to do the Mambo on a giant log in the woods. I know you can hear the song in your head right now ("Hey...hey baby! I wanna know-ow-ow...would you be my girl?") and now if it wasn't already then it will be in your head for the next few hours. You are welcome! I should have put in the DVD...because I missed the whole "You're WILD!" line...it's one of my favorites. Baby is so awkward, and weird...and I love that! It always amazed me that she was so young and he was supposedly some guy in his 20's that danced for a living at a summer lodge. Yeah, I just did some research and Mr. Patrick Swayze, aka "Johnny" was about 35 when that movie came out...and Jennifer Grey was 27 playing a high school kid. I'm glad I hated math then-because this little tidbit that Johnny is my mom's age is pretty much freaking me out! Moving on...because it's the right thing to do ("Release the Good!!!")!

20 years later, this movie is the Original "chick flick." It has everything a decent chick flick requires: the forbidden love, the music, the parental conflict, the political women's issues (as "Robbie" puts it "The Penny Situation"), the weirdo sibling, the hot guys, the irreverent behind the scenes dancing, and the cheesiest "if there were an Oscar for a schmaltzy script awarded this movie deserves it" lines ever known to screenplays! 20 years later and most women you know not only know all the music, but can recite dialogue verbatim from any Dirty Dancing scene. I actually teared up the other night, laughing of course, as one of my favorite scenes, if not my favorite of scenes occurred. I love it because at the moment it came on, after seeing the movie a thousand and eleven times, my mother decided it was "too racy" and she was leaving the room! Ha! It's the scene in Johnny's "bungalo" when Baby admits her fears:

"I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life................the way I feel when I'm with you."

Then they "do it." Haa! So mature I am!!! I'm crying just typing that out. Yes, you should further know that not only am I not looking up these quotes, I am ADMITTING publicly that I am not looking up these quotes. I believe that they have actually occupied a nerve center in my brain, and I'm ok with it.

I mostly love this soliloquy because it's one of those lines that when I first saw the movie at age 13 it was so romantic, and bold...and the "reaction" of the Johnny to said line was romantic, and bold, and "I can't believe I'm watching this and my parents are OK with it." Of course I now know, in my grown up (sort of) state of mind a few things about the line...first...that if a girl said that to most guys the reaction might be the laugh that I usually give it when I hear it...or...possibly the same reaction that Johnny gave Baby in the movie...but trust me...he's probably laughing on the inside! Who wouldn't? I also know that my parents let me watch the movie without watching it themselves, because if Moms is retreating from the room 20 years later...well, I don't know what the heck she thought I was watching back then:)

I actually might go watch this in a few minutes. I want to see the beginning..."I carried a watermelon" is always a treat to behold. But there are so many to list..."Go back to your playpen, BABY!" Haaa! I had way too many giggles watching the final scene of the movie-the classic final scene-that I think I got the neighbor's dog barking across the street! From Mr. Kellerman's chat with Max that forays into his solo to get the "visitors, staff, and guests" rockin' at the final show...to Lisa's earbleeding vocals on that song...Robbie's aforementioned confession to Papa Houseman, and Papa Houseman's subsequent "apology" to Johnny:
"I know it wasn't you who got Penny in trouble."
Johnny: "Yeah."
PH: "When I'm wrong...I say I'm wrong. (pans to Baby) You looked wonderful out there." Sniff.

Of course...I can't go without mention of the very popular "Nobody puts Baby in a corner," Johnny's big speech about doing his "kinda dancin with a great partner'," THE DANCE ROUTINE that was amazingly elaborate, yet unchoreographed of course...and Mama Houseman (EMILY GILMORE!!!) leaning over to tell Papa Houseman with a giddy smile on her face "I think she gets this from me!"

I'm going to run now and see about a quick Pachenga lesson before bed. Do you have favorite quotes from DD?? Or a favorite scene? Let me know...oh...and before I make my final bow this evening...know that before the end of the year a video game will be released based on Dirty Dancing!! Oh yes...if y'all thought I was obsessed with Britney's Dance Beat...just wait...I'll be practicing. I will not be accused of having "spaghetti arms!!"

Hold the phone...the blog is being updated!

I know, I spent too long mourning the loss of my precious Gilmore Girls...but I've decided it's best to move on and not live in the past. That decision was made ALL the easier with the rumor of a GG Reunion MOVIE in the works...but alas...right now tis only a rumor (but as long as it makes me sleep through the night-I'm ok...for now).

So this past weekend was Memorial Day weekend-and though for some it only marks a weekend with an extra day off from work or school, I was reminded that it should mark the memories of those who have given us our freedom...too many at the expense of their own precious lives. I know I've promised not to get political here, so I won't. Like many, I have family and friends who have served or are serving in the Armed Forces, and I simply wish to thank them. Peace.

I went to the Annual Memorial Day Parade in Somerville, MA. My aunt and uncle live down the street from where it passes by - and for a couple of years now a bunch of us have gathered at their home to go to the parade. It was really fun this year, we even saw a band from Sanford, ME. It's always fun to see the Shriner's and their teeny cars-especially knowing what amazing work they do for kids. And though the end of the parade was LOUD, cheering on the firemen and women for the job that they do to keep people safe was pretty cool. It still amazes me how heroic and unselfish some people can be.

*update 10/25/08 pictures and content removed.

What's a parade without kilts and bagpipes?

Look closer...is that a cast member of Pirates of the Carribbean?? It might even be Davy Jones himself!

Speaking of which...I saw the 3rd installment this weekend as well. Pegs and I went to Smitty's (Maine's version of Chunky's) really early to ensure good seats. It's a 3 hour film-so if we were going to go...we needed to do the thing right. After waiting about 4 hours (no exaggeration) the week before in the pouring rain to see Shrek the Third (what I will do for Justin Timberlake joy!!)...I plotted out our battle plan and we succeeded! Save the woman who's cell phone rang Pink's "Get the Party Started" at the end of the movie, there wasn't much audience turmoil to ruin it. Unlike most of the critics, I really enjoyed the film...and seriously feel there should be a 4th installment. Mostly because it took me 3 of the movies to realize that Orlando Bloom is freaking pirate-tastic hot! So, I would say that another 3 hours of him brandishing a sword and saving the world in a pirate blouse would be okey dokey with me! I might go see it again just because I found out that there is another scene after the credits! I usually wait because I didn't with Napoleon Dynamite and it took me about a year to figure out there was more movie after the credits ended. So I went to work today and found out from one of my staff members that indeed there was more Piratey goodness that I missed...so now I will just have to go see it again. Isn't that just awful? ;)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, the weather in New England was perfect...the Boston Red Sox are in first...and the Yankees are currently tied for last...I think it's going to be a pretty fantastic summer!

The post finale reaction...

I can't write anymore about the finale of Gilmore Girls. First and foremost because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who didn't see it. I think it was a good ending though-no cheesy double weddings...or were there?? Kidding-there weren't. It was bittersweet...I enjoyed it...but I'd of course be much happier if they announced a Richard and Emily or Kirk and Babette spin off at the CW upfronts on Thursday (HINT!). Or a reality show called "Oi with the poodles already." I don't know what the "reality" part would be...but I'd know it had to do with GG.

Yeah, so how's that "letting go" going for you, Mo?

Vote for Drewbie!!

It's just one of those days that you want to help someone out...so why not go here and click on the name "DREW" on the left panel. Your vote will (fingers crossed) help the master of all blogs get Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt DVD's. We only have until 7pm to help Drewbie snag his prize!!! He's in it to win it!! And you never know, for the selfless act of two clicks of the mouse...Drewbie may "offer you his protection." At the very least Voting for Drew will make all your (his) dreams come true!!

Come on...be a pal! Vote For Drewbie!!

My Dark Day

Tonight marks the end of a friendship. I’ve been forced into this break up, and like any scorned woman, I’m not dealing with it well. To quote Michel, "I feel like crap on toast." I’ve tried to make sense of how...after seven years I will just be abandoned. Left alone, bewildered, and sad, I will have to triumph on…but I do not have to find joy in it. In fact I can promise I will find no joy. Not for awhile. I’ll just have to find another television show that will bring me as much happiness as my beloved “Gilmore Girls.” It won’t be easy.

In the summer of 2002, I moved to a new apartment. Sunday nights, after the Red Sox games...I was bored. "Pick up a book" you say...come on. I'm entertained more by the visual and audible. I likes me some tv. I had heard of the show, Gilmore Girls, but hadn’t been all that interested as most of my television watching life at that time had been consumed by Alias, Ed, and Survivor (when it was actually worth watching). Sunday evenings were the worst to find something to watch. It was after Alias was shuffled around like a deck of cards, and before Desperate Housewives and Lost took the spot (and presumably the audience) Alias once mastered. And it was the summer, again, way back before the fx network had summer seasons…and then other networks joined in with reality shows and repeats of the previous weeks or seasons shows. Thus began the concept of 'summer season programming.' So my friend Maggie, the infamous Maggie, told me about “Gilmore Girls” and how she and her sister’s had a standing appointment to watch it every Tuesday night. It was funny, and I would “love it.” So either Maggie knows me very well, or she worked for the WB, or she’s a prophet…because she started something that I don’t think anyone saw coming! Coincidentally, the now defunct WB started to air repeat episodes of the program on Sunday nights at 7, dubbing it “Gilmore Girls: Beginnings.” I watched one episode and I was hooked. It was one of the earlier episodes, when the two sets of twins were getting married at the Independence Inn and Lorelai was running the show. I remember she wore the most hideous dress to the wedding, and fought with Rory about ‘stretching out’ her sweaters. They talked so fast…I could barely keep up. And seriously, this is a mother and daughter? Fighting about who’s boobs were bigger?? What am I watching? But it was kind of funny…and the guy who worked at the inn with the French accent that I would later learn to be ‘Michel,’ was pretty funny fighting with the harpist and then later revealing his fear of swans. So I stuck in, and I watched again the following week…and suddenly I couldn’t wait for the new season to start.

I immediately fell in love with the town of Stars Hollow. Seriously, why aren’t there more small towns like this? Rather, why aren’t there any small towns like Stars Hollow? I think that if we did live in smaller, quaint communities, life just might be more fun. I want to live in a town with a Miss Patty and a Babette. I even think it would be amusing to have a town Kirk. A place where you can just walk everywhere and people think it’s silly to have a traffic light. A place where town meetings are held in Miss Patty’s Dance Studio/Barn and the vital town business consists of who will be what painting in the “Festival of Living Art.” I realized at some point, that I wasn’t just a fan of the actual girls of Gilmore, but of all the town of Stars Hollow. I just can’t imagine that they won’t be around after tonight!

No more Richard and Emily Gilmore either! I would venture to say that this couple is one of the most interesting, most compelling, funniest couples in television history…yup, I’d rank them right up there with Archie and Edith Bunker. Emily, as controlling and mean as she can be, I just have a soft spot for her. I think she means well-it’s just for all her socialite training, she never really learned how to communicate with her daughter. She cares for Lorelai, but her expression of that care is too clouded by appearances. Richard is just a sweet old man, unless you piss him off…then he’s just a powerhouse you do not want to mess with. These two characters played so well off of each other and the rest of the cast…I will be sad to see them gone. No more Friday night dinners, no more elaborate parties, no more insurance talk over golf. No more Richard and Emily. Just writing this I have a physical, unintentional frown on my face.

I guess, I’ll even miss Rory…though I’ve grown to loathe her in the past few years. Last week’s episode, when she denied Logan’s proposal and broke off the relationship was the first glimpse of the real Rory I’ve seen since she started at Yale. She was a smart kid, one you really wanted to see succeed. Remember when she was at Chilton and she would sit alone with her walkman, reading while eating her lunch. She wasn’t all that phased by what others thought of her. She wanted people to like her..but she wouldn't be bullied by Francie or Paris. She stuck up for herself more when she was younger. When Paris gave her a ridiculous newspaper assignment, she followed through, just to prove to Paris that she was not going anywhere. Even when she went through the relationship crises of Dean and Jess…I was pulling for her to come out happy. I think I started to hate her when she went to Yale. Moreover, when Logan came into the picture. She lost her identity, and her brave nature. She started to lose sight of her initial goals and then lost it completely when Logan’s father decimated her career aspirations. She started the big fight with Lorelai and moved in to the pool house of Richard and Emily. She finally started to get back on track-a freaking year later! She made amends with her mother, went back to Yale, became the Editor in-chief of the Yale Daily News, and still managed to graduate on time. Come on people, it’s a fictional show…improbable story line’s make it all the better. I think I would have liked her better if she’d returned to the Rory depicted in last week’s episode a lot earlier. I know, it’s in the past, and it all ends in mere minutes…I have to move on.

I really cannot believe that for the past two seasons I've had to endure Christopher's presence, I'm a Luke & Lorelai fanatic...and Christopher fits nowhere in that equation. I've tried to avoid spoilers for tonight's series finale (sigh)...so my hope is that the relationship between Luke and Lorelai will finally be resolved in a positive way. I think Lauren Graham is such a good actress. Honestly, one of her brightest moments was the karaoke scene only episodes ago. If you didn't get misty-well, then...you probably don't have a soul. I will miss Lorelai's banter with Sookie, the two friends that can finish each other's sentences, no matter how insane the conversation topic is.

Sookie: What's going on?
Lorelai: Michel's gonna live forever.
Sookie: Like the kids from 'Fame'?
Lorelai: That's what I said.

I think her character was not only an inspiration for young, single, mothers...but for young women that yearn for success. Lorelai worked hard to be everything to her daughter, and her loved ones. I just read that part over, and I know you think this is going a little overboard-maybe it is...but it's a sad day for me and I have to vent somehow. I love that she was a friend to her kid, but still her kid's mom. She took care of her kid, alone. In this day and age, that's not always how things go. Yes, I remember this is a fictional "dramedy." I do have my finger on the button of reality-but sometimes, it's a good thing to move away from the button.

Lorelai: I think I have gangrene. Rory: You do not.
Lorelai: And vertigo. Rory: Oh boy.
Lorelai: And one leg suddenly feels shorter than the other.
Rory: This is gonna be the Vanity Fair paper cut incident all over again, isn't it?

I guess I just have to say goodbye and leave it at that. A wise lady once told a good friend of mine "Let go and let God." I have no idea what that means, but I know that I do have to let go tonight at 8:59 pm (EST)...and I really don't want to. So, as cheesy as this admittedly is...instead of saying goodbye I just want to say "thanks." It's been a fun ride through Stars Hollow over the past few years. I've laughed out loud countless times, shed innumerable tears (I still choke up at Rory's graduation speech from Chilton!), and just sat in awe of some of the best character's and intelligent writing on television. It was nice to sit and watch something that didn't include cursing or bloodshed. It was pleasant to see such a modern, yet familiar family dynamic in the Gilmore's. It was sweet to see Luke's unrequited admiration of Lorelai for all those years, to finally be rewarded with a proposal. It was heartbreaking to see that relationship dissolve so maliciously. It was endearing to watch the pieces of the relationship slowly glued back together. There are so many things I've loved about this show, I'm still in shock that tonight marks the end. Who knows, maybe something better will come along-but I doubt it. It's a sad night, but it's been a fun adventure. A break from the norm of every day life, to be a witness to someone else's every day life. I've been comforted by this show, so I repeat myself, and simply say "thanks."

If you're out on the road feeling lonely, and so cold,
All you have to do is call my name and I'll be there on the next train.
Where you lead, I will follow anywhere that you tell me to.
If you need, you need me to be with you I will follow where you lead.

It's official.

My sadness starts now. I can't eulogize Gilmore Girls at this juncture. The wound is too fresh.

My face is sad. Literally, I am frowning. You would be sad if you saw me. Only 2 more episodes left, and then it's over. I'm way too connected to the television.

Ho hum. Go with God.

Sometimes it would be nice if Doc Baker still made house calls!!

Good LORD have I been sick!? I've heard this new illness that is spreading like wild fire referred to as "the death" on more than one occasion. I'm here to tell you, it really is like the death! I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy...seriously...it's that mean!

I started out sick last week-I mentioned it in my previous post. I went to the doctor (not Baker who may have diagnosed me correctly to begin with!), who thought it was a virus and gave me two perscriptions for "the cough." After doling out a whopping 35 bucks, neither script really worked. I stayed out of work, and returned on Thursday. Big mistake. The coughing was literally taking everything out of me. I secluded myself in my office so as not to infect anyone else, but I could still hear people commenting about them cough. I went home and was literally almost killed by The Office. I got into a laughing/coughing fit in the first few minutes - and I could not catch my breath for anything. I risked my life, and finished watching the show. Totally worth it. Jim immitating Dwight was just good tv. Dwight returning the favor...even more brilliant.

So I decided to try work again on Friday. Bad move. Bad bad bad bad move. The coughing fit I had in the car prompted me to pull over on 3 different occasions. The tears the coughs produced completely removed any make-up I had risked my eyesight to put on as every cough seemed to force my hand holding the brush to jab into my cornea. Awesome. I walked from my car to the store, literally about 100 steps. Not great. I couldn't catch my breath-my voice was not back...the make-up was gone and I looked like some whackadoo alien creature as the black spots under my eyes were not only visible, but prominently displayed. I literally couldn't breathe from all the coughing. I called the doctor, but got her nurse. The doctor is on rounds today and not taking appointments. Yay, this is fun. I told the nurse I was having a really hard time breathing...to which she replied "sounds like you're having a hard time talking too." Really, Florence Nightengale? How astute a diagnosis! I commend you on your knowledge of my vocal abilities...truly...but at this juncture...I'm a little more concerned with the fact that I can't seem to get oxygen into my lungs. But I'm not the medical professional...sooo you know...whatever you think is best.

I managed to get an appointment with the nurse practitioner in the afternoon. She decided that I should have a nebulizer treatment, which wasn't bad while it was happening. It's that really loud machine that has a tube which you breathe in and out of, while smoke/medicine pumps into your lungs. After the treatment, I was a little dizzy. It took me a good five minutes before I could stand up-and my breathing levels were worse than before I had the treatment. But within an hour of the treatment I felt a gazillion times better. She also put me on an antibiotic, in case it wasn't a virus afterall. Oh, and I got a fun inhaler too. Another 20 bucks in prescriptions. So, even though I technically saved gas money by not going to work for half the week...I doubled what I would have spent at the pharmacy. Just another whammy in my weak week. I still have the cough-but after sleeping 90% of the weekend, I was able to make it the last two days at work for the full duration. Yippee! I could probably have used one more day of rest, but there is too much to do at work...so I'll just keep on truckin'.

Some good news: The Red Sox took two games from the Yankees this weekend after sweeping them the weekend before at home, I got to go to Sephora last weekend and spend money that I shouldn't, it was bareminerals weekend on QVC and I was good and didn't spend a dime, I got to see Maggie's new engagement bling, I got to spend time with Julie and Karen, and the best news of all....Sparky and Drewbie made a really fun announcement on their blogs this week!! Congratulations!!!!!