Why are these people talking during my movie?

While I do not condone talking in a movie theater, I will listen to someone talk over my movie...on a commentary.
I am going to take this opportunity to try and make you see why commentaries are so wonderful. I am a (capital F) Fan of movie commentaries. I will pay more for a deluxe or special edition of a movie if it comes with a commentary. Forget deleted scenes or outtakes, the real thrill is sitting down and hearing exactly what the director and/or actors were thinking while filming a scene. Also included in many commentaries are bits of trivia and moments of humor that can make you laugh more than the actual movie.

Maybe you have never listened to a commentary and have no opinion, or maybe you are like my friend Gretchen who finds the talking during the movie annoying, but either way, I consider it my personal duty to sway your opinion towards commentary. With this in mind, I have compiled a short list of my favorite movie commentaries. It is my hope that you will watch one or more of these movies with the commentary on, and by so doing, find yourself to be a Fan of the commentary as well.

She's The Man - Leading actors and the director tease each other with the easy familiarity of friends...you know they all got along while filming, and Andy Fickman throws in all sorts of interesting tidbits.

Twilight - Robert Pattinson's self-deprecating humor steals the commentary from his costar and the director. It is possible I like this movie more with the commentary than without.

Ocean's Eleven - Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon are a power team, nuff said.

Anchorman - Will Ferrell does a commentary of his best movie ever, and he's freaking Will Ferrell, how could it not be funny?

Juno - In this case, less funny, more introspection on the movie, but still very interesting. Commentators are Diablo Cody (writer) and Jason Reitman (Director)

Connie and Carla - Nia Vardolos, writer and star, offers a glimpse into her inspiration for the movie, and you get to learn about all the drag queens' real lives.

A Walk To Remember - Any commentary with Adam Shankman is good, but I really like this one, because Mandy Moore and Shane West can be both poignant and amusing.

Pirates of the Caribbean - Any time you can listen to Johnny Depp talk for over two hours is time well spent.

Love Actually - With this movie, pretty much any way you watch it, its good. You could put on mute. But why, when you can listen to Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy and more discuss the movie with insight and genuine affection for their work.

I encourage you to take a chance on a commentary...and do let me know how it goes!

Dust Bunnies....we know they are made of dust, but how do we know they are bunnies?

Disclaimer: I let my mother pick my topic today, and this is what she came up with.

I admit when my mom first said this, I laughed but I wasn't sure I would be able to say much on the subject. In fact, if my mom hadn't continued rambling about it I might not have anything to say.

It is curious that we call them dust"bunnies" when I have never seen one larger than a mouse. And given the fact that neither my mother nor I are particularly fond of cleaning, if anybody were to have a bunny size ball of dust, it would be us. Although if I were to come across one so large we would probably send out for help.

They hide every where, in corners, under your bed, in your broom. They are extremely sneaky and can easily escape you on the slightest puff of air. My mom is something of a conspiracy theorist, and thinks they could be spies. Although, she isn't sure which country might be controlling them.

Another suggestion from my mother is that they are just bunny parts, because when they come together they make an even bigger bunny. In fact they are very similar to transformers that way. That would make them aliens from another planet. I'm okay with that as long as they are here for good, and not to take over the planet.

We have never once caught them coming into or exit the house. They seem to appear from nowhere, and they are remarkably similar to their namesake in that they multiply rapidly. In addition, dust bunnies never leave you a basket of treats, hidden or otherwise. Although, it is possible that they are Jewish, and therefore do not celebrate Easter.

On the plus side they never leave their dropping around the house. They are very quiet...no wild parties. And they seem very loving, because we see them all the time. Incredibly despite their effect on humans' allergies, dust bunnies never seem to be sick, as I have never once seen one in a hospital.

There are real gray bunnies, but there are also black, brown, white and spotted bunnies. Dust bunnies on the other hand, only come in gray. Is this because gray bunnies are the best? Or is it because gray bunnies were the low bunny on the totem pole. Perhaps we'll never know.

Thoughts?

At 5' 5'' in the Editorial Column we have....

This first post will serve as an introduction to my blog and to me. I feel it only fair to warn you that I have opinion and I am not afraid to share it. This is, in fact, the very problem that keeps me from pursuing a career in anything remotely related to my college degree. When I majored in Journalism, I had high hopes. Dreams of a column in a famous music magazine, my own radio show, fame, fortune, you get the picture. What I failed to realize (as many young college students do) is that in order to obtain these things, I would first have to work in menial, low-paying, thankless jobs at little newspapers and radio stations, slowly working my way up the ladder of notoriety and success. While in theory I am not against these things, I have a few problems actually practicing them.

The most important problem, which I touched on earlier, is my opinionated nature. In journalism, most newspapers are looking for fair, balanced, non-biased, objective (the list of adjectives could go forever) articles. I am a very talented writer....of editorial pieces...my talent does not run to hard news. Woodward and Bernstein I am not.

My second major problem with the aforementioned menial jobs is, to be frank, money. If you are alive (and since you are reading this, I assume you to be) you cannot be unaware of the economic problems facing pretty much everyone on the planet. I, sadly, am not a celebrity and therefore have just as many bills to pay as every other person. My biggest debt is my college education that I am not even using...gee dad, so glad I listened to you when you said this was an investment in my future.

My third problem, and the least important, is that I lack a virtue known to most as patience. I just don't want to wait to earn my opinion column, I want to write it now.
When I am not at my day job, I read. Books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs. I said myself, "Self, everyone has a blog, you can too. Maybe no one will read it, but that's okay, because you can write whatever you want." And I was convinced. Plus, despite what my younger, teenage brother says, I find my self, at the very least, slightly amusing. If I can bring a smile to a person's face, what more could I ask? Besides a million dollars that is.

In this, my first post, I want to share with you, my readers, some pertinent statistics regarding my life. I am 23 years old, female, and currently single. I live and work in Southwest Michigan and went to school at Grand Valley State University. I absolutely love listening to music, reading, watching movies, and spending time with my family.

Anyone who reads this blog is welcome to comment, but I do ask that it be respectful. This will be a place where I speak my opinions freely. If you don't agree with me, that's okay. If you call me names, that's not okay. I feel like that is a fairly easy rule to follow.

And so, gentle reader, I bid you adieu until next I post, and wish you all many happy returns.