From Beautiful Creatures: The Charles Bukowski Poem
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 8:00 am
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl include a lot of literary references in their Beautiful Creatures series of books. This poem by Charles Bukowski is quoted in the film based on the first book.
Lifedance
The area dividing the brain and the soul
is affected in many ways by
experience —
some lose all mind and become soul:
insane.
some lose all soul and become mind:
intellectual.
some lose both and become:
accepted.
A Valentine’s Day Romance Smile of the Week: Signs
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 3:59 pm
Reminiscent of this year’s adorable Oscar-nominated short, “Paperman,” this very romantic Australian short is the story of a lonely office worker who falls for a pretty girl in the window of the building across the street.
Men often imagine winning a girl’s affection by proving their worth in a battle against someone or something that threatens their loved one’s life. While many women want the men in their lives to be sensitive like Ryan Gosling’s “Notebook” character Noah, guys aspire to be like the renegade John McClane in “Die Hard.”
But he leaves out my favorite quote in the movie, Mrs. McClane’s tender but knowing assessment of her estranged husband: “He’s still alive. Only John can drive somebody that crazy.”
Valentine’s Day Movies to Share With Someone You Love
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:00 am
Some of my favorite movie romances are just right for Valentine’s Day. Cuddle up with your valentine and a bowl of popcorn and enjoy these movies about how love makes us crazy and immeasurably happy at the same time.
1. Moonstruck Cher won an Oscar as the bookkeeper who has given up on love until she meets the brother of her fiance, who tells her:
Love don’t make things nice – it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and *die*.
2. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet find that they really don’t want to forget each other, no matter how painful love can be.
3. You’ve Got Mail This third version of the story of a couple who are at war in person, not realizing that they are tender lovers through the mail, updates the story to the computer age. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have so much chemistry on screen that we know from the first moment what it will take them the whole movie to discover — they are meant to be together. Be sure to watch the earlier versions, The Shop Around the Corner with James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan and the musical In the Good Old Summertime with Judy Garland and Van Johnson.
4. The Philadelphia Story On the eve of her wedding, socialite Tracy Lord’s ex-husband shows up with a couple of journalists and we get to watch three of the greatest stars in Hollywood history sort out their affections. This movie has everything: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart (who won an Oscar), George Cukor as director, wit, heart, and romance and an important lesson about how sometimes it is not about falling in love but recognizing that we have already fallen.
5. To Have and Have Not As tough guy Humphrey Bogart meets the even-tougher Lauren Bacall (only 19 years old when this was filmed), we get to see the real-life romantic sparks that gave the on-screen love story some extra sizzle. Watch her teach him how to whistle.