So, I am reduced to asking you to sign a petition...

For a "National Tartan Day Presidential Proclamation"

As you may (or not) have noticed... men in kilts make my knees weak, and my heart thump just a little harder... (ahem, I said it the movie meme post).

So, if I can get a bunch of proud Scottish-Americans to don their kilts for a day, I am all for it...

and for the record - I would not have asked for you to sign, but I received the link from a reputable kilt wearer who is rather tech savvy and so I would trust the link...

In case you missed my previous two links to the petition; clicking here will take you to it.

Tags: Tartan, kilts

Lights, camera, action...

Wiggles

Or it is a meme?

A meme it is...

Jordana, whom I have known since high school, though she wasn't quite there age wise though she was most undoubtedly much smarter than three-quarters of my class... has managed to tag me with a meme that her college friend NBS tagged her for.... No, I never met him, though I would venture to say that "I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark."

No, it is not a meme about Hobbes, but is a bit more somber in that... it is a...

...wait for it...

.. a movie meme.

(for those who are thinking that I am truly nuts, that merely is my form of sarcasm)

So, while I do not think I had nearly as abusive parents growing up (at least so claim my favorite curmudgeon and her college friend), I did grow up with a black and white TV set (for a time) in several third world countries and also under a dictatorship in what I would refer to as a second world country.... so, I had my own form of televised torture as a wee one.

Trust me, when I landed on American shores... OK... when I landed in an American Desert (in July I might add)... right after a gluttonous fest of candy indulgence I sat in front of a color TV set and marveled at how awesome the United States of America was... it had good candy and great TV shows... and in English no less... there was nothing on this planet during that first summer I actually lived in the USA that was as cool as those two things... Hanna-Barbera reruns of shows like Hong Kong Phooey or the Banana Splits, then there was Wonder Woman and Shazam, and then those bionic people... and a bird that was yellow and not a parrot or a dragon (I distinctly remember a dragon on the version of Plaza Sesamo I grew up with)...
then there were the air conditioned movie theatres... since I had moved from a place that was perpetual fall-or-spring-like weather to hell on earth, I learned to love air conditioning rather young...

but I digress...

but only sort of, because writing about movie theatres was my transition to the theme of my post and the object of the meme.

FavoriteFavorite movie:

I also grew up on the dubbed versions of several movies that I recall with fondness that in retrospect are mostly Westerns... or The Wizard of OZ, which would show at three in the morning once a year in English with Spanish subtitles. Every now and then, the expat community would host a movie night at the local university theatre and we would go see en mass... there I saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which set the bar for what I considered to be a beautiful woman... yes, I wanted uber thin lips painted bright red, I thought that was beautiful... then there was the time my mother horrified the world by taking us to see Animal House... though I probably should not have mentioned this.

Anyway, so my favorite movie... I suppose that there are a few... I, like Jordana, love Auntie Mame but I can't leave it just at that... I never saw Gigi, though I have always thought I would like it. I love Breakfast at Tiffany's but more for the soundtrack than the movie... I have always liked Apocalypse Now because I think that Joseph Conrad had some profound things he was thinking when he wrote the book the movie is based on. I can't think of any other movies that have achieved such notoriety with me that I could deem them as a favorite, though I am sure I am not thinking hard enough.

One of the first major movies I saw in the USA was the first release of Star Wars, so it will always have a special place in my heart... even though I also saw this "spoof" and loved it. My favorite "cult film classic" would probably be Lair of the White Worm, not because I am a huge fan of Hugh, but because I simply cannot resist a man in a kilt, it makes my knees weak... and it is weird enough for the likes of me.

Favorite movie with a religious theme:

Lillies of the Field always is in my mind, in part because I love Sidney Poitier as an actor, in part because it features East Germany and considering that I went to a German School as a youngun and react strongly to things Germanic (which explains, in part, my choice in husband), and finally because it has nuns, which were very prominent in my life.

Favorite movie priest:

I struggled with this one... I thought to myself "wasn't Bing Crosby a priest in a movie? If so, I can remember it and maybe that is my favorite movie priest." so I looked it up and lo and behold it is one from movie I liked, The Bells of Saint Mary's ... though more for personal ancestral reasons (because that is part of what defines me)... my great-great-grandfather loved the song by that name, so much so that even though it was a "catholic" song, it was played at his very Presbyterian funeral (he was a missionary).

So, aside from that perhaps I would say that I liked Gabriel Byrne as Father Andrew Kiernan in Stigmata. When I was younger I grew up in very catholic countries, so I had one of those moments when I prayed for stigmata, which I have since decided that it is part of what makes one a semi catholic... a youthful desire for a sign like stigmata from God... but I digress, again.

Favorite movie nun:

While I can mainly only remember Mary Tyler Moores' portrayal of a nun, along with Elvis as a good doctor, in Change of Habit, I would venture to add that the nuns in Lillies of the Field are favorites of mine... and for the record, I grew up watching Sally Field in Flying Nun and loved it.

So who do I tag?

Jodi - because she is living the sweet life in Canadia now and doesn't do memes (per se) but could use a diversion I imagine...

I tag Catherine, but only if she feels like she has enough time with her crazy schedule...

and it might be interesting to see Northern_Girl give this a go.

Tags: meme

My dirty laundry

I would so wash this lovely clothing item with chlorine bleach... and then run it over with my car...
how about you?

Tags: sexism, jobs, spouse

Modern rocking horse

01 to 03 of 06 173, originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

A shout out to some very kind and gracious friends who remembered that Squink turned two very recently and sent this for him.

Thank you D & J! He loves it!

Pomegranate

01 to 03 of 06 152, originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

One of my most favorite plants and my feeble attempt at something resembling macro photography.

Part of why I love the plant is based on a story I have been told of the plant/tree my great-grandmother had in her garden... and how my mother and aunt would sit in the tree with little pipes (yes, you read that right) that my great-grandmother had fashioned for them using the flower and a straw... I just love the plant, and hope to be able to plant one myself soon. I had bought a pair of them, just before being put on bed-rest and when able to walk again, I found them dead... and while worth losing them, I am still a little sad I had not taken the time to bring them in with me, to keep me company on those horribly long days... a way to bring my ancestors in to my experience, I guess.