The River Wild

Meryl Streep + Kevin Bacon + A young John C. Riley + The kid from Jurassic Park = 1994's The River Wild, a movie worth referring to on any family rafting trip and/or camping trip.

After one gets over the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon and the Queen of the world status of Meryl Streep, this movie strips down to hard core family fun.

I mean, hey mom, it's cool that you row every day outside of Boston, but let's put that to the test. Dad hates nature, but let's throw him in head first. Oh, and I'm the boy who's almost eaten by DINOSAURS.

There are great things about this movie beyond the sweet story line of bad asses Kevin Bacon and "Walkin' Hard" John C. Riley trying to kill Meryl's family.

Here are some bullet points for you:

• Natives have left drawings on rocks.
• Meryl's American Flag t-shirt
• Sweet 1990's outfits and familial fighting
• Kevin's hat and hair
• John C. Riley
• Level 5 rapids
• Fantastic cinematography

Now I've had some people tell me that this movie isn't anything great. But they're full of shit. This movie has so much to offer. I mean it's like Cape Fear meets the Parent Trap--any other questions?!

Watching this is as close to the river as I need to get. Sike-- I just know how it feels to be the only one who gets sent from the raft/tube.

Speaking of; I don't know if my sister reads my blog, but if she does, this will allow me to find out: When we went white water rafting, it was incredibly fun and hilarious.

Here are highlights:

My sister bouncing into the air on a double hole--never falling into the water--just up in the air like a flapjack and back into the boat.

I didn't have my glasses, so I couldn't see ANYTHING.

My Mom was the first one bounced-- I've never seen her eyes so wide.

My Mom and Dad sitting in the back of the raft screaming at the guides.

Erin smiling at the "rock camera" for the family photo op.

LOVE IT Roarke.

Jeff LOVES the Midwest

Jeffrey doesn't like the Midwest.

Everything but Baltimore and Chicago (on our trip so far) has been farmland and it wasn't the most exciting landscape. We still had an amazing time and Chicago is BEAUTIFUL! We just had martinis and a cheese plate at "Dirty Martini's."

Thing that have happened-

My power source in the Fiesta has decided to quit on the job. I will be getting it fixed in Santa Barbara.

My entire family has called me-- I'm okay guys! Love you.

Michael Jackson has been heard and honored as well as mocked.

We are now translating "Americana" --it's a language used in the United States by some, it's a regional dialect.

Jeff asked me about his computer and all I heard was "Did you savagely blast my puter?"

That's not what he said-- but it's pretty f-ing funny.

I'm tired so I'm going to bed.

:)

Vacation

I haven't written much lately. I've been working on my Fiesta video and have run into many problems editing. iMovie 09 has frozen and ruined my almost completed projects 2xs. After restraining my anger and NOT throwing my computer out the window, I (though my amazingly supportive parents) obtained Final Cut Studio! It's AMAZING.

I wanted to take a break from editing to tell everyone that my vacation has been crazy-go-nuts fun! I just saw a movie ("The Proposal") with like 20 of my aunts, cousins and my Mom, have met some distant cousins from Seattle (who are HILARIOUS), as well as started a much needed tan.

My video will be coming soon and I start my XC trip the 29th with Jeff! I can't wait!

Well that's all for now. I'm obsessed with Nip/Tuck right now and plan on falling asleep after a good episode from Season 5.

Elizabeth Montgomery: My First Hero in Film/Television

When I was very young, probably 2 or 3, there was a cartoon that caught my eye. It was the opening credits of the 1960s show, Bewitched.

As I grew, so did my attention span and my love for this show. When I was 7-8, we lived at my Grandma and Pa's house for a while. We had just left the Air Force and the transition was, once again, a bit tough. I found that with cable, there came "Nick-at-Nite." This was a completely welcomed gift because as long as my homework was done, I had practiced whatever instrument I was playing at the time, time had been spent outside and I wasn't in trouble for something, I was allowed to watch T.V. I bargained with my parents to push back my bedtime to 9 o'clock because this was when Bewitched ended.
Let let me watch. Pandora's box was opened.
I watched the show and dreamed of someday making magic too. I wanted to be like Samantha, Elizabeth Montgomery's character. Though I didn't have any desire to be stuck inside all day with a dude who comes home to yell at me, I did want to cause/have shenanigans...especially if I could have powers as well. That gave her freedom.
The best time of year to watch Bewitched, summer time. "Nick-at-nite" had this special thing during the summer called "Block Party Summer" and they would play 4 episodes in a row and it was amazing. My Pa hated this. He use to tell me that I could watch it upstairs because he'd already seen this period of time. It makes me laugh now, after he's gone, because I only had to do that one time. He watched it with me all the other times, he just wanted to make an initial point; so him. I watched 60 Minutes with him, he watched Bewitched with me...empathetic.

Elizabeth Montgomery was my hero. I wanted to know everything about the show, her life, how they made the show, what you had to do to be a witch.

As I grew older, around 9 or 10, I knew every trick they used. I learned how the characters changes, who was who, how to "pop" from scene to scene...stop/start camera action!
Summer time became even better, in the morning, Bewitched was on TBS and was in color!! I had only seen the black and white shows and on a rare occasion seen it in color.
My sister and I would watch every weekday morning, loving every moment.
I think my favorite moment in this time, was when I discovered Serina, Samantha's cousin (also played by Elizabeth Montgomery). She was a crazy lady, and that was cool. She was the hipster and the rebel who liked to mess with people. Here's a taste.


On May 18th 1995 I was in the car with my Mom and my sister, Erin, and on the radio they announced that Elizabeth Montgomery had died. I was struck with instantaneous grief. I remember turning to the window and crying. She was the first person in my life to die and bring me to tears. There had been deaths, but I guess I was too young or unaffected, anyway, I was very sad. I wrote it in my little diary that night. I drew a picture and everything. I bought the people magazine with her on the cover and I just remember all of it vividly.

Elizabeth Montgomery, Bewitched, and my family all made me love television and film. I still wish I could have met Ms. Montgomery or been born a person with magical powers (not magic like in Vegas, that's weird, lol). Now I know how to make movie magic and I am living my dreams. Thanks Elizabeth Montgomery, wherever you are.

My Travels this Week

Today is the first day I've been back at my computer working on stuff for a while. I have been once again traveling the East Coast with family.
On Tuesday night, my Mom, Grandma, Aunt Ame and I all went to the second round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The game was University of Maryland vs. Utah. Maryland won! WOOT!


The game was really fun. A different crowd to watch college athletics with, that's for sure, but fun non-the-less. Mom and I talked shop the whole time and MAN DO I LOVE BASKETBALL!!! It never dies.

I feel like my love of basketball is this daffodil, it hides for a lot of the year. It is suppressed by the layers of "life snow" that lay themselves on top of my things-to-do-list and I forget that it's there. Then, just at the right time, the little bit of yellow and green shine through and burst through the barrier without hesitation and my basketball daffodil is alive and well again.
So analogies aside--I had a great time. Memories made once again.

Yesterday, Mom and I spent the whole day on the road to go get my plane tickets and see Erin play against York (@Frostburg).
The plane tickets are for my trip to USC the first weekend in April! I'm going to the Admitted Graduate Stuents Weekend, and I am MAJORLY excited! On April 3rd I will be attending a screening of Forest Gump followed by a Q&A with Director Robert Zemekis and actors Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise... "Lt. Dan's got magic legs." That's right.
The other two days I'm there I'll be attending screenings of shorts...a film nerd's dream!
I can't wait to see the school!!! The plane tickets are purchased and the cop at the airport's got my Mom's van on his list of things to look out for...lol.
Erin's game was fun. I love getting to see her play. She is the skinniest goalie in history, I swear.
I enjoyed seeing her but you know what I don't enjoy? Frostburg.
I have visited her many times over the past four years and NOT ONCE HAS IT BEEN SUNNY. Every time it rains or is cloudy and cold.
She goes to school where the sun don't shine. A butt.
Yesterday proved it further. Also--I wore my Dad's rain pants that dwarfed me to looking like I'm 3ft tall. LOL.

Today, I am recovering and working on Financial Aid stuff. Scholarship searches and such. If you have any suggestions of where to find money to pay for school...please let me know :)
More traveling to come in the near future and hopefully I'll find out about Ford Fiesta soon too!!

PS
Jay and Sarah sent me pics of Julia "J-Dawg" in Pheonix...she's already so different! She's a goofball and a 1/2!


Katharine too! :)

Saratoga Springs is Cool

This past week has been a whirl wind, just a whirl of wind. I went to North Carolina for 3 days which was fun but exhausting and the 6 1/2 hour driving expedition really kicked my butt.
Friday Morning, I was up and ready to go to the airport. My Aunt Ame generously took me to BWI where I was quite early for my flight. So I decided to keep myself occupied by hitting up some hotspot internet on my iTouch, reading my new Ingrid Bergman book (as well as finishing Spellbound By Beauty... finally!) and people watching.
People watching at the airport is the best kind there is. People are so weird, and I LOVE IT. Just give them a back story, it's so easy. Setting, plot and characters are readily available at the airport.

Let's talk kids on leashes"--a.k.a. THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. I tried to talk Sarah into getting one of these for Julia's airport adventures, though I think she may never be on a leash, I surely appreciate all parents who do this to their children. I mean, is there really anything that is even close to being this funny? The kid is obviously not tame in the first place. Then one day someone was like "Hey everyone! Let's put the really hyper ones who love running and screaming on a short rope in highly crowded areas!" -yes. I like it. Seriously, I think the new ones with the little monkey/teddy backpacks are pure GENIUS!
So thank you to this kid for making my morning venture entertaining.

This is my newest Ingrid Bergman book...it's amazing. You know what else is amazing? My new blog about the late, great, Bergman: Ingrid Bergman Life and Films.

When I arrived at the Albany Airport, my Aunt Mare was there to greet me.
My Aunt Mare is someone who I know, no matter the environment, the people, the weather, the mood, I will have a spectacular time. She is far more extroverted than I, but we sure share a lot of features. We also have tendencies to create quick inside jokes, adventures and are definitely on the same wavelength.


Aunt Mare and me at one of my lax games...she loves lax too! :)

We had to rush to Saratoga for a meet and greet with the group of high school girls that I would be coaching at the next day's clinic. Tired as hell, I walked into the school and was hit by the overwhelming end of the day smell that can only be described as "the smell of highschool."
The girls were incredibly welcoming and excited to learn some new lax stuff. I was excited because they all seemed ready to learn, and a coach cannot ask for more!

That night, I had dinner with the Pieper clan (my Aunt Mare's family) which consists of Mare, Emmy, Kristofer and Uncle Fred. My Grandma was also in NY, but she had opted to stay with The elder Piepers at their camp. The evening was mine.
I got to have a lot of one on one time with Emmy, who is 13 and really cool. She's a quiet one, but as well all know, they're the ones you have to look out for.
She's freaking hysterical! She takes monster photographs that show that someday she could definitely do something with photos, cinema, design, etc.


My cousin Kristofer wasn't in the scene so much this visit. He had track practice and then a weekend with his Quaker Teen group, so he was pretty much MIA. Cool kid though, very motivated and he gave me a bed to sleep in while he was gone. Thanks KP!

We ate homemade Mac-n-cheese, which was to die for. Talked shop with Aunt Mare before the clinic. Then into bed early. I finially have broken out of my insomnia! I'm so excited! I have been in bed before 12 the past 3 nights! Sleep before 1! Slowly I am getting there.

The next morning the sun was shining, but it was like 30 degrees, so we were inside for the clinic. I taught the JV for about an hour and a half. This group was compiled of 7th-10th graders who were all novice to the game of lax. They were a fun group and were willing to do anything to learn. I made them flop down like whales, yell silly things and really worked on their stickwork. They did very well. The next hour and a 1/2 was for the Varsity. They were a bit more advanced, so I through in some more scenarios for them. Both groups were so easy to teach because they didn't have to be "un-taught." I loved it, and I hope they keep in touch.

After the clinic, Aunt Mare took me into Saratoga Springs. The city is gorgeous! It is small and walkable, but also grand in its own way. There are parks and cool shops, as well as cafes, the tracks, and this bomb ass library. We went into some vintage shops and bought the last James Taylor album she needed to complete her collection (JT is her fave) and I bought 3 ABBA albums and one Frieda (from ABBA) solo album for Jeffrey (it's SICK).

(Frieda solo album...haha)

We went to the library and then to this cafe where one of my Aunt's friends runs a totally chill place. You're not to talk on your phone, online, or anything like that. I was being risky and taking a couple pics while we were there. The place was so chill, fun and hoppin'. I could see myself sitting there for hours with a book and an Italian soda (which is what I drank) enjoying the atmosphere and music.


That afternoon/evening my Grandma returned from her journey to the camp. She had Emmy and me in stitches telling us stories from her time there as well as random stories to make us laugh. It was definitely a time I will treasure forever and remember what a crazy lady my Grandma can be.

(Her dollar store glasses are wonked and she needs to get new ones...LOL)
I have a ton of cousins, so any one on one time with each other as well as a grandparent is always SUPER special because it doesn't happen all the time, actually, I'd say it's pretty rare. I make the time for my Grandma, because she's really smart, wise and fun to hang with. ("Never end a sentence with a preposition, at.")

We played "Taboo" and my Grandma skated around on the hardwood floor in her socks.
Good times were had. My Uncle Fred was slightly left out, but he had me laughing SO hard at dinner when we talked about whether or not food goes bad.
He had this to say about the old blueberry yogurt in the fridge:


"I never thought it was not safe. It's never not safe, unless it looks not safe.
It's always safe."- Fred Pieper


I had to leave the next morning, but we had an elaborate Sunday breakfast and good times traveling. Grandma and I flew on the same flight and spent the rest of the day, my mother's bday, together.

Now my 2 weeks ahead are sans Julia but are beginning to be action packed. I am going to the Admitted Students Weekend at USC and plan to do some trips to see games with my Mom. I am very exctied about all of it! I am officially admitted to USC and now I will begin to find money to make sure I can attend! :)