Top Faves of 2018

Hey all! Well, we are about to say goodbye to another year. Since I started off this year focusing on the positive, I thought I would make my last blog post of 2018 on the same note. From books to tv and personal moments, here is my list of favorites from the year!

Book: While I didn’t read as many books as I had wanted this year, I did binge out on some great reads. It’s a hard thing to pick a favorite book, but I think for this list I am going with new-to-me author Candace Osmond and her Dark Tides series, which I have raved about here. The Devil’s Heart is the first in the series and it got me hooked! I am looking forward to reading more of her work in 2019.

Movie: Again, another hard pick. I watched a lot of great flicks and there were a ton that came out this year I didn’t get to watch yet. But I am going with Black Panther, which was a kick ass awesome movie! I loved every aspect of this movie, and I can’t wait for the sequel.

Song: I got hooked on a few new bands this year, thanks to my husbands great taste in music. The band July Talk is now on the top of my list of fave bands, but the song Roots by In This Moment is my binge song of the year.

Celeb Meet: Hands down, Manu Bennett. I met a few cool people and had a blast at comic con in Toronto, but he was on my bucket list for a few years and I was supposed to meet him a few years ago. He was an awesome guy, and I enjoyed chatting to him.

I was so happy meeting him I didn’t even care I looked like shite in this pic haha.

Life Moment: Adopting our greyhound, Foxy. It has been a much more rewarding experience then I could ever have imagined. Watching her come out of her shell has been amazing. She’s a hoarder of stuffies and she makes me laugh every day.

 

Bucket List Moment: Getting to see Bryan Adams in concert with one of my best friends. Mr. C surprised me with the tickets last spring. He wasn’t able to come with me but miss Tanya joined me for an amazing night.

This year was a good one. I hope 2019 is just as good. What are your favorites of 2018? I would love to hear what book, movie or moment is on the top of your list! 🙂

A Love for Movies & My Top 3

I am a huge movie buff, and I have been since I was a kid. My sister worked at a video store for twenty years. Which meant I often got free and cheap movie rentals. (Side note: I really miss video rental stores. Going with a friend or boyfriend on a Friday night to pick out a flick. Grabbing snacks and freshly popped popcorn for the evening. I worked there for a little while too.)

I had countless movie posters and spent my allowance on VHS tapes, and then DVD’s. (Lord I sound old 😉 )

Depending on the day of the week, my list of favorite movies would vary. Like books, there are too many good ones to pick just one favorite. I don’t have a top 10 or top 20…more like top 50 😉

But for the sake of this post, I am keeping it to three.

1-The Princess Bride

I have watched this movie at least five hundred times. I have watched it nine times in one week when I had one of the worst flues of my life. I watched it last week when it was on tv. I stoped my cleaning and sat to watch one of the best movies ever made. It’s a classic and if you don’t know who said “Inconceivable!”, “As you wish”, or have no clue who the six fingered man is, I suggest you stop what you are doing and find this movie. It has a little bit of everything…fencing, true love, revenge, pirates…the list goes on. This is my go-to movie no matter how I am feeling. If I was told I could watch one movie for the rest of my life, this would be it.

2-The Shawshank Redemption 

I have a lot of feels for this movie.

First of all, it is a fantastic story with an amazing cast. A man wrongly accused of murdering his wife and her lover is sentenced to prison, and after years of being in Shawshank, manages to escape. I love the relationship between ‘Andy’ and ‘Red’. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman played them wonderfully.

I used to watch this movie with my dad a lot. It was his favorite too. We had watched it countless of times, and yet we loved when Andy made his escape every damn time. I lost my dad in May of 2009. It wasn’t until October that I took this dvd from my shelf to watch. It was his birthday and I wanted to watch our favorite movie. I admit, as soon as certain music pieces played, I started to cry. It was really hard watching it, because all I did was miss my dad. But now when I watch it I smile because of the memories I had.

3-King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

When I found out Guy Richie was planning on a six movie franchise I was stoked. Aside from the fact he is a great director, the Arthurian story is one of my favorites. And the cherry on the top, some  of my favorite actors were set to star in it. Eric Bana, Jude Law and Charlie Hunnam. I was super excited. (And totally bummed that there probably won’t be any more movies. I blame timing and critics on that one).

Anyway, I loved everything in this movie. The actors did an amazing job. Jude Law played an excellent villain and Charlie Hunnam knocked it out of the park his role of Arthur. I loved the take on Arthur, that he grew up on the streets. It had bits of humor, action, great dialogue and more. I bought the dvd and watched the behind the scenes of the movie. Their was A LOT of hard work that went into that movie, between costumes and settings for filming. And that hard work paid off. Even every piece of music played was spot on. I often listen to it (the soundtrack) when I am writing.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts on these movies. There are many great films out there. What are some of your favorites?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broken Hearted. RIP Severus Snape

Yesterday morning I arrived at work, got myself settled in and took out my phone to check Facebook while I ate my breakfast. Pretty quickly an article caught my eye. My best friend had posted something that made my jaw drop. When I seen the line ‘Alan Rickman passes at age 69’, I didn’t believe it. I had to check the link to prove that this was just another horrible celebrity death hoax.

But it wasn’t. I stared at the cold hard truth and my heart broke.

It is amazing how someone you have never met can have such an impact on you. Can make you feel so strongly. But I can say that while I never met the man (if only!), I have been totally heart broken about his passing.

I have been a huge fan of Alan Rickman since before his famous role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter universe. From Die Hard to Sense and Sensibility, this man stole my heart. He captivated me, and many others, in his role on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as the evil (and a little crazy) Sheriff of Nottingham. No matter the role he played, which was many and varied, he made us believe he really was that character.

My Facebook yesterday was full of statuses in regards to others being just as saddened and people saying what movies of his they would be watching that night or this weekend. I will be having my own Alan Rickman marathon come the weekend. There’s so many great ones, it is hard to choose.

What movies of his do you love the most? What would you watch?

 

 

 

10 of My Favorite Horror Movies From The 1980’s

And in no particular order!!!

I love Halloween. And I love a good horror movie. And I love them when they aren’t so scary, too.

I’ve been in old school mode and have been re-watching some of the movies I watched growing up. So here are ten of my all time faves. (Keep in mind I am a huge movie buff and my fave list is as big as my favorite book list).

#1- A nightmare on Elm Street. I’ve been a massive Freddy Kruegar fan since I was a kid. I started watching these movies earlier then a kid should. But I grew up to be normal. Well…I wouldn’t say normal, but I could be worse. 😉

Myself and Mr. C with Robert Englund!!!

#2-Fright Night. I love a good vampire movie. And this is one of my faves, including the new version.

#3- The Lost Boys. And speaking of vampires, I can’t forget this classic. The Lost Boys is a movie I (sadly) didn’t get to see until a couple of years ago. I recently wrote a fan letter to Keifer Sutherland and I really hope he signs the pic of ‘David’ that I sent.

#4- My Bloody Valentine. This movie was filmed locally!!! Woot!!! I really need to sit and have a re-watch of this soon, since it has been ages. I watched the remake with Mister in our early days of dating.

#5- Critters. I blame my sister for getting me hooked on creature features. If they are small like these guys or as massive as Godzilla, I want to watch the movie!!!

#6. Gremlins. Who couldn’t love the lil face of Gizmo?! I would love to have a Mogwai. However, I’d make sure not to break any of the three rules.

That face though ❤

#7- Beetlejuice. Do you know how excited I am about the sequel?!?! I am also a little terrified. Because I loved the first one so much, I am wondering how the sequel will go. It’s always a 50/50 shot of them getting it right or screwing it up. However, Tim Burton is involved soooooo odds are I’ll love it!

#8-Teen Wolf. Not exactly a horror, but I’m pretty sure it helped to fuel my love of supernatural. I used to watch this movie over and over again.

#9-Pet Semetary. Being the animal lover I am, I loved the idea of a graveyard, even a creepy one, could bring a pet back to life. But the dead should stay that way. This take on zombies is the one that creeps me out more then ‘The Walking Dead’.

#10- Maximum Overdrive. Yet another from The King of Horror on my list. Maximum overdrive was the first Stephen movie I have ever watched. I was fascinated with it. It introduced me to the world of sci-fi and horror and I wanted more. Every so often I look at my toaster and think of this movie… 😉

And who wouldn’t be freaked the hell out seeing this coming at you?!

What are some of your favorite horror movies from this decade? 🙂

Fan Mail: Recent Successes!!!

With everything that has been going on lately, I have totally forgotten about my fan mail.

Back in July, Mister and I decided that we would make August our best writing month yet. Last year in July, we wrote 67 letters in one month. I said we needed to beat that! (Chalk that ambition up to the sun finally emerging and me getting an overdose of vitamin D, lol.)

So, in August we ended up writing 69 letters between us. I think he wrote more then me BUT I wrote a huge chunk. I would come home from work after a busy day, tired, and he would ask “So, who are you writing tonight?” My reply was zombie-like with an “uuughhhgg”.

However, the work paid off! We have already gotten successes from our August writing, and others from older letters. i have been pretty pumped with my new autographs!

Grant from ‘The Flash’.

I also wrote to another cast member from ‘The Flash’. Robbie Amell was awesome enough to sign my pic!

“FireStorm”

I have gotten hooked on ‘Once Upon A Time’. I did watch season one and then for some reason wasn’t able to watch much of season two and nothing from then on. However I am quickly catching up and writing to some of the cast!

Josh Dallas plays David/Prince Charming.

I sent two pics to him and he signed both! 🙂

I was stoked to get this cast member the other day!!!

I loved her on ‘House’ and now I love her as ‘Emma Swan’.

I also wrote to a couple of classy ladies. Women I have watched in re-runs when I was a kid. I loved them then and I love them now.

Carol Burnett.

Carol in one of her famous skits.

And the other classy and sassy lady is….

Betty White!!!

I still love her as Rose on ‘The Golden Girls’.

Golden Girl re-runs are the best 😀

I just had to write to these guys.

Aaron Eckhart. I have loved him in so many roles over the years.

Tim Allen!!!

And not to mention this awesome guy…

John Travolta!!!

When you write to John Travolta, he will send you an extra autographed pic! Here it is:

The extra pic he sent. So cool!

I also wrote to some kick ass ladies. This autograph had me “squeeeeeeeeing” all the way out of the post office. One of my all time fave actresses!

Melissa McCarthy in ‘The Heat’ (which was frickin hilarious!)

My fave female vampire…

Kristen Bauer Van Straten as ‘Pam’ in True Blood’.

And last but not least, a fab actress who I loved in ‘Chuck’ as well as Dexter.

Yvonne Strahovski.

Wow! I didn’t realize how many I had come in since the last autographs I posted.

I love writing fan mail. And I love the thrill when I get an autograph in the mail. There are the odd ‘return to sender’ for various reasons, such as an outdated address, but that kind of things is rare in our mailbox (luckily!).

Until next time, happy writing! 🙂 (Or whatever makes your geek heart happy!)

A New Autograph and Fandom Friday!!

Well as promised, I said I’d be back this week with my first ever Fandom Friday!! The first theme is childhood movies.

Since I was unable to post earlier in the week, I’m bringing a bunch of geekiness to this post.

I was surprised tonight by a piece of mail. Mr. C thought it would be funny to hide my newest big brown envelope for awhile. I couldn’t be mad long when I opened it to find this!

Hugh Jackman!!

I am a big fan of this guy and Wolverine is my most favorite character from the X-Men comics. So I am pretty stoked to have gotten this today! Yay!

My first Fandom Friday theme  was inspired when I was sick earlier in the month. When I had the flu from hell, I spent a few days on my sofa, watching some of my favorites growing up. Movies that I still watch on a regular basis. I have a lot of them so for today’s random movie list I am picking five of my faves!

#1: The Princess Bride

Princess Buttercup and Westly.

This movie is a classic, and has a little bit of everything. Fencing, true love, revenge, to name just a few. I can safely say that Westly was my first ever crush and love. What’s not to like about a handsome and rugged man hurrying to rescue and be with his true love? I’ve watched this movie hundreds of times.

#2- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Old school turtles are the best!!

These old school turtles are way better then the new ones. I wish that they had kept these costumes, I’m not even kidding. I grew up obsessed with these lovable dudes. (And even dressed as Michelangelo for Halloween when I was 10.) It’s actually been awhile since I watched these, so that’s going up high on my to do list.

#3- Harry and The Hendersons

One of the first movies I fell in love with. Right after The Princess Bride.

I was about seven when I watched this for the first time. And I am pretty sure that Harry is the reason why I began to love and learn about myths and legends. This movie is too cute with some laughs and a few feels.

#4- Lady Hawke

I always was a sucker for romance.

Not only did I love the setting of this movie, I loved the magic and even at ten years old, I loved romance. Especially when the two were torn apart and couldn’t be together. When you love someone, you can overcome anything. Even when it seems impossible.

#5- Star Wars

A badass team.

I don’t really think I need to explain my love of Star Wars. Because it is fecking STAR WARS!!! What is not to love!? And they have a wookie for fuck sakes! A WOOKIE!!!! When Mr. C and I have our Big Fat Geek Wedding next year, our emcee is even dressing up as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

I should technically thank one of my sister’s, since she is the one who introduced me to all these movies and turned me into the movie buff that I am today.

So, what movies did you love growing up? 🙂

28 Days of Lists: Day 6

The theme over in House Organa today for our ’28 Days of Lists’ challenge is ‘Antidotes.’

This one is kinda perfect for today. I don’t usually do the greatest in the winter. Lack of sunshine and all the cold makes me want to hibernate until June. So I try to do thinks to perk me up. Here is my own personal antidotes for those blah days. (And I will be partaking in one or all this weekend.)

1-Chocolate. Because chocolate cures everything.

2- Movies. My fave movie since I was seven years old is ‘The Princess Bride’. Westly has been my favorite hero and leading man for 25 years. (If I ever met Cary Elwes I will cry. Just sayin’.)

My favorite line of all time, which will one day be inked on my skin. *Credit to Google*

3-Iced Coffee. Even in the dead of winter, I have this almost every day.

4-Hugs from the future hubby.

5-Reading.

Which one to choose next?

6-Music. I crave music especially on my walks and when I am feeling a bit off.

7-My walks. Which I am missing out on a lot due to the weather/icy sidewalks. But there is nothing better then getting out in the fresh air, tunes in my ears and zoning out.

This is from last year, but we have about the same amount today. This is the view nearby. I like taking pics while out on my walks, especially after storms.

8- Snuggling up with a furbaby or two.

Missy ❤

9-Writing. If it is a letter, a journal entry or working on a story, writing is a great release and it has been my best form of personal therapy since I was a kid.

10-Sunshine. (Which I really hope shows up this weekend!)

So, what are ways you cheer up when having a bad day?