I never considered myself as quirky, but now that I think about it, I guess I do have a few quirks. One of them is that I love a good kids movie. There's something magical about them, and they fill me with warm fuzzies. Make it a dark and blustery day, throw in a cold front and/or storm, give me slippers and a cozy quilt, a mug of hot tea (or better yet a pumpkin spice latte) and I'm in:H. E. A. V. E. N., heaven.
Harry Potter movies still top my list. They're like comfort food for me. There's something about the world JK Rowling created that truly is...well... magical. Literally. And figuratively. Getting lost in Hogwarts with Harry, Hermione, and Ron makes me happy.
Same with Pirates of the Caribbean. Love Johnny Depp in most everything, but really love him in this movie. Love Geoffrey Rush. Love the whole pirate code, er, guidelines. Again...happy.
So, what gives you warm fuzzies? Is there a book or a movie that holds that magic for you?
Same with Pirates of the Caribbean. Love Johnny Depp in most everything, but really love him in this movie. Love Geoffrey Rush. Love the whole pirate code, er, guidelines. Again...happy.
Holiday movies? CAN’T WAIT!!! Ushering in the season with Peanuts is essential. Miracle on 34th Street (love the original and the remake--I’m not a purist and I’m not ashamed to admit it--except when it comes to the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Accept no substitute.) is a favorite. It’s a Wonderful Life? One of the most perfect movies ever made. Patrick Stewart’s A Christmas Carol... so atmospheric, and he’s so adorable that I can’t wait to watch it.
Modern classics? The Santa Clause with Tim Allen... as good as warm cookies straight from the oven. My son played Santa Claus just like the boy in the movie. It spoke to him and so I will always love this movie. It’s magical.
And the stop motion shows from my childhood? Santa Claus is coming to Town, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and The Little Drummer Boy are classics that we have to watch in our household. The season isn’t complete without them.
I get the same warm fuzzy feeling when I settle in with a good book. I'm currently reading The Help. LOVE IT. Can't wait to get back to it. These are people I wish I knew. I feel like I DO know them. I want them to be real. I'm rooting for them, holding my breath as their lives unfold before my eyes, and I can't wait to turn the page, start the next chapter, find out what happens next. I will be so sad when the book ends. That is a sign of a really great story.
My own books hold that magic for me, too. I can’t wait to dive into my writing each day because it’s like spending time with friends, getting close to them, living their lives with them, and there’s nothing better than spending a day like that.
So, what gives you warm fuzzies? Is there a book or a movie that holds that magic for you?
~ Misa
Found out after I posted this that Johnny Depp is People's Sexiest Man Alive and will be hitting the newsstands today! Guess he's other people's comfort food, too!
ReplyDeleteThere are some movies that I just can't look away from when I find them whilst channel surfing: My Big Fat Greek Wedding (oh, John Corbett, I ADORE you), Drumline (with Nick Cannon, husband of Mariah Carey), and hmmm...there must be more, but it's early and I'm not quite awake. I think I'm the only woman on the planet who doesn't have a thing for Johnny Depp, but people tell me that Pirates, etc., are great comfort food. Great post, Misa. Maggie
ReplyDeleteLove many of the old school Christmas movies and shows, as well. In Chicagoland we also have the yearly arrival of old animations like "Suzy Snowflake" and "Hardrock, Coco, and Joe".
ReplyDeleteFor New Year's Eve, always great to watch The Thin Man (smoking and drinking without care--them were the days!) and queue up the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films until dawn: Top Hat, Swing Time, etc.
I also cannot rest a talking animal/non-human movie regardless of season.
For a touch of hysterical, modern, and not-yet traditional fun: find a copy of David Sedaris' essay "Six to Eight Black Men" and either read it aloud, or even better listen to him read it. It is so funny you start to cry and have trouble breathing. I know, I know. Many prefer anything from his The Santa Land Diaries, but 6-to-8 trumps it. In our house, we listen to it every Thanksgiving weekend, to kick off the holiday season.
For me, it's more the act of getting together with loved ones and hunkering down for some time together--a fire, something good on t.v, and good friends or family and I'm set. Oh, and watching Christmas lights twinkling is a definite plus!
ReplyDeleteMisa, the "Harry Potter" movies are some of my favorites, too. I can snuggle up on a cold day and watch them even though I've seen them dozens of times already. Ditto "Pirates of the Caribbean," especially the first. As for Christmas movies, I love the old "Miracle on 34th Street" with Natalie Wood but I will watch any remakes as well. I can't go a Christmas without seeing "It's A Wonderful Life," and I love me some Heat Miser and Snow Miser! I'm Mr. White Christmas, I'm Mr. Snow...I'm Mr. Icicle, I'm Mr. 100 Below"...oh, don't get me started! ;-) As for good reads for a dreary winter's day, I'm reading THE SUGAR QUEEN right now as I loved GARDEN SPELLS by Sarah Addison Allen. Usually, I drag family members to listen to Christmas music somewhere: the Symphony, the Sheldon, Cathedral Basilica. So we'll see where we go this year. I just love holiday music! I'm so excited not to have a book deadline in January for the first time in five years! I'm actually going to experience the holidays this year like a regular human being. Yeeha!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Susan
What a fun post! I love movies, any movies unless they are too gory.
ReplyDeleteJohnny Depp has done all kinds of movies and will soon be starring in Alice in Wonderland. He's a great actor--one of the best--but I have trouble thinking of him as sexy.
Gone With the Wind is a movie a enjoy watching over and over as well as the Wizard of Oz.
But one of the funniest movies of all time hardly anyone has ever seen and it's called Off Beat. It's about a guy who wants to be a cop, and ends up taking the place of a cop friend in a dancing show of all cops (none of them want to be in the show) and of course he has to wear a uniform. Not only can't he dance, he gets in all sorts of hot water because of having a uniform on when he's going to and from the rehearsals. Rent it if you want to howl with laughter. We have it on video and have played it over and over--if you get it keep watching through the credits as some of the funniest stuff happens then. Judge Rhinehold is the star. (Probably not the way to spell his name.)
Marilyn
Marilyn! You don't think Johnny Depp is sexy? I wouldn't say that out loud in a crowd of women. It might get you in trouble. ;-) (Although I don't really find Brad Pitt sexy, which I guess I should keep to myself, huh?)
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Susan (who has finally taken the plunge and gotten on Facebook after lots of prodding from the HarperCollins' folks! For anyone interested, here I am: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cougar-Club-A-Novel/214091944767?ref=ts)
I LOVED The Sugar Queen, Susan. Have Garden Spells, but haven't read it yet. I'm hard at work on my own women's fiction with magical elements, my favorite type of book to read. It's the lens I like to look a the world through.
ReplyDeleteGone With the Wind is an all time favorite of mine, too, Marilyn.
Hunkering down with twinkling lights, a comfort movie, kids and family, and a good book is the perfect senerio in my life!
I fell in love with Polar Express. It's so adorable and I cried the first time I watched it. I'm not much into the old movies ie Miracle on 34th Street and kids movies, mainly because I never had any,but that movie was playing in Wal Mart and I watched and went what is that movie I want it. I bought it and charged myself twice for it lol. It's a great movie. Ilike JIm Carey in Grinch but have never seen all of it.
ReplyDeleteMisa and Marilyn, I'm a big GONE WITH THE WIND fan, too (book and movie...love Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh!). I heard there's a new 70th anniversary edition of the movie out. Might have to put it on my Christmas list. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMisa, I love fiction with magical elements, too. GARDEN SPELLS is right up your alley! I'm not far into THE SUGAR QUEEN but am already caught up in the characters and wondering what's going to happen!
Cheers,
Susan (who feels like The Me-Too Girl today!)
I'm right there with you me-tooing, Susan! Clark Gable as Rhett Butler has it going on! Love him. Always have, always will.
ReplyDeleteI do like the Polar Express, Kathy. Poignant is the word that comes to mind. =)
Best Johnny Depp: Chocolat
ReplyDeleteWonderful topic, Gang. Miracle on 34th Street is the best, but I had to become a real grown up to appreciate It's a Wonderful Life--to me, the younger me, it did not look all that wonderful. It looked like prison. But now I know.
Great time of the year for oldies: Ginger and Fred, His Gal Friday, The Thin Man and all the old versions of Agatha Christie's works. Now I want to go shopping. Sigh.
And The Canterville Ghost, with Margaret O'Brien. The Little Princess, with Shirley Temple. Children's hearts are magical.
ReplyDeleteYes, their hearts are magical, Lyn!
ReplyDeleteHi Misa
ReplyDeleteI too, share a predilection for kids movies. If you haven't seen it, look for "Good boy" MGM, 2004. It's a live action comedy with dogs playing emissaries from outer space. Believe me it's better than I make it sound. For a description go to http://www.mpl.on.ca and check the library catalogue. Then ask your public library to get it for you
Mary