Barney, Barney Rubble, Trouble!

Ocean's 11 is such a crafty film. It has a similar baseline plot to the 1960 Rat Pack version with Frank Sinatra but it is updated for the 2001 version and that resulted in some plot changes. I am not usually one for the special features part of the DVDs but I have been checking them out for this project. There is a special about the costumes in this movie that was really interesting. It is fascinating to see all the pieces of a movie come together.  The clothes that they are wearing really does change the character and the impression we get as we watch the film. 

The next time you watch it- look at what Andy Garcia's character, Terry, is wearing and how severe it is. There is also a strong Asian influence which apparently was intentional to add to the straight-lacedness of his look. It makes him look very no nonsense and just like the villain we are supposed to think he is. He looks just like a guy I would want to steal 160 million dollars from actually. Funny how they pegged that just right eh?

There is a lot of humor in the dialog of this movie. There is also only one woman who stars in this movie- Julia Roberts. Once this project is done it will be interesting to see what my film ownership says about me. I feel like every movie I write about in this project is funny and has something notable about the women in the films. We shall see. Anyway one of my favorite lines is from Carl Reiner in his role as Saul, he is trying to convince Rusty (played by Brad Pitt) that he is out of the game- no longer a criminal. "I'm seeing a nice lady that works the unmentionables counter at Macy's..." That is just funny. Watching that special features business about the costumes really helps to see why so much money is spent in movies today. But even when you think about the copyright to play music in a movie it must just add up. In another humorous scene Elliott Gould playing Reuben is telling us about the three casino robberies there are three different songs playing that help you to identify the eras he is mentioning and that scene is less than 5 minutes long! 

Well I suppose by now you have figured out that this is a movie where George Clooney (Danny Ocean) and his criminal friends (his 11) rob a casino owned by Terry Benedict in Las Vegas. There are some shenanigans and mistakes that make the viewer root for the robbers as they twist the story into an incredible and unpredictable plot. Unpredictable for viewers like me, I think we have already established that I am slower than most to figure out the next step when I am watching a film. 

My advice to any RAs who might show this movie- do not be surprised if your residents want to steal things after watching this movie. They make it look so cool! But seriously this is a good movie to talk about residence hall safety while watching. Maybe there can be a craft- like decorating hooks to put up by the door so that your residents always remember their keys so that they can lock the door on their way to class. Or it is a program that encourages your residents to write down the serial numbers for their electronics and keep that list somewhere so if something does get stolen they will have some evidence that they owned that item. You can never be too safe- and criminals are pretty crafty folk!

Surrey with a Fringe On Top

There is a great scene in When Harry Met Sally, well there are many great scenes in such an awesome film, but there is one in particular that relates to today's film. Sally and Harry are in a Sharper Image type store to buy a house warming gift. They come across a karaoke machine and the song of choice is "Surrey with a Fringe on Top." While Sally is singing, in a wonderful voice I might add, Harry runs into his ex wife. Such a good scene. This wonderful song comes to us from the film Oklahoma. I consider this another one of the classics that everyone should own. The movie was made in 1955 and it is the first project that Rogers and Hammerstein worked on together. 

There is a lot of wonderful singing and dancing in this film. It stars a young mama Partridge, Shirley Jones, and boy can she sing! "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" sounds so great coming from her and her beautiful golden blond hair really convinces the viewer that she is a farmer's daughter in the Oklahoma Territory before it become a state. Similar to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers this movie makes me want to put on a dress with a good twirl factor and dance around the living room. Laurey (Jones) is in love with Curly (Gordon MacRae) but there is an evil ranch hand that wants to ruin their love story. The story is about their love, this ranch hand, Oklahoma as a territory, and a peddler romance. The peddler is played by Eddie Albert who is another one of my favorite actors. Did you catch my review of Roman Holiday? 

This is one of those films that has a long entr'acte in the middle. I just learned that literally translated, an entr'acte means between acts. Which makes sense that there is a dance and singing routine in the middle of this film. At first it makes you think the movie was made in the trippy, hippy 70s but then you reread the movie case and remember it was made in 1955. It is then that you can appreciate that what you are seeing is just wonderful. The background scenery changes and it seems to be unrelated to the film, but these dancers are really talented. I love to watch that kind of stuff. I cannot guess how many movie stars dreamed of their careers in Hollywood after watching movies like this as a kid. 

While this movie is in full color and has choreographed fights, fire, and a kaleidoscope of pretty girls with a hidden switchblade inside, you still might have a hard time convincing some residents to watch it. You are looking at a time commitment and as my friend Eric kept saying "What in the world are we watching!" But if you are successful in introducing your residents to the wonder that is Oklahoma you have a couple programming options. The first is to review some of the interesting history of the United States. The movie takes place before Oklahoma is a state and there might be some good nuggets of information to share about the state you live in before it was part of the Union. 

Another program option might be to try your hand at lassoing. There is some fancy dancing with the lasso and also some actual lassoing of cattle by some ranchers in this movie. Finding a piece of rope and learning how to lasso the armchair in the lounge or a bush outside of the residence hall sounds like a lot of fun to me!

Follow that Blog: The Choice Blog

Have any of you heard about The Choice Blog? Click here to read about it and explore the posts. 

I have made an effort to follow/read different blogs since I have started blogging myself. I am drawn to those higher ed blogs that will help me in my day to day work. The Choice Blog is all about helping people make the right choice about their College or University. It is written by a woman named Maggie Pavlick and has lots of promising material on it already!

Check it out if you get a chance!

Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy

Oh I love great weekend where I can catch up on my reading and blogging. I might not have this again for a while so I took advantage. 

I saw today's movie Once at the 9pm showing and my friend Hikari and I were the only people in the theater. We did not know anything about it when we bought the tickets but when we walked out we were the biggest Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova fans and also their band The Swell Season. This movie is great. It is one of those great stories that does not have any sex or much swearing (I think when people swear in an accent it is not really swearing) but you really connect with the characters. 

The story follows a guy who repairs Hoovers and plays heartfelt music that he writes in the streets of Dublin and a girl who plays piano. They meet each other and end up making beautiful music together. There is a little bit of a love story there too. The song that made this movie famous is "Falling Slowly." I believe that it won an Academy Award. The movie is shot with what looks like home video quality. The camera zooms in and out and such. According to Wikipedia it was shot with a $160,000 budget. But that really adds to the overall feel of the movie that I think they were looking for, just nothing fancy. Just music and the emotion that goes along with that music. 

During their journey to make beautiful music we also get to see what it is like to live on little income in Dublin and see some beautiful shots of the city. It is amazing to see what Glen can do with a guitar that has a hole in it and in duos with Marketa on pianos in a music shop. They both also wear their scarves through most of this movie. I think that might have something to do with the current trend of wearing scarves all the time, no matter the weather. Even though this movie was made in 2005/2006. 

There is a part in this film where the guy goes to have dinner at the girl's house and they speak a lot of Czech in front of him (he does not speak Czech). It reminds me of when I went to France and everyone spoke a lot of French in front of me. I had no idea what was going on because they were speaking so fast and casually. My French learning was so formal, slow, and so American that there was no way I could keep up. But I loved just listening to them- it sounded beautiful. 

I know in an earlier post I mentioned that as a floor you could make a video to accompany a film. But I think that making a song as a floor is the best way to program with this movie. You could get together whatever kind of talent you have among you and create an original floor production. Maybe you could even keep that video and use it as part of your RA interview when you reapply. It is fun to see residents and RAs doing something awesome like that together. I can just picture some table drums and the nose harmonica being featured in this song. I love it. 

A Story Philadelphia

Another selection from the good ol' movie cabinet, The Philadelphia Story. It is not going to surprise any of you when I say I love this movie! Another classic black and while film staring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart among others. This film is an adaptation of a successful play. Some say it reignited Katherine Hepburn's career. It was also remade into another film, High Society in 1956. I have yet to see that one but it is on my movie viewing wishlist.


Tracy (Hepburn) is getting married...again. Her first husband shows up with a plan to avoid some embarrassing family blackmail that forces Tracy to agree to let her ex, C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant) , and some reporters to cover her wedding for the society pages. Then it seems that everyone falls in love with her! C.K. Dexter Haven still pines for her, Macaulay Conner (Stewart) the reporter thinks shes wonderful, and her most recent fiance George Kittredge is also in love. Shenanigans ensue and the movie explores socio-economic classes, alcoholism, and some self discovery. Poor Tracy! But in the end the movie works out just as you wanted from the very beginning. 

This movie has wonderful style. From the clothes and hairstyles to the kissing! I love old movie kissing. It looks like it hurts. There is a lot of arm squeezing and face smashing that makes me giggle. But I suppose all of that is to convince the viewer that it is a passionate embrace. I just think that my arms would be bruised and my lips swollen after a kiss like that. I also think that older movies put so much more dialog into their films. They never stop talking and they talk so fast! Perfect for me since I myself am quite the fast talker. My brain is used to comprehending much faster. There is something special about movies with no CGI or even color to enhance the experience. They are just pure entertainment. 

I think the sets in films like this are also pretty great. The black and white of the film makes for lots of contrast in the background and I like that. This movie was portraying how the rich society lives so it was pool houses and grand ballrooms and lots of silver wedding gifts being displayed. The sets in movies and on stage can be so impressive. They play as important a role in the film as the actors.  

The media plays a bit of a role in this film. The "Spy" magazine that covers the society pages and the reporter and photographer who are sent to cover Tracy's wedding for the magazine in exchange for not publishing an embarrassing story about Tracy's father. It would be publicly humiliating for the Lord family if Tracy's father's affair with a dancer became public.

I think an RA program could take that angle. The obsession that we have with the media's opinion of how we should look, feel, act, etc. could pair nicely with this film. First I would start with a big pile of magazines. Then have your residents find pictures of healthy relationships in those magazines. They can see pictures of two people and describe why they think that relationship is healthy. It could be because of how they are looking at each other, how they are positioned in the picture, who else in the picture, the expressions on onlookers faces, anything that they can see that tells them why that relationship is healthy. For some residents this will be very difficult. Maybe they will only find pictures of couples making out or in positions like that and it will be hard for them to determine if it is healthy or not. Or maybe they will find two people with their family and come to the conclusion that is a healthy relationship. Regardless, you will start the conversation about what is healthy and what is not in your residents' minds. Tie that back into how Tracy looked with Macaulay, Dexter and George in the movie and you have a program!

Signs You Work at A College

Working at a College helps to keep you on your toes. There are a few signs that you should look out for that can help you identify others that work in Student Life at College. 

10. Their summer ends July 4 as you start preparing every minute for students to move back to campus. Your last hurrah is that celebration of America. I like to think the fireworks are for me, just welcoming me into a new academic year. 

9. They always go over their cell phone minutes in August, December/January and May but never come close any other month. This is mostly due to move in, the semester closing, and Commencement. The other months they are in their office with a phone ringing off the hook, so not as many calls come to the cell. 

8. They stopped doing shots and drinking 40s long ago after seeing what it does to college students. This one still shocks my brother, along with the next one.

7. They make all of their family members consume safely and at weddings their family and friends call them the fun police too. This happened to me recently at my brother's wedding. I think I have developed an unhealthy level of concern for others when alcohol consumption is on the horizon. But really- when you have seen as much vomit, hospital transports, and overall bad decision making while alcohol was concerned you develop these fears that it will happen to someone you love. It is just part of me now, no use fighting it or making fun. 

6. They are brave! Their job almost requires that they have no stage fright. You often have to be the first one to sing karaoke to get the crowd ready, or you have to be brave and start the open mic night if students are slow to feel comfortable. You have to think on your feet so people can either emulate or laugh at you (whichever is appropriate for the moment). 

5. They have family that thinks they are still in school. It is hard to explain some of the student life careers to your parents and grandparents. My great Aunt still asks me how classes are going and I always answer sweetly. She must think I have changed my major twenty times, since according to her I have been in college since 2000. 

4. They can come up with ten transferable skills for every task they ask a student or student group to perform. We just have to be ready with those things.

3. Their wardrobe consists of clothes from the bookstore, training events, conferences, student fundraisers, tournaments, or the sports team booster. They might have them sorted into what looks good with khakis, jeans or when you really have to dress things up with some slacks.

2. They have dual memberships on facebook, twitter, pinterest, tumblr, etc. One for personal use and one for the College. Often they forget which one they are logged into and post some weird stuff to their personal accounts. 

And the number one sign that someone works in Student Life at a College is that they start a blog to talk about it! The posts focus on things that might help students but they try to be anonymous so that the students do not find out it is them and tease!  

If You've Got It Flaunt It

I started this post in the middle of RA training and I had a few moments during dinner and decided to watch a movie. Because it was August, I promptly fell asleep. Lucky for all of us, I saved this post in my drafts so I could post it in September!! As you continue reading, just pretend you are in an old RA training tshirt and dead tired so that it feels realistic. 

Tonight I watched The Producers, the 1967 version with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Before I could even enjoy this film I had to break a nail opening the case. I was also quite hungry-so of course I cried a bit from over emotionalness. Once the film started and I was having a snack things started looking up. This film is about Max Bialystock a down on his luck and broke Broadway producer who helps little old ladies find thrills for their pennies. He has an accountant Leo Bloom with a blue blanket that comes up with a brilliant money making scheme. 

Have you ever seen the remake of this film with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick? I believe it came out in 2005 or 2006 after it was on Broadway again. Well, because Mel Brooks is a genius both films are awesome. The dialog is the same and the jokes are funny in this version and that one! I love timeless films like this. 

The plot of The Producers is that Bialystock and Bloom are trying to produce a flop of a show to make a quick buck. They choose the script Springtime for Hitler and found the best of the worst directors to direct the play. He adds music and dancing Hitlers to the production and the show goes on. The characters in this film make it worth a watch. They plan on raising a lot of money from investors and once the show flops they can keep the unspent money in creative accounting. Spolier alert! Their plan backfired! The play takes a turn from what is supposed to be serious tribute to the fuhrer to a comedic romp that delights audiences. 

There are delightful characters in every scene in this film. It is worth a watch just to see them! The little ladies that "invest" in Max's productions are a hoot and so are the people involved in making the show happen. Well defined characters that really help tell the story and keep your attention for the whole film. I sometimes wish I was around when all of my movies were first out in the theater.  There is nothing like watching a film as it debuts with a group. I can clearly remember the feelings and emotions in every Harry Potter movie I saw, the audience gasps together and jumps together when appropriate and claps at the end. I love the feeling you get in those crowds at the movies. I can just imagine what the feeling was like in watching the Producers on opening night. 

Would you believe that this is another film I did not come up with a program for!? That is outrageous. I am ashamed at myself. Thankfully for you I had an extra couple weeks with this program and fresh "September" eyes to think about a program. It seems that Bialystock and Bloom are trying a get rich quick scheme and of course it did not work out. Well everyone wants to make a quick buck right? Spending money, some extra cash to use for a trip to the local one screen theater, or coffee at the coffee shop, whatever your motivation fast, easy cash is always on a college student's mind. I would suggest getting together and coming up with a money making entrepreneurial plan as a floor. Maybe it is offering to vacuum students' rooms in the residence hall for $1 or a Starbucks delivery service for $5. Or maybe it is offering to do things in the local community. Raking leaves for a small fee or shoveling snow after a large storm. People in a town like this are ready to pay with cash on hand for things like that-but an organized group of floormates can really make that lucrative  One Saturday of snow shoveling might pay for your next floor program to be out of sight!

"It was so good I almost peed my pants!"

On a cloudy summer day one should always pop in a great flick like Pretty Woman. There are lots of people who do not like that this movie glorifies prostitution, but I think it is a great story! Plus there is a part in this movie where Vivian is watching the very end of another great film Charade. Vivian is played by Julia Roberts in this role that made her famous. Richard Gere is great too in his stoic and no nonsense role as Edward. And I have yet to find a film with Hector Elizando that I have not enjoyed. 

 The movie is a bit of a love story with some a lot of funny parts in it too. Like when Vivian does that Arsenio Hall "woo woo woot" arm movements. Kills me. She is so cute and funny- just the right amount of hair and personality. Great casting. But I wonder if I would think that if someone else got the job and put their personality into it? I am sure that I would. We are all just fortunate that this movie turned out the way it did. For those of you unfamiliar with the film it is about Richard an out of town exec who picks up Vivian on Hollywood Boulevard and offers her $3,000 for the week and their adventure continues from there.  

I think if I were to use this movie as an RA program I think I would go with the heart angle. I love how the hotel staff just loves Vivian and Edward gets so protective as the movie continues. The way the clerks in the clothing store treat Vivian and Stuckey's reaction to finding out she is a "lady of the night" are other good examples how heart plays into this movie. Those experiences are hard for me to watch but they make the good parts- like the necklace in the box part- so much better. The heart angle even spills into Richard's business dealings in town. Don't you remember that part!? It is so heart warming!

I would program around the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Think positively and it will change your outlook. You can also do an activity, start with a piece of paper for each resident. Have them put their name on the top and pass the paper to the left. That person starts at the bottom of the page and writes something positive about the person named at the top and folds the paper over to hide their phrase but leaves the rest of the paper open for the person to their left. Get it? That way no one can see what each person writes but then when it comes back to its owner they can unfold the joy and start smiling!