Coursera + Couch = Why Did I Drop So Much Money On College?

All modern day children initially resist watching The Wizard of Oz.  Its true.  Don’t believe me?  Try it out.   Pop a copy of the movie on whatever platform you view media through these days and sit a young’un down for a first time viewing.  Three….Two…One….watch as the kids face crumples into confusion then rapidly slackens into disinterest when the music swells and the title credits come on.  In black and white. 

                                                         

The Wizard of Oz was my first experience with B&W movies.  I remember always wanting to skip the “boring” parts and get to the good stuff, so for years I was a little unclear on what exactly was going on with that kook eating hot dogs in the wooden wagon and why that ugly lady wanted to take furry little Toto.  Other than Oz, my exposure to “old” movies was limited to my giddy delight in discovering there was not one but THREE Back to the Future movies at age 11, or stumbling upon a rerun of The Breakfast Club on TV at age 13 and then proceeding to devour the films of John Hughes in all their angst addled glory. 

Little did I know there was a whole world of cinema out there that I had not yet tapped.  Well I knew but I didn’t think any “old” movies held anything of interest for me.  Of course, I was wrong. 

Enter Coursera.  What is Coursera you ask?  If you would allow me one moment for a brief PSA that may change your life for the better….ahem…..Coursera. Is. Wonderful.  In short, it’s a place online where you can take an unlimited amount of online courses on a bevy of subject matter for FREE.  I could go on and on about how this website may, and in ways already is changing the world, but for now I am just going to leave you with a link to a Ted talk addressing the merits of the site, and my effusive praise.  Oh, also, you can take courses from your couch. Which is exactly what I did. 

After a false start first signing up for a neuroscience course over the summer….and then never even watching one lecture (what was I thinking?) then muddling through approximately half of a World Music course last Spring, I ended up enrolling in a course called The Language of Hollywood.  I strongly felt that my love of movies would help ensure my completion of the course. 

I was a bit nervous that my old knee jerk reaction of disliking black and white movies would come into play, but as I screened the first required viewing for the class all of my preconceived notions about B&W films quickly fell away.  A silent film called Street Angel from 1928 altered my perceptions on what I knew “old” film to be.   First off, it introduces the idea that the main character tries to make money hookin’ it on the streets because her mother is dying and they can’t afford her medicine.  Whaaaa?  Can a theme be considered anachronistic?  I had experienced unsettling feelings that themes "did not belong" in certain eras of film before, such as the surprising slap of brutal violence in Hitchcock’s Psycho, or the shock of racy themes such as suicide and extra-marital affairs addressed in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment.  Of course I knew that not everything was sunshine and lollipops when movies were still solely in B&W.  But I wasn’t aware that these issues were being expressed so early on in the history of cinema.  Of course, the Wizard of Oz being my only B&W experience didn’t prepare me to expect themes of prostitution.  It doesn’t even have a pseudo-sexual stabby shower scene.  

I became completely absorbed by the movie assignments every week.  From the emotional intro to Janet Gaynor’s character in Street Angel to the snappy physical and verbal comedy in the Marx Brother’s Monkey Business, I found myself not even missing the element of color.  During the unit that focused on creative uses of sound utilized by directors to help stretch a buck, the professor dropped a fun fact that the obscure film Ghost Ship was the first movie to juxtapose happy, upbeat music with an overtly violent scene.   This is certainly something that I think of as a modern convention, as Quentin Tarantino frequently employs the juxtaposition of sound and action in his films to great effect.  So as I watched grainy black and white footage of a mute grizzled sailor in a knife fight as a jaunty whistling tune played in the background….**poof** went another one of my preconceived notions.   

The course was organized chronologically, and as we segued into the color unit I was pleasantly surprised to learn how sexy movie stars were back in the 30s by watching the dashing Errol Flynn winningly grin and bop through The Adventures of Robin Hood.  I also learned volumes about the slow addition of color into cinema, and the particulars of when Technicolor came to light.

In the end, this course has irrevocably changed how I view movies, in addition to bringing my understanding of the history of film into focus.  Kudos to the professor, Scott Higgins from Wesleyan, who appeared to be truly passionate about the subject matter and encouraged students to look at things differently.  I was motivated to keep learning on my own.  I purchased books on the topic and immersed myself in them as the course progressed.  I stopped watching reruns of Friends for the 87^th time and started watching the assigned films.  Now that the course has ended, I find myself craving new viewing experiences instead of getting mired in the old and familiar.  I have been working my way through movies that I placed in my Netflix queue months and years ago, and adding B&W films such as Touch of Evil and Fellini’s 8 ½ so I can continue to build an understanding of classic cinema. 

I know a film course isn’t rocket science, but I feel invigorated by anything that gets me to ask questions and actively seek out the new and unfamiliar.  I’ve challenged myself to complete a second course over the summer, and the list of options offered by Coursera just keeps growing and growing.   

Did I mention that you can access all of these options from your couch?  For free?!?  So no excuses.  Why aren’t you on Coursera yet?  

Storybook Shower Bonanza

One of my favorite people in the world is about to give birth to who I am sure will quickly become my absolute favorite human in the world.  So it was time for a party! 

I adore books, and loved the recent trend of building a storybook library at the baby shower.   I immediately immersed myself in researching everything book-décor related in preparation for the event.  

Invitation Inspiration

Of course all parties start with an extension of an invite to the guests.  My sister is an amazing invitation artist, so I needed this one to be extra special.  To introduce the storybook theme, I created a fake “book” about our excitement for our little baby girls arrival.

I drew a simple cartoon of my sister reading a book to the baby, complete with her two curious kitties peeking their furry heads over the chair to get a look at the book….or maybe just staring with jealousy at the new baby. 

For the inside, I wrote a short “Chapter One” outlining the information and details for the day, and put an adorable “Date Due” library book envelope on the opposite side.  Get them here.  I used a rubber date stamp to add the actual due date for the baby. 

Once the invitations were sent out, the responses came rolling in!  It was time to start working on décor and favors!

Fashioning the Favors

I desperately wanted to put the Einstein quote “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales” on something for the guests to take home.  Ideally I wanted to put it on a coffee mug because in my opinion nothing goes better with a good book than a cup of coffee (or tea if that’s more to your preference).  I had all but given up on the idea until my crafty cousin told me about the wonder that is writing on mugs with Sharpies, then baking them to get a permanent design on the mug.

Now, I know what some of you crafty gals are thinking….I’ve tried that!  It wipes right off!  And due to the spotty reports on various crafting sites I ordered up a few extra mugs from Splendids so I could do some home testing. 

After some trial and error I came up with a process that worked so well that I was able to take a plastic scour pad to the outside of the mug, and not a flake came off.  Oh, and for me this process also rendered perfectly dishwasher safe mugs. 

- Clean the outside of the mug with window cleaner or rubbing alcohol, etc.  DO NOT touch the face of the mug following this step.  Those damned natural oils from your fingertips will create an infuriating invisible barrier between the surface and your design and will most definitely cause the design to rub off even after baked.

-  Carefully draw on your design using an OIL BASED paint pen.  I used Sharpie brand, but I hear that other brands like Bic work just as well if not better.

I had a creepy claw hand after doing 45 of these in one sitting.   Of course I simply had to chase my dog and boyfriend around the house screaming “the claw hand is gonna eat your face off!”.  I’m the coolest.

- Let the design set into the mugs for 24 hours.
- Place mugs in a cold oven, and crank the heat up to 400 degrees.  Once the temp hits 400, put a timer on for 30 minutes.  Note: Because I had so many, I baked my mugs in small batches of 8 - 10 to make sure the heat was evenly distributed. 

- After the 30 minutes, turn off the oven and leave mugs in there to cool to room temperature.

- After cooling, I removed them from the oven and let them sit for 24 hours before handling them.  I don’t know if this was necessary, but I don’t think it hurt! 

Once my little labors of love were set and cooled, I got to work with the finishing touches.

I stuffed each mug with a few different kinds of tea (including both caffeinated and decaf!) and a packet or two of hot chocolate.  I finished them off with a wrapping of cellophane, because since I have discovered that anyone can just buy and wrap things with cellophane I wrap almost everything in that shizz.  Well, except scallops.  You should always wrap scallops with bacon. 

Delightful Décor

I highly recommend book page pinwheels if you want an inexpensive and striking way to populate décor for a storybook shower.  I found this amazing tutorial on Pinterest and with the help of my lovely and talented aunt, mom and cousin we cranked out 65 of these babies in a couple of hours one afternoon. 

By adding a simple ring of yellow ribbon we fashioned napkin rings.

And for the leftovers I spray painted wooden BBQ skewers green and glue gunned the pinwheels to the top to add to the flower arrangements. WAH-LAH!  Flowers that last forever! 

 A little folding and a dab of hot glue goes a long way towards the final picture!

Crafting Centerpieces

I saw this link on Pinterest, and the photo of the frame box centerpieces caught my eye.  I had remembered seeing 2 for $3 flat 4x6 frames during one of my lengthy browsing sessions at Ikea.  So I traveled over there and grabbed a few dozen Nyjjta frames.

Now when I started this project I was spray paint amateur.  Let me tell you that I could very probably write a novel about my misfires with these frames.  Suffice to say that my spray paint odyssey is not that entertaining and also included many strings of unrepeatable expletives.  So let's fast forward directly to the end of that journey where a friendly worker bee at Home Depot clued me in to the wonder that is Rustoleum Painters Touch spray paint.  It adhered perfectly to the frames. 

After the frames dried,  I saved high-resolution images of classic book covers from the internet, scaled them to size using Photoshop, then printed them on card stock before adding a different one to each face. 

After carefully centering all the book covers, I superglued the boxes together with LockTite glue.  Hot glue peeled right off, Gorilla Glue dripped and left a opaque film on the sides (also took way too long to dry)….so LockTite was juuuuust right.  Goldilocks would have been proud. That is, if Goldilocks was a crafty lady instead of a picky thieving brat.  

Mouthwatering Menus

We let our guests know about menu options via a fun menu referencing childrens storybooks. 

Final Touches!

I strategically placed pictures that my two younger cousins had drawn for the occasion....

....and put out delicious mocktails for the guests to sample when they arrived. 

We also had a few games for our guests to participate in....  

Success!  I had so much fun putting this shower together and I cannot wait for my little niece to be born so that I can have an excuse to do more crafting projects!

    

With An App and A Prayer....

If equipped with a Fandango phone app, a local multiplex showing the majority of the films, and a free afternoon to creep stealthily around the premises of said multiplex, I propose that one could see the highlights of the Academy Award Best Picture nominees over approximately 6-8 hours and for the admission price of a single ticket.  Almost all the films that stayed in the theaters made bank, so I wouldn’t feel too bad about sneaking in for a short chunk of the film without paying for it.  Also, you’ll probably drop $19 on a bag of popcorn and a small soda while you’re there.  In my mind, that makes you and the theater even.  Are they serious?  Do they know how much popcorn I could make at my house for $19?  I could fill my entire car with popcorn and still have buckets of corn leftover!  

(Apparently some NBA team already had this idea....)

Oh….the nominees…right….

Lets get started, shall we?  

(To avoid making this post any longer, I have embedded links to each plot description if you click on the title of the film in case you aren’t familiar with this years nominees.  Thanks Fandango!)

1) Django Unchained – Hands down, my favorite movie of the bunch.  I’d actually recommend taking the time to watch the entire film, but I’m a huge fan of Tarantino’s work and am aware that not everyone feels that way.  Suffice to say if you love Tarantino, anachronistic music sequences and all, this film is for you. 

Most Memorable Scene:  Approximately halfway through the film, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Calvin Candie gives an impassioned speech during which he removes a human skull from a box.  No clue why DiCaprio didn’t get an Oscar nod for this scene alone, because he certainly deserved it especially because he sliced open his hand accidentally in real life and just kept going.  You’ll know you’ve popped your head in at the right part if you see multiple characters sitting at a long table in a well appointed dining room.  Just sit and wait for the crazy. 

2) Silver Linings Playbook – I’m a sucker for movies about people struggling with mental health issues.  And this one has become my new gold standard.  Many dismiss it for its feel-goodery and romantic comedy feel, but I say bring it on.  This is most definitely another one that I’d recommend be watched from start to finish.

Most Memorable Scene: Jennifer Lawrence is the favorite for the Best Actress trophy this year.  Sidle into the theater about halfway through to catch the scene in which Lawrence goes toe to toe with the great DeNiro without missing a beat.  That she’s able to hold her own all while nonchalantly slugging on a light beer proves why she should get the gold.

3) Zero Dark Thirty –I recommend trying to see the scene from this movie first so that you can feel like a total badass sneaking around your movie theater. 

Most Memorable Scene: I think most people would agree that the scene in which the Navy SEAL team raids Bin Laden’s compound is both astounding and nerve wracking.  Shot mostly from a first-person perspective, this sequence made me feel like an accomplice to one of the great covert missions of the past decade.  Scoot in for the last 45 minutes of the film, and stay until the end so you can catch some footage of Jessica Chastain’s brilliantly restrained performance. 

4) Argo – In all honesty, for me there were no standout scenes in this movie.  I adore Ben Affleck as a filmmaker, John Goodman is a national treasure and I thought this movie was well made, but I wasn’t captivated by any particular part.  That said, the story is unbelievably true and the film is definitely worth a viewing, especially since it’s the current frontrunner for Best Picture. In two weeks it’ll be out on amazon streaming for like $5, so I’d recommend waiting so you can enjoy it from your couch with reasonably priced snacks.  In fact, you could do an Oscar double feature and pair it with…..

5) Beasts of the Southern Wild – Quvenzhane Wallis is going to be the belle of the ball on Oscar night.  I cannot wait to see her walk the red carpet in her little dress, with her beaming mom or dad in tow to chaperone her.  That said, her performance is the reason to watch.  She plays a mostly unsupervised six year old, wandering around an area called the ‘bathtub’ in Lousianna, and for much of the movie she alternates between carefully pressing her ear to various wild animals, and trying to understand her mercurial father.  Like I said before, this movie is available to stream on amazon for $4, and has the shortest running time of all the nominees, clocking in at just over 90 minutes.  Even though the movie did not completely come together for me at the end, it is certainly unique and I'd go so far as to say the entire movie is an extended memorable scene. 

6) Life of Pi– This is the only nominee in 3D.  And while I usually detest 3D, I felt that this was an inspired use of the medium.  I did not read the book, but felt that was to my benefit.  As the story was unfamiliar to me, I was captivated from start to finish.  I didn’t expect to like this movie, but found myself thinking about the story for days as a twist at the end touched my soul in an unexpected way.

 Most Memorable Scene: Try to gank a pair of those 3D glasses from a ticket kiosk, or ask friends if they have an old pair lying around.  Stick those babies in front of your eye holes and watch the scene approximately an hour in where Pi attempts to train the tiger.  You’ll feel as if you are bobbing in the open ocean, and I dare you to not want to reach out and touch the tigers furry rump as he struggles back into the boat.  Visually stunning. 

7) Lincoln – Please see the first paragraph of my previous post.  

8) Les Miserables –I saw Les Miserables on Broadway when I was ten years old, and I was so mesmerized by the ending sequence that I almost wandered into oncoming traffic.  Thankfully, my parents grabbed me, breaking my reverie, but that didn’t stop me from getting the Original Cast Recording Soundtrack and listening to it until it started skipping from wear.  The movie, while an amazing feat of filmmaking, certainly did not move me in the way that the live performance did.  

Most Memorable Scene: Most certainly it’s when Anne Hathaway’s Fantine sings “I Dreamed A Dream”.  Hathway benefits greatly from the tight close up shot that director Tom Hooper selected for the scene.  For almost the entirety of the song, viewers are asked to fixate on her raw, filth streaked face and shoulders.  She is completely laid bare.  With a bleak future ahead of her she is left with nothing but a past and a voice.  Hathaway is the lock of all locks for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar this year, and this performance conveniently takes place during the first 30 minutes of the movie. 

9) Amour – You may not be able to find this one at your local multiplex.  But to that, I say….don't worry.  Do not see this movie unless you want your world to be disturbed.  From the outside, it seems like a sweet story of a man and his wife coping with illness and old age.  The problem for me is that it is done too realistically.  I almost walked out several times, and I never walk out.  That’s not to say it’s a bad movie, its just that it rocked me to my core by presenting a universal inevitability of life that I am definitely not ready to deal with yet.  Also – subtitles are hard to read while in the midst of sobbing uncontrollably. 

Most Memorable Scene: During the last 30 minutes of the film, the character Georges sits by his wife Anne as she screams in delusional pain.  She cannot communicate, so he gently scoops up her hand and tells her a story from his childhood to calm her down.  He takes conversational pauses during the story, treating her as if she’s still well and can respond to him.  The end of this scene left me incapacitated with sorrow. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  

Enjoy the overpriced movie popcorn!  And the creeping around.  Who doesn't enjoy a good creep?

 I really love popcorn. 

'Lincoln' Was Overrated

The movie, not the president.  Just want to make that clear.  If you are a history buff or just happen to adore the films of Steven Speilberg, go right ahead and sit through the plodding three hour epic.  

In the likely case that you are neither of the above, here’s a helpful tip. Just go see another movie at a megaplex, get there early and pop your head into a showing of Lincoln about an hour before it ends.  You’ll get to see Daniel Day Lewis’s Lincoln slow drawl his way through a few anecdotes, as well as experience the electrifying scene where the Thirteenth Amendment is passed.  High tail it outta there before the family travels to Ford’s theater because, face it, you know what’s happening next.  Boom.  You just saved yourself two and a half hours and a cool $10.  You’re welcome. 

Despite the glacial pace of ‘Lincoln’, this was a good year for movies people. Out of the nine films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards this year, seven of them are well on their way to becoming bonafide hits; five have hit the 100 million mark at the domestic box office, and two are well on their way.  Therefore, chances are that you saw at least one of them, and there was a good chance that you liked it.   

The past year also appeared to mark an era where people were willing to go to the movie theater and spend lengthy periods of time sitting in the dark with strangers.   Most of the films nominated this year are longer than two hours.  Fun fact, if you combine all of the running times of the films this year together it adds up to over 20 hours of film time.  That’s almost one entire day.  And that’s not even including ‘find a parking spot/wait in line for tickets and popcorn/advertisement/preview’ time. 

This is where I tell you that you have less than three weeks to see all 20 hours of those movies before Oscar night on February 24^th.   But don’t you fret my friends, it’s also where I promise to crack out the rest of my tips on what is worth your valuable time and what is not. Because I am crazy enough to have seen them all.  Apparently I have no life.  That’s ok though because I adore movies, and have a soft spot in my heart for the Academy Awards.    

To avoid this post being super lengthy, I have decided to break the categories up into several posts over the next few weeks.  In the interest of time, I hope to have the post on the Best Picture nominees up by mid-week. 

In the interim, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Oscar night telecast.  Overrated?  Exciting?  An amazing excuse to heckle celebrities from the comfort of your couch?  All of the above?  Discuss.