The Grand Master Plan

With age comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes...wise and obvious ideas?  Yes, it's true.  You all know I'm obsessed with Rosemary Clooney.  (Wait, you don't?  ...)  However, it has only just recently dawned on me that I'm doing everything wrong.  She may be gone (and may she rest in peace), but that doesn't mean I can't get closer to her in some way.  "Bailey, you've gone off your rocker."  Thanks for finally catching on, but let me further explain: George Clooney.
Yes, that George Clooney.
"Okay, you've totally lost me."  Yeah, not many people seem to be able to follow my thought process.  George Clooney, the ultimate bachelor, just so happens to be Rosemary Clooney's nephew.  Seeing as I can't posthumously marry Rosie (yeah, that would be really weird...), I've decided to turn my sights onto someone else.  Sorry, Cary.
Of course, some people might view me as a gold digger for this decision.  I assure you, I am not.  More like a...relative digger.  I'm in it for the relation and the relation only.
"But, Bailey, you're not even 16."  Shut up.
"He's the ultimate bachelor for a reason..."
"Isn't that called a football marriage or something?"  Not one for football...
"He's old enough to be your father."  Stop rubbing it in.
"He's famous and you're...when was the last time you ever even went outside?"  I understand you are fluent in Tumblr problems.
"Good luck.  Not."
Thank you.  I have taken all of your comments into consideration.  The back-up plan?  Yahoo! is a very nice area to read about stuff I don't even need to know about.  And that, my dear reader(s?), is how I came across a certain key point in my back-up plan: Adelia Clooney, George's (yes, now we're on a first name basis) sister.  George's unfamous sister.  George's unfamous sister with children.
Oh, this just keeps getting better and better!
If George refuses to marry me, there are two other Clooney children I can marry.  And if they're already married?  Well, they should have some kids.  Of course, I might be removed a generation, but that's totally fine with me.  So long as I marry a Clooney somewhere down the line.
As I was telling my two best friends my Grand Master Plan yesterday (They both have boyfriends, and I wanted to change up my boyfriend jokes.  You know, the ones about how my boyfriend doesn't celebrate Christmas, doesn't live near me, doesn't give me presents?  He's a little...stiff.  Interpret that how you will.), pointed out the one problem in my Grand Master Plan: I'm a fangirl.
Never have I been so cursed.
Picture it: George and I are sitting in the living room around the Christmas tree with the rest of the family, and everyone's telling old stories about Rosie while her records play.  And then it'd be my turn to talk.  "Did you know Rosemary Clooney started singing with Tony Pastor's Big Band with her sister Betty?  When Betty decided to give up singing, Rosie went solo.  I have some of the coolest pictures of her on my laptop!"  *awkward silence*
So there's the only thing that will bring me down.  It's really not my fault that I absorb (*cough cough* obsessively wiki-stalk *cough cough*) my favorites!  "Yes, it is."  Shh...
But it will work.  I assure you.  He'll go from this:

To this:

Mrs. Clooney OUT!

Classic and "Classic" (Yes, There Is a Difference)

There are two definitons to the word "classic."
First there's classic.  This, in my book, refers to movies 1950's or 1960's and before.  (i.e., My Name is Julia Ross, Four Daughters, The Rains Came, The Diary of Anne Frank, Don Juan, etc.)
Then there's classic.  This means a movie that is so phenomenal that it's a definite must-see.  (i.e., The Shawshank Redemption, Titanic, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, Grease, Toy Story, etc.)
Of course, it's totally possible to have a movie that fits under both categories.  (i.e., Meet Me in St. Louis, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, etc.)
Just so ya'll know...So when I get mad at people calling modern films classic, this is why.  Because half the time they're probably not.  (*cough cough* The Social Network *cough cough*)
~Mini rant over.

P.S.  This was way better in the shower.
P.P.S.  And if anyone knows how to pass chemistry when the teacher can't teach the subject, HELP.

"The Lost Weekend" 1945: Reviewed

Talk about perfection.

Have you ever finally gotten around to watching a movie and, after it’s over, realized what an idiot you were for not watching it sooner?  That’s how I feel after watching The Lost Weekend.  I haven’t seen a movie this wonderful since Portrait of Jennie way back in July.

For those of you who have never heard of this movie or who might have but are clueless as to what it’s about, The Lost Weekend showcases an alcoholic’s troubles over the weekend.  Of course, that ten word description hardly does the picture justice.  Directed by the wonderful Billy Wilder and starring Ray Milland in the title role, this is not a picture you want to think twice about watching.

Milland, who earned an Oscar for his performance, plays a man by the name of Don Birnam.  Birnam just so happens to be a writer, as well as an alcoholic.  Throughout the movie Don struggles with his alcoholism and his failures in life.  Being a “writer” (if that’s what I can call it) myself, it’s interesting to see how he struggles with the fact that he can never write more than is hardly anything.  Experiencing through his storytelling how his writer’s block and harsh self-criticism drive him to excessively drink really gets to you.  How can a man who has so much potential—he points this out himself when he says he was declared a genius at age nineteen and has had his writings compared to that of Hemingway—let himself slip away so much?

Never having ever been around someone drunk, I’ve never experienced the side effects of too much alcohol.  But the way the movie is written out and shot gives quite the insight.  There’s not just the silly walking around and slurred remarks.  You see the horrible things the alcohol drives Don to do—how it makes him crazy with cravings for just one more glass.  How he’ll pawn anything, swipe anything, do anything just to get a little more cash to pay for the next round of drinks.  The Lost Weekend is about a drunken man, but it’s not a movie that uses drinking to create comedic relief.

In fact, after watching this movie it’s okay to feel slightly offended when movies do do that because it’s not something to laugh at.  Too much drinking can be a serious problem.  I know you’ve all probably heard that at least once in your lifetime from someone—whether that be a parent, police officer, whatever.  But it almost becomes real when you see the hallucinations Don’s intoxicated brain conjures up and you see him pushing away everyone else all because of a bottle of rye.

It seems so many times Don tries to quit but fails.  He keeps resorting back to alcohol.

“Well, the first thing I wrote, that didn't quite come off. And the second I dropped — the public wasn't ready for that. I started a third and a fourth. Only by then, somebody began to look over my shoulder and whisper in a thin, clear voice like the E string on a violin. "Don Birnam," he whispered, "It's not good enough, not that way. How about a couple of drinks just to set it on its feet, huh?”

It drives at him, nags at him, drives him insane.  At one point he says he’s tried to end it all once with a gun and a couple of bullets.  Yet that voice in his head “always wants us to have a drink first.”  And so starts the next round of drink after drink, drunken night after drunken night.  He has a problem, he knows the problem, yet he’s near helpless when it comes to resolving it.

By the end of the film, your brain should be fried, as well as your emotions.  This movie just takes on a ride and never ceases to amaze you.  From the acting to the dialogue to the directing and cinematography, this movie is terrific in every aspect.  It deserves every award it received, as well as any it might one day in the future.

Review Out!

~Bailey

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The Best Lady Ever and She Doesn't Have Any Good Quotes

Inspired by Nat's post who was inspired by Marcela's post, I am happy to announce that it is...PICTURE TIME.
Rosemary Clooney is my role model.  Yes, I write English speeches and papers on her.  Yes, I have trouble cutting out information and staying within the given time frame/number of pages.  But she was truly an amazing and strong person.  One of the number one things I love about her is her smile and her laugh.  Half the time words cannot express how much I admire her.  So, here are some of my favorite Rosie pictures:

Her smile is just always so bright.

The fact that she's with dogs should be enough.

This I "received" as a "gift" from Nat last year in the birthday collage she made me.

Her laugh.  She lights up.

One of the few colored photos I have of her.  So pretty.

This one's one of my all-time favorites.

Her smile again.  It never looks forced or fake to me.

With Jim-Jim.

Starting out with dear ole Tony Pastor.

This is a close second for favorite Rosie pictures.

I feel like this picture shows her true, other side, her more depressed side.

What I would give to have been in that crowd...

Again with the laughing and the smiling!

Two of my favorite things: Rosie and pools.

First: Admit it.  This lighting is so cool.

So young and with Frankie Sinatra!

With daughter Maria.  She looks like such a caring mother.

With sister Betty!

The entire Ferrer gang: Rosie, Jose, Miguel, Maria, Gabriel, Monista, and Rafael (probably not in that order.)

And there's that smile again.

If you ever feel like getting your ear talked off, ask me about Rosie.  I would give you a quote here, but I'd have to look through This For Remembrance if I wanted to find a decent one.  Instead, I shall turn off my sad Band of Horses song, take out my contacts, brush my teeth, and head to bed.  I shall leave you with a Rosie song!

Don't you just love how she smiles when she sings and you can hear said smile in her voice?  If not, listen to this then Come On-a My House.  You can totally tell she's not happy to be singing that song; she sounds so angry when she's singing.

Yes, I'm going, I'm going!
~B.
And someone help me remember that I still need to write a letter to dear Rosie before next Friday!

Save the Classics!

Today I was scrolling through Tumblr, wasting time as usual, when a very important matter popped up: that of which films to add to the National Film Registry to safely preserve.  I've seen clips of Ginger Rogers talking about how many films have been lost and the necessary steps should be taken to ensure that the classics always live on.  I agree and feel strongly about this.  That's why I payed special attention to the following post:
JUST PUT YOUR LIPS TOGETHER AND BLOW: hornbecks: 2012 National Film Registry Nominations Closing...

2012 National Film Registry Nominations Closing Soon

Attention old Hollywood bloggers and film lovers of all stripes—

The Library of Congress is accepting nominations for the National Film Registry until September 28, 2012. Every year, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, in collaboration with film experts and the National Film Preservation Board, selects up to 25 films for inclusion in the Registry, which will ensure that the movies will live on in a government archive, maintained by a team committed to ensuring that movies deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” live on.

You can submit up to fifty nominations to the Library staff by sending an email to dross@loc.gov or by mail at:

National Film Registry
Library of Congress
Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation
19053 Mt. Pony Road
Culpeper, VA 22701
Attn: Donna Ross

Include the title and year of release for each of the films you would like to nominate, and be sure to number the list.

You may vote for any movie made in or before 2002, but it’s the oldest fims that are in the most danger. Here is a list of classics that have not yet been archived. These include

• Gilda
• The Sheik
• A Day at the Races
• Girl Shy
• The Mummy (1932)
• To Have and Have Not
• Design for Living
• Inherit the Wind
• The Gay Divorcee
• Steamboat Bill, Jr.
• You Can’t Take It with You
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
• Pride of the Yankees
• Random Harvest
• Strangers on a Train
• The Postman Always Rings Twice
• The Razor’s Edge
• Rebecca

as well as iconic animated films like Cinderella, Dumbo, Rabbit of Sevilleand Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century. These movies will, eventually, crumble to ash if serious action is not taken now.

If you want to advocate for these movies, you have to vote. Make sure to send in your nominations by the deadline, and then you’ll know that youstood for a film, even if you stand alone. You’ll have voiced the dire necessity of preserving our history, our heritage, the work of the people we love—and that’s what really matters.

There are tons of movies on this list, ranging from 1890-2002.  I wrote down 8 pages worth of movies I intend to send in an email about.  Movies such as the above, as well as After the Thin Man, Mary Poppins, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Titanic (97), Little Women, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Breakfast Club, Since You Went Away, The Princess Bride, Arsenic and Old Lace, Auntie Mame, The Blob, and tons of others made up the entire list.  It's extremely depressing to me to think that all of these great movies could essentially become destroyed if the proper precautions are not taken.  I know only 50 movies are to be sent in, and I know that I wrote down over 50.  However, I intend to send in as many emails from different addresses as I can to ensure that people in the future can still enjoy what we do today.  These films are classics for a reason, and they need to be preserved.  

So I ask that you please take 30 minutes or so to read the list and send in your votes because our films won't  last forever and it's up to us to make sure that they do.

*REMEBER: You MUST send in your emails by SEPTMEBER 28TH, 2012.

Thanks guys.

The "To-Do" List

Dun dun dun.

(This is me writing my list.)

No, really, lists are good for everyone.  A habit I picked up form The Princess Diaries.  <3

• finish Insurgent
• Actually write my admired person speech out about Rosie.  I may know way too much information to be considered a normal amount, but that does NOT mean I can get up in front of everyone and make sense.
• study for my camera test tomorrow
• change the layout of my Tumblr page (Though I am NOT happy with it...  >:/)
• add tags to all my posts on this blog
• organize my picture folders some more
• completely update my CH Movies Seen slideshow
• finish watching No Man of Her Own
• finish watching Parnell because I just remembered today that I never did
• get some actual, good sleep
• CLEAN.  MY.  PIGSTY.  room.
• sort my clothes and get rid of the old ones
• order some new CH movies/CDs/autobios
• charge my iPod
• make an attempt to keep my bed made (though there's almost absolutely no point because I'm one of THOSE sleepers.  You know: the kind that twist, toss, and turn in their sleep and end up kicking their sheet to the end of the bed and throwing their Harry Potter squishy doll on the floor and completely turn my bed spread around and yeah...)
• organize my school binder
• PRACTICE MY CLARINET
• organize my bookshelf
• write.  and just write.  on actual paper.
• clear off my desk
• cross off the days on my calendar, which is on said desk, covered with papers and such
• throw out all these gift cards that probably only have 30 cents left on them
• GET TO SELLING THOSE UGLY OLD TWILIGHT THINGS.  That obsession is LONG over, B.
• tape up some things and take down others (from the walls)
• answer Ashley's Tumblr messages
• clean up this "mess" I've been leaving behind over behind the scenes at Film-Classics.  (Don't tell anyone, but all the ILL episodes I've unlocked have yet to be relocked.  But not for long!  (I hope.))  (And I got the Films section clean up, too!  :D)
• write my letter to Rosie for Nat's latest blog-a-thon
• get a life

Awful long list...better get started.

~Off to write a stuffy essay that won't help me much, then study for a test that hopefully will be easy to pass.

Oh.  And make tomorrow's lunch.

P.S.  We had our first history test last week and there was a question on there whose answer is quite honestly obvious: True or False: Queen Elizabeth I divorced her 3rd husband. 

Quite obviously false.  My reasoning for it being so quitely obvious?  SHE WAS THE VIRGIN QUEEN.  SHE NEVER MARRIED.  

Why does no one seem to know this but ME?!  (And my 6th grade brother.  But he doesn't count.)  Not even my dad, my history buff father, knew that.  Who else did they think VIRGINia was named after, if not for the VIRGIN QUEEN?!

GAH.  THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END.

"How To Avoid Sleep" by Bailey

Yes.  It's 10:50 on a Sunday night and I have school at 8 tomorrow morning.  Which requires getting up at no later than 6:45 to shower.  We can see how well I am at putting off certain things I really need (SLEEEEP).
Last week (actually, exactly 9 days ago), I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of Divergent by Veronica Roth.  If you've never read this book or the series at all, get out of here.

Okay, now come back.

Really, you're very lucky because I have been constantly attacked by FEELS (feelings, for those of you who do not kill countless brain cells on Tumblr) these past days.  I read Divergent in 7 hours last Friday and I now have about 100 pages left of Insurgent.  Wow.  I.  CAN'T.  TAKE.  IT.  I never thought anyone could be as cute as Lucy and Ricky/Lucy and Desi.  And then I found Nick and Nora Charles and they almost were.  And then there's Juliet and Shawn/Maggie and James.  Do you know how many FEELS that is?  On top of it all, I now have Fourtris (the main ship for the Divergent trilogy) to cut my heart in half.  And Insurgent is NOT.  HELPING.
In other news, reading Veronica Roth's blog is "inspiring" me to write.  So instead of paying attention in Algebra like I should tomorrow, I will write.  Because that's what I do.  Because that's how that little bump on my right ring finger came about.  That's right.  While normal people (or maybe that's just Jo March) have ink or lead or something on their hands, I have a bump.  No, it's not a wart.  I don't get warts.  I've had this thing for YEARS.  See, when I write, I hold my utensil with my thumb, pointer, and middle fingers and rest it on the side of my ring finger.  Now maybe a normal person would not have a problem with this.  But I write fast and I write hard.  The utensil pushes up against my ring finger, thus creating my little writing bump.
And that is my main writer's trademark.
Plus, has anyone ever (at least slightly) studied handwriting analysis?  I find it so fascinating.  I always like looking at my handwriting and how I form letters and words.

Cool picture of the day:

(Taken from judyforever)

~B.
(P.S.  And, yes.  I am now trying out the first initial sign off thing.  I need a change in my name life.  You can't really get many nicknames from Bailey, and, though I've recently been contemplating Bai, that name has long been strictly reserved to cousins and other family members.  And even then I hardly ever liked it.)