Foggy Nights

Just last weekend I drove home to take a friend out for her 21st birthday. As I was driving, I was struck by the beauty of the streetlights as they shown through the night's foggy air.
They were like beams of hope in the night, shining down on the cars as they whizzed by, each to their own destination. Whether you were off to a crazy college party, to your home for a late evening meal, to the movie theater with friends, to the early night bar scene, or to Steak n' Shake for a banana and strawberry side by side, those streetlights were there for you and for all. Their bright beams spread their light through the fog, spreading out their glow like skirts of protection, like guardians in the gloom.
Thank you streetlight, beacon in the dark, friend to the foggy-night driver.

[Photo courtesy of Lary McNish]

August Rush - An Epilogue

"If you play it, they will come."

So, my love for "Moondance" lead to more movie watching fun. I found myself at the Yellow House (just down the road from the dorms) at 9:20 at night with my friends Julia and Patricia, settling down for a homework session and a viewing of "August Rush".
If this connection does not make sense, the movie features "Moondance" as a key piece of music throughout the film.

After watching the movie, I had an interesting thought. I want to see a short epilogue attached to the end of the movie.

Let me explain the very end (SPOILER ALERT!).
The main character, August, an orphan, is trying to find his parents. He "follows the music" throughout the film to try and get them to hear him and find him. As the film progresses, it becomes apparent that August is a musical prodigy, and he ends up at Julliard, where he composes a piece for the Phil-harmonic Orchestra. At the very end, he, his mother, and his father are reunited. His father and mother have not seen each other in 11 years (they were young lovers who met one magical night). His mother now knows, after 11 years, that August is alive and has been searching for him. His father has no clue that there is a child even involved, but he did in fact meet August in Central Park earlier in the movie.
At the very end, his parents are reunited at the concert and watching as August conducts the orchestra. He turns around to see his parents standing together, looking up at him. He, through crazy creepy connections that are beyond this world, knows that they are his parents. His mother smiles, she knows that it's her son. His father smiles a satisfied smile and nods his head, but still does not kow that the kid is his son. He's thinking something more along the lines of "well done kid."

Now for the epilogue:

August: Mother....father...

Lyla (mom): Evan....my son....

Louis (dad): Well done kid...wait, what? Your son?

Lyla and August hugging, too absorbed to answer promptly.

Lyla: Our son...

Louis: WHAT?!?

Lyla: That night....

Louis in slight shock

Louis: You mean...you...wh...........You mean that the prodigy kid I met in the park is MY son?

Lyla: Yes.

Louis: Oh man....well, that's amazing, but....I HAVE A SON?

Lyla: Is there something wrong with that?

Louis: No, just....taking it all in...........good thing I put aside my music in order to amass some substantial revenue....guess it wasn't all bad after all.

*sings Moondance happily as they all embrace each other.

Something like that....or else somehow they all creepily know that August is their son and they all live happily ever after... it is a Hollywood movie after all....

(PS, I'll post Chicago pictures and stories as soon as I get some pictures from Stephanie....my camera broke over the trip...more about THAT later...)

Up, Up, and Away!

Tonight my brother and I are watching a movie together:
UP

Here are my thoughts while watching. Don't read, if you haven't seen it, there might be spoilers....

(11:25pm) So far it's wonderful. It made me want to cry within the first five minutes, and then I laughed just after, but the tears welled up once again in only another 5 minutes or so.

(11:29pm) I wish I could just sail away like that with a ton of balloons attached to my house.

(11:33pm) Storm! The house looked like Dorthy's in the Wizard of Oz, twirling in the twister.

(11:44pm) Kevin! A strange cross between a Dodo, Emu, Parrot, and more. He looks almost like something from a Dr. Seuss book.

(11:45pm) I can smell you!

(11:49p) These talking dog collars are hilarious! Ingenious!

(11:54pm) "Cross your heart." It's amazing how little phrases that mean so much to you can sneak into your life when you least expect it, and tug at your heart strings.

(12:05am) Ooooh, hooray for no tact and large mouths...always moving the plot forward and getting everyone into trouble!

(12:11am) I want to play that game, counting the blue cars and the red ones. One person counts the red, and the other the blue, and whoever gets the most wins.

(12:12am) Why do the bad guys always have dirigibles?
And WHY do they like to set fire to things?!

(12:15am) He made it to the falls!
But for what? Kevin is gone. Russel is unhappy. And Carl is still so alone, even with the memory and spirit of Ellie with him.

(12:18am) The real adventure comes in the life that you have, and what you make of it :)
And we keep on living. That's one of the hardest things to do sometimes, to move forward and not cling too hard to what once was.

(12:20am) It's time for a new adventure!

(12:25am) Dogs that fly biplanes?! Wow!

(12:27am) Cone of Shame, ha!

(12:28am) "Squirrel!" It's important to pay attention to those details, they like to all come back and connect. I love how every little piece of a plot can be important. Great writing.

(12:31am) Good bye house, and hello rest of Carl's life.

(12:34am) AMAZING MOVIE! Now I understand why everyone was so excited about it. I loved it :) Original, great writing, wonderful music....

I highly recommend this movie to all!
If you haven't seen it (if you skipped down to the end of the blog, if you are still reading) GO SEE IT NOW! or at least in the near future.

Hmm I wonder how much sense my commentary makes. Probably much more if you've seen the movie....

That's it for my movie comment on UP. I'll post again with tales of Chicago and Huntingdon, PA.

Hectic Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! (a little late)

This Christmas was certainly a hectic one. Baking cookies, decorating, last minute presents, visiting...and an unfortunate car accident. My aunt and grandma were hit on Christmas Eve by a young woman who was too busy texting to look right while at a two-way stop. No one was hurt too seriously, but my grandma did have to spend Christmas Eve in the hospital. So to any of you reading this blog, please do not text and drive. It's a very dangerous thing to do.

I'll have more blogging to do soon, as I spend New Years in Chicago with my friend Stephanie, and then visited Kaleigh (Pheobe) in Huntingdon, PA. Soo much fun!

Also, this semester I begin student teaching.

I'm sure I'll have many stories, and I hope I can tell them all. I might be very pressed for time what with being in the classroom all day, planning lessons, grading papers, writing papers, and continuing work on the documentary of The Strand.

So New Year trip stories and student teaching yet to come!

Happy winter, the snow finally came to Ohio (and boy is it coming down).