What the #FF?!?: My First Guest Post!

Guess what?  I’m taking the day off!

No, not that kind of day off…I’m guest posting for the very first time over at www.educlaytion.com!

Clay was kind enough to invite me over for the day to guest-post on his Friday Flick Face-Off.  In the post, I wax nostalgic about my love for movie composer John Williams, and offer up three of my favorite Williams’-scored movies as contenders for his head-to-head-to-head battle. 

If you’re unfamiliar with my weekly “What the #FF?!?” post, I make a few shout-outs to the websites and bloggers who rock my socks, and give them a little love, via my site and Twitter. 

Clay’s been an awesome friend during my early days in blogging (which, okay…I still AM in my early days of blogging, this being the third month).  His writing style has a wonderfully witty voice, intermixed with humor, poignancy, and more knowledge than Wikipedia and Alex Trebek combined.  And hey, he also knows how to rock an 80’s sweater and hair style like no other.

Be sure to check out his Wiki-Wednesday feature, where he takes a variety of events that happened on a specific date and connects them all together…think like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but with no Footloosing, Kira Sedgwick-loving star.  He also can be found on Twitter.

Why don’t you join me over at www.educlaytion.com today and vote for your pick in the Friday Flick Face-Off?  Will it be Hook, featuring Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman?  Or Jurassic Park, where the dinosaurs steal the show?  Or is it the baby of the bunch, Harry Potter the Sorcerer’s Stone?  Only YOU can decide the outcome!

Happy FF Friday!

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What the #FF?!?: My First Follow Friday

Twitter, to all intents and purposes, is sort of like a secret society, which you are slowly inducted into through public humiliation and hazing.  Okay, maybe they don’t make you run through the streets naked while chanting “BANGARANG, RUFIO!”, but you certainly have to make a complete fool of yourself until you’re well-acquainted with the guidelines and slang terms of Twitter.

@….Mention…Re-Tweet…Tiny URL…Small URL…Hashtags…180 Characters…Trends…Following…Followers…Lists…DM…PM…and there’s probably a BM, too…the list goes on and on…

I pride myself in knowing almost all these terms, and today, I take that last step in becoming fully initiated in the Twitterverse:  I will finally use a hashtag, and I will know why.

Hashtags are applicable labels to your Tweets which sort of act like tags on blog posts.  They organize ideas/thoughts/trends/topics all over Twitter so that you can search for, say, #ripePeruvianmelons, or #ChristianBaleRants.  You simply apply a "”#”, or a hashtag, to your topic, and boom…instant organization.  You are now a responsible Tweeter.

Most topics are pretty straight forward (#parenting, #beverages, #movies).  However, there has been one hashtag that has continually perplexed me, and it’s time I put a stop to the madness.  I present for your examination…the elusive hashtag:

#FF

So, you’re probably asking “What the FF?!?”, especially those of you who do not Tweet or cannot Tweet due to a pre-existing medical condition.  “FF” stands for Follow Friday, Friend Follow, or even Followable Folks.  Allow me to open your eyes, ears, and other orifices to what #FF really means, through the use of a brilliant comic from my new favorite website, The Oatmeal (copyright Matthew Inman, 2010):

The 12 Movies of Christmas

My favorite movie, of all time, is Home Alone.

Not my favorite “Christmas” movie…my favorite movie…of all time.  You know, the one with Macaulay Caulkin, the robbers, and the house full of Mousetrap-like inventions?  Yep.  That one.  It’s held the title of my #1 Film, for many years now, beating out tough competitors like Shawshank Redemption, Hook and Clue.

I don’t place Home Alone at the top of my film queue for cinematic reasons.  No actors merited any Oscar Awards for their performances, and the only Oscar Nomination went to composer John Williams (and very rightly so).  It doesn’t stand amongst films like Braveheart, Memoirs of a Geisha, or Saving Private Ryan, but it does possess an immense amount of nostalgia for me.

Home Alone, for me, became the movie to watch during the Christmas season.  It was amongst the first movies I saw in theatres, and it eventually found a very special place in the life of my family.  Every year, we’d get so excited to pull it out of its VHS case (still have it), and even though the years took their toll on the video cassette, we didn’t seem to mind the faded color or distorted sound.  The lights would dim, the 21st Century Fox anthem would ring out, and the opening title would float into my ears, making me remember Christmases of ages past.

It’s a “quotable movie” for me.  I have a few that I can confidently sit down with and, word for word, re-enact the whole film.  My favorite scenes in the film are the ones which evoke memories of laughter with my family.  No Christmas season is complete without a viewing of Home Alone (and, Home Alone 2, while we’re at it).

Attack of the Killer Telemarketers: Part Deux

Oh-Woe-Is-Me-Day:  (n.) a dreary, depressing day where the victim is prone to spontaneous crying and bouts of self-pity; the victim may attempt to fish for compliments, wall herself up in her own apartment, and imbibe an entire bottle of Little Penguin Shiraz in the span of 3 hours; causes of such a day may include irritating co-workers, break-ups on Christmas (true story), continued “Single” status on Facebook, no time to pee, the Apocalypse, losing a limb, and/or decapitation; remedies may include several episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, a hot bubble bath, phone calls to The Mom, and either the Hallmark or Lifetime channel; Oprah works, too.

No free trips given away on this blog!

Needless to say, yesterday found me battling against such a day.  I struggled through a long day of student teaching, rushed home to teach 5 voice lessons over the span of 3 hours, and dealt with some personal issues to put a nice bow on the fantastic present that was Thursday.  Oh, and my dog threw up in my bed.  Thanks, Bailey…

Don't give me that "I didn't toss my cookies in bed" look...

 

All in all, though, my day really wasn’t that bad.  Many, many, many worse things could have happened, and for that fact, I am grateful.  I am healthy.  I have all my fingers.  And teeth.  That alone is a cause for celebration!

Grin and bear it!

So, by 7:00 PM, I threw off the stresses of my day and indulged in pasta, red wine, and a bubble bath (not at the same time, although my wine glass did accompany me to my “spa”…I have jacuzzi jets in my tub!)  I even brought along my phone to call up The Mom.

Carbs + Alcohol + Mr. Bubbles + The Mom = Therapy

Little did I know my tranquil rehabilitation would be interrupted by an evil previously thought vanquished from my life.  What kind of monster attempts to get a hold of me through The Mom?

The Mom:  …well, if it’s late, I don’t want you driving home (frequent topic of our conversation).  Oh!  By the way…guess who called here looking for you?

Me: Who?

The Mom: The New York Philharmonic…

No!  Not the New York Philharmonic!  To quote from the movie Hook: “My great and worthy opponent!”

BANGARANG!