to our moms:

and to me:

My favorite animated film is Dumbo. 

Dumbo is my favorite for many reasons — the sweet story, the music, the elephants, the crows, the triumphant ending. It's a wonderful film that I've seen dozens of times and it never fails to make me laugh, cry, and root for the little elephant with big ears. Dumbo is the favorite Disney film of many people, but it was also Walt Disney's favorite, which makes it kind of special. This being my favorite, I know lots of trivia about the movie (because I've watched the "making of" and read about the film so much) — I thought I'd share it with you.

• Dumbo was the film that almost wasn't. Walt Disney was reluctant to make it and had to be convinced by the story guys to do it. 
• It was made to recoup the losses from Fantasia.
• It's the only Disney film in which the title character doesn't speak (and Mrs. Jumbo only speaks once).
• Dumbo is the shortest Disney feature — only 64 minutes long.
• It was the first Disney film set in America (Florida).
• It was the first Disney animated film to be released on video.

Here are my two favorite scenes. 

 

 

 

Nope. I don't have a favorite horror movie because I don't watch horror movies. No, I've never seen any of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, Friday the 13ths, Screams, The Shining, The Exorcist — none of those or any other that would be considered horror. The only movie that I think is a horror movie that I've seen is Silence of the Lambs and I almost kind of like it, but parts of it I have to watch with my hands over my eyes. And yes, when I think I'm being followed or something I believe that someone wants to turn me into a woman suit. 

Here's the trailer.

 

Most everyone knows how much I love journalism, good journalism, and my favorite drama is what I consider to be the finest film on the subject. All the President's Men is based on reporters Woodward and Bernstein's uncovering of the Watergate scandal of Nixon's presidency. What these two reporters did is simply amazing. They investigated leads that snowballed into the biggest story of the last half of the 2oth century and what is astonishing about it is that no one else covering the White House was reporting on it. No one cared about this little story, but the reporters stuck with it and their series of stories brought down a president. 

Here's the trailer. 

 

Do you follow me on the Twitter? You can if you wish, I'm not going to make you or anything. I tweet when I remember that I have the Twitter. Today there were too many random things to tweet, so here's a random blog post.

 

The middle child said if she had a superpower it would be to speak Spanish. I just shook my head, like "aim higher, kid."

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My children came into my bedroom Saturday night after their bedtime with glowsticks and scared me to death. I thought I was at a rave.

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For some reason I'm totally addicted to a blog I found about old zoos and circuses. The pictures are amazing. Yes, I know I'm weird. 

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My husband asked me to pick out something I'd like for Mother's Day and I can't think of anything I really need so I'm going to ask for dancing bears on motorcycles. Like this one:

 

 Precisely that bear. And I want a matching tutu.

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Last night I dreamed I was being chased by Mr. Bubble from bubble bath fame. You have no idea how scary a giant bubble man is.

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I probably shouldn't blog on Ambien.

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One of my facebook friends wrote "lossed" instead of "lost" in a status update today and it took everything I had not to correct her. 

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I am in love with this app on my iPhone called Instagram. Do you know of this magic photography + sharing app?  It is wonderful. Get ready for a whole post about it soon. Yes, it deserves a post.

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The queso at Carretta's in Covington also deserves its on post, but I'm not going to do that. Not today anyway.

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The Ambien is telling me to go to bed. I must listen. Goodnight. 

This one is easy. It's The Jerk. If you have never seen this movie, don't talk to me. Netflix it right now. I've quoted this movie so much it's ridiculous. I've said "I was born a poor black woman" 400,000 times. Steve Martin is one of my favorite people in the world. 

Here's the trailer.

 

But you probably saw the news conference.

Why would you want to know my least favorite film? I don't know, but that's what the list calls for. How can I pick a least favorite when I hate so many? I really can't stand horror movies or stupid for the sake of being stupid movies, but I guess I would have to pick a horror — The Birds. 

 

Freaking scary as hell.

As with the song challenge, I'm making this an "of all time" series. 

My favorite movie is The Philadelphia Story. I love classic films and this one is the one I go back to over and over again. For me, it's the story of people who belong together despite utter craziness. It stars Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart and it's the film that brought Hepburn's career back after making a few flops.

In the film, heiress Tracy Lord (Hepburn) is divorced from C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant) and is marrying a guy named George in what is said to be the wedding of the year. Spy magazine sends reporter Mike Connor (Jimmy Stewart) to report on the wedding and things get wacky. It's not just a comedy, there is heart to this movie, but it's not sappy sweet either. It's just wonderful.

Here's the trailer. 

 

Also, Tracy's sister sings "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" in one scene and that's something you don't see everyday. 

He's a man of the (Village) people. 

He has a way with words. 

 

He likes animals.

 

He keeps it real by hanging with Kanye and P.Diddy.

 

He is utterly adorable. 

 

Oh my.