Elvis Movie Mania

An item on my Project 52 list is to watch five Elvis movies before my trip to Graceland. After I booked the flights last month I got really excited for my upcoming trip in April and I watched eight! These were six I'd never seen before.

Love Me Tender This movie was so boring and Elvis was hardly in it, but because it was his first role, I wanted to watch. His character, Clint, stays home to care for his mom and farm while his three older brothers go off to fight in the Civil War. They are told that his oldest brother, Vance, was killed and Clint marries Vance’s girlfriend, but all three brothers come back. Awkward. Elvis looked good, I loved the singing scenes (especially the hip shaking), but it was a really slow and boring movie. Westerns are not my genre.

Random fact: The movie was originally called “The Reno Brothers” but advanced sales of Elvis’s single “Love Me Tender” hit one million and the name of the film was changed.

Clambake I really loved the ‘60s vibe of this movie. The clothes, the hair, the dancing! Scott (Elvis) an oil heir, meets Tom, a water skiing instructor. They decide to trade places to see what life is like in each other’s shoes. Scott works for a Miami hotel and meets a girl who’s looking to land a rich fella. Scott tries to help her but falls in love with her in the process.

Random Fact: Elvis wasn’t happy with the way his movie career was going and began overeating. Movie execs ordered him to lose 30 pounds in a hurry. This is when diet pills entered his life. He really wasn’t looking his best in this movie at all.

Viva Las Vegas I can totally see why people think this is Elvis’s best movie. Elvis plays Lucky, a race car driver who is in Vegas for the Grand Prix. He has to raise money for a new engine and meets a local swimming instructor. The movie is filled with tons of musical numbers, plus it has Ann-Margret who is just insane to watch. (See Kristin Wiig’s spot on impression here).

Random Fact: Elvis and Ann-Margret’s chemistry wasn’t just on-screen. They had a brief affair, but after it ended he continued to send her flowers and some say she was his true love. She was the only one of his co-stars to attend his funeral.

King Creole  Danny (Elvis) is a kid from a poor family who gets in a fight at school and is told that he will not graduate so he drops out and starts working as a bar singer. Everyone says this is one of his best performances, but I just couldn’t get into the movie. It was slow and serious and the music wasn’t that great.

Random Fact: Elvis deferred the beginning of his army career for two months to make this movie. He said this was his favorite role.

Girl Happy I watched this movie based on a recommendation from Christianna. Rusty (Elvis) and his band are sent to Fort Lauderdale to look after their boss’s daughter while she’s on spring break. Rusty woos two women and crazy comedy ensues. The ‘60s dancing was awesome, the beach scenes were fun, the leading lady was adorable, there was a song about every three minutes and I want some of the swimsuits I saw. What I don’t understand is why Elvis wore long sleeves the whole movie when it’s set on a beach!

Random Fact: Several of the songs are slightly sped up, making Elvis’s voice sounds higher than usual. It was done to give the songs and upbeat and youthful feeling. The original version of “Girl Happy” wasn’t released until the ‘90s.

It Happened At The World’s Fair I had to watch this one because it’s set in Seattle! Elvis rides the Monorail, eats in the Space Needle’s revolving restaurant and runs around what is now the Pacific Science Center. It’s amazing to me how similar it all still looks, almost 50 years later. Elvis plays a pilot named Mike. His business partner gambles away their crop-duster which will go up for auction if they can’t pay their debt. They hitchhike to Seattle, Mike spends the entire movie wandering around the fair with an abandoned little girl and looks for love…of course. The songs were boring, but I loved this movie because of the location.

Random Fact: Kurt Russell has an uncredited role as the boy who kicked Mike. He went on to play Elvis in the made for TV movie Elvis, voiced Elvis in Forrest Gump, and played an Elvis impersonator in 3000 Miles to Graceland.

I also re-watched two I’ve already seen.

Jailhouse Rock I watched this movie on tv years and years ago. Besides the awesome performance of “Jailhouse Rock,” it’s kind of slow. After Elvis’s character, Vince, gets in a bar fight, he is sentenced to prison. His cell mate is a former country singer and when he discovers Vince’s talent, he asks to go into business together. Vince is released, tries to get his career going, and meets a woman record executive along the way, fame gets to his head and his friends help bring him back down. It was a pretty risqué movie for the time. The hero is a bad boy and they say hell. Gasp! I like it because the songs are performed on purpose, in a recording studio or on stage, not like in most of his movies where he’s in a car, plane, train, or boat and just starts singing.

Random Fact: Judy Tyler, who played Elvis’s love interest died in a car accident two weeks after filming was completed. Because of his grief, Elvis never watched this movie.

Blue Hawaii Chad (Elvis) returns to Hawaii from the Army where he’s happy just hanging out with his girlfriend and friends on the beach. His mom wants him to manage their pineapple business, but he gets a job as a tour guide instead. I’ve always liked this movie. I’ve been to about every location and it has one of my favorite songs, “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” It also doesn’t hurt that he’s wearing tight white short shorts in half of the movie! I’ve always thought that Elvis looked and sounded the best in this era and after watching all these movies, I can say that hasn’t changed.

Random Fact: Elvis completed the fourteen song soundtrack in just three days. It was nominated for a Grammy, spent twenty weeks at number one and is his most successful album.

Have you seen any Elvis movies? Which one is your favorite?

1st pickup of 2012! SUM!MIT LAKE HORNETS LBJ9

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Here's my 1st video of the year of my 1st pickup of the year! The SUMMIT LAKE HORNETS LEBRON 9! When I saw these online, I immediately ordered without hesitation since there is no official release date for them as yet! Be sure to check out my new website also! www.sneakerfairy.com

I've Been...

I’ve been listening to these cds:

I haven’t listened to Kelly’s new album, but it’s on my iPhone, ready for my next car ride. I’m all about the Christmas music right now. She & Him’s (that just sounds wrong) album is really cute, but Bublé is where it’s at. He’s got a voice that’s made for Christmas tunes! Blink 182 surprised me. I loved them with all my heart in college, but started to get annoyed with them as I grew up. I wasn’t expecting to really like this cd, but I do. A lot. Britney remixes are awesome! Some are better than the original songs. As I mentioned here, I love Selena.

I've been watching these music videos:

I still love the Britney video. Rihanna’s video is intense. It reminds me of the UK show Skins. (Seriously guys, like I said before, you have to watch Skins). I really love that song and I haven’t loved a Rihanna song in a long time. Adele is just amazing. She doesn’t have to do anything glitzy or glamorous. She just walks down the street and I feel her pain. Plus, she’s in Paris so it’s freaking beautiful. Beyoncé never disappoints. I really love this one.

I’ve been reading these books:

Demitri Martin’s book maked me chuckle. I love Laurie Notaro books, but this wasn’t her best one. Levi Johnston’s was just bad. I expected that though. But I couldn’t help it. The Palin family is a train wreck that I can’t look away from! I read it in two days. It helped that his sentences were about five words long.

I’ve been TiVoing these new shows:

Up All Night isn’t bringing the laughs, but I love the cast so much I can’t give up on it. Whitney is ok, but she really overacts, but I like the rest of the cast and I do think the show is pretty funny. I can’t get enough of American Horror Story. I have to watch it alone because Jacob hates horror. But it’s sooo good. It’s creepy and weird and I never understand what’s going on. The cast is pretty amazing too. Hart of Dixie is so cute. Anything with Rachel Bilson is worth watching! She’s adorable. I’m not sold on New Girl yet. I think Jess borders on retarded and she annoys me more than she makes me laugh. I’m prepared to get lots and lots of crap for hatin’ on America’s newest sweetheart. 2 Broke Girls is pretty funny. I love Caroline but I think Max might be too much of a downer for me. The tension between Max and Nick Zano’s character is silly and hot at the same time! I sorta feel like the quality of this show isn't the best, like it belongs on the WB back when they had What I Like About You. I liked that show though, so it’s all good.

I've been deleting these shows:

Rachel Zoe annoyed me soooo much this season. She was whiny and irritating and treated Rodger like crap. I’m over her. I deleted my season pass four episodes in. I haven’t been feeling Chelsea Lately for a few months and finally pulled the plug on that one. Pan Am couldn’t keep me interested. I really wanted to like it because I love Christina Ricci and the time frame, but the acting was bad and storylines were stupid. Gossip Girl bored me as well. They are just too old to be getting into the same old shenanigans.

I’ve been seeing these movies:

Paranormal Activity 3 was just the same as the other two. Bad acting, annoying characters and just a few scary moments. Not enough to make a good movie. Drive was intense. Really intense. I didn’t read much about it before I saw it, so I wasn’t expecting the outcome at all. There were hardly any words, but Ryan was perfection and I have a major new girl crush on Carey Mulligan. And I want the soundtrack, stat. I raved about The Ides of March here. So far it's still my favorite movie of the year.

And I’ve been Netflixing these ones:

Paranormal Activity 2 was alright. Better than the first one in my opinion. The Other Woman made me cry for two hours straight. It was very depressing and Natalie Portman did an amazing job! Arthur was actually pretty funny. Russell Brand was toned down a little and I liked it. Bad Teacher was funny too. I liked Cameron’s character a lot! Win Win was great. A little slow, but a lot of heart. I was prepared to hate Something Borrowed because I don’t like rom coms, but this one was cute. I probably liked it because I love John Krasinski and Ginnifer Goodwin so much. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold was interesting. I love documentaries though. Scream 4 was just like the other scream movies, in a good way. It reminded me of being a teenager. I really loved Hayden Panettiere’s hair! Wet Hot American Summer is a movie that’s been in my queue for years. It was equally stupid and hilarious. I recommend it, just for the amazing cast!

As always, you can click the tabs at the top of the screen to see what I’ve been up to.

What have you been up to?

Disney: Day 2

Read about day one right here.

On Saturday morning, we hit California Adventure because it's always less crowded than Disneyland, especially on the weekend. We also get to sleep in a little because the park opens and hour later than Disneyland. But once we're up, showered and slathered in sunscreen, we get the same exact breakfast at the same exact breakfast place as the day before. Gotta carb load!

The Hollywood Pictures Backlot opens later than the rest of the park, so we take this opportunity to ride Soarin' Over California. After we ride it once we grab a fast pass for later. This is the best ride to go on in the middle of the hot day because there's a nice air conditioned orange scented breeze.

When the Backlot does open, we walk as fast as we can (running is not allowed) to The Tower of Terror. It's my absolute favorite ride on the planet. Read all about it here. We ride this at least three times in a row because the line is only about ten minutes long in the morning. Then we grab a fast pass for later.

Then we make our way over to Paradise Pier to ride California Screamin' twice. The line there isn't that long in the morning either and we don't get a fast pass because we don't come back to this part of the park for the rest of the day. It's a pretty fun traditional roller coaster with one loop. I especially love the launch in the beginning.

 We grab sandwiches or soup in a bread bowl at Pacific Wharf Cafe for an early lunch.

Then we make our way around the Pier and ride a few of the little rides and play some games. I refused to ride the Maliboomer after that incident at Six Flags in 2007 when a girl's feet were severed by a cable that snapped, whipped up and hit her legs. I know it was a freak accident and I've been on this type of ride many times, but I just can't do anymore. The Maliboomer was taken down last fall anyway.

We also avoid Mickey's Fun Wheel now. We went on it every year until one time when it stopped mid-ride and was down for twenty minutes. We were in one of the swinging baskets at the top so we swung around for a while and then just sat there. We weren't scared, just really bored and hot. The main reason to ride the Fun Wheel is for the view and since we've seen it a few times, it's just not that interesting to us anymore. One good thing about this ride is that there's never a line.

I have yet to ride Toy Story Mania but everyone says it's awesome. It opened a few weeks before our last trip down there so the lines were out of control and we decided to skip it.

We make our way to Golden State and they ride Grizzly River Run. Since I'm a party pooper and hate getting wet, I usually sit this one out. I just really don't like walking around in wet clothes and especially wet shoes afterwards. I've used plastic ponchos before, but somehow an entire leg still gets wet. So they go on and have a blast and I take their picture at the bottom of a waterfall.

We head on over to A Bug's Land and catch the 4-D movie "A Bugs Life." It's a nice way to get off our feet and cool off. Plus, it's cute.

We use our fast pass for Soarin' Over California and then make our way to the candy store near the entrance of the park to pick up some goodies to snack on while we watch the Pixar parade.

After the parade we go back to the Backlot to catch an afternoon performance of Aladdin. It's the same performance every year, but we ALWAYS see it. Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie and the play is so fun and cute and another good place to rest in the nice, dark, air conditioned theater! 

Then we scoot on over to the Tower of Terror to use our fast pass and grab another one! I know. We're obsessed. We hang out for a while in the Backlot and watch street performers, ride Monsters Inc., check out Turtle Talk with Crush, and play in the Sorcerer's Workshop. Make sure you sing a song in Ursula's Grotto. It's hilarious!

We take one final ride on the Tower of Terror and head to Downtown Disney to eat dinner and shop. Then we make our way over to Disneyland to squeeze in a few rides during the night time shows when the lines are short. Now that there are some new cool things at California Adventure, I think we'll stick around next time. We haven't been on Ariel's Undersea Adventure and we haven't seen the new fountain show, World Of Color.

This is what the fountain/lake looked like the last time we were there.

The fountain is complete, but they are still expanding. Cars Land will be a brand new section of the park, while the Hollywood Pictures Backlot will be renamed Hollywoodland with a 1930s feel. The entrance to the park is getting a major overhaul and the area will be called Buena Vista Street. It will resemble LA in the early 1920s when Walt Disney first arrived, with Art Deco buildings and '20s themed shops and restaurants.

On Sunday morning, we get up around 4:00 am (!!) in order to catch the first flight out of OC at 6:45 and we’re home by noon. Just enough time to unpack, do laundry, rest and recuperate before work on Monday morning.

Now before I get crap for missing out on your favorite food, ride or attraction, I have to tell you, I’ve done it all. I’ve seen every show, 3-D movie and parade. I’ve been on every single ride, including all the kiddie ones and every boat and kayak. I’ve explored the island and tree house and eaten at almost every restaurant. This is just what we like best and this formula has worked for us the last four trips. We have a blast, squeeze in a ton of fun and make the best memories.

I'm dying to go back!!! I think we're going to wait until the expansion of California Adventure is finished before we go again though. And I can't wait until the boys are a little older so we can go on our first real family vacation. I refuse to go until they are tall enough for every ride and can hold their own during a day of walking. I know, I'm totally selfish.

* All photos from http://disneyland.disney.go.com/