I think I'm Allergic to Cats and Bad Remakes

So this week we had a couple of movie trailers drop.  One I'm excited about.  One, eh.  Not so much! 

Tom Cruise has barely aged since the original Top Gun aired in 1986.  Being a Scientologist he probably doesn't drink or smoke (I think that may be a thing with them; JLo is? was? a Scientologist at one point and doesn't drink or smoke).  Obviously he takes care of himself and works out regularly for his physically demanding roles.  If he's had some work done, it's been subtle. 

https://youtu.be/cVRHG6z7sN8

 

 

I think Jennifer Hudson is one helluva singer.  Not that crazy about her acting skills (i.e., Sex and The City 2 she was horrible) and I think she looks terrible as a cat.  There.  I said it. She doesn't look good as a feline.  Taylor Swift, on the other hand, is exactly what I think she'd look like as a cat.  Unfortunately, James Corden looks like the Cat in the Hat's evil twin. 

https://youtu.be/FtSd844cI7U

The new Lion King officially opens today.  What is with all of these live-action remakes?  We recently had the Jungle Book, Aladdin (haven't seen it yet), Dumbo (will NEVER see it.  I think Dumbo was one of the scariest movies ever when I was a kid.  I hated seeing Dumbo cry for his mama and being scared at the circus with the crazy fireman clowns and the building on fire).  Soon we'll have an  updated The Little Mermaid.  And now the Lion King is back, too. Round and round we go. Cue Savannah sunrise. Cue "Naaaants ingonyama bagithi baba!"

This new Lion King has some serious star power:  Jon Favreau, James Earl Jones reprises his role as Mufasa.  Donald Glover as the grown-up lion prince Simba, Beyonce as the older lioness Nala and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the villainous Scar.  Zazu is voiced by John Oliver.   Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen take over for Nathan Lane's meerkat and Ernie Sabella's warthog.  Despite the celebrity voices, I'm not sure if I'll be seeing this update. 

The Road to Hell

Gah!!  It's been an incredibly long time since I've blogged.  I've been meaning to.  I had good intentions.  But you know what they say about good intentions . . . 

So let's see.  Last time I blogged we were probably getting ready for our trip to Cabo.  Well, Hurricane Odile took care of that.  While we were naturally disappointed, everything seems to be working out A-OK.  It looks like we may be doing a Mediterranean cruise next year so we have that to look forward to!  I believe the cities are:  Barcelona, Palma De Mallorca, Marseilles, Florence/Pisa, Rome and Naples.  Works for me!!!

KJ's JV volleyball season is officially over.  She had an incredible season and made so many friends.  Unfortunately, they played their last game on her birthday and lost.  It was a very tough loss and she was so upset that the loss happened on her 15th b-day.  This weekend she has travel team try-outs.  

KJ also had a great time at Homecoming.  They do things a little differently up here than they did in Hoover.  Very few boys ask the girls to the dance so they all go in a big group.  However, they do go out to dinner before the dance just like they did at Hoover.  I think there were 13 or 14 in KJ's group and 6 girls came back to the house for the "after party" (a bonfire outside w/ s'mores) and they all slept over.  It was a gorgeous night and we had so much fun taking photos and it was nice for me to meet some of the parents.  

Friday night, prior to kickoff, they have a homecoming parade into the stadium and then the Homecoming King and Queen are announced.  Our football team in undefeated and the student section rocks!  The kids really, really get into it and KJ loves going to the games.  Our Varsity volleyball team is currently in the play-offs so KJ has continued going to the games to cheer on the older girls.  Girls Varsity soccer just lost in the play-offs but they had a great season, too!  The principal tweets alot and 

I broke down today and bought the latest Taylor Swift CD.  I've heard SO many people say it's really, really good so I thought I'd give it a try.  "Shake it Off" sure is catchy.  
http://youtu.be/nfWlot6h_JM

Had such a nice although very quick visit to Oxford mid-October.  T was competing in the Miss University pageant.  She did awesome (as usual!).  I wasn't sure about her new gown but the judges loved it and she got some extremely positive feedback.  She was a little discouraged because she didn't officially place but after speaking with the program director, she feels much, much better about her performance. As always, it seems like there were a lot of politics involved.  

I flew into Memphis Tuesday morning, we did some shopping and had lunch at Zaxby's (we don't have Zaxby's in Maryland!).  We had dinner and drinks at Boure with the Dew.  T had to leave early for rehearsal so the Dew and I walked around the Square.  It was very nice to spend some time w/ just him and get to know him a little better.  Wednesday we had breakfast at BBB (duh!!!) and I had lunch w/ the girls at the AOPi house while T was in class.  She had her private interview that afternoon and then the pageant was that evening.  She had a great cheering section!  Me, the Dew, Amanda, a ton of AOPi sisters and one of her AOPi advisors, a bunch of her residents and several of her co-workers.  Her residents were super sweet and had a bunch of funny posters and hooted and hollered whenever she was on stage.  Afterward we attended the cocktail party at the U Club and Thursday morning we had breakfast at Bottletree Bakery before heading up to Memphis for my return flight.  The Dew and Megan drove up to Memphis with us to keep T company on the ride home.  

T is not coming home for Thanksgiving this year (she has to check everyone out on Sunday but be back by 8 AM Friday).  She'll have Thanksgiving w/ the Dew and his fam.  She hasn't seen Cosmo and KJ since July so we're super excited for her to come home for Christmas.  Christmas is going to be INSANE at our house this year!!!!  Not only will my mom & dad be here for the week but Cosmo's bro from FL and his fam will be here too!  And then Cosmo's niece (and her hubby) that live here in MD will join us for Christmas dinner.  And then my bro and his fam will be here for a few days after Christmas.  It's going to be one big slumber party!!!  And I'm SOOOO excited!  That's what we moved back up here for!!!  

Disney & Annie Liebovitz

Taylor Swift is the latest celebrity to team up with Disney Parks and iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz. While I'm not a huge TSwift fan I do think she looks really beutiful as Rapunzel. Check out some of Ms. Leibovitz's other work for this ad campaign:

Julie Andrews as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and (a much younger) Abigail Breslin as her "apprentice"

Julianne Moore as Ariel (with Michael Phelps as a Mer-man)

David Beckham as some type of Prince Charming

Jeff Bridges as The Beast and Penelope Cruz as Belle

Russell Brand as Captain Hook (my favorite!)

JLo and Marc Anthony as Jasmine and Aladdian

Queen Latifah as Ursula from The Little Mermaid

Rachel Weisz (aka Mrs. Daniel Craig) as Snow White

Olivia Wilde as the Wicked Queen/Stepmother and Alec Baldwin as the Magic Mirror

Other depictions include:  

Roger Federer (King Arthur), Jessica Biel (Pocahontas), Whoopi Goldberg as Genie and Scarlett Johansson (Cinderella).  There is also a Peter Pan scene with Mikail Barishnakov as Pan, Giselle Buncheon as Wendy and Tina Fey as Tinkerbelle but I can't seem to be able to upload a copy of it. 

It's OK Thursday

It's OK . . .

 

...to intensely dislike Taylor Swift and her music.

...to find Taylor Swift's relationship with the Kennedy kid incredibly creepy.

...that my girl has been away at college for a week already!  Seriously.  It's OK.  She's loving every minute of it!

...to have slowly started to decorate for Fall.

...to love all this rain we've had.  Luv it!  Luv it!  Luv it!

...to be excited that our Ole Miss football tickets came in the mail!  Hotty Toddy! 

...that I hated the last book I read ("Seating Arrangements").  I'm now on to Emily Giffin's "Where We Belong."

...that Prince Harry had a good time in Vegas!  Go Harry!  Go Harry!



Grammy Recap

I've never been a TSwift fan and Nikki Minaj's performance at the Grammy's was disturbing.

I am not a country music fan at all. I'm sorry. I just don't like Miranda at all. She always looks pained or something.

Love the Foos and this photo of them holding hands like a bunch of teenage girls just cracked me up. They totally rocked it last night!

KJ yelled, "OMG! You can see her UNDERWEAR!!!"

I normally love Carrie Underwood but this seems a little "old" for her. She has incredible legs and should be showing them off!

This is one bad-ass Gramma. I hope to be this cool when I'm her age.

Absolutely gorgeous. Her hair, her make-up. That voice! I love her CD and listen to it at least twice a day at work!

Obviously the big news this weekend is the sad passing of Whitney Houston. We were at KJ's volleyball tournament when one of the mom's said, "Oh My God! My T-Mobile News is saying Whitney Houston is dead." Another mom said, "It's probably just a hoax. Didn't they say Bon Jovi had died recently, too?" I checked my twitter feed as the night went on (yeah, I know. Not the most reliable news source) and sadly the rumors were true. One of those weird, surreal, generational moments. Like when Elvis passed away or John Lennon was shot. Or when you heard that Michael Jackson was gone. She had a beautiful amazing voice and I remember being a young girl and seeing Whitney Houston in the pages of Seventeen Magazine.

I liked the fact that the Grammy's acknowledged Whitney's passing but didn't turn it into the Whitney show. LLCool J had some kind words during the opening segment and Jennifer Hudson's tribute was beautiful. I liked the memorials thoughout the show -- Alicia Keys & Bonnie Raitt honoring Etta James, the Beach Boys tribute and who didn't love Glen Campbell singing Rhinestone Cowboy??!! He sounded AMAZING!!! Bruce Springsteen sounded and looked great, too!

I love these little girls!!!

This dress is beautiful but she needs a little more support in the boob area. Oh, and ditch the blue hair. She looks like a Smurfette!