With some cities canceling their fireworks celebrations due to budget problems, watching a good old patriotic film might just be the alternative you're looking for. But what to watch? There are so many to choose from? Well, here's a list of a few of my favorite American films. These are mostly family-friendly, although some might be a bit over the heads of younger children.
Mister Smith Goes to Washington -- Jimmy Stewart is wonderful (as always) as a naive and idealistic senator who finds himself surrounded by greed and corruption in Washington. Stewart, however, sticks to his guns and tries to do the right thing and, in the end, prevails. In America, every man counts and one man can indeed make a difference.
Dave -- When a corrupt president falls ill, his good-hearted doppelganger is tapped to fill in so the American public don't find out. Instead of being a patsy, he comes to take over and turn the presidency around. It's a fun little film that shows what the presidency should be about -- helping people.
Young Mister Lincoln -- A classic, fictionalized look at one of our greatest president's early days, this film is fun and uplifting. If only all our presidents could be this upstanding, we'd be a lot better off. Henry Fonda is wonderful as the man he felt was almost too great for him to play.
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming -- I first saw this when I was younger and was impressed at how the Americans, after first going into a tizzy when a Russian submarine runs aground on their island, come to understand that regardless of where you come from, we're all just people.
My Fellow Americans -- Two ex-presidents, running for their lives, get to meet the real people who were affected by their presidencies. It's a reminder that our politicians are there for us, not the other way around. Of course, this is wrapped up in an adventure with danger, corruption, and, of course, a ton of laughs.
1776 -- Imagine how much more our founding fathers could have accomplished if only they had broken out into song now and then. Actually, after watching this powerful portrayal of the days leading up to the signing of the declaration of independence, I'm convinced they did. Every time I watch it, I get choked up thinking about what these men went through and what they sacrificed to make this great nation possible. If you only watch one patriotic movie in your life, make it this one.
So there you go, half a dozen films that will make you think about what it means to be an American and what a great country this is. It may not be perfect, but it's pretty darn good and we've got the means built into the system to make it better.
While I had my issues with WALL-E, I wouldn't have considered leftist brain-washing to be one of them (although, I suppose some might argue that I'm so far gone I wouldn't notice it in the first place). It seems, however, that some of the more conservative members of the audience did pick up on it and are visibly upset.
Think Progress (admittedly, it was voted "Best Liberal Blog" in 2006) has a round-up of some of the commentary coming out about the movie from the right side of the theatre. "From the first moment of the film," wrote Shannen Coffin, former general counsel to Vice President Cheney, "my kids were bombarded with leftist propaganda about the evils of mankind."
Another writer described the movie as "a 90-minute lecture on the dangers of over consumption, big corporations, and the destruction of the environment." He goes on to explain that he will be doing his part to save the world by "by boycotting any and all WALL-E merchandise" and calling for others to "join my crusade."
I'm sure that these reviewers do not speak for all conservatives, representing, instead, an extreme, but it is still amusing that they are getting so upset over a movie that they aren't being forced to see. I could get similarly incensed about the VeggieTales series -- or just not watch them.
According to the rumor mill, which has been churning for a while now on this one, actress Naomi Watts is pregnant with her second child. The Aussie is allegedly four months along.
Watts is married to fellow actor Liev Schreiber, with whom she has son Alexander, who will turn one this July. Watts' best friend, Nicole Kidman, is due this year as well, just a few months before Naomi, if the rumors are true. Hey, no time like the present to get moving with making your family. Have all the kids now and then get back to your original shape and all that movie-making business, eh?
Looking for an, er, interesting way to celebrate the 4th of July holiday this year? How about with food! Sure food will play a crucial role in your celebration--it generally does--but why not toss things up a bit this time around, and even make it fun for the kids?
We're considering doing a menu of all red, white and blue foods. Yes, blue foods. Now we all know there are no naturally occurring blue foods--unless you count blueberries amongst your tally--but it's a fun treasure hunt to think of and then collect foods that are blue (if not naturally so) along with their easier to uncover red and white versions, all in the name of patriotism.
Red foods include strawberries, tomatoes--if you're feeling adventurous, and I'm decidedly not this holiday weekend--as well as cherries and various other kinds of fruit. One could twist on that and include red meat in the menu along with ketchup. White foods, while not that healthy, are in abundance. You have white bread, potatoes (and therefore potato salad?) as well as eggs (sans the yolk), milk, yogurt and various kinds of cheese. You could also go the white meat route with this one. And the blue foods? Well, other than the blueberry and some types of edible flowers, the only blue foods I can think of are Popsicles and Icees. You could dye pasta blue, as I did once, for blue pasta salad, but I don't think anyone would eat it. There are also blue potatoes and blue Terra Chips as well as blue corn tortilla chips. Dessert could always be blue--no one seems to fear blue icing.
Can you think of any 'blue' foods to include at a picnic or celebration this Fourth of July?
I've never been much of a fan of reality TV. Putting ordinary people (who are always prettier or meaner or whinier than anyone person I've ever met) in weird circumstances to show what happens just isn't entertaining to me. I've got kids, I deal with weird circumstances ALL DAY LONG!
Apparently, I'm not the only one who isn't crazy about at least one reality TV show. The Washington D.C. based nonprofit group Zero to Three is upset with the new NBC television series "Baby Borrowers". The group's spokesperson told Page Six, "We're concerned about the fact that these babies are being separated from their parents and placed with strangers. On the first episode, the babies were separated for about 12 hours and were clearly in distress. Typically they will cry and cling and search for their parents, which they were doing. They should be with someone they've had the opportunity to get to know."
I'm all for educating teens on child care getting rid of the notion that parenting is one big ball of baby powdery fun, but there ARE better ways than dumping a baby off with complete strangers for a television show. Working at a childcare center, volunteering at a church nursery or preschool, or even babysitting are all good ways to get a small idea of what life as a parent is like.
There is no way I'd ever, ever, ever have agreed to let my babies be on a television show like this, even with a nanny stationed nearby in case she's needed. What exactly is going on with our society that makes babies fair game for a reality series, anyway?
There's a lot to appreciate Maggie Gyllenhaal for--she's a great actor who tackles thoughtful roles. Perhaps the producers of her new movie appreciate her even more now that she's a mom. Gyllenhaal recently used her parenting skills on the set of the movie Farlanders to calm two of her co-stars.
Gyllenhaal is starring in the film, her first since becoming a parent in 2006, alongside eleven-month-old twins. At one point the babies were crying incessantly and unable to be stopped. Gyllenhaal slipped into mother mode and calmed them so filming could continue.
Maggie thanks her lucky stars she was a mother and had learned those skills. Says Gyllenhaal, "If I had not been a mom and known how to calm a baby, talk and hold the baby, the whole day would've been wasted." She also stated that she felt like a mom the whole day, not just at home but also on the set. Brings new meaning to the term 'working mother,' eh? good work, Maggie!
A lot of people love Pixar. The amazing animation studio, with incredible artists like John Lasseter and Pete Docter, has a knack for infusing life and soul into normally inanimate objects. With hits like the Toy Story movies, Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, Cars, and now WALL-E (which I got to see last week), the company has much to be proud of.
So are you one of their fans? Have you seen all nine of their full-length films? Can you name them all? (They are: Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), and WALL-E (2008).)
Well, if you fancy yourself to be as big a fan as I am, you might want to try your hand at this Pixar-related quiz over at Moviefone. I got nine out of fourteen correct (I missed a few actors and cultural references) -- how will you do?
Many of you may remember the television show Arrested Development. While critically acclaimed it didn't get much viewership, despite being very funny and witty. Perhaps it was because the show centered around yet another dysfunctional family, this one set in affluent California. Many, however, possibly a little too much, related to the crazy antics of the family and were sad to see them go when the show was canceled after three seasons.
Now, the stars of the show have another chance to reclaim some glory as Arrested Develoment becomes a movie, like many shows before it--the Simpsons comes to mind; while Homer and Bart put the "D" in dysfunctional, their show wasn't canceled. Jeffrey Tambor, who plays the imprisoned (and escapee) patriarch of the Bluth family, is especially excited to be rejoining his fellow castmates on the big screen, which includes Jason Bateman (on whom I've had a crush since I was a kid) and Portia De Rossi.
Are you looking forward to the Arrested Development movie? Are the Bluths your favorite dysfunctional tv family, or are the Simpsons more your speed?
Hey, remember Molly Ringwald? Well, she's back, and in more ways than one. The former teen star, memorable for such culture- and era-designing movies such as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, is now starring in a television drama about teens. This time, however, the forty-year-old is playing mom to one of them.
And that teen happens to be pregnant. You may recall Molly is no stranger to the teen pregnancy plot. She played a pregnant teen in the movie For Keeps. Perhaps she'll be drawing from that experience for her latest project. Another project Molly has going for her is motherhood, so this role should be an easy one (as if being a mother, even playing one, was EVER easy!).
According to Molly, the key between moms and teen daughters is really communication. Her hope is to spread that message and curtail as many unplanned pregnancies as possible. The movie is titled The Secret Life of the American Teenager as is set to debut July 1st.
The hype has been building for months, ever since word first got out last fall about Pixar's new film WALL-E. It's the story of WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter -- Earth-Class), a determined robot who falls for a sleek new robot named EVE who shows up one fateful day. WALLL-E ends up chasing her across the galaxy and saving the world in the process.
As a fan of quality animation and a total Pixar groupie, I have been looking forward to seeing this film for quite a while. With all the trailers, adverts, and WALL-E's face plastered all over the streetcars here, my kids have been eagerly awaiting its release as well. They squeal with joy whenever they see him, and my older son has been reminding me that the movie was coming out June 27 practically non-stop.
So, does the movie live up to the hype? Is it as good as we have come to expect from Pixar, the studio that brought us such modern classics as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and one of the best children's movies ever, Cars? Well, since June 27 just happened to be my daughter's birthday, I took my son Jared (six years old) and daughter Sara (turned four that day) to find out.
Spontaneous dancing is one of those childhood traits that you can easily take for granted and miss desperately when kids start getting self-conscious. Matt Harding has become an unlikely internet celebrity through amazingly touching videos of himself doing his signature (and endearing) primitive dance move all over the world.
I'm not sure whether it's the childlike quality displayed by Harding,or getting even a split-second glimpse at some of the amazing places all over or the world, or the reminder that anything is possible that makes me cry when I watch it, but I do.
Share it with your kids, it's a great reminder that you can a friend to dance with (even a whale!) no matter where you are.
Actress Tori Spelling recently debuted her new baby girl, Stella, to the media and the world. She also revealed that it only took one try for her to get pregnant. According to OK Magazine, Tori is quoted as saying she'd been on one type of birth control pill and was feeling nauseous, so went on a different pill prescribed by her doctor. She somehow missed a day in between though, and it was on that day she claims she became pregnant.
Spelling also said Stella was rather an accident--or, I guess, that they weren't trying to get pregnant. In my opinion, they weren't not trying to get pregnant, though, as we all know it only takes one shot to seal the deal and they knew that Tori wasn't protected when they had sex! Good for them--as my friend wisely said, another baby in the world is a wonderful thing. Little Stella is a beauty and I'm sure is making her parents unbelievably happy.
I can also confirm that you can, indeed, get pregnant the first shot. I wasn't trying either, nor was I not trying. And, bam, the first time we did it without protection, I became pregnant with my daughter. Seems like Tori and I are on the same track--we both have toddler sons, both got knocked up after one try, and both either have or will have a daughter in the very near future. Another thing we have in common? Well, Spelling says she might like to have a third child, just like me. Too bad i don't have an acting career paycheck to go with my life though!
Good luck, Tori--and congrats on beautiful Stella!
Actress and Blue Lagoon star Brooke Shields knows a thing or two about the paparazzi. Having been a child star and a young person in the constant eye of the media storm , Brooke has taken it upon herself to teach her children how to handle the media.
Brooke's daughter, Rowan, who is five, knows what to do when the paparazzi strikes. Says Rowan, when asked by her mom what to do when the media strikes, "Well, I look straight ahead and I don't look them in the eye." Shields is sorry her daughter even knows what the word 'paparazzi' means.
Shields says that teaching her children to ignore the press is a healthier way of handling them. The actress knows the paparazzi will be there no matter what she does, so better to ignore them than give them what they want, I guess. Shields is also mom to daughter Grier Hammond, two.
Yesterday, my seven year old and I had a conversation about high gas prices. This talk was prompted by my refusal to buy her a new pair of summer shoes and my insistence that we see the cheaper matinee showing of Kung Fu Panda rather than wait for the evening show. I don't know how much of this economic lesson she really understood, but suffice it so say that she has now joined the ranks of those bummed about high gas prices.
I know mine isn't the only family cutting back in response to the rising prices of everything. The Vance family in Salt Lake City decided that cable television was luxury they could no longer afford and had it disconnected. This did not sit well with their kids, 9-year-old Sadie and 7-year-old Pyper. Cut off from their favorite television shows, the girls decided to take it to the streets. Carrying a sign that read "All of my mom's monny goes to the gas tank!" and another asking drivers to honk to lower gas prices, the girls paraded through downtown.
"Gas prices are too high," Sadie said. "I just decided to come and protest so they'd go down."
Ah, if only it were that simple we would all grab up a sign and march. Come to think of it, maybe we should all get together and protest en mass. It might not make a bit of difference, but at least we will have something to do while we are missing our favorite television shows.
As a person, you know that some people never learn. You see and hear this fact every day. As a parent, you will, at some point, no doubt be forced to share this delightful bit of information with your children, even as you try to teach them to be people who do learn from their mistakes and shortcomings. Sometimes it's tough to do when those people who never learn continue to be on the receiving end of everything but karma.
As we all know by now, Don Imus, the controversial radio disc jockey, is in the news again for making what are being construed as racist remarks. Recently Imus commented on the numerous (six!) arrests of football star Andrew Jones, who is African American. During the broadcast Imus asked what color Jones was. When he received the response, he stated, "Well, that explains it. Now we know."
Imus has since come forward claiming his comments were meant to be sarcastic. The people aren't buying it though, and neither is Andrew Jones, who said he has problems with African Americans and that he will be praying for Imus. I don't necessarily think Imus has a problem with a certain set of people (maybe he does, maybe he doesn't), but I do think he doesn't know when to let well enough alone. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Imus, however, doesn't get paid to do that. He gets paid to bring attention to his program, any way he knows how. And making controversial remarks is his trademark.
With some cities canceling their fireworks celebrations due to budget problems, watching a good old patriotic film might just be the alternative you're looking for. But what to watch? There are so many to choose from? Well, here's a list of a few of my favorite American films. These are mostly family-friendly, although some might be a bit over the heads of younger children. 
While I had 
I've never been much of a fan of reality TV. Putting ordinary people (who are always prettier or meaner or whinier than anyone person I've ever met) in weird circumstances to show what happens just isn't entertaining to me. I've got kids, I deal with weird circumstances ALL DAY LONG!
Actress Tori Spelling recently debuted her new baby girl, Stella, to the media and the world. She also revealed that it only took 
Yesterday, my seven year old and I had a conversation about high gas prices. This talk was prompted by my refusal to buy her a new pair of summer shoes and my insistence that we see the cheaper matinee showing of Kung Fu Panda rather than wait for the evening show. I don't know how much of this economic lesson she really understood, but suffice it so say that she has now joined the ranks of those bummed about high gas prices.
