Not again....

M and I went to the movies last night, we had a nice little date. We saw Hancock which was actually quite a good flick.

We almost didn't make it though....

We got ready to go, and as we were leaving the house, I went out the door, which M following, and as he shut the door, apparently I turned to look at him with a look on my face, and said "have you got the keys?"
M - "no! Have you?"
me - "no!"

And all we could do was laugh. Stand in the (echoey) lobby outside our door, and laugh our asses off like crazy people.

We rang M's parents who have our spares, no stranger to this circumstance, which regular readers may recall, and through his laughter M managed to say "we've locked ourselves out of our house"....
All we could hear down the line was laughter, and "I'm on my way"

We made the movie, with time to spare

Celebrity names, before the fame, they were someone else entirely

I always knew there would be celebrities who changed their name. "of course!" we cry! Who's going to be famous with a name like John Smith? Or Sarah Thomas?
No! Get thee a snazzy name like Gisele Bundchen (do not attempt this name if you are not a leggy, gorgeous Brazilian model) or a single name like Rihanna/Madonna/Eminem. So here they are, altogether, for your trivia pleasure.

Celebs who ditched their real name, Understandably, and traded up-

Kirk Douglas ... real name: Issur Danielovitch. His names change has gone onto affect three generations of actors. I wonder if they feel dispossessed at all?
Woody Allen ... real name: Allen Konigsberg
George Michael ... real name: Georgious Panayioukou
Winona Ryder ... real name: Winona Laura Horowitz
Demi Moore ... real name: Demetria Guynes
Elton John ... real name: Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Snoop Dogg ... real name: Cordazer Calvin Broadus
Shania Twain ... real name: Eileen Regina Edwards
Miley Cyrus ... real name: Destiny Hope Cyrus, apparently "Cyrus gained her nickname "Miley" because she kept smiling ("Smiley") as a youngster."
Shakira ... real name: Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll
Gene Simmons ... real name: Chaim Witz
Mel Brooks ... real name: Melvin Kaminski- I'm not good with recognising the origin of names, but even I can tell this is Jewish...
Elle Macpherson ... real name: Eleanor Nancy Gow

Wtf? What was wrong with your real name?

Daniel Michaeli became Danny DeVito ...

Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon became Reese Witherspoon ... {no With-a-knife}

Thomas Woodward became Tom Jones ... snappier I suppose...

Jay Greenspan became Jason Alexander ... these are entirely interchangeable to me...

Alicia Christian Foster became Jodie Foster ...

Christopher Ashton Kutcher became Ashton Kutcher ... I guess Christopher Kutcher was a bit too alliterative for him? Just think, Demi Moore could have been Demetria Guynes-Kutcher. Bit Eastern bloc hey....

I guess I can see it a bit more with..

Alicia Augello Cook became Alicia Keys ...
Carlos Ray became Chuck Norris ... this makes him sound more suited to a piano bar that serves all night margarita's from girls in lime green spandex.
Tom Mapother IV! became Tom Cruise ... {Does this make Katie Holmes = Kate Mapother [I] ?}
Robert Zimmerman became Bob Dylan ...
David Robert Jones became David Bowie ...if only he'd known he could have cashed in on an association with an Australian Department store....

Ringo Starr was Richard Starkey

Carmen Electra was Tara Leigh Patrick

.... But still, there was nothing really wrong with their names.

Celebs who traded in a so-so "vanilla" name for a pretty cool one

Vin Diesel ...his real name is Mark Vincent
Portia De Rossi ... her real name is Amanda Lee Rogers {Amanda Degeneres?}
Busta Rhymes ... his real name is... Trevor Smith -Ho Hum!
50 Cent ... his real name is Curtis Jackson.... I think you can forgive rappers though, they're expected to have awesome names.
Axl Rose ... real name William Bailey
Boy George ... real name George Alan O'Dowd
Whoopi Goldberg ... real name Caryn Johnson *yawn* I wonder how she came up with Whoopi Goldberg? Reason suggested here, but I don't trust the accuracy...
Jamie Foxx ... real name Eric Bishop- quite nerdy isn't it?
Seems a lot more common with music types than actor types to change your name to something quite cool.
Queen Latifah was Dana Owens
Kid Rock was Bob Ritchie!
Sigourney Weaver, Orginally Susan Weaver, she picked out her unusual new name from a character in the novel, The Great Gatsby.

Ludacris is actually Brian Bridges

and Hmmm...

Angelina Jolie ...whose real name is Angelina Jolie Voight and
Nicole Richie ... whose real name is Nicole Camilla Escovedo
Interestingly while Nicole Richie changed her name to credit her famous father, Angelina Jolie ditched the obvious link to her father Jon Voight, I wonder if she finds it weird being addressed by her middle name as her surname though. My middle name is May, and I would find it very weird to be called Mrs May.

And the famous exceptions. The two big stars who refused to change their names: Arnold Schwarznegger and Raquel Welch.

Other Celebrity name stories~

Oprah is actually a typo. Her parents wanted to use the biblical name Orpah, but the midwife couldn't spell so it became Oprah.

Nicolas Cage started life as Nicholas Coppola, but changed it to disassociate himself with famous film director Uncle Francis Ford Coppola. The name 'Cage' came from the comic book character 'Luke Cage'.

Michael Crawford - The Phantom of the Opera star was once called Michael Dumble-Smith. The unsurprising desire for a name change was concluded after he saw a passing Crawford's buscuit lorry.

I can't help but wonder who comes up with these names? I would agonise about changing my name!

Best movie of its genre

As compiled by the American Film Institute. (so no foreign films of course)

Courtroom drama

1. To Kill a Mocking Bird

Epic

1. Lawrence of Arabia

Science fiction

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey

Fantasy

1. The Wizard of Oz

Mystery

1. Vertigo

Sports

1. Raging Bull

Romantic comedies

1. City Lights

Animation

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Gangster

1. The Godfather

Western

1. The Searchers

Easily view the Top 5 for each genre here at News.com.au
Compiled by American Film Institute, their listing here but I will warn you, its a bit click here, then here etc. BUT there is a cool quiz, and you can take it over and over because it doesn't give you the correct answer.
Leave your score below and I'll tell you mine. :)

Slave? Crazy? Love?

Is it just me, or does this story in today's paper- Woman Stuck on Toilet for 2 years

US authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years - so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the boyfriend finally called police.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple, in Wichita, Kansasn said it appeared the 35-year-old woman's skin had grown around the seat.

She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

The boyfriend called police on February 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.

"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.

She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.

Police have declined to release the couple's names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbour.

"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.

Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

AP

Remind anyone else of the moveie Secretary? For those of you unfamiliar, the main character played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, in a bid to prove her love, sits chained to her Boss's desk for three days, even urinating in her seat.
(If you haven't seen this movie, there's SO MUCH more to it, than this tidbit. I recommend it-good movie.)

I admit, the woman in the story above was at least a little more practical. I wonder if this is a similar circumstance, or whether in fact, she's just bat-shit crazy.

Backstreets flat Alright!

EXHIBIT A



EXHIBIT B


One of these boy bands is fictional. One is not.
You would be forgiven for not knowing which one is for real, and which is taking the piss.
For my part, I think the Backstreet Boys (lol, typo, I wrote BayStreet Boys initially, which sounds like some sort of low-key jazz band out of San Francisco that performs at RSL's)

Ahem. I think the Backstreet Boys may have done their dash. Their lyrics are shocking.
EXHIBIT C-

I'm a house of cards in a hurricane
A reckless ride in the pouring rain
She cuts me and the pain is all I wanna feel

When did song lyrics become so crap? There's a reason the parody has lyrics like

I cry, when I see a little bird....
Tears on my pillow....
My river of pain....
Whoops.
Whoops there I go......
Now I'm crying again!

They have totally decided to just surge ahead with their "reunion" even though they're missing a whole band member. I mean, Take That did the same thing, but Robbie Williams is at least famous enough that the fans understand why he doesn't want to be part of commericals like this again, because I know they were a highlight in his long career.
And just in case you thought this was a terrible mistake on behalf of the BSB's record company: EXHIBIT D.


LOL.
Boytown are the best. If you haven't seen this movie, GO. Go now. (to your local Blockbuster that is, its not showing at the movies anymore.) Youtube have a few of their "videos" if you search BoyTown.

Psst I'm not alone!
-> Exhibit E- comments from "fans"

Will S.:
Someone please tell these "boys" that melodramatic power ballads died in 1999. There's nothing innovative in this album. It's the same cheese fest of pop songs they used to sing back in the day. Too much drama and sugar it makes me nauseous. I hate to admit this, but Britney's new album is a hundred times better than this***. At least she doesn't take herself too seriously when it comes to pop songs.

***Sadly I agree here. Someone's done something right with that album, its irritatingly catchy.

Brian Shine
..Backstreet Boys, please, shoot more interest videos. Inconsolable its too much boring. ..

Musical love

It is well evidenced by anyone who knows me, that I am a Musical Junkie.

I could well gorge on a diet of Musicals for the rest of my days and be happy as a pig in mud. I have recently discovered that in You Tube I can find my favorites and make little playlists to listen to. Because unfortunately I simply don't have all the ones I like/love on CD.
For example, I now have Chicago the movie, all the songs compiled (in order I hope, I'm not as well versed on this movie as others).

See my You Tube Playlist for Chicago here

I also have The Buffy Musical episode "Once More with Feeling". This is a quality musical, sadly only a once off (and the series has now ended also) made all the more unique as the characters/actors previously displayed no musical ability, and yet fare surprisingly well.
The notable exception being Willow (Alyson Hannigan - also the Band Camp girl in American Pie) who they deal with by simply not really letting her sing LOL.
The only reason you really notice is that every other character gets a solo pretty much.
There are some pretty good songs in here, I can only assume Joss Whedon worked on this for a while, and yet its still plot relevant.

Play my Buffy Musical Playlist here.


And lastly, but by no means least, is Moulin Rouge. I actually own this movie on VHS and DVD. Much better on DVD of course. I love listening to this, and I really think the soundtrack has the power to transport you back into the movie experience, so strongly that even at work, I sometimes cry in the last songs. *sigh*
This is actually one of few movies that I cry at the end of, no matter how many times I've seen it. :*(

It's just such a beautiful movie.

Moulin Rouge Playlist here

Your eyes can be so cruel....

Just as I can be so cruel!

As a young thing, my sisters and cousins and I would sit and watch Jareth and Sarah and Ludo for hours, over and over again. I know all the girls somehow felt this alluring pull from Jareth (don't deny it!) and even though he looks ridiculous looking back (umm..pirate ruffles anyone?), there's still a little something there.....
So it was with shock and disbelief that I discovered that
David Bowie turns 60 this year.
He of the Goblin King fame.
*fanning self*