So guess what!  They’re remaking Children of the Corn!  (Duh, I kind of alluded to that in the title of this post, but whatever)  It’s only for the Sci-Fi channel, but still.  Apparently the original movie had too happy of an ending, and the remake will stay closer to Stephen King’s book.  Now how do I know this?  Is it because I am a horror fan?  Ha - ask Amber what happened when we tried to watch The Exorcism of Emily Rose (hint, I made it maybe 5 minutes into the movie, started to hyperventilate, and then we turned it off and watched The Princess Diaries).  No, I know because apparently they will be filming the movie in the QCA!  QCA?  Quad Cities Area aka Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa and Moline and Rock Island, Illinois.  But actually, they’re just filming in the Iowa half.

Apparently the first movie was filmed in Sioux City, Iowa (who knew?) but supposedly takes place in Nebraska.  My question is - why couldn’t they just shoot it in Nebraska, but whatever.  Filming is supposed to start tomorrow, so I’m tempted to drive around and try to find out where, but I’m lazy so I probably won’t.  Oh by the way, I’m in Iowa until this Sunday!  Hooray for not being in Nashville by myself (hubbie is leaving for New York for a science geek conference tomorrow morning).

But anyways, Children of the Corn??!!  Neat that they’re remaking it in my hometown, not neat because that movie terrifies me.  I’ve seen bits and pieces of it, enough to kind of get a feel for it, but not enough to scar me for life.  I highly doubt that I will even watch the remake, even just to see if I can figure out the locations or if I know any of the local kids they picked to act in it.  The guy who plays Adam (wait, is that his name?), the guy who can heal and was the great samurai from Japan who’s all evil now on Heroes is supposed to star in it.  So that’s kind of cool.

So did you guys watch Children of the Corn back in the day?  Did it frighten the bejeezers out of you?  Can you no longer drive through cornfields with a sense of security?  Hahahaha, that reminds me - I watched Signs (a relatively un-scary movie) at the drive in theater near Maquoketa, IA, which is in a cornfield, and got super freaked out.  I honestly think the best freak out would be to take someone into a corn field, make them watch Children of the Corn (the original or the remake), and then have a 10 year old with ketchup smeared all over his mouth sneak up on the movie watcher.  Oh good grief, just thinking about it makes me shiver and laugh at the same time, because HOW HORRIFYING WOULD THAT BE???  

<3, lindsayF

Care for a drive through the Heartland any time soon?

So I went home this weekend to celebrate my parents’ birthdays and something weird happened along the way…When one of the cars was passing me on the highway, the guy in the passenger side had his face pressed up against the window staring at me.  This made me feel very uncomfortable because I was unshowered and rather gross.  I thought it was very rude and strange, but that was all.  Then it happened again…and again…Once a kid in a backseat who appeared to be asleep woke up just to turn around and stare at me.

After a while I finally figured out what was going on.  This was my first long trip with my two brand new bumper stickers.  My two brand new bumper stickers that read “My Other Car is a Portkey,” and “The Whomping Willow Ate My Other Car.”

Apparently letting your true HP colors fly invites a lot of stares from “normal” people.  I got my bumper stickers at Terminus, but you can see a whole bunch of them at Whimsic Alley.  If you buy one, you will probably make a lot of new friends along the road (and by friends, I mean creepy staring people).

Jen

So I was laying in bed one night and this thought came into my head: If the cast of Gossip Girls were the American Girls, who would they be? ****Gossip Girl characteristics mostly taken from the show on the CW; I have only read the first book****

My answers:

Blair–Samantha
this is was the most obvious of the selections–the hair is just so spot-on right? But even more so is the style, the wealth, the moments of mischief and rebellion (hello, bloomers)

Serena–Felicity
I desperately wanted to say Kirsten for Serena (once again because of the hair), but it just wasn’t a good fit. Once again, Felicity has the wealth and status, while being quite a bit of a free-spirit and fighting against the Tories.

Vanessa–Kit
I haven’t actual read any of Kit (I’m not a big fan of how they portrayed Herbert Hoover), but from the trailers for the movie she seems like a witty, lower-class, confident go-getter who says what she thinks, um =Vanessa!

Jenny–Addy
Jenny was a hard one for me, mostly because she went through that little phase in the middle of the season. But I decided on Addy in the end because they are both dreamers and sweet and sew clothes. And I guess were both fighting a class system.

Dan–Molly
Sorta nerdy and awkward.

Nate–Kirsten
Blond, low-maintenance, and not completely comfortable in their current worlds.

Chuck–Kaya or Josefina?
I haven’t read of either of their books either and know nothing about them really. But they’ve all got dark hair? Somebody had to be paired with Chuck.

AHHHHH, SEASON TWO OF GOSSIP GIRL PREMIERES TONIGHT OMG! haha, I had only seen like three episodes of this show before Aug. 19th, but that was enough to make me hulk out and go stampeding to the store the day the series came out on DVD and thanks to mono I had plenty of time to watch the entire season before tonight.

XOXO

amberj.

Have you ever wondered what digital effects were available to a low-budget tv-movie production crew in the mid 1980’s? Lucky you, because one of my favoritest movies from my childhood, The Worst Witch, answers that question in just a three minute song about what is possible on Halloween:

Fantastic.

I wish I could remember if I thought Tim Curry was creepy in this movie as I do now–he sort of has a David-Bowie-in-Labyrinth vibe, you know? I totally love Tim Curry though—have you listened to any of A Series of Unfortunate Events on audio??? so good that I think I have only read actually one of the books because listening to them just feels so right.

amberj.

First off I have to say hooray for the post just before this!  I have been on a dry spell with my reading, so I am so glad to have these recommendations!  I am so excited!  Jen, you are the best!

And now to the topic on which I was thinking about before logging onto wordpress - new photos of old classmates. 

A couple of weeks ago my high school class had it’s 5 year reunion.  I toyed with the idea of going, but then realized that there was no way I was driving 16 hours round trip to see a bunch of people who only really tolerated me during that painful period we call high school.  Ok, I’m exaggerating - I actually had a pretty good time in high school, but mainly due to my activities, a few girls in my graduating class, and a lot of other people not in my graduating class.  I don’t think any of my “close” friends attended the reunion, so I don’t feel like I missed out really.  But of course after the reunion, facebook was bound to get a flow of pictures from the event, so I made do with scanning over a few the next days after.  It was interesting to see how people had either changed, or how much they had NOT changed.  But this doesn’t really explain the title of this post, now does it?

Well, I like to think I am generally pretty nice, but every now and then I slip up and have a few mean moments.  One of these moments came a few months back when I was sitting in the engineering computer lab and I got to talking with one of my old friends from high school (she graduated the year before I did).  We were looking through a mutual friend’s photos when we came upon a photo of a certain person and could not help mocking this person.  I’ll say it, over the past 6 years since Person (I will not identify, obviously!) has put on more than a few pounds, and just in general really let go of his/her self.  Because in high school this person was cocky and overly confident, and we really didn’t like him/her we really had a good time making comments that were quite snide and mean, and we didn’t feel bad about it.  I mean, if you came across a picture of someone who wasn’t the nicest to you in high school and you thought wow, has he/she really let go of themselves, could you resist taking a few jabs at them?  I’m certainly not above it.

Well, it happened again - just a few minutes ago actually.  I was perusing facebook when I came across a friend’s photo album from a certain event and I was browsing through the photos when I came across 2 people from high school.  We were never friends, and pretty much they acted like I didn’t exist, or if they did acknowledge me, it was always to make me feel like I was below them.  Regardless of this, I realize that that was quite a few years ago and people have changed - I know I have.  So of course they could be much nicer people by now - in fact, a few of my friends from college are now friends with them and think they’re nice people, so maybe they really have changed for the better.  But even so, after seeing their picture I just couldn’t help but drop my jaw at how much physical change had happened to them.  Well, not so much one of them, but really more so for one particular person.

So in conclusion, I feel really mean, but at the same time I feel an eensy weensy bit justified for all the times they tried to make me or someone else feel bad.  What would/do you guys do in this situation?

<3, lindsayF

P.S.  Just because I’m talking about pictures, I’ll include some of myself so you can see how I’ve changed over the years.  Beware though - I only have pictures from just a few years back - my computer’s not what we’d call ancient and I’m notorious for not collecting photos of myself.

Freshman year, my first bowl trip with the HMB, on the beach in Florida on New Years Eve with a friend from a high school science camp

I never said I wasn’t a nerd.

Me in a box during the summer between sophomore and junior year.

And of course most recently, the wedding shot (psst, I’m the one in the white)

Sisters are good for only 2 things - annoying you, and applying deoderent for you on your wedding day.

I know I promised to make more posts about all of the wonderful books I have been reading, but that hasn’t really happened.  I have been reading a lot this summer, but not very many of the books stood out as being great.  I read a lot of great sequels (Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, Skulduggery Pleasant Playing With Fire, Rumours: a Luxe Novel, etc…) but I didn’t really feel like posting about them.  I also re-read all of the Harry Potter books, which took a considerable amount of time.

Well, after a long drought, I have read three books recently that were all really amazing!  I am so excited about them that I literally attack everyone at work and talk about how great these are.  I am hoping that this is just the beginning and I keep finding fantastic books.  I have a lot of books in a pile on my kitchen table that look very promising………  So here are three great books if you need something to take your mind off work or school.

The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding is a British book that has actually been out forever in the UK.  There have already been three sequels published over there, but this one is just now available over here.  (The picture is actually the British cover because it is a whole lot more awesome then the American one.)  It’s about a girl named Cat Royal (which I always want to pronounce like Royale for some reason) who was left in front of the Royal Theater as a baby and has grown up in the theater.  It takes place in London in the late 1700s and the historical details are great.  Cat is loved by all the workers in the theater and spends her days roaming the streets and trying to avoid getting in scuffles with Billy “Boil” and his gang.  One night she accidently overhears the manager Mr. Sheridan talking about a diamond that he is hiding in the theater.  When he discovers her listening, she promises to help look after the diamond.  The story has lots of mystery and action as well as lots of great “Britishisms.”  I really liked Cat and couldn’t put the book down, so I really hope the other ones come out here soon.

I have been looking forward to reading The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester ever since I read a review of it months ago.  When I finally got my hands on it, I wasn’t disappointed.  The story begins on a small farm where Betty and Joe have lived a quiet life for their entire marriage.  Then Betty gets pregnant very late in life and they have Piper.  Piper is a wonderfully talkative child who happens to be able to float up near the ceiling.  Her parents keep her on the farm and don’t let her interact with other children because she is “unnatural.”  Eventually Piper harnesses her power and really learns how to fly.  She accidentally shows off her talent at the town picnic and then all heck breaks loose.  The best thing about this book was that I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next.  There was one part that was so suspenseful that I had to stop reading it at work and wait until I got home so I could scream and gasp without getting stared at.  I really loved this book a lot and I think everyone should read it!

My favorite book of all three is definitely The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante.  Not only does it have the most beautiful cover ever, it is one of those books that makes you mad, sad, horrified, and happy all in a matter of pages.  The book is told in alternating chapters between Agnes and Honey.  They both live in a religious commune that is run by a man named Emmanuel.  I don’t really want to say much more than that because it is so much better to discover what happens for yourself.  There were times when I was reading this book that I was yelling at Agnes because she made me so mad, but only because I cared about what happened to her.  The jacket flap says the story is based on the author’s own experiences, which makes it all the more terrifying and intriguing.

Well, hopefully I will keep posting about books every once in a while.  But apparently, I like to blog about cute boys and my cats a lot more.

Jen

So as you will have read by now (for those of you who have not read, please see the posting before “Dan Radcliffe on Conan!”), the show I could not get out of my head was The Brendan Leonard Show, formerly on ABC Family back in 2003.  Thank you Jen - your sleuthing skills are Veronica Mars worthy.  I can offer no higher praise.  So I was on youtube looking for clips of the show, when I stumbled upon this beauty.  It’s not exactly from the show, but from something called Camp Jinx, which with some future research I will be able to expound more upon.  But it is an effort put forth by people, including Brendan Leonard, and it is reminiscent of the kinds of sketches from TBLS (The Brendan Leonard Show, duh).  So how many of you remember Pogs?  I remember when they were a huge hit back when I was in 4th grade, which was in…1994, a good 14 years ago.  I don’t remember the logistics of the game, just that you had a big disc called a slammer that you were supposed to “slam” into the smaller pogs.  I can’t remember exactly how it was that players collected the pogs, but I’m sure it’s probably not that complicated.  Anyhow, here’s a nice update on Pogs from a year ago, courtesy of Brendan Leonard.

Enjoy.

<3, lindsayF

I didn’t catch this on TV Monday night, but thank goodness for hulu.com and youtube!  Seriously, Dan Radcliffe is adorable, and I just want to hug him and make him some supper.  He’s just so cute!  I love the interaction between him and Conan.  Watch for yourselves!

<3, 

lindsayF

Conan: “J.K. Rowling, was she all right with you…” (Conan obviously alluding to Dan’s nakedness in Eqqus (spelling?))

Dan Radcliffe: “Oh, she loved it.”

Hey Readers!

So, it’s before noon, and I am already showered and dressed (shock!), so this is a really unusual day for me.  I’m going to be off to the library when I get this finished…I’ve decided to read some Rachel Cohn (think Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist…the trailer for the movie is adorable!).  But before that, I thought I’d get some blogging done.  Today, I have been thinking about this one show that was on ABC Family before it was ABC Family.  I think it was just called The Family Channel…or maybe Fox Family?  I don’t remember.  Anyways, there was this show on it back when I was in high school, so from the fall of 1999 to the spring of 2003, that was a kind of reality show I think, only it was about this kid.  I don’t remember his name, although I’m thinking Ryan for some reason.  Anyways, he lived in either Chicago, or a suburb of Chicago.  And basically the show just revolved around him and his friends and the crazy things they got up to.  I can’t think of the name for the show, and I can’t find it on google because I’m obviously not typing the right thing in to search for.  Does any of this ring a bell for you guys?  It’s driving me crazy!  I just can’t stop thinking about this.  OK, insert pause because I’m going to jump back over to google for a second. 

…….

Nope, couldn’t find anything relevant to what I’m thinking about.  Am I insane?

<3,

lindsayF

I am not embarrassed to admit that I have a huge crush on the Manning brothers (all three of them, that includes you Cooper!).  The last two Superbowls have been pretty amazing for me.

I have been lounging around on the couch all day today after calling in sick cuz I was feeling yicky.  Well, as I was casually watching the Olympics tonight, I saw this adorable commercial that made my whole day and gave me energy to get through the rest of the week.

Jen