Movies

So I was sitting in my room, my very crowded room, (two amps, two electric guitars, my new speakers, computer, small television, desk, bed, shelf of books, plants, paintings...ect) and thought about the movies that I need to rewatch to pass the time over this "lovely" summer.

Now and Then, a very summer spirited movie, and free spirited, this is what I define childhood as, but I don't think anyone had a child like this one haha, but if it were to be ideal this is how I would want it to be...

American Beauty, a film that is in its own category, I remember secretly watching this in my young teens, it was to dirty for my young eyes as my mother put it. And it probably was, but what a fabulous artsy film, though I must say and agree with my friend Greg, they went a little over the top with the plastic bag...the ending though with the black and white shots was one of my favorite scenes...

Mona Lisa Smiles, a movie that has sentimental value, I mean they all have sentimental value, but this one is extra special. It was the movie that I watch whenever I miss my sister dearly, because before she moved South, we watched it every time she ventured home from college. It reminds me of staying up late talking to my dearest friend and it will always be there for me when my sister is miles away...

Little Women, another great one that reminds me of my childhood with my big sis. I didn't like it very much when I was younger, but as I got a bit older, it brought the women of my family together. Mom was never in a bad mood when she was ironing and her two daughters were sitting on the floor hugging pillows absorbed by the movie. We would all get teary eyed when Beth passed on, and Jo found her true love and the movie was finally over, its something about film I always hated, you grow so close to the characters, you go on a journey with them and then you have to say goodbye...

V for Vendetta, simply because it is my favorite film, it has everything in it that I need in a movie, action, love, political rebellion, roses, and a piece of mind. I watched it for the first time with my parents and I remember my mother asking me why I was crying as Valerie told her story to Evey, and all I could say was because they destroyed a beautiful life. My mother still doesn't like watching the movie, because a lesbian was in it and her daughter cried for her, but it will stay my favorite movie not only for that scene that is so epic, but the ending, when Evey is on the roof watching V's plan play out...

Notting Hill, a favorite, the chemistry between Hugh and Roberts is love that lasts a lifetime. Its how I feel love is really like, one loves the other just a little bit more and the other is always a bit to far out of reach, but in the end the one that is out of reach realizes that their life isn't complete without the simpler character. The simple character stands up for them self and says they don't need the said "star" and regrets it, but it is not over, no if its true love it will come around. If something is meant to happen it will, that doesn't mean that you should save your life for that single person, and I'm not saying I believe in fate, but I think love works itself and the people involved fall into place. I could watch them fall in love over and over again...

Well there are some movies that I think everyone should watch...they saved me from the real world, maybe they can take you away too...

Those Salmon Colored Lockers...

I found myself in a very familiar place this evening. I went to the final band concert with some friends from my graduating class and a homey feelings rushed into me. I was home, you may not call it much of one, but the amount of time and energy that I put in over the years in the Hershey High School music department is maybe a bit over the top. I loved that hallway that had the salmon colored lockers, the stands misplaced from the stage sprawled in the lobby of the department, the lovely greeting by the directors, the stick your shoes made in the band room from the years of spit still lingering on the floor, the smell of the old printer that had attempted to drive me crazy over four years of blood sweat and tears, and the sound of our orchestra director yelling at his 2nd violins through the vent that connected my world and his. It was all something that I wanted to keep all to myself. I never wanted to forget it and it was definitely a love hate relationship. I was the first to arrive and the last one to leave, it was a part of the job you could say, being the "librarian" for a man that was very unorganized, but well rehearsed, it was a job that was priceless to me in some strange way, but as I walked the familiar hallway for the hundredth time, it all came back to me. Everything fell into place, the sound of music people walking back from the dimmed stage, parents waiting in the lobby for their sons and daughters, this was my "track practice". I handed out the music at the beginning of the year to these kids, ran around like a nut finding misplaced scores in the middle of the week, hollered at students to not forget to bring their copies to the rehearsal the night before our concerts, and wiped their tears when they forgot it the next night, in hopes that I would quickly copy a new one and not tell the "man". I never did of course, he had to much to think about let alone worry about some dumb freshman who was lost at a first concert. No instead I made sure his bow tie was straight, the lint was removed from his tux, and a smile was on everyone's face. That was my job, and I loved every minute of it, even if I swore to God if that kid forgot his music again I was quitting for sure, but I was never really going anywhere. This hallway was my safe haven in high school, my friends, my enemies, my rivals, my world was in one hallway, you could even say my high school career took place here, in the High School Music Department. I'd come in a week early before school started, to make sure the music was ready to go, I'd split an Italian sub with my dear conductor, blast Wicked and Avenue Q, and had the time of my life. In the end, I got to have my name on a plack, a remembrance of me left in the school along side my sister's name, who had come before me. The job was mine years before I even knew it existed. I knew it was just a name on a plack and I knew as years past it would collect dust and only old alum and my conductors would know who I was and what I did, but it was still an honor. I had shed my fair share of tears and laughs in the filing room and none of it would be forgotten hopefully. But coming into that hallway once again brought back fond memories of a world I wasn't sad to have left. I walked past my old locker, my friend Val's was still there next to mine, with the words Fuck scratched out by some janitor. I can still remember how nervous I was as a freshman sitting by a junior, playing my cello in a symphony orchestra for the first time. I believe the piece was a collection of Phantom of the Opera songs, and the memory of the sound and the energy and the excitement still puts chills down my back. It opened my world to music wider than I had ever expected. I will never regret anything that happened in those hours spent in that hallway even if I was upset I didn't make first or second stand, I won't regret the time I spent out of class just talking to my favorite conductors, I won't regret the anger I had when I messed up my counties audition because people were there to tell me suck it up, its music. It taught me so much, music did. It uses your emotions, takes your anger, your sadness, your happiness and turns it into something more. Forms emotion into sound, into notes, into harmonies and melodies, that can bring a group of people together, that can move an audience to tears, that can help a student find peace in the busy day. Music has shown me what it is to truly love something, so I must thank the girls and boys, women and men who played for me tonight, who brought me back to the home I created for myself, to hide away from the other parts of high school. Hershey High School Music Department, you will always have a place in my heart and will be an escape for another student very much like myself. More tears will be wept after closing night of the musical, more laughs will be heard from the sarcasm shared between conductors, yelling will be vocalized from the teachers who teach us to remember how to play a triplet or sing that high E. The hallway will not change, but the students will change, and the alumni will grow older, but that hallway with the salmon colored lockers will see it all and music will be made.

Henry David Thoreau

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Henry David Thoreau

Writers and Their Quotes

Every word written is a victory against death.
Michel Butor

The novel is an event in consciousness. Our aim isn't to copy actuality, but to modify and recreate our sense of it. The novelist is inviting the reader to watch a performance in his own brain.
George Buchanan

The reason one writes isn't the fact he wants to say something. He writes because he has something to say.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

May I never grow to old to treasure 'once upon a time'.
Anonymous

Hello My Name Is...

Well after a couple of regular posts, I figured I'd introduce myself to the blogging world. I am new to this part of the internet void, but I felt since I'm a journalist major writing down the things that come into my head might not be such a bad thing to do. Anyway...what to say about myself.

Well I grew up in Hershey PA, as you are probably already aware, because it seems that the people who read my blog already know me, and well that was my first post. As you know I never really liked Hershey, but I must say it gave me a place to grow up. There wasn't much entertainment, so we "kids" created entertainment, going on private property down by the local quarry was always a fun thing to do, or biking down the the local park, Shank, or just going for a drive to get milk for Mom. All these things you learned to do just to pass the time, sit in the car with the windows down and the horrible radio music blasting out of the one speaker that still worked. What can I say I was a pretty regular teenager, with a run down car, some friends, and very strict parents. I guess it made me realize how wonderful freedom was, I don't know, maybe that was their goal, I still don't understand their grand plan for me, but I keep on working my life out step by step.

So I grew up in Hershey, nothing remotely excited ever happened, unless you count the time when my sister and I snuck out for some chicken nuggets at Wendy's and had major Catholic Guilt for telling Dad we just weren't hungry for lunch. We stuck the bag of "evidence" deep at the bottom of the trash bin outside, just in case. More or less I grew to be independent and looked up to my sister as a goddess of coolness, and still do to this day, mostly because I'm a dork, but ultimately because she was my best friend and still is. Anyway back to who Anne is. I moved here, to Hershey that is, when I was three, before than I lived in Connecticut, which I still call my "true" home whether I can truly say that, well that's my choice.

When I was in 5th or 6th grade I started writing. Never thought it would amount to anything but what the hell, it gave me something to do, and it helped me work out the stuff that I couldn't seem to talk to my parents about. Never was a big fan of my mom, not that I don't love her, but we just never clicked, maybe its a younger sibling thing. I was a loner, didn't have a ton of friends, but you know it wasn't so bad, no one hated me or bullied me, so I lived a life of crime all to myself, in my journal of course. Which I'm sure I'll call upon at some point in this blog.

Now your probably wondering why I even thought to start this blog, or you not, but I figure if you are still reading I might as well write some more. So yeah I'm a journalist at heart, always was I guess, well a writer, just never thought I would study it, so in the middle of my freshman year, I said hey maybe I'll start a blog. Now I must say, I didn't think of it, my friend wrote one, and I read it everyday, its a good blog, and it got me started. I'll give it a shot, if no one reads it well at least I can do it for myself. I can put all the silly, serious, and sincere thoughts I have out into the void of space. Maybe it will help someone, or entertain someone, or fuck make someone really angry. I finished my first year of college this year, I finished another chapter in the book of life, and some part of me wanted to share it. That's the real reason I started writing this blog, no matter how silly it sounds, I have always had this philosophy that people should share their lives, don't keep secrets because what's the point, life's a mystery enough as it is, why keep more secrets. Yeah if a friend tells you to keep something on the down low of course, keep your mouth shut, but that's not really what I'm getting at. We all of different stories, mine will come out in the pages (or posts) of these blogs, or the book I may someday write, but I feel like everyone has a different story a different path, and it should be shared. You may not think your life is interesting, but it is. There is something unique about everyone of us, even the lives of your "enemies", whoever they may end up being. When a life is shared judgment should never be passed because you know what you don't know what the person next to you might have gone through, you don't, because like I said life is a mystery, all of it. It's a challenge that everyone must go through whether it lasts a couple of minutes, eighteen years, or a hundred, its still a life, its still something. Someone knew some part of it I'm sure, so why not share the tale to more people, you never know what you may learn from someone else's story. Humans are to self-centered, I know I am, I am so selfish in my own way, but I still keep a ear listening to the walls I have built around myself, I have a few windows and doors and cracks to let other opinions, other ideas, other stories in...And at that I will leave you all. The void is open to everyone, but what is there to listen to but static if some of us don't start talking...