Creepy house = Creepy Owner

On Friday night, I watched a movie called Dragonwyck, which starred Gene Tierny and Vincent Price as well as a super young Jessica Tandy, Anne Revere, and Spring Byington (I recognized Anne Revere and Spring Byington immediately). The movie is about a young woman (Gene Tierny) that leaves her family in Connecticut to stay with her married distant cousin (Vincent Price). The two eventually fall in love. The plot is kind of similar to Jane Eyre (there is a daughter and so Gene Tierny becomes her governess) complete with a huge old Gothic house called Dragonwyck. And Rebecca was aired right after, which also features an old Gothic house called Manderly. This got me thinking to all sorts of movies or books that feature a homeowner and house and how often the house reflects the traits of the homeowner. Dragonwyck? Creepy house that is haunted by ancestor. Owner? Creepy with a crazy emphasis on familial responsibility (and he is basically driven crazy by the desire for a son). Thornfield? Dark house with a secret wing that no one is allowed to enter. Owner? Dark and gruff man keeping secrets. Manderly? Beautiful old house that is strangled by the memory of the first Mrs. De Winter. Owner? Handsome (in the movie at least, Laurence Oliver is handsome) man that is still affected by his dead wife. Which is why Pemberly and Mr. Darcy are both awesome!

It's a macguffin!

About 2 years ago, I decided to watch a lot of Hitchcock movies to celebrate the month of October (I think that I saw almost all of them). And there were some that I enjoyed and there were some that I preferred to think never happened (like Frenzy and Marnie). So, I am going to watch and then write about some of my favorite Hitchcock movies for the month of October. I haven't decided what I am going to watch first, but it will probably be either Shadow of a Doubt or Saboteur.

Really...

Does anyone else miss Amy Poehler on SNL? Although she is pretty funny on Parks and Recreation.

Final Countdown

Only 3 more hours until a new season of The Office starts!!!!

Just for Fun

This clip makes me laugh so much:



I love that he has a little rolly suitcase. And the way he says "I am leaving" is pretty hilarious.

Am I overly excited about this?

Today when I got home from work, there was a package at my door containing this:

I had this book as a textbook for a class in high school and I really liked the class since it was the first class I remember taking that was about more "recent" history. And the teacher of the class was really excellent. We used this book a lot in the class and I really enjoyed everything that we read out of it. And I have been meaning to get a copy of this book and read the whole thing so I am hoping to be able to work my way through the book (I looked through the book briefly and recognized a few of the people and remember quite a few names!).

Your plan was flawed from the start

One of the things we did during the family vacation last month was sing around the fire. One song that Rachel and Trey often sing/play is Cold Missouri Waters (the most popular version is by the group Cry, Cry, Cry) and the song is really sad and I cry every time that they play it. I thought that maybe if I learned all the words than when I hear the song I would be so focused on remembering the words that I wouldn't cry. But the plan hasn't worked so far because I still cry every time (except one time because I listened to the song on repeat). But I am learning most of the words. Anyway, here is a YouTube video of the song:

I'm driving the hell out of this truck!

On my way to the post office after work, I notice that my alternator wasn't charging the battery and the car was getting really hot. I pulled into the Dairy Queen, popped the hood, and discovered that the fan belt was broken. So after a short chat with my dad (just to check how easy or hard it would be to get the right fan belt), I took the broken belt and walk down to the NAPA store (which was about 1.5 blocks away) and bought a new belt. After another call to my dad to figure out what tools I needed and to make sure I knew all the pulleys that the belt went around, I went to work. I was able to get the belt around almost all the pulleys except for the last one which required moving the spring loaded idler and getting the belt around the last pulley. Unfortunately, I couldn't move the idler and put the belt around the last pulley. So, I walked across the street to the fire house and asked a fire fighter to help me with the last little bit. With his help, I was able to get the belt around the last pulley and now my car is running back to normal (alternator charging and car staying cool). And I was super proud of myself for getting most of the belt on by myself. And I only got a little dirty (grease all over my hands and on my forearms) and hardly any on my shirt (which is currently soaking in the sink).