A sampling:

“Celebration” – Kool and The Gang
“Another one bites the dust” – Queen
“We will rock you” – Queen
“Nights on Broadway” – Bee Gees
“Hungry like a wolf” – Duran Duran
“Dont Cha” – The Pussycat Dolls (more recent but still rocks!)

O.K. I’m a dork, your point?

Next thing I know I’m doing a Tom Cruise in “Risky Business.” I stripped down to my skivvies and danced like a wild thing. And I did it for about 30 minutes.

AND I LOVED IT!!!

Sometimes you just gotta get up and dance, you know?

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday!

Hugs,

Lisa B. & Ally da Pup

Thus I give you a bit of nostalgia…

When I was a kid:

My Dad and I had Yahtzee marathons. For hours. And it was a fight to the death. None of that wussy “let your daughter win” stuff.

My friends and I used to swing as high as we could on the swingset, then jump out in middair. The swings were right outside the kitchen window, and Mom came running quite a few times. And yes I ate dirt more than once!

The people who creeped me out as a child continued to give me the willies as an adult. I think I had good self-preservation instincts.

I won the award two years running for selling the most Girl Scout Cookies. Yay me! I still love Thin Mints the best.

I used to sneak out my bedroom window after hours and drive around with my friends. There was a streetlight that spotlighted the front yard so it was extra scary. I was always convinced I was going to get caught but never did.

I had a Scottish Terrier from when I was 8 to 21. My dog died within 6 months of my Dad. That was a really bad year.

My best friend had a basset hound that bit every kid in the neighborhood including me. I hate those *%&@# dogs to this day.

My 4th grade crush – Drew L. – was blonde, gorgeous, and a total bad boy, (I think that pattern started early!) He was wonderful to me though, and all the other girls were very jealous. We were probably a challenge to each other because I was brought up to be such a nice girl. Oh well. Best laid plans and all that…

“Bennie and the Jets” was my favorite “slow dance” song. So romantic! Every time I hear it I have a major flashback.

My high school sweetheart dated a total skank after me. Super slutty and trashy to boot. I never did get that one. Still don’t.

Back in my grammar school days, my best friend’s mother used to read romance novels. Everything from Harlequin novels, to what they used to call “bodice rippers.”

All the men on the book covers looked like Fabio.

This was the era before Fabio, so either he found his niche or it found him. The men always showed their presumably heaving bare chests.

My friend and I of course stole borrowed the books. We were quite young and this was our introduction to sex. Heaven help us!

One book I still remember was called “Love’s Tender Fury.” Lawdy, lawdy! That book was HOT!!! My friend and I still joke today about one particular line:

“His throbbing manhood.”

Apparently it throbbed a lot because that description was used constantly. Quite the tumescent character our hero was! So essentially this guy was walking around with a perpetual boner. I always thought it was funny that they described it like it was a separate person.

“There he was in all his glory, him and his throbbing manhood.”

Like it was a sock puppet or something.

Of course all this was happening in between wooing the reluctant woman and fighting off the bad guys for her virtue. Because he really loved her despite the fact: he bought at her at a slave auction/won her in a poker game/saved her from a pirate abduction. Or something like that. She was of course an unsullied woman who never knew the joys of sex until she met her man.

True love! Swoon…

As for the lusty wench, the hero, and his throbbing manhood?

They all lived happily ever after…

Walt Disney must be doing backflips in his grave.

I wonder if I had made different choices, what would my life have been like? What if I had never left L.A.? Would it have been wonderful or not so much? What if my Dad hadn’t died when I was a kid? Would I have even left The South? Or would I have worked in the family business rather than showbiz? What if I had ignored my friend when she insisted I come look at this abandoned puppy? What would have happened to my beloved Ally da Pup?

If, if, if. Sometimes I feel haunted by that word. What other choices I could have made. I know I can’t change things, but sometimes I wish I had an angel or a ghost to show me what my path would have been had I done things differently. If only to reassure myself that I am on the correct journey. And that my choices were the right ones.

Time to stop watching old Christmas movies on late night TV.

I’ve always really liked that movie, it’s charming and fun. Great soundtrack as well! And I must admit, I have always had a jones for John Travolta. Can that man dance or what?

Just watching him walk is hot! It’s also fun to see vintage Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conway strut their stuff.

Every time I watch the movie though, (even as a kid,) I take exception to the film’s ending. Why did Sandy (Newton-John) have to turn into the tramp?

Why did she change for him???

Why didn’t Danny, (Travolta) change for her? I know he tried, i.e. becoming a jock and lettering in track. Well, it worked, damn it! He should have stayed with the new lifestyle. Why did Sandy then decide to give up her nice girl way of life and become a slutty bad girl with a limited future? No matter how good she looked in black leather and high heels! Did neither of them not realize they would have a better life as upstanding citizens? How much future would their be for black leather wearing, cigarette smoking, hot rodding, partying, 50’s rejects?

ARGHHHHHHHH!!!

Grease always did upset my feminist sensibilities.

“Verities & Balderdash”

Now there’s a title you don’t see every day!

And your favorite?

* hat tip to Allison

Lisa B. sitting in a huge auditorium, surrounded by a bunch of jaded, know-it-all college freshmen her peers.

In my very first film class on my very first day, the professor said, “if you ever want to watch a movie for pure enjoyment again, LEAVE NOW.”

We laughed but boy was he was right. I analyze films to death….. how did the assistant director deal with those humongous crowds of extras? Who did the cheesy special effects? What was the aging former 70’s hearthrob the hairdresser THINKING with that toupe? I wonder if UNNAMED MOVIE STAR is still as big a yutz as he was when I worked with him? Was there actually a script in the making of that movie? How much time did it actually take to light “I didn’t know they were shooting me THERE” Sharon Stone’s privates in Basic Instinct?

Did you know the knife never once touched Janet Leigh in the shower scene in Psycho? if you watch it frame by frame, (which we did, numerous times,) you will see that Anthony Perkins aka Norman Bates never touched her. Hitchcock was such a master of editing it only APPEARED that way. That scene still scares the bejesus out of me all the same.

The Graduate was one of the most creative and original movies ever made. WAY ahead of it’s time. Mike Nichols is a genius. Nuff said.

Shooting a stupid student film vampire movie with a 5 to 1 film ratio was probably not the world’s best idea. Unless of course you had an unlimited budget or extremely wealthy parents.

The majority of my professors desperately wanted to be famous. Few achieved that goal.

Most of my graduating class never did no longer work in the business.

There was, (and probably still is,) an unspoken war between the theater and film departments. They were the pretentious English spelling on purpose THEATRE actors who studied Shakespeare and Ibsen, who thought we were a bunch of ignorant, sell-out hacks. We secretly laughed, knowing one day payback is a bitch they would come begging us for jobs when their Off-Broadway paychecks wouldn’t keep them in franks and beans in the style in which they wished to become accustomed.

EVERYBODY wants to be in show business.

Cut to: Lisa B on a film set, (modern day):

And when a film gets it right, despite all the behind the scenes bullshit turmoil, it’s just MAGIC. I was excited the first day I realized I wanted to be a part of this amazing world, and that has never changed. I work in Showbiz, how cool is that?!

As much as I bitch complain about it, it’s still a GREAT gig.

Fade to Black.

Mel Gibson was the first celebrity I ever worked with. He was gorgeous, nice, unassuming, funny and professional. I adored him. He was very charming and could not have been more gracious. I have a framed picture of the two of us which has sat in a prominent place for many years.

When the backlash from “The Passion of The Christ” began I didn’t want to believe it. Despite the fact his father spews all sorts of repulsive sentiments like the Holocaust never happened, I didn’t want to believe that Mel was THAT type of person. I defended him. Repeatedly. And now all this. Which I can’t ignore. I don’t buy it was drunken ramblings, I think when people get drunk they share their true feelings. The filters are gone so to speak.

So I am putting your picture away, Mel. And I’m sad. But I just cannot bury my head in the sand anymore. I almost feel sorry about the shitstorm you have started and what it’s going to do to you. Almost.

Thanks for the memories.

I LOVE Westerns. I have ever since I was a little girl. I used to watch them with my father for hours on end. My favorites are “Red River,” “The Searchers,” and “The Cowboys.” Needless to say I am a John Wayne fan.

I enjoy the simplicity of the old westerns. More recently, I watched an awesome miniseries called “Into The West” on TNT, (now available on dvd.)

The Executive Producer is the illustrious Steven Spielberg, and the Director is Simon Wincer of “Lonesome Dove” fame. Which is another one of my favorites – it’s magnificent!

If you haven’t seen “Lonesome Dove” it is definitely worth renting. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones are simply outstanding. Wincer is an Aussie, which makes his mastery of films about the American West all the more interesting. Anyway, back to “Into The West.” The acting is good, the cinematography is stunning, and the script is unpredictable. It also without most of the typical “Savage Indians scalp innocent settlers and attack their woman and children” cliche’s. The script also delves into the Lakota tribe with their rituals and symbolism. Frankly, we could all learn something from them… check it out!

Funny story, a few years ago I worked with Bruce Dern on a series of commercials. I worked closely with him and we got to chatting about this and that. I told him – with tongue firmly planted in cheek – that I had never forgiven him for killing John Wayne in “The Cowboys.” A bit of backstory, in the film Bruce Dern’s character killed John Wayne’s character and in fact not only murdered him, but SHOT JOHN WAYNE IN THE BACK. Talk about adding insult to injury, you just don’t shoot an American icon in the back! Anyway, Bruce Dern got somewhat indignant and I thought for a minute I had made him angry. He said “You know Lisa, I shot that movie over 30 years ago, and not a day goes by that someone doesn’t tell me that it was the only time they ever saw their father cry, or they can’t believe I actually killed John Wayne. I had no idea at the time it would make such an impact.” I of course apologized profusely but he wasn’t upset at all. He was just totally bemused by the whole situation. FYI, Bruce Dern in “real life” is the nicest guy ever, so if anyone out there is still upset with him, remember it is JUST A MOVIE.

Must go or as John Wayne would say, “We’re burning daylight.”