The Pivot Questionnaire...

I've been addicted to Inside the Actor's Studio lately and at the end of every episode, host James Lipton asks the guest the ten questions in the Pivot Questionnaire (named after its creator, Bernard Pivot). The questions are meant to be answered quickly, without a lot of thought. I'd be interested to know how you'd answer...

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on?
4. What turns you off?
5. What sound or noise do you love?
6. What sound or noise do you hate?
7. What is your favorite curse word?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession other than your own would you absolutely not like to attempt?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say at the pearly gates?

A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Apartment...

…Because two in the apartment are hard to catch! Paul and I arrived home Sunday morning after church to discover that two birds had somehow gotten into our apartment and were quietly making themselves at home in our plants. Paul’s brother, Jonathan, was staying with us and was actually the first to discover the birds when he came in from loading his car.

Of course, the first thing we think is we have to get those birds out of our house and back into their natural habitat. Now, on sitcoms, in a situation like this, you would grab the broom and swat the bird in the general direction you want it to go. Or, if you’re Rachel Green, you corner it on the kitchen table, cover it with a pot, and release it back into the wild. No problem, right? Let me tell you, in real life, things are much different!

First, birds do not like to be swatted. Second, they have their own ideas about where they do and do not want to go. Finally, they’re a lot faster than you would think. Those birds flew all around with us ducking and flailing after them! Eventually, one flew into a hole in one of our ceiling tiles (I promise, we have a nice apartment, but some of the ceiling tiles are currently damaged). Paul’s and Jonathan’s thoughts immediately went to that cure-all solution – duck tape! They got some trash bags and duck taped over the hole through which the bird had flown. So, now, even though we can hear his little feet tapping all over the ceiling and the occasional angry flapping of wings, at least we know where that little guy is. And when Maintenance comes to rid our home of those fowl creatures (hee hee…get it?), we’ll be able to tell them right where to look.

Last night, we looked and looked for the other bird, but couldn't find him anywhere! We looked in the Christmas tree and under the couch, but he had found a hiding place and didn't want anything more to do with us. We had to bite the bullet and finally go to bed, knowing there was a loose bird in our home! I woke up this morning and got a nice little surprise when the bird flew out of one of our plants and landed on the floor, looking up at me. It jumped around a bit and finally flew into the hallway. We shooed it into the End Lobby and finally it found its way out the door. Whew!

Cutie pie...

For Your Consideration...

It's no secret I love movies and my favorite time of the year movie-wise is the awards season. Everything leads up to the Academy Awards, or Oscars. When it gets close to award time, studios will start to put out "For Your Consideration" ads in trade publications. This way, voters get a look at who the studio thinks is particularly deserving of an award for that year. If I worked for 20th Century Fox, I'd be putting out a "For Your Consideration...Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash" ad.

I saw "Walk the Line" over the weekend and while all the actors were good and the movie is extremely well done, Witherspoon really stole the show. Joaquin Phoenix was amazing...the voice, the look, the moves...but I have a hard time believing the Academy will give him an Oscar after awarding Jamie Foxx for "Ray" last year. Witherspoon, however, is just as deserving. She looks absolutely gorgeous in the film and captures the spunkiness and hard-headedness June Carter was famous for. I didn't catch a single instance where Witherspoon wasn't totally in character. Even her expressions and accent are accurate.

Both Witherspoon and Phoenix did their own singing and strumming and sounded at least as good (if not better in Witherspoon's case) as the originals! The actors really captured the chemistry June and Johnny had. My mom had the opportunity to work with them on several occasions when she was travelling with Billy Graham. She said even in their later years, they were two of the most in love people she had ever seen. They were together for over 40 years. Witherspoon, Phoenix, and everyone involved in "Walk the Line" did a great job of capturing that romance and compatibility.

The movie has a great soundtrack and will make you want to listen to all those great Johnny Cash songs. Also, if you haven't seen his final video, a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", you should take a moment to watch it. It's a powerful and moving piece of work.

He certainly is...

A regular topic of conversation back in Trailer H (and among most women I know), Matthew McConaughey has finally been named People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive. Ever since the makers of "A Time To Kill" decided to ban air conditioning from the set forcing him to roll his sleeves up and sweat his way through Carl Lee Hailey's trial, Matthew has held a solid place in my Top Five. Well done, People!

New Discovery...

Apparently it's sweeping the nation, because I just stumbled upon a whole table of books about it at Barnes and Noble last night. I discovered Sudoku last week and have been addicted ever since! Good luck!

Congratulations, Ashleigh!!

I'm so sorry I haven't taken time to do this before now, but I just want to say how very proud I am of my sister who graduated from her Massage Theraphy program this past Friday night. I know it was difficult to stick with it, but she did it and passed with flying colors! I love you Ashleigh and wish you all the success in the world as you start on this new path!

Time is tickin' away, tick-tick-tickin' away...

I'm swamped with end of semester assignments, EC events, and holiday thingies that seem to come earlier and earlier every year. I don't have a whole lot to say today, I've just been feeling guilty that I haven't posted in so long. Whenever I get really busy, though, I can just look in my datebook and realize that it's just...64 days, baby!


Also - 10 points to the first person who can tell me where my subject line comes from!

Newly discovered blog...

This one's just for my comrades out there who love the celebrity news as much as I do...

I just discovered Billy Bush's blog. He's one of the hosts of Access Hollywood and has a lot of one-on-one interaction with celebrities (why is that not my job???). It's pretty cool if you're into that kind of thing.

Peace. Out.

Are you in or are you out?

That's the tagline from one of my favorite movies, Ocean's 11. For those three of you out there who haven't seen that movie, it's your classic heist film where a top notch thief has to organize a rag-tag gang of specialized criminals in order to pull off the biggest steal in history. For these thieves, there's no middle ground, you're either in or out, you can't be in between, or on the fence, or wishy-washy. It's one or the other.

Shouldn't our perception of Christianity be the same? God's relationship to humans (to put it in very non-theological terms) is that He's a top-notch Being who's trying to organize a rag-tag bunch of people in order to pull off the biggest miracle in history. The fact that God even wants to have a relationship with us is staggering, but that's not where I'm going right now.

Are you in or are you out? Why do we think it's ok to segment our lives into Christian areas and non-Christian (or, at the very least, Christian-neutral) areas? Is it not important to be representative of Christ in every situation...sporting events, getting dressed in the morning, making plans for the weekend, choosing our words, picking out a movie to watch? Are these areas where it's less important for Jesus' influence to shine through? Do areas like that even exist?

Are you in or are you out? It takes a lot of commitment to be "in". You can't just say "I'm in" and then not follow through. I've heard thieves get punished for things like that. There's no middle ground here. If you're not in, you're out. Period. That sounds harsh, but it's true.

Are you in or are you out? If you're in, start acting like it. Otherwise who's to know the difference? How are we supposed to invite others in when we don't even understand what "in" is?

Are you in or are you out? The good news is, if you're out, you have a standing invitation to come in. You can make that decision any time, any place, anywhere you're ready. You should know that accepting that invitation entitles you to a whole lot of benefits, but there's also some responsibility attached. Please, make the decision to come in. And once you're in, take your role in this whole experience seriously.

Are you in or are you out?

What's the difference between a pop star and a terrorist?

You can negotiate with a terrorist.

Tee-hee.