Little Women and crying

As any self-respecting girl growing up in the 90s, I was in love with Little Women (1994). It was wholesome and feminist and solidified Christian Bale's place as a vest-wearing heartthrob. Rewatching it this weekend, I realized it's also a neverending tear-fest. I can't help it. At least a third of all the scenes make me tear up. If it's not Beth crying, it's Thomas Newman's gorgeous soundtrack.

So friends, in honor of my tear ducts being cleansed from this recent viewing and the fact that it's actually a well-made film, I'm going to share some of my favorite moments.

So yes, Eric Stoltz is in this movie. I just felt the need to point that out. Also, the credits are pretty.

Why is the March family so heart-warming?

Laurie (Christian Bale) makes his entrance with a dapper plaid jacket.

Sisters wearing funny hats and monocles.

This conversation is well played. Jo (Winona Ryder) steamrolls the conversation after some initial awkwardness and Laurie tries to keep up.

Mr. Brooke (Eric Stoltz) in Civil War era sunglasses. Obviously.

Further encouraging the bearing of souls and the telling of the most appalling secrets.

Please notice the kittens. Too much cute for me to handle.

I really like seeing Meg (Trini Alvarado) and Laurie share a scene together. It's telling of Laurie's relationship with the whole March family.

Feminist life lessons with Marmie (Susan Sarandon).

Amy (Kirsten Dunst) channels my mother with regard to Jo's hair, "Your one beauty!"

Hi, I'm Beth (Claire Danes), and I'm going to cry while holding a sick German Baby and then make Kelsy cry.

I love that the film abridges all of Amy's insufferable Aunt March chapters in the novel to one kind of endearing scene.

Ugh, it's like the director Gillian Armstrong knew that Christmas and people crying are going to touch my heart.

Transcendentalist/hippie wedding!

It's a difficult transition to four years later (it's pretty awkward in the book, too). The body language in this scene mostly sells the premise that Jo doesn't feel romantic about him.

Although she does feel romantic about a German and sexy Professor Bhaer (Gabriel Byrne). I am so glad they made him attractive instead of awkward as hell. (Seriously, Lousia May Alcott must have been pissed off writing a love interest for Jo.)

Oh, hi, Donal Logue. Of course you're in Little Women.

The opera Jo and Professor Bhaer see has awesome sets.

Speaking of awkward transitions, getting us to buy into a love story between Laurie and older Amy (Samantha Mathis) is tough work. They have few scenes together and not much chemistry. At least Christian Bale got to rock a douchey goatee and drink from a flask.

This dress is really pretty.

The simple piano arrangement of the film's theme combined with Hannah spreading flower petals over Beth's room makes me cry every time.

I might prefer goatee to mustache, personally, on Mr. Bale. I guess they're trying to indicate the passage of time and a mustache is so much more respectable?

Cute ginger baby!

Cute tiny dog!

Cheesy ending that I can quote by heart!

The film ends with these beautiful photographs of the March girls from the first half of the film when we meet them. It's a lovely good-bye for a film that is so engaging and covers so much time.

Did I miss any of your favorite moments?

It's funny cuz it's true!

Via Busty Girl Comics

Live Commentarying The Voice: Eliminations 4/10/2012

YOU GUYS, JESSIE J IS PERFORMING. Oh wait, she's the worst, and Team Christina isn't contributing much to the song. Get it together, producers, and make the teams actually contribute something or don't do anything at all. Arsenio Hall liked it thought, so, whatever. Let's get to the eliminations.

Where can I get that jacket, Arsenio?

Team Adam
Saved: Mathai (I'll take it), Tony Lucca (yay!), and Pip (well okay, he is an adorable person).
In danger: Kim Yarbrough, Karla Davis, and Katrina Parker.

Performances for Team Adam:

• Kim Yarbrough sings "Spotlight" by Jennifer Hudson. She's pretty off-pitch this performance and the rambling melody isn't doing her any favors.
• Karla Davis sings Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me." This song is more intimate and suited to her voice than last night's debacle. I like it.
• Speaking of the 90s, Katrina Parker sings "Don't Speak" by No Doubt. I think I'm incapable of liking this song because I've simply heard it too many times. She's pretty solid, but Karla may have won my heart based on song choice.

Results: Adam goes with Katrina. I'll take it. She's a more consistent performer.

Team Cee Lo

Saved: Juliet Simms (cool, cool cool cool), Jamar Rogers (yay!), James Massone (yessssss!)

In danger: Chessa, Tony Vincent, and Erin "I hope she finally leaves" Martin

Performances for Team Cee Lo:

• Tony "Can't undo the Broadway in his voice" Vincent sings "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by the Eurythmics. At least it captures his creepy vibe. Still not a fan.
• Cheesa singing "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen. Love this song, and I may need to sing it to myself later tonight. She hits the key change well, and it makes me forgive the overuse of growling.
• Erin Martin butchers "Your Song" by Elton John. Is anyone else convinced that she forces a cartoon voice for singing? It's distracting and poorly executed. I hate everything.

Results: Cee Lo's heart says Cheesa and I approve. She's the only one I liked tonight. At least Erin is finally gone!

Random Comments:

1. My sister-in-law Facebooked me about Cee Lo's shirt a couple nights ago. It is just as ruffly and awesome as I could ever have imagined for a tuxedo shirt.

2. Good decisions all around, well done America and judges.

Live commentarying The Voice: 4/9/2012

Blah blah blah, I'm lazy and also without live TV because as a member of the millennial generation, I recognize it's inevitable death due to the internet. Also, I'm cheap. So, after a power nap after a long day of pretending to do something at my new job, I'm going to offer some commentary for a live show with voting that I'm not participating in.

Team Adam and Team Cee Lo are up this episode, so let's get it started.

1. Team Adam: Katrina Parker is up first singing "Tonight, Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins. Interesting, this works for me, probably because it's not a beyond nasally voice (sorry, Billy Corgan, I really do like your vocals). I really like her voice, it's pure and soulful, and slightly Adele-like without the sad-sack attitude.

2. Team Cee Lo: Cheesa is singing "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston. Great song choice. This isn't a life changing performance, but it's a lot of fun, and Chessa's voice meets the demands of the song managing to dance a little, too.

3. Team Adam: Adorable Tony Lucca is singing "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel. Sexy. He adapts the melody to cut out most of the falsetto, which was probably a good idea given his vocal range. He sounds pretty great and kind of looks like Peter Gabriel. Also this is one of my all-time favorite songs (Adam and I are twinsies!). The only way to make it better would be more vaguely tribal dancers.

4. Team Adam: Kim Yarbrough "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. I could do without hearing this song again for several years, however, Kim has a kickass voice and sounds pretty good. I also like that she amps up the anger factor of this song, although this song is too ubiquitous for me to care about.

5. Team Cee Lo: James Massone "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones. Adorable and interesting take on the song. This kids is so charming even if his voice isn't spectacular, although boy band-R&B fabulous. Honestly, this is probably my favorite performance of the night, although the soundmixing could do without miking all those girls screaming.

6. Team Cee Lo: Juliet Simms is up next singing "Roxanne" by the Police. Oh, so this is what the song sounds like when the singer can actually hit the notes (sorry, Sting). It sounds awesome, and I like the soul. Definitely another favorite. Team Cee Lo is owning this night.

7. Team Adam: Mathai is singing "Ordinary People" by John Legend. She's super cute, and manages to give enough soul to the performance to make it work. Maybe a little too smiley?

8. Team Cee Lo: Mr. Tony Vincent is next in a snappy suit singing "Everybody Want to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears. I always thought the real star of this song was the synthesizer. Again, I'm not a big fan of Tony's musical theater style of singing. He sounds better on the bridge when he manages to get gritty, albeit in the most Broadway way possible.

9. Team Adam: Darling Karla Davis is singing "Airplanes" by B.O.B. As long as she doesn't pronounce "stars" like "steeee-ars" than it's an improvement on the original song. I'm not sure this is the right song song for her voice. She's a little too airy and gentle for this song. I like her voice, but it doesn't fit this pop style until the end.

10. Team Cee Lo: the worst ever, Erin Martin, is next singing "Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bangles. Erin can't even hit the low notes. This is such an amateur hour performance.

11. Team Adam: Pip is singing "When You Were Young" by the Killers. Blandy McBland song. There's a reason why this is one of the easiest songs on Rock Band. Awww, but he sounds good. I'm kind of in love with this kid. I find his attempts to be edgy to be cute, although ultimately unsuccessful.

12. Team Cee Lo: Last is Jamar Rogers singing "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz. Can someone please pull off a rock song today? He's doing well. He has a enough confidence and grit to sound good. One of the best of the night.

Did you guys watch this episode in a timely manner? Any favorites?

Live Commentarying The Voice: Eliminations 4/3/2012

Soooo, The Voice  went full So You Thing You Can Dance and had the bottom three of each team Sing For Their Lives. I'd rather they lip-sync for their lives, but, whatever. Apparently they missed the memo that no one likes long elimination episodes. Is that just me?

Adorable.

Gym Class Heroes are performing "Ass Back Home" with Neon Hitch and Team Adam. I still find Gym Class Heroes to be the worst part of all their songs, although Neon Hitches shoulder pad wings are pretty bad, too. And um, Team Adam joined in on the "ohs". Oh.

Team Blake is up for eliminations first.
Saved: Erin Willett (yay!), Jermaine Paul (even with a crappy song!), and RaeLynn (seriously?)
In danger: Naia Kete, Charlotte Sometimes, and Jordis Unga

Performances for Team Blake:

• Naia Kete sings "If I Were a Boy" by Beyonce. Her lower range is sketchy, and she's flat on the higher notes. It's a little painful.
• Charlotte Sometimes sings "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Well, this is a Debbie Downer/Alanis Morrisette version of this song. At least she's on-pitch.
• Jordis Unga sings "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones. Or the Sundays, if you're feeling like bringing back the 90s. 2 lines in, she's already owned the other two up for elimination from team Blake. This is a beautiful rendition of this song.

BLAKE GOES WITH JORDIS AND THE WORLD REJOICE FOR A GOOD DECISION. Ahem. Sorry. After he kept RaeLynn in the Battle Rounds, I was afraid for him.

Team Christina is up for eliminations next.
Saved: Jesse Campbell (cool!), Lindsey Pavao (is it because she looks like Kristin Stewart, complete with lack of charisma and shifty eyes?), Chris Mann (I'll allow it.)
In Danger: Moses Stone, Sera Hill, and Ashley De La Rosa

• Ashley De La Rosa sings "Paris Ooh La La" by Grace Potter. Ashley is adorable and is owning the sassiness of this song. Her voice sounds great in gritty rock mode and she works the crowd.
• Sera Hill sings "Vision of Love" by Mariah Carey. This is a fairly straight forward performance of this song that sounds nice, but it's not really holding my interest.
• Moses Stone performs "Break Even (Falling to Pieces)" by The Script. Love this song despite myself. He sounds alright, except on the bridge, but his singing voices isn't that strong. At least he manages to hold my attention.

Christina goes with Ashley! Again, with the good choices, coaches.

I have to say, this elimination episode was much less painful than I thought it was going to be. If they make the musical performances at the beginning more interesting, they'll have my approval.

Random comments:
1. Blake Shelton is so down-home and awesome. Love.
2. Of course Team Christina has to be on Leno's show. Lame.
3. What the orange top is Christina wearing? At least her hair still looks good.
4. Cee Lo looks like Bowser with his red, studded, leather jacket.

Live commentarying The Voice: 4/2/2012

It's the live shows, folks, and another super long episode showing 2 coaches teams, Christina and Blake.



1. Team Blake: Jermaine Paul is up first, and he is one of the few people who can match Blake in height. He's singing "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. It's kind a terrible song choice. Jermaine sounds pretty good and reaches the high notes (mostly after the key change), but I can't not associate this song with karaoke.

Coaches:
Christina: Impressed that Jermaine worked the stage, and didn't see the connection to the song choice. (Agreed.)
Blake: Experiencing his dream or something.

2. Team Christina: opera singer Chris Mann is singing Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." I just watched a documentary about the making of Simon and Garfunkel's album Bridge Over Troubled Water and a lot of time was spent talking about just how awesome this song is. I think Chris is doing well and sounsd comfortable and controlled, even though I typically don't like operatic voices. He manages to squeeze in a few trills to make it more modern.

Coaches:
Cee Lo: Wonderful performance. Really enjoyed that.
Adam: Can't get over Cee Lo's outfit. Was great, subverted his voice's genre.
Christina: So beautiful and heartfelt. Owned the song and ad libbed trills successfully.

3. Team Blake: RaeLynn is next up singing. I thought she should have been kicked out during the battle rounds, so she better prove that she's actually good. She's countrifying "Wake Up Call" by Maroon 5--zing! to Adam. RaeLynn is offbeat during the verse but catches up to the beat during the chorus. I still hate her pronunciation of words and her voice still sounds off-pitch and weak, no matter how gutteral she gets.

Coaches:
(RaeLynn hugs Adam)
Christina: Sassy little thing, was impressed and had stage presence. Talks about the man love between Adam and Blake.
Adam: Broke his heart when she did his song.
Blake: Represents the new sound of country. People talk to him about her. (Can someone explain to me why? She's all style and no technique.)

4. Team Christina: Moses Stone is singing "Stronger" and "Power" by Kanye West. For how much showmanship this performance shows off, Moses is holding his own with all the backup dancers. His vocals in singing and rapping worked, too. Fun!

Coaches:
Cee Lo: Song choices were good, appreciated his stage presence.
Adam: Knows how to entertain people. Getting honest, wants to hear more singing from Moses.
Blake: Christina already making a difference and hears improvement in singing vocals.
Christina: Moses makes her excited when performing. Christina burns people on the radio by saying he wasn't autotuned and still killed it. (Right? Christina is preaching to the choir for me today.)

5. Team Blake: Naia Kete is singing "Turning Tables" by Adele. She's not going reggae today, which is kind of a relief, although this song is cheesy as hell (which should be synonymous with Adele). Naia does much better than the battle rounds and shows off some high vocal range and the ability to squeeze her eyes shut during tender moments. Still don't know if I like her very much.

Coaches:
Christina: Thought it was cool, but there were some moments that weren't great.
Blake: Wanted her to prove that she's more than reggae. Tender moments were special.

6. Team Christina: Lindsey Pavao is up next. She's singing Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know." Lindsey sounds weak and flat. The arrangement is alright, but it just doesn't work for me. Mostly, Lindsey is visibly uncomfortable.

Coaches:
Adam: Dudes in the clown suits freaked him out. Loved the song, but missed the power that he feels from the chorus (AGREED).
Christina: Loves Lindsey's style and plugs her songs on iTunes.

7. Team Blake: Jordis Unga is going to sing "Alone" by Heart. Does well with the verse, but kills it at the chorus and the "AAAAAH" after the instrumental break which is the whole point of this song anyway. Good work!

Coaches:
Cee Lo: Overall good.
Blake: Opposite of playing it safe. Amazing.

8. Team Christina: Sera Hill is up next singing "Find Your Love" by Drake. Sera sounds a little nervous and she's flat on the high notes and sharp on the low notes. She looks comfortable on stage, though, in the midst of shirtless men.

Coaches:
Blake: Makes fun of the male strippers on the stage.
Christina: Sera looks gorgeous, she sounded phenomenal and looked like she belonged on the stage.

9. Team Blake: Erin Willett is singing Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City." Woah! Erin brought out the piano and dancers. I love this song though and Erin brings a lot of soul to the performances. She really sounds great.

Coaches:
Cee Lo: Under her circumstances (he dad just passed away) she did good. Great performance, he enjoyed it.
Blake: Best technically and passionately performance of the night. That's a fact. (I kind of agree.)

10. Team Christina: Ashley De La Rosa is singing "Right Through It" by Alanis Morissette. What's up, on-pitch performer! Well done. She sounds much more mature this round.

Coaches:
Adam: Most improved, given that's she's so young (17).
Christina: Really brought it and loved the song.

11. Team Blake: Charlotte Sometimes is up next singing "Misery Business" by Paramore. She still sounds like Lana Del Rey, although I hate Paramore's lead singer's voice most of the time, too. In all honesty, Charlotte sounds better than most of the other folks that sang tonight.

Coaches:
Adam: Great, was a unique voice. There was some flatness.
Christina: Surprised by her performance and dynamics. (Christina and I are two peas in a pod this episode.)
Blake: Made this arrangement, true artist with vision. Didn't hear flatness (I didn't really either. No worse than RaeLynn, that's for damn sure.)

12. Team Christina: Jesse Campbell is singing "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. Blame it on the song, but Jesse sounds like a really good burlesque show. His voice is golden and hits all the high notes with a beautifully pure tone.

Coaches:
Cee Lo: His voice is almost as beautiful as Cee Lo's (fake) hair. Would love Jesse to win if someone from his own team doesn't take it.
Adam: Jesse's the dude to beat.
Christina: He could sing the phone book and sound good. Christina rambles about being the only sober coach up there. (That went of the rails quickly).

Overall:
My favorites were Jordis, Erin, Ashley, and Jesse. How about you?

Random thoughts:
1. Cee Lo absorbed Christina's crazy by wearing fringe, sequins, and a wig. Christina looks relatively tame and toned down and instantly looks better.
2. Carson Daly is incredibly awkward. Still.
3. Christina Millian is such a waste of space just being there to plug Sprint and Twitter.
4. Betty White is adorable making a plug for her show and talking about how cute Blake is.
5. Christina's team always has interesting staging. Sometimes overwhelmingly so.