Let's Play: "Name That Hero"

Okie Dokie...I want you all to guess who this is, or in a sense, was.

Have a great time racking your brains out!

-Britten

Imogen Heap

For the past few weeks I've been listening to a new album entitled "Speak For Yourself" by Imogen Heap. Cool name, huh? I love her voice - at first I couldn't make out whether the songs on this album were sung by a male or female until I did further research, the only thing I knew is that I loved the music this artist made and I knew I had heard it before...

...It's the voice that pulls on the edges of the mind to just "Let Go" during the unforgetable theatrical trailer to Garden State, or the voice that brings back memories of the eighties in the remake of the classic "Holding Out For A Hero" during the end credits to Shrek 2, and it's the ethereal nightengalic strains in the song "Can't Take It In" which is heard as the door to the wardrobe is reopened at the end of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe calling for us to engage in another adventure. "It can not be any more beautiful". You can hear samples of her stuff at iTunes. She's also the music and voice behind the album Details by Frou Frou. Imogen likes to harmonize with her own voice much like my beloved Tori. Her music is considered electro pop and she's proud to say that she's a "nerd who sits for hours trying out new things on her synthesizer". I totally did this when I was like 13 or something and I would still be doing it if I could find my ol' synth...must be in a box somewhere.

*Runs off to dig in the garage*

But really...there's something very catchy about her melodies and beats and sometimes the lyrics seem out of place with the music, but that's part of why I like her. Listen to a couple of her songs on Pandora and see what I mean. You'll be boppin' down the street before you know it!

-Britten

I Heart Heroes

So Andy and I went to see Superman Returns a couple weeks ago and I just have to say that it was SUPERB, for lack of a better word. It’s just too bad it was overshadowed by the release of Pirates.

I’m a sucker for those hero movies…they get me every time, but this one radiated a special light the others lacked, like the recent renditions of Spiderman and Batman (even though I totally love those too). The whole movie had that special “Superman feel” to it that I felt twenty-some-odd years ago watching Christopher Reeve’s Superman carry Louis Lane through the night air over Metropolis. At that time, being a little girl still, I was endeared to Christopher Reeve as superman, maybe because he looked a little like my dad (and we all know how little girls think their Daddies are Superman) or maybe it was just because Reeve made for a very likeable Man of Steel. Whenever he would get hurt by the bad guy it hurt me in a very personal way in which I really can’t put my finger on, but it just made me want to step through the screen and give him a great, big hug. Kind of like when you’re watching The Lamb of God and Jesus is being hurt repeatedly and you want to give him a great, big hug. Am I a total weirdo?

Oh, come on! There are great similarities between Superman and Christ….humor me, if you will: Superman is a God from another world sent to live as a man among mortals to save them. Hello! He has special powers, is a universal symbol of humankind’s ideal, his virtue, his integrity, yadda, yadda…. And there are paintings of Christ wearing a red coat….coat/cape…okay, that’s a bit of a stretch. Mary Magdalene, Louis Lane, secret love, a royal birthline, superman’s son….yes, you can keep on stretching, but that may be taking it a little too far (but that’s *my brain* for you). There's even this book I found, The Gospel According to the World's Greatest Superhero . I might just have to read that along with finish "Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters".

And lets just back up for a moment: Superman’s Son!!!!! Holy tug-my-heartstrings, Batman! I was completely and pleasantly surprised with that turning point. I just LOVE how the passage from Kal-El’s Father, Jor-El, in the Fortress of Solitude took on a whole new meaning when he quotes it to his sleeping little boy. That was so precious and poignant.

“They can be a great people Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all - their capacity for good – I have sent them you…my only son.”

Or when Superman is dead in the hospital and little Jacen gives him a quick kiss on the forehead as he leaves with his mother who we assume has just told Superman that Jacen is his son….yes, again, so sweet.

All in all, the actor, Brandon Routh, reminded me sooooo much of Christopher Reeve (sometimes his voice was very eerily Christopher), yet at the same time, he also brought his own “flavor” to the character. This being his big-screen debut, from here on out he will always be known as Superman no matter what other roles he takes on….I don’t think he minds though.

And here’s a little bit of trivia – he, Brandon, grew up in a Midwestern town much like Clark Kent that wasn’t too far from where the original T.V. superman, George Reeves, was from. Yes, that’s “Reeves” much like “Christopher Reeve” – who would also make his big screen debut as Superman. Destiny has a way of linking things together like that. Just like how Hayden Christensen’s shadowy profile on the side of the Tatooine Homestead garage in AOTC looks like Darth Vader, which was neither doctored nor recognized until the director and producers were sitting around making the commentary for the DVD. These directors who scour the world over for the perfect person to be picked out from thousands to fit the part…until he finally walks into the room to be interviewed and they just know in an instant, “It’s *HIM*”.

Men truly born to play these iconic figures.


Peace Out,

-Britten

Look Who's Blogging!

If you look at my links to the left, you may notice there has been an addition. My beautiful sister Breena is Blogging! Give it a whirl, Shirl @ Dancing Toad

Now, not only do I get to communicate via blog with Kim, Lori, Chris and the Jones sistas, etc….I get to blog with my actual sister!! Yipeee!

Oh, and btw…Breena’s pregnant!

-Britten

Old-school, Cartoony Shenanigans

The title for this blog is my new favorite phrase. The images it conjurs make me want to bust a gut. I heard it on one of my kid's modern-day cartoons, on Nick or something. It was coined by a character who was an older sister trying to coach a football team consisting of her younger brother and his band of misfit friends who were loosing against the unbeatable team. It was down to the last quater and she said, "Well, I guess in order to beat them we'll just have to resort to old-school, cartoony shenanigans!" Oh, my word! I was rolling with images of Wile E. Coyote dancing through my head!

I love that canine...thank heavens for Boom and Cartoon Network.
R.I.P. Chuck Jones

Ya'll gotta check this out. My sis Breena showed me these little cartoonies a few years ago and I've been following them ever since. They are from the site "Home Star Runner" and it would be well worth a few giggles to familiarize yourself with this site. So far, there's a series of 11 issues of this totally wacky and random parody of teen girls. Teen Girl Squad . Enjoy!

-Britten

If These Walls Could Talk

So I've been trying to decide on some phrases/quotes to go on my walls. My sister-in-law knows this lady that has a machine that prints out things you can stick on your wall that make it look like someone painted them on there. My mom is trying to get all our Indian names done for the living room at the cabin and needs to place an order. I wanted to place mine with hers, thus I've been trying to find the perfect quote for me - one that reflects the very "essence of Britten", and at the same time portrays who my family is, what we've been through, what we like and cherish, but I also wanted it to be something no one else would have on their walls, be it in a framed quote from Far West or on a wooden board painted and sold to every Joe Smoe out there.

I went looking for it on the net and found it within seconds. It was waiting for me....meant to be.

Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

I thought this perfect because 1) My family's love of the epic, fairytale adventures like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. 2) The main reason why I love these stories is because of the message and life lessons they teach us. Whether it be a historical account of ancient peoples in the Book of Mormon or the Bible, or a fictional adventure of one small boy, they all teach us how to overcome this mortal plight and look to the future with bright hope. I love using examples from these parables in my class at church. And 3) Andy and I have had to beat a few "dragons" in the past...

So...this will be going high on my living room wall for all to see. In black, of course.


-Britten

Kaiya Laughing

 

Ari Laughing

I'm also putting a quote in Kaiya and Ari's room. One of my favorites from Peter Pan:

"When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.”
-J.M. Barrie

Shelbi, Brad, and Mustangs

So Brad and Amanda moved this week. I was sad but happy for their new little adventure. Mom and I agreed that their move didn't really hit us until we saw Brad's 69' Shelby Mustang covered and safely resting atop a trailer hooked to their moving van.

You see, no matter where Brad has gone and set up camp, whether it be his mission in Kentucky, Utah to be with Breena, back to Fresno, then to Utah again after he was married, then down to Victorville to have the twins, then up here to live for awhile, his beloved mustang has continued to live at my parent's house. A symbol of Brad's inevitable return one day or another - his anchor to us.

We have fond memories of Brad and that mustang or any of his cars for that matter. On those nights when we'd wonder "Oh Brother, where art thou?" we'd finally be able to rest well when we could hear the loud rumble of his car a mile away driving home at 3 am. And of course, there are the many wrecks he's been in. Whenever I can sense a crazy driver around me it's usually a teenage boy in a truck. I will never trust one again. I can gladly tell you that Brad's crazy driving days are over with his new little family in tow. The boy has become the man.

And now with the mustang finally leaving with him, his wings have been unclipped. Here's to a happy flight, Brad! I love you!


-Britten

3 Drunkards

Shelbi, Ari, and Savannah on the 4th.