Sinatra: A Complete Life by J. Randy Taraborrelli

via Amazon

via Jazz in Photo

via Jazz in Photo

via Jazz in Photo

I really enjoyed this book. That being said, I learned a lot of disappointing things about Sinatra. I also learned a lot of great things about Sinatra. I felt that this book was well researched and well written. The author sited hundreds of sources. He was very good a presenting all sides of a story, telling you what he feels is the truth and then letting you decide.

Sinatra led a very interesting life. He really did do it his way (as his popular song would say). He was married 4 times, had 3 children, was one of the greatest singers the world has ever known, an academy award winning actor, a loyal friend, caused several media scandals and so much more. He was a fascinating man.

As a caution; DO NOT read this book if learning of his down falls will hinder your enjoyment of his music. It's not worth it. Sinatra is an incredible talent, his poor judgement in life doesn't change that.

My Weekend in Movies (or PBS Videos...)

Sunday

Secrets of the Dead: Blackbeard's Lost Ship (2009)

via Wikipedia

If you have never watched an episode of Secrets of the Dead episode, you should. It's a fantastic series that uncovers mysteries of history. Here is the website. My favorite one so far is Executed in Error.

This one is really cool. I didn't know much about Blackbeard, and this one gives you his history. It also follows some awesome archeologists who discover what could be Blackbeard's lost ship; the Queen Anne's Revenge. We get to watch as the extract and inspect the evidence to decide if it is indeed the Queen Anne's Revenge.Very interesting.

You can watch the entire video episode here.


American Experience: The Donner Party (2010)

Patty Reed's doll via Washoe

"Three years before the Gold Rush, 87 pioneers took a shortcut westward to California, only to get caught in the snows of the Sierra Nevada. The emigrants' fateful journey culminated in death and cannibalism."

That is the description from the website. It's a tragic story from history. Kristi and I were pretty disturbed after watching it.

I did some more research today on the Donner Party and found out that this documentary on the pioneers' experience has several false statements. So do some reading after you watch it so that you know all of the truth.


 The Carol Burnett Show(1967-1978)

Harvey Korman and Tim Conway via "Did You See What I Just Saw?!"

So Kristi decided we should watch something a little happier before we went to sleep, so we watched several skits for The Carol Burnett Show. I REALLY love The Carol Burnett Show. It's so brilliant. Much better than Saturday Night Live, if you ask me.

Here are some clips for you to watch:

If those didn't satisfy your need for hilarity go to YouTube and search "The Carol Burnett Show." You know you want to!



Oh and watching The Carol Burnett Show was fun, but Kristi and I still fell asleep thinking about cannibalism. Needless to say I didn't not fall asleep very fast.

Less Hate, Please!

Did you know that there millions of people out there that hate me and I have never met most of them?

They hate me because I'm a woman.

They hate me because I'm American.

They hate me because I enjoy fashion.

They hate me because I'm Mormon.

They hate me because I'm young.

They hate me because I am a college student.

They hate me because I eat meat. 

They hate me because I like Marilyn Monroe.

They hate me because they have placed me in a box. That box has a stereotype label taped on the outside. That stereotype was taped to that box because they met one person or several people who did something that they did not like. Those people had something in common with me so we were all shoved into the same box. It does not matter that I'm nothing like the offending person. We are still in the same box because we have something in common.

Isn't that silly? Why do we do that? I can't speak for you, but I know I've done it.

It's wrong. Plain and simple.

So, let's stop. Let's judge people on character, actions and intentions.

I'm going to try harder.

We live in a world full of hate and hurt. It spreads faster than ever with the internet.

We have to put up walls of love to stop the hurt. 


I've committed to stop reading comments on videos, news articles and anything else that could have hateful and harmful comments attached.

What are you going to do?

Dean Martin SINGS!

You may already know this, but I have a crush on Dean Martin.

via fanpop

I love how nonchalant he is. He seems so easy going and happy. Off the top of my head I can't really think any songs that he sings that are heartbreaking or sad. When I listen to him sing I can't help but smile and dance, he just seems so darn happy!

You should probably just listen for yourself:

This one might be my favorite:

And here is a playlist of some of my favorites, just click on the link. Dean Martin Favorites

via starpulse

Are you a Dean Martin fan? If so, what is your favorite song(s)?

My Weekend in Movies

Friday

The Cosby Show (1984 - 1992)

via epguides

I love The Cosby Show. So much. I think it's the best sitcom. Ever. It's brilliant. So funny. Family oriented. Absolutely wonderful!

Bottom line: I am obsessed with this show. If you don't like it I probably won't like you...

Saturday

From Here to Eternity (1953)

via DBCovers

 I checked out this movie from the public library. Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed both won Academy Awards for this movie and for good reason. It also won best picture. This movie is really well done. I don't really know how to explain it. It's just a fantastic movie.

Bottom line: Watch it! It's definitely worth your time. A great drama.

Sunday


Pollyanna (1960)

via listal

This movie is so delightful! I grew up watching this with my cousins. If you haven't seen this you are missing out - it's a great movie for all ages.

Bottom line: Just buy it already. Your children (or future children), grandchildren, nieces, nephews, neighbor kids and everyone else deserve it.


Somewhere in Time (1980)

via Miss Wisabus

This was only my second time seeing this movie and I love it. It's a beautiful romance. Plus who doesn't love Jane Seymour? She's great! Also the film score! It's incredible!!

Bottom line: I will be buying this soon. It's just too beautiful.

Montana

"I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and it's difficult to analyze love when you're in it." 

                                                                                                John Steinbeck

 

  

 

 I couldn't agree with Steinbeck more. Sometimes I just PINE for Montana.

Sinatra - A No Good Cheat

I am in the process of reading Sinatra: A Complete Life by J. Randy Taraborrelli. I am not very far yet (it's a huge book and I basically only get to read it when I'm eating, walking, before I got to sleep and (even though I shouldn't) 15 minutes to a half hour into my sleep time.

I have already learned all kinds of things about Frank Sinatra that should shatter my adoration of him. For a few hours I was pretty let down reading about how imperfect Sinatra was. I'm sure I've heard these things before but reading a book that includes first hand accounts is different. You might be wondering what things I'm talking about. Sinatra was a womanizer. He was also obsessed with sex (probably a sex addict, my friend pointed out to me). He cheated on his wife, probably hundreds of times. He always felt that it had nothing to do with her and whatever she didn't know won't hurt her, well she always found out and even then he didn't care. Not really the kind of guy you would want to be in a relationship with.

But as I listen to him sing "All The Way" and "Embraceable You" I don't care. For some reason I don't care.

Sinatra via last.fm

I love his voice. I love his acting. I love the performer Frank Sinatra.

What do you guys think? Am I wrong? Should I care more? Should I stop listening to Sinatra because he was a horrid husband and a no good cheat?

Graduation Pictures pt. 1

To see more of my fantastic photo shoot with Heather Sellers Photography click here!

My Weekend in Movies

Saturday

The Corn is Green (1979)

poster via johnbarry.org

First time I ever saw this movie. Since Katharine Hepburn stars in the movie it's no surprise that I liked it. It's about a lady who decides to teach the poor children of a mine town. She discovers genius in one of the young men and decides to push him to become the best he can. It's a well told story and inspiring.

I can't seem to find the trailer for this one. Sorry!

Bottom line: It's a TV movie so it's nothing fancy, but it's well done. I would recommend it!

His Girl Friday (1940)

poster via Dr. Macro's

I adore this film. It's brilliantly funny and very fast paced! I can't remember what I thought the first time I watched it, but I imagine I missed at least 50% of the funny lines. It's just so quick!

Bottom line: Hilarious! Watch it over and over and over. It never gets old. You'll catch a new joke each time you watch it.

A Comfy, Crocheted Eternity Scarf

A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted a new scarf; a comfy, crocheted eternity scarf. I finally bought some yarn and made the scarf in about 3 days (a few hours if I didn't have things like school and work to attend to).

By the way, I made up the pattern myself (it was quite easy). I think I did a pretty good job! What you do you think?

Some Came Running (1958)

poster via Movie Goods

Fantastic Movie. Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra star along with Shirley MacLaine. I think the characters are the reason I like this so much.

Frank Sinatra plays Dave Hirsh, an army veteran and a writer who returns to his hometown in Indiana. He's troubled. He's very much in love with a girl who refuses to openly love him back because she's ashamed of who he is.

Dean Martin's character, Bama Dillert, is a fun loving gambler who befriends  Dave. He doesn't appear to have any troubles. He just loves bumming around and making money. Alcohol doesn't affect him in the slightest. Bama also tries to be the voice of reason when Dave is feeling overly lonely.

Shirley MacLaine is Ginny, a young girl who follows Dave. She is adorable. She carries around a little purse shaped like a bunny (or some creature). Ginny is painfully in love with Dave. She's so sweet.

There are several other characters very much worth looking at, but you should just watch the movie. Here is the trailer.

This movie is powerful. It's real life. Truth. It gave me a lot to think about. I can't wait to see it again.

The Rat Pack

I am always shocked when people say "what?" or "huh?" when I mention the Rat Pack. And probably some of you are doing that very thing as you read this.

Let me help you. Wikipedia says: "The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and finally, Joey Bishop, who appeared together on stage and in films in the early-1960s, including the movie Ocean's 11. Sinatra, Martin and Davis were regarded as the group's lead members." I don't know much more about the history of the group beyond that. Currently I don't care, but I will likely pick up a book about it somewhere in the next year.

What I really want to do is introduce you to their humor, music, good looks and down right awesomeness.

The Rat Pack via Hopeless Rohemian

With Johnny Carson via Acid Cow (several good pictures here)

via Anything Gauche

And when I say "they" I mean Frank, Sammy and Dean. They are the ones I'm obsessed with.

First let me share with you a video and a song.

The video is the end number of The Frank Sinatra Spectacular. They have the whole thing on YouTube and I highly recommend watching it. This link will take you to the first part of the program. Johnny Carson Hosts. Frank, Dean and Sammy sing and make jokes. The whole program gives you a taste of their humor and friendships. So fun. Pure Brilliance.

 

 I found this next on while listening to Grooveshark. I laugh every time. They are just too funny.

Besides the incredible talent that these men possess, I like them because they fun. They're just a group of friends doing what they love. You can tell they have a blast doing it.

There will be several follow up posts to this one. Hopefully by the time all the posts are published you'll understand why I love these guys so much - even though I've never met them. As Anne Shirley would say, they are "kindred spirits."

An Elvis Morning

 Today I wasn't sure what I wanted to listen to as I got ready so I just pushed shuffle and started moving (and by moving I mean sitting on my bed with rice bags on knees looking tired). The first song was (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame and I knew it was an Elvis morning.


I really like Elvis.

Elvis via elvis.com

Elvis via lovemetender.com

Elvis via elvisinfonet.com

Elvis via fanpop

Really. He's so handsome and adorable, all at the same time.

Plus, I love his voice.

Can't Help Falling in Love is my favorite Elvis song and one of my favorite love songs. It's so sweet.

Also he's a pretty good actor when you give him a chance. This I discovered when I stumbled upon the movie Follow That Dream from 1962.

As a last interesting side note, I think that if I was around when Elvis was popular I probably wouldn't have liked him. I probably would have been very loyal to the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc. I might have come around when I heard him sing Can't Help Falling in Love, but who knows? I guess it's a good thing I wasn't around then, it allows me to fully enjoy various types of music.

My Weekend in Movies... kinda.

Well this is going to be an odd post because I didn't watch any movies this weekend.

Kristi and I watched hours of The Mentalist.

via mentalist.informe.com

I admit I am a bit obsessed (and I've rubbed off on Kristi). Honestly I think it's the best crime/mystery TV show ever. Really, I love it.

I own seasons 1 - 3 and Kristi has been working her way through them. Possibly after this week we'll go back to watching movies on the weekend.

A beautiful white cream sweater!

Yesterday I went shopping with some of my best friends. We were hitting a DownEast Basic warehouse sale. The first one they've done in Rexburg. Most everything was in boxes that you had to dig through to find your treasures. I found an white cream colored sweater in one of the boxes that I knew I had to have. There was only one problem; black stains on the sweater. They weren't very big, but black stains on a white sweater? Usually I just put it back and leave it for someone else to tackle. But it was the only one. Not the only one in my size or in that color, the only one. So I tried it on and of course it was exactly what I wanted. So I bought it.

When I got home I got right to work on tackling the stains. I asked advice from my mom, googled and used my own knowledge to decide what to do.

At first I soaked it in the sink in ice cold water for a bit. Nothing changed.

Then I put some Dawn dish soap on the stains, rubbed it in and put it back in the water. I repeated this each time that the blue dish soap disappeared from the sweater.

Victory! The black stains were fading! I soaked the sweater overnight. Put more soap on it when I woke up and left it to soak while I went to my internship. More soap.

Although the stains aren't completely gone, they are so faint that I can't be disappointed.

Looks good right?

You can still see the stains faintly, but I think it's still ready to wear!

So, my advice for you today is to use Dawn dishsoap for stain removal. I usually just pre-treat the stains with it. You can even put it on the garment, and toss it into your laundry.

My only caution for you is not to put Dawn dish sop on silk. That is the only trouble I've had. I put it on my yellow silk blouse and tossed the blouse in my laundry basket. The stains came out, but the Dawn did not. I can only assume that the Dawn would have been fine had it never dried on the shirt, but I can't be sure. So be careful if you have silk clothing.

Using Dawn to get stains out makes a lot of sense if you give it a thought. I mean they use Dawn to clean little creatures up after an oil spill. What could be safer and for effective than that?

Give it a try. I'm pretty sure it's cheaper than other stain removals and you probably already have it in your house. Since I share dish soap with roommates, I buy a bottle of Dawn just for doing laundry. It sits right next to my laundry basket.

Do you have any stain removing tricks you swear by?

Goat Rodeo Sessions

When I posted my review of the Goat Rodeo Sessions LIVE from Boston's House of Blues I couldn't find any pictures of the concert or reviews. It seems there are mostly postings about the concert being announced.

via brassmusicianmagazine

I just wanted to share this great photo.

If you missed my other post about the Goat Rodeo Sessions, you can read the first one here and the second one here. The first one is some videos of their music and the second is my review on the House of Blues concert that was broadcast to theaters around the nation.

Has anyone checked out their music? What do you think?

Deserving Families Giveaway from Heather Sellers Photography

"Do you know someone that has been hit hard by this economy and is now financially struggling?"

If you do nominate them for the sweet giveaway hosted by Heather Sellers Photography.

Check out Heather Sellers Photography. She is an amazing talent (who will be taking my graduation pictures soon... stay tuned)!

Ron Swanson

Ron Swanson via TVFanatic

I totally go to school with him. Well, the younger, college attending Ron Swanson. He was returning an item to the circulation desk.

It was awesome.

The Goat Rodeo Sessions LIVE.

from Boston's House of Blues. Broadcast to theaters around the country including Rexburg's very own Paramount 5.

via PCM Reviews

As soon as I saw that they were broadcasting the Goat Rodeo Sessions LIVE the Paramount 5 I knew I wasn't going to get eight hours of sleep on Tuesday night. You may remember my blog post regarding The Goat Rodeo Sessions.

How could I possibly afford to miss this? Well I couldn't. When really good things come to theaters - especially one time only events - one must sacrifice that which is held above all else (sleep) and go to the event!

That is exactly what I did. I took off from my Internship early (I'll have to make it up later) and paid the $10 dollars (I would have paid more) to watch a concert in a theater, alone (I love me).

Not only did I go alone, but there was only one other person in the theater. Obviously she is a kindred spirit. We didn't sit by each other though, I think we both knew that we were each on a date with ourselves.

It goes without saying that the concert was fantastic. The musicians (Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer) were unbelievable. They have perfect chemistry. It was easy to see that they really enjoy being around each other and that they loved the music they were playing. All of the music was written by them (except what they played for the encore).

Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma and Stuart Duncan via LA Times

Let me tell you about my personal favorites from the concert:

Parallax - The fiddle part on this one when straight to my soul. I don't know why. It was just so beautiful.


Here and Heaven - Aoife O’Donovan joined the guys for this one. She was wearing a beautiful black dress. Her vocals were beautiful. The song has a fantastic tune, it's been one of my favorites since I heard of the Goat Rodeo Sessions.

Franz and the Eagle - I loved this one. I don't know how to explain it. It was just stunning. Edgar Meyer moved to the piano for this one and his part was incredible. Great tune. And the title? A reference to Stuart Duncan (Franz) and Yo-Yo Ma (the Eagle). These are nicknames they've given each other.

Hill Justice - This one felt like a dream to me. I closed my eyes and could see myself on a porch somewhere just day dreaming. It was a fantastic. This one might be my new favorite. It was just so beautiful. Calm, yet exciting. Upbeat, yet serene. Perfection.

A really great concert. For the encores they played some Bach (so beautiful!), a mix of fiddle tunes, and All Through the Night (with Aoife O'Donovan). Couldn't have asked for a better encore. Really. It was wonderful.


At the beginning of the show I noticed that Yo-Yo Ma's hair was slicked back and looked very neat. By the middle of the show his hair was falling on his forehead, showing what an active musician he is. I think that was one of the best things about these musicians; they felt the music, I mean really felt it. You could see it on their faces when they played.

CT, Aoife O'Donovan, YM, EM and SD via Sojourners Indecisive

Totally worth losing sleep over. I would go again tonight.