This morning, uberagent @MichaelBourret tweeted it’s “noticeably quiet today.”

Too quiet.  It’s time for a snowstorm of query tomfoolery.

It’s time to pull a Cameron Frye.

Remember when Cameron and Ferris skitter downtown in the middle of an Oktoberfest Parade?

“Ladies and gentlemen, you are such a wonderful crowd, we’d like to play a little tune for you. It’s one of my personal favorites and I’d like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn’t think he’s seen anything good today – Cameron Frye, this one’s for you. ”

@MichaelBourret, this one’s for you:

Dear Agent,

Have you ever been injured during a barn raising? Imagine the pain of a 300 hundred pound handcarved loadbearing truss falling on your pelvis. You’ll experience these gut wrenching emotions when you read my 278,00 epic Amish techno-thriller, A CONFEDERACY OF BUTTONS.

Named after a verboten technology, Samuel Buttons struggles amidst a sea of disapproval to overcome his father’s obsession with apparel fasteners. Does his bearded nemesis, Werner Wunderhosen, want him dead? Or does Werner harbor more sinister desires? Samuel must save his betrothed, Rosebud, from Wunderhosen’s zipperless clutches.

In the end, Buttons must also accept his destiny. He must face down the cotton smocked rabble at the Wunderhosen’s barn raising. With Rosebud at his side, Samuel forces Werner’s hand by revealing his secret machine, a steampunk miracle which pintucks seams where no Button has gone before.

Werner attacks, setting the barn ablaze while Rosebud is inside. Buttons rescues his auburned tressed paramour just before a karmic earthquake shakes a treacherous truss loose. Wunderhosen’s pants are pinned; he cannot escape. The word “Rosebud” passes over his dying lips.

Dear sir or madam, although I know you must recognize A CONFEDERACY OF BUTTONS as Pulitzer material, I’ve taken precautions to ensure my manuscript is safe from plagiaristic subterfuge. I am sending each chapter of my opus separately via registered mail. The pages are encrypted, of course. A courier will arrive with your decoder ring at 3 p.m. tomorrow. I will entertain offers for representation only until the Ides of March.

Danke Schön,

Scarlet Whisper

How do you like them Buttons?

Hungry for more?

Go order takeout Weinerschitznel, I’m all out of pankuchen recipes today.

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

Stolen from NPSH’s Blog.

THE GUIDE TO BEING SO CHOICE aka How Sloane Peterson from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Taught me how to be an Awesome Girlfriend.

• Get along with his friends if you don’t get along with his friends you are done. seriously. That is number 1. Even if you think his friends are uptight weirdos or hypochondriac freaks, HEY, he is friends with them for a reason, so cut the shit. You’ve probably got some weird and crappy friends too…

• Rein him in, but only when necessary you are his girlfriend, not his mother. If he wants to sing to the city on a giant float, let him do it. He’s a big man and he can deal with the consequences. You can nicely remind him, Look, if you do that there might be trouble, but if you throw a bitch fit and give him the silent treatmeant you will look fucking retarded when he has a new girlfriend on his arm from the impressive stunts he’s pulled.

• Be funny “He’s licking the glass and making obscene gestures with his hands.” simple as that.

• Be confident Look, one of the reasons Ferris loved her was because she was cool and classy lady, she didn’t stress. She uttered the words and believed “He’s gonna marry me.” She probably knows if her boyfriend was running through a backyard and saw 2 girls tanning he probably would stop and say hello, but she also knows that he would spend hours of stress and risk his neck to get her out of school to just see her. Relax. You have him. He’s not going anywhere, and if he talks to other girls who the fuck cares YOU are the one he wants to marry.

• Say Eloquent Shit did Sloane ever use the word “like” as much as you do in your daily conversation? No. Drop the habit that makes you seem like a dumb valley girl and trade it for stellar vocab terms like “warmth & compassion” and “devastatingly handsome.” Once you’ve mastered talking like an adult, you’ll be able to spew pearls of poetry like “The city looks so peaceful from up here…”

• Pack lightly ever notice how tiny Sloane’s purse was? The bigger the purse, the lamer the girl. Its called baggage for a reason.

• Be able to keep up with the boys Hey, if you’ve got cramps, take a fucking midol and strap in. You don’t ever wanna be the girlfriend who is a drag and never wants to go out. A girl who can say she cruised with the top down in a convertible, swung by the Stock Exchange, and took in a Cubs game all in one day, is sorta girl who you wanna keep around.

• Look badass in a jacket with fringe The End.

(Insignificant and super secret message:  if you’ve subscribed to Joyceland by e-mail or RSS feed, you have to click on the title of that day’s post in order to experience the snowfall—-which means you have to visit the blog site to get the snow.  We’ll admit, the snow is kinda pretty.    xo)

NOW, LET US MOVE TO MORE JOYCELY TOPICS———–

We’ve been seriously dreaming about Ferris Bueller since last time.  We want to pal around with him . . . to experience his Joyceman’s struggle to take it easy . . . to live with him where leisure rules . . . we think we’ve fallen in love.  At the very least, we like him, we really, really like him.  And that hair . . .

 . . . it’s a good look that’s both easy to mow and has sex appeal. 

Okay, back to our holiday party debrief from last time.  Party #2, post root canal, had us enjoying a take-away theme.  You’ve been to a take-away party:  bring a gift and when it’s your turn you decide if you’ll open a virgin gift or steal from an unsuspecting BFF.  Women love the take-away because it’s like a little shopping and shoplifting put together.  You feel legal and illegal at the same time.  Sissy-in-law hosted a take-away the other night and the stealing went on for three hours and twenty-nine minutes.  Some of the more mature and drunk ladies took naps during the party, but in the end it was all good.  At our take-away, everyone kept stealing from JezebelJoyce and sweet Jezzie kept wanting to open all the new gifts.  We wonder what Christmas is like at her house?  Does she open EVERYTHING for EVERYBODY?  AndieJoyce, our hostess, had made enough delicious food to feed the Russian army.  That’s one of Joyce’s favorite sayings . . . “there was enough food for the Russian army.”  (And she likes to roll her tongue a little on the r part of Russian.)  We don’t think Joyce ever visited Russia, but she sure knows an awful lot about the eating habits of their army. 

HERE IS HOT HOLIDAY HOUSEKEEPING TIP #443:  Rita has been taking care of her hubby, Big W., after a recent surgery.  As Big W has been resting and relaxing, the bed sheet under his feet had worn through and ripped into a hole.  Friggin’ sheets.  Damn manrecuperation.  We all know what it’s like to take care of a sick guy . . . let’s add this to our list of Joyceland beeaatching for the future, shall we?  Anyway, Rita couldn’t get out to buy new sheets because she had a PARTY TO ATTEND.  That’s right, the lesson in all of this is:  GET OUT OF THE HOUSE AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.  So, how did Rita solve the sheet hole problem?  She put on her creative thinking cap . . .

. . . ate a box of Bugles and the solution came to her rather quickly and quietly:  duct tape.  She duct taped the tear in Big W.’s sheets.  As all creative Joyceland ladies know, duct tape is a vinyl, multi-purpose pressure sensitive tape with a soft and tacky pressure sensitive adhesive.  And today it’s available in a wide variety of colors.  Simply put, it’s MADE for sheets, panties, bra straps . . . anything that you’re too damn lazy to sew.  Duct tape–mama’s little secret helper.  Duct tape–it will keep almost anything together.  Sure Big W. moaned and groaned about wanting new sheets, but duct tape works over the mouth, too, doesn’t it?  We’re just saying it’s a viable option.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE COZY: Remember when EmJoyce was all happy about her new cozy (11/12 and 11/14 posts)??  Our honest impression:  the cozy was more trouble to put on than Spanx!  And we’ve already damned Spanx in Joyceland.  Truth be told, we were forced to dial 911 after attempting to try out several of the versatile styles that the cozy offers.  After a brief hospital stay due to cozy injuries, we ending up re-buying one because StellaJoyce showed us how to wrap ourselves up like a mummy.  It worked for us–especially with the latest cold weather snap and all.  And after that style lesson, Stella and Lucy attacked every TJ Maxx within a sixty mile radius to buy up any and all remaining cozies at the bargain price of $49.99.  This was done with a stylish vengeance. 

We’ve become convinced that the cozy works on all sizes and shapes–which is very important to Joyce.  Plus, you don’t need anything else in your wardrobe.  One pair of pants and one cozy  equals forty-nine looks.  Very Joyce-venient.  So here’s the HOT TIP if you go to TJ looking for one:  get yourself to the sweater section and lay on the floor, if you see any sweater parts hanging close to the floor–JACKPOT–you’ve found yourself a cozy.  Stella tried this and found eight cozies, but had to have the store manager come over and do the lift and pull to get her vertical again. 

Now, after hearing all of this, do you want to get cozy with a cozy?  It could make your season merry and bright!  The video below is for anyone, like us, who buys a cozy and has no idea what to do with it.  Pay no attention to the model’s face–she’s a little unhappy because she hasn’t had a burger in months:

The Big Cheese is opening voting to find out who you think is the coolest movie character of all time. Obviously there is fairly stiff competition for this title – Ferris Bueller, Butch Cassidy (and the Sundance Kid), Maverick, Johnny Castle, John McLean, Sandy from Grease (after her transformation), Juno, The Dude, Lelaina Pierce, Angelina Jolie in just about everything – there are loads more, and I want to hear your suggestions!!

For me, it has to be Marty McFly. This guy’s is the coolest. Always late for school, plays rockin’ guitar, skateboards behind cars, has a hot girlfriend, and if that isn’t enough, he travels through time, in a Delorean!!

But what do you think? Who is the coolest movie character of all time?

Ben Singer ist ein gescheiterter Folk Sänger, raucht ständig Marijuana und ist ein nicht besonders guter Wochenend-Vater. Ein Misanthrop wie er im Buche steht. Den einzigen Spaß im Leben den er noch hat, sind seine Schachspiele mit seinem Freund Ibou aus Senegal. Als dieser plötzlich krank wird und in ein Koma fällt, scheint Ben’s negatives Weltbild nur noch mehr bestätigt zu werden. Aber die ebenfalls aus Senegal stammende Khadi wird Bens Einstellung verändern.

Man mag es “Ferris Bueller” Matthew Broderick gar nicht zutrauen, dass er endlich gute Rollen ergattert. Natürlich ist “Ferris macht blau” ein Klassiker, aber mit Filmen wie dem Remake zu “Die Frauen von Stepford”, dem eher schwachen “Godzilla” oder “Inspector Gadget” konnte er bisher nicht unbedingt auf sich Aufmerksam machen. Aber das er kein schlechter Schauspieler ist, das beweist er in “Wonderful World”. Zumindest der Trailer scheint uns mitteilen zu wollen, dass wir uns hier auf eine gute DramaKomödie gefasst machen dürfen.

Joshua Goldin hat bei “Wonderful World” Regie geführt (sein Debut hinter der Kamera). In den Hauptrollen sehen wir Matthew Broderick (“The Producers”), Sanaa Lathan (“Alien vs. Predator”) und Michael K. Williams (“Gone Baby Gone”). Der Film wird am 8.Januar 2010 in den USA anlaufen. Für Deutschland gibt es noch keinen Releasetermin.

The caption sucked you in didn’t it?  “Drive By Shooting”…it’s a sad commentary on society and the state of art when this kind of story get’s attention but that is the way our MTV, FOX, iPod, Twitter, Facebook, etc. media generated minds work now.  Back to the ‘Drive By’…

The drive south down 99 from Whistler to Vancouver was brilliant.  The sun finally pushed through the five-week canopy of cloud and the curtain opened to five meters of fallen snow in the past 24 days.  Meanwhile, I realised almost immediately that I had fallen into the three most regrettable pitfalls of renting a car. 

Number one: never get into a rental car without you sunglasses.  Granted it is November on the wet coast so a sunny drive on a day forecast for heavy rain wasn’t expected but I own a store that sells three of the coolest brands of sunglasses out there, have shades stashed in back packs, in my glove box (my wife had my truck) and otherwise scatter them in any number of places around my home and office on ledges and window sills where I meant not to forget them…but step into a shiny new Hyundai from Avis…you get the picture.  Note to self, when you get home put a pair of sunglasses in every bag.

Number two: no tunes.  No hook up for my HTC Mp3 phone (no iPod dock…not that I have an iPod), no Bluetooth, no CD’s (although the player is marked clearly ‘MP3′…even Hyundai gets that we burn them)…just the radio.  Mountain FM? God no.  I mean, yes it works, but no.  Enter XM Radio (XM2 actually…do they need 2?).  Leave it to Hyundai to add XM but no jack for auxiliary hook ups…and to add insult to injury they call it a ‘full size’?  They must be made in, well, somewhere with very small people.  XM and I develop an inevitable love hate relationship within minutes.  Every specialty commercial free station you can imagine categorized by music genre, decade, nationality, a million talk stations from comedy to sports to news, even religion (do they still have that?), every station that is except one that is playing a song I want to listen to.  Seek, scan, stop, XM Elvis, 60’s Pop, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s…end of a good song, damn! OFF!!

Finally, the third and hardest to swallow of all rental car pitfalls – especially for hardened Whistler locals like myself who drive full size 4×4, 4 door, Chevy Silverado pick-ups with one of the coolest line ups of stickers ever assembled on a vehicle and, by the way, gets better gas mileage than the Hyundai – the rest stop photo op.  It doesn’t matter how core I am or what hoody I have on or what time my meeting with Patagonia at Granville Island to see the 2010/11 winter line up is (yes, already) when I sit down in a rental car I know I will drop my camera ready to shoot in the passenger seat beside me and be resigned to stop at the first rest stop with a view and take a few shots like every other tourist and be humiliatingly recognized and at the same time welcomed as one of them.  I can’t fight it, or bother to explain to the guys in the big truck – like mine at home – loaded with sleds who are obviously local and only stopped for the call of nature that happens whenever there are more empty cans of Monster than passengers.  I give in to the urge and like a bar star who says she only smokes when she drinks, I pull over and suffer the loss of inner discipline that self righteously drives locals everywhere from interrupting their commute by selfishly enjoying magnificent surroundings like ours…dummies!

The tragic irony of the rental car is that, for me anyways, it is the ultimate excuse and licence to not be cool (except of course for the dorks in Hawaii who insist on renting the Mustang convertibles thinking they are cool).  So my pride intact, I pull up on the Tantalus view-point, grab my camera from the seat beside me, fold myself out of the Hyundai (still squinting from the drive south into the sun…no shades), dressed in my city clothes – black shirt, black jacket, black Vans – and lose myself in the grandeur of this place I am so blessed to call home.  Go ahead, I think to myself, “Screw the cool guy standard…Claim it!” (MSP, In Deep 2009)

The rolling summit due north is a scene straight out of Alaska…’click’…every rock and tree and shadow line a canvas of white beneath the pale blue sky of morning, and down the valley the snow line on the pines is churning in the smokey mist and warmth of the sunlight seen so rarely this time of year…’click, click, click’.  I love the pure imagination of it all…even the digital sound of a shutter release embedded on a chip programmed to echo from the little speaker on my camera to add to the nostalgia of my experience every time I snap a shot like I am Ansel Adams in 1930’something 3 months into a cold winter in Yosemite…brilliant.  Another car drives up and snapped back to reality I wonder for a moment what time it is, put the lens cap back in place and fold myself back into the Hyundai and stop.  I look again through the windshield at the smokey trees…and get back out for a few more…one more for the road.  I laugh to myself and think, ‘I love being a tourist’, and head on down the highway listening to Mountain FM.

It’s awakening to find inspiration in my own time…in my own back yard.  What have you passed by lately? or daily? Is there some place you know you’ve always wanted to stop but never have the time?  (ie. When your on your way to wait 10 minutes in the line at Starbucks or Wal-Mart or London Drugs? – sorry, no line ups there.)  It’s right there outside your window, just a step outside the comfort of your shiny metal box, yes, it’s right there.  Stop.  Just stop. 

(Aside: I would love to hear the stories of the people who just sopped after reading this…) 

Back to the ‘Drive By’…need to hit Vancouver, Granville Island by noon.  Bathroom break in Squamish, resist the ridiculously priced CD’s at Chevron even though they have a copy of ACDC’s Dirty Deeds…where will I ever find that on CD again? Answer; right there, forever…and don’t even think about the shades on the shiny spinny chrome rack thingy on the counter.  Three words, ‘Made In China’, and while I’m at it, why not add one word to that oh so familiar phrase stamped across some ridiculously growing double-digit percentage of our economy that might just sway the buying and manufacturing habits of the western world, ‘communist’.  If every second item you purchased was labelled, ‘Made in Communist China’, would you think twice?  Just a thought.  Two Mocha Monsters for $5.00, an old school chocolate puffed wheat square and I am back on the road.

The drive by shooting begins somewhere on the descent to Stanley Park on the Lion’s Gate Bridge.  I look in the rear view and see the perfect reflection of the suspension towers behind me, the city scape in front just above the mirror, wrap the neck cord of my camera around my wrist – just in case – open the window and fire off a round of black and white’s (I pre-programmed a B+W high res mode on my digi) at arms length out the window from the driver’s seat.  The first shot amazingly catches an oncoming car completely obscuring the city view above the mirror but captures a perfect mirror image of the bridge and the traffic behind.  The next two or three catch the view of downtown Vancouver between the cars, through the suspension cabling, above the tree line of Stanley Park.  Here we go.

I rattle off a few more down West Georgia; homeless guy in the soft focus silhouette of the moving trees (moving @30km/h past Burrard), big sign on the Vancouver Art Gallery, cool soft cover on the back of a Silverado like mine, the underside of the Granville Street Bridge at False Creek, a painting through a wood framed window where I parked, and think to myself, “Drive By Shooting…Drive By”.  Don’t call the MOT (BC Ministry of Transport) for an opinion on this one, don’t even take mine or think what you think I am suggesting (I accept no liability, blah, blah, blah…).  Just think of the possibilities.  We have all done it (haven’t we?).  Eaten a grape at the grocery store, pocketed some cool meaningless trinket, ridden to the store without our helmet, gone into the back country alone…snapped shots from airplane windows, on the bus or train, taken pics of funny road signs, people, other cars, vistas…this is just the natural progression of the art of every day.  It gives new meaning to ‘Street To Peak’ (ha, ha…just thought of that now!).  What better place to get it started (not that I am starting anything) than Street To Peak. 

Imagine you are a tourist today.  Yes, at home or sitting where ever you might be reading this.  How many photos did you take on your last week or two escape to somewhere else?  How many letters and/or post cards  did you write? (Better question – how many did you send?) Did you get out your journal or a pile of napkins and write? and fill more pages than you have in the past six months of the every day?  Imagine you are a geeky tourist in a rental Hyundai with no iTunes, squinting into the sun, drinking Monster Mocha, eating Fish and Chips from Tony’s (the best on Granville Island)  from a box on the passenger seat, searching for a good song on the local radio, snapping photos of the sky on a dark rainy bridge after a day of stopping at view points and rest stops just because life is good and you don’t know for sure when you will ever be here, right here, right now, again.   Imagine if that today was every day.

Where to start?  Wait a minute…before you dust off your SLR, load it in the car and hit the road, don’t miss the point.  (I can see the type A’s and OCD’s packing their sunglasses and CD’s already.)  In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.”

Dedicated to my Uncle Scott, my source for everything 80s .

“Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths

Good times for a change.
See, the luck I’ve had
Can make a good man
Turn bad.

So please, please, please
Let me, let me, let me,
Let me get what I want
This time.

Haven’t had a dream in a long time.
See, the life I’ve had
Can make a good man bad.

So for once in my life
Let me get what I want.
Lord knows, it would be the first time.
Lord knows, it would be the first time.

The first time I heard this popular 80s tune was in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It plays during the cult museum scene when Cameron Frye sees himself as the little boy in Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte painting. The scene is meant to be reflective of life, but I can’t help snicker when I see the expression on Cameron’s face. I fear for his life because at that moment he realizes he doesn’t know what he wants out of life. Oh yeah, and his dad is going to kill him in a few hours when he brings the Ferrari home.

In regards to the essence of this post, we (and I) take too much for granted—>Want, want, want! However, I think the person reciting these lyrics (whoever he/she may be at any given time) is solely wishing for “good times, for a change”. The words are not meant to be greedy, but hopeful. This song holds an ABAB form, simple and to the point. In fact, the recording is only 1:51 in time.

The most heroic and universal ideas can be expressed with the fewest words.

Photo Credit: The Smiths

One thing about me is that I’m a celebrity obsessed, People Magazine reading person.  I look forward every week to my Star Magazine.  I just can’t help myself.  And, then add fabulous real estate to the mix and I’m in heaven.  So here, I begin my blog on celebrity real estate.

Sadly, one of my favorite directors, John Hughes, of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off fame, passed away several months ago.  So sad…I grew up with his movies, exactly the same age as his characters when they came out so I could really relate.

Now, two John Hughes related real estate deals have come to light.

The first is a house for sale in Highland Park, Illinois.  Not just any house, but the house where Ferris Bueller’s best friend Cameron lived (in the movie)  Its a really cool house.  I’ve been in it because I’m a real estate broker here in Chicago and part of my job is looking at cool houses.  Its a mid-century modern home cantilevered on a ravine.  If you can recall, they drove Cameron’s father’s Ferrari through the glass walls into the ravine in the movie.  Well, the glass has been repaired and the space is well insulated again!  Anyway, the house, despite needing a massive overhaul, has a unique structure and amazing setting.  It was originally on the market for $2.3million and has recently been reduced to $1.8million.  Yes, it is still overpriced, but maybe somebody will pay a premium since it was featured in a movie.

Take a look at the virtual tour of the Ferris Beuller house.

The second is a home just purchased by the widow of John Hughes.  She closed on the house mid-October and paid $5.2million.  It was originally listed at $5,795,000.  Its a 17 room, 9500SF (including a 2300SF finished basement) Tudor style home built in 2005.  You cross a 55foot private bridge to get to the home located just 1 block from Lake Michigan.  Dennis Rodkin from Chicago magazine goes into more details of the home in his Deal Estate blog.

What do you think of these houses?

@ThePropertyDiva

A mechanic in Redditch lived the Ferris Bueller dream when a customer left a high power car for a service. While admittedly not a Ferrari, the cheeky grease monkey managed to get it up to 125mph when he took it for a spin round the local area. Unfortunately, the owner had a black box camera system, his high speed trip round the A435 is now on YouTube.

This semester (which is just about to wrap up) I’m teaching a course called “Theology and History of Worship.” Yesterday’s learning topic dealt with sacred space in worship–how the people, furniture and symbols of worship are arranged to best allow people to engage with God and one another. I had planned on doing a lecture, but then decided to approach it a different way. Since the lecture would be based mainly on the reading they had done (I would be reviewing the main ideas and adding more info), wasn’t this a little redundant?

I came up with this instead: I wanted them to put into practice the things they had learned through the reading, and what I would briefly review in class. I had them get into 3 groups, with this assignment: design a worship space for a particular area and tell us why you designed it that way. What are the theological and practical reasons for your choices? Group 1 designed a sanctuary for an urban church meeting in a leased office space, Group 2 designed a space for a suburban church plant, and Group 3 designed space for a rural church youth ministry that emphasized the arts.

The results were interesting, and the students took it more seriously and engaged in the process more than I expected. A couple of the groups were very detailed in their designs. I was pretty impressed.

I’ve only been teaching for a few years, and have a lot to learn (trust me on that one, or just ask my students!). But one of the things I do know is that active learning (participation and engagement) allows students to interact with and process what they learned from reading and lectures. The lecture format can be done effectively by some teachers and for some topics, but I am learning some new, different, and often more effective approaches to help students learn.

By the way, here is good quote I used in class: “Space, it has been argued, needs to be redemptive space.  It needs to reflect the work of salvation, which we celebrate.  Therefore, adequate space for gathering, for the hearing of the Word, for the celebration of the Eucharist, and for music and the arts that accompany these acts is a priority.  The major shift that has taken place in worship space is the shift from longitudinal space to a more centralized space, a space in which the worshipers become participants. ” (Robert Webber, Worship Old & New, 146)

The other day I stayed home from work because I wasn’t feelin well, so I went to the mall instead.  On my Ferris Bueller sh*t.  Mainly just walked around a bit to get out the crib.  I did cop a Florida Marlins fitted thou from Lids thou.

For all the fitted wearers out there, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the Lids Passport Club.  Hopefully you are, but if not you should be!  It’s the craziest loyalty/savings program out there!  It costs $5 a year and you save 20% on hat purchases.  My fitted cost $33.99+tax (damn the south and its tax on clothes!).  However, with the card and 20% discount, I saved $6.80 and the total price came to $29.37.  Since I buy fitteds semi-regularly, I’ve gotten back my $5 multiple times.  Bet.  I’ll take it!

I bought the Marlins fitted to go with the Nike ACG Wildedge’s (Olympic colorway) I coped on sale for $50. I bought them on my up north trip, so no tax!  With winter coming and at only $50 beans, couldn’t go wrong.  Just throw on a black T, black hoodie and keep it movin.

pics via Lids and Sneaker News

I need this ASAP!!!  This is by far one of the best vest’s I’ve seen this year.

Quintessential outdoors label The North Face team up with Junya Wantanabe’s COMME des GARCONS MAN on a new down vest for the Holidays. The piece features a simple design with the usual Wantanabe design aesthetic accented with a premium leather yoke and asymmetrical zipper pockets.

SOURCE: F.Luxury.B

Ferris Bueller fans in Liverpool rejoice as The Fact are showing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off this Saturday and Sunday at 4pm.

In “Wonderful World,” a dark comedy, Broderick portrays a former children’s folk singer and father who has fallen on hard times — until he meets his roommate’s flamboyant sister, played by Tony Award-nominated actress Sanaa Lathan.

Man,  I havn’t done one of these for a while. Actually, I haven’t done much of anything on here for a while. And for that, I am sorry. So to make amends, I am writing this pants-less with large foam sombrero on my head. The things I do for you people. Now let’s get down to business.

“Graaaaaaaaace!” Holy shit, this lady is one of my favorites. It is Edie McClurg, the round, bubbly, chipper mid-western lady that occasionally will drop an F-bomb. Everything about her, I love.  And it is not just because she has been in John Hughes films. Although that is a big part. What am I talking about? Between Ed Rooney’s secretary role and her role in Planes Trains and Automobiles, she can do no wrong with me. In fact, even if those were her only two times on the silver screen, she would still be a huge star to me.

But even though she rocked the last half of the eighties, her type-cast didn’t hold her back from continuing a very busy career all the way to today. She started satirical acting at a young age and was even a voice in the 1960’s cartoon The Jetsons. (How awesome would it be if she was Astro?) Her first real movie role was Carrie an since then she has been in John Hughes’ films,  Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, voice overs for Pixar movies and numerous of TV shows like Small Wonders, Diff’ent Strokes, Mr. Belvedere, Sienfeld, Rosanne and so many others. Oddly enough she was never in an episode of Murder She Wrote. There goes that theory. But still, her role as Grace the secretary made her what she is for me today: a sex symbol I am not proud of. Rowr…

If you look close, that is Edie in the shower. Yeah, I need to get out more.

I forget who requested Wyatt from Weird Science but here you go. His real name is Ilan Mitchell and was discovered by a talent agent at a ballet studio in Massachusetts. Yeah, speaking of weird. From then he went on to a brief but successful acting career including, of course, Weird Science, The Chocolate War, the TV series Superboy and few others. To be perfectly honest, I only remember him as Wyatt and have very fuzzy memories of Superboy. But that is okay because…

he wasn’t meant to be an actor but rather a real life professor.

It’s true, Ilam went from Weird Science to Weird-Beard and also…total…denim. Sorry, that distracted me. What was I saying? Ah yes, Ilam is married with two kids and is an assistant professor of English. Oddly enough his wife never knew of his acting career until one day she confessed to loving The Chocolate War. That is when Ilam not only confessed to loving The Chocolate War as well but also to staring in it. TA DA! I don’t know what is more disturbing; being married to the star of your favorite movie and not knowing it or not knowing you’re married to the star of the John Hughes 1986 classic, Weird Science. Either way, that is a great excuse for domestic violence.

Please don’t think that I am about to do what you think I am. I am actually curious to see what Chris Burke, who played Corky Thatcher in the early 1990’s hit show Life Goes On, is up to today. And looking to IBDM for a reference it seems that Chris has been on a few other shows like ER and Touched By An Angle. There are others but to be honest, if the role he plays in Life Goes On, Touched By An Angle  and ER is the same, is it worth listing? That’s what I thought too.

I might be alone on this but did it piss anyone off that his family nicknamed him “Corky” on Life Goes On? If you have a downs syndrome kid, don’t give him a fucking nickname. Especially if it is cute and ends in a “Y”. AT LEAST Chris was able to rise above it. In an interview he said:

“People said I could never become an actor because I’m retarded. It goes to show you that anyone can make their dreams a reality… unless they’re brain dead.“

Holy Fuck.

In my quest to see what Chris is up to, I found this on YouTube and had to sit for awhile after. There are somethings that leave me unable to add anything to them. This is one of those times. If there are small children in the room, you might want to ask them to leave now.

So…anyone for a chip? Yeah, I lost my appetite too.

When I think of someone who is the epitome of The Shit, my mind immediately conjures Ferris Bueller.  A friend to all, a schemer, a dreamer, and a figment of Cameron Frye’s imagination (?), Matthew Broderick brought the ultimate cool-guy to life (and paved the way as a future archetype for Parker Lewis and Zack Morris).

And in the first half of his career, Matthew Broderick was The Shit.  Need proof?

I don’t think anyone could argue against the fact that these are good movies.

Then this happened:

Sarah Jessica Parker.  Well, it’s her or being in The Cable Guy.*  The cursed Jim Carrey vehicle came out in ‘96, and the pair married in May of ‘97, so the timing is a little fuzzy, but as a result, this is what followed:

Now don’t get me wrong.  There were a few glimmers of hope peppered in there (independent films, such as Election and You Can Count on Me were great).  And there are some films I haven’t even mentioned.  (I never saw The Producers, so I can’t comment on its quality, but I did see Finding Amanda, and that was pointless.  Therefore, it’s a wash…)  But I’d say the best chance at redemption came through his guest appearance on 30 Rock:

Dubya called him Cooter Burger. Or should I say, "dubbed him."

A good comedy series where he plays a dad that used to be The Shit à la Ferris Bueller might be a cool idea, and a career saver.  It could be called Back In My Day, or something like that.  Say, that’s a really good idea… how do you copyright a blog post?

Or he could make this movie...

*It actually could have been The Road to Wellville that started the slip.  I didn’t count it because it came out the same year as The Lion King, but the film did revolve around colonics – and that’s Just Shitty.

Just saw this dope video from StreetLevel.com on YouTube.  It’s footage from them covering the Kid Cudi x BAPE T-Shirt Release Party.  Some great guests were in attendance including Ferris Bueller from F.Luxury.B, Joe LaPuma from Complex Magazine, Levi Maestro of Maestro Knows, and Emeka Obi from 10.DEEP / Play Cloths.

A shout out to our fellow UPC committee Cinematheque who are screening Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Sunday, November 8th in the amphitheater. If Ferris, hot refreshments, and free entertainment aren’t great enough stick around after for an appearance by the man himself, Matthew Broderick!

Interested in more great movies that are free to UVA students, check out the Virginia Film Festival’s website for some great ways to spend the weekend. The festival begins today, so make sure to check the line up as soon as possible before you miss any panel discussions of old favorites or exclusive screenings of new films.

Referência para toda uma geração, esse filme não recebeu nenhum Oscar ou Globo de Ouro.

Sinto-me, portanto, na obrigação de corrigir esse erro. Afinal, quem nunca invejou o Ferris?

Ou você vai negar que nesses dias quentes você não pensa em cabular aula e/ou trabalho?

Quem também nunca se imaginou, em pleno Vale do Anhangabaú, quebrando o barraco?

PS1: Eu adoro a galera que dança na escada.

PS2: Esse é um dos poucos filmes que vale a pena ver dublado.

PS3: Outros pontos que eu adoro nesse clássico:

- o trote que o Ferris prega no Mr. Rooney;

- o Mr. Rooney invadindo a casa do Ferris e dando de cara com um puppy;

- o roteiro que eles fazem por NY;

- a Sloane paquerando o pai dele, que lê, no táxi, um jornal com a manchete: Sociedade preocupada com a delinquência juvenil.   

- a ‘Quatro-olhos’ sentada ao lado do Rooney no ônibus escolar.

E, claro, a filosofia do Ferris:

A vida passa rápido demais e se você não parar de vez em quando para viver a vida, acaba perdendo seu tempo.

E, então, o que você vai fazer hoje?

“Life moves pretty fast sometimes, if you don’t slow down to look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Do you remember that famous quote from FERRIS BUELLER”S DAY OFF?  Sometimes we get so caught up on the hustle and bustle of traveling to and from the office that we forget to take in our environment.  Now, nobody hates sitting in traffic more than me; especially when I am 5 minutes away from my destination.  However, I realized yesterday that sitting in traffic can have a benefit.  It gives you the opportunity to look around and take in your environment.  While sitting in traffic yesterday I noticed yesterday two locations that I am going to shoot.  I drive by these locations everyday, but never noticed them until I was traveling slow enough to see them.  Now I cant wait to go shoot them.

Thank you Ferris!

Today I was called in to work early. After arriving to work and working for a few hours the girl I was working with had to go home. The owner of the store drove her home, leaving me for an hour all alone in the store. At first they were to leave me with 2 batches of bread to bake; a task I’ve never done. I was terrified I would burn the bread or worse myself!! So I made a quick prayer (more like a plea) asking not to be left alone. God answered, and the girl and owner stayed until both batches were cooked and out of the oven. Praise God! So with the bread out and cooling, they left and I stayed. With in minutes there were 3 customers, and then there were 7. Soon there were over 10 people in line. I began to run out of veggies and the phone started a constant ring. I started to panic, the customers kept coming. I washed my hands after serving a customer and couldn’t get my gloves on with wet sticky hands. I just looked at the man in line. He gave me a sympathetic smile, and said “take your time”. I explained I had never been left alone before and I was really trying hard. I couldn’t cry it would only make it worse. So I pulled on my gloves, took a deep breath and started serving again. The next person through the door was the 6 o’clock girl. Within seconds she was beside me and the line began to dwindle down. When there were no customers left I went into the back and cried a total of 3 tears, that’s all I could allow out without losing control. Before my shift was up the same girl that left earlier during my day called me up and asked me to take her shift tomorrow. I hate saying no. I try really hard to be reliable. Despite my issue with saying no, and at the risk of being unreliable I said “no, sorry I can’t”. I have worked all weekend and a couple extra shifts, but this time I had to say no. I am starting to think in an Indian accent. (All the employees at my subway are Indian and speak it 24/7). I know I have a certain responsibility to take extra shifts, its part of being a team. But I also have a responsibility to take care of my mental sanity. So tomorrow is my Mental Health Day! (Thank you Ferris Bueller for putting a name to it)

Yes I own both VHS and DVD versions... Me and Ferris are that close!