A Walk to Remember: Goofs and Trivia

And now to my favorite part - trivia and goofs. I am usually pretty good at seeing the inconsistencies, but this movie fooled even me.

• This movie was filmed in only thirty-nine days, despite the fact that they only had Mandy Moore for ten hours a day because she was still a minor.
• Jessica Simpson was considered for the role of Jamie Sullivan. Thank God they made this change.  Jessica Simpson can barely act her way out of a paper bag. 
• At the beginning of the movie, when Landon and Clay are on the tower before Clay jumps into the pool, the water is spraying out over the water like a regular high diving tower, however, when the tower is seen from below, there is a small stream of water, not a spray.
• In the school bus scene, if you look through the back door window, you can see someone in the car following the bus wave.
• Beaufort, North Carolina is nowhere near the Virginia state line.

And now a quote from the movie:

Jamie: You have to promise you won't fall in love with me.

Landon: That's not a problem.

Movie #2: A Walk to Remember

Next up was another Nicholas Sparks classic, "A Walk to Remember," starring Mandy Moore and Shane West. I have seen this movie like a hundred times and every single time, I have to fight back tears. This movie is a good girl reforms bad boy story. At the beginning, you want the stupid guy to be gone with his stupid actions that have gotten him in trouble, but by the end, you are rooting for his new tender nature. 

I would give this movie a 3 out of 5 stars. The storyline is good, but at times the acting seems a bit forced. And let's be honest, we had to watch Mandy Moore pout her lips for like 60 minutes. Without knowing it, I started doing it. I can definitely say that her acting has gotten better with each movie that she has done. 

This movie just makes you wish for that person who will stay with you no matter what. Who will take care of you, love you, and be willing to be there until the end. I love my husband and think he will stay with me until I die, but he won't be as romantic as this guy was. He built her a freaking telescope for God's sake! That is a true romantic. 

The Best of Me: Goofs and Trivia

If you are like me, you love random trivia that you find about movies you watch. Here are some trivia and goofs that you will enjoy.

• Paul Walker was cast in the lead role but after he passed away, the role was given to James Marsden. I don't know how Walker would have done (RIP), but Marsden was amazing and he is uber handsome!
• Every dress (except the last) that the character of Amanda wears (even as an adult) has an open back. I actually noticed this and was secretly hating that my back isn't flawless enough to pull off a backless dress. 
• At the oil platform, Dawson posts an envelope with money but does not seem to seal it. I saw this too! Knew it would come up as a blooper!
• Dawson's eyes change color from brown to blue through the years. Someone really should have caught that. Lol.

Finally, I leave you with a quote:

Amanda: You want me to fall back in love with you? How do I do that if I haven't ever stopped?

Is it just me or could she totally be Megan Fox's younger sister!

Movie #1: The Best of Me

The first movie of my Netflix and Chill romance-a-thon was "The Best of Me" based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. Ok, this one was a tearjerker. I may have released like two tears at the end. It was a young romance gone sad type of movie like "The Notebook." Rich girl from good family falls for poor boy from the wrong side of the track who is actually good at heart. We all want that type of innocent, youthful love, don't we? Then the bad stuff happens that breaks up the young love and the rest of the movie is the will-they-won't-they scenario. No spoilers here, but I would give this movie a 4 out of 5 stars. Some parts were easy to guess what was going to happen next, which is the folly of most movies nowadays. However, the acting gets high marks. 

This movie made me ponder a bit. Everyone has that one person from their past that they in some way still love. The person who if they showed up at this very moment, your heart may skip a beat. Probably like many people, it ended bad or had no real resolution. In the end, though, the majority of us would move on with our lives as it was progressing. We wouldn't go back to that person in fear that what you had wasn't that great. Or even just the idea that the life you have is not that bad and not worth risking. 

You do hear of those stories where the love was too hard to ignore. How once you saw that person again, you just couldn't go back. How everything picked up just as if you had not spent 5, 10, 15, or even 20 years apart. You see these people together and you know that they are truly happy. You wonder if their love story would have shone as bright had they been together those years. Would they be living a mundane life in a relationship that had lost its spark?

What would you do if that one who got away showed up right now at your doorstep? 

Netflix and Chill

So I dropped off like I usually do after trying to blog for too long. Blame the ADHD in me. Plus I really just am not that exciting.  So I have given myself a new challenge to get my writing going. I am going to watch every romantic movie on Netflix. (Let me clarify, every movie in the Romantic genre on Netflix. No matter if I watched it before or if it is boring or utterly strange. I will watch it, write about it, maybe go on tangents about my day, etc. Let's see how long we can keep this up.

Talk later!
Crystal

Day 13 of 25 Days of Christmas: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Dear readers, I learned something new about my Hubby. He loves classical music. What?! Yep! So for day 13 of my 25 Days of Christmas, I took Hubby and I to see the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. For their "Christmas with the ASO," they brought the joy of Christmas.

From their website:

"Capture the spirit of the holidays with the Orchestra’s iconic story of Christmas, created by the legendary Robert Shaw. A majestic cast of over 400 musicians brings to life the Greatest Story Ever Told."

In addition to the orchestra, there were three wonderful choirs, The Gwinnett Young Singers, The Morehouse College Glee Club, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. They absolutely blew us away! My favorite part had to be when they played the music from "The Nutcracker," which is my absolute favorite ballet.

To say that these are the best of the best musicians is an understatement. Their talents and dedication to get this far is inspiring. Hubby and I are already talking about going back again!

Talk later!
Crystal

Day 12 of 25 Days of Christmas: Holiday Drink and a Book

I love reading. I mean, I LOVE READING! And my guilty pleasure is cheesy, romantic novels. I am talking Harlequin novels where the woman's bust is heaving on the cover. Lol. I was the only 15 year old who had a subscription of Harlequin-type books. My love for the opposites attract or the unlikely romantic are my favorites. Well for Day 12 of 25 Days of Christmas, I decided to grab me a new Christmas themed romance, make me a Christmas drink, and read my day away.

Let's start with the book. Ok, so I did not physically grab a book...lol. More like, I pulled up my Kindle app and started reading digitally. Because I have Amazon Prime, I am able to download lots of romance novels for free. So for today's book, I chose "Unwrapping Her Perfect Match." Not only is it about Christmas, but it has a rugby angle to the story. See, reading and learning about a new sport!

Here is the long summary of the book from Amazon:

’Twas a week before Christmas, and at the auction house... 

At six foot one, Gwen Chambers has felt like a giant her whole life. She’s a calm, capable nurse saving lives in a busy London hospital, but healthy men give her heart palpitations. When larger-than-life rugby player “Little” John Sheldon convinces her to bid on him in his team’s fundraising auction, she discovers how pleasurable heart palpitations can be. 

A rugby player was stirring, with desire no one could douse... 

John has wanted Gwen since he first saw her, but when he’s injured in a match just before Christmas he suddenly needs her too. Not only can the sexy nurse help him recover, but she might be able to help him look after his daughter—a shy ten-year-old who speaks only French. 

But will it be a Happy Christmas for all, and for all a good night? 

From decorating the Christmas tree to ice skating at the Tower of London, Gwen helps father and daughter open up and bond with each other—and she bonds right along with them. But when John's agent calls with a life-changing offer, Gwen has to decide how far she’s willing to go for her perfect match. Will their first Noël also be their last?

Cheesy, right?! Well, so far, I am loving it. I was able to get through about half of the book in an afternoon and will be finishing it in the next week.

Now for the Christmas drink...this one was hard. I just could not find anything that sounded good enough or in small portions that I could drink alone. I did not want to end up with a gallon of punch, you know? Well, I had a bottle of red wine and I thought, Sangria! A red wine sangria is perfect for winter, especially when you add some citrus fruits. Here is the great recipe that I used.

Well that is all. Going back to read more of my book. 

Talk later!

Crystal