Favorite Recent Movie: JUNO!

I love quirky movies. Movies that make you laugh, wonder what in the heck the writer/director/producer/actor/dog was thinking, and keep your interest even after the credits roll. I was lucky enough to steal away with a good friend of mine a few weeks ago, right when "Juno" was released in theaters. It had received great reviews but no one I knew had seen it. I was very pleasanly surprised, and since then, I've been recommending it to all my friends.

Why did I like this movie? First off, I adored the character Juno MacGuff, played perfectly by Ellen Page. Despite her age (16, junior in high school) and her perdicament (pregnant), she radiates confidence. She never sugar-coats anything, whether she's speaking to a popular kid in her school, an adult she's just met, or her father when she's announcing her pregnancy. She's cute, sassy, smart, matter-of-fact, and has an offbeat sense of humor. She talks on a hamburger phone, plasters her bedroom walls with posters, pours her Slurpee in her step-mom's vase, and has an (odd, IMHO) infatuation with guys in nylon running shorts and cult horror flicks. I fell instantly in love with Juno from the opening scene, where she's downing a bottle of Sunny D en route to the neighborhood drug store to do yet another pregnancy test.

The two quotes (I'm doing this from memory, so please don't quote my quotes, haha!) I loved most are: "He's good in chair." (The baby was made in a chair, not in a bed.) and "I don't know what kind of girl I am." (After her dad said, "I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when.")

There are so many funny bits, some very sad/touching parts, and there's even some romance sprinkled in. It deals with a very touchy subject, teenage pregnancy, in a very unique way. From the writing and photography to the casting and sound track, the movie is done very well. I will definitely buy it when it comes out in DVD. Apparently, I'm not alone in thinking it's a swell flick. It's up for 4 Oscars, as well as winning and being nominated for many other accomplished awards. I give "Juno" a "Heck, Yeah!" (That's as good as it gets, folks.)

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New Year's Revolution

So this week’s topic is music—and it just so happens to be a big week for music here on the home front. Which is definitely a good thing, since I ended 2007 in what can only be described as a musical rut. It was the kind of thing that started slowly, and came with little to no warning. And before I knew it I was listening to the same thirty songs on my most favored iPod playlist—and ignoring everything else.

And then—my BFF and her BF threw a New Year’s bash

(Check out her boots!)

And I spent the entire night dancing to this band--

That, my friends, is a picture of guitar legend Johnny V! And let me just say that he and his band--ROCK THE HOUSE! Or in this case--the backyard! I've seen them before at Humphrey's

(photo taken at Humphrey's- me with Johnny V sax player, the completely amazing- Walter!)

But getting a private show was a treat! And the funny thing is, that old Elvin Bishop song- "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" was on my most favored playlist-- and, as it just so happens, Mr. Johnny V played that song when he toured with Elvin Bishop for 6 years!

And then, while I was listening to my Johnny V CD (over and over again), I went through a major movie going/renting phase, which just so happened to spawn a major iTunes shopping spree.

It all started with JUNO (if you haven’t seen it yet, please drop whatever it is that you’re doing and Get thee to the Cineplex!). The second I got home I downloaded Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes” (I already had the David Bowie version, but it’s always nice to have the original), and “Anyone Else But You” because I really liked the ending where the two characters sang it to each other.

And then I saw INTO THE WILD—(another must see!)—and found myself downloading a bunch of those moody Eddie Vedder songs that so perfectly made up the movie’s soundtrack.

My recent re-rental (is that a word?) of ALMOST FAMOUS inspired the purchase of “Wind” by Cat Stevens because I love that scene where Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) is dancing alone on an empty stage with that song playing in the background. Actually I love just about everything about that movie and am extremely envious of Cameron Crowe’s childhood as (according to the movie) it was WAY more glamorous and exciting than mine!

Watching HIGH FIDELITY (for the gazillionth time) didn’t spawn any recent downloads, though it did confirm my zealot’s love of music and anything Nick Hornby.

So what about you? Has a song from a movie ever inspired a music shopping binge??

Alyson Noel is the author of FAKING 19, ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS, LAGUNA COVE, FLY ME TO THE MOON, KISS & BLOG, SAVING ZOE, FIST KISS (THEN TELL), CRUEL SUMMER (May 2008), and MY IMMORTAL (Fall 2008). You can visit her at: www.alysonnoel.com

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