Ratatouille

I just finished watching the latest Pixar movie Ratatouille. As most of you reading this know, I am a huge Disney fan and even a bigger Pixar fan! I was never disappointed in any of the Pixar films and this was no exception. Probably the greatest thing I love about Pixar films is the unknown. What I mean as unknown is when I first hear about a computer generated movie about a fish, monsters, talking toys, cars, a fat super hero, bugs or in this case a cooking RAT, it really makes me wonder, how the HELL are they going to pull this off? You will see a trailer or a commercial and get just a teeny tiny look into the world of Pixar and it is not until the end of the movie can you piece together the vision and the magic of the Pixar vision into the world of say a rat with a passion for cooking.

It was a great movie and defiantly went in its own direction. Brad Bird, the producer’s style and vision is amazing! With Pixar your never going to get a cookie cut, formula driven cheap movie. Instead you get an original classic of animated history! It is really starting to get hard to pick a favorite Pixar movie because they all hold a special place for me as I look back at them.

The animated short called “Lifted” before the movie was very funny and a great piece in itself. You can buy it for two bucks on iTunes!

New “Ratatouille” trailer
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyrhfVspN3Y]

Ratatouille Pixar – 9 Minutes Preview
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwrJjLDIj1w]

Ratatouille Featurette
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utCMr03W8wc]

Counting Crows, Big Yellow Taxi

If you haven’t noticed I am digging You Tube lately! So I am doing searches of things on my mind! I saw The Counting Crows last week in concert and was reminded what an amazing band they are! I was a little disappointed in some of the song selections they had choose, but they are still an great band! This is my one of my favorite songs that they do next to Mr Jones (although it is a Joni Mitchell song) I still Love it! The video is even more awesome that it was shot in Coney Island, another one of my obsessions, Amusement Parks! I wish I was alive to see Coney Island in it’s Hey Day! Awesome song and video, enjoy!

A Little History :

‘Big Yellow Taxi” is a song originally written and performed by Joni Mitchell.

Mitchell got the idea for the song during a visit to Hawaii. She looked out of her hotel window at the spectacular Pacific mountain scenery, and then down to a parking lot. The phrase “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot” was referenced in Eric Schlosser’s book Chew on This regarding urban development and how small towns are losing their small town feel.

Joni said this about writing the song to journalist Alan McDougall in the early 1970’s :

“Living in Los Angeles, smog chocked L.A., is bad enough but the last straw came when I visited Hawaii for the first time. It was night time when we got there, so I didn’t get my first view of the scenery until I got up the next morning. The hotel room was quite high up so in the distance I could see the blue Pacific Ocean. I walked over to the balcony and there was the picture book scenery, palm tree swaying in the breeze and all. Then I looked down and there was this ugly concrete car park in the hotel grounds. I thought “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” and that’s how the song “Big Yellow Taxi” was born.”

Big Yellow Taxi Lyrics

They paved paradise and put up a parkin’ lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin’ hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parkin’ lot

They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no, don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parkin’ lot

Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT
I don’t care about spots on my apples,
Leave me the birds and the bees – please
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey now, they’ve paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Why not?

Listen, late last night, I heard the screen door swing,
And a big yellow taxi took my girl away
Now don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey now now, don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you got till it’s gone
They paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Why not, they paved paradise
They put up a parking lot
Hey hey hey, paved paradise and put up a parking lot

I don’t wanna give it
Why you wanna give it
Why you wanna givin it all away
Hey, hey, hey
Now you wanna give it
I should wanna give it
Cuz you’re givin it all away, no no

I don’t wanna give it
Why you wanna give it
Why you wanna givin it all away
Cuz you’re givin it all givin it all away yeah yeah
Cuz You’re givin it all away hey, hey, hey

Hey, paved paradise, to put up a parking lot
la,la, la, la, la, la, la ,la ,la ,la ,la
Paved paradise, and put up a parking lot

Nicky Turns Two!

Speaking of Nicky’s Birthday, the lil guy turned TWO on June 29th! He had another backyard party with the Backyardigans! He is doing GREAT! I can’t get him to shut up! He is just like his dad!

“The iPhone” 2007

Wow, what more can you say about it! It is “The iPhone” and it is HERE! It came out on Nicky’s Birthday, and he almost got one too!! hehe I played with it for the first time that first weekend and it truly is an amazing phone! I never saw such hype and so many people analyzing one product before in my life! I am going to pick one up soon, but I wanted to get a real feel for it and see what people are talking about it! Cell phones for me for some reason never intrigued me so much. I know so many people who get new phones like 2 or 3 times a year. I stuck with my ol Nokia with the flip out keyboard, which is still to me a great phone and it will be missed! Yeas, there is a TON of things that disappoint me about the iPhone and do I wish it was upgraded, YES! I do sit back and see that it blows my Nokia away and it DOES do the things I need it to do! So with all the trade offs, it is a killer phone and communication device and I am looking forward to getting one very, VERY soon!