I found a giveaway!

I entered a giveaway and wanted all of you to have a chance at winning too! This post is purely for selfish reasons, as the blogger will enter me twice if I post about it! Hee Hee Hee! Anyway...
Here is the link to the giveaway post so ya'll can enter: http://hannahbearsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-first-giveaway.html
and here is a picture of what you would win:

An excerpt from the post: "You can enter to win these two bars of homemade glycerin soaps. Both of these soaps are antibacterial. I love to make soap and I decided on these two because they smell the very best. The large square is coconut lime verbena with coconut flakes at the bottom of the bar. The round one is goats milk and honey with a little bit of oats and some vanilla. The giveaway includes both of these soaps so their will only be one winner."

So go try your hand at giveaways... this one definitely takes the cake (get it, cakes of soap? Yeah, I know lame!).

Movie Review Friday

I'm going to copy my friend Ella by doing one or two old movie reviews every Friday. I might break from the old movie cycle by occasionally throwing in something from 'this century.' :) Sometimes there will be musicals, dramas, or just family favorites. I could drone, er, talk about old movies for hours so if these posts are a weeee bit long, bear with me. :)

Today I'm going to review one of my favorite musicals: Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

Cast: Robert Walker, Van Heflin, Lucille Bremer, Judy Garland and the MGM star parade.

This movie is a lovely bio-pic about Jerome Kern. I first heard of Jerome Kern through this movie, and absolutely fell in love with his songs. It is a movie that is mostly fiction based on fact. MGM puts sparkle and fun into everything, no matter about how accurate (or not accurate) it may be. Robert Walker plays the young Jerome Kern, just starting out in the music business. He writes melodies to songs and he goes to Jim Hessler (Van Heflin) to help with writing the score and 'getting it out there.' The majority of the movie is clips of Jerome's Kern's songs that MGM stars sing and dance to. The title song, Till the Clouds Roll By, is sung by Ray McDonald while he dances with June Allyson on a stage in plastic rain coats, umbrellas and, of course, rain. This movie has MGM's star power, glitz, sparkle and charisma at every turn.

The beginning of the movie shows an older Jerome Kern (Robert Walker) watching the play "Showboat" he and Oscar Hammerstein put together based on the novel by Edna Ferber. MGM stars are cast in the show within the movie. Lena Horne sings, "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine" as Julie Laverne. Viginia O'Brien sings, "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" very humorously. And, my personal favorite part of this segment of the movie, is when Kathryn Grayson and Tony Martin, as Magnolia and Gaylord, sing "Make Believe." Kathryn Grayson went on to star in the movie version of Showboat a few years later. As Jerome Kern is being driven to the after-party, he begins a retrospect as he passes the house where his good friend, Jim Hessler had lived when he (Jerome Kern) was just starting out.

Through out the movie, stars such as Angela Lansbury, Kathryn Grayson, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Cyd Charisse, Tony Martin, Ray McDonald, June Allyson, Judy Garland, Virginia O'Brien, the Wilde Twins and Lena Horne, all have beautifully choreographed and directed musical numbers singing Jerome Kern's timeless songs. This movie is a feast for the eyes and ears for any musical enthusiast.

Can you tell I love this movie yet? :) Just kidding. See you next Friday!