Lovely Weekend Plans

Today I kicked off the best weekend of the whole year -- Valentine's Day weekend!

"But Amanda, you're single!" I hear you exclaim. "How could you so enthusiastically celebrate such a corrupt and disgusting holiday?!"

Oh my dear friends. Let me enlighten you. Don't you realize this is the one weekend of the year it's appropriate to binge-squee through all sorts of wonderful movies?

I've had a pretty stressful week, full of really good things (such as getting hired as an on-call assistant editor at the LDS Motion Picture Studio) and some not so good things (such as a confrontation with one of my students). In general it was tiring and demanded me to be adult and responsible (much time was spent on the phone with my bank), and I sure am glad it's finally the weekend.

But not just any weekend. Oh-ho, no! I can gladly say I've already watched six hours--I repeat, six hours--of beautiful movies full of hardship and the beauty of love.

While I slogged through piles of papers that needed to be graded, I watched BBC's North & South. I already have a whole post devoted to this movie (which was written several years ago--I apologize for everything), and though I mostly listened to it this time through, due to previously mentioned slogging, it is still a wonderful, depressing movie that has one of the most cathartic kisses ever to be seen on any screen. If you haven't seen this and you're a fan of drama, period pieces, industrial northern England, or just plain good acting, give this a try. It's on Netflix even!

Oh and remember how I went to London a year or two ago? I saw that lovely man, Richard Armitage, on stage at the Old Vic in The Crucible playing John Proctor. Relive that post here. Yeah, that was pretty much a highlight of my whole trip. And for those of you wondering, yes, he's just as handsome in person.

Next on the list was Persuasion (2007). My roommate hadn't seen this version (blasphemy!) so I swung by the library on my way home and picked it up. Though there are some awkward camera movements and an all too severe hairstyle for Anne, it is still a complete joy. The acting, especially from Rupert Penry-Jones and Sally Hawkins, is what makes this movie. Favorite scenes: when Anne writes in her journal and wonders if he has a wife and children and if he'll bring them to Kellynch Hall, when Wentworth introduces everyone to Harville on the beach, when Wentworth realizes he's free from his understanding, when he runs into her for the first time in Bath, and (obviously) the end.

By the way, if you like Rupert Penry-Jones (aka if you're a human being) you should check out The 39 Steps (2008). Really fun remake of Hitchcock's film or the book, if you want to go back even further.


All in all, an extremely successful kick off of my annual Valentine's celebration. You can never go wrong starting with period dramas. Maybe tomorrow I'll do some musicals, some action movies (Priest is a yearly <3 Day tradition), or some good old rom-coms.

Valentine's Day doesn't have to be a dumb "singles awareness day" or a holiday where you get together with friends to be bitter about relationships and the skyrocketing fresh flower and chocolate sales. Seize the opportunity for a socially-acceptable treat-yo-self weekend! For me, this means movies, TV, books, music, and popcorn. Celebrate the relationships in your life -- your sister, brother, friends, and, of course, yourself!

Oh! And I'm going to make these uber delicious cookies tomorrow, so if you're nice to me I might give you some. That is, if you come get them. Cuz there ain't no way I'm going to have time to deliver with all these wonderful movies just waiting to be watched!

Here's my exclusive Valentine's playlist--not every song is happy and it's probably the weirdest collective of songs you'll see in a while, but I love all of them.