Movies, Songs and Books

Movies, books and songs that provoke memories.
You know what I mean, I hope.

That one song comes on and it takes you back to that moment when you first heard it or you had a meaningful experience associated with it.

"Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden.  I was ten and it was my first dance with a boy.

"The Killer" by Mobile.  I heard this on the radio when I was in Washington, I think I was nineteen, and I searched for it for months on the internet and couldn't find it.  Finally I heard it tv, I think, and downloaded it right away.  It was a song I listened to late at night and I just felt confident.  The band came to my town and I imagined myself being in the bar, confident, dancing to my song and owning the room.  In reality, I sat at a table and enjoyed the band from there.

"I Will Wait For You" by Mumford and Sons.  I just started dating my now fiancee then and this song had just come out at the time.  I listened to it on repeat for months and whenever I went on the ferry to see him.  So I just associate it with him.

"Running Up That Hill" by Placebo.  My eyes tear up when I hear this song.  I relate it to a very dark time in my life and it's just a hard song to listen to now, but I still have it on my ipod.

"Crystals" by Of Monsters and Men.  We listened to this song so much last Summer, especially during our road trip to California. 

"First Date" by Blink-182.  I loved Blink-182, still do, but this song reminds me of being a teenager.  I would listen to this song from a mixed cd, on my discman (yes, a discman) and imagine going on dates with the boys I had crushes on.  I was pretty boy crazy growing up, but never did anything about it.

"Shh" by Donora.  I was 22, obsessed with Donora and some other bands that sounded like them and I was just weird?  I would come home from my 5 hour shift at noon and go for a walk.  I'd stop by the convenience store and get a red slushy from the cute blonde boy who worked there (like I said boy obsessed) and then walk while listening to music.  And that's what I did most Sundays.  I was really confident at that time and my anxiety wasn't really present during those 6 months.


Movies.  I love movies so much it makes me want to cry.
I wanted to be apart of movies so badly and make people feel the things I felt watching them.  I did acting classes for quite awhile and did some castings but never got anything.  It just got too expensive to keep doing the classes that I loved so much.  Those classes really brought me out of my shell and showed me how to express myself again and that I didn't have to keep feelings bottled up inside.

"Whip It".  Yes, the roller derby movie.  That was the first movie I ever saw alone.  I remember it was a really sunny day, I wasn't working yet, my Dad was up North with my Grandfather who was dying and I just decided to take the bus and see a movie.
This movie is what sparked that confidence I was talking about earlier.  I saw this and felt, empowered?
It just made me feel good.
I felt confident because I saw a movie at the theater alone.
The movie just inspires confidence.  I even watched it today because I was feeling down and this movie just cheers me up.

"The Vow".  Another movie I saw alone.  It was Valentine's Day, I had just finished work and realized the boy I was seeing at the time would never take me to see and I just felt like getting lost at the movies that day.  So that's what I did.
It's not the best movie ever, it's kind of a sappy chick flick but I love it.  I can watch it over and over again.

"The Labyrinth".  My Grandma got us to watch this when I was a kid, I was really young...I'm thinking six or seven.  Loved it, always have, always will.  Plus I remember when I used to work at the grocery store with my fiancee and he asked if I had seen it, all I could think was "this boy knows what The Labyrinth is????? Must date."
It is such an odd movie but it kind of set a tone for a lot of the movies I'd like growing up.

"Poltergeist".  Another movie my Grandma got me to watch.  I was ten and I was so into this movie.  I had to watch all three.  I remember writing a story at school about the movie, my teacher must of thought I was a really strange kid.

I read, a lot.
But I can only come up with a couple books that have impacted me.

"Gingerbread", "Shrimp" and "Cupcake" by Rachel Cohn.  I absolutely adore her character Cyd Charisse and her badassery.  She is so confident and I've always admired her for that.  I picked "Gingerbread" up when I was thirteen and then I think I got "Cupcake" when I was nineteen or twenty.  I'm curious how she turned out as an adult and if she has a successful bakery like I imagine her to have.

"Violet on the Runway" by Melissa Walker.  I used to talk to Melissa Walker occasionally on her website, it was really neat.  I don't even remember how I found out about these books.  They're easy reads but I really enjoy them.  Violet, is just an average awkward girl but she gets discovered by a model scout and the story goes from there.  I used to always want to model and so I felt like I got a feel for how rough it can be through these books.


I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know what movies, songs or books have had an impact on your life!