Movies from Itunes

So, I have a couple of different blog posts-things I want to share- in my head right now, but have been getting backlogged because of how crazy work was last week. I presented at my first, real, adult conference on Friday for a whole hour (well, I co-presented). Anyways, I stood up there and talked to a bunch of environmental educators and teachers about what I have done with the YMCA this year and talked about how our program model meets the goals of leadership development, cross-cultural awareness, service learning and environmental activism. It was pretty cool. I had some good questions, too. The most awesome thing was that I wasn't even that nervous. Maybe it was because I knew that everybody would be on my side or that I was confident in that I knew the program model better than anyone (which, I did, because I work there...). But, really I have been shocked about how my stage fright has dissipated since college. I regularly stand up in front of student BODIES (so 300-750 students) and give them a speel about some happening or an event they need to come for. At first, I thought my lack of nerves was a result from the students being younger, so I felt superior over them. However, this conference has given me confidence that I might just have gotten more comfortable speaking in front of an audience in general. YAY!

Anyways, I have rented a number of movies on Itunes this lack week or so and I just wanted to go through them and give a short review.

My Week with Marilyn, I thought was a little-slow moving, but altogether a great movie to lay down and watch. Michelle Williams nails Marilyn both in behavior and in looks (I mean, I think, I haven't really watched any of Marilyn's movies). I was so intrigued sometimes by Marilyn's behavior that I felt the need to pause the movie and wikipedia Marilyn. In fact, I probably spent about an hour reading about Marilyn Monroe during the movie. All in all, I would recommend watching this movie-however, it would be helpful to have a little background about the main persona in the first place. 

This movie did not meet my expectations. All of the acting was superb and the movie was great-but I just didn't really feel any personal attachment to any of the characters, making a 'supposed to be pretty emotional movie' not too powerful, in my opinion. I would recommend it as an entertaining movie, I guess, but nothing life movie and definitely not a 'performance of Clooney's career'

This movie I watched on Netflix Instant and I LOVED IT! It's a documentary about the dude that is the puppeteer for Elmo (as you probably deduced from the image above). Anyways, I recommend this movie to everybody. Every time Elmo giggled, I did too. Elmo has also kissed a bajillion celebrities, I was pretty jealous of that too. And it was so interesting to see how this kid who loved puppets and grew up watching Jim Henson evolved into one of the most iconic characters ever. Just watch it!

Sorry this post is so disjointed, I need to go out to Cap hill so I am rushing super hard. 

Rachel