Mandy Moore, my inspiration?

Soon to have a graduate degree in hand, I like to think of myself as intelligent, so I don’t even know how to start this blog. I’m just gonna throw it out there: I like movies made for teenagers. Or younger, even. When Los is home, we spend money on more intellectual, or fast-paced, suspenseful, etc. genres of movies. Usually. Actually, we had free tickets last winter that I used, dragging him to see Enchanted. He endured it like a champ, that is love! Not gonna lie, I cried. I don’t know what it is, but every time he leaves, I go to my neighbor’s houses and borrow all kinds of cheesy, sappy movies that we usually would never watch together. Chick flicks galore, and things like Princess Diaries and Bring it On. I mean, what?
I almost feel like writing this is some kind of confession, but it’s laughable. It seems incongruous with the rest of my personhood- but I love movies like this! I remember a couple of years ago, I went with Kathleen and Mallory Cummins to see 13 Going On 30. Mallory was the age the movie was geared toward, yet she sat there with an embarrassed/incredulous look on her face while her mom and I cried! Ha!
My new favorite is Chasing Liberty, a couple of years old, but I just watched it this week for the first time. And then I may or may not have watched it four more times... Come on, I was multi-tasking! I’ve already confessed my slight infatuation with daughters of Presidents. I mean, if I’m never gonna be one, I would at least like to meet one. But so far the closest I’ve come to actualizing that dream is watching movies about First Daughters.
The movie is shot in Prague, Venice, Berlin, London and D.C., some of the world’s most awesome cities. I went to Prague before it was a big deal, in 1999; and it is so gorgeous! I went to the ballet Swan Lake there, a memory I won’t soon forget. In Chasing Liberty Mandy Moore and the guy (my new fave Brit, Matthew Goode) have a cool scene watching an opera from a rooftop. I think I’ve only been to the Opera once, in Vienna, Austria- and that was just because everyone else was doing it. But I’ve never really been into it. So Mandy Moore’s character inspired me to learn about opera some, and to try going to a couple. I learned that Vancouver, Seattle and San Francisco’s operas all have some interesting performances coming up. I figure I should experience Puccini and others’ creations in person rather than on YouTube or Wikipedia, which is what I have done this week. So anyone up for some culture, holler at your girl. Or if you have more chick flicks to recommend, you could holler at me as well☺

And p.s. to all closet Mandy Moore fans, her new album sounds cool, she collaborated with awesome people like Lori McKenna, The Weepies, Chantal Kreviazuk, and a guy who produced John Mayer.