Mamma Mia, The Singalong! The Good, The Bad, and ... the Other

Ok, primary point of discussion today is "Mamma Mia! The Singalong!" But before we go there, I've got a question. It's rhetorical...especially since I don't think there are any men out there reading my blog. ('How much they miss!' said the humble-hearted bloggist.) But it's a question, nonetheless.

How do men stand having hair on their chests? I mean...personally...I'm glad they do and all, ::whistling innocently::, but how do they stand it?

I got my hair cut right after "The Singalong" and I keep finding bits of cut hair down my shirt because they're itching and DRIVING ME INSANE! And what popped into my mind when I found about the umpteenth hair??? Was it A), "I should go shower off and change clothes"? Was it B), "Sheesh, why does such a tiny thing cause so much irritation?" Or was it C), "HOW DO MEN STAND IT?? HAIR ON THEIR CHESTS ALLLLL THE TIME???" (I hope you all picked C, because if you didn't you weren't reading too closely, were you???....DON'T YOU CARE????)

Ok, when you're done pondering those deep thoughts, turn your attention back here and let's get down to business....which happens to be pleasure this time. (Yes, sometimes the two mix rather well...just ask Meryl.)

You all know my opinion of "Mamma Mia! (The Greatest Movie Ever)." What a fitting name. And we all know that Kristen broke my resistance by informing it was now out in select theaters IN SINGALONG FORMAT! AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! even.

I've been counting down the days. It's been a definite on my calendar. Even when my hairstlyist (with whom I've been playing phone tag) was trying to find a time to fit me in today, I was unavailable during Singalong's time slot. :D

You all also (if you've read all my blog or if you've ever seen me before 9 or 10 in the morning) know that I'm not what we call "a morning person." But I wanted to catch the matinee. I realize I shouldn't be throwing a lot of money at Meryl and Pierce, no matter how amazing their movie is. So I wanted to attend the matinee and not get off my budget. So that was the plan. The matinee was at 11:35...kind of early for a Saturday, but any later and it would be a bit hard to consider it a matinee (what with matinee meaning morning and all.)

Anyway! 11:35 and the theater was 30 minutes from me. (Yeah my closest theater might be hearing from me about this, lol.) So I set my alarm for 10:30. I knew I was going alone and I was going comfy, so half an hour would do it. I know I'm no Meryl but doggone it if she can wear ovies and tool belt, then I can wear comfy clothes, too. So, alarm set for 10:30....which translated to snoozing until 10:55. (Which wasn't easy with the two dress-shirted men ringing my doorbell TWICE before 10. Sorry, no one in here dressed enough to receive you this morning, dudes. Journey on.)

So I got ready in five minutes, yoga pants (not that I've ever done yoga, but man are they comfy!), a tank top, a tee shirt and a jacket in case the theater plotted my death through freezing. Jumped in the car and off I went.

Now normally I'm a pretty calm driver...not overly worried with other drivers, but well...they wouldn't get out of the way this morning! I tried to tell them I had somewhere to be, but it didn't help a lot. Yeah, I was a little.....bit.....excited.

Finally got there, a few minutes still to spare before even the advertisements and preview started to play. I parked and got out, headed toward the box office. Suddenly I realized I wasn't walking. Hill was on the move, running...well jogging anyway... toward the box office. Caught myself and made myself walk...very amused at my own anticipation (but hoping no one else saw me.) I walked up, requested my ticket, and as I paid, the tiny elderly lady giving me the ticket asked, "Are you going to sing along?"

Anyone want to answer her for me????

I gave a very enthusiastic "YES!!" She laughed, handed me the ticket and I headed in the door...handed off the ticket and took the stub. The lady who gave me back the stub said, "You'll enjoy it, it's a very fun movie." I bit back my smarty-pants thoughts, thanked her and headed off down the hall.

Next thought, "What IS it with the running??? WALK!!!" Yeah, busted myself racing for the theater. Somewhere deep inside, I'm still five.

Up until that moment the whole SingAlong experience was all I could hope and more. My anticipation was HUGE and all was going well.

I walked in, looked around and saw about 8 people in the theater. Ohhhhhhhhh crum. Still, I thought, maybe they'll be very enthusiastic. Let's go for it.

So I take my place...all alone...so as not to drown out the movie should anyone else want to hear it. The movie took off, complete with the big blue and gold singalong words lighting up as I sang along to the songs. Emphasis on *I*...because not a darn soul in there made so much as a peep! Except me. And I sang. However..........it was a bit inhibiting. I didn't want to JUST sing. I wanted to BELT IT OUT!! Ok, I guess it wasn't a Belt-It-Out-Along, but still.... Meryl got to belt it out. ::sniff::

It was a singalong with the party poopers. You've heard that every party has a pooper? Well they were all invited to today's singalong. And they all showed up. All 8 of them. It was wrong....on so many levels.

But I sang.........and I hope they enjoyed it. :D

And Sunshine, I want you to know that Pierce looked just as fine up there on the cliff while I sang along with Meryl. The wind still rustled through his hair and flicked at his colllars. And the the part that I think I like the best was when Meryl took off running toward the church and PIERCE RAN AFTER HER. ::sigh:: THAT's when I wished I were Meryl. :) RUN AFTER *ME*, PIERCE!!! OVER HEEEEEEEEEEERE!!! (Shoot, he could have chased me down in the theater hallway....after all I WAS running.)

Ok, that was the part I like best besides singing "The Winner Takes It All" and "Dancing Queen"...and when Colin sings "Our Last Summer" and when he smiles at Sophie at the end of that song...and Pierce and Meryl singing S.O.S. and Pierce dancing when Meryl's singing Super Trouper and fancy spandex, lol, .....and....and...well, there's just a lot of parts I like best. lol

So let this be a lesson to you. Take your own singing mob along if you're going to a matinee. Or be sure you go to a later performance if you want a lot of help singing and don't have a mob of your own to take along.

Oh and it WAS a little disappointing that I didn't have a pair of ovies or a tool belt to wear to the movie today. It really would have made it...party poopers or no.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!

Hello folks. Sorry I've been away. We'll chalk up the absense to the circus I call life...and my brain needing some rest.

I got on here last night, wanting to blog, but had not a single thought in my head worth posting. I woke up this morning, wanting to blog, but again couldn't think of anything blog-worthy. Later in the afternoon, I contemplated it again...no dice. Then I pulled up an email that had some things that my good buddy, Kristen, suggested I blog about. They were good topics...and will make their way here one day before long, but I wasn't quite in the jovial mood that they require. And if I'm going to write about them, I've got to do them justice. They've got to be as insane as the experiences themselves were, or what's the point in sharing?!

But FINALLY, just a bit ago, a thought came (and I owe it to Kristen...even though she didn't suggest it for blog...it's still her fault). So fasten your belts, the train's leaving the station....

Those of you who've read my first blog entries and many of you who just know me...you KNOW how crazy I am about the movie "Mamma Mia!" I love that it's making it big in the movies, but people!! STOP going to see it so it can come out on video, doggone it!! Every time I have some alone time, I'm SORELY tempted to go and see it again. I'm...addicted almost. Ok, completely. The soundtrack cd just isn't enough.

I have gone several weeks now without caving in and going to see it again, but the temptation still rears its ugly (yet delightfully melodic) head.

What does it have to do with Kristen? Why do I get to blame her? I'm so glad you asked. Last night she and I were talking on the phone and what does she do? She informs me that they've now released "Mamma Mia! The Sing Along" in select theaters. And as I googled to see when it was released and looked to see if a "select theater" was near me, I found that it wasn't at my usual theater. What does she do? She suggests a website to further my quest. I go to fandango-dot-com and voila! I found it!! It's in my city!!

So the tempation continues. And NOW I have a fantastic reason to see the movie again. I mean, after all, I've NEVER been to an adult sing-along movie in a theater before...or anywhere else for that matter. So now I just HAVE to go. I need to belt out, "YOU CAN DANCE**! YOU CAN JIVE!" and "YES I'VE BEEN BROKEN HEARTED; BLUE SINCE THE DAY WE PARTED! MAMMA MIA!!" with other people who are just as crazy as I am. How could I pass up an opportunity like that? It will be like......a cultural experience. It will be like being IN a musical all my own!! SHOOT! I can even pretend to be the star, lol!

Come on, folks....you know you want to, too. Give in to the temptation and attend the sing-along. It'll be fun!

**Notice I did not say "*I* can dance." There's really really good reason for that. But we'll save that for another day.