Happy Valentine's from Bookmonkey

Hello all,

Just a short one today as I'm spending my time giving my wife the Valentine's day she's been hoping for (which mostly means we'll be doing things on her to do list, like taxes and whatnot.)

So happy Valentine's to all my readers, can you believe it's been about four and half years since I started blogging here?

Anyway, I hope you all have a great day and get to spend it doing taxes with the one you love.

Your old pal,
Bookmonkey

Things I've Noticed: Prepping for Valentine's Day can be tricky

As I’ve mentioned previously, having the perfect Valentine’s Day with my wife can be tricky. Her favourite genre romance film is The Fly (1986), and although I agree that the film is a great look at why you shouldn’t start a romance with a mad scientist, it totally creeps me out, yes me; a card-carrying horror fanatic (make sure to comment on this post if you have any great horror fanatic card designs, right now I just have a dog-eared Garbage-Pail-Kid card to prove my credentials).

So I’ve currently got four days to plan out an amazing Valentine’s day celebration with my lovely bride. Here are the variables:

1) I’ve taken the day off work

2) My wife is not a fan of crowds, so no dinner out

3) My wife is not a fan of me spending a lot of cash on gifts, so I have to keep it small(ish)

4) Both my daughters will see my efforts as acceptable Valentine’s day efforts from potential future boyfriends – so I need to show effort.

5) Most of my favourite romance DVDs of the last few years have been purchased for me by my wife already, so they are not available.

Actually, that’s about all I have right now, as any surprises I have for her can’t be disclosed at this early date due to the fact that she sometimes reads my blog.

Best advice from me? Try to pay attention to your lady’s likes and dislikes and give her a gift that lets her know you pay attention.

Favourite Genre Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day from Bookmonkey!

Today's post will actually be pretty brief, as I've got Valentine's preparations to work on for my lovely wife, but I thought I'd share my favourite two kisses in genre films from my childhood - the two that had even me at the time (a little boy with a lot of sisters who therefore was way too cool for disgusting things like kisses) really happy.

The first is, without a doubt, Gertie kissing E.T. good-bye (pictured above) - I say this the year it came out in theatres so I would have been six at this point and I've got to say, this may be the sweetest kiss I can remember from any film I saw as a little kid.

The second was the kiss between Princess Buttercup and the Dread Pirate Roberts (pictured above) in the film The Princess Bride, which I would have seen at about the age of ten, and very much like the little boy in the film, I started out hating the idea of romantic kissing in movies and ended up being swept away by it.

Happy Valentine's from Bookmonkey

Things I've Noticed: Finding the right genre movie for Valentine's Day can be tricky

So here's how we do Valentine's Day 2011, Bookmonkey style.

Step 1) Take Valentine's day off, so that I can spend the day with my wife, and get a long weekend.

Step 2) Celebrate the fact that our younger daughter Kaia will have returned from her amazing school trip to Quebec City.

Step 3) Go out for breakfast - my favourite kind of meal to have at a restaurant.

Step 4) Pick the right movie. Every year I try my best to find a film that will fit into both my love of genre and fit with the day as well.

4a) Genre video games are not a substitute (Tip - no matter how awesome you think playing a video game wherein the lead "romantically" attempts to rescue a princess while making your lady love watch - this will not work out for you).

4b) Your wife's pick for most romantic genre film (David Cronenberg's The Fly) may work great for her, but may give you the heebie jeebies.

4c) Compromise is always a good way to go - for instance we could pick either a fantasy film or an SF film for me, as long as they star either Colin Farrell or Ryan Reynolds for her.

5) If the day doesn't go as well as planned - show your wife that you have been planning the event for days now, using this post as proof.