Movie Monday -- Heists and Capers

Share your favorite heist & caper movies that create criminal characters we end up rooting for, linking back here at The Bumbles.

I could have named this post, "Hello, Gorgeous," because these movies stars are exceptional looking men. They each have a compelling screen presence, sure, but they're also very handsome. Maybe that's what makes bad boys "characters we end up rooting for."

Bonnie and Clyde. They were young … in love … and they killed people. Both very violent and very moving, it's one of the most influential American films ever made.

Ocean's 11. A confection. The opposite of Bonnie & Clyde, really. There is nothing remotely plausible about this movie, but when a film begins with Clooney in a tux, you know it's going to have an exceptionally high charm quotient.

The Sting. Henry Gondorf and Johnny Hooker, aka Newman and Redford, the two coolest men who have ever lived, pulling off one of the most complicated heists ever filmed.

Catch Me If You Can. Leonardo DiCaprio is aw-shucks terrific as a kid with a heart of gold and a penchant for larceny.

"I wish I was a kid again, doing what I did again ..."

I spent Saturday with my oldest friend. She's getting ready to move across country to California, to begin a new job and a new chapter of her life. Our festivities included emptying out her safety deposit box and saying goodbye to her parents' graves. But the real fun part was going through a box of old 16 and Teen Scene magazines from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Ah, Bobby Sherman! David Cassidy! Barnabas from Dark Shadows! Pete from The Mod Squad! Yes, all the dashing heartthrobs of our junior high years were represented. They each faced heartache, shared love secrets and begged to be our faves. At times, I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.

I don't think I'll see her again now until December, when I go out to visit her in her new home for her 54th birthday. But we're in contact almost every day, sometimes more than once a day, and I'm sure that won't change. We're closer than sisters, and a few miles isn't going to change that.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The "I've Been Tagged" Meme

1. Where are you from? Brookfield, IL, a village just 15 miles west of Chicago. I can't believe it's only 15 miles, because it couldn't be a smaller small town. It is also the home of The Brookfield Zoo, one of the country's really great parks and if you ever get a chance, you should visit it and say "hi" to my favorite animals, the okapis, for me.

2. If you could live any place in the world, where would you live? I can't imagine living anywhere else. I believe Chicago is the greatest city in the world: four seasons, a thriving theater community, easily accessible public transportation, diversity and, of course, The Cubs.

3. What's your favorite blog? I'll check them out of course! SnarkyPants. Who is she? Here are 100 Things about Her.

4. What is your biggest blogging pet peeve? Dopey comments. There was one blogger in particular, someone I barely knew in even the flimsiest cybersense, whose blog I never visited, who would come by and say the most pointless shit, I think just to get her link out there. For example, I wrote a long post about a film classic, and she left a comment saying, "Never saw it."

5. What's your favorite TV show this season? I need a new show! :) I have to favorites: NCIS and Mad Men.

6. What's your favorite 'down' time {nothing computer related}? Reading

7. Are you a parent? If so, what's your favorite thing to do with your children? I'm a barren spinster

8. What about your blog, have you considered changing? Not much. I have changed backgrounds time and again, but I like this one and shall keep it for a while.

9. What do you do for a living (if you work outside the home or if you work at home)? I'm at a writer for a venerable Chicago ad agency which is mentioned frequently on Mad Men.

10. What is your favorite song at the moment? What is your favorite song ever? "Shut up and put your money where your mouth is/that's what you get for waking up in Vegas," by Katy Perry, is my current favorite. I suppose my all-time favorite is All My Loving by the Beatles. I know this wasn't the first song they sang on The Ed Sullivan Show, but it's the first one that made an impact on me, and I fell everlastingly in love.

11. What is your favorite niche TV channel to watch? The news channels

12. If you could have any career, what would it be and why? I'd love to be a historian like Doris Kearns Goodwin. She gets years to write her books, enjoys almost unlimited access to historical papers, gets paid boatloads of cash and ends up on the bestseller lists. Doris, you are my hero!

13. What is your favorite outfit? Comfy jeans, a t-shirt from a favorite vacation destination, and no shoes.

14. If you could tell your teenage self something, what would you say? "Your mother is wrong, these are most definitely NOT the best years of your life, and it only gets better from here."

15. What is your favorite recipe? Foodler

16. What is the funniest joke you've ever heard? A grandmother is watching her grandson playing on the beach. A huge wave comes and takes him out to sea. She pleads, "Please, God, save my only grandson. I will live a blameless life if only you return him to me. I beg of you, bring him back." And a big wave washes the boy back onto the beach, good as new. She looks up to Heaven and says, "He had a hat."

17. What is your favorite vacation spot and why? Colonial Williamsburg, because it blends my geeky love of history with my decadent love of pampering.

18. What are you most excited about with fall here? Using up all the vacation time I have greedily hoarded this year, and enjoying nice, long weekends.

19. Did you envision yourself to be where you are today ten years ago? If not, what did you envision? I'm pretty much where I thought I'd be ... though I imagined a thinner me in a better decorated condo.

20. If money were no object, what would your dream house look like? The 40th floor of a high rise looking out onto Lake Michigan.

21. What is your all-time favorite Disney movie? Mary Poppins

22. What blog do you think isn't getting enough notice? See Question #3