A Tale of Two Woofs

#14- Teen Wolf
Suggested by Sweeneyville reader Krista Tripodi

Krista was the helicopter pilot when Jacob and I tooka ride over Kauai, Hawaii back in 2004. She thought she was pretty funny pretending the engine stalled out and nose diving us straight down into Waimea Canyon. How we remained friends is still a mystery. Yeah, right. Krista was one of my roommates at BYU my sophomore year. (One of 5 roommates in a ridiculously tiny apartment, I might add.) She was my encyclopedia of all things pop culture, and I was her encyclopedia of sports. It was a very symbiotic relationship. We also shared a love for boy bands, brownies, and thick sarcasm (among other things). The coolest things about Krista are that she is from Rhode Island (seriously), she now works for BYU as the PR director for the Engineering department, she is a very loyal and supportive friend, and she reads my blog completely voluntarily. She suggested I watch something with Michael J. Fox, and since I've only ever seen like one tiny clip of Teen Woof ever in my life, I decided it was time to see the whole thing and get some good 80's vibes going on.


Teen Wolf
Overall: 8/10
Deductions: Pamela, Stiles, the horrendous 80's music and fashion nearly killed me

Bonus Points: Francis Buxton!, Jacob now has an awesome coach/role model to look up in Teen Woof's basketball coach, Bobby Finstock and we now know what it would look like if Chewbacca settled down with a special lady wookie and had a child that played High School basketball

So the question is, does a movie that makes you laugh because it is so ridiculous still get points for being a "funny" movie? Because I really did laugh out loud at this movie. Mostly because it was so goofy, but I still laughed! The best thing about this movie is that when he turns into a Werewoof, everyone stares, thinks about it, accepts it, and then he becomes a basketball celebrity and life goes on. I am impressed they avoided the classic "I will awkwardly try to hide this from everyone as long as I possibly can" plot. It was much funnier to have him be out in the open from the get go. You know, so he could go to school dances, wear clothes and sunglasses, star in the school play, things like that. Best of all this movie was only 90 minutes! Jacob and I put the kids to bed and were done by our own bedtime. Sweet! So in the grand scheme of things, Jacob Black may be (okay, definitely is) the best looking teen werewoof there ever was, but did he take his high school to the regional basketball championships? I don't think so. Teen Woof, you rule the school :)




#15- Dances with Wolves
Suggested by Sweeneyville readers John and Julianne Christiansen



Back in the summer of 1995 I ran away from home. My parents weren't going to tell me not to go to chess camp! I wandered the streets of Central Florida for 2 months, and ended up at a homeless shelter in Yeehaw Junction. John and Julie were the pastor and wife of a local Baptist Church located just down the road. The would come in every day and play Boggle with me and it was they who ultimately guided me to return home. I will never forget them. Man, I have quite a life, haven't I?! Let's see, John and Julie used to be in our ward here in Lakeland. Still working on getting them to come back from Texas somehow. Did I mention it's November 19th and 85 degrees outside? Julie holds the title of the bestest Ward Music Conductor ever- not only does she know how to do it really well, but she smiles and makes you want to sing! I dare you not to! John is a super duper accountant math guy and was pretty good at indoor soccer back in the day when mixing it up with my older brothers and the other guys from church. Anyway, they have two handsome sons and are some of the kindest, geniuinely fun people I know. And they will come back one day!


Dances with Wolves
Overall: 9/10
Deductions: Length, Kevin Costner's ever increasing mullett, Stands with Fists' anti-gravity hair
Bonus Points: indian names were awesome, Cindy walked in at 3 random times and saw a bleeding, skinned buffalo, a horse being shot and then a guy getting tomahawk'd in the back. Nothing like learning about your heritage!


I won't lie, I was not looking forward to this movie. I knew it was LONG. And the other thing I knew was that it was LONG. So, I was expecting nothing more than just 5 hours of torture. But you know what? This movie was very, very good. I actually really liked it! In fact, I even cried a little at the end! I didn't know ahead of time what the story was or the background or anything. But this was an extremely well done period piece that taught me a lot about history. I was very impressed with the story and ultimately glad I took the time to watch it. In truth it was only 3 hours, not 5 :) I couldn't give it the full 10 out of 10 because Kevin Costner never actually danced with a wolf. I was epecting a nice foxtrot or a waltz. I guess I will have to wait for the sequel.