Happy 1st Birthday to Vivid Scribe!
Vivid Scribe came online on March 2011 and we’ve had a great year making new friends and new followers and indulging our passions for the wonderful world of pop culture. To celebrate a successful first year here are a My Top 5 Favourite Movie Birthday Moments.
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Directed by John Hughes
Starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, Anthony Michael Hall
Samantha Baker’s sixteenth birthday might be close to being the worst birthday ever. Not only does she not look or feel particularly different, but her entire family forgets and terrible things keep piling up on top of her through the day. It’s not all sad though, at the last minute, her dream guy, Jake makes her birthday dreams come true with the now iconic perfect kiss over the perfect birthday cake. Awwww…
The Birds (1963)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor
While the birthday itself is not a key element in The Birds, the birthday party scene is one of the most memorable moments in cinema. The relentless attack of these avian villains is truly frightening and quite macabre, and yet somehow I still find myself having a giggle. It’s my party and I’ll laugh at kids being attacked by birds if I want to.
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring Eligjah Wood, Ian McKellan, Ian Holme
Oh if only Gandalf could bring his fireworks to our birthday party! Bilbo Baggins’ eleventyfirst birthday party in The Fellowship of the Ring is a wonder of fantasy and frivolity where even feuding relatives can come together to relax and enjoy the show. The party scene is a wonderful beginning to the story as it not only sets up the points of innocence and normality the following story moves far, far away from, it also perfectly encapsulates the charm of the shire and all of the reasons why the Ring quest cannot fail.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)
Directed by Chris Columbus
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Robbie Coltrane, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
There might be only one thing better than having a wizard at your birthday party. And that’s finding out on your birthday that you are, in fact a wizard. Up until the moment Hagrid arrives with the “Happee Birthdae Harry” cake (not to mention the news Harry is a Wizard!), Harry’s birthday with dreaded Dursleys, has been a monumental misery and the image of the poor kid drawing a birthday cake in the dirt on the floor is just heartbreaking. Harry Potter’s eleventh birthday has become one of the most significant birthdays in pop culture history – the day when the boy became The Boy Wizard and changed his own world, and our world too.
Uncle Buck (1989)
Directed by John Hughes
Starring John Candy, Macaulay Culkin
The second John Hughes film in the list. The man knows a good birthday celebration! Uncle Buck’s celebratory breakfast for Mile’s birthday is enough the rival Bilbo’s birthday feast. Impossibly huge pancakes (flipped with a snow shovel) and a shower of sparkles and streamers and the priceless faces of excitement on the kid’s faces is still enough to make me smile, 23 years after I first saw this movie. What can I say? Birthdays always bring out the nostalgic in me. Buck punching the drunk clown is also still worth a giggle.
Happy Birthday to Us! Thanks to everyone who stopped by this year, and here’s to another great year of pop culture passion to come.
Kate Krake
