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Gather 'round, everyone — time to meet another fellow redblog reader who has a lot to say about movies (check her out below, gettin' fancy at her Oscar party). 

Clap your hands and stomp your feet for…

Name: Mindy Erickson

Posts as (username):  Mindy

Age: 30

Location: Seattle, Washington

Occupation: Boss Lady at a downtown
Seattle restaurant….aka Babysitter of 20-Something Adults.

 

When did you start using
redbox, how did you find out about us, and how close is the kiosk you rent from?

I started using redbox after
Erika started writing for redblog – I found out about
it from her other blogs.  Yup, that
was a shout-out!  The redbox I go to is four blocks from my place
of work.

I'm glad I could do my part to spread the word about redbox (and hopefully save you money in the process). Now, onto the fun questions… what five movies would you
want on a deserted island (deserted… except for a TV, DVD player and one
electrical outlet)? 

I chose all movies that I could watch every single day, and
it was surprisingly difficult to narrow down.  In no particular order:

Moulin Rouge, probably my favorite movie ever.  I love every second of this movie and
if I was stuck on an island I wouldn’t mind learning all of the dance routines
in this flick just to pass the time away. 
Some say Nicole Kidman was overacting, I say that was the
character. 

Xanadu, I heart Olivia Newton-John.  As a child, I refused to take off my roller skates and
flouncy skirts and wore my hair back in streamer barrettes nearly every
day.  I also believed that she was
the model for all of my Barbie dolls. 
No joke.

Gone with the Wind, I have lots of free time on my deserted island, so I
won’t have any problem spending four hours with Rhett and Scarlett. 

Almost Famous, I love Cameron Crowe!  And I love this movie! 

Untamed Heart, because I would bring Caroline’s Minnesota accent
to the island. 

Another Xanadu fan, yay!  I also like Gone with the Wind and Moulin Rouge — I even have a still of Nicole and Ewan singing "Come What May" on my infamous movie collage in my condo.  Next I need to know: who’s your favorite actor
and why?

I like John Cusack a
lot.  He’s good in serious roles,
and comedic roles.  Say Anything,
Better Off Dead, Gross Pointe Blank, Runaway Jury, even Serendipity.  Yup, I
like him.    

Well I guess you'll be seeing 2012 next week no matter what, then, huh? And your favorite actress?

I love Jennifer Aniston because
I just want to be her BFF.  I can’t
help it.  Friends is my all time favorite-ist show EVER and I loved
her in it.  I love every movie she
does, no matter how bad.  OK, I
didn’t like Derailed (dumb!) but
everything else, including Picture Perfect – LOVE! I will see anything with her in it.

Alas, I have to disagree.  I am not on Team Aniston. But, I'll take the high road and continue this interview in order to prove how professional I am.  So tell me, are you drawn to any
particular genre — like sci-fi, rom-coms, comedies, dramas, documentaries, et cetera?

Not a huge fan of sci-fi and
will NOT watch horror movies, otherwise I like everything. I love movies that are different.  I thought that Moulin Rouge was one of the most original things I had ever seen
when it came out in 2001.  I saw it in
the theater by myself and just sat there transfixed by it thinking it was so
cool.  I love to watch a good
comedy in the theater because I like feeling justified in laughing at
something.  I can think, “See,
everyone else thinks it’s funny, too.” 
I love being right.  I
really like to expand my movie horizons because I am a big Oscar nerd and I
like to have a solid opinion on nominated movies and performances.

But Mindy, what if everyone else in the theater laughed and applauded at the likes of, say, Transformers 2?  Does that make those people RIGHT?  Dear Lord, I hope not.  Though I do think I understand what you're saying… that's a very interesting take on the power of being in a packed theater.  Now let's leave reality and move on to the fantastical: If you could live in any
movie, meaning that the people, places and events in the movie became your
reality, what movie would you choose?

Troop Beverly Hills. 
Phyllis Nefler was a fantastic mother and I always wanted to be a girl
scout.  Come on, shopping all day,
going to fancy salons, giving concerts in the middle of Rodeo Drive, sleepovers
at The Beverly Hills Hotel, and being pre-teen friends with Carla Gugino, Kellie
Martin, Jenny Lewis, and a mortal enemy to a nose job-free Tori Spelling?  Done.

Wow, that is NOT a movie I would've expected anyone to mention, but your reasoning is totally sound.  How about this one: If you could be any
character in a movie, who would you be?

Scarlett O’Hara from Gone
with the Wind.  I want to wear every single fancy dress
she owns.  Especially the red
velvet number.  And I just wish I
could get away with being that much of a brat.  Ahh, to have a 17-inch waist!  Plus I bet the food from the Wilkes’ BBQ was
to-die-for!  Southern BBQ?  Come on now. 

 

Once again, you have really thought this through, I'm impressed.  How about cinematic baddies — who’s your favorite movie
villain?

Cruella De Vil.  She got a song written after her for
crying out loud!

Another compelling choice, indeed.  Speaking of songs… do you own any film
soundtracks, and if so, which ones are your favorite?

Oh, yeah.  Moulin Rouge, Across the Universe, Chicago, Staying Alive &
The Wedding Singer Volumes 1 & 2  are some of my favorites.  I don’t own the Xanadu soundtrack per se, but I do own Olivia Newton-John’s
Greatest Hits which has enough songs from the movie on it to count. 

What actor and actress —dead
or alive— would you want to meet if you had the chance? 

Ewan McGregor…he seems funny
and cool, I like his accent and he stars in my favorite movie.  Plus he can sing and dance. 

Cameron Diaz….she’s
hilarious.  And to me she seems
down to earth.  And I think she is
gorgeous.

AND these two were in one of
my favorite movies, A Life Less Ordinary.  Maybe I should have visited
that set!

Lucky for you, Ewan's not only in Amelia (opening this weekend), but also The Men Who Stare at Goats next month, so be sure to check out both of those.  Moving on to a completely different subject: what’s the hardest you’ve
ever cried at a movie? 

I’m an easy crier.  Beaches, A Walk to Remember, William
Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, pretty
much any bona fide “chick flick” will get me going.  Also for some reason, any movie that has to do with capital
punishment, I bawl like a baby.  The
hardest I’ve ever cried would probably be The Notebook.  That
movie was a real ugly cry for me. 
I tricked my fiancé into watching it and he cried, too.  I felt a little better. 

Has a movie ever given you
nightmares?

Poltergeist when I was 5 years old.  I came into the living room while adults were watching it
and was frozen to the spot completely terrified.  Also, because I got tricked into seeing them The Blair
Witch Project and The Sixth
Sense.  I should clarify, by saying I was tricked into it, I mean
other people said, “Don’t worry, it’s not a scary movie.  It’s a documentary.”  Needless to say, I don’t buy that line
or anything remotely close to it anymore. 

What are some of your
favorite movie quotes?

“I gave her my heart.  She gave me a pen.” –Lloyd Dobler, Say
Anything

“M'Lynn, you just missed the
chance of a lifetime! Half o' Chiquapin Parish'd give their eye teeth to take a
whack at Ouiser!” –Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias

“Where’s my pony?  I want to see my pony!” –Bonnie Blue
Butler, Gone with the Wind

[with the snottiest British
accent imaginable] “Everybody uses everybody, don’t they?” –Laura, Staying
Alive

Do you know what the first
movie you ever saw was? 

I saw Cinderella (the Disney version) when I was 5 in the
theater.  I was completely
transfixed and loved every second of it. 
Cinderella is by far my
favorite fairy tale and I love every remake of the story.  I know the entire Disney version of the
movie by heart and I used to recite it to myself as a kid to get to sleep.  Who needs sheep?  I was also nicknamed “Minderelly” in
high school because of my love for all things Cinderella and the fact that I
have a stepmother.  (She’s not
wicked.) 

 

Well, that's a relief!  I adore Cinderella, too — I even have "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" and "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" on my iPod.  Two last questions for you… and the first is: What was the last movie you
saw?

Julie & Julia.  I’ve
been extremely busy at work……OK, I’ve been watching reality TV *hangs head
shamefully.* I LOVED that movie, probably because I watch a LOT of Food Network
and I loved Julia Child.  Meryl
Streep killed it.  She was Julia
Child in every way.  And I loved
the fact that Julia and Paul’s love story was such a main focus of the
movie.  That’s a little known fact
of Julia Child’s life I was glad to see.   And it really, really made me want to move to Paris,
immediately.  

And finally, what’s the movie you’ve seen
the most and/or could recite all of or parts of by
heart (apart from the aforementioned Cinderella)?

I am a child of the 80’s and
I was raised by movie theaters and cable television.  A “latch-key kid.” I would get dropped off at movie theaters
and picked up later and that acted as a babysitter.  Because of that I have so many favorites and movies that I
know by heart.  I am definitely the
kind of person that can watch movies over and over again.  I have just about every major Disney
animated feature memorized from my kiddie days.  1940s to 1990s. 
The Little Mermaid in particular was released on VHS for the first time on my 11th birthday, and I watched it every single day that summer. I can’ t possibly count the number of times I have seen any of these movies.  I can also probably recite all of Grease
and Grease 2. That’s
right, the one with Michelle Pfeiffer, Maxwell Caulfield and Adrian Zmed.  What? 

I love it.  Thanks so much for talking with us… you are truly a redblog Reader Who Rocks.

Want to read past interviews with our rockin' readers?  They're all here… and we'll add another to the list next week.