Night 10 Of The 14 Nights Of Valentine's Day Movie Marathon Giveaway

Welcome to night 10 of the 4th annual 14 Nights of Valentine's Day Movie Marathon Giveaway. Make sure to stop by our main Giveaway Post and enter to win a $400+ Prize Pack full of decadent treats from 16 fabulous shops! Tonight we have the next movie from the Valentine Movie Marathon. Follow along daily for extra entries and the chance for a bonus 20 entries at the end of the giveaway. You can also play the Guess The Movie game for even more entries. But that's not all! Keep reading to find the next feature on one of our participating shops. Enjoy and have fun!

Key To My Heart Necklace

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through February 28th and receive 10% off your order. Use code FEBRUARY10 at checkout.

Make sure to stop by and enter the Crazy Cupid Giveaway. You could win your choice of Compact Mirror and Necklace or Photo Pendant from Laughing Vixen Lounge. And it will get you extra entries in this giveaway!!! Ends February 15th.



Featured Shop - Miss Bohemia
Miss Bohemia is run by Jen from the UK. It is filled with bohemian glamour, darkly romantic pieces, vintage inspirations and fairytales!

To The Moon And Back Cushion Cover

How did you choose your shop name?

"Miss Bohemia originated from the word ‘bohemian’. I was drawn to this word as it is a term taken to mean 'free of rules' and unconventional! This seemed perfect for both me and my creations, which are often seen as an eclectic mix of styles which fuses everything from dark fairytales to Victorian and vintage inspired creations."

Written In The Stars Scarf

Why did you choose to make/sell what you do?
"Stemming back from childhood I have always been creative through arts and crafts. Fast forward a few years (or maybe a lot more years) and I began making jewellery and fell in love with art again while reconnecting with my creative self. The result of which became ‘Miss Bohemia’, where I have an online website and Etsy shops. Creating is one of my main passions and seeing my designs come to life is an amazing feeling."

Phantom Of The Opera Necklace

What inspires the designs/creations you make?
"I tend to draw inspiration from everywhere and believe that beauty and magic can be captured from almost everything. I like to combine a mix of modern and vintage elements in my work and this probably developed from my love of art, costumes and jewellery from different eras. I also love reading and my choices vary from fairytales to thrillers and I love books that are able to fuse these elements together. You will see this spill over into my work in the form of gothic designs, the Phantom of the Opera Jewellery, literary classics and Alice In Wonderland Collection."

Wuthering Heights iPhone Case

What new designs/creations would you like to add to your shop in the future?
"As someone with a great love of books and nostalgia, a dream of mine was to incorporate novels and vintage papers into some of my designs. This is now becoming reality as I recently added collections inspired by Wuthering Heights and Jane Austen, which include book styled gifts and accessories as well as jewellery made from recycled damaged books. I would also like to add more fabric based designs and am currently experimenting with screen-printing."

Pride and Prejudice Mug

You'll have a chance to win a Valentine's Day Prize Pack from Miss Bohemia. Enter now on the main Giveaway Post.

Visit Miss Bohemia on the Web or Etsy and use coupon code VALENTINES10 at checkout for 10% off your order.

Since it's February, I asked the shops to share their favorite love story movies.

"The movie I have chosen is not a typical love story but 'Bridget Jones's Diary' became one of my favourite rom-coms :-) I liked the mix of romance and comedy and also that the heroine (complete with her imperfections) is a complete contrast to the typical female lead. It's witty, it's sharp but with romance at it's core and Bridget even finds her own 'Mr Darcy'!" 

14 Nights of Valentine's Day Movie Marathon
Follow along with us for 2 weeks full of classic and modern love story movies. On each daily post  there will be a review of the next movie in our marathon. Leave a comment on the post, with your opinion of the movie, and you can receive 2 entries in the giveaway. Each day you comment you can receive 2 entries. You will find the daily entries on the Rafflecopter on the main Giveaway Post.
*You may start following the marathon at any time and comment on past posts to catch up.

Plus, if you comment on all 14 movies you can receive a bonus 20 entries. On the last day of the giveaway you will find the magic phrase you can use to unlock the bonus entries on the Rafflecopter. *You must comment on each movie to qualify for the bonus entries.


Guess The Movie Game
Each daily post will have a clue to the next night's movie. Leave your guess on the Rafflecopter widget, on the main Giveaway Post, for 2 entries in the giveaway.
*Guesses must be posted the same day as their clue to receive the 2 entries.
*The Rafflecopter widget is on the Pacific Time Zone and will reset to a new day at Midnight PST. *Please do not post guesses anywhere else on the blog or they will be deleted and not count.

Tonight's Clue ~ A bachelor and a young boy form a bond and ultimately a family.

Night 10 ~ Rocky

Tagline ~ His whole life was a million-to-one shot.

Directed by John G. Avildsen (The Karate Kid I, II and III, Lean On Me and 8 Seconds) and released on December 3, 1976 by United Artist (Rated PG). Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is a small time boxer who is offered the chance to fight the current heavy weight champion. It is supposed to be an easy win for the champ but not if Rocky has his way.

In 1976 Sylvester Stalone was an almost unknown actor. Struggling to find a job, he wrote the screenplay for Rocky and sold the movie rights with one stipulation, he would be the lead actor. Rocky ended up winning the Best Movie Oscar at the Acadamy Awards that year. Talk about life inmating art. It was a real life "underdog" story.

While Rocky is considered a sports movie because of the boxing, I stand firmly in the belief that this is a love story. Yes, he does jog around, beat up some sides of meat, get yelled at by his manager and in the end get the crap beat out of him... but the main movie revolves around the love story between he and Adrian. The reason this love story wins my heart every time is it is so simple and pure. These two are just everyday regular people who have been beaten down by life. It is sweet to see them slowly come together as a couple. And, as the series proceeds, to see their relationship grow. Especially Adrian as she goes from the terribly shy and awkward girl at the pet shop in the first movie to the very strong woman who is Rocky's foundation in the later movies.

My brother and nephew love the Rocky movies. Even the original. I always find this funny because they only like "boy" movies and do not watch any of that "girly" stuff. I always laugh to myself at this "Ha ha, you like a girly movie" because it really is more love story than boxing.

If you have not seen it do not let the boxing scare you off. There is a reason why this won Best Picture!


Take a look at an original TV spot.



Some trivia about the movie.
1. Rocky's dog Butkus was actually Sylvester Stallone's dog in real life.
2. After producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff became interested in the script, they offered writer Sylvester Stallone an unprecedented $350,000 for the rights, but he refused to sell unless they agreed to allow him to star in the film (this despite the fact that he had only $106 in the bank, no car and was trying to sell his dog because he couldn't afford to feed it). They agreed, but only on the condition that Stallone continue to work as a writer without a fee and that he work as an actor for scale. After Winkler and Chartoff purchased the film, they took it to United Artists, who envisioned a budget of $2 million, but that was on the basis of using an established star (they particularly wanted Robert Redford, Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds or James Caan). United Artists didn't want Stallone to star, and when Winkler and Chartoff told them that the only way they could get him to sell the screenplay was to agree to cast him, United Artists cut the budget to $1 million, and had Chartoff and Winkler sign agreements that if the film went over budget, they would be personally liable. The final cost of the film was $1.1 million. The $0.1 million came after Chartoff and Winkler mortgaged their homes so as to complete the project.
3. During his audition, Carl Weathers was sparring with Sylvester Stallone and accidentally punched him on the chin. Stallone told Weathers to calm down, as it was only an audition, and Weathers said that if he was allowed to audition with a 'real' actor, not a stand-in, he would be able to do a lot better. Director John G. Avildsen smiled and told Weathers that Stallone was the real actor (and the writer). Weathers looked at Stallone thoughtfully for a moment, and said, "Well, maybe he'll get better." Stallone immediately offered him the role.
4. The ice rink scene was originally written to feature 300 extras, but the production couldn't afford so many people. When Sylvester Stallone turned up to shoot the scene, to his horror, there was only one extra. So, Stallone hastily threw together the scene as it exists in the completed film. Ironically, this scene has become one of the most popular in the entire Rocky saga.
5. Sylvester Stallone insisted that the scene where he admits his fears and doubts to Adrian the night before the fight be filmed, even though production was running far behind and the producers wanted to skip it. Stallone had only one take for the scene, despite the fact that he considered it to be the most important scene in the film.
6. The film was shot in 28 days.
7. The first sports film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
8. One of the posters for the film featured a shot of Rocky and Adrian holding hands. Although this was one of the most popular images associated with the film, the scene this image was taken from was cut from the film.
9. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #57 Greatest Movie of All Time.
10. The boxing gloves used in the championship fight were called ''Casanovas''. They were illegal in the U.S. but Sylvester Stallone says the producers chose them anyway ''because of their sleek appearance''.
11. In the film, the poster above the ring before Rocky fights Apollo shows Rocky wearing red shorts with a white stripe when he actually wears white shorts with a red stripe. This was an actual mistake made by the props department that they could not afford to rectify, so Sylvester Stallone came up with the idea for the scene where Rocky points out the mistake himself. The comment about Rocky's robe being too baggy came about the same way - the robe delivered to the set was far too baggy for Stallone, so rather than hope people wouldn't notice, the character himself simply points it out.
12. For the championship fight, the filmmakers had trouble getting extras to fill the arena because it was a low-budget film that was not yet known to anyone. Stock footage of crowds was used to help this problem, but empty seats are still visible in some shots.
13. Sylvester Stallone had originally wanted Harvey Keitel for the role of Paulie.
14. Michael Dorn's film debut.
15. The names of Rocky's turtles are Cuff and Link.
16. According to Sylvester Stallone, the role of Paulie was originally going to be Adrian's Jewish mother, but was later changed to being her Italian brother.
17. This was the third major film to use a Steadicam, after Bound for Glory (1976) and Marathon Man (1976).
18.  In an interview Sylvester Stallone was asked if he and Elvis Presley ever met. Stallone said that in 1976 after "Rocky" was released, Elvis contacted him and asked him to visit Graceland and a bring a copy of the film with him. Stallone told the interviewer that he was too afraid to meet Elvis, and he didn't go, but he did send a copy of the film. Apparently, Elvis did indeed watch the film with some friends.
19. As he would with all of the Rocky films, writer Sylvester Stallone incorporated a great deal of biographical material into the screenplay. In particular, Stallone used his own frustration to make it as an actor as a template for the frustration of the Rocky character to make it as a boxer. As Stallone himself explains it, "I took my story and injected it into the body of Rocky Balboa because no one, I felt, would be interested in listening to or watching or reading a story about a down-and-out, struggling actor/writer. It just didn't conjure up waves of empathy, even from me and I was sure it wouldn't do it from an audience either."