A Leap ~ into the Movies

Our group of "ladies who go to movies" went to see Leap Year today. It is well-made, the scenery is a feast for the eyes and although a bit predictable, it's fun and enjoyable.

I was familiar with Amy Adams, but I'd never seen Matthew Goode before. I predict he will have a good future in films. The camera loves him and his acting is very believable. Let's just say that Amy's character made the right choice!

This is definitely a "chick flick"; so gather a group of girlfriends and go. Afterward, we went to the Poppyseed Market and had a glass of wine with some cheese and crackers. It was a very enjoyable, though rainy, afternoon. In fact, if you have an ark just sitting around, we'd like to borrow it for a while - say 40 days?

Fred and Ginger

On Having Your Bubble Burst...

I read recently on Delancey Place (2-4-10) that Fred Astaire didn't like Ginger Rogers. Who knew??!! Those of us (ladies of a certain age) who remember their movies fondly can hardly believe that, I'm sure. Here's a quote:

"Neither much liked the notion of being subsumed as part of a team: Astaire had already done that with his sister [Adele]; Rogers thought of herself as much more than a mere dancer (she did, after all, go on to win an Oscar for her role in Kitty Foyle), and doubtless sensed that, good as the two of them were together, Fred Astaire somehow outshone her. Astaire even wrote to Leland Hayward, his agent, after the success of The Gay Divorcee, that he wished never again to be part of a fixed team in his movie career, and especially not with Ginger Rogers. ...

"Astaire even had a contract drawn up with a clause that Ginger Rogers could not appear in more than three of the five movies he had signed on to do for RKO. In fact, they eventually did ten movies together. ..."

The author goes on to say that it is a testament to their acting ability that they were able to make believable the movies they were in together. Live and learn!

This excerpt came from this book: Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein, Yale, 2008, Pp. 94-97

Odds and Ends

Tell me why: If I flush one of our toilets it sticks and runs all night, but if I take the lid off the tank and watch it fill, it stops as it should?

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Tell me why: they can't make a computer keyboard where the letters/numbers don't get worn off in a short period of time?

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Note to the spammers in my email: I do not need fuel for my rocket (since I don't have a rocket) and I don't want to meet Maximum Mark!! Neither do I want to buy medications at a discount (don't call me - I'll call you!)

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The movie "It's Complicated, which is playing in theaters now, is so good I went to see it again with four friends. It was more fun the second time around because I noticed things I hadn't before - since I was laughing like a crazy woman the first time. It was also fun to see how my friends reacted to the comedy lines; one of them fairly shrieked with laughter - and it was good to see/hear that since she was widowed last spring and hasn't felt much like having fun.

After the movie we went to a nearby restaurant and had a drink and a light meal. My mango margarita was pretty good, but next time I'll spring for the regular one. The mango flavoring made it too sweet for me. The pizza was good; tomatoes and basil and good cheese with a light, crisp crust - yummy. Of course the camera stayed in my purse, as usual. I can't ever think to get it out when I'm having fun (that doesn't make sense, does it? If I'm having fun, you'd think I'd remember to record it!!)

Yo Tengo.....

"Yo tengo un dolor de estomago" is one of the first phrases I learned in tenth grade Spanish class and one that has stuck with me all these years. I had reason to remember it on Sunday; waking up with a stomach ache is no fun and something I don't experience often. Jumpy, nervous stomach....yes. Pain....no. But this time was different. I ate some breakfast anyway and settled in my chair to read the newspaper and watch cbs Sunday Morning. I promptly fell asleep again and napped for over three hours! I awoke and was immediately aware of hunger, but being afraid to eat anything, I drank a C*ke to settle my stomach. That cured me for the time being.

My daughter and I went to see "It's Complicated", during which I ate popcorn with no trouble. I heartily recommend the movie; a light, funny romantic comedy with excellent performances by Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

Afterward, mr. kenju and I went to our favorite Mexican place for dinner. After having that sentence run through my consciousness all day, I had to carry it to completion. The chicken chimichanga (no crema, no guacamole) was excellent, as usual, and put the capper on what turned out to be a pretty good day. And so far? No repercussions, stomach-wise. Maybe it was a virus.

Into the Wild

This book is engrossing!

Written by Jon Krakauer, and now made into a movie, directed by Sean Penn, it is the story of 24 year old Christopher McCandless, who in 1992 went into the wilds of Alaska and perished after 16 weeks of living on his own. The book recounts his travels and eventual death.

It should be required reading for anyone who fancies himself a lone wolf and wants to go on an odyssey into a forbidding land, and it is a cautionary tale for those who have no use for maps and tools, for planning and careful readiness.

We saw the movie recently; both that and the book are well done (check the link for comparisons) and I recommend them.

You know how once you see/hear about something you notice it more often? On Saturday I was with someone who was car shopping. I sat in the dealership waiting room and read old magazines, one of which was a 2007 issue of National Geographic Traveler. In that magazine was a story about McCandless, the book by Krakauer and the movie.

Bank Night at The Custer Theater

When I was about six, my mom started taking me to the movie every summer Wednesday night. It was what they called "bank night." You put part of your ticket stub into a box and kept the other half, and at intermission, they pulled several numbers to distribute prizes and money to the lucky winners.

We watched the movie, but we kept an eye on the time for intermission, as it was often more exciting than the westerns and horse operas they showed. One particular hot summer night, my mom had fallen asleep. I tried to wake her just as the ticket selection began, but she wouldn't budge. They called several stub numbers and those people won dishes or small gift certificates. Finally they got to the big prize......$400 cash. That was a huge sum in 1946! They called the number three times and I fished the stub out of mom's pocket just in time to scream from the balcony...."We're here!" That woke mom up and as soon as she got out of the fog she was in, she ran down to the stage to receive her cash. I was a hero that night!

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Jeff, at the WVSR mentioned something today that sent my memory reeling into the distant past. Do you remember when children used to ride in the window ledge above the back seat of cars? As a very young child, I used to love riding up there, warmed by the sun on the window. Being in motion always made me a little carsick, so climbing into the warm window ledge put me to sleep, and I could tolerate the ride without getting sick. I never could figure out why it made my mom mad for me to sleep in the car. She and my dad loved to go for rides on Sunday afternoons and they would think nothing of driving 100 miles before heading back home. Of course those were the days of 20 cents per gallon gasoline (or less). Mom thought I should be taking in the sights, but I had almost no interest in seeing crumbling barns and farm animals. Small towns and cities held my interest a little bit, but they were few and far between on the routes my parents selected.

Now if my parents had a car old enough to have a rumble seat - I might have enjoyed the ride. I envied people who got to ride in them, although by the time I remember riding in cars, those with rumble seats were ancient relics of a former time. I always thought it would be great fun to ride in a car's rumble seat while my parents were inside the car. I saw it as a measure of independence, I think, which is ludicrous when you think of it, but at the time, it made perfect sense to this girl of seven. Maybe the love of a rumble seat was what also caused me to love convertibles. We never owned one; my parents thought they were too flimsy; cold in the winter, easy to break into and dangerous with the top down. I scoffed at that opinion and vowed to own one as soon as possible. I dated guys with convertibles no matter what they looked like, just to get to ride in one. (Should I admit to having been that shallow?)

By the time I could afford a convertible, we had children and decided not to get one. The next time I could have had one, I started my business - and it is rather hard to deliver flowers in a convertible - so I opted for a minivan, which was perfect for it. Now 20 years later, I am still driving a minivan (my 4th one) and I'm still wishing I could have a convertible. Maybe I'll get one for my 70th birthday. That's only 3 years away. Can't you see me driving down the highway with an Isadora Duncan scarf flying behind me?

The Wild Parrots + Anniversary Tidings

Edit below!

I have another movie recommendation. Actually it is a documentary, and from the first moments, I was spellbound. "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" is really wonderful!

Read about it here:

http://www.wildparrotsfilm.com/

Do yourself a favor and rent it! (I may be the only person around who hadn't seen it yet).

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Wish mr. kenju and me a happy anniversary! We're like the lovebirds up above...LOL. It was July 2, 1964 that the deed was done! You can read all about it here:

http://justaskjudy.blogspot.com/2005/05/twenty-minute-wedding.html

Photo found here:http://justaskjudy.blogspot.com/2005/06/goin-to-chapel-and-were-gonna-get-ma.html

We interrupt our beach travelogue to bring you a late-breaking movie review!

We watched "Man of the Year" with Robin Williams last night and it was better than either of us expected. Robin plays Tom Dobbs, a comedian who gets the idea to run for U.S. President from his fans. Laura Linney plays an employee of a software company that has been hired to provide voting machines for the election. Suffice it to say that there is a computer glitch which makes for interesting voting and results in country-wide mayhem. The script is shot through with many true statements about our current government and the practice of politics. This one is worth renting, even though my daughter said it was panned by critics.

EXCUSE ME FOR SHOUTING!

I don't want to hear about illegal aliens anymore!

I exchange emails nearly every day with a group of long-standing friends, most of whom were my high-school or college classmates. Some of them (most) are retired, and like a lot of retired people (men in particular), they are always looking for something to get riled up about. Why is that?

The latest harangues seem to feature illegal aliens in some way; how they are robbing the US of money, etc.

Whether I agree or disagree with their issues is not my point here. I say: Get a life, people. Worry about something else, or if you must concentrate all your efforts on people who come over the border, don't tell me about it! I am sick of reading the hate and bigotry and lack of compassion that is rampant in these emails. The people I get them from didn't write them - they just forward them to everyone they know, without checking to see if they are true or not.

The reason I am ranting about them here is that I can't tell these guys how I feel - because I don't want to hurt their feelings. Telling you about it makes me feel a little better. Hope you don't mind.

Do your friends send you things you'd rather not receive? How do you handle it? I just delete and say nothing - except here - of course.

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I saw the DVD "Because I Said So", with Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Lauren Graham, Piper Perabo, and Stephen Collins, as Diane's love interest. Mr. kenju said, "Not only is this a chick-flick, it is a chick-flick with a meddling mother!", as he exited the room to go upstairs to his TV.

He was right. It is that, and what's more - it was also easy to figure out the plot. Maybe it is because I am older now (and have seen a LOT of movies over the years) but nearly every movie I have seen lately has been predictable. I usually like Diane Keaton very much, and she was okay in the film, but I thought she carried the flustered, scattered, meddling and controlling mom too far, and it got to be cloying.

There was one person who made the film worthwhile for me - and that was Gabriel Macht, who plays Mandy's love interest. He is cute and his character is adorable. His smile is great. I am glad I saw the movie because it introduced me to him, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in a theater.

Mr. kenju was watching Letters from Iwo Jima on DVD. I set it up for him and then went upstairs to the computer, since I have no interest in war films.

I was just starting to get into a new blog post, and I heard "This thing is driving me crazy - can you come down here and fix it?"

So, I went downstairs, and his problem is that since the film is in Japanese (at least the first part is), there are subtitles marching across the screen. Trouble was, there were double subtitles. I keep the captions on the TV all the time, because I don't always catch everything said. Otherwise, the TV volume would have to be so loud that the neighbors could hear it. But that's not the funny part.

I turned off the captions for him, so that there would only be one set, and then he said....

"Turn it up."

I started laughing..... because why would the volume need to be louder if he doesn't understand a word of Japanese anyway? Can you read it better if the volume is louder?

Men! Sometimes they don't make a lick of sense (as my grandmother might have said).

Edit: He liked the movie; but he didn't tell me much about it since he was on his way to bed.

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I saw "Dance With Me", starring Chayanne, Vanessa Williams, Kris Kristofferson, and Joan Plowright, surprisingly enough. If you like to watch people dance, you might enjoy this one, even though the plot is a little predictable. I can say one thing - Chayanne is extremely easy on the eyes - and Vanessa ain't half-bad either......LOL! I was surprised to see how well she could dance.

Why it is Good to Be an Actress...

named Sarah Jessica Parker. You get to be married to a nice guy and have great kids and then you get to kiss Matthew McConnaughey, plus go sailing and play paint ball! I watched this DVD last night - alone - because mr. kenju "doesn't DO chick flicks"....LOL. Fine by me.....I get to control the remote AND eat all the popcorn.

This is an amusing romantic comedy, which also features Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw as Tripp's parents, who want him to move out of their home, at long last. I enjoyed it, so maybe you will too. It is PG-13, for the allusions to sex and one use of the F-word. Read about the movie here:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0427229/

Let's All Go to the Movies

Since our daughter signed us up for Blockbuster On-line, I have seen more movies in the last six weeks than the previous three years, I think. This sevice works very well for us; I list the ones I want, they are sent in serial fashion and then I have two ways to return them: I can mail them in their postage-paid envelopes, or I can return the DVD's to a Blockbuster store and then I get to pick out a free DVD! The problem is, while my favorite TV programs are still playing new shows and finales, the time available for viewing DVD's is short. Until summer break comes, the DVD's are stacked high and I get overwhelmed at the number and choices available to me!

I saw "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz, Cate Winslett, Jack Black and Jude Law. I expected it to be a complete chick flick (and it is) but it had more merit than usual. One of the characters is played by Eli Wallach and he gives a charming and excellent portrayal of a man once revered in Hollywood, who is now aging and well past his prime (more so in his own mind). The relationship between him and the character played by Cate is very touching.

Mr. kenju started watching with me, but he retired to the bedroom TV when (in his opinion) the plot took a turn for the worse. I admit it is implausible, but not impossible, for a woman to have sex almost immediately with a man she has just met (and not for money). I begged him to remember it was just a movie, after all......LOL

Jack Black's character was one I could be sympathetic with, and I liked both him and his role more than I expected. Jude Law actually played an upstanding/moral person in this one......very different from the guy he was in the last movie I saw. I can't remember the name of it - but he was a total cad! (Life imitates art, here or maybe vice-versa).

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I also saw "The Hours", with Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. I think I'd have been better prepared for this one had I read "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf before viewing the movie. The plot follows the three main characters, who each inhabit a different time period. One is the author of Mrs. Dalloway, one is a woman who is reading "Mrs. Dalloway" and one is........I forget. I should probably read that book and then watch the DVD again......LOL. The three characters pop-up in the movie one after the other, and so quickly that I hardly had time to process the information from one and think about how it fitted in with the others. Each of the actresses did an excellent job, as they always do, but the story line bounced around too much for me.

This afternoon, I am going to watch "Pan's Labyrinth", and I hope it is as good as some of the reviews I read online. I will be sure to let you know if it isn't!

Edit: Pan's Labyrinth was well worth the two hours. Aside from some violence (during which I always shut my eyes), it was an interesting story. It takes place in 1944 in Spain. I believe it would behoove me to have seen it in the theater, as I think a large screen would be preferable.

Let's All Go to the Movies....

Last week, I saw 3 movies: the ones shown here, plus Medea's Family Reunion, an older DVD that my boss has been recommending to me for a year. He said it was really funny; I found it less so. I learned later that what he saw was a regular movie, and what I happened to rent was a film of a stage play. The action all took place in one location. That limited it somewhat, I guess. I am sure that the movie would be better and more humorous.

The History Boys was adapted from a play which received a Tony award on Broadway. The movie features the original play's cast. I thought it was an excellent film; well-acted and thought-provoking. There is a heavy theme of homosexuality and much of the language pertaining to it was gratuitous and crass. I found it off-putting. In this play, teachers say four-letter words in class. Perhaps that happens nowadays (when I was in school, it would have been unthinkable). It takes place in England, and concerns a group of boys who are about to do their college interviews. Two teachers coach them, each one with a vastly different approach to the task. This one is well worth the time to view, if you can handle the language.

The Queen, starring Helen Mirren, is wonderful. She is wonderful. Everything she has ever been in is wonderful, and this is no exception. The movie begins as Diana has been injured in an accident; the one that ultimately kills her. It concerns the aftermath of Diana's death, the reaction to it by people the world over and the apparent non-reaction by the royal family. I don't know how much of this movie follows what really happened in real life (other than what we can glean from news reports of that time). It is a fascinating glimpse into royal life and "keeping a stiff upper lip". Perhaps some bloggers from the UK can shed some light on the truth (or not) of this movie. I was struck by the attitude of Prince Philip toward Diana, which was hostile, to say the least (at least it was in this film).