Two Tastes in One!

My friend Diana and I drove into the D to watch two movies today.

Frost/Nixon was set in the 1970s after Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency, when David Frost - a British journalist/television personality - who is well known for his interview of Richard Nixon in a series of talks in 1977. Diana and talked about how we remember Watergate and watching some of the related hearings - and I think I was probably 14 or 15 at the time. We didn't much remember the Frost interviews though, but we decided it was because we were in our junior and senior years in high school, and our focus at the time was not political. There were things such as boys, classes, boys, senior year, boys, parties...(you get the picture) to think about. The movie was interesting to watch, and the acting was very good. Frank Langella, in particular, did a fantastic job playing Richard Nixon. Michael Sheen played David Frost. It was a good, good movie.

An even better movie is Doubt, with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and one of my faves - Amy Adams. Streep plays Sister Aloysius - the much-feared principal of a parochial school. She comes to believe that Fr. Flynn (Hoffman), the parish priest, has committed an impropriety with one of the students, who happens to be the only black child in the school, and is not wholly accepted by his peers. Amy Adams plays Sister James, a young and fairly new teacher, who tries to give her students the benefit of the doubt - much to the chagrin of Sister Aloysius. The interplay between the characters was interesting. The acting was phenomenal. I loved this movie!!! One thing that Diana and I noticed at the end was that the movie was dedicated to a Sister Somebody, who was touted as their Sister James. And...that person was the creative consultant for the film. We wondered if the movie was based on a true story, but I have not read or seen anything to that effect. Anyone know?

MK out.

The Other Harvey

After two non-movie days in a row, I was able to go today:

In Milk, Sean Penn gives an amazing performance as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay individual running for public office. It is a true story, set in San Fransisco in the 1970s. Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Allison Pill also starred in this film and did very well. It was good.

MK out.

A Woman's Perogative...

...is that she can change her mind.

I know I said that I wasn't going to purchase any yarn at the big end-of-the-year blowout sale at one of my favorite yarn shops...

First of all, I purchased Lucy Neatby's "Knitting Essentials 2" at the presale the other day.

I knew I wanted to purchase some of Lucy Neatby's DVDs; so, today I grabbed the "Gems" 1 through 4. I've been meaning to get the Yarnharlot's latest book; so, I grabbed a copy. I looked at two other books, and decided against them. My partner in the check out line had been finding neat yarn all day long and adding it to her pile. I kept saying, "I'm not getting any.more.yarn." I was firm in my conviction of not buying any.more.yarn until the last couple of hours of the sale. One of the other check out girls wanted to make a lace shawl and had found some Zephyr Wool/Silk. I considered that I would like to make a lace shawl, and I like the Zephyr; so, I walked over to where it lived, and picked out two balls of it in a pretty color named Ruby.

I caved.

So, sue me.

In other news, I was uploading my pictures for this post, and I had a cute one of my friend Kristina. She was the very first one in line this morning, waiting for the sale to start at 0600. I don't know how early she got there for that distinction, but she was holding the #1 ticket. The first 1-something in line, that got one of those numbered tickets...They received a little more of a discount for the sale. Anyway, two of my family members were talking with me while I was in the middle of downloading pictures, and I answered "Yes" when I should have answered "No," and it deleted today's photos from my camera. I have my new haul here at the house; so, I was able to take another picture of it, but no such luck with that picture of Kristina. Sorry. Y'all should have seen it...It really was cute.

No new movies today.

MK out.

The Movie Challenge

I have thirteen days to watch thirteen movies that are currently playing in theaters. I know that I won't be able to go to the movies everyday, but we'll see how successful I am at my quest.

Today, I saw The Reader, with Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet. Those two gave superb performances, and the film tells a good story. It is based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink, and traces the life of a teenager who has an affair with a woman many years older than he. The actor who played Fiennes' character as a teenager was very good also. I really liked this movie.

Tomorrow, it is doubtful that I will be going to the the movies, as I have plans to be at my favorite yarn shop at 0530 to - not shop, as I did last year - but help them with the end-of-the-year blowout. I had a good time going last year, but then I got home and felt like I was missing the party. (Don't try to figure out that one.) Anyway, should be fun...

MK out.

Merry Christmas and More Memories

We always wait until Christmas Eve, right before bedtime, to set out the presents. I think that tradition was in place before the Husb and I married. It's really a good practice, because I remember when my brother and I were little - We perfected the art of present peeking. We were so good, the packages never appeared as if they had been opened and resealed. The bad thing about that, of course, was that we knew what we were getting; so, Christmas morning was rather anticlimactic. What choice did we have, though. My mother would set out presents a couple of weeks before Christmas. Did she really like torturing us that way? I really don't think that she did it maliciously. I think she was oblivious to our plight.

When I got older, I would help my mother wrap the presents - even my own. The worst part was not telling my brother what he was getting. I would wrap things in different boxes from that in which they came. Just because I wasn't going to be surprised was not reason enough to ruin it for my little brother - even if he did tease me for being a geek or even if he would hit me for no good reason.

Remember how I told y'all that Australia deserved a Best Picture nomination? Well, I recently saw another movie that was even more worthy - Slumdog Millionaire. An Indian boy gets on the Indian equivalent of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and reaches the next to the last level knowing all the answers - all due to prior experiences he's had. You have to see it. I loved this movie.

Merry Christmas, Y'all.

MK out.

Christmas Memories

When I was in 9th grade, I had this little boyfriend who was in 9th grade too. He gave me a little trinket for Christmas - I think it was a pendant necklace - that his mother made. It was really sweet. I wonder what ever happened to it, but I digress...

The Christmas wasn't the memorable thing about it, but it was the only time I had a boyfriend at Christmas time, before I met Jim, and we started dating on New Year's and we were married by the next Christmas.Anyway, this 9th grade boy and I would talk on the phone for hours - unbeknownst to my father, who would have killed me on the spot. I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend. On New Year's Eve, this boy showed up with a friend on my doorstep. My dad answered the door, and when they asked for me, he sent them away. I got in trouble for them coming over, and I had not invited them, nor had I known that they were coming.

In February, his family learned that they were being transferred to a different base. His father was in the Coast Guard. His mother took us to lunch the day before they left. We had open campus for lunch, and since neither of us were old enough to drive, his mom was our chauffer and paid for our "date." We went to the Emporium on The Strand and had subway sandwiches. I will never forget that.

I saw him only once after that when I was in college. I suppose it was my freshman year. He was working on the construction crew that was enlarging the football stadium on campus. I don't know how he had tracked me down, but I came home from class one afternoon, and there he was in my dorm room. We walked around campus a little and talked. That was the last time I ever saw him. I wonder whatever happened to him.

And now, I will leave you with a few movie reviews:

How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer, starring Elizabeth Pena, America Ferrara and Lucy Garrado, was an interesting tale about three generations of hot, Latin women and their romantic exploits. It was alright.
In Married Life, Chris Cooper plays a man who plans to kill his wife (Patricia Clarkson), to spare her the humiliation of finding out about his affair with Rachel Adams. Pierce Brosnan plays his best friend. It was pretty good.
War, Inc. is about an assassin (John Cusack), who is hired to kill a Middle Eastern oil magnate while spinning a very elaborate cover. Hillary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Dan Akroyd, Ben Kingsley and the ever-present-in-a-John Cusack-flick-but-would-totally-be-missed-otherwise Joan Cusack also star. It was interesting and entertaining.
Kung Fu Panda is an animated adventure involving an out of shape panda, who is chosen to protect the village from a powerful enemy with his Kung Fu abilities. It was cute.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

MK out.