Movies

Do-Re-Mi

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

What’s a skill you consider basic, that most people don’t actually know how to do?

So many people say they “can’t sing” and it bugs me. Everyone CAN sing, but not everyone can sing in tune. My mother is a non-singer. She said she’s so bad at it that she was told to “mouth the words” to her sorority song, so as not to be heard by whatever audience listened to sorority girls sing songs in the 1950s. I’ve literally never heard her sing.

My husband can’t read music or play an instrument but he can sing — in tune. He will do karaoke in a pinch, if required. I think it’s because he listens to a lot of music and sings or hums along.

That is honestly the best way to learn to sing: Sing or hum along with music you like.

If you can’t find a song you like, then sing this one. It’s the classic.

Julie Andrews taught me

Imagine a world where nobody ever says “I can’t sing,” but instead just joins in with everyone else, I think it might actually fix all our problems.

Obama sings Amazing Grace

Impossible dream

~ MaryG ~ 28 Comments

What’s your biggest dream?

We saw The Odyssey yesterday—the latest blockbuster film from Christopher Nolan. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of Oppenheimer, but it’s not like we were going to skip the biggest film of the summer. (As you may have heard, it’s three hours long and cost 250 million dollars to make.)

I did a bit a “research” beforehand (I watched one video and read one article in the NYT), so I knew some basics about: Zeus‘s Law; Helen of Troy; Ithaca; and the Greek gods Zeus, Athena, Poseidon and Hades. I recommend doing that before seeing it or you will be confused.

My husband, who read way more Greek mythology than me as a kid, but didn’t brush up before the movie, was pretty confused. He gave the film a resounding “Meh.” In addition to being confused, he felt that none of the characters were particularly well developed.

My take home message was this: war is hell and (most) men are pigs.

The best scene in the film is when the witch Circe (brilliantly played by Samantha Morton) turns Odysseus’ men into actual pigs. It’s not a subtle message.

And as if to make the point more clear, I read these two bits of news upon my return from the theater:

Pig Trump

Pig Hegseth

As I watched 3,000 year old Troy burn, I couldn’t help but think of Tehran, Gaza, Kyiv, Manhattan and scores of other cities and countries that have seen bombings and other manmade violence in my lifetime alone. Some places are getting drone-bombed right now for God’s sake.

War just never seems to go away permanently. Where there are men, there are wars.

A world without war seems an impossible dream.

Oh Cruella

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

What villain actually had a good point?

I’m definitely going to lose some followers with this answer, but I think Americans are a bit too obsessed with their dogs. I’m not saying that Dalmatian puppies should be skinned and made into nice, soft fur coats like Cruella wanted, but…a coat like that would be real cute. You must admit!

With the red lining, this would be perfect for Christmas Eve. 😉

I feel positively villainous in dog-obsessed America, when I think these thoughts:

I don’t want your small, unleashed dog jumping on me and getting muddy paw prints on my white pants while you yell “Cupcake, stop.”

I don’t want your large, leashed dog—that you can just barely control—to cross the street to say “hello” to me because “Bodie loves people.” I’m good!

And I certainly don’t want your enormous Great Dane anywhere near me while I’m eating an ice cream cone!

Cruella De Vil in the original 1961 version of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians

100 Best Books of the 21st Century

~ MaryG ~ 20 Comments

According to the New York Times Book Review, these are the 100 best books of the first quarter of the 21st century.

My second child is a Golden Dragon. (He was born in the Year 2000.) So I’m going to go ahead and blame him for how few of these books I’ve actually read. I was busy!

I have read some. And I’ve seen many movies and limited series (and one Broadway musical) based on others.

These are the ones I’ve read:

Bel Canto; Olive Kitteridge; The Great Believers; Demon Copperhead; Middlesex; The Goldfinch; Small Things Like These; A Visit From the Goon Squad; Between the World and Me; Sing Unburied Sing; Atonement

So, 11 out of 100. Pretty bad!

How many have you read?

One book that I can’t believe I never read because everyone was always talking about is: Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking.

One book I assume I’d like, based on other books I’ve read by the author is: The Runaway by Alice Munro.

Predictably, readers of the New York Times had a different list. Here in the main article, you can see which ones readers chose that didn’t make The Book Review’s list. I concur with readers on many of those including A Gentleman in Moscow, The Nightingale, The Glass Castle and Just Mercy.

If I had to pick one book that was left off both lists, I’d say Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime. Such a great memoir!

And one author that was left off both lists: Anne Lamott. I mean, I know she wrote a lot of great stuff before the year 2000, but I feel like at least one of her later books should have been included, like maybe Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.

Thoughts?

NYTBestBooks.pdfDownload
A bookshelf in my family room

Summer Days

~ MaryG ~ 17 Comments

What’s a book, movie, or TV show that you wish you could experience again for the first time?

I’ve written before about seeing Star Wars and the big movie musicals of the late 70s over and over again. Grease in particular was so fun to see on the big screen for the first time. The “teenagers” in the movie were a few years older than me and they made high school look like, well…a Hollywood musical. What could be better? And it’s hard to explain just how appealing young John Travolta was back in the day.

I had a poster similar to this in my bedroom (though mine was in color).

OK, I looked it up and Travolta was actually 24 when he played Danny Zuko. And Jeff Conaway, who played Kenickie, was 28. (So I was a 13-year old lusting after grown men twice my age.)

Grease, the 1978 movie musical

Passionate about me

~ MaryG ~ 29 Comments

What are you passionate about?

I’m still celebrating my own birthday (which was last Tuesday), even though everyone else is over it.

On my actual birthday the weather was spectacular. My son met us at a new-to-me restaurant with a great waterside location. That’s obviously the parking lot side behind us in the picture, but we were looking out onto a lovely lake.
Turnpike Market in Billerica, MA has been nearby for years with this nice view and I had no idea.

The food was good too!

I like when a restaurant knows it’s my birthday, so my husband told them. They didn’t sing to me, but I did get to meet the owner and they sent out a lovely tiramisu for dessert.

Birthday flowers from my very thoughtful son

On Thursday, I got to see my daughter and my granddaughter. Yay!

Loved this gift so much!
And this ❤️

“Birthday week” continued last night with the opening of the new Steven Spielberg movie Disclosure Day. I got a delicious “Passion Star Martini” and fried dumplings beforehand.

Passion Star Martini: Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Licor 43, passion fruit liqueur, mango infused syrup, lime, sparkling wine float

Today I’m making my husband go to a downtown Boston art museum with me.

After that, I don’t think I’ll be able to play the birthday card again until next year.

Always tip the musicians

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s a cultural tradition from another country that you wish existed in yours?
View all responses

I’m not sure which countries have the most spontaneous public singing and/or dancing—Brazil? Ghana?—but I wish we did more of that here.

I wish it would just happen in the grocery store and other ordinary places. For example, when it’s someone’s birthday in a restaurant, I think everyone should pause and help sing the birthday song.

During the closing credits of the movie The Sheep Detectives, which we saw in a full theater a couple weeks ago, they played I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers. The woman next to me started singing, so of course I joined her, then she stood up and started dancing too. Her kids did not seem at all embarrassed. It was great.

More of that please.

New Orleans gets it. They’ve got more people making music and dancing in the streets than any other US city I’ve ever visited.

April showers

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

One thing about being older is that you have so very many snippets of songs, poems, sayings and jingles floating around in your head. Literally decades worth of popular culture is lodged in the ole memory. Half the time, you can’t remember why or from where you know something.

Apparently “April Showers Bring May Flowers” is a saying from England that dates back to at least the 1550s. Imagine. That saying has been kicking around the English-speaking world for over 450 years.

The flowers that bloom in the spring,

tra-la.

OK, just Googled and that’s from The Mikado, which makes sense. I was in that show in high school (embarrassingly, in full yellowface). Gilbert & Sullivan are responsible for a great deal of brain clutter in older people who like musical theater.

Springtime for Hitler and GER-MA-NY

I wish that one from The Producers would leave me, but it just won’t. Must be lodged too deep in the grey matter.

Spring in general has more songs, poems, and sayings than all the other seasons combined. Don’t you think?

What pops into your head when you experience the miracle of spring where you are?

Project Hail Mary

~ MaryG ~ 23 Comments

We went out! For the first time since total knee replacement #2 on March 16, we went to a movie. Thanks to reclining theater seats, my husband was able to elevate his leg enough to make it through a 2+ hour film. He did have to take an oxy about halfway through, but still…he made it…and mostly enjoyed it.

For those who haven’t heard, Project Hail Mary is a blockbuster, feel good, space odyssey, based on the book by Andy Weir, which I have not read.

Here are a few thoughts:

The theater was full of people, including many families. This made the movie going experience more fun. We happened to go to a Saturday matinee the day after the Artemis 2 crew returned safely to earth. The poignancy of the film’s main message (nobody wants to be alone) was enhanced by the good vibes that our stellar astronauts evoked. As eloquent Artemis astronaut Christina Koch told the world upon her return: Planet Earth: You. Are. A. Crew.

Ryan Gosling is charming! We knew this already from Barbie, LaLa Land and other films. But this is his most charming role yet. He’s cute, he’s humble, he’s funny, he’s adorable. Give me Ryan Gosling any day of the week over Matthew McConaughey, Mark Wahlberg or any of the Chrises.

At 2 hours and 36 minutes, the film is a bit too long. I had to leave once to pee during the film and I had already left to pee during the final preview. (I should’ve been able to make it through the whole film.) The boys next to me also had to leave to pee once. But honestly, all films seem too long to me these days. Filmmakers need to edit better. If your average 60-year old woman and 10-year old boy can’t make it through the whole film without peeing, cut some stuff.

But all in all, I give it a thumbs up. It’s a good way to build on the warm vibes the astronauts gave us. Goodness knows, we need all the positivity we can get in light of the total shit show in the White House.

Was this a great crew or what?

Year of the Knee – update

~ MaryG ~ 20 Comments

End of Week One of knee replacement #2 (my husband’s not mine) and I’m pleased to report I have achieved “angel of mercy” status. Oh the power of being in charge of the pain meds!

I did slip into “Annie Wilkes mode” once, when I told my husband I had unexpectedly closed the Activity Ring on my AppleWatch “waiting on his ass.” That was mean, admittedly, but at least I was putting my service in a positive light. Turns out that running up and down the stairs to get things, lugging bags of ice, filling and lugging the “polar cube,” and doing all the daily chores myself (loading/unloading dishwasher, cooking, trash and recycling, etc) burns up a decent amount of calories. I can’t be sedentary for too long.

He’s been trying his best to be a good patient, which I appreciate, but knee replacement is really pretty gruesome. The extreme pain, the swelling, the bruising, the leg full of staples…fortunately not too much bleeding from the incision (and the in-home physical therapist deals with bandage changes—phew)

I think things will start feeling better when the staples come out next week.

In the meantime, we are bingeing The Traitors with Alan Cumming on Peacock, which our daughter got us into. It’s pretty entertaining, for a reality competition show. Who doesn’t love a Scottish castle? And Alan’s outfits are over-the-top in the best way.

A lovely bouquet from our very thoughtful daughter and her husband
It’s lasted all week—and now the tulips are opening.
I might try to paint this one very beautiful rose.

Oh and with this knee, we’ve added cannabis to the pain regime. He’s finding that a strategically timed gummy can enhance and lengthen the effect of the prescribed pharmaceuticals.

Aaah, I finally turned my husband into a stoner like me. It only took 33 years.