Movies

Ginger the Giraffe

~ MaryG ~ 6 Comments

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

I was going to answer “no” to this prompt, but then I remembered I’ve been pretending to feed a giraffe I bought at Boston’s Snowport Holiday Market all week.

Her name is Ginger, because she is made from a ginger beer can. She’s imported from Zimbabwe. So far, my husband and son have refused to pretend she’s real.

Ginger having some basil

As previously mentioned, I have a thing for giraffes. If you haven’t seen the new film Wonka, with Timothée Chalamet, it’s worth it for the giraffe scenes alone. For GenXers, nobody can replace Gene Wilder in the role of Willy Wonka. His laissez-faire attitude toward his bratty visitors (“stop, don’t”) is priceless. But the message of the original film comes through in this latest prequel version of Willy Wonka. It’s all about “Pure Imagination,” which is liberally reprised throughout the new film.

There is no life I know

To compare with pure imagination

Living there, you’ll be free

If you truly wish to be

For me, nothing evokes pure childhood-like playtime than a good game of pretend.

Related posts: Book magic, Giraffes, The Mean(ish) Peacocks

GenX arrives

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

Share what you know about the year you were born.

OK, I cheated and googled it. A fantastic photo journey through 1965 from The Atlantic came up. Check it out here.

The eldest members of Generation X arrived in a big year – Selma, Vietnam, The Beatles, the first moon walk, the Voting Rights Act. I did not know that Winston Churchill died in 1965, or that the US occupied the Dominican Republic that year.

Now I’ll admit to a horribly vain thing that I do: I keep track of a select list of female celebrities – born in 1965 – for the sole purpose of watching them age and comparing myself to them. I’ll literally pause a TV show and ask my husband if Sarah Jessica Parker looks older or younger than me. He knows the right answer is always “about the same as you.” You don’t stay married for 30+ years without learning basic shit.

Here’s my “born in 1965” vanity comparison list with birthdays. I was born in June, so I’m within 6 months of each of them.

Kyra Sedgwick, 8/19

Diane Lane, 1/22

Sarah Jessica Parker, 3/25

Elizabeth Hurley, 6/10

Brooke Shields, 5/31

Kristin Davis, 2/23

Paulina Porizkova, 4/9

Viola Davis, 8/11

Julia Ormond, 1/4

Maura Tierney, 2/3

Marlee Matlin, 8/24

Shania Twain, 8/28

Linda Evangelista, 5/10

I seem to have a special fondness for my fellow GenX Gemini, Brooke Shields. (She was looking at colleges the same time I was and visited some of the same schools.) I really enjoyed the recent documentary about her (Pretty Baby). She’s keepin it real and, in my opinion, looks better than ever.

Not Napoleon

~ MaryG ~ 1 Comment

If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?

I was very excited to see the new film Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix, because of my upcoming trip to France. We went on opening night.

Sadly, it’s not a good film. I’m sure it had a huge budget, but it just doesn’t work. My husband and I both fell asleep in different parts. It’s really boring, even with all those battles. I’m not sure what Phoenix was going for in his portrayal, but he comes off as a strange, quiet, boring creep.

The two most exciting scenes are when Marie Antoinette goes to the guillotine and when the soldiers at the Battle of Austerlitz fall through the ice.

Based on the film, I’d rather go back and meet Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France. I’d want to meet her during the fun Versailles years — you know, before they turned on her.

Catherine Walker as Marie Antoinette on her way to the guillotine in Napoleon (a bad film by Ridley Scott)

Boston’s best neighborhood

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

What is your favorite place to go in your city?

Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, particularly the Commonwealth Avenue mall, is my favorite part of the city. I worked in this neighborhood my entire career, starting with my first job after college at The Institute of Contemporary Art, when it was on Boylston Street.

Back Bay is so beautiful and so historic. Many movie scenes have been shot here. I’ve seen several of them underway over the years, with my closest brush with fame being a glimpse of Benedict Cumberbatch. He was shooting a scene for Black Mass at the Harvard Club. Cumberbatch played Billy Bulger, the brother of Boston’s most famous mobster — Whitey Bulger. I saw the film, but can’t remember if he got the accent right. They rarely do!

Commonwealth Avenue Mall by Robert Davis

My life of crime

~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

Some people don’t know that I went to very great lengths to get a solid fake ID before I turned 21. I had a friend who was two years older and lived in Florida. I memorized all her important information and went into a Florida RMV and pretended I was her and had lost my license. I managed to walk out of there with an actual Florida drivers license that had her name and birthdate, but my photo. I guess I wanted to go to nightclubs REALLY badly, because I’m sure that was a crime.

That same friend and I got up to some other stuff that I’m not proud of—shoplifting, dine-n-dash, and lots of underage drinking.

We never got in trouble for any of it. That’s white privilege for you. Also, in the 80s, there was no internet and few security cameras. You could look like Molly Ringwald, but act like Judd Nelson, quite easily.

The Christmas Puzzle

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

I sing in a choir, which I enjoy, but I wouldn’t say that’s a “hobby.” I don’t think reading or exercising are exactly hobbies either.

Google’s top definition of hobby: an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure

I think doing puzzles is an actual hobby. A lot of people got into puzzles during the pandemic lockdown. We were in the habit of doing one 1000-piece puzzle per year, around the holidays, which we typically received in the mail as a gift from my sister-in-law. During the lockdown, we did additional puzzles, but I decided I really only like doing a Christmas puzzle. I’m a once-a-year puzzle hobbyist.

Our 2022 Christmas Puzzle
It was pretty hard, but fun, because it brought back memories of the film, like “You’ll shoot your eye out!” and the Leg Lamp.

Make some Plans

~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments

What things give you energy?

I tend to suffer from a bit of inertia. I really love to sit on my couch – in my favorite spot – and drink coffee and read or write things on my phone or computer.

Now that my kids are grown and my job is mostly remote, nothing really forces me to get dressed and get out. Sometimes I throw on clothes and makeup five minutes (or less) before my first Zoom meeting of the day.

Eventually I always get dressed and go for a walk, swim, or bike ride. Exercise give me energy. I also like having plans with people I like, to do things I like. For example, last week I took Wednesday off to go see the big Edward Hopper exhibit in Gloucester, MA. It was a beautiful day and I went with my parents. We had fun and it was energizing to be with my dear mom and dad and also to talk about the art we saw.

No photos were allowed in the Hopper exhibit, but you were allowed to take pics in other parts of the museum.

Gloucester fishermen, 1907
Gloucester fishermen, 2015, by Jim Hooper

And guess what? It turns out Edward Hopper’s wife, Josephine Nivison Hopper, was a painter herself and was almost entirely responsible for his tremendous success, but got no credit at all during her lifetime! Ain’t that always the way? I’m ready for a Hollywood biopic about their fascinating lives, love, and art. I hope that writers’ strike ends soon.

The Bittersweet

~ MaryG ~ 3 Comments

What brings a tear of joy to your eye?

The last thing that brought a tear of joy to my eye was the final scene in the film A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks.

The film is based on the book “A Man Called Ove,” by the Swedish writer Fredrik Backman, which I had listened to on tape.

SPOILER ALERT

In the final scene, Otto has died of natural causes (rather than by suicide, which he had been planning) when his neighbor Marisol finds him. She is heartbroken, but finds a note with his final wishes. He has left his home, car, and money to her and her young family. He signs the note Abuelo (grandfather) Otto.

Aw.

The childless grumpy old man, whose heart had turned to stone after the death of his disabled wife (tragically crippled while pregnant years earlier), had found a family in his final years.

It’s the happy and the sad mixed together that tends to get me. The Bittersweet.

Tom Hanks in a Man Called Otto

Favorite films seen on The Big Screen

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

What are your top ten favorite movies?

Let’s face it, seeing movies is different these days. The fact that you can wait for films to be available on streaming means that you’ll be seeing many great productions on your TV, where they’ll be up against a myriad of amazing series and documentaries. I think it’s hard for a film you saw on your TV to be truly memorable (over decades).

All of the films on my list are ones I remember seeing on the big screen (sometimes more than once) and loving.

I was born in 1965, the first year of Generation X, and I think my list reflects that. Plus, I do love a musical! (If Hamilton had been a movie instead of a play first, it would’ve been on my list for sure.)

1. Sound of Music (1965)

2. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

3. Star Wars (1977)

4. Grease (1978)

5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

6. Schindler’s List (1993)

7. Good Will Hunting (1997)

8. Bridesmaids (2011)

9. Black Panther (2018)

10. Barbie (2023)

Seeing the original Star Wars in the summer of 1977 in Nantucket’s historic Dreamland Theater was the most memorable movie-going experience of my life. I was 12. I’ll never forget how the audience cheered. Also, the score by John Williams was such an important part of the film. Goosebumps. I bought the sheet music for the main theme and learned to play it on the piano.

Final note: In my opinion, Meryl Streep is our best living American actress. Sophie’s Choice, Out of Africa, Kramer vs Kramer, Mamma Mia and all her other films would be my second top ten (or top twenty) all on their own.