Best Picture – update #1

January 26, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments

Because we are old (kids grown) and have plenty of time, my husband and I try to see all the Best Picture nominees before the Academy Awards broadcast in March.

So far, we’ve seen 7 of the 10. Here are my quick (very unprofessional) reviews.

ANORA – Haven’t seen it yet

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN – I really liked it! I thought Ed Norton and Timothée Chalamet were fantastic as Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. I have always liked folk music, so the history of the social justice grounding of the movement was interesting to me. My husband, who is more of a punk/hardcore guy, thought it was a bit boring and melodramatic.

THE BRUTALIST – Really good. It’s actually worth sitting in a movie theater for 3.5 hours to see this epic film. (There is an intermission to get up and stretch your legs.) Adrian Brody is fantastic. It’s a think piece. And worth seeing on the big screen for the Carrera (Italy) scenes alone. It will give you something to talk about at dinner. Brutalist style architecture is currently on Trump’s enemies list, so it’s au courant as well. If The Brutalist wins Best Picture, I’ll be OK with it.

CONCLAVE – I already posted about this film. We both liked it. Ralph Fiennes is terrific as the Head Cardinal in charge of overseeing the weird, secretive process the Catholic Church uses to pick a new pope. The scenes of Rome at night and the interior of the Vatican were my favorite parts. Isabella Rossellini plays a woman with the no real power (it’s the Catholic Church after all) but she plays her small part convincingly. I don’t really think it should win Best Picture, but who knows…

DUNE: PART TWO – Neither of us liked it. It’s long and boring and not our genre. In my opinion this movie is for younger people. All effects, no heart.

EMILIA PÉREZ – Really good! And so unusual. My husband said it was the only musical he’s ever truly liked. They don’t burst into big voice belting, but just kind of quietly sing/talk at key moments. It’s very effective. I actually wish we’d seen it on a big screen rather than on TV. There are a lot of dark scenes in Mexico City that would’ve been cool to see in a big dark theater. Women play all the major roles, so it passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors. I’m definitely OK with this one winning Best Picture.

I’M STILL HERE – Haven’t seen it yet

NICKEL BOYS – Haven’t seen it yet

THE SUBSTANCE – This is a horror movie people! Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are fantastic, but I had to close my eyes a LOT. It’s “body horror” so a lot of gross stuff happens. If you’re OK with that, it’s worth seeing. There are a whole lot of women (including some I know and love) who put tremendous effort and money into defying nature with Botox and fillers, crazy face and body treatments, and actual scalpel surgeries. It’s a window into this mentality that goes completely off the rails as the movie progresses. Not Best Picture material, but worth streaming. (Also, tidbit for GenXers: Margaret Qualley is Andy McDowell’s daughter! She’s gorgeous like her mom, but in a completely different way.)

WICKED – I’ve already posted about Wicked. I loved it! It probably won’t win Best Picture because it was a huge blockbuster, but it probably should because it brought so much enjoyment, just like Barbie did last year. As previously mentioned, my husband doesn’t like musicals and even he said Wicked was “good.” From the moment Ariana Grande dropped down into Oz (a land of gingers) in a pink soap bubble carriage, I was all in.

Boston City Hall is the most well-known example of Brutalist architecture in Massachusetts.

Haiku: Week One

January 25, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

Each new outrage sears

As they are designed to do

If you can’t watch, breathe

Week One of having a rapist and convicted felon in the White House has sent me back to meditation. I’m fortunate that my minister holds weekly online guided meditation for free. She talks for a bit and then we sit in shared silence, paying attention to our breathing, for about 30 minutes. When a thought pops in, I try to just notice it, then let it float away and return to my breath or mantra. The mantra I’ve been using is “Be Here Now.”

One if by Land, Two if by Sea

January 24, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 7 Comments

I’m locked out of WordPress Daily Prompts (because I’ve already responded to all of them) and I don’t usually look back at my old responses, but in this case, I’m happy to report that I did something I said I would do!

History at my doorstep

My husband and I visited the newly renovated Concord Museum in December and it was impressive.

This year, 2025, is the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution, specifically the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775).

Along with the Old North Bridge Visitor Center, the Concord Museum is the place to learn about the American Revolution. If you don’t know the story of the lantern warning (“one if by land, two if by sea”) and Paul Revere’s famous ride from Boston to warn the colonists (“the British are coming!”), you’ll learn it here.

There’s also a ton of cultural information about Concord’s many famous intellectuals and writers like Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Many unsung leaders of both the abolitionist and suffrage movements also lived in Concord.

John “Jack” Garrison was an African American man who escaped slavery in New Jersey around 1810 and settled in Concord, Massachusetts. In Concord, he worked as a woodcutter and day laborer. In 1812, he married Susan Robbins, the daughter of Caesar Robbins, a Revolutionary War veteran. Together, Jack and Susan raised nine children, four of whom survived into adulthood. Despite the challenges of his early life, Jack became an integral part of the Concord community. He was known for walking around town with his saw-horse over his shoulder and his saw on his arm, even into his 60s. In recognition of his status as the oldest person in town, he was presented with a walking stick, which is now part of the Concord Museum’s collection. Jack’s life in Concord was marked by both acceptance and the persistent threat of capture due to the Fugitive Slave Acts.

Colonial era silver on display at the Concord Museum

Something new I learned is that a lot of “privileged” white Concord ladies used their influence for good, mainly by talking some sense into the white men. For example, did you know that Ralph Waldo Emerson had to be convinced that slavery was bad? Seriously, Ralph?? And guess who convinced him. Women. Especially Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, a close friend and vocal abolitionist, and his aunt, Mary Moody Emerson.

What exactly did he say?

January 23, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

From People magazine:

The Republican vice presidential candidate said that having a grandparent around the house made his son “a much better human being.” He continued, “And the evidence on this, by the way, is, like, super clear.“

“That’s the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female in theory,” Weinstein interjects, as Vance says, “Yes.”

As a post-menopausal female, I can tell you that seeing my granddaughter once a week (and providing my daughter a bit of support by way of groceries, baked goods, diaper changing, etc) IS the greatest joy in my life right now.

Have I told you how absolutely adorable my granddaughter is??? I miss her the minute I get home. She is just the cutest little snuggle bunny ever! And her mommy is doing such a great job taking care of her, that I can truly just do the fun stuff like look at board books with her, stage monthly thematic photo shoots, and dance with her in the kitchen.

I know that I have been given a great gift in that I had the financial ability to retire “early” at about the same time I became a grandma. And also, that my daughter and her family live nearby.

So back to JD. I don’t like him. He’s an arrogant little shit who reminds me of the worst millennial coworkers I ever had. (They think they know everything.) But, unlike some of my friends, I’m just gonna let that particular comment go. We have much bigger problems now.

Muffins and Thoughts

January 21, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 22 Comments

I may turn this into a baking blog for the next four years.

As the holidays are over, I wanted to veer away from decadent cookies, and try some healthier stuff. I’ve always liked “morning glory” muffins and this recipe from Sally is a winner. They are moist and delicious. I never make recipes with 18(!) ingredients, but I happened to have most of them in the house already. The only things I had to go buy was ground flax seed and unsweetened apple sauce. I substituted coconut flakes for the pecans, because I am allergic to tree nuts.

Random thoughts from the past two days:

I didn’t watch the inauguration live, but the photos were unavoidable. Melania’s hat was a lousy choice for an indoor inauguration. Even if the inauguration had been outside, she did not need a brim that wide! She looked so severe and frankly, mean, in that navy blue get-up. Major Cruella de Vil vibes.

The Washington DC Episcopalian Bishop has balls, asking Trump to his face to have mercy on the people he attacks. Good for her!

Finally, I loved AOC’s response to all the inquiries about whether or not she was attending the inauguration: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFB3HenR4az/?igsh=MTRuY29xeXc0am51YQ==

Alt-inauguration

January 19, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

OK, I know I live in a deep blue Massachusetts bubble, but I have not heard of one single person who plans to watch Donald Trump’s inauguration tomorrow.

Feelings seem to range from benign avoidance to disgust and true nausea that it’s being held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

I don’t think I’ve skipped watching an American presidential inauguration in the past 30 years. They are part of American history. Hell, I’d normally watch for the cold-weather women’s fashions alone. The coats! The gloves! The hats!

But I will not be watching this one. And I’m just so relieved Michelle Obama is skipping it too.

My alt-inauguration plan is to go see a midday matinee of The Last Showgirl, starring Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis, in a movie theater with my husband. Anderson’s performance is getting good reviews and since she’s the estranged ex-wife of Trump inaugural performer Kid Rock, it seemed like a great choice.

What’s your alt-inauguration plan? Or are you planning to watch?

And then there was this. Possibly the worst look ever worn to a presidential inauguration.

Knee socks

January 18, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

Today’s realization from The Great Photo Digitization Project of 2025 (inspired by the tragic California wildfires) is that I was an extremely well-dressed child. (My own kids were nowhere near as well-dressed as my sister and I were.)

And this was before the era of “fast fashion,” so my mother made many of our dresses and outfits.

We always had matching accessories too. Note the headband in this shot:

With my baby cousin Steven and Aunt Betsy, 1971

In my old photo albums, one accessory is featured more than all the others and that is color-coordinated knee socks. I remember having a drawer full of them. Thinking back, they were pretty cool because they came in so many different colors and were way more comfortable than tights.

Knee socks *and* a matching purse for the first day of first grade

Note the “milk box” near the front door (I am old)

Facilitated by my mother and a Marshall’s opening up in my town in the late 70s (“Brand Names for Less”), I ended up being a major clothes horse right through high school. I embraced the Reagan era “preppy look” and had dozens of sweaters in every color of the rainbow. My closet looked like a Benetton store.

It wasn’t until I tried to fit all my clothes into a tiny freshman dorm closet that I realized how ridiculously many I had.

First Communion

January 17, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

I’m continuing to selectively digitize my old photos and I bring you a comparison of the two methods: iPhone photo vs PhotoScan by Google.

Let me know if you have thoughts about which method is better quality, because it’s too much work to do both.

Because most of these photos are stuck in the old adhesive style photo albums, I’m having to pry them out if I want to see what (if anything) is written on the back. Then I’m stuck with a loose photo that I’ve been taping back into place with painter’s tape.

The photos above were taken on my “First Communion” day in April 1973. Despite my previously described love of veils, I remember I did not like that one. It was attached to a very uncomfortable headband that squeezed my head painfully. Perhaps this was a sign of the rocky road ahead for me and the Catholic Church.

Other than the painful headband, I remember getting some religious-themed presents (a Bible locket, an angel) and being made to feel quite special with a family party after the main event at the church.

I think we look like a real mid-century Italian-American family in these photos, but my dad is no Tony Soprano. He loved his mother (my long-widowed “Grammy”) dearly and she worshipped him. He was far and away her favorite child. As the only boy in an Italian family, he was extra special and he took great care of her until her death in 1992, just a month short of her 90th birthday.

1974: GenX turns 9

January 16, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments

Born in the summer of 1965, I am part of the oldest GenX cohort (1965-80) and I’m discovering through my photo digitizing project, that I’m quite well documented.

My parents took a lot of pictures. Many of them were bad (“delete” was not an option back then) but there’s at least a few photos from every single year of my life through college graduation. (Whereas, we probably have five pictures in all of my father as a kid.)

It looks like the summer of 1974 was the peak of my gymnastics prowess. I remember that I worked very hard and mastered a “front walkover” as a kid and here’s the proof:

I don’t think I ever progressed to handsprings (too hard). And I certainly never did a walkover on a balance beam (too scary).

Two years prior, in 1972, a tiny Soviet gymnast named Olga Korbut did a backflip off the uneven bars in the Munich Summer Olympics, won three gold medals, and inspired a lot of little American girls to try some new tricks. I was one of them.

And so, for my 60th birthday this summer, I pledge to work hard to reenact this photo and perform a front walkover in front of an audience.

KIDDING!! Can you even imagine? I’ll stick to Downward Dogs.

My 9th birthday party on my parents’ porch in the summer of ‘74. My sister and I and my neighborhood friends Candy, Kim, Carolyn and Bethanne had a good time.

The Original Guinea Pig

January 15, 2025September 18, 2025 ~ MaryG ~ 23 Comments

My photo digitizing project continues…

Thanks to blogger Dwight Roth (a wonderful poet), I’ve learned that sometimes an iPhone photo of an old print is just as good or better than a “scan.”

Today’s discovery is Rainbow—the original guinea pig.

Rainbow was the first in a series of guinea pigs that my sister and I had as pets in the 70s. My main memories of the little fellows involve the absolute anguish we felt when they inevitably got sick and died. I can’t believe my mother spent good money taking them to see veterinarians when they stopped eating. (Maybe she lied about that and just drove around the block a few times.) I remember praying to God to save my guinea pigs. He never did.

In any case, I’ve learned that Rainbow was my class pet in kindergarten and I took him home for the summer.

I was happy to discover some good guinea pig memories in one of the old photo albums.

50 Happens

Gen X Mom Keeps Calm & Carries On

GenX