As I came home from Christmas, I added a DVD to the small private collection. I rarely buy movies. If I rent, I go to the library just down the street. They have a good selection and I can order from other county libraries if they don't have one I want to see. Just now, I have La Vie en Rose ordered. I thought I would post the movies here that I have. It is fun to see what people have and why. When someone asks your favorite movie, you may hedge and stumble and be rendered dumb. Overload. One of my favorite movies is Howards End. It has a lot going for it. It is like literature on screen. Here is the list of DVDs and videotapes respectively.
Marie Antoinette (Christmas gift)
Sense and Sensibility ($5 from Target)
Babette's Feast (gift)
To Catch a Thief (gift)
Cyrano de Bergerac
Finding Neverland
Chocolat
The Phantom of the Opera (gift)
Il Postino
The Birds (gift)
Wuthering Heights (gift)
Charade
Toy Story (gift)
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Jane Eyre (gift)
The Parent Trap (gift)
The Black Stallion
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
The Pearl
Little Women
Kate and Leopold
Howards End
Henry V
Cry, the Beloved Country
Out of Africa
The Way We Were
An Ideal Husband
The Age of Innocence
Emma
The Remains of the Day
Cinema Paradiso
My Mother’s Castle
My Father’s Glory
Au Revoir Les Enfants
Sabrina
Funny Face
My Fair Lady
Roman Holiday
Paris When It Sizzles
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
I gave up marking which are gifts and which are not. They are mostly gifts.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
In the Beginning
Well, I can't wait any longer. PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE PREVIOUS POST. Like Harry Potter season, there are spoilers.
Here are the answers:
1. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
2. Smilla's Sense of Snow, Peter Høeg
3. Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (The Early Years), Thomas Mann
4. Stones for Ibarra, Harriet Doerr
5. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
6. A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle
7. Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell
I'm sorry to say no one wins a prize for guessing (right or wrong) all of them. I don't blame you . . . really. Now you can redeem yourselves.
And now the challenge. Please write a fantastic first line to your book and post it here. I expect all of you to participate.
I'm working on mine.
Here are the answers:
1. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
2. Smilla's Sense of Snow, Peter Høeg
3. Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (The Early Years), Thomas Mann
4. Stones for Ibarra, Harriet Doerr
5. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
6. A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle
7. Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell
I'm sorry to say no one wins a prize for guessing (right or wrong) all of them. I don't blame you . . . really. Now you can redeem yourselves.
And now the challenge. Please write a fantastic first line to your book and post it here. I expect all of you to participate.
I'm working on mine.
First Lines
Here is an assortment of story beginnings. For the first who guesses (correct or incorrect) the book titles, there will be a special prize (not a hug, as my nephew offered to give me this week for guessing something incredible). The answers will be posted in several days. Knock yourselves out.
Here they are as found on my bookshelf:
1. On a January evening of the early seventies, Christine Nilsson was singing in Faust at the Academy of Music in New York.
2. It's freezing—an extraordinary 0 degrees Fahrenheit—and it's snowing, and in the language that is no longer mine, the snow is qanik—big, almost weightless crystals falling in clumps and covering the ground with a layer of pulverized white frost.
3. As I take up my pen at leisure and in complete retirement—in good health, furthermore, though tired, so tired that I shall only be able to proceed by short stages and with frequent pauses for rest—as I take up my pen, then, to commit my confessions to this patient paper in my own neat and attractive handwriting, I am assailed by a brief misgiving about the educational background I bring to an intellectual enterprise of this kind.
4. Here they are, two North Americans, a man and a woman just over and just under forty, come to spend their lives in Mexico and already lost as they travel cross-country over the central plateau.
5. Here is James Henry Trotter when he was about four years old.
6. The year began with lunch.
7. I remember the day the Aleut ship came to our island.
Here they are as found on my bookshelf:
1. On a January evening of the early seventies, Christine Nilsson was singing in Faust at the Academy of Music in New York.
2. It's freezing—an extraordinary 0 degrees Fahrenheit—and it's snowing, and in the language that is no longer mine, the snow is qanik—big, almost weightless crystals falling in clumps and covering the ground with a layer of pulverized white frost.
3. As I take up my pen at leisure and in complete retirement—in good health, furthermore, though tired, so tired that I shall only be able to proceed by short stages and with frequent pauses for rest—as I take up my pen, then, to commit my confessions to this patient paper in my own neat and attractive handwriting, I am assailed by a brief misgiving about the educational background I bring to an intellectual enterprise of this kind.
4. Here they are, two North Americans, a man and a woman just over and just under forty, come to spend their lives in Mexico and already lost as they travel cross-country over the central plateau.
5. Here is James Henry Trotter when he was about four years old.
6. The year began with lunch.
7. I remember the day the Aleut ship came to our island.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Jolly Holidays: We were Merry
My brother has recorded an event from our holiday season. Guesses as to what movie we saw?
Over the Christmas season we were pleased to reacquaint ourselves with relatives visiting from California. One evening midway through their visit, in front of a roaring fire, we watched a movie.
We would later pen the following list:
+ Top 5 Signs Your Party Guests May Dislike Your Movie +
1. "Is this a full-length movie?" (Expected answer: "No.")
2. "Is the whole movie like this?" (Feared answer: "Like what?")
3. Facial expressions of disbelief, pain, or despair when other viewers are laughing.
4. Upon movie's completion: "I could have spent this time ... (fill in the blank)."
5. A strong belief the movie was longer than its actual length: "It was only 84 minutes?!"
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
On Tap: Hearth and Home
If you know my brother, you know he is a hot chocolate enthusiast. The interesting thing is his chocolate of choice is Stephen's or Swiss Miss. He is a purist in this sense. He does pump on some whipped cream. This is his mug of choice.
It is a Harry Potter mug by Johnson Bros. There is a selection of about 6 HP mugs on the mug tree.
This is my favorite mug for hot c.
It is from Hawaii and I believe we received them (there are two) from my mother's mother. I am basically the only one who uses them which is just fine with me. Tonight I enjoyed Stephen's Cinnamon Chocolate or Chocolate Cinnamon. The cinnamon is very minor. Sometimes food or drink without strong taste can be described as friendly. I can't take rich chocolate ever since I suffered from a chocolate frozen drink at Chuao. To say it was potent is understatement. It was a wrenching experience and my stomach has not been the same.
It is a Harry Potter mug by Johnson Bros. There is a selection of about 6 HP mugs on the mug tree.
This is my favorite mug for hot c.
It is from Hawaii and I believe we received them (there are two) from my mother's mother. I am basically the only one who uses them which is just fine with me. Tonight I enjoyed Stephen's Cinnamon Chocolate or Chocolate Cinnamon. The cinnamon is very minor. Sometimes food or drink without strong taste can be described as friendly. I can't take rich chocolate ever since I suffered from a chocolate frozen drink at Chuao. To say it was potent is understatement. It was a wrenching experience and my stomach has not been the same.
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