Friday, April 30, 2010

"The new Pride and Prejudice movie broke my heart."

There's a group on facebook called, "The new Pride and Prejudice movie broke my heart." Here's the group's description:

"Okay. Keira Knightly is cool. Really. And we understand how a six-hour movie can be tedious. We even acknowledge that we enjoyed it in moderation.

But if you believe that the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie was obnoxiously Hollywood-ized, slander against Elizabeth Bennet, severely lacking in accurate costuming, a parody of every character except Lizzy and Darcy, and generally ridiculous, please acknowledge so.

Item 1: The movie paints Elizabeth Bennet as extremely willful and headstrong, rather than a mature character who rises above the "inferiority of her connections."

Item 2: Who said anything about Darcy first proposing in a rainstorm? More romantic, perhaps, but verging on the ridiculous. Back then, that would have verged on the improper. No, Darcy proposed in a parish, and while this may be less romantic, Hollywood had no need to dirty the proposal scene by over-romanticizing it.

Item 3: A pig ran through the house. A pig. The Bennets were poor, but they were not living in a sty.

Item 4: The need to compact a long story into a two-hour movie is not enough justification to cause every character to talk at speeds that verge on breaking the speed of sound.

Item 5: No one, not even Matthew McFayden, can ever replace Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. Enough said. "


I think it's funny.

Note: The fact that "no one...can ever replace Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy" (as mentioned in item 5) doesn't mean that I think Mr. Joel Nisbett didn't do an excellent job portraying Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. He did a marvelous, fantastic job! Colin Firth had a really unfair advantage over Joel and Matthew McFayden. Joel and Matthew McFayden were pretending to be Mr. Darcy. Colin Firth is Mr. Darcy....

:)

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Grapes of Wrath and James Barbour

I just finished The Grapes of Wrath. Is it cruel to say that I was kind of glad when Granpa died? All he did was use profane language and I was sick of reading it. I wish that Connie hadn't left and that Rose of Sharon's baby had lived. It was an unsatisfying book, I thought.



James Barbour has a blog! http://jamesbarbour.blogspot.com/


:)

Monday, April 26, 2010

Anvil Chorus

I've been enjoying having a car for many reasons, one of them being that I can listen to whatever music I want to, because I'm the driver and you're just a passenger, so deal with it! :) Recently, I've been listening to opera, and this one piece in particular has become a favorite.

It's the Anvil Chorus from Verdi's "Il Trovatore", and I think I like it so much because it reminds me of Pirates of Penzance...it just sounds like something Fine Linen would do, if Fine Linen was into operas and if "Il Trovatore" appropriate. I haven't read the synopsis yet.

Okay, I skimmed over the synopsis. I didn't really "get" all of it, but a bunch of people are burned to death. Hmm.

Here's the Anvil Chorus, conducted by this guy with really fantastic hair, Giuseppe Sinopoli:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXFZckzjcKw

I like it.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

A Tale of Two Cities = ________________________



I have no words.



John Nisbett gave me the dvd of the concert to watch.



I wept. A lot.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Sit up, lie down, roll over, play dead...

It was funny.
It was thought provoking.
It was witty.
It was engaging.
It was very, very well done.
It made me want to laugh, and it made me want to cry (from laughing too much?).

It was SNOOPY!! :)

It was fantastic.

Everything...the singing, dancing, costumes, music...was beautiful and charming. The Woodstocks stole the show with the adorable "Woodstock Theme", the Lucys were loud mouthed, the Charlie Browns were charmingly wishy washy, the Linuses (Linuses? Lin-i?) were thoroughly educated in all fields pertaining to everything and were always willing to expound, the Sallys were sweetly naive, the Peppermint Pattys were persistent in the pursuit of "Chuck", and the Snoopys were wonderfully "Snoopy-ish." Let's face it...you can't beat red Converse.

My favorite scene? I can't decide. I like them all for different reasons. I loved Isaac Hall's adorable performance as the "crossed in love" Woodstock, I loved John Nisbett's enthusiastic attitude (AND bunny ears) as he hopped on stage as the Easter Beagle, I loved the tap-dancing girls and the unicycling boys, I love, love, loved Anna Nisbett's "Poor, Sweet Baby," I loved the "Clouds" number and the "Going to the Movies" bit and the "Wash Day" bit and "The Great Writer" bit, and I can't wait to see it again tomorrow night and the night after that (I'm working as an usher/handywoman/do-er of whatever needs to be done).

Go see the show! :)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Before the "Dah-nce"



The Light girls, before the dance last Saturday. I look kind of weird and I'm not wearing shoes, which looks even more weird.

Clarissa is a lot taller than me.

The car

In order for me to be of any help with the running around of children to all their activities, we needed another vehicle.




We got a 7 year old Toyota Camry. It's not MY car, but I'm the "primary driver"...so that's cool. I'll probably take it to college in a year and a half.

Woah. That's a little scary.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

So I made dinner last night and the recipe I was using called for six cloves of garlic.

Six.

That's my kind of food, I thought to myself.

Surprisingly, it was only mediocre. Not making it again.

From the ride to KC a few weeks ago...


Car trips are excellent opportunities for taking amusing pictures of oneself.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Carrot salad

For some reason, recently I've been mildly obsessed with carrot salads. I'm not sure why, but it's a fact.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010


Here's another picture :)

puppies at 8 weeks

If anyone wants/needs a puppy, we're giving them away. Just let us know:)



John Adams in on the left, Houdini on the right...

Friday, April 9, 2010

A kind of gross and semi-entertaining story

Note: the following story contains references to dead rodents...so if that bothers you, please don't read it.









Earlier this week I found a dead mole in the front yard, right by the porch steps. This would usually be really nasty, but it was kind of shriveled up and dried...so it wasn't that gross...even though it sounds like it would be.

Trust me. It wasn't that nasty.

The puppies have been hanging out in that area, so I kind of scooted the deceased little fellow off to the side.

Thinking back, that was not a wise thing to do. I don't really know what I figured I would accomplish by scooting him to the side, but I did it and it's done and we can't go back, can we?

I didn't think so.

As you may guess, the next day, there was the same dead mole, laying more or less where he was the first time.

So, using two twigs like chopsticks, I picked up the unfortunate little rodent, carried him to the edge of mowed grass, and flung him into the field. There, I thought, as I watched him fly through the air and land amidst the tall grass/weeds, the dogs will never find him. They don't go into that part of the field very often.

That was silly on my part.

This morning, what do you know???? The mole is in the driveway!

So, this time, I really took care of him.

I buried him in the flower garden.

Using the garage broom, I swept him across our gravel driveway (which is quite difficult, btw...sweeping something across gravel) and through a little bit of grass. Then, using the end of the broom not usually meant for sweeping, I dug a little hole in the ground.

It was a touching funeral.

I gave him a nice, natural looking rock for a gravestone.

There he will lay forever and ever....I hope.

:)

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

An example of how lame I am...

I found my first four-leafed (leafed? leaved? leaf-ed?) clover this morning. Yes, my first. I know, I know, it's kind of lame.

You know how some people can just glance at the ground and spot four leaf clovers? My aunt is like that. I am not.

I was taking a letter to the mailbox, and, passing a large patch of clover, decided that I was going to find one. So on my way back to the house, I stopped, bent down, and started searching. Within two minutes, I found one. I was thrilled!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

At the corner of Regency and Elizabeth...


Seen on our trip to KC last weekend. I thought it was appropriate to post as I (and probably most of the cast) still have Pride and Prejudice on the brain...

Monday, April 5, 2010

Observations From This Morning

John Adams and Houdini like to tackle Mr. Jefferson and eat his food. This upsets Mr. Jefferson and he runs away.

Bingley, John Adams and Houdini are chums.

Princess Leia keeps her distance from Houdini and John Adams. They don't seem to mind.

Yes, I am speaking of the zoo of animals at our house, and not some strange combination of history, Pride and Prejudice and Star Wars.

Yes, I am aware that our pets bear unique names. I like it.

Hopefully, Littering is for Losers! Part 2 will appear this afternoon/evening.