Tag Archives: Team Pepper

I’m Tired

I’m tired. The daily blogging. Pooped.

I’m tired! Haven’t I heard that someplace before? Hmm. Oh yeah!

I am sharing something some may see as a bit bawdy. Now don’t get any ideas. I am not tired from having sex with thousands of men. I just love this video. Very funny and so talented, Madeline Kahn. I miss her.

Madeline’s performance is a take off on a classic film performance of the actress Marlene Dietrich in “The Blue Angel.” Here is a video of that performance via edmundusrex You Tube:

http://youtu.be/HaZDiKRT1is

The film The Blue Angel is a classic tale about the love of a young woman by an older man and how this leads to his downfall. It reminds me of Pagliacci an opera by Puccini where the clown is in love with a beautiful young woman and he feels the woman betrays him because she is in love with another man.

|Nano Poblano| yawn!

SoCS Saturday Incense and Peppermints

30 Replies

I really like a lot of music from the 60s. When thinking about the prompt the song Incense and Peppermints by The Strawberry Alarm Clock came to mind. It’s funny but at first I was imagining church incense. Thinking what would rockers want with church incense. Then I remembered they are talking about those little sticks of incense. And probably high on something and enjoying their heightened senses of taste and smell.

So here we go. Let’s get groovy dudes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3ukcUwPZE8

|LindaGHill|

|Nano Poblano| dude!

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

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Here I go writing about one of my favorite classic movies. I watched it again recently. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir stars Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. The setting is 1900 in England. Lucy Muir is a young widow with a little daughter. She has been living with her in-laws for a year since her husband died. She makes the decision to set out on her own. She has a small income from her husband’s estate.

This was very daring for a woman in 1900 to want to live on her own. That’s what I really like about this character. She has a lot of spunk. She wants to live by the sea and finds a little cottage that has a very low rent.

The only problem with the cottage is that it is haunted by a sea-captain, Daniel Gregg, played by Rex Harrison. He is in the habit of scaring all prospective tenants in order to get them to leave him in peace.

The story is about the relationship that develops between The Ghost and Lucy. They can’t have a physical relationship but they do end up caring about each other. I don’t want to give the whole story away. I hate that when I read a review and it tells me the whole story before I see the film. I like to be surprised.

There is a commentary on the DVD that discusses more nuances of the film. It is in black and white. The cinematography, by Charles Lang, was nominated for an Oscar. There are special effects done with light that help set the tone and add to the mood. The musical score is by Bernard Herrmann. His music is very evocative of the ocean in its various moods. The view of the ocean waves hitting the shore are used during the film to suggest the emotional tone and the passage of time.

Bernard Herrmann was an American composer who worked on many films. He did scores for several Alfred Hitchcock films. His music is a great example of how the music is almost like another character in the film.

You may have guessed I like films about strong women. I like mystery and romance. This film has all three.

|Nano Poblano| among other things.

The Dust Has Settled

15 Replies

I had no idea when I made a comment to one of my fellow blogger friends that it would stir up such a hornet’s nest of controversy. It turns out many people have an opinion on the subject I had raised. It had to do with making connections with other bloggers when you are a new blogger. And should the more established bloggers reciprocate with their commenters and go and visit the commenter’s blog? and comment? Then this lead to another comment from me about the Big bloggers and how they attract new bloggers to their sites.

Many people weighed in on all my comments. By the end of the day I was still standing or sitting but just barely. 😀 I had struck a nerve apparently. This topic was on many people’s minds and they had a definite opinion about it.

There was some heated dialogue at times. There were many people who disagreed with me. There were many that agreed with me and offered support.

It did open a dialogue between me and the Bigger bloggers. This I see as a good thing. I think we all went back to our blogging corners and thought about it. We saw each other a little more clearly. We saw a bit of the person behind the comments and opinions. The person behind the blog. We were able to see things from each others perspective a bit better.

So I would say on the whole it was a good thing and positive experience. I want to say to you bloggers who are brand new to not get scared off by all this. Don’t be afraid to make comments. Sometimes you probably will stick your foot in your mouth. I know I did just recently when after a day of hearing all the arguments against my opinion, I misinterpreted someone’s post and left a snarky comment and felt I had to apologize.

I appreciate that some of my more experienced blogger friends offered me some support and advice. I appreciate that some of my fellow newbie bloggers did the same. I really appreciate very much the blogger friends I have made. xo

You see that’s the thing for me. It is the connections I make that mean a lot to me. Thanks guys.

|Nano Poblano|

Sunday Rest

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Their_Day_of_Rest_(1919)_-_Ad_1 wikipedia

“She broke his heart with one of her biscuits.”

Here we are at Sunday and taking a day of rest again today. I was looking for an image and found the one above. This old film sounds like it would be funny even today. Carter De Haven was a comedy star of silent films and worked as director and in production with Charlie Chaplin on The Great Dictator and Modern Times. His wife, an actor as well, often worked with him. Her maiden name was Flora Parker. I found a photo of them on Wikipedia as well.

They were a handsome couple. I have watched a few of the old silent films. The actors had to rely on conveying so much with facial expression. The old black and white and their heavy make up did not always bring out their good looks. We can see from the photo they were beautiful.

Many of the old films are lost forever. It is amazing to me that the film above was made almost 100 years ago.

Happy Sunday!

|Nano Poblano|

SoCS Water-Light Night Rain

29 Replies

After complaining about the gray weather and no rain predicted it did start to drizzle and rain lightly in the evening. Then later that night I heard that dripping noise outside again. I opened the patio door to check and turned on the patio light.

It was raining. Not heavily. But raining a slow gentle quiet wonderful dripping rain. The drops making a slow soft splashing noise in the pool and on the patio. What a wonderful sound.

There is that nice wet smell of the earth. And the smell from the smoke of a neighbors chimney.

We need a lot more rain in California.

|Nano Poblano|

and my friend |LindaGHillSoCS|

Cloudy Day, Light Gray

22 Replies

Cloudy outside the window. The kind of cloudy where the sky is mostly light gray. Not the kind of cloudy I like, the cloudy when the sky is blue with some assorted fluffy white clouds. Or the kind of cloudy that has some dark grays that indicate a storm may be coming. This kind of cloudy is just sitting there. Pretty bland. No storm portended. Just kind of drab. Subdued. Damping down my mood a bit.

It would be fun to be able to take my box of crayons. The big box that has at least 64 different colors in it. To color the sky timberwolf, periwinkle, cadet blue, silver, purple mountain majesty, and wisteria.

What kind of cloudy do you prefer?

|Nano Poblano|

The Pleasure of a Good Mystery

6 Replies

“Conflict and character are the heart of good fiction, and good mystery has both of those in spades.” –Diana Gabaldon

The DVD of Season 2 of Endeavour arrived by UPS today along with two books I had ordered. Notice that endeavour is spelled the British way. You know my American spell check now has a little squiggly red line under that British spelling. Oh well, I don’t care how they spell it I love this series. It is part of Masterpiece Mystery! on PBS. I have already watched Season 2 this past summer. I don’t remember every part of the stories so I will still enjoy watching it again. And my husband has not seen it.

The main character’s name is Endeavour. This is his first name. My English grandmother used to tell us that they used to name children with names that gave a purpose. I love the name and what it implies. Endeavour, like some of its synonyms such as be bold, dare, be courageous, brave, strive, utmost effort, one’s all, and one’s level best, is a good description of this detective’s character.

This series is a prequel about Inspector Morse which you may remember if you are a fan of British mysteries. This is Morse as a young man just starting out in police work.

His superior is Detective Inspector Fred Thursday. No he is not like our Joe Friday. He is a mentor father-figure to Morse. They have been developing a great relationship and bond.

Endeavour is very intelligent and can sleuth out the cases before anyone else. It is a joy to follow along while he solves the mystery. He has a couple of nemeses who do not appreciate his stellar abilities. These nemeses are usually trying to get him into trouble or block his success. Though not as bad as a Professor Moriarty type nemesis.

The stories are complex and do not allow a quick resolution. That adds to the enjoyment. If you like mysteries and have not had a chance to see this series, I highly recommend it.

Do you like a mystery? Do you like British mysteries? American? or both?

Of course, I have my favorite American mystery writers like Michael Connelly and his Detective Harry Bosch. I like Henning Mankell’s Wallander books. There is a Canadian mystery writer I really like. Her name is Louise Penny and I love her Inspector Gamache.

How about you?

|Nano Poblano|

Going Home

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Can we go home again?

One of my all time favorite films is The Trip to Bountiful. It is a tour de force performance by Geraldine Page for which she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. Supporting cast members are John Heard, Rebecca De Mornay, Carlin Glynn and Richard Bradford. The screenplay is by Horton Foote based on his play The Trip to Bountiful. You might remember him because he did the screenplay for the film To Kill A Mockingbird.

One theme of this film is about the desire to return to the place where you felt most at home. The nostalgia for earlier times in our lives when we may have been happier.

Carrie Watts (Geraldine Page) is an elderly widow who is living with her son and daughter-in-law in a cramped apartment in Houston. She wants to make a visit to her family home in Bountiful, Texas once more before she dies. Her son and daughter-in-law can not or do not want to understand her need to make this one last trip.

She plots to hide her pension check and make her escape by bus or train while her son is at work and her daughter-in-law is out of the house. She has made attempts in the past but they have always caught her.

Carrie has some behaviors that really get under her daughter-in-law’s( Jessie Mae) skin. She loves to sing old hymns all day while doing housework and she is always rushing about the apartment in spite of her heart condition that brings on a few fainting spells.

The opening music for this film is an old hymn that gets me weepy every time I hear it, ” Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling. ” I am not really very religious. It is just very soulful to me. Anyone familiar with the old southern hymns will recognize many that Carrie is fond of singing.

Carrie needs to make this journey home to complete something in her life. To lay things to rest. As the film progresses we learn the story of her life.

Another theme in this film is the relationships between parents and children and how these relationships impact their lives. It is about how these relationships bind them together. And it is about how people can be bound to the land.

Have you wanted to return to an earlier time your life? Have you wanted to go back to a certain place? Would going back help to complete something in your life? Like completing a circle.

Have you even seen this film? What were your impressions of it?

|Nano Poblano|

All Quiet on the Western Front

6 Replies

Today, November 11, is Veterans Day in the US. It is when we remember the veterans of our wars. It is too bad we have so many wars to remember but we can not forget the men and women who fought in them even if we hate to remember the wars.

I have noted that many of the British bloggers are remembering Armistice Day. My husband always reminds me that Veterans Day was originally remembered here for when WWI ended as well.

Just recently we watched one of our classic DVDs All Quiet on the Western Front. It was based on a book by the same title written by Erich Maria Remarque. The film was the winner of the 1930 Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. This was before my time but I have been aware of this film for quite a while.

Even though this film was made long ago it still has a universal appeal and message. The setting is WWI but it could apply to any time and place.

It is about a young man and his friends who are caught up in the nationalistic fervor of their country during WWI. They are idealistic when they enlist and go off to fight for their country. The young men quickly become disillusioned and it becomes a fight for survival. This film gives a realistic depiction of what is what like for the soldiers who fought in that war.

The message of the film is the great human waste of war and how it swallows up our youth with all their potential lost.