Anna, age 3: "Auntie, Ian and I washed the cheddar last night and it had some princesses in it!!"
Me: "How wonderful! Like an apparition."
My sis: "The cheese had princesses in it?"
Anna: "Nooooo, the movie!"
Sis: "Ohhh, you mean The Court Jester."
Anna: "With princesses!"

My Dad is watching a tv movie called The Derby Stallion, starring Zac Efron.

To understand how this came about you have to know that 1) my father used to train racehorses so horse movies always interest him, and 2) having ceded temporary control of his Netflix queue to me, he has compulsively started plundering local libraries for weird DVDs.

As I was looking at the box cover just now (Zac Efron gazes out blue-eyedly while a chestnut horse canters below) I was irrepressibly reminded of The Saddle Club – the one where Carole, Stevie and Lisa meet their favorite teen heartthrob and secretly teach him how to ride so he doesn't lose a movie role. I doubt this is hilarious to anyone but me, but it would seem Zac Efron is the real Skye Ransom!

Not as good a name, though.

Today would have been the last day of my parents' European vacation if my dad hadn't gotten an inner ear somethingorother. So in their honor: A Tour of Europe.

1st stop...
BOOK: Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay. A rec I got from breathingbooks. Very sweet middle grade novel about a girl named Saffron whose discovery that she's actually the daughter of her artist mom's sister (making her quirky siblings Cadmium, Indigo and Rose really her cousins) sends her on a quest to Siena, Italy in search of her past. Nice story with funny, original characters. Really enjoyed this.

2nd stop...
MOVIE: Charade. When Audrey Hepburn's husband is murdered for a vast fortune, she leaves the Alps for their home in Paris to search for the money. Cary Grant insists on helping, but is he on her side or the murderer's? Hilarious in parts and quite suspenseful in others. The bit where they play pass-the-orange-without-using-your-hands in a nightclub is among the most classic scenes on film!

3rd stop...
SONG: Hamburg Song by Keane. One of the prettiest songs I've heard in a while. The song's relation to Hamburg is a mystery to me.

This morning I was about to go in the pool when I saw a young man, clipboard identifying him as my awkwardly chipper friend from yesterday, coming around the back of the house. Feeling modest (read: chicken) about being seen in a bathing suit with notable bedhair, I hopped into the water and skulked in a corner to watch unseen. Too far to hear anything, I witness the following:

My father comes out of his office onto the patio.

Young man spots him and dashes over with hand outstretched.

They shake.

My father says something. Young man says something, pumps the air with his fist. (You can envision nothing more awkward than this faux-enthusiastic cheer.) Does not seem put off by the fact that my father is not, by his standards, the Official Dad of the house.

My sister comes down from her apartment on her way to the store.

My dad points at her and flees the scene. Young man bounds over to my sister, hand outstretched. The Official Mom at last!

They shake, exchange sentences.

His fist pumps the air.

I dunk underwater to laugh without being heard.

Two minutes ago I answer the door to a young man with a clip board.

"Hi, my name's Peter!" We shake hands. "You must be the Official Mom!"

"What?"

"The Mom of the house!"

"Uh... not really."

"We're talking to all the people in the neighborhood who have kids!" *does "rock on" arm gesture*

"Round the back."

"Oh, it's a two-family?"

"Yep."

"Sorry!" And he's off to repeat his chipper routine for my sister.

*sigh*

This week's theme is Offbeat Cinderellas.

BOOK: Of all YA books I didn't discover till I was grown up, Ella Enchanted is my favorite. Ella has flaws, guts, and a Prince with an actual personality. Oh, and the movie? Gives you no idea what the book's like at all.

MOVIE: Midnight is a 1939 screwball comedy starring Claudette Colbert as a down-on-her-luck showgirl marooned in Paris without a penny, Don Ameche as the the cabbie who helps her out, and John Barrymore as the rich guy who offers her a chance to pose as a baroness. The title comes from her line, "Don't you know every Cinderella has her midnight?" It's got that great, crackling dialogue they just don't write anymore, and a peachy romance. Saw this for the first time this week, and watched it twice!

SONG: Robert Miles' Fable, a song I like and always associate with Ever After (it was in the trailer, I believe). (And hey, the video artist associates them too!)

Because I am an utter nerd, I saw this outside the library yesterday and thought...
( Huzzah, the Picturesque is back in style! )

* * *

In other 19th-centuryish news: Robert Downey, Jr. is going to play Sherlock Holmes! And so I'm forced to lust after yet another fictional character I never thought of in that way.

I'm posting a ridiculous amount this weekend.

This week's theme: Glamorous Doings in Europe

BOOK: Truthfully, I picked that theme based on the movie and song. What book fits the bill? Er... how about Paris to the Moon, the published collection of Adam Gopnik's "Paris Journal" columns for The New Yorker. Gopnik and his family's Paris life at times comes across as too glamorously divorced from anything like normal experience, but his style's readable and funny and the city he describes is always tres cool.

MOVIE: American Dreamer. This is a completely wacky movie and I just can't help myself, I love it! When it starts you think it's about this couple's terrible relationship and then - let me just say it has not one but two of the most unexpected plot reversals I've ever seen in a movie*. A comedy/romance set mostly in France.

SONG: Romeo by The Kin. I am really into this song right now. The videos on youtube are all concert recordings so click that link to go to the band's myspace and then select the song if it doesn't come up. (Can't deny that Romeo and Juliet were pretty glam there in Verona.)


*Don't read the Netflix summary if you don't want one of them spoiled for you.

I know today's my day to give recommendations, and I'll do that later, but right now I have to beg you all for some.

My dad's put me in charge of his Netflix queue for the month I'm here, I think because he's tired of squabbling over it. Trouble is, he's a movie buff so there's not much he doesn't already own. Would you guys be so kind as to recommend some good movies, minis, or TV shows on DVD - that are Parent Appropriate?

They like: movies with characters you can root for, positive or at least resolved endings, romantic comedies, adventures, heists, inspirational stories, indie films of the more upbeat variety, classics, clever plots, witty dialogue

They don't like: lots of swearing or sex (a bit is okay); stories that focus on morally bankrupt characters; bleak melodramas; "artsy" ambiguous endings or ones where the bad guys win; "family" movies whose only asset is a lack of swearing and sex

There is a lot they've seen, but there must be stuff that's fairly new/made-for-TV/little known/foreign/missed-along-the-way that they'd enjoy. If you're not sure, just recommend anything that pops into mind - I'd be so grateful! A good series that we could all enjoy might be perfect, but I can't think what.* So... help please?


*If this tells you anything, I've shown them season one of Veronica Mars and they loved it, but I won't be showing them season two.

Finally got around to watching the last two episodes of BSG, which I'd missed because of getting ready to move and so on. Since I got home I've been balking - I know too well that BSG loves to torture me :/ This morning I sat down and did the darn thing.

And now that no one will be interested in talking about it anymore, I HAVE to post!!

( 'The Hub' and 'Revelations' )

Oh goodness. So much traveling. So much LJ to catch up with.

Post of substance coming sometime... soon, I hope!

Successfully arrived at the family homestead! And posting on my parents' computer with the monitor that goes BZZZZZZZZZZ because, thanks to on-and-off downpouring, my worldly goods are still in my car.

I've decided to do more themed recommendations because... I dunno why. Anyway, today's theme: My Day in New York.

BOOK: We went to the Strand (which must be closely related to heaven - a cousin, possibly) and I talked my sis into buying The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright for our niece. It's one of a series about the Melendy children, that sort of book where a fun family of kids have real-world adventures. You know what I mean - they don't meet elves or have traumatic experiences in national parks, they befriend the local orphan and have a scrap-metal drive (it's the 40s). Such charming books! The series actually goes The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five but I read the last one first; doesn't matter much.

MOVIE: When Harry Met Sally. Because we went to the Met to see the very interesting Superhero Fashion exhibit and wound up just before closing-time at the breathtaking Egyptian temple, where of course we could not resist* doing the spiel: "Waiter, there is too much pepper in my paprikash, but I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie." (Love that movie.)

SONG: "Gotta Have You" by the Weepies. tinuviellen and I are both in love with this song right now so we listened to it several times on the way home. And the video's so darn CUTE.


*We also couldn't help, as we entered the ancient structures, saying "wow... it's like being on the set of Stargate!" *facepalm*

I'll miss you!

This is a challenge. When I moved down here my car was pretty full. Since then I've somehow acquired a bunch of stuff. Packing it all into the same space is going to be... interesting.

The most egregious offender? Books. I brought 12 with me when I came. I've bought or been given 24 more. Now that I've officially tripled the collection, thirty-six books must find homes in my car.

Eep.


(In case you're curious, most fall under the "been given" category - including the 6 or so I kept out of the giant bag loaded off on me by the so-generous ladies I worked with, and a windfall from my old college buddy the Big-Time New York Editor.)

I'm 3/4ths of the way through the first season of Bones and I feel the need to make a comment. ( No spoilers but probably not of interest to non-watchers. )

"You can laser a guy's name off your ass, but I wonder whether you can really ever cut him out of your heart." -Veronica Mars

Last night I watched an episode of Bones, looked up a familiar guest star and found he was on an ep of VM. Couldn't picture the character so I popped in the disk.

Long story short: watching one scene led to scanning for Logan/Veronica scenes, which led to screencapping, which led to iconing. Nothing fancy, just cropping and a caption or two. So, ta-daaa, the fruits of my obsessiveness:

( 8 L/V icons, most from the Season 2 finale )

( plus a question of resemblance. )

When I plan to do this later in the day I inevitably forget, so doing it now! So efficient!

BOOK: I found In A Sunburned Country on the 50-cent shelf at the library (score!) and it's reminding me how I love Bill Bryson. Since I've barely started that one, I'm recommending Made In America. It's a history of American English which examines fascinating questions like what people call milkshakes in different parts of the country, the wackiest town names in America, how product names are trademarked, and all kinds of wacky trivia, written in a funny and engaging style.

MOVIE: If you see The Painted Veil, prepare for it to be sad. Also be prepared to be blown away by how good it is. Edward Norton and Naomi Watts play an emotionally estranged English couple in 1920s China whose lives are changed when they end up in the middle of a cholera epidemic. The movie is, visually and in every way, stunning.

SONG: "Last This Day" by Faithless. (Couldn't find the whole song online, comment if you'd like it.)

( Divided into Not Very Spoilery and Quite Spoilery. )

ETA: I should have something outside the cut, huh? A summary of my overall opinion? Here you go:

Hulk meh. Bruce Banner ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Okay, the MASH post won't let me edit it so I'm posting again to specify that my sister tinuviellen and I played it over the phone in the way I knew as a kid, where you get three good answers and the person writing down your answers makes up two bad ones for you. That always spiced things up! (Hence the Hummer :[)

Still, I'm not too upset about my life! (El was not so lucky, tee hee.)

		I will marry Logan Echolls.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in Wellington, NZ in our fabulous Apartment.
		We will have 3 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a teal hummer.
		I will spend my days as a fiction editor, and live happily ever after.