Movies, Books, Music, Etc.

I have been thinking lately about the things that I have read/watched/ or listened to over and over through the years.


Movies I have watched many times:


Gone With The Wind.  (Come on, my family is from the South.)

Making Mr. Right - It's just a quirky, silly little movie that always makes me laugh.  (Besides, John Malkovich is a pretty interesting actor.)


Jake Speed.  This is a little low-budget action/comedy that I just adore.  It is silly, campy, and funny.  Always cheers me up.


The Mystery! screen adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers' books Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, and Gaudy Night:   I never saw a pair of actors that looked more exactly like the descriptions of the characters in a book than the two playing Lord Peter and Harriet in this series.  Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter did an exceptional job, and after seeing just the first installment of Strong Poison, I had to go out and buy the novels!

Murphy's Romance.  James Garner and Sally Field.  Need I say more?

You've Got Mail - A nice little romantic comedy that never fails to make the cares of the day go away for a little while.

French Kiss - Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline - again, need I say more?

I have also watched the video recordings of three Mozart Operas done by a tiny company in a tiny theater that dates from Mozart's time.  Le Nozze de Figaro, Cosi Fan Tutti, and Don Giovanni.  I have sung arias from all three of these at voice recitals, and , in fact, my voice coach is currently torturing me with another aria from Cosi called Per Pieta Ben Mio Perdona. 

Books I have read over and over:  (Other than the Bible, that is)

The Three Musketeers by Dumas
 A classic adventure, and a classic for good reason.  Captivating, even after all these years.

The Count Of Monte Cristo also by Dumas.  Another well crafted tale.  This one was made into an exceptionally good mini series starring Gerrard Depardieu.  A must-see, because even with subtitles, it is fast paced and very well made.  (Besides, I need to hear the French now and then so I can sort of pronounce things sort of correctly when I have to sing a French aria.  (the Doll Aria comes to mind.  Sheesh! That thing is a marathon!))

Gone With The Wind.  Ever since my Mom admitted that she and her sisters sneaked a copy away from a relative to read when she was young,  I knew I had to read it.  I have read it at least three times.

Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter novels  I just love Lord Peter.  What can I say  He's almost the perfect hero.
The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings  By J.R.R. Tolkien
I'd have to give back my Geek Girl status if I didn't admit to reading these at least twice over in high school.

The  James Blish and Alan Dean Foster adaptations of all the televised Star Trek episodes, both live action and animated.  These stories were even better than watching the episodes, most ESPECIALLY in the case of the animated stories.  Alan Dean Foster fleshed some of them out into stand alone novels.  They were life sustaining to a young Trekkie going through a spell where none of the series were on the air, and nothing new was forthcoming.  (Yes, Paramount, I am one of those obnoxious persons who wrote to the studio over and over DEMANDING that you do SOMETHING to feed our Star Trek cravings.  Thank God for Star Wars and its success, or you might never have realized what a cash cow you had in Star Trek.)

And here lately, I have read and re-read the Psalm 23 Mysteries by Debbie Viguie.  They are entertaining, fairly light reading, not exactly cozies, but good mysteries.  They also have some things in them to make you think about your life and the way you react to it.  The main characters are interesting, and they actually grow through the course of the three novels so far.  (I sincerely hope there will be more!  Too many unanswered questions otherwise!!)

I have also read and re-read Sarah J. Mason's Miss Seeton books (written as Hamilton Crane) and her Trewley and Stone mysteries written under her own name.  (I am even used as the name for a character that doesn't actually appear in the story in Sew Easy To Kill, and the students at the school , St. Catherine's, in the story are called "Katies". )  That came about because I was a pen-friend of Sarah's after reading the first Trewley and Stone and discovering from her bio that she had two of the same breed of dog as I had.  I wrote care of the publisher to ask how on earth she got ANYTHING done with two Schipperkes underfoot, as I found one to be extremely demanding all on his own.  She answered that they kept each other busy, and a friendship was born.  We don't write as much as we used to, as Sarah isn't much for computers except to write her books on, and I have not emailed as often as perhaps I should.  Also, our dogs have since passed on to wait at the Rainbow Bridge, and though Matt and I have adopted another Schip from a breed rescue, Sarah and Bill have chosen not to go through the trauma of losing one again.  It IS hard, they have a real way in entrenching themselves in your heart, those Little Black Devils of dogs.

As for music, well, the soundtrack of my adolescence was the Greatest Hits of Elton John, with a little Beach Boys, Beatles, and Motown thrown in.  My Senior year, there was Disco, but only for dancing to.  (And that, alas, with my friend Brenda Brubaker, because our stupid boyfriends wouldn't dance, and we had taken Disco Dance for P.E.. )  I also still listen to a lot of Moody Blues, thanks to Charles Brehm, who was both friend and boyfriend in my Junior year.  (God, I had it BAD for that boy when I was 16 going on 17 and he was 17 going on 18.  My husband should be grateful to him, he taught me how to kiss.)

Speaking of my husband, there is also a lot of Abba on my playlists because that is what we listened to together because he liked it so much.  (I met him in a Star Trek fan club, by the way, and we were introduced by none other than his mother!)
There is an awful lot of Classical music in my life these days.  There always was, I studied piano for 10 years, though you'd never know it to hear me try and play these days.  (I never did practice enough.  My main objective was to learn to read music in both clefs.)
  I sing the Cathedral Choir at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Oklahoma City, and I take voice lessons at the Academy of Vocal Arts with Karen Smith-Pearson.  We sing a lot of traditional English Church music at St. Paul's, and I sing a lot of opera and art songs with Karen.  (I think my coworkers at the library can tell when a recital is near, because they will hear bits of the same aria over, and over, as I hum or softly sing to myself while working in the back.)
I also like the children's albums Gimme Elbow Room by Bonnie Rideout (Scottish fiddle champion) these are all infectious and enjoyable songs that aren't JUST for children to listen to., and the set of specially composed albums by Sandra Boynton:  Grunt: "Pigorian Chant" wherein the pigs sing in Pig Latin, and all the other creatures sing in regular Latin., The Philadelphia Chickens, which features some popular artists singing silly songs, and also Blue Moo, more of the same.  All are music that is good for kids, but also won't drive adults completely insane.

This is still only a partial listing of these things, but the ones that came immediately to mind when I set out to write about it.  Life is still hectic, I am still not sleeping as well as I should, which I find can make me strangely hyper at times, and for which I apologize profusely to any of my coworkers that have had the urge to tell me to shut up already.  You all deserve my best and not my running-on.  I do hope this doesn't count as running on.  Oh, well, with a blog post, you can just stop reading!  

Just Surviving

People always ask "How are you?" when they haven't seen you for awhile.  Well, what with 20+ days at or over 100 degrees, (today was the first cloudy, cooler (only 89 so far) day we've had in a LONG time), the Congress trying to sell us all down the river in favor of the big corporations, and new software starting this week at the library, I am surviving, but only just. 

There is a new series of mysteries that I enjoyed very much, alas, the publisher is hemming and hawing about publishing any more of them, the author has many other irons in the fire, and well, those of us who are on pins and needles over the cliffhanger at the end of the last one are just out of luck.  For those of you who are interested, the series is called the Psalm 23 Mysteries by Debbie Viguie.  First one is The Lord Is My Shepherd, next comes I Shall Not Want, and then Lie Down In Green Pastures.  I read the last one first, but it works much better if you start with the first one!  If you (like me) could use a little escapist fiction that isn't too taxing but will give you a bit of something to think about, this series is for you.   (And PLEASE, Ms. Viguie, find a way to finish it whether or NOT the publishers pick it up!!)

Here are links to the books on Barnes and Noble:  The Lord Is My Shepherd,  I Shall Not Want , Lie Down In Green Pastures

I have to go bake some oatmeal cookies now.  I am sending them in a care package for our technology team who are wrestling all this week with migrating our database to the new software, and they trying to fix all the little glitches,  snags, and just plain blowups that will more than likely come up as we go live with it.  They need our prayers and support, and they also need cookies.

As for me, as long as the rain comes back and keeps us cooler, and Congress gets its collective head out of its collective behind, I should be fine.