Simple Elegance

 

 

These ladies remind me of old movie actresses.

{pictures courtesy of the sartorialist}

I have a crush on this movie

Preferably lavish and happy.

I've been having a flash flood of old movie longing. It started when I saw a clip from Easy Living, with Ray Milland and Jean Arthur. We used to watch that movie a lot when we lived at Granny's house. It's extremely lavish and very hilarious. I recommend it.

Anyway, so I found it on Youtube and watched it.

Then I started craving more old movies.

So I found Three Smart Girls with Deanna Durbin and Ray Milland. I love that one. Kay, the middle daughter, and Ray Milland's little romance is my favorite.

Then I found Margie on Youtube! It has never been officially released on VHS or DVD, but we saw it on TCM a long time ago and recorded it. But then we lost the recording, so we haven't been able to watch it for a long, long time, and it was one of our very favorites! Sooo cute and sweet. Jeanne Crain is one of my favorites, and her french professor is dreamy. :)
But surprise, surprise! I found someone selling a DVD copy of it on Ebay for only $13! If anyone wants to get me a present that I will love and adore to my dying day, this is your best bet.

So, for next weekend (if I have time), my list of old movies to watch includes---
The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer - Myrna Loy, Cary Grant, and Shirley Temple
Belles on Their Toes - Myrna Loy and Jeanne Crain
People Will Talk - Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain
Good News - Peter Lawford and June Allyson
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town - Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur

Do you have any good suggestions?

This is one of the best Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers routines ever.

O môr henion i dhû:
Ely siriar, êl síla.
Ai! Aníron Undómiel.

Tiro! Él eria e môr.
I 'lîr en êl luitha 'úren.
Ai! Aníron...

From darkness I understand the night:
Dreams flow, a star shines
Ah! I desire Evenstar.

Look! A star rises out of the darkness
The song of the star enchants my heart.
Ah! I desire...

.

.

.

Spurpled.

Spurple- n. To go in all directions at once.

I watched Anne of Avonlea today. Or rather, I finished it. I had started it the other day while I was folding.
I'm sorry. I know a lot of people don't like that movie for various reasons (one of which is her humongous, perpetual donut of hair), but that movie will never fail to make me feel very weepie and nostalgic.

The night is a lot less scary if you have no light at all. The instant you see light, the dark becomes your enemy. One of my favorite things to do is to turn off all the house lights and go up onto the balcony of our shop and look out over the surrounding land. Thinking comes easy up there.

Do you ever have trouble grasping the point of your existence? I always know academically that my reason for being here on this earth is to glorify God, but sometimes it is very hard for me to actualize that truth.
Like tonight.
Is my life going anywhere? What will be its climax? Why do I feel l like my life will be the same forever and ever...and ever...and ever.
An aimless monotony is the bleakest of outlooks.

Our kitty cat got in the van overnight last night and did his business. I sent him to the corner. Naughty, Virgil!

I need a haircut. Last one I had, I got Kelsey to cut this really cool little v thing at the back of my hairline. Most people didn't like it, but I did. Especially after my hair got a little longer and shaggier. I had seen it done on a model on the runway (not that that has anything to do with real life) and on Amelie, and it was very modish and (dare I say) edgy. However, now my hair is too long and shaggy, and the v is beginning to look like a really fat version of a rattail. Or a mullet. Which is not cool. Unless you're Bob Bence.
I'm thinking I might tie it into two very small pigtails with cute tiny little ribbons. I could start a new trend.

I've been invited, almost invited, and semi-invited to go to the beach at least five times in the last two years, and not once have I gone. Ever. In my entire life. So I've decided that I am going to go to the beach for my senior trip. If I have a senior trip. Which is looking unlikely.
But anyway, if I do get to have one, I'll go to the beach with Kathryn as "chaperon" and whoever else wants to go. Senior friends, y'all are all invited! It can be very inexpensive and tons of fun...I hope. We'll see.

Audrey Tautou is one of my favorite actresses. Very, very French.

{pictures via google and ask images}

Mr. Rainy Day Music Man

Alexandre Desplat is a French composer whose talents are quickly becoming very popular with movie makers. He has written and orchestrated some of the soundtracks for well-known movies, and all of them are spectacular.
Here are a few familiar movies that showcase his music.

(in order of production)

1. The Queen - I've never seen this, but Mama and Papa said the music was perfect for the story.

2. The Painted Veil - Wonderfully beautiful movie. Definitely PG-13, though. The River Waltz is the best piece on the whole soundtrack.

3. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium - I've never seen this, but Gwendolyn loves it.

4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Gorgeous cinematically and musically, this movie and its music is very Rainy Day.

5. Julie & Julia - Aaa! I can't wait to see this! Meryl Streep and Amy Adams are fabulous, and combined with what I'm sure is an amazing soundtrack, this movie is probably going to be a favorite.

6. Coco avant Chanel - I do not recommend this movie. I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it well deserves its rating. However, I love Audrey Tautou, and would be interested to see how well she combines with Desplat's music. She is très classiquement français.

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox - I cannot WAIT until this comes out. We grew up listening to a tape recording of someone reading this story, and it was always my favorite thing to hear. George Clooney and Meryl Streep do the voices of Mr. Fox and his wife.

8. The Twilight Saga: New Moon - I do not advocate or support these movies/books in any shape, form, or fashion, however, I would be tempted to go see this in theaters just for the music's sake.



You can click on these links to get a taste of his yummy music.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Painted Veil
Lust, Caution

Check out the titles of these movies.

The Fish Without a Bicycle

The Shrimp on the Barbie




(disclaimer: i have no idea what these movies are like, or what they are about. don't go watch them. please.)

HA! Gotcha!

Some pictures that I thought were beautiful.

Dalton - "Can I see The Last of the Mohicans, Eleanor?"
Me - "No, probably not. It's really violent."
Dalton - "Oh brother, I've seen violence. I saw a head stuck on a spear with veins and blood dripping from it, ok?"
Me - "Dalton, who cares? It's still too violent. It's rated R for violence, for goodness sakes."
Shafer - "Eleanor...we've seen Z."




Ok. You convinced me.

Go. Now. And Rent.

Bella

I don't really have time to write a long post about this, but you need to see it. If you want a movie to watch, watch this one.

I was sitting at the bar drinking some hot cocoa in our Casablanca mug with the picture of Bogie and Bergman sitting at a table in a cafe with the caption: "Here's looking at you, kid." Shafer: "Who's Here?"

The good old days at the Golden Cinema

I'm sitting here listening to the boys watch a Roy Rogers movie. This is what I'm hearing:

Prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup... Bang! Bang! prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup, '"Hang on there, you lily livered rascal!" Bang! Bang! Prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup, "Roy! He went thata way!" Prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup... Pow! Pow! Prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup prrup...


Did somebody get paid for writing that dialogue?

Cheese

It’s amazing how a familiar smell can wrap you in its arms and cuddle away any ugly memories between now and the last time you smelt it.

- Lonely Tourist Charlotte Charles

Hilts. Just...make it Hilts.

Yes. Steve McQueen wore Persols.

"You know - I've been in some towns where the girls weren't all that pretty. In fact I've been in some towns where they're downright ugly. But it's the first time I've been in a town where there are no girls at all, 'cept little ones. "

Yes. Steve McQueen wore Ray Bans.

Vin: Reminds me of that fellow back home that fell off a ten story building.
Chris: What about him?
Vin: Well, as he was falling people on each floor kept hearing him say, "So far, so good." Tch... So far, so good!

The Cooler King.

"I don't know what it is. First time in my life I come to see a girl, I feel like I'm 14 years old. Even when I was 14, I didn't feel like that."

He's just too cool for you.

Bartlett: Virgil, isn't it?
Hilts: Hilts. Just make it Hilts.

Aaaaaand, I just like this picture 'cause he's a sailor. ;-)


p.s. Kids, even though it looks like the King of Cool is smoking, smoking is not cool.
Besides...those aren't cigarettes; he's just sucking on peppermint sticks. I promise.

Oh. Was it Halloween?

Our family doesn't celebrate Halloween, so I usually forget it happens; and that makes it's kind of funny when you run into town one night and you think you're seeing things because a dwarf just passed in front of your car. I was going to Movie Gallery to pick up something for Mama and me to watch while we were home alone, and when I walked in, I saw that the girl behind the counter was wearing a bright pink shirt, a huge, voluminous tutu, a cowgirl hat (yes, it was definitely cow*girl* hat. pink feathery wings, anyone? i think she was going for a western, female version of the Greek god, Hermes.), and some sparkly pink cowgirl boots (complete with feathery wings at the ankles). I must have missed something; when we studied ancient history, I got the impression that the dude with the winged hat and shoes was a guy, that he was definitely NOT wearing pink, and that he was from somewhere on the European continent, not Texas. But that's just me. I may be totally wrong about that.
Mama and I ended up getting Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, which is a wonderful, newish movie set right before the beginning of WWII. The costumes, music, actors, set, and story were wonderful! And if you can get past a couple of B*TT scenes, (and yes, that's supposed to be capitalized), amoral themes, and innuendo, it's a fairly decent movie. Which is to say...don't watch this movie in mixed company...or with your grandparents...or in a room that might be under surveillance. The "look" of the movie is perfect; lavish and extravagent clothing, furniture, flats, and cars make it fit into the same genre as that old 30's movie, Easy Living with Ray Milland and Jean Arthur.





p.s.
I got some new tights the other day: they're bright blue, and I love them. You should get some too.