Is it cold enough for you yet? It is still fall. Winter is a week or so away.
Cargo gave us the temperature at Antarctica: minus 138 degrees. Now THAT is cold!
Tomorrow is supposed to be really frigid and very windy.
Is there a secret to combatting this weather? Wasn’t it just the other week that we were all out in shirt sleeves, enjoying the last warmth of the year?
If this is December, what on earth is in store for us in January and February?
Boots, hats and chicken broth are high on my list.
Well, well – This is Virginia, after all!
I tell people who ask what the weather is like where I live:
“We’ve got weather so f it’s weather you want, we’ve got weather.”
We’ve talked about Holocaust movies on here before. Anyone seen “The Book Thief”? I saw it for a second time last night. Good movie. Really colorful and beautiful to watch. It’s over at the new theatre in gainsville which i only recently realized was there.
The first time I saw this movie, I assumed that the lead actress was an older teen, simply because her acting was so good. But on closer inspection, she looks to be about 13 years old – which in fact she actually is. Outstanding child performance. She’s so natural in that part that you might not think much about how good she is.
I rank “Philomena” and “Nebraska” very highly also.
Want give us a non-spoiler synopsis or two, Rick?
Is the Gainesville theater crowded yet?
Have you read the book? Just wondering how closely it follows. Not too often does one book receive 4,100 ratings on Amazon 4.5 of 5. Not to mention 400,000 ratings on Goodreads with a 4.4 of 5. The book is available in audio format as well.
The Gainesville crowd was not enormous, but probably pretty healthy for a Tuesday night. It is a nice clean theater, nice vinyl seats, nice stadium seating. 14 screens.
The popcorn was salty, not so great last night. It’s better at the Regal in Manassas, plus this one (also a Regal) does not have the $2 popcorn on Tuesday night thing happening at this point.
But I think the two are going to be somewhat complementary on showing some “art house” films – “Philomena” is in Manassas currently, “The Book Thief” in Gainsville. I may be able to make a few less trips into the Angelika in Fairfax, and use more of my Costco Regal tickets, to see these films.
When I am well I will try to go out there. (Cold from Hell)
Also when it warms up a little.
I like going during the day.
I haven’t read the book. I’d bet that this followed the book fairly closely; it had more the feel of a book than of something simplified and streamlined towards a movie script.
Synposis :
In Nazi Germany, a young girl is taken in as a foster child by Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson when her mother (a communist) has to give her up. She develops an affinity for reading and for books, at a time when book burnings are common. Meanwhile her family hides a young Jewish man in her room.
Again, the film is really visually beautiful. The town looks great, the photography is sharp. At the risk of coming off as a hebephiliac, which I am not, I will say that the girl who carries the film is striking. And she really carries the movie; her performance is very natural. It’s 2 hrs 14 minutes long, and has a good old-fashioned classic movie feel to it. Good stuff.
You have definitely made me want to see it.
“Philomena” is worth seeing too. That’s about an Irish woman (Judi Dench) who gave up her child to a nunnery 50 years ago working with a journalist (Steve Coogan) to find her son. It’s not the oddball comedy that its trailer made it out to be. It’s a very serious little film in its unassuming way, albeit done with humor. Perfectly made, no wasted space and speaking to deep things.
My top films of 2013 so far are :
1. What Masie Knew
2. Philomena
3. About Time
4. Kill Your Darlings
5. 42
6. Blue is the Warmest Color
7. Captain Phillips
8. Nebraska
9. Warm Bodies
10. The Way Way Back/The Spectacular Now/Short Term 12 (tie)
Honorable mentions : The Book Thief, Spring Breakers, Beautiful Creatures, The Purge, Pacific Rim, Enough Said, Don Jon, Enders Game.
It also doesn’t take many movies long to come out in the theater.
Thanks for that list, Rick.
Thanks for the recommendations. I’m out of the movie loop – not fond of theaters. I’ve printed it.
You can’t go wrong with those! What Masie Knew is on netflix actually.
I’m going to try a one line description of each, and then a phrase about the movie’s main characteristic –
What Masie Knew – young girl lives through divorce and levels of abandonment – immersive
Philomena – woman looks for son that she gave up and has her faith tested – perfectly made
About Time – young man can travel back in time and change choices – life-affirming
Kill Your Darlings – Kerouac Burroughs and Ginsburg meet and live through a friend murdering an aquaintance – electrically interesting
42 – first black baseball player in Major leagues – good historical perspective
Blue is the Warmest Color – sexually explicit teen lesbian romance film – wonderfully sensitive (though the sex scenes are silly)
Captain Phillips – ship Captain and pirates get caught in machinations – solid drama
Nebraska – old man stubbornly pretends he is about to become wealthy – darkly funny
Warm Bodies – zombie romance movie – creative
The Way Way Back – teen coming-of-age summer film – sensitive
The Spectacular Now – teen facing demons movie – full of life
Short Term 12 – young people working at a foster care facility for at-risk youths – interesting
Wow, thanks!
my pleasure.
Republican feud boils over in U.S. budget deal fight
http://news.yahoo.com/republican-feud-boils-over-u-budget-deal-fight-220552384–business.html
Looks like Boehnor finally manned up and told the tea party to go to hell! Yippie!
I agree. Its about time he told them to go to hell.
Good luck on those exams, Cargo. May the force be with you!!!
@Moon-howler
Of course..if the Tea Party takes him up on his word….the GOP doesn’t win anymore elections….. but if that’s what they want…..
Finished the Exams. Seems like I might have straight A’s…….
Cheer!! Standing ovation!!! Hat tips all over the place.
Congratulations, Cargo.
Now here’s the question….could you have done that at 18? I know I couldn’t have then.
An old sailor just passed away in Kansas. He was 89-years old. On 19 May 1945, his ship, the USS Franklin (CV-13), got closer to Japan than any other Navy ship up to that time. At 50 miles off the Japanese coast, the USS Franklin launched fighter aircraft against Honshu and a bombing raid against the docks at Kobe. Then , out of the clouds came a single Japanese aircraft which managed to drop two aerial bombs on the flight deck of the Franklin. Aviation fuel and bombs exploded in the fires, and hundreds of the Franklin’s crew of sailors and Marines were killed. Her remaining crew stayed aboard as the ship was being consumed by the flames and had begun to list badly. They refused to give up their ship, even though she looked like she would surely sink. They fought to help the wounded and to keep the ship afloat. And they won their battle. Their ship was towed by the USS Pittsburg to Pearl Harbor and extensively repaired for further duty. The USS Franklin (CV-13) became known in World War II naval lore as “The ship that would not die.” And the crew might be said to have been “the men who would not let her die.” Two of them were awarded the Medal of Honor. All of them belong in our Hall of Heroes.
@Moon-howler
Apparently not, since I failed, was dropped by the school for a year, and I decided to join the US Canoe Club instead of going back.
Frank Wolf just announced his retirement from Congress.
Isn’t this interesting?
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/12/16/fine-print-state-can-seize-your-assets-to-pay-for-care-after-youre-forced-into-medicaid-by-obamacare/
Always, always, always…read the fine print.
MOON! Your secret is OUT!
http://boingboing.net/features/northkorea/?traitor=Moonhowler
You caught me!!
I hear that we may get into the 70s on Sunday. These brutal winters are really getting me down.
Thanks to CS for the retelling of the FRANKLIN saga. The war in the Pacific is an extraordinary testament to the intelligence, bravery, industry, adaptability, and tenacity of the American society of that era. Folks from all over the country worked together in a rather alien environment to achieve victory. My father was not long out of the cornfields of the Midwest when he found himself an officer on an amphibious landing ship that participated in the first wave of many of the major battles in the Pacific. We buried him two years ago with full, well-deserved military honors, although he returned to the most peaceful of civilian pursuits after the war (he was a Professor of Music at a leading university) My wife’s uncle was killed aboard the USS PRINCETON as her father, aboard the IRWIN, tried to assist. These stories are multiplied thousands of times and bear frequent re-telling.
So Duck Dynasty fans are going to express support for the dad by – um – not watching A&E? Huh?
On this date, December 18 in the year 1865, William Seward verified
the ratification of the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery in the United States.