(3/28)...streaming

Not to belabor my "corner" post (and yet I will) I wanted to mention that the little arrangement I created above the bookcase was not at all what I planned for that wall.

A month or so ago I saw this on Pinterest. Because we use multi-colored Fiestaware to eat from, I thought that plate rack would look darling on that wall, with a variety of my Fiestaware tucked in between the slats. Doug looked at it and figured out how to make one, but, ultimately, I realized that I have about 14 dinner plates, two platters and about ten small plates, and some days they all get used. It would not be very practical to be taking them down and putting them back a couple times a week. I would have to buy more plates to do it and between that and the cost of the wood, it just wasn't necessary. I bought the little print block that I used ($8 plus shipping), and I bought a frame at 50% ($7), plus a plate hanger for $1.69 at the neighborhood hardware store), but everything I used to create my little corner was already in my house. Those are the best kinds of redos, if you ask me. Putting things out or moving things that don't normally get visibility.

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I saw two, actually three, good movies lately. The Help and The King's Speech both came a couple weekends ago from Netflix (I know -- I'm a little slow on these things).

My boys actually watched The Help with me (ages 20 and 15), and if you've seen the film you just know what part they liked best. Ugh. It was a good film and fairly true to the book, except the awful women were actually more awful than I can ever imagine a human being.

(Except I guess I know people are worse. Sigh.)

The Help made me hungry for fried chicken, and I have indulged twice now since seeing the film. And of course I used Crisco. Stay tuned at my food blog for recipes. Yum.



The King's Speech was wonderful in every way (except the bad words, which I deny were necessary). Colin Firth (sigh) was just about perfect, and such an interesting story, and one about fortitude and honesty. Refreshing.

Ironically I am in the midst of a related film (which I did not know was related when I watched The King's Speech) called The Lost Prince. The lost prince, Prince John, would have been King George the VI's (Colin Firth's character) uncle. He had epilepsy as a child and was cloistered away with a caretaker who fought for him to be reunited with the family. If you saw The Forsyte Saga, you'd recognize John's caretaker, Lalla, as Irene Forsyte. Also a very good story, and fits right in with all the anglo films I have seen lately.

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This past weekend my mother and I took two young men (the same 20 and 15-year-olds) to see October Baby. I didn't make them go, merely offered, and by fortune they had nothing better to do (and with the offer of popcorn, candy and Mountain Dew...). I almost didn't offer to take them after reading the St. Paul, MN, review that Margaret linked to. The reviewer said the movie is one big lecture. There is almost nothing worse than a lecture -- from the perspective of teenagers especially. I didn't want them to be turned off, you know.

All I can say is Chris Hewitt at the Twin Cities paper is dead wrong. There was nothing about the movie that lectured. Not one bit. It was authentic and real. The plot is very plausible and the emotions the characters experience true (and if you have or ever was a teenage daughter, you might flinch a bit at the authenticity of the emotions, but yet they are still true). If when faced with the truth one feels lectured, well...maybe you have been denying the truth. If you see a young women who survived an abortion and you feel something, then you are real. You should feel something. You should know that what her mother chose was wrong. Too many people in this country have accepted the lies about unborn babies being "blobs of tissue." Face the truth, folks. The truth is not a lecture.

After the movie the boys said it was "good." I don't think they were placating me (they didn't say "awesome" nor "awful'). Josh said the actors probably wouldn't win Emmies, and I agree. They weren't Colin Firth or Geoffrey Rush. But that's part of the real and authentic presentation of the story. I highly recommend it. And if you are thinking of taking young people, know that there are a few verbal references to "being with someone" (sexually), and the obvious abortion/unwed mother connections. Be sure to stay past the beginning of the credits -- the actor who plays the birth mother has her own real connection.