Hollywood Endings..... Take Two

Sleepless in Seattle

Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) refering to An Affair to Remember on the TV screen: Now that was when people KNEW how to be in love. They knew it! Time, distance... nothing could separate them because they knew. It was right. It was real. It was...

Becky (Rosie O'Donnell): A movie! That's your problem! You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie.

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I think this may have been where my mind was going the other day.... at least to a degree. (SEE how sick we've become we are using romantic comedies in order to inform us NOT to listen to romantic comedies) Still, here are other quality quotes from that movie.

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Becky (Rosie O'Donnell) after listening to Annie read Sam's "reply" to her letter: Verbal ability is a highly overrated thing in a guy, and it's our pathetic need for it that gets us into so much trouble.

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Jay (Rob Reiner): Well, this is fate! She's divorced, we don't want to redo the cabinets, and you need a wife. What do they call it when everything intersects?

Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks): The Bermuda Triangle

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Just for fun I looked at the quotes from You've Got Mail..... I think I love every single one. I guess that is a sign that I love that movie.... I couldn't even begin to sort. They just play out in my mind as I read them. They say kids shouldn't be exposed to certain things like violence in video games before a certain age because they have trouble distinguishing game from reality... but what about romantic comedies... when is it safe to expose young women? My friend Julie never liked this You've Got Mail because Kathleen lost her store... her "Shop Around the Corner" and though that was my dream store... I will say I still like the movie for a million little reasons that all add up. Many of those are showcased in these delightful quotes.

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Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear): Name me one thing, ONE, that we've gained from technology.

Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan): Electricity.

Frank Navasky: That's one. [points to computer] You think this machine is your friend but it's not.

Music that Matters to Me.2 -- Eva Cassidy

Eva Cassidy "Tall Trees in Georgia" Live at Blues Alley, 1996

Fortune Cookie Frenzy

For most of my life I've been fascinated by fortune cookies. I am always hoping for one to simply reveal the mysteries of the universe to me. I guess I'm lazy, I'd rather just stumble across the answer on a slip of paper at the end of a Chinese buffet than, say, lock myself away inventing physics like Newton. I guess we don't need a fortune cookie to tell us who will be more successful in the long run!

"We are made to persist. It's how we find out who we are."

The frustrating thing for me is how few fortunes these days seem like fortunes. Often they are aphorisms and not even good ones. I am not sure my expectations are even fair so I began to search the Internet for insight into my favorite oracle. Interestingly, I found this article at the New Yorker about a man who writes fortune cookies. And this website devoted to weird fortune cookies. I love it. Why didn't I think of this instead of merely taping my collection to the fridge in an effort to make some kind of sense of the "bigger picture?" I also learned that according to Wikipedia, Chinese fortunes can be in either category... prophecy or wisdom. I guess that explains it. Here's how they got started.

And if you don't want to be troubled by actually going out to eat in order to get a Chinese fortune. You can try the online option at Bad Cookie or Meiwah's Restaurant. (there are actually a LOT of different places with fortune cookie fun... I just liked these ones best)

Music that Matters to Me.1 -- Martin Sexton

There is something about Martin Sexton's voice and his music that always makes me smile or melt a little. Powered by a terrific vocal range, his ecclectic syle is the sort of music that is hard for me to genre-ize. He's folk, rock, acoustic, blue-eyed soul, scat, blues... well he's just great. How 'bout that?

I first heard him on the stage at Bird's Hill Park just outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba at the Folk Festival which is coming up again soon... How I long to be there. Then I had the pleasure of seeing Sexton perform at the Avalon in Fargo. Both concerts were terrific.

I'm not great at describing music I like, except to play something and say... there.... THAT... did you hear it... Ahhhhh..... Instead I will tell you about some of my favorite songs... and in the order I discovered my love for them. (the links are to the lyrics) If you want you could go to the site and play the songs on his jukebox. I'd feel better if you would.

1. Angeline (Wonderbar)-- This was the first. A happy tune. It made me wish that was my name and he was singing to me...

2. Diner (Black Sheep) -- It's FAST and it's playful and it makes me think of the forties... but that may be just me.

.....Diner my shiny shiny love

In the night you're all I'm thinking of
Diner my shiny shiny love

Dean Martin god rest his soul
Talkin' to me from the cereal bowl
There's a couple from the show me state
Knockin' back a little meatloaf plate

Diner my shiny shiny love.

3. Freedom of the Road (Black Sheep) -- I think the content of this song is what appeals to me most (I've always loved songs about being on the road... "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger is another one) but if I could play it for you... I'd say the opening few bars mark my favorite part...

In a westerly direction this car is my train
I'm driving and I'm wonderin what it is I'm runnin from again
I feel like an eighty year old man but I'm holdin on to twenty nine
And up ahead on that horizon is the California line.

Now I've had enough of this freedom of the road
Never was good with decisions
Least that's what I've been told

4. Diggin Me (The American) -- Okay, I changed my mind... THIS song reminds me of the 1940s. I just LOVE this song. Any song that mentions a date at a thrift store has to be a good one, right?

5. The Way I Am (The American & In the Journey) -- This song is a great demo of his vocal playfulness... I mean he's practically yodeling at times.... In a good way.... and then at the end of the song you might think he's doing an instrumental bit... but it's his VOICE. It's like rubber... it can twist and bend and shimmy... Seriously cool.

6. 13 Step Boogie (In the Journey) -- Scatalicious. No. That does not mean poop.

7. Black Sheep (Black Sheep) -- The general feel of this song demonstrates my universal favorite "sound" of music.... some songs are appropriate for certain moods. This one is a sort of head nodding, hair shaking, slow swaying song that is my kind of sound. Oh and he holds this one note for a really long time. I do admire that.

8. Hard Times (In the Journey) -- Sure, it's a cover of the Ray Charles song, but it's a great version.

9. Women and Wine (Live Wide Open) -- I just like it. That's all. I think this one caught on for me after the Avalon performance.

....... Women and wine
Never went too well
Make me say things I don't want to tell
I know baby that you wish me well
But in spite of your trying
I'm still gonna have to find my own way through

10. Hallelujah (Live Wide Open) -- This song's on the Wonder Bar album, but I don't really like that version. It took hearing it again on the live CD before the wonderfulness of this song really hit me. For me, it's the lyrics on this one. I'll reprint them complete... but you really do need to hear it... When I thought about doing this post, it was because I wanted to share this song.

Hallelujah

Does Satan wear a suit and tie
Or does he work at the Dairy Queen
Does he listen to rock and roll
Does he feed the mean
Singing Hallelujah
What about Jesus
Didn't he do it too?
Hang out with prostitutes
And have a drink or two.
Power of example
My mama said it and I heard
She says one ounce of action
Beats a ton of words.
Singing Hallelujah.
Mama said there would be angels
Mama said there would be sun
Is the devil in Elvis to go where no white man went
Or hiding in Hugh Hefner's body or maybe even Larry Flynt.
Say, hows about the President shielding all them stones
Man if I could find a shield like that I'd run 'round naked
in my glass home.
Sippin' Hallelujah
My angel's gone to Vegas
Sippin' Hallelujah
Holding aces in her hand. Hallelujah
As she's singing rock of ages. Hallelujah
On the table at the Sands. Hallelujah
Does Satan wear a suit and tie or
Does he work at the Dairy Queen.
Does he listen to rock and roll
Does he feed the mean
Streak in all of us.
All us saints here on earth
Hypnotized and over-advertised
'Til we're numb at birth
Singing Hallelujah
And my angel's turning pages
Singing Hallelujah
And she just don't understand. Hallelujah
That the devil's hot on her trail. Hallelujah
On the road to broken promised land. Hallelujah
On the TV and the radio.
On the muddied public waves.
Good and evil look the same to you.
Elvis lives and Jesus saves.
Hallelujah

My Scrabble Stun Gun Isn't Firing....

Okay, wordmeisters the world 'round.... if you haven't played Literati yet, you are missing out. I know that I have Scrabble-loving friends.... Yes, Angela ... YOU! ...... and basically this game is online Scrabble. Sara introduced me and now I'm hooked.

Today I met two landmarks... For the first time ever, I actually WON a game. Sara is a champion through and through and I tend to be reckless with my Ps and Qs. Of course she swiftly defeated me in a rematch... so my victory was shortlived, but satisfying nonetheless. The other milestone in my online life... I actually ventured out and played the game with complete strangers... some guy from Manitoba and a lady from East Texas. I felt brave and adventurous.... perhaps that distracted me because I got my butt beat there too.

Announcing the Birth of a Blog

RRVWP Book Club Blog

.... celebrating FIVE years as a book club

Name: Books We Read

Born: June 23, 2006 at 12:09 pm

Weight: a bit low.... due to premature birth

Length: 54 posts

Thrift Store Gems

Yesterday I drove my mom to a doctor's appointment and we had a fun afternoon shopping both before and after we went to the clinic. One of the best stops was at Savers.... it's like a department store of thrift stuff. I bought two books. One was From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming for 49 cents and the other was a replacement for a David Sedaris book I loaned and lost earlier this spring. That book cost $2.00 but I still consider it a deal.



I didn't buy either of these record albums but I did look through the stacks and had a bit of a chuckle over these. The reality is that SOMEONE out there DID buy these records at one time. Oh my. There was also an inordinate amount of Hawaiian music and Christmas music... some of it was Hawaiian Christmas music.

I fell in love with this little milk jug. I have no need of it. But it was just so cheerful I couldn't resist.


I also found this little Fisher Price toy that I once had whenI was little. For some reason operating a cash register is considered "fun" when you are a child?

Finally I managed to try on my two clothing purchases right there in between the racks of clothing and didn't even have to head for the dressing rooms. I found a snuggly charcoal-colored wool cardigan sweater and a pretty cornflower blue cardigan (you might have guessed it was FREEZING cold in the store, since I was trying on sweaters when it was 80 degrees outside) At one point I tired of the whole affair (my mother can shop FOREVER) and I reverted to my junior high behaviour and went out to the car to "read my book." In all it was a satisfying day.

I Feel So Betrayed...

My DVD player quit on me.... just gave up. I don't understand why... there was no warning. One day it worked; then the next day when I tried to watch The Great Escape it simply wouldn't play. It's not that old. I paid more for this particular model specifically because I thought it would last. I realize these things DON'T last forever.... but even my VCR seems to be outlasting it... (of course, I never USE that thing)


I thought I was smarter than the machine. I got out my screwdriver and opened the cover... to hell with the risk of shock. I even left it plugged in.... I watched it load and try to read my DVDs. I took more of it apart. I cleaned everything I could see with rubbing alcohol and q-tips. It seemed to work ... It played the FBI warning... It got me to the title menu but no matter what movie I put in it just wouldn't PLAY. I give up. You win. Damn you, Mitsubishi...

Hollywood Endings and Happily Ever After

We have been poisoned by fairy tales.
--Anais Nin

There is info on Anais Nin here. My friend Tiffany might just as well have said this quote, only her take was that romantic comedies mess with the mind and so at one time she avoided them like I avoid horror flicks... because of their lasting imprint. I guess hope in the fantasy was something she couldn't afford and I am starting to agree. Does that mean I am giving up the dream, my hope is evaporating, I am growing cynical in my old age? No. I think it means I am realizing now more than ever that happily ever after is an awful lot of work.

Peony Passion

Long ago established as the traditional floral symbol of China, the peony is a flower I find enchanting... The tightly wrapped blossom. The nectar, the density.... Then the parade of ants.... The beginnings of emergence like a butterfly from a cocoon.... Then the bloom looking like it couldn't contain any more petals, until it does drooping with exhaustion.

Saturdays, Summer, and Something Going on Downtown...

A week ago I went to Artfest (where I saw the spoony shadows and the darling Buddy) in our local downtown. The food was the best bit, as always. I seem to need an excuse to eat cheese curds and mini donuts. To counter that lapse in healthy diet I did walk more that day than I have in ages.... Sadly enough, I tend to hop in my car to drive two blocks. But I chose to walk a mile to my friend Marci's house and together we strolled back toward the downtown .... hours later I was stuffed full of everyone else's creativity. Some booths had displays that I hardly would call art. Others were so clever I found myself wondering if I could create something like that. And so before this inspiration flickers out I may have to try my hand at some creating of my own.

Below you'll see a distance picture of some of the booths as we passed across the river to view those on the "American side," as my mother referred to them. I had to ask... Uh, Mom isn't Minnesota in AMERICA? That's what we get for living near the Canadian border for so long.... some things are hard to shake. I didn't take very many pictures that day, but you can see I was obsesseed with these lovely prismatic wind chimes. I was having a Pollyanna moment.

Well, set me on fire .... it's my favorite shade of rage...

Friday :: Red

When I was a child my mother, with a rare flash of fashion insight, dressed me in reds rather than the pinks and pastels of most wee ones... I think she was on to something. It's not a color to be taken lightly. It's not a color to ignore. Red is the color of power. It's the color of blood.

Red :: Life.

Soft sweet things can be found in ice creams and frostings but passionate flavor rests in the raspberry or in the strawberry, the full flavored grape. The cherry tomato, the slice of red pepper, or the bottle of tabasco sauce that does something to mashed potatoes that makes my mouth water. You barely know it's there but it all tastes better.

Red :: Zest.

Sure my wardrobe might resemble a circus, color exploding from my closet... but these ecclectic items have stories and memories woven into the fabric... when I wear my red and white checkered skirt I wear Sevilla, 2001. Or in my floor length Hawaiian print summer sleeveless I wear a dress I wore in a dream once that meant I was the one.

Red :: Forever

I Guess That's Why They Call it The Blues....

Thursday :: Blue

It's a bleary rainy day and nothing seems to make those better like a cup of hot tea. This pack is compliments of E. Louise all the way over the big BLUE sea.... Thank you, thank you. And to be honest when I started thinking of blue today the first though that popped into my mind was the album by Joni Mitchell... That gives you some indication of how literal minded I can sometimes be and why me trying to be creative doesn't always work out. In fact, my first thought with white was to photograph my Beatles White Album. Sigh.

Spoon Shadows Twinkling on the Pavement

Wednesday :: Black/Grey

Like Chocolate, like Loamy Soil, Like My Eyes on a Cloudy Day

Tuesday :: Brown

The bears are two from my childhood... I have trouble letting go. One is named Potatoes and the other I simply called Corduroy, I guess because that's what he's made of. They are old pals. The stacking dolls remind me of my Sesame Street watching days... There was once a bit on there with some Russian stacking dolls and from that moment on I simply had to have a set.

And the books... Well, to me, this stack of books looks tastier than tiramisu or any hot fudge laden dessert and I love both of those. I am not sure what it is but there is something in a book that triggers a kind of mouth watering, anticipatory excitement in me. And if the book is good, it's a treasure that I cling to. In this stack is a copy of The Wind in the Willows. I have never read this but plan to soon. I recently learned that this title was someone's first. First book read, I mean. For me it was Little House on the Prairie books and then The Boxcar Children. They say you never forget your first. What was yours? I'm quite curious.

Color my World -- White Bright

Monday :: White

I saw this idea here and I couldn't resist.
Each day one is meant to post a photo that represents that color.

monday :: white
tuesday :: brown
wednesday :: black/gray (a color, not a black & white photo)
thursday :: blue
friday :: red

Creative Cooking Concept.3 Curry Tuna Salad

Ever since I reminisced about the mediterranean tuna in yesterday's post I've been craving that sandwich. Because I am trying NOT to eat every meal at a restaurant I opted for a different tuna I actually know how to make. This is a recipe I got from my dear friend Jolene and I think of her each time I make it.

Here's the recipe:

Curry Tuna Salad

Combine these ingredients:
2 cans solid white tuna
1 Granny Smith apple, skinned, chopped
(adding chopped walnuts or raisins is optional)

Then in a separate bowl mix
3/4 -- 1 cup mayo
2 TBSP mango chutney
1-2 tsp. curry powder

Simple cooking that doesn't even involve cooking is my favorite way to go. After I look at the picture of the sandwich I realize I should have tried harder to get a better shot. I would do that now, but I've eaten the sandwich. It was delicious with its crunchy, tangy flavor. Yum.

For Love of the Soil

As long as I can remember my father has been gardening.... because those big fields one must maintain with cultivators, discs, spray coupes, and combines aren't quite close enough to the dirt, I suppose. We had a garden in our backyard as a child and when the soil didn't yield as much we moved it south (perfect time for putting in an in-ground swimming pool, I liked to point out... but no one listened to me). That garden was bookshelved by raspberry bushes and strawberry plants with runners shooting out everywhere.

In 6th grade I became a strawberry girl, just like the book I loved by Lois Lenski. And that was my first job. I earned $300 or so for my efforts and really the work was sweet. I have always love strawberries for their taste and for the memory of that experience. I remember keeping my profits in an envelope in the silver chest at the bottom of my mother's china cabinet. Later transferring it to savings in a bank in town that today is nothing more than part of the Super Value parking lot.

Now my dad has the south garden and three other smaller plots to the east where no garden has grown before. He is experimental. He plants many varieties... at different times... he keeps track. As demonstrated, in an earlier post... he remembers rainfall. His earliest planting this year was Good Friday and he's already yielding some small potatoes and onions. With our meal, we had fresh asparagus... but that grows behind our house every year without any coaxing at all.

A Girl's Gotta Eat

Within a week, I ate at three of the newer restaurants in our area. I am always a fan of the non-chain-independently-owned place. Though they do tend to struggle to survive. I had book club at Capone's. Lunch on my own at the new bakery downtown, Dakota Harvest Bakers. And drinks for Tara's birthday at Joe Black's.

Of the three I was most impressed with the bakery. Bright and sunny. Lots of room inside. Free wireless connection for geeks like me. Outdoor seating. Prices were a bit high, but the sandwich was a hit. Tuna something or other. And the cookie was a nice finish.

* I checked. It was Mediterranean Tuna on Oatmeal Whole Wheat... it had tuna (obviously), artichoke hearts, olives, sun dried tomatoes from what I recall... it was tangy. Delicious.

... to Grandma's House We Go

In the absence of hills and woods... we just drove straight to Grandma's. Good 'Ol North Dakota. Our visit was nice; oddly typical considering how sick she should probably be. Though she has now, more than ever, learned to delegate. Only about ten minutes after our arrival I was sent to fetch the mail and to buy a box of Rice Krispies for a recipe (I'll make these soon and post it... they are the yummiest cookies). Somehow these mailboxes remind me of my childhood. Comforting how some things never change.

Also, she had her entire garden planted and flower beds and her kitchen floor sparkling... I understand that some of my aunts have been helping. And I was afraid I'd find her bedridden... My Grandma has always been my rock. She's a the epitome of the Proverbs 31 woman, if such a thing existed and frankly I believe THAT lady is more of a myth or a compendium of what a woman could be. However, Grams has a lot going for her. Single since my grandpa died in 1975, she's truly an "independent woman."

We visited for while in the morning and had fried chicken for lunch. Granted I did a lot to help prepare the meal, watching her tear into a whole chicken with a knife and her bare hands ripping it apart, bones snapping, chicken fat tugged free... well it was rather unsettling. I am a little too removed from the ways of a farm kitchen. After lunch was naptime and I wandered the downtown and returned in time for a little quiz show fun... Playing Jeopardy with Grandma, like usual... if only we could tag team what I don't know she does and vice versa. Below are two familiar sights. One are some toys I played with as a child... I couldn't resist visiting them too. And the other must be Grandma's mantra. May God give her peace and preserve her spirit and health until our paths cross again.