Category Archives: Media

2024, Baboon Achievers, books, Family, Media, Movies, TV

Thanks a lot you all!

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Going down a rabbit hole isn’t anything new for me but this week I’m down two different rabbit holes and it’s all your fault!

The first is my Alan Bennett rabbit hole.  For those of you in Blevins, you may remember that Bill recommended one of our last books, An Uncommon Reader, which we all liked enormously.  Since then I’ve read several other Alan Bennett titles.  That has led me to a few movies that have been made from his plays/books.  Luckily so far the movies are pretty close to the plays/books; it’s clear that Bennett was closely involved in the various productions.  I had not realized before this rabbit hole that Alan Bennett is the author of Madness of King George.  He also wrote the screenplay when they made the movie from his play.  Bennett is unbelievably prolific; the list of his credits from television, plays, books, films and even radio broadcasts is remarkable.  I’m pretty sure that I’ll be down this rabbit hole for awhile yet.

The second rabbit hole is thanks to Barbara.   Last week I picked up a book at the library, an older volume of something called Lisa & Lottie.  I had no memory of why I had requested this title but that’s not actually uncommon.  In the reference column of my reading spreadsheet the notation “O&A” is the most common and stands for Out & About, and almost always means I don’t remember where I got the idea.  Within about 10 pages I realized this was the book that The Parent Trap was based on which we talked about on the trail a couple of weeks ago.

The original German title was Das Doppelte Lottchen, (The Double Lottie) and was published in 1949.  Disney got his mits on it and the first Parent Trap movie came out in 1961 with the enormously popular Hayley Mills along with Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith.  The movie is actually much closer to the book than I had expected.  The biggest difference is that there is not a camping trip at the end during which Brian Keith realizes that his new fiancée is not the woman for him.  (In Lisa & Lottie, the new fiancée just gets mad about the twins/mother of twins issues and stomps off into the sunset.)  And, of course the names and jobs of all the characters are updated in all versions.  I’ve re-watched the Hayley Mills version again; probably won’t watch the Lindsey Lohan version again.  It’s actually fairly well done but YA liked the movie a lot and as a consequence I’ve been it A LOT! 

I’m actually really glad that I’ve already read both the Blevins selections for this month because I’m not sure how I’d fit them in!

What’s taking up your time this week?

2024, Family, Games, home, Kids, Media, Uncategorized

Croquet, Anyone?

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As you read this, I am on my way to South Dakota with several hundred children’s books, about a dozen Tintin comic books, pesto, home canned tomato puree, and a croquet set. The Tintin books are for my son. (Daughter will eventually get the Calvin and Hobbes three volume boxed set.) My son and daughter in law may view this as me just coming to babysit, but I see this as a way of clearing things out of the basement and garage as we get ready to move.

We played croquet about 10 years ago when our son and daughter in law were here for a visit. I think we had bought it new at that time. Grandson was not yet born. It was an impulse buy on Husband’s part. Prior to that visit, I don’t think I had played croquet for more than 40 years. I remember cutthroat games at my cousins’ farm in Magnolia, MN. There was always the possibility that Cousin Jack would club Cousin Jeff as part of their never ending conflicts and struggles for supremacy. I never got clubbed.

Our son and daughter in law have a huge back yard, so I think Grandson and I and his parents will have some croquet games during my visit. My memories of the rules and the setup of the wickets are foggy, so I will go on-line to figure out how to set up and play. I promise not to club anyone if I lose.

What outdoor games did you like to play? Any Tintin or Calvin and Hobbes fans? Any conflictual cousins?

books, Media, Movies, Uncategorized

To Catch a Thief

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Spoiler Alert Possibility.  If you are anything like me and can easily seek out rabbit holes to throw yourself down, be aware that there may be some spoiler alerts coming up.

To Catch a Thief if one of my favorite movies.  How can you go wrong with a Hitchcock film starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant?  It’s one of my go-to movies if I wake up during the night and my brain won’t let go (I own it via my cable company).  It’s also what I play in my head if I need to pass some serious time (think MRI kinds of things); the last MRI of my ankle took 45 minutes and I got almost all the way through to the final scene.

Considering how many times I seen the opening credits, I’m not sure why I just realized a few weeks ago that the movie is based on a novel of the same name by David Dodge, who wrote quite a few books back in the fifties and sixties and was quite a success, especially after Thief got picked up by Hitchcock and turned into an Academy-award winning film.  Well, you know me – I had to find the book.  I read online that they made quite a few changes to the book while filming and that just ignited my desire to find it.   Inter-Library Loan to the rescue!

This is backwards for me.  Normally if there is a movie made from a book, I try to get the book read before I see the movie.  (Sometimes this backfires – having read The Martian before the movie was out, I realized that I NEVER want to see the movie.  What I have in my head is all that I want.)  Occasionally though I see a movie and eventually read the book.  This doesn’t happen too often although a couple of times it’s caused me heartache.  Both The Natural and Suspicion were movies that I really liked and had seen multiple times.  Then I read the books and now can never see those movies again.  It’s one thing to make changes to a book, but oh my goodness.  Neither of those movies even began to keep true to the heart of the story or the characters.  And this is really sad because Suspicion is another Hitchcock/Grant pairing.  Just can’t do it.

Anyway, back to Thief.  Having prepared myself for a book quite unlike the movie, I was pleasantly surprised.  The main story lines match up closely, although the book has way more moving characters than the movie.  The bad guy is the same, although the motivation of that character is different between the book and the film.  The insurance guy isn’t nearly as interesting a character in the book as John Williams played.  The final denouement had a similar twist but I preferred the movie version – especially since it involves a drop-dead gorgeous gold gown (designed by Edith Head).  There were also a few places where dialog from the book was dropped into the movie.  The main differences that I could see were some of the shifting morality/ethics in the book that were not present in the movie.  In the movie, even the thief was a good guy; in the book things were much more loosey goosey.  In fact, the strictly upright best friend completely flip flops in the end and decides to protect the bad guy – nobody goes to jail in the book.

I knew going into this that the book probably wasn’t going to mar my enjoyment of the movie, but it was nice that the two actually fit together better than I expected.  I’ve decided that I prefer the movie – the plot line is a little cleaner and, of course, the cinematography is stunning.  Guess I’m safe to keep playing it in my head when I need to!

Do you any favorite movies?  Are any of them adapted from books?

History, Media, Movies, Mysteries, TV, Uncategorized

How the West Wasn’t Won

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One of my friends, Jennifer, occasionally writes fan-fic.  I had never heard of fan-fic before she started writing it.  It’s just what it sounds like – “fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, etc.”   There is actually an incredibly large fan-fic community – websites, writing groups, conventions and even awards. 

Most fan-fic writers focus on just one or two particular shows/movies.  Jennifer, who is a great reader of history and fantasy, writes from Lancer, a western that ran for two seasons in the late 60s.  She doesn’t have an answer as to why she chose Lancer – she says she can’t really remember what initially sparked her interest.

The “maybe I should watch the show that my friend has written for all these years” bug got into my brain.  We haven’t talked about Lancer for a few years and for some reason, my brain got Lancer mixed up with High Chapparal, another western from the same time period.  When I asked her if she had a DVD or video of High Chapparal, I was surprised when she said no.  But I didn’t ask and ended up finding the High Chapparal DVDs through interlibrary loan.  

As I was watching the very first episode, I texted her with some snarky comment about the wife/mother not lasting the first season and the following conversation was when we realized I was barking up the wrong western tree.  She laughed and said now she knew why I was asking about High Chaparral and I laughed now that I knew why she didn’t have a DVD or video of it!

I didn’t make it past Episode 4.  It was too stark and violent to my taste; I’m sure the makers were trying to make it “realistic” but I didn’t care for it at all.  And (SPOILER ALERT) the wife/mother didn’t even make it to the end of the first episode!   And Lancer didn’t do it for me either – a bit too much late 60s attitude applied to the 1870s.  After three episodes I decided that it wouldn’t damage my friendship with Jennifer if I didn’t watch another.  At least I now know enough about the background and the characters that if she ever asks me to read any of her fan-fic, I will have some clue to start with!

Are there any western tv shows or movies that you like?

2024, books, Kids, Media, Stories, Technology

Letters

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The rabbit hole that is the internet never ceases to amaze me.  A few days ago I stumbled across a YouTube video called LettersLive.  It was Oliva Colman reading a 17th century letter from a wife to her husband.  It was hysterical.  Since then I’ve found several other clips of letters ready by other celebrities.  I adore letters – some of my favorite books are epistolary (Guernsey Potato Peel Pie Society, Daddy Long Legs, Cold Comfort Farm and Julie Schumacher’s Payne University series).  Turns out that LettersLive is actually a series of live events that began back in 2019.  I’ve found four of them so far. There are usually 20 or so letters read during the evening, many of them funny, many of them insightful, some of them incredibly touching and almost all thought-provoking.

Letter-writing is certainly one of our lost arts.  I remember Steve writing to his friend every week until his friend passed away; it was an amazing feat.  When YA was young, I used to send a letter to Nonny and JB every week – mostly just bullet points of the week along with a page of photos.  I send a lot of cards these days, but don’t consider them letter-writing.   Watching the LettersLive has made me think maybe I should start up the Nonny habit again.

LettersLive is sponsored by Montblanc, which seems perfect but funny.  Celebrating letters is “write” up their alley but what they are sponsoring are live performances and a technology-fueled YouTube site.  I can’t think of anybody better!

The only problem with LettersLive is that there aren’t endless quantities; they are not putting up new YouTubes every week.  Once I’ve listened to all the letters read at the four events, I’ll have to wait until the next one which is in Berlin sometime later this year.  I’ll have to dole them out to myself carefully!

Do you remember the last hand-written letter you received?  Or wrote?

2024, Media, Poems, Uncategorized, Words, work

National Haiku Poetry Day

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The other day Husband and I made a quick trip to Bismarck-Mandan to Costco. We also went to a favorite butcher shop in Mandan. Down the street from the butcher shop is the office for the National Day company. They are the ones who post all the “National Day” declarations. I assume that they make it all up, It was fun to see where it actually takes place. It is a pretty unassuming building right there on the Mandan “strip”, the main drag in town.

I noted that today is National Haiku Poetry Day, and that yesterday was National Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day. That is interesting, as our clinical director declared that anyone who wants to wear pajamas all day this Friday can do so, as long as they pay $5.00 to the social committee. This is my pajama day haiku:

If I pay five bucks

Friday I will work in PJ’s

I will wear my sweats

I don’t have any clients on Friday, just meetings, so I won’t feel too unprofessional in my sweats.

What did you consider “professional attire” at work? Make up a haiku about your clothes. What kind of pajamas do you prefer?

2024, Kids, Media, Words

My Word!

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I subscribe to my hometown paper The Rock County Star Herald, and was tickled to see the recent news that English students at the Luverne High School recently were named State Champions in the Minnesota Fall 2023 Vocabulary Bowl.

This competition was new to me. It is done on-line. Every two months, students are given access to 15,000 vocabulary words from various subjects, and study the words and take tests through definition, context, spelling, etc., also learning the words in specific pieces of literature they read in their English classes. After a certain number of correct answers, they are considered to have mastered the words. 100 Junior and Senior students at Luverne mastered 11,000 words from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30. They are on their way to another championship for Feb.1 through March 31.

I would have loved such a challenge. I was in every musical competition and speech tournament there was, but this would have been extremely fun! I would love to know if this expands their working vocabulary and if they use the words they are learning in their everyday conversations!

What extracurricular activities were you involved in during high school? What new or interesting words have you heard lately? Got any favorite words?

2024, education, Family, Farming Update, Gatherings, Media, Theatre, Uncategorized

Genie In A Lift!

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben

This week has been about theater. It’s one of those periods where I have to get a show ready, plus class, plus the real job, plus the everyday household stuff and chickens and kids and dogs and, you know… “Any Idiot can handle a crisis, it’s the day to day living that wears you out”.

I’m lighting Hamlet this week. “A Reimagined Classic” is the marketing tagline. I don’t know my Shakespeare, so I don’t know which parts have been “reimagined”. I know the script jumps over scenes, and it ends with Act 7 and it’s still 2.5 hours long. I recognize many well-known lines. And there’s some funny stuff in the first half. It’s probably not a spoiler to say everyone dies at the end. Being reimagined, I can use some non-traditional lighting and some color washes on the backwall, as well as color on the actors. Here’s a picture from my tech table, just to give you an idea, with work lights still on.

Scenic design by Erica Zaffarano, directed by Merritt Olson.

Paper tech will be on Saturday evening, meaning the director and tech people go through the script and coordinate sound and lighting cues so the Stage Manager, who runs it all, has everything they need. Sunday evening will be a full run through with costumes, sound, and lights. Generally, Monday will be make up, wigs, plus all the other stuff. It’s really interesting, the show can be really humming along, and then you throw all the tech stuff in, and the show takes about 4 steps back. As an actor, it’s just a lot of stuff your brain is dealing with besides lines and blocking (movement).

We had our first meeting at our new Haverhill Township townhall on Wednesday. Bathrooms! Running water! HEAT! And AC!

Our old townhall was basically a one room school. A wonderful place with a lot of character, but it was 100 years old. With no running water, and an outhouse… The only State Insured Outhouse in Minnesota!

I went to 4H there, I did one act plays on that stage, and my mom and dad met as infants when their bassinettes were put behind the furnace by their respective moms during Mothers and Daughters Club. A lot of history in this building.

At the college, I’m working on the set model for The Curious Savage, by John Patrick, our spring play. I also got the genie lift out and tie a rope up at the ceiling for the physics demonstration show Saturday and, since I had the genie out, I changed some burned out fluorescent lamps. I keep a log of when I change lamps so I can change several at the same time if they’re all on the same timeline. Some of these 8’ fluorescents have been going since March 2, 2015! It isn’t unusual to get 6 or 7 years out of them. I’ve got one set in the shop that’s been going since January 25th of 2012!!

When I walk back from class on the other end of the campus on the first floor, I walk up 5 floors, to a roof access door, just to get steps in, then back to my office on the 2nd floor. Written on the wall by the roof access is some pretty wise graffiti: “you bleed just to know you’re alive” and next to it, “Don’t forget you can live without bleeding “
And these: “The quality of life is determined by the questions you ask” – WB 2017
“If you don’t ask the questions, you’re never going to know the answers” – SF 2018

WHERE OR HOW DID YOUR PARENTS MEET? OR YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE? ❤️

2024, Media, Uncategorized, Words, work

Mottos And Slogans

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I have two coworkers who plan to retire about the same time I do next year. We have worked together for 25 years, and have experienced the highs and lows and ridiculous moments that one experiences in a government agency.

Over the years we developed a motto to keep us going in our continued State employment until the time we reached the ages to get our pensions- “Just Soak Em!” Why, we ask each other, do we keep doing this? Because we’re going to soak em! We are going to extract every penny we are due from the State for all the hard work we did at wages much lower than in the private sector.

I suppose I will need a new motto for a new life that doesn’t involve my work. I will have to think hard on that. Luverne, the town we plan to move to after I retire, has the motto Luverne, Love the Life to encourage people and businesses to move there. Better, I suppose than “If you ain’t Dutch you ain’t much“, another popular motto from back home.

What is your personal motto right now? Think of new mottos or slogans for yourself, your family, state, or your community.

2024, home, Media, Technology, TV, Uncategorized

The Lost Cord

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Over the past month I have had to move from one suite of offices to another suite of offices three computers we use for psychological testing at work. Our tech guy has been instructed by his superiors that he can’t assist me with the move. He is only responsible for making sure the electrical outlets in the new rooms are working. He is allowed to help if we have trouble getting the computers to work if they don’t work after I move them and reconnect all the cords.

Well, it is the reconnecting the cords that is the challenge. I am proud that I was able to keep the computers and monitors connected while I moved them so the set up wasn’t too hard. It was somewhat of a challenge to make sure the speakers were set up correctly, since I had to unplug them for the move. I used a cart to make the move.

Now that the gas stove is set up and working again in the family room, I face the task of reconnecting the TV, cable box, DVD player, and ancient VHS player to one another and get them working. When we disconnected them to move them so that the carpet installers could do their work, I tried to keep the cords plugged in to the players as much as I could. We couldn’t keep all the things connected like I did at work. I fear I may need to phone the cable company, who is also our internet and land line provider to come and help with the set up, which they will do, but I hope I can figure it out on my own. I just hope all the cords are there and not somewhere odd in the furnace room where everything was stored and where we still have too much clutter. I also have to figure out how to clean the lens on the cd player in the living room. Uffda!

What has been your greatest technological set up challenge? Is it hard or easy for you to ask for help?