Catch-Up Links

While I was on medical hiatus, I stopped writing for Heroes & Heartbreakers. I continued my work for Publishers Weekly and, as I felt well enough, wrote some brief reviews for Amazon and Amazon Vine. Here are the links you missed, beginning with a link from my return to the H&H rotation:

• Kindle Magic (or How to Organize Your Kindle) article by Laurie Gold for Heroes & Heartbreakers
• Vine review of Lustfully Ever After by Kristina Wright (Erotic Romance)
• Vine review of Dermacontrol Foam Wash by Cetaphil (Skincare)
• Vine review of Apron Anxiety by Alysssa Shelasky (Memoir)
• Vine review of Paris in Love by Eloisa James (Memoir)
• Vine review of Curly-Q Dinnerware Set by Rachael Ray (Housewares)
• Review of Women's JB-6210-F "Victory" Pink Stainless Steel Diamond Watch by Just Bling (Jewelry/Watches)
• Review of Colored Gemstones by Paul Deasy (Reference)
• Vine review of Mio, Mango Peach by Kraft (Water Enhancer)
• Vine review of Fruit Design Post-It Notes by 3M (Office Supplies)
• Review of Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie (Biography)
• Review of Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (documentary) DVD, directed by Rodman Flender
  

Catch-Up Links

Old Movies

B&N's simply phenomenal DVD sale allowed me to buy The Producers and Blazing Saddles for my DH and The Princess Bride and Monty Python & the Holy Grail - for me - for just $28, using my membership (on sales like these, the employee discount isn't as good). I just swung by another B&N for a $6.21 copy of Emma (Paltrow and Northam...sigh) after ordering online Keira Knightley's Pride & Prejudice (although the ending is not true to the book, this is my favorite version - I know, heresy, but I think Matthew Macfadyen is to die for). The Knightley P&P, btw, set me back a mere $6.88...I also used coupons for the Austen adaptations.

All of this started last weekend when I worked music and Marie, one of our lead cashiers, came back to buy a bunch of sale DVD's. After I took a look at her booty, I decided it was time for me to get in on the action. She is far better than I am at discerning great values; during the last semi-annual employee sale, she bought an entire library worth of books for a pittance. It was impressive. I bow to Marie.

Anyway, I worked in Music again last night, and directed every customer to check out the sale; nearly everybody found something to buy. As for me, I noticed The Glass-Bottomed Boat among the sale DVD's, along with Nicholas & Alexandra. While I've read the latter probably a dozen times, the original price of $19.95 halved wasn't quite cheap enough for me, so I added it to my Netflix queue, along with Hello, Down There, a ridiculous movie from the 60s that I adore, one which pops into my head every time I think of The Glass-Bottomed Boat (probably because of the Doris Day/Tony "Have some Madeira, M'dear" Randall connection - I think he co-starred in each of her movies with Rock Hudson).

While I was at it, I looked for two more ridiculously fun flicks: The Impossible Years and Love in a Goldfish Bowl. The former, btw, starred a teen-aged Cristina Ferrare, once married to the infamous John deLorean, while starring in the latter was...wait for it...Fabian. Alas, neither of these is available on DVD at Netflix, or B&N or Amazon, although I could buy the Ferrare/Niven movie on VHS for a mere $145.

I don't know why I love so-bad-they're-good old comedies. I've got far better taste where musicals are concerned. Regardless, if you ever come across any of these three cheese-tastic choices - feel free to add Otto Preminger's The Moon Is Blue, once considered oh-so-shocking that it was banned in parts of the U.S. to this list - on TV, sit down and watch them. As for the Austen adaptations, which are your favorites?

Old Movies

Memories in Film

Last night after my husband and I finished watching, for the umpteenth time, Meet Me in St. Louis - one of my favorite movies - and Ma and Pa Kettle had begun, I got antsy pretty quickly. While I'm a fan of The Egg and I, in which Ma and Pa were memorable secondary characters, (and isn't it interesting that Marjorie Main co-starred in the Judy Garland musical...and why did they air what's considered a Christmas movie in July?) I'm less happy watching them as leads in their own stories. Anyway, I started looking ahead and noticed that today, as I'm sure occurs every July 4th on some channel, the musical 1776 was to air.

For many people, songs and meals are the basis for favorite memories. For me it tends to be movies...and where I was and who I was with when I first saw them. The original We're No Angels, for instance, (that's a link to my review of it at B&N.com) was the first "late show" I'd ever seen. My then-boyfriend/now-husband and I were studying for finals in his apartment during the second year we'd been dating, and while I'd previously associated the Late Movie and Late, Late, Movie with something only old people watched, experiencing this terrific and mostly unknown movie starring Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, and Peter Ustinov with the man I loved turned me, immediately, into an old movie fangirl.

My husband and I were together when, a couple of years later, I discovered 1776, a very lengthy theatrical musical turned movie, and we watched it together. He'd seen it before, but for me it was an eye-opening experience because the movie starred so many wonderful actors in roles I'd never imagined, like Blythe Danner and Ken Howard and William Daniels...all singing and bringing the Continental Congress and writing of the Declaration of Independence to life in a magical way.

There are certain movies I associate with different holidays. We try and watch We're No Angels during the Christmas season - and Meet Me in St. Louis as well. This past Christmas we introduced our daughter to the former but never got around to the latter, so watching it last night worked just fine for me. Because of its length, we don't always get to 1776 on the Fourth of July. Strangely enough, the movie I most associate with Independence Day is Young Frankenstein. For years when our daughter was growing up, Jack, my husband's younger brother, and Elise, his wife, brought their two children to our house for a July 4th celebration. Some years into this tradition it was raining, and while we waited to see if the skies would clear in order for us to watch fireworks (which we can see at a local country club from our back yard), we decided to watch a DVD. It did clear up that evening, btw, and the fireworks were spectacular.

For some reason Jack had never seen Young Frankenstein, which is my favorite Mel Brooks movie (heresy in a home with a husband who performed a memorable The Producers scene in high school...so much so that his nickname, and how he introduced himself to me, was Max). So we watched it, and every July 4th thereafter, we watched it. Even during the year when Elise was sick and near death from cancer, she knew how important it was for me to have our annual July 4th celebration, so they came and we ate, then watched the movie as quickly as possible. They didn't make it for the fireworks, but we had that bit of tradition to tide me over in future years and I'm incredibly thankful for her sacrifice.

Tonight will be the first time we don't bring out the Gene Wilder classic, but we'll be watching 1776. I doubt our daughter will last for long - she has yet to fall in love with most old movies, although as a child she adored Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire in Funny Face. There's no particular memory associated with that movie for me, but I did fall in love with Fred Astaire movies watching a late show years ago...and it's been a love affair ever since.

Memories in Film