It was a long weekend for la Famille de Forrest. Super Son competed in a Congress Debate event whilst Professor X and I scurried about doing Speech and Debate Booster Club support activities, including judging some events. We heard some great stuff from a lot of wonderful young people. I especially love judging events like impromptu, where they're given a choice of three topics and have to choose one, then make up and deliver a speech on the spot. It takes guts to do this type of activity. It's been over a quarter of a century since I participated in speech and debate, and I can still remember how nervous I felt before each round, how my heart pounded and my stomach churned.
I had lots of good stuff I wanted to tell you about regarding the speech and debate topic, but I got distracted with hanging out with the kids and my man, going to the local fitness center to get more sleek, eating a great steak dinner grilled by the man, watching The Simpsons featuring Hugh Laurie and Daniel Radcliffe, and enjoying my new secret boyfriend, Benedict Cumberbatch, in his brilliant portrayal of Sherlock.
I was first introduced to him when I watched Fortysomething, a funny television series starring Hugh Laurie. Have a peek at some of the scenes with Cumberbatch. Hearing all those lovely British accents gets me very excited about our upcoming visit to the UK this summer. I do love me some Englishmen. You're just going to have to wait for my Speech and Debate recollections and observations, I'm afraid.
Last night, I tuned into House, MD with great interest; previews had revealed that the POTW (patient of the week) was a woman blogger. There were another subplot that intrigued me even more: House and Wilson were going speed dating. I couldn't wait for the funny to begin. Ultimately, I was a little disappointed because the speed dating bit was pretty short and most of the best parts were in the preview. Of course, when it comes to any opportunity to watch Hugh Laurie being clever, I am totally insatiable, so perhaps my expectations are unrealistic.
There was also SPOILER ALERT! a fabulous subplot about House discovering that Wilson had been in a porno movie when he was younger. House, being House, tormented poor Wilson mercilessly about this. It started when House rented three films from a local shop, Wilson returned them before House watched them, providing a flimsy excuse for doing so, piquing House's curiosity. House then re-rented and viewed them and spotted his colleague wearing a most fetching bear skin. There are more twists and turns, but you get the idea.
It was only later, after watching the addictive behavior of the blogger patient who felt she had to constantly post about every aspect of her life that I began to think about House and his actions related to porn. Sure, he jokes about it a lot, but renting the films shows he follows through. And three films? I mean, aren't they all basically the same thing? As Ronald Reagan observed about trees, you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Aren't there better things to do with one's time? Better films to watch? Maybe even spend time with actual women?
My class has nothing to do with that type of addiction - unless my students intend to create racier content than I think they will. But it raises the same sorts of questions if students wind up falling down the rabbit hole of blogging addiction. The blogger character in last night's program talked about the sense of community and interaction with people through her blog. She was constantly grabbing her laptop to share new developments in her life, even as doctors struggled to figure out what was wrong with her. Her loving husband stood by, trying to talk with her and make decisions about the future as she turned away to communicate with Bloggyland. It was annoying. And I recognized some of the behaviors as my own.
This Sunday marked my second totally awesome Oscar Party at Bad Mom's house. A gang of super fun women gathered to watch the festivities, eat scrumptious food and drink amazing cocktails concocted by Bad Mom's wonderful husband. We dressed in our best red carpet finery (I chose black velvet, red lipstick and sparkling rhinestones) or incognito celebrity airport outfit. We laughed and gabbed in the classic tradition of what Professor X lovingly dubs a hen party. Except two of us were high tech hens. We hunted and pecked our keyboards, live blogging (on Facebook, don't look for it here) the Oscar action. We also multi-tasked, chatting to each other from our laptops although we sat a mere foot apart.
We had ginormous fun. But are we losing that personal connection? Are we becoming so dependent on our little silver devices that we're not able to interact properly? Am I going to spread this type of aberrant behavior by teaching the class? Is this the downfall of society?
Stay tuned for more thoughts on this troubling topic.
Some brilliant youtube producer combined clips from House with the stirring song "The Internet is For Porn" from Avenue Q - Enjoy!
Screw tragic young love; the sadder but wiser pairing for me. In honour of St. Valentines Day, I offer my top ten favorite romantic couples.
1. Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. Thompson and Branagh were a gorgeous couple. Here's a fun fan vid with some clips from the film.
2. Will Shakespeare and Viola De Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love. Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow are sublime. Here's the wonderful trailer.
3. Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn as divorced couple Dexter and Tracy in Philadelphia Story. Check out this lovely clip of the two of them discussing their failed marriage.
4. Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal as Judy and Howard in the madcap comedy What's Up Doc? I love this scene so much! She is incredible. So high energy and funny.
5. Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson as Sam and Lucy in Maybe Baby. In this clip, he recites Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. Don't worry; he doesn't look like that throughout the whole movie. But his voice certainly is delightful no matter what.
I think I'll wait until tomorrow to share the other five. Now some ruminations:
When I was younger, I adored many different films for their romantic couplings, usually featuring much older men with a young actress. Christopher Plummer's Captain in Sound of Music, Rex Harrison's Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Cary Grant as cat burglar John Robie in To Catch a Thief, and so forth. But as I've gotten older, it's less my ideal. Sure, I'm still nuts about 60-somethings Alan Rickman and Richard Thompson, but I think a maximum ten year difference is optimal.
What do you think? Who are your favorite film couples? More importantly, why?
How do you solve a problem like Maria? Climb every mountain, of course.
I've always felt that good art allows you to gain some insight about life. You may not have a major epiphany, but you get to take away something to enrich your own existence. And in musical theatre, you should leave able to hum a few bars and remember at least a snippet of lyrics.
Daring Daughter's Beauty and the Beast mini-production includes Be Our Guest, with wonderful lines like
Try the grey stuff; it's delicious Don't believe me? Ask the dishes They can sing, they can dance After all, Miss, this is France And a dinner here is never second best Go on, unfold your menu Take a glance and then you'll Be our guest Oui, our guest Be our guest!
Okay, maybe that's not the most profound advice. But I will say we never had a bad meal in France. And I'm crazy in love with the fun rhymes and melody of this song.
We saw two other musicals in Portland this past week,Ragtime and Sondheim's Company. Each had extremely talented casts. Each was beautifully choreographed.
Coalhouse Walker (Gavin Gregory) sings to Sarah (Rachael Ferrera)
Ragtime shares a vision of the American dream at the turn of the century, when anything seemed possible, even for new immigrants. Consider this excerpt from the song Success:
[MORGAN] I'm J.P. Morgan my friends The wealthiest man on this earth!
[IMMIGRANTS] Success!
[MORGAN] You immigrants, look up to me And you'll see what money is worth!
[IMMIGRANTS] Success!
[MORGAN] One day your immigrant sweat Might get you the whole U.S.!
[HOUDINI] And if you're trapped And failure seems imminent, Think of Houdini, That fabulous immigrant! Break those chains with all you possess!
[MORGAN, IMMIGRANTS] This is America! This is the land of success!
I'm teaching a course on the American Dream this winter. After reading Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, I felt more than a bit cynical while listening to this song. Ultimately, Ragtime left me saddened about how much injustice persists in America. It wasn't inspiring; it felt like, well, what it was: a really long novel about a period in American history with unhappy endings for many of the characters. Not that I demand a happy ending (okay, I sort of do), but I'd like a sense of forward movement, of progress at least.
Company was in some ways even more unsatisfying. Sure, the performances were stellar. Great singing. But the characters were mostly unlikable, or at least not developed enough for us to care about them. The problem lies with the play's original construction - it was a series of one act plays, rejected until the playwright hooked up with Sondheim to weave a score around them and tie them together. The result is a series of vignettes in which couples try to persuade a 35 year old bachelor friend that he should get married; that marriage provides one with company. How does it end? Well, I'll just say that Daring Daughter, a person who likes clear resolutions, was displeased.
I will admit, though, that it had more clever lyrics. Consider The Little Things You Do Together:
It's the little things you share together, Swear together, Wear together, That make perfect relationships. The concerts you enjoy together, Neighbors you annoy together, Children you destroy together, That keep marriage intact.
Or Sorry-Grateful:
You're always sorry, You're always grateful, You hold her, thinking: "I'm not alone." You're still alone.
You don't live for her, You do live with her, You're scared she's starting To drift away, And scared she'll stay.
Or Being Alive:
Someone to need you too much, Someone to know you too well, Someone to pull you up short And put you through hell.
Someone you have to let in, Someone whose feelings you spare, Someone who, like it or not, Will want you to share A little, a lot.
Someone to crowd you with love, Someone to force you to care, Someone to make you come through, Who'll always be there, As frightened as you Of being alive, Being alive, Being alive, Being alive.
I'd love to know if anyone reluctant to wed has seen Company, experienced an aha! moment, and then got married. I do know that, watching it, I became annoyed with the pushy married couples, recognized my own similar misbehavior toward some single friends, and vowed to refrain in the future.
My ultra suave second husband Hugh Laurie is a talented musician/singer/songwriter. His compositions help to guide us in our daily lives; they provide a vision and a plan of action to deal with the challenges we face. This is one of the family's favorite songs. I do hope you enjoy it, and comment with your favorite line. There are so many good ones.
I have a jolly time planned for us today, my darlings. We are going to enjoy a few PG-13 clips together! These all feature my second husband, the lovely and talented Mr. Hugh Laurie.
I'll bet you're wracking your brain, wondering what Hugh has to do with sperm-related songs. After all, the most famous song, Every Sperm is Sacred in Monty Python's Meaning of Life, didn't involve Hugh. You probably haven't seen a little film that came out in 2000, Maybe Baby, with lucky Joely Richardson. Hugh stars as her husband in the comedy. They're a couple who have various misadventures trying to conceive.
He and writer Ben Elton collaborated to write this piece, Sperm Test. It reminds me of his wonderful compositions from A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
Even if you are shy about singing the words, surely you can join him and his dog in howling at the end. Wasn't that good fun? And good God, doesn't he look young?
It would be the height of cruelty for me to leave you wondering how his character's little swimmers perform. So without further ado, The Test Results:
Finally, because you can NEVER have enough HL, here is a thematically consistent clip of him in A Bit of Fry and Laurie. I love this sketch because it features his real-life infant son, Charlie. As a special bonus, it is subtitled in Chinese.
My Amazing Children never fail to giggle when we watch this bit. They love to shout "scumbag" and watch the little baby's lower lip tremble. They are bad children.
Clearly, since he's able to produce such a cute baby, Hugh Laurie the real man has sperm that are just fine.
Not that I have any personal experience with that.
What a special treat I have for you today! A beautiful song performed by six beautiful people.
Aren't their voices absolutely gorgeous? This is a scene from the 1992 film Peter's Friends. I'm betting you've never seen it. Kindly do so. At once.
It is a lovely story with some fantastic actors. Amazing Children watched it with me as part of my ongoing obsession stalking appreciation of Hugh Laurie. He plays Roger Charleston, a talented musician who collaborates writing commercial jingles with his wife Mary, played by Imelda Staunton. The Charlestons are dealing with a very tragic incident that threatens to destroy their marriage. Laurie and Staunton are such great actors that I felt embarrassed intruding on their private, anguished conversations. You really do need to see this film.
Amazing Daughter shrieked "Argh! It's Umbridge!" when Staunton first appeared in the movie. We hate Umbridge. She is evil. In case you've been living on another planet, Umbridge is the awful Ministry of Magic official who takes over Hogwarts for a year in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Here's a still from the film where Maggie Smith's Professor McGonagall is comforting Emma Thompson's Professor Trelawney as mean Umbridge tries to kick her out.
It takes some adjusting to like an actor after you've seen them play a truly despicable character.
We adjusted. Laurie and Staunton make a terrific musical duo. And their characters' story is very moving. He is, of course, a GOD at singing, composing, and playing piano and guitar. Not to mention that sexyfunny horn thing he does with his lips at :45. She has a voice that's so lovely it brings tears to my eyes. And she's certainly able to do the glamorous star thing. ------>
Peter's Friends features Laurie's talented BFF Stephen Fry in the eponymous role. Laurie's former real-life girlfriend (Lucky girl!) Emma Thompson, takes a turn as a very funny character who tries to bed Peter, not realizing her old friend is gay. Her real-life husband at the time, Kenneth Branagh, directed and appears in the film as another friend of Peter. He's dancing in this clip with the lovely Alphonsia Emmanuel.
Play the clip again and marvel at the talent you're hearing and seeing.
There is a great write up about the song here. You should read it.
Don't you wish you had friends who could get together around your baby grand piano and harmonize like that? I do! I am leaving bloggyland for the day to go practice my arpeggios. You never know if Hugh Laurie a musical friend might be in the neighorhood.
Exploring the boundaries of planet Earth while raising two very excellent Earthlings. In search of the perfect caprese salad. Gravitating toward warm, swim-worthy bodies of water.
Thanks to Bad Mom and Bee Drunken for this bit of love!
The Feeling is Mutual!
Thanks Bad Mom & Khaye (Melting Chocolate)!
Killarney National Park, County Kerry
Professor X took this photo. I heart him. And I heart Ireland.
Gone but not forgotten
Col. Brandon, it was fun to exchange thoughts with you!
A Mysterious Disappearance on 4/23
Who will he be next? Is he even really a he?!
Some Inspiring Words from John Updike
"The essential support and encouragement comes from within, arising out of the mad notion that your society needs to know what only you can tell it."
and
“I would especially like to recourt the Muse of poetry, who ran off with the mailman four years ago, and drops me only a scribbled postcard from time to time.”
I found this at http://www.zazzle.co.uk
The Charlestons are dealing with a very tragic incident that threatens to destroy their marriage. Laurie and Staunton are such great actors that I felt embarrassed intruding on their private, anguished conversations. You really do need to see this film.
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