“It's not what a movie is about, 

it's how it is about it.”

― Roger Ebert

For a woman who loves to go to the movies...I sure didnt go to many this year.  (Now there's a good goal for 2020!)
Looking back I see  I only have 8 movies that I felt worth mentioning. And picking the favorite was a good, thought provoking experience.  
But if I MUST- my choice for a favorite will be Bohemian Rhapsody.  My reasoning ifor this pick is that I think about this movie the most out of the handful I saw this year.  I am haunted by Freddie and his life. And yes, I do know that this movie didnt portray his life in its true form. But I do know that he was a gifted and conflicted  and talented young soul.  I am tormented at times by peoples burdens and choices...Freddie and Michael Jackson to name a few of the many.  I love Freddies music...I have many of his classics on my playlists.  Rami did an amazing job of playing Freddie! And Im still kinda amazed at how the supporting actors looked so much like the characters they are playing. This is the only movie this year that I watched several times.  So that is why its at the top of my short list.

The other movies Im noting for the year goes as follows:
2nd- Aladdin- with Will Smith. This was such a pleasant surprise!! I went in with low expectations and came out happy and singing a tune or two. 

3rd- The Ballard of Buster Scruggs- Dark, Dark, Dark...not for the faint of heart. But I think about this one a lot too. Its course and also a work of art. 

4th- The 100 Foot Journey- Warm and delicious!!

5th- Ford vs Ferrari- very interesting, well acted and beautifully shot! Who knew that camera angles could play such an influential part of a race car movie!!??

6th- Downton Abbey- It was wonderful catching up with old friends!!

7th- Avengers Endgame- Laugh out-loud fun and adventure!

8th- Yesterday- fun, a unique concept and who can go wrong with Beatles music?!

P.S.- It has just now occurred to me that some of these movies may not be strictly 2019 movies. But guess what?! They were for me!! So Im counting them!!
P.S.S.- And I also realize that 2019 isnt over yet! Knifes Out is definitely on my list to see before the years out!

...he realized that he was achieving an entirely

different regard for Time--considered as property.

A week ago he had sat before the window with his

elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands viewing

the current day as an encumbrance. No convict, doing

a five year stretch, could have had a lower opinion

"now." Phil had been borrowing from the future by

plastering the present with unsupportable mortgages.

from: Precious Jeopardy

by: Lloyd Douglas

I dont read enough biographies!
A good friend from Canada recommended this book for me to read!

This was an easy read and very enjoyable and quite informative.
Easy in that flowed well and had no soap box stance   to even touch on politics or the like.
Enjoyable because I learned so much about what it would be like growing up blind in our colorful world.
Informative cause I learned a LOT about  new, advanced technological devices  there are out there to help the blind get along better.
This book dealt with one mans experiences on 9/11. That was the difficult part of the book, reliving what  I felt when I found myself viewing the attack from the sidewalks of the streets of Paris!!  Its not fun "going back."
The author- Michael Hingson,  was on the 78 floor of one of the World Trade Center Towers when the terrorist flew the plane into the offices 18 stories above him!  Roselle, his guide dog, and most trusted companion made their way down the stairs...and its fascinating to "see and hear" his experiences in that extreme moment of stress and confusion and fear!!
 Excellent book!!!
*****

Could It Be 30 Years!!!??? (added post script)

For   Lisa and all the rest of us hopeless romantics in the world.  May the favored son have a rich and blessed life with his beautiful bride and help-meet!!!  We know dear mum is looking down with a full and  grateful heart.  Go here to read what good friend Lisa says about the upcoming event.



POST SCRIPT: (sharing a comment for all the read!! Thanks Judy!!!)

Judy said...

I know a cute story about Princess Di. My friend Carol was her hostess/guide while Diana was on a trip visiting Nigeria. They were driving down the road in a jeep, and Diana spotted a big tortoise in the middle of the road. She made the driver stop and they all got out while Diana gawked over the cute tortoise, and made them move it out of the roadway. Carol thought it was cute, but admittedly was a little put out because they were on a schedule. But she said she was very sweet, very gracious and she was thoroughly thrilled with the opportunity to be her personal guide.

Yet one more reason for my admiration!!  She loved turtles too!!! wink

TOP 48 ADS THAT WOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TODAY

Im48 ads that would never be allowed today » Article » OWNI.eu, Digital Journalism

Im haunted by humans.

from: The Book Thief

by: Markus Zusac

l Journalism

Happy Mothers Day Everyone!!!

Parenting was a participle, like going
and doing and crusading and worrying;
it was active, it was energetic, it was unrelenting.
from: I Feel Bad About My Neck
by: Nora Ephron

There are a LOT of amazing mothers in my life. Beginning with the one that gave birth to me, raised me, put up with all my crap when I was a teenager, the one that loved me no matter what; the one that sewed and cleaned and cooked and worked without a stitch of outward gratitude from a teenager with attitude... she is an angel incarnate. How was I so blessed to call her mom!!?
And then I was fully embraced by the mother who raised my perfect Builder.... where I have received nothing but love and acceptance from her as well.
And talk about examples....both these woman are amazing. I will never be the women they are...but thats ok too....cause they both love me anyway.
And what about the amazing women who are the mothers to my beautiful grandchildren!!
And how about their mothers...each of whom are marvelous women who enrich my life when we get to visit with them.
And what about the amazing mothers of the awesome cousins that my kids and I enjoy so much!!
There truly is no end to the list of powerful, delightful, generous women in my life and in all of our lives.

Happy Mothers Day one and all!!!

(thanks petitelephant)

Photo of the Day

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr. Seuss

Photo of the Day

"You'll shoot your eye out kid"

Photo of the Day

Precious life!!!

NATIONAL NURSES DAY

My FAVORITE nurse and my hero- my mom!!

(check out all the fire-engine red lipstick!!)

Friend Jan is going to be a nurse!! I am so PROUD of her! Its a tough road to hoe when you are OLD!! wink, wink
My Grandma Sharp, on the right, as a nursing student!
Christy Dykstra-graduated from nursing school 3 days ago!!

Way to go Christy!!

Martin Luther King Day

I was a cute young thing in the early 60’s! My family and I were living in Silver Spring Maryland. My father was working at Walter Reed Hospital. I don’t think any of us will ever quite know all that it was that my father did for work there at Walter Reed or where all the traveling took him around the world. (this is why we so wish he would take some time and write his personal history. His grandkids would gobble up each and every word he would write- hint, hint) One of his official job titles there was- Research Psychologist for the Department of Experimental Psychology. He didn’t spend his time in the army hospital, but in labs elsewhere on base. But what we saw at his workplace was always very fascinating and exciting. The labs were full of monkeys and dogs and rats. There was a lab that had a strange room covered entirely with 6 inch foam cones. Walls, ceilings, and floor engulfed in foam-surreal to be sure. He had a way of conveying real excitement about what was being learned there and that amazing things were taking place in these labs. New discoveries and advancements in medicine and in modern technologies were being made there. I remember visiting there fairly often as a kid, and my reminiscing today, has to do with a drive into his work for one of those frequent visits.

(I need to say on the onset, that I don’t personally remember the following incident. But I do know and remember several occasions as I was growing up, of my folks relaying this story to others. ) So, cute little me is sitting in the car with my mom as we drive to dads' workplace. As we are driving down a busy street, I peer from the window and spot someone I believed to be my dad. “Look mommy, that looks -like my daddy standing there!” Mom glances sideways and then stares again, because I have just pointed out a gentleman wearing a military uniform like my father, who is tall and lanky like my father, and who was also wearing the same type of glasses as he did. But, there was a very apparent difference- this gentleman was Black! Not just an ordinary black man, but one of the stately, Kenyan, dark as night, BLACK man!
(hardly could be confused for a black man,ya think?!!)

The point I wanted to make with this anecdote is to say how grateful I am that I was raised to not see the color of people. Remember, this is cute little me, growing up in the early 60’s- at the height of the Civil Rights movement. At a time and place that must have seemed to be the epicenter of the battle- 10 minutes from the White House!! My parents were very involved in this movement. Mom remembers when Tina and Larry Johnson moved in across the way at the Holman Ave Apartments where we were living. They were the first black people to do this. Mom and a neighbor were the first ones to go over and welcome them to the neighborhood!! Soon they were fast friends and have been for years and years. I know that the careful teaching about the equality of people was something that came natural to my parents. It didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t taught because it was PC. From the moment we were fetus’s in the womb-- ‘equality for all’, was instilled in our hearts. My parents are my heroes! Never have I seen my folks differentiate somebody by their color. Never!!
I have tried to do the same with my own kids. I don’t know that I have been nearly as successful. I will blame a great deal of the fault in that we haven’t lived in places where there was or is much diversity. I regret this at times. I am proud of my kids,they are people who I believe can look at an individual for who they are and not at what color their skin may be.

Bless Martin Luther King, and his rallying call for the equal treatment of all mankind. Thank heavens for all the parents and teachers that also do their best to teach these precepts to their children; one child at a time. This is yet another battle that could and can and should be won behind the walls of each of our own homes.