Best Of

My Favorite Movie of 1985

Last week, at a dinner of our women's group, SLANT, we were trying to list the three music CDs we'd take to a desert island with us. It wasn't easy, because we all love music, so the conversation went on for a long time ranging from Carmina Burana to Uncle Bonsai.

That got me thinking about movies and which movies I'd take to that desert island. That's even harder. I have been since childhood a huge movie lover. Our Mom took us to movies every week and my earliest movie memory is of Song of the South, with Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit. How could i possibly come up with a list? But my family has been keeping what we call New Year's Papers since 1985, more than 20 years. They are lists of Best Ofs for books, TV shows, movies, etc. for the previous year. That's where I'd have to start. Just for kicks here is a list of the movies I've listed since 1985, with the movies from '85 forward:

Sophie's Choice and The Big Chill - 1985

Amadeus - 1986

The Return of Martin Guerre - 1987

Gorillas in the Mist, Rasing Arizona, Mystic Pizza and A Fish Called Wanda - 1988 (Couldn't make up my mind or a good movie year, not sure which)

Dad, Bull Durham and Round Midnight - 1989

Jean de Florett, Cinema Paradiso and Bird - 1991 (another good movie year)

Cyrano/Truly, Madly, Deeply/Malcolm X - 1992

Crying Game and Sleepless in Seattle - 1993

The Piano/Schindler's List/Four Weddings and a Funeral/The Player/Shawshank Redemption - 1994 (Wow!)

Rob Roy/Blue Sky/Apollo 13 - 1995

Il Postino - 1996

English Patient/Donnie Brasco/The Usual Suspects - 1997

Good Will Hunting - 1998

Shakespeare in Love/Waking Ned Devine/You've Got Mail - 1999

American Beauty/Sixth Sense/The Amazing Mr. Ripley - 2000

Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou - 2001

My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Changing Lanes - 2002

Frieda/The Hours/Finding Nemo - 2003

Hero, Bad Santa and Mystic River - 2004

Vera Drake/Sideways/Shaun of the Dead/Boys Don't Cry - 2005

Million Dollar Baby/The Three Burials of Mequiades Estrado - 2006

I guess I would have to have a really big boat to take all these movies to the deserted island, plus all my favorites from before 1985!

Promises

Sunday we were asked at 2:30 to attend a “renewal of wedding vows” for Fossil Guy and Bookworm at 4:30 on that same afternoon. If you know Bookworm at all you know that she might call you with such a request out of the blue and that if you know what’s good in this world, you go. Which we did and were glad of it. It was a lovely occasion—lots of people heeded the call and came ready for anything. I asked Fossil Guy what was going on and he responded that he didn’t know much except that he was to put a new ring on Bookworm’s finger and showed me the ring, then residing on his little finger.

The Fellowship minister, Liz, led the two in their vows; Fossil Guy said something very sweet off the cuff to Bookworm and Bookworm read something she had written, also sweet. Grandson, Alex, nee Aliester, announced that his grandparents were “very good” ones and Granddaughter, Rachel, also known as Mrs. H. lately, read an announcement written by her Grandma. We were asked to tell of something we knew about the couple we were there to fete and I remembered, nearly 40 years ago, the two of them standing face to face in the old Fellowship hall, with arms around each other, staring into each other’s eyes. I believe I have a picture of it, which I will attach with this post if I can find it.

The proceedings brought tears to most of our eyes, including the old/new bride and groom who we toasted with champagne and then we ate slices of pumpkin pie on the deck, in the unseasonably warm October afternoon.

It made me wonder what kind of vows I would say now, after being with my mate for almost 15 years. I asked him what he would say and he, not being one to take such questions seriously, replied that he would promise to continue to pester me.
I would have to promise to always welcome my mate home with a hug and kiss, to praise a job well done, to kiss him goodnight every single night before sleep, to be patient with his bossy mother, to make spaghetti at least twice a month, to hug him in public often, to never ask him why he is driving in a certain direction or at a certain speed, to come without complaining to view a You Tube video or a joke sent by a friend and to turn out the lights in the room I am not in.

Here is another picture, more current, of FG and BW on that lovely Fall day.

North to Alaska

This is the big glacier responsible for Glacier Bay.

It's dirty now because it's not moving much anymore.

I realize I haven't put a post in about our Alaska cruise with our Mom's. My Mate and I were not sure it was going to be a "good time had by all", but it turned out to be grand. We all had a good time in our own ways. Mate's Mom got to gamble in the casino on board. My Mom got to be waited on hand and foot and to buy some good bargains. Mate got to eat 3 desserts each dinner if he wanted to and I got to take lots of pretty pictures and I saw some wildlife this time.

We had taken an Alaskan cruise a few years back and I guess it was because we didn't have a balcony, we ended up not seeing anything aside from a few dolphins and a couple of whale spouts. This time, slowly cruising through Glacier Bay, we spotted two brown bears swimming from one side of the bay to the other. They were right out in the middle. Maybe they had heard there were better berries on the other side!

This is Marilyn Glacier, a newer, still active glacier.

We saw lots of whales and dolphins and a seal sailing by on a little iceberg. We spent lots of time playing Quiddler in the game room, which had windows across one wall, and that was a great place for seeing animals. The people with tables next to the windows were good spotters. You would think we would see eagles but I see more eagles in Kitsap County. We got to see and hear calving from one of the glaciers in Glacier Bay and that was suprising--it was very loud even though the piece that fell seemed very small. I am told that some people who went up during a rainy time heard lots of calving. The rain might have been a factor.

We enjoyed our Mom's and showing them around some towns we'd been to before, Skagway and Ketchikan, and seeing some things with them that were new to us. We were both happy to get back, though, and be done with "parent sitting". I'm sure the parents in question wouldn't have thought they were being "sat" but it did feel that way to us.

There are more pictures from this trip at my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/song_bird/