Alfred Hitchcock, Auteur

Alfred Hitchcock is a director I love not to take too seriously, but still admire his craftsmanship and storytelling. I've seen the following Hitchcock films:

The 39 Steps (1935)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Rebecca (1940)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Spellbound (1945)
Notorious (1946)
Rope (1948)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Rear Window (1954)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
To Catch a Thief (1955)
The Trouble with Harry (1955)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Vertigo (1958)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
The Birds (1963)
Marnie (1964)

My favorite is Rear Window. The best crafted is Vertigo. The best, most underwatched Hitchcock is Shadow of a Doubt. My least favorite is the 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, but still it has a memorable scene at the theatre which is one of the finest on film.

Still on my radar, but not seen:
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Jamaica Inn (1939)
Torn Curtain (1966)

Chocolate Figs and Almonds (or Chocolate Dates and Walnuts)

Here's an easy, healthy recipe for a delicious accompaniment to fortified wines used as dessert wine at the meal's end.

In a microwave, carefully melt 250 g chopped dark chocolate and add 12 chopped dried figs or 20 dates and ½ cup chopped toasted almonds or walnuts. Put heaped teaspoons of mixture onto trays lined with baking paper and refrigerate until firm. Put into air-tight containers and refrigerate until needed.

The fortifieds that are especially nice with this treat are port, mistella, and muscat, all favorites of ours.

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

Novel: The Count of Monte Cristo

I am currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I've only met a few of the characters who will populate the text with Edmond Dante, being the central character. At this point in my reading he's young, honest, gallant, naive, loyal. He loves a beautiful woman and has been selected to captain a merchant ship. However, at his betrothal party he is arrested and subsequently thrown into the worst prison imaginable Chateau D'lf for a crime he did not commit, framed by a jealous trio and imprisoned by a crown prosecutor who advances his political career on the back on this innocent man.

Stay tuned for another installment of this wonderful tale.

Pisa Italy

We took a day trip from Florence by train to Pisa. We arrived at the train station in Pisa and followed the crowd across the bridge to the main tourist boulevard which was a wide street closed to traffic. It was an interesting mix of food carts (sausage, fruit, cookies, breads, cheeses), designer shops, sidewalk cafes, and fine dining. We ducked down an alley and found a charming, family-owned trattoria where we had huge bowls of spaghetti bolognasi, bread, and a glass of wine for few euros. Then we rejoined the crowd on the main boulevard and walked until we rounded a corner and discovered the famous bell tower of Pisa. It is surprising to see just how much it does lean and also to witness the efforts expended in keeping it from falling. Tourists braver than I had climbed the stairs and were walking around the outside of the tower. I was happy to stay on the ground and on the safe side of it should it fall. It was a great day trip, away from the tour group, on our own.

Shutterfly and All Its Greatness

I did it! I got all the 1,000+ photos from this year gathered together in organized sections, sorted through them, selected the best 100, made decisions about which ones would be full page, and which ones grouped on pages, then opened Shutterfly.
Shutterfly is a miracle website for people who want a physical copy of their digital pictures. My daughter-in-law and I use it year round to send cards and photos, but we especially love it once a year when we make Granddaughter Ella's photobook for that year. Beginning in her first year of life, we have made three books so far and look forward to compiling an annual book of her photos until the last one which will be her wedding year or her university graduation year or some date in the far future. Here is one of my favorite photos from this year's book: (click on it to see just how adorable she really is)

Countdown: My Top 20 Favorite Movies

Here's #20-#16 of the countdown. More to come...Stay tuned!



#20.Unforgiven (1992): "We all have it comin', kid."












#19. Bull Durham (1988): "You just got lesson number one: don't think; it can only hurt the ball club."











#18. North by Northwest (1959): "How does a girl like you get to be a girl like you?"











#17. Badlands (1973): "At this moment, I didn't feel shame or fear, but just kind of blah, like when you're sitting there and all the water's run out of the bathtub. "










#16. Annie Hall (1977): "A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark."

Australia's National Pastime

The cricket season has begun. Today is a beautiful 24C, sunny day on our neighborhood oval, but the boys will be on the ovals every Saturday and Sunday all over Perth playing the cricket throughout summer. Many days will be well over 40C.

Flowering Trees of Australia

Both of these native Australian trees flower at Christmas. Guess which one is called Australian Christmas tree.

Mental Health Break

We have planted in pots yellow squash seeds and a beefsteak tomato plant. We can get dozens of fresh fruit and veggies at the local farmers market, but not yellow summer squash and not beefsteak tomatoes. It's been a treat seeing the seeds emerge, giving the pots a splash of water, and keeping the Aussie insects at bay.

Note: The previous owners had the fence painted with the mural you see a portion of. We were going to paint over it, but laziness took over first and now we've grown used to it. Since we're at the beach, the diver and dolphins are fun. You'll see more of the mural as I keep up with the progress of the plants.

Tips for Travel: Dubai UAE

As Westerners who traveled in Dubai in May of 2005, my husband and I found out a few details of travel there that I'll share here in part 1:

Dubai International Airport

We flew Emirates airlines which was a wonderful ride. The service, food, seating, entertainment, and crew were all excellent. The pilot told us he was a Texan!

Before you leave the airport, be sure to stop by Duty Free for your alcohol. It's very reasonably priced and the selection is excellent.

When you walk into the arrivals' hall, you will be shocked. It's bigger than a football field, and it is filled to capacity with people in queues waiting to be processed. John went looking for a shorter line and thankfully found that business class passengers had a special line which was very short and very efficient. Look for that line. Even if you are not a business class passenger, if you line up near that line, you could get called over to it after the business class passengers are cleared.

In October 2005 we went through Dubai Airport a second time. This time we were connecting from London to Cairo through Dubai. We had about 12 hours in Dubai to wait for our connecting flight. We checked in at the airport in-transit hotel which is in the international terminal, had a shower, and a good sleep. We got a wake up call for 2 hours before the flight, ate a good meal at the restaurant, stopped by Duty Free for alcohol, and then went to our gate. If you have a long stopover in Dubai, I highly recommend this. You must take your change of clothes in your carry-on bag because you do not have access to your luggage while in transit.

The Shag Who Came to Dinner

Sunday evening John and I went to the shore to eat our lovely take-away fish and chips wrapped in brown paper. Shortly after arriving, we were joined by this fellow, a pied shag, who paddled to shore and presented himself, fish in beak, at our little oceanside party. Even though he was a little over-dressed in his natty tux of feathers, he settled in to enjoy his fish as did we. Once he'd swallowed his prey live, he waddled back to the ocean, had a couple gulps of sea water, turned to us once more, then swam away. We raised our glasses in salute as he disappeared in the setting sun.

New Zealand's North Island

Most Australians touring New Zealand go to the South Island and maybe the southern region of the North Island, but we wanted to see Russell and the Bay of Isles area. So we landed in Auckland and took off toward the north end of the North Island.
We sailed from Russell through the Bay of Isles, an extraordinary group of small islands rising out of the ocean into the mist. During the sail we encountered fairy penquins, so cute floating along on their backs in the gentle seas.
Russell was a cute little seaside town. We arrived four days before their very busy summer season began so we had the town all to ourselves. Everyone was happy to us as we were their first tourists of the year!
Our next trip to New Zealand will be a car tour of the South Island, maybe next year...

Obama/Biden Transition Website

"Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today." from President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech, Grant Park, Nov 4, 2008

Go to Obama's transition website for all the news of the transistion. Then share your vision for what America can be, where President-Elect Obama should lead this country. Where should we start together?

R.I.P. Paul Newman

I didn't have this blog when one of my favorite actors died. So R.I.P. Paul Newman. Your contributions to film and to humanity are your enduring legacy.

Here's my favorite scene from one of Mr. Newman's best films, Cool Hand Luke. If you haven't seen the film, this scene, known as Plastic Jesus, depicts the prisoner Luke's reaction to news that his mother has died.



Didn't that break your heart?

Edinburgh, Scotland

We were in Edinburgh in 2003, but I bet the city has not changed one little bit since we were there. It's a jewel! We walked the Royal Mile, toured both the castle and Holyrood, and tramped up the hills surrounding the town. We ate fish and chips with the locals, but skipped the haggis. On our last night we shared a table in a crowded restaurant with an English couple who said they always returned from holidays in the Highlands through Edinburgh simply to see the castle at night. So we walked from the restaurant and had a squiz. The photo does not do the sight justice.

Filmspotting!

Filmspotting is a great movie podcast. Two hip guys, Adam and Matty, discuss film for an hour each week. They review recent releases, conduct a film marathon, give very mediocre performances of a movie scene (that segment is called Massacre Theatre for good reason), and designate their picks for a weekly top 5 on some film topic. Their film board is the best around. Many film students and film aficionados plus regular folk like me discuss every aspect of film and play film games like movie trivia and name that screenshot. All my movie-viewing recommendations come from these two sources.
Filmspotting is heard every week on NPR radio as well as in the podcast format. If you're into film and have no one to share your film knowledge with, you should check out Filmspotting and the Filmspotting boards. Good times!

My Favorite Winter White

Houghton's White Classic (which was formerly sold as White Burgundy) is the perfect white wine for cool days and nights. It's a blend of at least these three varietals: Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Verdelho, lightly wooded and ready to drink fresh or with careful cellaring up to 10 years. The taste is pronounced fresh fruit, tropical and citrus with melon notes. It's plump in the mouth and finishes dry.

A glass of White Classic, a roaring fire, good company...a perfect cold night inside!

America Has Turned the Corner

Winston Churchill famously quipped, "America can be counted on to do the right thing after she has exhausted all the other options."

Movies for Ella

Granddaughter Ella, currently 3 yrs old, must have an education in great films, so here's the first post of many which will list films she must see or own:

Holiday Movie List (updated often)
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
A Charlie Brown Christmas (plus the soundtrack)
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas