My Guilty Pleasures: The Confessions of a Retired Baby Boomer Librarian

I am a smart, educated woman who knows her Proust from her Pinter.  I can talk literature, poetry, current affairs, music and foreign films with the best of them.  I'm a librarian, for god's sake.  I'm edicated.
 
But I also have my guilty pleasures.

I think I feel less guilty when I remember one of the smartest guys in my college telling me that his favorite movie was "The Love Bug." 

This was a time in the early 70's when no one would admit to anything but seeing the most sophisticated of foreign films - I mean we were COLLEGE students, for god's sake.  After registering my surprise and disgust at his choice, that HE, a philosophy major for god's sake chose a Disney film, and a silly one at that, as his favorite film, his response was, "Hey, I work hard, I use my brain 24/7 so when I want to relax I don't want to have to think.  I want to laugh, enjoy myself."

So as another smarty pants whose mind works overtime, I took that as a free pass to indulge MY guilty pleasures (I would say pleasures, but I am sort of guilty about them).

Lifetime Movies
I have already confessed to this guilty pleasure in my blog "Lifetime Movies," so I won't bore you again on that one, but, c'mon, who wouldn't want to watch a movie called "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?"

Gossip Magazines and really juicy celebrity bios
When I fly, nothing relaxes me more than reading about Bruce Jenner's possible sex change or whether Jennifer Anniston will get married or not in the gossip rags. I would never dream of gossiping about my friends but hearing about the travails of the rich and famous?  Well, I find it relaxing.  And I feel I am doing a public service when I hand them off to the flight attendants and see how happy they are.  As for the celebrity biographies, I have to review them for "Library Journal."  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

A Latte and a scone after going to the gym
I know.  What's the point of going to the gym if I am going to negate it by eating a scone?  At least it's a "skinny" latte and it could be worse.  I could be going to McDonald's after the gym like some people I won't name...(but whose name starts with H and ends in ubby.)

Jackets
It all started when I was 12 and the rich girls had these cute little matching skirts and jackets that I couldn't afford.  So now I have 75 jackets.  So there, you rich girls!

Earrings
Do I really need 100's of them?  No.  But they never turn on you like your tight jeans.  When I weighed considerably more than I do now, I couldn't fit into skinny jeans but my earrings always fit.  That's comforting.  When I'm feeling fat, I buy earrings.

Scarves
See "Earrings" above.  I feel very Parisian when I am sporting a perfectly tied scarf.  And they hide a multitude of sins!

Late Night Talk Shows
Not sure where I got this from, but it could hark back to my childhood. 
My Dad was against late night talk shows. I think he thought they were too risqué (for all of my Dad's stellar qualities, he was a bit of a prude). So I think that was forbidden fruit for me.  Remember Tom Snyder and Joe Pyne?  Ah, those were the days.

When I was in college and living in married housing alone while my young husband was in Vietnam, Johnny Carson helped me feel less lonely. I would go back to my house late, after play practice, and sit up, listening to Johnny while I did my homework.  What I loved about his show was you never knew when something really impromptu and funny would happen, such as when Johnny asked Frank Sinatra what records HE plays when he wants to get someone in a romantic mood and then Don Rickles comes in to surprise and insult him.  Enjoy!

)


Reality TV
It all started with "An American Family" that played on PBS in the early 70's.  That was classic cinema verite.  The camera followed around the Loud family of Santa Barbara and captured one of the sons coming out to his parents and the wife asking her husband for a divorce.

That was followed by my all-time favorite documentary, the Up Series where director Michael Apted followed the lives of 14 British children from the age of 7 to present, with the presumption that social class predicts one's future.  Does it?

Those two series are the epitome of excellent reality TV.  I was hooked.

However, I can't really explain "Ru Paul's Drag Race" or "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" or "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" or "The Bachelor" or "Celebrity Rehab" or "Wife Swap" or..."Cheaters" or "Southern Charm" or..."Real World"...

Dining Out/Happy Hour
Here's how I feel about going out for dinner and/or drinks. It's the best way to get away from the distractions of the home and have real conversations.  You can really talk when you are around a table, no distractions and some drinks don't hurt.

Sleeping in
I have never been a morning person.  Hubby gets up at 6am even on the weekends.  Ugh.  I am amazed I was able to get to work on time all of those ears before I retired.  Now most days I don't have to be anywhere early so I can indulge myself and get up when I please.  Of course, it doesn't help that I am also a night owl.  Ever since I was a little girl, I didn't want to go to bed.  I think I thought I was going to miss something.  Now I think it's just inertia.


Dressing up my dogs
It all started with my first blog where I thought it would be fun to illustrate classic books using my dogs as models.  And it all went downhill from there.  I am now hopelessly addicted.

        "Harvey"                               Red boots, a Beatles tee and a fascinator. 

What more could a girl want?

                Arrrr!

       

Romeo, Romeo,

wherefore art thou, Romeo?

Fiddle-dee-dee

While I was working it was possible to rein some of these things in. 

Now that I am retired, I worry I will spend my time watching Lifetime movies or late night talk shows, celebrity gossip magazine in hand, eating a scone wearing a new jacket and a big pair of earrings, scarf nattily tied, with a dog dressed up like Honey Boo Boo sitting next to me.

Or not.

Life is short and sometimes pleasures few.  Enjoy yourself without guilt!

What are your guilty pleasures? 

Dare you confess?

See you Friday for the

"The Week in Reviews"

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it and/or email it to your friends.

My Top 10 Movie Musicals of All Time and The Week in Reviews

[I review "3 Days to Kill" and DVDs  "Jobs," " Hunger Games: Catching Fire," "Broken Circle Breakdown" and "Inside Llewyn Davis" and give you "The Book of the Week."]

But first

The American Musical is beyond compare.

The Musical is an art form that through music, song, dance and dialogue takes us away from ourselves.  It is ever changing with the times.  During the Great Depression musical comedy soothed the national soul and later, shows like "South Pacific" and "Showboat" took on social issues. But no matter what the purpose, if you leave the theater humming the tunes, it has been successful.

I know I am putting myself out on a limb here to only choose 10, because I love musicals, but if I had to choose, these are the very best.

Note that these are MOVIE musicals, not Broadway musicals. 

If I did a list of best or most important stage musicals it might be very different, e.g. "Oklahoma" would be on the list, not because I love the libretto, (also known as the "book" ), or even the music that much, but, because it was the first musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Agnes De Mille did the choreography.  Likewise, "Rent" and "A Chorus Line" would be on that list, because they were ground breakers, but not here -- those two were abominable movies.

Likewise, I am hard pressed to find new musicals that measure up to the ones produced during the "Golden Age."  With the exception of a couple such as "Les Miserables," "Phantom of the Opera" and "The Book of Mormon," recent musicals have been a disappointment.

 

Here are my Top Ten movie musicals
and why.

All that Jazz (1979)

What's it about?
Bob Fosse's dark autobiographical take on life and the musical.

Why it's in my top 10.
Bob Fosse and his dark take on life and the musical.




An American in Paris (1951)

 

 

 

What's it about?
An American in Paris, silly.

Why it's in my top ten.
Beautiful Gershwin music and the 18-minute ballet with Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse.




Cabaret (1972)

What's it about?
The divine decadence of 1930's Berlin before the Nazis came to power.

Why it's in my top 10.
Under Bob Fosse's direction, it's truly an adult musical. Liza Minnelli aint bad either.




Funny Girl (1968)

 

What it's about.

The life of Fanny Brice.

 

Why it's in my top ten.

Barbara Streisand singing "Don't Rain on My Parade."  She's also really funny.

 

 

 

 

Gypsy (1962)

 

 

 

What's it about?

A domineering stage mother and her famous stripper daughter "Gypsy Rose Lee."

Why it's in my top 10? 
Rosalind Russell as Mama (and of course, the songs).




A Hard Day's Night (1964)

What it's about.
The Fab Four out on the town.

Why it's in my top ten.
It's the Beatles, Baby! 
And this film also changed a lot of young lives (see my blog "Why the Beatles Matter").





Les Miserables (2012)

 

What's it about?
A bunch of miserable people in a miserable time in French history.

Why it's in my top ten.
"One more day."








Singin' in the Rain (1952)

What's it about?
The difficult transition from silent films to talkies.

Why it's in my top 10.
Gene Kelly and his famous dance in the rain and Donald O'Connor giving him a run for his money with his back flips.  And who can forget, "Good morning, Good morning, rise up and greet the day, good morning, good morning, to you!"  I know my kids can't.  We sang that to them every morning when they were growing up.




West Side Story (1961)

What's it about?
A modern retelling of "Romeo and Juliet."

Why it's in my top ten.
The first of the really modern, realistic (except for the dancing in the street, of course) musicals thanks to the sophisticated, edgy and gorgeous Bernstein-Sondheim songs and score.




The Wizard of Oz (1939)

What's it about?
If you don't know, you have been living under a rock for the last 75 years.

Why it's in my top ten.
Judy Garland

What do you think?

 

If there are any of these you haven't seen, get thee to your local library (or Netflix)!

I
t will be a great way for you to spend your weekend instead of bingeing on past seasons of "Game of Thrones" or "Breaking Bad."

3 Days to Kill

 

 

 

A dying, but still smart-ass, CIA assassin must complete one last assignment in exchange for a treatment that could save his life.

 

Not many movies at my local theatres that I want to see or haven't seen, so decided to try this one. 

 

After all, I like the occasional spy thriller, and Kevin Costner has been my secret crush ever since I saw him, dressed head to toe in Armani, playing in the
A T & T Golf Tournament at Pebble Beach (and he still looks damn good)!  

Most of the story takes place in Paris which is always a plus and there are some great action sequences (I only had my hands over my eyes a couple of times).  However, I could have done without the father-daughter subplot and even the squatters, and I never figured out why it was just "three days."  I must have let my mind wander a bit fantasizing about Kevin.

Amber Heard acquits herself well as a tough CIA agent, but I don't think this is the breakout role she needs for super stardom (see my blog "15 Really, Really Good Actors You Have Never Heard Of").

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you like action, this film has got it.  If you like smart-ass CIA agents, Costner makes a great grizzled action hero.  If you can overlook some of the plot devices, you will enjoy this. 

 

(Now I have to go tell Kevin he has been replaced with Chris Hemsworth as my secret crush.  I like them younger).

 

 

***DVDS***

You Might Have Missed

And Some You Should Be Glad You Did

(I see the bad ones so you don't have to)

 

  

 

Jobs (2013)

 

The story of Steve Jobs' rise to power as one of the most innovative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.

Ashton Kutcher is surprising as the mercurial Jobs.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Not sure it sheds any new light on the man, but it's an enjoyable two hours.

 

 

 

 

 

Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

 

 

 Katniss and Peeta are back for Round 2.

This just seems to be a rehash of the first movie in the series.  It must be the curse of the second installment of any trilogy.  It left you waiting for Round 3.
 

Rosy the Reviewer says...Hugely disappointed in this.  I hope the third one is better and wraps it all up. 




The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012)

 

 

Can a marriage withstand the death of a child? 

 

This Belgian film was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Academy Award this year and many critics thought it would win ("The Great Beauty" was the winner).  It's original in its theme of a Belgian couple entranced with America and American bluegrass music, and there is lots of banjo pickin' and old country music throughout.  Yes, there are European country music devotees.

 

However, the crux of the film is how these two deal with the death of their little girl, with the stem cell research controversy and the belief in an afterlife vs. atheism thrown in.  Will the circle be unbroken?

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...not sentimental, no cliches, this will tug at your heart strings.  Reminded me of "Once."  A must see.



Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

The Coen brothers take on the New York City Village folk music scene of the early 1960's and those who struggled to make it there.

 

This is not the kind of story you would expect from the Coens, though their cinematic style is in evidence:  quirky characters, moody cinematography, claustrophobic interiors and dark storyline.

 

Supposedly based on the life of folkie Dave Van Ronk, the film is peopled with some real and some fictional characters from that period such as Jim and Jean (I was a HUGE fan of theirs and still have two of their albums) and Bob Dylan, and, in general, most of the characters are very unpleasant folks.  Newcomer Oscar Isaac sings well and does a good job with this character, a not very likable guy...unless you are a cat.  He has five projects in the works so you will be seeing more of him.

 

See it with "The Broken Circle Breakdown (see review above)" for an interesting counterpoint.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...though an interesting film, I do not agree with some critics that it deserved to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.  In fact, some Coen brothers fans might be disappointed in this.  But see it for yourself.  After all, it's the Coen Brothers, two of the most innovative filmmakers we have these days.

 

 

***Book of the Week***

 

 

 

 

May the Road Rise Up To Meet You (2012) by Peter Troy

 

 

Four characters from vastly different backgrounds come together with the Civil War as a backdrop.

Four parallel stories, each beautifully told from a different perspective:  an Irish immigrant, a feisty young woman of Spanish descent and two slaves.

“May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand”
― Irish Blessings

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...Riveting.  A must read!

 

 

 

 

That's it for this week.

 

See you Tuesday for

"My Guilty Pleasures"

 

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it and/or email it to your friends.

 

What Makes a Great Father? A Baby Boomer Remembers Her Dad

My Dad's birthday was last Saturday, March 8th. 

Had he lived, he would have been 106. I am surprised he is not here, because he planned to live to be at least 100.  And he could have.  He didn't drink or smoke, was active, ate well...but he ascribed to a religion that believed in the power of prayer over medical help and he died too young at 83 of prostate cancer, something that was curable.

I spent last Saturday in quiet reflection about my Dad, his effect on my life and where I came from. 

I could never repay him for all he did for me, all he gave me, so I felt I owed him that much.  As I thought about him, I thought about what a wonderful Dad he had been and what traits he embodied - the traits that made him a great Dad.

My Dad was born in 1908, something that still blows my mind. 

Here I am in the 21st Century, using a computer to write a blog that will go out to the world in a matter of seconds, and my Dad was born when most people were still riding around in horse-drawn carriages (only 144 miles of roads in all of the U.S. were even paved), telephones were not yet common in the home, and the average wage was 22 cents per hour. 

No wonder my parents didn't understand the Beatles or women burning their bras.

My Dad was an only child which was unusual for the times.  Likewise, his mother was a high school teacher and the major bread winner.  Also unusual. 

I think my Dad was a mama's boy, because family lore paints my grandfather as a stern disciplinarian who was not averse to capital punishment.  My Dad and his mom would go to the movies together.  He loved movies and knew all of the actors and actresses.  I remember many late nights watching the old movies with my Dad and talking about the actors and him trying to hide his tears during the sad parts (he would laugh quietly and pretend to be wiping his forehead with his handkerchief, but I knew). 

So my love of movies certainly came from my Dad.

So what made him such a great Dad?

He was...

Supportive.

He supported his children in their interests and dreams. 

My sister wanted to be a tennis player, so he played tennis with her until she out played him.  As she played her way into championships, he bought her the best tennis rackets and financed trips to tournaments.

My brother loved hot cars so they worked on cars together and my Dad bought him a 1955 Chevy with a pleated interior and raced the souped up family cars at the local drag racing venue.  And my Dad didn't even mind my brother drag racing on the street because my Dad did it too!

I wanted to be an actress and he never discouraged me.  He would even say I could start as a script girl and work my way up - his way of being supportive, though he obviously didn't really understand the film business, because that would never happen. Script girls don't become film stars.  But I appreciated his interest.

But no matter what the ups and downs and disappointments he must have felt from his childrens' lives, he always found the positive.


Generous.

As I said, he supported our interests both emotionally and monetarily. 

And we were not rich, by any means.  This was the 50's and 60's, when most women stayed home and the husband was the sole financial support.  That was the way it was in our home, and my Dad didn't make that much money.  He handed over his main check to my mother for the household expenses and then he would work two or three extra jobs to finance his own passions, which were cars, guns, music and his kids. 

Even though my family was of moderate income, my parents always bought the best of everything, believing that you get what you pay for.  But that doesn't mean we had everything. 

I remember many of my friends had all of the latest clothes, and my inability to keep up with that probably started me on my road to "clothes horse-dom," but my Dad did understand that I wanted to look like the other kids.  He was a soft touch when it came to my saying, "But all of the other kids have that," to which he would reply, "Well, if that's the case..."  He also thought I should have enough clothes so that I never had to wear the same thing twice in a week (I probably now have enough clothes that I would never have to wear the same thing in a YEAR!  But I digress.)  He bought me my first pair of heels (in which I took a tumble at church much to my brother's delight) and started giving me money to buy my own clothes when I was 12, after my mother and I had a big fight over what bathing suit I should buy - she insisted upon my buying one that looked like a sailor suit!  My Dad understood that a girl had to "graduate" to big girl swim suits some time.

It's easy to think my Dad's generosity spoiled me, but there is also a saying that those who are cheap with money are cheap with love. He was generous with both.

He enjoyed surprising his family with gifts, but he was also generous with his time and himself.  When I was a teenager, I was the only one of my group who could get the car when it snowed (he thought I needed to learn how to drive in snow some time) and there were times when he actually let me use the car when he also needed it, because I had promised my friends. He would walk. 

When he did things like that for me, it did not go unnoticed, even if I was young and spoiled.


Thoughtful.

If I admired something I wanted in a store window, I would probably get that as my birthday present or even just a surprise a week later. 

I loved to eat fish.  He didn't, so we never had it in our house.  But every Friday, he would bring me the fish patty from the cafeteria at his work wrapped in a little napkin. Just for me.

And once when my Dad was driving my college roommate and me home for Thanksgiving, he stopped at a store to get me a scarf I had wanted, and when he came back to the car, he had purchased the same scarf for my roommate as well. 

He also liked to buy my mother hats.

 Remember when women wore hats?

Because my parents were 40 when I was born, and I had my children late in life, my children didn't get to spend much time with their grandparents (they were 72 when my son was born).  But they looked after the kids one summer when Hubby and I went on a trip, and though my son may only remember that his Granddaddy got a bit impatient with him when he was trying to teach him to cut his meat, I hope he also remembers that he had some baseball cards for him when he arrived and went out of his way to entertain him, even though it had been years since little kids had been in the house.

He also went out of his way to make his own kids feel special.  When I was in a play, he would send me a telegram (remember those?) to wish me luck and he wrote me long letters when I was in college, which always included a couple of bucks.



Humorous.

He loved to tell jokes. 

He was a bit of a prude, so no off color jokes, just your silly "knock knock" jokes and Henny Youngman type jokes ("Take my wife, please.")  He would play the piano and sing silly songs and read me the Sunday comics every Sunday. He always seemed to "get a kick out of things."

And every morning, when he came in to wake me up, he would say, "Rise and shine.  Save your confederate money, the South will rise again!"  I am not even sure what that meant because he surely wasn't from the South, nor did he believe in the Confederacy, but he thought it was hilarious and his enthusiasm was enough to get even someone like me (I hate morning) to get up.

Interested in a lot of things.

Some of my favorite memories are of my Dad sitting at the dining room table late at night working on his "lesson" for church, and I would come staggering in from a night of fun with friends, reeking of cigarette smoke ("Oh, no, Dad.  I don't smoke.  Mary smokes and it must have gotten on my clothes.") 

My parents didn't smoke and they were both teetotalers as well, so I must have literally lit up the place when I got home.  But when I got home, he would stop what he was doing and we would debate topics of the day, including religion.  He was always interested in my views on things even if they weren't his views. He was very curious about everything.  He would learn about something and share it and then say, "Imagine that!"

He also liked to collect guns and target shoot; he played trumpet in a dance band (his band played at my prom) and he could also play the piano, banjo, and harmonica and did all of the arrangements for his band; and he collected American muscle cars (he had a 440 Charger, a Chrysler 300 and a Barracuda with a hemi engine),

He also loved movies, television, swing band music, car racing, sports, taking pictures (tons of them) and always wanted to be a cowboy.

(Note the hat: Pharrell Williams had nothing on my Dad!)

Self Sacrificing.

My father believed that love was doing something for someone that you really didn't want to do, but you did it anyway and without recrimination or expecting anything in return. That was huge. It's difficult to find people who will go out of their way for others these days.

I miss my Dad very much, especially now that I am in the last part of my life. 

With my children far-flung and my trying to navigate these murky waters of retirement, I wish I could ask him more questions and seek his comfort and counsel when things get tough. 

Though I am glad I told him what he meant to me while he was alive, I would love to share this with him now.

And he would have loved to have been a blogger. 

Later in his life, he spent much of his time writing, not just the book he was working on, but trying to save the world by writing to his legislators.


Here is a letter to then Governor Romney (yes, Mitt's dad). 


Looks like my Dad was thinking drivers should be able to make citizen's arrests!

When I look at my son, I can't help but see my Dad and I hope I was able to pass on some of what my Dad was to my son. 

1911                                                             1983

          

                                                  

                                                                                

                                                             

                 

              

And now that my son is also a father, I hope he will do likewise with his children and in so doing, my Dad still lives.

But I see that he does live on, don't you?

 

1908 

2014



And the Beat Goes On...

See you Friday for the

"Ten Greatest Musicals of All Time"
(and I hope for some debate) 

and The Week in Reviews

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it and/or email it to your friends.