"This is the first triple-ruffle mushroom collar in Hampstead."

I pretty much do whatever NPR tells me to do. Thus, when David Edelstein gushed over. . . I mean reviewed the movie Bright Star on Fresh Air and All Things Considered's co-host Melissa Block gushed over. . . I mean interviewed director Jane Campion, I decided I was being told to go and pined over it until I talked a friend into going with me. Bonus! It is only rated PG so I felt especially compelled to go and support it. I used to be the first in line for every PG movie because I wanted to show Hollywood that there is a market for "clean" films and show my support, blah, blah, blah. I don't really feel that way anymore, since nowadays the only movies rated PG are (1) embarrassingly bad chick-flicks, (2) mind-numbing romantic comedies or, (3) an assortment of talking-animal animated movies with a lot of really silly and slightly crude slapstick humor. So when Hollywood presents a PG movie that actually has good acting, good writing, intellectual substance, and a refreshing lack of farting jokes, I'm there.

Enter, Bright Star. This movie is about the relationship between the sublime Romantic poet John Keats and a young woman named Fanny Brawne. I won't spend too much time on the plot, but it is essentially about their relationship. It is a love story, but it doesn't have the same slightly corny feel of so many love-focused period dramas. (Now that I think about it, is there another kind of period drama?) The writing is really lovely and the actors are just fabulous. I was especially taken with how beautiful the film was - just check out these images from the movie.

But keep in mind, I am an absolute sucker for visually beautiful films. If it is a beautiful film, I'll forgive a whole lot more than I normally would. (ONLY because I found the movie so stunning did I actually sit through The New World. If you're not familiar, it is basically a really, really long montage disguised as a movie - it felt like 27 hours - in which dialogue and plot don't so much take a backseat to design but really aren't even on the same freeway. From what I remember, the actors must have had a pretty good go of it 'cause I don't think any of them had more than 10 lines each. In 27 hours of film. I am pretty sure I had bedsores and a very glazed look by the time it was over, though it sure was nice to look at.) I don't know what that says about me as a person, so anyhooo. . . we'll just quickly move along and I'll share with you a few of my favorite things about Bright Star:

• Fanny Brawne designs and sews her own clothing, and she always looks just awesome - ruffles and pleats and stripes. My favorite? The red and brown striped number in the picture above. My second favorite (but only because it sparks such a great line) is a shiny, dark metallic-colored ball gown with an enormous ruffled collar. This prompted my favorite line of the whole movie, and possibly the best line I've ever heard in a period drama: "This is the first triple-ruffle mushroom collar in Hampstead." And that, folks, is something to be mighty proud of.


• Fanny's little sister, Toots, is absolutely adorable. I would have taken her home if I could have. She has red, curly hair and a slight lisp. Enough said. (Check out her picture in the images above.)


• The whole relationship between John and Fanny is very chaste and largely conducted in front of other people. The absence of the heaving-bosoms-and-ripped-bodices so often attached to period dramas is really quite nice. At one point Fanny and her family move into the other half of a duplex-type house where John is staying with a friend. They figure out that their bedrooms share a wall, and at different points in the film you see them move their beds up against the wall where they each (Fanny in particular) spend a lot of time staring at and pressing their hands against that wall. Now that I write that, this whole scenes starts sounding frighteningly like A Midsummer's Night Dream. There's that "The Wall" plot between Pyramus and Thisbe in Bottom's ridiculously funny play. You know the scene - "And Thou, O wall! O sweet, and lovely wall!" Trust me, Bright Star's version is sweet, not corny, and there is no badly affected iambic pentameter involved.

I'll admit, this film does occasionally get just a bit over-the-top in a few places (if only ever so slightly) and I wasn't totally crazy about the Wuthering Heights feel to the ending. That said, it is definitely a movie worth seeing. Go quickly! Before it leaves your local artsy-fartsy-films-only movie house and goes the way of DVD bargain bins!

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10/5/09: Last Saturday night I saw the movie again and learned that my title quote should, in fact, be: "This is the first frock in all of Hampstead with a triple ruffle mushroom collar." So sorry. Please don't sue me, Jane Campion.

Sundry Thoughts

Today I have a lot on my mind, but I can't seem to collect my thoughts enough to develop a blog post about just one or even a few of them. So. . . I'm going to perform a brain dump on this webpage and allow you, dear readers, to make sense of it on your own. Good luck with that.

1. I played the violin in church today. It's been awhile since I last played and it felt really nice to stretch those music muscles again.

2. My sister got married several weeks ago in Las Vegas. Everything turned out FABULOUSLY (go team!). I had a great time and I loved seeing family and old friends again. Because of my early-morning Sunday flight, I even missed the family fight. Score!

3. Anymore it seems that every time I get on Facebook roughly half the posts presumably have something to do with a football game I know nothing about and care about even less. I find that annoying.

4. Last Saturday I had a nearly perfect day. Here is a run-down: woke up early (quite a feat for me) to kayak on Tempe Town Lake; volunteered with a friend at a food bank; went to lunch with said friend to the Persian Garden Cafe where I had a falafel salad and nearly cried because it was so good; went home to change and shower; planned a menu, shopped, and prepped for my dinner party the next day; grilled peaches for dinner; ate peaches with yogurt and nearly cried - again; changed into my pajamas and watched a movie with my roommate; read in bed; slept extremely well.

5. I just finished re-reading the seventh Harry Potter book which I haven't re-read since it came out over two years ago. I loved it even more! So many things clicked into place the second time around. Should have done it years ago.

6. Gazpacho isn't really my favorite, but yesterday I made a delicious grape gazpacho, courtesy of Alton Brown (I'm kind of in love with him). The ingredients may sound a bit odd, but they work together terrifically. I was quite impressed. I had some leftover polenta, so I sliced it up fairly thinly in sticks, coated them with olive oil, seasoned with salt, and baked in a 450 oven for about 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes or so. Ta-dum! Polenta fries! They were a nice counter-point to the slightly smoother soup.

7. Two bridal showers this weekend and one next weekend - I'm kind of on lingerie overload.

8. I've been rather melancholy the past days, and I just figured out why: Summer is ending. Okay, so seeing that here in Phoenix it will be well over 100 this week, I recognize that "ending" is a bit of a stretch. However, I have noticed slow changes over the past few weeks. Clothing stores are carrying corduroy and tweed. Sunflower market has acorn squash next to the peaches. I've also noticed a difference in the weather - it's definitely cooled down during the day and the evenings are in the high 70s/low 80s. Don't get me wrong I love this kind of weather. I think it's just the changing part that has me all sad-like. I don't like change. I love summer. I love that eating seasonally in the summer means gorging on cherries and melons and nectarines. I love that NPR posts summer reading lists. I love that people discuss/brag about their summer vacations with each other. I love that I can eat watermelon for dinner. I love that magazines make life look like a continual beach party/Fourth of July celebration/weekend on Nantucket. Now that September is waning, I don't like that I've started thinking about jackets and squash recipes and Halloween costumes. 100+ weather or not, that just makes me plain sad.

9. One good thing about autumn: General Conference! Two weeks to go.

Glee Me

So last night I watched the show "Glee" and, having enjoyed it immensely, I decided that today I would fawn over the show on my blog. But then (I really dislike the word "but. . . " - it pretty much negates whatever brilliant or cleverly or witty or trying-to-be-nice-but-preparing-to-be-mean statement you just made, although I can't find a way around using it) I went to a favorite blog of mine and found this posting. I have no idea who this blogger is (a friend introduced me to the blog), but she says it all so much better than I ever could. So rather than posting something horribly boring that most of you will skip over anyway, go read her blog and know that I totally concur. However, she didn't mention two things that I am absolutely ITCHING to mention:

First, guidance counselor Emma (red-head in yellow on the right) is absolutely adorable - a neurotic and OCD clean-freak with a darling style sense and a horrible crush on the married Glee Club teacher. Aside from the cast spontaneously bursting into song, she's my favorite part of the show.

Second, the token and cliche black-girl-with-a-huge-voice-and-a-little-bit-of-attitude is awesome. Whenever she sings I want to throw my hands up in the air and praise the Lord. Just watch the video on the other blog, or watch this.

Oh, and here is a disclaimer - if, for some reason, you decide that you need to watch the show or are kind of addicted to television-on-the-Internet (like me) and want to watch past episodes on Hulu (I really wish I was being paid for that little plug), heed this warning: Episode 2 "Showmance" is, well, you know, although entertaining, I wouldn't exactly sit down to watch it with my nephews. Or my mom (love you, mom). Or most people I know, at least not without a quick fast-forward trigger finger. I didn't find Episode 3 nearly as. . . suggestive. The Pilot (Episode 1) is great. Consider yourself warned.

Facebook for the Thoughtless

Today I was on my Facebook profile page dinking around like usual (I'm unemployed - don't judge). You know how your Profile page shows about 5 or 6 of your friends and their profile pictures? I've actually never figured out why they do that - to remind you that you do actually have friends and, since you pretty much only communicate via electronic methods these days, to remind you what they look like? Anyway, one of my "hey, this is what your friends look like" profile pictures was an acquaintance whose profile I haven't seen in awhile. She was using a rather lovely wedding photo for her profile picture. She is an acquaintance from a graduate school ward and I didn't know her terribly well, although I'd heard she was getting married last year. For whatever reason, I decided today was just the day to post a very, very belated and generic congratulations. Right after posting my pathetic offering I noticed a block of text right under her profile. In short, she and her husband were married September 2008 and he passed away January 2009 from a heart condition and, I noticed, their 1-year anniversary is in just a few days. Smooth, Micah. Real smooth. I hurriedly removed the comment from her Wall, hoping she won't have to suffer from my insensitivity. However. . . if Facebook send you emails when someone posts on your Wall, I think the emails are sent immediately - I don't think Facebook factors in a brief delay for the thoughtless and stupid. Wish they would.

My mortification aside, I feel just terribly for this acquaintance. She got married when they were both in her 30s (a first marriage for both, I think). Weddings are always joyful and exciting, of course, but given that for Mormons marrying when you are "older" means 24, I'm sure their wedding was a particularly exciting and joyful event for both of them. Then to lose a spouse after just 3 short months - I'm not even sure how to process all of that.