Oh, Girl

I've always liked the song Oh, Girl by the soul group the Chi-Lites from the 70's.  There are quite a few videos of this song but I like this one the best -

London facts

I bought a bookmark in London with some facts about the city.  Here are some of them -

London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom.  London is the most populous city in the European Union with a population of 7.5 million and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million.  Its population is very cosmopolitan, drawing from a wide range of peoples, cultures and religions speaking over 300 different languages.  People born in London or who wish to associate themselves with London refer to themselves as Londoners.

London is a major tourist destination, with iconic landmarks including the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and St.Paul's Cathedral among its many attractions.  We visited all of those places on our trip. 

London has 3,800 pubs, 233 nightclubs and 6,128 licensed restaurants that include menus from more than 50 major country cuisines.  The city has over 40,000 shops and 80 individual markets.  There are almost 21,000 licensed taxis in London named "Black Cabs."

Prince Albert  Memorial, Hyde Park

Que Sera Sera

The song for today is Que Sera Sera sung by Doris Day and was featured in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock classic The Man Who Knew Too Much.  This suspense film stars Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day.  Que Sera Sera means Whatever will be, Will be and won the Academy Award for Best Song. 

Doris Day was in a ton of movies but I think Pillow Talk with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall is my favorite.  She is 88 years old now.

Here is Que Sera Sera -

Fun Puns

Here are some clever puns -

Those who jump off a bridge in Paris are in Seine.


A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.

Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments.


Shotgun wedding - A case of wife or death.


A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.


A hangover is the wrath of grapes.


Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.


Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?


Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.


Reading while sunbathing makes you well red.


When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.


A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two tired.


What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead give away.)


Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.


In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.


She was engaged to a boyfriend with a wooden leg but broke it off.


A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.


If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed.


With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.


The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.


You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.


Local Area Network in Australia - the LAN down under.


Every calendar's days are numbered.


A lot of money is tainted - Taint yours and taint mine.


A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.


He had a photographic memory that was never developed.


A midget fortune-teller who escapes from prison is a small medium at large.


Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.


Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.


Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.


Acupuncture is a jab well done.
 

Son of a Preacher Man

Here is another good song from the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction.  Son of a Preacher Man is sung by Dusty Springfield.

Winter has arrived

The Seattle area was hit with our first snowstorm of the winter yesterday.  The snow and cold was not the worst part though.  At around 7:00 last night, we lost electricity probably due to high winds.  I was just about to cook dinner so we had to go to bed without dinner.  We sat in the dark and read by candlelight until it was time to go to bed.  I think the power came back on around midnight.  I think it's going to be a bad winter around here this year!

Quote of the Day

Today's quote is from Woody Allen -

"I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens."

I'm a big fan of Woody Allen.  My favorite movie of his is the classic comedy Annie Hall from 1977.  It is one of the few comedies to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  Woody also received the Oscar for Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.  Diane Keaton won the Best Actress Oscar for her wonderful performance.  Evidently Woody wrote the part of Annie for Diane.  Her real name is Diane Hall.

Another favorite Woody Allen movie is the lesser known film Love and Death from 1975.  It's a satirical take on Russian epic novels.  I remember seeing it in the theater when I was in high school and recently watched it on DVD.  It's really funny and unique.  Here is a funny quote from the film -

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness."

I recommend both Annie Hall and Love and Death highly if you haven't seen them.

Sexiest Man Alive update

I just noticed that Jon Hamm is included in People magazine's Sexiest Man issue even though he didn't make the cover.  At 39, he is included with the Sexy Men at Every Age group.  They refer to him as "swoon-worthy" and a one woman kind of guy.  They say that Jon Hamm is one of the hot guys who prove that sex appeal is ageless.  Maybe they'll put him on the cover next year!

Book talk

I'm reading two books right now and they are both good.  I'm glad since I didn't enjoy the last book I read at all.  The first one is called Case Histories by Kate Atkinson.  It's one in a series of books with a private investigator called Jackson Brodie.  This is the first in the series and I have already read the third one.  It's called When Will There be Good News.  I actually read it last year and really liked it.  When I bought Case Histories I thought the Jackson Brodie character sounded familiar but I didn't make the connection until someone at Goodreads mentioned that it was one of a series.  One Good Turn is the second book in the series and I plan to read it as well.  Anyway, Case Histories is set in Cambridge and there are three mystery cases from the past that Jackson Brodie is hired to investigate.  I'm about halfway through the book and it's very well written.

The other book I'm reading is called Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes written by Elizabeth Bard.  It's a memoir of her experiences living in Paris.  She had gone to Paris for a weekend visit and met a Frenchman who she ended up marrying and then moved to Paris to live with him.  There are recipes at the end of each chapter as she falls in love with French cuisine.  It reminds me of all the good food we had during our visit to Paris.  The croissants there are so delicious and much flakier and better than any you can find here.  I usually enjoy memoirs and this one is no exception.

When I started to read Lunch in Paris I used the bookmark I bought in the famous Paris bookstore called Shakespeare and Company.  This was a place on my list of must-visit attractions while in Paris.  Shakespeare and Company was opened in 1951 and is located on the Left Bank opposite Notre-Dame Cathedral in the Latin Quarter.  It's not a big store but is crowded with books and has hardwood floors and lots of charm.  On the bookmark it says they have a reading every week, a festival every two years and the bookshop is open all year round.  It has a neat website - http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/index.php where you can sign up for a newsletter and see which authors will be appearing for book signings.  On the website it says "Be Not Inhospitable to Strangers Lest they be Angels in Disguise."

I spent quite a lot of time browsing in the store (they have new and used books) but I didn't buy anything.  I was looking for a copy of the classic book The Bell Jar by Sylvia Path but they told me they were out of it at the time.  It's a book that's been on my list for a long time.  I'm sure I can get it from the library.

Amsterdam canals and bridges

Here are some photos of the Amsterdam canals and bridges.  Jackson liked to stop and watch them.

Quote of the Day

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.

- Ferris Bueller's Day Off

One of my favorite John Hughes movies by the way.  Planes, Trains and Automobiles is my other favorite of his.  Sad that he passed away so young and John Candy died too young as well.

Quote of the Day

Women love a self-confident bald man. Anyone can be confident with a full head of hair. But a confident bald man -- there's your diamond in the rough.
- Larry David

The Fabulous Baker Boys

One of my favorite movies is The Fabulous Baker Boys from 1989.  This movie stars real life brothers Beau and Jeff Bridges as two struggling brothers who are longtime lounge jazz pianists in Seattle.  To improve their act they hire a gorgeous singer played by Michelle Pfeiffer in the role that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.  In addition to being a great actress, Michelle can really sing!  She plays Susie Diamond, a former escort who shakes up the Baker boys dull career.  The movie is filmed on location in Seattle which is another big plus.

Here is Michelle singing More Than You Know, which was her audition song in the movie -



You've probably heard her sexy rendition of Makin' Whoopee on New Year's Eve -

Quote of the Day

Here is a cute quote from actor James Garner -

Marriage is like the Army; everyone complains, but you'd be surprised at the large number of people who re-enlist.

Sexiest Man Alive 2010

On Wednesday, November 17, Kim Kardashian will host 25 Years of Sexy: People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive on ABC.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, my choice would be Jon Hamm.  According to online gossips blogs, he is the number one choice!  It sounds like a fun special and I'll be tuning in to see if Jon Hamm gets the honor this year!  He will, if there's any justice!

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

O Brother, Where Art Thou is an underrated Coen brothers movie from 2004.  It stars George Clooney and is a modern satire loosely based on Homer's Odyssey.  Here is a clip from the movie with the cast singing the song "Man of Constant Sorrow" (dubbed into the movie by the bluegrass band The Foggy Mountain Boys.)  In the movie, the group comprised of the three main characters, is called The Soggy Bottom Boys.

Turkey day

This is a really cute video that my friend Sue sent me for Thanksgiving -

Another lovely song

The Darling family, composed of musically-inclined hillbillies, appeared occasionally on The Andy Griffith Show.  The Darling boys were played by a bluegrass group called The Dillards.  Here is a pretty song they did with Charlene Darling (played by Maggie Peterson), the daughter of the family.

Rumpole of the Bailey

You may have heard of the British TV series Rumpole of the Bailey starring Leo McKern.  It's about a British barrister from London who defends all manner of clients and never pleads guilty.  Rumpole is such a fun and interesting character that a series of books followed the show which was created by John Mortimer, who was an actual barrister.  I haven't read any of the books yet but we did enjoy the first season of the TV series which takes place from 1978 and 1992.  Leo McKern is a great actor and Horace Rumpole is a fun character. He refers to himself as "the Old Bailey hack."  In the show Rumpole always refers to his wife as "She Who Must be Obeyed"!

The Old Bailey is the name of the the Central Criminal Court of England which is located in London.  It's called the Old Bailey because of the street on which it stands.  The public is allowed in to observe the trials which can be major criminal cases.  The judges still wear those powered wigs as shown in the Rumpole series. 

When we were in London we thought we would go to the Old Bailey to see if there were any interesting trials going on.  It took us awhile to find the place and when we arrived it was almost time for lunch so they said we should come back.  We didn't have a chance to do that but I did have my picture taken in front of the Old Bailey.

The Old Bailey

Visit to Versailles

We took a day trip to the palace of Versailles by train.  The town of Versailles is a half hour southwest of Paris.  Rick Steves' guidebook had the warning, "Assume pickpockets are working the tourist crowds."  Of course we did not expect to have personal experience with this but we did.  After we got off the train, we had to go through the turnstiles.  I guess we thought we needed to put the ticket in to get through but we had some trouble.  Soon a couple of people tried to help us.  While they were distracting me, one of them had managed to unzip my bag that Jackson was holding.  He felt some tugging and saw that the bag was unzipped but they did not have the chance to actually remove anything.  At first we thought they got our camera but everything was still there.  It was a shocking thing to have happened but it could have been worse.  Needless to say, I was careful with the way I held my bag for the rest of the trip. 

We had to stand in line for quite awhile before we got into the palace.  There was a guy behind us who read a guidebook to his friend in Italian the whole time.  It was a nice sunny day though.  It is quite a beautiful palace and the gardens are just gorgeous.  I have already posted quite a few pictures but here are some more.

The song for today is...

Nobody Knows it But Me by Babyface.  This is a nice video to go with this beautiful, melancholy song -

More Music

I didn't intend to have so many music videos on this blog but it's been fun to look for my favorites on YouTube.  Here is my favorite Tina Turner song (we have this one on her concert DVD Live from Amsterdam).  Enjoy!

I'll Be There

This is a beautiful version of the Michael Jackson song I'll Be There sung by Mariah Carey -

I started reading...

I just picked up Star Island, the latest novel by Carl Hiaasen.  This is the first book I've read by the Florida based author.  It's about a twenty-two-year-old troubled pop singer known as Cherry Pye, who is heading for rehab again.  The singer has a double named Ann DeLusia whose main job is to distract the paparazzi hot on Cherry's trail.  I'm not very far into it so I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I'll post an update when I'm farther into the story.

Don Draper Says "What?"

This is for all you Mad Men fans out there!  This clip from YouTube is hilarious if you watch the show!  I never realized how much Don says, "What?"  I bet Jon Hamm and gang from Mad Men would get a kick out of this!

Doing the twist at Jack Rabbit Slim's

One of my favorite John Travolta films is Pulp Fiction.  This crime drama from 1994 garnered John his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of hitman Vincent Vega.  His first nomination was for his leading role in another favorite of mine - Saturday Night Fever from back in 1977.  Director Quentin Tarantino is credited with reviving Travolta's stalled career by casting him in this role. 

Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson were also nominated for Oscars.  The movie was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.  It received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.  I love the rich, unique dialogue in the film and it's mixture of humor and violence.  We have Pulp Fiction in our DVD collection and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. 

John Travolta gets to show off his considerable dancing skills in this movie.  Here is his famous dance scene with Uma Thurman -

Roseanne

Another one of my favorite shows is Roseanne starring Roseanne, John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf.  This classic show ran from 1988 to 1997 and can now be seen on TV Land.  Here is a clip from one of my favorite episodes from the first season called "Death and Stuff".  It's the one where Roseanne lets a tired door to door salesman in the house for a glass of water and he dies in the kitchen.

Lovely song

Michael Bolton was recently a contestant on Dancing with the Stars and didn't do very well.  But he remains a great singer.  One my favorite songs of his is "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" -



This beautiful song was originally recorded by Laura Branigan and her version is great as well -



Sadly, Laura died in 2004 of a brain aneurysm.  I also loved her song "Gloria", which was featured in the 1983 film Flashdance, a favorite movie of mine.

What I'm reading...

I just started a good book called Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So.  This is a memoir by Mark Vonnegut, the famous author Kurt Vonnegut's son.  The book details his experience dealing with mental health issues, namely bipolar disorder.  He is now a successful pediatrician with three children.

It's kept my interest so far.  I'm a big fan of memoirs as I think one can learn something from every one's life stories.

Mad about Don Draper

In my continuing quest to encourage everyone to watch Mad Men, I offer this clip -



Here is a hilarious bit spoofing Don Draper that Jon Hamm did the first time he hosted Saturday Night Live -

Spirit in the Sky

The song Spirit in the Sky was sung by Norman Greenbaum and released in 1969.  I like the lyrics and I think this is a nice video.

I was reminded of this song when it played at the end of the movie Sunshine Cleaning, a movie from 2008 starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin.  It's about two sisters who start a crime scene clean-up business.  It's a good movie worth checking out.