Music Monday - Days Like This - Van Morrison

 

I felt like a little bit of old school music tonight while washing dishes.  The wind is blowing through the trees tonight, bringing in a couple of days of forecast day, just to remind us on the first day of spring that winter has not quite slipped away.

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - A Hidden Life

 Based on the true story of an devout Catholic Austrian farmer, who refuses to fight in the German Army.  Directed by Terence Malick it is truly beautiful with blue grey mountains, and mountains of rich green fields.  There is not a lot of dialogue and it felt monstrously long at almost 3 hours,  I felt it was a bit self indulgent with drawn out scenes where nothing happens, where 3 minutes of picking leaves or scything fields, deep drawn out looks and staring at the sky , all just became a bit much and it felt like it could have done with being edited down.  2.5/5

Coming Soon

 

Luckily our cinemas are open, although there is a little social distancing with seats between customers.  So fingers crossed these may be out sometime soon?

Music Monday - Halfway - James Blunt

 

I like this simple tune, and am mesmerized by the matching  simple video.   James Blunt was meant to be touring this year, and we had tickets and will miss him.

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Double Feature - The Booksellers & 23 Walks

After a bit of mucking around and some housekeeping on Saturday, I set aside Sunday for doing some fun things.  I had seen clips of these at the last movie I went to see and even though all the besties were busy, I thought it would be nice to support the local cinemas and booked my tickets for Sunday movies.

  The Bookesellers is a documentary about the rare book trade in New York.  It was interesting, a window into a dying trade and I am sure that by capturing the people who work the book fair, and run the cluttered book shops, it will be a final glimpse of a soon to be forgotten industry.  I did spend a long time thinking of how all of these people collecting these books, wondering if they ever actually ever read them, or just liked owning them, and how their families must despair at the thought of having to have to clean out their shelves when they die.   3.5/5                                                                                                                                                 

    

                                    

It is rare for me to sit in a cinema and feel that I am the youngest one there.  Everyone else may have been clutching their gold card, but I did enjoy this movie, and know that it will be successful in the senior cinema goers, who fill the arthouse cinemas during the day.  Dave and Fern meet out in the park walking their dogs, and a simple premise as described in the title, this is the story of their 23 walks.  Filled out with glimpses of their outside lives, it is sweet and charming and I like this type of realistic cinema, that had the right balance of tears and laughs and it made me want to get a dog.  4.5/5    

Music Monday - Cardigan - Taylor Swift

 

I've been listening to this one for the past week or so.  I needed a new playlist after being sick, and it is nice to get out in the fresh air and listen to some new tunes.  I love the dreamy video too.  Ohh and  I like cardigans too - how perfect is that!!

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Radioactive

 It was a sunny day that turned into a chilly night, and seemed a good time to catch up with a bestie and see a movie.  We went and saw Radioactive a biopic about the life of Marie Curie.  I really like Rosamund Pike as the scientist and her story is interesting.  There was just something a bit off about the story as it attempted to skip between the past, present and future but somehow failed to keep it interesting and I came away a bit unsatisfied.  It just felt a shame, when there have been so many good dramas, that the most famous female scientist has been a bit let down by this movie.  3/5

Happy Fat - Sofie Hagen

 Sofie Hagen is a comedian who has written a book about her experience of growing up fat and fat acceptance.  In a world where we try to be more and more inclusive, fat people still find themselves being excluded and bullied, and many of the stories she told did make me sad.  Her experiences flying being wedged in beside her neighbors, of not being able to find any clothes to buy and being made to constantly diet by her mother.  Saddest of all was one of beginning pages that talks about her experience of walking down the street, that she always wears headphones so that she does not have to hear the abuse hurled at her by strangers.  4/5

Mudlarking - Lara Maiklem

 Lara Maiklem spends a lot of her spare time looking at the foreshore of the River Thames, looking for the debris and treasures washed up from years ago.  A book that made me smile as I read it, as it had that magic of intertwining the story of the author with history about London and the river it surrounds.  Having lived in London I could picture many of the sites she talked about, and can only imagine how smelly and filthy a hobby it must actually be, but I can imagine how compelling it is to search for pipes, toys, coins and treasure. 4/5

I Want You To Know We're Still Here - Esther Safran Foer

 The author of this non fiction book Esther grew up in a home where both parents were sole survivors of the Holocaust and it is not until she is older, that her mother mentions that her father had a wife and child before they were married.  So she travels to Europe with a photograph and map, hoping to find out what happened to her parents family.

I could not help but feel sad for the author and her family reading this book, that if only the search had happened 20-30 years earlier when more survivors were around who would have known her families.  Now the family connections have been lost over the years it is more difficult for her to trace names and places when homes and villages were destroyed and lost.  Still it is a compelling journey and I hope one that has given her some peace. 4/5

The Secret Life of Shirley Sullivan - Lisa Ireland

79 year old Shirley Sullivan has a plan - to take her 83 year old husband Frank on an adventure, to take him back home.  Slipping him out from his nursing home takes a bit of organizing and on their journey we learn about how they met, and the story of their marriage.  This is a sweet story and I like that the protagonists are seniors having their own adventure. 4/5 

Music Monday - Lust For Life - Lana Del Ray & The Weekend

I'm listening to this one non stop this week.

Flash Count Diary - Darcey Steinke

                                                I have enjoyed reading this small book about the menopause, and somehow came away learning a bit more about whales in captivity then this powerful stage of a womans life.  Unlike many of the books out that I have glanced at, it doesn't advocate the use of HRT as a way to bypass many of the menopause symptoms and speaks mainly of the authors own experience rather than being a rallying cry or sales pitch. 4/5

 

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Faces Places

This is a charming quirky movie about two French artists Agnes Varda and JR, who travel round rural France taking photos of locals in large fortmat and putting the pictures up on walls, tanks and barns.  The pictures all have a lovely simplicity and make everyone happy, and in times like these it is nice to watch something that gives such a simple joy.  4/5

 

Music Monday - Don't Wanna - Haim

I like Haim, and enjoy that their videos are often kept simple without millions of dollars spent on crazy stuff.