Every once in a while a movie comes along that completely transcends entertainment. Based on a novel I've not read, The Help adds one more layer to the Civil Rights movement. The hardworking layer of the African American maids who lovingly raised the children of their employers and then suffered many of those same children growing into bigoted adults. Stories are shared, lives explored, attitudes revealed and the fictional account is likely just a tiny shadow of reality.
A white young writer (Emma Stone) who is part of the upper social class struggles with her "friends's" treatment of their maids. And she feels deceived over the disappearance of her own family maid/nanny, a woman she loves maybe even more than her own mother. She approaches one maid about telling her story so she can write a book. For the maid to reveal what goes on behind closed doors could cost her what little she has.
This film is so well written, filmed and acted that it needs multiple award nominations. Powerful, inspirational, sad and important. I highly recommend it, even for children. Language, some mild violence and the themes might be issues for younger children, though.
My Review:
I love Colin Firth and had this film on my radar. The royal life is always fascinating and of course the time frame, pre-WWII was of interest, so I finally took the plunge and rented a copy. I knew it was about a stuttering monarch and had read just enough to know that he used some inventive tools to overcome his situation when required to speak publicly.
I didn't expect the movie to be so charmingly quirky though. And quirk is a hot button for me so I ended up loving this flick. Firth as Bertie is spot on. His frustrations, his heart, his sensitivity show throughout the span of the movie. The film begins with Firth's Prince Albert Bertie filling in for his father, the king. And the distress at stuttering his way through the simple announcement is all over his face, and throughout the listening audience as the camera pans over them. Humiliated and frustrated he seeks help and finds more frustration and humiliation. Until his wife finds Logue, Geoffrey Rush, a "doctor" with a flair for the dramatic. The two men begin to form a friendship and it's a beautiful thing to behold. Bertie's story was heart-breaking but his heart for the people and his family and his drive to overcome this challenge were inspiring.
Geoffrey Rush is a delight to watch, and is perfectly cast as well. The cinematography and editing are well done. Overall, the only thing that could be offputting for family viewing is two bursts of language. Bertie doesn't stutter when cussing. This becomes an exercise. Preview it if it concerns you, the two (I think) sections could be muted for family viewing.
So X-ta asked if I farmed naked-footed. I started to answer the question in the comments and decided I had enough material for a blog post. Hmmm.
Well, what would you do?
And since one of the other comments was in the dulcet tones of Napoleon I say. "Whatever I want to. GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The saga of the filthy, disgustingly gross, freaky foot commences.
The filthy foot is a result of the following: 1) not loving soggy feet so the refusal to wear tennis shoes.
2) Extreme cheapness. I don't want to buy boots just to get them all dirty and nasty. The rain boots I did wear were sweaty foot makers. And I had these perfectly good (thanks, Mom.) five-year-old faux croc garden clogs just sitting around, under the deck, with the terra cotta pots and digging implements, waiting for garden season.
So after washing all the spider webs off, I called them good.
However, they kind of stink...not literally. I lost one strap and threw away the other so the pair matches. So, now they sometimes slip forward when I step back and vice versa.
Dirt also gets in them, big time.
When I do ANYTHING with water, including water such as dewdrops on the plants, I make MUD in my shoes.
Yes. Really. And the past few weeks when I was washing turnips and radishes in the lovely warm sunshine, I was seriously slipping and sliding inside my shoes. It's really surprising that I haven't wiped out yet. Hmmm. Should I rethink my footwear? I am naturally a klutz anyhoo. Can slippery footwear truly be a wise choice?
My little piggies love playing in their very own mud hole though, that's for sure.
I wore long sleeves to the farm because it was just kind of chilly. A far, far cry from the whining I was doing when I babbled incoherently about heat exhaustion and dehydration.
Iowa's motto. "Hey, if you don't like the weather, hang around twenty minutes, it'll change."
Picking produce at the high tunnel was the highlight of the day. Kind of. Actually it may haunt my dreams.
I was given the nod to harvest any zucchini that might be ready to go. I bent, looking for large green torpedoish veggies and found instead an insect party on one of the leaves. The leaf right in my face.
Now these weren't just any insects. There were a lot. A lot of creepy paleish, ghostly gray alien-bot kind of insects. A lot of them. I eeked and said. "Bugs!"
The farmer might have been able to tell by my tone which ones they were. "Oh, Squash Nymphs. Kill em. Do the Mexican hat dance all over them."
Pretty easy to do, actually, with the adrenaline and all. First I folded up the huge zucchini leaf and crushed the living daylights out of the party. Then did do a modified Mexican hat dance. A) I had no hat. B) I was tangled up in vines about my knees and ankles. C) I needed to KILL a lot of stupid bugs.
The farmer came to help. "There's a bunch." Smash! Bash! POW! Holy Squash Eaters, Batman! She found a mating pair, pointed them out and crushed them.
I recommend squash bug crushing as a stress reliever.
And do you find it odd that I was creeped out by ghostly squash bugs but went gaga over the adorable and HUGE Loess Hills toad that hopped across my path? Hey, I like toads. I prefer my creepy crawlies to have warts and slightly toxic skin.
Pictures of our fabulous haul. (A mere percentage we took home PACKED boxes.) And my infamous and filthy Mexican squash bug dance foot.
Here comes the weather just begging for a book to curl up with. Here's another one for you to gander at...
Undercurrent By Michelle Griep Published by Risen Books ISBN-13: 978-1936835027
Description:
Professor Cassie Larson leads a life her undergrad students hope to attain, until she tumbles into the North Sea and is sucked down into a swirling vortex...and a different century.
Alarik, son of a Viking chieftain, is blamed for a murder he didn't commit-or did he? He can't remember. On the run, saving a half-drowned foreign woman wasn't in his plan.
Ragnar is a converted pagan shunned by many but determined to prove his Cousin Alarik's innocence. He didn't count on falling in love with Cassie or the deadly presence of evil that threatens his village in Alarik's absence.
Reviews: "Michelle Griep has done it again. Undercurrent is a gripping historical romance that fulfills every expectation. Easy to follow and laced with adventure, Griep captivates readers by taking them to 10th century Norway and immersing them in the dangers of the Viking world." --Jill Williamson, Christy Award-winning author of By Darkness Hid
"Thoroughly enjoyable! A thrill ride back in time to the days of the Vikings. Ms. Griep's historical research is evident as she weaves a plot that will both grip your heart and keep you on the edge of your seat. Unexpected twists, a passionate romance, battle between good and evil, and a brutal realism that is refreshing all combine to make Undercurrent a book whose story will stay with you well past the last page. Michelle Griep is an exciting new voice among Christian Romance and a welcome change to the standard fare." --MaryLu Tyndall - Christy nominee and best-selling author of the Legacy of the King's Pirates series
Undercurrent rates up with the top 10 books I've ever read. I fell in love with the characters, quirky Cassie, heroic Ragnar, loyal Magnus, and host of others. It's the most creative time travel story, romantic and completely mesmerizing. Griep is such a descriptive writer, you easily suspend disbelief, diving head first into the story and traveling through time with Cassie. I didn't want it to end and can't wait for the sequel. Novel Rocket and I give it our highest recommendation: a MUST read.
Looking for an escapist read? This one might be the complete ticket.
A unique, well-written time-travel that is full of heart-pounding action/adventure and romance. Add to that humor , both dark, and laugh out loud. Characters that you either want to pat on the head and put in your pocket, if only they’d fit, and ones you’d like to strangle populate this read. Finally, descriptive elements that will make your eyes water for various assorted reasons and a whip-snap plot-line that zings with intensity. Those who love a great story need to consider adding Undercurrent to their must read list. However, if you don’t like your fiction populated with an occasional bag of guts or peppered with a little bit of Jesus, you’ll maybe want to pass.
Dry as Rain Gina Holmes Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (August 17, 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 1414333064
Description:
From the bestselling author of Crossing Oceans comes a powerfully moving story that tests the limits of love’s forgiveness. Like many marriages, Eric and Kyra Yoshida’s has fallen apart slowly, one lost dream and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal finally pushes them beyond reconciliation. Just when it looks like forgive and forget is no longer an option, a car accident gives Eric the second chance of a lifetime. A concussion causes his wife to forget details of her life, including the chasm between them. No one knows when—or if—Kyra’s memory will return, but Eric seizes the opportunity to win back the woman he’s never stopped loving.
My Review:
Dry as Rain is a completely different book than Gina Holmes’s freshman release, Crossing Oceans, but it is as well-written as thought provoking as Oceans. Told in first person male voice, this story explores the theme of death, like Oceans, but the death is a slow, lingering death of a marriage. By the time the reader is introduced to the characters the marriage has crumbled into full separation, it is at the point where those who vowed to love til death do them part now revile the very faces that made those promises. Bitterness, blame, misunderstandings and selfishness have replaced all that was good and promising in the marriage.
These hindsight-wisdom tinged details all come out through the inner thought life and conversations of the husband, Eric. The wife, Kyra is in no position to share her thoughts with the reader because an accident has left her without memories of the rancor. Because she believes that their marriage is what it once was, the doctor suggests that the couple reconcile temporarily until her memory begins to return. Eric is given a chance at a do-over. But can he possibly win back his wife’s heart before she sees the disaster of what their marriage has become?
Holmes successfully weaves in some story elements that would be soap-operish if not written with skill and capable hands. I was also impressed with the honest grit that Holmes realistically portrayed. The characters are an authentic mix of likeable and frustratingly selfish at times. Kyra is not as fleshed out as Eric because the story is written in his POV. There are themes in this novel that will make some want to avoid it as it hits heavy in areas that some Christian fiction sidesteps around. There are also Christian themes of redemption and forgiveness that might push some folks away as well. Quite a bit of time is covered in the novel, so there are months covered with just a few pages, but as much as that takes away from the intimacy, it does help with reader emotions. If you are seeking stories that stick with you and leave you with hope. This is one of those. Tired of the sugar-coated, sit-com-simple style of inspirational fiction that falls flat and leaves you hungry for honestly drawn, broken, but forgiven people struggling through life’s struggles by clinging to grace, then this is one to look into.
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