Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog, and providing a link so readers can learn more about it.
Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.
Your hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!
Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!
Lisa from Boondock Ramblingsshares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.
Sue from Women Living Well After 50 started blogging in 2015 and writes about living an active and healthy lifestyle, fashion, book reviews and her podcast and enjoying life as a woman over 50. She invites you to join her living life in full bloom.
We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!
WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!
A little about Debbie and her blog: I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970’s, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care … I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed….I still do love Retirement!!!! I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!
Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!
Everyone else, Please remember that this is a link-up where you can share posts from the previous week or posts from weeks, months, or even years ago. All we ask is that they be family-friendly!
And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:
You may add unlimited family-friendly blog post links, linked to specific blog posts.
Be sure to visit other links and leave a kind comment for each link you post (it would be too hard to visit every link, of course!)
The party opens Thursday evening and ends Wednesday.
Thank you for participating. Have fun!
*By linking to The Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot Link Up, you give permission to share your post and images on the hosts’ blogs. Proper credit with a photo and link back will be provided.
I had vaguely heard of this one before, but really didn’t know what it was about until Erin suggested it. I don’t know how I didn’t know more about it since it was nominated for eleven Oscars, including best director and best picture, in 2012. It won five for things like cinematography and design. (Thanks to Cat from Cat’s Wire for letting me know I looked at the nomination list instead of the win list when I originally posted this. ooops! hahaha!)
This was a magical children’s movie with beautiful imagery and cinematography. It was much different than I expected based on the movie poster and trailer. I watched it before I read any descriptions. I often don’t read detailed descriptions of movies or books before I jump into them. It can make it either a pleasant or a disturbing surprise. Ha! This was a pleasant one.
First, a quick Google description of the movie: Orphaned and alone except for an uncle, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) lives in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo’s job is to oil and maintain the station’s clocks, but to him, his more important task is to protect a broken automaton and notebook left to him by his late father (Jude Law). Accompanied by the goddaughter (Chloë Grace Moretz) of an embittered toy merchant (Ben Kingsley), Hugo embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the automaton and find a place he can call home.
This is one of those ensemble casts with several well-known actors including Ben Kingsley, Sascha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee, Jude Law, Helen McCroy, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Emily Mortimer, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Richard Griffiths.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, the movie was released in 2011 and was based on the 2007 book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. The book sounds like a visual marvel. It has 284 illustrations mixed in 500 pages of a story.
Selznick once described the book “not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things.”
Though I’ve never seen the book, I did see some photos online (such as those pictured above) and Scorsese seems to have captured the magic of the illustrations almost exactly as they are in the book.
The cinematography, the costumes, and the sets in Hugo are gorgeous and magical. There are a variety of unique camera angles and filming techniques that give much of the film a soft and dreamlike feel. It is what some might call a visual smorgasbord.
Close-ups on Hugo’s (Asa Butterfield) big blue eyes are frequent, and draw the viewer into his world, making them wonder what he is thinking behind those eyes.
When the movie starts, Hugo is spying on the activity in the train station through the numbers in the clocks high up in the walls and a tower in the middle of the station.
We see that he seems to live in the walls behind these clocks, getting food from vendors he steals from throughout the day to survive.
Eventually, we learn that he’s been living in these makeshift spaces since his father died and his alcoholic uncle took him in. It appears, though, that the uncle is no longer around, and it isn’t until later in the movie, we learn why. Hugo is continuing to keep the clocks running so a new clock repairer isn’t hired and he is discovered.
Towards the beginning of the film, we meet the toy maker who accuses Hugo of stealing from his booth. Hugo is indeed stealing small pieces of machinery from the toy maker’s booth. When the toymaker catches him, he makes Hugo empty his pockets and one of those pockets includes a small notebook with drawings inside about how to repair the automaton that his father found at the museum he was working at before he died.
The drawings trigger something in the toy maker, and he takes the notebook and refuses to give it back to Hugo. This leads to Hugo chasing the toy maker home to try to convince him to give the notebook back. The toy maker refuses but Hugo sees who he thinks is the toymaker’s granddaughter and begs her to ask her grandfather for the book back. He learns that the girl is not the man’s granddaughter, but his goddaughter who was taken in after her parents died.
We are never really told what actually happened to her parents. The girl’s name is Isabelle and she and Hugo become friends. She goes to work with her godfather and encourages Hugo to stand up to him to get his notebook back. Hugo does and the godfather tells him that if he will work for him in his shop then he will give him his notebook back.
Isabelle and Hugo become friends, and eventually Hugo will tell her about the automaton and how he needs a special key to turn it on.
Isabelle takes him to the library, where the librarian gives her books. Hugo looks bewildered as she talks about books, which prompts Isabella to ask Hugo, “Don’t you like books?”
He assures her he definitely does.
Books, movies, and art in general are very important to Hugo because they were things he and his father did together before his father passed away. His father was a clockmaker and repairer and also worked at a museum and was well educated. We learn toward the beginning of the film through flashbacks that Hugo has not only lost his father, but years before he had also lost his mother.
When Hugo isn’t working at the toy shop, he is avoiding the station master (Baren Cohen) who enjoys capturing orphans he catches in the station and then sending them back to the orphanage. At first glance the station master seems like a very angry bitter person but we will later learn there is a lot more to him than we realize.
This movie could be a real downer if it weren’t for the quirky characters and the constant striving of the movie (and the viewer) to get to an ending we hope will be full of some happiness for Hugo. Had this been any other Scorsese film, we might not have gotten that (like Hugo might have ended up at the bottom of the river. Ya’ know what I’m sayin’?), but without offering too many spoilers I can assure you there is a happy ending.
I loved the scenes where Isabelle and Hugo were walking around the old library, by the way. Oh, to walk in a library with books piled up high like that.
There are several little storylines going on throughout this movie. The big one we have is with Hugo, of course, as he tries to figure out how to get the automaton to work again and then find out what message it might be sending when it does work.
(He hopes it is a message from his father or from anyone to help him not feel so alone.)
Then we have the friendship between him and Isabelle and the antagonistic relationship Hugo has with her godfather. Then there is the godfather’s story and the story of the godmother. Then there are the characters who work inside the station and their relationships.
The story from the book and the movie does feature real life characters including the real life filmmaker named Georges Méliès. To avoid spoilers, I won’t share which character portrays Georges.
Have you ever seen this one? What did you think of it?
You can learn more about Georges Melies on Cat’s blog here.
I can’t believe we are winding down with our Springtime in Paris feature!
Next week we are writing about The Intouchables, a French film with subtitles. It is rated-R for language and sexual discussions (but no on screen sex or violence…I previewed it *wink* Right now it is streaming for free if you have an Amazon Prime membership. You can also find it on DisneyPlus, Fandango, Plex, YouTubeTV, Google Play, AppleTV, and Hulu
The week after, on May 4, we are having a group watch of Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant via Zoom, and then we will share our thoughts on the movie on our blogs May 8.
If you watch any of the movies on our list for this feature at any point before May 10th, you can find the link on this post below or at the link up in the menu at the top of the page. You don’t have to watch the movies the same weeks we do to write about them.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
First things first – He has risen! He has risen indeed! Happy Easter!
Remember when I was all like, “I need some warmer weather. It’s too cold!”
Well, I thought we’d go into the warmer weather gradually, not one day it’s 35 and I’m wearing a winter coat to a day later it’s almost 80 and humid.
That’s Pennsylvania for you.
I didn’t enjoy the humid weather yesterday, but I did enjoy nicer weather the day before when it allowed me to sit on the front porch and read some while Little Miss drew on the sidewalk with chalk.
I am going to miss my evenings watching Murder She Wrote with a blanket over my lap.
Oh wow. Did I just write that?
I am officially old, aren’t I? Talking about watching Murder She Wrote with my blanket and a cup of tea. *wink*
Oh well. It’s where I am in life and I am okay with that. I’ll just have to watch Murder She Wrote with a glass of lemonade or cold ice water instead.
Today we will have Easter dinner with my parents and maybe watch a movie together.
This doesn’t really go with the rest of this section, but I hit 103 subscribers on my little YouTube Channel yesterday. Whoot!
Guys, gals, blog readers! I feel like I may never finish the two long books I’ve been reading! I know I will and have moved my focus to just one of the books to make it even more likely I actually finish of them this week.
I have been reading both The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien and All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot, switching off between the two depending on my mood, and they are taking forever! They seem so long. I read them on my kindle at night and I swear that I will be reading for an hour, look down at the percentage and realize I’ve barely made a dent in the book!
I finally realized they are both 400-page books, which isn’t really a lot, but can drag a book out when you’re only reading a chapter here and there. Even though they are long books, I am really enjoying them. I am especially enjoying The Two Towers even if it is a bit wordy.
I love the characters and all their different quirks, even if I have gotten a bit lost since we met up with King Theoden and his peeps. Now I am getting too many characters thrown at me, but that’s how fantasy books are so I am just taking it all in stride.
I hope to dig into a book of short stories by Louis L’Amour this week that my husband picked up at the library for me but I have also started a Hardy Boys book and am enjoying that. That, of course, won’t take me long to read since it is only about 200 pages long.
Little Miss and I finished The Littlest Voyageur by Margi Preus this week and really enjoyed it. It was about a squirrel who travels with river voyagers in Canada and learns the hard way that a fur trade is going on. It dealt with the subject of the fur trade in a very cute way and didn’t become as preachy as I thought it was going to. There was a lot of history woven into the book, which on the surface seemed to simply focus on a squirrel and his dream to become a river explorer.
The Boy is reading Warhammer books. I don’t remember which one he is on now.
Last week it was old mystery shows. The Rockford Files with a guest appearance by Tom Selleck early in the week. That episode was hilarious. Then it was Murder She Wrote, including a two parter where Jessica was in Ireland. Those two were very good. I’ve watched some real duds but this was in season 12 so they must have had better writers by then.
Yesterday I watched a 1934 movie called She Had to Choose. It was interesting and had me shouting at the screen a couple of times because I was so stressed at some of the decisions being made. As is with most movies from that era, it was about 60 minutes long.
I also rewatched Paris Blues for the Springtime in Paris feature that Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are doing until the beginning of May.
You can learn more about it here and if you want to jump in you can link up your impressions of the movies at any time at the link on the page. /
I’m working on the fourth book in the Gladwynn Grant Mystery series. I actually wrote an entire paragraph this week. Ha! I hope to write even more this upcoming week.
While I wash dishes I listen to a book and right now that book is The Two Towers.
Also, this:
and this:
Photos From Last Week
Now It’s Your Turn
What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
Last night I was sitting out on the porch, reading The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, enjoying the warmer weather. I looked out at our front yard and yes, our old maple tree ismissing, but it doesn’t feel as weird as it did the first few days after it was gone.
One night this week the wind was whipping outside, and I got that familiar clench in my gut that I always get when the wind blows and I worried about that big tree out there and what might happen if part of it fell. Then I remembered that there was no tree, and I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. Relief flowed over me.
We had two nicer days this week, but yesterday was even warmer and nicer. On Thursday, I couldn’t take sitting outside to read because the wind was just too cold. Yesterday, though, it was love and warm, despite the wind.
Little Miss drew with sidewalk chalk while I read. This was after we’d traveled the thirty minutes up and thirty minutes back to retrieve a grocery pick up from Aldi and spent a couple hours at my parents while The Boy helped his grandfather rearrange tools in the garage.
Little Miss wanted to take a ride on my dad’s golf cart, so we did that while we waited.
Today Little Miss, The Husband, and The Boy went to an Easter egg hunt.
We will spend the rest of the day hanging out and maybe watching a family movie. We’ll also be getting ready for Easter tomorrow.
We don’t usually attend an in-person church but will be trying to do so tomorrow so we can find more friends for Little Miss. After that there will be a small Easter egg hunt in our backyard and then lunch at my parents.
.
It feels weird to be home alone. The house was so quiet. It’s usually me and at least one of the kids. Shortly after they left, I looked for a movie to watch and settled on one from 1934 that I’d never heard of. It’s called She Had To Choose.
I had to choose it because the man on the preview was quite handsome
I might also have time for a Murder She Wrote. I watched a couple episodes from Season 12 and they were well done. Better than some from the earlier seasons. The Husband says the writers probably got better, one, and two, it was the final season so they went all out for it. I would say they did. So far there are at least three episodes filmed overseas, or at least the story takes place overseas.
Earlier this week The Husband took Little Miss to a meeting of the chamber of commerce in the town he works on to show her how small organizations work. It was a good educational experience, but Little Miss said she was bored and “zoned out” toward the beginning. She will still be asked to write a paragraph to share in her homeschool portfolio.
Before the meeting they visited the library in that town and The Husband picked me up a book of short stories by Louis L’Amour and his biography. I am looking forward to reading both. That’s if I ever finish The Two Towers and my James Herriot book. Both seem very long and dense. I am going to finish The Two Towers this week and am savoring the Herriot book, reading a chapter here and there before bed.
After the library visit and meeting, The Husband took Little Miss to an ice cream stand which also has a playground.
They had a good time.
I was at home enjoying the weather, even though it was chillier that day.
We have finally fixed The Husband’s old truck and that means Little Miss and I will have a car during the week. Where we will go with said car, I am not sure, but I do know I will be headed to my parents once or twice a week to help clean and maybe cook them some meals. They are definitely slowing down these days and could use the help.
I can hardly believe there is only about a month and a half left of the school year.
Little Miss and I will be focused on art the final month of the year, like we did last year. We will be reading about artists, watching documentaries on them and doing art most days with some math lessons and literature thrown in. Little Miss isn’t excited that I’ll be having her do a couple math lessons a week during the summer to help her not forget what she’s learned for next school year.
The Boy graduates at the end of May and will be looking for a job shortly afterward. Yes that fact has my mind racing but I am trying to reel my emotions in a little bit when everyone is around and having a good cry when they aren’t.
On Wednesday I visited my parents and dug into some old history, finding some extra letters from my great-great grandfather that I had wanted to find before so that I can write a final post to my series about my ancestors who fought in the Civil War. In the final post I want to follow up with how the brothers continued their lives after finding out Charles had died in Libby Prison.
If you haven’t read those posts, you can find them here:
How was your week last week? Did you do anything exciting? Is the weather warming up where you are? Let me know in the comments so we can catch up.
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Do you write a similar weekly wrap up or chat post? Feel free to link it below. It doesn’t have to be the exact same as mine or have the same title, but you are welcome to borrow the title and format (not that there is much of a format other than chatting). I’d love to visit your blogs and meet new bloggers!
Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog, and providing a link so readers can learn more about it.
Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.
I can not believe it is still as cold as it has been in our area when it is supposed to be spring! As I am writing this, though, the temperatures are increasing and the sun has come out which is very nice.
I hope you are having some lovely weather where you are!
Let’s introduce you to your hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!
Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!
Lisa from Boondock Ramblingsshares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.
Sue from Women Living Well After 50 started blogging in 2015 and writes about living an active and healthy lifestyle, fashion, book reviews and her podcast and enjoying life as a woman over 50. She invites you to join her living life in full bloom.
We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!
WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!
A little about the blog: Welcome to my little corner of the world! I am a stay at home mom of 4 boys who loves to travel and dress cute while doing so. I grew up in France and Mexico City and my favorite places to travel abroad are France, Spain and the Republic of Georgia. To be able to travel with a family of 6, I have learned to budget so that we can save and visit our friends in different parts of the world and the US. Join me as I share our adventures and tips to make these adventures possible as well as my tips for dressing on a budget.
Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!
Everyone else, Please remember that this is a link-up where you can share posts from the previous week or posts from weeks, months, or even years ago. All we ask is that they be family-friendly!
And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:
You may add family-friendly blog post links, linked to specific blog posts.
Be sure to visit other links and leave a kind comment for each link you post (it would be too hard to visit every link, of course!)
The party opens Thursday evening and ends Wednesday.
Thank you for participating. Have fun!
*By linking to The Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot Link Up, you give permission to share your post and images on the hosts’ blogs for their highlighted posts. Proper credit with a photo and link back will be provided.
Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are watching movies that take place in Paris this spring.
Up this week was Paris Blue, which isn’t as happy or cheerful as the other two we watched but it’s the real Paris in the 1960s at the height of the Jazz movement. It shows the difference between the U.S. and France when it came to how black people were treated, the way Jazz was exploding around the world at the time, but especially Paris, and just what Paris of the 60s was like.
It also shows the struggles musicians often have with trying to break into the business and become more than a musician simply entertaining a small group in a Jazz club.
The movie was shot in Paris and was based on a book Harold Flenders 1957 novel.
The movie stars Paul Newman as Ram Bowen, a famous jazz trombonist who is trying to become even more famous while living and working in Paris. He plays the music but now he wants to also write it and become even more famous.
He and his friend Eddie Cook, portrayed by Sidney Poitier, play in a band together, attracting music lovers who aren’t at the club to drink but to really take in the music.
It’s clear right from the beginning that Ram can be your stereotypical temperamental musician. He finishes playing a piece for Eddie and wants his opinion, but when Eddie seems less enthusiastic than he hoped, Ram pops off some frustration at his friend.
“If you don’t like it, just tell me,” he says.
Eddie assures he likes the music just fine and tells Ram to calm down.
The next day Ram is in the city at the trainstation, along with a bunch of screaming young women who are excited for a musician named Wild Man Moore, who is arriving to play a concert. We are shown Ram is fairly well-known when a young woman stops him and asks for his autograph.
Ram hops the now stopped train with a folder of music in his hand and we aren’t sure what he’s going to do but before he gets to his destination, he runs into Connie (Diahann Carroll) trying to communicate with a French-speaking porter who is trying to take her bags for her.
Ram zeroes right in on Connie, a cocky smirk crossing his mouth, signaling that he is ready to flirt. She tells him she’s waiting for her friend who she is on vacation with, looks him up and down and adds, “She’s white.”
Ram quips, “She might be hard to pick out. There are a lot of white girls in Paris and they all look alike.”
A few minutes later we will learn that Connie’s friend is a pretty blond with short hair named Lillian (Joanne Woodward…Paul’s wife in real life, which is one reason they click so well in the movie).
When Lillian does show up, Ram is quite dismissive of her and that continues later that night after the friends show up at the club to hear him play. He had invited Connie to come but she didn’t want to. Lillian, however, wanted to because she’s heard Ram’s records and wants to hear him live. It is clear she has a pretty big crush on him by the way she looks at him.
Connie does agree to go and when she does and gets out of the taxis and sees Eddie…well…hello — she’s happy to be there, shall we say.
Eddie and Connie are used to the idea of segregation from the United States. White man with the white woman and black man with the black girl. Ram doesn’t care about those rules in Paris and his eye is on Connie through the first part of the movie.
He makes that very clear when the club closes and Eddie says they all should go out for breakfast. He’s flat out rude to Lillian and Connie both when Connie resists. Eddie, Connie, and Lillian call him out on it.
He ends up offering a very fake and snotty apology and then softens and offers a sincere one, saying he needs to decline the breakfast invitation because he’s in a bad mood.
Lillian watches him leave, still enamored with him despite his rudeness and maybe because of it and his bad boy image.
The race issue will come up later in the movie as well, by the way, and while it is a big part of the movie, it is not the only focus.
The other focus is Ram and his all-consuming desire to become successful, no matter who he hurts.
The race issue is an overarching issue because at this time Paris was a refuge for black musicians — a place they could perform and express themselves without being judged as “less than” because of their race.
This movie isn’t a happy movie in many ways. It deals with drug addiction, depression, failed expectations, etc., but the music and acting were great.
While I don’t want to give away too much of the film, I do think it is worth mentioning that the original screenplay and the book coupled the white man with the black woman and the black man with the white woman.
It was later decided that America wasn’t yet ready for such a “revolutionary” idea so, at the last minute, the decision was made to made the two black people a couple and the two white people a couple. What I won’t say is what happens to the two couples by the end of the movie.
Ram and Lillian will eventually start an affair while Eddie starts one with Connie. According to an article on TCM.com the affair between Diahann and Sidney was almost real after they’d fallen in love during the filming of Porgy and Bess (1959). Both stayed with their spouses but the tension was real on the set of Paris Blues.
Sidney’s family was even with him on location during the filming.
I got the feeling while watching this movie that these actors were just having a blast together, not only the couples. They were laughing and messing around, which I am sure was part of the script, but it also seemed extremely genuine. There were also tense moments, of course. I wasn’t a fan of how the women seemed to want to change the men in only two weeks and how Connie was trying to tell Eddie that he had to come back to the US and fight for all black people when he was simply happy with how kind and normal he was treated in Paris.
The whole movie might just be worth the trauma of some of the topics in the movie, if just to see the ten-minute jam with Louis Armstrong and his band and Ram (Paul) and his band. That and to watch four physically beautiful people interact and enjoy each other’s company.
I’ve watched this movie before, so I previously researched to see if he actually learned to play the trombone for the movie and he did. He was coached by composer Billy Byers. He did not play the music on the soundtrack, however. That went to Murray McEachern. The soundtrack and score was composed by Duke Ellington, who was nominated for an Oscar. The soundtrack was also performed by Ellington with Louis Armstrong showing up for two of the songs on the soundtrack.
There are some great lines and exchanges in this movie.
Eddie to Lillian: “That’s because you are one of the day people and we are of the night.”
Lillian laughs. “Do you think they can mix?
Eddie grins. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t want one of them marrying my sister.”
Have you seen this one?
If you want to read Erin’s impression of the movie, visit her blog here.
Up next on our schedule is Hugo.
If you have watched any of the movies on our list and shared your thoughts on your blog you can link up below.
I’ve been enjoying coloring in the black and white illustrations in “old” Nancy Drew books.
These are not original Nancy Drew books from the 1930s and 1940s, but instead are reprints of those books.
For those who don’t know who Nancy Drew is (like those from other countries), she is an amateur sleuth created in the 1930s by Edward Stratemeyer for Stratemeyer Syndicates. He also created several other books for children, including The Hardy Boys.
Nancy was a teenager who solved mysteries along with her friends, Bess and George, and “boyfriend” Ned Nickerson. The original books didn’t push the idea of Ned being Nancy’s boyfriend too hard but it was mentioned.
Nancy’s father, Carson Drew, was a lawyer and her mother had passed away when she was young. I’m not sure if we are ever told how her mother died, but she and her father have a housekeeper named Hannah Gruen who acts as a mother figure.
Incidentally, the first Nancy Drew book was released on April 28, 1930 so Nancy will be 95 years old in a couple of more weeks!
A podcaster (www.truedrewpodcast.com) who talks about Nancy Drew and collects her books and who I follow shared on her Instagram a few months ago that she had decided to color in some Nancy Drew illustrations. Around the same time I saw this, I had recently picked up a few of the reprints of the old books and decided it would be fun to do the same, so I started it and haven’t stopped.
I have two original Nancy Drew books that I will not be coloring in simply because they are collectors.
I don’t plan to ever sell them (I don’t think they are worth anything anyhow) but I still like the idea of having them in their original condition.
I use colored pencils to color in the illustrations and I don’t always take my time, but it’s a relaxing activity that I do when my mind is racing too much.
The world and life can be heavy at times so coloring or drawing can be a nice distraction.
The illustrations in the original Nancy Drew books were drawn by Russell H. Tandy.
Tandy was a friend of Stratemeyer, according to information online.
Much like the many authors of the books, who all wrote under the name Carolyn Keene, the illustrators also changed throughout the years.
Some of those illustrators include Bill Gillies, Rudy Nappi, Ruth Sanderson, and Paul Frame.
Over the years the illustrations were updated so I am not sure if the ones I am coloring are Russell H. Tandy or not. The reprinted books I have, which were reprinted in 1993, do not list the names of the illustrators.
Here are some of the illustrations I have colored in so far:
Today’s prompt is: Ten Unpopular Bookish opinions, but I decided to change the topic up and share a list of top ten literary friendships (for me anyhow) instead because I could only think of one or two unpopular bookish opinions I have.
Lt. Tragg and Perry Mason from the Perry Mason Mystery books by Earle Stanley Gardner.
Are these two really friends? No. They are usually on the opposite side of things or competing for information but there is still a kind of friendship between the two. They play off each other, exchange witty banter, and would probably miss each sparring with each other if one of them was gone. Tragg in the books is much younger than the one depicted on the show from the 1960s, by the way.
2. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from the Sherlock Holmes books and stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Of course these two are close friends -solving crimes together with John Watson having to deal with an erratic, drug-addicted, brilliant Sherlock Holmes. John saves Sherlock from danger and himself more than once.
3. Sam and Frodo from The Fellowship of the Ring trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
In the movies, it’s Sam that does most of the work for Frodo it seems. I’m only on the second book of the trilogy so I will have to see if the books are the same. Frodo, a hobbit from Hobbiton must carry a magic ring to Mount Doom to throw it in and destroy it to stop evil from taking over Middle Earth. Sam, loyal beyond anything imaginable, sticks close to Frodo’s side, battling Orcs, huge spiders, and many other perils to make sure his friend makes it safely to his destination. I would love to have a friend who is even half as dedicated to me as Sam is to Frodo.
4. Anne Shirley and Diana Barry from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
These two young ladies become fast friends when Anne Shirley is taking in my Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. Diana lives not far from the Cuthbert farm and she and Anne quickly become “bossom buddies” or “kindred spirits” after meeting. I love their friendship, which survives many ups and downs and challenges.
5. Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, and George Fayne from The Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene
Teen amateur sleuth Nancy Drew often solves her mysteries with the help of her friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne. Bess and George are cousins. Bess is a bit plump and afraid of everything and George is brash and, honestly, sometimes rude to her cousin Bess.
The interaction between these three are fun and keep the books interesting as readers watch to see what trouble the girls will get into next and whether or not Bess will faint during the investigation.
6. Hercule Poirot and Captain Arthur Hastings from the Hercule Poirot Mystery series by Agatha Christie
Some might call Captain Hastings, lackey and friend of infamous private detective Hercule Poirot an idiot since he always seems to stumble into trouble or ask really ridiculous questions but he is a support system for the brash and sometimes blunt Poirot. Hastings’ presence helps to soften the interactions Poirot has with interviewees and others as he conducts his various investigations.
7. Piglet and Winnie the Pooh from the Winnie the Pooh series by A.A. Milne
Oh, who can forget these darling friends. Of course we could add in Eyore and Rooh and Tiger too but Piglet and Winnie are the closest of the group and the most darling. When I think of them I think of a cartoon I once saw of them walking away from our view, hand in hand. Piglet says to Winnie, “Winnie?” Winnie responds, “yes, Piglet?” and Piglet simply responds, “Just checking you are still there.” Or something along those lines. It always makes me weepy.
8. Scout, Jem, and Dill from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is my favorite book and has been since I was in sixth grade. The friendship between young Scout Finch, her brother Jim Finch, and their friend Dill during the tumultuous summer when their father represents a black man accused of rape in Alabama in the 1930s, is bittersweet, heartwarming, and impactful. This book and their friendship hit me even harder when I reread it as an adult two years ago with my son for his English course.
9. Huckleberry Finn and Jim from Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Huckleberry is a young boy whose abusive father disappears and reappears over and over again, pulling Huckleberry from the warm and (sort of) comforting home with Widow Douglass and Miss Watson. When Huckleberry decides to run away from the widow and Miss Watson and his father to have an adventure on the Mississippi River, he meets runaway slave Jim. The two continue on their journey together and form a storm, unlikely, friendship that forces Huckleberry to examine his ideas about slavery and black people.
10. Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer from The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
Digory and Polly meet one afternoon, begin to play by hopping across the rafters in the attics of the connecting row houses and it all takes off from there. Polly is pulled through a portal when she touches a ring that belongs to Digory’s evil uncle and Digory has to follow her. Evil queens, talking animals, and much more will await these children who become fast friends thanks the adventure they are thrown into.
Are you familiar with any of these literary friendships and if so, do you have a favorite?
