Family Flick: Ponyo

Gotta love that Netflix instant feature!  We recently spent quality family time watching Ponyo, a Japanese fantasy film by the renowned Hayao Miyazaki (you may have heard of Spirited Away).  Ponyo is a goldfish princess who befriends a boy and decides she wants to become human.

The movie is rated G, but our 18 year old college boy (and his friend) sat through the whole show with us--such a rarity, and not just because he's usually away at school!  Miyazaki's animation is charming and intelligent.  Although I consider the ending a bit weak, the overall story is engaging, especially for a G-rated movie.  Also, the voice talents did a great job; this English language version was not filled with woodenly dubbed dialogue.

Here's the official trailer:

Pleasures of the Season

One of my absolute favorites: turning on the tree lights early in the morning, while the house is still quiet and dark. Len had to hunt all over this year (MANY stores were sold out even two weeks ago!) to find enough working strands, but his efforts were well worth it. We decorated our Christmas tree this weekend, and it's beautiful, but I'd be satisfied with just lights and the treetop angel.

Coziness: sipping hot hot chocolate [as opposed to warm hot chocolate :-)] while watching a dvd with Len in a quiet house. David got us interested in Burn Notice, a tv show about a burned spy stuck in Miami. There are the gratuitous shots of bikini-clad women (who probably don't drink hot chocolate), but so far the episodes are fun (tricks and cons) and short (no commercials!)--light entertainment. We're only a few hours in to the first of three seasons, so consider this a preliminary recommendation; some acceptable shows seem to push the envelope more as time goes by.

Also popular: listening to Christmas music. Right now my favorite cd is John Michael Talbot's The Birth of Jesus, because it includes some gorgeous Advent hymns: "Of the Father's Love Begotten", "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence", and "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming", as well as "What Child is This" and "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". I'm happy to putter around the main level (or more likely, in the kitchen), listening and singing along.

I'm noticing that everything on my "happy list" is quiet and solitary (or nearly so). I read once that there are two kinds of people: those who recharge by socializing and those who instead need solitude. While I do enjoy the company of others (and have only lived alone for a few days in my WHOLE LIFE, which I did NOT enjoy), I am absolutely a quiet time re-energizer.

Whichever you are, I hope you are treasuring these last few days of Advent.

My Dog Skip

For us, the best way to get a variety of ages to view a family show is to declare a "movie dinner." Screen time plus food equals success, so last night we ate grilled chicken and watched My Dog Skip (PG, 2000).

The premise (Netflix summary): "Lonely, 9-year-old Willie Morris lives in the flea-bitten town of Yazoo, Miss. He stinks at sports and has no playmates. So, over the strenuous objections of his hardnosed father, Willie's mother buys him a dog that he promptly dubs "Skip." Before you know it, Skip transforms Willie's life: He makes friends, plays sports and develops an unbreakable bond with the spunky terrier. Based on a true story."

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The movie looks back on a 1940's boyhood, so culturally it's clean-cut. We (ages 4-14, plus parents) enjoyed the experience. Elements: some typical kid/coming of age moments (silly, mean, heartwarming) as well as some scariness*; sentimental without being sappy. I explained a few references to WWII and segregation.

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I recommend this as a family movie. Don't just park the kids in front of it--you'll like it, too!

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*Becca was teary during some of these parts. If all your children are young, you may want to wait, but if your young ones have older siblings, they'll probably be fine.

Recipe Review

Last week I tried a new recipe for pasta and tomato with honey mustard sauce.
One word review: Eh.

Multiple word review: I fiddled with the recipe to make enough for a full pound of pasta. It smelled great while the garlic and tomato were cooking. The basil was an attractive garnish, but there wasn't enough to provide much flavor impact. The atypical ingredients (honey, Dijon mustard, and balsamic vinegar) were interesting but overpowering. We ate it all, but to me honey-mustard is not a hot pasta flavor.

IF I try this style of sauce again, I will start with a dab of balsamic vinegar and MAYBE add a bit of honey or mustard. My next quick pasta dish will probably use Elizabeth's roasted tomato sauce, which I first tried last year.

Picking Cotton

When I first heard about it, I knew I had to read this memoir.

Here's the premise: a white woman is r***d at knife point in her apartment by a black man. She picks Ronald Cotton from a photograph and a police lineup (hence the double meaning of the title). She testifies in court and he is sent to prison.

Eleven years later he is exonerated by DNA.

He forgives her.

Doesn't that give you chills?

The book is written by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald, and shifts from one storyteller to the other. The assault, id and court time are detailed, as well as some of the emotional toll on Jennifer. Ronald explains his background and previous legal problems as well as some of his life in prison.

Jennifer feels anger and hatred and fear, and when Ron is released, guilt and shame are added to the mix. She and Ron participate in a PBS documentary, but have no contact (her request) during the filming. Here's her reaction after watching the video:

"I looked around the den, at the photos of my three children smiling back at me from the walls, and a picture of Vinny and me on our wedding day. Eleven years. How do eleven years pass when you are locked up for a crime you didn't commit? I couldn't begin to imagine. For me, they were eleven years measured in birthdays, first days of school, Christmas mornings.

Ronald Cotton and I were exactly the same age, and he had had none of those things because I'd picked him. He'd lost eleven years of time with his family, eleven years of falling in love, getting married, having kids. He looked forlorn on the television, hurt and bewildered. The guilt suffocated me."

At this point Ron had been out of prison for two years, and Jennifer requested a meeting with him. She asked his forgiveness, which he gave ungrudgingly.

The healing power of forgiveness is beautifully shown. Jennifer and Ronald now consider themselves friends. They both speak publicly and work with organizations committed to helping those who are wrongly convicted.

My rating: 4 stars--a quick read (this is not literature), at times disturbing and inspiring.

Dan in Real Life

This is the movie we watched on this week's date night.

The premise: Dan is a widower, father of three girls, and parenting advice columnist. He meets a woman who fascinates him, only to discover that she is his brother's new girlfriend. Much of the movie is devoted to the frustrations of not being able to have (or even TRY to have) someone he wants.

While largely predictable, the movie was still enjoyable. Miscommunications and misunderstandings (in real life or the movies) really bug me, so this plot is one type that draws me in. The interactions with his children (two are teens) felt true to life, and the extended family was a treat.

Dan in Real Life is rated PG-13 (2007), but is on the milder side of that range. There is no explicit sensuality, and very little inappropriate talk, either. There are a few themes that I would want to discuss with watching teens, but I doubt most would be interested anyway (the focus is on a middle-aged dad, after all).

My rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5. I hardly ever give fives, so this is a perfectly fine ranking. It's not exactly a "dating" movie, but a charming choice for a married date night.

About a Boy

From 2002, here is the Netflix teaser:

Will Lightman (Hugh Grant) is a rich, hip, irresponsible Londoner who, in search of available women, invents an imaginary son and starts attending single-parent meetings -- confident in both parties' inability to make a commitment. But when Will meets Marcus, the troubled 12-year-old son of Fiona (Toni Collette), a quirky and unexpected friendship develops as both Will and Marcus help each other grow up.

It's rated PG-13 for strong language and "some thematic elements". Will's pursuit of women is talked about, sometimes crudely, but there are no graphic visuals.

Lauren and I watched this the other night, and I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Will starts out unapologetically shallow and amusingly blunt, and nothing improves for any of the characters overnight. There is drama as well as comedy.

I wouldn't necessarily call it a chick-flick, but I'm also not sure if Len would have enjoyed it. Rather than find out, I found it easier to let him get some work done and use the movie time to hang out with my girl.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Girly Movies

I took the opportunity while Len was away this weekend to watch some chick-flicks.

First up was A Room With a View (1986), based on the novel by E. M. Forster. Quite slow and very British, it was satisfyingly romantic.

Next, I watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008). What a disappointment! It's set in England just before WWII, and stars Amy Adams (of Enchanted). Parts of the plot were fun and sweet, but the high society behavior (lying, cheating, womanizing, partying) which took up almost every minute of screen time was neither. Thumbs down!

A Man Walks Down the Street in That Hat, People Know He's Not Afraid of Anything

--Immortal words spoken to macho Jayne Cobb as he models the hideous hat his ma has made for him. Jayne's a character on a tv show (Firefly) that filmed just 14 episodes 6 years ago, but when David asked me to knit the hat, I was able to find multiple patterns online. Never underestimate the fans!

The problem with multiple patterns was actually the variety, especially when it came to figuring out how many stitches to start with. I made four gauge swatches, then an educated guess, hoping to produce a hat that actually fit. Once past that stumbling block, the actual knitting was pretty easy. A side benefit of the long Thanksgiving drive home was that I was able to finish everything, including my first ever pom-pom. What do you think?It definitely takes a special guy to wear such a--ahem--unique hat.

Mini review: we experienced Firefly on dvd. It's a sort of Western, set in a sci fi future, but driven more by story than technology. Len and I enjoyed that it is intelligent, complex, and funny, with interesting characters, but I can't give an unconditional thumbs up. There is violence, sometimes extreme or gratuitous, and some episodes had too much, shall we say, sensuality. We censored ourselves a bit, and David more. It's maybe surprising we watched it all, considering we haven't allowed ourselves to see the latest James Bond movie.

A Book Review and a Memory

We've been listening to All of a Kind Family these past few days. It's the first book of a series by Sydney Taylor about an observant Jewish family in NYC in the early 1900s. It's sweet and fun--the author understands children well.

She's a good teacher, too. In the course of telling a good story, she's explained many Jewish traditions and practices; we recognized most of our Seder meal in her description of Passover. I highly recommend this audio, although you may want to make a cheat sheet early on to keep the children straight. I just looked at the back of the box and found out I had daughters #2 and #3 mixed up.

A special meal in the story set off my memory. As the family celebrates the weekly Sabbath, they all drink some of "the sweet, dark, red wine that Papa made himself."

Instantly I was at a sunny park in California, toasting my brother's marriage with a sip of sweet, dark, red wine (the best I ever tasted) that our Opa had made himself.

That was a happy day, but now I am missing Opa. He was a wonderful grandfather.