“IT’S A BORE!” sings Gaston Lachaille

“It’s the same dull world wherever you go” says Gaston Lachaille.  He’s responding to his uncle in the movie, Gigi. Gigi takes place in 1900s.

Gaston, played by Louis Jourdan, is a wealthy Parisian. He is bored with everything.  He’s even bored with the Eiffel Tower.  Gaston is definitely bored with his current girlfriend, Liane d’Exelmans, played by Eva Gabor.  When he finds out that she’s being romanced by her skating instructor, Gaston is more than happy to end “the deadly affair.”

Gaston tells his uncle that he wants to write his girlfriend a note to end the relationship. His uncle responds that even ‘Victor Hugo couldn’t write a break-up letter without sounding wounded’.

I decided to research different books written by Victor Hugo. The first one that came to my mind was Les Misérables .  A great movie but even the book’s weight was intimidating.  The book I decided to read was The Hunchback of Notre Dame, an abbreviated version.

The details in the book brought all the characters and the gruesome events they faced to life. To be honest, I enjoy books with a happy ending…this was not one of those books.  I am happy to report that the movie, Gigi, was not boring and it has a happy ending.

Have you ever been reading a book and you kept hoping that it would turn out well for the main character and it just didn’t?

Mythical Man What?

Your company is having financial problems and is down to about 10 employees.  You are told to go on a mandatory vacation.  When you return, the place is crawling with new employees.  These new employees are programming which is exactly what you were doing before vacation.  The worst news is that you have a new overbearing boss.

No, this isn’t my life…it happened to Cameron, a young, brilliant programmer.  Cameron is a fictional character on the TV show, “Halt and Catch Fire”.  Her new boss is full of rules and gives Cameron tasks that are beneath her skill level.

Conveniently, that same day, Cameron has a conversation with a prominent executive from IBM.  In this conversation, she realizes that she wants the new boss’s job.  To persuade upper management, she uses ideas from the book, “The Mythical Man-Month” by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

Basically, Brooks states that even if you put 10 programmers on a job, the job won’t get done 10 times faster.  “Even if you put 9 women on the job, you can’t have a baby in 1 month.” (Brooks p17)

Using this logic, Cameron was able to win the job.

Have you ever put more and more people on a project only to find that it actually slowed things down?

Computer Monitor from 1998

PS I struggled to read this book but I have it on good authority that a lot of its contents are still relevant today.

Fala Portuguese?

In the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Audrey Hepburn’s character, Holly, is planning to move to Brazil.  To learn about the culture and language, she goes to the library to get information.

Holly is all set to marry a wealthy and prominent Brazilian who lives with his family in Rio de Janeiro.  Holly decides to learn Portuguese so she can communicate with his family when she arrives in Brazil.  To learn the language, she listens to Portuguese language educational records.

I lived in Brazil with my family for approximately 2 years.  Fortunately for me, language lessons were provided by husband’s company.  We had excellent language professors before we moved and during our stay in Brazil.

Listening to CDs and writing assignments in workbooks was slow and not so fun for me.  I felt that I learned the most by “having conversations” with the Brazilian professors and then the Brazilian people.  I didn’t become truly fluent but the Brazilians were always gracious and wanted to help me learn their language.

Have you ever had to learn a new language?  What learning technique worked best for you?

Recipe for pork chops written in Portuguese

Everyone has a dream!

I am breaking one of the basic rules of blogging by veering off the main idea of my blog, talking about books in a movie.  I have watched a lot of movies lately, but one in particular touched me and I was surprised.  Last Vegas is a comedy about three sixtyish males that throw a bachelor’s party for their self-declared bachelor friend.

Last Vegas is a funny and sometimes thought provoking movie.  The characters in the movie struggle with different aspects of their lives.  One mourns the loss of his wife; another mourns the loss of his freedom: his son never lets him “do” anything.  One character is very successful but doesn’t realize until this trip what is truly important in his life: friends and real love.

While in Las Vegas, the friends, with the help of each other, rediscover themselves and the importance of truly living their lives.  On January 1^st, a lot of people write New Year’s Resolutions about things they want to change in their lives.  Why not start now, by thinking about your dreams.  Instead of thinking about Christmas as “another holiday to get through”, think about it as a renewal time.  A time to really consider what is important in your life and LIVE!

Who Reads the Newspaper Anyway?

Newspapers being delivered to every house on a weekday morning…does this sound like your neighborhood?  In the movie, Sixteen Candles, there are several scenes that include people reading or receiving the daily newspaper.  Sixteen Candles was produced in 1984.  Newspaper circulation was still going up during that time.  According to The Newspaper Association of America, the total daily circulation was at its highest in 1988.

In the early 1980s, most people received their news from the local newspaper or evening news.  Headline News (24 hour news) just started in 1982.  In 1982, my family received two papers a day, the morning and the evening paper.  At that time, my grandparents lived in a distant suburb of Chicago.  They received the local paper and the Chicago Tribune.

Nowadays, many people receive limited delivery, Thursday through Sunday or just the weekend newspaper.  A lot of families no longer subscribe to the newspaper.  There so many sources that allow up to have up to the minute news coverage:  news websites, smartphone apps, email alerts from major news outlets, tweets, Facebook, text alerts, as well as several choices of 24 hour news coverage on TV.

In my community, they mark your mailbox to indicate your newspaper delivery preference since everybody subscribes to a different delivery schedule or no schedule at all.  Do you think the paper style of newspaper will die out in the next 10 years?

Do you have a Dark Side?

In the opening of the movie, “When Harry Met Sally”, Harry tells Sally that he has a dark side. So dark, that Harry reads the last page of every new book first. This is just in case he dies before he finishes the book; at least he’ll know how it ends.

One of the books that Harry’s character reads during the movie is Stephen King’s book, “Misery”. When I was a teenager, I used to love reading books written by Stephen King. I can’t imagine spoiling all the suspense in the middle of one of his books by knowing how it ends first.

On occasion, I have read the end of a book before the appropriate time. However, my reasoning is more of the “do I really want to spend hours reading this book because I do not love the first two chapters”.

How about you? Have you ever read the last page(s) of a book before the appropriate time?

To Be a Witch or Not

Since it is October, the month a lot of Americans celebrate Halloween, I thought I’d write about one of my favorite movies, “BEWITCHED”. “Bewitched” stars Nicole Kidman as Isabel Bigelow and Will Ferrell as Jack Wyatt. “Bewitched” is a movie that I’ve enjoyed watching multiple times. Once, I even got my Dad to watch it with me.

In the movie, Isabel, decides she no longer wants to be a witch. The last time she decides to use witchcraft, she rents a furnished house (with no references required). She magically sets up the TV and cable. After seeing an infomercial about self-esteem, she decides she needs a job. Since she’s never had a job before, she goes to a bookstore to do some research.

The book she decides to buy is “What Should I Do with My Life? The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question” by Po Bronson. In this book, Mr. Bronson interviews people about how they found their current job or struggles they are having finding a satisfying job.

I originally read this book several years ago. Mr. Bronson spoke to people that had different professions such as a photographer or an ob-gyn. He also spoke to someone who was a farmer and another person that was starting an electric car company. I thought the stories were interesting. However, I didn’t think the book helped me personally if the book’s purpose was to help me find my ideal job.

Luckily for Isabel, in “Bewitched”, she meets Jack immediately after buying the book. He talks her into auditioning for job as an actor in a TV series. She gets the job so she really doesn’t need to rely on the book. I’m still writing my story…how about you?

What’s Your Story?

I think everyone has at least 1 story in them. In my community, there is at least one place where you can take a class on writing your memoirs.

In the movie, “The Family”, Robert De Niro plays an ex-mobster who is placed, with his family, in the witness protection program. He and his family don’t adapt well to living the “Leave It To Beaver” lifestyle. They keep having to be relocated.

As the movie opens, they have just moved to Normandy, France. Robert De Niro’s character decides to write his memoirs. He’s writing about growing up as a mobster’s son and then becoming a mob boss himself. In his book, he decides to include a section on 10 things that define “why he’s a good guy”. He writes, for example, “Because of me, there was no crime on my block”. I’m sure there was crime but only the crime he allowed.

After a short time in Normandy, the family is being relocated… their past is catching up with them again. Does your family have any skeletons in their closet? Is there a memoir you’ve read recently and really enjoyed or have you thought of writing your memoirs? Let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

“Have Ernest Hemmingway call us and apologize to us” says Robert De Niro’s character in Silver Linings Playbook

When he is first released from a mental health institution, Bradley Cooper’s character, Pat, asks his Mom to take him to the library. Pat wants to read all the books from the reading list his ex-wife has given to her HS English students. The first book he chooses to read is “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway.

Pat doesn’t like the ending of the book and immediately tosses the book out of the window of his bedroom in the attic. He is so upset; he goes directly into his parent’s bedroom and wakes them up at 4 in the morning. After Pat gives them a synopsis of “A Farewell to Arms”, his mother demands an apology from him for disturbing them. Pat says he can’t apologize because Ernest Hemingway is to blame. Pat’s Dad responds, “have Ernest Hemingway call us and apologize to us”.

I have mixed feelings about summer reading lists. My dream is that all students are given the opportunity to read books from different genres and to be able to explore their reading likes and dislikes. When we lived in Brazil, my son was interested in reading non-fiction books. He wanted to read books about places, like Australia, and animals. Unfortunately, the school he attended only had reading level “evaluations” for fiction books. He was in the fifth grade and was required to read only fiction books for classwork. I think this rule reduced his enjoyment of reading.

How do you feel about required summer reading lists? Please comment.

Are you a Dummy?

What would you do if you were 13 and suddenly found yourself  30 years old and an executive editor of a woman’s magazine? In the movie 13 Going on 30, for Jennifer Garner’s character, Jenna Rink, buying the book “Magazine Publishing for Dummies” was an obvious choice.

There are over 1,800 titles of the ‘for Dummies’ books. This style of book was first published in 1991 with the first book titled “DOS for Dummies”. The publisher started out writing books for people that wanted to learn about computers and computer software but didn’t have a lot of computer background.

Today, you can buy books to help you learn about green living, Manga, and skin care. If they haven’t written about a particular topic and you’re an expert; feel free to write to them and pitch your idea. To find out more about the ‘Dummies’ story, click here: http://www.dummies.com/Section/The-For-Dummies-Success-Story.id-323929.html

Even though I am no dummy, I have found these types of books helpful. I still reference my “Art for Dummies” book before visiting the local museum. It’s nice to have a quick refresher on the art periods, styles and special things to look for in a particular piece of artwork. I’m not so sure how much the book “Magazine Publishing for Dummies” helped Jenna but I bet it would’ve given her a quick start on her newfound job, if it were a real title.

—I personally wasn’t able to find this particular title in the ‘Dummies’ listings.