All in one catch-up!

[birchie]

Sorry if this isn't entirely kosher but it's the best I can do for now. I last posted Monday night and then my computer suffered a slow painful death...painful for me anyway! I dug my old laptop out of mothballs but for some reason it wouldn't let me on line initially, but this afternoon after switching around some wires my laptop finally connected! Hold down the cheering though...this is a 15 year old laptop with very little power so there will be no "surfing" going on. I haven't been able to update it for a couple years and can't use any of the new browsers. I just have a very old version of explorer with lots of error messages to remind me of how old it is! I can barely check email and this forum! I haven't caught up on my email yet but I wanted to catch up here, I have my priorities after all! LOL! I finally got through the top 50 so I wanted to comment. With each page taking about 10 minutes to load I can't comment individually on 3 days of posting so that's why I'm going this route.

First hello to Barb in her Kathy disguise. Love your addition to the Hugh Oscar cheering section. So right about it all. He so deserves to win. You should visit more often.

Someone, Lenka I think, mentioned how the Internet is so removed from how the movie is being received by real people all over the world. So true. Someone else Jo?? maybe, posted that blog post about Hugh being deserving because he's more popular and a nicer guy than DDL. While I agree that he is those things, I think he deserves to win because he gave a better all around performance and was the complete leader of his cast in every way. He could have played Lincoln just as well as DDL but there is no way that DDL could have played Jean Valjean in Hugh's movie! So if they give him the Oscar because they love him that will be great, but the world needs to hear loud and clear that this was a great performance!

Jo, as always love the commentaries! That piece about Suddenly moved me so much! I was talking to my son about that whole subject a couple days ago. It's one of my favorite aspects of the story and I so love the new song. The writer was absolutely correct about how perfectly the song not only fits the movie but the original story that it's based on. Once again I have to say that it's a travesty that the Skyfall song seems to be such a "shoe in" in everyone's opinion...a song which has almost nothing to do with the movie it supposedly represents. I'm also glad you mentioned that scene at the end of In My Life. A couple weeks ago I talked about how much I loved that look on his face with his hands folded before him after Cosette walks out of his room. Just amazing. The countenance of a world weary man just trying so hard to get it all right! Once I noticed it for the first time I could never un-notice it so it gets me every time. It's the same with the Suddenly reprise, teary eyes & a lump in the throat every time!

So sad to hear about John Kerr. How prophetic that we were just talking about him like last week!! RIP John. I don't think he had as big of a career as he should have had. Don't know why but I guess there are many actors who could say that or have fans that will say it for them.

I can't remember if there was anything else I wanted to address but the last thing is that picture from Time! I hate it! I can't click on links so I didn't see what they did with the other contenders but I hope they did a terrible photo of DDL. If they did a really good photo for him that would go along with their atrociously biased and ridiculous cover story they did on him before Lincoln even opened. Worlds greatest actor my a**!!! He's a terrific actor but certainly does not have a body of work to qualify him for that honor. At this point I think he only takes roles that he thinks might get him nominated which is why he hardly works at all. But I really didn't like that Time photo of Hugh & Anne.

So that's my catch-up. It's going to be about a month+ before I can scrape some money together to get a new computer. I learned my lesson. Last year when I lost my last computer, I bought a cheap refurbished PC to take it's place. It barely made it past it's very short warranty. I'll try to keep up daily so that I can do posts as needed even with this poor old laptop. Slow and minimalistic as it is, it's outlived 3 PCs so far. I don't think it will make it through another one though.

We have a snow storm coming and all the area schools have already been closed for tomorrow. I hope we don't lose power or I might have to do another catch-up!

I suggest follow-ups to my comments on the proper threads to not confuse everyone. ;D

Thanks for bearing with me! Sue

[jo]

Sue,

I sort of have been missing your posts -- I commiserate about the loss of computer accessibility. It happens and when one is connected to some internet friends this way- it can be really miserable.

But, first, I hope the predicted storm does not hit your vicinity as viciously as it is supposed to! Keep warm and just remember-- hundreds of years ago, early Americans had the same winter hazards and they found a way to get over them. I love snow - but for only one week. I have my memories of school in my Amherst, Mass campus ( which was heartachingly beautiful -- but the winters could be so fierce!) - but I guess I am just a child of the tropics!

Guess what - after seeing the movie six times, I have decided to re-listen to the soundtrack highlights! I did not do anything else ( like being in front of the computer ) -- just paid full attention with all my emotion antennas in full alert. Wow -- I do not know if it was the full immersion of 6 viewings of the movie -- but I seemed to have heard the album for the first time! I now have the full context of the movie -- and I seem to hear the music in a much more emotive and more intellectual way. Is that possible?!!

I know that the highlights album could not have accomodated all we wanted but I wish they found space for :

*Who am I -- that is the quintessential story of Valjean! How can Les Miserables exist without that moment of full redemption?
*The short reprise of BRING HIM HOME, at the end when Valjean was now facing mortality, with the hope that he had lived how he was meant to be. To me, that was more resonant than Angel Fantine leading the way to heaven!

I love the album...and cannot wait for the anticipated ( hope it happens) full soundtrack CD. Also, an instrumental version of the musical score is something that is on my wish list! I know the mood of Les Miserables is sad and introspective in general, especially so with string music, but it would be exquisite to listen to. To tell the truth - in the stage play, I found the instrumental version of Bring Him Home ( played when the rebels lay dead on the barricade) more emotional and more poignant than when Valjean sang it. Too bad, it was heavily truncated and played in a different scene in the movie.

Hope you can be back to more normal computer access at some point -- we miss your very insightful posts!

Again, keep warm and be safe!

Jo

[birchie]

UPDATE etc:
Thanks for the kind words Jo! It looks like I'll be getting a new computer sooner than I thought! My son called this AM to tell me he had deposited some money into my bank account and then he went to the site where we had seen the new one I wanted and completed the purchase for me-can't do it on this clunker-so I did part finance & part cash with his help and I should get it in a couple weeks...it's shipping on the 17th!

I tried a new trick with this one too...in order to answer several posts I right clicked on the quote/reply thing and had it open a new window. Then I was able to keep reading through all the new posts while the other windows were opening. Saved a little time & frustration.

The snow started a couple hours ago. Some forcasters are saying it could be like the blizzard of '78 which makes me smile. Not that blizzards make me smile but the memories of my youngest son at that time do. We lived in Hawaii from the time he was an infant so at age 4 he had never seen snow and it had always been summer! The first time he put on a snow suit he was something like the little brother in The Christmas Story...he just stood like a statue for a while! He finally learned how to move but then in Feb the blizzard hit and snow was piled everywhere higher than he was. By that time he was the most depressed little boy because he thought it would be winter forever. Couldn't grasp the concept of seasons changing. In April the first day it hit over 50 he tore off his jacket and went running around like a jackrabbit literally jumping for joy! I'm really hoping it's not as bad as that storm since we were snowed in for a week-some people for a couple weeks. Mainly I hope to keep my power!

I'm going to write about the music on the CD thread, Jo. I may have to do it later as this old clunker is getting tired. It's taken a couple of hours to do the little I've done so it needs a break and so do I. I'll try to post some more later.
Sue