Music

2 Movies, 2 Books & 1 New Name

/ Ally Bean / 15 Comments

As part of my attempt to live a more balanced life in 2013, I have given myself the assignment to watch 2 movies and to read 2 books each month.  Here is my June report.

2 Movies

Life Happens – Smart + funny.  In this comedy, Krysten Ritter, Kate Bosworth & Rachel Bilson star as three very different 20-something women who share a house in a hipster part of L.A.  One of the roommates becomes pregnant and after the baby is born all three women try to continue to live their lives as before.  Witty dialogue.  Fascinating sets.  Charming ending.  Recommended if you enjoy laughing at the ups & downs of relationships, careers and motherhood.

Brother Rat – Wordy + dated.  Set at the Virginia Military Institute, this uneven 1938 movie is a black-and-white classic.  Three cadets try to keep one cadet’s marriage secret from just about everybody.  Hijinks/whining/confusion ensues.  The movie is best known for 2 facts: 1) it is Eddie Albert’s first role in a movie;  & 2) Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman met while filming this.  Half-heartedly recommended if you are curious about early films and stuck at home on a rainy day.

2 Books

Beautiful Ruins – Wonderful + memorable.  This novel by Jess Walter is one of the best that I’ve read in years.  Set primarily in Italy and Hollywood, it is a decades long love story between an Italian innkeeper and an American actress.  It is alternately amusing, insightful, satirical and heartbreaking.  The writing is smooth, the plot is flawless and the ending is just as it needs to be.  Highly recommended to anyone who likes to read fiction.

The Year the Music Changed – Clever + sweet.  This story is about a brilliant & lonely 14-year-old girl who sends a fan letter to a then unknown country singer named Elvis Presley.  He writes back and they become pen pals telling each other their secrets and triumphs.  Diane Thomas, the author of this book, does a marvelous job of weaving facts about Elvis into a warm, captivating story of self-awareness and the power of friendship.  Recommended if you like coming-of-age stories and music history.

1 New Name

I cannot resist silly, pointless, time-wasting name generators.  They call to me.  I’m curious.  I NEED to know.  So when I found the Old West Name Generator, I knew that I had to find out what my name would have been if I had been born between 1860 to 1890.

And here is what I discovered.  Back then you would have known me as:

Lily Jessamine Roush.

Pretty name, huh?

Confounded By Group Photos

/ Ally Bean / 32 Comments

“Time can change me, But I can’t trace time.”

~ David Bowie

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A few months ago I was talking on the phone with a friend who happens to be in her eighties.  She is a delight– mentally with it + honest to a fault.  In other words, exactly who I want to be when I get to be an eightysomething.

In our conversation my friend mentioned that her granddaughter had emailed her some photos of herself with her friends.  The young women had gotten dressed up and gone out to brunch together somewhere pricey.  The photo of was of all of them in front of the restaurant.

# # #

I asked my friend how her granddaughter looked in the photo and my friend said: “Cute, I guess.  All the girls look alike to me, so I can’t tell which one she is.  They all have long, stringy hair and carry huge purses.  I think that my granddaughter is one of them.”

As we talked a bit more about kids.these.days. I chuckled to myself about me humoring a delightful older woman who was clearly confused by the obvious.  I mean, how could she not know which girl was her granddaughter?  Really.

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A younger friend of mine, who is not on Twitter, has a high school daughter, who is on Twitter.  And as you know, I’m on Twitter.  So, every once in a while I check to see what my friend’s daughter is doing on Twitter.

What I have discovered is that this girl is a good kid.  She has pleasant friends, likes ice cream, doesn’t like schoolwork, likes sports, goes on dates.  Nothing scathing at all– unless you consider a few swear words once in a while to be trouble.  Which I don’t.

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One day last week I was glancing at the photos that my friend’s daughter had added to her Twitter feed and I saw a group shot of a bunch of teenage girls.  They were all wearing skinny jeans and white t-shirts and pumps with 4″ heels.  And I thought: “What a cute photo.  I wonder which one is my friend’s daughter?  They all look alike.”  

Then it hit me. *BAM*  I had just said exactly what my older friend said about her granddaughter and her friends.  And I realized that I had morphed into an old woman who couldn’t distinguish one child from another.  

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This means, of course, that now I must admit to my younger friend that I can’t recognize her daughter in the photo.  I can’t help but wonder if my friend will politely listen to me on the phone while chuckling to herself about humoring me, a delightful older woman who is clearly confused by the obvious.  I mean, I would understand where she was coming from… as I was in that same situation only a few short months ago.

Oh yeah.  Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

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Nobody Puts Bean In The Corner

/ Ally Bean / 14 Comments

I would be remiss if I did not share with you the song that is stuck in my brain today.

After all, what kind of bloggy friend would I be if I didn’t allow you the opportunity to get this fine tune stuck in your brain, too?

No need to thank me.  Only too happy to do it.

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“You have sheet music on this stuff?”

Autumn Sustains Me

/ Ally Bean / 22 Comments

“A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.

~ Proust

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I’ve never seen a season appear on cue quite as perfectly as Autumn did on Saturday.  In the morning during Summer’s last hours the weather was warm + humid around here.  I remarked to Z-D that our lawn looked so green that it seemed like Spring.  As the morning progressed, I wondered if I should have worn shorts instead of capris.  It was that warm.

And then, Summer exited stage left.  Enter Fall.

By mid afternoon the wind was gusting and the air had a chill to it.  The sky was blue + leaves were blowing all over creation.  Pulling into the Kroger parking lot we watched as the wind knocked a Mr. Coffee coffee maker off the bottom of a shopping cart as a woman pushed her shopping cart to her car.  It was that windy.

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For me, Autumn is the beginning of the year.  I find myself relaxed, joyful and mellow during this time of year.  I let go of striving and enjoy the results of what I’ve worked on throughout the winter – spring – summer.  I review what has succeeded, appreciate what I did, enjoy where I am & prepare for what is to come.

Grounded in the colorful reality that Fall is known for, I’m comfortable thinking about possibility now.  Much more so than in January.  There’s something about this time of year that helps me get it together and be happy for the chance to embrace change.

Autumn sustains me.  Does it do the same thing for you?

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