Monday, June 20, 2016

Monday, June 20, 2016

Monday, June 20, 2016

What the Beck???


Cleaning the Pond

 The pond was filled with leaves and slimy after
winter so it was time to clean it out.

 This picture was taken after I had used the wet dry vac to suck
out most of the water. 


 This is the debris from the vacuum

 I strongly suggest this Craftsman model.
It worked great!

 Once again clean, and the waterfall sounds wonderful

 I call this Maddie's pond because the two 
of us built in one weekend

This is one of the five frogs that call the pond "home."



Bucket List Update
Academy Award Nominated Movies

1935     Les Miserables
starring: Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Rochelle Hudson, Cedric              Hardwicke, Marilyn Knowlden
plot – Jean March’s character is put in jail for stealing bread. Once             freed from jail, he discovers that people are not very forgiving           and he has to constantly hide from the law. He has taken in a           young poor girl and raises her.
This was a GREAT MOVIE.  The storyline was great, but the acting was outstanding. I actually forgot that it was in black and white. 


1935     The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
starring: Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell, Guy        Standing, Kathleen Burke, Douglas Dumbrille
plot – In India, Lt. MaGregor (Cooper) is overseeing some new men. The        men go on a mission to overthrow a ruthless chief. 
This was an okay movie, but I can’t say that anything really stood out to me. Cooper is always good, but I wasn’t really interested in the acting or the movie.


1940     Our Town
starring: William Holden, Martha Scott, Frank Craven
plot – Thornton Wilder’s story of like in a small New England town. It          chronicles the love, struggles, and tragedy of a young couple.
This was a marvelous movie. I love the town, but maybe that is because it is the type of town that I am looking to move to next year. The town and people are quaint, and live in peace and harmony.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this one.


1941     How Green was my Valley
starring: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara. Anna Lee, Donald Crisp,               Roddy McDowell, Barry Fitzgerald
plot – The story of a large Welsh mining family. They struggle with            differing opinions about belonging to a mining union.
This was a Great Movie. It was easy to see how this movie won the Academy Award for 1941. I totally understood both sides of the union issue at that time in history.


1942     49th Parallel
starring: Lawrence Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook,        Leslie Howard, Glynnis Johns
plot – A group of Nazi’s are stranded in Canada when their sub      sinks. Seven Germans escape into the countryside. They try to          blend in to the communities and plan to make it to the USA who        is not yet involved in the war.
I really liked this movie. The idea of Germans stuck in Canada was a plot that I had never seen before. This was enjoyable.


1945     Spellbound
starring: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Rhonda                Fleming, Leo G. Carroll
plot – Another fabulous film by Alfred Hitchcock. The head of a mental        hospital needs a replacement, but the man who arrives in an            imposter. Peck plays the new leader, and Bergman plays a              colleague who falls in love with him. Together they try to                discover his past that he does not remember due to amnesia.
I liked this movie, too. To watch the actors play characters with extreme mental illness was fascinating since I do not know much about the topic.


1947     Great Expectations
starring: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan,            Martita Hunt, Alec Guiness, Jean Simmons
plot – Originally written by Charles Dickens. Pip’s parents die, and he is        taken in by the blacksmith. A wealthy lady named Mrs.                  Haversham who becomes Pip’s new benefactor. She wants to            teach him to be a gentleman. He fits the bill and is helped by a          convict. He wants to repay the kindness.
This was a pretty good movie. I was interested in how life would turn out for Pip due to his humble beginnings and struggles.


1948     The Snake Pit
starring: Olivia Havilland, Mark Stevens, Celeste Holm, Lea Geno, Glenn           Langan
plot – A disturbing movie about a woman who suffers a breakdown and        is put in a mental hospital. The “treatments” used on the                patients are cruel and inhumane.
It was refreshing to see how the doctor helped her regain her sanity. DeHavilland plays such a different type of character in this movie. After this movie came out in theaters, many states investigated mental hospital practices and treatment.


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