The dumbest cancer movie ever

Last night I watched “Little Bit of Heaven” wondering the whole time why I was wasting my time, except it's the pandemic and I'm running out of old, stupid movies, and I like the actress, Kate Hudson, or the memory of her.  She made one really great movie, Almost Famous, and we can always hope. . . 

Our son, Phil, died at 51 in April of glioblastoma.  His first sign was a seizure in October. But one thing in the movie did ring true--her anger and hateful behavior toward her friends and parents as the hopelessness of the disease progressed. At 80 I moved in with Phil to take care of him, and eventually we moved him to our home. His friends (he was very popular and may have had more friends than Bob and I together) were wonderful to him and to us.  I'll never forget their kindness. Eventually, I'll forget his anger and maybe resurrect the good times--but then at 80, I'm forgetful anyway. 

Back to Hudson.  She has wasted her talent.  Also, I see it was a Weinstein movie. Enough said on the bizarre sex themes--from the condom pitch she, an ad executive, had to sell at a meeting, to the boy sex toy, to the little person (a male prostitute who calls himself “Little Bit of Heaven,” to her gastroenterologist who performed her colonoscopy with whom she has an affair.  And let’s not forget the black gay best friend and black female God she talks to--really so trite. Weinstein.

And the character’s name is Marley Corbett!

I’ll never be a movie critic

The last two nights I watched movies I’d never heard of—Sex and the City (2008) and Uptown Girls (2003). I’d planned to blog about the fashions, actually.  But when I started researching them, I learned that Brittany Murphy who played the goofy nanny for Dakota Fanning’s character in Uptown Girls had died mysteriously in 2009. And also her father had mafia connections and that’s why she used her mother’s maiden name.  So I decided being a movie/fashion critic is harder than it looked. And I gave up.  It’s easier to try to figure out why anyone would vote for Joe Biden.

https://extratv.com/2019/12/20/brittany-murphy-a-look-back-at-her-mysterious-death-10-years-later/

Dairy Carrie has a few words for vegan Joaquin

“When you went on to say that we are “more disconnected from the natural world” in the same breath as saying that animals are equal to humans, you lost me. In the natural world where Mother Nature reins supreme, the lion does not see the gazelle as its equal. The lion sees the gazelle as its lunch. The natural world is where predator/prey relationships and the food chain exist. Humans have been eating animal products since the first person realized that meat is tasty and according to McDonald’s, since then billions and billions of burgers have been served. “

https://www.dairycarrie.com/2020/02/10/dear-joaquin/?

Little Women the movies

My friend Bev and I took a break from our busy lives and took in a movie yesterday, Little Women (2019). We both enjoyed it, but wondered about the actor cast as Laurie, Timothée Hal Chalamet. He's 24 and looks 12. Saoirse Una Ronan who plays Jo is 25 and looks a little older. Both are not household names, I suppose because no one can pronounce them.  I had a problem seeing what's-his-name as a dissolute, worldly man and global traveler. Using Jo's messy hair to show her wokeness as a contrast to her more authentically correct sisters also struck me as tiresome, but overall it was a good movie.

Bev is a bit more techy than I and had managed to reserve seats for us on her smart phone.  We got to the theater right at 11, and by the time we got our tickets there were probably 50+ people in line—mostly retirees.  $5.00.

I found the 1949 version to compare. Elizabeth Taylor was Amy and Peter Lawford was Laurie, and June Allyson's hair was closer to the 1868 fashion (as Jo) than the 2019 version.  I wonder if the public library has it.  I saw it with my mother in Ocean Grove, NJ in 1949 when my brother and I travelled with her and my grandparents to the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference. I thought Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh were the most beautiful women I’d ever seen.

https://youtu.be/kiI2hI1N9fQ

Then there’s also an interesting critique of the four movie versions, showing the development of the major characters and also changing their ages, nationalities, career challenges. I do wonder why today's (and the 90s) feminist critics think it's so wonderful for Jo to pursue money and career, but criticize men's empowerment to do the same thing. Always chasing men, I suppose.

https://youtu.be/nJGZoecSmrA

Also some interesting trivia.  During the 1949 making of Little Women, June Allyson was pregnant with her son, and then also her adoptive daughter Pamela arrived and she had to leave the set.

Oh God movie (1977)

We had a nice Sunday with our son who has brain cancer--enjoyed lunch at his home and then watched the movie, Oh God, with John Denver, Teri Garr and George Burns (1977), directed by Carl Reiner. Hardly seemed possible that the movie is 42 years old! It's sweet and funny--it's spiritual, not religious. Good laughs (which we all needed) and some serious moments. Sort of pop-gnostic, a real set-up from the last century for the "nones" of this century. It makes fun of a minute portion of organized religion--the health and wealth gospel with a crooked TV preacher played by Paul Sorvino.

Teri Garr who is Denver’s wife in the movie played a lot of moms and supportive wives and girlfriends, so I wondered what had become of her. I checked, and she "retired" in 2011. She has MS which she kept hidden many years, but came out as an advocate for others and helping with fund raising. She also had a stroke and recovered. Lakesiders enjoy a grass roots program called Porch Stories,, which is modeled on the Moth.  Garr told a LA Moth Story where she discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TI8E4p_U6A (language alert)

Gwyneth Paltrow probably can’t eat on $29/week

The S in SNAP is 'supplemental' and no one is suppose to use only this allotment, although it is quite possible with good budgeting and basic cooking knowledge. Now that EBT cards can be used at fast food and snack bars, many children will be hungry.

This is how SNAP benefits are figured:

Example: Calculating a Household’s Monthly SNAP Benefits

Consider a family of three with one full-time, minimum-wage worker, two children, dependent care costs of $81 a month, and shelter costs of $858 per month.[16]

• Step 1 — Gross Income: The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. Full-time work at this level yields monthly earnings of $1,256 monthly.
• Step 2 — Net Income for Shelter Deduction: Begin with the gross monthly earnings of $1,256. Subtract the standard deduction for a three-person household ($155), the earnings deduction (20 percent times $1,256, or $251), and the childcare deduction ($81). The result is $769 (Countable Income A).
• Step 3 — Shelter Deduction: Begin with the shelter costs of $858. Subtract half of Countable Income A (half of $769 is $384) for a result of $474.
• Step 4 — Net Income: Subtract the shelter deduction ($474) from Countable Income A ($769) for a result of $295.
• Step 5 — Family’s Expected Contribution Towards Food: 30 percent of the household’s net income ($295) is $89.
• Step 6 — SNAP Benefit: The maximum benefit in 2015 for a family of three is $511. The maximum benefit minus the household contribution ($511 minus $89) equals $422.

The family’s monthly SNAP benefit is $422.

Here’s what $29 looks like.

If I were doing it, I wouldn’t buy salt, processed meat, or cold cereal.  I’d assume I had a few things in the cupboard like condiments.

Here’s what Gwyneth Paltrow bought:

And I sure wouldn’t buy limes.

Eating on $29 a week—Gwyneth Paltrow

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/gwyneth-paltrow-food-stamp_…? Gwyneth Paltrow is on a publicity stunt. This not the budget for SNAP, nor is it intended to be the only source of income, however, there's a wonderful on-line recipe book that shows it can be done with delicious, frugal and well balanced meals. “Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly those on a $4/day food stamps budget.” http://www.leannebrown.com/cookbooks/

Gwyneth Paltrow is actually a very distant cousin on my mother's side (via the Danners).

How about asparagus pizza?

 

Patricia Arquette got it all wrong for several reasons

First of all, there is no longer a pay gap—and hasn’t been for a number of years.  A 2009 report commissioned by the Labor Department that analyzed more than 50 papers on the topic found that the so-called pay gap “may be almost entirely” the result of choices both men and women make.   In fact, in a number of cities, young college educated women are out-earning young college educated men.  Someone should complain.

Secondly, although I don’t see a lot of movies, I know they are based on the box office draw of certain stars.  If the women aren’t a draw, they don’t get the lucrative contracts—and they all have agents who do the negotiating. In the movie I watched last night Diane Lane made $6,000,000 for this movie, more than what’s her name who played her sister, or the guy who was John Cusak’s buddy. She probably made more than Cusak, since in 2005 she was a bigger draw. Most actors will fall into the $10 to $30 an hour range with the large part of that is around $16 hourly.  That’s a long way from $6,000,000 ten years ago. Tom Hanks made about $800 for a film he was in in 1980.

And third,  Meryl Streep (net worth $45 million) sitting in the front jumped up and stole her thunder, grabbing the camera’s attention, and thus the nation’s.  What is the pay difference between Streep and Arquette?  Is it fair?  Why always compare women to men.  Why not women to women?  There are great pay gaps there.  Nancy Pelosi is worth millions and Tina who works the cash register at Panera’s will probably never have much more than she has now. Patricia Arquette (net worth $24 million) sure makes a lot more money than veterinary medicine librarians—all of them put together.

“Women don't get equal pay in America, says actress Patricia Arquette, and she blames the Founders. "To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights," Arquette said in her Oscar acceptance speech. "It's time to have wage equality once and for all. And equal rights for women in the United States of America." The supposed pay gap has been largely discredited, but never confuse a liberal (especially one from Hollywood) with facts. Worse, Arquette went on to blame the men who fought to secure Liberty and who authored our Constitution. "It's inexcusable that we go around the world and we talk about equal rights for women in other countries when we don't have equal rights for women in America," Arquette lectured. "And we don't because when they wrote the Constitution, they didn't intend it for women." In the Heritage Foundation's Guide to the Constitution, Tiffany Jones Miller explains, "Contrary to popular belief, the United States Constitution of 1787 is a gender-neutral document. Throughout the original text, the Framers refer to 'persons' -- as opposed to 'male persons' -- and use the pronoun 'he' only in the generic sense. The word 'male' did not even appear in the Constitution until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868." In other words, Arquette suffers from something common to men and women on the Left: ignorance.” Patriot Post, Daily Digest, Feb. 24, 2015

Every time we say good-bye

It's not too hard to find a movie I've never heard of, but last night I watched "Every time we say good-bye" with a very young Tom Hanks (1986). It was the time in his career as he was shifting from comedy to drama. It's a WWII romance that takes place in Israel and reviewers say it is predictable, but since I don't see many movies, I didn't think so. What makes this film somewhat more unusual is that about half is in Ladino with sub-titles, a Spanish based language spoken by Jews all over Spain, Eastern Europe and the middle east at one time. So I did have some fun researching that--I'd never heard of it. http://film.famousfix.com/tpx_624497/every-time-we-say-goodbye/

“Ladino, otherwise known as Judeo-Spanish, is the spoken and written Hispanic language of Jews of Spanish origin. Ladino did not become a specifically Jewish language until after the expulsion from Spain in 1492 - it was merely the language of their province. It is also known as Judezmo, Dzhudezmo, or Spaniolit.

When the Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal they were cut off from the further development of the language, but they continued to speak it in the communities and countries to which they emigrated. Ladino therefore reflects the grammar and vocabulary of 14th and 15th century Spanish. The further away from Spain the emigrants went, the more cut off they were from developments in the language, and the more Ladino began to diverge from mainstream Castilian Spanish. “

http://www.sephardicstudies.org/quickladino.html

“Since the Expulsion [1492], Ladino has been spoken in North Africa, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, France, Israel, the United States and Latin America. At one time, an estimated 80 percent of Diaspora Jews were Ladino-speaking. However, the Holocaust wiped out about 90 percent of all the world's Ladino-speakers.”

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1085545/jewish/Will-Ladino-Rise-Again.htm

“David: What language was that you were speaking?
Sarah: Spanish.
David: How did you and Victoria come to speak Spanish?
Sarah: It is what we speak at home.
David: Oh, your family came from Spain?
Sarah: Yes.
David: Recently?
Sarah: About 400 years.
David: They must have some good memories.” Quote from the movie of Sarah explaining her language to David.

40-Year-Old Virgin Actor Admits to Brutal Stabbing of Girlfriend, Blames "Chaos," Mistaken Identity - E! Online

Move along. This is not a hate crime. The victim is a white, straight, female. She'd have to be a Muslim, or a lesbian, or a minority for her ex-boyfriend to get an additional charge of "hate crime," and thus more years on the sentencing (which seems terribly light to me).

40-Year-Old Virgin Actor Admits to Brutal Stabbing of Girlfriend, Blames "Chaos," Mistaken Identity - E! Online

How Hillary met Hillary

Was she named (with a double L) for Sir Edmund Hillary or not? Snopes reviews all the evidence. Sometimes the stories your parents tell you are just that. My mother told me my dad chose my name for a popular movie star of the 1930s, and No it wasn't Norma Jean, since she was just an unknown then. Norma Talmadge, of silent films, was already a star when my dad was born, so I suspect it must have been Norma Shearer, if you can believe the stories mothers tell little girls when they're passing the time doing the dishes. But if any film buffs have another suggestion, I'll take a look, because I don't remember.

Hollywood and the Iraq War

Remembering the WWII movies, it's hard to imagine today's bevy of beauties like Cruise, Clooney and DiCaprio doing the same for the Iraq War. First of all, they wouldn't be able to disguise their hatred for Dubya. But here's a second thought--about wealth and guilt:

"I used to believe that one of the reasons that a lot of the male movie stars of the 30s and 40s drank so much was out of guilt that they were making more money in a week than most Americans earned in a year, and that even in the middle of the Great Depression they were living like royalty. But I also suspected that they turned to alcohol partly out of shame because they were engaged in what would generally have been regarded as a passive, feminine occupation — playing dress up, being told what to do and how to do it by male directors, standing by while rugged stunt men did all the heavy lifting and, worst of all, wearing makeup all the livelong day."

But then along came the war and they were able to do guy stuff and be patriotic--even giving up lucrative contracts to serve their country. Those who were too old or had disabilities like John Wayne, made propaganda films. Today's mega-rich male stars? She calls them bimbos.