Monday, January 18, 2010

Cleaning Closets and Nostalgia

I vow to clean my bedroom closets once a year. So I started this weekend and was surprised once again to find the leftovers of my life left moldering on back shelves. Old letters (real hand-written letters!), forgotten receipts, neglected to-do lists. Then, to cap off the day, I watched American Graffiti. "Where were you in 1962?" What a trip back in time that is for me! The clothes, hairstyles, music, dancing, etc., were right out of my memories of high school.

The movie ends with a postscript - graduation photos of the 4 guys who were the main characters in the story of that one long night in a California town - with little where-are-they-now notes. The gallant drag racer was killed by a drunk driver; the guy that gave up his "east coast" college scholarship at the last minute was a small-town insurance agent; the loony-but-sweet nerd was MIA in Vietnam; the last-minute college-bound guy was a writer living in Canada. That's what I remember from college - guys debating whether to wait around to get drafted for Vietnam or head for Canada. One guy I knew joined the Peace Corps - hope he did some good there while staying alive.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

BBC Period Drama Fans, Rejoice!

I'm looking at our local PBS station program schedule for January and see that there will be a 2-part update to "Cranford" starting tomorrow night! Judi Dench will be back as one of the Cranford ladies. I really enjoyed watching Cranford a year and a half ago (see my post about that), and will be glad to see Judi Dench back as one of the Cranford ladies.

And to make Sunday evenings in January even better, a new BBC production of Jane Austen's Emma will take up the last 2 Sunday nights on Masterpiece Classic. I don't recognize any of the actors' names in this new version, but that's good since I won't have any expectations for them. I was surprised to see that the actor who will play Mr. Knightley is named Jonny Lee Miller. Sounds like a good ol' boy, instead of a Brit with an uppercrust accent. Don't disappoint me, Jonny Lee!