Movie Meme: Book Adaptations

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I've found the Movie Memes the past few weeks a little difficult to do; the themes have not necessarily been my genre and so I've had to think outside the box to find a film to fit the bill. Therefore, when Hannah divulged last week's theme as 'book adaptations' I was more than happy to crack on. Unfortunately life got in the way and so I find myself the night before the deadline desperately trying to finish my homework and submit!

Way back in the mists of time when I was in my early teens, I discovered the marvels of Jane Eyre. I have always loved books but back then graduating from Enid Blyton to Charlotte Bronte was a big task, however one which I persevered with. I fell in love with the book and the brooding Mr. Rochester there and then. However, it is not (oh my word, I have stopped using contractions; I fear that the writing influence of the sisters Bronte may have infringed upon this manuscript!) the ever so naive Jane which I want to wax lyrical about; it is her literary cousin Cathy.

If you have not read Wuthering Heights then shame on you (shush now, literary spectres of the past) because it is the most amazing love story between a young and innocent boy held back in life by his poverty, and the ultimate bad girl who corrupted him. Yes I do mean it that way around. If you honestly think that Heathcliff (swoon) was a bad boy before he met that tart then you need to read the book again! Their love stories transcends time and generations of their own family. The book has time and time again been voted the best love story, for good reason.

There have been several film adaptations and whilst the 2009 one starring Tom Hardy was good (I'm not even going to mention the American MTV modernisation starring Katherine Heigl), he will never fill Ralph Fiennes leather boots. Long before any patient, English or other nationality, was attended to, he starred in this 1992 classic with Juliette Binoche. The chemistry, mischief, angst and loss that the pair of them portray in their acting youth is just astounding. The melody that follows the highs and lows throughout the film is haunting. Nearly 20 years since I first saw it and I still get overwhelmed with the film.

 


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Now pop over and see the other entries:

Why I Love Being a Mummy

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With the approach of Mothers' Day, I have decided to be a little self-indulgent. The role that I have taken on since becoming pregnant is the most important of my entire life, and as schmaltzy as it sounds I absolutely never knew my purpose until I had him.

On that note, I give you the reasons why I love being The Boy's mummy:

  • when he opens our bedroom door (sometimes with daddy's help) first thing in the morning and runs in to my open arms, shouting "mummy, mummy!"
  • when out of the blue he looks at me and says "tiss".
  • his hair.
  • his peachy bum.
  • his beautiful cheeky little smile.
  • his legs, they are stunningly shapely.
  • his beautiful, large, sparkly eyes.
  • the way he frowns and says "baby, cry" if any child under 3 years old is making any noise.
  • his curiosity and desire to learn.
  • how he opens my eyes up to the wonder of the world.
  • the fact that he loves the beach.
  • his exploratory nature in the garden.
  • his 'four-eyebrows' (the expression he pulls when he's concentrating).
  • his laugh.
  • his developing vocabulary; he seems to be learning several new words a day.
  • the fact that he's just looked at me, after I gave him his tippy-cup of milk, and said "cold" doing a shivering action, because I forgot to warm it up!
  • the way that he 'reads' to his toys.
  • the way he shoves his entire hand into the cheese part of the Dairylea Dunker to get every single scrap out.
  • the way he delves his hands into something filthy despite the fact that he hates his hands being dirty.
  • the way he climbs up into the highchair and straps himself in.
  • the way he has always chewed with his mouth closed.
  • the fact that we are friends.
  • the fact that he still loves to cuddle up having a bottle of milk and will reach up to touch my face.
  • having him fall asleep in my arms and feeling his little heart beat against my chest.
  • his little breath against my neck.
  • the way that he looks when he's sleeping.
  • his entire being.

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'I love you through and through'

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Today is World Book Day. I've just read a lovely post over at The Moiderer about the favourite bedtime books she likes to read to her Little One and it has prompted me to tell you about The Boy's absolute favourite bedtime book.*

I love you through and through.

I love your top side. I love your bottom side.

I love your inside and outside.

I love your happy side, and your blue side,

your silly side, your hullabaloo side.

I love your fingers and toes, your ears and nose.

I love your hair and eyes, your giggles and cries.

I love you running and walking, silent and talking.

I love you through and though…

yesterday, today and tomorrow too.

We all adore this book, and have little actions that go with each declaration. The Boy knows it so well now that he can recite the ends of each line and complete the action; he also turns the pages and says the main word associated with it. It is such a lovely book to read at bedtime and send your little one off to the land of nod with happy thoughts of how much he is loved.

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*That's what you should do if a post inspires you, link to it and then you won't get accused of plagiarising and p*ss me off!

Movie Meme: Films of the 21st Century

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Following Kate's Listography of our favourite films last week (I stand by my choice of 'The Breakfast Club'), it highlighted just how much we all love a good film; be it a weepie, a cheesy '80s dance film, a black and white classic, a thriller or a film of mystery and intrigue.

The rather lovely and fabulous Metal Mummy has harnessed our, and her, love of 'movies' to create this new meme which I'm quite looking forward to. Her choice for this week is Films of the 21st Century which is a lovely broad topic. Only problem is that we're only allowed to choose one. This has caused much consternation for me for the last hour or so, but I kept coming back to the one film that hubby was shocked I hadn't chosen in my Listography. At the time I told him that I didn't love it as much as the others, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since. I may have to dig it out later and watch it.

For my choice I present you with:

Love Actually

I adore this film! Sitting here and trying to pinpoint why has launched me into a deeply analytical mood.

The Cast:

Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Rowan Atkinson, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy: British Film Royalty! Wow! What an absolute achievement to get that many stars together for a film. But they're not the only ones, consider them the senior royals if you will. We are then graced with the Wills and Harrys, Zaras and Peters of the acting world: Martin Freeman, Kiera Knightley, Kris Marshall, Joanna Page, Andrew Lincoln, Martine McCutcheon, and little Thomas Brodie-Sangster. The ensemble is amazing, no doubt! The fact that they are all British is even better! Good on you Mr. Curtis!

However, aside from the show of national pride that is exhibited in this extravaganza, the reason I like it is because I feel it is the epitome of the big cast film. There have been several in the past decade or so: Crash, 2012, and of course the Harry Potter films. To me though, this was one of the first films where there weren't names chosen for impact or to draw in the crowds, the actors were chosen because they fitted together so well. And the clearly established relationships that some of them have is endearing to watch. When Emma Thompson bumps into her 'brother' Hugh Grant back-stage at the school play, I liked to think the warmth was at least slightly realistic.

The Music:

I know it's mostly Girls Aloud and The Sugababes but there were other groups in there too: Kelly Clarkson, Dido, Maroon 5, Eva Cassidy, Norah Jones, Texas, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding and Craig Armstrong. The talent is immense! The music perfectly matches the mood of so many scenes; who else could have got Hugh Grant wiggling his bum so provocatively, or accompanied the tears of Emma Thompson so well? And I'm sorry but the passion of 'Too Lost in You' gets me every time!

The Meetings:

All the different ways that the different story-lines meet up, interweave and flow seamlessly are intriguing and get me drawing an imaginary mind-map every time. The wedding, the reception, the play, the airport. It's so damned clever.

The Scenes:

I have three favourite scenes that I have to watch every time.

  1. Hugh Grant dancing to Girls Aloud. Classic, hysterical, and oh so embarrassing!
  2. Hugh Grant kicking arse with Billy Bob's arrogant American President! Yeah you tell him what every person in this country wanted Tony Blair to tell George W. Bush! And yeah! It's because of a girl, even better! Hugh Grant for Prime Minister!
  3. Emma Thompson listening to the Joni Mitchell CD and crying. I will always sob when I watch this. Her husband has bought her what could be the most romantic Christmas present ever, a CD of her favourite artist despite hating the music. The only problem is that she knows that the expensive necklace that she saw him buy the other day is therefore for another woman then. How bittersweet? He's been romantic, but to another woman. Such a heartbreaking moment.

The ultimate Christmas Eve film!

Have you seen it in another light? I hope so.

Now pop over to the linky and see which other films you can be persuaded to watch!

"…let me count the ways."

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"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death. "
By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I'm not a poet, and generally not into poetry, but by God that woman had passion. Imagine how strongly she felt about the person she wrote that for. Oh hang on, I don't have to imagine, I know.

So excuse the soppiness dear reader, but here's why I love my husband:

He is thoughtful. It's the little things that count and make your life easier. Half an hour ago we started getting ready to go to bed, I walked into the kitchen and my tablets were sat there on the counter next to a glass of water. Next to that was exactly half a glass of milk. Sometimes in the morning if I'm struggling to wake up, I'll stagger downstairs to find my cereal bowl and toast plate out, a spoon and knife next to them, bread in the toaster ready.

He is calm, I am not. I am hot-headed, tempestuous, stroppy and generally very high-maintenance. He deals with it all. Sometimes he doesn't react in the correct manner straightaway, but generally on a day to day basis, life with him is calm and peaceful (unless he's forgotten to empty the bin or not paired the socks). Having grown-up as the youngest of four children, life could get fraught. Even now, I struggle to keep calm sometimes, he helps.

He is funny. He jokes that he is the funniest person I know and, aside from The Boy who is unintentionally funny, he is. I've not been able to appreciate his humour much since The Boy's arrival, tiredness has removed my funny bone (not literally, it's a metaphor see?), but he is humorous.

He gets me. He understands why I get wound up and that it's usually hiding a deeper upset, he knows how to react and he backs me up. He never offers a controversial opinion without the go-ahead, as he knows that I probably don't want to hear that. There is never any pressure or guilt laid thick.

He is my soul-mate. From the moment that I saw him at the end of the train station underpass I knew that he was The One. He reminded me that that was 11yrs ago the other week, guiltily I had to admit that I hadn't realised the date. This year we will have been married for ten happy years, long may it continue!

Togetherness

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Tara set us a lovely challenge this week, a real heart-warming theme especially for Valentine's Day: "This week's theme is: Togetherness. You, your children, your other half, your siblings, friends, lovers, Romans."

It's a fabulous theme and thought-provoking for a new family. This is our second Valentine's Day with The Boy in our lives, but probably the first time that I've analysed how our relationship has changed since he arrived. We are shattered. We never seem to have time for ourselves, evenings are spent washing bottles, tidying up, ironing, paperwork, cleaning; all the things that you can't do when you've got a curious toddler around. We have to make an effort to remember to talk to each other. We can't do impulsive things anymore like going out for dinner at the drop of a hat, or popping out to the cinema because there's nothing on television.

And yet, we have never felt more complete. The Boy is amazing and astounds us daily with the way he enhances our lives. We cannot remember a time when he wasn't in our lives, it certainly must have been more boring and superficial!

Valentine's Day is a time for couples to show how much they love each other, but then we only have to look at our son to quantify it. The Boy is the ultimate symbol of our love.

My Top 5 Good Things About Having Children

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Whilst reading twitter earlier, I realised that I hadn't put any posts on my blog for over a week. When your blog is not very old anyway, a week is a long time! Then I saw a tweet from @MetalMummy about a listography from @KateTakes5. Kate's idea is along the lines of the Wordless Wednesdays, Silent Sundays and The Gallery (all of which I'm pretty rubbish at remembering to do) but is a list with a topic.

So this week's theme is as follows:

My Top 5 Good Things About Having Children

1) Bearing in mind the time of year, it's got to be be Christmas hasn't it? The Boy's little face when he was 'ope'-ning his presents was priceless. He got a little excited and wanted to 'ope'-n every present he saw from then on in. He also adores the 'Chris (tmas) tree' and likes to go and examine all the baubles. Aside from the religious origins, it's what Christmas is all about isn't it?

2) Soft-play centres. I love them! Hubby loves them! The Boy loves them! Especially Coconuts, an excellent (if not pricey) local centre. There's an awful lot of wiffy play centres out there though, aren't there? But find a good one (like Coconuts) and wahay! The ballpits, the tunnels, going the wrong way up the slides (and trying to avoid getting told off!), we love it all.

3) Finally the downstairs of the house is constantly tidy-ish. I've managed to train hubby that stuff needs to be put away or it will be eaten or broken. Aside from The Boy's toys everywhere, the place is presentable. This is a major feat in our household.

4) Playing with his toys. The range of toys that are available nowadays is completely unbelievable. I used to have to play with a cardboard box and a wooden spoon (ok not quite, but you get the picture).

5) The look on his face when he looks at me. Absolute unconditional love. He doesn't care how many zits I've got, if I'm wearing clothes that have snot stains on them (his not mine), or if I'm a size or seven too big. I'm his mummy and he loves me. And I absolutely adore him with my whole heart, he is a complete and utter treasure and amazes me daily with all the things he's learning how do to. I grew him, that's the cleverest thing I have ever done!
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Apologies to Kate for two things: one is that I'm not very good at telegraphic writing, secondly I've changed it from kids to children in my list.

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