Alana's Commonplace Book: Entry 011
Reviews, What NOT to Watch & Saved Posts
Welcome to my Commonplace Book — it’s supposed to be a weekly digest of the articles, videos, photos, music and/or ideas that I’ve saved and collected because I thought they were worth sharing — with you! But sometimes it doesn’t show up every week and I’m working on that.
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It feels like it’s been a long time since I wrote but I only missed a week. And that was for a good reason - I was part of the 100 Year Anniversary Alumni Marching Band at my high school! It was so much fun. So many friends and family came to watch and hang out and the support meant a lot to me. I have been very slowly combing through the footage and photos that people sent me of the two nights to make something but I’m finding it so daunting. I will eventually post something to Instagram though so make sure you’re following me there, if you aren’t already!
A Movie Review
Young Woman and the Sea - Disney+
Review:
This movie deserved a full theatrical release. Evidently, it was going to go straight to streaming but it did so well in test screenings that they gave it a limited release. SHAMEFUL. I really want to watch it again, actually. The beauty and power of the human spirit that God gave us, the courage and sacrifice of a mother, the ability of friendship, support and even setbacks to spur us on to greater things than we could accomplish alone. It is a powerful story the whole family can enjoy.
Watch It For: Delightful acting, a compelling story with several twists and turns and bring the tissues!
Watch Out For: The film definitely grapples with sexism and the role of women so you may need to pause and explain some things to younger kids or just let it go over their heads. The father is frustratingly unsupportive and some people may not like that the mother and daughters disobey him but honestly, if you’re the type of person who can’t watch a movie without treating it like it’s a corporate training video, then you’re probably not reading this. Just enjoy the film :)
What Not to Watch
The Perfect Couple - Netflix
I was seeing a lot of press for this show and I like Liev Schreiber and Nicole Kidman so I thought, let me check it out. It does make you think it might feel like an Agatha Christie mystery but ultimately, I sort of quit it a few episodes in. There’s no one to root for and I’m getting sick of shows like this to be honest. And I was pretty insulted that the fiancé, who is marrying into this ridiculously rich family in Nantucket, is considered so below the son’s station because she’s from EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Of all the places they could have had her be from! That’s where I spent most of my childhood and where my mom’s side of the family is from. Well, her parents were from South Carolina originally but my mom and her siblings were born and raised in Easton. And, yes, it’s far from posh. But this girl has no home training at all. She’s disrespectful to the mother, acts like she’s being forcibly inducted into a cult when she wanders outside in her bra and boxers to free a lady bug that was in her room ( she couldn’t open the window?? and WHO does that??) and the mother, Nicole Kidman, asks why she isn’t wearing the family robe. And then later they are going to take a family photo for the press (Kidman is an author and some magazine is there to interview her for her new book) and the fiancé is literally wearing a t-shirt. Like - we have SOME sense in Easton. Annoying. And I’m not the only one who felt the show was hurried and the character development flat.
DO NOT RECOMMEND
Emily in Paris
There is so much darn hype around this show that I had to see what it was all about. I never watched Gilmore Girls or Sex in the City so I can’t compare it to those. It’s fine, I guess. It’s not really uplifting. It’s kind of soulless actually. Although, I love Lily Collins in this. She’s pitch perfect. But the whole singing plot line for her friend Mindy is beyond cringe. Ashley Park does her best, I guess. I preferred her in Only Murders in the Building (which I have not kept up with and need to resume so I can review here!)I also enjoy Camille Émilie Razat. Personally, I don’t prefer to see “normal” people in shows that aren’t about normal people. Camille’s character is supposed to be gorgeous and frustratingly likeable and Razat is perfect here.
I also just love listening to people speak in other languages and speak English in those languages. If you enjoy a French show and haven’t seen Lupin, you must! Watch it with subtitles because you can’t miss out on Omar Sy’s voice (and whoever does the English makes it feel cheesy). It’s a great mystery show with some swearing, some “romance” (as I call it when telling the kids why we they can’t watch something which usually means sexual situations; I’ll clarify that as they get older….) It’s a fun show. I tried to watch Call My Agent! after I watched the first season of Lupin, to get my French Fix, but it’s got the same lack of soul that Emily in Paris does but it’s not funny.
Surprisingly Good
Dana Carvey is crushing it as Joe Biden on SNL. I gave up on SNL years ago but I’ve been watching the cold opens and yesterday’s on the VP Debate actually had me laughing out loud:
I Saved These For You
A photographer who captures photos of museum goers who match the art
I’m a firm believer that we need to let nature take its course on people who can’t tell whether something is AI or not. When Elon Musk was taking heat for reposting an AI ad about Kamala Harris (which he captioned “This is amazing ::laughing emoji::”), I didn’t weigh in but I wanted to say, “C’mon, people!”. Here is another one where the comments may bring you both despair and hope for humanity:
The instant world of the year 2000 as imagined in the 1960s. If only!
Laura Ramoso is a Canadian stand-up comedian who does impressions of her German mother and Italian father. I LOVE her German mother bits so here’s a recent one which I can only imagine is too true since Laura just got married:
I have a rule that I don’t leave negative comments on social media. I’ve been burned too many times! But I will say them to my people so here’s the post and after it, what I wanted to comment :)
This is sillyness. So what that someone's experience is not the "truth of the universe"? No one's is. America is wonderfully diverse and we have plenty to learn from our neighbors and communities where many languages are spoken and perspectives are shared. This is such a limited and sad way of looking at the American experience and it sounds like he needs to get out of whatever his bubble is in Florida and stop making it a "universal" problem. He's mischaracterizing 331 million people, about 1/4 of which are first and second generation immigrants not to mention that this is a nation of immigrants who brought their customs and languages and blended them into what we call the United States in the first place. GOH
A Final Word
“Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the great encounter - the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self.”
―Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers
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