"Les Miserables" - a lovely movie

[NOTE: This review has spoilers beside the photo of Isabelle Allen as Cosette and beside the photo of Russell Crowe as Javert.]

"Les Miserables" is a beautiful cinematic opera with very few spoken lines and an overload of emotion. The main roles are filled by people who are known more for their acting than their singing. They all sing sweetly (non-operatically), and with fervor. Amazingly, the scenes were filmed as the songs were actually sung; there is no lip-syncing. The movie is unique among Hollywood works in that the word "God" is used in prayer and not in cursing. Faith is a central theme. The film's few flaws should not spoil anyone's enjoyment of the lush melodies and inspiring story. I plan to purchase both the soundtrack on CD and the movie on DVD. I know I'll watch it again, just as I re-view "On the Waterfront" and "The Year of Living Dangerously." I love movies that address what life is really about and how we can prevail against adversity.

My husband, Mike, and I went to see "Les Miserables" on Christmas day. The theatre was packed - we had to sit in one of the front rows. At the end of the film, people clapped. How often do you hear applause in a movie theatre?

Years ago, we saw "Les Miserables" as a stage play. We met a woman in line. She said, "This is my 28th time seeing it." I asked why. She explained that she had seen the play all over the county - like Dead Heads following the Grateful Dead, I guess, or Phish fans following Phish, I guess, 'cept with fewer drugs.

Why did the woman travel all over the country to see "Les Mis?" She explained, "I love the play because it's about the best in people. It's about mercy and redemption."

And holy is your name

 

Madonna and Child by Jason Jenicke

When the Infinite meets the finite, there are no words. But we keep trying to find them.

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
        - From East Coker in Four Quartets, by T.S. Eliot

Today at Mass I was sitting calmly, thinking about nothing, as I watched the adult acolyte, Marie, set the altar for Communion preparations. She quietly fussed about the table like a woman working in her own kitchen, for her own family, before a meal.

All of a sudden tears came into my eyes.

Something to do "after the world ends" - Birth 2012

Image from Mayan calendar

My friend Jim Palka sent me the following information about Birth 2012, a positive reaction to the "end of the world" on 12/21/12 that was supposedly foretold by an ancient Mayan calendar. In my  world, Birth 2012 would be called an "International Day of Prayer." I believe it's the same thing with a different name.

Here is the information:

There will be a global event called Birth 2012 this Saturday with perhaps 100 million people participating to change the consciousness of planet. And there will be something called the “global moment” that will take place at 2:00 pm U.S. central time. It's when everyone in the world who is participating will hold the vision of a new world, a new Earth, a more enlightened humanity.

Could this effort shift the consciousness of the planet? Does organized positive intention work? Does prayer work? Some of us think so.

If you are interested in "Birth 2012," and if you are interested in some names of people involved, here is more info:

Believe it, Charlie: Don't Worry Baby is LIVE

One day not too long ago, I told my son Charlie a story that happened during the first month of my marriage to his pop.

 

Charlie, who is in his 30s, looked me in the eye and responded, "I'm sorry, Mum, but I don't believe that."

 

Believe it, Charlie.

  

I'm thrilled to announce that my new book, Don't Worry Baby - A 1972 Adventure on Wheels, is LIVE on Kindle, priced at $3.99.

 

The Life of Pi - a mystery to me

The tiger on the lifeboat in "The Life of Pi"

 

I couldn't wait to see "The Life of Pi." I hadn't read the book, but I had seen the trailer featuring a tiger and a whale - that's all I needed.

I saw the movie with my husband and we both enjoyed the story-within-a-story about the boy stranded on a lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger.

However, we are still both scratching our heads about the symbolism alluded to in the story-outside-the-story that enveloped that tale.

50 Reasons my Daughter is Grateful to be Car-less

Anna (second from left) in Uganda

My daughter, Anna Rose Sweet, is addicted to travel. Her blog post, "50 Reasons I'm Grateful to be Car-less", recently got special notice in WordPress. She had almost 800 viewers in one day!

Read it! You will be moved.

How did we ever raise our kids? "Parental Guidance" sounds like a page from real life

Marisa Tomei, Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Tom Everett Scott and kids in "Parental Guidance"

So. I was sitting with a bunch of friends my age - all of us grandmothers. We were talking about old-school punishment. One woman remembered being advised to spank with a wooden spoon that had a hole in it "to cut down on wind resistance."

 

The conversation evolved to today's parenting styles.

 

One person in the group told a story about being corrected by her children re: how to handle the grandchildren. "They told me not to praise them," she said. "That's a bad thing now."

We started laughing, and the examples flowed from there.