The Help, film/lit, followup: I liked the movie better than the book … and I will tell you why. I felt that a white person could not get the voice of a black person correct. I did not trust the narrator Skeeter. When you put it in movie form, I trusted the actresses playing the roles of the blacks and the whites. Go see the movie when it comes out in August. It will bring up a lot of good conversation. Oh, and I found this blog post interesting – It’s okay not to like The Help « A Critical Review of the novel The Help. I find myself feeling guilty or at least defensive for not adoring the book.
My friend and host for the sneak preview had these things to say … ” I loved it too! It is interesting how many different slants there are in the story and what a good job the movie did with all of them – growing into an adult, changing social mores, being black and white in the sixties south, women and social power, intimidation as a way of reinforcing the status quo, early feminism. Ten people could see it and take away 10 different “big ideas”. I think it will be a big hit… ”
We often acknowledge and argue that our perspectives are different, but I respect her opinion and I agree … I think it will be a big hit.
Three Cups of Tea, bookshelf: … and I did finally finish Three Cups of Tea! I enjoyed it very much despite the controversy.
Here are several reasons I like and recommend the book:
1. epigrams: The authors do a great job of using epigrams (a quotation set at the beginning of a literary work or one of its divisions to suggest its theme) to reveal their themes.
2. title: I liked the title and thought it perfect for an understanding of Mortenson’s journey ..
The title “Three Cups of Tea” refers to the way business is done in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The first time you have tea with someone, you are a stranger. Then the second time you are a friend, and the third time you are family (150; ch. 12). This is very important to the story, because Greg feels that he is at home in Asia, so it is his responsibility to build schools for them.
via Adam’s English 10 Blog: Three Cups of Tea Top 10 List.
3. quotes:
“Educate a boy, and your educate an individual. Educate a girl, and you educate a community.”
— African proverb, quoted by Greg Mortensen in Three Cups of Tea
“Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in the cities, but the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they’ve learned.”
— Greg Mortensen, Three Cups of Tea
“You can hand out condoms, drop bombs, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change.”
— Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea
“I’ve learned that terror doesn’t happen because some group of people somewhere like Pakistan or Afghanistan simply decide to hate us. It happens because children aren’t being offered a bright enough future that they have a reason to choose life over death.”
— Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea
via Good quotes from three cups of tea? 10 points best answer!!2? – Yahoo! Answers.
The Sweetest Thing, Elizabeth Musser, bookshelf: … now to read Elizabeth Musser’s new book The Sweetest Thing!
The Swimming Hole, Davidson NC, places, Davidson College, memory lane: What a great place … nothing snooty about it … we were members for 6 years! Happy 50th! And of course, one of my all time favorite stories as a Davidson College student is of two friends getting arrested for skinny dipping … actually underwear dipping … after hours … along with a professor who had climbed the fence too to talk with them. They all three had to go to court!
Back in 1960 or even before, Ed and Carol White were visiting friends out of state and heard about their community swimming pool. Back in Davidson, Ed and Carol gathered Shaw Smith, Bill Ward and Bob Currie in their living room to discuss the possibility of having a community pool in Davidson. Carol White remembers suggesting the name, “The Swimming Hole,” so people would not think they “were being uppity.”
The pool opened in 1961. Ed and Carol White’s daughter, Susan, was an early life guard. Reading the following “pool notes,” it is clear that a group of energetic citizens made the pool a reality … but just who they were and where they met to make this momentous decision? Like so many events 50 years ago, there seems to be some embellishment of the facts and quite a bit of disagreement about whose living room, den or deck provided space for these early discussions. No amount of phone calls could shed light on the land purchase (probably from the college), how it was initially financed, or when the construction began. And just who is Agnes Kuentzel? Do let us know – but in the meantime, smile and read on…
via The Swimming Hole at 50, and the Class of ’61 | DavidsonNews.net.
Amelie’s, restaurants, the law, trade dress: One of my favorite places … and from a legal perspective, “trade dress” is an interesting concept. Thank you, NB, for introducing me to Amelie’s.
Fans of Amelie’s, the bakery and hip hangout open 24-7 in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood, have always touted its idiosyncrasies: eclectic décor (those striped walls! those zany light fixtures!) and distinctive offerings (those layered tortes! that salted caramel brownie!).
Now its owners are suing a Florida bakery that opened as an Amelie’s, in partnership with the Charlotte people – but has since renamed itself Sophie’s. The question is: What makes Amelie’s Amelie’s?
Trademarks, trade secrets and something called “trade dress” – essentially the look of a place – are at hand.
Here’s what’s undisputed from both sides: Todd and Carole Binkowski were longtime Amelie’s fans when they lived in Charlotte. When the couple moved to Tampa, they and the Amelie’s owners – Lynn St. Laurent, Bill Lamb and Brenda Ische – agreed to go into partnership to see if an Amelie’s could work in the Hyde Park neighborhood there. People from Amelie’s worked on the new space’s look and food, and it opened in late February.
Then versions diverge.
The Amelie’s owners’ suit says the Binkowskis knew Amelie’s wanted to franchise, while Todd Binkowski said the goal was only to “prove” the business model, and that he did not expect to be treated like a franchisee.
via What makes Amelie’s Amelie’s? | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper.
Heat Burst, weird, weather, random: Never heard of this one ….
WICHITA, Kansas — Last night Wichita experienced a very rare weather phenomenon known as a “Heat Burst.” At 12:22 a.m. the temperature at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport was 85 degrees. At 12:44 the temperature spiked to 102 degrees. This was a 17 degree increase in only 20 minutes. Winds also gusted between 50 and 60 MPH. The heat burst winds and temperatures rapidly dissipated as they spread across Sedgwick and Southern Butler Counties.
A heat burst is caused when rain falls into very dry air, high up in the atmosphere. The rain quickly evaporates as it falls through the dry parcel of air and that parcel cools rapidly. This dense mass falls rapidly toward the ground, heating up as it compresses. When this hot ball of air hits the ground it spreads out in every direction creating very strong, warm and dry winds.
About an hour before the heat burst, wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour battered the Wichita metro area. This was due to outflow winds from severe weather south of the city, and not related to the heat burst.
via Wichita experiences rare ‘heat burst’ overnight – KSN TV, Kansas News and Weather.
Leonard Stern, Mad Libs, RIP: I never knew who created them, or even thought about them, but I loved them as a kid and my daughter still gives her brother one for Christmas every year.
Leonard Stern — a prolific television writer, producer and director — died Tuesday at age 88. Among his credits: a writer for The Honeymooners, Get Smart and McMillan and Wife — to name a few. Yet, his most enduring contribution may not be found in punch lines for the small screen — but rather in blank spaces. Stern co-created the popular word game Mad Libs with fellow comedy writer Roger Price in 1958. At the time of the game’s 50th anniversary, more than 110 million copies reportedly had been sold. Melissa Block and Michele Norris remember Leonard Stern.
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How DO you manage to find susch a variety of interesting but eclectic stuff??!!?