GimletBlog

Back in April, I participated in a Group Read (essentially an on-line book group) of Northanger Abbey on the Republic of Pemberley web site. Every week there was a limerick contest on a specific topic, and my limerick won the final contest for “The Dreadful Black Veil” (a reference to Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, parodied in NA).

I received a nice goodie box of homemade truffles and notecards, and better yet, my limerick has been printed on a T-shirt available in the Pemberley Gift Shoppe (no, I don’t get any of the profits; they all go to the very worthy cause of keeping Pemberley operational). Click on the picture of the shirt to see it, and a lot of other really cool Jane Austen stuff, in the store. And if you can’t brag your swag on your own blog … well, I don’t know what this world is coming to.

This sunny June morning marked a milestone for the Gimlet family: Thing One is graduating from elementary school and moving on to middle school! While it seems scarcely possible that Thing One can be old enough for this milestone (and the Parents Gimlet certainly aren’t old enough be the parents of a pre-teen *cough*), here we are. We have plenty of predictable and pretentious advice for our siblings who are just beginning their elementary school adventures, but for now we’ll confine ourselves to saying that it all happens very quickly, and be sure to take lots of pictures.

Here’s a class photo, which can be clicked on to show a larger image. The fifth graders are divided into three classes, but do many activities as a group. Most of these kids have been together since kindergarten, and many will attend the same middle school. Thing One is in the third row from the bottom of the picture, on the right, displaying his usual Aggie pride.

Thing One would be perfectly happy to spend his summer playing World of Warcraft with Uncle B and the Stumbling Fool Guild, but he will also be going to two Boy Scout camps (both 11 year-old camp and regular BSA camp), continuing his swimming lessons, attending orchestra day camp prior to joining the middle school’s junior orchestra in the fall, and any other character-building activities we can think up.

… did I mention it all goes by too quickly?

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Seems like everyone is watching movies except for Thing Two, who feels a little left out … so this entry is an update on our littlest guy.

He can almost stand without holding onto anything, and loves to crawl all around the house. He likes books with pictures and photos of animals; his favorite book is I am a Bunny, which his uncle, aunt, and cousins sent him from California. We usually have to read it a few times each day. His first two teeth are just poking through the gums, making him a bit edgy at times. It’s difficult to tell from this picture, but he has long, flowing strawberry blonde hair with a slight curl to it … getting rather shaggy, actually. He’s scheduled to have his first haircut in July, along with his birthday portraits.

The movie Cars I watched today was great. Everything in the movie is a car, even the bugs. They’re Volkswagen bugs. My favorite part was when the army truck in Radiator Springs set up the flag with army bugle music and the Volkswagen bus, which was in his peace house, started Jimi Hendrix’s version of The Star Spangled Banner, and the army truck said, “Stop that disrespectful music!” I liked when the tow truck found and lost his hood in the end, and also in the end, when some cars were in jail. I’m soon going to see Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties!

Recommendations: I’d recommend this movie to my cousins. It’s a very good story and funny, too.

The Gimlet’s recommendations: Everyone in the family will love Cars, especially someone who is an old car buff. Paul Newman plays a Hudson. As with all Pixar films, you must stay through the credits for some great extra treats. However, I cannot share Thing One’s cheerful optimism about the Garfield sequel.

Last night we watched Kandukondain Kandukondain (aka I Have Found It), a Bollywood adaptation/modernization of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.

Technically KK is a Kollywood film because it was made in South India in the Tamil language (Bollywood being the Mumbai-based, Hindi language films). However, the DVD case identifies it as “Bollywood” no doubt for those of us who aren’t as familiar with the finer distinctions.

The Wikipedia entries linked above provide a nice summary of genre conventions, etc. so I’ll just add that KK is a lively, exotic approach to Austen’s classic story. The lavish song and dance numbers are fun. While the plot has been altered to accommodate Indian culture and a 21^st-century setting, KK stays true to the spirit of the original novel. The cast is excellent (and as the Gimlet notes, all the Bollywood actresses are beautiful).

The DVD may be available at a specialty rental store. Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, the two biggies, don’t carry it. Netflix does, but without English subtitles. Scarecrow, of course, has it (gloat). We purchased our copy (distributed by Kino Video) through Amazon. It features optional English subtitles if your Tamil is rusty, song clips and music video montages.

A newer Austen/Bollywood hybrid is Bride and Prejudice, also starring Aishwarya Rai. It’s available at the major rental chains and, with the exception of the opening song/dance number, is entirely in English. This film, considered to be a Bollywood-lite movie targeting Western audiences, is good, frothy fun as well and more exuberant in tone than KK (much as Pride and Prejudice is a livelier, more sparkling read than Sense and Sensibility). Fans of Lost will enjoy seeing Naveen Andrews play a singing, dancing Mr. Bingley — and, as the Gimlet keeps pointing out, the actresses are all very pretty! Pre-blog, I reviewed B&P in detail and highly recommend it.

In short, Kandukondain Kandukondain is worth finding — as the titular song suggests, you’ll be glad you did.

P.S.: Thing One has several summer films on his wish list so he and the Gimlet will share their comments on those. They will see Pixar’s Cars later this afternoon.

On the bright side, there are no spiders anywhere else in the house.

GimletBlog HQ is extremely interested in learning more about our new friend. Armchair domestic naturalists (and who isn’t, when you find a spider in your tub?), feel free to try your hand at identifying this splendid specimen, and leave your guess in the Comments. Click on the image to view a close-up.

The school year is drawing to a close, and that means it’s time to attend an elementary school orchestra/band concert. When Thing One started taking lessons last year, we were doubtful that the kids would be ready to perform come June, but the teacher makes the most out of the weekly lessons! The band and orchestra play a winter and summer concert each year.

This year’s summer concert was also good. Thing One is one of three cellists. He did a great job and we’re very proud of him for sticking with his practicing! He will join the middle school’s junior orchestra in the fall.

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We’ve received word that stumblingfool.org will be down for several days starting around June 22. We’ll keep you posted on exact outage dates.

6/19 ETA: Looks like GimletBlog will be unavailable starting Friday, 6/23 through about Wednesday, 7/5.