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Lorna Mae

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Everything posted by Lorna Mae

  1. Apologies if this is not the right thread, but: I'm curious about the movie Diana, with Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews. It seems to be very disliked. Why? Inaccurate, or just badly told?
  2. Okay, I just got this. Margaret had her first stroke while she was reciting naughty limericks. Part of her recovery was speech exercise: reciting children's limericks. That would be rather discouraging.
  3. Just saw Ruritania. Two things: 1. Anyone ever read The Queen and I? I see there was a TV movie made of it, about five years ago, so I can't believe Peter Morgan never heard of it. Election Night, 1992. The Queen goes to bed before the results are finalized. Next thing, she and the rest of the Windsors have been deposed by a rogue party and sent to live in council housing. Things fall further and further apart, both in the family and in the country, in only a few months. Anyway, TQaI is a satire, worth reading, though I do not recommend the "sequel", Queen Camilla. The opening scene was clever, don't get me wrong, but it makes me wonder how well known TQaI is. The author is the same woman who wrote about Adrian Mole, fwiw. 2. During the run-up to Her Late Majesty's funeral, I was watching BBC World pretty much nonstop, and I remember a lot of people being trotted out for sound bites, like townspeople near Balmoral, and palace workers with unique jobs. I don't remember any specific job titles that were mentioned, but some of them were along the lines of Herb Strewer.
  4. My husband and I agreed that she would have given anything for the button on the chair arm that she could push and open the Wilson Trapdoor underneath Blair.
  5. The actor playing William *utterly nailed* The Shy Smile. Diana smiled that way -- sort of scrunching up the mouth, head down, eyes to the side -- and so did William in his teens and early twenties.
  6. Similarly, I recognized the book Harry was reading: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Except, that was a paperback, and PS had only had its first hardcover release in late June of 1997. So even a hardcover would not have had time to get dog-eared, as that copy was. (Also, people may forget that HP was not huge right away. It was during the run-up to Goblet of Fire that people were binging the first three books, and the movies were getting underway. So late 1999 and 2000 for the start of Pottermania.) But hey, how could they not sneak HP in there? Especially in light of Prince Harry's nickname at Eton. 🤫 And as far as 1990s pop culture, I've always felt a bit sad that Diana never got to see Titanic. I bet she would have loved it, both for the spectacle, and for identifying with Rose.
  7. "And in the city it's a pity 'cause we just can't hide/Tinted windows don't mean nothin' -- they know who's inside!" Run-DMC, 1986. That ring looked like an enlarged version of a pinkie ring. I like the shot of the drink Henri Paul left on the bar. IIRC, he was drinking something strong and watered-down, like Pernod, but the color made it *possibly* look like fruit juice. It wasn't, though. His BAC was more than twice the legal limit *and* he was taking prescription meds that didn't mix with alcohol. 'Tis a shame he didn't immediately cause a fender-bender while un-parking...
  8. Mac looks really different. He’s lost weight again, but perhaps he also crossed some aging event horizon. Incredible that there’s a second room in Charlie’s apartment. Moving camera reminded me of “Charlie Work”. And in a later scene in the bar, I’m sure I saw the otherwise steady shot tremble a bit, then settle down.
  9. The VCR was from Ed, Dan's father. "Is that what the VCR was for -- to soften us up?" "No, the VCR was second prize in a sales contest. If I'd won second prize, I'd be in Hawaii right now, and you wouldn't have to put up with me at all!" As for Bev, she only started trying to lavish the Conners with gifts after she divorced Al and had a big settlement to spend. She wanted to give her old car to Becky, and it was Dan who said no, because Becky was supposed to earn a car. So Roseanne got Bev's old car, and Becky got Roseanne's old car. "No, my dad already 'fixed' it -- that's why I can't get it out of the driveway." "Car doesn't have to run for you to live in it, little girl..." ----------------------------- And waitaminut. Since when does Mark work as a security guard? I thought the episode would turn on that -- Darlene saying "Okay, if Mark has a job, maybe I don't have to do this after all."
  10. Not quite. She bought DJ Super Nintendo, which Roseanne and Dan had already purchased for him, and offered Becky her car, but R ended up taking the car and passing on her old car to Becky. Darlene got nothing, which led to one of my favorite tag scenes. "Grandpa Al! Hi, it's Darlene...No really!...What did I get? Oh, nothing...I dunno, probably because I stuck up for you too many times...So tell me -- when are you coming to visit?"
  11. Not just a game: the entire Super Nintendo system! Which Dan had already bought and hidden, while he and Roseanne claimed they couldn’t afford it, to make the payoff worthwhile. “Mom, Mom, look what Grandma bought me!” Audience groans. Then she offered her car to Becky, and Darlene was somehow overlooked. One of my favorite tag scenes, always cut in syndication, is Darlene calling Al and telling him how Bev was “really sucking up…What did I get? Oh nothing…probably because I stuck up for you one too many times. So when are you coming to visit?” The car gift was a point of pride, though. Dan insisted that Becky had to earn a car. “Dad, if I had a car, it would be easier for me to get to work!” “Bull — the minute you get a car, you’ll find some excuse to quit work.” And my friend watching with me says, “What does he mean — quit work? Once you start working, you can’t let up!”
  12. What’s being celebrated is that the Gunpowder Plot did not come off. Somebody blabbed, and IIRC, Fawkes was caught black-handed before he could light the fuse. The purpose of the bonfire is to burn him in effigy.
  13. About ten years ago, my MIL paid me to declutter her friend’s house. (They’ve both since passed.) He seemed okay mentally, but physically he was in need of a visiting nurse. Except he was mortified to have someone he didn’t know see his house. Not a job for Matt Paxton, just that he never threw/put anything away. I got everything clean and organized, arrangements were made for a visiting nurse…and then he started getting disoriented. Red flag when he called MIL to grumble that the KFC he often walked to had disappeared. Musta closed up and reopened as a Dairy Queen, because that was all he could find. MIL finally figured out that he’d turned left instead of right at the end of his street. And there were other things that, from his POV, changed or disappeared overnight. And I can’t help thinking that this was the result of my changing his environment. The ratchet set spilling out of its case in the foyer, and the heap of empty water bottles in the kitchen corner had been his guideposts. Without them, he didn’t know which way to turn. He very soon went into assisted living, which was good in the long run; maybe I shouldn’t feel so guilty. ETA: Since when was Dan’s father a drunk? He was a workaholic.
  14. He said not a tampon. He said he wanted to live inside her trousers, but with his luck, he’d be a tampon instead, and get flushed away: not desirable. Also, IRL, according to the transcript, Andrew P-B was not home that night. He was away on business, and C + C talked about how they wished the job would last a long, long time. Dunno about the kids. Anyway, that was a heck of a cold open! I never gave much thought to how that phone convo was recorded.
  15. Right on! Plus which, it’s diplomatic. Diana was a fashion icon, and yes, a known shopaholic. If she had stopped at Capri and not even visited any shops, that would have been seen as a major dis.
  16. They’re not doing the callbacks anymore. You know: after the reveal, some of the clues are explained. “The shot of the Love Boat is a reference to Contestant’s work as a cruise ship singer,” and like that. Shame; I liked seeing how many, if any, I’d gotten.
  17. I dunno. I think with Kate, if you seek her monument, you’ll soon be able to look around you, and with Pete, there’s a bit more of a need to sell him. Y’all probably know more about it than I do — what are his prospects? I didn’t expect to be so sad. And I haven’t even seen the goodnight yet. I’ll have to check Hulu because my local affiliate only showed the last ten seconds. They were stuck on a still of Natasha, and I thought, “ Oh man, of all the goodnights I don’t want to miss…”
  18. I’ve decided to watch this show through the same lens as when I’m watching an animated sitcom. On The Simpsons, “Marge starts a cosmetics business“ does not mean that Marge will be selling cosmetics for the next 2+ seasons. It means things will go hilariously wrong, and by the end of the episode, she will quit the cosmetics gig with no noticeable dent in her or the family’s finances. On American Dad, “Stan gets fired“ does not mean he’ll have to move his family to Virginia and pump gas for a living. He’ll launch some ridiculous scheme, and get his job back by the end of the episode. So it will go with the contrabassoon and building the house.
  19. OMG, you are so right! Good observation.
  20. Okay, but do you at least agree that Rachel should have immediately told the accountant or whoever at VF that she had used the company card in this way? If she'd presented it as "I probably wouldn't be in the USA right now if I hadn't," as MaggieG suggested above, it would have been a lot more forgivable. The longer one waits to confess something, the worse it looks.
  21. Ah. Well, I read Rachel's book, and that is in there, but it's easy to miss. Okay, yes, that's terrible. I still say, though, that AmEx would have been a lot more sympathetic if Rachel had spoken to them immediately. At least immediately on her return to the USA; it would be difficult to have this convo on a shaky international phone connection. But not a month later when the statement was sent to her. Correct me again if I'm wrong, but ISTR that she spent the time before she got the AmEx bill just sweating and praying that Anna would reimburse her in time. If fraudulent charges were made, that's all the more reason to bring AmEx customer service in right away.
  22. I read Rachel's book, and I was constantly yelling, "You're doing the same thing to AmEx that Anna's doing to you!" Saying "I don't have it; whaddya want from me." I've had credit card crises before*, as well as a rent crisis once, and what you do is tell the people you owe that you've just been laid off or whatever, and work out a payment plan. DH and I were able to keep our apartment, and only do slight damage to our credit, by means of communicating with our creditors. Y'know, so we looked like honest people and not deadbeats. Rachel should have called AmEx again the instant she was back in the States. "Yes, I did charge that amount at that place, but only because scary guys were standing there to make sure I did. I'm not trying to get out of paying, but I can't pay all this at one go. What can I give you per month to stop the bleeding? I don't want to incur late charges on top of the 60K, after all." IIRC, she spent some time trying to get the charge removed entirely from her card, and I'm like, "That only works if the card was stolen and somebody else used it at the hotel!" It's like she expected AmEx to just "understand" that she couldn't pay...the same way Anna griped about people she owed money to. Perhaps Anna's attitude rubbed off on Rachel a bit. *though all the charges were 100% my responsibility, made willingly, not under duress.
  23. Okay, jokes about deceased family members...Back in the '90s, an almost-cousin of my dad's died. He had been a gambler. I wouldn't say a notorious or compulsive gambler, but he was in Atlantic City a lot, not to get salt water taffy. Anyway, my parents (I didn't live with them) lived close enough to attend the funeral. During the procession to the cemetery, my dad's cousin was driving, other cousin in the passenger seat, mom and dad in the back. My dad muses aloud, "I wonder if that guy with the blond hair* was there just to make sure it was really "Mike" in the casket?" Meaning, he might have owed money to some scary people, and Blond Guy was sent to check up that it was a for-real funeral and not Mike faking his death and escaping to Minnesota. "Oh, it gets better," my mom said when she told me. "Sal laughed so hard he fell on the steering wheel and honked the horn. Then he had to pretend he was crying when the people ahead looked at us." To be sure, my mom also said she didn't think there was any truth to what my dad said. After his retirement, Mike had actually spent less time in AC and more time around the house, fixing it up. "But it's the kind of thing you say when you can't say what you're really thinking...that someday, one of them will be in the casket, and there'll be one less car in the procession." *Pretty big sore thumb in a room full of mostly Italians and a scattering of Poles.
  24. Nitpick: There’s a Place. I inherited that 45 and many others from my older sister. And I remember a friend looking at the B side, which takes up only about half the disk, and saying, “Damn, that’s a short song!”
  25. Carmen looked at a pile of junk and said “All this is ‘garage’.” I said “You left out a ‘B’!”
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