Hi and welcome to Episode Eight of Forecast Stormy. If you'd like to hear this as a podcast, you may do so at http://forecaststormy.libsyn.com/.
I know this will be a really unpopular movie review, but I have to give it. We rented MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. You’re probably aware the movie got rave reviews, and parts of it are worth raving about. The scenery is stunning, the chicks are adorable, and the penguins are magnificent. BUT….Come on! I realize it was a documentary and that the filmmakers didn’t want to interfere with nature, but would it have KILLED them to throw some bread or sardines to those poor starving penguins? Couldn’t SOMEBODY have given the poor little lone penguin a ride in a snowmobile so he wouldn’t die? How about a little shelter against the blizzards? Would any of that really have affected the balance of nature all that much? I thought this movie was to be a feel-good family movie, but it was more of a feel-BAD family movie. It was so pitiful! The female penguins – now starving because they haven’t eaten for months and having just given birth – trudge the seventy miles back to the sea to eat. One gets eaten by a leopard seal, and the beautiful voice of Morgan Freeman intones, “The seal has taken not one life but two. This female and the chick she won’t return to feed.” If you’re suffering from post-holiday depression, post-partum depression, a hangover, or even PMS, do yourself a favor and don’t watch this movie. If you’re suffering from a Pollyanna syndrome or you feel you’re just too darn happy, then by all means watch MARCH OF THE PENGUINS.
I finally got around to watching MOONSTRUCK. Cher won an Oscar for her starring role in this movie, and it’s an enjoyable flick. Cher plays a Brooklyn widow who falls in love with her fiancé’s brother, played by Nicholas Cage. The brother is a much better match for her than the fiancé (played by Vincent Gardenia) anyway. It’s a cute story and if you like romantic comedies, check it out.
I have two wonderful books to tell you about. The first is FORT WORTH KIDS’ VIEW by Marilyn Phillips and six of her former elementary school students. Marilyn says the Texas state curriculum requires elementary students to learn about their community but there wasn’t a book about Fort Worth, Texas that appealed to elementary level children. So she and these three third-grade and three fifth-grade students wrote a book. They traveled to different attractions all around the Fort Worth area and wrote up their findings. For example, one attraction was the Fort Worth Zoo. The address, phone number, URL, hours and ticket prices are given. This information is followed by an overall description of the zoo and a bulleted list of zoo features. Then each child tells what he or she liked best about the zoo. The book is also filled with pictures. It’s a delightful book, and I think every community should have a book like this. To learn more about the book, visit http://www.prairieriverpublishing.com/.
The tagline for the next book, LAUGHING AND LEARNING: ADVENTURES IN PARENTING is “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll identify.” And if you have children, that’s certainly true. This book features CHICKEN-SOUP-FOR-THE-SOUL-type anecdotes from parents the world over. You will find yourself blinking back tears; you will identify; but you’ll laugh, too. Listen to this anecdote from the section YOU CAN’T REALLY DIE FROM EMBARRASSMENT. It’s titled “Chocolate Rat?” and is by Debra Massaro:
It was my first night alone with my newborn baby. My husband worked nights as a deputy, and his paternity leave had ended. After hours of pacing the floor trying to get my colicky infant to sleep, I was finally able to lay him in his bassinet. I hadn’t eaten all day, so I sluggishly made my way to the kitchen for a snack. I went back into my room to check on the baby, and feel asleep while eating my treat. Before long, my crying son woke me. I sleepily looked into the bassinette and was horrified to find a small brownish-black pellet by his feet. In a panic, I called my husband and told him to come home and find the rat that had left droppings in our baby’s bassinette. My husband rushed home from patrol, looked in the bassinette and asked, “Honey, have you been eating a Ho-Ho?”
Michelle Borba, author of NO MORE MISBEHAVIN’ and MORAL INTELLIGENCE calls this book “a joy;” and Kay Allenbaugh, author of the CHOCOLATE FOR A WOMAN’S SOUL series says, “These true tales will delight, surprise, and add richness to your life.” To learn more about LAUGHING AND LEARNING: ADVENTURES IN PARENTING (which is available as both a paperback and an e-book download), visit http://www.graceabraham.com/page6.html .
As always, if you have any ideas for me, or any movies, books or TV shows to recommend, please e-mail me at [email protected].
