We were supposed to head south with our kids this week for spring break, but the day before we left, the director of the NIH said he wouldn't recommend non-essential travel right now. So we canceled our plans, and if you've ever tried to cancel air travel, hotels, rental cars, and tee times, you'll know exactly what kind of day I had on Saturday. Ugh.
Fortunately, the hotels later in the week and the rental car were easily refundable (even though I had pre-paid the rental car). But we had to pay a pretty hefty cancellation fee on the airfare and the hotel where we were supposed to stay the first night. Still trying to get that part of it figured out. I'm just telling myself that a) we're doing the right thing, and b) we're spending way less money on a staycation here at home than we would have on a real vacation somewhere else. So maybe it will even out.
Both kids drove home over the weekend-- there are still only a few cases of Covid-19 in Montana, so it seemed fairly safe. We're having fun. We played a board game called "Pandemic" tonight, and it was fun, but a little complicated and a lot too relevant. The scariest thing about this virus (to me, anyway) is how little is known about it. Be safe, my gentle readers.
We went to see the new Emma. movie last week. What worked: most previous adaptations of Jane Austen's novels have pretty much left the servants out of it. This one was more realistic for the time period. They don't have many speaking parts, but the servants are definitely there in the scene, and having them there led to some moments of humor. Also, all the minor characters were great, and the costumes were beautiful.
What didn't work so well for me was (were?) the two main actors. The woman who played Emma was OK, but not especially great. There was a lot of crying, and I don't remember any crying in the book. (That's possibly the fault of my memory since I haven't read the book in four or five years.) And the guy who played Mr. Knightley was just miscast, if you ask me.
But cue Bonnie Raitt, "Angel in Montgomery": I am an old woman.... because I certainly feel like it after reading the reviews by real film critics. Both actors got universal accolades, so I guess I am just too old to appreciate this new interpretation of one of my favorite books. I'd give it a C+, I think. Maybe a B-. Although I did enjoy watching it as a period piece, and I am sure I will watch it again at some point. And lord, was Bill Nighy severely underused.
That's it for me right now. I'm not sure if I'll post again this week, but then if we get bored with social distancing, maybe I will drive you crazy thinking up things to write about.
1 comment:
We just cancelled our vacation in April to Portugal. And Todd cancelled his golf trip scheduled for this week. He and a friend were going to the Player's Championship in Florida and then golfing for a week. I, too, was looking forward to that! But now we get all the togetherness all the time.
If you like musicals, Playbill just published a list of stage productions of Broadway musicals that are available online.
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