August 21, 2008
Dear Everyone:
Busy week.
Tuesday evening, we had a meeting of the Board of
Directors of our
Luckily, the next morning was the first of two days
learning about the new Software.
On the Plus side, the class didn’t start until 8:00 AM, so I
could sleep in a little. On
the Delta side, the class didn’t end until 5:00 PM.
And I had another Board meeting last night, this
time our Homeowners’ Association.
The President made a concerted effort to keep us on track with
the agenda. Again, we got a
lot of good work done (approved new fencing) and had some good
discussions. Again, I got to
bed late.
Today was the second day of class in the new
Software. Unfortunately, the
instructor had a lot of ground to cover, so one ten-minute break in the
morning, fifteen minutes for lunch and another ten-minute break in the
afternoon. It makes for a
long day.
But enough about that.
The weekend before last, “Jeannie” was off to
Victoria Island, in
So last weekend, we went to a movie.
Mamma Mia! is based on
a popular stage musical which uses songs originally recorded by the
group ABBA. The story has
nothing to do with the musical group; it’s just an excuse to use the
popular songs.
Donna (Meryl Streep) has raised her daughter,
Sophie, on a remote Greek island.
At 20, Sophie is getting married.
Two friends arrive on the island to be her bridesmaids.
She reveals to them that she found her mother’s old
diary and
discovered that her father is one of three men Donna was with around the
time she got pregnant.
Furthermore, Sophie, pretending to be Donna, wrote to all three,
inviting them to “her” daughter’s wedding.
All three show up the day before the wedding.
Sophie hides them in an old house that used to be a place for
sheltering goats. Hence the
references to the “old goats house.”
The possible fathers are played by
Pierce Brosnan,
Stellan Skarsgârd, and
Colin Firth. Also in
attendance are Donna’s two friends, Rosie and Tanya, played with
considerable gusto by
Julie Walters and
Christine Baranski.
What makes the movie so much fun, apart from the songs and absurd
plot points, is that it seems like the actors really had a great deal of
fun making it.
One caveat (“caveat” is a Latin term meaning,
“Danger, Will Robinson!”):
Pierce Brosnan can actually sing, at least three to four notes.
He just can’t do it very well.
But you can forgive him when you see what he does in the final
scene, which is actually during the closing credits.
Like I said:
It looks like they were having a lot of fun.
Love, as always,
Pete
| Previous | Next |