Like most residents of the Mid Atlantic region I woke to a world covered in ice. There was a good 1/4″ of the stuff on the trees… the cars… the streets.
This is Winter’s job… to make us feel cold, yes, but brittle too. Winter puts us in our place and lets us know that we are one good wind away from breaking, snapping clean, and being brought down to the ground.
Winter bleaches the color out of the landscape and blows at us until us until we can only see in the simplest, meanest terms of black and white.
Winter throws everything it has at us and dares us to be optimistic enough to think that anything will change. “LIFE IS HARD!” It laughs in its cold, harsh, bellowing voice. And it defies us to find anything beautiful or hopeful in the long cold day.
But it has forgotten that we can see beauty in all things… all we have to do is slow down and look. We know, despite what a cute little ground hog may or may not have said a few days ago in Pennsylvania that Spring and Easter are on the way…
And damn if we aren’t resilient enough to hold on for a few more snow storms.
Hope you’ll have a safe, uneventful drive home (where ever home is).
Here’s a Robert Frost poem to celebrate the crack of branches and common things.
An Old Man’s Winter Night
All out of doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,
That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.
What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze
Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand.
What kept him from remembering what it was
That brought him to that creaking room was age.
He stood with barrels round him — at a loss.
And having scared the cellar under him
In clomping there, he scared it once again
In clomping off; — and scared the outer night,
Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar
Of trees and crack of branches, common things,
But nothing so like beating on a box.
A light he was to no one but himself
Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what,
A quiet light, and then not even that.
He consigned to the moon, such as she was,
So late-arising, to the broken moon
As better than the sun in any case
For such a charge, his snow upon the roof,
His icicles along the wall to keep;
And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt
Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted,
And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept.
One aged man — one man — can’t keep a house,
A farm, a countryside, or if he can,
It’s thus he does it of a winter night.
No doubt you’ve been wondering WHEN I was going to get to this weighty issue… Who is the best Disney Prince?
For this completely bias blog post I’ll only being considering Disney Princess’s from movies I’ve actually seen. (So sorry Naveen, Flynn, and Kristoff, I neither have a little one of the appropriate age to act as multiplex chaperone, nor am I cool enough to have seen Frog Prince, Rapunzel or Frozen on my own.) Likewise excluded will be Disney heroes of the non prince variety (Li Shang and John Smith) and non human princes (Simba, etc.) They will be weighed on the merits presented in the Disney movie alone (not in the source material or in any of the insipid direct to video sequels.)
That leaves (in chronological order):
Prince Florian (Snow White and the Sven Dwarfs) LOVE INTEREST: Snow White. PROS: Good singing voice, handsome, excellent swordsman, kind, charming, polite, ability to bring back the dead with a kiss, looks like an actual human 17 year old, good with animals, friendly with dwarves. BUZZ FEED HOTNESS RATING: 9 (1 being the best out of 10) poor Florian ranks only 9 because of his blandness. They also claim he’s too pretty with his pretty, pretty puffed sleeves. Personally I don’t think it is fair to judge the 1930 movie by our 2014 drawing standards. I like that he looks like an innocent 17-year-old. Personality wise, thought? Not much shows up on-screen.
Prince Charming (Cinderella) LOVE INTEREST: Cinderella. PROS: Excellent Dancer, handsome, good singer, discriminating in his choice of life partners, persistent, determined. BUZZ FEED HOTNESS RATING: 8 (out of 10) Buzz feed basically gives him the bump on Florian because Charming has more clothing style. I think Charming has more going for him than his epaulets and tan. He has a real connection for Cindy, and he’s determined to find HIS girl, and not be shuffled off with what ever princess fits the royal shoe bill.
Prince Phillip (Sleeping Beauty) LOVE INTEREST: Princess Aurora. PROS: BRAVE, handsome, excellent sword skills, good singer, good with animals, good shot, has the ability to wake some one from a 100 years sleep spell with a kiss. BUZZ FEED HOTNESS RATING: 7 (out of 10) this seems a little low to me. Prince Phillip gets big, big, big marks from me. He really goes out and saves his princess — and goes through a heck of lot to do it.
Prince Eric (The Little Mermaid) LOVE INTEREST: Ariel. PROS: Handsome, responsible, kind, loyal, dog lover, good ruler, funny, good sailor. BUZZ FEED HOTNESS RATING: 2 (out of 10) Now you’re talking.
Hunk alert! Prince Eric — with his big blue eyes, jet-black hair, and incredibly expressive eyebrows — is arguably the most attractive prince on the list. If you’re a straight woman or gay man, and you didn’t have a crush on Prince Eric at some point, you’re either lying or in denial. He’s sweet. He’s romantic. He loves dogs. I’d give up my fins to be with him. [buzzfeed.com]
Prince Eric also saves the day (and the princess) with a big of heap of bravery at the end of the movie. Come on… kiss this girl. He’s a big fave.
Prince Adam (Beauty and the Beast) LOVE INTEREST: Belle. PROS: kind, generous, protective, becomes self-aware, feels bad for what he did in the past and tries to make up for it. CONS: temper, temper, temper, self loathing. BUZZ FEED HOTNESS RATING: 5 The folks at the Buzz like the Beast in all his heart warming hairy-ness. B&tB is my fave Disney movie, hands down, but more because of feisty, smart, brave Belle than anything else. However, the Beast — and his journey to self awareness — and the amazing music in the film are other wonderful reasons to love this movie. You had me at Chapter Three.
Prince Ali, aka Aladdin (Aladdin) LOVE INTEREST: Jasmine. PROS: resourceful, smart, charming, romantic, big-hearted, warm. He’s one of the first guys who are allowed to be a hero for their own sake, not as a foil for the Princess. BUZZ FEED HOTNESS RATING: 1 (out of 10) Buzz Feed edges out Aladdin over Eric because of Aladdin’s added personality. I loved the first Aladdin. Not so much the sequels that taint my appreciation of the original.
So who makes the final cut? I’m knocking out Charming and Florian right off the bat. Sorry fellas. Aladdin and Adam you’re gone too.
That leaves Prince Phillip and Prince Eric… Both handsome, brave, funny, charming, kind, thoughtful…
I can’t decided. I think I’ll need you all to weigh in here.
I wasn’t going to post today. No one on the birthday list tickled my fancy and I didn’t do any baking… but then I was researching BOARS for a design project and discovered the ultimate cutest creatures in the animal kingdom… baby boars.
Like their domesticated cousins, baby boars are called piglets. They are usually born into a litter of between four and six siblings (although first litters generally smaller, and some litters can be much larger.) They usually weigh between 1 1/5 and 2 1/4 pound (750 to 1,000 g) at birth.
Mother boars usually have 1 litter a year, with as many as 14 babies. The mother may build a ground nest of sticks and grass, or just scratch together whatever leaves are on the ground nearby. Her babies live here for 1 week until they are big enough to follow her around. They are born with light brown fur that has white stripes from head to tail. Mother boars can be very dangerous when protecting their babies; fathers live off by themselves. After about 45 days, the babies can find their own food, but may still stay with the mother. When they are 4 – 6 months old, they turn a cinnamon brown color. At 1 year old, they are full-grown and have brown or black fur. Some keep reddish stripes as adults. [Pelotes Island Nature Preserve]
Before you go looking to adopt a baby wild boar keep in mind that they will grow up to be an ADULT wild boar! But until then there’s this…
Yesterday I spent way too much time on the Mozart bioBlog so I didn’t have time to make any muffins… thus I bring unto you… MUFFIN TUESDAY! Today I have for you PB&J&B (Peanut Butter, Jelly and Blueberry) Muffins. I’ve done a double batch so I could send a few off to college kiddos, but you can just as easily halve this and make a single batch.
PB&j&B Muffins
INGREDIENTS
2 cups sifted All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cup Buck Wheat Flour
2 tablespoons Wheat Bran
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 tablespoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 cups Skim Milk
1/2 cup Lo-Fat Greek Yogurt
2/3 cup Peanut Butter
2 Eggs
4 tablespoons melted Butter
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Jelly
3/4 cups mashed Blueberries
3/4 cup chopped Almonds (or Peanuts)
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prep 24 muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Combine Flour, Buck Wheat Flour, Wheat Bran, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Baking Powder and Salt in a large bowl.
3. In a blender combine Milk, Yogurt, Peanut Butter, Eggs, Butter and Vanilla. Blend on low.
4. Pour the liquid into the dry and mix until well combined.
Action shot!
5. Put about 2 tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup.
6. In a small bowl combine the Jelly and the mashed Blueberries.
7. Divide the Jelly/Blueberry mixture evenly onto each of the muffins.
8. Cover the Jelly with another 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter. Try to do this so you have enough for all the muffins.
Muffins in the fore ground are complete, those in the back left have the jelly, but not the top layer of batter.
9. Sprinkle the chopped nuts on top.
10. Bake for 20 minutes. Muffins are done when they are golden brown and pass the toothpick test. LET COOL (the jelly will be hot!)
I loved the flavor of peanut butter and the sweetness of the jelly. The little pop and zing of the blueberry was extra nice surprise. Alas I didn’t have any tasters around to give me a second opinion. I did give the ladies at the post office a few, but I couldn’t wait around to see what they liked or didn’t like. Guess you’ll just have to whip up a batch and judge for yourselves. 😉
———————————————————————————————————–For all of you in the South East US dealing with the ice and snow today… be careful Y’all! Be patient on the roads (if you have to go out on the roads.) AND build me an Olaf snowman! (Olaf was my Secondary Saturday Character two weeks ago.) Cheers! Rita
“My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, who in turn told her daughter, my grandmother, who repeated it to her daughter, my mother, who used to remind her daughter, my own sister, that to talk well and eloquently was a very great art, but that an equally great one was to know the right moment to stop.”–Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Painting of Mozart by Barbara Krafft (1764–1825) (Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on this day in Salzberg, Austria in 1756. Today is the 258 anniversary of his birth.
The youngest of seven children, only Wolfgang and he sister Maria Anna (whose nickname was Nannerl) survived infancy. His father, Leopold Mozart was a composer, teacher and violinist. Leopold began teaching Nannerl to play the keyboard. Little Wolfgang looked on and was soon absorbing the basics of the instrument. By four years old Leopold would play a game with his son, teaching him a minuet which Wolfgang would play back “faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time… At the age of five, he was already composing little piece, which he played to his father who wrote them down.” [Mozart: a Documentary Biography]
Portrait de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Salzbourg, 1756-Vienne, 1791) jouant à Paris avec son père Jean-Georg-Léopold et sa sœur Maria-Anna [Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons]
Starting in 1762 the Mozarts began to tour Europe. At first Leopold, Nannerl and Wolfgang all performed, but by 1769 Nannerl was left at home, and Leopold focused his efforts exclusively on Wolfgang. The purpose of the tours was to showcase the talents of the family and to try to get a position as a court composer. In March of 1773, at 17 years of age, Mozart was appointed as assistant concert master for the Royal Court of Salzburg. Wolfgang was prolific in composing a number of instrumental pieces (string quartets, symphonies, sonatas) and vocal works (masses minor operas). Most notable works from this time period were his violin concertos (espeically K. 216, 218 and 219) and his breakthrough Piano Concerto in E-flat (K. 271). But Salzburg offered him neither the salary nor the opportunity to write operas that he desired and he began to look elsewhere.
Here’s Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D, K. 218
He resigned from his post and traveled to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich touring, and looking for a new position. Eventually he wound up in Vienna as an independent composer and performer.
The year 1784, proved the most prolific in Mozart’s performance life. During one five-week period, he appeared in 22 concerts, including five he produced and performed as the soloist. In a typical concert, he would play a selection of existing and improvisational pieces and his various piano concertos. Other times he would conduct performances of his symphonies. The concerts were very well attended as Mozart enjoyed a unique connection with his audiences who were, in the words of Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon, “given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre.” [Biography.com]
In 1776 and 1777 he had back to back operatic successes when he joined forces with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte for The Marriage of Figaroand Don Giovanni.
Circa 1780: Family portrait: Maria Anna (“Nannerl”) Mozart, her brother Wolfgang, their mother Anna Maria (medallion) and father, Leopold Mozart, by artist: Johann Nepomuk della Croce [Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons]
Emperor Joseph II appointed him “Chamber Composer” a decade later.
It was a part-time appointment with low pay, but it required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls. The modest income was a welcome windfall for Mozart, who was struggling with debt, and provided him the freedom to explore more of his personal musical ambitions. [Ibid]
His financial problems continued, due in part to his lavish spending, and in part to the fact that Austria was at war. The composer sank into depression.
The two-year period of 1788-1789 was a low point for Mozart, experiencing in his own words “black thoughts” and deep depression. Historians believe he may have had a cyclothymiacs personality with manic-depressive tendencies, which might explain the periods of hysteria coupled with spells of hectic creativity. [Ibid]
He rallied in 1791 (his final year). He composed The Magic Flute, one of his most beloved Operas, along with piano and clarinet concertos, a string quintet in E-Flat and his Ave Verum Corpus . All the while he was working on his Requiem.
Here’s Mozart’s Ave Verum:
Mozart died at the age of 35 on December 5 1791. The cause of death is unclear. While his death certificate list “Military Fever” as the final cause, there have been over 100 theories on how he died (including mercury poisoning and rheumatic fever.)
He composed more than 600 works in his short life. “Works that are widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music.” [The New World Enclyclopedia]
“If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.” — Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was born on this day in Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA in 1925. Today is the 89th anniversary of his birth.
The second of Arthur and Theresa Newman’s two boys, Paul took an early interest in acting. He made his debut as the court jester in Robin Hood on his elementary school stage at the age of 7. The Newmans lived in the wealthy Shaker Heights neighborhood of Cleveland, where Arthur owned a sporting good store. Paul graduated from Shaker Heights High in 1943 and attended Ohio University of Ohio for a while before he was kicked out for unruly behavior (including crashing a beer keg into the president of the University’s car.) He joined the Navy with hopes of becoming a pilot, but when it was discovered he was color blind he became a radio operator. He served three years in the service.
[Image courtesy: Listal.com]
Back home he went to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He received his BA in drama and economics in 1949. He developed his craft in several summer stock productions before moving to New York and joining the Actors Studio.
In 1953 Newman had his Broadway premier in Picnic. He follow that with The Desperate Hours and Sweet Bird of Youth.He did TV appearances on series like Tales of Tomorrowand Appointmen twith Adventure.
His first film role was anything but successful…
In 1954, a film Paul was very reluctant to do was released, The Silver Chalice (1954). He considered his performance in this costume epic to be so bad that he took out a full-page ad in a trade paper apologizing for it to anyone who might have seen it. He had always been embarrassed about the film and reveled in making fun of it. [IMDb]
But second time was a charm and he was pleased with his work as Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956). After Cat on a Hot Tin Roofcame The Long, Hot Summer with Joanne Woodward (who would soon become his second wife.) [Ibid]
[Image courtesy: paul-newman.com]
The 1960s would bring Paul Newman into superstar status, as he became one of the most popular actors of the decade, and garnered three more Best Actor Oscar nominations, for The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967)…1969 brought the popular screen duo Paul Newman and Robert Redford together for the first time when Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) was released. It was a box office smash. Throughout the 1970s, Newman had hits and misses from such popular films as The Sting (1973) and The Towering Inferno (1974) to lesser known films as The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) to a now cult classic Slap Shot (1977). (Ibid)
He finally got the Best Actor Oscar statue in 1986 for his role of Fast Eddie Felson in the Color of Money. (Color of Money was the long awaited sequel to The Hustler.)
In all he was nominated 10 times for Academy Awards over a span of 5 decades.
[Image courtesy: People Magazine.com]
Films were not the only thing on his mind… A passionate race car driver since the early 1970s, Newman became co-owner of Newman-Haas racing in 1982, and also founded “Newman’s Own”, a successful line of food products that has earned in excess of $100 million, every penny of which Newman donated to charity. He also started The Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, an organization for terminally ill children. He was as well known for his philanthropic ways and highly successful business ventures as he was for his legendary actor status. [Ibid]
Newman died of lung cancer at the age of 83 in 2008.
BEST SHINING MOMENT: Revealing the story of his difficult youth when he takes P.L. Travers to Disney Land
LEAST SHINING MOMENT: Trying to sneak in the cartoons when she clearly is against it.
WHY I CHOSE HIM: Admittedly I’m giving this nod more to Tom Hanks than Mr. Disney — and that might have something to do with the fact that I just saw Captain Phillips. Hanks was wonderful in both films, but he was definitely the lead (and title) character in the latter, so I can only honor him on Secondary Character Saturday for his work as Uncle Walt in Saving Mr. Banks.
“If you do an interview in 1960, something it’s bound to change by the year 2000. And if it doesn’t, then there’s something drastically wrong.” — John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt was born on this day in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England in 1940. Today is his 74th birthday.
His movie career dates back over 50 years (starting with Young and Willing), but his first serious role was in 1966’s A Man for All Seasons. He earned Best Supporting Actor BAFTA nomination for his work as Timothy Evans in the film. He worked steadily through the lat 60’s and early 70’s. In 1971 he won a BAFTA for his best supporting work in 10 Rillington Place. and another, for best Actor, for The Naked Civil Servant in 1975
In 1976 he co-starred in the BBC drama I, Claudiusas the debauched Roman emperor Caligula. In 1978 he won a Golden Glob and BAFTA (and an Academy Award nomination) for his work in Midnight Express. The same year he did the voice work for Hazel in animated film Watership Down (he later playedGeneral Woundwortfor the TV series)and Aragorn in the animated The Lord of the Rings. He rounded out the decade by playing the ill-fated Kane in the Sci Fi classic Alien and Raskolnikov in the BBC’s Crime and Punishment.
The Elephant Man brought him another BAFTA (and Golden Globe and Oscar noms.) In 1983 he starred in The Osterman Weekend and was the Fool to Olivier’s King Lear.
In 1984 (the year) he starred in 1984 (the movie) as Winston. 15 years later, having learned his lesson that 2 + 2 = 5, he flipped roles and played Big Brother (on-screen) for the Paper Zoo Theatre Company’s production of the Orwell novel.
Besides his voice work younger audiences will recognize Hurt as Mr. Ollivander from the Harry Potter series.
![Portrait de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Salzbourg, 1756-Vienne, 1791) jouant à Paris avec son père Jean-Georg-Léopold et sa sœur Maria-Anna [Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons]](https://ritalovestowrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/louis_carrogis_dit_carmontelle_-_portrait_de_wolfgang_amadeus_mozart_salzbourg_1756-vienne_1791_jouant_acc80_paris_avec_son_pecc80re_jean-_-_google_art_project.jpg)
![Circa 1780: Family portrait: Maria Anna ("Nannerl") Mozart, her brother Wolfgang, their mother Anna Maria (medallion) and father, Leopold Mozart, by artist: Johann Nepomuk della Croce [Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons]](https://ritalovestowrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/wolfgang01.jpg)
![[Image courtesy: Listal.com]](https://ritalovestowrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/newman-listalcom.png)
![[Image courtesy: paul-newman.com]](https://ritalovestowrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/paul-newman.jpg)
![[Image courtesy: People Magazine.com]](https://ritalovestowrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/newman-people-magazine.jpg)
![[Image courtesy: Daytona-Rolex.com]](https://ritalovestowrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/paul-newman-daytona-rolex.jpg)
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