November Musings…

November is drawing to a close, and this month saw another Cork Film Festival come and go. Gemma attended the opening film, Never Let Me Go, which was an adaptation of the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote the well-known The Remains of the Day.  It stars Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield (the next Spiderman), as three friends who grew up together at an English boarding school of sorts. Why they are there and what their futures hold is something very out of the ordinary; you just have to go see the movie to find out. It’s a lovely film, with beautiful colours, but prepare yourself for sentimental moments.

This time of the year, we are inevitably turning our thoughts to Christmas, and we’ve been discussing what our favourite

Scrooge has to face the Christmas ghosts.

Christmas film is. The Muppets Christmas Carol is still very high up on the list, aswell as Prancer, It’s a Wonderful Life and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We all enjoy A Christmas Carol, but what version is another story. Aside from the obvious Muppet’s version, Gemma likes Scrooge (1951) with Alistair Sim, while Laura likes Scrooged (1988) with Bill Murray. Recently we both watched the Jim Carrey  version of Disney’s A Christmas Carol, which was also fantastic, and wonderfully animated. It’s a tad scary for young children though..

Meanwhile favourite Christmas songs include Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Judy Garland), Walk Out to Winter (Aztec Camera), Fairytale of New York (The Pogues), in fact any jingly Christmas song is acceptable! Another song which recently came to our attention is the Fleet Foxes song called White Winter Hymnal. It’s just such a magical tune, and the accompanying video is fascinating.

Christmas poems were also a topic for discussion. We like Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, and Patrick Kavanagh’s A Christmas Childhood. In case you’re not familiar with the Robert Frost poem, here’s a sample:

 

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Here’s a short film that we came across on Youtube, which is inspired by this poem. Enjoy!

In other news, Laura is looking forward to going to see Hairspray at the Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin next week and has been busy practising all the songs, so she’s well prepared. Gemma also purchased tickets for the Bon Jovi concert which takes places next June at the RDS. We’re also looking forward to seeing Damien Dempsey in Cyprus Avenue this December. Yum yum!