Great movie especially for all the men in your life. Husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, nephews, you name it. My hubby and I watched it and we don't have kids but hubby's father has never been a part of his life and mine died when I was 13. My five brothers ranged in ages of 18, 16, 14 and twins that were 8 at the time dad died. In my five brothers you can clearly see the difference growing up without a dad makes. And no, it wasn't the twins at the end that struggled the most, it was and is the 3 oldest. Having had their dad then losing him had a profound affect on their lives. The twins are men of god and have their mom to thank for that. If you haven't seen it, definately worth a sit down. Saw The Help last night. Another very good movie.

As some of you have noted, "memorable" doesn't always mean "best." I usually avoid movies that are scary or depressing (life is hard enough!), but one of my most memorable was very depressing: The Pledge, with Jack Nicholson. It was very well done, but I wish I didn't remember so much about that movie! On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I will always remember the blues club scene from Adventures in Babysitting. Elisabeth Shue and crew can't leave the place until they sing the blues. So funny! Million Dollar Baby stayed with me for a long time. And I will never forget any part of the original An Affair to Remember. Ah, Cary Grant!

This was an episode of Amazing Stories, a TV show from Steven Spielberg that lasted about 2 years. I've been looking for it but haven't seen it this year. It is my hands-down favorite Christmas - themed broadcast. It stars Douglas Seale as Santa, Pat Hingle as Sheriff Horace Smyvie & Gabriel Damon as Bobby. Wiuthout going into too much detail, Santa trips a burglar alarm while delivering gifts in a small town and is locked up in jail with three drunken department store type 'Santa's. Christmas would be doomed without young Bobby's efforts in getting Santa out. The mean sheriff also has a change of heart at the end. Does this sound famailar? Have you seen it? If not, be on the lookout fot it; you won't be dissapointed. Here is a link that might be useful: Santa '85

Still with furs. I lived for a year in Canada (Ottawa) a cold country and very chilly city and someone gave me their very old fur coat. It was extremely heavy and rather moth eaten, probably less mouton and more dead cat. One day I walked into the city library and, though it was snowing as I left home, it was raining by the time I got there . . . and my goodness did that soggy coat pong. All eyes and noses followed me round the shelves until, in sheer embarrassment, I had to take it off and hide it behind a distant radiator where it steamed-off noxious vapours. When I returned to the UK the coat stayed behind. BTW Queen Elizabeth, was never Princess of Wales, just Duchess of York, as George VI went straight from D of Y to King. When Diana became Princess of Wales it was noted that the title hadn't been used since the time of the marriage of George V in 1890 something to Mary of Teck, always know as Old Queen Mary when I was a child. Also a fact I only became aware of recently, the title of Queen Mother was specially created for Queen Elizabeth on the death of George VI . . . probably much more than you (true US republicans all) needed to know. ;-)