I found this site by accident, looking up the spelling of Andre Gromeko's name---what a pleasure! My two cents are: Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter? Not if you 've read the books, I say. I don't think Daniel gets even close to the character that Rowling conceived. Nor does the child who plays Hermione. The Ron Weasley actor, though, I think is the best of the three. Someone from England asked if we Americans notice the accent issues in movies. Remember Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in Out of Africa? Streep, as usual with her wonderful ear for accents, maintained her British personna throughout. Redford, on the other hand, started out with a semblance of an accent, but this deteriorated quickly until he just seemed to sort of give up, and just spoke pure American. If you want to hear an amazing accent, watch Tommorow, a movie starring Robert Duvall. He takes on a backwoods accent and voice that are just astonishing. I agree with those who say that watching the movie after reading the book can be disappointing. Now and then, there are some movie makers who captured the real nature and tone and voice of the book, and even if they have to cut a lot, it doesn't lose the feel of the book. One such, I think, was Prince of Tides. The movie left out probably 2/3s of the book, and Barbra Streisand, with her self-beloved long fingernails, wasn't the ideal psychiatrist. But nevertheless, the movie, i thought, captured the tone of the book very well. I agree that Glenda JAckson was one of the best Queen Elizabehts, and that Maggie Smith absolutely is Miss Brodie. Also that Richard Harris was a wonderful Professor Dumbledore, while Michael Gambon--who is a terrific actor; see The Singing Detective and The Butcher, the Thief, His Wife and her Lover--is just not the kindly, deep, thoughtful Dumbledore at all. Another case of one wondering What the Director Was Thinking.

Below is a link to BBC Radio 4 and a reading of 'And His Letters . . .' by the actor Nigel Havers who btw is appearing as Maxim de Winter in Rebecca on the London stage. Perhaps not quite Olivier but he does have that aristocratic 'something' about him. At the BBC site click on Monday And regarding aristocrats, Frieda, maybe some people in the UK feel that a hangman's gibbet should stand outside the House of Lords or that hereditary peers should be replaced by friends of the Government with deep pockets . . . not so different from the old system when you consider how many 'top people's' ancestors obtained their titles. Either way, arriving with William the Conqueror or slightly more recently when various Royal Mistresses demanded positions for their offspring, this group is part of the Establishment. No amount of money, delicacy of character, nobleness of soul makes it possible for the rest of us to join this elite group (and it is amazing how many would like to be Up There). Top actors, pop singers, Party Girls etc hang round the edge but they are almost never admitted into this inner-sanctum. Of course there are some very wealthy people in this bracket; mostly from ownership of land and lots have 'Stately Homes'. Many of you have probably been to Chatsworth, Castle Howard, Warwick Castle etc. who's owners have wisely turned their properties into money-making enterprises. Interesting about the story of the student and her father. Surprisingly over here, for everyone below Royalty if such a thing had happened (a father writing in on behalf of his daughter) any university would have put the application straight in the bin; there is no automatic right of entry to any uni' for sons/daughters of alumni. Re adoption: there are certainly far fewer babies available these days. Although many many more babies are being born 'out of wedlock' (for want of a better expression) this is usually by choice . . . of at least one parent . . . and in both big cities and small country towns the sight of groups of very young females pushing baby buggies, smoking, chatting to boys (the possible fathers?) is very common. Our Govt gives out vast amounts of benefits to this group so the need to put a baby up for adoption is very low and many people only want healthy white children. The Social Services who are usually the first port of call in these matters make the 'process' very very difficult, especially for middle-class couples. It seems that if a child comes from a poorer, perhaps racially mixed background the social workers wants it to be adopted by people from that 'class' without considering whether the child might stand a chance of a better life. Some parents look abroad as I expect they do in the US, but this can lead to even more problems . . . and cost far more than going through the usual channels. When the cases of the Romanian orphans was first aired on TV some people tried to adopt a child, thinking with their hearts rather than...

The egotist in chief said tonight at a dinner the reason he lost the popular vote by three million was there were all illegals voting. Morning Joe said his first days could not have gone worse. He actually went to the CIA and stood before their board honoring their dead and complained about the reporting of the size of his crowd. He even brought people to stand in the hall and clap at his speech. Seasoned CIA people were appalled. This guy has zero class and is certifiably NUTS. Besides he needs to have spell check. He tweeted honer today meaning honor.

Plllog, I Googled your wine song. As I said earlier, the concept of folk songs is not French. Translating songs is not cultural appropriation. And with your Bottle of Wine song, you have confounded many concepts. Bottle of Wine is not considered a French folk song. A Kiwi, Graeme Allwright, who is considered a French folk singer by whom, I have no idea, because he translates Canadian and French folk songs into French, wrote this verse to the Bottle of Wine song and Tom Paxton sang it at a UK festival. Here, from http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/lyrics/bow.htm: Tom sang a French verse to it in the Live in the UK album, which was written by French folksinger Graeme Allwright: Jolie bouteille, sacrée bouteille, Veux-tu me laisser tranquille? Je veux te quitter, je veux m'en aller, Je veux recommencer ma vie. [rough translation:] Happy Bottle, sacred bottle Will you let me be peaceful? I want to quit. I want to move on. I want to start my live over From Graeme Allwright's wiki: Graeme Allwright Graeme Allwright in 2012 Background informationBorn7 November 1926 Wellington, New ZealandDied16 February 2020(aged 93) Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, FranceGenresContemporary folk music, protest songs, chanson, jazzOccupation(s)Singer, songwriterInstrumentsGuitarYears activeEarly 1960s–2020 Graeme Allwright (7 November 1926 – 16 February 2020) was a New Zealand-born French singer and songwriter. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s as a French language interpreter of the songs of American and Canadian songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Pete Seeger, and remained active into his nineties