Yes, Petal, thank you for reminding me of that great little movie! My family invited me over to their house one Fall evening for Pizza & a Movie Night, and Songcatcher just stole our hearts. She was so determined to find and SAVE those old tunes. It was an incredible little movie. (my Grandmother's little recorder used wax cylinders, which were sent off somewhere and transferred to some kind of pliable green vinyl, which could be played on a little phonograph she had) You know what other movie comes to mind along those lines?---not the content, but the DETERMINATION of the true-life character?---It's a little movie called 'Temple Grandin'. She was autistic to a point, I believe and was able to tune into the livestock being held in stock yards, as they waited for the end. She was able to read them as no one else had and by the time the movie ended, it was because of her, many stockyards put a much kinder Last Walk in place for the animals. I think Claire Danes won an Oscar for her performance as Temple, with Temple, who was there, just over the top with joy over it! As a weepy 'barely-eat-meat' animal lover, I can recommend it----I even stood in the doorway, waiting to bolt at the first sign of animal suffering, but was able to watch the whole thing. Her undying determination is what finally got her where she is today. A real hero in my book.

Caroline - no worries about ticking me off - I agree. DH and I got ours when I was pregnant and commuting long distances. Then we stopped carrying them until around 6 years ago. We started again so that the kids school would have an emergency # if we had to go out of town during the school day. I almost NEVER talk on mine and think it is mostly another thing to throw my money at. Half the time I don't even answer the land line. I love the freedom of not having to talk on the phone if I don't want to. I definitely have days where I just need to disconnect from everyone. It bothers me so much to see and hear everyone around me gabbing on the phone all the time, HANG UP, try communicating with a little eye contact for a change. Get to know the people around you. Or at LEAST use a little discretion. I see kids walking home from school in groups all talking on the phone. Yes I agree they are mostly toys. They are a status symbol just like what shoes you wear or if you have a MySpace page. They are a way to judge importance and measure worth, I see it all the time. And hear it too everytime my son says "but mom my phone doesn't play songs or take pictures, and everyone is telling me my phone sucks and I should get the new ---- phone." At our small town baseball and football games (where I spend most of my time) I regularly watch people call from one bleacher to the other. GET UP and walk over and have an actual conversation. Ok, now I'm ranting. I do have issues. LOL!

I posted a response but it disappeared, so I will try to respond again as this is a subject near and dear to my heart. My gardening friend brought me a pot of lavender at the end of my journey through surgeries, chemo and radiation. DH planted it in our garden - it comes back every year and reminds me that I am perennial. Although I had wigs and scarves I had no eyebrows and never felt normal. I would have liked stencils to sketch in eyebrows with pencils. There was a support group for breast cancer suvivors that sponsored seminars to teach how to do make-up and stylish head covers, but I was too sick to attend. Decadent chocolates. See's Nuts and Chews. Bars of Swiss and Belgian that can be nibbled on with no end in sight...live like there's no tomorrow.

That phrase was one person's quote. Look for that name in other parts of the article and you'll find that he and his company are actively on the buying side of music rights. So either he's talking out of both sides of his mouth, publicly being scornful of what he does himself (unlikely) or he has another self-serving objective in mind. Like maybe cautioning sellers in advance that when you sell, you sell. Lee Child, the personable and amusing author of the massively successful Jack Reacher series of novels, was asked in an interview about the experience of selling movie rights to one of his books. I don't remember the exact words but his comments were something like this: "They told me I would have no role at all and no say in the production, nor how the screenplay and movie would be written. I'd be given limited visit rights on the set but not for giving advice or suggestions. They told me they were hoping to cast 5'7" Tom Cruise in the role of Jack Reacher, who is described in the books as being 6'5" and with an intimidatingly presence. I think Tom Cruise is a great actor but he's nearly a foot too short for the role. There were a number of other unsatisfactory rights they said they'd insist on having in the contract. I was unhappy with the negotiating process and was ready to end it when they told me how much money they were willing to pay me. Figuring that nothing would happen until the check cleared my bank account, I had nothing to lose and had my advisors conclude the agreement. I gladly signed it, the money hit my account shortly thereafter, and from that point forward they were welcome to do anything they wanted with the rights I sold them.