The Text of this talk is on the church web site here!

I did not set out today to watch these two movies, but it is what happened.  Paul and Shelly watched Julie and Julia last night and both told me today that I would love it – movie about food, blogging, butter, Julia Child, and finding your path in life…  When I woke up this morning I was planning on watching it some time today.

Paul had to do some renovations on our bathroom utilyzing chemicals and glues that I’m allergic to, and so I took off for the morning not really knowing what to do to kill time.  I drove up to Table Mesa by NCAR and walked around a little bit, then went to the Boulder Creek to watch the ducks.  But I got cold and then went to a nice Thai restaurant on Pearl Street.  It was a yummy buffet of my favorite food that I have only attempted to cook once, my whole family hated the dahl and chapitas that I made (Lentils, whole wheat pitas, spinach).  It was too much work to attempt again just to have them not eat it, so I occasionally hit the Boulder Thai Restaurants just so I can eat my favorite food and not have to cook it, this one was particularly good.

I was not planning to go see Leap Year, but the Boulder Weekly was at the restaurant and it had a listing of the movies around town and that one fit into my day.  So I hit the theatre on the way home to Louisville, and really enjoyed the movie.  My grandmothers people hail from Ireland, and I really enjoyed the scenery and the music.

I can strongly recomend both of these movies as great entertainment, just a few F bombs in each, but overall a great way to spend the day if I had to be out and about.  I watched Julie and Julia just now when I came home.  As a confirmed foodie, I must confess that I enjoyed the Documentary of the film better than the actual movie, but that is often the case as my theatrical side loves hearing about costumes, sets, characters, and props, which in this case was all food… 

The only part of the movie that I did not like, and I hate this  about most movies with scenes set in the 50’s, was Nora Ephrons obligatory dumping on Senator Joeseph McCarthy.  The writers who have given us the screenplays of the past sixty years NEVER bother to share the fact that the American Government was completely infiltrated with spies working for the Communists during the Cold War, and that McCarthyism was a completely reasonable and necessary step to root them out and make certain that those who loved America were in positions of power in our nation.  The lives of many members of our military, allies, and covert agents were constantly being threatened by these infiltrations and now that it is the new millennium, it is time for those who write for mass media to start acknowledging both sides to the story.

 I’ve been thinking about writing a Childrens book titled Muffins and Lullabies and trying to get it published with a regular book publisher, and this movie definitely motivated me to seriously consider doing that.  Go see both of the movies…great, feel good stories.

8:38AM

HARRY SMITH: First Lady Michelle Obama’s 46th birthday is Sunday, just a few days before President Obama marks the first anniversary of his inauguration, and People magazine sat down with the first couple to talk about the past year. And People’s executive editor, Betsy Gleick, is here to tell us all about it. Good morning.

BETSY GLEICK: Hi, Harry.

SMITH: What a revelatory interview. If there’s a headline from this, what do you feel it would be?

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: A Year In The White House; Obamas On Personal Life & First Lady’s B-Day]

GLEICK: I think the headline is that they are feeling optimistic that the country is back on track, and that they do feel that there are still some, obviously, huge challenges ahead.

SMITH: Yeah, what’s interesting to me, because sometimes when you’re not talking to him, in particular, about the news events of the day, he says a lot about himself and what his experience has been like and he talked a lot about being in the bubble.

GLEICK: Absolutely. I mean, one of the most touching parts of the interview is that he just talked about the loneliness of the job and some of the loneliness he embraces, he realizes that he has big decisions that he alone needs to make. But he misses being out among regular people.

SMITH: Yeah. These pictures also that accompany the piece are just stunning. I’m looking at them now. And these may be among the best pictures, I think, we’ve seen of the two of them.

GLEICK: They’re beautiful, I agree.

SMITH: Yeah. What do you think the pictures say about what they’re like?

GLEICK: Well, they really are genuinely affectionate with one another. And I think the pictures show that. They’re comfortable. They have sort of taken to life in the White House. Their children have taken to life in the White House. And they are – they are relaxing into the job. Not relaxing. I mean, it’s a difficult job, but they are comfortable.

SMITH: Starting to wear it a little bit more.

GLEICK: Absolutely.

SMITH: The part of the interview were they’re talking about the kids and observing the kids when they got to meet the Pope and them trying as best they can to make life as normal as possible. But it’s not.

GLEICK: That’s right. They’re adorable anecdotes about Sasha and Malia and just the fact that the girls are starting to feel like it’s home.

SMITH: And how is the garden?

GLEICK: The garden has produced pounds and pounds of food.

SMITH: Thousands of pounds, it turns out.

GLEICK: Yes, yes.        

SMITH: And it seems to me that if there is one takeaway about Michelle Obama from this first year, it really is this thing about eating better and – and about being able to sustain yourself in some ways.

GLEICK: That’s right. And she tells us we’re going to be hearing a lot more this year from her about childhood obesity and healthy eating for families.

SMITH: Yeah. We have some things out here, it’s Michelle’s birthday this weekend. We know she likes french fries. This is a real life, honest to goodness, deep dish pizza from Chicago, from UNO’s on Ohio Street. And a copy of ‘Do The Right Thing,’ Spike Lee’s ‘Do The Right Thing,’ which was the movie they saw on their first date, I guess.

GLEICK: That’s right, yes.

SMITH: There you go. Betsy Gleick, thanks for stopping by this morning.

GLEICK: Absolutely.

SMITH: We’ll look forward to seeing the piece in People magazine.

 

Harry Smith, why don’t you ask some of these Americans how President Obamas first year went???