small pleasures weekend

First small pleasure....on Saturday, I took myself to the cinema.
I'd been seeing advertisements for the movie "One For The Money" an adaptation of a book I've enjoyed reading several times; written by Janet Evanovich, it's one of the "Stephanie Plum, Bounty Hunter" series.

It's not a "spectacular" movie, if you're used to watching the big blockbusters with lots of action and special effects, you might be disappointed.
But I wasn't. I loved the book, so I enjoyed the movie. When it's released on dvd, I'll buy it.

Katherine Heigl plays Stephanie Plum and does it very well. I don't remember most of the other actors names, but I remember Grandma Mazur is played by Debbie Reynolds. 
The actor who plays Ranger is seriously cute, studly even, (hubba hubba), although shorter than the Ranger in the books.
In the books, Grandma Mazur is small and feisty, with "slack skin over spindle bones". 
Debbie Reynolds doesn't fit this description at all.
Debbie is too plump, there's no wrinkled, saggy skin at all, and her overall demeanor is too "nice".
All of you in my age group might remember that she played "Tammy" years ago in the movie Tammy goes to College and other "nice" movies in a similar style.

A far better Grandma Mazur would have been someone like Estelle Getty; such a shame that she died.
Remember her in "Stop, or My Mom Will Shoot"?
 Hilarious!
Estelle Getty played Sylvester Stallone's feisty old mum in that movie.

A minor disappointment was the pronunciation of Mazur.
They said Mayzer, rhyming with maize, emphasis on the may. 
I've always thought of it as Ma-zer, rhyming with duh, emphasis on the zur.
I don't think anyone else cares, and it certainly isn't important. 

Note the price on the ticket. $18!! I haven't been to the movies in ages, and this reminded me why. 
Then there's also the missing-bits-if-I-go-to-the-toilet issue.  Dvd's can be paused....

I entered the theatre early, sitting in the cool and the quiet for almost half an hour before other patrons took their seats. 

I was happy with the colour scheme in there, my favourite colours!
 I could have been sitting in my own bedroom!

I read my book until the lights began to dim, then sat through over thirty minutes of previews and advertisements before the movie finally started.

As always it was a bit of a shock to walk out of the cinema into the bright afternoon sunlight and wait for the bus to take me home.

On Sunday, there was another small pleasure.
I'd been for a ride on my bike and on the way home I rode through Victoria Park which has several bike/walking trails. And millions of giant ants......
I noticed a group of older people spreading blankets and unpacking little folding chairs and stools; I thought, how nice, they're having a picnic.

But it wan't just a picnic! Oh no! These people also began opening large boxes contining remote controlled planes and jets! A couple of newcomers to the site were bringing planes from the boots of their cars.

I spoke to one of them, mentioning that I hadn't seen large scale remote planes since I was just a little kid, he replied that they do this every Sunday. 
Well, well, well.
I may have to get back there one Sunday and take my camera.
I rode on a bit further, away from the group, then stopped by some shady trees to watch a jet flying, rising, spinning, looping.......the owner had great control, clearly from much practice!

On arriving home, so very hot and sweaty, I experienced another small pleasure in the form of a cool shower, then a bowl of icecream.  A much smaller serve than usual, because of my self-imposed weight loss program, but still very enjoyable.

So that was my weekend. I hope yours was equally pleasurable. Tell me about it?

Comments

  1. It's lovely just ambling along making it up as you go along. What a wonderful weekend - and topped off with ice-cream, too!!

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  2. What a lovely weekend you had. I can't wait to be able to get back outside again...cabin fever is setting in big time.

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  3. On Saturday I went to the new market at MONA (museum of old and new art) you can google it it is MOMA MARKET. This is like a gourmet farmers market. I had $50 birthday money which I was excited about spending all on myself :)

    There were lots of food stalls with expensive hand made chocolates or macarons, olive oil etc There were also plant stalls with organically grown plants and that is where I had the most fun.

    I bought a purple sage plant, a pot of sacred basil (also purple) some Japanese parsley, that looks like Italian flat leafed parsley but with larger leaves, some garlic chives and chinese greens.

    There was a stall selling cut flowers and I bought a flower (I never buy cut flowers because I think it is too sad)But this flower entranced me a South African plant, a Brunia and it has the most interesting florets that I want to use as inspiration in my work. I spent all my birthday money and had a lovely afternoon.

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  4. I love your recount of small pleasures. Here's one more for me--seeing your blog date of Monday when it's still Sunday here. Time just goes on....

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  5. That's a terrific weekend, from what I can see. All those small pleasures multiply in feeling good.

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  6. Hi River,

    If it makes you happy, then that's good.

    Never heard of the book so I can't comment on that.

    Also, Joanne makes a good point. It's still Sunday here - which should be surreal. But I've been to Oz and watched a football match on TV at 2am that was playing live in England at 3am.

    So its not surreal really.

    :0)

    Cheers

    PM

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  7. Hi River,

    That should have read 3PM (the day before).

    :0)

    Cheers

    PM

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  8. $18? Oh. I haven't been to the movies in quite a while either. I am a bit sad about Grandma Mazur who isn't wrinkled and feisty. I really like her in the books.

    Thank you for sharing your weekend - it sounds lovely.

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  9. Some movies adapted from books can be a real let down. Did you know its cheaper to buy a book of cinema tickets the only drawback is that you have to use 'em within a certain period :-).

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  10. Christine; most of my weekends are unstructured, I rarely make definite plans, so I can just do what I want when I want.

    Delores; cabin fever huh? Do you still have snow and grey skies? I'll have to post a sunny picture for you soon.

    Kim; what a lovely Saturday! I'll have to google the Mona Market. Can you post a photo of the Brunia?

    Joanne; thank you.

    Elisabeth; it's very calming, just taking things as they come.

    Plasman; happy is always good! Sport on the other hand is not so good, for me anyway!

    EC; Grandma Mazur is my favourite.

    Windsmoke; Yes, I've seen some movies that were books I'd loved and because they were so different, they affected how I'd read the book so I couldn't read it again, sometimes for years after. I go to the cinema so rarely, a book of tickets would be a complete waste of money.

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  11. A lovely weekend by the sound of things. Love your movie review. Having not read the book, I feel like it's something I wouldn't mind seeing. Don't you hate when casting is just SO off on characters? It annoys me a bit. Surely there's one wrinkled, with saggy skin actress in Hollywood... Err, maybe!

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  12. Melissa; you came over! thank you. I agree, there must be at least one wrinkled saggy skin actress, even if they create a few wrinkles with make-up on a skinny little old lady. Perhaps they could elevate one of the "bag-lady" extras they use in backgrounds. The main point would be the feistiness, Debbie Reynolds just doesn't do it for me. of course that didn't lessen my enjoyment and I'll happily see the movie again on TV and dvd.

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  13. I grew up with a Mazur, and she said it the way you don't like. So maybe it simply depends on the Mazur!

    Ranger was not at ALL as I pictured. His character was too much like Morelli for me. Hunky, absolutely, but too soft in the face. I pictured Ranger all angles.

    They wanted Betty White originally, but she was not available. I guess I just felt they did not really visit the character enough for me to be allowed to get over the physical difference. Debbie might have made me forget.

    I felt that the movie was too long for the substance in it--they really tried to put it ALL in one movie, therefore not giving us enough of a taste. They wanted to do a series, but I don't think they will make enough money off the movie.

    My best friend and I both wanted them to make a TV series. We still had FUN with the movie. $9 for an afternoon show...

    I saw this the weekend before. This past weekend, I was simply getting over my week.

    Love your post, though!

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  14. JeanetteLS; I agree. Ranger was not quite what I was expecting either. I'd thought of someone more Steven Seagal sized, and definitely not so soft in the face, maybe a little older. A series might still happen, if there's enough audience interest. Often enough a pilot movie is "just okay", then a series based on that just takes off and goes forever. Think of the original "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" movie, with Kristy Swanson, then the TV series with Sarah Michelle Geller that went on for 7 years and had the Angel spin-off.
    A series on Stephanie Plum could really open up the Grandma Mazur and Lula characters.

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