2. These Tributes for the Passing of Queen Elizabeth – I’m worried for the UK. From what I’ve read, the new Prime Minister is like Margaret Thatcher on steroids. That is the last thing they need right now. And they don’t have the EU to keep things from going off the rails and now they don’t even have the Queen. Guess we’ll see what mettle King Charles is made of.
4. This Rousing Speech by Michael Sheen – If you ever doubted Sheen’s talent, you won’t after watching this. If he had been born 100 years ago (or more) he’d have ruled the world. Hell, he could rule the world today if he wanted to.
This was posted by a friend of mine on FB and one of her friends posted a comment saying here’s evidence that this speech is completely spontaneous –
As a Welshman I’d like to explain a few things for those that might not know:
Spirit of ’58 – This is referring to the last time Wales got to the World Cup – 1958. The teams have been pretty poor between then and until the last 5 or so years so it’s seen as a massive achievement just to get to the finals.
Rob’s page – This is referencing the current Wales manager Rob Page who has been somewhat of a really good stand-in after Ryan Giggs, the previous manager, was removed after assault allegations surfaced.
Yma o hyd, you sons of speed – This is two references, the first is a very popular Welsh language folk song called Yma O Hyd, which has been co opted recently by the Welsh fans and Welsh FA to stir support. It’s a song about although being invaded and ruled by the English and despite their best efforts, the Welsh language and the Welsh people / culture are ‘still here’ (yma o hyd in welsh).
The other reference in this is to Gary Speed, a Welsh football legend who sadly committed suicide in 2011 that was adored by Welsh football fans.
[Shared with me by Angela G., Thanks Stasie!]
5. This Video Showing a Cartoonist Creating a Work of Art – MESMERIZING!
6. This Artist’s Drawings of the Queues Waiting to Say Good-bye to the Queen – Beautiful art illustrating an historic moment.
1. This VACCINATED Menopausal Broad – pardon my hair, I forgot to fix it before the photo. You can’t see it but I’m both a little teary-eyed and overjoyed.
Not surprisingly, I’ve been reading everything I can on the vaccines and post-vaccine life and I found this excellent article in the Washington Post. WashPo has a paywall, so you may not be able to read it but here’s my favorite part, where the authors, Emily Heil and Tim Carman, talk about keeping a coronavirus budget. I think it’s a brilliant idea:
“There’s no such thing as zero risk, and nothing is 100 percent risky,” says Leana Wen, a visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and contributing columnist at The Washington Post. “It’s a spectrum.” She has long urged people to think about their risks as expenditures from a “coronavirus budget,” and says the budgets of those who have been vaccinated just went way up. “You still have to think about how to spend it, and if your priority is seeing grandchildren and going to church, then maybe you’re not going to restaurants all that often.”
With encouraging headlines, springlike temperatures and our collective covid fatigue at an all-time high, it might be tempting to throw caution — and another round of takeout — to the wind. But experts agree that now is not the time to lower your guard, but instead to maintain your vigilance so we can return to something like normal by the fall.
2. This Photograph of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs – I became obsessed with the Crystal Palace dinosaurs after reading the children’s book ‘The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins‘ by Barbara Kerley (illustrated by Brian Selznick). The book won a Caldecott Honor Medal in 2002 . I was still a Children’s Librarian at that time. It has everything I loved – London, the Victorian Era, paleontology/innovation/science and the illustrations are fantastic. Here’s a video of a reading of the book that is charming.
I thought – it would have been amazing to be there then and see the dinosaurs in person. Honestly, I didn’t realize they still existed until a couple years ago. I learned many moons ago the Crystal Palace had burned down, twice I believe, so I assumed that nothing had survived. But the dinosaurs did and I got to see them in May of 2019! Here are a few of my photos… (the guy in the photo is my London pal Rob.)
2. This Story about the Golden Tickets in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory – Charlie & the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl was my all-time favorite book as a kid. I’m not sure if I’ve already told this story but one year, I think around when I was in second or third grade, I got a hold of a copy of the book. I read it and loved it so much that I re-read it over and over and over again. Around the twelve time my Mom started getting a little concerned that I was so obsessed with just one book so she bribed me with my first Nancy Drew book. That wasn’t such a bad thing, it led to a whole new world of my favorite teenage sleuth, but I always loved Charlie and his family and Mr. Willy Wonka.
I also loved the movie with Gene Wilder. To me he will always be the one and only Willy Wonka. I was actually excited when I first heard that Tim Burton was going to give the book a try and that Johnny Depp was slated to play Wonka, but I think I’ve spent to many years visualizing the candy maker as Gene Wilder.
I stumbled across this story while searching for something else and thought it was very interesting. For fans of the story, it’s not a major thing but curious nonetheless.
For some reason the book originally had it say on the golden ticket that the visit was to in February but in the first movie they changed it to October. Here is a brief post on Roald Dahl Fans.com where the person who runs the blog received an email with a question about this difference.
Here is what it says in the book:
“And now, here are your instructions: The day I have chosen for the visit is the first day in the month of February…”
“The first day of February!” cried Mrs. Bucket. “But that’s tomorrow! Today is the last day of January, I know it is!”
The person who runs the Roald Dahl Fans blog has one theory that I think is most likely/logical and that is that the filming schedule was from August to November and so it simply didn’t look like February outdoors (and it would have been too expensive to make it look like February back then.) I think that this is the most likely explanation but one has to wonder if there might be some other reason like, is October 1st someone’s birthday or anniversary?
3. This Instagram Post by 99 year-old Betty White – how is it that I have only just thought to follow Betty White now???? So many shows like this that I would love to watch – thank goodness they aren’t available to stream because I don’t have enough time in the day! (If you haven’t watched the Betty White documentary on Netflix yet I highly recommend it. I‘ll be posting my ‘Menopausal Broad’s Guide to Netflix’ soon, hopefully within the next week.)
4. This Number from the 1957 Movie, Funny Face – Pink has always been my favorite color. I’d like to think it would have been even if I wasn’t born a girl, but in the 60s in Iowa there were only two options – girl or boy – and it wasn’t kosher for boys to like pink. Having said that, you just know that at least half of the guys in those white painter jumpsuits wish their suits were pink too. But they still look like they’re having fun! Aren’t the clothes fabulous?
5. This 360 Degree Van Gogh Painting – you may want to actually visit it on Facebook to so you can make it bigger.
6. This Website that Lets You Create Your Own Bayeux Tapestry – The Bayeux Tapestry is made up of seventy-five scenes depicting events leading up to the Norman Conquest in 1066. It has a very distinct style and has been studied in depth (in fact they even know that there are 93 penises, not all belonging to men, included in the art piece.)
Here’s my first attempt…
And here is an artist named Andrew Swainson’s clever version of the Bayeux Tapestry in a tribute to Monty Python…
Andrew Swainson’s Pythonesque take on the Bayeux Tapestry Photograph: Andrew Swainson/Monty Python
7. These “Personless Protests” in Myanmar – human ingenuity knows no bounds.
With the long holiday weekend I almost forgot to post this. It’s Monday, right? (I have completely lost track of time…)
This Roman Catholic priest in Detroit practicing physical distancing by spraying holy water with a squirt gun into cars –
Timothy Pelc conducts the traditional Blessing of the Easter Baskets at St Ambrose Catholic church in April. Photograph: Jim West/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
2. This wonderful Google Doodle celebrating Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s 61st birthday. I’m a huge fan of Google Doodles, even have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to my favorite ones. I particularly loved this one, mostly because my Mom adored Israel’s most famous song.
3. This Afghan all-girls robotics team, who have taken on the challenge of trying to build a ventilator out of car parts from old Toyota Corollas. They are following a design from M.I.T.
Elham Mansori, Florence Poya, Nahida Khajazadeh and Somaya Farooqi, members of the Afghan Dreamers, are building a mechanized version of the hand-operated ventilator. / The Digital Citizen Fund
4. Read-aloud version of James and the Giant Peachby Taika Waititi who is joined by (wait for it) two of the Hemsworths – Chris and Liam – and Nick Kroll!!! I mean, I would have been over the moon if it had been Taika alone but Jeez Louise. And wait until you see who joins Taika in the subsequent episodes (Merle & Benedict are fantastic!) My good friend Leann posted this on Facebook and I practically fell out of my comfy, red chair (which I have been sitting in for 74 days. It’s possible some sort of vacuum seal may have formed between myself and the chair. I really should stand up. Kidding of course.)
5. This photo of my cousins (well I call them my cousin-nieces and cousin-nephews because my cousin’s kids are more like nieces & a nephew to me because my cousins are more like siblings to me.) ANYWAY, this photo of my cousins visiting my Aunt & Uncle during the pandemic. But here’s the thing. My cousins live in a Chicago Suburb and my Aunt & Uncle live in Dubuque, IA so what they did was drive for 6 hours round trip just so they could all stand outside in the driveway talking to one another IN REAL LIFE. I mean, how sweet is that?!? In this photo my Aunt & Uncle are giving the kids hugs. They are so cute.
6. OMG, have you seen Chef Baby Kobe???
7. Modular Cheat (Pan) Sheets – this brilliant Kickstarter only has about 60 hours left to go so if you want to order them you better hurry. The people behind this product were looking for $10,000 in pledges and are currently at $2,108,930! They have nearly 25,000 backers, including me. I know that I will be using these a LOT.
