Edelweiss Pays Off

Congratulations to Christopher Plummer on his first Academy Award!

I still haven't seen the film The Beginners, but I did blog about a book I received over New Year's based on the film and I am forever grateful for this limited edition art book which I was told was given to me because I knew a thing or two about culture and stuff like that.  I was pretty flattered.

Did you know that Austrians get a real kick out the fact that many Americans think that Edelweiss, which Plummer sang in "The Sound of Music," is a national Austrian folk anthem?   As a child, my friend Rachel's dad Larry used to sing that one at their shabbat dinner table and on long drives up to their family's farm house.  Good times, good times.

One day I will share here some of the other things I learned on a trip to Vienna a few years ago.

Until then...







 And from the Golden Globes about a month or so ago

 

Drawings From The Film Beginners By Mike Mills

I was recently gifted with this book, a limited edition companion to the film Beginners by Mike Mills.

courtesy of Reprizent

Thank you, Michael Arkin!  (to the blogosphere:  I also wrote Michael a thoughtful, hand-written note of thanks.  Long before I was acquainted with Derek Blasberg's work, I was trained in proper etiquette by my mother).

My college boyfriend's father was gay.   I remember the great secrecy and emotion surrounding him telling me about his father in the early 90s.  Times are so different today for the gay community and this film gives a broader historical perspective about the lifestyles of closeted gays in the 20th century.

I have been told that I will like Mike Mills' style if I like Wes Anderson's.  This is too delicious!



Naturally, I have great affection for Christopher Plummer, who stars in this film, as he will always be the Captain singing "Edelweiss" in my memory.