On the Common 195

Another round of advice and opinions

Hi everyone,

It’s been a while since we’ve done a round of opinions and advice nobody asked for, so let’s get to it.

---

The Part Where There are Thoughts

1. The live-action Cinderella film from Disney (2015) is the best live-action version they made, and they should have stopped right then and there. The more the live-action versions try to be recreations of the animated versions, the worse they get. The strength of the 2015 Cinderella, in part, is that it had the courage to be its own thing.

2. I’ve been doing some furniture shopping (at least, window-shopping) lately, and I would like to voice a protest: the current crop of furniture (midcentury modern, and the like) is too short. The backs of the chairs do not come up high enough for my tall family and friends. I’m starting to see some movement away from this trend, but I hope it’s completely over soon. I do not want my house to look like Don Draper’s office. (Tall men in low-slung furniture.)

3. Here is a delicious pork belly recipe that won me a great deal of praise during the (otherwise not-good, very-bad, extremely terrible) Superbowl.

4. This week’s weather is more summer than spring here in Charlotte, so I’m packing up some winter clothes. I wanted to say a word about these Quince pajamas. I don’t usually spend very much money on pajamas, but these were worth it. I will be wearing them for a long time.

5. If you’re looking for a hearty perennial that blooms in dappled sun or shade, may I recommend the Bleeding Heart? I planted these partly in honor of my mother—she always remembered them at her grandmother’s house—and I add more every year. They come back year after year and bloom faithfully. Plus, look how cute they are:

BLEEDING HEART, get it?!

6. A very dumb and obvious 90s movie that I will always love is Independence Day. I went to see this movie when it came out. I think it was a midnight showing on release day, because I was young then and could stay up past ten PM.

   I tried hooking my kids on this one, and the bad timing made it a failed experiment. It was July 2020, and we were still watching Covid infection numbers fairly closely. I decided that a fun way to spend our July 4 holiday would be to watch a nostalgic film that Mom loves: Independence Day! What could be better?!

   Unfortunately, I had forgotten a key component: the hinge on which the plot of this movie turns is a VIRUS. The humans defeat the aliens with the use of a computer VIRUS. There is a lot of discussion about the VIRUS, and people are excited about the success of the VIRUS. THE VIRUS WILL SAVE HUMANITY! The word VIRUS is used just so, so many times. It did not really bring a celebratory vibe to a 2020 party.

   Since that unfortunate day, we have revisited it, and we’ve enjoyed it a bit more. Will Smith punches an alien in the face, the golden retriever does not die, and Bill Pullman gives that speech. It’s fun when there’s not a pandemic on.

---

For the Anglophiles

I was pleased to be able to see Malcolm Guite not once, but twice, as he released his new book, Galahad and the Grail. Here’s the video of his event at the National Press Club in DC.

---

Reads & Listens of the Week

Did you know that Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood is getting its own YouTube channel? This is delightful news.

As a resident of North Carolina, I found this little tidbit about Easter Monday fascinating. Maybe it’s not surprising that it involves a basketball game.

Last weekend, as I was traveling and distracted from my email, a friend messaged me and said, “Are you the Kelly Keller in this newsletter?” I was, indeed, and I was so thankful he drew my attention to it—I would’ve certainly missed it. Read here (and scroll WAY down) if you’d like to see what I had to say about Winslow Homer’s The Gale in The Dispatch’s culture page.

My kids grew up with the original Winnie-the-Pooh, and I’m excited that my friend Joe Sutphin has undertaken his own tribute to it. Joe has such a gentle hand and a respect for the original. This will be wonderful.

---

Our little systems have their day;

They have their day and cease to be:

They are but broken lights of thee,

And thou, O Lord, art more than they.

(from) “Strong Son of God, Immortal Love,” Alfred, Lord Tennyson