Julie & Julia--"Eat well and enjoy life." Julia Child

Here is New York Times movie reviewer A.O.Scott on my goddess Meryl Streep's performance:

"By now this actress has exhausted every superlative that exists and to suggest that she has outdone herself is only to say that she’s done it again. Her performance goes beyond physical imitation, though she has the rounded shoulders and the fluting voice down perfectly. Often when gifted actors impersonate real, familiar people, they overshadow the originals, so that, for example, you can’t think of Ray Charles without seeing Jamie Foxx, or Truman Capote without envisioning Philip Seymour Hoffman. But Ms. Streep’s incarnation of Julia Child has the opposite effect, making the real Julia, who died in 2004, more vivid, more alive, than ever."

Watch this video: Nora Ephron, writer and director of Julie & Julia, appreciating Meryl Streep at the 2004 American Film Institute gala, when Meryl received a Lifetime Achievement Award.

p.s. Keep working on your omelette technique. For more review: YouTube - Julia Child making omelette

Our annual trip to San Diego

For a change of tradition we skipped the SD Zoo this year and instead visited the Hotel del Coronado, where the movie Some Like it Hot was filmed 50 years ago. See the link My Top Films of All Time to the right...it's No. 1.

We all agree that this movie could not be as great as it is without the three stars: Marilyn Monroe, (Sugar), Tony Curtis (Josephine), or Jack Lemmon (Daphne). Tony and Marilyn are gorgeous (as women), but Daphne is the best...she just gets into it so much!

It is truly a timeless film...made in 1959, set in 1929 as Curtis and Lemmon, playing two jazz musicians, Joe and Jerry, try to be one step ahead of the mob after witnessing the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. Because there is so little work available, they end up going in drag as Josephine and Daphne, working in an 'all-girl' band fronted by Sugar...Marilyn...and the fun begins.

The last scene, between Daphne (Lemmon) and 'her' millionaire future husband, Osgood (Joe E. Brown), in which Daphne is attempting to come clean about their possible incompatibility as husband and wife, has the beautiful and memorable line, 'Well, nobody's perfect.'

Grace, Phern and Hannah being tourists in front of the 'del'...looking almost the same as in the movie...the rocking chairs were missing at the front entrance, but the grandeur was still there.

The ceiling inside the Hotel...this is called the Crown room.

Melinda and Hannah at the beach at Coronado.

Paintings by Tony Curtis

These paintings were on display in the hotel store. Tony Curtis will be at the Hotel del Coronado for the weekend of September 18, for there big celebration of the 50th anniversay...rooms are only $350/night!

Looking in the shop window that houses all kinds of Hotel memorabilia, especially about the movie.

Moonlight Beach

Moonlight Beach, in Encinitas, a beach town about 20 minutes north of San Diego, is still the best California destination for ocean-loving people like me. The water temperature was between 70-73; you can rent chairs, boogie boards, umbrellas...and buy lunch at the cafe on the beach. OK, so it's crowded...it's still great. The water is clear and the lifeguards are vigilant.

Grace relaxing for a moment...in her new wetsuit.

The Snow Cone Sequence