Library finds!

We went to the library monday. Near the back door they have a table that always has sale items on it. Lately they've been selling a lot of videos because they are phasing out the VHS. That's how we got My Neighbor Totoro for 50 cents (in perfect condition). Sometimes they sell things that are banged up but often they're in good condition. I guess they're selling things that aren't borrowed in a certain amount of time?

I don't think it's a great idea by the way. First of all, what about the people who don't have DVD players? Second, the VHS videos rent for free but the DVDs rent for $1.75. I know that's less than Blockbuster but it would add up if we had to pay it every time we rented a video. The videos deemed educational or instructional rent free whether they are VHS or DVD but we rent a lot of "regular" movies too.

Anyway, so we're walking by the sale table and a video caught my eye. It was one of a series on famous composers that I keep meaning to rent and not getting around to it. And they're selling it! So I bought it for 50 cents and two others while I was at it.

The one that caught my eye was Rossini's Ghost. We just watched it this afternoon and it was wonderful! Rossini's music is the soundtrack for the video. I'm not too familiar with Rossini (can't pronounce his first name even, LOL!) but he did The Barber of Seville (which is part of the movie) and The William Tell Overture (you know . . . the Lone Ranger theme music ;-) The plot of this movie involved a young girl being transported back in time 50 years to the opening of The Barber of Seville. Her grandmother and grandmother's friend, both of whom were in the show, tell her the story of it which is part of the magic that transports her. It was a really nice movie. Only about an hour long, with ballet dancing, singing, beautiful music and a nice element of fantasy to add some fun to the story.

Yesterday we watched Degas and the Dancer. Bridget liked it so much she's watching it again right now. Degas is portrayed as a very tempermental, spoiled man who is resentful of the fact that he's forced to work for a living. In googling it seems it's true that his father died and left him with a lot of debt to take care of so I can see the resentment there. I vaguely remembered from art class that he didn't consider himself an impressionist and that was in the movie too, in addition to the fact that critics of the day didn't like his paintings. I ended up grabbing my Modern Art book from college to find some of his works that were being shown on the video such as the sculpture Little Dancer of Fourteen Years and the painting The Dance Class. Oh yes, the plot. A little ballerina, the daughter of a washer woman (Degas painted a lot of them too) catches his eye and he wants her to model for him. He is rude and arrogant and insults her a lot but by the end he's acting a bit more human.

And guess what? It turns out both of these videos were by the same company and they have a website. http://devine-ent.com/ I'm definitely going to start taking out the ones the library has left. Or buying the ones they're selling!

The third movie we haven't watched yet. Marsalis on Music : Sousa to Satchmo. We rented a few others of this series awhile back and liked them but never got around to this one. They're aimed at older kids and do have a bit of lecture but a lot of music so Bridget liked it.

Ok, off to make dinner while Bridget dances ballet in the backroom and Owen makes up songs and dances :-)