the hardy boys

mr. pike and i are huge sleuthing fans. we've made our way through agatha christie, sherlock holmes, thin man movies -- and this week at the library i found a great new find.

any of you hardy boys or nancy drew fans? i didn't read them growing up, but mr. pike did. i couldn't resist picking up season 1 of the hardy boys starring shaun cassidy as joe and parker stevenson as frank.

based on the books created by edward stratemeyer, these two sleuthing brothers find a way to snoop out any mystery and save the day. frank is the strong, brave one. joe provides the comic relief.

it's a great watch if you can find it -- filled with great 70s music, effects, clothes, and hair-dos. and now i have an interest to put a few hardy boy books on my reading list.

if the shoe fits . . .

last weekend, mr. pike asked me to run to blockbuster to pick up a movie for our enjoyment. he causally mentioned that he thought knowing looked good. and when i saw the cover and read the back of the DVD box, i was hardly impressed.

i was immediately drawn to confessions of a shopaholic, which my friend miss holbrook had recommended. but i knew mr. pike would prefer his choice over mine, so i brought home knowing.

well, mr. pike's choice ended up being a bad choice. what we thought might be a more suspenseful movie turned out to be really eerie. we didn't even finish it. we read the ending on wikipedia, and it ended pretty corny. so, take it from us, you don't need to check this one out.

i had mentioned to mr. pike that my choice would have been so much better. to make it up to me, mr. pike brought shopoholic home tuesday night. while i'm not a fashionista of gucci or prada proportions, ms. bloomwood did inspire me to also clean my closet.

when we moved into our current apartment, my shoe collection was divided among three closets (mine, mr. pike's, and the hall closet). it was a pretty beautiful collection. but, this week i gave away several pairs of shoes and brought my collection down to two closets.

mr. pike, thank you for loaning me some of your closet space. but, now i'm giving it back. it's all yours.

by the way, i thought confessions was a sweet movie. mr. pike and i are big fans of ms. bloomwood's fan dance.

that is the question

from hamlet's great soliloquy is the ever famous line - "to be or not to be . . . " unfortunately, joseph tura can hardly get the line out without someone walking out on him.

in ernst lubitsch's to be or not to be, Polish actors stage their best performance yet as they try to stop a spy from sharing secrets about the Polish resistance during World War II. the graceful funny girl, carole lombard, plays center stage as maria tura, with the talented jack benny as her husband, joseph. the two matched together create a hilarious comedy without pushing the jokes.

mr. pike and i thought this was one of the best films we've seen this summer. the plot is intense, the writing is witty, and the acting is unforgettable.

this summer i have seen a few carole lombard films -- and she has become one of my most favorite actresses. she remains poised and elegant, with this great twist of humor. maria tura was her last role before she was killed in a tragic airplane accident.

if you have yet to see one of her movies, please do. in my opinion, she is one of the finest actresses hollywood has seen.

another movie recommendation

mr. pike and i watched another "mr." movie -- this time mr. deeds goes to town. the original mr. deeds movie and far better than anything adam sandler tried to mimic.

this frank capra movie stars gary cooper as longfellow deeds, whose estranged uncle leaves him $20 million when he dies. deeds, a small-town guy, moves to new york city to decide what to do with his money. then enters jean arthur as louise "babe" bennett, a newspaper reporter that's aiming to use deeds as means to promotion.

(i just love jean arthur! what a great, down-to-earth actress. other favorites you can see her in mr. smith goes to washington -- mr. pike's favorite -- and you can't take it with you.)

well, what babe doesn't bet on is finding out that her lead story is more of a kind, thoughtful gentleman than she ever made him out to be.

it's a sweet romantic comedy -- my compliments to mr. capra, mr. cooper, and ms. arthur. they created a fine film.

another mr. & mrs.

another great library find happened last night while picking up a few DVDs. i came across mr. & mrs. smith. not the bragenlia flick, but the alfred hitchcock one. it stars Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard. it's all comedy with no murder - not your typical hitchcock.

THE LOW DOWN: mr. & mrs. smith have been married for three years when a technicality voids their marriage. with the opportunity for a second chance for love, mr. & mrs. smith have to decide if they're still each other's sweetheart.

A FAVORITE: mr. pike and i like the scene when mr. smith tries to give himself a bloody nose to escape a horrible blind date. the bloody nose finally comes after mr. smith hits himself in the nose with a salt shaker. unfortunately, his date is new york's premier expert on how to stop nose bleeds, and mr. smith can't get away.

mr. pike and i found the film a humorous delight. we were laughing all night. we recommend a viewing.