Thursday Thirteen #307

13 movies based on books: Which do I like better? I admit I shamelessly stole this from Kwizgiver.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird. Both are beautiful.

2. The Godfather. To paraphrase Clemenza, "Watch the movie, skip the book."

3. Gone with the Wind. Don't make me choose. I simply cannot.

4. The Horse Whisperer. Until the end, I give the book the edge. The horse, Pilgrim, is a real character on the page. But the movie concludes correctly, the book's ending just rings false to me.

5. The Princess Bride. The movie is darling, but the book has more layers. William Goldman wrote both. I adore him.

6. Magic. A young Anthony Hopkins is impressive, but the book! Oh my God! It took my breath away. If you haven't seen the movie yet, snag the book and let William Goldman shock you.

7. IT. That book terrified me. Neither the theatrical movie nor the made-for-TV version had anywhere near as powerful an impact.

8. The Exorcist. Just the opposite of IT. Seeing the nightmare world of Regan's bedroom is more shocking than reading it.

9. All the President's Men. The movie is better. Woodward and Bernstein are better reporters than narrators. (BTW, William Goldman wrote this script, too.)

10. The Diary of Anne Frank. While I'm all for her story reaching everyone in every way possible, I give the edge to Anne herself.

11. Little Women. I've seen four different movie versions of this story. What a testament to the talent of Louisa May Alcott!

11. Valley of the Dolls. The movie is glorious over the top fun. The book is just stupid.

13. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. I like the book much better.

Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.

Feeling better about it

I spoke to my oldest friend yesterday! An actual conversation. You know, where I say something and then she responds and we react to one another in real time. I found tremendous comfort in this.

The hospital cancelled her surgery at the last minute and at that point, hadn't rescheduled it yet. So naturally she was upset. She's also clashing with her son again. I hope I was able to give her some respite from stress and unhappiness.

While I'm not glad this happened to her, I am grateful for two things:

1) We reconnected in a way that seemed real to me. I'm no longer as worried about her mental state. I felt so helpless before and now I'm way less concerned.

2) This may help remind her why Hesperia is where she 100% didn't want to live before she began this very fledgling relationship (one month) with Robert. She can't get the quality, dependable medical care she needs in that town. Robert has a truck. If he loves her, and he can drive the 45 minutes to see her. And if he loves her, he'll want her to move.

We'll see. At least now I know what's going on, and I feel like I have my friend back.

It's funny. Once I spoke to her, I made plans to see Elaine for lunch downtown. It's like a weight was lifted, and I can move on.