Gaudette

The Queen
2006, Stephen Frears

I know, it’s like I wish I were British, isn’t it? Oh wait, I do! This was a case of catching a film I’d wanted to see for a while but never got around to. I caught it on tv last night, and by the end of it I was in complete sniffles, quite to my surprise! This is a wonderful film.

The Queen tells a very specific story, that of the royal family and Prime Minister Tony Blair during the week directly following the death of Princess Diana. Queen Elizabeth II has always gotten a bad rep for that week, for the seemingly cold reaction of the Palace, but this film gives you a look inside the walls at what really was going on, and a glimpse into the mind of a great woman who was raised in an era entirely different to this media-soaked one.

Now granted, there’s no sugar-coating of her relationship with Diana. They didn’t get along, and nobody pretends that they did, but that isn’t the reason at all behind the way The Queen handles things. She was raised to believe that one keeps their emotions close, deals with things privately, and this is shown vividly in the way her first concern was for her grandsons. That the people can be so public with their grief perplexes her. All the while, Tony Blair offers a more moved character, who, while not personally effected by the death understands the grief of the people and gently urges the Queen to as well.

By the time The Queen allows herself a moment of private mourning, I was sniffling too. We are reminded that we were the outsiders looking in on this event, and while she could have accepted that times had changed and media allowed people to feel closer to the royals, the public could have done well to remember that this was a lady who’d led a country through wars, had, to quote Roger Allam, ‘Spent the last 50 years doing a job she watched kill her father’. If she reacted badly in our eyes, it was because protocol and tradition and family privacy were all things so deeply ingrained in who she is. So yes, while she could have softened her public face a bit, we might do well to remember that dignity and respect aren’t things that should go out of style.

And on a girly side note, OH MY GOD THE CORGIS! I can has? Please? She has so many of them, surely she can spare a corgi for me? >.>

When The Jewelry Breaks

I have a bad habit of breaking jewelry...usually the store-bought costume kind, to no one's surprise. Luckily, as you've seen, I am quite handy with metal links and two good pairs of needle-nose-pliers, my jewelry is tough stuff. Here are recent examples of diamonds rescued from the bin!

Key-necklace! Once a bracelet, snapped to bits. The curved silver bar was a Michael's find. I do so like Michael's, they're very good for the jewelry-making bones. Mmmm, bones. Incidentally, I want to make a skeleton set soon. If anyone knows where to find tiny plastic/metal bones/skeletons, let me know.

I love this one. The Crucifix is new, but the piece of eight is off of an old necklace someone bought me from *gag* American Eagle, and the brass butterfly is from a hair clip I'd had since I was 13. Both so tiny, but I never did lose them.

It was a sad day when the twin charm of this swallow broke. Originally a pair of earrings, the over charm broke while I was in the airport on the way here from Norfolk. It was quite beyond repair, much to my woe! These were my favorite earrings. But no fear, a new link and chain later and I can has pendant. Still, I miss them as earrings :P

I wear my key necklace, and prove that not all hats look ridiculous on my head. Also, Eiffel Tower!


Taa.



~ Amy