Hi Julie,

> ****My personal favorite classic is
> "Sound of Music".....I saw that
> for the first time when I was three years
> old, Mom and Sue and I wore matching
> dresses. I can still remember sitting in the
> balcony and loving every minute of the
> singing and dancing!

> And who can fail to be inspired by the Von
> Trapp family defying the Third Reich and
> climbing the mountain to freedom? And Maria
> and the Captain, finding true love! And the
> music, and dancing...loved it then, love it
> now.

Okay Julie... I admit it.... I really loved "The Sound of Music" too.... :) It is a great movie! :) Okay, and you squeezed this out of me too....

I also liked "Mary Poppins" too. Just don't tell anyone I admitted this, okay? I keep that spoonful of sugar handy to help the medicine go down.... :)

Though I haven't seen either movie for many many years.... they are both real classics! There are a lot of great "kids" or "family" movies out there....

Have you seen "The Princess Bride" ?

Vizzini: I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains.
Westley: You're that smart?
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Westley: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.

That bit of dialogue from "The Princess Bride" still makes me chuckle.... :) But for balance I'll mention....

"This is Spinal Tap." Now my rougher friends will still respect me. :) Make sure to turn your amps up to 11!

> The stage play is even better I discovered
> as an adult. I wanted to audition to be a
> Nun, but I was pregnant at the time.
> Katherine did play Gretl for over 40
> performances and I never once tired of it.

I read about this on your web page, Julie.... your daughters all sound very talented, and particularly Katherine is an extremely talented actress! :)

> ***My second favorite is "Field of
> Dreams" because the main character did
> the outrageous and stuck with it, no matter
> how seemingly ridiculous it was!

Field of Dreams was a very interesting movie.... I hadn't really heard of it before when I saw it, but it was an unexpected pleasure! :)

> ***Finally, this summer I saw 'The Patriot'.
> Two of your countrymen in that one, Dien.
> They were both fantastic! For the first time
> ever I felt WAY too old watching Heath
> Ledger, but thats another story!

Heath Ledger seems to have a lot of female fans.... By the way, I like to think of myself as a pudgier, slower, and less witty version of Mel Gibson. ;)

Both Mel and I were born in upstate New York and relocated to Australia with our families when we were kids. :)

(I think it's not widely known that Mel Gibson was born and lived the earlier years of his life in the USA, before his whole family relocated to Australia after his father became a winner on "Jeopardy"....)

So.... if you ever get bored of me, just think of me as Mel Gibson's chubbier and slower cousin, okay? :)

Cheers,

Dien