A day for memories, popcorn, and pizza

Monday, August 13, 2012

Movie tugs at Valley heartstrings

 'Hope Springs' features truck owned by late Ansonia resident

Jean Roslonowski, right, greets friends before they walk the red carpet. Photo by Patricia Villers

On Sunday morning I attended a Hollywood premiere-style event for the newly released comedy/drama, "Hope Springs."
 It stars Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, and Steve Carell.

Ansonia resident Jean Roslonowski hosted the event at Entertainment Cinemas in Seymour.

She held the premiere in memory of her fiance, John Guardiani, who died in February.
Guardiani, 66, drove his tractor trailer in scenes during filming in Mystic. Although he did not appear in the film, his truck (shown below) was visible in two scenes.

A now-famous big rig outside Entertainment Cinemas in Seymour. Photo by Patricia Villers

Derby resident Markanthony Izzo, a local actor who has worked in TV, film and live theater,  appeared briefly in "Hope Springs." Scenes from the movie were shot in several Connecticut locations.

Izzo says in an e-mail, "I worked a day (17 hours) as an extra (background) and one of the scenes I worked in got used.  Meryl Streep's character walks in towards a bar and I walk out..."

I had forgotten he told me he was in the film so I certainly was startled when I saw him walking out of the bar! It was fun to see a familiar face on the big screen.

Congratulations go out to Markanthony Izzo for landing the role in this fun film.

And big thanks to Jean Roslonowski for inviting me to be a part of the Hollywood premiere, as well as the pizza party afterward held at the Italian Pavilion in Derby. It was a memorable experience! I truly enjoyed myself.

I'm only sorry I never met John Guardiani. He clearly was loved by many.

Labels: 'Hope Springs', Entertainment Cinemas, Hollywood premiere, memories, movie, Seymour

Note: I posted this today on the New Haven Register's View from the Valley blog.    

I do believe 'tis better to give than receive

...but receiving lots of support since my cancer diagnosis from family, friends, and even from folks I don't even know is almost as good!


On Wednesday I received some unexpected recognition from a group of wonderful people, and I'm trying to figure out how to thank them for their thoughtfulness.

I'm purposely being vague here...need to think about what to do to show my gratitude.

~ ~ ~ 

In other news, Ralph and I are taking part in "Haunted Lantern Tours" tonight in downtown Derby, Ct. 
The cool thing is we're not attending, we're two of the presenters. 
He and I will be at one of the stops on the tour to tell a story about the former inhabitants of a (haunted?) Victorian house that is now a funeral home. 
We'll mention the sudden death of one them inside the house ...

Spooky!

An update to yesterday's post about friends

I just read my friend Karen's note on Facebook from earlier today...her sister Gail died yesterday.

Karen said she went in peace, and she knows that Gail is in a better place.

Update of Monday's post about friendship bread

It seems I have no friends. :- (

At least none to whom I can pass along an Amish Friendship Bread starter. This is sad.
Tomorrow, which is baking day according to the instructions, my daughter is going to help me skip over a bunch of steps in the recipe and figure out how to use enough starter to make two breads...That means half of this mixture we've been mushing will be thrown out.

What else can I do? Hand a plastic bag of it to someone I meet in the grocery store and tell them to mush it?
I hate to waste, but I'm stumped here.

Helpful cooking hint #3

Today's tip:
Do not accept a plastic bag full of mushy ingredients that make up a "starter" that is someday supposed to be baked into Amish Friendship Bread.
That is, unless you are a patient person and you have about $30 to spend on additional ingredients you will need to complete the project.
For those who never heard of this kind of bread, you keep one mixture for yourself and then divvy up the rest into three more plastic bags to give to your friends. Another problem is I don't know to whom I should give the bags of mushy stuff. It's like a chain letter using bread dough.

I hear the final product is scrumptious, but it takes 10 days of mushing, ingredient adding and more mushing before you can bake it. Patience is part of the recipe here.

If I succeed, I will post photos of the bread. If I don't, forget you ever read this.

Ya gotta have friends ...

Mary T, The Teach, at Work of the Poet, presented me with this lovely award today. I was most surprised, but happy to read she considers my blog charming and friend-oriented.

Mary hosts three memes: Ruby Tuesday, Sepia Scenes, and Window Views. I honestly don't know where she finds the time.
I've met many great people here in the blogosphere, and have even met two of them in person. It just seems like there is not enough time in the day to visit all the folks I would like to visit.

Thanks, Mary, you made my day today. ;-)

Mary wrote:
The following rules came with this "Friends" prize:
“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I could easily come up with more than eight people, but here are the bloggie friends I'm recognizing:
Linda, Bee, Mimi, (royalty all) Bond, Roger, Lynn, Joan and Michele, great bloggers all.

I got an early Christmas present ~

Awwwww...
Mimi, Queen of Memes, presented me with this sweet award while I was "absent" from the blogosphere. Thank you, Mimi!

Quoting from Mimi, "This is what the award means as written by its creator........
There is something very special and unique about blogging friendships. In “real” life we all have to first get by the physical and superficial aspects of each other before we can get into who we are, really. In “real” life there is so much bull shit that we have to put up with, that sometimes developing true friends becomes very difficult. I feel that with blogging friendships there are no superficial aspects to it; the barriers do not exist. We open up in our writings as to who we really are. We bare ourselves and say “this is me.” For many of us this is the only way that we can truly express ourselves, our opinions, our strengths and our fears. I have also discovered a level of INTEGRITY amongst bloggers that I have not found in “real” life."
The creator of the award is Mel at Monday Morning Power.

I'll pass this on to my blog friends who have been supportive amidst trials and tribulations during this past tumultuous year. It hasn't been an easy 2007 for a lot of us, that's for sure.
Let's raise our cyber-glasses and make a toast: Here's to friendship!

~ ~ ~