That's My Answer

I've mentioned before, a few times, that one of my favorite sites on line is "That's My Answer," the question and answer site with only a handful of regulars, but which poses a different question or two every day for us to answer and then on the weekend there is a Q&A where a question is posed and then the first person who answers it posts their own question for the next person to answer, and so on.  I've been answering those questions for years now, and the regulars have grown into this strange community where basically the only things we know about each other are from our answers to the questions (or from our blogs, if we check out the writings of the others in the group).

The other day the question was posed "What is your favorite movie starting with the letter M."  I had to think about it and I checked the answers that had been posted, the first of which was Meet Me In St. Louis, posted   by "l'empress," who frequently posts comments here.

Well that's a bummer, I thought.  Here I had the perfect movie right under my nose and I didn't get it posted in time.  I could, of course, have chosen the same movie, but what fun would that be?  Instead I picked Miracle on 34th Street, which I love, though it is one of those 40s movies that I loved when I first saw it for the magic in it and now, having become a jaded old lady, I see it for the cheesy shlock that it is...but if I can get in the right mindset, I still do love it.

Later in the day, I checked out l'empress's blog, A Place of My Own, where I saw that she had written an entry based on her That's My Answer answer.  She wrote an entire blog entry about Meet Me In St. Louis and never mentioned Judy Garland!  I left a comment to that effect on her entry and she answered back that "Seriously, I didn't really notice her the first time around.  In my mind, this was a movie about Margaret O'Brien."  

Didn't really notice the star of the show??  In fairness she was young at the time and says that her parents took her to see it because of Margaret O'Brien.  So I guess she can be forgiven for "not noticing" Judy Garland.  

But what she missed!  This was Garland's first experience with director Vincente Minnelli and she never looked so beautiful in any movie before (and possibly since).

From the early scene where we see her sitting in the window singing "The Boy Next Door" to the red dress she wore for the ball (red was her favorite color)

To the almost ethereal shots of her singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to Margaret O'Brien, trying to cheer her up.

She never looked more beautiful.  Some say that Minnelli was falling in love with her during the filming (he would later marry her and father Liza Minnellli) and that in these gorgeous shots he's making love to her with the camera.

The movie was released in 1944 and was an instant hit, becoming the second highest grossing film, after Gone with the Wind.  It is still, today, considered one of her three best performances (the other two being Wizard of Oz and A Star Is Born).  

The movie was all about the importance of family and home and released at a time where many young men were serving in the war and nobody knew for sure if they would return to their homes again, it must have been nice to escape into a simpler time, when problems were much smaller.

I often think of the very final scene of the movie...

...with Esther and John standing in the St. Louis World's Fair watching the fireworks and marveling about how other people have come long distances to be there, but they don't have to go a long distance because this wonderful fair is right where they live, right in their own back yard.  Whenever I visit San Francisco, especially during some sort of special event, I think how lucky I am, like Esther and John, that I don't have to come from far away to be a part of it, but that it is right in my own home town (even if I now live 80 miles away).

Yeah, Margaret O'Brien was in the film too, but I never paid much attention to her...I was too busy enjoying Judy Garland's performance.

*Mingling*

I don't remember when I first stumbled across That's My Answer, which has become the very first web site I visit (after checking e-mail and Facebook) in the morning.

Years ago there was a blogger named Michelle who used to post several questions for people to answer every day, taking time off on the weekends. She had hundreds of followers and her questions were funny, thought-provoking, personal, and just about any category you could mention. She eventually tired of the pressure and ended her question site, which made me sad.

I always went to Michelle's site and I may have found Indigo (Kimberly) who runs That's My Answer through Michelle's site, or maybe I stumbled across it some other way. It's been too long now for me to remember. Indigo started her own question and answer site and, to date, she hasn't yet acquired hundreds of followers, but those of us who answer her questions (and sometimes help compose them) are loyal and in a way have become a little community. We don't write to each other, but we read each other's answers and check out each other's blog and write comments in each other's guestbooks. The site has become more fun for me than Michelle's ever was because it seems so much more "homey."

Sometimes, Indigo has guest questionnaires -- it's no wonder. Trying to come up with 3-5 questions every single day has got to wear you down! But mostly she does it herself. Some of the more fun recent questions include: "If someone were to give you a sword of any kind, what would you do with it?" "When your shoulders ache, who do you turn to to massage them?" "What television train wreck show can you not stop watching?" "When was the last time you went skinny dipping?" "In your mind what time is way too late for dinner?" "Do you have issues with people entering your personal space?" etc. As you can see, just about any topic is covered

There are 30 blogs listed on her blogroll and, of those, eleven have become "Minglers," people who pledge to visit at least 3 of the blogs of the other minglers twice a week and leave a comment in their guestbook, adding the word "*mingle*" to let them know that you have stopped by as a member of that's my answer. Each month there is a new button for us to put on our blogs to let people know we are participating in the monthly mingle. I ended up designing the buttons each month this past year, which was a lot of fun.

I've made some fun finds as a result of being a mingler. For one thing there is Jon, who writes "Life Philosophy 101 for the Squirrelly Senior Citizen." Jon has a wacky offbeat sense of humor, and I'm always intrigued to check out people who admit to being senior citizens. He's written some interesting historical-type blog entries, but mostly he does great entries with titles like "Olditude (what to pack for your seniority)" and "Excuse me....I will just sit here and age quietly, if that's Ok with you." Jon is one of those guys who inspires me to write better, or to try to be funnier. He also occasionally leaves comments in this guestbook as well, which I always appreciate.

Jen is a 34 year old wife and mother from Wisconsin who posts a beautiful blog called Jensconsin. I particularly love her photo blog entries. She takes gorgeous photos, the kind that I would love to take. Her son is so adorable I want to eat him up! How can you not love a face like this?

The description for the "Everybody's Beautiful" blog reads, "My blog is about my experiences as I live a life of sobriety, my reasons for drinking, and my journey to inner peace and self discovery. I know I'm not the only one out there, so I am sharing so you don't feel alone anymore." This is a very intense, personal blog, but beautifully done and beautifully adorned with interesting photos.

I don't know how I first came across Rodney Olsen, whether because he was a blogger from Perth, or because he was a Compassion sponsor, or something else, but I was pleased when I discovered that he, too, was answering questions on "That's My Answer," though his name has disappeared from the rolls right now--I hope it's temporary. He's a husband, father, and radio broadcaster who talks about "Life, Faith and Family." Seems like a very nice guy.

"Reading at the Beach" is a site which does book and product reviews and occasionally has giveaways, which I never enter because I never ever win anything like that...but it's fun to see what is being given away.

And of course I always check out Rottweilers Ate My Laptop, which describes itself as "Rottweilers. Computers. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order." Obviously the kind of site that would definitely appeal to me. The only problem with this blog is that it doesn't up date very often, but still the Rottweiler puppy at the top is always fun to look at!

Indigo's own blog site is Outside My Head, and since she started getting serious about running, the blog is mostly about training and running, though I always check it, if only to live her life vicariously.

Sometimes I wonder, though, if people actually read the description for "mingling." Someone recently joined and -- this is not the first time this has happened -- I went to her site and found we had some things in common, so I went to leave a message and discovered that you could only leave a message if part of her "team." Other times minglers have blogs with no place to leave messages. Obviously they are unclear on the concept of what the "mingle" was designed to do.

I'm always fearful that Indigo will end up going the way of Michelle. I hope not. I enjoy my little visit each day with all of the faithful who share their opinions and answer questions on That's My Answer.