Dear Wonderful Humans,
I know you’re out there.
Tell me, what is wonderful to you?
How often do you call something “wonderful” in your day—and mean it?
Let’s begin to create a more wonderful world by noticing and appreciating what is wonderful, and letting that be something we focus our attention on…hmm?
I am recrafting this newsletter to focus on film and culture that is SIMPLY WONDERFUL!
So much of what goes wrong in our lives and in our world is focusing too much attention on things that annoy and aggravate us. Of course we must acknowledge certain realities, but do they need to take up so much emotional and mental space? What if we have some suitable replacements to the annoying and aggravating parts of life, and whenever our minds start going into despair and disarray, we remember THE WONDERFULS?
There is a sonnet I love by William Shakespeare. I used to have it memorized. When I was teaching high school girls in a Catholic private school, I made them pick a Shakespearean sonnet and memorize it. They had to recite it to me. It was great, wonderful fun! And I bet you that a few of those girls can still remember their sonnet—or most of their sonnet—to this day.
This particular sonnet stands out to me as a kind of meditation and prayer that you—yes, you!—can use as inspiration for your new WONDERFUL PRACTICE.
Check it out:
Sonnet by William Shakespeare (from the year 1609)
When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him wiht friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Now, doesn’t a poem like that make you just vibrate with recognition?? We get so frustrated by this or that problem, and that or this challenge in our lives, that we often forget the wonderful people and experiences in our midst who open our hearts and help us feel warm and cozy inside.
So, your homework, Reader, is to
A) memorize that sonnet AND
B) look for what is wonderful in your world each day for the next week.
For me, I will give you two movies by Brits that have tickled my fancy in the last couple of weeks. Simply wonderful, you must find and rent and watch!
Widow Clicquot (2024) (still in theaters)
Director: Thomas Napper / Writers: Erin Dignam, Christopher Monger, Tilar J. Mazzeo
Starring: Haley Bennett and Sam Riley (and others)
A highly intelligent woman inherits a wine vineyard and has a knack for tasting the nuances of the sparkling wine that she is developing, but the society she lives within thinks she ought to marry and take a backseat to a man.
What do you think a wonderful woman would do? Watch and see. (Have you ever had Veuve Clicquot champagne, by the way? Isn’t it wonderful?)
*Film trailer here (I don’t recommend watching trailers. You’re braver than that.)
She Is Love (2022) (streaming)
Director and Writer: Jamie Adams
Starring: Haley Bennett and Sam Riley
When I found the Haley Bennett and Sam Riley pairing of Widow Clicquot, I did some investigating and found that they both also starred in this 2022 dram-edy, She Is Love. In this film, a divorced couple who haven’t spoken in a decade wind up in the same house for a weekend. They have to navigate the discomfort of addressing their haunted past and their new lives, and admit to their failings while renewing their love for one another in a different kind of way. What sauce, what sense, what divine and joyous filmmaking this is. Apparently it was done with only a loose script and a lot of improvisation.
Mwah, mwah, mwah!
*Trailer here (I just think you’re better than this but fine, I gave you a link.)
Okay, kiddos, now you are off to your weekends IN SEARCH OF THE WONDERFUL WORLD you can create every day with the right kind of focus and attention.
Mwah, mwah, mwah.
Cheerio—
Ms. Wonderful
