Saturday, October 26, 2013

Saturdays Will Be Fun Days - The King's Speech

Blog Hops, Guest Blogs, etc...  and also review of other things besides books, like movies.  Before you take one look at the picture and decide I have stuffy tastes in movies, you should know I enjoyed watching Zombieland  right before it.  I have exceedingly wide tastes.
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Last week I finally got to watch a movie called The King's Speech. 
Of course, I'm a history buff, so I know all about King George VI, father of the present Queen Elizabeth II.  He's my favorite British king ever and this movie demonstrates exactly way.  I was glued and I cried.  Here's the trailer-   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzI4D6dyp_o
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FYI:   Harry Potter fans will be delighted to meet up with some of their favorite British actors in this one, including the ones who played Bellatrix and Dumbledore.
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Most Americans just don't get it.  To them, British royalty is just a bunch of overpaid celebrities.  They don't get how the Royal Family is the living embodiment of British culture and history.  But, you're brilliant.  You're not like most Americans.  You're here to learn cool stuff, right?
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I think anyone who has a Special Need or loves anyone who has a Special Need must watch this movie, regardless.  You see, King George VI had a paralyzing Speech Impediment.  Since he was born a prince and wound up king when his elder brother abdicated the Throne, he was *required* to do public speaking.  You know, most of us suffer through at least one semester of Speech class.  Imagine enduring that horror every single day of your life!  And you probably have average speech ability.  He didn't.
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Good people suffer bad stuff.  We all know that.  One of the reasons Bad Stuff happens to Good People is so that they share their courage and strength with others later on.  That's the moral of the story.
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Right after all this crap happened to King George VI, World War II broke out.  After Hitler throttled mainland Europe, he went after England and it is a historical fact that the King's courage got his people through what would later be called "The Blitz."  For months and months, Hitler's planes bombed British cities.  The British held out and he finally gave up invading.  During the Blitz, people begged the King to flee Britain to safety in Canada.  One of my favorite quotes was by his wife, mother of the present queen, Elizabeth, "The children won't leave without me.  I won't leave the King.  And the King will never leave."  And so they stayed and the Battle of Britain was won.  This photograph was taken of the King and Queen visiting a bombed out site during the Blitz.  Buckingham Palace was even bombed.  After that, the Queen said, defiantly, "I'm glad we've been bombed.  Now, we can look the East End in the eye."   http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/sep/13/queen-mother-biography-shawcross-luftwaffe

For an enjoyable primer, watch the old movie 'Battle of Britain.'  You can probably find it on YouTube.  Oh, yeah, here's the Zombieland poster, just for a visual example of my wide tastes in storytelling.

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