Suero, thank you so much! Any way you could try Farrow and Ball Down Pipe on the bottom, or a color that looks like the pictures below? Lighter and more green? Maybe the deep charcoal is too much. And for the top how about a nice neutral taupe? With white for the trim and black windows? Maybe this will give it more of an inviting look a little coastal? I love this restaurant tavern in LA. It's always been my inspiration. We are adding on a cute little outdoor deck to the left of the building and I will have slate planters with boxwoods, flowers and maybe someday and awning. Some of these pictures are from google earth, so not the best. From Exterior From Exterior From Exterior From Exterior

"Blow, Bugle, Blow" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The splendour falls on castle walls And snowy summits old in story: The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. O hark, O hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going! O sweet and far from cliff and scar The horns of Elfland faintly blowing! Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying: Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. O love, they die in yon rich sky, They faint on hill or field or river: Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow for ever and for ever. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

Oh wow, anyone not familiar with R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet"? Where you been?? For those who don't know, it is a 12-part epic song that plays out like an opera (or hip-hopera) replete with various characters and complex plotlines. It was laughed at, parodied and discussed ad nauseum all over blogs, TV, music and the entire entertainment world throughout all of last year and cited as the worst - or at least the most hilarious - song of 2005. The videos are priceless. Many people love it purely for its cheesiness, the lyrics sound like they were made up on the spot in the studio. By accident. You have to hear it believe it. With lyrics like "Then I went up to the closet, and I got into the closet, now I'm trapped in the closet, and he's walking up to the closet." Here's a site which gives you the entire low-down: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapped_In_The_Closet In the meantime, let me tempt you with some of these tour de force lyrics: ...he looks around the kitchen and says, "Something is really weird," and she says,"why do you say that?" he says,"cause you keep trying to get me out of here," he says, "Ever since I been in this house your face has change from white to red," and remember when I first walked through the door you acted like youve seen a ghost from the dead," And he says,"Girl if your hiding something I'm gonna be so mad," then he hears something falling he says,"What the f*#k was that?" she says,"Sounds like it came from upstairs sounds like the plumbing," he says, "woman that sound didn't come from upstairs I'll be d**n if you're up to something," he says, "now the sound that I just heard came from this kitchen," And he looks over by the stove while she's easy over by the dishes, and he walks over to the refigerator and pushes it back, and he looks her in the face looks like she's about to have a heart attack, and he notices the pie on the counter one slice is missing now the storys getting scary, cause he comes to realize that Bridgette's allergic to cherries, and he slowly looks at her while her face is red as hell, he's breathing real hard moving closer she says,"hon you don't look so well, and then he says, "Move" she says,"No" he says, "Move" she says,"No" "b**ch move!" she moves and then he looks at the cabinet, get close up to the cabinet, now hes at the cabinet, now he opens the cabinet, now pause the movie cause what I'm about to say to y'all is so d**n twisted, not only there's a man in the cabinet but the man is a midget...

Vee, thanks for the link to the Gallup poll. Whew! It will take me a while to assimilate it. As for "the sad state of affairs": I understand now. I tied it to the wrong paragraph. :-) Woodnymph, yeah, I realize that I'm in the minority about the film of To Kill a Mockingbird. I figure my love of the whole book makes me too critical of the adaptation, which picks out and gives emphasis to a particular part. Which reminds me: June, if you watch the Olivier/Oberon Wuthering Heights, don't expect to see the whole story -- you will only get part of it. Otherwise, it's a quite fascinating interpretation: telling, I think, of what adaptors of the 1930s thought was important and what subsequent audiences have taken in. Woodnymph, I saw The English Patient film first, and then read the book. While the "essence" of the book might have been captured in the film, the two are so different! I like the film better. Another essence capturer, I think, is The French Lieutenant's Woman. Oh gosh, yes, the Polanski-directed Tess is superb, I think, and very faithful. Actually I like nearly all of the film versions of Hardy's books, particularly Tess and Far from the Madding Crowd -- Alan Bates will always be my Gabriel Oak. I also liked most of the Merchant-Ivory productions. I certainly like their adaptations of Forster, though I find Forster's writing insufferably Edwardian. I do like some Edwardian writing but Forster's was even more uptight than most. Knowing his bio and the times, I can understand why he wrote the way he did but the priggishness still exasperates me. Speaking of another Forster -- Margaret Forster, that is -- and Alan Bates: I adore the 1966 adaptation of Forster's Georgy Girl. I loved that book so much as a teenager that I determined I was to live in London. When this subject comes up, I always have to mention two of my favorite short story adaptations: John Huston's "The Dead" (from Joyce's Dubliners) and "Babette's Feast" (from Dinesen's Anecdotes of Destiny). June, you're right: there are so many good films that owe their genesis to a book.