The Sound of Music

What is it about The Sound of Music?

No matter how cynical I become, I see The Sound of Music and I can't be crass about it. I just love it. It is my favorite movie of all time.

We learn so much from it: Catholics, Nazis, music theory, the Austro-Hungarian empire, dressing for dinner, theories on child rearing, celebration of the environment, thrift and creativity (curtains to play clothes), class mobility (nun to Baroness), puppetry, how to throw a fabulous party, the power of a flag, how to ruin a car engine, how to marry a millionaire...

The other night, I took my children to see the actual von Trapp grandchildren in concert. We were mesmerized by them.

I have a very sophisticated friend, who can still name all the children in order and the actors who portrayed them and will do so with little prompting;

I know extremely intellectual, reasonable adults who toured Saltzburg just for the movie locations;

I went to the Sing-a Long Sound of Music with a friend (and every drag queen in New York City) and without knowing how we know...we know all the words...even the Latin in the beginning;

So, what is it about The Sound of Music that grips us as children and never lets us go? I remember watching the record go round and round on the turn table; I remember where the skips were in the albumn ("Climb every mount...climb every mount...climb every mount..."); I remember the booklet that came with the record: on the cover, Julie Andrews is in a bright pink dress (wrong!)and her shoes look really pointy and the children's play clothes were yellow (wrong, again!).

I think it's a heady cocktail: Rogers&Hammerstein, Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, gorgeous costumes and locations...mix well, serve.

My four year old knows Edelweiss by heart.

Maybe I'll never understand it completely. I'll just have to accept it as a part of me that refuses to be tainted. Sacred territory.

So, somewhere in my youth (or childhood), I must have done something good.

Butt Beautiful

When did the word butt become acceptable language for even the smallest child when refering to their:

backside
bottom
bum
rear end
behind
derriere
tushie
fanny
buttocks
posterior
rump or
seat?

There isn't a G-rated movie today that doesn't rely on the reference to "my butt" for a laugh. Perhaps we have the ubiquitous Sponge Bob to thank for the popularity of this usage.

Butt, nothing. You can butt up against someone, be the butt of a joke, hold the butt of a cigarette or the butt of a rifle.

All other usages are just a pain in the ass.