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1912-Titanic Centennial-2012: Some Waltham Connections


You’ve probably heard by now that this coming April 15 is the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic disaster. Over 1500 souls lost their lives in the sinking of the “virtually unsinkable” ocean liner.

But did you know that Waltham has some connections to the tragedy? At least two of the victims had been carrying Waltham watches, one of which fetched a pretty penny recently at auction. One of the crew members had a relative, a sister, living in Waltham. The famous Titanic explorer, Dr. Robert Ballard, has a business here. Our Hovey Players have performed a play based on the disaster called Scotland Road and a local dance group is holding a Titanic Weekend. Of course, our newspaper covered the event with admirable tastefulness.

If you find this intriguing, come see the display outside the Waltham Room. It will be up for several months.

The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Ugly


Another year. Another very long Oscar ceremony. Here is WPL’s annual point/counter point on Oscar fashion. Sorry for the delay. Blame Laura! Feel free to agree (or disagree) about our picks in the comments section:

Marialice’s turn:

Once again I have the watched the annual Oscars just to see the fashions. I tune in about an hour late, fast forward through all the speeches and minutes of commercials to ogle the frocks, hair and bling. I must admit, I never notice the men at all, except for maybe the bad hair on the otherwise good looking Brad Pitt (hello Moneyball).
Being extremely critical, I find it much more fun to find fault than to give praise.
But a few of the stars did look good:Octavia Spencer for example–even though I thought The Help was a big snooze and I had never heard of her before. Thank goodness for Spanx. Loved Michelle Williams –the color and the sparkly bow. Glenn Close looked pretty good too. And Natalie Portman–unpregnant perfection.
Now for the bad:
Virginia Madsen–one hot wrinkled messy dress and hair to match.
Anna Faris had a dated disco dress and a ‘do like my cousin Marie 20 years ago. And what happened to the usually stylish Sandra Bullock–too severe hair and and an ill fitted blah dress. Melissa Leo never gets it right and could we have a little help please for Meryl Streep? Yikes, too gold, too big. Bet Mr. Oscar had to close his eyes!
Also bad–Viola Davis–too green, too tight, too small on to; Rose Byrne channeling Anna Faris. Jlo is a beautiful woman, but why does she like to look so cheap or maybe she just can’t help it with all the junk in her trunk!
And for the ugly–Melissa McCarthy’s dress–oh my. And Emma Stone who was in danger of being choked to death by her unhappy dress.
Better luck next year, ladies. Oh wait, I forgot Angelina and
her pasty white complexion and spider leg. But I will give points for my favorite red lipstick.

Laura’s Turn:
Ah, I actually liked Viola Davis and Meryl Streep’s outfits. Okay, so Streep did look like she was auditioning for the role of the Oscar Statue’s twin sister and Davis had a lot of help from the accessory on her arm. (Her lovely looking date). And neither dress was probably one that I would get for myself. But at any rate, I thought they both wore their dresses well and looked lovely.
As for others who looked stunning:

  • Penelope Cruz: I’ve decided that Cruz is one of these women who would look good even wearing a paper bag. That being said, love the color of this dress and I thought her hairdo was adorable. I would love to be able to wear this dress, although truthfully I’m probably too short to make it work.
  • Octavia Spencer: I have been a fan of Spencer’s since she played this wacky role on Ugly Betty, and I am so glad to see her finally getting the recognition that she deserves. Her great acting range aside, though, she looks amazing in this dress, and her hair matches perfectly.
  • Natalie Portman: This dress looked like so much fun and fit Portman perfectly. I think this dress has finally made me forgive her for contributing to the ruination of the Star Wars franchise for me.
  • Jean Dujardin: And here is my token guy for the list. Granted, I came into this with a bit of bias because I loved The Artist so much but he did look quite smashing.

Now for the not so stunning:

  • Rose Byrne: I am in complete agreement with Marialice on this one. And, oddly enough Boston.com listed her as one of the best dressed! I also wasn’t a huge fan of Byrne’s Bridesmaids co-star, Ellie Kemper’s dress, either, though she was also on multiple best dressed lists. I did, however, love both of their hairstyles. And Byrne and her other badly dressed co-star, Melissa McCarthy get points for this bit. So, I guess all in all the cast of Bridesmaids gets a pass on the dress choices.
  • Emma Stone: Oh that bow! I think it has its own zip code.
  • Angelina Jolie: I would not have minded this dress so much if it weren’t for the pose. I need to start watching the show Community more often now that one of its costars and co-winner of the best screenplay award for The Descendants mocked it on stage.
  • Rooney Mara: The hair is the real killer, here.
  • Zoe Saldana: Oh Zoe, I really want to like your dress. I love Star Trek and you kicked butt as Lt. Uhura in the J.J. Abrams Trek movie. But, the extra material on the bottom seems completely unnecessary. Please hail all frequencies open and ask someone in the galaxy to send you another dress.

I Can’t Decide Category:
Well, there is really only one person here and that’s Gwyneth Paltrow. I love the dress but what is up with the cape?

Posted by Marialice and Laura

Spring

Did you know that by one measure it is already spring? March 1st is the first day of meteorological spring. See more here.

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. On Saturday, March 10th join us for the drop-in craft from 10:30am-11:15am to do a lion craft and a lamb craft.

The Children’s room will have a spring program for children aged 6-10 (and their caregivers) featuring Waltham Fields Community Farm on March 13th and March 20th. Join us for an afternoon of reading stories and activities focused on living things on the farm. Sign up is required. Click here or call 781-314-3425 x4 to sign up.

Also, checkout our booklist about critters on the farm and our books about spring.

posted by Lisa