Saturday, June 30, 2012

Goodbye, Nora


I interrupt the slew of photo posts lately to talk briefly about how much I'm going to miss Nora Ephron, who passed away this week of pneumonia (brought on by leukemia). Who is Nora Ephron, you ask? I hope you know who she is, but if you don't, she's only one of the best screenwriters EVER. She is the genius behind Sleepless in Seattle, Julie and Julia, When Harry Met Sally (haven't seen it, but sometime soon I'm going to catch an edited version on TV) and my personal favorite, You've Got Mail.

Nora Ephron was an incredibly talented writer and director, and I absolutely love her flair for dialogue. I've said it before, but You've Got Mail is my favorite movie of all time because of the way Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks talk to each other and write each other emails. It's all about beautiful prose and witty banter -- my kind of movie. So many of my favorite movie lines come from that film, and I wish I would have written the dialogue myself:

  • Bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils
  • Hello -- it's Mr. Nasty
  • Not, I gather, the world's living expert on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
  • In a week, it'll be something really depressing -- like a Baby Gap
  • I know what I'd find -- instead a brain, a cash register. Instead of a heart, a bottom line
  • We are...an American family.

Actually, I don't think people realize how much that movie means to me, as sad as it sounds. It's something that I pull out when I'm at my most depressed because it instantly cheers me up. It has comedy, romance, literary references, great music and real-life characters. I absolutely adore it.

So if you haven't watched You've Got Mail or even Sleepless in Seattle in a while, pop some popcorn and put either one of those movies in and pay a little tribute to Nora Ephron. The world lost a wonderful writer and humorist this week, and I hope I can someday be half as witty and eloquent as she was.

4 comments:

  1. I love this post. You've Got Mail is my favorite movie of all time, too! It always makes me feel better!

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  2. I have made it a quest to watch "You've got Mail" at least once a month. I think I have. It is the best movie ever. Trent gets me a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils at the beginning of each school year. I love Nora movies!

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  3. I have to watch Sleepless once a year, it's tradition. And, Harry Met Sally is classic... I remember watching it back before R movies were bad. Haha... Yes, that's how old I am.

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  4. I'm going to miss all her wonderful, witty, mostly clean rom-coms. I quote You've Got Mail at least once a week.

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Thanks for sharing your beautiful thoughts! I love reading them.