Christopher Plummer died. Anyone who knows me knows I am an obsessive Sound of Music fan – naturally, I am in immense grief. The Captain has left us. It saddens me that he so – apparently – resented the role, when it made so many people happy and when, quite frankly, it has long helped women (perhaps some fellas, as well) get through life’s tough patches. I cannot tell you how many times, after heartaches, I would watch The Sound of Music and it would just lift me. One of my fondest memories of my oldest brother is of us watching it simultaneously and sending emails back and forth about it – this was pre-social media, otherwise that might have been where we exchanged comments. It was a fun back and forth, because he had previously been super contemptuous of the film, but that evening he came to appreciate much about it. (My love for TSOM guarantees me life-long membership in the Philistine Liberation Organization, but that is another matter. I once wrote a piece in the Ottawa Citizen about my love for TSOM, back in the early aughts – it is likely archived and you would have to pay to read it, which trust me, wouldn’t be worth it.) Of course, there are other Plummer films I love – notably The Scarlet and the Black (with bonus Gregory Peck). Significant Other and I were lucky to see him in The Tempest at Stratford a few years ago. A truly terrible film he made was Must Love Dogs (so bad I won’t link to it), but there was a lovely scene therein where he recites Yeats. Enjoy.