Hi! I'm new here.

I've been advised (on rec.arts.past.movies, where I posted it
first,) to post this here, where I "would probably get a
very different response."

So, here goes:

This film was discussed [many times on various newsgroups].

The thing is, I only recently saw the film on TV, and am now
reading "My Life in France".

I rather liked the "Julie" actress Amy Adams, I think she's
sweet. I loathed the way Meryl Streep played Julia Child -
not knowing anything about Child, I still thought Streep
ridiculous.

In an interview, Streep admits she based her interpretation
more on an impersonation played by an actor in drag on
"Saturday Night Live" than on any film footage of Julia
Child - with the exception of one TV cookery scene where
she imitates Child like a parrot.

I was astounded that Streep - who usually does such intense
research - went around booming and billowing like a drag
queen, and all because Child was 6 foot 3 /1m90 tall and
no Barbie doll. Today I watched J&J dubbed into French, and
it was even worse - the French actress dubbing Streep spoke
as if completely drunk.

The idea that a girl can become famous by writing a blog is
no longer true; maybe back then when no-body did it, but
now there are more blogs than blades of grass in a meadow,
and nobody reads them. The idea of cooking one's way
through a cookbook and writing about it is amusing, however,
and the fact that Julie Powell framed her cooking anecdotes
with material from her personal life is normal, for a writer.
(Okay, haven't read HER book yet!)

As for "My Life in France" by J.C. - I love it. She mentions
peach trees in the mist - I leap out of the bus, rush
into a store and buy a can of peaches, and boy, did they
taste good.

She mentions leaping out of bed at 6.30, and later on drinking
coffee with a croissant - I rush into a store and buy a
croissant, and boy did it taste good with my coffee next
day. (Forget the leaping out of bed at 6.30, though!)

She mentions boeuf bourgignon - I rush into a store, buy
some meat, cut it into cubes, cook it with onions and
veg and sauce - not bourgignon, but, boy, did it taste
good.

And of course, Julia Child liked cats.
And, as you can see here, so do I:
http://roundtablespage.tvheaven.com/photo.html

So while I disliked Streep in J&J, it introduced me
to Julia Child, for which I am grateful.

Although I doubt I'm ever going to use "3/4 of a pound
of butter" for a sauce.

Just as I don't use "4 eggs and 2 egg yokes"
(and 2 more if you make your own pastry) for Rachel
Khoo's version of Quiche Lorraine. Rachel Khoo, by the
way, had the smallest restaurant in Paris, consisting
of two tables in her one-room apartment, which reminded
me of T. Roosevelt's saying "Do what you can, where
you are, with what you have":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI52eJR1dRU

Melanie