I read an interesting article in the Sun this morning. Mayor O'Malley is trying to get Starbucks to open more stores in Baltimore. Apparently, Baltimore needs to have more Starbucks in order to compete with the quality of life of other cities -- there are other factors that affect Baltimore's "quality of life," such as crime and drugs, but I won't get into that yet. Anyway, I totally agree! That was definitely one thing I noticed after moving here from Milwaukee -- there are not many coffee places. Basically, other than Starbucks, your only choice is Donna's, which has good coffee, but not great atmsophere. I miss Alterra. They're a local roaster in Milwaukee, and they sell their coffee beans all over Wisconsin. Plus they have an awesome coffee place on Lake Michigan. They don't have pictures of it, only their cafe/roaster on Downer. Sigh. No coffee for me here.

Enough of that trip down memory lane. I watched an excellent movie yesterday -- The Major and the Minor. It was soooo cute, I wanted to pinch it. It stars Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland, who is very cute. Ginger plays Susan Applegate, who is fed up with New York and is planning to move back home and get married. But she doesn't have enough money for the train fare back to Iowa, so she has to dress as a twelve year old girl to get a discounted ticket. While running away from some suspicious train conductors, she ducks into Major Kirby's compartment and ends up spending the night there. He, of course, falls for her "I'm-only-twelve" bit and it's all very innocent. But then his fiance finds little Su-Su in his compartment and the plot thickens from there, leading to Su-Su having to visit the military school he works at -- exteriors shot in Wisconsin! -- and having young cadets fawning over her.

Basically, she ends up spoiling the romance with his fiance and falling in love with him in the process. It's hard to believe that Su-Su is twelve, but she could perhaps be 14 or so... Ginger also gets to play little Su-Su's mother and herself. It's funny and my only complaint is that the copy I borrowed -- taped of TCM -- has these very annoying moments when the screen freezes and the sound continues. Someone fell asleep at the switch in Atlanta! So I miss this whole scene where they are flirting in his office. Sigh. It's not available on DVD, which I find kind of puzzling. After all, this was Billy Wilder's directoral debut!

I'm all intrigued by Ray Milland now -- I think I'm going to borrow Dial M for Murder from the library this weekend. I tried watching The Lost Weekend a while back, but I just couldn't get into it. I guess watching the downward spiral of alcoholism isn't that uplifting. Ha. Oh, but best of all, I'm getting a new Esther Williams-Van Johnson movie tomorrow! Shayna saw it listed on her TV guide channel and called last night and offered to tape it for me. Easy to Wed is a remake of Libeled Lady, which had a superior cast. (Could any movie hold a candle to the combination of Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy? Especially one starring Van Johnson, Esther Williams, and Lucille Ball? I think not.) It looks funny, and I enjoy Esther's swimming, so it should be fun.