BEING an American, one of the things that fascinate me is our non-rhotic speakers across the Atlantic, the British. It’s too bad we booted them out of the country. And so, one of the things that I like are watching Sky News, listening to British songs and viewing movies that portray London. I cannot get over and over the voices of the Sky News newscasters and how they know how to pronounce words without pronouncing the r. I cannot fathom why they drive to the right.

One of the movies that I have enjoyed watching just this January was National Treasure: Book of Secrets because it portrayed a car chase scene in London that culminated with one of the bad guys in the River Thames retrieving a treasure that was thrown by Nicolas Cage after he had made a copy of it. In previous years, I have enjoyed such movies as Thunderbirds and Rise of the Silver Surfer which also portray the River Thames in the middle of London. In Thunderbirds, a monorail was submerged at the bottom and little Tintin (played by pre-High School Musical Vanessa Hudgens) has to rescue the passengers inside the monorail. In Rise of the Silver Surfer, River Thames was dried up amidst the backdrop of the recently-installed London Eye. Perhaps they may want to make a movie someday portraying the beautiful City Hall of London.

Dominating the Brit charts ironically is not a Londoner but a mainland European, Robyn. Now that’s as far as I can go about the current edition of the Brit charts because there’s not much of them right now, I’d rather go back talking about movies about London. One of the lovely English actresses that I can’t get tired of watching is Keira Knightley. Keira may not have a charming bosom but her face is sure seductive. Her earlier movies, The Hole and The Jacket, were pretty goody-goody teenage stuff but she has since redeemed her image with stellar roles in later endeavors. The first significant movie that I like is in Star Wars of course where her facial features are being compared with the equally magnificent Natalie Portman. Next, Keira stood her ground as the romantic partner of Orlando Bloom in the Pirates of the Carribean series. But the real big break came when she became Guinevere opposite the rough gentlemanly Clive Owen as King Arthur. Then Pride and Prejudice and Atonement came along and the rest is history. Keira will forever be remembered now as a household name in all of English glory.

Another lovely English actress that I like is Kate Winslet. Prior to her Titanic days, Kate starred in the Ang Lee period piece Sense and Sensibility opposite Winona Ryder. Also before Titanic, Kate starred in the movie Jude. Now there’s really something about this lady. She’s really a committed actress at heart because in Jude, there was a scene that she butchered a pig with all its carcasses coming out.