Ode to the Danish post: My two aunts Annika

My cousin posing with a postal box in Copenhagen in 2024.

I was sad to hear that the Danish postal service recently decided to stop mailing letters, because one of my favorite stories about my family members in Denmark involves two women with the exact same name sending letters to each other.

That was cool.

See, I have two aunts in Denmark with the same name, first and last. For the sake of everyone’s privacy, though, I will call them Annika Nielsen.

And the first Annika Nielsen, my father’s sister, loved to tell me how fun it was to send letters to the second aunt Annika Nielsen, who married her brother, so hey could laugh about how the postal person delivering the letters might be thinking, “Oh, this poor woman; she’s so lonely she has to send letters to herself!”

But these days there aren’t enough Annikas, or anyone else, in Denmark sending letters, cards or even bills to justify the country continuing having its postal service deliver them. As proof, when I asked my first aunt Annika when was the last time she mailed a letter, even she couldn’t remember! 

Though my aunt did report that if she does ever need to mail a letter or package, she has easy options nearby, so I needn't mourn the loss of letter service.

So instead I'll go back to mourning what I will never find in my mailbox ever again: A red envelope mailed from Netflix, which decided 2.5 years ago to stop mailing DVDs:

Movies I saw in February: Pretty in Pink, Crime 101

The movies I saw in February delivered a nice dose of nostalgia, especially the re-release of Pretty in Pink, which my high school friend and I both fell in love with 40 years ago.

“I felt seen,” my friend said when I asked her recently why she enjoyed that movie so much, and I agreed that the main character of Andie was very much like both of us: Not-rich girls who attended a high school full of rich classmates, then came home to a single parent who was often not up to the task of providing either financial or emotional support. 

And while my friend tactfully described her lone parent as “imperfect,” I would describe mine as neglectful. (But luckily I had Mechele to help fill the void after my mother died.)

1. Pretty in Pink (In the theater 2/14/2026, but first in 1986!) Grade: N/A

I didn’t give this movie a grade because I can’t be impartial. Given that I was living alone with my often depressed and under-employed father just like Molly Ringwald’s character Andie, I identified with this teen romance far more than any other I saw in the 1980s.

Yet I was also disappointed by that romance far more than any other because to this day I am still upset about the boy Andie chose at the end, which was the “richie” Blaine played by Andrew McCarthy instead of her best friend Duckie played by Jon Cryer, who I had a huge crush on. But more than preferring Cryer over McCarthy, I knew that Andie and Duckie had great love and respect for each other, while nothing about Andie and Blaine’s relationship made any sense to me.

But apparently early audiences did not agree with me, as director Howard Deutch is seen explaining in clips shown before my 40th anniversary screening that the first ending was what I wanted: Andie realizing her best friend was a far better companion to choose than a boy she hardly knew and seemed to have little in common with. However, Deutch said that test audiences were so unhappy when Andie didn’t “get the boy,” (yes, even booing!) that the filmmakers quickly shot new scenes that had Duckie insisting Andie go with Blaine, and the movie ends with them kissing in the parking lot. Boo!

I still think she chose the wrong boy, but it was fun to see my theater nearly full for a 40-year-old movie. Which, I am not ashamed to admit, still made me cry decades later when Andie shows up to the Prom alone and is about to leave until Duckie appears to escort her inside.

I am also not ashamed to admit that while the movie has a great soundtrack (which of course I bought on cassette tape) and a great supporting performance by Annie Potts, the movie itself is, actually, not all that great.

2. Crime 101 (In the theater, 2/21/2026) Grade: A

I loved a lot about this movie, especially seeing Mark Ruffalo as Columbo, my favorite TV detective on one of my very favorite TV shows. Ruffalo didn’t bring a trench coat or cigar butt everywhere, but he was a dogged detective whose old car and rumpled stye deftly distracts everyone from his skills while he quietly picks up clues they didn’t know were dropped.

The rest of the cast was also a treat, with a raspy Nick Nolte oozing menace despite seeming barely able to breathe, and the always charming Chris Hemsworth easily making you root for his character despite his growing rap sheet.

My favorite performance, however, was Halle Berry, despite her being miscast as an insurance agent supposedly past her prime. Because at nearly 60, the actress still made her 53-year-old character look twice as hot as the young woman hired to hook clients she supposedly can't land anymore.

Yes, Crime 101 may borrow from many movies before it, and yes, it ends with a bunch of bad deeds tucked neatly into a box with a pretty bow on top, but I thoroughly enjoyed this slow burn of a story that trusted its audiences to pay attention without needless nudity, violence or special effects. In fact, it would have made for a great episode of Columbo!

Movies I saw in January: Send Help, Anora, Blink Twice.

And, yes, here are the movies my grandmother saw 30 years ago in February of 1996:

Friday, Feb. 2, 1996

To show, "Mr. Holland's Opus."  

To library, got 2 tapes.

Some TV, X-Files. 

Sunday, Feb. 4, 1996

To Carl's, too late for breakfast. Had muffin, read papers.

To town to see "Restoration." Line 1/2 block long. 

To library, then home. Christa S. will take rose bushes, took them over.

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 1996 

To show, "Restoration." Disappointed in accents, English only. Hugh Grant.

Home, no mail.

Watched Law & Order, balanced bank account.

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 1996

Up 8:30, breakfast BK. To Drug Emporium.

Home to more sweeping of grass cuttings. Larry still hasn't planted rose bush.

To show "Restoration" (again). Still can't understand, Downey mutters.

Friday, Feb. 16, 1996

To St. Vincent's, got 3 baskets, .50 each: one for misc., Scotch tape, typing things, two for cosmetics. 

To show, "Persuasion" (again.) Heard a bit more.

Washed blue sweater, ironed before show.

Sunday, Feb. 18, 1996

Slept til 9, to Denny's for breakfast. Very crowded!

To West Cliff for walking, then to cinema: "Braveheart." 3 hours, 05 minutes, but full of fights. Digital? Violent. Mel Gibson a bit too old.

Home 3:30, ate here. Rain in night.

Sunday, Feb. 25, 1996

Bed til 10 a.m. Muffin at corner.

Got typewriter ribbons at Sears.

To show, "City Hall." Thought good.