forethought

"That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever, she went, including here, it was against her better judgement."
Dorothy Parker, New Yorker, 1929.

I love love love Dorothy Parker. Jennifer Jason Leigh was in a great film portraying her called "Dorothy Parker and the Vicious Circle." I am a big fan of writers, critics and essayists from the 1920's- 1940's (especially EB White, Hemingway, HL Mencken, and Fitzgerald). Ms. Parker was was unique in my mind, because she is not always put in the same category as "modern women writers". No, she was a little different - and that goes a long way when you're a woman. Writers of history (usually men) tend to put all modern women writers in a "feminist" category or a "African American fiction writer" category when it comes to literature or essays before 1950's. This isn't ( I believe) out of some masculine drive to subjugate women writers, but merely was done at colleges to easier teach student's the emerging "modern" groups of writers that had the tools of pop media to get their word out (ie typewriters were cheaper and publishing houses were a dime a dozen in NYC after the industrial revolution.)

If you ever want to be mildly amused or laugh out loud..read up on Ms. Parker. Her words bite at times, but she's got truth and humour on her side. Great personal hero. A gem of an American writer.

We did finally watch "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" last night- it was subtitled of course, but definitely one of the best films we have seen this year. I have read there is already an Oscar push for it. I am skeptical as to how an American director would make an English version better- that usually doesn't work out well- remember the "Grudge" movies? Much better Japanese (original) versions.

Anyway, I am just glad it's getting attention. I would highly recommend reading the trilogy before seeing these "US" versions before they are made. The characters have detailed pasts and hidden lives that they can only address onscreen for so many minutes before cutting back to action (and you know the American version will be all about the action, not about what's going on in their heads about their past). I hope this is not the case. I hope the new movie trilogy that is going to be the biggest new trilogy since "Spiderman" or LOTR even, is up to par with the excellent novels.

Read up, folks. If you can't tonight, I hope your life is going well. What did you do today? I mean, really? Did you make someone's life easier, did you give a compliment or three, did you donate, give, or make your short time on Earth worth it? I hope you did, such peacefulness we recieve after giving. I hear alot of people talk about giving, and I think alot of people want to give, but it's easier to sit and watch tv all day and see a false world and not get out into the real world.

Do something. It feels good, trust me. We are raising two young boys to know that their parents do things beside watch tv, worry about what others think, and to give, give, give. Life is short. Don't wait around for someone else to ignite your fire (especially not some politician as some naive people are prone to do.)

In the end, I realize some people like the motivational speaking of others to get their souls on fire. That is human nature and I understand. Maybe my new slogan should be " Just Do It."...oh, that's already taken.
Maybe this then "Do it. Now."

Yes!!

Stay tuned for this one

When in the Dunedin Public Library today, I notice a new arrival with all kinds of accolades on it titled "The History of White People". I already had a basket full of books to take home, some I will read, some I won't. They are due back in two weeks along with my sons dvd's, children's cd"( sing a longs and lullabies) and the cheap ten cent magazines I pick up every few weeks. I donate bags of them and books, so it's a giving circle of free entertainment.

So...what is that book about? I must find out more. How interesting, truly. I must know what the author is trying to say (from the cover- a straight history of the European race without any 'racially influenced rewriting of history'.) hmm.. bigotry or someone trying to make a point about how messed up our story telling has become?

I will check it out soon. and report back. If it sucks, I will definitely tell. I love outing bigotry, reverse racism, and racism whenever possible, especially from so called journalist- writers.

A moment of the day

Almost every night, around 9-10 pm, I wake Jude up from his early evening slumber and feed him a last bottle of milk. It is one of my favorite times of night, besides laying in bed with Nick to read books nightly (around 7 pm) before he goes to sleep. Jude is usually sleeping hard, like a balled up little wrestler, all full of warmth and cuteness. He has the biggest blues and opens them up like silver dollar pancakes, then gets all excited and grabs his last bottle. I hold him, sitting on a couch or on the guest bed in his room, away from tv, or music, to watch him go to work. After it's empty, he always tries to throw it down like some boxer throwing down his empty water bottle, ready to return to the struggle of going back to sleep. He is like that- very on, very off. And before you know it, he's wiping his eyes, squirming around to get onto tummy position and I lay him back in his crib. He sometimes decides to sit up, thumb in mouth, looking around in faux wide-eyed wonder. Then, he realizes that it's done, it's over, and it's bedtime for good. This usually can take him until around 7 am when the sun rises. Our sons sleep hard, they play hard and they hardly peep during the night anymore. Thank you God, for such blessings, all of them.

Best movie of decade?

"O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" - in this category, i did not include alot of my favorite foreign films such as "Amelia", "City of God" and "Me, U, Tambien" because there are so many I have seen and because they come from a different perspective that places them in an entire "great films" category that is just too big for me to deal with on paper...so those will remain in my head.

So...besides "Fargo", my other top ten fave, this Coen Brothers feature has everything - a unique dialogue structure (both Southern and poetic, go figure), wonderful art direction, great scenes, great musical themes and it seems to tell a Gothic Southern tale that includes a strange "American dream" story. I could also say the same thing about "Fargo" without all the Southern stuff- it is the stuff of Midwestern boredom, naivete and straightforwardness that is all it's own little nugget of wealth about the "American story."

However, I just find "O Brother" slightly more entertaining due to it's folk music soundtrack and it's haunting Southern scenes that one would recognize on first sight- especially if raised "in the South".
That's my top pick. Number #2 being "No Country for Old Men". Both tales of America, both very dark, very stark, but with slight differences in the handling of good versus evil. Faulkner, Hemingway and London would be proud. And I am sure Cormac McCarthy, our modern great fiction writer, is proud of his book on film.

The gift that keeps on giving.

Recently, my husband made good on a "gift" and took himself and my two sons to Pensacola to stay with his family. They were in great hands, they love their grandparents and have visited before in their young lives. All their special things were sent along, food, blankies, toys, books, dvd's, whatever it takes to make them happy.

I was left all alone for the first time in many years since being married. Here's what ensued:

Old oils paints came out of their storage boxes, I changed our diaper changing table back into my "art" table which is what it was in high school (being my mother's old high school desk when she was growing up, now having changed two babies butt's on it for three years). From now on, Jude has another set up which is just as good and he doesn't care. trust me.

I cleaned windows, baseboards and mopped floors all in within about two hours. normally, this would have taken me about 5 days.

I went to the beach -whenever I wanted, got sun, walked, and never had to load up bottles, and kid paraphanalia that they love. I just got in my truck, drove, got out, walked around like normal humans get to do every single day.

I listened to the quietness in our home. It is always so loud until bedtime. I missed that quietness, then turned on our mammoth stereo system circa 1994 with 6 cd changer and rocked out like it was...2004. I call this stereo system our "monolith". They are almost extinct now, but it still works and every time we move I reprogram our favorite local radio stations for instant entertainment.

I barely watched tv.

I hung out in downtown, shopped, and wrote notes in my journal about the people I see like I used to.
I walked, went to yoga, had coffee with my sis at Starbucks, donated a bag of stuff to a thrift store, and enjoyed my nights walking in our home, without any toys underfoot down hallways.

Only did one load of dishes, one load of laundry...in four days. AMAZING.

I missed my boys ALOT. When they arrived back here, tons of stuff to unpack, kids to bathe, to feed to love on, I felt back at home. But oh, how mommy vacation was much needed. I feel whole again, in many many ways.

The First Film That Came to My Mind..

for my Number #1 choice for top ten films of the past decade is
"No Country for Old Men". But then I thought of "The Road" (see a McCarthy based theme here anyone?)
But then, there's "Donnie Darko", which I still love to discuss with anyone who likes to...there's alot of Darko fans out there!
Then, there's "Moulin Rouge"- not full of deep meaning but cinematically and storyboard wise a special gem of the decade with nothing else to compare.
Then...there's the LOTR trilogy. I pretty much put it in a seperate place, high on some dark crystal mountain with nasty monster birds flying around to ward off any other nominations. It stands alone, cinematography, acting, writing, etc were each touched with perfectionism. That's how films should be- give a director and great writers 11 hours tell a story, and you will most likely get true authentic story telling that unfolds like an ancient old tome.
Ahh, LOTR....I could go on forever.

Then..there's "Children of Man" - this should have been a big hit for Clive Owen, it's a great surprise and I want to see it again soon. It's not a top fiver, but I think holds messages that this particular decade ring true.

What about "28 Days Later"? - Director Danny Boyle got everyone's attention with "trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionare" but stylistically, this one was modern, edgy, and a "horror" movie with scarier notions that Zombies for human kind's future.

Then there are always other critic's favorite's..."Juno" (cute but I could only see that once), "The Departed"( I found it smart, but didn't like the seemingly pointless violence"), "Crash" (pretencious crap), "Atonement" (which I hold dear to my heart but felt the actors were emotionally a bad match)...everyone's got their picks, based on their own perspective and what they like to see in films. We all don't like to see the same things.

But "No Country for Old Men" speaks to one of my favorite themes: the utter, unmoving absolute of real evil (psychotic minds without concious) and man's futile attempts to waylay "evil's" intent, whether by pleading, religion, outsmarting, outrunning, or simply flipping a coin for one's life (as is the case in the film). Then, I seem to see an underlying question in the film- would "evil" in form of Dutch haircut crazy man have ever been so present in the character's lives had it not been F$#@! with in the first place? I mean, do we all ask for it in the end, subconciously or not? Are there some subtexts we could draw on specific to this particular decade? Umm...yes. Alot.

And, Tommy Lee Jones is wonderful in this film. I could watch his face all day, it's like a Biblical map of the Grand Canyon with teeth, intelligence, and charm. Somehow, he pulls off that dying modern day cowboy/sheriff thing with style and with more dryness than Eastwood.

That's a good movie! Written originally by a great novelist. What's your top pick?