louder please

Posted By kelly on June 29, 2009

before we start, i’d like to point out that i wrote about the tv series vs. the books on murmur.com last week, and some of the discussion gave me a bit of pause about my irritation with jason going to jesus camp. i do like this story line, and as someone mentioned, he really is the best character to bring along to show what’s happening at the camp while sookie’s off doing other things.

i don’t have any loyalty to the source material. i haven’t been in love with these books and these characters for years, and save for quinn (and maybe a bit of eric), i’m not really rooting for anyone. if alan ball wants to take a fairly decent horror/fantasy mystery series and turn it into something much darker and robust, that i enjoy more, what am i really whining about when he mixes up some of the details and scraps some plot lines?

nothing, that’s what, so here we go!

0:01 and you know what? this thing with teenage-vamp and bill and sookie is a much *much* better relationship conflict than what happens in the book. (also, pls get eric out of that track suit. kthxbye)

0:03 i do not like the blood tears. i think even though they’re made of blood, they would be runnier and less like maple syrup on someone’s cheeks. no wait, maple syrup is thinner than this crap.

0:03 hooray for the vampire telling the stupid human girl that she’s a stupid human girl. nothing makes me happier than when vamps scare the shit out of silly girls who’ve romanticized them out of their fangs. (i may have clapped)

0:04 if that’s who/what i think it is…i’m not sure i approve.

0:06 yay! fangtasia means pam and bill! (i’m afflicted with liking the supporting characters more than the leads again).

0:12 not that i’m complaining, but i wouldn’t expect someone waking up from a nightmare to be as well defined as if they’ve just come back from working in the gym. don’t those things sort of smooth out when you’re not using them for a while?

0:16 i really like that the show’s showing more of maryann. one of the benefits of not being a first-person novel, i suppose.

0:19 go terry! (i am all about the tv-show version love this week!)

0:20 is it the HD that makes some of the gore makeup look really fake? well, not so much fake, but really seamed.

0:21 i really hope that mrs. bible camp has a vamp lover on the side. if i were alan ball, that’s what i’d do at some point. she distracts me, too, since she looks like an actress that used to be harmony on buffy…who eventually was a vampire.

0:24 well, one thing’s consistent: jason’s still stupid as a rock.

0:28 are there that many people close enough to the middle of louisiana for her to throw a party that big? i mean, guess shreveport is near enough but….

0:31 squee!! fanged angry eric!! (i know, i’m a complete hypocrite.)

0:32 more props to the writing staff of true blood. this motivation for getting sookie to dallas works much better. (and keeps lafayette around)

0:34 sigh. anti props for “i smell sex in the air” when the prowling vampire girl struts through the bar. can we be a leeetle less obvious with the soundtrack, pls?

0:36 isn’t her face all over the news? why is nobody in the bar saying “hey! isn’t that the lost girl that’s on the news?”

0:43 distracting casting choice #2: mr jesus camp looks like wil wheaton doing an impersonation of will forte doing an impersonation of a jesus camp leader.

0:46 jessie and hoyt are adorable, but it’s going to end poorly, isn’t it?

0:49 supremo casting for the part of lafayette and way to let the actor take his time on that welcome home scene. and way to keep him alive and interesting.

0:51 sigh. another stupid “oh, all the other vamps are pure evil, but you’re okay” speech from the stupid human girl.

0:56 daphne and sam? hrm… i mean, better than him mooning over sookie every book/season all book/season long. but that sort of throws off the the points where him mooning over sookie is useful and interesting, unless like last season they decide to be friends just in time for sookie to need him again, which is laaame.

0:57 oooh, that’s different daphne then, huh?

0:57 “who’s been making those scratches all over your back?” seeeeeriously?

no true blood until july 12th? i guess that means you won’t hear from me for quite a while on this topic. we’re heading for a largely tv and internet-less vacation on the 11th, which means it won’t be until after the next two episodes have aired that i’ll get a chance to watch any.

ah well, we could all use the break, i suppose.

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Posted By kelly on June 28, 2009

if you’ve heard enough, just move on.

so this guy died last week. well, lots of folks died last week, really, which is pretty creepy to me, but this one guy in particular. his name was michael jackson. he did a lot of crazy things in his life, and if you were alive and aware at any point from the 1970’s through the 1990’s, you likely have some pretty awesome memories about the way he and his family revolutionized what music and performance are. seriously. if you’ve forgotten, check the internet or any of the music channels right now. he’s *everywhere*. i forgot. well, i didn’t forget, but i sort of didn’t realize that i didn’t remember until i caught glimpses of thriller, of moonwalking on billy jean, of we are the world. this man’s contribution was a beautiful thing.

lots of people also have some pretty awful memories. there was a point in his life where things definitely Got Weird. he probably did some Very Bad Things. he’s definitely done some very weird things to his body and his home. that man’s contribution was a very ugly, confusing thing.

it’s hard, when someone like that passes. there’s a balance between remembering the good and the bad that is hard to find, even for the willing. people get irritated. people feel the need to speak out for the good or the bad in the wake of so much of the other. people mock people who have strong opinions on a complete stranger. people project their own fears about death, their own views on creation and evil onto the recently deceased.

people project. i’m projecting. right now. here i go. i was going to leave it alone until i saw some of his work on television this evening and i felt truly sad, and not just irritated at some of the reactions i’ve seen.

it does not matter how you feel about him. he is dead. he cannot hear you. his family. his friends. the people that loved him through is faults. those people are still here and they are heartbroken at the loss of their loved one. even though they cannot hear our individual voices, they’re aware of reaction to his death. please, for the sake of them, consider showing some restraint when you mock his life and you mock the mourners. it is not “out of respect for the dead” it is out of respect for the living.

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Posted By kelly on June 22, 2009

in celebration of a new theme and slightly jazzed up site, i bring you more not-quite-live blogging for true blood!

(okay, really the events have nothing to do with each other, i just needed an intro)

00:00 i do not like this direction for eric. do not do not do not.

00:01 okay, maybe a little, if it means keeping lafayette alive and hanging out with vamps. (DFtB, but tara was used as a “how not to play with vamps” device in the books, so i don’t really object to swapping lafayette out for her)

00:04 jessica wasn’t in the books, right? oh, right. as a way to explain how new vamps work.

00:05 there is nothing about bill that is even remotely vampire-like in this scene.

00:07 yay for keeping lafayette alive!

00:08 ….i forgot what i was going to say here. this is what happens when i don’t pause to jot down the thought.

00:09 oh crap. i forgot about jason and the born-agains.

00:11 that guy is gay, jason. this is not going to go well for you.

00:18 seriously, jason. gay.

00:19 “god bless texas”? that’s pretty in your face about the fact that they’re in texas.

00:21 you know, it’s good that alan ball has decided to gore the place up. …i guess. usually i hate it when folks de-vamp the vamps and make them all sparkly and non threatening, but this seems unnecessary. (omg! he bit the foot!!!)

00:23 i like tara more this season, too. she seemed a bit too “in your face” last season and she’s mellowed into her character.

00:25 like the maryann/sookie dynamic. i don’t remember that in the book, either.

00:28 sigh. i do not care for musical interludes from country singers that i do not recognize. …oh wait. it’s sort of part of the plot, still that went on too long to not be a showcase, which is annoying. …i also think that’s an annoying actress on days of our lives, which i try not to watch.

00:33 i have less to say about this show than i do about others. is that because it’s better and more engaging, or because it’s boring for long stretches?

00:34 having a teenage vamp tower over sookie makes her look young and poorly cast.

00:35 eric looks stupid in a track suit. and with short hair.

00:39 (DFtB) andy’s a drunk? that’s a shame.

00:40 prediction i hope comes true: maryann charms andy into dancing and he does not look like an epileptic on meth.

00:41 seriously? a song that constantly repeats “cause some trouble” now? a little on the nose and bashing us over the head with the music this epi.

00:42 is my math wrong, or are we smashing books 2 and 3 together?

00:43 i’m glad they’re keeping sookie’s black eye around for a while, but it looks fake and odd. i wouldn’t mind it if they tv’show’magicked it away.

00:44 she’s going to kill her family, right? please let her kill her family.

00:45 jane woodhouse for the win!

00:46 prediction coming true in … aw, damn. cut to jason and the maybe-not-gay guy.

00:46 muslim buffy!! writing++

00:47 *now* prediction coming true in 3…2…c’mon!!

00:48 okay, i was almost right. he was dancing with maryann, but was also an epileptic.

00:49 how absurd is it to act with a dog like he’s a person?

00:50 EAT YOUR FAMILY!! oooh, angry abusive daddy. that should do nicely.

00:52 i think they’re going to kill lafayette now. i think that’s sad, but the right story telling element.

00:54 better plan: rescind her invitation.

hrm… well that was a heck of a double/triple cliffhanger, although i’m only worried about the bar patrons because i’ve read the books. otherwise that wouldn’t make my list.

i am torn and feel like a hypocrite. i do not like it when people write about vampires and take all the vampiness out of them. but i really like eric the way he is in the books, and this eric is way more in your face about his vampiness and it makes me sad because it will either negate upcoming plot points, or render them ridiculously implausible. i am pleased, but i am sad, and cranky at myself for being sad.

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Posted By kelly on June 15, 2009

Sorry, I decided during my Lenten hiatus that I wouldn’t do these anymore, but I started thinking about all the things I could twitter and decided I should just do it this way instead. Starting at..

00:04 – Our story so far: not lafayette. that’s interesting, given the book’s plot. Also means that he (might) be around for a bit this season, to which i say “hurrah!” Opening credits: glad i don’t know the name of that actor. it might pre-spoil it, if he’s dead too and/or not in the season for very long. Also: MIchelle Forbes is in the opening credits: hurrah! and so is eric i think? isn’t he the skaarsgard?

00:06 curly-haired anna paquin for the win!

00:07 knowing the plot/character foundations for the series makes more of the not-quite-background characters “pop”. which is awesome assuming that they don’t overwrite it later.

00:08 Bill got a hotness haircut. thankyee jebus! also, i hope annoying brat plot device that wasn’t in the books (right?) dies soon, ya?

00:09 If they turn jason in the anti-vampire religious fiend instead of (the other person) and instead of the side-story he has in the books, I will be very disappointed.

00:11 reading the books makes andy bellefleur a more sympathetic character.

00:13 your line here is “yes, mama. you’re alright. you cured yourself.”

00:15 different from the book (DFTB): the slaves in the cellar. wtf, mate? (although i don’t really think the plot of the second book is all that exciting, so i approve of embellishment.)

00:15 wait?! is that lafayette?!

00:20 ….yeah. i don’t like the sookie and bill relationship now that i know the actors are dating and shagging. also, getting that upset over the teenvamp is a crappy plot device.

00:24 i’m confused. i thought the fellowship stuff was book 3.

00:24 no jason, no! the other plans for you are so much more interesting! and if you run off to the fellowship, you’ll get less naked like you’re supposed to!

00:26 please let that not be quinn. i don’t know why it would be, but all bets are off, aren’t they?

00:27 squee!! beaglepuppy-sam!

00:28 don’t be quinn, don’t be quinn, don’t be quinn, don’t be quinn.

00:31 the cause of sookie’s uncle’s death is…..interesting, and different from the books. looks like we may not have to wait for some of the future book plots to start working in.

00:32 i would not take that money. (groaning at the “blood money” non-subtlety)

00:35 i like the new version of Eggs. the book version was boring.

00:35 don’t be quinn, don’t be quinn! someone say his damn name so i can get upset or not! you’re a f*cking tease, alan ball.

00:36 NOT QUINN!!!!

00:37 i’m not going to let this jason thing go. someone come by and force his “real” plot line. kthxbye!

00:41 is that terry bellefleur? that makes me sad. i like his real plot line better, too.

00:43 okay, that was terry at the bar. that’s good. am i supposed to know who that other guy was, then?

(Post-Viewing Insert: I really did watch for this 11 minute period I had nothing to say. I just … had nothing to say.)

00:54 so great uncle’s death not so different a death than the book. ah well.

00:57 how season 2 is different than season 1: it took 57 minutes before a super-sex scene instead of about 3. also, this is way less sexy now that i know they’re dating in real life. also, he would never spill her blood. also blood in the mouth is gross.

0:58 WHAT?! whatwhatwhat?! (also, foils in his hair are stupid)

Sigh. On top of Jason, if they’re going to mess with Eric’s plot line like that, I guess I should just stop looking forward to seeing parts of the book visualized. I’m glad that Lafayette’s still around and that the butler at Maryanne’s wasn’t Quinn, but that’s about it. Also, I may be skipping right past the Sookie/Bill sex scenes. I hope they break up soon, but I doubt it.

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Tags: , live blogging, true blood

Posted By kelly on May 12, 2009

It started like it had many times before. Charlotte spied the open door to our bedroom and scooted inside. To be “helpful”, she closed the door behind her. No big deal. This happened almost every time the door gets left open, which is several times a week. I sauntered over to open it, supervise a minimal amount of exploration, and chase her out.

And then everything changed.

I reached for the lever door handle and tried to open it even as my brain was processing that the fiddling sounds on the other side were not the normal “playing with the handle” ones but were instead a new “fiddling with the twisty part that locks the door” sounds. Before I could finish the “oh, crap, I’d better get this door open before she locks herself in and then never let her do this again” thought, she had locked the door.

Since there was no immediate danger, I started with small, non-panicky efforts. I jiggled. I twisted. I looked for the safety release that had to be on my side while encouraging her to continue playing with (and hopefully un-twist) the handle on her side. She quickly got bored with the game and set off to explore the bedroom. I knew of her regular, safe stops in the room (my alarm clock, ryan’s sleep-number remote, the full-length mirror…) so I figured I had some time to solve this problem before she started for the climbable shelves of the closet, the bathroom toilet, etc etc. I called my husband at work and explained the situation. He immediately expressed confidence in my ability to bust down the hollow door should I need to and then began describing all the places to look for the magic pin that would open the door. Except there was no pin-hole on this door, of course. All the other doors have them, but not this one. 4 of 5 doors in the loft have a pin-hole and she has to trap herself behind the one that doesn’t.

As far as I could tell, there was no way to pop the lock from my side without getting very creative.

By this time it was clear that Charlotte had gotten engrossed with something on her side of the door and was no longer interested in chatting with me. It was time to step up the extraction efforts. Promising my husband that i would call him back very soon, i started working on the door handle. I didn’t want to go straight to bashing, since Charlotte was somewhere on the other side, and I suspected that while I certainly could break down the door, it would likely hurt. Instead, I picked up a hammer and tried to pry the handle loose. After a few “successful” tugs that cracked the hollow door as much as it warped the handle, it was clear that the handle was not going to give up easily, if at all. I could see that with enough time and patience and perhaps a few flat-head screwdrivers, I might have been able to dismantle the handle piece by piece and pop it off the door, but time was not something I had.

Through a series of inquiries, I inferred that Charlotte was well away from the door and heading into the master bathroom to play in the toilet, climb in the empty tub, or maybe over-extend herself trying to reach something on the countertop and fall over backwards and crack her skull on the stone tile. I knew my happy baby luck was going to run out soon, so I went for it. I huffed and I puffed and I shoulder-checked that door until it broke free. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. Adrenaline, anyone? Charlotte had just decided that the toilet, with it’s great echo lid-slamming noise, was the place to be. She greeted me with a proud cheer and was only mildly disappointed that I shooed her away and shuffled her out of the room.

Strangely enough, the handle didn’t pop out or splinter free of the door like I’d expected. Instead, the doorframe split down the center of the hole the door latched into (the metal plate was AWOL, thankfully). It even managed to tear some of the drywall off when it snapped loose.

Impressive, no?

Category: life | 3 Comments »
Tags: babies, locked doors, shoulder-checking

Posted By kelly on May 3, 2009

There are ghosts in my house.

It’s not unheard of, I suppose. I live in a converted 100 year old building that used to be a dry goods warehouse. A lot of lives have passed through this place. If you believed in ghosts, it’s the sort of place you might expect to find them. And find them, I have. I’ve tried convincing myself otherwise, or rather, supplied logical reasons for illogical occurrences. But it’s about time I just accepted it. As easy as it is to explain everything, the logic is getting a bit more convoluted and a bit more implausible.

The ghost (for lack of an easier way to qualify the strange phenomenon) generally manifests as something triggering that leftover instinct we all have that lets us move out of the way when someone is walking near us. In a movement class I took in college (theatre major, remember?) we talked often about your “kinesphere” which is basically that area of personal space around your body that you have ownership and awareness of. If you’ve ever watched people adjust to a new person getting on an elevator, you’ve seen kinespheres at work. When someone gets to close, you inherently know it, and move to adjust. When strangers get too close, you don’t like it.

Someone or something keeps getting in my kinesphere.

For the first year or so, this only happened at night. The first time was in the wee hours of the morning while I was nursing. I was sitting on the couch, (in the dark, at night) minding my own business when someone came from behind me and walked across the room. I didn’t think anything of it until the moment was past and then something in my brain said, “Um, nobody just walked past you, you realize.”

It was creepy, but I was suffering from sleep exhaustion and more than a little asleep at the time, so I dismissed it easily as a bit of dream seeping into real life. No big deal since that actually happens fairly often to me (starting to dream before I really fall asleep, that is).

It happens every few months or so, and most of the encounters have been like that first one: late at night when I’m overly tired and so brief that it’s gone before I realize that it has happened. As easy as it is to dismiss this as sleep-deprivation, a believer could easily counter with the assertion that it’s only when my mind is that particular state that I can detect what’s going on all the time.

Recently, it has started coming out in the daytime, when I’m not so sleepy.

A few weeks ago, on a bright and sunny weekend day, I went into Charlotte’s room with her to change her diaper. Her room is basically a 10×6 “office” in our loft that’s been nicely converted into a nursery. It’s snug enough that if someone wants to get behind you when you’re at the changing table, you need to compensate. When Ryan walked in (like he often does), I stepped forward to make room for him. He barely squeezed by and I felt him brush my back. I asked him a casual question and he didn’t respond. When I turned around, of course, nothing was there. He’d been in the living room the whole time. I have no rationalization for this other than maybe a stray piece of paper rattled like a footstep and my brain filled in the rest. But that’s pretty weak, and doesn’t explain the brush against my back.

If that wasn’t enough to confirm my ghostly suspicions, the next encounter certainly was.

The floorplan of our building looks like a squared-off figure 8. The outside is lined with apartments, there are two giant atriums in the “holes” of the 8, and the path that cuts between them has the elevators, a stairwell, the trashroom, etc. We live just off the center of the 8. Last week I got off the smaller of our two elevators and discovered that someone had left a giant pile of cardboard boxes around the larger “freight” elevator. It looked like someone had bought a bunch of “needs assembly” furniture from a single store. I wondered if they were putting in a new model or something. As I crossed the bar of the 8 into the long hallway, I heard a commotion behind me. Quickly swinging my head, I saw about 4 or 5 people at the far end of the hallway entering an apartment. Obviously the boxes belonged to them. Mystery solved. While I had my head turned, I got the very distinct impression that someone was barreling down the hallway and headed straight for me and since I wasn’t looking where I was going, I was about to slam right into them. It was clear they were going so fast they weren’t going to be able to stop and I had stepped directly into their path. I braced myself for impact and nothing happened.

Because nobody was there.

No sound. No Noise. Nothing.

I’m pretty sure I stomped my foot and said “Dammit!” This was the first time something had happened outside our unit, but I was standing close by, and if there is a ghost and it has a “territory”, I doubt it would be sticking to the current floor plan.

This one I have a hard time explaining away. The best I’ve come up with is that I have crappy peripheral vision and the lighting (a combo of natural and un-) reflecting off the doors along the hallway but not the walls while I was quickly turning my head had tricked my brain into thinking that something was rushing towards me. I did have quite a bit of stuff filling up my brain (in addition to the pile of boxes) and that sort of daydreaming is kind of like being half awake, I suppose.

There have been a few other suspicious things (noises, moved items, etc), but I’m not sure I would have considered any of it suspicious without the personal-space intrusions. At some point in all of this, you have to apply Occam’s Razor to the phenomenon and it’s starting to feel like “there’s a ghost” is way less complicated than anything else I can come up with.

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Tags: ghosts, kinesphere, loft

Posted By kelly on April 15, 2009

Today at Starbucks I found a man who might have been my father. He was too young by almost a decade, the wrong height, and his pale skin was more like mine than my father’s year-round tan. My father never would have ordered a white chocolate mocha, either. They did share the same shaved bald head, wire rimmed glasses, and bushy grey mustache under a strong roman nose, and his clothes could have been plucked from the stacks of sweaters and slacks my mother donated last year. The man’s big, self-deprecating show about having to pay for his friend’s drink because he’d lost a bet or owed him for something was what had caught my eye, and the way he joked with his friend and the barista was so much like my dad he may have been possessed.

I struggled with the idea that this man was my father and yet not him and forced myself to focus on the differences and the facts at hand to keep the impulse to run and hug this stranger at bay. Suddenly acutely aware that these ghosts are the closest we will ever get to seeing the people that we have lost walk among us, I wanted to follow him as he went about his day to see what else I would rediscover about my father.

Instead, I picked up my drinks and went home.

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Posted By kelly on April 13, 2009

did you miss me? i missed you.

i come bearing a gift and the promise of more, soon.

first off, the gift: my favorite martini to help remind murmur.com that i exist.

and now, the promises: assuming sick babies get better soon, there should be new images coming your way via flickr, a blog post or 2 on charlotte’s site (because going offline took her offline, too), and a post here with the “snapshots” i took while i was away from you for 46 days. don’t worry, i didn’t record something every day. sometimes not even once a week.

for now, though, i’m off to see if the sick baby might want some turkey or bananas for “lunch”.

Category: navelgazing, plug | No Comments »
Tags: easter, internet, lent, murmur.com, self-plugging

Posted By kelly on February 23, 2009

It all started with a someecard my husband jokingly set me. Not only did it serve to remind me that Lent follows Mardi Gras (something I seem to forget year to year), but it got me thinking: what would life be like if I gave up the internet?

Before I could get very far in my musings, the voices in my head started howling. One flat out said we couldn’t do it. One immediately started listing all the things we’d be forced to give up. One started getting all worked while trying to determine what “giving up the internet” meant as the list started growing. One started considering where I’d get my news, would I get my news? One needed to be reminded that “giving up the internet” did not mean giving up the computer completely. One needed to be reminded that internet did not mean electricity. One started panicking because it remembered how much time we’d need to spend on the phone to compensate for the lack of online communication. A few started considering all the time we’d have to read books and work on writing, how much more attention we could give Charlotte, but they could barely be heard over the din.

So I made them all shut up and started working on the first problem: what does “giving up the internet for lent” actually mean? Only once that was defined could we really start figuring out if it’s something we wanted to do. So, we did that. Protests about the impracticality of never checking email were considered. The need to occasionally research something while writing/reading was respected. Concerns came in, but so did several benefits.

Once that was done, the arguments switched from “you can’t do that!” to “why would you want to?” I mean, seriously, I’m not going to pretend this is about getting closer to Jesus, for me. It’s about making a bold change and flexing my willpower. Yes, I could just cut back on using the internet if I feel like I’m using too much. “Cut back a bit” just doesn’t have the same ring as “Give it up”, though. The challenge makes it more fun, though, and using Lent means that I can’t say something like “well, I decided it was going to be 30 days, so now I say it’s going to be 15.”

I can’t help but wonder. What will happen on the other side? Will I even bother reactivating my Warcraft account? Will I feel the need to absorb an absurd amount of entertainment industry feeds? What will my brain do with all the hard drive space it had reserved for reading about the latest scandal? Will I twitter as much as I did before? Will this break me of some of my compulsive contributor tendencies, or will I go mad from the self-imposed silence?

At this point, I’m so curious, I can’t not do it. Starting Wednesday, I’m going relatively internet-free until Easter. What does this mean? Something like this:

• No more than 20 minutes a day for research, bill paying, address lookup etc. (things that support offline pursuits, will result in credit score issues, or are umpossible without calling directory assistance ;)
• One 20 minute email checking session a day (cutting it off completely is impractical and inconveniences everyone else — not very christian ;)
• Absolutely no twitter, facebook, rss, flickr, warcraft, etc (archives mean it will all be there when I get back)
• Using txt messaging as little as possible (ie: not to chat. just to say “I’m on my way to pick you up” etc)
• Same deal for maps, etc on the iPhone – playing with maps/GPS is favorite car-ride pastime of mine
• Still allowing self-to-self transfers (like Evernote, since I don’t have to see the rest of the internet to do so. …at least I think I will. Jesus wouldn’t have minded that, right?)
• Jury’s still out on whether I’m going to let myself blog offline for posting later. I think I’ll just play that one by ear. No not-live blogging, certainly, but maybe a murmur article or two. Something that will still be relevant after the hiatus. And perhaps one single post recording how I feel week by week.

There are some things that I’m giving up that I’d rather not. No blog posts, no murmur-ing, no chatting with my husband and other friends during the day. I’ll have to start watching more television, because I’ll need to get my news someplace. I’m tempted to start making exceptions for certain things, but the minute I try to let one of these things in, it starts feeling less like a challenge or sacrifice. It’s like giving up meat, but still having lion’s choice, …and italian sausage …and my meatloaf …and…

It’s clear my biggest “cheat” in all of this is communicating with others. I know I could take this to the extreme and start using the phone or sending hand-written letters to folks instead of email, but I’m not interested in taking the experiment that far. I may modify the guidelines as the season progresses, but theoretically only to refine them in keeping with the original goal: removing every non-essential internet activity for the 2009 Lenten Season.

There is one small risk in this. As a stay-at-home mom, the internet is my outlet to the world beyond these walls and grownup humans. If I feel like I’m starting to go crazy (and the weather doesn’t let me get out, or I start accosting too many strangers because I need to talk to someone), or any sort of serious “mental claustrophobia” then I’m pulling the plug.

See you Easter Monday!

Category: events, navelgazing, writing | 5 Comments »
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Posted By kelly on February 22, 2009

For the past few years, one of the local movie chains in our area hosts an “Oscar Showcase” the day before the Oscars. All 5 Best Picture nominated films are shown back to back starting at 10:30 in the morning until they’re over. I tried my best in the 30 minute breaks between shows to jot down my immediate thoughts, but there were friends to chat with, popcorn bags to refill, and “breaks” to take. All in all, it was a great experience and I can’t wait to do it again next year.

What follows are my immediate thoughts for each film, followed by a bit more coherent “next day” analysis.

Milk:

12:30 on Saturday: Brolin and not Franco? or everyone else? Penn’s nomination is completely justified and without considering who else is nominated, I’m now rooting for him.

Frustrated that prop 6 didn’t pass in 1978 but prop 8 did in 2008. What has happened to this country?

I loved the combo of traditional filming and gritty shots that may have been actual footage.

No true tears, but several moments of near overwhelming sadness and joy/pride.

9 am-ish on Sunday: Milk was my favorite of the day, which surprised me. I’m not usually big on bio-picks and I don’t like Sean Penn. The movie is the story of the gay rights movement in the 1970s as much as it’s Harvey Milk’s story, and the filmmakers have a very pro-Harvey, pro-gay rights bias. I didn’t mind, but I did notice, and I wonder how well-received a counterpoint movie would be.

It’s nominated in several categories besides Best Picture and they all make sense, save Brolin. I can’t help but wonder if this is one of those crazy Oscar things where they nominated him for this because there wasn’t enough room to nominate him for “W” or something. It wasn’t that his performance was bad, it just didn’t stand out among the rest of the ensemble cast. His character certainly did, but that’s not the same thing, is it?

The Reader

3:15 on Saturday: I didn’t make any notes, so that’s probably saying something.

There was an absurd amount of nudity.

9 am-ish on Sunday: Really, those Saturday notes were jotted down between Benjamin and Slumdog, not immediately after The Reader.

This one was clearly the weak link that all the pro-Dark Knight, Doubt, or Wrestler fans will be railing against because their flick didn’t get a best picture nod. (I’m not exactly pro-DK, but that would have been a very welcome palate cleanser this year). Seriously, though, I can’t even talk about this movie when I’m talking about it the next day, either.

I’m not entirely sure why this movie is here. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just sort of…nondescript. Other than, you know all the nudity. I understand why Kate is nominated (mostly), but I do not understand why she’s winning everything under the sun. ….hold on a second, I need to ask my friend the internet something.

Ah, there it is. She’s been nominated for many Oscars and Golden Globes over the years, but hasn’t ever won. That explains it. I hate that.

I’m tired of talking about this movie already, so let’s sum up: I think this movie thinks it’s really great and powerful and beautiful and smart, but it feels more like what a not-so-great film student would produce for his final project.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

6:45 on Saturday: This held up surprisingly well. Most of the mid-movie crying was averted, but knowing what was in store once the end started made it sooo much worse.

I’m still upset that the Blanchett wasn’t nominated, but Taraji was the first acting nomination that “made sense” the moment she stepped on screen.

9:30ish on Sunday: I’ve already seen and reviewed this film, but I stuck around for a second showing because this was a good opportunity to test my theory that a second viewing would expose all the seams and flaws of this film.

It didn’t, which pleases.

I know this movie isn’t for everyone, and I can see how many audience members would find it tedious and unnecessarily melodramatic, or even wonder why anyone would want to make it, but for the right person, it’s almost cathartic. I don’t expect it to win many of the 13 awards it’s nominated for, because in every category it’s up against a film or two (or 4) that are better at that one specific aspect, but it does everything well enough. You could also add a few more acting nominations, too. One could easily argue that pulling off so many aspects so well is justification for a Best Picture win, but I don’t see that happening, and I’d be disappointed if it did.

Slumdog Millionaire

9:15 on Saturday: I can understand why this is getting attention. it’s very different than anything that’s been offered to Hollywood in the past few years.

Love love love the credits sequence.

9:30 am-ish on Sunday: This movie is in grave danger of becoming over-hyped. I can understand where the fervor is coming from, but it’s not the best film of the year. It is the most interesting, perhaps, and in some years, that’s what it takes to get a statue.

For me, this film suffered from being watched with the other 4. It had the same bio/documentary feel as Milk and Frost/Nixon, but it it had too many happy/sappy elements like Benjamin. The fantastical elements of Benjamin were easy to swallow because the entire movie was whimsical. Not so with Slumdog, not by a long shot. As the movie progressed and Jamal got himself out of one scrape or another, it was hard to ignore the voice in the back of my head saying “yes, but in real life, he’d be dead now.” I didn’t need another depressing-as-shit Blood Diamond, but the contrast didn’t lift me up and make me feel good like it promised.

The music, though. Loved the music. Although other Best Pic nominees have a Best Score nomination, this one stands out. The score is a character as much as any of the actors. The soundtrack will be mine very soon.

Frost/Nixon

12:00am on Sunday:

9:45am on Sunday: I didn’t write anything. It was midnight and time to go home.

This is a movie about getting a crazy-important interview and trying not to screw it up. A decent portion of this movie is the actual interview, which is readily available for watching on it’s own.

Sounds exciting, huh? A movie where you watch people watching two people talk. And logical. Why watch the real interview, when you can watch a movie where people act out the interview?

In the movie’s defense, it’s an incredibly well done movie about a boring idea that makes no sense to make. One of the key themes in the ride home was Penn v. Langella for Best Actor. Langella came out on top because as good as Penn was, Langella did everything he did, with the added burden of having to be Richard Nixon — a well recognized and heavily caricaturized historical figure. His portrayal was flawless. He didn’t shy away from it and he didn’t go over the top. So. Very. Worthy.

*~*~*~*

So there you have it. Want my predictions for who’s going to win some of the major awards tonight? I knew you did. The numbers in parentheses are seen/nominiated, so you can tell how much I “know” about and except for best actress, I left off anything i haven’t seen at least half of the nominated films for. I just don’t feel capable of making a call for best supporting actress or original screenplay.

Here’s the list:

Best Actor (3/5): Langella (should), Rourke (will)

Best Actress (1/5): Anyone but Kate(should), Kate (will)

Best Supporting Actor (3/5): Heath(should?, will)

Best Screenplay (Adapted) (4/5): Doubt (should – I know, the only one I haven’t seen ;), Slumdog (will)

Best Score (4/5): Slumdog (should, will)

Best Director (5/5): Van Sant for Milk (should), Boyle for Slumdog (will)

Best Animated Feature (2/3): WALL-E (should, will)

Best Picture (5/5): Milk(should), Slumdog Millionaire (will)

I won’t be not-live blogging the oscars, since I’m going to a friend’s house to watch the show. I’m sure I’ll have things to say tomorrow, though, never fear.

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Tags: benjamin button, frost/nixon, milk, oscar nominations, slumdog millionaire, the reader