The clams and unsweetened N.E. iced tea are great. Don’t bother with the onion rings, shrimp or scallops.
I scored some homemade jam on a visit with Mr. Dominic Keane, dog lover and ladies man. Bethany and Justin gave out this jam as a wedding favor, the perfect kind, so whenever I taste it I remember dancing in a big tent by her parents’ raspberry patch.
The musical cues in this film are amazing- they grabbed me by the neck and rubbed my face in my pleasurable addictions. When the bachelor party goes up on the roof, dressed to party and taking their first drinks, the lights of the city in front of them, I felt that familiar buzz of potential at the beginning of an epic night. Which makes you forget the bill to be paid in the morning.
It’s a genius setup, building tension and ridiculousness as the bachelor party tries to piece together what happened. The next scene owes much to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and borrows a bit of the danger and misery of that film, although not the depth.
For me, the roof scene is way more romantic than the (spoiler, I guess?) wedding scene, which felt tacked on and tired. Bros before hoes? Gender dysphoria? I’m never going to be invited to a bachelor party.
I think I have to watch it again. It’s got a great engine and good flawed characters doing uncomfortable performances (although the pretty boys were dull- could have had a little more Thomas Haden Church pathos from them). But it lost steam for me partway through. Or my blueberry martini wore off at that point. What do you all think?
Posted in movie review
Tagged dating, fear and loathing in las vegas, movie review, the hangover
Did I ever tell you about the time Kurt Vonnegut called me a coward to my face? And made me cry? The old smoky bloodshot dragon had burned down his apartment in NYC and set up residence at Smith College for a semester my senior year. I was taking a couple writing classes and psyched myself up to give him some of my (earnest, dark, Andre Dubus, Raymond Carver esque) stories to read. Then I went to his office in the library to hear what he thought of them. He said “You’re a coward, aren’t you?” and couldn’t stop laughing and wheezing.
This book talks about writer’s block plainly- as fear. Fear of what other people will say and fear of what you will say. Good writers know this and use that fear and anxiety to their advantage. Scared writers don’t write, write and don’t publish, or write in an obscure abstract jargon filled literary style that is preferred by academics and intellectuals because it cannot be pinned down. (If I can’t understand it, it must be pretty good writing, and no one will figure out what I’m really talking about.) Anyone who is struggling with their writing should read this book.
Thanks to the late Mr. Vonnegut for calling me out ten years ago and putting a name to my problem.
Posted in book review
Tagged Andre Dubus, book review, kurt vonnegut, Raymond Carver, writing
Took lemon seeds from a cooking lemon, kept them in a damp paper towel for a week and then planted half an inch deep in potting soil. After a couple weeks: Voila!
I could not find the membership table inside – the museum is being renovated so is a little disordered but I was very confused that the ticket guy didn’t want my money. So Titian’s naked ladies will have to wait until my next visit.
My favorites were the Sargents and his peers- Late 19th Century American. Such sharp and shining work. In the past I have discounted him because he’s from Massachusetts, I thought maybe that’s why we liked him. But in fact he’s really good.
There is a creepy buddha gallery made at the turn of the 20th century to be an appropriate home for the appropriated buddhas.
Outside of that there were these beautiful large screen paintings: Showa Sophistication, Japan in the 1930s
"digital art=lazy" thinks carina
still from video "Air Guitar"
Doesn’t the bee think,
bumbling along,
Wow, this flower is
made for me
and isn’t the bee right?
Miranda made me watch this movie yesterday.
Another Cinderella Story on DVD and BLU-RAY
It was excruciating. But I loved hearing her explain how she feels when she watches romantic comedies like this: it’s her drug of choice. I get that.
Posted in movie review
Tagged addiction, another cinderella story, fame, greedy, perversion, racist, sexist
I have lots of movie and tv show rules and I am always having to go wash the dishes or make a phone call when characters behave in ways that make me uncomfortable. I stopped watching the Wire and Six Feet Under because they were too upsetting. Why do people treat each other this way, I wonder, jamming my fingers in my ears and hiding my face.
I figured I would be able to take about twenty minutes of this movie.
Instead, I was fascinated by Poppy (Sally Hawkins) while I waited for something terrible to happen to her. The viewer gets to know her slowly- she talks in cliches and glib Ricky Gervaisian rhymes, so it takes a while to see and hear how she interacts with the world. John Tarrant has written a buddhist take on the movie that I can agree with.
Interesting to me is how angry movies like this and Away We Go make reviewers. They find Poppy’s and John Krasinski’s goofy thoughtful niceness to be insufferable in a way they don’t hate on the idiot heroes of more straightforward situation comedies. Why is that? Is it boring to watch? What makes it boring?
I was surprised to read that some viewers found Poppy to be terribly self-absorbed – just the same criticism that Away We Go got. But Poppy is a great listener and has a close circle of family and friends, unlike most women comedic characters. I think there is room given each of the people she encounters and we see them differently because we see them through Poppy’s gaze. The warm interaction she has with a chiropractor after putting her back out gives the scene a dramatic potential that holds your attention despite nothing particularly happening.
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