More on *Danny Deckchair*

I mentioned earlier that the hero of this film goes through something like a mid-life crisis, by which I mean that he does something crazy, making his life over as a result. He finds that he isn't really the person he thought he was (an inconsequential manual laborer), and that he doesn't belong in the confining city of his past.

Here's what I found most interesting about this film:

Danny shares a house with his girlfriend, about whom Jimmy "the Tulip" Tudeski (The Whole Nine Yards, another of my favorite movies--Matthew Perry is hilarious) would say, "She's not a good person."

They live together, but they aren't married (not to mention the fact that she's about to embark on an affair)--and so I am not disturbed when Danny runs off and falls in love with someone else. However, had they been married, I would have found this very troubling.

For instance, in the movie Diaries of a Mad Black Woman, the heroine gets revenge against her cheating husband, divorces him and starts a new life with someone else. While I very much like the movie, I am troubled by the divorce because in the course of the film the husband "mends his evil ways," to use a cliche. This is very troubling to me because of what I believe about the sanctity of marriage, and Tyler Perry admits many of his fans were disappointed in the ending, which was different from that of the play.

In Danny Deckchair the fact that Danny and what's-her-name aren't married does away with this predicament.

What does this imply about marriage?

Michael has some good comments to add to this, by the way.

Candles and *Clueless*

Does anyone else horde scented candles like I do?

I love candles, and honestly they contribute to my general wellbeing during the winter months. Less so now that I get to be home during the day. The thing is, I buy these candle, or receive them as gifts, and then I put them under my bed and just keep them. Sure, I have some scattered around the house and I do burn them, but I keep them sitting out well past the point when they should be thrown away. I continue to keep them or burn them even after I've reached the last inch of wax. That's one reason I like incense, because I'm less tempted to keep it around as decorative matter. You pretty much burn it , enjoy the fragrance, and that's that.

Parker and I are watching Clueless. I always enjoy Travis Berkenstock (Breckin Meyer)'s speech after his homeroom teacher, played by Wallace Shawn, announces the number of tardies he has accrued.

This is so unexpected. I-I didn't even have a speech prepared, uh, but I would like to say this: Tardiness is not something you can do all on your own. Many, many people contributed to my tardiness. Uh, I'd like to thank my parents for never giving me a ride to school; the L.A. City Bus driver, for taking a chance on an unknown kid; and uh, last but not least the wonderful crew of McDonald's for spending hours making those Egg-McMuffins without which I might never be tardy.

It loses something in print, but Meyer delivers it perfectly. Another great line from this movie:

Cher's main thrill in life is a make-over, okay. It gives her a sense of control in a world full of chaos.

You may not realize that Clueless is based on Jane Austen's Emma, and instead of simply being a shallow teenage movie, it is actually an effective adaptation. I've always thought this movie was an excellent candidate for discussion, especially for those with teenagers who have to make choices in a threatening world. It's full of objectionable material, but provides an excellent opportunity to go over some important issues with your kids.

Another film I seriously recommend for discussing with your kids is Akeelah and the Bee. Very good movie, if formulaic. The formula of the film itself is an interesting topic for discussion.

Australian Actors, Australian Films

Must get some sleep before Parker wakes us up bright and early in the morning, but I just wanted to note that we saw the movie Danny Deckchair over the weekend. This is a romantic comedy set in Australia, starring Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill) and Miranda Otto (Lord of the Rings Trilogy). It was quite an enjoyable movie, if some of the details were rather far-fetched. We were pleased to see two Australian actors in the film who appeared in an episode of one of our favorite Sci-Fi series, Farscape, which is peopled with many Australian actors as well.

Lots of Australia going around our house these days:

The Dish, which is about the Parks, Australia satellite station that tracked the progress of the Apollo 11 moon landing;

Danny Deckchair, about a man who floats away from home on a helium balloon, and find what he's been missing in his life. This may seem to be standard mid-life crisis fare, except that it isn't. Not the deepest thing I've seen lately, but enjoyable nonetheless; and

Strictly Ballroom. This is one of my favorite films, and one that I shall say a bit about at some slightly later date.

Fun with Grammar

While I'm thinking about grammar, I was just watching an episode from the first season of Reba. Van is preparing to move back into his parent's house, and he's brought his pregnant teenaged wife along with him. It hasn't occurred to him that his parents would expect him to leave his wife behind. His parents try to set him straight:

"But you said 'We want you to move back in.' I'm married now. 'You' means me and Cheyenne."

"Van, your English. 'You' doesn't mean 'both of you.' If we'd have meant that we'd have said 'y'all.'"

Warning concerning *Little House on the Prairie*

Warning: This show (Little House on the Prairie) is not for worriers, or people who don't like high levels of stress in their television. The episodes always end well (ultimately, philosophically), but they certainly don't usually end happily.

We saw the first part of a two part episode this evening about which I commented: I can hardly believe we watched this voluntarily. It was difficult. I'm going to drive Jim crazy by not telling what it was about because I don't want to get you down.

A final thought: I read somewhere that the last season (Season 9) is darker than previous seasons. As yet I am wondering how it could get any darker. I guess when we get to season 9 we'll find out.

Spelling Errors

There's a reason why I'm a terrible speller; because so many of the books I read growing up were written by European authors. My parents always wondered why I wasn't better at spelling since I read so much.

Another Exerpt from *Love Over Scotland,* this one concerning grammar

"Have you guys been waiting long?" asked Leonie, as she took off her jacket and hung it over the back of a chair. "Babs and me walked."

Matthew thought: why can't people distinguish between nominative and accusative any more? He wanted to say to Leonie: "Would you say me walked? (253)"

This was another moment that I really enjoyed because, like my grandmother (Nana) before me, I always notice when people, especially people on television, get this wrong. Of course usually I see the opposite problem. It happened in an episode of Little House Michael and I saw earlier tonight. Laura asked her mother, "Do you want Albert and I to go for a walk?"

So Much Fun to Play With Other Children

Last night when we picked Parker up from the church nursery we were told that one of the little girls he played with had learned his name and had been calling him across the room. We got to hear her say it. It was too cute!

Parker has gotten to play with other children two morning this week not including Sunday, and last Saturday he went to a little girl's birthday party. He is such a sociable child. Sometimes I wonder how he can stand to be home alone with me so much of the time. He has had the best time playing this week. We long for the consistently warm, but not to hot, weather that is coming so we can go outside and play more.

Oh, For the Love of Books Set in Scotland

I just finished the third book in Alexander McCall Smith's series, 44 Scotland Street, and find that at some point I shall have to purchase the series to keep on my own shelves. These books are full of interesting material, so much of which I'll have to go back and re-read, digest, and ponder. They would make great book club material if I ever make my way to being involved in a book club.

Here's an excerpt which I consider one of the most beautiful/truly romantic things I have read since the end of Diana Gabaldon's The Fiery Cross, or Mama Day by Gloria Naylor:

He looked at her and thought: I have found myself in you. Bless you. And then he thought: what a strange, old-fashioned thing to think. Bless you. But what other way was there of saying that you wanted only good for somebody, that you wanted the world to be kind to her, to cherish her? Only old-fashioned words would do for that (Love Over Scotland, 338).

The book itself is not a romance, lest you get the wrong impression. The first two volumes at least were published serially in The Scotsman. I don't know that about this last one because the author's note at the beginning didn't mention it. It's really about Edinburgh, and the people who live there.

It's funny, I can't say much about McCall Smith's other work because I haven't experienced much of it yet. I will go ahead and say that I read Portuguese Irregular Verbs and didn't really care for it. I started The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which I will return to, but haven't yet made it past the first chapter. I'm going to try The Sunday Philosophy Club, starting in just a few minutes, Parker willing. These are each first books in separate series, so while I am experiencing the author's work in breadth, I don't know what to make of it as a whole yet.

On another note, I love it when books I'm reading reference other books I have read and enjoyed. Love Over Scotland references The End of the Affair at one point in the mind of one of it's characters, which is the first book I ever read by Graham Greene. (Some of his books I love and some of them I don't care for. The End of the Affair is one of the ones I love.)

I don't mean to give the impression, with the title of this post, that all of the novel's mentioned herein are set in Scotland, although I realize that is exactly what is implied. Only two of the McCall Smith series are, as well as the Gabaldon. The Naylor is set on an imaginary island off the coast of Georgia, and the Greene is set in England if I remember correctly.

Smelly Fabrics in my Baby's Room

The other night we made a mistake. For some reason Parker's humidifier was adjusted to allow a full stream of steam. This filled his room with moisture, which I didn't discover until the next morning. My nursing chair got pretty damp, as did some of Parker's covers, and possibly his stuffed animals. The wood floor in his room was also damp to the touch.

So now Parker's room smells funny. I sprayed the chair down with Febreeze, and I would open the windows except those in his room are either painted shut, or too difficult for me to open on my own. I know that a few of Parker's stuffed animals are not supposed to be submerged in water, but I don't necessarily know which of them these are.

What should I do to make Parker's room smell better?

Mysteries of Film

I just finished watching a movie that made my eyes ache. Throat too. Life as a House. It was loaned to me weeks and weeks ago, and since I had decided that it would be too stressful for my husband, I went ahead and put it in this morning.

I enjoyed the movie, and I'll probably have to mull it over for a week or so before I can figure out what I really think of it. Hayden Christianson was just as pouty and whiny in it as he was in Star Wars II & III with rather more excuse, and there is a lot in the movie about marriage and divorce which is tricky. Jena Malone, as usual, made some highly questionable decisions. Anyway, there's a lot to think about.

This led me to wonder about the various reactions that movies can provoke. For instance, my husband doesn't care for films that feature a large amount of familial or employment related stress. He won't watch The Office with me because he gets enough of work at work. Other people don't enjoy films that are "depressing." Some people generally avoid stories that are sad.

Michael has sometimes observed, "You're crying. That must have been a really good book," which means, I often really enjoy the sad stuff. I'm often skeptical of the kind of manipulation that allows a film or series to make me feel the way I want to feel at any given point in the story. But I've also often thought that you have to know what kind of movie you are getting going in, and then accept the conventions of that genre, or, alternatively, discover the mode of the film you are observing and then realize that certain absurdities, or required suspensions of disbelief are to be expected. This is what enjoying a film or tv series is about. If you like films you become very skilled at suspending disbelief, or you find the genre you can stand and then stick with it.

Perhaps this explains why some people don't generally enjoy films. There are other factors, of course. I've noticed recently that I often have trouble interpreting images that are presented to me on screen. For instance in an episode of Little House the driver was flung from a carriage during an accident and it took a while for me to figure out that the camera was panning across the drivers arm showing us that he was dead. At times I have difficulty figuring out where my attention is supposed to be directed. Then again, it drives me crazy when cinematographers force perspective by use of selective focus.

Cathartic blogging

Yesterday I posted on how frustrated I was with our local public library. Doing so met and exceeded my expectations and I'll tell you why:

Because all afternoon I steamed over the fine I was made to pay. Hours later I was still heated up over it, but then I wrote yesterday's post. Having put my frustration down in writing, all of a sudden it didn't seem like such a big deal any more. As a matter of fact, as I mentioned, by the end of the evening I was fairly reconciled.

Now, you might argue that, this good work having been done, I might then delete the post from my blog, but I won't do that--because that post reveals something about me that you might otherwise miss. Sometimes I get frustrated, and frustration leads to evil thoughts, as well as decisions that are not entirely rational. This has to do with our humanity, and is a characteristic I would say all humans have in common.

I hope that I will never choose to publicly and irresponsibly complain against any individual on this blog, but institutions seem to me fair game.

Furious with T(uscaloosa) P(ublic) L(ibrary)

I can hardly stand it, and so I thought I might find catharsis by posting my feelings in the matter.

Last week I borrowed three movies from the Public Library. All three films were for Parker's benefit, so that I could see something other than Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie during his waking hours.

Now some of you may not know this about me yet, but I hate fines and interest payments of every sort, mortgage payments excluded. I can't stand them, and as such I always make great effort to get things turned in on time.

This week it just didn't work out. I forgot to return the movies on Tuesday, but I told Michael it would be okay as long as we got them in by opening the next day. One of the movies, which we hadn't watched, didn't get picked up to return, and since we had spent the entire day with our car in the shop and neither of us felt like getting out in the cold by the end of the day, the leftover film was returned the next day. In my mind only one of the movies was going to be counted against us as late.

So I went to the library this afternoon thinking I'd have to pay a small fine, something along the lines of $1.40. Boy was I wrong.

$8.00!!!!

$2.00 per movie per day. Now, historically I have only rarely turned anything in to the library that wasn't on time, and I don't believe I had ever held a film out too long. Films are only available to be borrowed for 7 days at a time with no opportunity to renew.

I understand that there have to be fees, and I understand that these fees have inflated along with everything else, but $8:00! This afternoon I was prepared to check out two DVDs and a VHS, but when I found out how much I would have to pay I decided against it.

I don't think I'll be using the Public Library much longer. That's an extreme reaction I suppose, but I find those fees offensive. Besides, our Public Library is woefully inadequate. If you've ever tried to do research through the library's catalogue you'll know how difficult it is to navigate to find what you need, and so many of the books I'm looking for simply are not there.

On the other hand, I'm not sure what alternatives are available. I can borrow from people I know, or I can buy books at the store and online, but once I've turned in the books that I currently have checked out, I may not use the Public Library any more.

***Two hours later***

Jim was over at the house tonight and inadvertently convinced me that I simply cannot give up the library. He brought over this lecture series from The Learning Company, which is interesting because I just got their catalogue in the mail yesterday. I cannot give up the library.

What I can give up is borrowing movies from the library. Jim informs me that they carry the heaviest fines, so probably if I limit myself to books, and possibly audio media, anyway--things that I can checkout for three weeks at a time and renew once, I should be fine. That's good to know. A fee schedule is available on the library's website, www.tuscaloosa-library.org. I need to take a look at it because I've been warned about board books as well.

Parker laughs

This is how Parker made me laugh this morning:

My mom gave me a special tea cup for Christmas. It has a removable piece for steeping the teabag, and it has a lid to keep the drink warm. This morning I had already finished my second cup of tea and Parker came along to see what I was doing.

Keeping my hand on the lid so it wouldn't get broken, I allowed Parker to pull it away and peer into the cup. He thought this was hilarious, even though the cup was empty, so we pulled the lid away over and over again and enjoyed a good laugh together.

Tuesday morning Parker and mom and I breakfasted at The City Cafe. We didn't bring any toys with us, so my mom and Parker spent the time before the food arrived flipping jelly containers. This too, to Parker, was hilariously funny.

I Corinthians 13:11 -- Childhood Memories

Another brief story of regret along the lines of "An Unflattering Portrait of the Author as a Little Girl." This is another one that has haunted me at various times:

One year for Christmas I wanted an apron. I was probably six or seven years old at the time. I don't remember. What I do remember is that I wanted a specific sort of apron. I wanted the kind that slips over your head and ties around your waist. I probably wanted one with a ruffle at the top and bottom.

And so my grandmother made an apron for me, only the apron she made was the kind that only ties about the waist.

This was not the apron that I wanted and I absolutely threw a fit.

Poor Nana. On the one hand, how must it feel to be treated in such a way? On the other hand, how must it feel to so disappoint someone you love, even if they are disappointed on such a trivial level?

When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things (I Corinthians 13:11).

Years later we were on vacation with the extended paternal family. We stayed in an A-Frame cabin with big glass windows looking out on the surrounding world. I convinced someone to buy me a bonnet--one of those big old-fashioned ones that ties underneath the chin, like Mary wears in Little House on the Prairie. We must have been watching the show at that time because why on earth else would I ever want to wear a bonnet like that? There are no tantrums in this story, although I will share that I was stung by a bee on the cheek, on this particular vacation, while trying to swat it away from my face.