Staying Up Past My Bedtime
I am a Good Girl. I rarely ever stay up late. Usually in bed by eleven. My apartment is too neat and my bed is always made unless I am sleeping or napping in it. I’ve been this way as long as I can remember.
This is my bedroom. Sunday morning. That is Zuzu waving to the camera!
Sorry for the delay. Had to go get the dishes soaking. They have to be done before I go to bed (as does this post). Can we say compulsive.
I know what I am. I know why I am the way I am. I know how I want my life to be. Ordered. I have little problems with who I am. It works for me most of the time.
The last time I was out past Eleven was to go to one of the Lord of the Rings movies with my Eldest Sister and my Middle Half Sister. It was in Winnipeg around the beginning of this century but before 2004. Before that was a party in Montreal, where we ended up sleeping over and the first time was quite likely my 19th birthday when my two older sisters met me at the local bar (and unbeknownst to me) bought me doubles all night. Do you see the pattern here? My late nights are so infrequent that I could probably catalog them all over the last thirty years.
So, why was I out late last week? Well, last Wednesday to be exact? I’m sure you can guess. What came out on Tuesday? This! That’s right… Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Don’t worry – there will be no spoilers in this post. (Can’t guarantee that about IMDB though, you might not want to click that link!)
I’ve read all the books. I’m a reader first, after all. I usually wait for the movies to hit TV even though I’m a huge Snape fan – he’s to die for! So, why did I see this one at the theater so close to Opening Night?
A co-worker, a HUGE fan of the Harry Potter universe had no one to go to opening night with. Yes, I know, we didn’t go opening night. We both worked Wednesday and she had a big meeting Wednesday that she needed to be on the top of her game for. Otherwise, she would have been there Tuesday at Midnight. Me, not so much.
A movie starting at midnight would have put me home around three am – much too late for me to be up on a work night! 
As it was, we went to the 10:05 pm showing. My co-worker called me at eight to arrange to leave for the movie. Which seemed to me to be way too early. I was planning on meandering down around 9:30. Foolish, foolish me. All you fans out there know how misguided that would have been. :-0
We got to the theater just after eight-thirty. No line outside. Good. We go into the theater, show the usher our ticket and were ushered into the inner lobby. (This was to be the second last showing of HP 6 that night). And as you can guess, this is when I saw the line-up. There were separate lines for both our showing and the next one. Not sure how many people were in line but our line was about triple the length of the line for the 10:30 showing and it was just before nine. We had over an hour to wait and the other line longer than that!
I’ll admit I was a little surprised. Like I said, I don’t usually wait in line for movies. I’m old enough to know that eventually I’ll get around to seeing the ones I want to see. Of course, I grew up before the Internet so never worried about Spoilers! Spoilers were the main reason my friend had to see this movie now. She was worried, justifiably, that someone would tell her something about the movie and spoil it for her. As happened that evening before she met me.
All in all, staying up late was a good experience for me. I enjoyed the movie. I’m not a big fan of waiting in line though and they didn’t let us into the theater until about ten minutes before the movie started. So, I didn’t have time to get popcorn and drinks. We wanted to get our seats first. I suppose one of us could have gone well the other stayed in line. But my co-worker, more experienced then me (she’s been to every HP Opening Night as well as to other Opening Nights), expected them to let us in sooner than they did.
Waiting in line was okay. I was a little amazed at the politeness of the crowd, got to see some interesting costumes, and the movie was worth the wait. It was close enough to walk to and dispute being a creature of habit, the walk home reminded me how much I enjoy walking after dark. We got back to my place, where my co-worker had left her car, just after one am and I was in bed by one-thirty. Thursday, there were no bosses at work – holiday season, and so the day was low key and I got my work done despite the fact that I didn’t get my normal amount of sleep.
I may have to do this again! 
Maybe, a home showing where I could serve this!
Closer
It started here with the video of The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice.
I loved the song, played it three or four times never really watching the video. I must have looked up at just the right moment during my last play though because my brain went “I know that movie.”
Jude Law. Julie Roberts. An affair. They’re betraying their partners. This thought lead to an IMBD search. Which lead to Closer. Which took me straight to my local library’s website to see if they had a copy. They did. I reserved it, online (Thank you Library for having the technology ), waited two days, picked it up and watched it last night.
Well, rewatched, I think. As I started the DVD, there was my brain again going, “we’ve seen this. I’m sure we’ve seen this before.” I think too much.
I’m still not sure when I saw this movie before. It would of been on DVD, it was probably this same library copy, and since it only came out in 2004 that does narrow it down to the last five years, approximately.
Confused yet?
Aren’t we all. I’m not sure I like this movie. I know I wouldn’t like these characters to be people I know in real life. Though, of course, I do know people like this in real life. We all do. I’m one of these people in real life.
And then there’s the actors. It’s such a different role for Ms. Roberts and Jude Law has always rubbed me the wrong way. And, like everyone one else, I bring my own presumptions and experiences to the movie.
For a great discussion thread on IMDB about Dan, Alice, Anna and Larry; go here. I don’t agree with all the opinions stated there. For one, I think Alice is telling the truth about not having slept with Larry. For another, more needs to be explored about the relationship between Dan and Larry.
This movie deals with the darker side of relationships and I’m not sure I want to go there. Now believe me, when it comes to love, I am not a dewy-eyed romantic. I’ve been hurt and I’ve hurt others, both deliberately and unconsciously. If I’m anyone in this movie, I’m Dan…selfish and constantly chasing after, or trying to create, the ideal. No. I want everything to go my way. I’m a control freak who doesn’t handle change well at all.
I want to be close, just not too close. Not closer. The closer I am to you the less I see myself. I change. I mutate. I become only what the other creates. I have a long history of becoming someone else’s ideal something. My mother sees a perfect daughter, my ex saw a perfect wife, my Montreal boyfriend saw a mother figure.
The only time I can be myself is when I keep myself separate. There is DANGER in getting too close. In being closer. This movie hits too close to home, for me, and thus I block it out of my consciousness.
What, ultimately, is Closer about?
Is it a story about love and trust?
Is it a story about truth and lies?
Is it a story about what we lose when we become functioning adults?
Honestly, I have no idea. I didn’t like the movie, didn’t love these characters, but I am glad I watched it (again).
Terminator Salvation
The following review may contain spoilers: read something else if you plan to go see Terminator Salvation any time soon!
I don’t remember who I saw the first Terminator movie with. Did I see it with my ex-husband, here in Saskatoon, when it first came out? I don’t think so; I don’t remember seeing it in a theater. Did I see it, on television, with my boyfriend in Montreal? I don’t know.
The first Terminator movie came out in 1984. I have vague memories in my head of watching it on a small screen. The second Terminator movie, the one that starts with images of Judgment Day, that I remember seeing loud and bold. But again, I couldn’t tell you where I saw it?
I’m a fan of the Terminator series – I like the boldness of Sarah Connor, the paradoxes of time travel and, on occasion, loud, tense movie scenes. I miss watching Linda Hamilton in this role. There are still so few kick ass heroines out there for a feminist to emulate.
I’ve seen all the Terminator movies and was just getting into the television series. (I’m annoyed that it got canceled just as I was getting drawn in). It concentrated on telling a story – I liked that.
I was looking forward to the new movie. I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters I cared about! I should have waited for the DVD.
The movie started out loud & bold. It takes you straight into the action. The problem, for me, was that was all it did. There was too much action, in my opinion, and no consideration given to plot. Where was the story? Why should I care about these people? I almost started to root for the machines and looked forward to watching & wondering what the machines would do next.
If you own this image, let me know and I will remove it
The problem with Terminator Salvation is that it is missing a plot. Where is the story I’ve come to know and love?
I have so many questions:
If John and his wife were locked up before Judgment Day (the end of movie 3) – how and when did he join the army and get his skills? Who else knows about him being the savior of all? How and when did Kate, his wife, stop being a vet and start treating humans? Why are the others blindly following him to death?
The Inefficient killing machines annoyed me; why not just kill Kyle Reese? Why would machines take prisoners? What could they possibly gain by this when it has been stated, time and again, that their goal is the elimination of all mankind?
Of course killing Kyle would result in a major time paradox – what would happen if the machines killed the teen aged Kyle Reese before he got a chance to go back and meet Sarah? What would happen to the John there in the future? Who invents/controls time travel? Who, actually, is the enemy here? Can’t we all just get along?
Deus ex Machina was the prominent phrase rattling around in my brain as I left the theatre. For those who don’t know, Deus ex Machina, literally means “God by machine.” It is when the author takes the easy way out to solve problems, rather than have the characters work things out themselves. Basically, God steps in and makes everything work!
This is how I felt leaving Terminator Salvation – that everything got worked out and logic, story and plot be damned!
For an expanded point of view, better articulated then mine (LOL), go read this:
Carrie, I would so go see your version 
. Read the rest of this entry »
Star Trek
Here in Canada it was Victoria Day weekend so yesterday was a holiday.
A friend and I went to see the new Star Trek. She for the second time; me for the first.
I’m not a Trekkie. I couldn’t tell you most of the minutia of the Star Trek Canon. My friend probably could – the most minute details stick in her head. I’m much better at banal trivia.
So why was I interested in seeing this movie?
I’m old enough to remember the original series. It was a show my younger brothers watched and we girls ignored. I grew up in a one television household. We mostly watched T. V. in the summer. Mom only had a T.V. for her soaps and family friendly evening shows. When we went to visit my dad and my other siblings there were two televisions. (Dad worked as an electronics repairman). The television in the Living room was controlled by Dad and off when he wasn’t home. The T.V. in the Family room was ours – whoever got to it first controlled it. This would usually be the boys because the Family room was also their bedroom.
Thus, lots of Star Trek and other such shows. So, what I know of Star Trek I picked up in the back regions of my brain as I traveled through the Family room or sat reading in a back corner. And by watching my brothers. It was obvious they enjoyed the show a lot. What wasn’t always obvious was why. The original Star Trek wasn’t actually great literature!
However, It was okay background noise. There was an inter-species cast and comforting commonalities from week to week. There was a woman in the cast and, even though she didn’t get to do much, she was out there exploring space. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going to happen, who was going to die, or who got the girl. Yes, Kirk was and is a man whore!
This new movie incarnation was familiar and fun. Lots of space and excitement and old friends. Uhura’s character was fleshed out. Maybe she’ll get more responsibility in the next movie and become more of a feminist (please). And it would be nice to see more alien races studying at Starfleet.
But, for now, for me, it was a perfect summer movie to see on the big screen. My television at home is barely bigger than my computer screen – there are just some movies that I need to see in the theater.
Movies like Star Trek and last year’s Die Hard and next week’s Terminator! It is summer. The season for loud noises, bar fights, excitement and men chasing each other with loud, noisy vehicles. When do I get my turn to shoot at things and be destructive?
Copyright Paramount Pictures
Seeing Myself; part 2
White Palace is about an older single divorcee and the young man who falls in love/lust with her. Both the characters are wounded and struggling to get by day to day. She is poor, he is not. She is middle aged, he is an up & coming Yuppie (this is the beginning of the nineties after all). I like the movie but the older I get the more I see the unrealistic way they are both portrayed. The movie panders to stereotypes and young men’s fantasies. It doesn’t surprise me that the writers are male.
The book, yes there is a book, is a much more realistic view of a young man’s obsessive nature. It also lets us into the mind of the older woman and how she feels about and copes with being poor & single. It annoys me that both movies, this one and Miss Pettigrew, assumes an older single woman will always be poor and lacking in healthy emotional resources, (and looking for a young person to show her the errors of her ways).
So why do I like this movie? This movie that is showing me (the single woman, the divorcee, the spinster) in such a poor light. I suppose partly because I read the book first and the book portrays the older single woman in a kinder, more realistic light. Also, I’ll watch anything Susan Sarandon is in. She’s defintely my favorite older woman role model.
As well, White Palace, in my opinion, has one of the hottest sex scenes ever. If you’re fast forwarding it’s about half an hour into the movie. Just mind numbing, toe tingling , close my eyes and just listen, sex. And, I must say, James Spader is the last man I would ever want to sleep with in real life.
For me, the pleasure in watching White Palace is in suspending my disbelief and just going along with it. Because, believe me, in real life this relationship was doomed from the beginning.
Seeing myself?
I sat down this week and watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day which, in its basic form, is a movie about an aging spinster (Frances McDormand) and the one day her employment with a pretty, flitty little thing (Amy Adams) changed both their lives for the better.
The spinster is an aging vicar’s daughter who doesn’t drink or have any sort of fun, except for the occasional movie. The setting is London at the end of the Depression and just prior to WWII. Miss Pettigrew has just been let go from her most recent governess position. She is the “governess of last resort” according to her employment agency. The opening credits are played out to the music of Brother, Can You Spare a Dime and leave our poor, sad spinster frequenting a soup kitchen and spending the night sleeping at the train station.
Miss Pettigrew quickly resorts to trickery to get a job with a up & coming actress surrounded by too many men. Who, in the course of the day “does a fixee” on our Miss Pettigrew and shows her how life should be really lived. I liked the movie, which is currently out on DVD, it’s what we’re being taught here that annoys me.
Miss Pettigrew, our spinster, is too mousy to collect the wages owed her for her last job; she is literally hungry all day surviving on cucumber slices and cocktail olives; she takes no time for herself to look at her situation rationally; and she lost her love in the last war and had no chance to find another. A solid man who, she tells the actress “smiled when he saw me and we could have built a life on that.” To sum it up she is poor, drab, dull and, on her own both unnoticable and a source of derision and pity.
The other main women characters are the actress and an aging career woman, both seeking men to complete them and/or to mentor them.
Of course, it all works out in the end exactly how I expected it too. The pretty young actress finds true love; the bitter, conniving career woman ends up aging and alone and our spinster finds a comfortable man, a man of her own generation, who is enchanted by her lack of worldly/ womenly sense.
I want to yell at the screen that this is not my life. I am not waiting for a man to complete me. I am not a women to be pitied and derided. I am not invisible. We are here, living alone and mostly enjoying life. I am a spinster not looking, at this moment, to be anything else.
Come back next week. I plan to discuss White Palace and how it portrays the single woman/spinster.
Things That Make Me Smile
August 30, 2009 at 9:02 pm (Fun, Movie Commentary) (Breakfast With Scot, dreaming, happiness, shopping, smile, story, Sunday funnies)
This picture. This picture makes me smile.
I smiled a lot yesterday. I was shopping vicariously. My Eldest sister (ES) was in and I got to go to the stores I don’t usually get to go to because they’re a trek by bus. Home improvements store, decorating stores, etc. I get to watch her shop when she comes in which I enjoy much more than shopping myself. One, i get to ride around the city and see all the pretty stuff for sale and two, I spend very little of my own money.
If I were buying I’d want knee-high Go-go boots. Thankfully, I can’t buy them because I inherited the family thighs – as did my sister. No go-go boots for us; no boots above the lower calf if you must know!
It is a symbiotic relationship that I have with my ES.
ES gets to drive vicariously when we travel outside the city. She drives in the city where I’m not comfortable driving and I drive every else, even the major highways, so she can get a chance to read, relax and sleep. Something she doesn’t get to do, in the car, very often.
I thought about my sisters a lot this weekend. Every one of them makes me smile.
I thought of my Middle Half-Sister (MHS) when I was reading the Sunday funnies. We both enjoy Rose is Rose. This is only one of the connections that I share with my MHS. It is one that gives me a smile every day when I read the comics and think of my family.
Another thing I learnt, a few summers ago, when we were all sitting around at my Youngest Half-sister’s (YHS) wedding
reception talking, is that we all have very vivid, lucid dreams. Lucid dreaming is the ability to control, participate and change the reality of your dreams. My weird, funny dreams made me smile last night and into this morning, as half-way between sleep and waking, I reworked last night dreams into something more positive.
Dreams are my brain telling me a story, restructuring my life and concerns, and showing me what to pay attention to.
Last night, I dreamt of the movie Breakfast with Scot, a movie that I watched twice last night because not only did it make me smile it made me laugh and cry as well. All in all, my litmus test for a good movie. I also dreamt that a coworker who had just left my workplace returned to her job because she was promised a 10% raise. This did not make me smile, so, in my dreams, I sent her off to a better job and immersed myself in Scot’s happy family circle. I wonder what this all means? No, I don’t. I know what it means and it makes me smile.
So, here is a handful of life’s pleasures that made me smile this weekend. And will continue to make me smile, as I pass a smiling wheelchair on my way into work tomorrow, and as I re-watch a DVD that I enjoyed immensely, and every time I talk to my family.
What makes you smile?
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