Weblog 90
October 28, 2007~ 12:15am
Tonight after a day of babysitting and having been greeted by a 4 year old dressed in bright red as a Power Ranger and a 2 1/2 year old dressed in a pink tutu who would only answer to 'Barbie'- after 6 hours of children's fantasy and playacting, you would think this would have stood me in comfortable shoes to watch a movie dedicated to that very thing- children's fantasy, but it did not. Oh no. The movie rental for this evening was the very macabre and twisted
- one of the strangest films I've ever watched, pieced together by director Terry Gilliam. (Of note here- the film has a prelude. The director stands there and tells the audience how much many of us will dislike his film. He thanks those who will not be of that opinion, but says that at the age of 64 he has discovered the child in himself, and it is a little girl. And then he thanks us. Repeatedly. Emotionally. Weirdest shit I've ever seen.) Now that should have told me this film was not the run of the mill Saturday night escapism.
This film in fact was a patchwork of some of the ugliest images ever sewn together, then offered up as a whole quilt- but it is not. It's jarringly uneven, its darkness dissonantly joined by the annoying prattling on of the young actress cast in the starring role-- and she prattles endlessly.
Aside from the one film by this director that was indeed surreal and quirky and wonderful- "Brazil"- I care not at all for the man's work, which tends to be disturbingly over-the-top with bizarre characters, and in ugly ways. Despite Jeff Bridges (who was wonderful the short time he was with us in the story) and Jennifer Tilly- of the breathy, helium voice, who likewise faded far too fast in the storyline, despite these two heavy-hitters the film is simply too offbeat and upsetting to be saved even by folks of their solid caliber. The young girl was fine until she became Lolita. And the 'crazy brother and sister' pair she meets up with farther in the film are interesting, but alas, too caricatured have any emotional reality for the viewer.
Let us say this is Ed Gein meets Lolita meets Andrew Wyeth- and none of them should ever be in the same room together- that's about it. I like offbeat but I don't like plain old jarring; this film was jarring- (except in the interminable scenes- far, far too many of them, where the young girl speaks in grating Texan or lousy British accents to her doll heads.)
What may be endlessly fascinating in watching your own grandchildren at play, becomes tiresome after 5 minutes on the screen. Mr. Gilliam- you, sir- are an ass.
October 30, 2007~ 6:29am
Today is 'Devil's Night'...the night before Halloween. The night when many poor unsuspecting folk have their trees festooned in toilet paper. LOL!! (That never happened to me, but I was the victim of a drive-by egging one year when I had teenaged girls living next door, and those teenaged girls had rowdier teenaged boyfriends--- with bad aim.)
The only 'tree thing' that's occupied me recently has been an hour and a half of raking 3 years worth of Northern White Pine needles out of my yard yestderday. (The other years, the weather was poor- or I've been extremely lazy --**likely!**- or the snow came too quickly for me to gather up this biannual event of a 40 ft. pine tree 'moulting' on one's property, and the properties of neighbors on either side who hate that damn tree.)
It's gotten so big now, its giant branches are laying over the porch roof, nearly touching the kitchen window, and when the wind blows I hear, "scritch, scrape, scritch"-- how's that for Halloweeny!
It's the soft pine needles. When I was little, I used to call these trees, 'the friendly pines'- and my mother and I would pass them when we'd take the trolley to see my sister and her 3 little ones-- then the long mile walk to her house in summer was broken by the shade of these things, always soft and cool when they'd touch my summer-exposed skin. I'd always take a branch tip in my hand and marvel at the feel of them.
Well, yesterday I had plenty to time to touchy-feel with my tree- and have the broken blisters to prove it! Luckily, my knees didn't suffer, I sort of hunched over and scooped up big handfuls to stuff into the gardening trash bags. Filled five of em- the BIG ONES- stuffed to the top. It was a glorious looking- and feeling- day-- with temperatures hovering around 60 in bright, low autumn sunshine. (Today I do feel like I might be getting a cold. No coat, you see-- I overheat. Always did with physical labor, so the temperature suited me just fine.) It may have been the sweating I was doing while I raked. That-- and cool October winds do not bode well...(sniffle, sniffle)
At least the job is done and the yard looks 'passable'-- and I'll no longer trip, and slip and slide on that 'inches deep' carpet of cast off needles.
If you're hankerin' to touch one of my friendly pines, here- have a feel-
- you won't get the fragrance though. Too bad. It's one of the cleanest smells in the world, and a big part of what made the job spill over from tolerable into enjoyable- and oh, my, those pine cones. My yard fills UP WITH them. I ought to get involved in some crafts, I truly should. It's a shame to waste nature's natural ornaments like that with their woodsy sweetness and textured so artfully. I love 'em....
If you're in the mood to play some HALLOWEEN HANGMAN, jump right over to here. (Damn thing takes so long to load from this dial-up, it timed out- but it was a ball to play at work! Such WONDERFUL GRAPHICS and sound effects! (Yea! I got it to load!)
(Hint: all the words are Halloween related) Booooooooooooooooooooo.....LOL! Poor skeleton. I hung the sucker.
***
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Tonight after a day of babysitting and having been greeted by a 4 year old dressed in bright red as a Power Ranger and a 2 1/2 year old dressed in a pink tutu who would only answer to 'Barbie'- after 6 hours of children's fantasy and playacting, you would think this would have stood me in comfortable shoes to watch a movie dedicated to that very thing- children's fantasy, but it did not. Oh no. The movie rental for this evening was the very macabre and twisted
- one of the strangest films I've ever watched, pieced together by director Terry Gilliam. (Of note here- the film has a prelude. The director stands there and tells the audience how much many of us will dislike his film. He thanks those who will not be of that opinion, but says that at the age of 64 he has discovered the child in himself, and it is a little girl. And then he thanks us. Repeatedly. Emotionally. Weirdest shit I've ever seen.) Now that should have told me this film was not the run of the mill Saturday night escapism.
This film in fact was a patchwork of some of the ugliest images ever sewn together, then offered up as a whole quilt- but it is not. It's jarringly uneven, its darkness dissonantly joined by the annoying prattling on of the young actress cast in the starring role-- and she prattles endlessly.
Aside from the one film by this director that was indeed surreal and quirky and wonderful- "Brazil"- I care not at all for the man's work, which tends to be disturbingly over-the-top with bizarre characters, and in ugly ways. Despite Jeff Bridges (who was wonderful the short time he was with us in the story) and Jennifer Tilly- of the breathy, helium voice, who likewise faded far too fast in the storyline, despite these two heavy-hitters the film is simply too offbeat and upsetting to be saved even by folks of their solid caliber. The young girl was fine until she became Lolita. And the 'crazy brother and sister' pair she meets up with farther in the film are interesting, but alas, too caricatured have any emotional reality for the viewer.
Let us say this is Ed Gein meets Lolita meets Andrew Wyeth- and none of them should ever be in the same room together- that's about it. I like offbeat but I don't like plain old jarring; this film was jarring- (except in the interminable scenes- far, far too many of them, where the young girl speaks in grating Texan or lousy British accents to her doll heads.)
What may be endlessly fascinating in watching your own grandchildren at play, becomes tiresome after 5 minutes on the screen. Mr. Gilliam- you, sir- are an ass.
October 30, 2007~ 6:29am
Today is 'Devil's Night'...the night before Halloween. The night when many poor unsuspecting folk have their trees festooned in toilet paper. LOL!! (That never happened to me, but I was the victim of a drive-by egging one year when I had teenaged girls living next door, and those teenaged girls had rowdier teenaged boyfriends--- with bad aim.)
The only 'tree thing' that's occupied me recently has been an hour and a half of raking 3 years worth of Northern White Pine needles out of my yard yestderday. (The other years, the weather was poor- or I've been extremely lazy --**likely!**- or the snow came too quickly for me to gather up this biannual event of a 40 ft. pine tree 'moulting' on one's property, and the properties of neighbors on either side who hate that damn tree.)
It's gotten so big now, its giant branches are laying over the porch roof, nearly touching the kitchen window, and when the wind blows I hear, "scritch, scrape, scritch"-- how's that for Halloweeny!
It's the soft pine needles. When I was little, I used to call these trees, 'the friendly pines'- and my mother and I would pass them when we'd take the trolley to see my sister and her 3 little ones-- then the long mile walk to her house in summer was broken by the shade of these things, always soft and cool when they'd touch my summer-exposed skin. I'd always take a branch tip in my hand and marvel at the feel of them.
Well, yesterday I had plenty to time to touchy-feel with my tree- and have the broken blisters to prove it! Luckily, my knees didn't suffer, I sort of hunched over and scooped up big handfuls to stuff into the gardening trash bags. Filled five of em- the BIG ONES- stuffed to the top. It was a glorious looking- and feeling- day-- with temperatures hovering around 60 in bright, low autumn sunshine. (Today I do feel like I might be getting a cold. No coat, you see-- I overheat. Always did with physical labor, so the temperature suited me just fine.) It may have been the sweating I was doing while I raked. That-- and cool October winds do not bode well...(sniffle, sniffle)
At least the job is done and the yard looks 'passable'-- and I'll no longer trip, and slip and slide on that 'inches deep' carpet of cast off needles.
If you're hankerin' to touch one of my friendly pines, here- have a feel-
- you won't get the fragrance though. Too bad. It's one of the cleanest smells in the world, and a big part of what made the job spill over from tolerable into enjoyable- and oh, my, those pine cones. My yard fills UP WITH them. I ought to get involved in some crafts, I truly should. It's a shame to waste nature's natural ornaments like that with their woodsy sweetness and textured so artfully. I love 'em....
If you're in the mood to play some HALLOWEEN HANGMAN, jump right over to here. (Damn thing takes so long to load from this dial-up, it timed out- but it was a ball to play at work! Such WONDERFUL GRAPHICS and sound effects! (Yea! I got it to load!)
(Hint: all the words are Halloween related) Booooooooooooooooooooo.....LOL! Poor skeleton. I hung the sucker.
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