Weblog 279
June 19, 2011~ 12:00 am
My sister and her husband have taken a ten day trip to Alaska. What an adventure!! She called me to say it's the most beautiful place she's ever been. (Man...... that kind of odyssey sounds like heaven to me.) Kath and Bob went to see the national parks in Utah last year, this year Alaska....and before that, up and down the pacific northwest coast seeing mountains and bears and redwoods. What great times they've had!
I've been keeping my little cell phone nearby in case Mum needs something, or the Assisted Living facility should need to get in touch with me. Tomorrow I get to do the chore that always falls to my sister... 'mum's laundry'. I'll be visiting earlier than usual so I can complete a couple loads, and we'll probably watch the Golf Channel (don't ask me why, but she LOVES that thing.) "Theeere's Bubba!" (Bubba Watson) she'll say, as though he's a nephew or something. And no one comes CLOSE to her affection for Phil Mickleson. (She likes his smile.) So it'll be laundry, golf..... and dinner with the ladies at table six.
On Friday we visited the grandkids and took some fish sandwiches with us. We dined as Bill quizzed me about predator animals. (I failed pretty dismally trying to ascertain 'who'd get the best of whom' in a stand-off between a mongoose and a wolverine.... that sort of thing. I guessed wrong about 70 percent of the time) while Kay did cartwheels and whispered about what they'd gotten their father for Father's day, both of them talking a mile a minute. (Kay lost her first bottom front tooth last week and the second one is 'wiggly': that's the Kay tooth update.)
Saturday evening, Wayne and I thoroughly enjoyed a viewing of the remake of 'True Grit'. It's a lovely film with a fine cast. It's more somber, more realistic than the original movie with John Wayne and Kim Darby, and I love both versions, but I do lean toward the original being my favorite.
As I watched it, I kept seeing parallels with the 'Wizard of Oz'. Afterall, it's a story about a young girl just on the cusp of womanhood, with big doe-like eyes... (Judy Garland eyes)
on a mission away from home, with grown men as her protectors
facing an evil force. Dorothy has her witch....
and in "True Grit", Matty has her Tom Chaney
(menacing as any old green-skinned witch could be) and in both stories, at one point they are both held captive by their respective nememis.
In the movie "True Grit" we have another young girl every bit as doe-eyed and vulnerable-looking (and played MAGNIFICENTLY by Hailee Steinfeld)
who steals your heart. She's brave and forthright; exhibits wisdom, compassion and strength far beyond her years.
Young Matty has her male protecters as well, and off they go
not to see a wizard, but to face down evil and lay claim to justice. Whereas Dorothy is just trying to get back home, Matty needs to set things right before she allows herself to return home again, but they're both 'quest' movies.
In place of Dorothy's Toto, Matty has 'Little Blackie' the pony, who accompanies her. (And let me tell you, the scene where Rooster Cogburn is riding hellbent for leather on Blackie, carrying the snake-bitten Matty to get medical care and rides till the poor animal just collapses, made me cry.) I remember tearing up at the end of the original version of 'True Grit' in that wonderful scene where John Wayne's stops in mid-air, the camera frozen as his horse leaps..... but in this one it was the pony-death scene that did it.
The biggest flaw for me (and I know my Wayne would disagree, because he loved it) is the narration at the end by the grown-up Matty. Ending the story with the voice-over of the main character as a middle-aged spinster-- even though it started with her narration-- by the end of the film I'd forgotten it entirely. I'd become totally engrossed in the unfolding of the story itself, so the cranky, spinsterish voice at the end was off-putting to me. Jolting. Kind of like the ending was 'tacked on' almost as an afterthought. Perhaps if there'd been other points in the film where we heard her reflections, it would have seemed smoother to end it that way.
In the original, from the line, "FILL YOUR HANDS YOU SON OF A BITCH!" - with Rooster firing two pistols with his horse reins in his teeth, right up to the very touching and then SUPERB shot of Wayne frozen in mid-air, are absolute perfection. I had no like feelings at the end of this one and that's too bad.
The denouement showing the middle-aged Matty was a complete anti-climax for me, and by damn, I do like ending things on a crescendo moment... always have loved movies like that.
But overall, it's still a great (if different) film. Jeff Bridges is funny and captivating in his version of the Wayne role and Matt Damon does a bang-up job in the Glen Campbell role of La Boeuf, the Texas ranger. (Though I did miss the line where Matty tells him he 'cultivates his hair like lettuce'...lol)
Hearing the repeated strains of 'Leaning On The Everlasting Arms' suited the film, but I can't help but forever associate that song with Robert Mitchum's impeccably creepy preacher in "Night Of The Hunter", so bits of that softly heard hymn kept nudging me away from the storyline and pushing me into remembered scenes from another much-loved classic. (Oh Lord! I hope they don't REMAKE that one! That'd be plain sacrilege.) Coen Brothers...... leave that one alone. Please. There are certain movies that are inviolate. 'Night Of The Hunter' is one of them.... like 'Casablanca'.... or 'The Bell's Of St. Mary's'. Do NOT redo. Ever.
June 20, 2011~ 7:00 pm
Today was just another crappy Monday. (Aren't they all?) So when I got home and got settled and comfortable, I was so pleased to find SOMETHING ON THE WEB that made me laugh out loud.... right out loud (and that's balm to the soul, believe me.)
Click on the picture
to read the FUNNIEST Author On Author Harsh Criticisms you're ever likely to come across. Good LORD, they made me laugh! (Centuries come and go, but writers' opinions of one another never change. Fanged to the end. LOL)
June 22, 2011~ 5:00 pm
It's been SO HOT these last 2 days, yesterday after visiting mum and picking up two more James Lee Burke books at the library, I came home and went straight up to bed. The only air-conditioned room in the house is my bedroom.
I settled in with a couple peanut-butter sandwiches and tried to rush through the last couple chapters of a paperback I was reading so I could get to the first Burke, but I got too comfortable and sleepy. lol (There's always tonight. I believe I'll be starting 'Rain Gods' this evening.)
But TODAY at WORK..... WHAT A SIGHT!
A RED-TAILED HAWK! Sitting no more than 15 ft. away from me diagonally from the ground where I stood, perched on a thick electrical wire. First I'd heard crows going NUTS all around: they were cawing and shrieking, circling overhead above the corner of the building. I couldn't see what the to-do was about till I walked over and man! that thing's head revolved around toward me and gave me the stinkeye but good! I stood there open-mouthed, motioning some other folks who were gathered outside to come see what I was looking at. (The boss' son had an iphone with camera capabilities, so he snapped the creature's picture and sent me a copy in an email after I got back to my desk. Thanks, Nate!)
Mostly I was concerned because a small squirrel was nonchalantly sitting upright, nibbling an acorn under the tree whose leaves you see here in the picture, so I stomped, I shooed.... I did everything I could to get that goofball to 'git!', but he just continued eating. (But the hawk didn't like the warnings one bit!) He kept swiveling that head around, eyeballing me in a chilling way, and if you've ever looked RIGHT INTO a hawk's eye, it'll out and out freeze your blood. It's 'other'.... that's the only way to describe it. (This picture is from the net, but it's a dead ringer for the fella I saw today.)
His eyes were a jewel-YELLOW in the sun. It's certainly not anything like looking into say.... a rabbit's eyes or a horse's or a dog's. Most of those creatures have a warmth deep down in there that a person can latch onto and connect with.... not a hawk. They are RAPTORS... they're what's left of dinosaurs and to look at them is to look at absolute death. INTELLIGENT death. Patient. Truly frightening.
Anyway... our little squirrel did finally get off into the bushes and I was much relieved. It wasn't long after that Mr. Hawk took off too. (No doubt good and pissed that we'd ruined his lunch.)
They are MAGNIFICENT creatures..... amazing to see. But I can't say I like them much. Nope. Not those soul-chillers. Not one bit.
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
My sister and her husband have taken a ten day trip to Alaska. What an adventure!! She called me to say it's the most beautiful place she's ever been. (Man...... that kind of odyssey sounds like heaven to me.) Kath and Bob went to see the national parks in Utah last year, this year Alaska....and before that, up and down the pacific northwest coast seeing mountains and bears and redwoods. What great times they've had!
I've been keeping my little cell phone nearby in case Mum needs something, or the Assisted Living facility should need to get in touch with me. Tomorrow I get to do the chore that always falls to my sister... 'mum's laundry'. I'll be visiting earlier than usual so I can complete a couple loads, and we'll probably watch the Golf Channel (don't ask me why, but she LOVES that thing.) "Theeere's Bubba!" (Bubba Watson) she'll say, as though he's a nephew or something. And no one comes CLOSE to her affection for Phil Mickleson. (She likes his smile.) So it'll be laundry, golf..... and dinner with the ladies at table six.
On Friday we visited the grandkids and took some fish sandwiches with us. We dined as Bill quizzed me about predator animals. (I failed pretty dismally trying to ascertain 'who'd get the best of whom' in a stand-off between a mongoose and a wolverine.... that sort of thing. I guessed wrong about 70 percent of the time) while Kay did cartwheels and whispered about what they'd gotten their father for Father's day, both of them talking a mile a minute. (Kay lost her first bottom front tooth last week and the second one is 'wiggly': that's the Kay tooth update.)
Saturday evening, Wayne and I thoroughly enjoyed a viewing of the remake of 'True Grit'. It's a lovely film with a fine cast. It's more somber, more realistic than the original movie with John Wayne and Kim Darby, and I love both versions, but I do lean toward the original being my favorite.
As I watched it, I kept seeing parallels with the 'Wizard of Oz'. Afterall, it's a story about a young girl just on the cusp of womanhood, with big doe-like eyes... (Judy Garland eyes)
on a mission away from home, with grown men as her protectors
facing an evil force. Dorothy has her witch....
and in "True Grit", Matty has her Tom Chaney
(menacing as any old green-skinned witch could be) and in both stories, at one point they are both held captive by their respective nememis.
In the movie "True Grit" we have another young girl every bit as doe-eyed and vulnerable-looking (and played MAGNIFICENTLY by Hailee Steinfeld)
who steals your heart. She's brave and forthright; exhibits wisdom, compassion and strength far beyond her years.
Young Matty has her male protecters as well, and off they go
not to see a wizard, but to face down evil and lay claim to justice. Whereas Dorothy is just trying to get back home, Matty needs to set things right before she allows herself to return home again, but they're both 'quest' movies.
In place of Dorothy's Toto, Matty has 'Little Blackie' the pony, who accompanies her. (And let me tell you, the scene where Rooster Cogburn is riding hellbent for leather on Blackie, carrying the snake-bitten Matty to get medical care and rides till the poor animal just collapses, made me cry.) I remember tearing up at the end of the original version of 'True Grit' in that wonderful scene where John Wayne's stops in mid-air, the camera frozen as his horse leaps..... but in this one it was the pony-death scene that did it.
The biggest flaw for me (and I know my Wayne would disagree, because he loved it) is the narration at the end by the grown-up Matty. Ending the story with the voice-over of the main character as a middle-aged spinster-- even though it started with her narration-- by the end of the film I'd forgotten it entirely. I'd become totally engrossed in the unfolding of the story itself, so the cranky, spinsterish voice at the end was off-putting to me. Jolting. Kind of like the ending was 'tacked on' almost as an afterthought. Perhaps if there'd been other points in the film where we heard her reflections, it would have seemed smoother to end it that way.
In the original, from the line, "FILL YOUR HANDS YOU SON OF A BITCH!" - with Rooster firing two pistols with his horse reins in his teeth, right up to the very touching and then SUPERB shot of Wayne frozen in mid-air, are absolute perfection. I had no like feelings at the end of this one and that's too bad.
The denouement showing the middle-aged Matty was a complete anti-climax for me, and by damn, I do like ending things on a crescendo moment... always have loved movies like that.
But overall, it's still a great (if different) film. Jeff Bridges is funny and captivating in his version of the Wayne role and Matt Damon does a bang-up job in the Glen Campbell role of La Boeuf, the Texas ranger. (Though I did miss the line where Matty tells him he 'cultivates his hair like lettuce'...lol)
Hearing the repeated strains of 'Leaning On The Everlasting Arms' suited the film, but I can't help but forever associate that song with Robert Mitchum's impeccably creepy preacher in "Night Of The Hunter", so bits of that softly heard hymn kept nudging me away from the storyline and pushing me into remembered scenes from another much-loved classic. (Oh Lord! I hope they don't REMAKE that one! That'd be plain sacrilege.) Coen Brothers...... leave that one alone. Please. There are certain movies that are inviolate. 'Night Of The Hunter' is one of them.... like 'Casablanca'.... or 'The Bell's Of St. Mary's'. Do NOT redo. Ever.
June 20, 2011~ 7:00 pm
Today was just another crappy Monday. (Aren't they all?) So when I got home and got settled and comfortable, I was so pleased to find SOMETHING ON THE WEB that made me laugh out loud.... right out loud (and that's balm to the soul, believe me.)
Click on the picture
to read the FUNNIEST Author On Author Harsh Criticisms you're ever likely to come across. Good LORD, they made me laugh! (Centuries come and go, but writers' opinions of one another never change. Fanged to the end. LOL)
June 22, 2011~ 5:00 pm
It's been SO HOT these last 2 days, yesterday after visiting mum and picking up two more James Lee Burke books at the library, I came home and went straight up to bed. The only air-conditioned room in the house is my bedroom.
I settled in with a couple peanut-butter sandwiches and tried to rush through the last couple chapters of a paperback I was reading so I could get to the first Burke, but I got too comfortable and sleepy. lol (There's always tonight. I believe I'll be starting 'Rain Gods' this evening.)
But TODAY at WORK..... WHAT A SIGHT!
A RED-TAILED HAWK! Sitting no more than 15 ft. away from me diagonally from the ground where I stood, perched on a thick electrical wire. First I'd heard crows going NUTS all around: they were cawing and shrieking, circling overhead above the corner of the building. I couldn't see what the to-do was about till I walked over and man! that thing's head revolved around toward me and gave me the stinkeye but good! I stood there open-mouthed, motioning some other folks who were gathered outside to come see what I was looking at. (The boss' son had an iphone with camera capabilities, so he snapped the creature's picture and sent me a copy in an email after I got back to my desk. Thanks, Nate!)
Mostly I was concerned because a small squirrel was nonchalantly sitting upright, nibbling an acorn under the tree whose leaves you see here in the picture, so I stomped, I shooed.... I did everything I could to get that goofball to 'git!', but he just continued eating. (But the hawk didn't like the warnings one bit!) He kept swiveling that head around, eyeballing me in a chilling way, and if you've ever looked RIGHT INTO a hawk's eye, it'll out and out freeze your blood. It's 'other'.... that's the only way to describe it. (This picture is from the net, but it's a dead ringer for the fella I saw today.)
His eyes were a jewel-YELLOW in the sun. It's certainly not anything like looking into say.... a rabbit's eyes or a horse's or a dog's. Most of those creatures have a warmth deep down in there that a person can latch onto and connect with.... not a hawk. They are RAPTORS... they're what's left of dinosaurs and to look at them is to look at absolute death. INTELLIGENT death. Patient. Truly frightening.
Anyway... our little squirrel did finally get off into the bushes and I was much relieved. It wasn't long after that Mr. Hawk took off too. (No doubt good and pissed that we'd ruined his lunch.)
They are MAGNIFICENT creatures..... amazing to see. But I can't say I like them much. Nope. Not those soul-chillers. Not one bit.
(Return To Weekly Archives)
...
. or pay a visit to my Audio site to hear things
I've written- 
Some are just 'jotters', thoughts as they fly- going
nowhere but where they are. If you stop and read a few~ or post a
few~ thanks for
the perusal. Last of all, if you've a hankering for rants and raging,
try making a stop at my other blog- 
