Weblog 308

January 8, 2012~ 12:00 am
One week into the new year.... one day stuck in a 40 minute morning traffic jam due to a disabled vehicle making its way out Route 28, a non-functioning, 72 year old furnace on the coldest day of the year so far (I got it fixed... don't ask me how) ... and TREMENDOUS sadness as a co-worker's sister lost a 7 1/2 month old twin son who never made it home from the hospital since birth.

That's just in the first week. (I have a feeling this is going to be a complicated year.)

Wayne and I have made progress in cementing our plans for the future, meaning yes, we'll be getting married sometime this year.



Finally tying the knot after 29 years of loving one another... Wayne to move into this old house once we get things sorted out. (It's difficult to blend two households, in particular since I'm such a slob and a hoarder..... lol.... this space of mine is CHOCK FULL of STUFF) but it will happen. No fancy 'bridal thing', just a private 'justice of the peace' sort of affair, very low key and quick. The two of us just wanting closeness and support after sooooooooo many years of fairly rigid autonomy leaving apart. (As mid-life creeps up and finally overtakes a person... pushing them on to what is jokingly referred to as 'the golden years', it's then, right then, that people are most in need of a 'partner' for emotional as well as practical reasons.) He's my absolute best friend, and I'm his. For each of us, there's no one else in the world we could envision wanting to live with. We're two odd ducks.... and within months, to share one pond. There you have it. Settled.

Saturday evening we watched a film that, for the life of me, cannot be catagorized. What I thought would be a 'comedy/farce' type fare, turned much darker, and even engaged me emotionally.



We watched 'Super'... the tale of a geeky-type loser, starring Rainn Wilson of 'The Office', who sews up a costume and by sheer determination, turns himself into a crime-fighting SUPER HERO. He becomes......



the CRIMSON BOLT-- armed with a wicked-looking pipe wrench. (He later moves on to various handmade bombs and such) but he starts out as a short-order fry cook who's just lost his wife- a trying-to-stay-clean, recovering Liv Tyler, to a sickening, drug-dealing Kevin Bacon, playing his usual 'Bacon-style' grinning creep. The movie takes a surprising turn when Wilson partners with a 22 year old psychopathic comic book store salesgirl, played BEAUTIFULLY by Ellen Page of 'Juno' fame. (I don't care HOW malicious and crazy she is



'Boltie', as she christens herself, is IRRESISTABLE. LOL!!!) Surprisingly, the film is as filled with grisly violence as, say, 'Straw Dogs' -or even 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer' (... and that actor is ALSO in this film, by the way) -and the over-the-top graphic violence shocked the hell out of me, but the film, by virtue of these fascinating actors, completely overrides the stomach-turning aspects to leave the viewer glued to the screen, watching.... watching what improbability will happen next.

What an ODD film, indeed! It left my head spinning, and yet the ending is so philosophically and emotionally satisfying, I felt sated. Felt I'd learned some secret truth... maybe it's just that, well... bad-guy scum of the earth perhaps DO deserve their just desserts, and maybe being a hero goes beyond physical daring and toughness. Perhaps... just perhaps it's the triumph of selflessness and emotional bravery that makes a hero out of someone... and probably it's the hardest kind of 'daring do'. Anyway, it's a film not for everyone, but it's a strange gem of a thing. Entirely offbeat.

(Oh.... and as much as I despise new technology, bluetooth gadgets, Kindles and almost any 'app' that is talked up out there) I have to say my boss has a phone application he downloaded that had all of us in STITCHES at the office on Friday. Using his iphone, he can take and distort pictures at will, resulting in some of the most BIZARRE-looking photos ever! Here's three of me. LOL!!!



Here I am, cross eyed and bloat-faced. (Hey, at least the NOSE is small. That's sumpthin', right?) And here



I'm sporting a JAY LENO lantern jaw. As well as PLENTY of old-lady creases around my mouth and jowls. LOL!!! Finally...... my FAVORITE....



Karen as LAUGHING FAT FACE! (But goodness.......... LOOK AT THOSE WHITE TEETH!!! I LOVE MY TEETH. LOVE THEM LIKE CRAZY!) Oh, Lord.... it's GOOD to have absolutely no vanity at all. It frees the soul, it does. And right now??? I'm free as a bird! Plus...... I look just like URSULA - evil and heavily made-up villainess from 'The Little Mermaid'. {{{{Grin}}}}




January 9, 2012~ 6:30 pm
I happened upon a WONDROUS artist! She's simply amazing... all her paintings have the look of a Flemish master, the golden light... the luminescence. What is most extraordinary about her work is the fact that she uses one model and one only: her 12 year old son.....



who appears as a young girl in each of her paintings, dripping in velvets, lace and whimsy. As she states, her son has been cross-dressing since the age of 7.... so she's captured him in surrealistic splendor in one gorgeous painting after another, and they are STUNNING! (Beside the fact that these are luxurious paintings, I wondered why they struck me so viscerally. It's because her paintings also so closely resemble my granddaughter Kay. It's incredible!)

She has a current show at the Glass Garage Gallery and they've fashioned a rich display of the mouth-dropping art of

Margo Selski

Go browse, and prepare to be amazed. Her painting are orchids, velvet and chocolate... and the soft down of feathered doves fanning their wings.





***

(Return To Weekly Archives)