| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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There's a movie, with David Bowie, a girl, and puppets. Why do I think renting this movie would be worthwhile? Am I crazy? |
You were just reading my mind, that's all. Sorry. And, just for the record, if you SWA guys got this far I'm impressed. |
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You may see more of David Bowie than you had interest in seeing (or maybe not enough, depending). "Pan's Labyrinth" is also very good, but very different in tone. "The Fall" is a movie I recently discovered courtesy of the internet. (I saw this image and got curious.) It's with Lee Pace (on whom I nurse a crush) and a little Romanian girl (whom I would like to kidnap and pass off as my own child). It's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. Every shot -- seriously, every shot -- could be a painting. Go here, click on "Gallery" at the bottom, and check this out for yourself. Or if you're lazy, go here. I'm a little obsessed with it right now. I got it from Netflix a few weeks ago and haven't been able to mail it back yet. |
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this makes me think of a movie i haven't seen since the 70s: "the man who fell to earth" with david bowie. i think i was 11 when i saw it. a few years later, i found the original book at a garage sale. if ever get a dvd player, i'll have to rent that movie. |
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Thank you for your advice. I think I'm going to have to go after The Fall too. |
The Fall: beautiful, but a simple plot, and long. Labyrinth: you told me it was Muppetty, but I hadn't expected it to be THAT Muppetty. The environments and special effects were cool, in a kind of Star Wars way (well it was a Lucas film). The girl was likeable but not enough to get me really into it. David was... David. There were some cute scenes that imprinted themselves... I'm glad I saw it, but it wasn't a life-changing event. Neither of them were THE movie... the "wow" movie that I've been craving. |
before the movie started, we checked out the art exhibits. this time around they were featuring an indian (bharati) artist whose name i can't remember. but i liked some of her stuff. after the movie, my mother and i went to a mexican restaurant called mi cocina where we had appetizers and i talked her into drinking a second martini. |
while i was at dinner with my mother, she mentioned that she had talked to my aunt joan back in rhode island. one of "the irish". joan said that another aunt, madeleine, had just turned 91 and was still going strong. joan said that madeleine's secret to longevity was: 2 martinis at dinner, and then she would go to bed with a glass of brandy next to her bed. |
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Antigone! how are you? I haven't heard from you lately! So, how are you doing? Today, I had another long walk, something that I haven't done during my teenager year, I mean, I braved the cold weather at 26 degree outdoor today. |
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on more than one occasion during my holiday break, i took my daughter to the fountain in the Plaza in downtown Austin. i don't know how long it has been there, but since discovering the fountain i visit there often. something about it appeals to me and i sit there for hours (or at least as long as my daughter will let me) and watch it. the fountain has no barrier. at its outer edges there are square block benches that look to be made out of finely polished granite. the fountain spigots are flat to the surface, and spiral out from the center into five or six arms. it seems that the spigots are somehow hooked up to a randomizer, so that there is no pattern at all to which spigots are spouting water at any given time, and how much. sometimes all of them spout high into the air at once, other times just a few gurgle up just inches from the ground, while others emit mist, while others spout high, while others do nothing at all. this randomness makes it great fun for the kids running through the fountain. my daughter started walking about two months ago but she's steady enough on her feet to join in the fun. each time we go she starts out so tentative and careful, but within a few minutes she braves into the center of the fountain. sometimes the force of the water is enough to knock her over, but she takes it in stride with a grin. sometimes she sits in between the spigots, overwhelmed by the flurry of water and other kids zooming around and the squealing. sometimes she comes running out of the fountain, her arms stretched out toward me, needing a brief respite. but mostly it makes her laugh such a gleeful and surprised laugh, the sweetest sound ever. maybe that's the real allure of the fountain, i'm not sure. i brought senor down there with us one time so he could see. it inspired him to buy her a backyard sprinkler water toy with the arms that wiggle out of the center and spray water in all directions. that's how we'll spend the summer again, playing in water. |
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i love the winter months in central Texas. the weather is so mild, the light of the midday sun so pale. even at noon, it feels like 4 p.m. the winter days make me miss hawaii much more than the summer days. |
but i honestly don't miss new england. when i had my dad and his second wife down at our farmhouse, i think the ruggedness of the terrain scared them a little. i liked that. |
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summers wouldn't be quite so intolerable if they weren't so extremely hot for so long. when i first moved here i was shocked to see long distance cyclists moving in packs around, well, everywhere, but particularly in the western hilly areas of travis county. in august, around noon. i could barely breathe in the midday heat while i was running errands around town in my car. i thought it was so unsafe, how they must drop like flies from dehydration. i imaged emergency rooms filled with road bikes and black spandex tossed aside, the gourneys filling the halls with men and women hooked up to IV fluids. you get used to it though, somehow. last summer was particularly difficult, not only because it was one of the hottest summers since i've moved to austin, but also because of our additional family member, who seemed completely unfazed by the heat for the most part, but who also clearly was better tempered as long as we were hanging out in our back yard or at the neighborhood pool. i took up crossfit in may - working out at the "indoor" facility (really a converted mechanic's garage with huge doors that remained open all day long) with no cooling system was no different than cycling around town wearing black spandex, i suppose. the temps were just starting to become bearable for working out in mid-october when i had to quit. but i look forward to starting up again, maybe next october or november. |
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that reminds me again of my early days here in austin. i got so sick of having the a/c on all the time. it felt at times so airless and suffocating, more stifling somehow than the heat. it was because i was so used to having windows open all the time and mild, tropical breezes constantly flowing through my house. periodically i used to turn off the ac/ in my first apartment here, and open the back sliding door, the front door, and all the windows. and i'd sit there and sweat my ass off. my poor sister came to visit me during that time, but she never said a thing. i can only imagine how uncomfortable it was. i primarily had to stop those intensity-based because of chronic pain in my lower back and hips. which i am ashamed to admit to, actually. usually joint pain is what makes me exercise more, not less. i had x-rays which revealed arthritis, but i never went to the recommended physical therapy, and i certainly didn't start taking the recommended drugs. remember in the 80's and 90's when high impact aerobics classes were so popular, but everyone warned that all that high impact exercise would some day ruin your joints, but you were young and strong and nothing could touch you so you scoffed and did it anyway? yeah, you should have listened to them, and so should i have. |
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2005/06/homebrew_air_co.html |
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