Stealing Time

June has been my month for stealing time, for myself that is. I have purposely said 'no' to most things not already on my calendar unless it was something really, really desirable like going to see the Sex and the City 2 movie at 10:00pm last night. That may sound frivolous, but Sex and the City has always been a frivolous indulgence of mine. I got addicted to the series re-runs soon after the birth of my twins, frankly I needed to get lost in a reality that wasn't mine. Reviews aside, there were definitely some aspects of this second movie that I liked better than the first one, namely that the characters in version two were all at a place that I could relate to either presently or at some time in the not-so-distant past.

In addition, June has also been the month for some get-up-and-go in the writing department. I would love dearly to share my recent writings on my blog, but I am currently helping a friend piece together a memoir about her crazy life this last year and the information is a wee bit too personal to throw out to the public at this point. Just today I thought of two writing exercises that would help me blow some more creativity into this project, now if I can just accomplish one of those, maybe I will post it.

Exercise is going well. I am on a new program and trying to quit snacking and eating things that shouldn't go into my mouth. Cutting down on alcohol consumption and getting more sleep (baring last night's adventure) have also been high on my list of "to dos" as part of this summer kick-off.

School is out. This means that mom's taxi service will be taking a break and maybe we can even spend some afternoons at home! How blessed is that proposition! I have some vacation time coming up and we are planning to go on a ramble with not clear destination in mind. Frankly I am tired of planning my life and managing schedules for everyone else in my household. It will be fun, at least that is what I keep telling myself.

The best thing of all-I finally completed all of the yard work that I had set out to do this spring. Now maybe, just maybe if the weather quits with this rain with sun breaks the weeds won't come back.

Frances Farmer

If I think back I might have heard her name once or twice, Frances Farmer that is. But I don't think that I have ever seen any movies of hers. At least none of them sound familiar. She was born in Seattle and lived from 1913-1970. Last night I watched a biography of her life filmed in 1982 and entitled simply, "Frances." A gifted actress and gifted in self-expression she was definitely on the Hollywood scene long before her time. I found myself really wishing that she had been an actress now, the things that she could have accomplished! Although that pesky mental illness that followed her about and caused her to be institutionalized more than once might have interfered. I find myself doubting the mental illness part. By today's standards Frances Farmer may have been considered "eccentric." Nothing that she did would have been any more shocking than the celebrity headlines that we are bombarded with everyday, in fact in comparison, Frances Farmer's escapades were really rather mild. I may be watching some more old movies in the very near future.

Warm Fuzzies

"How to Train your Dragon" is a great movie, especially for kids. I will be the first to admit that I am not what you would call a "warm, fuzzy" person, but this movie left me feeling that way. The messages about peace and understanding over war and fighting were terrifically presented in this feature, great messages for kids and adults to see over and over again. The hero of the story, "Hiccup," does not fit in with his viking heritage. The vikings are at war with the dragons and Hiccup can't seem to fight them. When presented with an easy opportunity to kill a dragon, he finds that he is unable to do that either. Through his unique relationship with an injured dragon, Hiccup comes to learn more about dragons and understand them. He realizes that they are not the monsters that his people have depicted for generations. Through a series of daring events, Hiccup is able to help the vikings understand the dragons so that the two sides can live in harmony together. Not a bad way to spend an early Saturday afternoon.

This Movie Broke My Heart...

I watched this movie the other night courtesy of Netflix instant play, thanks Maryam and Suzanne for the recommendation. This was one of the darkest and most gritty movies that I have ever seen. It takes place in Romania in 1987 and it is about abortion. In 1987 I was dimly aware of the social/political situation in Romania only because I was in college at the time and read the lesser known newspapers. Several things stood out in this film, the first being the relationship between these two young women and what the one went through for her friend who was seeking the abortion. The other was the lack of privacy in all levels of society experienced by these people. From what I have read, Romania was experiencing a severe housing shortage at the time, medical care was limited, abortion was illegal and women were being forced to carry every pregnancy to term and encouraged by a government that told them it would provide for their children. Times, in short, were quite desperate.

I have become increasingly disillusioned by American cinema. Independent and foreign films are the ones that I have been drawn to as of late. When I heard that Avitar was in the running for best pictures, it put the cherry on the sundae of my disillusionment. Now, for special effects, Avitar is probably great. But best picture should involve a riveting and hopefully somewhat original story line. The best picture should be one that makes the audience think. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days is not a must see for everyone, but it certainly puts a face on the often over-politicized and depersonalized issue of abortion.

Just in Time for Valentine's Day

Matthew Goode joins Amy Adams in "Leap Year." Cute, romantic, comedic movie-great for Valentine's Day viewing. Am I the only one who thinks that Amy Adams is the Donna Reed of the 21st Century????

The Hangover

I have to admit that I had some initial resistance to seeing this one. My fear was that it would be way too unrealistic and full of fart humor for me to appreciate. My good friend and neighbor kept telling me how funny it was, so we watched it last night. This movie was indeed very funny, much better than I expected. It reminded me of "Fandago" which is one of my favorite movies of all time even though I am not a huge Kevin Costner fan. If you want to laugh, I can pretty much guarantee that parts of this movie will make even the most stalwart of moviegoers crack a smile.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

What can I say about "Fantastic Mr. Fox?" It was, well, Fantastic! Quaint and artisitc animation and finally a childrens movie that my kids and I don't have to see in 3D! Mr. Roald Dahl you are (were) a genius of a writer for both children and adults. The world sorely needs more talent like yours! The sound track was pretty great as well, kind of matched the movie.

Thankful for my Life

Last week I went to see the movie "Precious." Fortunately, or not, I had read the book beforehand so I knew what I was in for and the movie was far easier to take than the book. For those of you who are not familiar with the story of "Precious," it is about the saddest version of life one could have in this country. Precious is a sixteen-year-old African-American girl living in Harlem in 1987. She is pregnant with her second child, by her father. The first child was born with Down Syndrome when Precious was twelve. Precious is sexually, physically, and emotionally abused by both of her parents, although her father does not live in the home. She gets kicked out of school for being pregnant and is offered the chance to enroll in the "Each One, Teach One" program which turns out to save her from being a victim of her life.

People who know me know that I am easily traumatized by movies and books about child molestation. The book was terribly hard for me to read and I cried. This made the movie easier to watch and the acting was amazing. What I like about this particular story, is that it brings to light the problems faced by children and women in our culture here in America. As an American, it is sometimes easier for me to think about the kind of life that Precious faced as something that "just doesn't happen here." We all know that it does, but this often gets swept under the carpet and our attention goes to other parts of the world and how we can help there and we end up ignoring the social problems faced by our own country.

Since the concept of "education saves from poverty" was introduced in the 1970's, people have been critical, claiming that is does no such thing. This movie brought to light that education in general does not "save," but the right kind of education can do wonders. The program that Precious was enrolled in was not traditional in any sense of the word and I would be surprised if funding for such a unique and valuable educational opportunity would even be available in today's oppressed educational environment.

So that is it. A sad young girl, given a sad life and making the most of it because of a great teacher. All in all, very inspiring and a wake up call to me for social justice (injustice) in America.

Act of God

I saw the documentary film, "Act of God" last night. I actually had a difficult time following the sequence of stories in the film. Although there were some pretty spectacular images of lightening, I did not like the music used to narrate the film, it reminded me of fingernails on the blackboard. What brings me to write about this film viewing today is, it got me thinking about the randomness of life. Some may call this randomness "acts of God," others may refer to it simply as "chance." I consider myself to be somewhere in between. Yes, I believe in God, but contrary to the views expressed by some of the people interviewed in the film, I don't think of disaster (natural or otherwise) as a blessing or something to be considered good in any way. I also think it is somewhat dangerous to view a lightening strike that kills people as something considered to be "good," because it keeps the people still alive from going through the grief process. The film focused on stories about lightening strikes in South America, Cuba, France, and the United States. The participants in South America definitely had a more "this is God's will" view of lightening induced family deaths. I think of these lightening strikes more as chance rather than acts of God.

In the South American deaths, the young people who died had climbed to the top of an unsheltered hill knowing a storm was going to strike. In doing so, there was definitely a chance that they would be struck by lightening. In two of the American stories the participants were in areas of the country where thunder and lightening storms are not uncommon and were also outside in fairly unsheltered areas. If we take these examples away from lightening and look at the randomness of life in general, I think much of it leads to chance based on choices (knowing or not) and behavior that affects the outcome. I don't think of God necessarily as a puppeteer controlling our lives minutely from above.

Are these deaths sad, yes, all death by any means I think of as sad. One thing that we have to come to grips with in our humaneness is that we all have a finite time on this earth and this is something we can't change or control. Sometimes death comes early and sometimes late. I guess, overall, that I just didn't really see the "act of God" connection to the stories presented in this film. I would have gotten much more out of it viewing lightening scenes and actions narrated by beautiful music.

Other Movies

I recently re-watched Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal." My kids and I attended a Jim Henson exhibit at Experience Music Project (EMP) and this got me re-interested in Jim Henson and the kids more interested in him. With that in mind, we rented "Labyrinth" and "The Dark Crystal" this weekend. I watched "The Dark Crystal" late last night when I couldn't sleep, yes I did have a glass or two of wine, but I couldn't help but reflecting on the similarities between the male gelfing and Steven Tyler and the female gelfing and Charlie Watts. Look at the picture comparisons. Maybe it was just late at night or too much wine, but the similarities, with younger rock stars, were there nonetheless. I checked out a couple of other sources on-line. The writers had similar opinions to mine. Was Jim Henson "Rolling Stones" and "Aerosmith" fan, or is this just coincidence???

The Visitor

I am not really sure how I missed this one when it was in the theaters. It has caught my eye several times, but I haven't ordered it until now. What a timely and poignant sleeper of a hit. This is a must see for all Americans. We think that we understand the "immigration problem," I thought that I was enlightened until I saw this movie. This is a truly great viewing on many levels.

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

I watched this movie this weekend on the computer via Netflix and it was an unexpectedly awesome documentary. It chronicles the life of a flock of approximately 45 "wild" parrots who live near Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. They are being informally studied by a free spirited musician, Mark Bitner, who finds in them his passion and life's work. He also found his wife through the making of the film, she was the director. This is a touching and beautiful true life story about the interconnectedness of humans and animals in the most unlikely of places, the heart of a large city. In the end Mark must leave the cottage that he occupied rent free for three years, putting distance between himself and his beloved birds. The birds that were handicapped or sick who had been staying in Mark's home, were taken to the Parrot Oasis in Arizona. The rest were left to survive and thrive or perish in the "wilds" of San Francisco, the primary predators being hawks and humans. A slow-moving, but brilliantly done visual presentation.

My "Running with Scissors" Moment

Yeah! summer is here, theoretically this should mean less time in the car and more time spent enjoying lazy summer days without paying attention to the dreaded clock. I don't want my kids overbooked in the summer, I don't want to be overbooked in the summer, I just want some downtime please!



One of my children meets with a therapist on a weekly basis. Nothing serious in my mind, just some behavioral issues that we are trying to get a handle on before those dreaded teen years hit. This particular therapist likes to meet with me on a regular basis. Actually she would like to meet with my husband and me together on a regular basis, but scheduling this given my work hours, those of my husband, and her irritatingly limited office hours, has made meeting together pretty damn near impossible with any regularity. So sometimes she meets with me, sometimes with my husband, and sometimes with the two of us together.

I have been thinking that we have been making progress. My daughter has come a long way over the last few months, behaviorally speaking. I am thinking these thoughts as I go in to meet with said therapist today and thinking that maybe we are approaching the end of this therapy journey. I feel confident.

Sadly, the therapist doesn't seem to feel as confident as I do. She seems to think that my daughter is just "on the verge" of doing some critical things, like communicating her feelings appropriately, and suggests that we consider bringing her twice a week. Actually, that was her first suggestion. About mid-way through our meeting she suggested that I bring my daughter in maybe several times a week.

At this moment I had a flashback to the movie "Running with Scissors," the part where Annette Bening drags husband, Alec Baldwin, in to see her crackpot, guru therapist and this therapist tells the couple that they should see him everyday for something like four hours. The therapist then becomes angry at the husband (who laments that he can't commit to that because of work), telling him that he has cleared his schedule for them, why can't they be considerate and clear theirs for him!

Now I don't think that my child's therapist is a crackpot or a guru and amazingly enough our health care insurance would actually cover more sessions. But we are not going to do it. I am going to "parent with my gut" here and quite frankly I think that my child will make more progress in her emotional well-being enjoying a fun and play filled summer than she will be by being driven hither and yon all summer to appointments!

Movies and Books

Lately I have been doing more reading and watching of movies. I think that it has something to do with it being the end of the school year and thus the end of activities for my kids. We are actually home more! Summertime is great. I read "Loving Frank." This was a "required" read for book club, which meets next week, I think that this "true" story will provide the fodder for quite a lively discussion. The book is about Frank Lloyd Wright and his longtime mistress, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. I believe their affair lasted from 1907-1914. I can tell you that the affair ended with her death, it won't be giving the ending away because anyone can find that out via a cursory search of the internet. The details of her death were what ruined the book for me. I guess that there is no way to alter such events. The book is a novel, but based on true events. She died the way that she died and it really can't be re-written. I think of all of the time that I spent living in Frank Lloyd Wright land in the midwest and I have to wonder how I missed this part of his life. It certainly captivated my interest enough to want to read the book. I think there has been a "hush, hush" factor going on for about the last century, distancing America's most famous architect from the scandal that he helped to create.

Onto movies, I finally saw "Gran Torino." What an oversight, I should have seen this one earlier. I loved the story and I liked the way that it ended. In fact I thought that the ending was just perfect. Of course, the elderly pistol carting Clint Eastwood mounting a single man campaign of justice against neighborhood gangs was a bit unbelievable, other than that it is a story true to city neighborhoods all over America. Dirty Harry is bound to live forever.

Last night I saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." This movie made use of a number of Hollywood stock story lines including; the getting hit by a car tragedy, the loss of virginity to a prostitute routine, the aged, sick, and dying mother finally telling her story bit-which narrates the entire movie, resentful, grown daughter included. I haven't read F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story, but now I am curious and will probably have to check it out. Despite its many cliches, this movie worked. Of course there is always Brad Pitt looking devastatingly handsome as always. The movie was well cast so the story matched the visual. Pretty interesting concept, I hate to admit it, but I would love the thought of getting younger everyday. Of course this may mean dying, like Benjamin Button, as a demented infant. Hey, at least I would be "cute" in my "old age."

Up

Better reviews than I have said it, but it bears repeating, Disney-Pixar has done it again. Masterful story-telling, something for all ages, and absolutely beautiful in 3-D. What a spectacular film, one of the best this year by far.

Revolutionary Road-The Movie

I saw the "Revolutionary Road" movie last night. The acting was quite good. That much intense emotionality between two people who were on screen in almost every scene would be challenging to pull off and I thought that DiCaprio and Winslett did an excellent job. What bothered me about the cinematic version was that April Wheeler came off as looking a bit emotionally unstable. This was not due to the acting of Winslett, she was playing the book, it could be attributed more to the scenes that were omitted from the movie. In the book the reader knows what April Wheeler is grappling with, she is having difficulty embracing her role a as a stay-at-home mom in a time period which dictates that this is pretty much the only option for a married woman with children. In the movie she goes from angry to sweet housewife quickly, leaving too much I think to viewer interpretation.

The lighting and period staging (it was, as it should have been, so 1950's) was quite good. Some people find this story depressing. I find it interesting from a historical perspective. How much of this "history" are we still debating? Some scenes of the movie were also filmed quite differently from how they were written in the book (this is always the case) and in this movie it would be obvious "why." So much is hard to watch. The whole relationship between these two people is hard to watch (it was hard to read about). I never say this, but I think that this movie might have been better if it were a bit longer. Of course, they probably would lose more viewers because longer would mean adding more emotionally thoughtful content that probably had to be cut in order to make people want to see the movie. My recommendation, read the book first, then you can fill in the blanks that the movie brings.

Ballets Russes in HD

Sometime back I read a biography of Coco Chanel. Now I don't consider myself to be a person who is hugely into fashion, I like clothes that are comfortable and that fit. If they look good, I consider that to be a bonus. Before I read the biography of Coco Chanel I was channel surfing one night and found myself watching the Lifetime movie about her life, the one with Shirley Mc Clain. This inspired me to learn more about the eccentric woman who changed the face of women's fashion forever. She was also a supporter of the Ballets Russes and Stravinsky. Now I have developed an interest in the Ballets Russes and Stravinsky as well. I watched a documentary about Ballets Russes and many of the members who danced in the 1930's-1950's were still living and were interviewed in this film, which was made in the year 2000. It was fascinating. Also, where Balanchine got his start, but that is another story.

Our wonderful SIFF Cinema here in Seattle showed an HD production of three Ballets Russes performances, Firebird, The Rite of Spring, and The Wedding. These were done by the Kirov Ballet and filmed in Russia in 2008. What awesome reproductions. Because of choreographers like Balanchine, ballets are no longer performed with quite that much going on in terms of sets and actions (unless it is the Nutcracker). Everything today is more specialized, we have ballet, drama, theater, modern dance, etc., etc. and they each occupy a niche, but do not often overlap. These three productions comprised all three and pretty much all at once and all to the dark swirling cacophonous overtones of Stravinsky's melodies. Beautiful.

The Rite of Spring started riots at its Paris debut in 1913. The theater was in such an uproar that the dancers were counting outloud on stage because they couldn't hear the music. People were upset because the music was not the sweet and peaceful kind usually paired with a ballet, the dance was decidedly modern (perhaps the first modern dance to ever be brought to stage), and the story was about sacrificing a virgin. I have to say, of the three, this was my least favorite. I am a sometime fan of modern dance, but I just like watching ballet more.

My favorite performance was Firebird. The woman who danced the part of the Firebird, well I could just sit and watch her dance all day. They say that arm movements are very important for Kirov dancers and her arm movements were just lovely. The stage was also fantastic, more like a theater or opera setting. I loved the mixed artistic pairings all the way around. I am so glad that I made time in my busy mid-week mothering and work schedule to see this.