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| I am overly excited. After two grueling weeks at work, boss lot us go home early. With this borrowed time, I went to St. Vincent's. They've redecorated which did entice me to look around. I almost bought Matt a paper shredder. Sorry, Matt. Almost. I DID buy something that made my heart fill with joy. A first edition copy of "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek". It's fantastic, and of course, when you find a perfectly swell first edition of the quintessential book of your favorite writer (which you haven't read as you have been waiting for this find) for $1.00, you buy it.
So I did.
I fell asleep while we were trying to watch "The Lives of Others". Remember: two grueling weeks. I woke up to go to the bathroom and noticed a sleeping left leg when I stood up. As I tried to find a place to step, I saw my left ankle roll fall into an uncontrollable roll. So instead of watching my leg snap, I fell into it and collapsed on the floor in front of everyone. Now they're all watching the movie, and I'm in my room because I don't want to just watch the end.
It's cold. Very cold. I know last weekend's beautiful weather wouldn't last. I mean, we were lying in the sun on blankets on brittle, tan grass shards. February beauty is fleeting. | | |
| I love that when I watch Seinfeld I feel I can make a joke out of anything. I walk around for the next few hours thinking to myself in these jokes. I start them with, "I hate the puddles on the floor after you shower. They're there for hours. You walk in the bathroom later, and slosh right in one. And for some reason... that water has become toxic. You react as if it may be the most horrible thing you will ever step in. Get a towel quick, I think it's burning through your foot."
Most of the time I just start them. "You know, I still love Honey Nut Cheerios..." "Have you ever noticed how much encouragement you receive to squeeze out your toothpaste from the bottom?.."
I like this confidence. In my head people are laughing before I even start (rather its the residual laughter of a joke-before).
And there is power in noticing it all as if you were the first. Yes, no one has ever had a lid that won't stay up unless you hold it, and no one has ever noticed similarities in touchdown dances. I'll bet no one has ever noticed this post-Seinfeld phenomenon, either. | | |
|  | Currently Watching
Monster
By Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen, Pruitt Taylor Vince
see related |
I watched five movies between last night at 6 and this afternoon at 3. They were in this order:
"Monster"- This is a hard movie to watch. Possibly the loneliest thing I've ever watched. It is obvious why Charlize Theron got such attention for it. She's amazing. Absolutely amazing. And of course it helps to have an overwhelmingly powerful story to tell. Tears? Yes. Good feelings? No. However, this is one of those grapple-with-the-absolute-hardest-things-in-life type movies. And if you're up for that, you'll be hard pressed to find something so challenging as this film.
"The Bourne Ultimatum"- I needed something much more comfortable to watch. And this movie "delivers". Great action. Very fun. Two complaints: I wish I wasn't so in the dark about why Nikki Parsons cares so much. And why don't we get to see more of Joan Allen in movies in general. I like her.
"Maria Full of Grace"- Liked it. It wasn't as powerful as I'd hoped. But I found the story intriguing and Moreno's oscar nod was justified. Question: Does it really happen like that?
"The Hours"- Two movies with lesbian love in one marathon. I suppose if I'd paid more attention when this movie was coming around, I'd have seen it coming. However, this one was also very powerful. Makes me want to write (goes that the list with "Donnie Darko" and "Notes on a Scandal"). I really loved this one. And on the topic of homosexuality in the movies, both this one and "Monster" really portrayed it convincingly. I believed they were in love or wildly spinning in kept emotion, or whatever they were, I believed each character and each story (unlike "Boys Don't Cry" and especially "Brokeback Mountain" whose relationship portrayals were not convincing). But besides that, "The Hours" is extremely well made and the end shot itself is like a perfect ending line of a book, a still that would captivate all on its own. The whole movie is like that.
"The Painted Veil"- Nice. Well shot. We love China. And Naomi Watts was good. The movie is fairly predictable unfortunately. I think if I hadn't watched it after such incredible films I would have liked it much more.
That's that. Now onto other weekend type things.
I've decided to make lists of my favorite ___________. I'll be starting with my favorite sixteen movies:
16. Gandhi
15. Back to the Future
14. The Royal Tenenbaums
13. Notes on a Scandal
12. The Emperor's New Groove
11. Hook
10. Collateral
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas
8. Dead Poet's Society
7. Crash
6. It's a Wonderful Life
5. Silence of the Lambs
4. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Almost Famous
2. Good Will Hunting
1. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
And there you have it. | | |
| My dad, my brother and I went hunting all together for the first time on Christmas Eve. We woke up at 3 am, drove to the lease and sat in a blind in the freezing dark. My leg fell asleep. I had to pee. We sat for an hour and a half. Just sat and listened to my dad's stomach roll and watched the dark get less dark. I thought there were two deer tails in the blind window. I watched them for an hour, thinking they were two does. Some rabbits came and crunched corn, and at sun up birds came from all directions.
For an hour and a half I heard three sounds: my dad's rumbling belly, the onslaught of flutters from cardinal wings coming in at sunset, and the snapping of corn kernels between rabbit molars.
Then, I heard a fourth: my brother saying he had to pee. He couldn't wait the hour an a half we had left to sit there.
We walked back to the truck and went to get bags of corn to fill the feeders. I noticed the two deer tails They weren't dear tails. They were cactus flates, two lighter than the others in the dark. Dad said he'd noticed the same thing he first day in this blind.
When I was pouring bags of corn into the feeder and laughing hysterically with my brother at some joke, a doe walked up the road. After all that sitting in the dark, it was only when we were being absolutely jovial that a doe decided to walk in front of us. My brother noticed, my dad grabbed his 30/30, and the doe ended up making a dark red pool in the back of the truck.
It was beautiful. I rubbed its fur before I grabbed its legs and slung it onto the tailgate.
I watched my dad cut its skin off and its guts out. I heard them plop onto the ground. I was amazed at the membranes and how it's neck curled intensely after he cut its head off. Dad put all the muscle into a green ice chest, including the pieces of backstrap that appeared to me like two lifeless koi flopping finally into the tub.
My brother and I threw rocks at the stomach to get it to burst. He threw rocks like a pitcher. I lobbed. One rock, larger than my head, did the trick. The contents looked full of nutrients.
I fell asleep on the way home.
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Driving to Belton last friday, I saw a flock of wild turkeys fly over the two lane highway. I didn't know there were ferrel turkeys in West Texas. I didn't know they fly. And I didn't know that when they fly they look like male genitalia with wings. It's horrifying. I'm sure I'm not the first to notice the way these birds look in flight. But you cannot forget the first time you see it, giant penises with wings flapping in a grey west texas sky. It's an apparition. | | |
| When all your friends around you are hanging out and watching movies and playing games.... it makes you really not want to work. Really.
It makes you not want to do anything productive. I mean... I could work on a grad school app.... or watch a movie.... this is actually a hard decision for me. | | |
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