Watching Argo

Tags

Argo, DVD, movie review, movies, postaday2013

My hubby and I have finally gotten around to watching Argo. I know that at the Oscars it did very well, best picture but for some reason my hubby and I weren’t chomping at the bit to see it in the movie theater.

Watching it, I see why it won best picture, it is very well made. So well made that it is bringing back many memories of that time. I was 12-13 years old at that time and it was very distressing and scary to think that foreign people could be so angry with our country that they would hurt fellow Americans innocent of any wrongdoing.

Now as an adult I have a much more nuanced understanding of the events and the history between the United States and Iran as well as the rest of the Middle East. Our oil companies and our government’s support for those oil companies impacted that region in ways that we are still paying for, sad in my opinion. What I find the saddest is that for twenty years my political text books regarding Oil, MiddleEast and Politics are still relevant.

This movie is so well done precisely for the fact that I am still having stress watching this even though I know the ending, I am sitting on pins and needles watching them try to pull off this charade of an escape.

I can imagine their absolute fear, I can feel their rising sense of panic and their anxiety over the complete loss of control over their lives. What do you do when you can’t reason with your potential captors? What do you do when you are in a situation where you are hated for inexplicable reasons and it is ultimately not your fault but your government’s perceived slights to a foreign people.

I feel for the Iranian people that they had had enough with having a cruel dictator such as the Shah of Iran foisted on them and then to be denied justice in their own courts but what they did to the American hostages in retaliation was completely unconscionable.

What a stressful time and very believable portrayed and communicated through film. Congratulations Ben Afleck!

Momentous discovery

What's the most significant secret you've ever discovered about someone else? Did the truth come out?

Not to be picky or catty but somone should perhaps keep track of the prompts. This one is only a few weeks old, too soon to recycle. Anyhow, secrets have no business being aired online within social media. Is their nothing sacred? I suppose that in this age of casual interaction and the false sense of anonymity, it is getting very easy to share someone else's secrets without seriously gauging the consequences and the fall out.

I prefer to use social media to keep in touch with my close friends and family who live far away, the instantaneous connection through the ether helps to erase the miles that separate us.

The reason that I started this post saying that I wasn't being picky or catty is due to the fact that even the same prompt can generate a different response from the same person who answered that prompt just a few weeks ago.

Secrets can be dangerous, they can be hurtful, they can be power, they can finally be liberating, it depends who is keeping them, who is not and the moral fiber of all those involved.

Most good drama depend heavily on secrets so for those aspiring dramatic novelists, the exploration of secrets should be a matter of fact past-time in behavioral study.

I am blessed with a horrendous memory so secrets for me can easily become a permanent secret, I couldn't remember them to spill them to anyone.

Interesting that this prompt came back around so quickly, I wonder if those who inspire the prompts are subconsciously struggling with something. I wonder if I am overthinking this or if there might be something to my little theory. Just a thought.

Jack doing the pots and pans

Tags

pets, jack russell, Jack, dogs, postaday2013, pots, treats

I have written about Jack often, we are so lucky to have such a good natured, affectionate and cute little Jack Russell as part of our family. Whenever my hubby is home, Jack gets so excited that he squeals, he then runs around like a loon waiting for his papa to catch him and even goes sniffing and barking around for pretend mice to show that he is doing his job as the mouse hunter. It’s a whole big production when papa gets home. I think that a small part of the production is due to the fact that my hubby and Jack share dinner often together and Jack likes to show his appreciation for his papa.

Tonight, my hubby gave Jack an extra special treat, the pot that had macaroni and cheese in it. Jack did his part of his chores, he cleaned the pot squeaky clean, all that I have to do now is clean it with dishwashing soap and dry it. Jack does his part to help in the household, the little cutie.

Who are you?

Do you consider yourself the outgoing performer or the appreciative bystander? Why?

I am very much the appreciative bystander when given the choice. Occasionally, when I have to be the performer, it isn't really the outgoing performer. I can be the performer but it's usually subdued, I have horrible stage fright and it is so very difficult for me to perform in front of people. When I used to be the French teacher for my children's elementary school; part of the curriculum was putting on Fairy Tale plays in French for the entire school and the parents. Fortunately as director, stage manager and narrator, my time on stage was obscured with everyone's focus on the children reciting their lines in French. Since I wasn't the focus, I could easily blend in with the scenery whch suited me perfectly.

Whenever we host programs at the Historical Society, I am always much more comfortable setting up, cleaning up and baking for the guests and the Directors. I am very comfortable with small groups but once the numbers increase to a crowd that is when I find myself far out of my comfort zone.

I don't mind being the appreciative bystander, I am very good at it I'll have you know.

The Women on the 6th Floor

Tags

bourgeois, cinema, family, French film, movie, postaday2013

Our town librarian recommended two French films for my viewing pleasure The Women on the 6th Floor and Les Choristes. I asked the baby girl if she was interested in watching some French people on film, she said sure. We really enjoyed both movies a lot!

The Women on the 6th Floor was a nice, funny quintessential French movie. It was about life and relationships between Spanish maids and their French bosses as it exists in a private residential building in 1962. The protagonist is Jean Louis Journet, a successful stock broker, married with two children who is a very kind man, very comfortable within his universe and not very curious about the other layers in life. When the family’s long time maid leaves in a huff, the lady of the house on the advice of her wealthier socialite friends goes to the Spanish Catholic Church and finds herself a young Spanish maid who just happens to be related to one of the other Spanish maids who lives up on the 6th floor of the private residential building. The family’s whole life turns upside down once Jean Louis gets exposed to what life might be like outside of his small bourgeois existence. It is a sweet heart of a movie and both the baby girl and I were entranced from beginning to end.

The Choristes is another gem of a French film. This one takes place in the memories of two older men who were classmates in 1949 in a school for wayward boys. They were saved by a wonderful teacher who brought music into their lives and saved them from becoming young criminals. It is a wonderful slowly uplifting film that moves you with gorgeous young voices lifted in song. Again we were entranced, the both of us, by a heart warming story of hope, redemption and not giving up despite sometimes being disappointed by the actions of lonely young boys who don’t often know better and have already lived a hard life. We highly recommend this one.

Unconventional Love

Today, tell us about the most unconventional love in your life.

I am assuming that by unconventional, this means that we are not talking about my romantic love for my husband or the unconditional love that my husband and I both have for our babies or the love all four of us have for our little Jack, the famous Jack Russell of Blandford.

I can offer two examples of what might be considered unconventional loves in my life; my love for my Rubik's cube and the love I hold for my stamp collection. Both of these possessions were gifts from persons so very important to me, the Rubik's cube was a birthday present from my cousin Martine on my 13th birthday and my stamp collection given to me by my grandfather.

I suppose material possessions aren't so unconventional to love because in this world so many love their fast cars, big mansions and luxury boats more than people but I would call loving a possession unconventional because the object can't love you back.

Ominous

Tags

humid, ominous, postaday2013, storms, writing

The skies have been dark all day with the air hanging heavy, it has felt as if something is going to pop since noon. By two o’clock the humidity was palpable, you could smell it in the air. The rains hiding in the clouds were announcing their arrival while still teasing about what time I should expect the deluge to happen.

What was amusing is that for all the talk about how cool spring has been, the first day of heat and humidity didn’t bring any joy, rather, at the post office where our townspeople congregate to discuss the weather, there was quite a bit of complaining.

I love these pictures, you could see the turmoil within and I could imagine the thunder and lightening being fabricated and churned about up there like in Greek mythology. Zeus has hidden in more than his fair share of thunder clouds hiding from Hera. Perhaps Zeus is hiding here in Blandford, good luck Zeus hiding away from Hera.

The interview

Interview your favorite fictional character.

This evening I have the absolute pleasure of welcoming Miss Elizabeth Bennet to our program. She is the second oldest daughter of Mister and Mrs Bennet of the Longborn Estate in Hertfordshire, England.

Ms Bennet welcome to our show in the 21st century! How are you?

Ms Bennet: "Thank you for having me, how so kind of you. I am doing well and how are you? I must admit that I am fairly overwhelmed by society in this timeline."

"Oh dear, how do you mean by being overwhelmed by our society, is it in a bad way or an exciting way? If you don't mind me asking."

Ms Bennet: What I meant was that to see all of the freedoms and choices available to young ladies is overwhelming. How to decide what to do and when to do it. In my time a woman's work was never done but to see women in this time do what women in my time do at home and also work outside of the home is almost shocking. How much more work women have accepted into their lives.

"Ms Bennet, do you think that you would choose a profession over the more traditional life? Would you even think about going into politics, it's a possibility you realize, for women like you"

"Now I really feel overwhelmed, the idea that I could go into government and affect things for myself and ladies like me. I have to say that with all of these options, I would have to take my time before I choose. My biggest concern would be to squander my time or my choices"

"Ms Bennet, your intelligent and thoughtful answers don't surprise me in the least. I think that the world would be an exciting place with you and your wonderful mind at work in it."

My newest read these days

Tags

Ahab's Wife, blogging, books, Captain Ahab, postaday2013, Reading, writing

The latest book that I am reading was a gift from my cousin Nancy, she passed it along to me when we went to see her on Mother’s Day weekend. It’s written by Sena Jeter Naslund who also authored Four Spirits, the title of her latest book is Ahab’s Wife or, The Star Gazer.

I just started it and I really like the writing style, I love the concept of exploring the wife’s story, the character off the pages of Moby Dick, who stayed on shore tending the home fires while the husband is traipsing throughout the seas on a crazy quest. The book’s first chapter is called Extracts and it is a few pages of extract after extract from Herman Melville’s classic showing the existence of Captain Ahab’s wife.

Once the fact that Captain Ahab did indeed have a wife is well established, we then get to meet her and follow her through her own story. I am curious to see how getting to know Captain Ahab’s wife, her name is Una by the way, will impact my appreciation of Moby Dick after all these years.

So far I have learned that Una is very close to her mother and has a difficult time of it with her father. This in and of itself isn’t so uncommon, girls and their fathers can often clash but I am waiting to see if this will affect her later in life when men enter her life.

I am very intrigued as to what type of woman would be attracted to a personality such as Captain Ahab’s and I suspect that I will see how huge the transformation of Ahab’s psyche must have been after his encounter with the beast and the impact on their relationship. Quite interesting if you ask me.

Daily Prompt: Dulled

Tags

blogging, postaday2013, senses, writing

You meet a mystery man who offers you a sip of a magic potion which will enhance one of your senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch) while dulling the others. Would you take the sip? And which sense would you choose?

I think that I answered this prompt but you want to know the funny part? I can’t remember what I said or how I answered it. Did I answer in the affirmative or in the negative?

Well today I will answer as the mood strikes me and the mood says no thank you to the mystery potion. I know that my senses are getting dull due to getting older, I know that my days of being eyeglass free are getting numbered, my hearing is still pretty keen as is my sense of touch; my sense of smell and taste could definitely stand improvement. That being said, I will keep everything as it is, I can figure out the cooking thing very well and I am very happy with the way everything is in a crazy state of imbalance. If it got tweaked, it would throw me off my game and that would be too much to relearn.

I would always rather be happy with what I have and who I am, than always being on the lookout for the next best thing or to spend time getting worked on to super size one piece of me and letting other parts decline.

I do believe that I am always a work in progress but I think that the work should happen organically and naturally, by trial and error, those lessons mean more because it isn’t simply a sip of magic juice.