bottle

Last night I drifted off to sleep streaming YouTube videos made by Kirsten Lepore (instead of watching the debates). These videos have made the rounds back when they came out, but they are new to me. Just amazing. This is my favorite. Comical, mesmerizing whimsy, thought-provoking and deep. Enjoy "Bottle".

woosh - and just like that.

September passed by like a flash of light. It was a warm and sunny month for the most part. We turned the furnace back on yesterday. The windows will stay mostly closed for the next six months. I will admit that I have to fight against the feeling of sadness that accompanies being kept indoors more. I know we will have some beautiful October days. I will relish them. We'll keep the deck furniture out for another week or so and then it will be time to put it all into storage for another long winter. I don't mind taking walks or hikes in cold weather, but it isn't the same as having access to fresh air on a regular basis.

The cherry tomato plants in the whiskey barrel are still producing tomatoes and flowers like crazy. I can't believe it. I have made fried green tomatoes twice and tomorrow may make up another big batch. It is too cold outside for them to ripen any more, and yet they keep popping out! 

Today I mixed up my first batch of artisan bread dough to rise and refrigerate. I haven't baked since spring, so that will be a nice scent to enjoy in the colder season. I lit candles for the first time last night too - and the glowing, flickering lights in the living room instilled peace and calm. Looking for the good...

Tomorrow I hope to get my flu shot. The memory of the flu last April despite being immunized the previous fall is still very fresh. It.was.awful. I know the flu shot takes about two weeks to kick in and I have some work travels coming up in a couple of weeks. Yes. It's time. 

We are having a catching up weekend. Staying in tonight to read and maybe watch an episode of one of my new favorites on Acorn network called William and Mary. It's new to me - a British drama that ran for three series back in 2003, 2004 and 2005. 

just like this train

It's a Joni Mitchell kind of afternoon. So many good choices to post here at WJPP. This is a really nice performance back in 1996 on David Letterman: Just Like This Train. The guitar playing, phrasing, voice, and the lyrics... oh the lyrics -- really great.

fantasie impromptu - chopin

This is as good as any Chopin I have ever heard, played by a most talented child. Enjoy. (It was posted a couple of years ago, but it's new to me.) I really do have a thing for Chopin.

 

still alice

There are some things I just don't do. Oscars night is one of them. I love films, and I tend to see them on my own schedule (not on time). Just like Joni's train, I am running behind the times. Today a friend and I went to see Still Alice, starring Julianne Moore. She is nominated for an award tonight, and not having seen the other performances hers is up against, I definitely think she should win! What a movie.

You don't go to see this to feel happier. You don't go to this movie without some kleenex. It is beautifully filmed, beautifully acted, and the subject matter is important. I was changed by watching this. That is a mark of a good movie. I am richer for having seen it. 

Still on my list to see are a few other nominated films... Birdman, Selma, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything. I'll get to them, regardless of who wins statuettes this evening.

louder than words

the beat of our hearts

is louder than words

WJPP here on another frosty evening in Central New York. Pink Floyd has a relatively new album, probably its last, released in 2014. It is called The Endless River. I don't have it in its entirety yet. Still running behind the times, just like this train. This is the official music video for Louder Than Words... with its images old and newer, and its very comforting Floydian sounds. I hope it will warm you up if you're feeling cold.

particle fever

We saw a great film last night, and if you missed it, it is on Netflix! Particle Fever is fascinating, suspenseful and thought-provoking. This post doesn't have any spoilers.

"For the first time, a film gives audiences a front row seat to a significant and inspiring scientific breakthrough as it happens. Particle Fever follows six brilliant scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the start-up of the biggest and most expensive experiment in the history of the planet, pushing the edge of human innovation."

As much as I love going to the movies, and even have a favorite, special movie theater just 25 minutes away, the busy pace of every day life these days precludes me getting to movies as often as I'd like. With the advent of the Netflix DVD program, I immediately became a poster child. Over the past few years I watch fewer and fewer movies and have transitioned to more television series - due to the shorter time bytes to watch a commercial-free episode. I was slower to switch over to streaming, but now that I have, I truly have no need for cable television (although the baseball fans in my household do appreciate having it.)

Given that I hardly ever watch movies anymore, last night, being a Friday night of a holiday weekend, we decided to forgo continuation of West Wing Season 5 for a night to watch this film we had been meaning to get to a theater to see.  (West Wing, you say? Wasn't that on from like 1999 to 2006? Yes - and we were busy with a baby and young child during those years so never tuned in. So glad we are watching it now! Great show!)

Netflix has added a category for the queue of "critically acclaimed" movies. This movie is on that list. Recommend!

adventureland

While I don't talk about movies all that much on here at JPP, I do enjoy watching films very much. In my fantasy life I get to go to the movies to see a good film at least once a week in an art theater with real popcorn and red zinger tea. And after the movie ends, I sit quietly in my seat until the final credits have shown - processing and letting the film take hold.

For now, though, in the "busy life," I see movies in the theater very infrequently, and if I am lucky, I have time to watch a movie, uninterrupted, on Netflix. Netflix recently changed its selection of films, and on scanning last evening, I found one that I remembered I had wanted to see when it came out back in 2009. The good news is, the film is set in the summer of 1987 for a recent college grad -- so the five year delay mattered little, and the movie had me at "1987" (I graduated from college in 1987, so this movie had special appeal).

Adventureland is a smart comedy with an excellent original score (hat/tip to Yo La Tengo) and sprinkled in homage to '80s music. It was a perfect movie to watch on Valentine's Day. Themes: life will break your heart and you will survive; it is tough being smart when you are economically disadvantaged; and real love is possible with an understanding that we are all flawed by our circumstances and by being human. Sometimes we figure out what matters most within a surreal and bizarre outward situation. I loved it, even if I was late to the party.

doc martin

Under the post category of "quality television," I have shared a few of my favorite shows over the years here at the old blog. What are we watching lately? My new (to me) favorite is a British comedy-drama by the name of Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes. We started with episode 1 on Netflix and are about four episodes in, and I am in love with the show. It came out in 2004 . . . so I am just a little bit late on this one -- but it is thoroughly enjoyable. I recommend!

For light and fluffy watching - when tired and falling asleep - which seems to be my main television-watching state at about 9:30 p.m. each night . . . we are catching up with "How I Met Your Mother" and the Netflix-produced season 4 of "Arrested Development." Both are fun, bring out a few laughs, and are nice shows to which one can unwind.

While none of these rise to the level of T.V. subjects of previous posts -- Slings and Arrows, Six Feet Under, Life on Mars (BBC), or Dead Like Me -- and nothing yet compares to my beloved Ballykissangel, these three recommendations are certainly pleasant and as someone who watches no other television, they are doing the relaxation trick for me.

To regular visitors here, I am sorry I have not been writing regularly. Work, post-vacation, has been busy and I am gearing up for a couple of events (one for a board I am on), not the least of which is the first day of school next week for our teenager. We have had school shopping to do, and have a bit more to go. Matt made the golf team for school, which is super considering that he just started playing in earnest this summer after baseball ended . . . and while he won't be a starter, he is playing every day until school begins, and will play daily after school until mid-October. Who knew that outfitting for golf was so expensive? Not this mom. He was never interested in real golf shirts until this summer...

Wishing you a very nice day as August, sadly, begins its exit.

just like this train

Close your eyes and listen to these lyrics. As my friend Ralph said, these are perhaps the best lyrics in a pop song ever written. But beyond the lyrics, the composition is great too! Complexities, changes, and dry humor. Two of my favorite passages among the many in this song:

I'm always running behind the time 

just like this train

shaking into town with the brakes complaining....

Kids with the jitters in their legs
and those wide, wide, open stares ...





I just mused on this song recently, in terms of its use as a blog label for posts. This one is for you, Ralph!

the artist

People with busy lives often miss doing things they want to do. At this point in my life, one of the things I tend to miss is seeing movies I want to see. Some day, down the road, I plan to go to see a movie once a week. I want to anticipate seeing the film for at least a couple of days, then I want to savor the experience, and then reflect on it for a few days after that. Oh, and I want to eat good popcorn (the kind you can get here.)

At present, the movie I really want to see is Hyde Park on Hudson with Bill Murray. I love Bill. I think he is brilliant. If you want to read more about why I love this guy, read this NYT article, here.  Anyway, I digress. My point is that I probably won't see this movie for a while if history is any predictor of the future. I might get lucky and be able to sneak off to Ithaca in the next week or so, but more likely than not, work and family life won't allow that. And it's okay. I will see it eventually and will savor it all the more.

Here's an example of this phenomenon. When The Artist came out, I really wanted to see it on the big screen. I had an "almost" chance to see it that faded away due to work obligations. I kept it in my head. It ended up being a big-time Oscar (and Golden Globe and BAFTA) winner and I thought, yes, I can't wait to see that. Finally, Tom and I watched it Saturday night, two years later, on Netflix. It was wonderful. The actors, premise, cinematography, and story were flawless.I savored it, and am savoring it still. (Can I also just say that I love John Goodman? He was terrific in this film.)

Joni Mitchell has a great lyric where she says "I'm always running behind the time, just like this train." I made "just like this train" a label on this blog to tag as such those things I am currently delighting in, even if I am a little characteristically late to the party. Today The Artist is the subject of my delight. (I am also delighted that a marvelous little device called a Roku player can turn my television into a mini-movie theatre with Netflix streaming movies on demand.) If you, too, are just like this train, keep The Artist on your list of movies to see. You'll be happy you did.

Watch the trailer here:

snow dollops

Forgive my sporadic posting this week (in advance)! I am working a lot of hours - most of them out of town - and will be traveling later in the week. I hope to be able to at least keep my small stones going over at tiny river splash, and perhaps I will have occasion to put up something fun on Tumblr. So glad I was able to get in a couple of cross-country ski outings in last week... because the current schedule is not cooperating much with fresh air and exercise. Be back soon.

elegance

Recently, I finished a book that I absolutely loved: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery. I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time. I found myself laughing out loud at times, and at other moments, silently crying.  I found some passages so beautiful and true that I actually typed them up into a Word document since I had borrowed the book from my sister-in-law and wanted to return it. However, there were a few passages that I just wanted to "hang onto" for a little while longer.

The two narrators, 54-year-old concierge Renée Michel and 12-year-old Paloma Josse, take turns taking the reader through chapter after chapter of dry humor and themes of social class differentiation, philosophy, and true friendship. I enjoyed the book so much, I am actually interested in seeing the film made from the book back in 2009 -- and I usually don't want to see films made from books I have read.

To whet your appetite, let me leave you with two passages, offered by Paloma. If you haven't read this book, I recommend it. It was first published in 2006, and as usual, I am running a little behind, "just like this train."

Birch trees

Teach me that I am nothing

And that I am deserving of life

“After I’d had a chance to think about it for a while I began to understand why I felt this sudden joy when Kakuro was talking about the birch trees. I get the same feeling when anyone talks about trees, any trees: the linden tree in the farmyard, the oak behind the barn, the stately elms that have all disappeared now, the pine trees along wind-swept coasts, etc. There’s so much humanity in a love of trees, so much nostalgia for our first sense of wonder, so much power in just feeling our own insignificance when we are surrounded by nature . . . yes, that’s it: just thinking about trees and their indifferent majesty and our love for them teaches us how ridiculous we are – vile parasites squirming on the surface of the earth – and at the same time how deserving of life we can be, when we can honor this beauty that owes us nothing. 

 Kakuro was talking about birch trees, and forgetting all those psychoanalysts and intelligent people who don’t know what to do with their intelligence, I suddenly felt my spirit expand, for I was capable of grasping the utter beauty of the trees.”

----------

"...I thought of Ronsard’s poem, though I didn’t really understand it at first:  because he talks about time, and roses. Because beauty consists of its own passing, just as we reach for it. It’s the ephemeral configuration of things in the moment, when you can see both their beauty and their death. 

 [On living our lives:] Constantly poised between beauty and death, between movement and its disappearance? Maybe that’s what being alive is all about: so we can track down those moments that are dying."

the king's speech

Last night we watched The King's Speech (2010) thanks to Netflix, and it really is as good as they said it would be. This was a movie I really wanted to see in the theater, but we never did make it. The story is deeply moving, and knowing that it is a true story, during such a tremendously difficult period in history, makes it all the more powerful. If you haven't seen this film, do yourself a great favor, and see it. It is wonderfully acted, a heart-wrenching story, with moments of grace and humanity, and the cinematography is artfully done. Big round of applause!

You can view the trailer, here.

the force

I didn't watch the Superbowl last night. I never get very interested in football, although I do enjoy the occasional party. There were several years when our friends Paula and Cliff still lived in town that we had "Souper Bowl" parties, where one or the other of us would put on a big bowl of a special soup and we would have a nice dinner and maybe watch part of the game, but the game was not the issue. The soup was.

Last night, I fell asleep at around 8:30 p.m. with the game on in the background of the bedroom. I have a vague recollection of Matt jumping on the end of the bed to watch the rest of the game with Tom. I think I remember hearing crunching of snacks. I drifted off to sleep with a little wish that said, "I hope the team with the rapist loses." (And so they did.)

I woke up this morning, ready to take on a busy work day. I am on the mend, thanks to two days of weekend mostly-rest. With any luck I will be 100% in a couple of days. I happened to see this video this morning, and I am voting for it as best Superbowl commercial even though it is the only one I saw this year. I love it!

winter's arrival

We had a little snow in October. It didn't stick around long. We had some snow in November, particularly over Thanksgiving and the weekend following, but it was short-lived. The snow that started coming down this past Thursday hasn't stopped. Not at all. In five days.

I am starting to hear the words "lake effect" and the wind speeds in every forecast I happen to catch on the car radio. I am back to wearing boots, and scraping off my car windshield at the end of the work day. I am reminded how hearty we have to be, those of us who live in central New York, where winter lasts a full four and a half to five months out of every year. We have all four seasons, but clearly spring gets the short shrift and winter takes more than its fair share of the year.

To take the attention off what is the beginning of a long stretch of severe weather, we have the holidays and all the associated activities. I am feeling a bit stretched these days between extra hours that work is requiring and the pressures of trying to prepare for Christmas. I am sure it isn't supposed to be this way. With any luck, I will find the time to do my holiday cards and get my shopping done before the 24th.

We had a great Relay for Life on Saturday night. We managed to stay until 1:30 a.m. and then after a couple hours of sleep, the alarm clock woke me up again at 4:30 a.m. again as planned so I could go back to do the closing ceremony and clean up. Sunday, though feeling a bit dead, we managed to get the Christmas tree decorated and the lights in the windows. I do appreciate the extra lights during this dark season.

I have to admit, when we got the artificial tree five years ago when Tom had his hip replacement surgery right before Christmas, I thought it would be a temporary fixture and that we'd go back to "real" trees. We haven't. I like the convenience of being able to put the tree up in a flash. It is already "lit," and we can leave it up for several weeks with no needles dropping. The only thing I really miss is the smell of the pine needles in the house. The tree we selected is the perfect size for the house, and once decorated, it is very real-looking.

Meanwhile, for some fun, we have started watching "Modern Family" on Netflix. It's as funny as people told me it would be. I recommend it. Bye bye, now.

[Photo credit This photo was found on Flickr, HERE. Isn't it GORGEOUS?]

so much to watch . . . so little time

Well, actually, I don't DVR. I am more of a Netflix girl. Since we don't watch much television, and we are usually running several years behind when it comes to seeing any good shows, Netflix is the way to catch up quickly. We are currently watching As Time Goes By Series 1 and 2 (a British sitcom that ran from 1992-2005), Big Bang Theory Season 2 (Tom and Matt like this one), and Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 (oh my, these are painful and good). On the docket soon is to finish up Tracey Ullman's State of the Union Season 2, and we want to start Modern Family.

As we head into the long winter months, I will look forward to some cozy television time, and luckily, when you wait as long as we do to put something in the queue, you can watch shows uninterrupted by commercials, and "on demand."

life on mars

Ordinarily I wait until I finish watching a television series on DVD to blog about it. However, I am watching a series now that is so good after only two episodes that I am not going to wait to share this!

Recommended by my fellow BBC America-loving friend Susan, Life on Mars, is a sci fi/drama about a detective in Manchester, England who has a car accident in 2006 and finds himself back in the same police precinct in 1973. It ran for two seasons beginning in 2006. Like many good British shows, a U.S. remake came out a couple of years later.

The music in this show is fantastic! You know I wouldn't say that lightly. The selections are well placed within the episodes. As you might guess, David Bowie's music is prominently featured, along with many other groups, and I say this after only seeing two episodes thus far.

I'll admit I am a bit of a baby, and I don't enjoy shows that are violent. There are some scenes that have some violence, and truth be told, I did listen to part of last night's episode 2 while covering my head with a blanket. Still, the show is so interesting and well done that I am able to deal with the bit of realistic violence I've seen/heard.

The main character, Sam Tyler, is played by an excellent actor, John Simm. My second favorite character is Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister. There have been some very funny moments. At the same time, it is occasionally startling to see the depiction of how some things really were back in 1973. Some moments bring to mind the expression, "the more things change, the more some things stay the same," while other scenes illustrate how far we've come.

If you haven't seen this show, it is available on DVD from Netflix and I am sure other outlets or your local library. Do start with the BBC show. I have found that the originals of many shows re-made in the U.S. are good, but don't quite measure up.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include a link to this old classic music video by David Bowie: Life on Mars. Not incidentally, this came out in 1973.

long way round

Netflix poster child Nan reporting in. We are nearly finished watching a very exciting and enjoyable television documentary series entitled Long Way Round (2004). I highly recommend it. This series chronicles actor Ewan McGregor and his best mate, actor Charley Boorman, as they take a life changing motorcycle trip. They travel from London, through Europe, Slovakia, Kiev, Russia, Kazakhstan, Russia again, Mongolia, north east to Siberia, with a flight to Alaska, through Canada, along the Rockies, through the U.S., (Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, New York State, NYC), and then a flight back to London!

Ewan and Charley are charming and spirited (if not incredibly privileged) and they take the viewer through a wonderful adventure with breathtaking vistas, all sorts of quirky experiences, and many challenges. While these guys don't fully measure up to one of my first loves, Michael Palin, and his documentary series of travels around the world, they are endearing in their own rights.

Among the most memorable segments were Ewan and Charley's visit to the UNICEF program in Kiev, Ukraine, their travels through Mongolia, the difficulty of traveling the Road of Bones (named for Stalin's prisoners who died while building the road across the Russian Far East -- Central Siberia), and their emotional arrival at Magadan. Also interesting was the realization that one stop on the film as the two traversed New York State en route to New York City was a spot where Tom and I had stayed on Oquaga Lake, in Deposit, New York, several years ago. We recognized the place immediately. What a truly small world it is.

As has been my experience with the traveling I have done, or the traveler's I've met, people tend to find a common humanity in interacting with one another, no matter how different we seem to be. The following thoughts by Ewan as he reflected during the trip really stood out for me:

. . . we've come this far. And people's faces have changed. And people's beliefs may have changed. But ultimately, we all love our kids; we all need somewhere to sleep; and we all need some food. We're not all that different, you know?

Enjoy the trailer, below. While he was in the background much of the time, the work of cameraman Claudio von Planta was outstanding, and he was an integral part of the team. I have to also acknowledge the important contributions of both Ewan and Charley's wives (Eve and Olivia respectively), who stayed back with their children, and allowed their partners to have an experience of a lifetime and share it with the rest of us.

We'll be looking into the follow-up journey, entitled Long Way Down, which chronicles a 2007 trip through 18 countries from Scotland to Capetown South Africa. (Thanks, also, to Stereophonics, for their great lyrics and soundtrack to this series.)

improbable spotless mind

Clementine: This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon.

Joel: I know.

Clementine: What do we do?

Joel: Enjoy it.

Last night we watched a movie that had been in the Netflix queue for years. (Yes, years.) The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind came out in 2004, and won an Oscar for Best Writing/Original Screenplay. I am so glad to have finally seen it, because it was an excellent and complex movie that had me thinking periodically throughout the night and into this morning. It stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in roles unlike any I'd seen them in before, and think again if you think that Carrey is only a comedic actor. He is the real deal in this film, and Kate Winslet earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance.

I don't typically write spoiler reviews, but I think a plot summary is important in this case, and even with a summary, I couldn't possibly convey what this movie has to share. The basic premise is that human beings will go to great lengths to block out grieving, and in the process of trying to erase pain, beautiful memories are erased as well. The grieving in this case is due to the end of a romantic relationship. The characters decide to have a medical procedure done to erase the memory of one another. As you might expect from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) the film is rich in disjointed sequencing that makes you laugh, think, and remember. Just as the characters are are conscious of the process of forgetting and remembering, I as a viewer found myself conscious of my own mind working to remember things within the movie. I found unraveling this exquisite cinematic layering to be completely satisfying. One is constructing meaning in parallel process, which is how the brain works, constantly decoding experiences so that we can make sense of them.

One review that I read suggests that this movie gets better the more one thinks about it. I believe that. The Netflix label called this an "off-beat romantic comedy." That is misleading. They are marketing the disc, because saying that this is a quirky, philosophical film is not going to attract viewers. There are some very funny scenes, and certainly there is homage to romance, but it is definitely a movie with twists and turns. I found myself paying attention to details, listening and searching for clues as I watched, trying to construct the meaning. It does come together.

Without saying anything more that might spoil the experience if you haven't seen it, let me recommend this movie. (You can see a trailer at the Rotten Tomatoes link above, or at IMDb.) Watch it when you aren't tired. I think you'll think about the idea of the cost of what we lose when we block out pain. Within the very idea of sunshine is the knowledge that it isn't always present. It is appreciated because we have an absence of light and warmth at times. Give me my less than spotless mind any day.

*Post Script -- I've added a new post label that will probably get added to most posts about movies. It's called, "just like this train" and it is a reference to some lyrics in a Joni song by the same name in which she talks about always running behind the time, just like this train. Since I sometimes "discover" movies (or books) several years after they've gotten critical acclaim, it seemed appropriate. I'll have to go back and add the label to a number of posts now. Ha ha.