I Want Wednesday

I want to not worry about money. I just spend just over $100 at Macy's for more than $200 worth of clothes (and a birthday gift for a friend). I was proud of my bargain hunting, of how I chose clothes that will not only be OK on Fat Gal but also look fine on (hopefully) Slimmer Gal.  Then I found out that my trip to the dentist (my estimated oop cost: $600 for a new crown) might require an extra $800 trip to a periodontist! Yes, I know I could return the clothes but I really do need some/most of the pieces, and I'll never get them at these great prices again.

And the long-term care insurance I bought -- which I believe is a wise (pardon the phrase) long-term investment -- will be a short-term bite in the ass. $1020/year for a $78,000 benefit, which will be adjusted for inflation, still makes sense, but that extra $85 every month will hurt. The older I get, the more expensive LTC coverage becomes, and it's fiscally responsible to buy it now. I just don't wanna.

So obviously today, I'm bringing brown-bagging my lunch. And praying it doesn't snow that much. I paid $300 for my mom's snow removal -- which covers four visits of the plow. I'm hoping that Mother Nature is sympathetic to my plight and allows that to carry me through Valentine's Day.

Change is NOT always good

My Chicago Cubs plan to fuck with that enduring tabernacle of baseball, Wrigley Field. I am not happy.

Do we really need a Budweiser Patio that features "LED signage and can accommodate 150 people?" Hell, no! Of course it has not escaped my attention that the Cubs don't care what I think. The owners believe that they need to renovate/modernize the park and bring in extra revenue with sponsorship.

Cub Con was this past weekend and fans were assured that this abomination will not interfere with any of Wrigley's landmark features, such as the ivy or the scoreboard.

Well, that takes a little of the sting out of it. But I'm still not happy.

I wish I'd gotten to see this

Bonnie and Clyde opened on Broadway in November and closed by year end. Too bad, because I am intrigued. First of all, it's a great story for this economic climate. Our morals go a little wacky when times are tough. And, in a world where Kardashian is a household name, the blurring of fame and infamy sounds right for the times, too.

Then there's the staging. A story that depends on violence and car chases on stage? Let's see how they do that.

And finally, which B&C story do they tell? Is this the landmark movie brought to the stage? Is it closer to reality? Or is it a third spin?

Damn, I wish I'd gotten to see this!

Mitt Romney is a good and decent man

... with whom I disagree on just about everything. Especially his desire to cut programs that benefit the poorest among us, rather than raise taxes.

But I bristle when I hear that he's anything but a good and decent man. For there is no evidence to the contrary. None.

This post is born of my experience working for Senator John Kerry's campaign. A genuine war hero* who became a pacifist at heart, a sensitive intellectual who could eloquently argue against the death penalty, he was the clear, correct choice for President in 2004.

Yet he lost because of the way the Bushies painted him. He was cold. And weird because he could speak fluent French and has a foreign born wife. Because he didn't mention Baby Jesus in every sentence, his faith was questioned. Because he was nuanced and would compromise to gets bills passed, he was a "flip flopper." And when he deviated from his prepared text -- which, unfortunately, he did a lot because he's smart and got bored giving the same speech over and over and over and over again -- he flubbed and flubbed badly.

In short, he's not that different in superficial ways than that other man from Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. Who can speak French, who isn't "Christian enough," who was more liberal when governing in his very liberal home state than he is nationally, who has been known to say stupid things when he speaks off the cuff.

I trust Barack Obama will not stoop to Bushie tactics and paint Mitt Romney as cold and weird, as anything other than a good and decent man with whom he disagrees. I will be desperately disappointed in my President if he does so, for it's no better than the conspiracy theorists who insist he's from Kenya, or call him a Marxist/Socialist, or question his patriotism.

And I hope my fellow Democrats will remember what happened to Sen. Kerry (although because he's not a beloved figure, they may have forgotten) and watch the personal attacks on Mitt Romney. They are irrelevant and worse, they are wrong.

I hope Barack Obama wins reelection this fall, but I hope he does it in a more honorable way than George W. Bush defeated Sen. Kerry.

*Don't get me started about the Swiftboating. Don't. That was fucking criminal.

What's all the fuss?

Yesterday afternoon I snuck out to see Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep. I never was a fan of Margaret Thatcher's, and still am not. That "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" philosophy doesn't include those who don't have boots. But that's not the point of my post.

Meryl Streep rises above a pretty mediocre film. The narrative is all over the place. Some very dramatic personal moments -- such as a bomb attempt on her life or her husband giving her two strands of pearls to commemorate the birth of their twins -- are glossed over and don't have the emotional wallop they should have. I'm still not sure what the movie was trying to say.

But Meryl Streep humanizes a woman whose public persona was, for me, at least, lacking in humanity. She shows her as trailblazer who often got her feelings hurt, a mother who consciously made tough personal choices, a wife who loved her husband dearly. And her fragility now, as she fades into senility, is very touching.


Critics seem to feel that it's not right to show this formidable conservative icon as she (apparently) is today. Well, get over it. She's a historic figure. Much as I revere JFK, I don't complain when he's shown with other women or (worse) with his brains flying through the air. It happened. Every life has an arc -- a beginning, a middle and an end. Every life has good and bad, exultant and embarrassing.

If this mess of a movie is historically accurate, Maggie's supporters should just get over it. And thank Meryl Streep for making her more likable than I thought possible.

Will it ever stop haunting me?

I have a swing top wastebasket in my bathroom. Today, while I was showering, gravity did its thing and the top moved a little. I heard it and pulled the shower curtain aside in terror. Yes, even though I'm on the fourth floor, behind a locked door in the lobby, a locked door by the elevator and a locked front door, I still half-expected to see Norman Bates' "mother."

I saw Psycho at least 40 years ago, and that one scene still scares me pissless. Literally. (Cut me some slack! I was in my own shower!)

I can't believe this is real

This isn't a Hollywood special-effects portrayal of Titanic. This is real. And more terrifying than I can imagine.

From Businessweek.com: The captain of a Carnival Corp. cruise liner may have made “very serious judgment mistakes” before and after his ship capsized off Italy’s Tuscan coast, killing at least 5 people, the ship’s operator said.

Costa Crociere, the Carnival line that runs the ship, said “it seems” Captain Francesco Schettino sailed too close to the island of Giglio and didn’t follow company emergency procedures, according to a statement yesterday. Schettino was arrested and accused of manslaughter, abandoning the ship and causing the wreck late on Jan. 13.

Rescuers are still searching for as many as 17 people missing from the Costa Concordia. About 60 people were injured after the ship carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew hit submerged rocks in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The ship’s insurers may face total costs of about 405 million euros ($512 million), said one person with knowledge of the policies.

“In terms of physical damage, this will be one of biggest claims around,” said Eamonn Flanagan, an insurance analyst at Shore Capital Group Ltd. in Liverpool, England.

Two bodies were found onboard yesterday, said Stefano Giannelli, a fire department spokesman, adding to the three known to have perished. Teams found two South Korean passengers in a ship cabin at 3 a.m. local time yesterday and saved a crew member on the third deck, Giannelli said.

About 60 firefighters are deployed in the search operation that will continue “all night long,” Giannelli said. Rescuers have searched one third of the ship, said. Four tourists -- two French, one Italian and one from Spain -- and a Peruvian crewmember are known to have perished, the Civil Protection unit in Grosseto said in an e-mail statement.

My Christmas gift to myself

I bought myself another, newer DVD of The Way We Were. This one includes deleted scenes. And Streisand is right, director Sydney was wrong -- the deleted scenes were important and would have made the movie so much better.

Especially the scene (4:55) when grown-up, married, pregnant Kate Gardner drives past UCLA and sees a young girl who reminds her of her younger self, Katie Morosky. And she realizes how far she has come, how much of herself she has suppressed, in order to have this man and this life. And how much is costs her.

I can't shut up about what matters to me. When I do, I don't like myself. When I do, I feel hollow and lonely, even if I'm in a crowd. Of course, there's a cost to this. But this scene reminds me there's a cost to every decision.

I also like the extra smoochy scene and the scene where Katie offers to leave Hubbell so that he won't have a subversive wife to endanger his career.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Never Ending Meme, Part Two

21. Did you go to your high school prom? I went to a prom, but it wasn't my own senior prom.

22. Perfect time to wake up? Before 7:00

23. Perfect time to go to bed? Whenever

24. Do you use your queen right away in chess? I don't play chess

25. Ever been in a car accident? No. I'm sure the fact that I don't drive has something to do with this

26. Closer to mom or dad…or neither?  Mom

27. What age is this exciting life over for you? I don't think it's up to me.

28. What decade during the 20th century would you have chosen to be a teenager? The 1960s

29. Favorite shoes you have EVER owned? Oh, they were perfect. Black, of course. About 2" chunk heel. A silver buckle across the front. In short, the coolest, most beautifully updated pilgrim shoes. I loved them, could wear them with anything. Sigh.

30. Do you have an article of clothing you have had since you were in high school? No.

31. Were you in track and field? No

32. Were you ever in a school talent show? No

33. Have you ever written in a library book? No

34. Allergic to? Bee sting

35. Favorite fruit? It changes. Right now, bananas.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: I Know I'm Losing You

1. Have you ever still been in a relationship that you knew was ending, but you hung in with it anyway? If yes, why? Yes. I loved him, and I kept hoping it didn't have to be this way. But it did.

2. Tell why people around the world should be completely enthralled by you. I am loyal and smart and tougher than I look.

3. Other than where you live, what's your favorite city and why? Boston. It's a beautiful and historic city, easily walkable, and it has a great old ballpark.

4. What is something you are really passionate about? Oh shit, just about everything. I don't have a lot of different speeds. My best friend once told me he wished he cared about anything as much as I seem to care about everything. I love that he appreciates that about me. A lot of people don't, and find it tiring. (This explains my almost fetishist attachment to a certain character played by Streisand in a certain movie.)

5. What has been your most exciting prize that you've won? When I was in third grade, I won $10 (about $50 today) from the local newspaper for an essay I wrote, nominating my teacher as Teacher of the Year. It was my first taste of fame and got me thinking that I could paid for dumping words on paper.

6. Do you think there was there a second gunman behind the grassy knoll? No. And believe me, I've given it a lot of thought.

7. What was the silliest, most fun, crazy or impractical gift that you received? Nothing springs to mind.

8. What was the most practical gift that you received? Socks.

9. What blogger has been in your blogroll the longest? How did you discover them? Book Mama. We were brought together by The Thursday Thirteen.

I wish John Forsythe was my dad

Andy Taylor used to be my fantasy father, but he's been replaced by Bentley Gregg, the main character of Bachelor Father.

Played by John Forsythe, Bentley is a well-to-do, never-married Beverly Hills attorney with a beautiful ranch house, a house boy named Peter, a dog named Jasper, and, suddenly, a teenage daughter. His niece, Kelly. She moves in with Bentley and Peter after her parents are killed in a tragic car accident.

The show ran from 1957 to 1962, and ended with Kelly enrolling in college. I imagine that Bentley was something of a heart throb back in the day. The show's plots all seem to revolve how irresistible he finds women, and how they feel the same way about him.

But I love how he talks to her. He always calls Kelly, "darling" or "dear." He takes her seriously and listens to her. He knows all her friends and all her friends' parents. He encourages her in everything she tries to do.

Sigh. When I watch reruns and find myself jealous of a girl on Bentley's arm, it's always Kelly I'd like to switch places with.

I like my doctor

She's so great. She's the one who discovered the problem that had been plaguing me for months last summer, the one that my gynecologist had dismissed as menopause or depression but was really a very long, very fat cyst.

Today I had my regular old physical, no big deal. We have no reason to suspect anything is wrong, but she took a blood panel anyway, just to see if I still need cholesterol meds. While we were talking, she revised the order for blood work to check for some other things. My "incipient fatigue." While I'm feeling better than I was a year ago, I still tire so easily. She thinks it might be thyroid or, failing that, she'd like to investigate my sleep patterns. She thinks that a sleep disorder may be interrupting my restorative sleep and messing with my metabolism.

She listens to me. She doesn't give up until she gets to the root of the problem. She wants me to have the best quality of life I can.

She's so cool.

It's just SNOW, people!

I admit I'm grumpy right now.

First of all, I'm taking tomorrow off for my annual checkup. I told everyone about this last week. I have a plan for getting all my work done -- nothing is falling through the cracks. I've got this, people! Just leave me alone and let me work and everything will be fine tomorrow in my absence, I promise.

Also, it just started to snow. We're supposed to have about 2" by evening rush. Yes, Mother Nature is making it inconvenient but 1) it's not really that bad if you take public transportation to work, which most everyone here does and 2) snow in Chicago in January is hardly newsworthy.

One of my coworkers, who lives within walking distance of the office, is really grating. First of all, a California girl, she really doesn't like snow. Then don't live here. Secondly, she's always been upset that I have a window and she doesn't. So when she just walks in here, unannounced, to look out my window at the (gasp!) snow, I'm annoyed. And when she makes a huge display of having to step over my brief case and my gym bag and my purse to get to the window, I want to scream. Sorry if I have set my office up for my convenience, not yours.

If I sound like a bitch, I apologize. It just feels good to take a moment to vent my voluminous spleen.

Thursday Thirteen #154

THIRTEEN VERY BAD

BAD GUYS

The American Film Institute (AFI) is one of the best-respected not-for-profits devoted to the arts. It was founded to honor, preserve and promote movies, one of the most uniquely American art forms. Every now and again, to drum up support, they turn to the film historians and critics and put together one of their Top 100 series. I love these lists.

Today I'm throwing a klieg light on the top 13 of their 100 Villains list.


1) Hannibal Lecter. He who likes fava beans and a nice chianti. Silence of the Lambs. (Anthony Hopkins)

2) Norman Bates. The ultimate "mama's boy." Psycho. (Norman Bates)

3) Darth Vader. You know, Luke's father. Star Wars. (David Prowse and James Earl Jones)


4) The Wicked Witch of the West. "Surrender, Dorothy." The Wizard of Oz. (Margaret Hamilton)


5) Nurse Ratched. "If Mr. McMurphy doesn't want to take his medication orally, I'm sure we can arrange that he can have it some other way." One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Louise Fletcher)


6) Mr. Potter. The mean old man who tried to bring down the Bailey Building and Loan. It's a Wonderful Life. (Lionel Barrymore)

7) Alex Forrest. She'll boil your bunny if you don't watch out! Fatal Attraction. (Glenn Close)


8) Phyllis Dietrichson. An unhappy wife with a dangerous knowledge of how insurance policies work. Double Indemnity. (Barbara Stanwyck)


9) Pazuzu. Otherwise known as Satan. The Exorcist. (Linda Blair and Mercedes MacCambridge)


10) The Evil Queen. She who talks to mirrors and poisons apples. Snow White and the 7 Dwarves. (Lucille Laverne)


11) Michael Corleone. Well, I think Fredo had it coming. The Godfather, Part 2. (Al Pacino)

12) Alex Delarge. A music lover, a big fan of "Ludwig Van." A Clockwork Orange (Malcolm McDowell)

13) HAL 9000. A very unhelpful computer. 2001: A Space Odyssey

For more information about the Thursday Thirteen,

or to play yourself, click here.

WWW Wednesday

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading? Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro. It's heartbreaking, purely heartbreaking, and very well written.

• What did you recently finish reading? My Fair Lazy by Jen Lancaster. Funny and silly. Pure fluff.

• What do you think you’ll read next? Probably Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell. She and I have a love/hate relationship. I'm so fond of Kay Scarpetta that I keep returning to the series, even though I'm invariably disappointed by her later efforts.

I liberated this from Kwizgiver. But if you want to play along yourself, you should click here.

Can't wait to play with it

I'm $1600 lighter, but immeasurably faster and more modern.

I Want Wednesday

I want my niece to always be this happy. She gets along well with her dorm roommates, has found love with a townie, and breathlessly told me today about the new culinary technique she "mastered." I know her life will have ups and downs -- as everyone's must -- but if only she could stay put in this glorious chapter of her life for as long as possible.

The Sound of Silence

No access to a computer tonight! The contents of my old Mac are being transferred to a spanking new Mac overnight. What will I do with myself? Sure, I can check my email from my phone. But Facebook and Twitter and Blogger are all so frustrating on that tiny screen.

I feel like Ma Joad.

Let's hear it for the gal!

My job is to advertise financial services. You have no idea how difficult that's been for the last four -- count 'em, four -- years. I'm working in a sector where regulations change regularly* and where public trust has declined. I've endured layoffs and reorganizations and rumors of even more layoffs and reorganizations. I don't deny it's been tough.

Which is why I want to take a moment to enjoy this ...

• My client reports that our recent direct mail effort has done better than any campaign since 2007.
• The product line I concentrate my efforts on exceeded projections, the only one at the company to do so.

I am happy. Happy, happy, happy. Happy that my efforts were successful, and that perhaps the worst of this Recession is behind us!

And grateful. Now I don't have to worry (so much) about the blade at my neck!

*I'm not saying they shouldn't, I'm just observing that the changes make my day-to-day more challenging

"That poor girl"

I feel so bad for Lisbeth Salandar, the heroine of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Yes, it's a brutal movie and an exceptionally well-crafted thriller. But I spent much of the movie thinking, "That poor girl." And not Harriet, the girl whose disappearance is the catalyst for the action. Lisbeth. The hacker, the human weapon, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I was unprepared for how much I would care for her. Especially since she so clearly wants to no sympathy or understanding.

There is a moment when she is playing chess and says, with quiet pride, "I have made a friend." I almost cried.

I'm not eager to pick up the trilogy that gave Lisbeth life. The violence is too much for me. At times I viewing this movie felt like an ordeal and I don't imagine that I'd be any more comfortable with the subject matter on the page.

But I appreciated the movie on its own terms. And I don't know if it was the screenplay, Rooney Mara's performance, or the way Daniel Craig responded to her, but the character of Lisbeth Salander touched me.

BTW, I really cannot stand Robin Wright. I don't know why. She's very pretty and is aging gracefully. There's just a soullessness about her that gets on my nerves. Even when she was Princess Buttercup. Oh well, her role in this movie isn't that big and she does no real damage. I just wonder what it is about her that annoys me so.

Happy Birthday, Your Highness

Today is the birthday of America's only king. Hope you observed it accordingly.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Never Ending Meme, Part One

Cheers to all of us thieves!

1. Song that always makes you sad? "Have I Told You Lately" was "our" song, only we didn't last.

2. Last thing you bought? A cardigan from Old Navy.

3. Last person you argued with? My friend in the Keys. We agree to disagree on Mass. Sen. Scott Brown. While we both hope Elizabeth Warren wins that seat, my friend thinks that Brown made up the stories of childhood sexual abuse he recounts in his biography to make himself more sympathetic, that it's suspicious Brown told no one about these incidents at the time. I believe Brown and know my friend is being unfair. 
 
4. Do you put butter before putting the peanut butter on? Yes.

5. One of your stuffed animals’ names as a kid? My Lassie dog was my best friend and confidant.
 
6. Did you ever at one time own a Barenaked Ladies CD? Maybe You Should Drive.

7. Favorite day of the week? Friday.

8. Favorite sundae topping? Hot fudge.
 
9. Did you take piano lessons? No.
 
10. Most frequent song played? I completely love this song by Amy Winehouse, and was thrilled to discover her original version on her newest (and, alas, last) CD.





11. T.V. show you secretly enjoy? People's Court. I watch it whenever I'm home from work on a weekday.

12. Would you rather play basketball or hockey? No, but thank you for asking.

13. Date someone older or younger? Yes.

14. One place you could travel right now? Chateau Elan in Atlanta. I'd love to go back some day

15. Do you use umbrellas? There are people who don't?

16. Do you know all the words to the Canadian national anthem? "Oh, Canada, my home and native land ..." That's it.

17. Favorite cheese? Cheddar.

18. The Smith’s or The Cure? No, but thank you for asking.

19. Do you prefer blondes or brunettes? I like boys with dark eyes and dark hair.

20. Best job you ever had? I loved working on new product launches for a hair care company. It was fun.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Nobody Told Me

1. When you grew up were you ever told how to deal with problems? I was raised by good, 1950s-vintage WASPs. There is no problem so big or so complicated that cannot be ignored or denied.
 
2. What was your first apartment like? It was tiny, in a big, beautiful old apartment building run by a not-so-beautiful old janitor who could argue about anything. For example, my apartment had 3 rooms: kitchen, living room and ... what to call that third room? When I called him to report the roof was leaking in "the bedroom," he snapped, "You don't have a bedroom. That's the dining room." To which I responded, "It's the room with my bed in it." At first, because I was so young, his attitude upset me. After a while, I began getting perverse pleasure out of bugging him.

3. What was the first car you owned? A big, green Impala that I never could parallel park.
 
4. Tell us about a crush or relationship that you had at high school. Mr. Cary. He was quite exotic (meaning not a WASP), with a full head of curly black hair. When he'd scratch his head, his arm would disappear to the elbow. He taught English and I'm fortunate that he was the one who introduced me to Shakespeare. He was colorful and imaginative and I spent a year enthralled by him (and then-Cub Joe Pepitone). Thanks to this question I googled him and discovered he went on to successfully teach theater at a major university out east. I'm not surprised. Though it took me a moment to recognize the man in photograph (for, like Joe Pepitone, he has lost his hair).

5. Have you ever had an “enemy” in your life? Professionally, many. Currently it's the co-worker I call The Chocolate-Covered Spider. She's just always right and I'm just always wrong. I wish I didn't let her get under my skin so.

6. What were you doing the first night that you got drunk? Here's an unsavory little saga: It was the summer I was 15. I'd been sitting a lot for Margot, the baby of a neighborhood couple, Joe and Mary. They were both 22. I thought they were the coolest people on the planet. She painted in the garage, rendering the acrylic versions of the portraits that came with The Beatles' White Album. He read Ralph Bakshi comic books. They threw a big bash for Margot's first birthday and invited me. Joe introduced me to Harvey Wallbangers. After a couple hours of summer heat and vodka, I was very tipsy. OK, I was plastered. Joe walked me home and, apparently, tried to kiss me goodnight in a way that was neither neighborly nor paternal. I have no first-hand knowledge of this, as I was very drunk, but my mother had been waiting up for me. And saw. And called me in, rather emphatically, through the screened window. Once I got into the house, and the air conditioning, I got nauseous. I remember her standing over me and yelling and scolding as I emptied the contents of my stomach into the porcelain. Needless to say, my mom saw to it I never sat for Joe and Mary again. However I wonder what would have happened if she hadn't dragged me into the house. I suspect that I would have puked all over his shoes, which might have dampened his ardor even more than my mother's voice through the screen had.

7. Ten years ago, what was you job and did you like it? I had a similar role at a different agency. I made more money but worked much harder, had more stress, and while I got off on the adrenaline rush I was en route to burn out and exhaustion. To borrow from John Lennon, I had to get off the merry-go-round, "I had to let it go."

8. What movie had the biggest impact on you as a child and why? Mary Poppins, because it was the first movie I ever saw in the theater. I remember everything about it … once the coming attractions ended, the heavy red curtains closed, then reopened, and there they were, the rooftops of London! Magic! I have loved going to the movies ever since.

9. What are your plans for this weekend? I really have to take these Christmas decorations down ...

Not the reaction I thought I'd have

My mother tells me that our family patriarch is fading fast. He is frail and his memory comes and goes. She doesn't expect him to live much longer.

I don't care.

This is not the reaction I thought I would have. For he molested me when I was in high school and continued to behave inappropriately toward me all the way into my 30s, when I finally decided I would not put up with it anymore. I have not been in the same room with him since.

My relationship with him was major and has had an impact across my entire life. So when I imagined this inevitable turn of events, I always thought I'd have a bigger reaction. Relief. Or maybe a desire for reconciliation/resolution. Nope. I don't feel anything that complicated at all.

Actually, my overriding emotion is annoyance. Because when the old bastard finally does kick, I'll have to get out of town. Fast. For if I don't have an emergency, albeit quickly fabricated, trip to visit a friend who needs me, I'll either have to attend his wake and funeral (most emphatically not happening) or just stay home. And that would put me in the position of either lying about why I'm not there or explaining to relatives that he fondled and tormented me, and I don't think they want to hear that.

So I have to go out of town to visit a friend. On short notice. The one I want is the one I always turn to when times are tough -- my best friend. He has a way of making my world make sense, no matter what is going on. But he's a straight man and I don't think (OK, I know) his wife wouldn't welcome my sudden appearance on their doorstep.

I'm actually thinking of a solo escape to Vegas. It's easy to book a last-minute flight and I could play some slots in the casino and get a massage and pedi in the salon while my family is busy eulogizing and planting the old boy.

I know this is a weird post, but this is a weird situation, isn't it?

Oh well, the old turd is still breathing. So I don't have to do anything about anything right now.

Thursday Thirteen #153

THIRTEEN MARILYNS

Last week I saw My Week with Marilyn at the beautiful Tropic Cinema and thought Michelle Williams was very moving as the movie icon. But she's just one of many to take on the role of Marilyn Monroe.

1) Michelle Williams is certain to get an Oscar nomination, and perhaps an Oscar for My Week with Marilyn. (2011) How ironic that Williams will get the respect from Hollywood for playing Marilyn that the real woman longed for.

2) Ashley Judd was very good as Norma Jean in Norma Jean and Marilyn, while ...

3) Mira Sorvino played the same woman as Marilyn in 1996's Norma Jean and Marilyn. Each lady was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for playing both periods of her life.

4) Catherine Hicks (yup, the mom from Seventh Heaven) won an Emmy nomination for doing an outstanding job in Marilyn: the Untold Story, while ....

5) Tracy Gold (yup, the sister from Growing Pains) played her as young Norma Jean in the same 1980 made-for-TV movie.

6) Poppy Montgomery of Without a Trace and now Unforgettable played Marilyn in Blonde (2001). Wish I'd seen this, for I think Montgomery is an underrated actress and I like the idea of Ann-Margret as Marilyn's grandma.

7) Charlotte Sullivan played Marilyn-as-mistress in three episodes of The Kennedys (2011) mini-series.

8) Sarah Lafleur played the same unsympathetic role in 2001's Jackie, Ethel and Joan.

9) Sophie Monk was Marilyn in The Mystery of Natalie Wood, a 2004 biopic about Ms. Wood's death.

10) Marika Taylor plays Marilyn in a docudrama called The Death of Marilyn Monroe (2002).

11) Holly Beavon had a small role as Marilyn in a 2001 James Dean biopic.

12) Barbara Niven played a sad Marilyn in the 1998 Rat Pack made-for-TV movie.

13) Heather Thomas of The Fall Guy played Marilyn in Hoover vs. The Kennedys (1987).

As with Jackie Kennedy in last week's TT, I find no actress as compelling playing Marilyn as the real Marilyn. The Prince and the Showgirl was kind of a suck movie, but Marilyn was luminescent, even in that ...

For more information about the Thursday Thirteen,

or to play yourself, click here.

The New Year's Movie Meme

I looooove reading about old movies, and was happy to find this blog, The Girl with the White Parasol. I am also happy to find a good meme to steal. If you play along, let me (and The Girl) know.

1. What is your all-time favorite Grace Kelly costume? The elegant LBD she wears to the cast party at the very end of The Country Girl. She finally gets to go all glam after wearing those off-the-rack outfits.

2. What classic film would you nominate for a remake? The Americanization of Emily (1964). The way the Iraq war was marketed to us with embedded reporters (remember poor David Bloom of NBC?) makes me think this is a story that could powerfully be retold for modern times.
 
3. Name your favorite femme fatale. Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). Though if she were here, I'm not sure she'd accept the title, saying, "I'm loud and I'm vulgar, and I wear the pants in the house because somebody's got to, but I am not a monster."

4. Name the best movie with the word "heaven" in its title. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957). Deborah Kerr is great as a nun who tries to reform and comfort soldier Robert Mitchum.

5. Describe the worst performance by a child actor that you’ve ever seen (since Laura gave me the idea). Cammie King as Bonnie Blue Butler in GWTW. Didn't even have to give this one a moment's thought.

6. Who gets your vote for most tragic movie monster? Frankenstein.

7. What is the one Western that you would recommend to anybody? Shenandoah (1965). Jimmy Stewart is a patriarch trying to keep his family out of the Civil War. The movie is kinda soapy, but Stewart is sublime.

8. Who is your ideal movie-viewing partner? For old movies? My mom.

9. Has a film ever made you want to change your life? If so, what was the film? It's from the 1970s, so I don't know if it qualifies chronologically as classic, but The Way We Were. I often (still) find myself tamping down the truest part of my personality to fit in, and I (still) always hate myself for doing it. I believe this is the 21st time I've mentioned that movie in this blog ...
 
10. Think of one performer that you truly love. Now think of one scene/movie/performance of theirs that is too uncomfortable for you to watch. Judy Garland. Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). I hate how she's the talented ("I sing, you know") but plain girl in contrast to Ann Rutherford and especially Lana Turner, because I have read how much those comparisons hurt her in real life.

11. On the flip side, think of one really good scene/performance/movie from a performer that you truly loathe. June Allyson in Little Women. I know, I know! She's not even really very good in that.
 
12. And finally, since it will be New Year's soon, do you have any movie or blogging-related resolutions for 2012? Nope. Sorry. Here I've just met The Girl with the White Parasol and I feel I've let her down.

I Want Wednesday

I want those Christmas decorations to magically take themselves down. I managed to un-holiday my office last night before I went home, but my home is still all covered in cards and evergreens. And then there's taking down the tree and putting the ornaments away! Ugh!

The beacon

I stayed at The Lighthouse Court Hotel, so called because it's right in the backyard of the Key West Lighthouse. Built in the mid-1800s, the lighthouse is more than 85 feet tall ... and we climbed all the way up and all the way down.


Even though I'm a big fat moo-cow, I'm still in pretty decent shape. At least compared to the other tourists who were sweaty and breathless when they reached the top. I guess hurrying up the train platform every day, twice a day, is good for me. And it turns out going down was more difficult than climbing up. Those narrow, circular steps were a little dizzying.

I loved the romance of the old lighthouse. The views on the way up were pretty, too. I enjoyed looking down at my hotel. We had a wonderful time.

Welcoming 2012 in Key West

 The weather down there was ideal. Simply terrific. Warm but not hot. Sunny but not blinding. I couldn't have been happier with the send off Mother Nature gave 2011 down in Key West.

I spent more time in the water this time than I have in years gone by. As you can see, my pedi met the Atlantic Ocean, and liked it a lot. I also swam in the charming little pool at my hotel. And at midnight, we returned to the pool and dangled my little pink toes off the deep end.

More about my vacation to come. Happy New Year, Blogosphere.

How I didn't welcome the New Year

New Year's Eve is a very big deal in Key West. Not only is there a giant shell that falls at midnight at Sloppy Joe's, one of Hemingway's favorite haunts, there's Sushi, who climbs into this stiletto and is dropped onto Duval Street as the new year begins.

I've been in this crush of people at least three times ... once at Sloppy Joe's and two times (or more) watching Sushi. And it's fun. But I'd rather not do it again. (I took the photo above myself, early on New Year's Eve. To see Sushi in action, watch the clip below.)

Notes from the road

It's pre-dawn in Key West. I'm taking this quiet opportunity to update this here ol' blog.

If you're flying down here, I recommend US Airways because you'll change planes in Charlotte. It's soooo much easier than Tampa and (UGH!!!!) Miami. I don't fly well at all, and knowing that making my connection will be convenient and uncomplicated really improves the quality of my whole trip.

This island is known for it's seafood and so far I've had a grilled salmon BTL (yummy!) and a lobster BLT. But my best meal, by far, was the banana chicken at 7 Fish. Really. I loooved it. If it was a man I woulda married it.

I am very happy to be with my friends here. It's been low-key, relaxed. They have had money/health problems in 2011, too, and so it's especially nice that we can be together, all on the mend. Knowing this may be my last holiday down here, as my friend may have to leave for a new job, makes it a little poignant.

I don't even mind be awakened by a rooster every morning.

More musings next year ...

Thursday Thirteen #152

THIRTEEN JACKIES

I'm watching a perfectly dreadful made-for-TV movie about JBKO starring Tim Matheson as "Jack" and Joanne Whalley as "Jackie." It's historically inaccurate and dull, and yet I can't look away. There's just too much inherent glamor and drama in her story. Here are thirteen actresses who took a crack at the part:

1) Joanne Whalley as Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. (2000) "She was the 20th century's First Lady. Now see her for the woman she really was."

2) Katie Holmes in The Kennedys.  (2011) High production values and great hair wardrobe

3) Roma Downey in A Woman Named Jackie (1991) A very pretty, very delicate, Irish-born Jackie.

4) Sarah Michelle Geller in A Woman Named Jackie (1991). Yes, Buffy played her as a teenager.

5) Jaclyn Smith in Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981). Jackie as Jackie! Unfortunately Ms. Smith seems more like she's modeling iconic outfits than giving a performance.

6) Blair Brown in Kennedy (1983). Haven't seen this in a while, but I recall her as doing a good job in a supporting role.

7) Jodie Farber in JFK (1991). Mostly re-enacted those horrible moments of the motorcade.

8) Jill Hennessey in Jackie, Ethel and Joan: The Women of Camelot. She's OK, but it's a drippy adaptation of a crappy book. Great hair and clothes, though.

9) Jeannne Triplehorn in Grey Gardens. (2009) She was only in a couple scenes, but I thought she did a good job.

10) Jacqueline Bisset in America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story. (2003) Another Jackie-as-Jackie. This time, Jackie is a formidable matriarch.

11) Stephanie Romanov in Thirteen Days. (2000) I enjoyed this movie a lot, but I really don't remember her in it at all.

12) Juanin Clay in Robert F. Kennedy and His Times  (1985). A small part in a good mini-series about Bobby

13) Francesa Annis in Onassis: The Richest Man in the World. (1988) Jackie as American Ice Queen, in contrast to the passionate Maria Callas.


It occurs to me that no one has done a good job at capturing "Jackie Kennedy." Maybe because, as Jane Murphy wrote in The Huffington Post, the one who played her best was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Intelligent, elegant and remote ... as I watch this clip I have no doubt that she is working very hard to 1) be a good reflection on her husband and 2) create an image that was as so charismatic and impenetrable that we wouldn't see the real woman, no matter how closely we look.

For more information about the Thursday Thirteen, 

or to play yourself, click here.

I Want Wednesday

I want packing to be easier than it is. I'm so bad at it. I always bring too much of the wrong stuff, and end up buying stuff when I get where I'm going.

Here's hoping I'm wrong about old Archie

OK, so maybe he's so politically naive/racially motivated that he believes Barack Obama was afraid to face Herman Cain in November because it would stop the Prez from "playing the race card."

And so what if he actually hopes the Supreme Court repeals the ban on DADT?

And yes, he picks fights with strangers at the Century City Mall because the people who work in the kiosks "harass women." And when he's not watching FOX News he's listening to Tammy Bruce.


My oldest friend is completely twitterpated by him.  She's seeing him again today. I hope it goes well because she's a woman who really does define herself by men.

For a year I have been trying to convince her to join a church or volunteer at the nearby family counseling center because she so desperately needs friends. Instead, she signed up for an online dating service. Now that she's met Archie, she actually volunteered at that very counseling center because, well, he does volunteer work. (She met her ex-husband at karate class, even though she hates being physically active ... I sense a pattern.)

He also works at a docent at a nearby museum. A museum she's never set foot in ... but you can bet she will now.

When I went out to visit her last year, the only dinner we had that wasn't Domino's or Subway was from In and Out Burger, and that's because I insisted. Yes, she lives in Beverly Hills and never eats out. But with him she will.

She's been there a year, and yet the only tourist-y thing she's done (and she's done it twice now because it's all she knows), is the Dearly Departed Tour that I took her on when I visited her last year. Now, perhaps, she'll take advantage of all Southern California has to offer. She complains about the traffic and the pace and the parking, but she's never been to a play, a concert, a TV-show taping or even the ocean. Even though all this is in her own, glamorous backyard. Maybe she will finally do that with Archie.

It worries me that his temper is so close to the surface. That he concentrates so much of his energy on hating on "them" (OWS, "the coddled/entitled generation", Barack Obama, gays in the military, and -- my favorite -- haters) because my oldest friend has one of the most coddled/entitled kids ever (think Mildred Pierce if Veda was a boy) and because she hates arguments and raised voices.

But look at Archie and Edith. Weren't they happy together? Maybe life will imitate art. As different as we are, I truly do love her and hope Archie brings her some contentment and companionship.

Loved this!

VisualDNA™ Personality Quiz

personality.visualdna.com

I'm a Harmonizer. It was fun and, I think, fairly accurate. While I answered all the aspirational/goal questions with exercise/fitness, I was happy to see how many decluttering responses there were. Makes me feel less freakish. (And less like a hoarder!)


Thanks to Snarkela for turning me on to it.