A minor breaking point in this pandemic

Today I broke down in tears about the pandemic for the first time. I've had lots of tears recently regarding lots of things (Black Lives Matter, personal stuff), but I hadn't actually cried because of the pandemic. And I feel weird crying about it because I am honestly very lucky: I'm white; I have enough money saved that it's OK if I don't have a full-time teaching job this summer; no one I know personally has caught the virus, let alone died from it.

And then kind of randomly, the film Maurice triggered me. The film overall was very powerful and beautiful and sweet, and, like many films, it has scenes of people socializing at large parties and in groups. I think partly because I was connecting so emotionally with the film in general, I started crying during one of these social scenes. After the film ended, I told Ari about my experience, and cried more. Later, while washing the dishes, I listened to the Death, Sex & Money podcast called "Skin Hunger: Part 1" which was all about how people who are living alone during this pandemic miss being touched, both romantically and platonically, by other people. I am lucky enough to live with a very affectionate husband, and I consider myself a fairly introverted person. Therefore, for the past three months, I have generally been quite happy reading books and watching movies and browsing the internet for hours every day, while giving and receiving daily physical touch.

Yet with the scary increase in COVID-19 cases recently, it's really hit home today that "we" are not back to normal yet, and our society should still be self-isolating as much as possible. It scares me to think about how long I will have to wait before gathering at a party with lots of other people while feeling carefree about it. I didn't think not being able to go to a party would feel this painful, but after more than three months of essentially staying home, it's hurting more than I ever expected.

Lynda Barry's Pandemic Diary Project

I am a recent convert to Lynda Barry and her awesomeness. During my time at home, I've been trying to do some of the exercises from her book, Making Comics, which I bought back in November 2019.

ANYWAY, the NY Times ran an article by Barry about how to remember this time, especially the period right when everything was changing, as there is "a particular clarity to the memory and feeling of the ordinary transforming into its opposite."

So, this morning I followed her exercise. I typed up some of my answers below. (I wrote them down in a notebook, originally. Also, I think we're supposed to do this exercise daily, like a true diary entry, but I will probably just do it once.)

"Scenes that come back to me when I think about started to change"

• Students in my class (about half?) wearing face masks. Some students wiping off their desks before sitting in them. 
• Joking with my coworker Scott on the way into the building about hoping the Coronavirus spread to USC so we wouldn't have to go to work. 
• Getting my nails done (on March 11, I think) in a salon (Nail'd It). No one was wearing face masks, but I remember thinking this might be my last chance to get my nails done for a while. 
• So much indecision re: flying up to visit college friends in the Bay Area (and celebrating Kaylan with a friends baby "sprinkle) the weekend of March 13-16. Decided not to go, ultimately. 
• Seeing First Cow (Kelly Reichardt film) at the Arclight Pasadena on Sunday, March 15. About three other couples there. Every other row was roped off. Theaters told to close the next day, I think.  Last movie seen in a theater before everything closed. 
• Monitoring cases n the Johns Hopkins map showing red dots wehre all the cases were. Kind of a big dot in Los Angeles. 
• Seeing that Pasadena had a confirmed case (in the LA Times) and wondering how concerned I should be.

Top Five Moviegoing Experiences - International Version

Today I'd like to share my favorite international moviegoing experiences (in chronological order, like the previous list).

1. Aladdin (1992) in Tokyo. This was the year my family was living abroad, and because movies were so expensive in Japan, my family literally only went to ONE movie in a theater that whole year. My Grandma Gene had sent me and my sister ALL of the Disney merch in advance of the film's release. I remember we had the step-up readers book, stuffed animals, and most importantly: the soundtrack, which we memorized and performed for our parents. I also remember I pronounced Jafar's name "Jaf-ee-ar" for some reason when I read the book. Anyway, to say I was primed to love the film is a bit of an understatement. I still remember feeling like I needed to pinch myself once the opening bars of "Arabian Nights" started (and I'm pretty sure I quietly sang along to all of the songs in the theater...).

2. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) in Bangkok. I got to live in Bangkok for a month after graduating from high school, since I had a friend, Pauline, who went there every summer to visit her dad. She invited me to come for part of the trip, and I was pretty lucky to have parents who agreed to allow me to go (despite the fact that I missed orientation for UC Davis!). Anyway, the movie itself was predictably terrible, but this experience stands out because before the film started, they played the Thai national anthem, and everyone in the theater had to rise and honor the king. The experience was bizarre; it was one of the times on that trip when I felt the most like a foreigner.

3. The Da Vinci Code (2006) in Göttingen, Germany. This was when I studied abroad in Germany for my junior year of college. I went to a decent number of films in Germany, but this one stands out to me for a couple reasons: 1. It was an "event" (I went with a group of American friends who had all read the book, so we were pretty excited to see the adaptation) and 2. almost all movies are dubbed in Germany (they don't like subtitles, apparently), so hearing Tom Hanks speaking German was super weird. I'd never realized how iconic his voice is! Also, in Germany, all movies that are longer than two hours have an intermission, so it was weird to experience that -- People buying beer and smoking in the lobby during those 10 minutes we had to hang out till we could go back into the theater.

4. Les Miserables (2013) in Surabaya, Indonesia. I lived in Surabaya for 10 months, teaching English as an English Language Fellow for the State Department. As with Germany, I went to the movies a lot during those 10 months, often as a coping mechanism for homesickness. I'm picking it out of all the movies I saw while in Indonesia because while I was watching the film, I remember thinking, "How much do these Indonesian audience members even know or care about the French Revolution??" while I was watching it. It was disorienting to watch a film about a historical event that felt so distant from the culture I was currently living in. Side note: As someone who did not grow up obsessed with this musical, this film did NOTHING to win me over. Good try, Hugh Jackman.

5. The Before trilogy (2014) in Paris, France. Once again, I am cheating, because I did not watch the trilogy in a movie theater. It was way better than that! On my first visit to Leah as a Parisian resident (she was living with her then-boyfriend, now-husband Urbain at the time), I had a wonderful time visiting all the usual tourist sights (the Centre Pompidou, Monet's garden, Versailles, etc.). But honestly, the best part might have been the day it poured rain and we decided to lie in bed and watch the whole trilogy back to back, projected on the wall. If you are a fan of this series, then you know. It was heaven.

Top Five Moviegoing Experiences

Wow, it's been a while since I posted here. Ever since our stay-at-home orders, I've been thinking about trying to blog a bit more. But unsurprisingly, I wasn't actually motivated to do it until I was inspired to write about movies.

So, a little background first. My favorite podcast is Filmspotting, and every week the two hosts do a top five, inspired by the film High Fidelity. This week, they discussed their top five moviegoing experiences, as a nostalgic look back on the days when we could actually go to movie theaters. Their list inspired me to create my own list. Once I'd started it, it became clear I needed a U.S. list and an "international" movie list (I love going to movies in other countries!!). Without further ado, here is the U.S. list, in chronological order.  (I'll post the international list tomorrow; this post got too long for two lists.)

U.S. Top Five
1. Titanic (1998) at the Mann Theater in Monrovia with Cammy. LEO! I distinctly remember not being able to stop crying after the movie ended. We went shopping at Mervyn's after (in the same strip mall as the theater) and I broke down in tears at least once amongst the t-shirts. So began my years-long obsession with Leonardo DiCaprio. (1998, I think -- I remember I didn't see it right when it came out at the end of 1997, because it was a debate with my parents about whether I was even allowed to see it or not.)

2. Fast and the Furious (2001) at the Krikorian in Monrovia with Cammy and her boyfriend Ed and his friend Mike. I think this is the closest I've ever come to a double date at the movies? My sophomore year of high school had just ended, and it was so fun to start off the summer by going see a movie with BOYS. The movie was perfect for a sort-of double date; I actually think I enjoyed it quite a bit. (I have zero interest in revisiting that film because...let's just keep the happy memory, right?)

3. Chicago (2002/2003) at the Pasadena Paseo. This was the year I camped out for the Rose Parade with a bunch of high school friends during our senior year. Billy McLellan and I were sick of the cold (and likely very bored), so we decided to go see the last showing of Chicago (I think it started at about 10:30pm) at the theater that was closest to where we were camped out. We had both already seen it at least twice already. Maybe one or two other people were in the theater with us?  We put the arm rests up, so we could lie down across multiple seats. Midnight struck while the film was playing, so we didn't even celebrate it, which was just fine with both of us.

4. Requiem for a Dream (2004? I think it was freshman year.) in Wellman Hall (?) on campus at UC Davis. This one is a bit of a cheat, because it wasn't in an actual movie theater. My friend Scott figured out that many of the buildings on campus at UC Davis were not locked at night, and you could just go into some of the lecture halls and project a movie onto the screen. So a group of us snuck in at least twice to watch both Reservoir Dogs and Requiem for a Dream. After that, I think the staff caught on and started locking the doors so we couldn't do it again. I am putting Requiem for a Dream as my main memory here, because I had a strong feeling of "...whoa" after watching it. Reservoir Dogs I disliked because it was too nasty and violent. Which--I mean, Requiem is pretty much equally violent and nasty. To be honest, I am not interested in revisiting either film. But sneaking in to watch these films with a bunch of my new college friends was thrilling.

5. Ran (2009) at Film Forum with Ari. So began my love affair with Film Forum (and with Ari!). This was my first time visiting Ari in New York City, and it was basically a perfect trip. It was also my first time spending time with Ari off the cruise ship, and my first time visiting NYC outside of a 4-day trip one other time in senior year of college. Ari played tour guide and took me to the repertory theater Film Forum, since he knew I was a budding cinephile. He picked Ran (a rather challenging pick, honestly), but it was perfect. When I moved to NYC a year later to start grad school, I became a member of Film Forum and basically caught a film there whenever I had free time. Film Forum remains the only theater I think of as "mine." 

6. Adding another one because I want to! Wonder Woman (June 2, 2017) at the Vista Theater in Los Feliz. I've never been a person who felt she had to see movies on opening day. But in summer 2017, Ari and I were doing a thing where we tried to explore a new area of Los Angeles (actually new to Ari, somewhat new to me) every Friday. We happened to be exploring Los Feliz on the day Wonder Woman opened, and we walked by the Vista Theater (a cool, old-fashioned one-screen theater) at the end of our exploration. We were planning to head home when we saw the line forming for the first screening of the day, probably around 1pm. I managed to talk Ari into buying a ticket and getting in line. This meant we had to wait in line (Ari hates waiting in line) for a good 45 minutes or so, but once we got in--and got really good seats!--I knew it was worth it. Everyone was SO into the movie and I had the experience so many women had of crying uncontrollably during some of the most bad-ass fight scenes with Wonder Woman. I am NOT a fan of superhero films in general, but this movie totally won me over.

My favorite films of 2018

I managed to see a lot of films that came out this year, thanks to the miracle of MoviePass (that has since mostly expired...although I still have a membership and continue to hold out hope that it will get better).

All in all, I saw about 50 movies, not including Netflix comedy specials, that came out in 2018. Here are my favorites, in no particular order:

• The Favourite
• Roma
• Blackkklansman
• First Reformed
• Shoplifters
• Tully
• Minding the Gap
• The Rider
• Private Life
• Sorry to Bother You
• Eighth Grade
• If Beale Street Could Talk

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I also posted them on my Letterboxd account.

I think I'd put Roma and The Favourite in the top two slots (I don't know which I'd rank higher!), closely followed by First Reformed and Sorry to Bother You. I haven't yet had a chance to see Cold War or Leave No Trace, which I have high hopes for.

Man, I'd say this was a good year for movies!

Wrapping Up 2017

Hey look! It’s the last day of 2017! I guess I should put something up here. I’ve got free time. I've got motivation. So! Here are my year-end thoughts, for those of you dying to know.

This year started off kind of rough for everyone in the U.S., but it felt especially so for me and Ari, because we were still living with my parents, after moving in with them *temporarily* in September 2016. It took us until March to feel comfortable looking for our own apartment. We hesitated mostly because Ari was having trouble finding a music teaching gig (or any kind of gig). But then he got a job he really likes, working with kids in downtown LA through the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.

The first couple of months of the year were rough politically and personally. But then we moved into our cute lil apartment in Pasadena (with a balcony! My dream!) and we both were working, and things started looking so much better. So much better, in fact, that I decided to propose to Ari in the summer (July 15^th to be exact, our 8-year anniversary), since I felt like things were pretty darn good. He’d moved to California pretty much just for me, and we had finally kind of found a place that we felt comfortable in. So, he said yes! Our wedding is Feb. 18, 2018! And totally coincidentally, the number 18 is the numerological representation of the word for “life” in Hebrew, so it’s considered an auspicious date, which is kind of cool.

I guess those were the two kind-of memorable achievements of this year for me – moving into our own place (20 minutes’ drive from my parents! Who’d have thunk I’d ever agree to THAT?) and getting engaged to Ari. I still miss New York City quite a bit sometimes (mostly the people; sometimes I miss the snowy, wintery weather), and I know Ari is not sure if he’s OK with living out the rest of our days in the Sunshine State. I am open to the idea of moving again when we decide to buy a house. I just really would like it to be somewhere that has indie movie theaters and doesn’t get snow…..

As I feel most of my friends (and the strangers I follow on Instagram) have been saying at the end of 2017: This year was a pretty terrible year for the world, but personally it has been pretty good. I guess we’ve all gotta keep fighting the good fight against this T character, but we can all love and laugh and enjoy life somewhat while we’re doing it, right?

OK, that is pretty much my wrap-up for the year, except for one more thing. I think I did a pretty good job of seeing new movies this year, so I have compiled a shortlist of my top five of 2017, in order.

1.     The Florida Project

2.     Call Me By Your Name

3.     Lady Bird

4.     The Big Sick

5.     Get Out

Honorable mentions: The Beguiled, Good Time, Logan Lucky, Wonder Woman

Overrated: Baby Driver, Dunkirk, Blade Runner 2049

Still want/need to see: Phantom Thread, The Post, Your Name, Personal Shopper

I wish you all a wonderful 2018! 

My lame-ass attempt at wrapping up 2016

So, as has been widely discussed on the Internet (and among real people), 2016 was not such a great year, speaking generally. I agree with this assessment, the biggest downer of the year being Trump's election. I was so conflicted and upset about it that I couldn't come up with a blog post about it, even though I wanted to write one. I couldn't decide if I wanted the post to have an optimistic, sad, or angry tone. I still don't know which tone to strike when I think about Trump or talk about the future of our country with friends. So...yeah. Time will tell, I guess?

Bowie's death was the celebrity death that meant the most to me this year, although Debbie Reynolds was a close second, due to my longtime love of Singin' in the Rain.

In happier, more personal news, this year Ari and I moved to Los Angeles. This was a change I'd been pushing for since 2013! I really didn't know if I would ever be able to convince Ari to do it, but I did. We gave away 90% of our stuff (we kept no furniture) and drove cross-country from New York to Monrovia, arriving at my parents' house on Ari's birthday, August  31st. As I type this we are still in Monrovia, living with my parents, partly because it's been hard for Ari to find work as a music teacher (he wants a full-time job) and also because my bosses at USC waited till the last week of the semester to tell me whether I was hired back or not (I got hired back! Yeah!).

Four months in to California life, Ari and I are still figuring out how to live in Los Angeles, and hopefully finding our own place to live in the next month or two will help make us feel more settled. It's going to be expensive, buying all that furniture. grumble, grumble. But so far the lack of true winter weather has been wonderful, and I love being near my parents and family. Ari's parents came out for a visit a couple of weeks ago, and his brother and sister joined us at San Clemente for New Year's. A lot of our closer friends are still in NYC or in northern California, but I know Ari and I will grow more comfortable and build our own community here, with time.

Other highlights from 2016:

-Visiting Cuba! Went to Havana for 5 days with my parents and my good friend Alicia as part of a people-to-people guided tour, before Cuba totally opened its borders to U.S. travel.

-Visiting Mexico City! This was an unplanned trip that I adapted to travel by myself after a trip to Acapulco with some work friends that fell through when there were shootings in the tourist area, and I couldn't get a refund on my ticket. Leah ended up joining me for a few days, and it was a great experience overall.

-Completing a half marathon! I ran it with my friend Anja in the Marin Headlands, in northern California. Beautiful weather and REALLY difficult, hilly terrain.


Now, onto my lists of the year!

Favorite books read in 2016 (not necessarily written in 2016):

• Under the Skin, by Michel Faber
• Bring up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel
• The Color of Water, by James McBride
• Pictures at a Revolution, by Mark Harris
• Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Nix, by Nathan Hill
• You'll Grow Out of It, by Jessi Klein 

Favorite new music from 2016 (I made the effort to listen to some new stuff):

• Lemonade, by Beyonce. Duh. 
• Skeleton Tree, by Nick Cave
• My Woman, by Angel Olsen (Favorite musician discovery of 2016: Angel Olsen) 

Favorite 2016 movies* (loosely organized in order): 

1. Manchester by the Sea
2. Everybody Wants Some!! 
3. Moonlight
4. One More Time with Feeling
5. Certain Women
6. La La Land
7. Hell or High Water
8. Arrival

*My FAVORITE movie of the year was definitely The Lobster, which came out in the U.S. in 2016, but is technically a 2015 film, since it took so long to reach us.

In popular culture

I bought the new Santigold album (new musician for me) and this song is my new favorite to jog to:

Also, just heard the news that Tessa Thompson has been cast in the latest superhero movie. There are SO MANY superhero movies and I'm SO SICK of them, but...I really like Thompson and I'm excited that this movie will be directed by Taika Waititi (of What We Do in the Shadows and Boy), so I may end up actually watching it. If it gets good reviews. 

Oscars Tonight!

I'm pretty excited to watch the Oscars tonight, because

1. I'm going to watch them with a bunch of people who are pretty much as excited as I am
2. I've actually seen ALL the Best Picture nominees, for the first time in my life!

I agree with the #OscarsSoWhite campaign to get more diverse people involved in every aspect of movie production, but I also agree that the real issue starts outside the Oscars, with the choices of movie executives and casting directors. In most ways, the Oscars nominees are just reflecting what is being put out there. Even so, I am happy to hear that the Academy is going to push through some apparently aggressive changes in its membership to increase the number of women and people of color. Here's hoping Oscars 2017 has a noticeable increase in diversity, and that it keeps going up from then on.

And now, MY choices for the winners for 2016 Oscars.

Best Picture: 
#1 choice: Spotlight
2. Brooklyn
3. The Big Short
4. Bridge of Spies
5. The Martian
6. Room
7. Mad Max
8. The Revenant - The Revenant is favored to win. Obviously, I am not so supportive of that.

I haven't seen all the performances for the rest of these categories, so I'm just picking based on what I've seen.

Best Actor: Matt Damon?
I don't really have a strong favorite here. I think Leo DiCaprio is great, but doesn't NEED an Oscar the way everyone says he does. It's not like he's close to the end of his career. The guy is 41 for crying out loud! And I am thankful that it looks like Redmayne will not win for The Danish Girl. That performance was not great.

Best Actress: Any of them
Really, I have seen all of these performances, and they are all amazing. I'm happy for any of them.

Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance
I REALLY liked him in Bridge of Spies. Apparently Stallone is favored to win from Creed, but I haven't seen that movie yet!

Best Supporting Actress: Rooney Mara
This is the one that I feel most strongly about in the acting awards, because Mara's performance in Carol basically convinced me that she is a good actress (I didn't really like her in previous movies like The Social Network or Side Effects). I don't think she's going to win though; the buzz is mainly for Alicia Vikander. I really like Vikander too! I just liked Mara's performance more.

Edited the day after the Oscars to add: YAY! Two of my top choices (Spotlight and Mark Rylance) won!!! Hooray for minor upsets!! 

Happy New Year!

We went to see Star Wars in IMAX 3D at Grauman's Chinese and it was TOTALLY worth it.

 

 Then we got a drink at a random  bar in the area (the only one without a cover or a line) and took this picture right before midnight. 

Here's to a great 2016! 

Katniss 4-Ever

"The success of 'The Hunger Games' series has been itself, in its bottom-line fashion, a rejoinder to another intolerant regime, that of a movie industry that continues to treat women on and off the screen as a distraction, an afterthought and a problem. A few months into its run, the second installment, “Catching Fire,” became the first movie with a lone female lead to top the annual domestic box office in four decades. That’s astonishing because it reveals the historical depths of the industry’s inequities even while it speaks to the audience’s embrace of this series. There are all sorts of reasons that viewers have flocked to these movies, including the studio hard sell, but I like to think the numbers prove that, in rallying to Katniss’s side, they’re also backing the other liberation struggle she has come to represent." -- Manohla Dargis's review of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 in The New York Times

I actually didn't fall in love with the Hunger Games books. The films are also flawed, but Jennifer Lawrence is truly great in them.  She elevates the material and makes me care about Katniss's character more than I expected I could. Here's hoping her role in these films pushes even more movie studios to cast strong female leads.

Going to see Hunger Games this weekend, because it's sometimes worth it to take part in these cultural touchstones as they are happening. (Paying a whole $17!)

The Pirate (1948)

One of my favorite genres of film is the cheesy (feel-good, if you will) classic Hollywood musical, especially the type made in the 40s and 50s.

The latest one I just watched was called The Pirate, and featured Judy Garland and Gene Kelly -- two of my favorites!

But this one was delightfully ridiculous. I'm not even going to get into the story here. I will let these pictures I took during my viewing of the DVD speak (mostly) for themselves.

This is the opening scene. That is Judy Garland's hat. She is not supposed to be a chef. 

Garland looks better here, but look at Gene Kelly's rather large and curly bangs! And that 'stache! 

And my favorite part - Gene Kelly dancing in very short shorts! My 12-year-old self would have died. 

One more for good measure. There was fire involved! 

And that is all. I hope you feel about these pictures the same way that I felt about the movie (read: I found it entertaining but rather bizarre)!

Cinephile

Can you tell I like to go to movies?

I carry all of these things around in my wallet because you never know when you might have time to pop into a theater and catch a good movie.*

*To be honest, I haven't actually been inside a movie theater in weeks! Thanks to the projector we now have at home, it has to be a pretty big deal for us to go out to watch something. But I will be taking my class to see the new Steve Jobs movie on Monday, so there's that at least. 

OMG

I forgot to post a blog yesterday!

And I didn't realize it for almost a whole day.

Well, in any case, I'm doing much better on this 30-day challenge than on the last!

Yesterday was really nice. Ari and I had a relaxing morning, then later in the afternoon we met our friends Jenny and Matthew for drinks at the rooftop bar of Whole Foods in Gowanus. Then, we went to dinner at Bar Corvo with a few friends and coworkers to celebrate my friend Carol's 30th birthday.

Today, I had brunch with my cousin Graham and his boyfriend Scott, at their adorable apartment in Bushwick. They made us breakfast! Then we came home and I basically napped for two hours, and Ari went to his church gig.

Then I FINISHED the LOTR SERIES! Huzzah! So Ari and I watched the final movie in the series as well. It was a good weekend.

It was 90 degrees today

So you'd think we wouldn't do much. But we went to the beach!

This is us taking the subway back, because I forgot to take a photo at the actual beach. 

After going home and showering and eating lunch, we went into the city and got delicious full-fat Haagen-Dazs ice cream! And then I went to a movie (The Third Man) at Film Forum while Ari played church. I admit I fell asleep for the first 20 minutes of the film because it felt so good to be a cool, dark, air-conditioned room after the beach. And then we came home and had dinner.

It was a good day. Supposed to be 91 tomorrow!

BTW, I wish I had more "deep thoughts" to post on this blog, but maybe this weather isn't conducive to critical thinking. Or I'm just lazy. 

Well, that was awkward.

Today, Ari and I had a really nice date night - we saw an early showing of Inside Out (we both really liked it; I might put it in my top two Pixar films of all time, with Finding Nemo), and then went to get Asian takeout to eat in Union Square before it got dark.

Then, right across from the bench where we were eating our dinner, a drunk frat boy started peeing. Ari yelled at him and his friend who was standing nearby, something like "Dude, there's a bathroom over there!" But they pretty much ignored us and walked away. Gross. We kept eating. Then, less than five minutes later they came BACK and the other guy started peeing. Again, right across from us, where we were trying to eat dinner. With other people around, trying to enjoy the evening. We yelled at them to stop it, and they ignored us again, so I got up and threw the remains of my food at the guy who was peeing. I can't really believe that I did it, and I admit it definitely wasn't the most mature thing to do. They ended up calling me a "dick" and then called Ari and me "fags," which was pretty hilarious. Thankfully, they did not try to start any kind of fight. And maybe they'll think twice about peeing in front of people trying to eat their dinner in a public park?

Yayyyyyy I'm one step closer to being a real New Yorker. But to be honest, despite that kerfuffle, Ari and I had a really nice evening!

Am I a geek yet?

I've been working on the Lord of the Rings books, partly as a favor to Ari (he has been asking me to read them for years) and partly because I just want to finally read them, and I figure summer is a good time to do it. I've finished book 1 and 2, and got about 60 pages into the third book before realizing that I just need a break from Tolkien.*

Despite feeling the need to take a break, I have gotten pretty involved in the story. There have been multiple points in both books where tears have been shed -- usually on the subway, which is when I get most of my reading done. I am not ashamed to cry to public! That's actually part of becoming a real New Yorker, I believe.

So this week, now that MAD MEN is done (*sob sob sob*) and we are not ready to try watching Breaking Bad again (it's gonna happen someday!), I suggested to Ari that we watch the first two LOTR movies, so that I can compare them to the books so far. I asked his permission to speak over the films and make comments about how the movies diverged from the books, and which parts I thought were done well, or poorly, and he agreed to let me talk during his precious movies. So last night and tonight we watched the first movie: The Fellowship of the Ring. And it was pretty darn good. Too many battle scenes and the orcs are really ridiculous, but otherwise, quite well done! Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson) is still my favorite. I had a crush on him in high school, and I have a crush on him now. He's pretty without being too pretty (like Legolas).

Anyway, that is my deep analysis of the movie. Once I finish the third book, I think I'll be done with fantasy for a while. Or who knows, maybe I'll give Dune a try. But first, I'm going to read something by Nora Ephron. I feel like that's about as far from Tolkien as I can get right now.

*To be completely honest, I also took a break midway through the second book to read The Girl on the Train. 

Playing Catch Up

One of the main reasons I haven't posted on this blog in quite a while is that I recently--well, six weeks ago--started working at another ESL school, and while I'm grateful to have more hours, I am still figuring out the balance of work. Add some snow days with mandatory make-up classes, and the week feels pretty long, with not enough time to grade stuff on the weekend before the next week hits.

So I've been feeling overly stressed the last couple of weeks, which is annoying. But today, in the middle of lesson planning, it just occurred to me how one of my favorite things about teaching is the fact that I am constantly trying to improve myself as a teacher. I never feel bored of teaching, because if it's starting to feel boring, I can change the lesson plan by taking the students to museum, or watching a movie with them, or playing a game that gets them moving around the room.

Because I'm constantly trying to improve myself (and trying not to compare myself too harshly with my co-teachers at Columbia who has taught ESL for 30+ years), I sometimes feel inadequate or like I'm not up to the task. But I try to remind myself that I'm doing the best I can, and it takes years to become the kind of assured teacher that I look up to--people like my mother, who has written her own pronunciation book, and my co-teacher Frances, who was the editor of the NorthStar book series (only ESL teachers know what that is!).

So I guess I wrote this post to say 1. I'm still keeping a blog! and 2. I'm still figuring out this whole teaching thing, but I think I like it!

Also, on a completely different topic, I secretly wrote this whole post so that I could add a note at the bottom about how THE OSCARS are on tonight. While I realize the Oscars are pretty dumb and out of touch and waaay too long, they are still FUN for me to watch. AND I saw six of the 9 nominees (Her, Dallas Buyers Club, Wolf of Wall Street, Gravity, American Hustle, and 12 Years a Slave), and I think they were all good, so I'm glad some good movies are getting some recognition. Just too bad that Llewyn Davis didn't get nominated for Best Picture, and that Her will pretty much definitely not win. (It's my fave.) 

Triple Whammy

I just went out to check the mail (which is now working just fine, as of last week, thanks), and had the best mail SCORE:

Three pieces of mail, all for me. 

1. First issue of the New Yorker subscription Ari got me for Christmas

2. An early birthday postcard from my sister Leah in France. First piece of mail from her! 

3. My new Netflix DVD, which I actually have time to watch tonight! (It's Ed Wood.)

In short, this week is going much better than last week. 

Please allow me to rave a bit

About the movie I saw today: The Young Girls of Rochefort (Original title: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort), from 1967. This film screened at Film Forum as part of a Jacques Demy retrospective, and the only thing I knew about Demy was that he made The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which I watched on a whim in undergrad, and found interesting enough and unique, if a bit vacuous. Lots of singing, very colorful, vibrant sets and costumes, and the beautiful Catherine Deneuve at the height of her charms.

So, I figured I'd go see this other film by him, since I knew it also involved music and dancing and Catherine Deneuve and awesome 60's design.

But I didn't know how awesome it would be. The plot was still pretty darn pointless, don't get me wrong. But that didn't bother me--this is basically movie escapism at its finest.

First of all, the two main characters are two sisters, played by actual sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac. One of them teaches ballet, the other one composes music and teaches piano. And they play like 6 instruments TOTALLY realistically: 

That song in the YouTube video gives you an idea of what the rest of the movie is like. Sure, it's over 2 hours, which is a little on the long side. But there's dancing! 

And Gene Kelly's in it! Dancing! And being overdubbed speaking French! (He also happens to be 30 years older than his love interest in the story, but...it was a different time?)

And randomly, the guy who played Bernardo in West Side Story (George Chakiris) is also in the movie, also dancing and ALSO overdubbed speaking French!  (He's the guy in the orange shirt.)

And everyone's singing is overdubbed! Hooray! 

But seriously, if this kind of movie doesn't drive you crazy with its saccharine ridiculousness, you will love it. Rent it. Or see it on the big screen if you can!

And BONUS if you want to watch another awesomely retro dance scene: