What I Watched -- Locke

I don't remember where I heard about Locke, but its premise immediately sounded interesting. 

The entire movie takes place in a car.  You're in the car with the driver, and get to listen in on his telephone calls.  That's all.

But you can learn a lot about a person when he is making life-changing phone calls in his car (I won't spoil it for you), and what is impressive about this movie is how wrapped up you can find yourself in how these calls are going to turn out.  It's a testament to Tom Hardy's skill, because I'm not sure just any actor could pull it off.

When Locke gets off the highway, you part ways with him, and that's the end of your eavesdropping.

Bottom line: an interesting conceit, well acted.

Franny and Zooey -- Final Thoughts

While I pretty much hated Franny and Zooey and never want to read any more Salinger, there were a few flashes of writing which perfectly encapsulate the tedium of the entire book which seem worth sharing.  Brace yourself.

From the third page, where Zooey is talking about the story he's about to tell:

"The plot line itself, to finish up, is largely the result of a rather unholy collaborative effort.  Almost all the facts to follow (slowly, calmly to follow) were originally given to me in hideously spaced installments, and in, to me, somewhat harrowingly private sittings, by the three player-characters themselves.  Not one of the three, I might well add, showed any noticeably soaring talent for brevity of detail or compression of incident.  A shortcoming, I'm afraid, that will be carried over to this, the final, or shooting version.  I can't excuse it, regrettably, but I insist on trying to explain it.  We are, all four of us, blood relatives, and we speak a kind of esoteric, family language, a sort of semantic geometry in which the shortest distance between any two points is a fullish circle."

Well, can't say he didn't warn me.

Behold the Henry Jamesian length of this sentence:

"Where once, a few years earlier, her eyes alone could break the news (either to people or to bathmats) that two of her sons were dead, one by suicide (her favorite, her most intricately calibrated, her kindest son), and one killed in World War II (her only truly lighthearted son) -- where once Bessie Glass's eyes alone could report these facts, with an eloquence and a seeming passion for detail that neither her husband nor any of her adult surviving children could bear to look at, let alone take in, now, in 1955, she was apt to use this same terrible Celtic equipment to break the news, usually at the front door, that the new delivery boy hadn't brought the leg of lamb in time for dinner or that some remote Hollywood starlet's marriage was on the rocks."

Zooey talking to Franny:

"'On top of everything else,' he said immediately, 'we've got "Wise Child" complexes.  We've never really got off the goddam air.  Not one of us.  We don't talk, we hold forth.  We don't converse, we expound.  At least I do.  The minute I'm in a room with somebody who has the usual number of ears, I either turn into a goddam seer or a human hatpin.  The Prince of Bores."

You could say that again.  And in fact, he probably did, in each of the next several sentences.

Garth!

Lots of you have heard my story about my awesome weekend back in early December (a month ago!) already, so I'll try to keep it short.  Ready?  Here goes:

Garth is touring for the first time in a long time, and was in St. Louis for the first time in 17 years.  So I went to see his show.  Twice.

I had planned to go Saturday with some tickets that a friend of mine was throwing over because she got better seats.  That was going to be it, until T decided at the last minute on Friday that he wanted to see the show.  So off we went.

End of story.

Now, the pictures:

Christmas Wrap-Up

I finally got to see Love Actually!  I never did find my DVD, but T streamed it on his fancy TV and I got my fix.  (And I have since bought a new copy of it.  Hopefully I can manage to keep track of it through next Christmas.)

We also went to MoBot to see Garden Glow on its second to last night.  It was cold and started to mist a bit, but we had hot chocolate and s'mores by the fire pit so it was okay.

As a final hurrah, we also drove out to Our Lady of the Snows to see their Way of Lights display, which, though not my cup of tea in some ways, was nevertheless impressive.

Goal #2

Goal #2: write the old blog posts.

I have loads of half-written blog posts that I haven't gotten around to finishing.  As you can probably tell from the lack of posting last week, I've been busy.  This week, I will try to get caught up.  (Yes, this is one of those peace-of-mind goals.)

Recap of goal #1: I tried out three slight variations on my protein shake, and I discovered this: it's still a protein shake.  Sure, you can make it slightly less or more palatable, but a tiger can't change its stripes.  Now that I know how to edge it towards palatable though, hopefully I can get myself to drink one on days that I need a boost.

What I Watched -- Edge of Tomorrow

One of the movies I watched to fulfill my goal #52 was Edge of Tomorrow. I didn't particularly intend to watch it, but I had a couple of hours to kill sitting in front of my computer and it was the first movie T and I could agree on.

To steal T's analysis, if you squish The Matrix and Groundhog Day together, with a little Independence Day thrown in for good measure, this is the movie that comes out.

I had heard not terrible things about this movie, and when you're talking about movies with weird alien-like enemies, a primary focus on explosions, and Tom Cruise, "not terrible" is pretty good.

And though I may despise both him and Angelina Jolie on a par with one another, Tom Cruise does know how to make a movie.  Emily Blunt holds up her end of the bargain as well.  The dialogue is quick, well timed, and occasionally funny.  I think that's where the movie gets its credibility.

Bottom line: entertaining, if you're looking for something in this vein.

Goal #1

Goal #1: test out my new protein shake.

As with the last two years, I am refraining from making a big New Year's resolution this year.  Mostly that's because I'll probably fail miserably at whatever overly-lofty and -ambitious goal I set for myself, and just be disappointed and give up.

Again, as with the last two years, I will continue instead with my trend of weekly goals.  As I have mostly completed the organizing of the apartment which occupied much of the second half of last year, I will pick a new theme.

And I will go with the unsurprising theme of "self improvement" (or PIP, if you are K).  My goals, until I tire of this theme, will be generally related to my mental, physical, or emotional health in some way, large or small.  (So, really, they could be pretty much anything.  I mean, getting rid of this last lingering box of CDs I haven't yet sorted would arguably be good for my mental health, no?)

So for this first week, I will test out a few variations on my shake recipe and hope to get the right balance and quantity, so I can whip it up any time I feel the need for a little pick-me-up.

Recap of goal #52: a good time was had by all! The rest of my trip to Durango was great (more on that later), T and I enjoyed a slightly-behind-schedule dinner at Home Wine Kitchen on their last night in business, I had a very short work week, and watched a couple of movies (more on those later as well).

Happy Birthday, Mom!

250 Cakes

Now that 2014 -- St. Louis's 250th anniversary -- is over, I might as well get around to posting the pictures of the cakes I saw this year.

The what?  The cakes.

As part of the anniversary festivities, the city commissioned 250 artists to design 250 cakes to be placed in and around St. Louis, to honor famous landmarks, cultural icons, historic sites, and other favorite spots.

T had had an idea to plan some bike rides to visit each and every cake, but then we looked at how far flung some of them are, and that plan went the way of the dodo.  But here are the ones I did see, for your enjoyment!

Christ Church Cathedral

 T-REx

Babler Park

Chain of Rocks Bridge

Missouri Botanical Garden

Opera Theater St. Louis

Riverfront Trail

St. Louis Art Museum

Union Station

 I have no idea!  This one might also be Riverfront Trail, but I can't remember.

Happy New Year!