What I'm Reading Now -- Young Men and Fire

A long while back, I heard something the Mann Gulch fire.  I can't even remember what it was -- some news story of bit of a podcast or something.  It was probably inspired by one of the summer wildfires of recent years.

In any case, the news/podcast was was interesting enough that it led me to purchase Young Men and Fire, the Norman MacLean book about the Mann Gulch fire.  That was some time ago now, and it has been sitting on my shelf for a while, unread. 

I have done a bit of recreational reading about the fire.  There's a site with pretty decent images here.

I'll report back on the book once I've finished it.  Hopefully it'll go faster than Franny and Zooey -- so far, so good!

Franny and Zooey -- Take 2

I finally finished Franny and Zooey, five months on.  (That means I'm reading, on average, at the blistering pace of 40 pages per month.  Whoosh!)

And probably the reason it was such slow going is that I didn't like it at all!  I got through the Franny portion quickly, but holy cow, I just wanted to punch Zooey in the face!  What a snot-nosed, naval-gazing, uselessly intellectual brat!

So, that's how I felt about that.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Goal #52

Goal #52: enjoy the rest of the year.

Because why not?

Recap of goal #51: done and done.

Random Links -- The Dogs Edition

The incredible dog shrinking machine.

42 reasons dogs are better than cats (really just funny dog videos).

Crowdfunding to the rescue, v. 1.0, Sweden.

Crowdfunding to the rescue v. 2.0, Thailand.

I don't know if this is real or fake.  I sort of don't care.  (But of course it's French.)

Dog gets himself a Christmas present.  (This is an old one, but timely.)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is Coming!

I am the first to admit that my pre-Christmas celebrations have been somewhat less extravagant this year than in previous years.  I've been sick, I've been busy at work, and I'm going out of town for the holiday proper, so I'm mostly just pleased I've been able to get anything done at all!

First, the most atrocious of all transgressions: I've lost my Love Actually DVD.  "How is such a thing possible?!" you might inquire.  I have no idea.  But I have.  I'll get one at an after-Christmas fire sale.  Although honestly, I'm not sure how much that matters, because I also haven't watched my other holiday classic yet,  Little Women.


I did manage to squeeze in a viewing of It's A Wonderful Life (instead of packing), so that helped get me in the mood.  [Aside: for a weirdly interesting legal history of the copyright woes of the Jimmy Stewart classic (which woes are related to another Jimmy Stewart classic), check out the video here.]

T and I went to SLSO's Christmas concert at Powell Symphony Hall on Saturday though, and that was fun as always.  I loved the sing-along portion, as usual.  This year, there were a number of movie additions: a medley from the Tom Hanks Polar Express, the Christmas Eve finale from It's a Wonderful Life (sheesh, that movie is everywhere), "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me in St. Louis, and T's favorite by far, "Let It Go" from Frozen.  The kids loved that one too.

I've finished all my cookie making, and even made some peppermint fudge as well!

Campbell House Museum

There are endless stories about how terrible Groupon and Living Social are terrible for businesses, especially small ones and ones that don't have a big profit margin they can cut.  There's some consumer responsibility required in using these coupons properly, but I won't get on that soap box right now.

What I will say is that where I think these sites are worth their weight in gold is in discovering new things which might be right in your backyard but somehow escaped your notice.

My most recent such discovery was the Campbell House Museum.  It's a delightful little (okay, 10,000 square foot) single family home planted right in the middle of the city. 

I like things like this.  Remember how, earlier this year, I went to the Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee?  And to Barrington Hall in Atlanta?  In related news, the Busch family estate opened temporarily for tours this summer, but you didn't get to see the inside of the house, just the grounds.  I didn't go, because I'm holding out to see the house too.

Anyway, back to the Campbells.  The family bought the house in 1854, and the last of the children died in the house in 1938.  During the intervening years, the city grew up around them, but they held fast in their refuge of Victorianism.  Hugh Campbell was the son primarily responsible for the maintenance of the home and preservation of its contents after Robert and Virginia died.  He also cared for his "peculiar" (probably schizophrenic) brother Hazlett until Hugh's death in 1930.  Hazlett was then tended to by a servant around the clock and received medical care paid for out of the Campbell estate.

Around 90% of the contents of the home are original to the Campbell family, and the stories behind some of the pieces are fascinating.  So fascinating, in fact, that I went to the museum twice in two weeks!  The first time, I went with T.  We were the only two on our tour, which took about an hour and a half.  Our tour guide gave us all sorts of interesting tidbits of information.  The following weekend, I went back with G&G.  We had a different tour guide, but another long and fact-filled tour.  Different tour guide, different information, but just as interesting.

I'm just sad that I didn't know about CHM sooner -- I missed the opportunity to drink out of President Grant's cup!  Maybe next summer.

And, as I have told many of you already, I am now a member and will be dragging you all there when you come visit.  So come visit!

Goal #51

Goal #51: buy the last of the Christmas gifts.

What?  It's not too late for that, is it?

Recap of goal #50: Christmas cards are not finished, so some of your cards might be late. Oops!  I did get a large number written over the weekend, just not all of them.

Clifford the Sad Red Dog

If I told you that Norman Bridwell died, you might have no idea who I'm talking about.  But if I said that Clifford the Big Red Dog lost his owner, you'd probably know.

I don't know why I liked the Clifford books so much as a kid, except possibly that I was a dog person even when I was six.  It makes me a little bit sad to know that the last of the Clifford books have been written.

A Sign You Might Have Too Much on Your Mind

You leave the house without shoes.

Goal #50

Goal #50: Christmas cards.

I'm taking a break from my "finally get the place in livable condition" series of goals to make Christmas happen, and this week, that means Christmas cards.

Recap of goal #49: I've made two types of Christmas cookies (a double batch of each), and have been busy sharing!  And those are all the cookies I have ingredients for right now, so it's a total success!

Apollo

RIP, Kitten.

Random Links

Long-exposure LED photography.

The boyfriend apologizes.  (I don't care about fantasy football, but a little self-realization is always good.)

You know you've made it when you become a parody.

A bit of seasonal humor.

In case I didn't want to be friends with her before, this face makes me want to be Kate's BFF.

Now that's an obit.

What I Watched -- American Flyers

The second movie from the Bicycling magazine list of biking movies that I watched was American Flyers.

It was written by Steve Tesich, the same guy who wrote Breaking Away (and the screenplay for The World According to Garp); I have to say that, of the two biking movies, I much preferred American Flyers. I'm not even totally sure why.  American Flyers is, to steal a phrase from one of my favorite pop culture commentators, "a great big wad of sentimentality."

There are two brothers, somewhat estranged.  They share a common activity, and I bet you can guess what that is.  Their father has somewhat recently passed away, and they've handled his death, and the implications that it might carry for them, differently.  It all comes to a head when they join forces for one last race against the elder brother's arch rival.

Bottom line: if you're up for that wad of sentimentality, it's great.  If not, it's predictable and boring.  Your call.

Goal #49

Goal #49: start the Christmas cookies!

I love Christmas cookies.  There's really nothing about them that's any more special than regular cookies, except that it seems like Christmas every gives you a pass for making and eating a ton of them. So . . . yay for that!

Recap of goal #48: CDs did not get finished.  I had a busy week - which included getting up some Christmas lights!

What I Watched -- Breaking Away

T and I both independently signed up for Bicycling magazine recently.  (That is something we probably should have coordinated a little bit better.)  In any case, the first issue I got had a list of reader-voted best cycling movies.  The first one I got around to seeing was Breaking Away.

Released in 1979, Breaking Away tells the story of an Indiana kid obsessed with an Italian cycling team.  He and his three high school friends are trying to find their place in a go-nowhere town when Dave discovers that his Italian idols will be nearby for a race.  When he meets them, everything does not go as Dave hoped.

I have a hard time believing this movie won the Oscar for best screenplay (1979).  It's not bad, it's just not remarkable.  Today it might be produced as an after-school special.

I did very much enjoy the biking though.  There's a good race at the end, the famous Little 500, and I'm reminded how awesome it would be to be able to ride a bike everywhere in town.  And it does feel oddly . . . "classic" is overstating it, but maybe important?  I think that's because of the young Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern who play two of Dave's friends.

Bottom line: I learned some stuff about the "Little Five," but I'm not likely to watch it again.

Quote of the Day

"There are few occasions on which champagne is not a good thing to be opening."
-- Ray Isle, Executive Wine Editor, Food & Wine magazine

What I Watched -- The Dark Valley

SLIFF movie #7 was The Dark Valley (trailer), the second movie of my double feature which began with The Major.  T joined me for this one.

The Dark Valley is set high in the mountains.  It's Austrian.  It's heavy.  There's a lot of snow.  (Have I said something similar before?  Perhaps yesterday?)  It's a classic Western-style revenge tale, transplanted into the an isolated, foreign landscape.

A mysterious and not-very-talkative stranger finds his way to the village and secures lodgings for the winter with a young girl and her widowed mother.  The villagers are fascinated by his fancy new daguerreotype, but we come to learn that the real reason for his visit is not to take pictures. It's to wreak vengeance on the band of nasty brothers who run the town with iron fists.

One brother dies, and it's believed to be an accident.  Another brother dies, and the evil patriarch discovers the stranger's treachery.  A manhunt ensues, culminating in the classic shoot-out.  (I could warn about spoilers, but really, if you've ever seen a western, you already know how this goes.)

The scenery is stunning.  The stranger, Greider (played by Sam Riley), is hard to know.  He rarely smiles but is always impeccably dressed.  There is a lot of silence.  The plot is predictable and slow.  But for some reason, the slowness didn't bother me.  It seemed to fit the movie, like that sense of isolation that accompanies a winter storm.  Not to mention that I love a good shoot-out and the film is pretty to look at in the meantime.

Bottom line: probably the best vigilante justice flick I've seen a few years, but you have to be patient, and you have to like that sort of thing or the blood and gore will put you off.  Even I cringed a few times.

What I Watched -- The Major

SLIFF movie #6 was The Major (trailer), which I saw by accident, and accidentally for free!  Here's what happened: T had sent me some links to films that looked good on one particular night.  T only had time for one, but I planned a double feature: one at 6:40 and one at 9:00.

I got to the Frontenac theater, and discovered what neither of us had noticed when we were looking at the website: the 6:40 show for this particular film was Sunday only.  It was Friday.  No dice.

I considered my other options, including (thanks to T, because this didn't occur to me) the non-SLIFF movies which were showing.  In the end, though, I settled on The Major, which was the other SLIFF film.  So that's how I saw it by accident.

While I was still on the phone with T, I saw a guy approaching some of the people in the ticket line.  I couldn't hear what anyone was saying, but I noticed him.  When I got oThe Major.  I spotted him down the hall, about to throw them in the trash.  I caught him before he did, and offered to buy one from him.  Turns out that he had gotten them for free, so he just gave one to me.  And that's how I saw it for free.
ff the phone and got in line to buy my ticket, I overheard someone say that the mystery man had tickets to

Now, on to the movie itself.  It's Russian.  It's heavy.  There's a lot of snow.  To quote Variety, it has "a very Slavic sense of miserabilism."  True that.

It opens with police major Sergey Sobolev racing to a nearby hospital after receiving a call that his wife is in labor.  He hits and kills a 7-year-old boy.  The boy's mother saw the whole thing.  Sobolev and calls a couple of his cop buddies, including Pasha, to help him clean up the mess he's made.

Sobolev and Pasha get orders from a non-descript higher-up to make the whole situation go away.  The boy's father has other ideas, and things start to spin out of control.

Plot-wise, this is not a ground-breaking movie.  But what was great about it is that the bad guy isn't really the bad guy.  Sure, he makes the phone call to his buddies, but then he has second thoughts.  You see him struggle with wanting to do the right thing, but knowing now that it's not only his career that is on the line if he comes clean.

Bottom line: calling it enjoyable isn't right.  But it's worth watching: a deep, dark movie for a dark, snowy night.

(In case anyone is wondering, the movie I had originally planned to see was Human Capital.)