Top of the Lake

Eons ago, I heard about Top of the Lake on one of my podcasts.  It piqued my interest because it stars Elisabeth Moss, who's most famous for playing Peggy Olson on Mad Men, but whom I have always suspected should have her own show.

Half an eon ago, I watched the first episode.  But then life happened (you know how that goes), and I just never had time to get back to it.  This past weekend I finally did.  I watched four more episodes, and I can't wait to get back to it.

Elisabeth plays Robin Griffin, a police detective who heads home to visit her sick mum (it's set in New Zealand).  While there, she finds Tui, a pregnant 12-year-old, standing chest deep in a local lake.  Shortly after Tui is released from police custody, she disappears.  Robin, for reasons that become clear as the show goes on, can't let Tui's case go.

In case there was any question whether Peggy Olson could carry a show on her own (which there shouldn't be, since she has carried some of the seasons of Mad Men), this should put them to rest.

Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts

Way back before the awards, I went with my friend M to see the Oscar-nominated animated short films.  Sometime in the last couple of years I have realized that I love short films!  You get to leave the theater after an hour and a half having seen a half dozen movies or more -- it's brilliant!  Anyway, here's what we saw when the animated films started (note: I borrowed parts of these descriptions from the all-knowing interwebs).  Links for my two favorites are full films!  The others are just websites or trailers.

“Me and My Moulton” (Canada/Norway), about a seven-year-old girl in mid-’60s Norway who, along with her sisters, desperately wants her parents to buy them a bicycle.

"Feast” (USA), the story of one man’s love life as seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite by bite through the meals they share. This one ended up winning the big award this past Sunday, and it's about a dog so of course I love it!

“The Bigger Picture” (UK), in which innovative life-size animated characters tell the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly parent.  A fascinating mix of illustration and stop-motion animation.  This was M's favorite.

“A Single Life” (The Netherlands), in which Pia, when playing a mysterious vinyl single, is suddenly able to travel through her own life, though she's not quite prepared for the consequences.

“The Dam Keeper” (USA).  In a desolate future, one small town has survived because of a large windmill dam that acts as a fan to keep out pollution. The dam's operator, Pig, works tirelessly to keep the sails spinning and protect the town, despite abuse from classmates and an indifferent public. When a new student joins Pig's class, nothing will be the same again.

There were also a number of shorts that were "commended," including the following:

"Sweet Cocoon" (France). A caterpillar about to undergo her metamorphosis finds her cocoon is much too small to squeeze into. Two helpful insects come to her aid.

"Footprints" (USA).  A gullible man goes on a quest to find a mysterious, destructive monster, only to arrive at a surprising revelation.

"The Duet" (USA). Animated in its entirety and directed by Glen Keane, "Duet" tells the story of Mia and Tosh and how their individual paths in life weave together to create an inspired duet.  I really liked this one!

"Bus Story" (Canada). Our protagonist dreams of becoming a bus driver in order to cruise down quiet country lanes and connect with nature, her young charges and their parents. But her idyllic view of her new job is sorely tested after she meets her surly boss, named Killer, and discovers that winding roads can prove treacherous in winter, especially with a faulty clutch.

Travel Risks

In case you had any lingering doubts, here is why you should probably not travel with me:

Random Links

Vigilante justice, not the way you'd expect.

Archery like you've never seen.

The smell of rain.

This looks like something unfortunate.  It's actually carbonized papyrus.

I would like to direct my tax dollars to Opportunity, please!

Foucault that noise.

What I Watched -- Wild

What seems like many moons ago now, T and I went to see Wild at the Chase.  It was a bit insane at the Chase that day, because the St. Louis Food and Wine Experience, a benefit for the Repertory Theater, was going on there that day.  We took refuge from the craziness in the quiet theater.

When Cheryl Strayed's book came out, I have to say that I wasn't too interested to read it.  I think I was exhausted with the spate of navel-gazing autobiographies that have been coming out in the last decade or so.  Not everyone is a special snowflake!  But I was having kind of a crappy day that particular Sunday, and a quiet movie with some killer scenery seemed like just the thing to cure me of my mood, so off we went.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie.  Because I had intentionally avoided the book, I was also surprised by some of the back story in the film.  Reese Witherspoon is the only character of any consequence in the film, and she is phenomenal.  She's tough and funny.  She's idiotic and desperate.  She's a real person, and she maintains, as always, that Reese quality of adorable which I would hate if it weren't so, well, adorable.

Bottom line: this was the perfect antidote to a rainy bummer of a Sunday afternoon.

Goal #8

Goal #8: email inbox #1.

For whatever weird reason, I got to work cleaning out one of my email inboxes last week.  It obviously wasn't part of my goal, but I was motivated to do it.  Hopefully I can keep rolling with it, because I have lots of pages of old emails to go!

Recap of goal #7: detoxing didn't go quite as well as I had hoped.  I went to the grocery store after I got home last weekend and bought lots of veggies, cooked them up, and snacked on those all week, so that was good.  But someone delivered four boxes of Bread Co. pastries to our office on Tuesday, so that was not so good.

Goal #7

Goal #7: detox.

After a week of not-so-healthy eating and copious amounts of drinking, I need to get back to being moderately healthy!

Recap of goal #6: I had a week off, and I enjoyed it to the best of my ability.  Stories from the trip will come later, but to illustrate my complete shutdown, just a quick one: I turned off my phone when we landed in St. Thomas on February 6th, and didn't turn it on again until we got back to St. Thomas on February 14th!  What a nice break!

Happy Birthday, E!

Have a slice of birthday fruitcake!

Allegiant -- Take 2

This book is pretty terrible.

It's short; I listened to it in about two days, so it has that going for it.  There's some suspense, especially early on.  But that's all I can think of that's nice to say about it.

Once you get past the first disc or two, and it turns out there's going to be another big battle, and more people are lying, and Tris is still surprised by that, all I could think was, "really?"

So.  Yeah.  No more of that.

Random Links -- The (Mostly) Dogs Edition

Cooper loves ice cream.

The ultimate dog tease.

Snarfle-howling.  You can't not laugh.

The clear Super Bowl ad winner.

Learning from animal friendships.

Good thing this canine Paddington's stuff fits in his suitcase.  Looks like he'll be traveling a bit!

Goal #6

Goal #6: a week off!

"Out of sight of land, the sailor feels safe.  It is the beach that worries him."
  -- Charles C. Davis

Recap of goal #5: I did not manage to go climbing, which I had hoped to do.  But I did get to see all the animated Oscar-nominated short films (more on those later).  I had dinner with a friend. And I managed to get packed and on the road, so this post is coming to you from somewhere in the Caribbean.

What I Watched -- The Wolf of Wall Street

I had been warned not to see The Wolf of Wall Street. "It's disgusting and exhausting," people told me.  They were right.  This movie is disgusting and exhausting.

And in truth, other than seeing Leonardo DiCaprio put on a good show, there's not much to it.  But let me be clear that Leo puts on a darn good show.  He owns it, really embodies the character.  To a nearly disturbing degree.

With crazy stories like this, you have to wonder how true they are.  According to Slate's investigation, the movie (and the book it's based on) are more true than not.  According to Brooklyn federal investigators, the real Belfort is every bit the dishonest sleazeball he appeared to be in the movie.

Bottom line: if you want to be appalled, watch.  It's good acting.  But I'm warning you, it's also disgusting and exhausting!

Dinner at Peacemaker

Several weeks ago now (all these posts have been old lately; I'm behind schedule), I went to dinner with a group of friends at Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co. in Benton Park. It's in the location where Gerard Craft's Niche originally was, if you remember back before it moved to Clayton.

I arrived early (for once!) and snagged a seat at the bar and a cocktail called a Louie while I was waiting.  Their cocktail list is not long (4 drinks, to be exact), which is a bit disappointing.  In this era of craft-cocktail-as-king, I suppose I have come to expect a multi-page list of interesting choices.  The Louie wasn't bad, although I probably would have chosen something else if I had been given more choices.  I could always create my own, but I like to think that a good restaurant will have an equally good bartender, and I like to test out what they've shaken or stirred up.

Once everyone arrived and we were seated, I was thrilled to discover the presence of fried green tomatoes on the menu!  I love me some good fried green tomatoes, as you might recall.

I made the mistake of listening to the waitress when she suggested that I might need a side along with my sandwich (which came with french fries).  But if I hadn't listened to her, I wouldn't have had my favorite southern comfort food, so it was all good!  By the by, my main course was the Connecticut lobster roll -- tasty lobster, melt-in-your-mouth bread, delicious.

What I'm Reading Now -- Blood Meridian

I've only read one Cormac McCarthy book before, No Country for Old Men, and it was dark.  Bleak.  Lots of death.  I expect the same from Blood Meridian.

I don't know much about it except that it's historical, a bit of an Old West tale.  Oh, and that it's dark, bleak, and has lots of death.  (This is the same guy who wrote The Road, the story of a post-apocalyptic attempt at survival.) So what better time to have a listen than in deepest winter?

Goal #5

Goal #5: make the most of the limited time at home.

It sounds like I'm complaining. I'm not.  But here it goes anyway:

I only have a few days at home this week.  During that time, there is much that needs to be done, and much more that I would like to get done.  All of last week's relaxation and taking my time doing things, goofing off and watching movies, that's out this week. I'm going to be a productivity machine!  (I hope.)

Recap of goal #4: my first attempt to clean the pile of stuff off my desk was almost entirely frustrated by my choice to watch The Art of the Steal instead.  I did make some progress in sorting through my pile of paperwork, but actually doing away with it is another matter entirely.