Movies -- A Recap -- Part VII

S and I have continued our quarantine movie viewing, watching far more than we probably should:

The Night Clerk is an odd little movie, about a young autistic man who works as an overnight clerk at a hotel.  In an effort to improve his interpersonal skills, he sets up cameras in some of the hotel rooms so he can study people's behavior.  When he witnesses a murder, things go awry.

Baby Mama is probably exactly what you might expect from a Tina Fey and Amy Poehler movie.  It's cute, and a little bit funny, at least enough to keep me entertained for 90 minutes or so.

Da 5 Bloods had potential, and some great scenes, but in my opinion it was just way too overdone.  Sometimes I just don't appreciate being beaten over the head with the point.  It was just a bit too much.

Pretty much the opposite of Da 5 Bloods was Nobody Knows I'm Here.  It's slow and quiet.  Remember Hurley from Lost?  Yeah, I forgot about him too.  But he's the nearly-silent star of Nobody Knows I'm Here, a film about a reclusive child star who was scarred by his early life experiences.  It's sweet, but not quite as sweet as the Netflix synopsis makes it sound.

I was surprised by how moving Beautiful Boy was.  I didn't expect Steve Carell to be able to carry the emotional weight of such of heavy story, but I was pleasantly surprised (once I got over the trauma from the film) by how well he pulled it off.  And I love Maura Tierney in just about anything.  It was an all-around winner, if movies about upper-middle-class addiction are your thing.  (I didn't read either book -- if anyone did, I'd be interested in comments!)

One weekend, we dedicated ourselves to watching the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy -- yes, the extended version.  It actually took us until Monday night to get through the end of the Return of the King, but if you can spare the time, watching them back to back is a wonderfully immersive experience.

Goals 2020 -- August Edition

I am carrying over two goals from last month: the budget and the cell phone.

In addition to those, I will:

1. Begin following said budget.
2. Address two areas of my garden which need addressing -- sowing wildflower seeds, and replanting my pumpkin vine, which I started in a pot but needs a bigger home now.
3. Blog.
4. Finish my second reading of The Great Gatsby.

How do these fit in with my goal of Clearing My Mind, Simplifying My Life? Same as last month (and I guess, at heart, almost every month so far this year).  These are just things that I want to get done, and they weigh on my mind if I don't do them.

Goals 2020 -- July Recap

I had three goals for July; updates are below.

1. Polish silver jewelry.  Met and exceeded!  Not only did I polish my jewelry, but I also polished all my other silver as well.
2. Back up and clear out my phone.  Miserable fail.  S and I share a computer, and he has been busy using it for many of his own projects.  I will commandeer it at some point in August.
3. Make a budget. Mixed bag.  I have gotten as far as I can get based on the information that I have, and am awaiting some info from outside sources before continuing.

July was, overall, a fairly slow month for me.  I struggled to be productive at work, as you all can see I blogged basically not at all, and I have many projects around the house that are partially finished, movies half watched, and so on.  I'm unsure if this is due to the oppressive heat that we dealt with, or that I'm growing tired of quarantine, or a mental block that has developed for some other reason.

S, on the other hand, has been quite productive.  He has been working on the van, making phone calls and taking care of business, painted and reorganized the whole garage, and did some cleanup in the basement as well.

Happy 4th!

One of my favorite things to hear every year around this time is the reading of the Declaration of Independence by NPR's reporting staff.  Have a listen.

Goals 2020 -- July Edition

Well, we've started bringing some folks back to my office.  It's an alternating schedule, and I'm still in the group that gets to work from home if I want to. 

There is still so much that I had on my quarantine list which I haven't done yet!  Most of it is little stuff, but I think being able to cross them off will make me feel better.  So, here are the very judgable goals:
1. Polish silver jewelry.
2. Back up and clear out my phone.
3. Make a budget.

How do these fit in with my goal of Clearing My Mind, Simplifying My Life?  As long as I can get them done, then I just won't have to think about them anymore.  But that's a big "as long as...."

Goals 2020 -- June Recap

I can't say June was a total bust, because I at least got a start on the estate planning process.  But to be fair, it's an itsy bitsy teensy weensy start.  Nevertheless, a start!

Quote of the Day

"Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"
  -- Mary Anne Rademacher

Happy Birthday K!

It's a big one!!

A Rugby Celebration

S and I have taken time this quarantine, and even in the months before, to appreciate rugby.

It all started last year, when we attended Ruggerfest in Forest Park, just for the fun of it.  It was a beautiful day, we took camp chairs and drinks, ate at the food trucks, took in some sport, and generally enjoyed the day out in the world in a way that we haven't been able to in a while.  It was all capped off by an invitation to join the teams for a post-tourney party at the Sunday Morning Rugby Club's clubhouse.  (And a dead alternator at 11 p.m., but that's a story for another day.)

That was followed by a trip to Lindenwood to see the St. Louis Sabres crush the Lindenwood Lions.  It was chilly, but nevertheless fun.  And holy cow do they get to play in a nice stadium!  Lights, announcer, the whole bit.

S then stumbled upon the movie Invictus, when searching for movies for me to watch starting Matt Damon.  That led him to Murderball, which I had seen many years ago -- perhaps even before I started this here blog (the only reference I can find to it is here, not coincidentally referenced in my post about Invictus).

That was followed by Pacific Warriors, a documentary about the teams from Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa, and the rivalry between them.  It wasn't stunningly good, but I did get some interesting insights into these teams from the tiny islands, who are so often outplayed and overshadowed by their Maori companions, the All Blacks.


Speaking of the All Blacks, we did watch a lot of rugby on YouTube, including the All Blacks' women's side, called the Black Ferns.  Some great stuff there.

Many, many moons ago, Dad gave me a book called Muddied Oafs: The Last Days of Rugger, which S picked up.  The editing is admittedly terrible, so he didn't make it far, but there's some good background there.  Fun fact: the first rugby World Cup wasn't until 1987.

The book led to the viewing of The Story of Rugby, a six-part look-back at the history of the sport, released in anticipation of the 2019 World Cup tournament.  It's a look at how rugby has grown over time, what it means to the countries which field teams, and generally is a tribute to the sport and some of its best players.  This, of course, includes my favorite English vet, Jonny Wilkinson -- although I have to say he looks terrible in the film.  For some of his playing highlights, check out this (some great kicking, great passing, and a fantastic dump tackle at 9:30) and try this for a retirement tribute from his teammates and coaches, as well as selected clips as they are talking.  And just for good measure, here is the second-extra-time kick that gave England the 2003 World Cup win.


[It's not about rugby, but since we're talking sports history, I have to give a shout-out to the Netflix show The English Game, which is a retelling of the rivalry between the the teams at the heart of football's (or soccer's, if you prefer) shift from a purely amateur (read: aristocratic) leisure activity to a professional sport.  Very well made and fun to watch.]

Movies -- A Recap -- Part VI

Krystal is a strange film about a strange family.  The plot is twisted and unbelievable, and makes me think that this is what it is like to be inside William H. Macy's mind all the time.  Nevertheless, there is lots of witty family banter and there is something sweet about the story overall.  I'm not sure why I liked it, but I did.






Paddleton is about as simple as movies can get.  Aside from a few store and hotel clerks, there are two characters in this movie.  They are an oddball pair of friends whose relationship takes a touching turn when one of them is diagnosed with cancer.  It's uncomplicated, and lovely.  Viewer's tip: keep an eye out for the great t-shirts seen throughout.

 




We stumbled onto the Spanish film 1898: Our Last Men in the Philippines on Netflix one night.  It's the tale of the last outpost of the Spanish empire in its last colony.  The men there do not know, then do not believe, that Spain has ceded the Philippines to the U.S., and continue the fight despite all the tragedies that befall them.  It's a bit gory to the point of cringeworthy in a few spots, but a pretty good tale about a forgotten piece of history.  It was also kind of nice to see a movie with a bunch of unknown faces filling the main roles.

 

S was in the mood for something good in the old-fashioned story-telling sense, and I had never seen The Last Samurai, so we settled in one night to watch.  It definitely met his criteria -- it's not a reimagining of a movie that came out 5 years prior, and it's not trying to make some metaphysical point (at least I don't think it is).  It's just a story about a guy.  And that guy was Tom Cruise a couple of years before he lost his mind on Oprah's couch, so it was back when he was still doing decent stuff.
 



Enemy was weird.  Jake Gyllenhaal plays both lead characters, Adam and his doppelganger Anthony, who seems to have been sprung, literally but unbeknownst to either of them, from Adam's rib.  When Adam sees Anthony in a movie, he becomes obsessed with him.  Through the stalking portion, I'm with this movie.  But then there's this whole weird thing with spiders, which was beyond me.  This Vulture article tries to explain it, but even having read it, that's just not what I want in a movie.


 
When we began On My Skin: The Last Seven Days of Stefano Cucchi, I didn't realize that it is a true story.  That makes it all the more awful.  The title character is taken into Italian police custody, where he is beaten badly.  He refuses medical treatment as a protest against not having access to his attorney, and (I don't think it's a spoiler to say), dies as a consequence.





I expected to like Howard's End.  It has Emma Thompson, who is simply wonderful in everything (including this).  Add Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, a very British setting, and a musty old work of classic literature, and it doesn't get much more Merchant-Ivory.  Having said all that, I don't have much background in the musty works, or in Merchant-Ivory films.  I loved the setting, scenery, costumes, actors, but I hated the last 1/3 of the film.  Will they all be like that?