esprit de l'escalier

Photos from DC

Here's a pictoral representation of my trip to DC last weekend.

Miss Scout

National Museum of the American Indian

Interior atrium of said museum

The "We Miss Mariah Club"

Cutest bulldog ever (and Ginny too)

Movie and first real snow

Today I had to work, which wasn't the best, but it wasn't terrible either. Though I didn't get as much as I wanted done. My mind, it wanders. I found a job on the internet that would have been the perfect job for me two years ago. This is a difficult thing. I'm having a hard time focusing at the tasks at hand because I would rather be doing something else.

My friend Marietta and I skipped out of work a little early today to go see the new Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line. It was very good. The performances were excellent. I was there really only to see Johnny and June interact. That's what I was interested in, not really the drug addiction or the failed first marriage. I just wanted to see them sing. I have a hard time not comparing it to Ray, but I can't help myself. And Ray affected me more. I cried both times I saw that movie. There my brother and I were, crying in the dark the first time. The second I still couldn't help myself. While I enjoyed this film, I didn't get so emotional, and I kind of thought I might. (This may also be due to the fact that I should have gone to the bathroom before the movie started, but then didn't want to leave in the middle.) The acting was as excellent as people have been saying, as was the singing. I really like Reese Witherspoon and I'm glad to see her doing things that push her a little. Joaquin Phoenix is excellent. He gets the lips right somehow. He has the most wonderful eye lashes. Seriously. And while the movie made her part fairly shrill and one dimensional, I really liked Ginnifer Goodwin. She is immensely appealing and I hope she gets more meaty roles.

I took a long walk to the L from where I saw the movie. I always do this from this theatre. I like to walk across the Michigan Avenue bridge and enjoy the buildings and just being in Chicago. The streets were crowded with visitors and shoppers. When I got back to State Street, I visited the German Christmas town at the Daley Center. There were lots of happy families munching on bratwursts and candied nuts. There is a big train set winding around behind the Christmas tree. It is amazing to me how much kids just love train sets. Watching a bunch of kids shout and giggle about the trains put me in the holiday spirit. It was kind of like a multi-cultural Hallmark commercial, very sweet.

A week in review

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to everyone! This is the first time I haven't been home for this holiday, and the first time I had to work the day after. I was with my brother and old friends for dinner yesterday, so it was good and family-like, though I missed the ceremony of a more formal meal. We all sat around spun funny stories (especially Libby's dad) about scary apartments that have gone before, hilarious animal stories, etc. The best being one Mr. Eakin told involving a turtle stolen from a biology building for food and what he out they were being used for. We were still laughing about it in the car home.

This past week has been fairly busy, hence the lack of posts. I was in DC last weekend seeing old friends and making some new ones. Hopefully I'll be able to post something about it later. I took a couple of nice pictures of the new Native American Smithsonian I'd like to share. Plus a picture of the sweetest bulldog.

I also had my final project for my class to finish. It went very well. I just got my grade for it and the class and it all turned out very well. I really liked working on my project, even though I had procrastinated horribly on it. It was an exploration of a theme, and I researched how new media is affecting journalism. I found a bunch of really interesting resources online and renewed my enthusiasm for this degree. All of which are good. I'll post some of the links later.

I hope you are all enjoying your holiday, even if you are possibly still comatose from the overdose of tryptophan.

P&P update

I've just returned home from seeing the new Pride and Prejudice. As Natasha said, there is something so satisfying about Jane Austen. And it was a very satisfying movie, though (as I had heard), the last three minutes were ridiculous. Very Sixteen Candles, as Libby pointed out. It was very like what some of the reviews I read said, it was full of a joie de vivre, there was joy and movement in everything. There was also lots of music, even the maid moving from room to room, singing under her breath.

The supporting cast was superb. Jane was absolutely lovely, Bingley adorable, Lydia and Kitty silly. Tom Hollander as Mr. Collins was hilarious. His small stature was perfectly played in many scenes. Donald Sutherland came through in the end. The scene where he asks Lizzie if she indeed wants to marry Darcy would be worth waiting for in a worse film. It nicely caps the family scenes. I adored Claudia Blakely as Charlotte. Mr. Wickham was absolutely gorgeous. He's like a manlier, blond version of Orlando Bloom. He didn't get much screen time, which is a shame.

Libby and Natasha said they did not mind Keira Knightley, and I know I came into the movie with major reservations, but I still didn't like her in the role. (Hardly surprising, right?) There's a heaviness to the way she delivers her lines, like her jaws are locked tight or something. She can't be light with her words, which I think is necessary with the way Lizzie teases. She says everything as a dare or a threat. But again, I am prejudiced against her. I also thought she was somewhat plain in the film. I thought Kelly Reilly as Miss Bingley outshone her in looks.

I really enjoyed Michael MacFayden as Darcy. He played the social awkwardness up perfectly. He was not as smooth as Lawrence Olivier, but I think he accomplished much more for the role. The scene when he first makes his declaration to Lizzie is perfect. He stammers and runs quickly through bits and is so obviously having a difficult time expressing himself. Plus I think there should be a mandatory dripping wet scene for Mr. Darcy. The first time he smiles is lovely and makes you feel relief. There is a line in the 1941 version where Greer Garson tells Darcy he must laugh more. I think this line would have been apt in this current version. Joe Wright, the director, also played up his physicality, which I found interesting. You see how big a man he is, when compared with Elizabeth and Mr. Collins. At one point, the scene begins and you only see her and his massive shoulder. Slowly the camera pans out to reveal the entire man. And his voice is so deep. He has so few lines in the beginning, sometimes it's almost as if his own booming voice frightens him a bit. Colin Firth was deliciously awkward in the role, but MacFayden makes it a little more relatable. When pressed, I don't know if I could choose between them. I didn't feel like Darcy had enough screen time this version, but then again, it was fairly compressed in length. It felt a little rushed at the end.

I happened upon the 1941 version was on PBS this weekend. It was rather silly and took even more liberties with the plot, but Olivier is dashing as Darcy and Garson has some excellent one liners. My favorite, in response to Miss Bingley's snide remark about how dignified people act, "Oh, if you want to be really refined, you have to be dead. There's no one as dignified as a mummy." I think I will now have to see the mini-series version from 1980 to round out my opinions.

Nothing a little red wine and a good roommate wouldn't fix

I came home today feeling a little sorry for myself. I was finding myself in some serious quarter life melancholy-producing angst. I had my performance reveiw this afternoon. Nothing surprising and nothing bad, but it just forced me to remember how what I'm doing isn't what I want to be doing, and how I don't really know what I want to do. Boo-hoo, I mean I have a job I don't hate (at least not anymore), I really like the people I work with, I've got some really great friends at work, and I've got dental. (My sister's got that without the dental, but with two cases of beer a month... Somehow I think she wins.) I try and tell myself it's all worth it. Work's paying for school, right? But how long will I be taking classes if I take one a quarter? I fear for the rest of eternity. I have lots of fears that make me want to burrow deep within my bed and never come out. So I drag my feet and not love work, but do it anyway. That's what lead me to feeling sorry for myself again. Plus it's the coldest day in eight months (or so). Though when I exited onto Wabash from work this evening and found the snow falling through the streetlight, against the steel beams of the L, I thought it was quite lovely. And then the wind hit me. I'm glad I wore my down coat today.

Luckily for me, I know that I am a very lucky person. There are lots of things to give thanks for, namely tonight, my wonderful roommate and a bottle of red wine. (Not to mention our vegetarian sloppy joes, green beans and corn.) It is so good to have such a friend to come home to. Anyhow, enough of my moping, at least publicly.

Everyone knows it's Windy!

For half a semester my freshman year of college, I played ultimate frisbee with the Calamity Janes, a very hardcore group of women at IU. I went to one tournament, at Purdue. It was very windy and we changed the words to a song to come up with what is the title for this post. Shortly after that tournament I realized that I while I enjoyed ultimate, I wasn't cut out for a club sport. Or at least that one. (Had there been a club kickball league, my collegiate life may have turned out very differently.)

Anyway, that's my little side story to introduce how very windy it is. Pooh would call it "Windsday" and I would have to agree. This city likes to live up to its nickname, both for its politicians and its weather. For days now, the wind has not stopped howling outside my front windows. On my way home from school, which includes an el ride and a bus, was very cold. My coat, hat and gloves were powerless against the wind.

Tonight's class was a lot of fun, and I wish I could somehow post my finished project. We worked in pairs to remediate a concept we had discussed previously. My partner, Joe, and I animated this story about flowers using the ImageReady part of Photoshop. I did all of the drawing and it turned out really cute. I'm very proud. My brother has Photoshop on his computer so I could proudly show him and Natasha.

Work is picking up the pace at the moment. Which is good. Keeps me more honest. I work better if my dance card is closer to being full. It also helps when you really like your co-workers and understand what you're doing.

Man, the wind is loud. We've got to get plastic up on the windows soon.

UPDATE: Joe's and my project from class was voted the favorite! We're getting extra-credit! Woo-hoo!

In preparation of eating crow

The other day I spent a very long post being very snotty about the new Pride and Prejudice. Well, it seems my exercise in snarkiness may have come too quickly and I may have to swallow my pride and see the movie. Stephanie Zacharek, one of the film critics over at Salon, who I love (I also love Andrew O'Hehir's column "Beyond the Multiplex"), went on for three pages about how great this new adaptation is. I may have to take her recommendation and eat a little crow. Crow is good for you everynow and then, right?

My misanthropic Thursday

Thursday started off well enough. My horoscope said this, "Between chatting up a storm, getting along with everyone as if you've known them for several lifetimes, and having all the energy you need to finish every project, it's going to be a terrific day. Enjoy!" It was a tad misleading. After getting to a good start at work, I was going to take a quick break to get a sandwich with my friend Anne and then get right back to business, as I had a lot to get done that day.

Lunch turned out to be more complicated, as I noticed my wallet was gone when we got up to leave. Shitty. I have no idea when someone took it, but it was indeed taken, because I had no sooner gotten back to my cubicle when one of my credit card companies called. It seems a man was trying to use my card and the clerk at Carson's thought it best to call Mastercard. Unfortunately the other 5 places the guy hit with my debit and other card was not so thoughtful. I called and cancelled my other cards and made a police report, etc. I was very lucky. There was no money in my wallet, only about $2 in change. I noticed immediately and was able to take care of everything, it was just really really shitty. And took about 2 hours for me to settle everything, thus eating most of my, what was to be a productive, afternoon. Plus I spent the rest of the day under a foul cloud, second guessing my every move. I used to be so proud that I spent a semester in Eastern Europe and never got pickpocketed. Oh well, that's why pride's a bitch.

I had previously made plans to go see The Squid and the Whale with my friends Ian and Allison. I didn't feel like I could back out, even though I was sort of exhausted and still with a fairly bleak outlook on life. What did I need to see? A fairly bleak and uncomfortable film about how divorce messes up kids! Oh hurrah for selfish parents! It wasn't a horrible movie, it was well acted and made, it was just fairly uncomfortable to watch.

Then I woke up not feeling great, which has more or less transferred over til today. Friday night I saw Elaine, who has the power to lift the greatest of funks. She stuck me with some needles to treat my knees (which have been mysterioulsy bothering me) and we laughed and talked and watched the Gilmore Girls. I told her at some point in the evening how I knew someday we probably would live in different cities and how sad that makes me. She laughed and said that she doubts that will happen. Actually, if I make it a point to follow her and George around, I think I would always be in a good place. If only life were so easy.

A bit of a lag...

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week, I hope my whopper bitch about Hollywood makes up for lost time. I went home for the weekend and didn't feel like posting from there. Mostly my trip was spent listening to my mother and friend Sharon talk, argue, swap titles of books to read. I knew they'd like each other. I also saw the excellent Miss Amanda, who is still the best Bingo caller I know. I ate at my favorite gyros place (Zeta's on High Street), was astonished at the growth and change of Columbus, and further humiliated myself at my complete lack of knowledge of OSU's campus (all the while championing the glories of IU, yes I know I'm partial). I explored several campuses, actually, because what's the point in a trip to Ohio if you can't see several of the bajillion small liberal arts colleges? (That sounded salty, and I didn't mean to. The weather was perfect for seeing Kenyon and Denison.) Check out my pictures to the left.

Yesterday I got my new Chase bank debit card to replace my old Bank One card. I also noticed that the top of the Bank One building now has the Chase sign as well. This made me sad. I have deep brand loyalty to Bank One, my first bank. I also have issues with both it and Marshall Field's changing names. Especially the Marshall Field's flagship. I am so sad about this. Columbus still has Bank Ones as Bank Ones. I guess the trickle effect hasn't hit them yet. Lucky bastards.

In other news, I'm about half-way through Joan Didion's new book, The Year of Magical Thinking. It's beautiful, but I can't say I'm in the cheeriest of moods. My reading for class is over, so I now have time to read for pleasure again, which is really nice. Plus the Didion book is small and fits perfectly in the pocket of my trenchcoat. It's a nice weight, swaying next to me as I walk. Sharon, her friend Pat and I are going to try and hear her speak on Saturday as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival, though the session is booked. I trust in Pat's powers of persuasion.

Mr. Darcy with a Mullet?

Well, that's almost the headline to a NYTimes article I read in the Sunday holiday movie section (but it alludes me online and so I don't have a link to it, sorry). The full title is, "Mr. Darcy Has a Mullet: A Jane Austen Hero For the 21st Century" and it is by Sarah Lyall. Hm. Mr. Darcy. With a mullet. Not exactly a headline that makes me want to rush out to see the new film based on the beloved classic. Especially when I don't feel a new film version of this is necessary.

The article addresses this point right up front, discussing "the ghosts of Darcys past," including "gorgeous" Lawrence Olivier in the 1940 version (which, according to IMDB, Aldous Huxley worked on the screenplay!) and "the gorgeous-in-a-different-way Colin Firth" from the 6 hour version in 1995. (Can I call that version seminal? Because I feel that it is.) She goes on to say that Mr. Firth "captivated a generation of Englishwomen when he emerged, dripping and fully dressed, from a lake." From what I know, he also captivated a generation of bookish American women. Mention Colin Firth as Darcy around a bunch of women in their mid-20s and you'll get a lot of long sighs.

The rest of the article is more or less how the new Darcy, Matthew MacFayden, is filling the large shoes of Darcys past. MacFayden speaks nicely of the role, but says in his head he's not how he pictures Darcy. He said, "If I could paint Darcy, he would be dishier, darker-haired than I am." I may have to agree with him there. He said he approached Darcy as a man who is unsure of who he is, much more fragile than perhaps previously shown to be. I hope he did well. I'm not wishing him ill will particularly, I just wish he didn't have to go and put himself into such a difficult position. He's not the reason I'm against this remake, he's just someone caught in my crossfire.

As a side note, I find it interesting to compare the billings of the actors on IMDB between the 1995 and 2005 versions. In 1995 it went Mr. Firth and then Jennifer Ehle, who wonderfully captured Elizabeth Bennet. In this new version, it goes Keira Knightley (who I'll get to in a minute), followed by all of the Bennets, the Lucases, the Bingleys and then Darcy. He's twelfth on the list. Now, I would argue that the role of Elizabeth Bennet should always be first, she is the main character afterall. And I agree that Darcy is not around much of the book, but he is the main love interest. He should get better billing than the youngest Bennet girls.

Now, as you may expect, I was not really pleased when I heard they were making another P&P remake. I (obviously) don't see the point. Though I do find it fun to get on my high horse and make pronouncements of doom every now and then, and I guess this offers me a vehicle to do so. But, Keira Knightley? As Eliza Bennet? What the...? I mean, I get it. She's a hot young British thing, known for her supposed feisty-ness, and a boiled down version of Ms. Bennet is feisty, right? It's just that in EVERY role Ms. Knightley only acts as her beautiful tom-boy persona, shouting bullocks this and that with her sexy pout. Petulance does not an actor make. I mean, the tom-boy thing is PERFECT for the girl who wishes she was a pirate or the girl who wants to be a soccer star. And I enjoyed her in both movies. But the role of Elizabeth Bennet requires depth and nuance. I felt the same way when I found out she was playing Lara in a remake of Doctor Zhivago. Why? Why remake it at all? God, money really does kill the soul.

The cast isn't all bad. I bet Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Bennet is hysterical, although I question why Donald Sutherland is cast as her husband and foil. He's usually so sedate, too sedate perhaps. And why Jena Malone is Lydia. I mean, if I were Jena Malone, I'd want to play Lydia Bennet, but she too always seems too sedate for such a tempestuous young girl. I wonder how much of the Lydia mischief they keep, since the movie clocks just over two hours, although it's an important plot point for Darcy and Elizabeth. I'm also sure that Rosamund Pike is perfect as Jane, she looks as I would picture Jane, pure loveliness. Though I feel Ms. Pike would be able to better handle the role as Elizabeth, but there I go, expecting actors to actually act.

I probably won't see this movie, and you can all call me a hypocrite or a coward or something for panning a movie I don't plan on seeing, but I really don't care. If I see it at all, it will be rented for $2.50 at my movie rental place or while I'm trapped in an airplane some day. I don't think it's right to feed the money machine that keeps ruining good films.