Lepus domesticus

I have a couple of...well, not rants exactly, but reactions to rants perhaps, or suggestions for bettering the world. Yes, I'm a really good artist with an interesting foreign accent (well, it would be foreign in another country...and someone might find it interesting) and I'd like to make a suggestion. (2) BUT! My bad mood was utterly cured last night by watching the best movie ever! OK, maybe not ever, but certainly the best movie of that year. And that is...see subject line... Mamma Mia!!!! I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!! But I'm not here to talk about that!**

My suggestion is for fixing the Publishing Industry (dun dun dun!).

( My Suggestion! (Dun dun DUN!) ) 
Meanwhile, I'm so excited to be working on L&W! (Which also totally relates to all this.) 

Mom: So, you're writing a fantasy book that takes place in an alternate reality in Asia?
Susie: Yes.
Mom: And how many times have you been to Asia?
Susie: Jesus, Mom! That's what research is for!
Mom: Of course it is, dear.

Much love! Susie

(1) Mamma Mia!
(2) La science* des rêves
(3) Richard Burton (The Arabian Nights--notes)

*Wait, is that feminine? Hell. Je suis au bout de mon français. ; )
**NOTE TO SIBLINGS: We have MM! on Blu-Ray, so you should watch it here with me when you come visit. ; ) Colin Firth plays the guitar! So you know it must be good! Also, PrairieDawn, in one scene a lady wears a hat! Trust me on this. : )

There seems to be a decided bloodthirsty streak in my blog readers.

( A hint of mockery! )
In other news!! One of the previews before HBP was for something they seem to be calling "Sherlock Holmes." Trailer is here on YouTube. From the trailer, it appears to be crossover fanfiction between The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, and Shanghai Knights (which itself featured a fictionalized Arthur Conan Doyle, but also starred Jackie Chan, man! I mean, Jackie Chan!!). Now, there has been a lot of professional fanfiction about Holmes (and Watson) some of which features the supernatural (time-travel, and horror/magic as in Young Sherlock Holmes, which I might mention again if I ever do a post about bad fantasy movies of the 1980s), but the best fanfiction is that which reimagines the world in a compelling way or provides the beloved characters with unexpected situations. But as soon as fans cry OOC! (Out Of Character), it ceases to be fanfiction and instead becomes a poorly imagined attempt to capitalize on a character-as-brand-name. And whatever the hell that movie is, I don't for the life of me understand why filmmakers can't just give their Original Characters original names and get it over with. What is the draw, oh wise Audiences, of hearing a bunch of strangers call each other by familiar names on the big screen?

Speaking of which, here is a related phenomenon. There are three (at least!) recent books which are Jane Austen With Added Scenes. They include Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I actually thumbed through in the bookstore and was totally grossed out by. Not because of the zombies, but because one minute Elizabeth Bennet is driving with her aunt and uncle to see Pemberley and the next she is talking about how she killed zombies in China. (WTF?) It might be vaguely interesting as a psychological exercise: "Delusional 19th Century woman has hallucinations of monsters while her family tries to marry her off to a rich man...Wait a minute, does this remind anyone else of Jane Eyre?" BUT, it makes the story nonsensical. Related to that, there's another one out called James Fairfax which is a retelling of Emma except Jane Fairfax is a man and gay marriage is commonplace. Huh?

Now, before you jump to the wrong conclusion, here are the two things that bother me about both of these books and they are exactly the same. I always thought that plagiarism (a word coined in 1621 from plagiary which dates to at least 1601 stemming from plunder, i.e. theft) was taking someone else's words and profiting by them. In fact, it only counts if you don't credit your source. Neither of the authors of the new material claims to have written Pride and Prejudice or Emma, so techinically it's not plagiarism. But, they still use most of (and mostly) Jane Austen's original text with only slight modification and new scenes shoehorned in. This just strikes me as wrong. I don't worship Austen as an infallible goddess of literature, but if you couldn't publish these books based on copyrighted material, why should you be allowed to publish them based on works by authors dead for more than 50 years?

The second problem is one of my major pet peeves. I love alternate universe/alternate history stories, BUT, you can't change one major fact of reality and expect everything to carry on just the same. (See Temeraire for how to do it right.) If, as in P&P&Z, people are battling the undead instead of, you know, Napoleon (remember him?), it sort of changes how people view the world. I mean, the English would be much more frightened of invasion by a viral monster-creating force than by the French. After all, the French are, fundamentally, just like the rest of us. Zombies are not. (Although that could be the premise of a very funny story.) Likewise, accepting gay marriage implies a certain fluidity of gender roles (why I think we're having so much trouble getting people to accept it even today), and fluid gender roles, it seems to me, should imply that women have better things to do than sit around trying to attract husbands.

I could be wrong. Indeed, I'd like to hear arguments against me on this, as it seems to be part of the larger cultural phenomenon of fanfiction, free information sharing, and the ability to quickly and cheaply send files through the internet (either by e-mail or by posting things on websites--including blogs).

Susie

OMG! So, this afternoon I gave in to pressure and watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And...OMG. And WTF???

( Spoilers! Get your red hot spoilers here!!! )
Over all, I give the movie an Edible. I'm excited to Reduce it, however.  ; )

Speaking of which, Celluloid Reduction (celluloid_redux ) is coming back in September. That is guaranteed. I know I left our MovieVersary games kind of up in the air. p_a_morningstar  got second place. First Place winner fauxklore  requested a Double Dactyl about her LJ and a particular vampire movie. As it happens, and I think I forgot to mention this, the movie she asked for won't work, but we are doing a vampire movie as our next Reduction. And I mention this today also because the highlight of the moviegoing experience for me was the New Moon trailer. OMG! I haven't laughed that hard (Silently! Because I am a polite filmgoer!) in AGES. I did write the poem, though...OK, I wrote half of it. But I'm saving it for the next Reduction. I'm guessing it will be about September 20, but no promises this far in advance.  ; )

Much love, Susie

*Though seriously, I get a craving for dried pineapple whenever I think of that memory scene. I know Horace favors the icky candied kind, but dired pineapple is oh my gosh so good! Hmm...I'd eat some right now if we had any. ANYWAY!

**Actually, I'm not sure this is the right essay...she's a bit longwinded and disorganized, but this hints at it anyway. (Which reminds me how offended I was when DD called the blood sacrifice "crude." I don't think it is and I don't think Voldie came up with it. But, there are a lot of things like that in the books and now is not the time to discuss them.)

Possibly...  ; )

Any BITs today?

Not really--and I know this makes me a bad little intolerant bigot--but this post totally made me laugh out loud. It was the "petty magic man in the sky." But the author also makes a good point about understanding the way other people's desire to do Good manifests itself. I was reading Krishnamurti's* Think On These Things today, and he says a wonderful thing, which is that those who worship God do not love God, they fear God; all temples and religious trappings are the products of human vanity and fear. "It is only the unhappy, the frightened who worship God." And his last bit: "It is the miserable, the tortured, those who are in despair that crawl to a temple; but if they put aside this so-called worship and understand their misery, then they will be happy men and women, for they will discover what truth is, what God is." Told you he was awesome.  ; )  Incidentally, he didn't believe in "doing Good." But that's another matter.

*Who is** awesome.
**He's dead, of course, but good philosophy lives forever.  ; )

In a traditional Japanese wedding, how many paper cranes is the groom's family supposed to make?

A thousand and one.  ; )

I always have trouble deciding what to order in restaurants, much to the annoyance of my companions. Do you have any suggestions on how to cure this debilitating problem?

Have you tried omakase^ restaurants? There's a new one in Honolulu that comes highly recommended. You walk in and sit down and the chef gives you what you need to eat. And the chef knows best. In fact, the chef knows best so well, if you try to put soy sauce on your tempura ebi, he will refuse to serve you any more. You are not worthy. But, if you accept his superior knowledge and experience, you can have a very fulfilling (or just filling) dining experience. So I'm told.  ; )

^I'm guessing on the spelling here...I learned all the Japanese I know from watching Shogun^^. If I'd read the book, maybe I'd spell better...
^^Which is also awesome, though seriously, I'm not sure I ought to admit that the only line I remember from the whole thing was "Do I look like a damn Sodomite to you?" To which of course, we answered, "Yes." Some questions just beg for sarcasm, you know?

Susie, is it true you are just spamming your flist because you have writer's block with The Comedy?

I am insulted!! Of course not! (Seriously, though, how the heck did it get to be the 25th of June already???) The good news is, all the guests are gone, the house is clean, the beds have been remade, and I have NOTHING at all I need to do for the next...uh...four days, except WORK! I'm so excited! I just can't hide it! No really...I don't believe in writer's block and I certainly don't have it, I'm just a little behind schedule, as usual. But I intend to be asking for readers by July 4. Really. I can't believe how close that is!!! AAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!

How many beds did you make today?

Seven. From scratch. I chopped down a couple of pines this morning and planed them in the afternoon. They're curing at the moment, but the turned posts are quite lovely.  ; )

Any adorable baby animals in the yard today?

Why yes! There is a tiny little elk calf who doesn't understand that in order to hide by lying perfectly still, one should lie down in tall grass, preferably, and not in the middle of a driveway.  : (  But it's soooo cute! And I hope it will be very safe here and grow big and fat! Also, today, we had a mother moose with her very sweet calf. I couldn't actually swear that this cow was Ethel...Looked mostly like Ethel. But she's brought her baby by twice, so it needs a name. I'm running out of candy bars! Suggestions are extremely welcome in the comments!!

Did you see a catbird?

Yeah.  : )

Was he in the catbird seat?

If by "catbird seat" you mean an aspen branch, then, Yes!  ; )

OMG! Where can I get a Treetop Barbie (TM) of my very own???

I'd try right here. I saw Treetop Barbie up close just today! She has a little field notebook in her pocket and all her clothes are handmade by volunteer seamstresses. The helmets come from "The Internet" which must be one of the weird Pacific Northwest places no one's ever heard of. Oddly, Mattel did not think Treetop Barbie would be a big seller. I think they are missing a really major market here. I would consider getting one, seriously, just to have on display. It would be like professing to the world that I am a Tree Hugger. Actually, I hug the trees in my house all the time. They are very hugable.

I'm a doctor not a filmmaker!  ; D

So, in case you couldn't tell, I've just seen Star Trek. And...I kind of liked it. Spoilers follow.

( I'm givin' her all she's got!! )

Last night, or more accurately, this morning, I dreamed that the violet-green swallows came back. When I awoke (later) this morning, guess what I saw wheeling and diving around the house?

The completely rational explanation is that I heard them singing and calling early this morning and my subconscious recognized their call, coupled with the fact that I was just thinking about their return the other day, filled in an appropriate dream.  : )  Of course, I also dreamed they were sitting in a tree next to a flock of summer tanagers--birds I've never seen in my life and certainly don't live around here. In fact, the dream was not a happy one, despite the swallows (who bore a vague resemblence to chinstrap penguins anyway...don't ask), was that I kept looking for the tanagers (which I called summer tanagers immediately in my dream, but in true Susie fashion then doubted) in every birdbook I could lay my hands on, but every book I grabbed looked like a birdbook on the outside and was not on the inside. Interestingly enough, they were still field guides, just guides to plants, reptiles, insects, etc. Very interesting. Oh yes, and then as I was looking through yet another fake!birdbook, I was interrupted by a procession of kings and queens. I think that part was because I watched Prince Caspian last night.*

In real life, the violet-green swallows are swooping and diving and chattering and fighting all over. The adults basically never fly into the windows, but it still makes me nervous. What always amazes me, though, is that the whole colony arrives and leaves on the same night. I wonder if they all winter together? That makes it very cozy. But when they return in the spring, they engage in some pretty vicious fighting over prime nest holes (under our eaves). The females are the nastiest. Once they get settled in, though, they are pretty peaceful, and we often see them huddled together in a row on chilly mornings. Once a fledgling actually got into the house somehow and I had to catch it and put it outside. And I love to see them, and I actually like their song.

The tree swallows have been staking out nestholes for a week. I just saw one exuberant little violet-green chasing one, which was short-lived--tree swallows are bigger than violet-greens and use different nest sites. They also are not colonial. And I think I saw a black-headed grosbeak. I didn't have binoculars, but the shape was right, and they should be returning to the hill very soon if they haven't already. I haven't heard one singing yet, so I can't be sure. They have a really beautiful song. And, at last, I have daffodils blooming! I wouldn't be surprised if the sticky geranium will be out in the valley before too long, and lupines have put up leaves all over. Soon there will be flowers everywhere.

Today is the first really fine, warm day we've had this year. No doubt not coincidental to the arrival of the swallows. I'll try to get a picture of the daffodils soon. Meanwhile, lots to do!  : )

--Susie

*This version is much better.  ; )  Although, Caspian did fondle Peter's sword a few times...mostly because Peter spent the whole movie fondling it himself...Yeah, I'm afraid that movie reminded me why I've never read those books and also completely failed to pique my interest in them, again. Totally failed as a movie, too. I don't think they're going to make any more, but I could be wrong. Interestingly, I remember watching some or all of the miniseries version...must have come out when I was very small. We taped it off TV (back in the day when people taped stuff off TV, onto those remarkably heavy videocassettes. Wow. ANYWAY) and I remember being completely fascinated by it. I suppose the language of the book put me off at that age. It was only later I got annoyed with the premise.

It occurs to me that we are not each in possession of a soul, but that we, living beings, share one soul between us. It's a small shift in thinking, but it makes an enormous difference. You see, I've been thinking about pets, and zoos, and domestication, and culture, and agriculture...I'll have to think more before I write more.

So, my subject. I have some neighbors--whom I of course never see, this being that sort of place, but that's another topic--who recently, at large expense, time, and materials, made their back door their front door. Now, unlike, say, Howell Jenkins*, for whom moving a door is really moving a door, these neighbors simply turned their old door into a wall and a nearby wall into a door, which mimics and faces the same direction and is not twenty feet from their original front door, which remains the same. I don't know if anyone out there can explain this to me in a way it makes sense, but...two things: One, it first occurred to me that there are people in this world who haven't any doors, and these people have so many, they do not use them all (as do we, I'm sorry to say, but that's another matter). Two, most people, it seems, regardless of where they live or how much they own, have a desire to impress their neighbors, and to conform to the standards of those closest to them--just like a flock of birds or a school of fish or a herd of cattle--moving just enough to fit in with their immediate neighbors, while remaining ignorant of the Larger Picture. And of course, conforming to these neighbors' standards is completely unsustainable for the world at large.

And it also occurred to me that the greatest sacrifice humans have made since, let's say, the invention of the city, is the loss of community, which is also our most basic definition of Self. You see, I'm coming to disbelieve in "Better" and "Worse." I haven't given up on it entirely, and I still believe that which causes pain is "bad" and that which causes pleasure is "good," but in terms of lifestyles or cultures or diets, I'm not sure. PrairieDawn thinks I feel too guilty for being human. I don't. I don't think there's anything wrong with being human. HOWEVER, the way humans live in the world today in most places, in this country, in this neighborhood, has a lot of things very wrong with it. Is it right that drugs we manufacture and use, when they leech into ponds, cause male frogs to lay eggs? Should we do nothing to stop extinction that our activities have caused? Thinking about amhibians today (because I watched The Thin Green Line last night on Nature, which has a companion article in the latest National Geographic, which also features an article about the drying out of Australia and the human factors and human sufferers involved). Humans will survive the mass extinction we are seeing the beginnings of now. But do you want your grandchildren to grow up in a world with such diminished biodiversity? We cannot calculate how many generations it will be before new species evolve to fill these niches, and the world in the meantime will be in a state of turmoil, chaos, and death. It is natural, yes, but did you ever think how it could affect our spirits? Or yet our collective Soul?

See, I think very religious people are not afraid of death. They have faith that God hears them and has prepared an afterlife for them to dwell in for all eternity. But you know, I know there can be no life after death, for I have known too much of Love to think that if the spirits of those we lose could come back, they wouldn't. How could they stay away, when they know how much we miss them? They would comfort us, because they love us, but none ever has, thus they cannot. What reason does an atheist have for living as long as possible? I answered myself Vanity. Because death is the death of the mind, the loss of Thought. And we think our thoughts are worthy of thinking, and so we go on as long as we can.

There is no Hell. This world is hell. There is no Heaven. This world is heaven. That is why we must always try to do the best that we can.

And speaking of dogs...I think we have not yet realized how much they can tell us about unwritten human history. But I have too much to say on that subject for here.

Coming Soon: 1. The Economics of Inbreeding (I haven't forgotten! And I'm excited to write about it.) and 2. (Segueing directly from #1) Dinah Craik, and a bit more on feminism and disability in literature. Also snakes, and women who live perfectly happily without men. Until they don't.  : )

Also, Today in Underrated Movies: The Majestic. Sappy, predictable, but funny, and good. I could think of a number of ways to make it better, but I liked it, and found it genuinely funny and, yeah, hearwarming too.

Love, Susie

*If you do not know Howell Jenkins, you should. Also, his creator, Diana Wynne Jones, who is made of win (not just Wynne. Sorry. Couldn't resist...)

Springtime in the Rockies! You know that big storm that dumped a foot and a half of snow on Denver and shut down DIA? It left 8 inches here Wednesday night. That promptly melted, but it has snowed every day since then also and last night we got about five inches, making everything look very smooth and wintery again. The vole in the planter outside the dining room is still with us and made a fresh tunnel through the fresh snow this morning. And you know, when the weather's like this, it seems reasonable that they should think the whole world was always winter all the time.  : )  Summer only lasted a week, and that was long enough.  ; )



And, as promised--my recent notes for The Comedy. Note there are possible spoilers!! Of course, in order to get them you'd have to a) be able to read my handwriting and b) know what all my weird little abbreviations stand for. I didn't write out the names of most of the main characters (I seem to have two names there), having gotten used to using only the first initial. Make of it what you will, but the easiest words to read are "Chaos" and "Poetic Justice." See, I was taking these notes while on the phone with PrairieDawn who, as is her usual way, convinced me that I've Been Doing It Wrong and she knew just how to Make It Better. Sample dialogue:

Susie: But, if I do that, I'll have to rewrite the whole story! It changes the entire theme of the novel!
PrairieDawn: Yeah, but now it will be good.

This tiny scrap (about 3x5 inches) was the only piece of paper in front of me. I started writing in fairly large letters to fill up the empty space, but as more details and ideas occurred, my writing got smaller and smaller and had to curve around the big letters, and between the big letters as the big letters became mere abstractions on the page, as invisible to me as the lines on the paper. At the bottom of this picture, upside down, in pencil, probably unreadable, is the original note on that piece of paper (the reverse of which, unfortunately was already filled with other notes for something entirely different). It is a quote from Elmo: "Somebody has to save the economy. It might as well be us."

And PrairieDawn is right, the book is better now. It's at once more personal and more universal. The funny thing is, the seeds for all her suggestions were there in the story--illustrating either that great minds think alike, or PrairieDawn is right to be a fatalist.  ; )  Which is also a key theme in the book.  ; )

ALSO, IMPORTANT QUESTION: Average Reader, if I say, "the test of a sand dollar," do you know what I'm talking about?

( Australia )

--S

I know I haven't posted anything of substance in a while, and I probably won't for a while longer!  (Yay!!)  And I'm well aware of all the things I said I'd do and haven't actually, um, done yet... Celluloid Reduction is on hiatus (I knew this would happen!!), I have about eight unfinished posts for this Journal, I have a kitchen full of dirty dishes, a fridge full of stuff I meant to use, and I'm about to pack a suitcase full of dirty clothes! Huzzah!  Meanwhile, I did manage to write about 5,000 words on The Comedy in the last two days, but I've been totally freaking out about a number of things (including--perhaps especially--my writing), so I'm really hoping this vacation will be a relaxing time when I won't have to think (and yes, will stuff myself with highly fattening foods--thank you, Elmo!). And oh damn! I forgot to submit those poems to the magazine!  AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Meanwhile, yesterday I got to see the movie Across the Universe. (Hey, I need a little me time, you know?). It was...well...I didn't dislike it. I generally prefer hearing The Beatles sing their own songs (Did I mention I just watched Help! and A Hard Day's Night while I was sick?), but the cast were good singers. Some of the dance numbers were a lot of fun, the cameos by Bono and Eddie Izzard were really funny, and oh my God, was that Salma Hayek?? I mean, it didn't really have a plot, but I thought it could have used even more songs (although the references to songs they didn't sing were cute), and I enjoyed guessing which song would come next to fit the plot. (I was anticipating "You say you want a revolution" for about five minutes) And some of the songs were used in unexpected and interesting ways. And I laughed at some of the characters who were clearly referencing real people. But yeah, weird movie. Heck, zibbycomix would even say, "odd." (And that's an inside joke, so don't worry if you don't get it.) Still, not as entertaining as say, "What do you call that hairstyle?" "Arthur."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I enjoyed this post a lot. Especially the answer to the last question. All you need is love, man. Really.  ; )

Love, Susie

P.S. Ooops! Forgot the point of this post... (rolls eyes) I'm off to the beach house for two weeks! I expect I'll post a couple times from there, but you never know. I'll be very busy...sitting by the pool...sitting on the beach...walking to the beach...having lunch...having breakfast...going out to fancy restaurants...lounging...napping in the sun...you know.  : )

P.P.S. Sadly, it's not a beach house on the moon. Although, that would be rather Chinese, and appropriate for the season.  ; )  But only if I bring my rabbit...

Two nights ago, we had an earthquake. One of the dangers of living on a fault line near a super volcano is that such things happen fairly regularly. This was the first one I'd felt since moving here, however. The epicenter was some distance to the South West of us and was 3.8 there (according to an internet source we found an hour afterwards). Although I was born in Southern California, I don't really remember the earthquakes we had there, so I didn't really realize what it was at first. Earthquakes always feel longer than they are, and this one was very mild, but I still found it rather disconcerting. Most buildings in this county (including our house) are built to withstand earthquakes of 8.0 and all new buildings meet earthquake-prone-areas requirements. A hanging object shook a bit, otherwise nothing moved.

PrairieDawn asked what I was afraid of, and I didn't really have an answer at first. I, like most people, am a little afraid of dying, although I'm not afraid of being dead. I think it's just that seismic activity, like volcanos and supernovae and asteroids, is something that even at our most arrogant, mankind cannot take any credit for. It is a reminder of how small and insignificant we really are. And that's a little frightening.

One thing that can be blamed on humans, however, is my cold, which PrairieDawn gave me. Yesterday I just sat around feeling miserable and doing nothing. I did watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for the first time in my life. Red enjoyed the middle part which she watched because it had lots of "amitals" in it, but I was glad she missed the part where Snow White is lost in the woods and frightened, because Red is sensitive to suspense and scary images in movies. (As any four-year-old would be.)

Yeah. So. It was interesting. Some of the songs were nice, although Snow White's voice made the lyrics a bit difficult to make out at times. I had noticed (after watching Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty with Red this visit) that all the Disney villainesses have dark hair, green eyes, and rather prominent noses. (Not that I feel discriminated against, as a dark-haired, green-eyed, prominent-nosed villainess; I'm just noticing). But Snow White has brown eyes, something I appreciated.  : )  (Maybe it's from watching all the LOTR movies recently, but I have noticed that a lot of people in the movies have blue eyes, and since blue-eyed people are freaks of nature and worldwide rather uncommon, I appreciate seeing some variety, especially in movies aimed at children. I feel the same way about blond people.)* It also had the slimmest story of the Disney animated films, with lots of empty space filled with sustained suspense or slapstick humor. Although I did appreciate a lot of the details, such as the dwarves organ with the little birds and frogs for pipes and their clock. I'm kind of sad that the precise, inventive, and painstakingly detailed cel-animation is a thing of the past. Looking at Sleeping Beauty or Fantasia, I am still so amazed and impressed that all those scenes were drawn and inked by hand by teams of people using only ink and plastic. In many ways, computer animation can never match it. (One of my favorite recent animated films is Spirit, which, in addition to being the only animated film about horses, I thought was really magnificent in its mixing of hand-drawn animation and computer-generated effects, but that's another matter.) I also have more I want to say about Disney movies, but it'll wait for another time.

Meanwhile, the picture at the top is of the rime this morning. I got up in the dark at 7 partly because I'm sick (and went to bed at 9 last night, although I didn't fall asleep right away and woke up two or three times in the night) and partly because I wanted to spend more time with my family before they left. I'm afraid the picture doesn't quite capture the color. Be sure to click on it and see it in the larger size. Those are the cottonwoods on the bottom of the valley coming up from the river in the sun behind our yard in the shade. The rime was hanging about 3/4 of an inch long off the north sides of the trees (and coating the few stalks of grass that haven't been buried under the snow). I love it. It's so beautiful. And then the sun shines on it and it starts to sublime and then the frost crystals rain down and sparkle. It's really worth it living in a place that gets really cold, just to see the rime. (Mostly it is formed as fog rises from the river and freezes). It's in the positive single digits right now.

Anyway, I feel really melancholy now that PrairieDawn, Super Grover, Red, and Rain have gone. These two weeks were really wonderful. Even though I was crazily busy, I was so happy. You know, the kids get here and the first half-week they're really excited and they don't get enough sleep and you think, "Oh my goodness! Where did these little beasties come from and why are they trying to break everything in the house?" But then, they settle down and you play with them every day and you go sledding and skiing and snowshoing, and they are so sweet and loving and fun, and you never ever want them to leave! Maybe parents are lucky after all. Even with all the food embedded in the carpet and the torn books and everything. Sigh. I really, really miss them! So, I'd really like to sit around today and watch sappy movies and feel sorry for myself. But it is a really beautiful day.  : )

Hugs (but no kisses because I'm sick)! Love, Susie

*My mom has blond hair and blue eyes. I'm being facetious.

ETA: Also, I've been reading Grimms' Fairy Tales again (partly because I'm planning another fairy tale book and partly just because).  : )  Snow White was actually pretty close to the original, unlike some others of note. Oh yeah, and, I just realized, this morning, that when one talks about the moon being in "third quarter" (as it is now), that's referring to the quarter of the cycle. The moon itself is obviously a half-moon.  : )  I'm a dope. I know.

ETA (Also): Oh yeah! And someone who is emphatically not in my target audience for that book, (namely a competive white-water kayaking 16-year-old boy) LOVED The Splitting of the World! Of course he's the home-schooled offspring of world-traveling parents with eccentric heathen leanings, so that's in line with the target audience... Have you bought your copy yet? (Sorry, I won't ask again.) I admit I think my writing is much improved since then, but I swear it's still a good book. I don't just say stuff like that about my own work. Believe me, I'm my toughest critic. I'm a Wood Rat, for heaven's sake! I don't toot my own horn.  : )  (Except I just did...)  ; D

So, last post's subject line was from Charade. I mention this because PrairieDawn and Super Grover have been using this vacation to watch movies after the kids go to sleep, but it takes them a very long time to pick anything. This is partly because PrairieDawn insists on movies that:

1. Have no sex.
2. Have no violence.
3. Are "excellent." And written for adults...
and
4. Have women in hats.

Mostly we watch adaptations of Jane Austen novels. So we go through this:

PrairieDawn: To Catch a Thief. Is that Hitchcock? That sounds scary.
Susie: To Catch a Thief? SCARY? It's not remotely scary.
Super Grover: It's suspenseful, not scary.
Susie: Its pioneering car chase, to modern audiences, looks more scenic than scary.
PrairieDawn: Pioneering car chase? It's too scary for me.
Super Grover: Charade? What's that?
PrairieDawn: Oh! Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn! We've seen that.
Super Grover: Oh yeah. We have.
PrairieDawn: Did you know there's some website that shows you how to tie a tie, and all the videos are scenes of Cary Grant tying ties in old movies? He knew how to tie a tie.
Super Grover: Vanity Fair? What's this?
Susie: That's pretty good. Not "excellent."
PrairieDawn: Let's watch that.

Later, every five seconds:

PrairieDawn: What just happened? What's going on? I don't get it. What did she just say?

"Caesar liked Brutus and look where it got him."  ; )

But last night we watched Finding Neverland, which actually fits all those requirements. I think PD liked it, but it made her cry a lot. As she said, "Stories about boys who never grow up have a whole different meaning for me now."

And they do. So, I have one extra copy of Darius Goes West, which I'd really like to give away. I'd love to hear suggestions in the comments of this post for a contest or something to give away this movie. You don't have to be embarassed if you don't want to spend $20. I understand. I wasn't sure it was the best way to give money either. But it is an very good film and I highly recommend it. PrairieDawn is thinking about making bumper stickers. I wonder if there's an End Duchenne community on LiveJournal yet...I should start one if there isn't.

In other news, Bryan-who-likes-to-pick-up-chicks and some of his pals are doing a Big Year (birding) in 2009. He wants me to play too, although I can't help but think he just wants my $25 entry fee which he's sure to win.  ; )  Then again, already this year I've seen a snow bunting and a flock of common redpolls--two species that I've added to my life list, as well as pine grosbeaks, a great grey owl, and a kingfisher--three species that require a little bit of looking to see in Teton County. Hmm...I probably could use a good excuse to get out of the house and get more exercise, too. (Bryan hasn't seen a snow bunting...) Maybe if I just do it for fun. Sadly, the flock of evening grosbeaks we had was in December...I don't know. What do you think? I'll never win. No one ever goes birding with me...

AND we went to visit the Raptor Center two days ago. They have the most gorgeous young male golden eagle who sadly has a congenital wing defect meaning he's never flown. He is truly magnificent. Red was afraid of him. But she got to go skiing yesterday! She's young enough she likes snowshoing better, but she seems to be a real natural at all these winter sports. Part of me really wishes she could grow up here and do these things and attend a certain school that I wish I could have gone to. Anyway...this is the longest amount of time I've had to myself in a week (which feels like a lot longer!), but it's about over now.

Tonight maybe we'll watch National Treasure. No hats, but it's too silly to miss. It's like The DaVinci Code only not religious and a lot more coherent.  ; )

It warmed up a lot here, but it looks like some more snow might be headed our way...Mum made ebilskivers the other day (did I spell that right?), because someone gave her a pan for them. They were pretty tasty, but a lot of work for not much reward. They were very pretty, though. Anyway, so we had a ton of buttermilk left over. Well, I decided to try out a recipe for a devil's food cake to use some of it up. The cake was amazing, light as air, and nice and chocolatey because I used this excellent cocoa I'd bought for the Yule Logs (I've never had such good cocoa! The smell of it every time I put a spoon in it! Oh my goodness! I have to remember to buy that brand again! It was expensive, but oh so worth it! Wow!). But even though the recipe called for only 2 eggs, it made three layers (just what I needed...). So then I made an experimental buttercream/pastry cream kind of icing which tasted better and better as it aged. Yeah, so, in the end, Mum and I ate the entire cake by ourselves. Oh dear. So, yesterday, we shoveled the deck. (The main one with our patio furniture on it that I've been taking pictures of. Yeah, that one with the five feet of snow on it.) The snow is all powder. We tried to go out and play in it the other day and sank to our thighs. But I'm really hopeful that the warmer weather today followed by a cold night will make a good base so we'll have good skiing when PrairieDawn and family visit us...this weekend!!! (YAY!!! I can't wait!!) Meanwhile, I think I'll tackle the wood decks tomorrow, after my arms have rested a bit.

So, Mum and I have been watching LOTR. Last night we stopped at 10:15 halfway through Return of the King!!! (Why does this always happen when I watch these movies with my mom? Never mind. Don't answer that.) So, I stayed up afterwards and made three recipes of pancakes to use up the last of the buttermilk. (These are my signature whole-wheat buttermilk cakes. Mmm...They all went into the freezer though. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating a stack of them (and an omlette!) last night for dinner...a very late dinner.) Yeah...so you see I have to shovel more to undo all this cake and stuff I've been eating...Don't you just love this time of year? I swear...Seriously, my new theory is that people used up more energy in the winter trudging through the snow, right? In the old days I mean. So, they craved sweet, fatty foods to make up for it, hence the invention of all our traditional holiday treats! Makes sense, right? So, now that we have cars and central heating, etc... Maybe I'll pick up that snow shovel today after all.  ; )

Also, a couple thoughts in the "I can't believe I never noticed that before" category. Rivendell is called Imladris in Elvish (? I should read that book again...). Saruman's clothes look white from a distance but aren't white. This of course is brilliant because in the book, he said he was "Saruman of Many Colors" or whatever it was. So, once again, the attention to detail on these movies is astonishing. Also, this is particularly noticeable when you meet Gandalf the White in Two Towers and see that his clothes are, in fact, snow white. Also, and this is undoubtedly because the sound is so loud when I watch movies with my aged parent, the Gondoreans, noticeably Denethor and Faramir, call Gandalf Mithrandir. Of course this is consistant with the book (where it is pointed out that the people of different regions know the wizard by different names), but I never noticed it before. Also, the scenery in Two Towers may be the best of the series. And that movie contains some of my all-time favorite scenes--The entrance of Shadowfax (YAY!), the Last March of the Ents (actually, everything with the ents and Pippin's little "The closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm" speech), Fangorn Forest getting its revenge on the Orcs (YES!!!), and also, the entirely digital, but magnificent scene of Gandalf and the Balrog falling into that subterranean lake, which is magnificent, and I adore the music. Actually, I love the entire score of those films. So, great job, Howard Shore! Also, I think the casting is perfect. OH! AND the part when Faramir says to Sam, "what are you, his bodyguard?" and Sam says, "No! His gardener!" like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Best Line Ever.   : )  I love these movies so much.
 
But Return of the King also has a lot of great characterization. Favorite scene in the first part--Merry and Pippin saying goodbye before they split up. And Pippin hasn't realized yet that they're not going to see each other again. And then when Merry says "you smoke too much" just before Gandalf and Pippin ride off, I nearly cried! And then when Merry is talking to Aragorn right afterwards. So sad!!! Yeah, and for all you would-be Hobbit-slashers, I want you to know, after we finished The Hobbit, I was looking at the Appendices in LOTR, and Merry and Pippin are First Cousins. And both are Second Cousins to Frodo. Meaning that all Hobbits are inbred...No, I mean, um...Well, they are supposed like English country people, aren't they? So I guess that's accurate... Yeah, and I was also thinking about some of the sort of proto-feminism in the books, what with Eowyn going to war (albeit secretly) and also, in a different way, Arwen choosing to die to be with Aragorn. I mean, no one would blame her if she went to Valinor (spelling?), but she stays, not just because she loves Aragorn, but because he could not survive this war and be a great king without her. (Also, in the appendices the "good" rulers letting daughters succeed the throne.)

And Sam is totally the Real Hero of the story.  : )  Love him hitting orcs with his frying pan!  : D

So, will the Rohirrim reach Minas Tirith in time? Will Eowyn and Merry survive the battle? Will Pippin prove that Tooks are noble and brave after all? Will the ring be destroyed? Will darkness be destroyed forever? I'm about to find out.  ; )

For Frodo!!!  Love, Susie

Anyone out there who is or knows a fan of the TV show Mad Men? The reason I ask, is Elmo says he thought it was good, but I know he's only seen the Second Season. I watched the first episode last night and I'm not sure if I should bother with the rest. Does it get better? What appeals about the show? Is is the costumes/sets, etc., or do the characters grow on you, or the drama of the advertising world? This is a legitimate question; I'm not being sarcastic.

Sometimes I like "guy" things. But mostly I like things that reassure me that, underneath it all, male persons are really normal human beings like the rest of us.  ; P  For instance, the other night, instead of the LOTR marathon I wanted, The Powers That Be couldn't decide on a movie, so we watched About A Boy. I love this movie. I'd seen it before, of course, but it had been a while and I'd forgotten all the best jokes (how often does that happen?). Not only is the movie hilarious, it's also poignant and humane, and even vaguely Christmassy.* And I don't just love it because the main character does nothing.  : )  I, of course, do not do nothing. I write. But often times writing feels (and looks) quite a bit like nothing.  ; )  Speaking of which, I have some very exciting world-building to ponder.

Happy Day-After-Boxing-Day-Whatever-The-Hell-That-Is-For!  Love, Susie

*Actually, it occurs to me that most movies are probably vaguely Christmassy. Christmas seems to be a huge marketing pull in the Western world, and so appears in many films, even just briefly. If any story takes place over more than a few months, it will undoubtedly contain a Christmas montage, as will any movie about family, love, children, etc. I should do another post about that. Actually, I'll just say here that I pretty much ignore all the trappings of Christmas most people seem to expect (and tire of). I have no neighbors whose garish light displays pollute every view out of my house (indeed, we can only see two house with any lights at all--one had only a tasteful spruce decorated in small colored lights and the other down at the bottom of the hill which I never even really saw because the constant snow created near white-out conditions for much of the past week. It's snowing again today, too.), I avoid shopping this time of year, and the grocery stores rarely blast the music loudly enough to be annoying. The nearest mall is in another state, an hour and a half drive away (except when The Pass was closed on Friday for avalanche control), and I never get packages that force me to stand in line at the Post Office for two hours, I don't send holiday cards (which earned a couple complaints this year, actually), and I don't, in fact, celebrate, you know, Christmas. However, in my childhood, I will admit, that there were many years when I hated Christmas, because I saw all those annoying commercial trappings of it and because every year Christmas time brought the renewed taunts of my "peers" and the callousness of my elders. "What are you doing for Christmas?" seems an innocent enough question, which it is, but because my misguided parents encouraged me in my belief that absolute honesty will set you free, I always answered, "We don't celebrate Christmas." Inevitably, my classmate (or even a teacher or administrator who ought to know better) would ask, "Do you celebrate Hannukah?" to which I would say, "No," naturally. This was followed by some variation of "well then, what are you?" the bane of my childhood existence. What are you? even if completely innocently asked by a kindly alien wondering what my species calls itself**, still prompts loathing, fear, and rage because not only is it a completely moronic question when referencing religion, and uses very poor grammar, I still cringe, expecting the bullying that used to always follow it in my youth. But the fact remains that the majority of people really do define themselves completely by their religion (in fact by their ethnicity or cultural identity) and I remain an oddball in this way. This feeling of inadequacy and homelessness was compounded by confusion and guilt when my teachers forced me to write letters to Santa and crap, even while any mention of Christmas seemed to send my father into fits of anger and sullenness and cause him to disappear for days into his room without a word. Until, of course, we started taking International Vacations so as to be in the wilderness in a foreign country when the dread day arrived, even as my mother tried to get us to "embrace our heritage" and open presents of some sort. HOWEVER, as time passed, I saw through the memories of this selection and destruction of the odd by humans in a herd situation, and saw the actual meaning of the season, helped in large part by my researches into Neo-Paganism (Silver Ravenwolf, much as some people seem to dislike her, is actually a good one to read if you want to know what I think about things, because she is all about acceptance and incorporating whatever works, and is very much for individuality, independence, and anti-dogma. Plus she writes in a very reassuring, motherly way.). The result now, is that I have a lot of respect for the actual religious displays of the season (although I don't want them on government buildings), and in fact love Christmas, since I now associate with sweet things, music, family, joy, love, the sun, and my magnificent little niece Red. And yeah, I love A Christmas Carol. I don't find this hypocritical or bizarre at all. However, to this day, anyone who tries to sing me "Frosty The Snowman" risks sudden, instantaneous, and even immediate death.

**This situation is purely hypothetical, of course.

This view may look familar...This was taken a couple hours ago. It's been snowing all day and more has accumulated since then. Our driveway was plowed once this morning (even on Christmas morning!) and has a good six inches on it now...maybe eight. It's the perfect day to sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate (which I've been doing) and also to watch seasonal movies. Which is what I'll talk about today.  : )

Many people turn to Frank Capra's classic It's A Wonderful Life (IAWL). I don't. You don't have to know our family very well to know that around here, we always refered to it as "that savings and loan movie." But I find it depressing and a bit silly, even as it can be comforting if you are in a sappy mood. But it is hardly the best movie to watch, even for the season!

If you like Frank Capra, I personally recommend Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936) starring the always wonderful Gary Cooper and a sassy Jean Arthur. Who wouldn't like an innocent poet/tuba player who fights the insanity and callousness of the big city? It's a little sad, though, as all of Capra's movies are, so perhaps you'd prefer Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which is also appropriate for a year in which we had a major world-changing election (as one could argue all U.S. Presidential elections are.)

Or perhaps there's a familar theme you'd like to explore. Runs on banks, for instance, which feature not only in IAWL, but also in that bright and wholesome family classic Mary Poppins. Although not specifically holiday-oriented, MP is the kind of comfort movie you dream about this time of year. Who doesn't feel all warm and cozy after listening to Julie Andrews singing "Tuppence A Bag"? No wonder that it's Mary that we love. Interestingly, for all its wonderful precise Englishness, the book was written by an Australian.

But if you're looking for runs on banks, I would like to suggest the wonderful Argentine film Nueve Reinas. Two scumbags take out a third. Sort of. But, in addition to being an excellent and exciting and funny thriller (and far, far superior to the utterly pointless American remake), it is all about the importance of family, charity, and goodwill toward men, which is very much in keeping with the holiday spirit. Also philately, which is very Christmassy (just look at the etymology!).  ; )

Or perhaps you're a holiday-themed romantic comedy sort of person. If Sleepless in Seattle puts you in good cheer without fail, you might be tempted to turn to, say, Love Actually for your holiday viewing enjoyment. Don't. That muddled, over-ambitious, under-achieving film fills me with dread anytime anyone suggests it. Far better would be The Holiday, which at least has a unified plot, as well as the wonderful Kate Winslet and Eli Wallach. And while that is a sweet movie, it is marred by continuity issues, a too-pat ending, and, in my opinion, two-thirds of the characters being utterly unlikable. Instead, be unconventional and watch Holiday (1938) starring the incomparable Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. This is a Christmas film in the best sense, in that it takes place at that time of year, and has an uplifting sort of ending, even though the times are grim. And it is oddly appropriate this year, given that it's about unhappy rich folks in a depressed economy. If you want to know how the other 1% lives, this is your chance. This movie meant a lot to me personally, even though it is silly and old-fashioned. But, Katherine Hepburn is my hero.  : )  And her and Cary Grant doing gymnastic tricks in the attic is priceless.

And if love of family and children and the importance of love is your cup of tea, especially if you like very sweet tea, then you must see Dear Frankie. This Scottish film is about one mother's all encompassing love of her only son, and his love for her, and how they protect each other and eventually learn to allow other people into their life. About good friends in unexpected places and why you should never lie to your children, even if you do it because you love them. Incredibly sweet and moving, and ultimately very hopeful. And Gerard Butler has never been better, or sexier, which is just a plus.  ; )

And perhaps, if you are like me, your favorite thing about Christmas was always The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, then maybe fantasy is more your style. If you're looking for specifically Christmassy, you cannot go wrong with The Muppet Christmas Carol. A Christmas Carol remains the only book by Dickens I've ever managed to read more than a few pages of, and in fact, I loved the book, and I like the Muppet movie version even more.  : )  This was the first Muppet production made after Jim Hensen died, but he had planned to do it, and it is nearly as good as the movies he directed himself. Gonzo plays Darles Chickens! I mean, Charles Dickens... Yeah, and I love the music, as always.  : )  BUT, if you don't want Christmassy and want a good family fantasy that will entertain both the smallest and the oldest and everyone in between, I recommend the delightful Irish film The Secret of Roan Inish. I saw it in the theater when I was young enough to see such things in the theater still, and I absolutely adored it. I've watched it many times and many ages since then and loved it more and more every time. Again, it's about families, homes, and magical children, and also seals, which is even better. I don't want to give it away, because I recommend it whole-heartedly to any person who likes a good story, and ever imagined that magic was possible in real life.

And finally, if you like epics, you can join me (in spirit) in a marathon of the extended versions of The Lord of the Rings. Hey, it makes me think of my family, so it's appropriate for me.

Much love and snow to you all! And long days of warm sunshine somewhere in your future. (Unless you're Austral, again, in which case, the light is fading and winter will soon be upon you! So there.)  : )

Love, Susie

P.S. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY RED!!!! She's FOUR. She's getting so old! I must be too...  ; )

P.P.S. ETA: This was so long already, though I should mention some other excellent Christmassy things: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Die Hard, and Joyeux Noel, which, if you haven't seen it, you must see right now. It's a magnificent pacifist movie which gorgeous music. And if you're into Christmas music, Jimmy Buffett was also born on Christmas Day, and sings the hilarious Santa-themed "Ho, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of Rum."

P.P.P.S. ETA Again: About Argentina...which we should be paying more attention to these days, historically speaking. You know there used to be a saying, "Rich as an Argentine"? Yeah. So, at our party the other night, one of the guests mentioned the children of some friends of his who spent time in Argentina in a language immersion program. "Now they speak it so well" said the man. And I was thinking, "Say Wha?" Going to Argentina to learn Spanish is worse than going to Quebec to learn French. (Although going there to learn Welsh would be interesting...That was a joke. Sort of.) Seriously, one of the most fun things for me about watching Nueve Reinas was hearing the Argentinean accents. Bizarre. Not only do they use a number of Italian and German-derived slang words, they also pronounce things oddly--most notably the double-l. In Argentina, for instance, they pronounce the word "million" as "ME-zhOn," just as their national horse is the "Cree-oh-zhoh," spelled Criollo. Interesting culture and history, though, as I said. It's not all about the Tango, after all.

Carlos says if you want to learn to speak Spanish with a beautiful accent, you must go to Bogota. All I can say is, yeah, but you'd have to go to Bogota. Then again, Carlos didn't like V For Vendetta, so clearly he does not have perfect taste.  ; )  Seriously, though, I cannot imagine how they would dub V into other languages, since the best part (Hell! Who am I kidding? The ONLY good part) of that movie was the alliteration and puns. Verily, I am vexed by vulgar video-watchers who do not appreciate vignettes about the fine verbosity of vulpine vigillantes who vest themselves not in vespertilian costumes, but merely in the visages of vanished villains who died most vily years ago. They have no taste.  ; D 

What always confuses me about a day that "officially" begins at midnight is which night it refers to. Was the longest night of the year last night, or is it the night coming up tonight? Either way, Happy Winter Solstice* everybody! (Although it doesn't much feel like the sun is returning here--it's dark and grey and cloudy and snowing) I actually have a poem that's appropriate, but instead I'm going to give you some movie-related thoughts. (Oh, boy!) Both reviews are mostly Spoiler-Free, I hope.

( Once )

( I'm Not There )
And we've seen a ton more movies lately, too, which I'll talk about later. Meanwhile, the kitchen sink is not working...Sigh. If it's not one thing...

Love, Susie

P.S. [before the movie]
Mom: I find myself talking to myself more and more lately.
Susie: They say the person you talk to most is yourself. I mean one...
Mom: Well, you're the person you spend the most time with.
Susie: That's very profound.
Mom: Are you going to quote me on your blog?
Susie: You know, I think I will.  : )

*Unless, of course, you are Austral** of some sort, in which case it is the Summer Solstice.  : )
**As opposed to Boreal, as I am (and most of my readers are, too).  : )

First of all, I probably didn't word that question very well...I meant more dangerous for the U.S. Of course the Communists hurt more people. (Mostly their own.) But Elmo gave me an answer that helped me to understand. Elmo's always good for that sort of thing.  ; )  In the long run, I think the Cold War will be a more memorable part of our history than the "War on Terror." I just have trouble comprehending the Culture of Fear during the Cold War, since I've always felt pretty secure. But then, I realize that I am unusual, and our own President (he's still the President, you know. Obama doesn't really get elected until Monday, and he's not Our Guy until January.) has used this kind of fear to his own advantage, as we well know. But I guess a lot of people were and are afraid enough of the threat of Islamic Fundamentalist Extremists (what term are we using now?) to invade a couple countries (I'm not disagreeing with that, actually, it's making sure we don't leave Afghanistan and Iraq in ruins when we do leave that worries me, since we know how well that hasn't worked in the past), tear the Constitution into shreds, and condone torture (officially!). I looked on the whole thing with disgust and disbelief, but I guess a lot of people were really happy with the "vital steps" "we" were taking to "Fight Terrorism." But that's not what I wanted to say. Elmo agrees with me that moderation is the key to longevity in all things.  : )  The more extreme any group gets, the faster they will crash and burn. Moderates always carry the day in the end, because people like the comfort of the status quo. The etymologist in me would like to mention that our world Terrorist comes from the French in 1795, from the Terror phase of the French Revolution. Le Terreur AKA the Reign of Terror lasted less than eleven months from September 1793-July 1794. This religious extremism will burn itself out sooner or later and people of Red's generation and beyond will wonder what we were thinking of when there are so many more pressing issues at hand, like Global Warming, Overpopulation, Food Shortages, Genetic Engineering, Scientific Research, etc. I don't want my hypothetical kids to look at me the way I've looked at my parents and say, "Why didn't you do anything about this when you had the chance??"

Anyway, on to my conversation with Elmo! Hurray!

Mom: So I'm reading John Adams, again, and I'm really going to finish it this time! I've just gotten to the part where Abigail is wondering whether or not to go to Paris.
Elmo: Yeah, that was really interesting. And she talked about how smelly it was...
Mom: Yeah and asking why, with the space they had outside the city, they couldn't build any kind of sewage system. She says, "Why can't they build a proper privy?"
Elmo: Well, you know in America, we forget. You know, we have so much space. We could always just expand. You know, if the city just got crowded, we can just move on. They can't do that in Europe. It's hard to move on from Rotterdam!
Susie: (laughs.) I'm going to quote you on my blog.
Elmo: Well it is! I mean, you compare Europe, or even, like Tokyo, which has like the highest number of people per square inch or something like that. And you get a very different kind of culture where people are always cheek to jowl with their neighbors. You don't get that frontier, do it yourself, open space kind of mentality like you have in America. I mean in Europe, if you want to expand, you constantly have to dig up the old buildings left by your ancestors. In America we killed all the people who were here before us...
Mom: That's for sure!
Susie: Yeah, and in most places they didn't leave the kind of infrastructure that Europeans are always tripping over.
Elmo: Yeah, so in Europe, if you want to modernize a city, it takes a lot of work. It's not that easy.
Susie: So, you're not eager to go to Paris any time soon?
Elmo: Well, I'll think about it, but I'm more looking forward to going to Hawai'i and Jackson for the next few years.
Susie: Well, Paris will still be there when you're ready to go.
Mom: Oh, I don't know...Who was it who was writing about Paris? Looking for the authentic Paris? Was it [New York Times columnist] Roger Cohen?
Elmo: Yeah, I think it was.
Susie: That always annoys me, you know, when people talk about things being "authentic" if they're filthy or dilapidated. It's like [in A Room With a View, movie version] Elenor Lavish, you know... "Do you smell that? That is Italy! That's what they don't show you in Baedeker!"
Elmo: (laughs) Yeah, yeah. But I think his point was that modern can be sterile, you know?
Susie: Yeah, I can see that. So, no bicycling to Paris chocolateries for us, then? [refering to a travel article in the NYT today]
Elmo: Well, some day. Maybe I'll go to Paris in five years. And I hope you'll go with me.
Susie: Sure.
Elmo: I mean, for me, I don't care about it being "authentic." I just want to eat some good food and go to museums.
Susie: Of course! That's the best part.
Elmo: So, in Hawai'i, Mom, I want to plan maybe one activity a day.
Mom: That sounds about right.
Elmo: You know, we have lunch and go to the botanic garden. And another day we have lunch and go to the art museum. And maybe we can go hiking...
Susie: Will we have lunch first?
Elmo: Yes. That's my point. We want to schedule every day around lunch and dinner.
Susie: That's my kind of vacation!
Mom: That's fine with me.
Elmo: And one day we have to check out that Japanese department store.
Susie: Only if we have lunch.
Mom: Oh no, we eat lunch there!
Susie: Just so long as lunch is planned. And maybe afterwards we can plan to have a snack.
Elmo: Great! That's settled! Now we can talk about movies!
Susie: Oh boy!
Elmo: So, I'm interested in reading the book Brideshead Revisited. There was a movie about that recently.
Susie: Oh, yeah. I remember thinking that looked interesting.
Elmo: But they said the original miniseries was better.
Susie: I bet Mom remembers when that was on TV.
Mom: Oh no! I tried to watch the first episode, because I liked the actors, but it was about these two unpleasant, angry gay guys.
Susie: Oh, now I really want to see it!
Elmo: That would be something to entertain you on those long, cold, dark winter nights.

OK, so last night we finally saw Wall-E and... OH MY GOD!!!!! That was the most horrible, dispicable, disturbing, disgusting movie I've ever seen!!!! I was shocked! We all hated it, but I especially found it really, really awful. Am I alone in this? Part of me really wants to rant about this, and part of me really wants to pretend I'd never heard of it. I'm not joking. I guess I'll rant a bit, since, you know, that's what blogs are for.

( 11 Things I Hated About WallE )

Sometimes I wish I could just spend the rest of my life reading...

As you may know by now, my all time favorite author is E.M. Forster (No, not J.K. Rowling, though Harry Potter is...well, another topic. I'm reading Melissa Anelli's Harry, A History at the moment and loving it, by the way. I think Meli should marry Elmo.). Forster's philosophy grows increasingly more expansive with each book he wrote. A Room With a View (about which--and Florence--there was an excellent and funny article in the New York Times...um...HERE) is about personal growth through an openness to new experiences as Lucy changes from a cloistered and uptight English girl into a slightly rebelious free-spirit (which she always was, underneath) through the influence of travel and its eye-opening nature. (And also George Emerson, but that's another matter)  ; )  Howards End, on the other hand deals with class and asks England itself to be open to all of itself, if that makes sense. It's about personal and national growth through connecting with other people. Finally, A Passage To India is about the responsibilities of foreigners. In this case, of course, the English people in the novel are the foreigners, and in their English way want India to be like England so they will feel more comfortable in it. But in fact, that childish wanting nothing to change has the opposite effect and makes them feel less secure. The true way to be comfortable in another world is to adapt yourself to that world and not expect it to change for you. Personal growth suddenly expands into something more universal--the connection between nations, the recognition of a common human spirit and condition. As though a person were a star...constantly expanding into space until it encompases all space--we are already all connected, and only by recognizing that connection can we grow, and growth, after all, is the nature and meaning of existence.

George Eliot was very forgiving of human frailty. Forster, I think, wanted people to be less frail.

And so do I.

Peace and Blue Skies. --Susie

*Oh yeah, and can we say "Rip Off"? 2001, Star Wars, Five Alive, and many others spring to mind, all of which were better movies, though you know I loathe 2001.

Finally! Come on over and PUSH MY BUTTONS!!!!  : )  So tell me, What movies would you like to see me make fun of review?

Here are some suggestions Z and I came up with, but I want to know! What movie do you absolutely loathe and want me to loathe too?  ; )

Poll #1306768 Movie Mockery
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

Movies That Would Be Good To Reduce (Check all that apply)

What Else?

Oh please pick King Arthur! Please pick King Arthur!   ; )   The link above also has many more questions about the format and future of Celluloid Reduction. Please Save Our Parodies! Vote!  ; )  I'll also be back later with some movie reviews! Yay!   : D

"Bertie, please stop. There's something I have to tell you. You see...I'm not a girl."
"Oh, I knew that, Princess."
"You did?"
"Of course."

It's the TENTH MOVIEVERSARY over at celluloid_redux !!!!!  YAY!!!!!  To celebrate, we're having a ten event, eight day Olympiad of MOVIES!!! There will be blood! There will be fun! There will be AWESOME PRIZES!!!!  (FOR REALS!!! FOR REALLY REALLY REALS!!! Not money, but stuff ALMOST AS GOOD!!!! Heck, I'd say BETTER!!!!!)

To get started, all you have to do is tell me WHICH MOVIE EACH OF THESE QUOTES COMES FROM!!!

1. Good evening. I am God.
2. Damn! Where is that kid? Damn! Damn!
3. There's only a hundred and fifty of them!
4. Statement! Two-love.
5. Light the lamp, not the rat! Light the lamp, not the rat!
6. I'm sick and tired of making miniscule profits!!
7. Will somebody get this big walking carpet outta my way?
8. My only shot at ever being in a gang fight, and all I get is one stitch?
9. Plastics.
10. Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

What's that? The comments are disabled? It's not a trick! Click here to PLAY!!! (Don't worry! Clicking will NOT take you out of LiveJournal, it will not lead to advertising or disturbing images, only fun and games and mostly fun!)

Please, please, please play! Please, please, please, please, please!

Right, so Zibby knew that "We was at Rigoletto's" and the other one were from the movie Some Like It Hot. However, nobody guessed that "Do you believe women have souls" was from Cold Comfort Farm or knew that the song "I Talk To The Trees" is from Paint Your Wagon. (But you do know "They Call the Wind Maria"! Tell me you do!). And "The Impossible Dream" is from Man of LaMancha. Oh yeah, and "The Lusty Month of May" is from Camelot. Why do I get the feeling Z is the only one playing this game? Well, that's OK, I know she knows this one.  : )  (And actually, Elmo knows it too, but he doesn't comment)  : )

In other news, I'm really happy today because this morning I broke 40,000 words on The Comedy! Huzzah! I'm now more than 50% of the way through! And right on schedule! I think I'll do more later, too. So, rather than tackling Part Three of that thing, I thought I'd do something fun. But I don't know what you, dear readers, would be amused by today. I think I'll talk about movies, because I think I'll start that game for Celluloid Reduction tomorrow (to last for one week) and I want to get you in the mood.  : )   (By the way, check out my revamped links list!)

Some families go to the park together, some play with the dog. We watch movies. In fact, we watch a lot of movies. (Or did, this year has been rather strange for some reason. So far all year we've seen fewer than ten, I believe, but the winter is young.) Elmo and I can (and often have) carry out an entire conversation using only quotes from favorite movies. It amuses us greatly and confuses bystanders no end. It is undoubtedly this tendency which led me to start celluloid_redux  last winter.

Another factor is the fact that far from discouraging us from sitting in front of the evil box for such long hours in our childhoods, Mom enabled our addiction by participating in it herself. Mom also has the questionable habit of talking to the characters on the screen, and occassionally the director and script writer.

Usually this is annoying:
During There Will Be Blood:
Mom: I don't get it.
Susie: What do you mean? What don't you get? It's his long-lost brother, allegedly, and he wants to help him.
Mom: No, I mean, what's happening? I thought they were in California.
Susie: They were in California.
Mom: But where are they now? How did they get there?
Susie: I don't know! I'm watching the same movie you're watching! And I just missed that line because you were talking!
Mom: But...
Susie: GAAAHHH!!!!!
Mom: This movie is terrible.

Sometimes it is supremely funny:
During Gladiator:
Susie: This movie sucks. It's like trying to be Braveheart, only crappy.
Elmo: (giggles)
Susie: I mean this is awful!
Mom: Susie, shut up!
Susie: Fine, but I hate this movie.
Mom: Then leave!
(long pause during which Susie does not leave)
The Evil Emperor (or something): I killed your whole family! They suffered so much! They begged to die!
Bigimus Musculus Maximus (or whatever the hell his name was): (glowers)
Mom: Oh come on! (stands up in rage and shakes her fist at the screen) Mel* wouldn't stand for that!!!
Susie and Elmo: (long silence) HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!
(afterwards, this became Susie and Elmo's absolute favorite thing to say, ever, always. Yes. Awesome.)

Occasionally, it is informative:
Watching Amazing Grace:
Mom: Is that a rabbit??
Susie: I think it looks more like a hare.
Thornton (I think): Nice rabbit.
Wilberforce: It's a hare actually.**
Mom: Ha!
Susie: YES!!! I frickin' LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!

And sometimes it reads like Celluloid Reduction:
Watching Sweeney Todd:
Sweeney: At last! My arm is complete again!
Mom and Susie: (snicker)
Mom: Aw, little Edward Scissorhands is all grown up!
Susie: Yeah, and turned evil!

So, there you go. A brief insight into my psyche. Polish up your Movie Buff Skillz because tomorrow, the games begin!  : )

--Lepusdomesticus, formerly known as S

*Gibson, of course. See his collected works as an actor. Please ignore him as a person and director. (gags)
**This just explains so much, doesn't it?  ; D