Lots of interesting architecture here.
home
July 22, 2008
“Home” always seems to be the place you lived previously. This can be disconcerting if you’ve moved around as much as I have. When I was in Cairo, I couldn’t wait to leave and come to the States. Now that I’m here, that place has an odd sense of mystical “belongingness” about it.
Even nowadays when I walk through my main office, I feel kind of out of place, even though I’m one of the most senior people there … it’ll feel much more like home after I’ve moved on to someplace else.
out of childhood
July 9, 2008It’s amazing how the mind is able to maintain the memory of melody. It’s very similar to scent. I can’t remember how many times I’ve stopped dead in my tracks because I caught a wiff of something from many years ago (a teacher’s perfume? A long forgotten recipe?)
I used to watch “Rupert the Bear” when I lived in Jordan (around 1974) – I remember the melody of the chorus to this day. I never thought I’d hear this tune ever again. Thanks Youtube 
The weepies
July 9, 2008I’ve seen many movies which have been painful to sit through for various reasons – mostly due to cliched plot and bad acting. Others are painful because they hit some nerve – a spot which you thought was patched up and buried out of memory, or maybe something resonates with an issue with which you are currently struggling.
I was a mess after seeing Schindler’s List, and despite its technical virtuosity and profound message, I will never watch it again. I remember constantly checking my watch in the theater, thinking: “when is this going to end? I can’t take much more…” The violence and cruelty weren’t over-the-top and cartoonish – I’m used to the Frank Miller and Tarantino style. Rather, they were sickeningly real – not in terms of gore or camera work, but because of the tone with which the characters committed them. Remember the term “the banality of evil”? That’s the tone.
Despite that, I’ve been pretty good at holding it together during a movie. Until I saw “Wit”. I had seen it a couple of times before while it was playing on HBO, and was emotionally floored. I had lent the DVD to my friend in NC, and it took her several attempts to make it through all the way to the end. It’s an unflinching look at how a College Professor deals with her cancer, from diagnosis, through treatment, up to her last moments. It’s absolutely brilliant in its simplicity, and brutal in its honesty.
I have always wondered what Roger Ebert had thought of it. He typically only reviews movies that play in theaters, which is a shame since HBO and Showtime produce films of amazing quality. Well, apparently, it’s one of his favorite movies – and lo and behold, he can no longer make it past the very first scene.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/07/when_a_movie_hurts_too_much.html
If you’ve never seen it, rent it now.
Area Grandmother Tries Indian Food
June 21, 2008Wonderful stuff from the Onion:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/area_grandmother_tries_indian_food
This kind of reminds me when I took a bowl of hummus to a party in DC back in the early 90’s. One of the guys referred to it as “lesbian” food. (no hon .. that’s pronounced “Lebanese”)
Full episodes of the Daily Show
June 10, 2008… now available online:
http://www.hulu.com/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart
The show isn’t as viciously funny as it used to be – but is one of the few things on TV that is watchable.
the Fall
June 10, 2008If you’ve seen “the Cell”, you know of the creative genius of Tarsem. That movie got panned – but had some truly stunning visuals. “The Fall” is his new release, and looks like it would be worth watching on the big screen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaoxB-eLHQ8
