Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Lone Boot - Monday 6/26/2006
I cannot believe I got this shot at all. I pulled up to the stoplight at the corner of Sierra Highway and—I think it’s The Old Road—and there was this boot staring at me. I grabbed my camera out of the bag on the front seat and just had time to snap this over my left arm as the light turned green.
Something about this. Who’s missing this boot?
I have been listening to Reading Lolita in Tehran on my commute, and I have to think that this boot would mean something very obvious and grim to the author. I feel grateful that this boot probably just fell off a truck.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
#56 Now, Voyager (1942)
Huh! I can’t beleive I’d never seen this one before. It’s very melodramatic, and deals with psychological issues in kind of amusing ways, but I couldn’t quite stop watching. As the TCM host said, it’s an ugly duckling story.
Bette Davis is really wonderful in it, especially during the scenes on the cruise and just after, as she is sort of coming into herself. Interesting to see Paul Henreid as a romantic lead instead of the cuckold to Bogart’s Rick in Casablanca. He does all right. Claude Rains is always delightful, in my book. And Mary Wickes… I wish they’d developed the relationship between her and Davis’s character more, but you can’t have everything.
SPOILERSI didn’t realize the famous scene in which Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes at once and then hands one to Bette Davis was in this movie. I have to say that it was probably a lot hotter back then, and that honestly, by the third time he did it and I was supposed to be all moved, I actually giggled. Aw, darn it.
See more progress on: Keep Track of All the Movies I Watch in 2006
#55 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
So much astonishing fun. Wow, two movies in a row that succeed largely by breaking all the rules and doing it with amazing skill. An amazing balance of comedy and almost-too-much violence.
It brought to mind half a dozen other films, none of which I can think of now, except for Get Shorty, and that mostly because of the guy who comes to L.A. from elsewhere and gets involved with the industry.
Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer are a whole lot of fun. I think Val’s truly underrated. I think Spartan (2004) really turned my thinking around on him. Good grief, I see on IMDB that he is in 10 movies this year! Is he in some sort of workathon death-match with Christopher Walken!??
See more progress on: Keep Track of All the Movies I Watch in 2006
Outside Looking In - Sunday 6/25/2006
...at the plants, etc, behind my kitchen sink.
I was outside scrubbing out the bird bath, washing down the outside table and bench, washing Dodger’s playset. Early in the day, before the heat set in.
See more progress on: Take a photo every day
Penguin on my wall - Saturday 6/24/2006
I found it at a thrift shop. It’s ceramic. It’s probably a spoon rest or a soap dish, but I like it on my wall.
Is that so wrong?
See more progress on: Take a photo every day
Just before falling asleep.... Friday 6/23/2006
I took the train because I had one more round trip on the 10-trip ticket that will expire on June 27th. On the ride home, I was reading my paper, but I fell asleep and only woke up when the train came to a stop in Acton! Jumped up, skittered down the stairs.
Irritated a woman who was sauntering down the stairs talking on her cell phone. She really went off on me for saying, “Excuse me, I need to get off the train.” I was still groggy, but I could see that she wasn’t listening to my explanation or apology. Sigh. I think it was really just a big show of her moxie for whomever was on the other end of the call. So ridiculous.
On the other hand, a really wonderful thing happened the same mornig. I’d been making notes on the first 154 pages of a friend’s rewrite of her novel, and when I got up to get off the train I left the notebook on the table! I didn’t even realize it until the woman who’d been sitting across from me came all the way downstairs to the door area and gave it to me! She said she’d nodded off, but she woke and saw I’d left without it, and she came down. It didn’t have any ID in it, so it just would have been lost, along with about 8 hours worth of my focused attention on the writing. Whew! I thanked her so much that she thanked me back and said, “Bless you!”
So, you know, there really are all kinds. It’s going to be a while before I’m on the train again, but I hope I remember to carry a thank you card with me for that kind lady. She really made my day.
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