Sundance with my BFFs.

 My friend Gail and I met up in Macey's parking lot, ready to head north through the elements. The rain of the morning with Shannon, had now turned to snow. Thank goodness, once again, we could wait  inside for the second Sundance movie of my day!

                                                                    Elena

Elena is a Russian film with subtitles. When I think about Russian movies, I think of something stark, depressive, with a nihilistic theme. I don't know how I developed this opinion, it's not as if I've seen a lot of Russian movies. I must have seen one sometime and it stuck with me, but honestly Elena was pretty much spot-on with my expectation. It was a tale about unfairness, about how this woman was sometimes powerless, how this woman found a solution and about how things are pretty much hopeless either way. Yes. It was a Russian movie.
It gave us a lot to think and talk about on the way home. Russian movie or not, it is a common story, crossing cultural lines about women in general. Universal themes such as what mothers give up for their  children and husbands, dependency, regret, feeling powerless, feeling over, and ever, responsible.

So! As we sat in our seats, people were filing in, filling every spot and I was telling Gail about Oxygen Woman. I'll be darned if she didn't appear right over Gail's shoulder, eyeing the open seat next to me! She glanced at me and moved on down the aisle, as I covertly hit Gail in the thigh and gave her a pointed "look" to alert her to what had just happened! Gail looked and turned to me with her own "pointed look", nodding!
"That's her! That's Oxygen Gal!!" I whispered to Gail with glee!

                                                          

                                                                  Fathers Chair

Sunday arrived, the sun shining! The snow was gone and, once again, I was heading north with one of my bffs to see a movie! Life is good! Bridgette agreed, that it was great to be out broadening our horizons together! Some of you may be thinking, " going to the movies instead of church!? Broadening your horizons? the horizon of HELL!"
Actually, I think "playing hooky"  may have added to the pleasure, the novelty of the excursion. But then, I'm bad, so...

Fathers Chair was, this time, not about a woman, but about a man with unresolved issues of abandonment. (can they ever be resolved?). He loses his son, journeys through the, mostly beautiful, countryside of southern Brazil to find his son and finds his father and himself in the process.  We both agreed that when his father explains " I can't hear you!" in a wood shop, after all the years of their estrangement, he really can't "hear him", never could, never will. And the relationship, should he continue it from there on out, will have to be based on that knowledge. His father isn't able to give him what he wants. Can he be happy with what he is able to give? Can he accept his father's inadequacies?

We stopped at the clean and retro Village Inn where Bridget treated me to a piece of Rhubarb pie. I know...Rhubarb?? It just sounded good, and it was! We solved the world's problems, discussing acceptance, forgiveness, the kindness of strangers, familial relationships and disappointments. Like I said, these movies really give you a lot of "food for thought"...but that doesn't mean you still don't need a nice piece of pie with your bff!

Oh! And guess who was there? I'll give you ONE guess. hahahaha

Sundance! I finally got tickets!

                                                  First movie- Middle of Nowhere

She gives up Med School to support her man while he's in prison and finds herself in the process.

Gourmandise Bakery, one of my faves!

Saturday morning, Shan drove up in a pouring rain, to pick me up a couple of hours before the movie. We figured 40 minutes before the film to be in line, 45 minutes to eat our scrumptious Gourmandise brunch, and half-hour to drive and find a place to park. Yes, we were women with a plan...and umbrellas!

The wait line was inside at Rose Wagner Theater and thank goodness, cause it was still cats and dogs outside! The theater filled, finally leaving only a few single seats open, one of which was next to Shan. Soon, down the aisle lumbers an older woman, trailing an oxygen unit beside her, the Pssss, Pssss, sound preceding her. Shan immediately starts to pray, "not this seat, not this seat..." Shan's a kind, compassionate person but the high, whistle-y pssss of a p.o.c. just hits her ears like a tiny dog whistle. But, sure 'nough the old gal takes the seat next to Shan. But whatever, Shan figures if she's got the gumption to make her way out to a movie or 20, she was wearing one of the platinum passes, good for her.  Then she proceeds to cough, and cough, the very deep, phlegm-y cough of my poor old grandma who died with emphysema. Then she proceeds, once the movie has started, to slowly and laboriously open some candy wrapped in the most child-proof, crackly, crinkly, material known to man.
 She has a large, opened bottle of water on her knee and about halfway through the movie, it proceeds to tip, first spilling over to pour onto Shan's upper pant leg, then falling to the floor and splashing up and soaking Shan's lower pant leg. Through it all, the poor woman really smelled like a Depends past its prime. Poor old gal...and poor Shan.
She figured maybe it was Jesus in disguise. You know, the "when did we see thee in prison..." thing, so she tried to cut the "Oxygen Woman" some slack. Shan's pants were soaked.

Anyway, we loved the movie! Great cast and very thought provoking. Watching Ruby discover her strength, seeing her eyes open, finding her voice, gave us so many things to talk about, like motivations, being blinded by love, family dynamics and other important things such as how hot the lead actor was. It has a super soundtrack that I hope will be released soon!  It was fun to see the stars in a question/answer session after, to hear their thoughts on making the film, on their characters. And it was especially fun to spend a rainy, Saturday morning with my girl amongst the cinophiles : )

Overheard in...

Fried chicken from Smith's, steamed fresh broccoli, instant mashed potatoes, rolls.


Mad-  "Ughhh, this chicken is terrible! Is it okay to eat? How old is this chicken, it's soo dry? Where did you buy this chicken?"

Calm- "Smiths. It was on my way home."

Mad- "Well, it's the worst chicken I've ever eaten, geez, it's awful! What's the date on it?"

 Calm- "I don't know. It's from the chicken place, the deli guy put it in the bag from the big pile o' chicken."

Mad- "Well, it's terrible. Ugh it's so dry. This is yesterday's chicken!  Worriedly- This won't make us sick, will it!?

Calm- "I'm sure it's fine."

Mad- "Well, this chicken is the wors..."

Calm- Still fairly calm "Shut Up about the chicken! So it's not the best chicken, sheesh!"

Mad- "Didn't you look at it when they bagged it?"

Calm- "No, I didn't. I've been gone for 12 hours. I was hungry and tired and we needed dinner. You are welcome to fix dinner any Thursday when you know I have a late class."

Mad, -  Angrily  "Well, if you didn't want to cook dinner, why didn't you just say so!"

Calm- Silently, calmly, chews her dry chicken.  It was terrible chicken.

Overheard in...

Standing in line at Sizzlers, a 50-ish couple and a man in his late 20's.

1st person- "I'm going to get the Senior Special."
2nd and 3rd persons nod without judgement.
1st Person to 2nd person - "You should get the Senior Special, too."
Person #2 mildly grimaces and shakes her head.
Person #1- "The Senior Special comes with a free drink!"
2nd Person- "oh, I usually just get water anyway."
1st Person- "Yeah, but if you get the Senior Special, you can ask for water and then you can give your drink to 3rd person!" This said with a slight nod as he intently looks at 2nd person.
2nd Person aggravated now- "I'm not getting the Senior Special!
I... am... not...a  Senior!....and I don't look  like a Senior!"
1st Person has no reply, but you can tell he's miffed.

The waitress asks them, as they stand in line, for their order. 

1st Person- holding his hand half-way over his mouth as he "scratches" his nose, quickly and furtively, without making eye contact, says in a low voice - "I'll have the Senior Special."

omg!! It reminded me of something you'd see George Costanza do on Seinfeld! hehehe

 By the way,  drinks were not included, but were $1.99.

All Lanes Open!

I have always felt that the real "New Year" starts with each new school year but, that aside, here we are in 2012! Although I feel like my own granny when I say it, the times passes faster every year! 2011 went by in a flash!

This year, I'd like to see some changes. I want to look at the coming year with this attitude.

 ALL LANES OPEN

2011 held many joys, comforts, trials and conundrums, comings and goings, beginnings and endings.
I'm sure 2012 will be much the same. Life goes on, same ol' same ol', unless we want to do something different to make it change. The hard part is doing something different or I guess, doing the same things differently. I'm like most people, in that, I do the same things, the same way, over and over and am disappointed when I don't see different results.

But I can change anything I want, using all lanes to "get there", the scenic way, the fast lane, the carpool lane, maybe using some lanes I've never taken before and maybe returning to others that I had almost forgotten.

The scenic routes, the ways that make me happy, feeling like "myself",  I hope to take more often, probably in the carpool lane, sharing good times with friends and loved ones.

Most of the time, I'm going to try and avoid rush hour, although now and then, making it through rush hour gets your blood flowing!

I know I don't want to continue on the same rutted road, trying and often failing to avoid the same old potholes, over and over, ending up in exactly the same uncomfortable, but familiar place.
 Maya Angelou said: "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude".  Sometimes, that is all you are able to change and it is enough, but it definitely takes a lane change.

ALL LANES OPEN

This year, I'll work on making changes that will be revelatory, healthy and comforting.

ALL LANES OPEN

Robert Downey Jr, Chest hair and CGI

Since this is movie going season for many, let me tell you about the new Sherlock Holmes movie.

 I think Robert D. is a cute guy. I like his dark looks, his big, brown eyes . Remember back in the 80's when he was in the "brat pack", that group of young actors in all the John Hughes-type movies? Then he got into drugs, disappeared for a long time, and suddenly seemingly out of nowhere, came back as an action hero, (Robert Downey...an action hero?) in Iron Man and was again a wildly popular, a big star...how does that happen? I sometimes wonder if stars like him, with miraculous come-backs, sell their souls to the devil. Anyway...

Robert Downey Jr, a heavily bearded guy with thick, dark eyebrows, appears shirtless in his new movie, Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows, and has nary ONE hair on his chest! I found it very disconcerting and thought he was "creepily" smooth, kind of  "Edward, white, sparkly, smooth-skinned". Don't be fooled be the images on google, those "lightly-haired chest shots" were from the last movie, Sherlock Holmes. No, in the latest S.H. he is hairless.

And the movie was boring  I probably dozed through half of it, only waking when the next rattling,  explosion rang through the theater. 

So many movies now, with all their cgi (computer generated imaging) abilities rely, I think, too much on the shock and awe of the close-up shot of a bullet flying slo-mo through 7 different trees in a snowy forest, filled with realistic unicorns racing toward a realistic, yet fantastically other-wordly castle sat high on a craggy peak with, again, realistic yet fantastical see-through dragons gliding overhead as far off off planets rotate in a starry sky. Whew!  And the death defying feats, hanging from a speeding train by one pinky as it speeds around a hairpin curve next to a ravine filled with ravenous crocodiles...come on! While I realize you have to suspend belief, those scenes can't carry a whole movie. At least not to hold my interest. Acton films just do not hold my interest for long.

But if you like action films, CGI, Robert Downey Jr, or you just need a nap, go see it!

I'm done!

 It was a sunny day today!! After two weeks of smoggy, freezing, overcast skies it was a beautiful sight!

Shopping done!
Wrapping done!
Stocking stuffers bought!

Neighbor gifts, Cranberry/blue cheese- cheese balls, prepared to be delivered!
I've never, in many years, been so ahead of the Christmas game!

Groceries bought!
This humble little trio, a mom on piano and her sweet little children on their violin and cello, provided Christmas music to shop by. I was teary eyed as I pushed my cart through the aisles as their innocent, slightly squeeky but beautifully honest notes wafted down the aisles. It was just so sweet and true! It touched my heart with a grateful spirit.


All I need are some Bingo gifts and a unisex "big" gift. And tomatoes. And peppermint ice-cream. And something to take around to the young, single women from church that I visit. And flowers from Costco... Gee, I guess I spoke too soon.

Oh well, I still feel pret-ty, prett-y good about my preparations! That's what Larry David always says "Pret-ty, pret-ty good" Anybody out there watch Curb Your Enthusiasm?   Funny show, but get the edited version, otherwise you'll hear a lot of the "bomb". On another T.V. note, I watched Downton Abbey for the first time! Loved it! I must dvr the new season starting in January!