I had a great weekend. At first I was looking forward to summer, and then I was dreading it, and then it came, and I was smitten.
I had to pick up a package from the post office on Sat. (I think my friend is trying to convert me, books with inscriptions like, "you don't have to believe in God to appreciate...") Anyway, the P.O. is in this weird fascinating and sketchy neighborhood called "Uptown". By some weird fascinating and sketchy turn of events, this photogrpaher whose work I recently discovered has done a series of photographs in this area. All of this weird fascinating and sketchy stuff inspired me to just wander around the place taking it all in. I'd never done that, because it's the kind of neighborhood you normally just want to get out of as soon as possible. I don't know what is in the books my friend sent me, but hanging out in Uptown was almost a religious type of experience. Profound, anyway. I plan to write a blog about it, eventually.
I suspect I got sun stroke. Because it was a hot sunny day, the kind we get maybe 10 times a year here. Perfect weather, but after 7 months of winterlike weather, one day in the direct heat can make your head spin. I went to the lake and stayed there until the sun went down enough to make the walk back home possible. Then I did it all over again the next day. I also decided to start doing yoga again. Because apparently walking around half the city and going to the beach wasn't enough physical exertion for me... It was all very Meursault-y.
Someone wanted a review of SATC. Was fabulous, exceeded all expectations. I even have plans to see it again. Except maybe next time with one martini less. I'm feeling slightly vodka saturated at the moment. (Sun stroke and vodka saturation and impromptu workouts are leaving me feeling if not dead then wishing I were.) Anyway, Helen, you could probably go see this movie a few times and get the same result as years of medical treatment. There was a thick haze of estrogen in the theater air. ;) Anyone else see the movie? Or am I the only shallow fashion-obsessed romantic around here? Well, if anyone did, one word: Dante...
I also watched Prisoner of the Caucasus, on the advice of DoDo. Hm. Maybe because I watched it in bits and pieces over the course of several days... I can't say it's one of the best films I've ever seen. Oleg Menshikov played Oleg Menshikov, and I didn't really get the ending. However, I will recommend the film on the basis of the first 5 minutes alone. ;D Thanks for the rec. DoDo! Terrible about Sergei Bodrov Jr. He had a very nice backside.
So there you have it. The story of how my brain turned to mush. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
Avoid sunstroke, drink water rather than martini.
My brain turned to mush so long ago I forget it happened sometimes lot. keep to the Fen Causeway
I just wanted to suggest my Summertime diary when you commewnted there too...
I watched it in bits and pieces over the course of several days...
Never a good thing... even commercial breaks are enough to spoil some films.
Oleg Menshikov played Oleg Menshikov
For me, there was a nice contrast between the naive recruit and the senior soldier (whose ability to get on with their captors is just the opposite), and didn't know Menshikov enough for that judgement :-)
I didn't really get the ending
I don't remember the ending all that well; I seem to recall a tragic ending with a suggestion of a new cycle of violence, and suffering mothers. (But I may confuse it with another film set in the region.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
So the senior officer has his throat slit for killing the shepard, but then he comes back, presumably as a ghost, to the younger one. At the end of the film, when the Chechen's son is killed, he takes the younger prisoner off to shoot him because he can't trade him anymore. You hear a gunshot, so you think he's dead. But then you hear a voice over of the younger officer talking about trying to remember all the wonderful friends he made while he was a prisoner, and how he tries to remember them. Is he dead or alive? I want to believe the old man didn't shoot him.
The little girl is also absolutely adorable. I really enjoyed the scenery. I want to go there before I die...
I don't know, I think Menshikov was playing the same romantic, clownish -in a good way-, but "I'm terribly sorry I have to kill you now" guy he played in Burnt by the Sun. He seemed a bit cosmopolitan and effete for a guy who'd been fighting in Chechnya... "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
