preposterous transitions

Winter Shenanigans: Potlucks, Murakami and Hitchcock

Ah, man, since I became a working stiff there is just never enough time in the day. I never take pictures, never write about what's happening. And this site used to be such an important part of my routine!

Cold this morning and it's been a strange winter of mild temperatures with occasional bursts of bitter cold. Today was a perfect morning: I woke up at 7, made coffee, grabbed two donuts and crawled back into bed with both and read the news and my Google feed all morning. Now it's pushing 10.30 which means it's high time I get up!

Just finishing up a very stressful five weeks back at work since the holiday break and only now the last few days have I started sleeping properly again. Why when I am stressed does sleep just become impossible? I dream about work, wake up at 3am thinking about something I should have done or may have forgotten. Sometimes it's just a "good idea" which occurs to me and robs me of my precious beauty sleep!

M is off to Tokyo in a few weeks for three entire weeks, the first time he's been in Japan since November of 2007! He is so happy about but man it's going to be weird to come home every evening for three weeks and not have him here.

No real plans this weekend. Taxes, ugh. Maybe a bit of reading. Been slowly working through Murakami's 1Q84 which I've been dipping in and out of. Finished with book one but I should try and read book 2 this next week now that things at work have calmed down somewhat. At the same time, M's reading the version in Japanese so we've had a few chances to talk about it which has been interesting since we never read the same books or even types of books. A few months back he found a Japanese copy of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and I was thinking I'd re-read it at the same time for another Japanese/English literary book club chez nous.

Spent the evening last night at Marie's place, chatting with her, drinking some beer, and playing with Mags. She adores the dog and always asks if he can stay over but when M's working (as he was last night), I want him around! Anyway, it was nice, walking home at almost 10, a bit buzzed from the beer and dancing around the living room with them both.

Today I think I am going to go see an Alfred Hitchcock film at Cinema du Parc. M has something to do on the West Island this evening. I have a potluck for tonight but I could probably even squeeze in a movie or two and then still have time to make an appearance at the potluck.

So that's it. Not much else going on. Just happy that a very busy period at work is over for now. Smooth sailing for the rest of my life!

 

Patricia Clarkson, Campbell Scott and The Dying Gaul; Dan Futterman and Urbania

I came across this film a few weeks back called The Dying Gaul and I really enjoyed it. And what a cast: Campbell Scott, Patricia Clarkson and Peter Sarsgaard. The movie is about movie-making but in a highly cynical and rather frightening way. Saarsgaard plays a screenplay writer whose movie gets optioned by Scott's character, a studio producer. Starts out with a typical story: producer wants to heterocize the gay love story and the struggle that the two experience in order to balance what "sells" with one artist's vision.

 But the real meat of this story is the relationship that Saarsgaard has with the the producer's wife (Clarkson). When the screenplay writer and the producer begin having an affair, it becomes a highly psychological (and unpredictable) cat and mouse game and the ending is shocking.

All three main performances are excellent and it's hard to say which actor I adore more: all three are fantastic actors. And a real California film with lots of imagery of LA, the beach, the desert, etc. This one stayed with me for a week and certain images and scenes still haunt me.

This weekend I watched Urbania, another really fascinating film. It stars Dan Futterman (who I knew mainly because he's one of the producers of that Gabriel Byrne HBO show In Treatment) as a gay man who's relationship has ended though to say more about this would spoil it. Suffice it to say that the film manipulates you from the start with its opening sequences about stories we hear in cities ("This happened to a friend of a friend. You're not gonna believe it but it really happened...").

Not sure I quite buy Dan Futterman in this part (though he's adorable) and the central crux of the movie, the event which starts everything, seems slightly far-fetched to me. It also has a very "indie" feel to it (which means in this case that it seems inexpensively produced).

But there are some fascinating issues anchoring the film and I love the way the director manipulates you from start to end so that when the final pieces come together near the end, you feel a huge payoff. Good film.

Victim (1961)

Great British film which looks at the helpless victims that gay men were forced to be in the 1960s. The movie opens with a young man on the run, calling or visiting people he knows, only to be ignored, brushed off, or turned away. We aren't given the full story until a good 20-30 minutes into the film when we learn that the young man is a homosexual who has been the victim of blackmail and has embezzled 2000 pounds from his employer in order to prevent a blackmailer from making some photos of him public, ruining his and a prominent attorney's careers.

The attorney (played by Dirk Bogarde, who lived as a closeted actor for much of his life) comes to realize too late (after the young man has been arrested and committed suicide) that he could have helped the boy but he chose to avoid him. He is haunted by his death because he was falling in love with the boy before he broke off their relationship earlier in the story. The movie then becomes somewhat of a thriller as the attorney attempts to find out the identity of the blackmailer. 

Throughout we are given speeches about the unjust aspects of the laws against homosexuality and the fact that it forces gay men to become victims: they are easy targets of blackmailers and because the justice system (and society generally) is so rapidly homophobic, it takes very little evidence (if any, in fact) to send a suspected homosexual to prison.

One character, in fact, in a tragic few scenes, is attempting to sell his hairdressing shop and move to Canada in order to escape the blackmailer and the justice system generally. He has already been imprisoned four times for the crime of homosexuality and when he is faced with one more threat, he can't take the pressure anymore.

At the center is the wife of the attorney who claims that she knew about his proclivities before they were married, that she loves him anyway and hopes to stand at his side.

Sure makes me glad I wasn't born or even alive as a gay man at this time. I think about all the tragic lives lost to such hatred (which still exists today in much of the world).

Anyway, a really interesting movie that is highly recommended. Though he's not really made up to be goodlooking in this film (he was made to appear older than he was), Dirk Bogard is so adorable in the excerpt of the interview they have on the extras, done as promotion for this film in 1961. If I had been alive at the time, I would have been desperately in love with him!

So I've seen three movies in the last week (which is amazing because it's probably been six months since I last saw a film in a theatre):

Tree of Life: this film was fascinating and I really want to see it again. Part meditation, part loose approach to storytelling strung together by a series of images, it captures the spirit (if not the tone) of small town American life. Set in the 1950s (and later), the film really reminded me of many aspect of my own childhood: the band of neighborhood boys always hanging out, the packs of dogs that followed everyone around, the pranks and hijinks that sometimes descended into idiocy. The long bit in the middle of the film which has caused extreme reactions (on either side) I found a nice "intermission"ly addition to the bookended story of the boy growing up. The film isn't about "loss" as many critics have suggested since that makes up just a small part of the film: it's about family, connection, isolation and community. It's big questions but told through the lens of flashing images. It's not totally pretentious though there are moments....

Midnight in Paris: I'm a huge Woody Allen fan despite the fact that he hasn't made a really great movie in many years (Maybe since Hannah and her Sisters?). His movies are often appallingly bad. But they are just as often well-made if problematic. The latter represents Midnight in Paris. Owen Wilson plays a man in love with Paris of the past (the 1920s particularly and all the writerly and creative personalities who lived there). The girlfriend is a shrew. The in-laws are Republicans. Woody Allen's connection to the metaphysical is a very common theme but he never grounds his metaphysical doorways: the fact that the Owen Wilson character gets in a car and time travels is treated as a perfectly normal plot device in an otherwise unremarkable present-day setting. The little moral at the end is pat and trite (the present has its flaws and it's easy to unnecessarily romanticize the past). Like the last four Woody Allen films (save the one with Larry David because it was so BAD), his work is largely forgettable and uninspiring. And has been for many years. I'll still continue to see his movies when they come out but they are Saturday afternoon DVD/download films to be watched while playing a game on the iPhone. Seeing them in a theatre is unnecessary.


Sarah's Key: I like Kristin Scott Thomas though she doesn't do much that isn't terribly serious and heavy. This film, too. It tells the story of an American journalist in Paris who discovers while renovating her husband's family's apartment that the former tenants were Jews that had been deported and eventually sent to concentration camps in German-occupied France. The story moves along, is entertaining, but there is something unbelievable about some of the interactions: no chemistry between characters, and Kristin Scott Thomas is too old to play a pregnant woman (she's 51 in real life) whose dilemma is whether she should have the baby and please herself or destroy her marriage. I haven't read the book on which the film is based but it's your typical WWII wasn't it awful kind of story. The central tension is the fate of Sarah though the audience doesn't truly care that much because the point of view is never established that carefully (who's telling the story exactly?). It's a good film but far from great.

And that's it. I try to keep a record of the films I watch (the books I read the last year I've been recording on my work blog) so that I can recall later what I thought about the film at the time. Sometimes my feelings change. Sometimes I simply can't remember a single thing about the movie!

 

Summer

Been taking it easy this summer, having seven weeks off from my main job. Just doing a few smaller projects and really relaxing. Loving it though it's super hot today (hot all over, I guess).

Reading Juan Carlos Onetti which is great, his novel A Brief Life. It was written in 1950 and chronicles the story of a man as he takes care of his wife dying from cancer, his imagined fantasy life, his past, a screen play he is writing. It's set in Buenos Aires of the late 40s...

Watched True Grit the other day. I loved it.

Mainly just reading magazines, some other books I'm re-reading, and spending a lot of time watching TV shows like Breaking Bad and The Big C.

Loving summer!

So we got a dog. In June. It's been great but he's a ton of work. He's pretty much potty trained now though he still pees once every other day or so on the floor of the living room. Which is annoying. We call him Cooper.

Update....puppies, movies, Toronto & red carpets

Wow I never post here these days. Maybe I should start again. Not that I have time, really, but it`s a medium for updating that`s not all about work!

Just got back from Toronto last night after being there for an entire week. Had a good time but always so happy to be home. The trees are bursting with color and the park is so beautiful and lush right now.

But the work never ends and today it was work, reading (for work), finishing a report, etc. Luckily, I have six weeks off towards the end of June. No plan, really, but I am sure looking forward to having some time off.

We got a puppy. He`s super cute, just over two months old, a terrier mix. God, potty training is murder. We are trying with training sheets first but he just can`t get it. He sometimes goes there but then sometimes doesn`t. I can`t get how his mind works: I mean either get it or don`t but this half potty trained thing is perplexing. When he`s outside, he always manages to go. I wonder how long it takes...

Haven`t seen a movie in a theater in so long. When I look back at this blog, I see how much of my entries have to do with movies. Wonder how long before I can get back into it. The problem is that my movie friends had a baby last year so movies are tough for them and no one else I know is really that into movies...

All right. Not very interesting update. All my life is is work these days. Went to the Luminato Party in Toronto Friday which was fun and super swank. But so glad I only have to go events like that once in a great while. Some super famous people milling about and there was even a red carpet I had to cross and get photographed on. That was weird!

 

E-book Readers, Christmas, and my so-called vacation

I`m a big fan of the book, the paper book I mean. But for my birthday, M broke down and got me a Kobo book reader. I did some shopping around earlier this month and this one seemed like the best one. The iPad at $600 is too much to just read books. I realize it does a lot more than that, but I don`t need an iPad and can`t really work on it to any large degree. So that seems out. The Kindle can only read Amazon books which is annoying. And Kobo is small and easy to use. Apparently it`s been a great success for Chapters/Indigo (Canadian book chain) so more and more newspapers & magazines (plus books of course) are being made available each month.

They are sold out of it so mine won't arrive until mid January. Something to look forward to.

Six days into my Christmas break and while I am getting some stuff done, I am not nearly as productive as I should be. I am doing a project for a UK publisher due at the end of January but it's hard to work on it when I am going into the office every day but having a hard time focusing. Out of 22 pieces I am writing, I have completed one. Sigh. I still have five or six more days of vacation left so now is the time to step up! 

In addition, I have two book reviews to write. One book is seriously slow going...this is going to be a trick.

And then I have two other companies asking me to do project work for them. I keep saying NO but then they ask if I can just do like 10 hours a month. And it's hard for me to say NO. But I think I have to. I have two emails sitting in my inbox now with detailed questions that normally I would answer with the expectation that the questions will turn into long-term projects. But now those emails just sit there and I can't even be bothered to respond (after saying NO repeatedly).

Christmas was nice. We had a great dinner with some good friends. I made a ham, soup and we just stayed up late drinking, eating, laughing, watching "The Princess Bride" and "Airplane!" Not very Christmas-y movies but the point was just to hang out and have a good evening. That it was.

Then Monday night and last night we had dinners to go to, seeing other friends who we haven't seen in a while. 

And in two more days, my 40th birthday. Big party and dinner at K&Y's house. I still can't get my head around the fact that I am going to be 40! I'm cool with it (some of my friends, I think, expect that I am going to have a breakdown but I feel great about it): what will the next 10 years hold?!

Winter, music, movies

Woke up to an icy wonderland this morning. So pretty! I wish I could stay inside all weekend and didn`t have to leave. But I do. Ah, well.

Stayed home last night--it was COLD. Watched "Un Prophete," an excellent movie about the trials and tribulations of a North African French kid as he tries to survive in prison. It's violent and shocking in some ways but so well acted: almost like that kind of cinema verite filmed by non-actors. But, nope, they are all professional actors...I had heard about this movie late last year but never managed to see it. So glad I did! It's really excellent and sure doesn't feel like it's over two hours.

 

And this amazing song I've been listening to all week. Her voice is fantastic.

 

So that's it. Nothing to report. Working like mad lately which will continue for another week at least. Then an entire week of at Christmas. A paid week!? Impossible to imagine!

Start of cold, Film Festival, and Job Interview

Spent all day yesterday working on balcony doors. We have got to get them up because it`s starting to get cold outside and the front room is freezing at night. There are inside doors there but the the outside doors are what Masa has been working on for weeks, stripping, sanding, repairing. We had to take the trim off and replace it (which took most of the day yesterday); today we will actually get the doors up (I hope) and then we have to stain (or paint, we`re still not sure yet), weather treat, replace the broken windows and the seal the hell out of the door jam so that less cold winter air gets in!

A great film festival wrapping up this weekend and I only managed to make it to one film. That kind of sucks because one of the great pleasures of fall is going to see new movies from different countries. Saw a Serbian film last weekend with a friend visiting from TO and another friend who lives here. It was a documentary style film (with dramatic elements) about the Phantom of Belgrade and while it was interesting, one suspects that the film was perhaps more interesting and entertaining than the actual original story.

I have a job interview on Monday. That`s not strange but the part that has me nervous as hell is the fact that it`s a French interview. Never done that before. Been chatting with a couple of friends all week in French, hoping it will help me. My problem in French is that I never use it for work so the French I speak is informal (and of course I make grammar mistakes) and there are many specific kinds of words I don`t know (so I end up talking around them). I`m not super worried about it but I will just be nervous and I don`t generally get nervous about job interviews. It`s a job I want, too, so I feel emotionally invested in it (because of my usual work schedule and life, when I do a job interview, I rarely feel that I want the job and they rarely are able to pay me close to what I make working from home: but this one is different and I am willing to take a pay cut if they offer it to me). More about the job if I get it!

So Sunday morning now. Been waking up at 7.15 every morning which is a nice change from waking up at 5am as I was doing a few weeks ago. Still, I`d much rather be on my usual schedule and get up at 11 every day! But perhaps those days are gone, at least for a while. Even if I don`t get this job that I want (and I do feel like I should at least be a contender for it), I will most likely continue next term teaching in the mornings, so...my days of working only at home all week are gone for the short-term future.

We saw a great concert the other night, Ryuichi Sakamoto, at the Theatre Outremont (which is, incidentally, a beautiful in a lovely neighborhood). I didn`t really know him but since I am surrounded by Japanese people, everyone I know has been talking about it for weeks. Masa couldn`t come because he had to work so I went with some other friends and I saw just about every Japanese person I`ve ever met here. It was packed and if not sold out then close to it, probably 40% of the crowd was Japanese. And it was lovely music, quiet but upbeat, in a beautiful space with good friends. But it was so COLD outside! We even bagged out on having a drink after the show because the bars near the venue were packed after the show and it was too cold to walk very far to find another place. 

So though I missed the Cinema du Nouveau Monde, two more starting in the next couple of weeks so plenty more films to add to my list.

10/10/10 post

I could wait until 10:10pm but I'm not that devoted to numerology.

Thanksgiving here tomorrow and our usual big dinner planned. The Plateau is absolutely gorgeous with all the leaves turning.

Saw Orson Welles' "The Trial" today at Cinema du Parc which was very cool. Long in parts (and it was the original French version without subtitles which means I had to pay close attention) but very interesting.

Been a laid back weekend. Masa's been playing in a volleyball tournament so this weekend has been about seeing friends, walking the dog, farmers market, reading Czeslaw Milosz, shopping, watching an Uruguay movie at I&C's ("25 Watts"), and riding bixi. 

Some pics of the neighborhood in this really love fall weather. Taken with the phone so quality isn't great...