He is such a great writer. I carry one of his books around with me (Mirrors) and it's perfect for an unpredictable day since each "piece" is only a page or so long.
Amazing history of the world, of Latin America, and of Uruguay generally.
Another book, Days and Nights of Love and War is one of my most favorite and cherished books.
And an excellent feature about him here (from NPR a couple of years ago).
Well my seven weeks of time off is coming to an end. Monday I start back at work and, yes, I am ready. It's been relaxing and easy staying at home all summer (though I have been working a bit) but it's time to be back in the game.
Made some money this summer, did some renovations on the house (still in the middle of some), got a puppy, and read a lot. Not a bad list of accomplishments.
Now it's time to focus on the fall and 2012. I have a few big trips coming up: Singapore (I think) is the one I am looking forward to the most. I decided to forego most of the international travel opportunities for this fall and focus on some festivals in North America though I did want to go to Singapore for various reasons. But also on the horizon: Vancouver, New York, Toronto (several times), New Orleans and LA. I think October and November are going to be lots of traveling...
That's about it. Summer is winding down. It's not cold at all but something happens in the air, it just seems like it's changing, the heat starts tapering off and there is a slight chill behind it. You can feel where it ends. I don't mind the change in seasons though in late November I am usually super annoyed that there are five months of cold ahead.
It's weird to spend most of my work time focused on one week in spring. Once spring is here and the event passes, it's the most relaxing feeling in the world: to have another year, the summer off, a chilled, easygoing work schedule for six months - wow that's great. Of course, after January my job is incredibly crazy and stressful but four months of stress for six months of easy and two months off is pretty cool!
Ian came over and we watched "The New World" last night, Terrence Malick's last film. It was pretty good, stunning cinematography, as usual, though the story was a bit wonky in areas. I definitely recommend it but he is one of those directors whose work is better seen in a theatre.
This summer I've read or re-read: Days and Nights of Love and War by Eduardo Galeano, Further Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin, The City of Your Final Destination by Peter Cameron, From the Observatory by Julio Cortazar, A Brief Life by Juan Carlos Onetti, The Clock Winder by Anne Tyler, Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys, Dogs at the Perimeter by Madeleine Thien and Dog Sense by John Bradshaw. Not bad for seven weeks!
So this summer our plan was to do some renovations around the house but as is usually the case around our place, I need Masa to take the initiative on these kinds of things. So once he had his vacation (literally, the first day of his vacation), he started by sanding a door frame in the WC. The plan was to strip the paint off and stain it but once he got started, he ended up taking off the plaster on that wall, then on the adjoining wall only to discover that the wall separating the WC from the bathroom/tub was wet. So down with that bathroom wall, all the tiles, etc. Big job.
Now we're a week into this project. In addition, we took down a wall in our laundry room, Masa put wood up all the walls in the WC, and now we're talking about adding some built in bookshelves in the living room.
Bad news is that I am working a bit so can only help out a few hours a day AND Monday I start back at my full-time job. But our place will be improved so good news all around!
The WC after discovering the wet wall in between the WC and the bathroom.
The bathroom wall with the plaster removed.
The dog and cat trying to stay out of the way...
The laundry room wall. Not sure what we're gonna do here (expose wood? expose brick? just replaster?).
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!
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.
Can I just sing about how much I love Montreal in the summer? Every square inch outside seems covered with green, bikes and fruit stands and dogs and flowers and green nurseries abound. Girls in floral dresses and sandals smile at me with Cooper. Sun bathers on their balconies with Corona or lemonade and a good book.
A friend of mine is moving to Arizona next week and I started thinking that if she comes back in summer next year, she'll take it for granted, all this amazing summer weather. And that's what makes it so glorious: knowing that in four months, it'll be long gone. Everyone just must enjoy it while it lasts.
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!
