I looked through my photos, trying to find one to use for this month’s blog entry. I came across this. That’s me and Daniel Dennet and Mulan, who looks about four years old. (I guess that means the pic is ten years old.)
Since just yesterday I was telling Mulan (and my niece Emily) about something Daniel Dennet said - something I think about all the time - I decided to post this picture.
Daniel Dennet is a philosopher and scientist at Tufts University and has written several very important books including “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” and “Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.” I have not yet read his book that was published in May, “Intuition Pumps and Other Tools For Thinking.” But I plan to read it very soon.
Daniel Dennet said: “Because I’m a philosopher, people often ask me, “What is the meaning of life?” And I answer, “I’m not sure if there is a meaning to life, but I can tell you the secret to happiness. That is this: find something you love, some subject, something that an entire lifetime would not be enough time to know all there is about it. Then dedicate your life to learning as much as you can about that topic. And that makes for a very happy life.”
Wow. I just love that.
I can’t say exactly what my topic is, or if I have one. But I’m generally absorbed by one artisitc pursuit or another. That does make for a happy life, it’s true. Even if, lately, I’ve been hibernating, thinking about lost loved ones, and generally reflective.
Is it because it’s snowy, dark, and December? Is it becuase I’ve been listening to a lot of Zbigniew Preisner? (More on him later - he composed the music for most of Krzystof Kieslowski’s films.)
Well, onto books and movies.
Movies: November 2013
1.) The Scar, 1976, Krzysztof Kieslowski
2.) Cabaret, 1972, directed by Bob Fosse
3.) All That Jazz, 1979, directed by Bob Fosse
4.) Camera Buff, 1979, directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski
5.) Kings and Queen, 2004, directed by Arnaud Desplechin
6.) His Girl Friday, 1940, directed by Howard Hawks
7.) To Be or Not to Be, 1942, directed by Ernst Lubitsch
8.) No End, 1985, directed by Krzysztof, Kieslowski
9.) Before Midnight, 2013, directed by Richard Linklater
10.) Dallas Buyers Club, 2013, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee
So, there you have it. Ten movies. I’m really into Krsysztof Kieslowski right now. I’m taken with him, he’s swept me off by feet. I have been wanting to do a full scale Kieslowki watch for a long, long time. (Currently I’m halfway through The Decolog, but that’s for the month of December.) I feel smitten. He’s just so hypnotic. I really loved Camera Buff. I loved it so much I ordered the movie poster and am now having it framed. Wonderful movie, great poster. It’s about a man in Poland in the mid-1970s who gets a film camera so he can capture images of his new born daughter. But the camera takes him over - he becomes obessed. He sees everything and thinks about how he can film it. At one point, when he and his wife are arguing, he holds up his hands and frames her like a director would.
This film resonated with me deeply - it’s a little like I feel - having made monologues out of momentous periods of my own life. Once you do it, it’s hard not to begin framing every big event as an espiode in a stage show. I’m not that bad, I can take life as it comes. But it’s partly true, I am looking for the story. In any case, I recommend Camera Buff.
And let’s just say that I am looking forward to writing fiction. Not that the same things don’t happen. But still, it seems at least a few inches away from the reality of life.
What else? Oh yes, Bob Fosse, All That Jazz. He had an enormous ego! I know, I know, everyone knows that. But really, hilariously big. His self obsession is so pervasive, as to almost be a parody of himself, a parody that he’s in on. Yes - his narcissism is so deep and wide that he wants to be himself and the parody of himself simultaneously. And yet, I enjoyed the film.
I must admit it: Cabaret was better than I remembered.
To Be or Not To Be, the Ernst Lubitch version, is one of my favorite movies of all time. I got the Critereon Collection edition of the film. I watched it three times, once alone, once with Michael, and once with the commentary.
His Girl Friday is another favorite of mine. I showed it to my niece and another friend’s son along with my family. I had to watch the movie before I showed it to them. They all seemed to like it quite a bit. Rosiland Russell!! She’s a gem. I went down a rabbit hole online after the movie, watching clips of her in this and that. Of course, to me, she will always be Mother Superior in The Trouble With Angels. Oh, and Todd McCarthy does the commentary on the DVD! (He wrote , Howard Hawks, the Gray Fox of Hollywood. He’s very good. It’s fun and informative. Wow - I am into the commentaries these days…)
I was not a big fan of Before Midnight. Too improvised and artificial to me. I don’t know if I believe any couple would actually talk like that with each other.
I was surprised by how much I liked Dallas Buyers Club. It’s a ride, that movie. Sad and dark, and yet a good time. Matthew McConaughey is just fantastic.
For reasons I’m not certaing about, I spent some time figuring out what my favorite 40 movies were, made before 1959 (the year of my birth.) This I will either post at the end of this blog entry or in another blog entry after I get back from my winter holiday travel.
Now let’s move to books.
Only two.
Why?
I am only remembering. I didn’t write things down. I may have forgotten something. If I read 43% of something on my Kindle, does that count? Because I did do that with a book called, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines.” And so far, it has been lively and entertaining. I plan to read the rest of it on the plane to Beijing. More on that in a moment.
Okay, two books. I finished two books. I liked them both, very, very, very much.
Books read in November 2013:
1.) The Signature of All Things, 2013, written by Elizabeth Gilbert
2.) Letters From Thailand, 1969, written by Boton (Supa Siriising, translated by Susan Fulop Kepner)
Both books are among the best I’ve read in 2013. A surprise: Elizabeth Gilbert. I admit, I read “Eat, Pray, Love” her blockbuster hit of 2007. I had such mixed feelings about that book. It was written so well, by someone who really knew how to write. And who was likable. And yet. And yet. I had mixed feelings about the character - the “I” of the book - the narrator: Elizabeth Gilbert. I sincerely wanted to like her story, but I felt it was too navel-gazing, too shallow. Well - now here I am, years later, with my own memoir under by belt. Is it navel-gazing and shallow? I could probably agree with someone who felt that way. But it’s not that I’ve been humbled by my experience. No - it’s…. my own aging. I’ve gotten older, wiser, and yes - more forgiving. So, when I saw “The Signature of all Things” I perked up. Would I buy it? I didn’t like “Eat, Pray, Love.” So, why would I buy it? But I felt compelled.
I’m so glad my unconscious was in control, because I would have missed the best book of the year if I had kep my petty predjudices. The “Signature of All Things” is about a woman’s whole life - from her birth to her death. She’s a scientist, she’s bright and she yearns for love and wrestles with what life throws at her and she grows up. She studies mosses. It’s a lovely book.
The other book I read last month was “Letters From Thailand.” This is a classic in Thailand, often mandatory reading for high school aged kids - sort of like To “Kill A Mockingbird” or “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” is here. The book is a series of letters that a Chinese immigrant to Bangkok - starting in 1946 sends home to his mother. The book spans twenty years. He raises a family and tries to keep the Chinese ways going, but his family ends up being more Thai than Chinese. There is a lot of sadness and pathos, but it’s funny too. I learned a lot about small differences between the Chinese and the Thai - like how they cook their rice, or if they drink liquids with their meals or don’t.
Tomorrow we are flying to China. We’ll spend a little over two weeks in China and then 8 or 9 days in Northern Thailand. We come home the first week of January.
I sort of wish I could write about the movies I’ve watched so far this month - but I will say this: Go see “Inside Llewyn Davis.” I can’t get that movie out of my head. It’s my favorite Coen Bros. movie.
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