On July 5 we (Michael, Mulan & I) drove - meanderingly - from Seattle to Spokane. We wanted to drive through the Channeled Scablands of Washington, which is something I’d never seen. Well, I probably had seen it. In fact, I’m sure I’d seen it. But I never understood the geology of the area, in spite of this being my home state. During the Pleistocene (2.5 million years ago to 12,000 years ago) there were cataclysmic floods from glaciers melting. This specific area - in the middle of Washington State - was scoured clean - no soil, no nothing. It’s quite something to see when you understand what caused it.
We had such a delightful day driving to Spokane. For years, whenever I had to get to Seattle to Spokane by way of driving, I just took the I-90 and got there as fast as I could. This time we limped along and let our curiosity have full reign. We drove through many little towns, got Aplets and Cotlets (a Washington State candy) in Cashmere, and visited Grand Coulee Dam, and let ourselves take a good 12 hours to get to Spokane. It was a memorable day. I knew Washington State was scenic, but I really had no idea now arresting and dramatic the terrain really is. I want to move to Seattle. And Los Angeles. And New York. Oh, but I like it where I currently live too - near Chicago.
There are so many different lives I wish I could live, and yet I just have the one.
Well, I have two months of movies and books to cover, so I’m going to get to it. Movies watched in June and July 2014:
1. Sunset Boulevard, 1950, directed by Billy Wilder (3 times)
2. The Trip, 2010, directed by Michael Winterbottom
3. The Bride Wore Red, 1937, directed by Dorothy Arzner
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2013, directed by Wes Anderson
5. Touchy Feely, 2013, directed by Lynn Shelton
6. Late Spring, 1949, directed by Yasojiro Ozu (3 times)
7. Dick, 1999, directed by Andrew Fleming
8. There Was a Father, 1942, directed by YasujiroOzu
9. Two-Lane Blacktop, 1971, directed by Monte Hellman
10. An Autumn Afternoon, 1962, directed by Yasujiro Ozu (3 times)
11. Equinox Flower, 1958, directed by YasujiroOzu
12. The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family, 1941, directed by YasujiroOzu
13. Enough Said, 2013, directed by Nicole Holofcener
14. Nebraska, 2013, directed by Alexander Payne
15. Early Summer, 1951, directed by Yasujiro Ozu (3 times)
16. Caught, 1949, directed by Max Ophuls
17. Assault on Precinct 13, 1976, directed by John Carpenter.
I watched three Ozu movies three times each: Late Spring, An Autumn Afternoon, and Early Summer. WOW. What a treat. I was in an Ozu haze because I also watched Ozu’s Equinox Flower, There Was a Father, and The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family.
I know this might not sound like big news - but to me it is. Early Summer has now supplanted Tokyo Story in my top favorite five films of all time category. Yes, it’s true people! Just accept it!
I hadn’t seen many of these Ozu movies since I was in my twenties. Now I’m watching them again in my fifties. Early Summer - well, it just resonates with me personally in the deepest possible way. Oh! And here’s something else I noticed watching these Ozu movies now that I’m older - I’m amazed at how everyone just sits down on the ground and gets up again without using their hands! That’s something I found wholly unremarkable in my twenties that shocks me in my fifties. The agility of the Japanese! I’ve been practicing it myself. I think it’s all about the momentum in your feet as you shift your body backwards. Okay, I’m on a tangent.
I’m still working on my list of favorite movies, my plan of listing 59 of my favorite movies made before 1959 and then 54 favorite movies made after 1959, adding one a year in honor of my advancing age. I keep working on it. Maybe next month I’ll get it together. So. As a preview - I will name my favorite top FIVE movies made before 1959. HA!
1. Early Summer, 1951, YasojiroOzu
2. The Shop Around the Corner, 1940, Ernst Lubitsch
3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1945, Elia Kazan
4. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, 1941, Preston Sturges
5. Only Angels Have Wings, 1939, Howard Hawks
Alternates: maybe His Girl Friday for the Hawks spot, and maybe Hail the Conquering Hero for the Sturges spot and maybe To Be or Not To Be for the Lubitsch spot. I don’t know why I think of them as spots. I only bring this up because of Early Summer knocking out Tokyo Story.
Once again, I digress.
I also watched Sunset Blvd. three times. I got a new Blu-ray of the film. I became uncontrollably nostalgic for Los Angeles. I used to live near Paramount Studios and a lot of Sunset Blvd. takes place at on the lot. My favorite scenes are when William Holden and Nancy Olson are walking around late at night. That scene is so visceral and deep inside me I feel I lived it.
My new thing is to watch fewer movies and watch those movies more times.
What about Ozu? He is absolutely the greatest. He is my favorite of all my favorites. I feel his films add up to an alternate life I have lived and the actors he worked with seem like old friends. I could never tire of watching his films.
I got some of his more obscure films - and watched, for example - for the first time ever - The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family. It’s about a wealthy family in Japan who patriarch dies. The children are all mostly grown and married off. It turns out patriarch was in debt. This means that the widow and the youngest daughter - who is still too young to live on her own - have to get bounced around between the older siblings families. No one wants them. Finally a son comes back from China and he suggests to his mother and sister that they move to China too. (Although Ozu, in 1941 didn’t know what was about to happen in China, so when I watch it I want to yell at the characters “Don’t Go!”) The film, however, is quintessential Ozu - family themes that are so potent and rife with sadness and change and the temporal nature of success. It was really good.
Caught is out on Blu-ray. I watched this with Jill Sobule who was in town doing a show. Caught is a film noir with James Mason and Barbara Bel Geddes. It was so beautiful. Just gorgeous. Max Ophuls directed - magnificent.
I liked The Grand Budapest Hotel much more than I thought I would. It stayed with me. I still see it in my head - those gorgeous exteriors, those perfectly perfect interiors.
Before I take my leave from my movie watching in June and July, I will post a picture of Chishu Ryu, Ozu’s favorite actor - a wonderful performer who was in nearly all of his films, and whom - to me - is like posting a picture of Ozu himself. Here is Chishu Ryu in Late Spring: 
And here is Setsuko Hara, Ozu’s most famous actress, in Late Spring as well. She is one of the greatest actresses of all time, in my opinion. In Late Spring, she plays Chishu Ryu’s daughter. She is forced to marry, when what she really wants is to stay home and hang out with her dad. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful. 
These two pictures make me so happy!
Books read in June & July 2014:
1. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, written by Elizabeth Kolbert
2. This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral - Plus Plenty of Valet Parking - in America’s Gilded Capital, written by Mark Liebovitch
3. The Summer Before the Dark, written by Doris Lessing
4. Sundown Towns: a Hidden Dimension of American Racism, written by James W. Loewen
5. A People’s History of Quebec, written by Jacques Lacoursiere & Robin Philpot
6. The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life, written by Uri Gneezy
7. A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoicism, written by William B. Irvine
8. On Desire: Why We Want What We Want, written by William B. Irvine.
9. Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: A Teach Yourself Guide, written by Donald Robertson
10. The Obsticle Is The Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph, written by Ryan Holiday
Oh! So much to say.
Well, I can dismiss two books right off the bat, because they were so influential, they are making their way into my scriptwriting. In that sense, I really don’t want to discuss them in detail. These two books are: a novel - “The Summer Before the Dark” by Doris Lessing and “Sundown Towns” by James Loewen. The Lessing book is about a woman whose children have all gone to college. She’s trying to figure out if she wants to stay married. This is also what my screenplay/novel is about. Lessing is a master of insight and mood. The Loewen book is about how racially segregated northern U.S. towns were after the civil war - and oddly, this is also part of my script/novel. So I’m not going to write more about those.
“This Town” is so hilarious. It’s written by the wonderful New York Times writer, Mark Liebovitch. Oh my god, it’s so funny. I listened to it on audio book, and then also read the paperback version. It’s really insightful and funny - but the kind of funny where you don’t laugh very long because after a moment you realize that he’s writing about the very people who are running the country (or have outsized influence in running the country) and then it becomes terrifying.
I read “A People’s History of Quebec” because our official family summer vacation is in Quebec (and I happen to be writing this blog entry from Montreal right now…) I will write about Canada in my next post - it’s so lovely here. I can’t believe I haven’t spent more time in Canada. We’re in Montreal because Michael is working here, but afterwards we head to Quebec City, Algonquin Provincial Park, and then on the way home we stop at Makinac Island (on the Upper Penninsula of Michigan).
The most influential books I read in June and July - by far - were the William B. Irvine books. Irvine’s stoicism book - (by far the best of the bunch) well, oh my god. OH MY GOD. As a former Catholic - as an atheist - but as a person who was raised with a philosophy of life - (at least I thought Catholicism was a philosophy of life) and as a person who feels comfortable having a philosophy of life, but then finding myself with a theory of religion (atheism) but no clear set of principles on which to behave, I was ripe for something like this.
In fact, in so many ways, I’m already a stoic, I just didn’t know what to call it. To be honest, reading the Irvine book about Stoicism - I had this deep giddy feeling the whole way through it - I felt I had been waiting for this my whole life. Except then I had that feeling again when I read his other book on desire - but more on that in a moment.
So.
Stoicism. It’s very simple and yet difficult.
Here’s my off-the-cuff list of what is most important about stoicism.
1.) Recognize what is out of your control.
2.) Understand your emotions are choices, and your reactions to other people can be controlled.
3.) Avoid status and attachment to things.
4.) Make peace of mind and equanimity your daily goal.
5.) Concentrate on process, not outcome.
6.) Practice negative visualization. Meaning - always imagine that things could be much, much worse.
7.) Enjoy luxuries in life, but do not require them. And to that end, practice doing without to maintain resilience.
This is a very modern interpretation of Stoicism, mind you. I lapped Irivne’s book up like a thirsty dog. I just loved every moment of it. His book is about his own journey towards Stoicism and how it’s changed his life.
After I read that, I read the other Stoicism books. But Irvine’s is personal and much more relatable. The one quibble I have with his book is that he denigrates fame and fortune too much. HA! It’s funny that I write that because I like to think of myself as a person who doesn’t care about the small amount of fame that I have. But I don’t think that Irvine considers the fact that fame can be a useful ingredient that can enhance a person’s opportunity to practice his skills and create his best work - whatever those skills and work may be. But that was a small quibble.
I’ve always practiced negative visualization. I’ve always imagined how things could be worse - without having anxiety that they will be worse - I just imagined everything as much worse than it is, and it has enhanced my feeling of happiness and satisfaction greatly.
In some ways Stoicism (the word stoic here is not used the way it’s commonly used) is about learning the art of wanting what you already have.
Which brings me to desire. I read Irvine’s book on Desire - which he wrote before the Stoicism book. In fact, I think his research on desire led him to Stoicism. The last chapter of the Desire book was, for me, the most riveting reading I have done in ten years. Seriously. His chapter on the ways to deal with our desires - which we have so little control over in the deepest sense since they are mostly biological (I want sex, food, status, stuff) was the clearest writing I have ever read on this subject. I was in heaven reading this book. My biggest issue in being a Stoic is in controlling my unnecessary, irritable, emotional reactions to other people. (Ahem.. my family.) Being a mother and wife makes Stoicism a deep challenge. Marcus Aurelius (a famous Stoic) didn’t have to be in a car with his wife and kids for two weeks, as far as I can tell, from reading his “Meditations.” Oh, I should have put “Meditations” on the list of books. Although I haven’t read all his mediations yet. I’m flitting my way through. Today Mulan and I are going on a walking tour of Old Montreal. The Cathedral here - Notre Dame, maybe the most beautiful I’ve ever been in.
Oh! I didn’t write about “The Sixth Extinction.” I read it, then listened to the audio book, and then Michael and I listened to it again on this driving trip. All I can say is… we’re screwed. There’s nothing we can do. We’re in the Anthropocene and we’ll probably extinct most living things on this planet and probably ourselves too. Or is this just my “negative visualization” talking?
August 08, 2014 at 8:43 am, Ellie said:
Yay a post
I missed ‘seeing’ you in July.
So many good books and films here!
I’ve read Sixth Extinction and will be using it with my kids (i homeschool them) for our upcoming Weather & Climate / Global Warming course …
August 08, 2014 at 12:11 pm, Julia Sweeney said:
Ellie, thanks for writing. I think “The Sixth Extinction” is such an important book. Good choice for homeschooled kids. I’m so worried about what’s going to happen in our children’s lifetimes and maybe even in our own. Scary. I would recommend the “On Desire” book too for kids. I guess it talks about sex tangentially, but not in a crude way. It’s really good. And even the Stoicism book would be good for young people. I think it’s written that way (perfect for me, too!)
I wrote this blog entry in somewhat of a hurry, then walked around Montreal this morning feeling embarrassed that I said Marcus Aurelius didn’t have to be in a car with his family for two weeks. I was thinking, “No. He just had to lead wars and rugged campaigns against the Gauls.”
August 08, 2014 at 1:28 pm, jimsnowden2012 said:
Nice top five. I’ve seen precisely none of them, so your list gives me stuff to check out. Thanks. (“His Girl Friday” would take up my Hawks spot. Rosalind Russell was brilliant.)
August 08, 2014 at 3:26 pm, Julia Sweeney said:
Jim! Yes, “His Girl Friday” is AWESEOME. The latest DVD has Todd McCarthy (former Variety critic, now Hollywood Reporter critic) doing the commentary and it’s really really really good. Thanks for writing. You are in my head, nudging me to get my movie lists up. Thanks for that too.
August 08, 2014 at 3:29 pm, Ellie said:
Re: Marcus Auralius, ha!
Well, comparisons are odious, right?? (Shakespeare??) We all have our challenges and trials and things that try our patience! Your comment gave me a smile as the kids are translating Caesar right now for their Latin studies: his commentaries on the Wars of the Gauls, fascinating slice of history and also bemusing at times. People haven’t changed much ….
I will check out On Desire, thanks! Always happy to collect more (and more) books to share with the kids or just for me.
August 13, 2014 at 9:51 am, John Sentovich said:
Julia,
Are you superhuman? How do you have time to read and watch what you do? When do you do it? Are you that disciplined that you set aside 5 hours a day to read and watch? I love your blog and keep adding your books and movies to my “to do” list, but never seem to get to them?
I’ll ask it again…are you superwoman??
August 20, 2014 at 8:50 am, Julia Sweeney said:
Okay, this is how I do it. I avoid reading anything but the book I’m reading. I don’t read the newspaper - we get the NY Times, but I skim the headlines and rely on Michael to point out anything that may be of interest to me. (Writing that seems so passive, but alas, it’s how it is.) A big boost came from not reading articles on the Internet - or rather, drastically reducing the time I spend on my favorite websites: Salon, Alternet, Vox, TruthDig.* Although I do visit those places. But just trying not to has helped. Also I take my book with me whereever I go - so at the car wash, for example, I can read.
On the movies front, I have a great thing in the basement of our house. And that is a dark, cool, insulated-from-the-world home theater which is as close to a church (in that I mean a sacred space) as I have ever been in or created for myself. I repair to my “chapel” in the afternoons and watch something before the din of the evening activities start. I work from 8 to 11 a.m. on weekday mornings.
Oh. And I’ve become almost anti-social. I almost never go out to any social event. This is a big one, come to think about it. I, nearly always, would rather be home reading or watching something than go out. That’s probably the biggest factor in my ability to see and read things.
I’ve started to avoid the news too - I know - in many ways this is terrible. But listening to the news used to take up a lot of my life. Now I either listen to an audio book or music. Late at night, I will watch Chris Hayes on MSNBC, but not as often as I did in the past. I never miss Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. OMG, that man is a genius. I speed watch Colbert Reports and John Stewarts - a week’s worth at a time - skipping interviews I don’t care about and of course all commercials. And usually this is done on the weekends. ***
But most of all, I think it’s the avoiding reading anything other than the book I’m reading that has made the difference.** And saying to anyone that comes over to my house, “What do you want to watch?” And then leading them (my husband and daughter might describe it as “dragging them”) downstairs to the theater.
* I’ve weaned myself off the Huffington Post. The Huffingtong Post is really a black hole that will suck you in and when it spits you back out the time has jumped forward an hour and you haven’t anything to show for it but more knowledge of how Leo DeCaprio-doesn’t-look-like-this anymore or 50 tips-everywoman-should-know-before-age-50 even though you went on the Huffington Post to read about a current political event.
** Okay, there are the magazines that I still subscribe to and most often read: The New Yorker, New Scientist, Mother Jones, the Utne Reader. Which reminds me that I have found that it’s vitually impossible to stop a subscription to Oprah Magazine. It’s true. I’ve written to them several times, don’t pay the annual bill, and put big black crosses on their invoices and mail them back and to no avail.
***Oh, and online, apropos of nothing (except spending time on the Web) I love this http://morningjewz.com/ I check in now and then to see what these gals are thinking about.
August 19, 2014 at 6:44 pm, Kate said:
Oh how I love that you love Washington state. Can’t you just picture yourself living on one of the San Juan Islands? Maybe Orcas… Or Lopez… I’ll look for you next time I’m there
August 20, 2014 at 8:40 am, Julia Sweeney said:
I imagine it all the time! Whenever I’m on Decatur Island I’m thinking “I could live here. I really really could.” But I feel that way nearly everywhere. Except maybe Idaho Falls, Idaho, or Pullman, WA. But I could live in Boise, Idaho, or in Moscow, Idaho as alternatives. And of course, if worst came to worst, I would be happy to live… Well, I can just end that sentence there. I would be happy to live. Where wouldn’t be an issue.
August 24, 2014 at 9:07 am, Ellen said:
I just found your blog and think it’s wonderful. LOVE your lists of books and films. Lubitsch and Sturges! We speak the same language. Have you seen “Trouble In. Paradise”? It’s delightful - every single minute of it!
August 25, 2014 at 9:03 am, Julia Sweeney said:
I love Trouble In Paradise so much. Herbert Marshall is do divine in that movie. I love his stiff and elegant gate when he walks (which I think was actually due to a WW1 unjury.) And Miriam Hopkins! Just to think of her makes me smile. Kay Francis is the perfect foil for her - totally unlike her in every way: sophisticated and classically beautiful. And yet there’s authentic humanity that shines through Francis, you can’t help but like her, even if she’s a member of the ultra upper-class. And together they are all just about as close to perfection as is possible. Oh! I have to watch Trouble in Paradise again.
August 28, 2014 at 9:48 am, mark said:
So I spent some time last night reading your blog. Very interesting…
I find the older I get the less likely I am to trust my own judgement and the more likely I am to jump to conclusions and speak before thinking.
Late night talk show host Craig Ferguson said he has a rule of thumb before saying anything of importance. And that is he asks himself three questions…
1) Does this need to be said?
2) Does this need to be said by me?
3) Does this need to be said by me, now?
Unfortunately I can never remember that rule before I open my mouth. And blessed with incredible lack of short term memory (hmmm I wonder what caused that) I always want to blurt stuff out rather than forget what I wanted to say/ask and spend precious time thinking “what was it I wanted to say/ask” if the moment passes.
One of those little questions that just floated into my brain - What do you think of the current Pope? As a committed atheist like yourself, I like the guy. This is the first Christian I can think of in memory who says the stuff I would have expected Christ to say. I’m not even sure at this point that there was a Christ, but if there was, this is the kind of demeanor I would have expected him to have.
I’ve seen “Sunset Blvd.” probably five or six times in my life and I find it intriguing and troubling. I’m not sure I buy into the William Holden character’s easy transformation into a ‘kept man’ quite so easily but maybe that’s just me imposing my own sensibilities on his situation. Also on your list “Nebraska” was a beautiful, but again deeply troubling for me personally. Maybe just because I’m on the far side of middle age I view films about growing old not so gracefully as cautionary on what probably awaits me.
By far the most influential book I’ve ever read is Jarrod Diamond’s “The Third Chimpanzee”
If anything explains everything I think Diamond nailed it with that book. I don’t read nearly as much as I should and may try your reading regimen to get me started.
But glad to have found this blog,
Thank you.
p.s. I love the Pacific Northwest as well. Have been marooned for most of my adult life in the Midwest with a brief stint in the deep South and have missed the area around the left coast. I want to see mountains when I wake up in the morning! I want to be able to walk into the forest and keep walking until I grow tired of it. I never want to see another corn stalk.
September 03, 2014 at 10:22 am, Julia Sweeney said:
I love “The Third Chimpanzee.” I loved that book so much, and I agree with you, it explains EVERYTHING. Ha. What do I think of the current Pope? Well, I have to admit that I like him. I think he’s about a good as we could hope for. I love that he’s speaking out about income inequality, and he seems to be trying to take the focus away from ridiculous picayune rules about authority and moving towards fostering focus on what really is wrong in our world. Mainly that the poor are exploited mercilessly. Which is something Jesus did talk about. So I agree with you, he seems more Christ-like that his predessesors. BTW, here is an interesting article about how little proof there is that Jesus existed. http://www.salon.com/2014/09/01/5_reasons_to_suspect_that_jesus_never_existed/ Of course this doesn’t mean that Jesus isn’t important. Or that his existence in the minds of people is more potent and powerful than his actual historicity.
September 04, 2014 at 3:20 pm, Simon said:
Hi Julia,
This comment has nothing to do with your blog entry, it’s just the first text box I found.
Recently Dawkins & Krauss announced two shows in Belfast to promote their documentary, “The Unbelievers” with a Q&A session afterwards. Both sold out literally, within minutes. This is the first time an Atheist public figure has graced these shores, so in our hunger we gobbled up the opportunity with voracity.
I would argue that, of all regions in the English-speaking world, Northern Ireland would benefit most from Atheism. I worry that Dawkins/Krauss’ militancy may only serve to further entrench the religious, however I believe your more empathic approach would be more convincing to them - There are a lot of moderates here, but they align politically with the fundamentalists due to the protestant/catholic divide.
I’m sure you’ve guessed what I’m hinting at here - You should do *something* in Belfast because, yanno, if you don’t you’re obviously a horrible person with no affection for your roots 😛
If nothing else, it’d make a good excuse for a holiday. I’m sure Mulan would love The Giant’s Causeway or the Cliffs of Insanity or the fact that St. Patrick is purportedly buried beneath a town hilariously named Downpatrick. Is she old enough to watch Game of Thrones yet, because….Ok, I’ll stop emotionally manipulating you now, but do please consider it.
September 07, 2014 at 7:42 pm, Randy said:
Hi Julia,
I have enjoyed following your blog for years…thanks!
I too like to read lots of books and watch lots of movies. I often feel i should be “doing more good things in the world.”
Following up on your comment that you are now almost “anti-social,” what are your thoughts on how to work out this balance of the personal and the social?
Thanks!
Randy
p.s, I bet you already know James Loewen’s book The Lies My Teachers Told Me…
November 11, 2014 at 7:43 pm, Daniel Laird said:
I found you by a happy accident, your monologue ‘God Said Ha!’ is on TV. I don’t know your SNL work, I stopped watching before I enlisted in the USAF in 1980. I’m a loner, an atheist & a fan of Dawkins, who mentioned you in his infamous book on the god delusion. I just wanted to say hello. I like your outlook, your delight in lucidity rather than embracing confusion & mysticism. I also appreciate your joyful approach to life w/out God, or god or gods, or whatever absolute truth to which I’ve not quite figured out what it is & why I (& you) don’t need it. I was raised Catholic, & considered myself a recovering one before the term was vogue. Anyway, thanks for being sincere. I like what you say & how you say it.
Daniel