September 9, 2014

I took this picture around 6 a.m. on Sept 1st. I’d walked early to the beach (Lake Michigan) to catch the sunrise, and felt so glad to be starting a new month. I love autumn. And when you have a kid going to school, it feels more Jan 1 than Sept 1. A whole year ahead bursting at the seams with potential. I feel good because I’ve finally - FINALLY - settled into a writing routine that’s realistic. Which is basically Mon thru Fri until noon or when I’ve gotten a few hours in, whichever comes first. After noon - it’s all input, not output. Movies, reading, thinking. And of course after 3 or 4 p.m. it’s all about family: dinner, picking up, laundry, driving Mulan to lessons or whatever she needs. This schedule has caused me to exercise less, unfortunately. My temperament is only up to doing difficult things in the morning: write, work out, think, organize. I’m pretty much half-capable after noon - it’s all downhill! My vow to exercise waffles and wanes, I really want to sit. My commitment to my house work deteriorates - unlike in the mornings when doing house work is a great provocateur against the blank page waiting in my office.

Our trip to Canada was a revelation. Canada seems real to me now. That’s such an embarrassing admission. But it’s true. I didn’t have a visceral sensation regarding Canada. Well, I did on the West Coast - I’ve visited Vancouver so many times. In fact, I categorize Victoria and Vancouver as Pacific Northwest - almost distinct in my perception of Canada. But on the East Side of Canada, I’d only been to Toronto. And even there, just a couple of times. So I was just flabbergasted at how vast, how wild, how enormous Canada is. We loved Algonquin Provincial Park, and we plan to go back so we can do some real canoe camping. I could easily live in Montreal or Quebec City. I love winter too - this is the aspect of living here in the Chicago area that people find odd - I actually prefer the weather here more than in California. I like hunkering down, and I don’t mind dry cold. Even extreme cold is not a problem for me. It’s the humidity mixed with the heat that I have issues with. So all in all, yes, I could move to Canada.

In case you were wondering.

Okay, let’s move to movies and books.

Movies watched in August 2014:

1.) Inequality for All, 2013, directed by Jacob Kornbluth

2.) Seraphine, 2008, directed by Marvin Provost

3.) Flower Drum Song, 1961, directed by Henry Koster

4.) The Story of Floating Weeds, 1934, directed by Yasojiro Ozu

5.) Floating Weeds, 1959, directed by Yasojiro Ozu

Oh. Oh. Oh. I am continuing my thrall of Ozu. I had an Ozu Floating Weeds month. (Ozu made it twice - once as a silent movie, and then a remake 25 years later.) The story is about a dwindling Kabuki troupe in the country-side. The leader has a past. He’s got a former lover and a son in the town they visit. The son thinks he’s his uncle, not his father. I think I prefer the original: The Story Floating Weeds to the remake (Floating Weeds,) but both are just splendid. I’ve become so familiar with Ozu’s regular cast of actors they’ve become old friends. Haruko Sugimura feels like an aunt. She plays the former lover in the later version of Floating Weeds. I think I like Takeshi Sakamoto’s performance of the character Kihachi better than Ganjiro Nakamura’s of Komajuro (it’s the same character.) But it’s a close call. There are things I like about each actor distinctly. Frankly, I can’t compare. It was just a lovely, beautiful experience to watch both of them.

The DVD package from Criterion features some tremendous commentaries. I watched the movies, then watched with the commentaries, and then watched the movies again! I actually don’t know how many times I saw each version of Floating Weeds. What a treasure! The Roger Ebert commentary on Floating Weeds is really informative. But the Donald Richie commentary on The Story of Floating Weeds is highly perceptive and included many observations that I would’ve missed.

If you want a complete and delightful and meaningful cinematic experience, get the Criterion Collection Dual Film pack of both films (and all the extras) - it’s only $32 and it’s just a treasure-trove of wonderfulness! To be honest, as I make my way through all the Ozu movies, I’m starting to think I like the earlier Ozu better than the later ones. Later - well, he got quite mannered. He was possibly too in love with his distinctive style. I sort of prefer his earlier, finding-his-style filmmaking. Plus, in the later films - his music got just plain weird.

Oh! Speaking of music - the silent film (The Story of Floating Weeds) has a score that was written just for this DVD - by Donald Sosin - and it’s gorgeous.

Okay, onto to other movies. I saw Flower Drum Song for the first time. Last spring, Mulan sang “I Enjoy Being a Girl” for her vocal recital. I thought it’d be fun to see the film that produced the song.

Wow - what an odd, odd movie. The all-asian cast is great, but the story is so thin and riddled with embarrassing stereotypes. And the story itself - I guess the theme is that it’s better to be the quiet obedient submissive girl rather than one who tries to create her own destiny? Is that the moral of the story? Weird. James Shigeta is great in Flower Drum Song - which reminded me - I’ve never seen The Crimson Kimono, directed by Sam Fuller. Shigeta is supposed to be brilliant in that film. Oh! I want to see it - I even own that movie! Maybe later today, that’ll be my afternoon movie.

Oh, and when I looked up Shigeta after seeing Flower Drum Song I found that he had just - just - died. In the last month! Oh that made me so sad.

Inequality for All was very good - I’m a big fan of Robert Reich and regularly read his blog. The film was great - depressing but well done. I had Mulan watch part of it. Reich does a good job explaining how the middle class is the engine of a society and for any progress to be made (or even any reliable stability so that the rich can continue being rich! If you want to explain it that way…) the middle class MUST be strong and large. Right now we’re dangerously out of whack. I’m afraid for future if income inequality continues to be so disastrously big. What do the Libertarians have to say about this? Uh. I will say that a big part of my semi-disollutionment with the atheist movement is about how wacky the Libertarians are. And there are a lot of libertarians in the atheist community. That was such a depressing wake-up for me as I navigated my way through the atheist world. They’re as bad as the believers in this regard! In fact, compared with being around Libertarians, I’d rather be in an official religious community.

Seraphine was wonderful. It’s a French film and a true story about an outsider artist who was also a house maid and probably mentally ill. Ha. That sounds horrendous, but it was riveting. It’s beautiful and slow and moving (emotionally, anyway) and just what I like! Yolanda Moreau is pitch perfect as the artist. Ulrich Tukur plays the German art gallery owner who discovers her. He’s greeeeeeat. He was enthralling in The White Ribbon (possibly the world’s most depressing, dark, and excruciatingly perfect film.)

Okay, onto books.

Books read August 2014:

1.) An Uncommon Reader Written by Alan Bennett

2.) Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty. Written by Daniel Schulman.

Audio books listened to on the drive through Canada:

1.) Neither Here Nor There, written and read by Bill Bryson.

2.) A Walk in the Woods, written and read by Bill Bryson

3.) You’re Not Doing it Right, written and read by Michael Ian Black.

Okay. You have to read the “Sons of Wichita” book. If you’re an American citizen, you just have to. Required reading. The author, Daniel Schulman does a great job - it’s so even-handed too. He does not vilify these men. He just lays out the facts. You even become enamored with the brothers in certain places. It’s not about money with them either - at least in the way I thought it would be. The Koch’s obsession is a real ideological quest.

I read “An Uncommon Reader” three times. It’s short, a novella. I even read it aloud to Michael. It’s so funny, so engaging. A great story about the Queen of England taking up reading in her later years. It’s a story for book lovers. I love, love, loved it. Very short. Easy to read. So many buried gems. What a writer Bennett is.

I had listened to all three of the audio books before our trip, but they were good company again on the road. Michael Ian Black is a really funny writer. I enjoyed it even more the second time, and actually got choked up at the end.

Ah, people. I am exhausted and I have to go to yoga, so I’m signing off. Until next month…