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« August 2008 | Main | October 2008 »
Monday, September 29, 2008 - 08:13:52
Banned Books Week
This week is Banned Books Week, so it’s an excellent time to read something forbidden. Is there a better advertisement for any book than to ban it? I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance because I heard there was some controversy about it, and all I remember now is that there was a lot of ado about the true meaning of “quality” and some mechanical tips. I don't recall anything scandalous, and at the time, I felt like I'd been tricked into reading a fairly boring book. I’m fascinated by the reasons sometimes cited for censorship. Maybe it is a sign that I am a disturbed and deviant individual, but people can get upset over things I would never have anticipated.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - 21:00:36
Faster Than a Speeding Bullet
It's Superhero Day at the Library! Most of my costume decisions are based on what I have hanging in my closet at the time. Which is why my standard last-minute costume is typically "hooker." Make of that what you will. But for Superhero Day, I realized that I owned a Superman tank top (purchased on the cheap for a "rockstar" costume that I must confess was vaguely "hooker with blue hair." It's a fine line with me, really.)
I didn't know what Superhero Day would involve, but I assumed they would show a few movies since there are tons to choose from. To be honest, almost everything I know about comics comes from movies and The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay. There have also been a few delightful outbursts from guys I never knew read comics. I have friends whom I've never seen reading a comic book. I never saw a stray comic at their house, but if I made a Green Lantern joke that didn't track, they would set me straight with a quickness. The most spectacular instance was when a guy in grad. school did a presentation on concepts of doctors in Victorian literature that led into a discussion of the mad scientist figure. From there he and the professor started discussing comic book villians in the most endearingly earnest way. Awww...Dr. Faulk, it's almost hard to be mad that you assigned us Bleak House.
But, today wasn't a Superhero Film Fest. It was a party complete with games to test your super powers. I have good memory skills, decent strength, but I'm totally crap at seeing through solid objects. There were more games, but I didn't want to be too competitive since some of the other people playing were, like, six. I though it might be immature to challenge a first grader to arm wrestle or to a foot race. Instead, I chatted with Jessica and Jill (seen below being awesome) and watched kids pose in a miniature city scape. For a party celebrating "heroes," most of them had their picture made holding buildings above their heads, which I think would terrify a lot of innocent people living and working in those high rises. The whole setup was very clever and fun, and the kids I saw were all having a blast. Congrats to Jessica, Jill, Randi, Shannon, Wendy, and Erin (who manned the strength game and totally slipped me some candy sticks) on a job well done!
Here are a couple of pictures:
Left to Right: Jessica being stealthy, me, and Jill giving a most ferocious growl. It is a shame that pictures cannot convey Jessica's raspy Batman voice (What's up with that, Christopher Nolan?). Plus, Jill's gloves made noises or spit out a catchphrase when she hit stuff.
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Again: Jessica, me (going for heroic and...coming up short, clearly), Jill
I want to say a quick thanks to my friend Julie's dad for lending me a tie. I'm not sure I figured out how to use it to its best advantage, but it gave the outfit a certain "undone" quality.
Sunday, September 14, 2008 - 12:52:18
This Post is Brought to You by the Letter L
This week we had Prince and Princess Day at the library for some of our young patrons, complete with a tea party. I’m not much of a princess myself. I’m more of a “walking disaster” since I keep bumping into things at work. Just as a smattering of bruises on my leg cleared up, I fell into the corner of a credenza. I had to trade out a chair in my office because it had pointy arms that I kept running into, and two weeks ago, I burned myself on a pop-tart. Seriously. But, the staff was invited to dress up for Princess Day, and to show my solidarity with the children’s department, who do a really great job, I hauled out a long, pink skirt, some preppy heels and a shiny necklace my grandfather won in a Bingo game. Hardly ermine and pearls, but it would do. I topped the whole look off with a construction paper crown that one of my co-workers made for me with a die-cut machine.
The kids ranged in age from about 3-7 and were insanely cute. The girls went all out dressing in lots of satin and taffeta, with plastic crowns and patent leather shoes, while the boys took a more liberal interpretation of their title. I saw a knight and at least one Batman. But the whole thing was too adorable to quibble over such technicalities. I stuck my head into the meeting room where everyone was coloring and eating snacks to get a better look at the motley crowd, but after a few minutes, I ducked back out. I have a lot of respect for people who work with very young children because it isn’t easy.
After college, I spent a few months substitute teaching, and I did fine with high school kids. I’ve worked with that age group a lot over the years, and I enjoy working with teenagers. They can be fun and interesting and creative, and I can joke around with them. I spent one day subbing in kindergarten, and those sweet faced angels ran all over me.
Thursday, September 04, 2008 - 19:41:57
Who knew?
I was talking to a friend this week about how, when I taught, a lot of my students didn’t have a concept of what the world was like before they were in it. I did a lot of pop culture and media studies in my classes, and they wanted to write papers about how The Backstreet Boys were the first boy band or whatever. As a teacher, I couldn’t just let that slide, so I confessed to being a New Kids on the Block fan years before The Backstreet Boys even existed. Once a kid named Max made an interesting point about Janis Joplin, and one of his classmates actually got irritated that he was brining up some person she’d never heard of.
When I started watching old movies for The Celluloid Project, I felt confident that I had a decent sense of pop culture history. I learned a lot from Nick and Nite and AMC, plus I’ve read quite a bit on the subject. I know about the Hayes Code and I can tell you that the costume designer for Streetcar Named Desire made Marlon Brando’s jeans super tight by sculpting and pinning wet denim onto his naked body. What I’m saying is, I’m aware of things that happened in films that predate The Goonies, but I still have a lot to learn. Also? That costume designer had a pretty sweet gig.
I did a little research after I watched Laura and learned a lot about the film’s score but the thing I found most fascinating about that movie was that the dopey playboy was played by Vincent Price. Vincent Price! The man who used to terrify me as a child, the guy whose voice alone made me want to burst into tears had a hunky past! I saw his name in the credits and spent the first half hour of the film trying to pick him out, and when I finally eliminated all the other men in the film, I realized he was the tall, dish-y dude. He also wrote cookbooks, which I find incredibly endearing for someone who used to haunt my dreams.
I sat down this weekend with Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, and as the plot unfolded, I thought, “Isn’t this basically Clue?” It is. And before both of those films there was a movie called And Then There Were None (which I haven’t seen) that’s based on the same story. I always thought Clue had a clever plot for a movie inspired by a board game, and now I know why. Seeing the movies out of order, though, created an interesting situation because it made the original feel familiar even though I’d never seen it and made the later film seem new because I’m suddenly aware of the ways it’s been modified from the earlier version. So, bits that I’ve seen several times, suddenly feel fresh. I will say that Ten Little Indians has only one ending and doesn’t have Madeline Kahn’s fabulous “flames on the side of my face” speech—or a sense of humor at all really—so it comes up a little short for me. Still, there’s a lot to like about the original. It had enough misdirection to keep me guessing, I didn’t anticipate the ending, and when I found out whodunit, I wanted to re-watch it and look for clues that I missed the first time around. All of which are pretty good traits to have in a murder mystery.
The last movie that really surprised me was Harold and Maude. I picked this one myself, and I was worried it would be one of those things where I knew so much about the story that it would feel like I’d already seen it. That happens for me with things that have been heavily parodied or alluded to like A Christmas Carol or Rear Window, and reading or watching the original feels more like déjà vu than discovery. With Harold and Maude, I knew it was the story of a teen who is obsessed with death until he falls in love with a much, much older woman. I knew it was a dark comedy, but I kept getting surprised by how dark and how funny it was. Mostly how dark. I found his fake suicides more disturbing than I expected to (because…I guess I was expecting some hilarious suicide attempts? I don’t know), and the ending had both Harold and I screaming, “WHAT?!” at the same moment. I didn’t hate it, but I must admit I’ve never completely related to “old person with a young spirit who embraces life” type characters because that is not my experience with older people. The old ladies I know don’t go dancing or boost cars or rescue trees by transplanting them into the wild. They make crafts and cheat at cards. Seriously, do not mess around at the poker table because they will cut you. I’m glad that I’ve seen it, and even more pleased that it wasn’t exactly what I expected, but I can’t say it’s a new favorite for me.
What other classics should I be watching to fill in the gaps in my movie knowledge?
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