Let’s get back in this, shall we?
I have something more meaningful in the can, almost ready to go, but not quite. So we’ll just warm up here, lightly. There’s a hesitancy about posting *anything* unrelated to current problems, issues and tragedies, but after years of doing this, I’m confident in my own perspective on what this space is for. In short, I don’t live online. This – along with Instagram, Twitter and FB – are not places where I share my life in an expansive way. That – the thinking that “sharing my life with strangers online” is a quality way to live – strikes me as borderline insane, to tell the truth.
When you do treat online spaces in that way – you give house tours and metaphorically pimp out your family life and aggressively nurture a brand of being honest, authentic, relatable and real…yeah. People will expect content that’s tied to the moment and might even get mad when you don’t provide it. And super mad when your viewpoints clash.
That’s just one of the reasons living online like that is bad. Just one.
Life is meant to be lived face-to-face. In communities, with neighbors. Who are like you in some ways, different in others, are all children of God and infinitely more interesting in person than even their most interesting Facebook post. Problems are meant to be solved face-to-face.
So let’s be superficial in this way, instead:
Reading: This is disturbing.
You know, a couple of weeks ago, I read Henry James’ Washington Square and really enjoyed it. Much more than I expected. So I thought, Hey, let’s read more Henry James. Let’s do something short. Because my attention span is…not long these days. I decided to try this one: In the Cage.
I have never been so flummoxed by non-academic writing in my life. I swear, there are sentences I’ve reread five times and still can’t make sense of. I’m seriously worried about my state of mind. Is it me or him?
When Mr. Cocker’s young men stepped over from behind the other counter to change a five-pound note—and Mr. Cocker’s situation, with the cream of the “Court Guide” and the dearest furnished apartments, Simpkin’s, Ladle’s, Thrupp’s, just round the corner, was so select that his place was quite pervaded by the crisp rustle of these emblems—she pushed out the sovereigns as if the applicant were no more to her than one of the momentary, the practically featureless, appearances in the great procession; and this perhaps all the more from the very fact of the connexion (only recognised outside indeed) to which she had lent herself with ridiculous inconsequence.
Even in context, I’m struggling.
Now, I’ve reread the first three chapters a few times, and I’m getting it. I’m also feeling that this might end up being quite rewarding.
I think.
Writing:
Hahaha. I guess First Communions are starting up again:
Since I took that screenshot, it’s dropped a bit, but is still in range – which those books, always solid sellers from March-May – haven’t reached this year because of postponed First Communions. But in the past week, sales have picked up, which is my hint that things are happening.
I put The Absence of War on Wattpad, so you can read it for free. It’s kind of long and convoluted – although with shorter, and far less interesting, sentences than Henry James’.
I have a novel that I wrote years ago which I’m considering just putting up on Wattpad. I actually got an agent for the thing, who tried – obviously unsuccessfully – to sell it. It’s dated in some ways, and still worth reading in others. I might put it up there for archival purposes, at least.
Cooking:
Nothing too exciting. Made David Lebovitz’s Roast Chicken with Carmelized Shallots – which was good. Not extraordinary, but fine.
Scones – these. And I highly – highly – recommend the “grating frozen butter” method of incorporating fat. It’s a life-changer. Also a life-changer for the very slow-on-the-uptake me: the concept of freezing baked goods. Mix up a batch of scones, freeze most of them for later. When needed – take a couple out and bake. Magic.
Oh, and these french fries. I usually do …frozen french fries in the oven – but this looked so easy (no double-frying/refrigerating/coating), I thought it was worth a try. It worked! Very good – as the guys observed, “They taste like Five Guys fries” – and they were right.
Next up, either today or tomorrow – madeleines. They were Son #4’s favorite bakery treat in France. I bought a pan and everything. We’ll see.
Watching:
Lots of movies. Lots. Working Guy’s schedule has mostly had him going in days, so evenings have been free, there’s been a curfew, so, here we are.
Love Crazy– the worst of the bunch. Not that it was terrible. It popped up on some search for screwball comedies. I’d never heard of it, adore William Powell, thought it would be in the Thin Man vein, and while it tried to be, it wasn’t successful. There were amusing bits, and Powell is of course great – and is in old-lady drag for the last chunk of the film, which was fascinating – but as a whole, I found it not much more than tolerable.
The Lady Eve– love Preston Sturges, of course, and had not seen this one in a very long time. It’s not my favorite of his, but of course, a great cast and amusing scenes.
The Court Jester – they’d seen it ages ago, but didn’t remember it, so after watching Parasite, we needed a palate-cleanser, and this worked.
Parasite– very good, although I’m not seeing Best Picture worthiness. An excellent social satire, fascinating glimpse into Korean life, and a decent presentation of tragedy. As my Movie Son observed:
Who is the antagonist? This question popped into my head after I finished Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite and as I read some snippets from Bong himself. He consistently refers to the film as a tragedy, and, as I wondered who the antagonist was, I remembered that in Greek tragedy, the fall of the hero always stems from a flaw within themselves….
….The key is that both groups are their own destructive forces. It’s hard to get into how that manifests late in the film (essentially past the halfway point) without digging into spoilers, so I’ll speak in generalities. It’s the Kim’s duplicitousness that gets them into the situation that undoes them. It’s their lies that keep them from finding solutions that will actually work. On the other side is the Parks whose thoughtlessness and lack of feeling brought in the destructive force into their homes to begin with. There are no heroes or villains in this story, only flawed people who can’t grow.
More. He’s currently working his way through Hitchock’s oeuvres. He’s nothing if not a completist, that one!
Then last night, joining the crowd and taking in Contagion. So strange. It’s as if the world watched this movie in January and said, “Okay, Let’s do that. ” The only thing missing was the run on toilet paper. Truly eerie how prescient the movie is. And as that same son says:
One of the many things I love about this film is that it starts with Day 2, not Day 1. We don’t see the actual origin of the outbreak until the very end of the film when it jumps back in time, so we spend the majority of the film trying to navigate the confusion that is the outbreak.
By the way, one good source of movies, if you can access it, is Kanopy. It’s a streaming service offered through public libraries. It doesn’t have a huge library, but it’s selective and good – and free. See if your local library has it. We’ll be watching Rashomon through it, as well as more Buster Keaton shorts – like this one we watched the other night.
You use “credits” to watch films, but note that if your system is set up so that your library membership is set up the right way, you can have memberships on the site through more than one branch.
Listening:
Well, that’s done. Six weeks of fairly intense preparation for an (online) piano competition.
The videos can be seen here – no embedding and no comments. Just in case you’re interested.
Not sure where we’ll go from here. Waiting to hear what’s going on with the piano teacher’s graduate school – whether he’ll be going back in August or not until January.
As for us, College Kid’s school just announced their schedule yesterday – similar to what Notre Dame and some other schools are doing. Starting a week earlier than originally planned, skipping fall breaking, ending on-campus instruction before Thanksgiving and doing exams online after Thanksgiving. Strikes me as very smart.