You might know what a list maker I am, especially in these halcyon days of summer, and I put "blog" on my list today because I realized that I hadn't written in a very long time. I had a difficult end to the year but I hope things are on the upswing now and I wanted to get back into at least a weekly blog through the summer, which we haven't had much of, here in the Lower Mainland, what with rain practically every day since Canada Day! We need the rain, of course, and it will make our water worries and forest fire fears (great alliteration, there, huh?) abate, but it would be nice to have a few of those sunny days where you can sit outside in your backyard and read or go for a nice dry walk in the park without having to haul along your umbrella and towel the dog down when you get home.
My first week of summer was spent making those lists and trying to get things done and I did manage most of the business matters that were hanging over my head from last summer! It is a great feeling to tick off the items on the list -- you get a real feeling of accomplishment.
One of the things was to book our trip to France, which I did! We are staying in Paris for ten days and now I am reading a novel about Paris, because that's a great way to get ready for all the great things we're going to see. I am reading Paris by Edward Rutherfurd (yes, it's FURD, not "ford"). He has written lots of big novels about different places and he traces the history of the place through the eyes of families who have lived there for centuries. Long ago, I read his novel, Sarum, which is about Salisbury in England. I think Rickie and I had just returned from a trip there and it was a great read, although I don't think Edward Rutherfurd is a great writer. Part of the Paris book is about the building of the Eiffel Tower, which lots of Parisians hated as it went up, much like the CN Tower was hated in Toronto. Most people nowadays picture the Paris skyline Eiffel'd, but lots of people thought it was an ugly industrial looking eyesore when it was going up. I expect the lads will want to go up in the Eiffel Tower, and although it is not on my list, I will bow to their need to do the iconic things. I am most excited about the museums, of course.
Last night I saw a movie called "House of Sand and Fog" about the battle for a beachfront house in California. It was an epic journey with characters who were deeply flawed -- neither good nor bad entirely, which is what people are, I believe. It seemed like a petty argument, but both parties had reasons to desperately want the house and in the end, the consequences were horrific. I also recently saw a movie called "Woman in Gold" about the Austrian government's complicity in the theft of art from Jews who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis. I thought this movie avoided dealing with a lot of complicated issues and made it a simple story of good and evil -- I didn't think the characters were treated as interestingly as they could have been. Of course, Helen Mirren is always good, but she didn't have a lot of interesting things to do -- the actor who played the character as a young woman (Tatiana Maslany, of "Orphan Black") was much more interesting.
"Ghostbusters" is the subject of a lot of talk these days, with the female version about to be released. To me, it is emblematic of the dearth of imagination and new ideas in Hollywood, that they have to remake an old movie and put women in the lead roles, instead of men! Why not write something new for women to do? Something I did notice with "Woman in Gold" was that it was refreshing to see a movie about an older woman. We can be interesting, we older women, if only someone would hear our stories. I think I have a lot to offer, still, but I guess it would take someone who could really write to make my story worth hearing and make people who have been brought up on explosions and super heroes to want to see a portrayal of it. Maybe it could be about an old genii! (Get it? I made a little pun there.)
No comments:
Post a Comment