Strange, good movie

Stay with Ewen McGregor, Ryan Gosling and Naomi Watts is the most twisted, creative, artsy film I've seen since Memento and just as good. As you try to figure out the wild ride, what is dream, what is reality and who is who, it's easy to think you'll see a Fight Club moment where two characters are really fused into one. But the final scene reveals all bets are off as to where fantasy leaves off and reality begins. I'd be interested to hear other viewers' interpretations of what the plot really portrays. I think it reflects the journey between the living and the world beyond and how narrow and blinded to reality the human view really is as we plod along in our daily lives. There is so much beyond our comprehension we only scratch the surface of the true reality. The film seems to take the dying moments of a character and expands it to a 90 minute montage of life, dreams, hopes, regrets and fantasies. It's worth the viewing just for the cinematography alone.

Spike Lee's new flick

The Inside Man is an entertaining flick with some new twists to the usual bank robbery caper. Although I enjoyed it and would recommend it, the after effect left a lingering sense of what was missing. The most obvious thing, I'm reluctant to admit, was the face of Clive Owen which was covered in shades and white cloth throughout. It's just simply a shame to have him in a movie and not have his striking mug on the screen in every scene. Aside from that, Jodie Foster seemed to be in it to show off her great legs and not much else. The part seemed to be written just to get her into the movie as her character was really a throw away part. Denzel's character was the great redeeming factor, he plays a firecracker of a cop, a likeable, lively character who you couldn't help but care about. But the plot took a convoluted journey of unlikeliness and a necessary suspension of reality was required. The how's were explained, but not the why's. Don't get me wrong, I love to see the downfall of the Nazi War Criminal as much as the next person, but a little back story would've been nice. Still, it's a romp worth viewing.

Wings of Justice honors Boston Legal

This show rocks, and has from Day 1. This clip shows one of the best moments so far this season, in case you missed it. And they were just honored with a Peabody Award too!

Voter's Remorse

When George W. proclaims that he NEVER said there was a connection between Sadam, Al Qaeda and 9/11 and then you see the reams of clips from past speeches where he indeed inferred over and over again that they WERE all connected, and in fact led us under totally false pretenses into a war that is a disaster, how many of the 51% who voted for him think to themselves "gee, i guess I helped vote that liar into office"?

Keith Olbermann

If you've never seen this guy on MSNBC he's terrific. He's opposite Bill O'Reilly at 8 p.m. and Midnight EST and has the most informative, intelligent news program on cable. He's bright, quick witted and always approaches the issues from an original angle. Apparently O'Reilly feels pretty intimidated by him: if you mention his name when calling in to O'Reilly's show you get immediately hung up on followed by a call from the Fox Police, no shit. Talk about paranoia!!

E-mail to Annie Proulx - Re: Sour Grapes

Dear Ms. Proulx,

I was sorry to hear of your rant in the British press about losing the Oscar to Crash. I saw most of the nominated films, including Brokeback Mountain, which I wanted to win Best Picture, and Crash which was also a high quality film. In fact I was thrilled to see so many excellent films this year, not so in many years. I too gasped when Crash got the nod, however I felt Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director, plus score did show that the Academy recognized the quality of the film. To denigrate the academy members for their choice is not a classy move, they are entitled to their opinion and get to vote on what they want. It's always better to take the high road, don't tarnish the reputation of a beautiful film, as well as your own reputation, by whining about your loss, for that is what people will remember.

Yours truly,

Dana

READ Annie Proulx's rant in The Guardian:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1727309,00.html

Something Has Shifted in the Universe

I've always had cats. Nothing against dogs, it's just that cat's are so self sufficient. Since I've installed my kitty door so they can come and go as they please it's no problem to go away for a weekend. Just load up the food and water and off you go. Cats, besides being good companions, keep the rodents at bay which I always felt was a good fringe benefit. Until yesterday. Chewy my little "millennium cat" (born 2000) has a habbit of bringing birds, mice and butterflies in through the kitty door. We save who we can, but if it's too late we dispose of the carcasses. Yesterday she brought a field mouse in which promptly hid behind the piano. Then I watched as Chewy tried in vain to catch it again while the mouse ran from couch, to entertainment center and back under piano. As I went to bed I figured I'd have to pick up the dead body in the morning as I had full faith she'd catch and kill the little thing. Wrong! Maybe it's that extra 3 pounds she's gained but Chewy is still watching as the mouse runs free and definately has the upper hand. So much so that the mouse has amassed a stash of cat food behind the piano so he's definitely in it for the long haul. So now I'll have to intervene, and I'm not nearly as fast as the cat, so this oughta be good.

3-31-06 Epilogue: After a week of random sitings, and Chewy losing all interest in the fact that we were sharing our space with a chewing, pooping mouse, it was time for action. But not before scaring the shit out of me. Max says, "hey this speaker isn't working", I say "I'll look at it" and start to re-adjust the speaker wires on the stereo, meanwhile Max goes upstairs. It only takes a moment to get the speaker back working, at which point I pull open the bottom drawer to replace a couple of CDs. Pulling open the draw, on top of the CDs is our little friend staring up at me. I scream, twice, Max comes bounding down the stairs, thinking I was being electrocuted from working on the speaker wires. Enough already. SO, we put up a few barriers, open the front door and poke under the furniture until our little mouse bolts for the door. Though last seen heading for the door, I didn't actually SEE him leave the house, but I do believe he returned to nature, unharmed.

The Party Animals

Hey, check out Madge's new cd Confessions on a Dance Floor, pretty catchy stuff. Poor Jennifer, rumour has it the ex is getting hitched in Italy this weekend at Clooney's place. Where has Brittany Murphy been? She was great in 8 Mile, it's about time for another movie.

Oscar Night

“All right, so I'm not winning director.” George Clooney foretold the future and set the tone for the night while accepting his Best Supporting Actor statue for Syriana. Tonight would be share and share alike. It was a good year at the movies and a split between Best Director and Best Picture usually indicates a year of stellar performances. Lots of good moments, a few great. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep did a wow job of the intro for Robert Altman’s award. I love seeing him get an Oscar for his years of great films. He’s most known for M*A*S*H* and Nashville and Gosford Park but just in the last two months I’ve watched Three Women which came out in the 70’s, one of Sissy Spacek’s first films, and Vincent and Theo with Tim Roth. Altman has produced a treasure trove of gems.

John Stewart seemed a little out of his element but I laughed out loud several times. The lead-in showing the Hosts of Years Past was amusing, although I expected Letterman to say, “I won’t do it because you didn’t ask!” I would love to see Letterman host again, but I don’t think it will happen. The joke Stewart didn’t do was introducing Jessica Alba. He should’ve said something like: Just because she’s out here on stage fully dressed, doesn’t mean you’ll see her back stage naked! Ben Stiller, bless his heart, was almost funny as a Green Screen. One of my favorite rolls from Ben was Bwick Elias, a quirky painter in the little known If Lucy Fell with Sarah Jessica Parker. There was life before Sex and the City.

I truly wanted to see Brokeback Mountain win Best Picture, a beautiful film which packed a strong emotional punch while exposing the restrictive mindset we live in. Crash was equally deserving and it’s nice to see such a talented ensemble cast get their recognition. But if Montana is indicative of the Academy members, where only gay men and women flocked to see Brokeback, that would explain the votes going to Crash. I don’t know of one man locally who’s actually seen Brokeback. I guess the sight of two men embracing in a passionate kiss and more is just too much for most men to bear. Brokeback Mountain did receive lots of recognition both for Ang Lee as Director and also for Best Adapted Screenplay. Hopefully that’s some consolation for Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal who walked away empty-handed.

The surprises were Good Night and Good Luck which I thought would get at least some recognition and Memoirs of a Geisha which took away three trophies even though the reviews were awful. So awful I didn’t bother to go see it. Go figure.

I hope the Crash victory gives Ryan Phillippe a boost, he’s a good actor in his own right and was terrific a couple of years back in Igby Goes Down, but I believe the last year of Reese Witherspoon Madness has really worn him down. He looked a little perturbed. Reese gave the most touching, genuine acceptance speech of the night. So gracious and I loved her nod to Joaquin Phoenix thanking him for taking that special journey with her on Walk the Line. Making that film was certainly a life-changing event for both of them. Joaquin doesn’t look like he enjoys the big crowd atmosphere and seems to be struggling with some demons judging by the look on his face. I’d love to know who he said “I love you” to when the camera was focused on him. I was rooting for him to win Best Actor, but Philip Seymour Hoffman deserved it too. I was happy to see Rachel Weisz get the Best Supporting Actress award; the Constant Gardner was one of the years best. Clooney’s speech noting that he’s proud to be part of an Academy where Hollywood has a history of taking the lead in exposing social issues was a breath of fresh air. If television and print media won’t investigate and expose the truth, someone has to start a dialogue about the massive injustice and corruption in our society.

A couple of technical notes, the stage was beautiful with the flowing visual so that each presenter made a grand entrance; Jennifer Aniston and Uma Thurman come to mind. Whoever thought playing music under the winners’ acceptance speeches was a good idea should be fired! What a lousy set up. And while some of the clips and “lobby” ads were appropriate and funny, cutting short the acceptance speeches was a poor trade off. You don’t want to see winners prattle on, but when they’re rushed it robs the viewers the chance to see a snapshot of what makes these people tick. After all, for many this is the one time they will stand in front of millions with an Oscar grasped in their hand, let them relish the moment and thank the legions who’ve helped them achieve this marvel.

So this year the Academy got it mostly right, for a change! No big sweeping winner just a lot of glory to go around. We should be so lucky as to have another such year in 2006. Question: Is it really hard out here for a pimp??

two days in new york

Everyone loves New York, or at least that’s what all the t-shirts proclaim. I hadn’t spent time there since the 1963 World’s Fair when my grandmother took my sister and me. I was six. On that visit we wandered around Fifth Avenue window shopping the luxurious diamonds and furs when not at the actual fair.

While the city is larger than life full of shiny perfect skyscrapers I am aware of the undercurrent of the dark side when I walk the streets this time around. I see the dual worlds living side by side: the affluent and the poor. That both sides co-exist in relative day by day peace is a miracle really. The glamour and the despair are odd bedfellows to behold. How can the haves be so content with their city when the evidence of the different reality of the have-nots is in their face at every turn? I wasn’t even in any of the “bad neighborhoods” but the inequity permeates all areas. The distress of our society is all around, a microcosm representing the whole of our country, if not the world. Witness New Orleans, the civil war in Iraq, and countless other examples.

The racial tension and economic barriers reveal the private little spheres each person holds around them like a protective coating but you know the coating is only an illusion, like a bubble on the verge of bursting at any moment. So living in your own made up reality while bumping up against the bubbles of the other individuals swarming all around you is perhaps the excitement and danger that draws people to New York, the ones who go there by choice that is.

The richer, more affluent don’t just surround themselves with their personal imaginary bubbles, they arm themselves in shiny ridiculously long stretch limos as they glide through the city streets. The better off you are, the thicker the wall of insulation needs to be to shut out those other realities. To reach your arm through the bubble and engage in the other realities crowding your bubble would be to wake from a dream of your own making. The stark realism would be shocking yet each individual houses an unconscious awareness already. A “we all know what’s going on here” kind of thing. To function each day and go forward with our lives we put on the blinders of tunnel vision and try not to turn our heads too often.

The shiny beautiful skyscrapers look awesome when you look up, but the accompanying stench of huge piles of bags of garbage sprawled around their bases like the exposed roots of an ancient oak tree show a truer complete picture. And the views, like the one from the 65th floor of the NBC Rainbow Room is spectacular. But a $20 martini is absurd no matter how wonderful the view.

So while Donald Trump’s New York looks fabulous and magical as portrayed on TV, it’s his own personal fantasy, a very darkly tinted pair of rose colored glasses indeed. I don’t hear of him visiting the aids clinics of his own neighborhoods, never mind South Africa, or donating half of his billions to aid humanity and bring the truly destitute up a notch. His bubble is not just limos and helicopters but the metallic looking towers he endeavors to build. I guess his chore of shutting out reality is a bit more strenuous than the rest of us.

Side Notes:

Young boy: “Mommy why can’t we ride in that spaceship?”
Mother: “It’s not a spaceship honey, it’s an airplane.”
Delta Gates, La Guardia Airport

While it is customary to stand at the curb with an arm raised to hail a cab, of the many people I saw doing this, I saw no cabs actually stop for any of them.

Rockefeller Center skating rink with the lights, flags and funny statue is magical late at night.

Up close, Times Square is pretty trashy.

If you have to have your period all over a public place, a noisy Turkish restaurant with bright red walls and seat coverings is the perfect place. Noisy because when you tell the waitress of your little accident, no one else hears, and red seats, well, for obvious reasons.

Our Sentiments Exactly

Garden Treasure

The Grammy Awards

Okay, I just have to comment on the Grammy Awards. First of all U2 won in each of the five categories they were nominated including Album of the Year and they deserved each one. They are so far ahead of most of the artists nominated, some of whom should fall off the face of the earth like Kanye West. Anyone who announces that since this is his 2nd year at the awards so he’d better win deserves to go home empty handed and have his career decimated. Now maybe it’s just his bad Karma for appearing on Rolling Stone with a crown of thorns (very bad taste) but he won in strictly rap categories which reflects the fact that he has no crossover appeal. Humility is a virtue that all artists should at least aspire to. Kanye opened for U2 when I saw them in SLC in December and besides having a really annoying back up gal who was jumping around like she had ants in her pants, upstaging all others including Kanye, he managed to make a story about his sick grandma going to the hospital all about him. He whined about a girl asking for his autograph and was so offended that at this time of family crisis she could ask such a request. Well, true, someone who exploits such a situation has no class, a point he made by telling the story.

As far as the performances, a few were terrific, the touching duet of Alicia Keys and Stevie Wonder, both class acts, Bruce Springsteen, U2 with Mary J. Blige, McCartney doing a roaring Helter Skelter; the background video of a roller coaster was a nice touch. However it’s unbelievable on an awards show which honors musical artists that so many lip synched. If you’re not good enough to do it for real, you have no business on the stage. However, I will give Madonna a little leeway on this count as she looked so damn good on stage and was at least doing the dance moves which almost justify it. Mariah Carey, who it’s nice to see has recovered from her meltdown a few years back, should’ve showed us that her Mimi deserves all the raves by actually singing live. Now the comic relief for the evening came with the Sly Stone tribute, seriously was that guy tripping or what? He missed most of his cues to sing, which apparently he can no longer do and then wandered off stage like a lost Alzheimer’s patient. Hilarious.

Green Day beating out Kanye was especially sweet. It does seem like the Grammy’s go crazy over some artists in fluke years and then you never hear from them again. In Kanye’s case we can only hope. At least we weren’t subjected to Ashlee Simpson.

Side note on the dresses. Teri Hatcher: fabulous, Queen Latifa should’ve left the leather at home and Sheryl Crow doesn’t know how to dress! (Remember that yellow thing with the cut out circle?) When you have no chest, no one wants to see your bony parts exposed. Reminds me of Deborah Messing, always showing what you don’t have is bad form. For God’s sake, get a new stylist, someone who’ll tell you the truth before you make an ass of yourself in front of millions! And another thing, most women shouldn’t go strapless, they either bulge out the top or sag below the breast line so they hang just above the navel, or they’re loose fitting so it looks like a boob could pop out at any moment. Plus that blunt, straight horizontal line is not flattering. Only if it’s a terrific dress that fits perfectly and you have a killer body should it be attempted. And prints, usually a good idea to avoid them (Joss Stone take note). Very few can pull off a print like Gwen Stefani’s elegant leopard look.

Paradise Valley

Stockholm - Summer 2004

Hey check out this cool cowboy photo, my daughter took it.

February

February is my 2nd favorite month, no not because that LOVEly holiday Valentines Day falls smack in the middle, but because the beginning of the end of winter is so evident. The days are longer, the sun feels warmer, and even if we get cold and snow, it soon melts from the sun's warmth. Yesterday was a typical beautiful February day which I took full advantage of with my second ski day of the season. While the first day last month was a little rough after a couple of years off skis, spending half my time on my ass like the old woman "I've fallen and I can't get up" yesterday was wonderful. The sun was shining, the new powder was in great shape, and I actually spent most of the time on my skis, not my ass. Swishing around down the hill is the activity that most reminds me of being a child, all play and no work, ride up the hill, slide down the hill, repeat until your legs are fatigued. Being a weekday at our little ski hill the lift tickets are cheap and the lift lines are non-existant. Now I'm anxious to go out again. It's such a feeling of accomplishment I can't pass it up at least once more this season. Plus it's such a great interruption from the work week indoors. Happy trails...oh, and Happy Valentines to all of you who, like me, alas do not have a valentine this year....

Politics & Pink

It's hard not to be discouraged with the new supreme court justice and the latest, yet oh so repetitive tone of Bush's State of My Monarchy speech. He's like the pied piper blowing away while half the country merrily follows him down that slippery slope of America becoming a police state where peaceful dissenters are silenced for speaking out. I do not comprehend what people see in him. First off, I want a president who's smarter than me, can speak the english language and most of all tells the truth. Why the masses believe in him to me appears as a "daddy, you'll take care of me, won't you?" attitude. Then they don't have to think about worldly things, like war vets coming home in a wooden box or maimed, not to mention the thousands in Iraqi casualties, or a disease stricken Africa plagued with treatable ailments, or a loophole in the McCain torture bill where the president exempts himself from the law. So they figure, hey, trust the guy to steer us right, and if we're lucky we won't be thrown in jail, like Cindy Sheehan, or spied on when we call overseas. Just because someone claims to be a churchgoing Christian or says he's really spying on Americans to keep us all safe from the Evil Terrorists doesn't mean it's true. Saying something over and over again with the regularity of a jackhammer may be a tried and true technique for wearing down the defenses of otherwise intelligent people, but who's really buying this shit?

Family History

I think Missoula is reconnecting to it's roots. Used to be the city's personality was that of the modern, liberal, hip city in Montana, a well deserved reputation, but now several businesses display large historic black and white photo's from early in the century. Maybe it's a way to impress the tourists with the Western History thing. Anyway, while stopping off for dinner at MacKenzie River Pizza we sit in a booth with a photo of the brick streeted downtown showing the cable cars. Funny the Wilma Theatre looks exaclty the same today as in the photo. So when we're getting set to leave I spy the photo over the next booth which is dated "1930's" with the caption "The Circus Comes to Town". As I look at the parade converging on Higgins Avenue, it occurs to me that it may not just be Missoula history I'm looking at, but my own family's history as well. My ex-husband Bob's grandmother actually came to Missoula with the circus and stayed behind when they loaded up and moved on to the next town. Very little is known about her except that she met her husband and had Jeanie, Bob's mom, in September 1939. So my children's great grandmother may actually be somewhere in the photo with the circus. While I had heard this family tale of great grandma's history and had no reason not to believe, somehow seeing the picture solidified it in my being, a Wow it's really True moment.

Dating Etiquette

Dis me once, shame on you....dis me twice...well you don't get a 2nd chance. When I arrived Wednesday back at work, fresh from the freakish world of smalltownitis somewhere in Western Montana I receive an e-mail from a fellow I've been e-mailing. Gee I'm off work till saturday, if you're coming over my way let me know and we can get together. So okay, I'm game, I like the ride to Bozo and there are a few other things I can do, like check out Munich, still not playing here, and I had a day off coming so I e-mail back, I'll come over friday here's my # call me and we'll make plans. So, expecting that he wouldn't have e-mailed if in fact he wasn't interested in meeting up, I check my e-mail before leaving work at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, and still no word. Sooo, sure enough Friday at 11:00 a.m. I get the call, gee I wasn't near a computer, I was out doing "guy stuff" and I just got your e-mail. HOW LAME! If you weren't going to check your e-mail, why did you bother telling me you had free time off to get together? It's things like this that dampen my faith in civilized society. So we have a nice little chat after I state I have made other plans when I didn't hear back, and then agree that when he has time off from work later in the spring maybe we can work something out. NOT! After thinking about whether a person who doesn't even know you deserves another chance after blowing you off, the answer is a resounding NO. If someone doesn't even give you the consideration of actually checking their e-mail when you have a pending get together, what do you think their behavior will be later down the line? Not good I suspect. So back to square one.