Gramma Glo's Great Camera Came to Visit

the clouds have broken

I've known about this movie for years. Literally years. And I've been excited about it for almost as long.



AND THEN:

when it was in the movie theater -- I planned -- I was READY to go see it THREE times.

and each time:

babysitting plans fell through.

a huge rainstorm and a sick child warranted a rescheduling.

& finally, when I knew it to be the last week before the movie would leave the Cedar Lee (which would be the last time, in turn, that it would see the Midwestern region of the country), I was meticulous. I planned my nap at the right time so I could go to the movie late.

I played with the kids all evening and planned the exact minute that I would have to leave so that I wouldn't miss any family-time, but would also get to Cleveland with plenty of time.

There was a map on the shotgun seat of the Buick.

A ten dollar bill was in my pocket.

I filled the tank with gas and checked the air in the tires in the afternoon.

And then....

when I walked outside -- improbably, unbelievably, the tornado siren wailed.

I walked down to Everhard. Couldn't be real, could it? It wasn't even raining....

I watched as a wall of debris and dirt crested the hill and whipped toward me. When it hit the driveway, I couldn't even keep my eyes open.

I went inside just to let Lynn know that I would be fine. I was still going.

She was entrenched in the basement with the kids watching the Doppler Radar which (seriously) showed tornado rotations not only exactly over our house -- but also all the way up 77N. Seriously.

I went outside and shook my fist and the swirling sky: "Why don't you want me to see this FILM!?!?!"

When I announced to her last week that the movie was coming out on DVD this week -- she conveyed her concerns. She was rather sure that I would be killed on the way to Blockbuster (which is sort of a not-so-honorable way to die...especially when Fate has made her Will *quite* clear.).



But we watched it last night, and, maybe because of my backstory -- no, definitely because of my (longer) backstory -- but maybe also because of my more recent this-film-related-back-story: I cried. And loved it.

It's definitely in my Top Five (only Wes Anderson Films have, thus far, penetrated this prestigious list upon their first viewing).



There's so much that's perfect about it. Michel Gondry's aesthetic approach is beautiful, but his own ongoing interest with the idyll of childhood and the beauty and simplicity that are connected to one's awareness of their childhood....and Charlie Kauffman's script is (finally) perfect in the third act -- as well as the first two acts (which he's always nailed).



I love what the film says about memory and the fabric of horror and pleasure that are woven together to constitute ourselves.

I love the soundtrack.

I love how it shows the power of the stories we tell.

The nostalgic celebration of physical objects which are records of our stories...and how seeping full of love and regret every little object is...

I know. It's too late to write a review for a movie that everybody's already seen, but...here I am dizzy with the light that (finally) came through the clouds, and I had to pass it on.

About to Abandon the Dems...

I do understand the neccessity of compromise to engender the political process.

BUT the ongoing erosion of the democratic process, particularly by way of the two big parties distresses me more by the hour.

First -- this morning -- on the way to work, I find out that the Dems have been eroding Ohioans access to free choice by sniping at dark horse Ralph Nader...

then to hear the details on how the presidential debates themselves not only erode DEBATE, but even DIALOGUE and ESPECIALLY

democracy...

turning the whole thing into one more soundbyte, sloganeering posturing opportunity...

you REALLY SHOULD check out the:

Top Ten Secrets THEY don't Want You to Know about the "Debates."

From the Tavis Smiley Show on NPR today....

(I hope it goes without saying that Republican policy, platforms and message have been so egregious in eroding democracy for decades that when I go south of the Dems, I won't be going anywhere near my old home of the GOP)

Anyone have any hope? Solutions? Advice?

In Praise of Rabbit Trails...

I had coffee with Kleman last week. It was great to spend time together. She has such a singular presence and voice in the world. So focused, so curious, so unpretentious, so brilliant.

So anyway.

She told me about this term that scholars are using to talk about conversational rabbit trails. "Off Target Verbosity" is the name. Isn't that great? And in case you don't get the connection....I (and my blog) am the king of "off target verbosity"...or rabbit trails or whatever.

....

Ann wrote me an email with a good idea yesterday that seemed slightly disconnected to any conversation that we had had in the last two days, and explained her off-target-emailosity this way:

Just an idea because I am procrastinating thinking about what I should be thinking about.

and i wrote back:

Procrastination is one of the most productive ways of doing life, I think.

...

And speaking of procrastination:

I was blogsurfing the other day (I know, I know, I don't have time to blogsurf -- I have memos to write, meetings to go to, friends to email, kids to play with)...and I read this blog who was mourning what his procrastination had cost him:

  I could probably tell you a lot about alien fighting and looking through plate glass windows.  I could explain in detail how a person might will himself to fly without moving a muscle, just like I could speak volumes about the politics behind the battle of good versus evil.

There are a lot of things I could do if I weren’t such a procrastinator.  Knowing more about my dreams would be just one of them.

...

i live in a world (most of you do too) where "mission statements", "being intentional", "strategic planning", (dot, dot,dot)

are the words that frame the story that we like to tell ourselves about our path.

There IS a path. There IS a direction. LOOK! Where We're Going!

......

David Foster Wallace has a new book -- _oblivion_ -- a collection of short stories. (and while i loved his first collection of short stories, i became, ironically (?) bored by _infinite jest_, the novel. perhaps some rabbit trails are just too long to invite anyone along?) and the paste reviewer refers (kindly) to his "wistful misdirection"....

sorry, phillip, the reviewer, i got lost on that rabbit trail...

it's a nice label....

possibly a good one for my life...

definitely a bestselling antidote to the PURPOSE DRIVEN life...

and actually, if my procrastination ends up not affording me enough time to write an autobiography named:

Wistful Misdirection...

than it would definitely make a handsome epitaph...

and there's something TRUE about engraving words like that in marble...

don't you think...?